My first meal

And yes, it's as delicious as it looks.

-Udon noodles
-Mixed veggies
-sliced bacon
-garlic
-soy sauce


Throw all in a frying pan, swoosh around, eat.


Not to shabby for my first meal eh?

Cribz - Japan style

Yoyoyo I want all y'all to check out my crib. It's off the HOOK, yo.


Yo!

My Saturday Night Wasted

No, not wasted on a Saturday night.


There was a great sunset when I was out today, so I snapped a few shots and played with in Photoshop


(Click to enlarge)

All the Small Things

• At this point in time, having a cell phone is the most Japanese thing you can do. The defining moment was seeing a Japanese businessman in his mid 30s whizzing down the street on his bike, wearing a full suit while precariously steering with his left hand and talking to his boss on his cell phone with his right
  
• Listening to Blink 182 makes me slightly homesick. (But not The format, Motion City Soundtrack, The Beatles, etc. Weird)
• An unexpected cool breeze feels infinitely better in Japan than it does in San Diego. You can appreciate it more
• You don't realize how much of our cultural development and upbringing comes from education until you walk down the halls of a school in foreign country
  
• All the Japanese desks and chairs at the school I visited today had tennis balls on the legs. I burst out in laughter when walking into the a classroom for the first time to see a whole roomed turned into old-man walkers
  

LONG of Charges!

To go anywhere remotely interesting in this city, I have to walk a half mile north, cross a bridge for pedestrian traffic, go through the train station, and then finally enter the real part of the city; it's about a ten minute walk from my apartment. Going back and forth so many times I spot a lot of interesting (read strange, crazy, cute and obscenely fashionable) folk.


Going to the train station to get some curry, somebody was standing around on the pedestrian bridge. I couldn't make out if this Japanese person was male or female: the hair was short and spiked, but it was wearing a semi-short dress and overalls. Upon further inspection it turned it to be a she (Japanese females have less broad noses than males. She also had makeup on).


So I went and ate my curry.


Came back.


Girl was still there. She greeted me with a smile, said something I didn't pick up, and then handed me this.


I received not only one flyer to get my nails and hair done, but two!

So, considering I didn't understand her, what could have she said to me?

"Hi, your nails look horrific, have a couple flyers. One for each hand."

"I wish my hair actually looked like this, but it all got burned off in a fire."

"It's trendy to look like the opposite sex these days. Look at me! You'd look amazing as a Japanese girl"


The world may never know. But I DO know if I go in and get my nails all done and purty, it'll be LONG of charges! Yay!

A quick thought

Why is it '0' (zero) is plural but 1 (one) isn't?

For example:

0 comments

or

1 comment


1 is greater than 0, yes? But Zero gets pluralized while 1 is treated like a lonesome redheaded stepchild.. NO PLURAL FOR YOU! (Seinfeld reference. Anyone? Anyone?)



Alright.. so today was a slow day.

Tip 48: Not all Japanese people are friendly

Me: Knocks on neighbor's door

Neighbor: opens door after about 2 minutes, peers only his head out

Me: Uh, hi. I'm your new neighbor.. I just moved in upstairs

Neighbor: ....

Me: So anyway, I just thought I'd come by and introduce myself

Neighbor: Oh.

Me: Yeah, so my name is Grant.

Neighbor: Puts on fake smiley face. Oh, nice to meet you!

Me: Nice to meet you too

Neighbor: Shuts door



I suppose I won't be asking for a cup of sugar any time soon.

The washing machine from hell

Who knew washing clothes could ever be so complex? I'm sure people older than me would tell me that they had to do them by hand and also had to walk uphill both ways for 18 miles just to get water to wash their clothes with, which froze in the freezing weather if they didn't sprint those 18 miles, but this is the most complex washing machine I've ever seen. Hell, it might be easier if I did do them by hand.


So this is the process (I think. I'll probably end up setting my clothes on fire once I actually try to wash them)


Step 1: Fill up left side with hot water. Insert clothes and detergent

Step 2: Let clothes do their washy thing for 15-20 minutes

Step 3: Take clothes out of left side, insert in right; more washy stuff for 10 minutes

Step 4: Drain left side

Step 5: Put clothes back in left side, let it do more washy stuff.


Now as for all of those knobs and switches, I have no idea what they do. Maybe it's not a washing machine at all, but an inter-dimensional time and space traveler that lets me traverse galaxies and visit parallel universes and unknown worlds.


Or maybe it's just a really old washing machine.

C'est le moment ou jamais

On Tuesday I went out looking for some cheap ramen. Instead I ended up kissing two French girls.


