TravelStream™ news feed for member beth on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/beth en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 15 May 2009 06:32:40 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241952120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241952120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241952120/tpod.html Fri, 15 May 2009 06:32:40 -0400 Insatiable traveler chooses next temporary place of residence: Japan

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Tokyo, Kanto, Japan

Take me out to the ballgame, take me out with the crowd, Buy me some octopus balls and sushi rolls ... I have to give my sister credit for this adventure. She suggested I go to a baseball game in Tokyo and after I read about how crazy the fans were and how cheap the tickets ($17 for outfield seats), I decided I should definitely take advantage of the opportunity.After an hour discussion on where to sit and how to get tickets, 4 guys from the lab and I were off to a game at the Tokyo Dome to see the Tokyo Giants play the Yokohama Baystars. I had never seen baseball played inside before and it was great to not have to worry about sitting in the sun all day or having a rain delay, but it was a tad warm in the dome. I even noticed Japanese people taking off their outer coats, so I know it was really warm!Unfortunately (at least for one guy who was an avid Giants fan), the only tickets we could get were in the Baystars cheering section so we all became Baystar fans. You see, if you sit in the cheering section, you sort of have no choice but to cheer for the correct team. And this 'cheering' does not mean just shouting the occasional 'Go Team!'. The cheering is extremely organized. The cheering section fans have their own dedicated cheer-leaders who announce the cheers that will be sung, and everyone knows the cheers. The cheering section sings these cheers over and over again the entire time their team is up to bat, all while standing up. Once their team is no longer up to bat, they promptly sit down and it is time for the other teams cheering section to stand up. This goes on for the entire 9 innings. Even though I had no idea what the cheers were, I could still participate by clapping (yes, the clapping is organized into particular rhythms to go along with the cheer) and sing my version of what I was guessing they were saying. It was so much fun that the game just flew by! We purchased beer from the brightly colored beer girls who roamed the stands and at one point someone went out to get food. I was given a hot dog ("when I think of American's I think of hot dogs" I was told by the purchaser) while the others ate fried octopus balls (I snagged one and they were tasty!) and what looked like fried chicken nuggets, but I think they were some other type of meat. The game was really exciting (tied on and off until the seventh when the giants scored a bunch of runs) but I also truthfully spent about half of the time watching the crowd as well. At one point apparently one fan got mad and threw a cup at some other fans and almost instantaneously there were 25 cops/ushers/cleaners (one person seemed to do all these jobs) and they had cleared out a section of the fans and remained watching the section the rest of the game. I was told it was a very unusual occurrence. I also saw someone spill a drink in the stands and instead of just letting it trickle down the floor, he and the cop/usher/cleaner got on their hands and knees and spent 10 minutes cleaning up the spill. That is something I have never seen at a baseball game before! I wonder how they would react to peanut shells .....About 3 hours later, the game was over; the Giants had one. We gathered up our stuff and walked out of the Dome which was an experience in itself. The air pressure inside the Dome is different than outdoors (to hold up the roof) and so when you exit, they hold open the doors to get everyone out fast and you literally get blown out of the stadium. I almost fell flat on my face it was so forceful.I got a great compliment from two of the guys at the game who had actually never been to a game before. They said they appreciated me wanting to go to a game, because then they felt that they too should experience it, and they said they loved it and were definitely planning on attending more games. It's fun when you get someone to experience new things in their own country.I think I'll print out the cheers and try to sing them at the next baseball game I attend in the US and see if I can bring some of the Japanese enthusiasm to the States. Any volunteers to play the trumpet?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241515440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241515440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241515440/tpod.html Tue, 05 May 2009 05:38:57 -0400 Insatiable traveler chooses next temporary place of residence: Japan

