Friday, September 17, 2010
Lazy Friday: Excuse us While we Break for a Special Announcement
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming
Thursday, September 16, 2010
8 Days in Japan Day 5: Kyoto Walking GT...
Kicking out a bit later than I hoped, I grab breakfast from a little coffee shop just down the road and around the corner I spotted while wandering the open air mall yesterday and head down the road on foot for Nijo Castle.
Designed by the Shogun as his personal castle, the main building of this fortress is famous for it's so called "nightingale" floors which were added by the Shogun as a security measure out of paranoia. They cause "squeaks" as people walk across them to alert guards to uninvited intruders. It's a large complex with inner/outer walls and moats to secure the Government and an inner Keep in which the Shogun could retreat to if attacked. The outer walls are interesting for being covered with steps on the inside, so archers and defending forces could attain the top of the wall quickly, and sheer rock faces towards the outside. At one lookout point, I'm able to grab a nice half-panorama of the mountains/hills surrounding Kyoto and pictures of the buildings and gardens but no images of the building interiors themselves as photography is banned.
One thing that's nice here as I move on and make my way to the Kyoto International Manga Museum is being inland and having less overall humidity. I decide to skip transit entirely and just keep walking. Arriving at the Museum, I find a rather interesting depository of just about anything you'd want to read - if you could read Japanese. There are some good side displays though and it's worth walking through just to say you've been there and maintain geek cred. A good amount of the collection comes from private collector who operated a rental library of books until he retired in 2005 and there's a stated 300000 manga on site though only 50000 are available on shelves to be read at any given time.
I spend about an hour wandering the place and checking out a few exhibitions on site before heading north to go to the Kyoto Imperial Palace. I stop at a McDonalds on the way 'cause I'm in a hurry and grab a Salt and Lemon Chicken Sandwich then head off to find the Imperial Household Agency information centre to get "permission" to visit the Palace proper - a process that involves them verifying your passport and likely pulling up your name to see if any red flags go off. That done, I get a pass to go on a 1 hour tour of the grounds. This is only possible because, unlike the Palace in Tokyo, the residences have not been occupied by the family since the chair was moved.
The castle itself is a large complex with containing multiple buildings which all feature cypress bark roofs that require replacement every 30 years and take 25 years to all replace across the entire selection - at huge expense. There's an area where one part of the building has just been completely replaced and another is due for replacement where the contrast between the two states is quite evident:
There's also a display of a cross section showing how these roofs are constructed - 10 layers deep connected with bamboo nails which won't rust:
The tour continues on past multiple buildings and gates until you reach an inner Japanese garden: which focuses more on landscaping and water features as a means to reflect the beauty of the islands or specific areas than flower arrangement.
An hour later, as I move on I realize I've cocked this up a bit and probably could have had time to hit some of the outer shrines today that require train travel and still done the core buildings on my get away day. The simple reality is that it would be quite easy to leave your bags at Kyoto Station or Karasuma Oike subway station in the core, grab a subway day pass, and jump quickly between those first three in a few hours in the morning/early afternoon because, even walking, they're all about 20-30 minutes apart. Just remember that, to make the 10 AM Palace tour, you need to get there 40-30 mins ahead of time for clearance. Adjusting a bit, I decide to move the Kyoto History Museum to tomorrow since it's 2 blocks from my hotel and I want to burn some time here before heading back to Tokyo right away since check out is 10, check in is 4, and there's only 2:30 hours needed for the train trip. Instead, I take off for the Kyoto Crafts centre where I grab a gift for... someone to be determined depending on what else I find and move on to some of the Eastern shrines. Though, to be honest here for a sec... Kyoto is full of temples and shrines. If you seriously, absolutely, without a doubt have a craving to OD on Temples and Shrines... Kyoto. There's so many, they don't even all make the tourist map and you'll be wondering if you've gotten where you were going early until you read the sign telling you you've tripped over something you weren't even looking for.
That said, I make my way to Ginkakuji Temple, grabbing another panoramic video of the east side of town as a cross the main viaduct that divides it, and find it sadly closed for the day after 5. So, I proceed down the Philosopher's Path trail (so named because of it's winding path alongside a particularly tranquil riverside surrounded by Cherry Blossom Trees between multiple eastern temples and shrines where individuals would go to be alone with their thoughts), for a bit scavenging shots of a few more temples and shrines that aren't walled off along the way. Come across a small playground that's made of metal and has some rust on it... Quick - someone call the community parent's association and also find out from our city insurer's how much this is costing us!!! Think of the Children!!!
Yes, I am mocking our local tendency to destroy the same playgrounds we grew up on because they're suddenly no longer "safe" for this generation of kids.
Once I had enough wandering, I made my way south east, back to the area where the Sushi place I wanted to hit was supposed to be hiding with better directions this time, passing a museum for a former canal system and the remainder of the construction along the way.
Further on, I poke my head inside a book store to find... the entire place full of Manga compilations and people reading. Heading on and finding my way into the Sushi place this time, I grab a set dinner with a variety of Sushi, some Tempura, and fresh fish sampler and see what there is to see. It's all pretty good, though what I take home from it is that Squid/Octopus is far too spongy/rubbery for my liking and the wasabi here is like taking one quick jet of drano up your sinuses. It's not bad to start, then it just hammers your nostrils/back of your throat with how strong it is once wet and exposed to air in your mouth. It's all good though.
That done, a little wandering through the shops gets followed by me calling it a day...
Designed by the Shogun as his personal castle, the main building of this fortress is famous for it's so called "nightingale" floors which were added by the Shogun as a security measure out of paranoia. They cause "squeaks" as people walk across them to alert guards to uninvited intruders. It's a large complex with inner/outer walls and moats to secure the Government and an inner Keep in which the Shogun could retreat to if attacked. The outer walls are interesting for being covered with steps on the inside, so archers and defending forces could attain the top of the wall quickly, and sheer rock faces towards the outside. At one lookout point, I'm able to grab a nice half-panorama of the mountains/hills surrounding Kyoto and pictures of the buildings and gardens but no images of the building interiors themselves as photography is banned.
One thing that's nice here as I move on and make my way to the Kyoto International Manga Museum is being inland and having less overall humidity. I decide to skip transit entirely and just keep walking. Arriving at the Museum, I find a rather interesting depository of just about anything you'd want to read - if you could read Japanese. There are some good side displays though and it's worth walking through just to say you've been there and maintain geek cred. A good amount of the collection comes from private collector who operated a rental library of books until he retired in 2005 and there's a stated 300000 manga on site though only 50000 are available on shelves to be read at any given time.
I spend about an hour wandering the place and checking out a few exhibitions on site before heading north to go to the Kyoto Imperial Palace. I stop at a McDonalds on the way 'cause I'm in a hurry and grab a Salt and Lemon Chicken Sandwich then head off to find the Imperial Household Agency information centre to get "permission" to visit the Palace proper - a process that involves them verifying your passport and likely pulling up your name to see if any red flags go off. That done, I get a pass to go on a 1 hour tour of the grounds. This is only possible because, unlike the Palace in Tokyo, the residences have not been occupied by the family since the chair was moved.