I suppose this requires an explanation.


Having no sense of direction, I double and triple checked the location of the train station on town. Right next to it are a slew of ramen shops, fast food places, book stores, and everything else that makes a city a city. I couldn't bear to eat anything else that came from the local Circle K, so I made sure I knew north from south, threw on some pants and a shirt and headed out.


The place was easy enough to find. I headed into the ramen shop and had a seat. On the other side of where I was sitting were three young Caucasians, one male and two female, speaking a language I didn't understand. Looking to make some friends, I tried English in hopes that they would understand.


"Hi.. where are you guys from?"

The guy, whom later I would find out his name is Antoine, answered back in moderately decent English.

"We're from France... you?"


I talked to the three of them for a couple minutes exchanging pleasantries until I asked if I could sit with them. They were sitting at a table that sat four, so it seemed natural that I should fill the empty space. I found out they were doing a study/work abroad thing for two months; their trip was free, but they had to work it off as they went. So they would travel, study, and then work various different jobs. Right now they're working at a hotel doing anything from scrubbing toilets to waiting tables. The three just arrived at Nagano City so they could visit a famous shrine, Zenkouji. Having nothing to do that afternoon, I gladly accepted their invitation.


We hopped on a bus to the temple, which was only about 10 minutes away. The temple was absolutely amazing; the entrance was so big it was impossible to get the whole thing in the frame of a camera. The road to the temple was lined with many shops selling Zenkouji souvenirs, icecream, restaurants, and anything else that would suck the money out of tourists' pockets.


A couple hours were spent exploring the temple's grounds, taking pictures, and shopping for souvenirs. The temple itself was massive (unfortunately they don't allow pictures of it). We paid the 500 yen admission and wandered in. At the very back, there is a pitch black tunnel that runs underneath the altar. Not knowing the tunnel was pitch black, I wandered in, wondering why it was getting so damned dark. I blindly felt my way through, having nothing but the voices of those ahead of me to guide me. (I found out later that the point of the tunnel is to find a"key to paradice", which, if touched leads to enlightment and eternal salvation. I hope all of that isn't too true, because I couldn't ever find the damned key)


I eventually worked my way out with the rest of my group. We headed back down to the bus and to the train station so they could get back to their hotel, which was 3 hours away. I shook Antoine's hand, telling him it was a pleasure to meet him (it was. He was an awesome guy). Next I stuck my hand out at Oihana, one of the girls, but instead she just pushed her face out in front of me. I wasn't sure what to make of it, so I gave her some sort of awkward hug.

"Oh, you don't want to? Okay..."

Then it hit me: They do that whole kissing on the cheek thing for greetings and farewells in France. I pecked her on both cheeks, as she did the same, and then did the same for the other girl in the group.


You would think that the only "internationalizing" I would be doing is that with the Japanese community, but you never know who you will run into, or who you'll kiss.

Honesty (doesn't?) pay(s)

When I was about 10 years old I would frequently go to my friend Nick's house on the other edge of town. My mom would drive me up and we'd spend the day together. One of the things we never failed to do was make a trip to Circle K, which was a 5 minute walk from his house. We'd scrounge up a few bucks we'd received from our allowance and blow it on candy, chili dogs, Dr. Pepper, and anything else that brought the sugar levels in our bodies to incredible new highs. I'd like to say my life is completely different here in Japan, but 13 years later I find myself doing the exact same thing.


There is a Circle K about a 5 minute walk from my apartment (the company expanded into Japan in 1979 and did extremely well; I've seen more Circle K stores in Japan than I have in the US), which is a blessing because the next closest store of any kind is a good 15-20 minute commute by foot. As I've not yet been able to get my apartment in order, I've been making quite a few trips there for meals. Luckily convenience stores in Japan cater to having more full meals than their US counterparts; decent sandwiches, microwavable meals, a plethora of microwavable ramen and other random odds and end that technically count as a "meal"


I went down Wednesday evening, the day I arrived, to get some sort of food. I grabbed some sandwiches with filings unknown to me, pizza & squid flavored Dorritos, and some other crap that I've never heard of. After going up to the counter, I noticed the cashier wasn't putting all of his money away he was collecting; after taking a customer's cash he'd lay it in front of the register without putting it inside. He rang up my food, stuffed it in a bag, and said arigatougozaimashita (thank you very much). I headed back to my apartment and opened up my bag.


Squid flavored chips? Check.

Sandwiches with wasabi in them? Check

Lemon-flavored soda? Check

1000 yen bill (about 10 bucks)? Chec...what?


