#jp01

The day of the big trip (well at least it will commence tonight). Really looking forward to it – just wish I could afford business class – cause I have decided that economy is just hell. Cramped in.. hoped my ticket with a seat number of 11A would get me up the front. It did.. but in the capsule up the top (which is economy) – argh!

I was up early because had a heap to get done at work for the day. Headed in.. after sorting out my drying from last night. Heading off from work at this point is time is like leaving a baby behind.

Unfortunately the web integrators didn’t get the changes for the Medications Information done. Fuck. Can they actually get anything done on time. Bit scarey for the prospect of any more work we might give them – particularly the NCEPMC job that is going to need to be rushed. Hmm.. not sure where to go from here.

Headed home at lunchtime. Was nice that Jade rang me to wish me a good holiday. Even nicer that Susan rang me from Brisbane. Good to see the girls looking out for me. I tried to sort out John’s Ebay auction – the damn flirt.

I packed. Took ages longer than I anticipated. In fact, because the colorectal surgeons sent me through a whole heap of last minute changes – I found myself really rushing to get it finished. I ended up taking a bigger bag than expected, and had trouble closing the Samsonite. Oops. Ate a good lunch.. then finished up and headed for the airport (luckily the taxi came quick – because traffic was a nightmare).

As you do with these things.. I felt like I had forgotten something. I wracked my brains.. and we were at the corner of Carlisle St and Brighton Rd when I realised what it was – well what the one thing that I know I have forgotten is – the charger for the batteries on my digital camera. It isn’t a disaster, but means I will have to buy lots of batteries. I’ll live. Now I have to hope that I haven’t forgotten something else. I was so scared I had forgotten my rail pass, or Alex’s number, or something crucial like that.

Hit the Qantas Club. Checking in took significantly less time than I had anticipated. But it is good to get their early.. because it enhances your chance of getting the seat you want. I didn’t fill out the passenger card before getting to the Customs window – and the women just rolled her eyes and sent me off. I rolled my eyes when I went back with my completed card and told her the Given Names field wasn’t even long enough for my name. Bitch.

Looked through the airside duty free stores. Asked about Chanel No.5 Eu De Toilette in a non-spray bottle – to be told that it didn’t come in a non-spray bottle, and they didn’t have any refills. Will email Mardi to see what she wants to do.

Bought a heap of magazines, not sure why, I have enough to do on the plane – not least of which is to write this long journal entry – and to get some sleep. I also want to have a look at my thesis – but that might have to wait to the trip back.

There is this young Japanese guy next to me – been next to me since Melbourne. On the trip from Melbourne he was a little overly friendly – maybe because I was reading Access and Use of Health Services by Lesbians and Gay Men in the Greater Boston Area: An Exploratory Study. In fact he was rubbing his leg against mine at one point. Hmm. Not going there I don’t think. Particularly since getting on the 747 in Sydney he has been trying to assert his masculinity with the number of beers he can drink.

I gotta admit I am a little worried about the language barrier. Jenson reckoned it was OK getting from the airport into town – but I am a worry wart – and I wonder how difficult it is going to be to exchange my rail pass voucher, book a seat and buy a phone card as I head into town. I can just see it all going wrong!

How culturally insensitive is it of me to arrive in Japan knowing absolutely no Japanese. Here I am now with the phrasebook out trying to learn just a little. But if someone spoke to me in Japanese I would have absolutely no idea. In fact even the simple stuff is problematic at the moment.

Lets see what the crucial ones are:

Yes hai No iie Good morning ohayo gozaimasu How do you do hajime mashite Good afternoon konnichi wa Goodbye sayonara Thank you arigato gozaimasu Sorry sumimasen Do you speak English eigo ga dekimasu ka Australia osutoraria

I’m fucked eh?

Today’s journal entry brought to you in part by Alex – guest writer. The day was characterised by lots of walking around the city. We covered a lot of ground and saw a heap of stuff.. but heaps more to do.

Bentley: I arrived at Narita right on time at 6.40am – can you imagine eating breakfast at 5.20am on the plane after about 3 hours of not very good sleep? I couldn’t!