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Tokyo, Kanto, Japan

Cell phones are everywhere in Japan. Everyone from 5 years olds to 95 year olds have a cell phone and are all proficient at texting (which is a feat in itself the way you have to text with Japanese characters!)Some interesting features about cell phones:-incoming calls are free (novel for the US but actually this is the way it is in Sweden as well. They can't imagine it any other way - why would you have to pay when someone else calls you?!-'Free nights and weekends' is actually 'free days and weekends' here. It is free to make a call between 9am and 6pm, but starting at 6 you have to pay. Apparently people use their phones more for calling friends then for business during the day.-You can do (almost) everything with a cell phone. You can use it as a subway pass, swiping over the same place you swipe a ticket, some have better picture taking quality than most cameras, you can use it to pay bills ... the list goes on and on.-A lot of business cards and maps have barcodes on them, and if you take a picture of the barcode with your camera, you are taken to either the website of the company, or given directions on how to get there. -Prepaid cards don't seem to exist, or are very unpopular. I looked into getting a phone and there was one prepaid phone I could get but the calling rates were outrageous! Everyone is on a calling plan.-Japan actually does not have 3G and only phones CDMA compatable work here. -Decorating your phone with charms hanging off of it seems like a must. I saw a businessman with a teddy bear dangling from his phone.-Thankfully (and I mean thankfully!) there seems to be a consensus that people leave there phones on vibrate. I guess it is a necessity because otherwise one would hear non-stop ringing from all of the millions of phones. It is so nice not to constantly hear crazy ringtones.-I've seen a few iphones here, but they are definitely not as popular as they are in the US and Sweden.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241431440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241431440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241431440/tpod.html Mon, 04 May 2009 06:37:58 -0400 Insatiable traveler chooses next temporary place of residence: Japan

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Tokyo, Kanto, Japan

Today I decided to turn on my tv and see what was on. Everyone is familiar with the creazy Japanese game shows, but I figured there must be some normal television shows in Japan also. Here is what I found: Channel 1: Elvis kids show Apparently the Elvis trend doesn't just live in the parks here. The host of this children's show was also sporting some Elvis like hair, and disturbingly so were the kids. Apparently the host was judging the kids on different contests (one involved drawing pictures, another involved acting in a skit with a manneqin.) Smoke, bright sets, Japanese Text on the screen - what more could you ask for in a kid's show? Channel 2: Karioke by the outdoor restaurant Why they were singing outside next to a cartoon cutout, I have no idea. Channel 3: The News Notice the background which is like a flower garden. Much prettier than most new station backgrounds. Channel 4: The News This channel is apparently also the news (which you can notice in the left hand corner) but this channel focused on the news surrounding food because for 20 minutes all it talked about was food. Channel 5: Cartoons Even the cartoons show Japanese style eating, and in one scene one of the cartoon characters was wearing a face mask! Channel 6: Another kids show Channel 7: Mystery sock drawer Apparently this drawer was extremely funny becuase the host and the audience kept laughing at it. Must be Japanese humor. Channel 8: Japanese cops/csi A cop show where the police were investigating a phone booth. Imagine, someone using a phone booth instead of a mobile phone in Japan!! Channel 9: NewsThis anchor decided to get dressed up to present the newsChannel 10: Alf!!Even Alf makes an apperance in Japan. In fact, I was talking with the boys at the lab and they said they always watched Alf when they were growing up. Such a universal show!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241351160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241351160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241351160/tpod.html Sun, 03 May 2009 08:05:26 -0400 Insatiable traveler chooses next temporary place of residence: Japan

