Hello all. I haven't posted in a few days but I will soon. Today I put together an online photo album complete with detailed captions for each photo. I think it will be a nice compliment to the blog.
For best viewing I suggest clicking the "slideshow" button above the photos and then adjusting the speed to 5 or 6 seconds. For some of the longer captions you can hit the pause button by dragging your mouse back over to the controls at the bottom of the screen. Check it out and let me know what you think. You should not have to sign up for an account, etc. for access:
http://picasaweb.google.com/humboldt95/March2008TokyoTrip02?authkey=cmlYyAWKD5w
if you have problems with the link just copy and paste the ENTIRE thing into your browser
Friday, March 21, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Ginza, Shimbashi and Shibuya
On Tuesday we went to Ginza and Shibuya. Ginza is famous for its Kabuki theater where all of the performers are men and the costumes and make-up are very elaborate. There was a line of mostly gaijin (foreigners) buying tickets as we walked past. Here is some info and a photo of the Kabukiza in Ginza : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KabukiGinza is also known as a high-end center for traditional fashion from around the world - Gucci, Armani, etc. Everything is more expensive there.
We were in Ginza for Fumiko to do a magazine photo shoot for an article about facial yoga. It took about two hours for her to be interviewed and complete the photo shoot. In the four days that I have been here she has done two photo shoots, four phone interviews, written a couple of magazine articles, scouted locations for a commercial she is shooting for a Sapporo Brewing Co energy drink, developed some product ideas and posted daily on her blog. In the same amount of time I've managed to make a couple of trips to the grocery store, read some e-mails and post on my blog...heh!
After leaving Ginza we rode the subway over to Shimbashi to meet Fumiko's friend, Mayumi, for a drink.
Mayumi works in investor relations for a Japanese firm and teaches aerobics classes on the weekends. Her and Fumiko are outdoor adventure buddies. In Shimbashi, on our way to meet Mayumi, we saw the Tokyo Forum and stopped in for a visit. The Tokyo Forum is a huge conference and arts center designed like the hull of a ship with an immense glass wall on one side. Inside Tokyo Disneyland was holding a recruiting drive and advertising their 25 year anniversary I started feeling a little sentimental since I was there for the grand opening in 1983. In fact, in my pocket I was carrying a Mickey Mouse handkerchief (really a bandanna) that I bought at the grand opening. After having our photo taken we went inside and looked at walls full of photos from over the years. Nope, I wasn't in any of them.
For info and pictures of the Tokyo Forum click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_International_ForumMayumi had to go back to work so we said goodbye and headed over to Shibuya. Shibuya is known as a trend-setting fashion center for the younger crowd. On the train ride into Shibuya there were a few groups of Cindy Lauper-inspired teenagers. I will try to get photos of some of the crazy fashions this week.
In Shibuya we walked around checking out the scene and then had dinner in a fun izakaya establishment. Izakaya are drinking clubs that also serve finger food. They had a special: for $15 you can drink all you want from midnight until 5 AM. How come I didn't know about this back in my navy days? Well, I think they have it figured out pretty well though. If you are going to drink for that long you'll get hungry and order some food, lots of it eventually. They also make money from the electronic menus which double as game consoles. The games are more of the psychological profiling type where you answer questions about yourself, or some hypothetical situations and then you are rated on your compatibility, social skills, perception, intuition, etc. Fumiko kicked my butt on the couple that we played.
After dinner we checked out a couple of shops and then headed back to Sengawa on the subway. It was nice full day of exploration.
Monday in Sengawa
Monday was my first full day here. The weather was cooler than California with some overcast skies, a little sun and a high temperature of about 62F.
Fumiko and I walked a couple of blocks from her apartment over to the shopping area - a maze of narrow streets lined with grocery stores, bakeries, open air produce, fish and meat vendors, noodle shops and 100 yen stores. One hundred yen stores are like the Dollar Tree, only in Sengawa there seems to be one on every other block. The current exchange rate is about 100 yen to a dollar making the math easy for me. Guess where I'm buying souvenirs for you...heh!
A nice vendor selling sea food products gave free samples to Fumiko and I. Smart move. We bought a big bag of sea kelp and another of tiny dried shrimp. Fumiko used them to make a great noodle soup for lunch.