Went through Customs OK [no strip searches - Alex].. and then found myself a phone card, which didn’t even have a Japanese theme to it – ripped off. Spent ages trying to work out how to use the thing in lieu of English instructions, and finally realised I had to break off one corner (what the fuck?) to be able to make calls. Got hold of Alex to make sure it was working and then headed to the basement to trade in my Rail Pass voucher for the actual pass. Having managed to make the trade on the basis of some hand gestures and no real comprehension of each other – I quickly realised that I had become an Austrian citizen in the eyes of the Japanese rail system for the rest of the fortnight.

Went down to catch the train – and realised I wasn’t the only one doing this blind – when a Asian Canadian guy came up and started asking me questions about getting to Yokohama. He seemed to have the same kind of ticket as me, so I explained how to read it and reassured him he was in the right spot (and crossed my fingers that we were both in the right spot).

Luckily we were, and I shortly found myself in Tokyo Station and waiting for Alex to arrive.

Alex: I arrived in Tokyo Station to find Bentley standing near the Yaesu Central Exit. He was loaded down with several bags which he admitted to having overpacked [too true - Bentley]. Went to the Hotel Grand City in Ikebukuro to drop off our bags – the foyer was rather smokey.

Next we went to Harajuku for lunch, while I gave a running commentary on the etiquettes of eating in Japan [or lack thereof, but it was still good - Bentley]. We went to Yoyogi Park, which is reminiscent of a big forest, although situated in the middle of a bustling city – and you can still hear the trains from the three stations that surround it.

In the centre of the Park is Meiji Shrine. I introduced Bentley to the hand washing ritual [and then proceeded to laugh at me while I did it - Bentley]. We saw many people dressed in the traditional Japanese kimonos. We later found out that this was because Thursdays are a popular day for bringing children to the shrine to pray for their futures and fortunes.

By this stage Bentley was getting grumpy and tired from lack of sleep [and as I gave some spiel on the build up of lactates he is making me include that now - Bentley]. We went to The Gap to look at baby clothes for one of Bentley’s colleagues [Paula - Bentley] who is about to have a baby in November. We spent about A$70 and then wandered around the area looking at the autumn fashions [and the hundreds of young Japanese just hanging around trying to look cool - Bentley]. Bentley was curious as to why many of the open cafes and restaurants had seats which only faced towards the street rather than situated around the tables. My theory was that the young people that hang out in Harajuku are there to see and be seen [even if it is being seen in a McDonalds - Bentley].

We walked all the way from Harajuku to Shibuya to see the worlds busiest intersection. Characterised on one side by Hachiko, the infamous Shibuya dog who waited every day at the station for his owner to return home from WWII, and on the other by three large television screens displaying music and commercials – another example of just how capitalised Tokyo is.

From there we headed to Ginza to Sony Centre where we ooo’d and ahh’d at the new innovations [and I have given Alex strict instructions that he isn't allowed to let me buy half those things when we get to Akihabara later in the trip - Bentley]. Especially of interest was these new versions of Aibo called Latte and Macoron which were cuter and smaller, but not very obedient for the poor girl giving the demonstration. In fact Aibo fell in love with one of the audience and constantly tried to walk off the stage towards her.

Headed back to the hotel – check in time was 4.30pm – which I think is a wee bit too late. We had a shower and a bit of a nap and we missed seeing the Metropolitan Government Offices because by the time we were ready to get off our arses the tower’s observatorys were closed.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Its off to Disneyland we go. We had an interesting time heading out to the park that one guide book said was keener and cleaner than even the original in Anaheim. Didn’t see any dancing cleaners though – ripped off!

Alex: Woke up at 8.30am and started playing tickling games which ate into our preparation time by 20 minutes, making us late for our train. Had breakfast at Mister Donuts which was a first for Bentley seeing as he has never ever had donuts for breakfast in his life [least of all a savoury shrimp one like Alex had - Bentley]. Arrived at Ikebukuro about an hour after the planned departure time, and took the train to Tokyo Station, where we transferred to the Keiyo Line which was four escalators and three moving walkways [about 12.5km's I reckon - Bentley] away from the main station area. Caught the train to Maihama Station and had a debate about whether to take the shuttle or walk. Decided to walk as it was not very far, although the train did look quite cute [it had windows that were shaped like Mickey - Bentley]. We later found out that it would have cost us ¥200 for the three hundred metre trip, despite the guide book saying that it was free [the moral of the story read two guidebooks and don't trust everything you read - Bentley].