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Nikko, Kanto, Japan

The trip to Nikko(UNESCO World Heritage site of temple and shrines) began early (and I mean early!) this morning as I awoke at 5:45am to begin the journey. I took the train towards Tokyo and couldn't believe that I saw men in suits on the train, obviously heading to work. Here is is 6:30am on Sunday in the middle of the biggest vacation time in Japan (Golden week) and yet some people can't tear themselves away from work. I guess that is why Japan develops all the neat gadgets ahead of everyone else.I then stopped by a tourist office to buy the World heritage pass (included train and entrance to temples) and then headed to the train platform. It is a little confusing for tourists I guess, because it is only the first two carriages of the train that go to Nikko, as the train splits. Apparently a lot of tourists must have been on the wrong side of the splitting train because the tourist person made sure to point it out to me and write it down. I'm surprised they didn't just hold up a big sign on the platform for the tourists.The train ride is 2.5 hours and no reserved seats so there was a rush for seats because I believe no one really wants to stand for 2.5 hours (if you pay more money you can take a faster train and a reserved seat, but I had the time and not the money).I was a little worried traveling during the time when all (or based by the men I saw going to work, only some) of Japan has vacation days - which are apparently very rare in Japan. In reality it wasn't all that bad - well at least for me as I got a seat.Once I arrived in Nikko I was going to take the bus up the hill to the temples and shrines as it was included in my pass but some man in a uniform with a bullhorn kept saying something and people kept leaving the line and walking up the hill. I assumed he was telling them the bus would be late or something, although I was a bit confused because some people stayed in line, and they were Japanese. I decided to just walk up the hill, and it was a great decision because there was bumper to bumper traffic and during the 20 minute walk I beat the traffic (I kept track). I was right in guessing people were going to head towards the mountains with cars (which I why I decided not to continue on past Nikko and see a lake a waterfall in the mountains). Overall one one of the three main shrines was crowded, and even there I was able to be taller than everyone and take pictures. No one pushes, people just wait patiently in line and eventually everyone gets a turn.I thought the temples and shrines were beautifully decorated and I especially liked how they were surrounded by forest. Nikko is apparently <i>the day trip from Tokyo, but from what I experienced, it is done by Japanese and not tourists. I saw maybe 5 non looking Japanese people (the Thai, Chinese, and Koreans can blend in but the tall white people tend to stick our) and hundreds and hundreds of Japanese people. There were a few English signs, but any explanations given by guides in the temples was in Japanese only. Bring a tour book if you go, or at least read up on it before hand, otherwise it might not be so interesting.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241266920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241266920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241266920/tpod.html Sat, 02 May 2009 08:53:35 -0400 Insatiable traveler chooses next temporary place of residence: Japan

