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jayHere's an account of the beginning of this trip...
Yes, I procrastinated a bit... but with all of the last minute demands at work (I was geting new requests as late as 6pm Thursday night) I only had 4 hours of sleep as it was. But, still, I tried to do too much in the NW airport lounge, making last-minute calls and email and then running to the gae when they announced final boarding. Leaving my Powerbook still sitting on a desk in the lounge, as I discovered when I looked for it, three hours out over the Pacific.
The Northwest flight crew radioed back to SFO, but they'd already closed. At Narita, the arrival counter filled out paperwork and assured me that they'd put it on Saturday's plane, and deliver it to my hotel by 10pm Sunday. So I rebooked my hotel to stay over in Tokyo until Monday... good thing, since it didn't arrive yesterday. At 2am here, I called back to the US myself on my cellphone, got the lounge staff and worked out the transfer, picking it up this evening at the airport and then connecting back in Tokyo to this shinkansen to Kyoto. I'll be in Nara after midnight, and my paper's tomorrow afternoon. At least they found it. ;-).
Anyway, the flight itself was uneventful... I was on the upper deck of a 747, in a nice large seat. Everyone lowered their shades for most of the flight... I slept for a couple of hours. Another NASA colleague was on the same flight, and we chatted a bit.
Landing, I was apprehensive... I was alone and was functionally illiterate and couldn't speak more than a few words of Japanese. And the cultural differences were great, more so for me than visiting places like Russia or New Zealand.
Stumbling through the few words I knew, and the few words that the agent knew, I validated my railpass and bought additional tickets. Fine. Found the platform, and the correct car. Fine. No problems, right? Easy going into Tokyo... I was in the "green car", a slightly more-expensive business-class car -- the regular cars were packed. Then I got off at Tokyo main terminal, and attempted to reach the Maronuchi subway line, with my baggage. I thought I needed a subway ticket to leave the JR rail area... there weren't any. I wandered for 30 minutes, trying to find it before discovering that the used ticket was used to exit. Then on the other side, I bought a subway card. By then it was 8pm, so the subway wasn't bad with luggage.
Arriving finally at the hotel (Akasaka Prince), I had a message waiting -- my friend Yukiko Kanekiyo was waiting in the lounge! I was sweaty and smelly after 30 hours of travel. I had thought she was simply going to send me directions to a nearby restaurant... this was a pleasant surprise.
At this point, I've gotten little sleep, been worried about the missing laptop, overwhelmed a bit by processing the cultural differences, and my body still thought it was 5am. Adrenaline kick. *bounce*
Checking in, I rushed directly to my room, paused to look at the lovely panoramic view (looking over the Imperial grounds and the skyline), showered, changed, and was down in 15 minutes.
We were a bit tentative, at first... both of us... but relaxed. Then went to a nearby restaurant with a "ninja" theme.... dressed in the garb, acrobatics, a hidden door to the sidewalk and twisting interior passageway, indoor streams... trying to remember to express myself correctly. We sat in a small room with tatami mats (no shoes, seated on the floor), chatted and ordered. The lessons fromdawnd were invaluable!
It was.... 7am, at home. I'm still up, wearing a suit sitting in a ninja-cave restaurant in Tokyo. Surreal...
We had assorted sushi, soup made with greens and fish base and a hot rock (placed in the pot), salmon, and an artichoke and fried tofu dish. I tried everything. Yes, even the tofu... it was pretty good, as it was prepared. In the midst of surreality, I decided to push culinary boundaries and eat the stuff of which I was most wary... like tofu, or sea urchin (uni).
Yukiko was a delight... she was a bit bashful, very respectful, and helped me with my Japanese pronounciations over dinner. We had last seen each other four years ago at a meeting in Amsterdam. But meeting a friend, a known face amongst the differences... that was great.
Then I picked up my phone, called home, and slept... heavily ;-).
Yes, I procrastinated a bit... but with all of the last minute demands at work (I was geting new requests as late as 6pm Thursday night) I only had 4 hours of sleep as it was. But, still, I tried to do too much in the NW airport lounge, making last-minute calls and email and then running to the gae when they announced final boarding. Leaving my Powerbook still sitting on a desk in the lounge, as I discovered when I looked for it, three hours out over the Pacific.