The castle itself is a large complex with containing multiple buildings which all feature cypress bark roofs that require replacement every 30 years and take 25 years to all replace across the entire selection - at huge expense. There's an area where one part of the building has just been completely replaced and another is due for replacement where the contrast between the two states is quite evident:
There's also a display of a cross section showing how these roofs are constructed - 10 layers deep connected with bamboo nails which won't rust:
The tour continues on past multiple buildings and gates until you reach an inner Japanese garden: which focuses more on landscaping and water features as a means to reflect the beauty of the islands or specific areas than flower arrangement.
An hour later, as I move on I realize I've cocked this up a bit and probably could have had time to hit some of the outer shrines today that require train travel and still done the core buildings on my get away day. The simple reality is that it would be quite easy to leave your bags at Kyoto Station or Karasuma Oike subway station in the core, grab a subway day pass, and jump quickly between those first three in a few hours in the morning/early afternoon because, even walking, they're all about 20-30 minutes apart. Just remember that, to make the 10 AM Palace tour, you need to get there 40-30 mins ahead of time for clearance. Adjusting a bit, I decide to move the Kyoto History Museum to tomorrow since it's 2 blocks from my hotel and I want to burn some time here before heading back to Tokyo right away since check out is 10, check in is 4, and there's only 2:30 hours needed for the train trip. Instead, I take off for the Kyoto Crafts centre where I grab a gift for... someone to be determined depending on what else I find and move on to some of the Eastern shrines. Though, to be honest here for a sec... Kyoto is full of temples and shrines. If you seriously, absolutely, without a doubt have a craving to OD on Temples and Shrines... Kyoto. There's so many, they don't even all make the tourist map and you'll be wondering if you've gotten where you were going early until you read the sign telling you you've tripped over something you weren't even looking for.
That said, I make my way to Ginkakuji Temple, grabbing another panoramic video of the east side of town as a cross the main viaduct that divides it, and find it sadly closed for the day after 5. So, I proceed down the Philosopher's Path trail (so named because of it's winding path alongside a particularly tranquil riverside surrounded by Cherry Blossom Trees between multiple eastern temples and shrines where individuals would go to be alone with their thoughts), for a bit scavenging shots of a few more temples and shrines that aren't walled off along the way. Come across a small playground that's made of metal and has some rust on it... Quick - someone call the community parent's association and also find out from our city insurer's how much this is costing us!!! Think of the Children!!!
Yes, I am mocking our local tendency to destroy the same playgrounds we grew up on because they're suddenly no longer "safe" for this generation of kids.
Once I had enough wandering, I made my way south east, back to the area where the Sushi place I wanted to hit was supposed to be hiding with better directions this time, passing a museum for a former canal system and the remainder of the construction along the way.
Further on, I poke my head inside a book store to find... the entire place full of Manga compilations and people reading. Heading on and finding my way into the Sushi place this time, I grab a set dinner with a variety of Sushi, some Tempura, and fresh fish sampler and see what there is to see. It's all pretty good, though what I take home from it is that Squid/Octopus is far too spongy/rubbery for my liking and the wasabi here is like taking one quick jet of drano up your sinuses. It's not bad to start, then it just hammers your nostrils/back of your throat with how strong it is once wet and exposed to air in your mouth. It's all good though.
That done, a little wandering through the shops gets followed by me calling it a day...
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
8 Days in Japan Day 4: Chugga-Chugga... Chugga-Chugga... Choo-Choo...
Find the iPod hiding exactly where it was supposed to be though somehow tucked inside the leather. Packed and good to go I head out of the hotel - almost walking off with the ethernet cable they provided and also being chased to the door by a helpful owner bringing me back for an umbrella who I had to disappoint by getting the one I had from my bag.
Hitting the JR Line to head to Tokyo during rush hour for the first time I begin to realize that the crowding reputation might be tied to the trains more than the metro as they move more commuters in from the equivalent of the suburbs there. It's pretty packed, though not OMGWTF packed, and people are basically filing out just to see their spots replaced. Upon arriving at Tokyo Station again I grab a sandwich - they like to chop their bread into nice squares and remove the crust - find out which track my train is at, and head up to wait.
I'll be taking a Shinkansen to Kyoto but not the Shinkansen. The newer Nozomi lines - which are the newest trains and express lines - aren't covered under my Rail Pass so I'll be travelling on the older Hikari lines. 15-16 cars long with plenty of seats (13 aisles, 5 seats wide), these critters are designed to move people and move them fast. If you can, watch one of these trains coming into the station as it's last stop. Crews will be waiting there for them to speed clean the cars- they move from one end of the car to the other wiping down all the seats, changing the head rest coverings, and rotating the chairs to face the new direction in teams of two to three. Anyways, once these trains get going they move along at a good clip - I tried to get a video of two trains passing and in the time I was able to see the other train, hit the button, and record the passing I only grabbed like 1-2 seconds of film.
The train trip from Tokyo to Kyoto these days is like driving from Toronto to Hamilton on the QEW only with tunnels through the hillsides and occasional rice paddies in place of farms separating housing and factory space that's now Japanese in construction and/or signage. There's some nice background scenery as the hills are covered in wisps of the overcast but it's hard to shoot with posts and buildings nearby flying into view as you shoot past - damned Newtonian Physics.
Arriving in Kyoto, I grab a beef and rice dish for lunch which is pretty good. I then hop the subway to my Hotel here and find I made a much better choice the second time through - I'm smack dab in the middle of Kyoto's entertainment and shopping district, one stop from the Subway line hub, and there's no shortage of places to eat just about anything you'd want to grab here. I spend some time walking through the Open Air mall here and receive another reminder as to why they're awesome...
Seriously, I want to open a store in the Eaton Centre selling these shirts. Wait, the "It Store" went bankrupt so I probably shouldn't...
I browse through there until a little after check-in at the hotel and then grab my room. It's nicer than my one in Tokyo, with a view of the Buddhist Graveyard for the temple out my window. They also do this little trick I'm torn between calling annoying and cute and make you use your key to turn on power to the room proper so you'll never lose it - it's in the wall by the door. No free internet in my room here though.
After a little foot rest, I head out for the Gion district - one of the last remaining Geisha districts in Japan.
The thing you notice upon entering is how all the all the buildings on the street have bamboo curtains over their windows for privacy. You can't actually visit these buildings because Geisha are a combination of entertainers in the artistic sense, and professional hostesses in actual practice; not prostitutes. Because of this, trying to get into a Geisha house uninvited or without proper introduction "to see the show" is a good way to get your ass kicked and tossed in jail for trespass because it's profoundly rude. I do manage to see a couple Geisha, or perhaps Maino trainees, traversing the street to their buildings though am leery of taking photos less I violate personal space.
In the back of the street there's an Art House called Gion Corner dedicated to Japanese arts with a subset focus on those that are of interest to actual Geisha work. It's a bit expensive to see the show there but it's a nice little set whose only real problem is the opening act where the Tea Ceremony, Flower Arrangement, and traditional instrument segments overlap each other and force you to choose between watching either the Flower Arrangement or Tea Ceremony in full. Also, people, really... you don't need flash when shooting performers working on a 360 lit stage. Turn it off. Especially you in the first row 2' away...
Heading back, I wander up a riverside walking corridor past ultra-expensive fusion restaurants and fine eateries looking for a Sushi place I saw in the guide. Failing entirely after a while I stumble upon a TGIF, listen to my stomach, and just go "Fuck It". That actually turned out really well 'cause I had what was probably the best, if a bit expensive at ~1500 yen, Cheeseburger I've ever had anywhere. Thick beef patty cooked to perfection, and with huge slices of red onion, lettuce, and tomato as toppings it makes me want to see if there's one in Toronto and they're just as good there.
