Category — Tsukuba

Warning: This post is all about me… because I’m selfish…. actually, more like Lindsay was working again (ie: paying for this trip).

The day started off with trying to find a coffee, which in itself isn’t really a story but the workers here are… Anyway, I headed to Mr. Donut but it wasn’t open till 9am so I continued on to McDonalds (hey, I was desperate, Heather understands). Anyway, I place mine and Lindsays order and pay the nice Japanese girl. Where upon she literally RUNS to get my order….. and I don’t mean a slight shuffle… I mean full on run. It was literally like she was trying to set a record for giving me my change and getting me my food. It was probably around 12 seconds. I thought to myself that I’d like to see just one McDonalds worker in Canada run, ever.

Anyway, today I headed to Akihabara in Tokyo… which is also known as Electric Town! What a crazy, weird and strange place.

One of my highlights was when I first got off the train finding my way to the ‘ground level’. I saw a sign that pointed directly right into an elevator… I though, ok. that’s how I have to go. I proceeded to stand in a short little queue and wait for the elevator. Upon it’s arrival we all basically SQUISHED into the elevator as much as possible and up we go. It really reminded me of Heathers experience but without the whole bomb threat.

Electric Town was pretty neat. It seemed that anything and everything electronic was available. This ranged from cellphones and LCD tv’s to Gameboys and old school nintendos to cable wiring and wire connectors. It was pretty strange. I came up with a good way to describe it as this. Picture something electronic, anything electronic or even electronic related for that matter. Now picture China Town. Now place your electronic items and china town together! Voila! Electric Town!

The other thing about Electric Town is that it is also known for its anime and Manga… It seemed that every second shop was Anime. For those that don’t know Anime is those Japanese cartoons with the people with spikey hair and big eyes. Anyway, it was kinda weird that they have … how do you say…. erotic anime too…. and by … “they have” … I mean…. “that have LOTS AND LOTS” of erotic anime.

Tonight we went to a restaurant of some sort to celebrate Lindsay finishing work. It ended up being one of those ‘hot pot’ / Cook your own meat sort of places. Neat. So Lindsay picked something she’d like to share and we got the ’special chicken appetizer’ for the added fee.

Warning: If your initials are BJS please stop reading this section.

Turns out the ’special chicken appetizer’ was RAW chicken…. Slightly seared (and I do mean slight). We both kinda looked at it like… um, you aren’t suppose to eat chicken raw. Anyway, we were both good sports and popped one back. I didn’t mind it actually and finished all 6 pieces. Lindsay thought it tasted like mushrooms?!?! She waited until our ‘hot pot’ thing came out and she cooked hers. To which we got some VERY strange looks from the waitress. Probably thinking that we’re ruining a delicacy or something.

BJS you can start reading again

The ‘hot pot’ that we had you were suppose to cook your meat (chicken neck, liver, breasts) and then you were suppose to dip it in raw egg. I tried it a couple of times but it didn’t really add to the flavour

Well, off to bed and it’s only 8:30pm, “apparently” traveling with me is exhausting. Tomorrow is when the ‘real’ adventure begins. We’ll be heading to Yokohama which is the second most populous place in Japan we’ll be there for a night (or two) and then off to Mt. Fuji (or that area).

Well, we’re proud to say that we’re now Three-for-three for having sushi while being here for a full day. I don’t know if it’s actually customary for Japanese people but we’re assuming that it is.

Anyway, onto our day(s)… I use the (s) in this case because Lindsay actually had to pay for this trip by doing “work” while I got to head off exploring…. So I headed to the Tsukuba Expo and Planetarium. Funny story and things you should think of ahead of time…

The planetarium is basically a large dome (apparently. it’s the worlds largest hemisphere 25m in radius, or something like that). You sit inside and they show you a gigantic movie about stars, the earths creation and our exploration into space…. or at least that’s what I think they teach you. I bought a ticket and then realized that it’s probably all in Japanese… doh! So I grab my handy-dandy translator book… Go up and politely ask if they have an english audio. Nope Japanese only (fair enough, it’s not like we’d have a Japanese audio). I didn’t think i could translate that I didn’t want to pay for the ticket so instead I sat and looked at the pretty stars (and Kanji scripts) for the next hour or so.

The other funny story is that I was wandering around the Space Exploration exhibit enjoying myself as I was the only one in the whole Expo, or so it seemed. Until I started hearing a ton of screaming and yelling kids and they all just rushed the exhibit. Normally I’d just think this was a normal as they kids were around 6-7 years old… But it was actually the outfits that had me in stitches. EVERY SINGLE kid had GREEN Track suits on. Seriously, green track suits. I didn’t think anyone would believe me if I told them so I tried to snap a picture without looking like the total “white stalker man taking pictures of 6-7 year old Japanese kids” guy.

On a side note: The Japanese are brilliant! Most of you know that I love chips. mmmm. Chips. And most of you know I REALLY love chips and salsa. Well, how about we combine the two and sell it in one package? Those Japanese are brilliant! Now if only I could figure out how to tell them that they’re brilliant.

Tonight we headed to Lindsay’s banquet thing. They served some tasty food and sushi (actually Sashimi and it was delicious), here’s a pic of the spread after everyone had already finished. The banquet was more of a reception then a banquet which was a bit odd. Everyone just stood around eating and talking, but it was a nice evening nonetheless. In fact, we’ve met a really nice and funny guy from Korea who is a pleasure to talk to.

Anyway, tomorrow Lindsay had more work stuff to do (impromtu meetings?!?) and I’m off to Akihabara in Tokyo… Should be exciting!

We’re in Japan!

So we’re in Tsukuba, Japan where the conference that Lindsay is attending is located. It’s kinda funny because we both kinda thought we’d be able to ‘ease’ into this whole Japanese speaking thing…. Not exactly sure why we thought that but we did. Anyway, there has been no ‘easing’ but we’re doing alright. In fact, Lindsay was able to get an Iron to Iron her clothes! Nice huh! Now she’s trying to figure out how to use it (ie: trying to decipher the Kanji on the iron)

Anyway, the trip over was alright. Although, Lindsay has had a headache for the past 2 days. Oh and the fact that our in flight entertainment for my seat was broken. We did get a voucher for something from Air Canada so who knows maybe they’re turning things around.

Here are some pictures of us on our way over… The last picture is of me in my Kimono (?) that was provided in the room. I thought it was pretty sweet!