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Tokyo, Japan

Today I got adopted by a Japanese woman and together we watched men with painted white faces dressed as women dance and sing. Just a typical Saturday ...I was trying to decide what to do today and I just happen to come upon the idea to see Kabuki play. I figured that it would be a truly Japanese experience. Kabuki plays are divided into a matinee section (11-3:30) and evening (4:30-9) and tickets for the whole day can be quite expensive, plus it involves a entire day of Kabuki watching. Since I had no idea if I would like Kabuki or not, I decided to just buy a 'one act ticket' (there are 3-4 acts in each section). I checked the famous Kabuki theater website and found that there was ashowing today and that I could get last minute tickets, although I wasa little unclear on the process (I expect to always be a little confused with Japenglish sites). Therefore I set out this morning to get to the theater about 10:30. I waited in line but found out shortly that all the last minute tickets for the first act were sold out, and apparently all last minute tickets are sold 20 minutes before each act (even though the site doesn't list the starting times of the individual acts, so I still do not know how one is supposed to know when the begin).Luckily (or unluckily) I was the sixth person in the line when they told us there were no more seats left, so I got to sit on a bench and wait an hour until the tickets went on sale for the next act. I happen to be behind a Japanese women who was all by herself and who spoke a little English, so she started talking to me. However, after exhausting the English that she knew, she switched back to Japanese apparently thinking I could follow along. She pulled out a map of Japan and we discussed (she spoke Japanese, I nodded and said 'Hai'(yes)) all of the different places in Japan. I could actually follow along with some of what she said (the names of the places she pointed to) and then I could name random places and she would point them out and talk about what was at those places (I assume). From what I understood, she lived in the far south/west of Japan and as visiting her son who lived in Tokyo. I imagine she said she wanted to see Kabuki and everyone in her family said no way, so she came by herself. Next thing I know she is having someone take a picture of us, digging out things of her purse (one of which was a fan which she signed and gave to me) and then decided it was time for a Japanese writing lesson. She again went digging in her purse and wrote down her address in Romanji (english letters) and in Japanese. Then I was to write my address, apparently so she could sent me pictures (She was the first japanese person I have ever seen that did not have a digital camera but instead had a disposable camera! I was beginning to question her true Japaneseness). I honestly do not know how (or what) we conversed about for an hour but suddenly everyone stood up to purchase tickets and enter the theater. She told me what the price was, but I misunderstood and she must have seen I only had $10 out instead of $11 so when she went to get her money, she got a $1 coin out and gave it to me. We bought tickets, climbed the steps to the special 'one act viewing' area (the 4th floor way in the back of the theater) and got seats. Next thing I know she runs off. When she comes, she has purchased lunch for both of us. Yes, we were in a theater, but since people are (trapped) in there for the entire day, it is very common to bring lunches and drinks to eat during the breaks. Kabuki is a style of Japanese theater that is focused around the actors, and to become a Kabuki actor, you are often born into it - your father is a famous actor. That is right, all actors are male in Kabuki, so even the female roles are played by men.The acts I saw were very diverse, as the acts are like short plays and are not connected with one another. Luckily I had rented an english headset, which I cannot recommend highly enough, because without it I would have been lost (and bored). The commentary was very unobtrusive, not translating everything said, but giving the general idea. The sets were extremely bright colored and the costumes were beautiful. I preferred the acts that involved lots of movement instead of long speeches, even though the stories were pretty interesting. One actor was an 80 year old national living treasure who is specialized in playing women in Kabuki. I couldn't believe he was 80 with the fluidity of his actions and how he was not tripping on his costume. Maybe I misunderstood the english commentary.Apparently it is ok to take a quick nap during the play (as my Japanese friend did), but I was actually so impressed with what I was seeing I didn't sleep a wink. I really think we sat through 2 acts and after the 1st I was thinking I wish I could see more, but after the 2nd , I think that watching 3 hours of Kabuki is about my limit. I really don't think I could have a complete Kabuki day.I did see other people who were tourists, but I was the only one that was alone in line, and I really think that is why the Japanese woman was so nice to me. I have always said, and still believe, that when traveling solo you being much more immersed in the environment, even just by not constantly talking to someone else you are able to observe the surroundings better. Sometimes you even get free lunch and a free fan :) There are definitely perks to traveling solo!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241180580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241180580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241180580/tpod.html Fri, 01 May 2009 09:04:53 -0400 Insatiable traveler chooses next temporary place of residence: Japan

