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Faster than a speeding bullet, it's me. This is the aforementioned bullet train, the shinkansen, that took us from Tokyo to Kyoto.



This is Ginza, the most upscale district of Tokyo, where the rich and the wannabe rich dress fashionably and can buy $10 cups of coffee. So, naturally, we went there. This is one of my favorite pictures - it gives a hint at what big city Tokyo is like. Lots of people, lots of action - my kind of town! (snark)



Japan is full of fun English translations, including this gem of a sign outside a restaurant in Ginza.


I mentioned earlier that we were going to visit a parasite museum, and we did! We went to the Meguro Parasite Museum, the only parasite museum in the world (surprised?). The star of the museum is this tapeworm, measuring 8.8 meters long. It was taken from a man who ate some trout sushi and got a little surprise. He noticed one day that there was something not quite right coming out of his, uhhh, nether regions. He went to the doctor, took some medicine, and out came the rest. How nice that he didn't just flush in disgust. His loss is our gain.

Potpourri - Japanese Edition

* Most people probably do get a little embarrassed when they're in a public bathroom and they're making, well, noises. Japanese women, apparently, are no exception, so much so that in some high tech bathrooms a sensor sets off a pre-recorded sound of 25 seconds of toilet flushing noise to cover up any real noises you make.

* When on an escalator in Tokyo, stand on the left. When in Kyoto, stand on the right. Apparently, it depends on whether you're in eastern or western Japan.

* There are lots of bakeries. When you enter, you get a tray, cafeteria-like, and a pair of tongs. Just grab what you want - it's all good.

* Currently, there are about 110 yen to the dollar.

* Walking about town, you'll notice about 5% of the people with surgical masks. They are not doctors. They're sick. Through what I think is an amazing display of courtesy and acknowledgement of connectedness, Japanese voluntarily wear these masks when they are sick to keep from infecting others.

* I've been sick the last couple of days and have not worn a mask. At a grocery store yesterday, I had the opportunity to buy a pack of them, but I declined because they were too expensive.

* When you enter a household, there are some very defined and strict rules regarding what you can and cannot do with your feet and shoes. Just inside the door is a staging area of sorts where you take off and leave your shoes. The shoes are supposed to both be pointing towards the door. If you touch your de-shoed foot to that "staging area," you will be sharply rebuked by your girlfriend. If you touch your shoe anywhere else but that staging area, you will also receive a sharp rebuke. Similarly, when leaving, you have to slip your feet back into your shoes without touching the floor first.

* The bathroom also has its own shoes - you slip them on when you enter and slip them off when you leave. Touch the bathroom floor with your feet or the floor of the rest of the house with those bathroom shoes and... well... I don't know what would happen. That's one crime I haven't committed yet.

* In the big cities, like Tokyo for example, the people are used to seeing gaijin (foreigners, literally outside person). But where I am now, in Nara (Pam's parents live here), foreigners are not so common. Consequently, I'm attracting a little more attention here. At the supermarket today, a man crashed into another man with his shopping cart because he was staring at me.

* You can drink sake (rice wine) out of what looks like a tall, skinny shot glass. Or, you can get higher class (and more expensive) sake and drink it out of a box.

* I rode on the shinkansen, or bullet train, today. They can go over 300 kmh (about 190 mph). Looking at the countryside whizz by made me feel like I was watching a movie at double speed. California definitely needs to build one between San Diego and Sacramento with stops in LA, San Jose, and San Francisco inbetween.

* Think movies in the U.S. are expensive? Tickets are $18 here. We saw "I Am Legend" in English with Japanese subtitles.

* In Japan, Mark's birthday ended about an hour and fifteen minutes ago, but in the U.S., where Mark actually is, he's only been 32 for a little over 8 hours. So if Mark's birthday occurs first in Japan even though he isn't here, does he make a sound?

The Electric Town

It's now just after noon on Thursday... The date and time posted is still Pacific time, so that's a bit confusing.

Yesterday was our first full day in Japan. The food, again, did not disappoint. Mister Donut started us off with donuts that tasted far healthier than the American version, though they looked the same. We were then off to Akihabara, a prefecture of Tokyo, known for its electronics, so much so that when we got off the train the sign actually said "Akihabara - The Electric Town." It is well named. Block after block, store after store, sells nothing but electronics. In one store that was 7 stories high, we went floor by floor exploring the latest and greatest in Japanese technology: washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators, musical keyboards, digital cameras, CD players, etc. It was endless - every shop had flashing lights and talking things, either in a gruff Japanese male voice or a very high pitched Japanese woman's voice, trying to persuade you that their merchandise was the best.

We found a McDonald's and had to, of course, go in. We ordered something that does not show up on the American menu - the Mega Tamago. Tamago means egg, and the Mega Tamago is like a Big Mac except it has THREE all beef patties and an egg much like the one you get on a McMuffin. It was the best burger I've had at McDonald's (or, Makudonarudo) since the Arch Deluxe.

We're off now to the Tokyo Parasite Museum, but first, a brief stop at Mister Donut.

Next blog I'll get to what Mark really wants to know about - how to use a Japanese-style toilet.

First Impressions

Greetings from the future... and from Japan. I will not be using any apostrophes, at least for now, until I figure out where it is on the keyboard, just one of the differences that I am discovering in my first 24 hours here.

The flight took about 12 hours, which is a long, long time. It is 3 movies, two lunches, five beverage services, and several episodes of Disney Channel shows long, all on a plane with an upstairs. In all that time, I only managed to offend once as I returned to my seat from a bathroom break. Sitting by the window, I had to essentially throw myself forward to squeeze in due to the scant leg room, and in the process of doing that my shoe grazed the seat of the Japanese passenger sitting on the aisle, a major Japanese faux pas, apparently, according to Pam - one of the rudest things I could have done was touch my shoe to this woman's seat (there's the apostrophe! shift 7!).

Upon arriving, Japan did not disappoint. The escalators from the plane all talked (a lot of things talk here!), accompanied with flashing arrows (either up or down) to let you know, in case you couldn't see, which direction the escalator would be taking you. There were also numerous fun English translations and cartoon caricatures, one, for example, showing a rather distraught man whose luggage had flown down the escalator because he hadn't properly secured it at the top.

My first meal was delicious, a big bowl of spicy, hot ramen soup for only $5, which was very welcome because it is coooold here, around 40 degrees during the day. We got back to her brother's place, which is a super cool bachelor pad in my eyes (very "Japanesy" in his), and collapsed from exhaustion. Now we're off to Mister Donuts for breakfast!

So we survived the trip here. More to come! Sayonara.

Away (again)

In about 16 hours, I'll be landing in Japan, and I will be... IN THE FUTURE!

I'll be 17 hours ahead of you for the next 2 weeks.