With dinner out of the way at about 9, I head back to the hotel and call it a day.
Hitting the JR Line to head to Tokyo during rush hour for the first time I begin to realize that the crowding reputation might be tied to the trains more than the metro as they move more commuters in from the equivalent of the suburbs there. It's pretty packed, though not OMGWTF packed, and people are basically filing out just to see their spots replaced. Upon arriving at Tokyo Station again I grab a sandwich - they like to chop their bread into nice squares and remove the crust - find out which track my train is at, and head up to wait.
I'll be taking a Shinkansen to Kyoto but not the Shinkansen. The newer Nozomi lines - which are the newest trains and express lines - aren't covered under my Rail Pass so I'll be travelling on the older Hikari lines. 15-16 cars long with plenty of seats (13 aisles, 5 seats wide), these critters are designed to move people and move them fast. If you can, watch one of these trains coming into the station as it's last stop. Crews will be waiting there for them to speed clean the cars- they move from one end of the car to the other wiping down all the seats, changing the head rest coverings, and rotating the chairs to face the new direction in teams of two to three. Anyways, once these trains get going they move along at a good clip - I tried to get a video of two trains passing and in the time I was able to see the other train, hit the button, and record the passing I only grabbed like 1-2 seconds of film.
The train trip from Tokyo to Kyoto these days is like driving from Toronto to Hamilton on the QEW only with tunnels through the hillsides and occasional rice paddies in place of farms separating housing and factory space that's now Japanese in construction and/or signage. There's some nice background scenery as the hills are covered in wisps of the overcast but it's hard to shoot with posts and buildings nearby flying into view as you shoot past - damned Newtonian Physics.
Arriving in Kyoto, I grab a beef and rice dish for lunch which is pretty good. I then hop the subway to my Hotel here and find I made a much better choice the second time through - I'm smack dab in the middle of Kyoto's entertainment and shopping district, one stop from the Subway line hub, and there's no shortage of places to eat just about anything you'd want to grab here. I spend some time walking through the Open Air mall here and receive another reminder as to why they're awesome...
Seriously, I want to open a store in the Eaton Centre selling these shirts. Wait, the "It Store" went bankrupt so I probably shouldn't...
I browse through there until a little after check-in at the hotel and then grab my room. It's nicer than my one in Tokyo, with a view of the Buddhist Graveyard for the temple out my window. They also do this little trick I'm torn between calling annoying and cute and make you use your key to turn on power to the room proper so you'll never lose it - it's in the wall by the door. No free internet in my room here though.
After a little foot rest, I head out for the Gion district - one of the last remaining Geisha districts in Japan.
The thing you notice upon entering is how all the all the buildings on the street have bamboo curtains over their windows for privacy. You can't actually visit these buildings because Geisha are a combination of entertainers in the artistic sense, and professional hostesses in actual practice; not prostitutes. Because of this, trying to get into a Geisha house uninvited or without proper introduction "to see the show" is a good way to get your ass kicked and tossed in jail for trespass because it's profoundly rude. I do manage to see a couple Geisha, or perhaps Maino trainees, traversing the street to their buildings though am leery of taking photos less I violate personal space.
In the back of the street there's an Art House called Gion Corner dedicated to Japanese arts with a subset focus on those that are of interest to actual Geisha work. It's a bit expensive to see the show there but it's a nice little set whose only real problem is the opening act where the Tea Ceremony, Flower Arrangement, and traditional instrument segments overlap each other and force you to choose between watching either the Flower Arrangement or Tea Ceremony in full. Also, people, really... you don't need flash when shooting performers working on a 360 lit stage. Turn it off. Especially you in the first row 2' away...
Heading back, I wander up a riverside walking corridor past ultra-expensive fusion restaurants and fine eateries looking for a Sushi place I saw in the guide. Failing entirely after a while I stumble upon a TGIF, listen to my stomach, and just go "Fuck It". That actually turned out really well 'cause I had what was probably the best, if a bit expensive at ~1500 yen, Cheeseburger I've ever had anywhere. Thick beef patty cooked to perfection, and with huge slices of red onion, lettuce, and tomato as toppings it makes me want to see if there's one in Toronto and they're just as good there.
With dinner out of the way at about 9, I head back to the hotel and call it a day.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
8 Days in Japan Day 3: Ueno Park and Shop
Throat's feeling better after a good night's sleep but I've somehow managed to misplace my iPod in the process of turning the alarm off this morning. I'll find it when it starts blaring Arcade Fire tomorrow morning - or else a ninja managed to sneak into my room and lift it, and only it, while leaving the Laptop and Camera behind when I was in the shower. They must've really wanted my collection of CBC Radio 3 podcasts if that's the case. Applying lessons learned yesterday, today I head out with just a tiny notebook to write down things that amuse me and my camera.
Stop at a little subway cafe called "Vie De France" where the air is full of "french" elevator music and the smell of baked bread. Grab a surprisingly good pastrami sub for breakfast. One thing I have to get used to is the "automatic" doors here - many stores, such as this one, have installed pressure pads in place of handles and instead of movement sensors to trigger them which is rather unique and makes sense for the high traffic areas they're used.
Hop the JR Line and take the train to Ueno Park - a large site in north Tokyo with a Zoo, multiple museums, and shrines/temples galore - and hit the National Museum of Western Art to start. They've an exhibition of art on loan from the Museum of Capodimonte in Naples which is largely Italian in nature and, thus, alternates between Christian and Roman themes. The one thing you really note from it is how, in all the depictions of Venus, Goddess of Beauty, she's kinda... full figured and flat chested; which stands out in contrast to how she'd likely be depicted today. The remainder of the collection - including a large selection of Rodin's work - suffers from it's apparent origination as someone's private hoard. There's a certain sameness to themes and craftsmanship of the work that runs throughout until you get into some of the smaller or newer collections driven by recent purchases - like the Monets and the modern art collection where this one piece by Albert Gleizes stands out for being the largest Mad Magazine fold in ever. It's a really impressive piece of work to see how he's managed to fit farmers into the painting while also making it look like one giant overhead view of farmland.
Outside the building is also where I first come across, or at least notice, umbrella lockers; a place to chain up your umbrella so you don't bring it dripping into the building and a common sense development for a country where it can be either rainy or sunny in spades.
From there, we hop next door to the National Museum of Nature and Science. It's exactly what you'd expect it to be, only subdivided into a Japan specific building and a "Global" building. The Global building is the newer of the two and the thing that really stands out about it is how they don't waste any time on the whole creationism/evolution debate in the nature sections: it's simply "here's a shit ton of evidence for the later, deal with it" which is kinda refreshing. While pretty much all of the text descriptions here are in Japanese, there's a good percentage of it available translated on touch screen machines near the displays so you won't be completely lost as to what's in front of you or why it's important. One thing I didn't like was how stale the air within the building was and it was frequently almost as muggy inside as out. Over in the Japan building - which is the original Museum Building - you get the feeling someone was drawing inspiration for it's construction from the same place as the ROM was. While definitely having local touches to it's design, the building itself is very much laid out like the original ROM building - wings to right and left, central atrium open to all floors in the the middle, stairs to the back of the atrium opposite the main entrance, stairs at the end of each wing - and the stonework construction feels very familiar.