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Tokyo, Japan

Japanese animation is huge in japan. Everyone watches the movies and apparently some of them are even big in the US although I had never heard of any of them until I came here. Hayao Miyazaki is considered <i>the person of animation and so I've been watching a few of his films. They are like Disney films (If I can make such a comparison), but more imaginative and scary for children in my point of view. I would love to know enough Japanese to watch them in Japanese because the translations seem quite odd at times.I had read that one 'must see' in Japan was the Ghibli museum (http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/). It is in a suburb in Tokyo, so many people complain about having to go outside of Tokyo city to see it, but lucky for me the suburb is about 15 min train ride from me so I decided to go ahead and go.The catch is, as I said, Japanese animation is huge, so everyone in Japan wants to go to the museum. Because of that they set it up so you have to reserve tickets ahead of time, in your home country (for visitors) or you have to visit a certain convenience store chain and buy a ticket from a machine that sells tickets, called a Loppi machine. I also found that on the Japanese website you could order tickets, then go to the convienence store to pay, then go to the museum to get your actual ticket. I decided to have a short day today and go to the museum, since all the weekend times are always sold out. There was actually tickets left for today, but as I understood from reading the website (in Japanese) I couldn't order online, I had to call some phone number. Well, I asked a guy at the lab to call for me and after a ten minute conversation with someone on the phone he said I had a reservation, gave me the reservation number and told me to just put that number into the Loppi machine. Easy enough ....I took the train to the place near the museum and walked to where I thought the convienence store was, but ended up walking too far but actually ran into another branch of the convenience store. I entered, found the Loppi machine and pushed a button. Everything was all in Japanese (as I knew it was, which is why I had asked for the lab guy to write down what to look for), of course I could not figure it out. Usually people just go to the machine and buy the ticket, but I had called and gotten a reservation because I didn't want to risk there not being any tickets left when I got to the convenience store. I asked the store clerk for help, and she tried to help by pushing buttons, but again I was doing a different transaction than most. She asked me all these questions in Japanese (I could tell they were questions because questions end in the word 'ka' in Japanese). I first tried to reply by pointing to my reservation number and saying the name of the museum, but she persisted with more questions. I then replied with 'I don't understand' in Japanese, but the questions still came. Then I decided to communicate in the Japanese style and randomly alternate between saying 'yes' and 'no' in Japanese all while making a face which I hoped conveyed I didn't understand. My brain was apparently stuck in the foreign language mode so when I didn't know any more words in Japanese to say, I switched to Swedish, which of course did nothing to further the conversation on her side.She kept pushing buttons and 'conversing' with me all while trying to check out customers as well. At one point she picks up the phone attached to the machine, which I guess calls the head Loppi branch. However in the middle of her conversation, she had to leave to check out a customer, and handed the phone to me. I then 'conversed' with the person on the phone saying 'moshi moshi' (hello in Japanese on the phone) and 'watarimasen' (I don't understand in Japanese) and the random yes and no. There was also lots of silence. However, to my amazement, the person on the phone never hung up. The clerk came back on talked on the phone more, then hung up. Then talked to me in Japanese, which I interpreted as I was missing some part of a password for my reservation number, so I figured I would not be able to go to the museum (I had reserved the last entrance time and I only had a half hour window to enter). Then a girl who had been watching me must have realized I had only a vague idea of what clerk lady was telling me, so she jumped in and explained some parts in English. She then apparently offered to call the museum and after a ten minute conversation with the museum (I have no idea why these conversations have to take so long!) she said I could just go to the museum and tell them my name and I could go in. After thanking both the clerk and the girl, I walked with the girl towards the museum as it was on her way home. She told me she had been to new york and was going to work there next year as a hair dresser (seemed a little odd to me), but she made sure I knew how to go and went to her house, which we passed.Then I got to the museum and I tell them someone called them and I only have this reservation number. This girl tells me that she had thought I had some other type of reservation form (so apparently even the Japanese people have trouble communicating sometime) and then asked where I was from. She said usually you have to reserve tickets in your home country but in special circumstances she could let me in. I interpreted this as the 'stupid tourist ticket' that the museum offers to tourists who show up trying to get in, unaware of the ticket policy. I was really tempted to explain I in fact knew the ticket policy, as I was a little offended to be given the 'stupid tourist ticket' but I figured that would not get me in and it was best to just nod and act stupid. She then asked to see my passport, which I didn't have. I looked and I didn't even have my drivers license. All I had was my swedish student id, which must have confused her, but I didn't explain. She then disappears for 10 minutes (seriously, what do they all do in these 10 minute times!) She comes back with a folder, asks me to writ my name and fills out some form for me to take to the convenience store and pay (this time I went to the one I was looking for in the first place, right across from the museum). I take the ticket, go to the convenience store, pay, exchange for another ticket, bring that back and exchange that for yet another ticket (which was actually really cool - three frames of a animation film). Finally I was in!!! Thanks to all the patience and helpfulness of the people of Japan.Phew. The museum was really small, but it did have a few neat exhibitions with all of Hayao Miyazaki's drawings and early machines that were used. The drawings were gorgeous. You could also watch a special 25 minute animation made especially for the museum, which changes from month to month. I was glad I had seen a few films because otherwise I would not have recognized any of the character and would have been quite confused. The most crowded room in the museum was the gift shop, which was packed with people buying all this stiff. And it was not just kids in the museum, in fact I would say the majority were adults. Guess I still have a bit more Japanese to learn before I can use the Loppi machine again!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241091960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241091960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241091960/tpod.html Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:21:46 -0400 Insatiable traveler chooses next temporary place of residence: Japan

