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as recollected February 1992, two months after the fact
...All this, of course, is just my way of making excuses for not having stronger memories of Japan. Since I've come back, I've faced major work deadlines, DunDraCon, moving, and that darned tunafish surprise. So if I didn't take notes on something, chances are I won't remember it. So, no guarantees! If you come up to me and ask me, "Why didn't you warn me that Hotel Murasaki's swimming pool had five-foot long man-eating carp in it?" I'll just smile and shrug. Even if I took notes on something, that doesn't necessarily mean I'll be able to figure out what happened. You think I write strange letters? I write some seriously unhelpful notes. Since what happened on the plane ride to Japan isn't so important, I'll just give you the notes from that verbatim. Since I don't have access to KanjiTalk right now (where did I pack that cable?), All Japanese from the notes will be in /romaji/ enclosed in slashes.
Dec. 26/7 [De Plane]
- Before flight actually took off, was able to see Menu, full of Katakana! (Ooo boy.) I was surprised to find that some of my more abstruse words were being used - Waikiki rice. And 'rice' was in Katakana as well => /raisu/
- Also on the /Nihongo/ side of the /meniyu/ was the symbol for Juan Valdez.
- I had looked for Dave Sun in the lobby since the flight did continue to HonKon, but he wasn't there. All plane announcements were in Jpns & Eng, but not one dialect of Chinese. Hm.
- /Sandoitchi/ might be a word worth remembering.
- /Sawaadourooru/ "Sourdough Roll", another benri word.
- For all that, there was NO Japanese whatsoever on the almond packet.
- Reading over Travel Guide on Plane, still have NO idea how I'm supposed to get out of Tokyo.
- And, beyond juu-su, I still have no idea how to order Orange Juice in /Nihongo/. Maybe I'll try looking it up in a dictionary later.
- Right now, I'm drinking O.J., have the tray down & thus don't have a good way to put away this folder or to get out my walkman so I guess I'll keep writing stuff.
- On the News/ShortSubject on screen, they're showing pictures of Dogfood. Over the loudspeakers the stewardess is saying something about Nihon-ryoori. I'm trying really hard not to think about it. /Basashi/, anyone? Looked up just in time for A nice list of Meat by-products. I'm going to do my best not to look up for another couple of minutes. Maybe they're doing this to help all the /gaijin/ to break the steak habit before it gets too expensive.
- I may be in trouble once I get to Japan -Even on the plane it took me almost a minute to figure out how to open up the bag-o-nuts, and the instructions for that were in English!
- I'm in the a middle seat of a widebody, but it's great because the seat next to me is empty. Thus I have room to stretch & to put by elbow while writing all this down.
[STILL on the PLANE]
- A couple of thoughts -
(1) Do more people use Airplane bathrooms during the commercials of videos and right after the movie? Do flight attendants try esp. hard to keep the aisles clear during this time?
(2) Does the fact that I'm compulsively taking notes on this plane trip mean I'm still not over being a student?- Answer: Yes, the wait for a bathroom is very long after the movies. The first movie was Backdraft which had lots of cool sequences (by I.L.&M. I guess), with lots of fire. These scenes, unfortunately were rather bright, rousing me from my slumber.
- And another thing - is the reason Airlines show so many spy movies that said movies contain lots of international travel? And the travel part is always really easy. And the contacts all speak English, though admittedly some bad guys don't. The other movie was "Company Business" - a spy film w/scenes in Berlin, Paris and Washington D.C. When they wanted to arrange a public meeting in Paris, the factions in this movie decided on the Eiffel tower as the site. Somehow, I think in S.F. it would be by the G.G. Bridge- but not in, say, Mountain Lake Park.
- It occurs to me that I don't have any change to speak of.
I mean, I can't find fault with myself quantity-wise. I took a lot of notes. About a page a day. But the problem is that I took notes when I had time, which tended to be during the boring parts of the trip. By then most of my memories of the interesting parts had fled. Enough with the disclaimers, already.