Disneyland was a hoot. We went on all of the rides that we wanted to, plus some that looked OK from the outside that weren’t so fantastic on the inside. Bentley’s favourite was Space Mountain, and mine was Splash Mountain because I like getting wet [the songs, and the 'bottom' bear were pretty funny too - Bentley]. To define ‘bottom’ bear, one of the characters from Brer Rabbit was portrayed in several unfortunately sexually suggestive positions with his arse in the air. The Japanese people in the same carriage as us must have been wondering why we were giggling each time his backside was presented.

We had lunch in Tomorrowland at the Terrace and had a couple of big hamburgers [they were actually called Orbiters - Bentley]. In Japanese they were just called big hamburgers. We were quite disappointed, as we were hoping to have burgers in the shape of Mickey Mouse – as advertised in the Park guide. Other sources of extortion for park visitors included Honey Popcorn [in the souvenir bucket if you were really keen - Bentley], or bottles of water with straws in the shape of Winnie the Pooh for ¥900 [thats about $15 for a bottle of water! - Bentley].

Bentley couldn’t leave without his own souvenir from the park and ended up buying a very small plush toy – Eeyore – which cost him about ¥900 anyway [proudly this was the first time I remembered to say 'arigato' instead of 'ta' - Bentley]. But it is very cute – complete with a safety pin on the back so that he won’t lose it. We then headed off to a show called Once Upon A Mouse which was kinda corny but fun [and there were three Prince Charmings for Alex to perve on - Bentley].

It was unfortunate that we ended the outing with Space Tours, as that ride was quite queasy and caused Bentley to have a headache [after my stomach stopped doing backflips - Bentley], so we couldn’t ride on our favourite rides a second time round. We saw the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights which was quite spectacular [I perved on Cinderalla's coach driver, while Alex continued his thing for one of the Prince Charmings - Bentley]. The coach driver was Japanese [the Prince Charming was caucasian - Bentley].

The train back to Tokyo was not as packed as expected. Went window shopping and bought some aspirin for Bentley’s headache in Yaesu Underground Shopping Centre. We wanted to have dinner but all of the restaurants in central Tokyo seem to close early on a Friday night, which I found quite surprising and annoying. So we went back to the hotel in Ikebukuro and called it a night.

Woke up late and tired. Alex thought the bed had either shrunk, or been switched by housekeeping to prevent two grown men from sharing. Personally I think he was just hogging more of the bed [whereas I think Bentley was hogging more of the bed - Alex]. Today was parks and shops.

Lots of walking – I have never seen so many shops with hidden escalators that you only find after you have walked up all the stairs.

Started off the day with the train ride from Ikebukuro to Tokyo again, and from there a walk to the Imperial Palace East Garden. We visited a beautiful garden with fountains and a man made waterfall. After a quick tiff over silly things that were quickly sorted, we headed into the garden (across the second moat and through these great big solid gates) into the garden proper. We checked out the world’s smallest and most boring collection of antique tables and placemats [well they were beautifully lacquered tables and pretty fancy placemats - Alex]. Each display had a seismograph installed for the early detection of an earthquake!

Stopped for yet another example of the vending machine culture, with a cup of Pepsi with about 150mls costing around $1.70 (¥100) [and I had an ice cream at the same price - Alex]. Walked around the corner and found you could actually buy bottles of water – which was what I was looking for in the first place.

Walked around the gardens for a while, delighted by the swamp smells, spider webs and odd looking lamp posts hidden in the middle of nowhere. We got excited about visiting the remains of Donjon – wondering who the hell this guy was. When we got there.. we found that Donjon wasn’t a bloke after all. He (it) was a fortress – five stories high, made out of big blocks of stone and all you could see was a patch of grass on top of it. Woohoo!

Walked to the end of the park in an effort to get a glimpse of the Imperial Palace (that is what the park is called after all!), but alas.. all we saw was the Mt Fuji View Guardhouse which didn’t have a view anymore – because of the growth of Tokyo [including the growth of Tokyo's pollution - Alex].