Finishing up there, I head out and start Wandering Ueno Park proper looking for lunch - new rule: since I'm not going to lug the book, write some of the restaurant suggestion addresses from the guide out onto the notepad for the area's you'll be visiting dummy. In the process of doing this, I stumble upon Toshogu Shrine... which is covered entirely by construction scaffolding draped in white cloth and has a picture of the Shrine itself hanging from the front facing.
Moving on, I wander the park until I come across a small pizza place outside the Zoo entrance proper and decide: "What the hell, let's see what Japanese Pizza tastes like." This theme will continue later, but for the moment the answer is: "Kinda like Pizza Hut pizza, only on really thin crust (save the ends), and with better toppings." Having enough of museums, and you could really spend the whole day here seeing just that 'cause there's another 4 or so on site, I pop into the Zoo 'cause I want to see the polar bears. Murphy's law wins out and it's the only part of the zoo that's under the construction but the other bears range from "are you sure those aren't cubs?" too "yeah, now that's a real bear". To be honest though, the one downside to this zoo is that, being cramped into a section of the park, it doesn't have large pastures or fields you're used to seeing lavished on the bigger animals at the Toronto Zoo. So, the Elephant Pen is literally a pen; big enough to let them get around a bit and have some personal space but not much more.
By now it's getting late in the day so I wander out though the south side of the park - finding one of the only vending machines in Tokyo with Canada Dry in stock in the process - and loop around the Pond surrounding the Benzaitan Temple to see the Yushima Tenmangu Shrine. It's a really nice piece of woodwork.
From here we hop the metro and kick over to Asakusa where there's a huge open air shopping district - apparently the original merchant's quarter in Tokyo and Sensoji Temple.
Wandering through the vendors, I grab an "Italian Leather" belt for ~1900 yen, 'cause my jeans are getting loose over here and do some browsing for a small tote bag to throw my notepad in so I don't have to hold it in my hand all the time. While not finding exactly what I want there, I do stumble upon an Arcade with Gundam Combat pods set up with a VR sphere and controls straight out of Virtual ON you can play multiplayer Mech battles in against players from across Japan. I'll have to try that later this week while I'm here but move on 'cause I don't want to take the time to set it up at the moment. Also worth noting - the arcade is mostly filled with older people chain smoking and playing gambling machines.
Heading on, I find my way to Sensoji temple which is another really nice piece of craftsmanship, though perhaps too crowded/touristy/now within the city for it's own good. There's also a goldfish/koi pond on site.
I move on from there to do a bit more browsing through the district - there's a really large section here depicted to cooking tools but bringing a nice set of knives back when I've only got carry-on baggage would be... problematic. I wander through a couple department stores: the Rox where I find Greenday's latest CD - for ~2600 yen, obscene when you also see Harry Potter DVD's for 870 - and Matsuya Asakusa where the department store depression you see in North America has throughly set in - it's 8 above ground floors now a mere three, one of which a train station, and the basement filled with a grocery store. Speaking of which, where in Canada the grocery stores going 24 hours basically ran off the major Convenience store chains, franchises like 7/11 are vibrant and plentiful here. Also: your best chance for an ATM that will talk to your credit/debit card.
Time for dinner, I stumble across two places. First, a doughnut shop called Mister Donut where I get one of my favourite kinds: double chocolate with whipped cream filling which is really good and hard to find since Timmies ran off all competition back home. I'm also given what I hope is my final reminder that ordering unflavoured ice tea means ordering exactly that: cold tea. Not recommended. Moving on, I bypass all the McDonalds and the like and run into a local Hamburger place to see what that's like. From the taste of it, they take the Ham part of Hamburger a bit literally and make their patties from pork but it's pretty good and they have excellent potato cut fries that are really nice.
Feeling less tired than yesterday, I shoot down to south Tokyo and get an... underwhelming picture of the Rainbow Bridge after dark.
Giving up on trying to get closer or make my camera take a picture it just doesn't want to, I wind my way back to Daikon station; stumbling across Pokemon Central Tokyo - the Pokemon Store - in the process. Filled with toys, various Pokemon branded paraphernalia, stuffed animals, and a "Customer Service" desk for fixing your game/providing help, I know at least one person whose bank card would jump screaming from their wallet and run for the hills if they got within spitting distance of the place.
There you go, day down, train to Kyoto in the morning. From the looks of the weather forecast, I've fluked into the perfect trip- when it's been raining in Kyoto, it's been dry in Tokyo. As I head into Kyoto tomorrow, it's about to get sunny there and the rain is coming to Tokyo...
Stop at a little subway cafe called "Vie De France" where the air is full of "french" elevator music and the smell of baked bread. Grab a surprisingly good pastrami sub for breakfast. One thing I have to get used to is the "automatic" doors here - many stores, such as this one, have installed pressure pads in place of handles and instead of movement sensors to trigger them which is rather unique and makes sense for the high traffic areas they're used.
Hop the JR Line and take the train to Ueno Park - a large site in north Tokyo with a Zoo, multiple museums, and shrines/temples galore - and hit the National Museum of Western Art to start. They've an exhibition of art on loan from the Museum of Capodimonte in Naples which is largely Italian in nature and, thus, alternates between Christian and Roman themes. The one thing you really note from it is how, in all the depictions of Venus, Goddess of Beauty, she's kinda... full figured and flat chested; which stands out in contrast to how she'd likely be depicted today. The remainder of the collection - including a large selection of Rodin's work - suffers from it's apparent origination as someone's private hoard. There's a certain sameness to themes and craftsmanship of the work that runs throughout until you get into some of the smaller or newer collections driven by recent purchases - like the Monets and the modern art collection where this one piece by Albert Gleizes stands out for being the largest Mad Magazine fold in ever. It's a really impressive piece of work to see how he's managed to fit farmers into the painting while also making it look like one giant overhead view of farmland.
Outside the building is also where I first come across, or at least notice, umbrella lockers; a place to chain up your umbrella so you don't bring it dripping into the building and a common sense development for a country where it can be either rainy or sunny in spades.
From there, we hop next door to the National Museum of Nature and Science. It's exactly what you'd expect it to be, only subdivided into a Japan specific building and a "Global" building. The Global building is the newer of the two and the thing that really stands out about it is how they don't waste any time on the whole creationism/evolution debate in the nature sections: it's simply "here's a shit ton of evidence for the later, deal with it" which is kinda refreshing. While pretty much all of the text descriptions here are in Japanese, there's a good percentage of it available translated on touch screen machines near the displays so you won't be completely lost as to what's in front of you or why it's important. One thing I didn't like was how stale the air within the building was and it was frequently almost as muggy inside as out. Over in the Japan building - which is the original Museum Building - you get the feeling someone was drawing inspiration for it's construction from the same place as the ROM was. While definitely having local touches to it's design, the building itself is very much laid out like the original ROM building - wings to right and left, central atrium open to all floors in the the middle, stairs to the back of the atrium opposite the main entrance, stairs at the end of each wing - and the stonework construction feels very familiar.
Finishing up there, I head out and start Wandering Ueno Park proper looking for lunch - new rule: since I'm not going to lug the book, write some of the restaurant suggestion addresses from the guide out onto the notepad for the area's you'll be visiting dummy. In the process of doing this, I stumble upon Toshogu Shrine... which is covered entirely by construction scaffolding draped in white cloth and has a picture of the Shrine itself hanging from the front facing.
