I've been drawing blanks in conversations here.
Basic stuff like expressing aspirations, have me utterly muddling.
Part of this may be that I'm more aware of this now and part of this is because I hadn't cracked a Japanese book since I dropped out of school in April. Still, basic first semester stuff has given me trouble, I was so bewildered by some katakana the other day I was momentarily afraid I'd had a stroke. This is why I was so inordinately pleased by the conversation with the lady at the retirement home. It wasn't any great feat, just very basic greetings and back and forth questions, but I didn't seem to bollox it.

Then this evening I went into a Nepalese restaurant and was utterly flummoxed by the waiters greeting.

He'd addressed me in English.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:08 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 137 words, total size 1 kb.

I'd read all about how the town of Kiosato was an abandoned ghost town. I'd just missed it on my previous trip and this tasked me immensely. So I went down the Koumi Line again, from Sakuradai and got off in Kiyosato.

My first indication that a Japanese Detroit did not await me was the huge number of people that got off the train with me (who had got on at the previous station). However, most of them didn't linger...they got on buses and departed, no doubt for the many interesting tourist attractions that are around the town. This actually IS a working town....and it seems to be a major tourist area, but there are a LOT of abandoned businesses here.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:11 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 435 words, total size 4 kb.

...was it still there?

When I arrived in Omiya the other day I noted that I was not far from Washinomya...less than 40minutes by train and I decided to pop in and see if the Lucky Star stuff was still in evidence.

To my surprise, this was in the station...(It had not been on my previous visit) so my initial impression was yes...

The centuries old resturaunt interior is now less anime related but it does have autographs of the seiyu on the walls. It also has added a few chairs to cope with the increasing number of western visitors. It continues to serve traditional Japanese food for a surprisingly good price.

^{But now it's called the Hiragi twins shrimp tempura...650 yen.}

Actually the Washinomiya Shrine restaurant was about the best lunch I've had here thus far, and was a good part of the reason I went back. (I haven't even visited Akihabara yet this trip)

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 04:47 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 239 words, total size 2 kb.

Top to bottom for increasing levels of despair...

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:39 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 10 words, total size 1 kb.

My E-mail is back up.
I only have 185 e-mails to slog through now.

It is raining which cut short my day trip...which was then lengthened by some sort of accident on the rail line to my house.

My blisters are about healed and the ankle, while twitchy, is better. I may brave the last day of Comiket tomorrow, I may just bumble about Tokyo. Depending on how my ankle is, I may be far afield indeed by Wednesday.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 83 words, total size 1 kb.

  Word is that Mitt Romney is going to announce his veep pic in my home digs of Norfolk VA. This seems odd...

Of course, being politics, the rest of the post is below the fold...

Picture, unusually, is slightly related...

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 02:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 365 words, total size 3 kb.

So I'm looking for shrines and such and places that are of historical interest. JNTO, The Japanese National Tourism Organization, has a category for "Sacred Places"

This is the categories icon on their website...

Oy...

UPDATE: Actually, she's not a bad choice for that category's mascot all things considered.
But I still laughed.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:04 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 64 words, total size 1 kb.

It was supposed to just be a day trip in anticipation of going south today.

However, I missed a station and ended up way out towards ( but not readily accessible to) Nagoya. I schlepped about on trains, got off, hiked, had a grand old time while I got sunburned, got blood blisters on the bottoms of both feet the size of silver dollars, and re-injured my ankle, all of which would have been fine except that I deleted ALL my pictures and video from the camera.

Auugh...auugh I say.

Anyway, I turned around, got back on the train and went back to make good on at least some of the pics.

As expected, the herd of deer I'd filmed earlier did not return...and the lighting was bad on the return trip...still...

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:21 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 290 words, total size 2 kb.

OK, it exists in the strange fold in time-space that is Ikebukaro. It's just past the east exit of the station across from the Helllo Kitty store.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:39 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 247 words, total size 2 kb.

Some years ago, when I visited Japan I arrived at my destination as a typhoon approached only to find its charred remains of the maison I had rented.