Should I talk about the rest of the plane trip? I think I will, while I can remember it. Sitting next to me was a Japanese woman. She'd managed to sleep or read for most of the trip. When she saw that I was done writing in my binder she asked me some bogus question. Maybe what time it was. I don't remember. But I think she wanted to talk, and that's what we did. Turns out that she was from Japan, and had come to America to study international business. She came to America three years ago. Upon beginning her studies, she discovered that her English skills weren't as great as she'd been told.
She'd been falling behind in her studies and had dropped out. Then she'd studied English. And gone back to school and gotten her degree in international business. Then she went looking for a job, and got offers from lots of companies, but they all wanted her to work in Tokyo. Which she didn't want to do. So now she didn't know what to do. She was visiting her family for New Year's. I told her about my travel plans, and lack thereof.
Her main response to this was numerous reiterations of the phrase "Don't worry." She was pleasant company, but not tremendously reassuring. I said goodbye at the luggage rack and haven't thought of her since. I wonder what brought that memory back.
The airport was hell. But I don't know what to say about it. It was a traveller's nightmare - stranded, no hotel reservations, no one spoke English very well. The great "Tourist Information Center" manned by people who didn't know much and were kind of surly after dealing with lots of clueless tourists. So, this was a big event in my life. Stressful and all that. But I don't know what to say about it, because it's not really all that interesting. I'm sure plenty of people have tourist horror stories to relate. Nothing really stands out about mine. Ferries to Nachi (the area in which Hans lives) were booked for the next two days. I was too late to catch the next train for Nachi. I didn't bother trying to find out about getting to Osaka. It would have been so late by the time I got there, and my original plans were to hook up with Jimmy in Nachi anyhow.
So I gave up on getting out of Tokyo that night and began a second nightmare: trying to find cheap lodgingIt took time, it was unpleasant, but in the end I was on a bus to the Tokyo City Air Terminal, which I was told was a three minute walk from the Kayabacho Pearl Hotel, which cost under a mon (10000 Yen, about $80) per night.
It was dark. There was snow on top of some parked cars. I didn't know which direction I was supposed to walk in once I got to the bus terminal...
Suffice it to say it was a nervous bus ride. At the bus station, I asked for directions. The lady behind the counter didn't speak great English, and I didn't speak great Japanese, but we were able to work things out once I was able to figure out that the word she was trying to remember was "street." She wouldn't try to mime it or draw it or anything, just stand there and try to think of it. I just started to spit out words to see if she jumped at any of them. She jumped at street. Whew.
The walk was pleasant. It was cool after the super-heated bus terminal. But I had mondo luggage on back and in arms, so I just hustled along and promised myself I'd walk that road again after I had less to carry. Checked in and saw the room.
Let me say some things about Japanese business hotels. When I was making plans to go to Japan, I was scared of hotels. All these people said "Be careful! It's possible to spend more than a hundred dollars a night at Japanese hotels!" After coming back what can I say except big whoop-de-shit, you can do that in America. And just as in America, depending on where you go, you can spend much less than a hundred dollars a night, too. At train stations in most big cities there will be a counter or booth that will make hotel reservations for you. If you tell them you want something under a mon (or if they just see that you're dressed scuzzily) they can find a cheap place for you, conveniently close to the station. These cheap places are business hotels. Note that the easy-to-find cheap prices are for one person. Two people might have a tougher time.
You might be wondering what these business hotels are like. I'd heard about business hotels in literature. They sounded cramped and uncomfortable. They are small compared to Japanese tourist accomodations, but I didn't feel at all cramped. I mean, you go to a Best Western in the States and they maybe give you lots of space. With a table and a couple of chairs. Big deal- whoever uses those things? Business hotels have got a bed, desk, tv, closet, and bathroom. What else do you want? Some of the classier ones even have boring hotel art on the walls.