Moving on, I wander the park until I come across a small pizza place outside the Zoo entrance proper and decide: "What the hell, let's see what Japanese Pizza tastes like." This theme will continue later, but for the moment the answer is: "Kinda like Pizza Hut pizza, only on really thin crust (save the ends), and with better toppings." Having enough of museums, and you could really spend the whole day here seeing just that 'cause there's another 4 or so on site, I pop into the Zoo 'cause I want to see the polar bears. Murphy's law wins out and it's the only part of the zoo that's under the construction but the other bears range from "are you sure those aren't cubs?" too "yeah, now that's a real bear". To be honest though, the one downside to this zoo is that, being cramped into a section of the park, it doesn't have large pastures or fields you're used to seeing lavished on the bigger animals at the Toronto Zoo. So, the Elephant Pen is literally a pen; big enough to let them get around a bit and have some personal space but not much more.
By now it's getting late in the day so I wander out though the south side of the park - finding one of the only vending machines in Tokyo with Canada Dry in stock in the process - and loop around the Pond surrounding the Benzaitan Temple to see the Yushima Tenmangu Shrine. It's a really nice piece of woodwork.
From here we hop the metro and kick over to Asakusa where there's a huge open air shopping district - apparently the original merchant's quarter in Tokyo and Sensoji Temple.
Wandering through the vendors, I grab an "Italian Leather" belt for ~1900 yen, 'cause my jeans are getting loose over here and do some browsing for a small tote bag to throw my notepad in so I don't have to hold it in my hand all the time. While not finding exactly what I want there, I do stumble upon an Arcade with Gundam Combat pods set up with a VR sphere and controls straight out of Virtual ON you can play multiplayer Mech battles in against players from across Japan. I'll have to try that later this week while I'm here but move on 'cause I don't want to take the time to set it up at the moment. Also worth noting - the arcade is mostly filled with older people chain smoking and playing gambling machines.
Heading on, I find my way to Sensoji temple which is another really nice piece of craftsmanship, though perhaps too crowded/touristy/now within the city for it's own good. There's also a goldfish/koi pond on site.
I move on from there to do a bit more browsing through the district - there's a really large section here depicted to cooking tools but bringing a nice set of knives back when I've only got carry-on baggage would be... problematic. I wander through a couple department stores: the Rox where I find Greenday's latest CD - for ~2600 yen, obscene when you also see Harry Potter DVD's for 870 - and Matsuya Asakusa where the department store depression you see in North America has throughly set in - it's 8 above ground floors now a mere three, one of which a train station, and the basement filled with a grocery store. Speaking of which, where in Canada the grocery stores going 24 hours basically ran off the major Convenience store chains, franchises like 7/11 are vibrant and plentiful here. Also: your best chance for an ATM that will talk to your credit/debit card.
Time for dinner, I stumble across two places. First, a doughnut shop called Mister Donut where I get one of my favourite kinds: double chocolate with whipped cream filling which is really good and hard to find since Timmies ran off all competition back home. I'm also given what I hope is my final reminder that ordering unflavoured ice tea means ordering exactly that: cold tea. Not recommended. Moving on, I bypass all the McDonalds and the like and run into a local Hamburger place to see what that's like. From the taste of it, they take the Ham part of Hamburger a bit literally and make their patties from pork but it's pretty good and they have excellent potato cut fries that are really nice.
Feeling less tired than yesterday, I shoot down to south Tokyo and get an... underwhelming picture of the Rainbow Bridge after dark.
Giving up on trying to get closer or make my camera take a picture it just doesn't want to, I wind my way back to Daikon station; stumbling across Pokemon Central Tokyo - the Pokemon Store - in the process. Filled with toys, various Pokemon branded paraphernalia, stuffed animals, and a "Customer Service" desk for fixing your game/providing help, I know at least one person whose bank card would jump screaming from their wallet and run for the hills if they got within spitting distance of the place.
There you go, day down, train to Kyoto in the morning. From the looks of the weather forecast, I've fluked into the perfect trip- when it's been raining in Kyoto, it's been dry in Tokyo. As I head into Kyoto tomorrow, it's about to get sunny there and the rain is coming to Tokyo...
Monday, September 13, 2010
8 Days in Japan Day 2: Tokyo Underground... and Above
I'm doing some extra running around today 'cause me throat's being a little bastard. Unfortunately, the doctor at the clinic was sick but I've managed to find a pharmacy where I should be able to get some familiar meds later so we carry on valiantly for now...
Because my throat's bothering me, I grab an "Original" Hot Dog from a small specialty shop in the basement of the Tokyo Midtown building. It's a Hot Dog with onions underneath and some sort of spice on the top that I can't remember where I've had before. Its... edible and the first food I've had since I landed so I downed it with a Ginger Ale - we'll get back to this later. With regards to this, my Hotel is functional but if I ever do this again I'm probably staying someplace that serves breakfast - or at least doing some research as to what breakfast is here. There's very little obvious available in this regard within the vicinity that's easy to find with many restaurants not opening until 10 or so for brunch.
Wandering through the streets around Roppongi early in the day is like walking through a ghost town: the only people I saw with regularity were construction and street cleaners. It's surprisingly empty considering there's office towers all around me. We'll also get back to this later.
Apple Store Ginza is just like any other Apple store. The replacement cable is also $20. Fuck that: the battery's barely being drained as I'm using the device as an alarm so it can wait until I'm wandering through Akihabara later this week and likely find a knock off for a trivial amount. Ginza's the "boutique" district and it shows - there are tons of major brands with huge stores here and more than one department store. It's also populated with young professionals and old money and thoroughly alive.
As I meander the area - getting completely turned around in my efforts to try and get to the right Subway for Odaiba - I quickly learn that cars aren't your enemy in Tokyo; bicyclists are. The major thoroughfares don't subdivide the city in the same sense that every street in Toronto does so once you're off them cars are most frequently found traveling down single or two lane side streets at a leasurely pace that makes them easy to avoid. Bikes, on the other hand, "own the road" and despite almost always having bells are vary rarely noticed or bother to make their presence known, if at all, until they're siting in your peripherals and just about to run you down anyways. They're silent assassins. The transit system here is also so good you just don't see the traffic loads you do in Toronto within the city proper and a good percentage of the cars you do see are Taxis and delivery vehicles. The truely hard part in both cases is retraining yourself for the reality that the trafic flow is reversed when looking left and right to cross the streets - here the car that's going to kill you instantly is now on your right while the one you're going to walk into is on your left.
About this time, I'm regretting bringing my laptop bag and coming to the conclusion that Tokyo's a nice place to visit but too humid at the moment for my personal tastes; not that I should really expect different from an oceanside town to be fair. I'm going to be showering 12 layers of sweat off when I get back to the Hotel - though the real stress on the system is going from hot, humid, and slimy to full air conditioning (where that gets extra chilling), and everything inbetween on a regular basis - and the bag is extra weight draging me down in the heat. Tomorrow we're cleaning the baggage requirements up a bit.
Odaiba is a man-made extension into Tokyo Bay originally expected to be a business district before the 90's property crash and now home to a variety of condos, outlet malls, beach complex, maritime museum and, most importantly, The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation or Miraikan: where ASIMO comes out to play on a schedule. It's a fun little display but spoiled by the the robot's failure to chant it's general wish to "destroy all humans!!!!" Bender style.