So you can understand my trepidation when I ambled from the coin laundry up to my current maison and saw this...

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 466 words, total size 3 kb.

...had a happy ending.

Curiosity has landed on Mars.

^{Oh...well then...}

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 02:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 25 words, total size 1 kb.

  When transfering between JR and private train lines using a rail pass and a SUICA card it is VERY important that one not do the following.

1:Swipe ones SUICA card as normal when entering the Tobu Tojo line.
2:Realize that you need to take the JR line instead and go to that platform, and use the JR rail pass for that train.

This breaks the system and the next time you try to get on any rail service using the SUICA card it flashes red, a loud buzzer sounds and you are blocked from entering the station.

It took over an hour to figure out what had happened and I think I ended up getting charged for the JR time ( despite the Rail Pass) in order to keep it from registering fraud.

 

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:58 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 345 words, total size 2 kb.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 04:07 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 3 words, total size 1 kb.

This morning I got up, showered and decided to head into Ikebukaro to pick up some supplies. I needed a pillow, house slippers that fit my 295mm feet, shower shoes that did the same, various supplies and most importantly a carrying bag for my rail pass. A JR rail pass is made of very flimsy unwaxed cardstock. It is also irreplaceable, and given its value must be protected. It is slightly larger than a passport and the new one is slightly larger still so it will not fit into the passport wallet I'd bought for the purpose. What I needed was something slightly larger than a passport wallet, preferably that could be attached to my belt and didn't require the rail pass be brought through a zippers teeth. I'd had such a case but it was really ragged looking so I left it at home in favor of the passport wallet, which as mentioned was just too small. I also needed a widget  to get my blackberry to talk to my netbook as well as a data card for the camera I brought.

The trip into Ikebukaro was cut short by the fact that the Tobu-Tojo line broke today. When I arrived they were making an announcement that featured the word dekimasen prominantly. I gleaned from what I understood from the PA system that train travel would resume at 10:20. as it was 8:00 I decided to get breakfast.... 650 yen at a Gusto.

I ambled over too the nearby department store to look for stuff, but the non-grocery section was closed untill 10:30. Since shopping was a bust I wandered around a bit looking for a laundromat and when the trains restarted I ambled back to the station.

The backlog of people who needed to get to Ikebukaro was impressive. So impressive that faces were pressed against the glass as people were being crammed in. I decided....no.

Instead I went the other way following the line out into the countryside on an almost empty train.

I got off in a random station and wandered a bit.

I enjoyed the scenery and got chirped at by sparrows. Yes,  the station was full of sparrow nests.

I started to head back, got off at a station with an attached shopping center where I found a few of the things I needed and...

wait...

Would YOU make a contract with this barber?

^{Some hairstyles come at too high a cost.}

With storm clouds gathering and the umbrella back at the maison, I beat a retreat. Still,  I got most of the things I needed except for indoor shoes and a working USB cable for my blackberry. I'll try Tokyu Hands ( which has some western sizes) tomorrow before setting off farther afield.

My foot still hurts so I turned in a bit early, only to be awakened by this...

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 01:21 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 643 words, total size 6 kb.

The morning of the first I got up 3 and a half hours prior to my scheduled 7:30 departure. I figgured I'd shower, repack my gear and take the 15 minute cab ride to the airport and be at the head of the line. About a hundred other people had had the same idea and this swamped the 4:40 AM cab capacity to the point that I got there about when I would've if I'd slept in and waited for a shuttle. The line was impressive, but I've been to comiket so lines no longer phase me. What DID phase me was that the line did not move...It seems that the computer was convinced that we had all been happily delivered to our destination and refused to give us boarding passes. Now one might think that the old boarding pass was sufficient, but there's some TSA or FAA regulation involved, so sense is not a factor. Eventually, they got the thing straightened out and we began the long slow process of getting into the now very long line to be poked prodded de-shoed and x-rayed.

With only 10 minutes left before my departure I ran three quarters of the way to the gate, twisting my ankle on an escalator, and hopped the rest of the way. There at the gate I noted people coming OUT.