Of course I needed to buy some beer to go with all of the good food we would be eating. Beer is not inexpensive over here. A six pack of Kirin (everyday lager) is 1280 yen - about $13 - at the grocery store. I can buy the same thing at Trader Joe's for half as much. Here is what ten dollars worth of beer looks like when you buy individual cans.
Fumiko and I walked a couple of blocks from her apartment over to the shopping area - a maze of narrow streets lined with grocery stores, bakeries, open air produce, fish and meat vendors, noodle shops and 100 yen stores. One hundred yen stores are like the Dollar Tree, only in Sengawa there seems to be one on every other block. The current exchange rate is about 100 yen to a dollar making the math easy for me. Guess where I'm buying souvenirs for you...heh!
A nice vendor selling sea food products gave free samples to Fumiko and I. Smart move. We bought a big bag of sea kelp and another of tiny dried shrimp. Fumiko used them to make a great noodle soup for lunch.
Of course I needed to buy some beer to go with all of the good food we would be eating. Beer is not inexpensive over here. A six pack of Kirin (everyday lager) is 1280 yen - about $13 - at the grocery store. I can buy the same thing at Trader Joe's for half as much. Here is what ten dollars worth of beer looks like when you buy individual cans.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Getting here
Some boring details: Last Saturday morning, March 15, my friend Steve Bird picked me up at my apartment and drove me a mile through downtown Sacramento to the Amtrak station - thanks Steve! From there I caught the 9:10 Amtrak to Richmond, transferred to BART, made one more transfer and rode BART right to the International Terminal at SFO. I had about 90 lbs of baggage with me (heavy gifts of wine, olive oil, chocolate and books ) but I also had luggage on wheels (thanks for the loan Liz and Tom).
For those Sacramento/Davis folks who have wondered about getting to SFO by rail - it was pretty easy. It takes about 2.5 hours from Sacramento, costs $52 roundtrip and BART delivers you right to the airport terminal.
My flight left at 1:45 PM and was 10.5 hours direct to Narita airport in Tokyo. I had not been on a big international flight in 20 years so it was nice to discover that these days there are video screens for each seat, a couple dozen free movies and a remote control so that you can play them at your leisure. I was too excited to sleep so I watched American Gangster and Juno, drank about five liters of water, got up to pee and stretch my legs about seven times and did a little reading.
The plane landed in Tokyo at 5PM Sunday. Customs was a breeze with no line to wait in and no search. After picking up my luggage I bought a bus ticket for a 1.5 hour ride to the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. Navigating through the airport and buying the bus ticket were easy because in Japan most of the signs are also in English and the information booths are staffed by English speakers. Fumiko met me at Shinjuko Station and from there we took a 30 minute train ride to Sengawa, a suburb of Tokyo where she has her apartment. By the time I finally did get some sleep I had been awake for 26 hours - a new personal best, if you can call it that.
Hello from Tokyo
Hello family, friends and random web surfers. Welcome to my blog. This will be a fun way to share my Japan trip with you and also create a record for myself. A mix of jet-lag, procrastination and exploration have kept me from posting until now.
Just a little background before I get started: I am in Tokyo for two weeks visiting my girlfriend, Fumiko. She and I met seven years ago through a mutual friend (thanks Tom Kimball!). We started dating last September. Prior to this trip I was last in Japan during the early 1980's. I was in the Navy stationed on the USS Blue Ridge in Yokosuka from December 1980 to July 1984. It was only a few months past my 18th birthday, and a week before Christmas, when I first arrived. Those were wonderful years and I always thought I would return. I just didn't think it would take 23+ years.... Well, it's great to be back!
I will try to post often, and especially with photos. I did not change the date or time settings on my laptop when I left California so, although I am 16 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time (PST), the time and date on each post are in PST/US calendar. Feel free to post comments and ask questions.
Just a little background before I get started: I am in Tokyo for two weeks visiting my girlfriend, Fumiko. She and I met seven years ago through a mutual friend (thanks Tom Kimball!). We started dating last September. Prior to this trip I was last in Japan during the early 1980's. I was in the Navy stationed on the USS Blue Ridge in Yokosuka from December 1980 to July 1984. It was only a few months past my 18th birthday, and a week before Christmas, when I first arrived. Those were wonderful years and I always thought I would return. I just didn't think it would take 23+ years.... Well, it's great to be back!
I will try to post often, and especially with photos. I did not change the date or time settings on my laptop when I left California so, although I am 16 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time (PST), the time and date on each post are in PST/US calendar. Feel free to post comments and ask questions.
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