Also neat is an LCD globe that displays near real time video of global weather patterns and the Earth itself alongside surface maps of the Moon and Mars.
You can lay on little Ikea psychiatrist couches below it and look up as others rotate the globe and show you different areas while relaxing music plays in the background. The rest is general science centre stuff; though you probably would't have Doraemon delivering a feature exhibit on future Robotic technology at yours. In the middle of this I grab some stewed beef and rice for lunch alongside another Ginger Ale - the waiter serves me Canada Dry in some little beer bottle like it's fine wine. Interestingly I've not seen this at stores anywhere, despite actively looking for it to throw at my throat, yet restaurants seem to have it in spades which makes me wonder if I'm being elitist not asking for Coke.
If you're going to go to Odaiba though; be sure to figure out how to get a day pass - Tokyo Round Trip Ticket - for the metro. The Yurikanome line into there is stupid expensive and will justify that by at almost half just getting in and out. Where regular lines are frequently 160 to 250 a trip to cover a fairly significant part of Tokyo - espeically if you're not jumping between the two companies a lot on the way - it will run you 160 to go one stop, then seemingly jump to 300 and add close ~10 yen per stop from there on out. Your best bet is to pay to simply get on to the island and then walk; it's not that big a place and, despite some construction going on, is rather nicely landscaped overall with lots of green space.
Also on Odaiba is a massive ferris wheel like the one in London - I'm not sure where the driving force/tradition for these in major urban centres has come from lately - and a comparitively minute replica of the Statue of Liberty.
From the western side you can see the Rainbow Bridge: so named because it apparently lights up through the night though, getting increasingly tired, I didn't stick around to see this like I hoped too.
Heading back into the metro I note that, like driving, escalator pathing is frequently reversed (left up, right down), and this also follows suggested traffic flow within the paths and sidewalks. Stairs and walkways into Subways and PATH-like underground areas frequently have signs telling you to stay to your left, arrows on the floors suggesting traffic flow - which no one really pays attention to hardcore when the hallway is clear - and yellow strips dividing the path like road painting.
I go to Tokyo Station, book my train to Kyoto for Wednessday, then proceed to get completely lost within the complex trying to get out on the north side of the building to get to American Pharmacy - where they sell some imported drugs from back home. The station itself is under heavy re-construction so a lot of signage is missing and the place is a maze the size of the Eaton Centre only without the simplicity of being one long hallway with multiple floors. Finally getting out, I walk a couple blocks north and catch the Imperial Palace area. I'm probably gonna have to find a better spot to grab some pictures 'cause all that's readily visible from this side is the public park, gatehouse complex and the outer moat. On the list.
That done, we head back to Roppongi which is where you want to go if you're looking for "normal" food and don't want to risk pissing off your stomach while your throat is already squawking at you; there's a ton of US chain restaurants stashed around here like The Hard Rock Cafe, TGIF, and Outback Steakhouse. It also becomes readilly apparent on second glance that, apparently being the Club District, this area only really comes alive at night. Now surrounded by people dressed for a night on the town, I make my way to the Hard Rock Cafe and stumble upon the Canadian and American Business Associations holding their joint Labour Day party for local contacts. Settling in to wait for my meal, the steady feed of classic rock is suddenly interrupted so that the US Representative can run off his welcome speech while closing with a reminder to everyone that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming soon and there's still seats available. Apparently lacking a card like this play, his Canadian counterpart gets up and proceeds to 1) note that he's researched the issue extensively on the Internet - by Googling Labor with a U - and proceeds to take credit on behalf of Canadians everywhere for the creation of the Holiday itself in Toronto before an American latched onto the idea and took it south and 2) play to stereotype and comment on how we probably would've created a holiday for sitting around and drinking beer by the cottage even if it wasn't called Labour Day anyways. Seriously. You can't make up stuff like this. I do wonder if they flipped a coin to decide which one had to remind the invited guests that, once they'd burned through their drink tickets - and apparently most had - drinks were 500 yen at the bar. At least the American lost that...
Heading home at a little after 7 - oh, they don't seem to do DST so sun's up at 5:30 and going down about ~6:30ish this early in the year - is the first time the subway feels crowded; though more in the morning/evening Toronto Rush sense than the absolute chaos sense. I also figure out how I missed my stop the first time I was heading to the hotel - there's express trains to the the Keisei line to Narita Airport terminal that don't stop here. Read signage; change trains.
Showered and back in the Hotel, we're done for the day.
Because my throat's bothering me, I grab an "Original" Hot Dog from a small specialty shop in the basement of the Tokyo Midtown building. It's a Hot Dog with onions underneath and some sort of spice on the top that I can't remember where I've had before. Its... edible and the first food I've had since I landed so I downed it with a Ginger Ale - we'll get back to this later. With regards to this, my Hotel is functional but if I ever do this again I'm probably staying someplace that serves breakfast - or at least doing some research as to what breakfast is here. There's very little obvious available in this regard within the vicinity that's easy to find with many restaurants not opening until 10 or so for brunch.
Wandering through the streets around Roppongi early in the day is like walking through a ghost town: the only people I saw with regularity were construction and street cleaners. It's surprisingly empty considering there's office towers all around me. We'll also get back to this later.
Apple Store Ginza is just like any other Apple store. The replacement cable is also $20. Fuck that: the battery's barely being drained as I'm using the device as an alarm so it can wait until I'm wandering through Akihabara later this week and likely find a knock off for a trivial amount. Ginza's the "boutique" district and it shows - there are tons of major brands with huge stores here and more than one department store. It's also populated with young professionals and old money and thoroughly alive.
As I meander the area - getting completely turned around in my efforts to try and get to the right Subway for Odaiba - I quickly learn that cars aren't your enemy in Tokyo; bicyclists are. The major thoroughfares don't subdivide the city in the same sense that every street in Toronto does so once you're off them cars are most frequently found traveling down single or two lane side streets at a leasurely pace that makes them easy to avoid. Bikes, on the other hand, "own the road" and despite almost always having bells are vary rarely noticed or bother to make their presence known, if at all, until they're siting in your peripherals and just about to run you down anyways. They're silent assassins. The transit system here is also so good you just don't see the traffic loads you do in Toronto within the city proper and a good percentage of the cars you do see are Taxis and delivery vehicles. The truely hard part in both cases is retraining yourself for the reality that the trafic flow is reversed when looking left and right to cross the streets - here the car that's going to kill you instantly is now on your right while the one you're going to walk into is on your left.
About this time, I'm regretting bringing my laptop bag and coming to the conclusion that Tokyo's a nice place to visit but too humid at the moment for my personal tastes; not that I should really expect different from an oceanside town to be fair. I'm going to be showering 12 layers of sweat off when I get back to the Hotel - though the real stress on the system is going from hot, humid, and slimy to full air conditioning (where that gets extra chilling), and everything inbetween on a regular basis - and the bag is extra weight draging me down in the heat. Tomorrow we're cleaning the baggage requirements up a bit.
Odaiba is a man-made extension into Tokyo Bay originally expected to be a business district before the 90's property crash and now home to a variety of condos, outlet malls, beach complex, maritime museum and, most importantly, The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation or Miraikan: where ASIMO comes out to play on a schedule. It's a fun little display but spoiled by the the robot's failure to chant it's general wish to "destroy all humans!!!!" Bender style.