It seems our poor plane had twisted its ankle at the gate and needed to be taken out back and shot. This meant another plane had to be brought in from the plane farm, which took about an hour. Then they had to go to the glue factory and get our luggage off our dead plane, and they also decided to allow other stranded passengers to use our flight and then they had to refile with ATC...all of which which took about 2 additional hours.

The flight itself was pleasant. I was in seat 22A which is close to the bathroom and practically in the galley, so if one wishes to sleep there one is screwed. However, seat 22A is at the very front of steerage, so a person who is 6'1 can do this.....

^{legs straight out!}

and I did too, until my legs got tired. Even better, the person next to me freaked because he got seat 22B which has a terrible rating as it is practically in the galley and is near the restroom. He demanded to get moved farther back in steerage, so I ended up essentially being in biddness class with cheap food.

The crew of DL9856 was very courteous and professional and handled the situation they'd inherited quite well. The replacement plane was an older model without individual screens or AC outlets but the flight itself was remarkably smooth.

I was scheduled to meet my landlord at 3pm JST and he'd made clear that his schedule was tight so if I was late I'd have to stay in a hotel aother night. The delay put me in at noon which was going to cut it close getting to Saitama from Narita. Fortunately there was only one minor delay...some young American woman went into such a flaming debutante frenzy in the JR office that it required the entire counter staff to deal with her. I'm not sure WHAT her childhood trauma was but I think that she had not believed that you REALLY couldn't purchase a rail pass in Japan. It was cringe inducing to see the rest of her party and their Japanese hosts so humilliated. A couple of them tried to apologize for her and she proceeded to chew them out. The young lady went into full harridan mode to the point that the JR staff actually had torun into their office and bring out their attack Russian...a six foot five Slavic dude who is apparantly one of the managers. The JR staff handled themselves quite well. They also sent someone out to hand out the JR Rail Pass paperwork to those of us that needed it in order to expedite our processing so the whole delay was probably only about 5 minutes but it seemed interminable.

I took the Narita express to Ikebukaro without incident and from there called the landlord with only about 15 minutes to spare. I hopped on an express train and glided into an instant transfer to a local train and met the landlord in time. By this time my ankle was throbbing. Anyway, I got the maison rented, got internet hooked up, got the trash schedule and unpacked. I'd been at a dead run since I'd left the airport and my ankle was killing me, so I turned in early. Before I did finally was able to go to the......OH NOES!

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 12:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 790 words, total size 4 kb.

...rather impressively I might add.

The plane is quite broke.

5 hours after our scheduled departure time from Detroit, Delta finally threw in the towel and cancelled the flight altogether. Given the havoc even a 3 hour delay is going to play with transfers this was likely the right call. We've been given meal, taxi and hotel vouchers. I'm in a hotel in Romulus courtesy of Delta, which has actually handled this situation pretty well. It's not every day an airline has to deal with J Greely's amazing jinx powers. After all, we've seen what he can do with tramp tats.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 07:27 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 106 words, total size 1 kb.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 02:35 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 0 words, total size 1 kb.

I've just restarted Mysterious Girfriend X, and am now on episode 4.
Oh my.
This quirkfest is getting...creepy.
It's also damned interesting.

^{Oh crap...you caught my stigmata.}

(No...really)

UPDATE:

"Girl talk" had always been a mystery to me.
Now it just disturbs me.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:10 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 49 words, total size 1 kb.

...the song does have sort of a "Hari Hari feel".

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:20 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 36 words, total size 1 kb.

Americas' first woman in space has died, apparently of Pancreatic cancer.  She was only 61.

 In 1977 NASA announced that it was accepting civilian  applicants for the astronaut corps. Of 8,000 women who applied 6 were accepted.

Dr. Ride was one of those 6.

She flew in space twice, her third mission was scrapped by the Challenger debacle. She retired from NASA in 1987, was a physics professor at Stanford and eventually started her own company.

Her time on (and off of ) this earth was short, but she used it very well.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 101 words, total size 1 kb.