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Tokyo, Japan

You would think that the words "yes" and "no" would be pretty easy to define and their meaning, in different languages, would carry somewhat of the same meaning. Not here in Japan. Here I am not really sure they carry any meaning at all.I had read that the Japanese language was a very vague language, and I have had several Japanese people say the very same thing to me. Oftentimes in conversations, subjects and objects are left out if it is "understood" by both the speaker and listener what the speaker means to say. I am sure this works well for those fluent in Japanese, but for those trying to learn Japanese it can be a bit of an issue when only half of the sentence is spoken. Apparently this tendency for vagueness carries over when the Japanese speak English. This can also cause problems. And complete confusion.Take this conversation I had the other day with a boy from the lab that speaks English very well:<i>Lab boy: Did you hear about the meeting that is happening now?<i>Me: No.<i>Lab boy: We have a lab meeting now. You are welcome to come, of course it will all be in Japanese.<i>Me: (thinking trying to figure out if this means I am expected to go or just being invited out of politeness. I can't decide so I just give up and ask) Should I come?<i>Lab boy: Well, it will be all in Japanese. No.<i>Me: (assuming that means that he realizes I will understand nothing so he is telling me I do not need to come) Ok, I will stay here then. (thinking this is a very clear answer that I will stay in the lab and not attend the meeting)<i>Lab boy: Ok. (starts walking towards the door) It will only be two hours and everyone is going.<i>Me: (confused) So I should go?<i>Lab boy: Well, it will be all in Japanese. You will not understand it.<i>Me: (trying to figure out what he is trying to imply) So I shouldn't go?<i>Lab boy: No. (pause) Are you coming?Me: No, I think I will stay here. Should I go?<i>Lab boy: No. (walks towards the door) Are you coming? (motioning to come by giving the 'shooing' sign (plam down, curling and uncurling fingers)In actuality I was having two concurrent conversations one which you read above and one with another person who was trying to decide if he was going to go to the meeting or stay and work with me, but I thought that would be way too confusing to write down. In the end we both ended up going to the meeting, which apparently was what i was supposed to do.I talked with lab boy and told him I was really confused by his answers and did not understand whether or not I was supposed to go to the meeting. He laughed and said that when Japanese say "yes" or "no" it really means nothing, it is more important to read the context and look at facial expressions. Great, another type of "language" to learn!Other favorite expressions that I get to ponder everyday are:"Yes, maybe""Yes. maybe not""No, well I think so""Yes, no, maybe"I have learned through much practice that it is advantageous to no one to ask questions in the negative as the answers will never be understood. Asking "So I don't need to do that" when you are pretty sure you do not need to do something will yield answers of "yes" and "no". I think in English we usually clarify and repeat the sentence: "no, you don't need to do that". Apparently for the Japanese that is way too many words and they (the speaker) understand what they mean when they reply simply "yes" or "no" and they think it is understood by the listener.Luckily I am picking up on this vagueness and now use "yes" and "no" interchangeably. Am I just joking? No. Or is it yes? :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241000460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241000460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1241000460/tpod.html Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:50:50 -0400 Insatiable traveler chooses next temporary place of residence: Japan