The Northwest flight crew radioed back to SFO, but they'd already closed. At Narita, the arrival counter filled out paperwork and assured me that they'd put it on Saturday's plane, and deliver it to my hotel by 10pm Sunday. So I rebooked my hotel to stay over in Tokyo until Monday... good thing, since it didn't arrive yesterday. At 2am here, I called back to the US myself on my cellphone, got the lounge staff and worked out the transfer, picking it up this evening at the airport and then connecting back in Tokyo to this shinkansen to Kyoto. I'll be in Nara after midnight, and my paper's tomorrow afternoon. At least they found it. ;-).
Anyway, the flight itself was uneventful... I was on the upper deck of a 747, in a nice large seat. Everyone lowered their shades for most of the flight... I slept for a couple of hours. Another NASA colleague was on the same flight, and we chatted a bit.
Landing, I was apprehensive... I was alone and was functionally illiterate and couldn't speak more than a few words of Japanese. And the cultural differences were great, more so for me than visiting places like Russia or New Zealand.
Stumbling through the few words I knew, and the few words that the agent knew, I validated my railpass and bought additional tickets. Fine. Found the platform, and the correct car. Fine. No problems, right? Easy going into Tokyo... I was in the "green car", a slightly more-expensive business-class car -- the regular cars were packed. Then I got off at Tokyo main terminal, and attempted to reach the Maronuchi subway line, with my baggage. I thought I needed a subway ticket to leave the JR rail area... there weren't any. I wandered for 30 minutes, trying to find it before discovering that the used ticket was used to exit. Then on the other side, I bought a subway card. By then it was 8pm, so the subway wasn't bad with luggage.
Arriving finally at the hotel (Akasaka Prince), I had a message waiting -- my friend Yukiko Kanekiyo was waiting in the lounge! I was sweaty and smelly after 30 hours of travel. I had thought she was simply going to send me directions to a nearby restaurant... this was a pleasant surprise.
At this point, I've gotten little sleep, been worried about the missing laptop, overwhelmed a bit by processing the cultural differences, and my body still thought it was 5am. Adrenaline kick. *bounce*
Checking in, I rushed directly to my room, paused to look at the lovely panoramic view (looking over the Imperial grounds and the skyline), showered, changed, and was down in 15 minutes.
We were a bit tentative, at first... both of us... but relaxed. Then went to a nearby restaurant with a "ninja" theme.... dressed in the garb, acrobatics, a hidden door to the sidewalk and twisting interior passageway, indoor streams... trying to remember to express myself correctly. We sat in a small room with tatami mats (no shoes, seated on the floor), chatted and ordered. The lessons from
dawnd were invaluable! It was.... 7am, at home. I'm still up, wearing a suit sitting in a ninja-cave restaurant in Tokyo. Surreal...
We had assorted sushi, soup made with greens and fish base and a hot rock (placed in the pot), salmon, and an artichoke and fried tofu dish. I tried everything. Yes, even the tofu... it was pretty good, as it was prepared. In the midst of surreality, I decided to push culinary boundaries and eat the stuff of which I was most wary... like tofu, or sea urchin (uni).
Yukiko was a delight... she was a bit bashful, very respectful, and helped me with my Japanese pronounciations over dinner. We had last seen each other four years ago at a meeting in Amsterdam. But meeting a friend, a known face amongst the differences... that was great.
Then I picked up my phone, called home, and slept... heavily ;-).
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no subject
Date: 2003-05-19 07:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-05-19 10:23 am (UTC)Ooooh. How LOVELY! That's gotta be among the most coveted views in the city.
The lessons from dawnd were invaluable!
*bows* So glad to be of service to you and the Space Program! ;^)
How was the uni? I haven't tried that yet myself.
The soup also reminds me of a dish I had in Japan that I really liked called "shabu shabu" (meaning, roughly, "swish swish," kind of like a fondue done in broth rather than oil or cheese sauce. You should try it if you can.
So glad you were able to meet up with Yukiko, especially after the challenges of getting there. A familiar face can indeed make ALL the difference in a new place.
Sounds like a good (if somewhat "mercury-retrograded"!) start. Looking forward to hearing more.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-19 09:50 pm (UTC)What's to be wary of regarding tofu? It's pretty innocuous. ;)
no subject
Date: 2003-05-23 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-05-23 05:49 pm (UTC)