Also neat is an LCD globe that displays near real time video of global weather patterns and the Earth itself alongside surface maps of the Moon and Mars.
You can lay on little Ikea psychiatrist couches below it and look up as others rotate the globe and show you different areas while relaxing music plays in the background. The rest is general science centre stuff; though you probably would't have Doraemon delivering a feature exhibit on future Robotic technology at yours. In the middle of this I grab some stewed beef and rice for lunch alongside another Ginger Ale - the waiter serves me Canada Dry in some little beer bottle like it's fine wine. Interestingly I've not seen this at stores anywhere, despite actively looking for it to throw at my throat, yet restaurants seem to have it in spades which makes me wonder if I'm being elitist not asking for Coke.
If you're going to go to Odaiba though; be sure to figure out how to get a day pass - Tokyo Round Trip Ticket - for the metro. The Yurikanome line into there is stupid expensive and will justify that by at almost half just getting in and out. Where regular lines are frequently 160 to 250 a trip to cover a fairly significant part of Tokyo - espeically if you're not jumping between the two companies a lot on the way - it will run you 160 to go one stop, then seemingly jump to 300 and add close ~10 yen per stop from there on out. Your best bet is to pay to simply get on to the island and then walk; it's not that big a place and, despite some construction going on, is rather nicely landscaped overall with lots of green space.
Also on Odaiba is a massive ferris wheel like the one in London - I'm not sure where the driving force/tradition for these in major urban centres has come from lately - and a comparitively minute replica of the Statue of Liberty.
From the western side you can see the Rainbow Bridge: so named because it apparently lights up through the night though, getting increasingly tired, I didn't stick around to see this like I hoped too.
Heading back into the metro I note that, like driving, escalator pathing is frequently reversed (left up, right down), and this also follows suggested traffic flow within the paths and sidewalks. Stairs and walkways into Subways and PATH-like underground areas frequently have signs telling you to stay to your left, arrows on the floors suggesting traffic flow - which no one really pays attention to hardcore when the hallway is clear - and yellow strips dividing the path like road painting.
I go to Tokyo Station, book my train to Kyoto for Wednessday, then proceed to get completely lost within the complex trying to get out on the north side of the building to get to American Pharmacy - where they sell some imported drugs from back home. The station itself is under heavy re-construction so a lot of signage is missing and the place is a maze the size of the Eaton Centre only without the simplicity of being one long hallway with multiple floors. Finally getting out, I walk a couple blocks north and catch the Imperial Palace area. I'm probably gonna have to find a better spot to grab some pictures 'cause all that's readily visible from this side is the public park, gatehouse complex and the outer moat. On the list.
That done, we head back to Roppongi which is where you want to go if you're looking for "normal" food and don't want to risk pissing off your stomach while your throat is already squawking at you; there's a ton of US chain restaurants stashed around here like The Hard Rock Cafe, TGIF, and Outback Steakhouse. It also becomes readilly apparent on second glance that, apparently being the Club District, this area only really comes alive at night. Now surrounded by people dressed for a night on the town, I make my way to the Hard Rock Cafe and stumble upon the Canadian and American Business Associations holding their joint Labour Day party for local contacts. Settling in to wait for my meal, the steady feed of classic rock is suddenly interrupted so that the US Representative can run off his welcome speech while closing with a reminder to everyone that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming soon and there's still seats available. Apparently lacking a card like this play, his Canadian counterpart gets up and proceeds to 1) note that he's researched the issue extensively on the Internet - by Googling Labor with a U - and proceeds to take credit on behalf of Canadians everywhere for the creation of the Holiday itself in Toronto before an American latched onto the idea and took it south and 2) play to stereotype and comment on how we probably would've created a holiday for sitting around and drinking beer by the cottage even if it wasn't called Labour Day anyways. Seriously. You can't make up stuff like this. I do wonder if they flipped a coin to decide which one had to remind the invited guests that, once they'd burned through their drink tickets - and apparently most had - drinks were 500 yen at the bar. At least the American lost that...
Heading home at a little after 7 - oh, they don't seem to do DST so sun's up at 5:30 and going down about ~6:30ish this early in the year - is the first time the subway feels crowded; though more in the morning/evening Toronto Rush sense than the absolute chaos sense. I also figure out how I missed my stop the first time I was heading to the hotel - there's express trains to the the Keisei line to Narita Airport terminal that don't stop here. Read signage; change trains.
Showered and back in the Hotel, we're done for the day.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
8 Days in Japan: Leaving on a Jet Plane...
Bags are packed, I'm ready to go...
Customs tells ya on the website: "Get a form filled out listing your expensive items/electronics so we don't give you shit when you get back." So, I head off to find the Customs office upon arriving at Pearson. Customs Agent updates this advice: "Yeah, folks were getting us to fill the forms out and then using the 'temporary' exemption to try and import items back into the country or export for resale. No one at the counter, here or there, gives a shit if you have it anymore - they prefer to see receipts of purchase for the items from here - but I'll do it for ya and you take your chances"
Check in and wander my way through the joy that is security clearance. At least they didn't make me take my shoes off this time. Grab a doughy sandwich from the Pearson's Casey's before flight then settle in to wait for boarding 'cause there's really nothing else to do in this dump once you've been funnelled down here. How one designs a modern airport building with so little attention to hospitality management I've no idea.
Finally board the plane and learn upon take-off that, if you're going to fly in a 777, actually pick your seat and get yourself close to the front/middle of the plane. Finding yourself sitting near the tail is like scrambling for the last 'coaster car at Wonderland: you're gonna feel everything... The course of the flight will see 3 meals, bunched into the middle 10 hours of a 12 hour airtime, all of them microwavable != yum. Especially the "eggs" and some sort of tomato paste omlet. Want more Cranberry Digestibles though. Note: when you've 6 hours to blow on a flight there's still very little that compares to Civilization for making hours evaporate. We land and the young Japanese kid who got the window seat on my row and got up once in 12 hours - the last hour to be exact - to use the bathroom waves to his girlfriend 2 rows ahead who also wanted a window seat on a half empty plane with lots of loose seats to cuddle in. He "didn't want to inconvenience me". I'm inwardly face-palming while feeling like an ass for not saying something far sooner...
Narita is surrounded by Farms. Rice paddies from the looks of it. It's also a preposterously bad place to be when more than one International Flight comes in at the same time. One hour later - 50 minutes of which spent standing in line - I'm past the security guy who decides I'm due for some baggage inspection because of the lock dangling from my bag I've already taken off the lockable zipper just in case and exchanging currency.
Redeem my Japan Rail Pass and the attendant gets me ticket on the next Express from Narita to Tokyo station. It's an interesting ride through a mix of farming and small urban areas until you're within Tokyo proper. Sometimes on the trip you get the feeling that there's no urban planning going on here at all as brand new large houses shoot up next to dilapidated buildings or shanties; giving the lingering impression that once you've the deed anything goes. Also: just from looking I'm never driving here. I hate narrow streets. Especially two way ones exactly one car wide.