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Tokyo, Japan

You would have thought I had written about driving around in a brand new red Ferrari with all of the questions I have gotten about my bike. Therefore I will devote this blog to address the mysterious bike.When one thinks of Japan, images of bikes don't immediately come to mind like they do when one thinks of China. However, there are lot of bikes here. People seem to use them as a primary means of transportation to get around in the area where they live or to get from their house to the train station. I'm sure you have heard about the robot machines that park bikes (up to 9,000 of them!) into big areas underground in Tokyo suburbs. Sadly my station does not have such a machine and I have not seen it at any of the other stations I have gone to. Everyone rides bikes - the men, the women, the young, the old, the short, and the shorter. Most of them are not fancy bikes - just one or three gear bikes that are easy to ride and usually have a basket in the front to hold all of your shopping purchases. Someone from my lab was nice enough to lend me a bike (although in the beginning I thought he was going to 'rent' it to me since 'lend' and 'rent' sound exactly the same). The first day he gave it to me he said "you can ride it from your house to school" and I'm thinking, ok, it's like a 7 minute walk but I guess I could also ride a bike. What I was really thinking was how I was going to ride it to the station, which is about a 25 minute walk from my place. When I left school to go down to get the bike, I could not for the life of me figure out how to get the kickstand to go up. So back up to the lab I went to find someone to show me how to work the bike. Someone came down and showed me how to do it (it was quite simple, but a little tricky) and then just happened to mention that I was not allowed to park near the station. I was quite confused, until he explained that there each bike has a number on it and that number is registered with some 'bike cops'. These 'bike cops' also apparently go around checking bike numbers to see if you have a 'permit' to park where you are parked. That is correct - there are bike parking permits in Japan. In front of some stores near the station, there are even 'pay parking' places for your bike! (I mistakenly parked my bike in one once. I thought it was just a bike rack. Nope. Once you place your bike in it, the front tire becomes locked in there until you pay. I then had to go to a machine and push buttons until it released my bike. I actually didn't have to pay since I was only in the store a very short time).The person at the lab told me he was fixing some permit for me to park near the station. A few days later he takes me to this bike garage where my bike has been registered to park. I have to make sure and park only on the top level (which is uncovered) as I only have a permit for that level. Apparently it is cheaper to get a permit for the roof then the other covered levels. I had heard about parking spaces in Chicago being sold, but parking spaces for bikes?! I still have a hard time grasping it. So now I can ride to the station, park my bike in the fancy garage and hop on a train. I was thinking that the people in the garage probably don't go around really checking numbers, but one day when I got back to the garage I couldn't find my bike. I first thought I must have parked it somewhere else, but then I distinctly remembered parking it in that spot. I started trying to come up with words I knew to explain that I couldn't find my bike, but then I turned around and found my bike. So they must really go through and count or check bikes and maybe move some to make it more orderly.Even out near my house, in front of the grocery store I usually go to, there are sometimes bike parking issues. The parking there is free and there is usually plenty of room, but not on the weekends! They employee someone to direct bike traffic and point out where people should park! I have no idea what his job is at other times.I hope that has answered all your questions about my bike. It is convenient and I enjoy riding it. It even has this fancy seat cover that you can pull one side over the other so that when it rains you can have a nice dry seat! Now if only I could master riding with an umbrella ...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1240919280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1240919280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1240919280/tpod.html Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:11:09 -0400 Insatiable traveler chooses next temporary place of residence: Japan

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Tokyo, Japan

I had been dreading this day. I headed into the lab the same time as yesterday, around 9:30am, got off the elevator and walked to the lab, only to find the lab was locked! I was the first one in, and that meant that I would have to get the key from the security person downstairs. "They don't speak any English" I was warned about the security people. I figured I could somehow pantomime my way through and end up with a key. However, I had been practicing my Japanese and thought I would give it a shot instead of acting like a mime. As I approached the security desk, I was rehearsing what I was planning on saying. I got to the desk and say the security man sitting in the room and I had to say 'Konichiwa' to get his attention. He promptly came to the window, dressed in his security outfit (complete with white gloves), formerly ready to complete his job, whose description I am sure does not include trying to interpret Japswenglish. I took a deep breath and said "Please can I have the key for room 706", all in Japanese. At least that is what I believe I said. I could have said "Hot dog, please black tooth, 706" for all I know (I am pretty sure that I got the numbers right, although first I forgot the zero, rushing instead to the six, but then quickly corrected myself). He said "Yes" and fetched the correct key (I watched to see if he had to look through others) that has a folder attached with all of the people's name who belong in the lab. Of course my name is quite easy to pick out (it's not written in Chinese), so he looked at the list, pointed to my name and asked "Is this your name?" I replied "yes" and walked away triumphantly after completing my first all Japanese conversation and successfully getting what I set out to get.Of course this wonderful display of my Japanese abilities was actually prefaced with a display of how wonderful my Japanese abilities actually are. After discovering that the door was locked, I went back to take the elevator down to the first floor to fetch the key. I stepped into the elevator, already rehearsing what I was going to say, and I mistakenly pressed a button in the elevator that I don't ever remember seeing before. After pressing the button, it continued to flash, the doors stayed open and the lights in front on the elevator signifying an elevator is on the floor were still lit up. I tried pressing the button again (which was not the 'hold doors open' button - I know that one and press it all the time along with the 'close doors' button which btw looks exactly like a person trying to open doors, so I often mistakenly mix those up as well). Nothing happened except the lights kept flashing and the doors stayed open. I was frightened by what I had done so I ran off the elevator and hid in the kitchen, hoping the elevator would eventually close its doors and work again. I was actually scared that I had pressed some emergency button and that firemen would soon appear. After not hearing any footsteps of firemen, I waited a few minutes and went back to the elevators, pressed the down button, and this time the same elevator came again. I made sure not to press the button again and every thing proceeded smoothly.I guess this proves that I can communicate better with Japanese people than with Japanese technology and I think the Japanese food labels still have one up on me as well.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1240835400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1240835400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beth/4/1240835400/tpod.html Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:49:20 -0400 Insatiable traveler chooses next temporary place of residence: Japan