I checked my pocket to make sure that I didn't accidentally drop any money in the bag during my exchange; I had the correct amount of cash in my pocket. Then it hit me; the cashier must have accidentally grabbed the money with my food and unknowingly put it in my bag.

I'm not one to take money that doesn't belong to me; it's not a matter of doing what's "right", but when I hold money that's not mine, it's like holding a child that doesn't belong to me: it's not my child and I sure as hell don't want it. I marched back down to the store and waited in line to try and give him back his money. I think my Japanese was clear enough, but he wasn't getting it in the beginning.


Me: "Um, when I opened my bag there was a 1000 yen bill in it?"

Cashier: "I'm sorry?"

Me: "Remember when you had money laying out earlier? I think when you grabbed my food, you also grabbed this bill on accident"

I could see understanding hit him like a ton of bricks. His eys widened, eyebrows furrowed and flushed a bit; the universal "oh shit" expression that transcends language and cultural barriers.

Cashier: "Oh, thank you very much!" (and then other Japanese I didn't pick up)

I know Japan is all about saving face, so I hope I didn't embarrass him too much, but after weighing the pros and cons, being a bit embarrassed is a hell of a lot better than losing your job, or, losing more face in front of your boss when he realizes the drawer is short.


I'm not a believer in karma; I think at the most is that if you do something bad, your subconscious keeps that in mind and you do something later on to ease that guilt and weigh out the bad thing that you did. But karma or no karma, I damned near lost 500 dollars today while going to the bank to turn it into yen.


I was walking to the bank and had the money in a big yellow envelope. Half way down, I hear this old lady faintly say "gomennasai" (I'm sorry... but). She said it once so I figured she was talking to someone else, but after a second time I turned around make sure she was talking to me. She was off of her bike (and yes, the fact that an 80 year old lady is riding a bike is cool in itself) pointing to some papers on the ground. Those papers were five $100 bills that somehow fell out of my envelope. I quickly scooped them up before the wind could have its way with them, thanked her profusely and bowed so deeply I looked like a boomerang.


If you're a believer in karma, the first thing that would come out of your mouth would be "duh"; nonbelievers would state that it's "nothing but a coincidence". Now I usually like to think that we are all in control of our own fate, and to believe that a concept as abstract as karma rules over all of us would run contrary to my belief. But when things like this happen, you have to wonder what forces are at play outside of what we can see.


I really wish I got a picture of the grandma on the bike though.

Arrival at its Hottest

So I'm finally in this rising sun land. Maybe they decided to call it land of the rising sun because it's closest to the sun, this being one of the hottest damned places on earth. But alas, I can't even blame it on the heat; it honestly is the humidity. So let me backtrack a bit on my journey. It comprised of doing three things:

1. WaitingThis is post arrival at Narita airport. Before this there was even more waiting.. the 11 1/2 hour plane ride wasn't exactly 'fun', but at least there were a lot of people to talk to. This is waiting in line for the buses to take us to Tokyo.. another two hour ride.

2. More waiting


Orientation was long and drawn out. It was nice that we had three days in Tokyo, but unnecessary. Monday morning consisted of sitting and listening to a lot of people speak about things most of us would forget the next day. There were some funny anecdotes, but most of what was said wasn't new information.

Though during those three days I got to explore a bit of Tokyo. Tokyo is divided up into major districts; I visited the interesting ones. Harajuku is where girls dress themselves up like little dolls.
Well.. little dolls that mommy probably didn't let you play with. The most surprising thing about Tokyo are the masses of people that inhabit it. This city is crowded. Very, very crowded. The main crosswalk in Shibuya has hundreds of people crossing it at a time; this is certainly one city that I would never drive in.


3. And even more waiting.

Wednesday morning we head out to our prefectures. If was only going by myself, it would only take about an hour and a half by bullet train, but unfortunately everyone in my prefecture had to get dropped off at different locations, so it took about 3 or so hours to get from Tokyo to Nagano City.

But I'm finally here. Luckily some neighbor has their wifi connection on free use, so I can use the internet right from my apartment. I would be waiting about a month otherwise; I need to obtain my foreigner card in order to do things like set up my bank account, get a cell phone, and of course, get some internet in this place. I suppose it's good karma at play; at my house in San Diego I always left my internet connection open for anybody else to use. Now I'm finally on the receiving end of the deal.

Well, of course there's a lot more to write about, so I suppose I'll get to that. There's a storm a'brewing, so there isn't all that much I can do outside.

I just wish it wasn't so damned hot!