If you're coming from someplace where you're used to just dropping your fare in and going, you're probably gonna bone yourself at least once. The Subway/Train system here uses "tickets" but the way they work is that you feed the machine when you enter the gate for the station where you're getting on, the machine stamps it, gives it back to you, and then you have to remember (or know... ), to get it back before leaving the gate machine so you can use it to get out at your next stop. Leave your ticket where you got on and you've gotta pay again to get off. The fees also adjust based on how many lines/stops you hit so there's another machine near the gate where you exit that "adjusts" your ticket (ie: charges you more), if necessary so you can get out of the station. It's nowhere near as crowded at the moment as it's reputation but it's also 6:30 PM on a Sunday now. I'm not looking to test the rush hour crowds, but we'll have to see how a weekday goes. The Toei lines have the best ticket machines 'cause you can punch in your destination at many of them and it'll kick back exact fare - including transfers.
People say the Hotel rooms are small: I'd say they're functional. The bathroom on the otherhand... well, if there's an award for fitting all functionallity into a minimum of space, these guys are in line for it.
The downside to no longer being able to take scissors/knives/general sharp objects in carry-on baggage: remembering you need a groundless plug adapter for your laptop, picking it up at the Terminal, and dropping down into your Hotel Bed just in time to be reminded exactly how hard it is to open this god damned form-fit plastic packaging they use now. Off to try and scrounge from the front desk...
One PPV Japanese movie channel, two ad pamphlets for PPV porn, about ten free local TV channels in addition... no mechanism to get alternative audio feeds even if there were any. Suddenly very happy I preloaded my computer with stuff to watch in downtime and CBC Radio 3 comes through the Internet firewall at the Hotel...
Forgot to pack iPod cable... Lists are only as good as what you put on them sooooo, trip to Apple Store Tokyo tomorrow. Nap now.
Customs tells ya on the website: "Get a form filled out listing your expensive items/electronics so we don't give you shit when you get back." So, I head off to find the Customs office upon arriving at Pearson. Customs Agent updates this advice: "Yeah, folks were getting us to fill the forms out and then using the 'temporary' exemption to try and import items back into the country or export for resale. No one at the counter, here or there, gives a shit if you have it anymore - they prefer to see receipts of purchase for the items from here - but I'll do it for ya and you take your chances"
Check in and wander my way through the joy that is security clearance. At least they didn't make me take my shoes off this time. Grab a doughy sandwich from the Pearson's Casey's before flight then settle in to wait for boarding 'cause there's really nothing else to do in this dump once you've been funnelled down here. How one designs a modern airport building with so little attention to hospitality management I've no idea.
Finally board the plane and learn upon take-off that, if you're going to fly in a 777, actually pick your seat and get yourself close to the front/middle of the plane. Finding yourself sitting near the tail is like scrambling for the last 'coaster car at Wonderland: you're gonna feel everything... The course of the flight will see 3 meals, bunched into the middle 10 hours of a 12 hour airtime, all of them microwavable != yum. Especially the "eggs" and some sort of tomato paste omlet. Want more Cranberry Digestibles though. Note: when you've 6 hours to blow on a flight there's still very little that compares to Civilization for making hours evaporate. We land and the young Japanese kid who got the window seat on my row and got up once in 12 hours - the last hour to be exact - to use the bathroom waves to his girlfriend 2 rows ahead who also wanted a window seat on a half empty plane with lots of loose seats to cuddle in. He "didn't want to inconvenience me". I'm inwardly face-palming while feeling like an ass for not saying something far sooner...
Narita is surrounded by Farms. Rice paddies from the looks of it. It's also a preposterously bad place to be when more than one International Flight comes in at the same time. One hour later - 50 minutes of which spent standing in line - I'm past the security guy who decides I'm due for some baggage inspection because of the lock dangling from my bag I've already taken off the lockable zipper just in case and exchanging currency.
Redeem my Japan Rail Pass and the attendant gets me ticket on the next Express from Narita to Tokyo station. It's an interesting ride through a mix of farming and small urban areas until you're within Tokyo proper. Sometimes on the trip you get the feeling that there's no urban planning going on here at all as brand new large houses shoot up next to dilapidated buildings or shanties; giving the lingering impression that once you've the deed anything goes. Also: just from looking I'm never driving here. I hate narrow streets. Especially two way ones exactly one car wide.
If you're coming from someplace where you're used to just dropping your fare in and going, you're probably gonna bone yourself at least once. The Subway/Train system here uses "tickets" but the way they work is that you feed the machine when you enter the gate for the station where you're getting on, the machine stamps it, gives it back to you, and then you have to remember (or know... ), to get it back before leaving the gate machine so you can use it to get out at your next stop. Leave your ticket where you got on and you've gotta pay again to get off. The fees also adjust based on how many lines/stops you hit so there's another machine near the gate where you exit that "adjusts" your ticket (ie: charges you more), if necessary so you can get out of the station. It's nowhere near as crowded at the moment as it's reputation but it's also 6:30 PM on a Sunday now. I'm not looking to test the rush hour crowds, but we'll have to see how a weekday goes. The Toei lines have the best ticket machines 'cause you can punch in your destination at many of them and it'll kick back exact fare - including transfers.
People say the Hotel rooms are small: I'd say they're functional. The bathroom on the otherhand... well, if there's an award for fitting all functionallity into a minimum of space, these guys are in line for it.
The downside to no longer being able to take scissors/knives/general sharp objects in carry-on baggage: remembering you need a groundless plug adapter for your laptop, picking it up at the Terminal, and dropping down into your Hotel Bed just in time to be reminded exactly how hard it is to open this god damned form-fit plastic packaging they use now. Off to try and scrounge from the front desk...
One PPV Japanese movie channel, two ad pamphlets for PPV porn, about ten free local TV channels in addition... no mechanism to get alternative audio feeds even if there were any. Suddenly very happy I preloaded my computer with stuff to watch in downtime and CBC Radio 3 comes through the Internet firewall at the Hotel...
Forgot to pack iPod cable... Lists are only as good as what you put on them sooooo, trip to Apple Store Tokyo tomorrow. Nap now.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Well, that was fun....
oh... and...
Between the two, I'd say Glory of the Ulduar Raider (10M) will probably go down as the more brutal to accomplish at level. Yogg Saron +1 and that god damned Mimiron Firefighter were positively brutal back then while the zone buff in ICC 10 has made a lot of the bosses and achievements trivial - especially if you massively outgear the Raid. In that case, there's really only one fight and one achievement required that remain legitimately hard in ICC 10 at this point - Sindragosa's Hard Mode and All You Can Eat - but Sindragosa is still a far more forgiving fight than Firefighter was at the time and the achievement basically comes down to "stop bitching about your DPS; do your fucking job and manage stacks", for DPS while essentially all the pressure falls on the tanks to effectively swap. If anyone's going to screw up the stacks and force a wipe, it will be them or someone's failing point 1. Everything else in ICC 10 though? ROFLStomp if you have the gear and know what you're doing and you've been doing it for close to 10 months now sooooo....
The ICC 10 Achievement takes a minimum of two weeks - you've got to be really seeking pain to try and do some of the achievements in the middle of a Hard Mode - while the hard modes themselves in Ulduar basically dictated the achievement list save for some early ones so that achievement could be done in one. But, the simple reality is that the Ulduar Drake would likely be the far rarer of the two if it happened to be removed from the game post Ulduar in the same way as the original Naxx Drakes were. It's inarguable that two of those achievements, as mentioned above, simply were "fuck off and die" on the forgiveness meter at the time and the same can not be said of anything in ICC10.
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