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Tokyo, Japan

I think I'm beginning to fall into a routine. I woke up today around 9am, hopped on my bicycle to ride the 3 minutes to school. Went to school and wondered again why it is so hot in the lab. I finally felt brave enough to open the window. I really think the others were not hot so they just didn't open the window. Around 12:30 someone asked if I had had lunch (people are always in and out of the lab so you never know). Four of us walked to a convenience store down the street to pick up lunch. On the way there, one guy told me he realized, because of me, that he needed to learn more about Japan! (You see, I am always asking lots of questions about Japan and I guess he was beginning to feel like he didn't know enough. I told him though that if he were to ask me the same questions about Sweden or the US, I probably wouldn't know the answers either). Anyways, he had gone to a public bath to soak in the hot water. He said he had only been once before when he was a little kid when they were renovating their bathroom. I had to laugh at the thought of making a Japanese person go do 'typical guidebook Japanese things' to become more Japanese :)At the convenience store, one person got sushi, another spaghetti, another person bread (a lot of people eat bread for lunch, sometimes it is just regular plain mini bread loaves and other times it has fillings of creme or chocolate), and I got noodles with some sort of sauce and topping. During lunch (which we ate back at the lab) I was asked if I knew that one of the guys had a wife and a daughter and we proceeded to discuss 'shotgun weddings' (that is the term they came up with - I did not introduce it!) and the long work hours of Japan.I did some work in the afternoon and chatted with a few other people in the lab about what they did during the weekend. They laughed when I said I climbed Takaosan, which I took to mean that they can't believe all the 'true' Japanese things I do on the weekend. Around 6 oclock I decided to leave (people had been leaving before me - again everyone is free to come and go as they please- but there were plenty still there when I left). I decided I didn't feel like cooking so I stopped at the store to see what I was in the mood for. There was a man there marking down a lot of the prepared food (while shouting things, probably something like 'new markdown on this item, new markdown on that item') so I basically followed him and looked at what he was marking down (there were other people doing this, just not as long as I was, apparently they had better things to do). I ended up getting some sushi rolls and this thing that I think is a dessert (it was packaged with the sushi) that is some sweet pastry filled with rice. I also wandered around the store more and picked up a few other things. One was a package of bread rolls which I could feel by their weight had some filling. I had a choice between two packages, a red and a yellow, and I went with the one there were fewer of, postulating that that was the one more people had bought.Then I stood in line to pay and paid really close attention to how the shoppers and the cashier interacted and noticed that no one spoke to the cashier, nothing more than a nod. Then of course it is my turn, and I swear in the beginning of my turn the cashier was waiting for me to say something! I just can't figure it out. At the end I did figure out that he was asking me if I wanted chopsticks (for my sushi) and I responded appropriately (to which he smiled)! I biked the 2 minutes home, ate my sushi, and tried one of the bread rolls, and it was filled with my favorite (well, something similar to my favorite) cream so I had made the right decision! You never know, it's very possible that the other one was filled with beans or fish ....
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