the tall blond guy goes to japanthe tall blond guy goes to japan
As the Olympics at Nagano ended today, my job at the Yomiuri is finished. Today was my last full day in Tokyo. To celebrate, I did a number of important cultural things, and one important personal hygene thing.
The personal hygene thing? I did my laundry. Very important, but not something worth writing home about... or in this case, writing the world about (hi everybody, glad you could make it).
Here is a list of the important cultural things I managed to cram into today:
- Visited a temple
- Spoke a fully understandable Japanese sentence
- Got lost in Tokyo train station
- Slipped into a 'gift war' with a traditional Japanese man
- Drank Kirin beer
- Ate real sushi
- Sang karaoke
- Gave away business cards
Yes, it was a busy day. Let me go through these one at a time:
***Visited a temple
This was easy, and I have pictures. Remember when I got confused between the names of two subway stations? Well, I found the right one today. Asakusa station is quite near Sensoji Temple. Apparently, where there is a temple, there is also good shopping. People who go to temples need to shop too, right? Sure.
Sensoji Temple, Asakusa.Here's the temple. There's lots more inside, but I was on a bit of a tight schedule, so I couldn't stop and poke around a bit. Being an explorer is tough when you've got a day job that people expect you to attend. There were billions of people around (even by Tokyo standards that's alot). Lots of tourists too, so I tried not to stand near them. Tourists make me nervous.
Aside: In Vancouver, as well as in other North American cities I suppose, you can judge the quality of an Asian-food place simply by counting the number of white people eating inside. Generally, the more white people there are, the worse the restaurant is. That's your tip of the day from the tall blond guy.
Back to the shopping. Wow.
Temple? Shopping.It's like what I'd think of as a mall. Covered streets, lots and lots of tiny shops, all filled with the same stuff. But there was a Dunkin' Donuts there (they're everywhere, actually) so at least that was different.
***Spoke a fully understandable Japanese sentence
I wanted to buy a train ticket that would take me to Kagoshima tomorrow. Since I'm not needed in Tokyo any more, I'm not going to linger there longer than I have to. I'm going to take a night train as far south as is possible- to Kagoshima. It's on the south coast of the southernmost big-ish island. The general idea is to get down there fast, and slowly work my way north over the next week, before I have to fly home.
So, anyway, here's the scene. I'm in Tokyo Station, the main JR station where all the trains come from and go to. There are people everywhere. I'm not feeling so well after not having slept much. Seeing is a bit of a problem. I approach an information desk, and say "Sumimasen, shinkansen ticketo doko desu ka," which basically means "Excuse me, but where are the bullet train tickets." I had no idea I knew how to say that. To top it all off, the person I spoke with nodded, pointed, and let loose with a whole bunch of Japanese. Apparently, she understood. Unfortunately, I have no idea what she said to me. I smile and nod, nonetheless, "aregato goziamasssssss" and walk in the direction that she pointed, hoping she didn't say something like "tickets can be found in any direction except that one."
Just briefly about the tickets while I'm talking about them, I used my map and lots of pointing to explain where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. "Shinkansen," I said. That's Japanese for "bullet train". They don't call it a bullet train. They have no idea what a bullet train is. I wonder why we call it a bullet train. Anyway, the ticket person was really cooperative about the whole thing, gave me a couple of options for my itinerary. Apparently, I will have to transfer trains in the middle somewhere. No big deal. But I bring this up because of the really neato computer things they use to process the ticket orders. It's kind of a combination computer, telephone switchboard and book. They flip through these book-like things with metal pages, stick pins in holes and tap keys. Magically, a ticket comes out.
I endeded up getting three tickets. One for Tokyo to Osaka, one from Osaka to Kagoshima, and one from Tokyo to Kagoshima. I don't know why I need the third one, but I'm going to show all three to whomever asks. They can figure it out and punch the right ones.
***Got lost in Tokyo train station
Then I got lost.
***Slipped into a 'gift war' with a traditional Japanese man
As it was my last day at work, I gave small gifts to people around the office. One of the people, who's been an incredible help to me over the past month, got some smoked salmon from B.C. As well as being one of the most helpful in the office, he has very traditional beliefs. When one gets a gift in Japan, it must be refused. When the giver finally convinces the givee that the gift is so small and insignificant that the givee might as well just take it and get it off the giver's hands, the givee is then obliged to better the gift.
To recap, my friend Sato-san feels he now owes me something better than fish next time we see each other. This is a problem, because I subscribe to the "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" policy of international diplomacy. Therefore, when he tracks me down and gives me something better than fish, I will then owe him something better than that. You see how this happens? And as far as I can tell, there is no polite way to break the circle before it gets to the extent that firstborn sons are given as gifts.
***Drank Kirin beer
To be polite after obliging him with my gift (I still find that odd), I accepted his offer of a Kirin beer during the office "sayonnara" party. I don't drink beer and I don't much like it. As far as beer goes, Kirin's pretty yucky. But I drank it. Then I had some melon juice. Mmmmm! Much better.
***Ate real sushi
I love sushi, and having "real" Tokyo sushi was on my list of things to do before I left Japan. At this same "sayonnara" party, sushi and sashimi were ordered, along with lots of other yummy stuff. It was soooo good. I stuffed myself, as did everyone else. I think I somehow impressed everyone else with the amount of wasabi (Japanese horseradish-like stuff) I took, but I'm used to much stronger stuff. Or maybe my taste buds are completely shot.
***Sang karaoke
"Karma karma karma karma karma chamelion... you come and go, you come and go-o-o". After dinner, a bunch of us went out to a karaoke-box. Sat around and talked and sang in a small private room unto ourselves. One of the people from the office is really quite a good singer, and he sang something by Smap (or, in Japanese, "su-ma-pu")- they're absolutely huge here, and everyone seems to know their songs. As it turns out, one of the CD's I bought, Tomome Kihala (I'm not sure of the spelling on that one) is getting really popular among the 15-25 set. I guess I'd be in that range.
***Gave away business cards
That's a big thing here too, with lots of rules. They must be given and recieved with two hands. They must be studied, front and back. They do not go in the back pocket, They do not get written on. When you are given one, you are obliged to reciprocate. Yours need not be better, as with the gifts. In fact, it's often better if yours is worse.
Tomorrow: Disneyland!