We then walked back to Tokyo Station and caught the train to Akihabara which is the electronics district of the city. We checked out a few places looking for a webcam for Alex’s friend Rica, while I drooled over the Sony Cybershot DSC-F707 (JE). I told Alex he wasn’t allowed to let me buy it.. but I am still thinking about it [and I am encouraging him - Alex]. The only thing stopping me is not knowing how much duty Customs are going to charge me if I take it back to Australia. The shop we were looking at - Laox is actually quite cool because they sell lots of electronics that will work outside of Japan, with variable voltage and multilingual manuals. That way.. I could have a camera that isn’t even available in Australia – for under $2000 and still be confident that it would work back home.

We went to quite a few other shops looking for the webcam, and indeed scoured all 7 floors of Sofmap with no evidence of webcams. How does a computer store survive with no webcams?! Probably because of the skimpy skirted girls out the front trying to flog the latest generation in Docomo phones, complete with broadband data speeds. Yummmm! (the phones.. not the girls).

Back to Laox and bought an Intel PC Camera (while I went back to drool over the Cybershot some more). Then back to the train station and onto the ‘lime line’ as I have taken to calling it [it is actually called the Yamanote Line - Alex] to Shinjuku where we had dinner at Royal Host (the only other choice in the immediate neighbourhood was Sizzler!). The prices were a bit steep – but it was OK – particularly nice was my vanilla and green tea ice cream sundae.

From there we went to the Metropolitan Government Offices, where on the 45th floor you get a pretty spectacular view of the city at night (we are going to head back tomorrow for a look during the day). The light went all the way to the horizon. Unfortunately photos wouldn’t work, but got a great look at the city – I found the multitude of red flashing lights on top of the larger buildings bewildering. The amount of billboard advertising was pretty eye-opening too.

Headed back to the station, trained back to Ikebukuro and the hotel with a quick stop at the AMPM convenience store on the corner for my first taste of some Japanese junk food [washed down with some good old American Diet Pepsi of course - Alex].

Hmm.. first day to check out Kobe and did this by heading to Harborland. Kobe is essentially a port city, so Harborland is made up of lots of ferry terminals and the docks for major exporters like Kawasaki. Also had my first ride on a ferris wheel!

Woke up latish.. very late in fact. First stop was the local supermarket to do some shopping. Very interesting how the supermarkets here are quite compact. Seems they just have a few items of each product on display and ensure that they keep them very well stocked – as opposed to Australia where we just have giant supermarkets with all the stock on display. The other difference, you bag yourself. Everything you buy goes back into your basket and you are rationed plastic bags, which you then take to a seperate counter and pack yourself. Fun.

From there.. back to Alex’s and he cooked me some French Toast. Another first.. interesting morsel that it was. Packed up and then trained it to Harborland. We went to Sofmap to buy a set of headphones for one of Alex’s friends.. but while there I bought a new Smartmedia card for my digital camera, and a PCMCIA card so that I can read the pictures off the Smartmedia directly onto my PC (just like another floppy drive with tiny discs). Unfortunately the 128Mb Smartmedia card didn’t work in the Olympus (found out later that this particular camera is limited to accepting 32Mb cards – that will teach me to get greedy - ¥8400 down the drain).

I still haven’t been able to find a automatic teller that will take a Visa card and give me English instructions. Starting to get really desperate for a Citibank.

We wandered around Harborland.. and then across to this other shopping centre (bought some stuff at Mono Comme Ca, this pretty cool shop), followed by a walk along the pier and a nearby park with a shipwreck and monument to sailors who had died at sea. Back to the shopping centre and walked around checking out all the odds and ends. Alex ended up buying me this cool bracelet that says ‘believe’ on it. He couldn’t resist going back to buy himself one that matched. How sweet!

From there we went for a ride on the ferris wheel – my first time – and a little hohum.. couldnt take any photos out of it either – which was a shame. This was followed by dinner at a pretty nice restaurant called quiqui. Ended with this ginger icecream that was interesting to say the least.

On the way back to the station did a little more browsing through the shops and ended up buying a heap of stuff at the ¥88 aisle in the local supermarket – including a bunch of batteries and some tacky stuff that you just can’t get back home.

Got back to Alex’s and tried installing the PCMCIA card to read the Smartmedia card from my digital camera. Took hours to get it going – and when we did.. it was as simple as turning the Smartmedia card over in the reader. Alex took great pleasure in ridiculing me over that mistake and all the trouble that we had gone through.