Today I pen this post in Sublime from the start, so even if I close the window, my post will be saved.
Our "plan" for this trip has been somewhat haphazard; nothing concrete but some bullet points. The rest is left to fate. I think yesterday's excursions proved just how well this methodology can work. We've hit upon a little pattern to our madness: Akihabara every other day and touristy, sight seeing in between. Yesterday fell very much in the latter bucket.
One of the primary trips for our coming to Japan was to visit Akihabara, the mecca of all things otaku in this planet earth. If there is a "genre" of thing that could fit under the nerd label, Akiba will have a lot of something for you. Today (by date in the western hemisphere), we made our first pilgrimige to this magical land.
The day started at 5:45am, the sun blazing forth in bright fury. This is not natural nor is my waking up at this time. But, that's how it happened and we went with it. The first order of business was to silence the growl in our stomachs, and a trip to Denny's made quick work of that. Chris, being the more adventerous type, ordered a more Japanese course of fish, rice, miso soup, and natto. My meal was mostly the same, only swapping the fish for bacon and a fried egg (I'm not a big fish fan, you see). Jeff was the least adventerous, getting himself some French toast.
It's an odd dichotomy to be sure.
Somehow, I managed to not die of boredom from my overnight stay at San Francisco yesterday. Interestingly enough, I wasn't the only person with the genius idea to camp out. As I wandered through out the airport trying to make myself tired enough to be able to sleep anywhere, I saw a lot of people sleeping anywhere. Particularly, restaurant booths were very popular.
But, that all aside, we endured the 11 hour flight and are now in the land that provides me with my primary sources of entertainment, both in television and games. The flight itself was alright, with plenty of entertainment options and a fair amount of food, none of which was terrible.
Being in Japan feels both surreal and almost... normal. Obviously, despite cultural differences, Japan is just another first world country and, as such, has many of the same conventions as our Western world. Combined with the fact that we're just kind of nestled into their civilization instead of segregated out as part of a tour group or something, it almost just feels like we're integrating in, as it were.
Except we're very, very not Asian and everybody around us is. And I have no idea what to do in some situations, due to language barrier and intrinsic Japanese mannerisms. But, all should be good in Akihabara tomorrow, the otaku capital of the world. I expect to lose quite a lot of money...
Before I go on to pictures, I just want to tell a small story that amused me to no end. As we were checking into our hotel, the lady behind the counter was explaining various this: where the bathrooms and showers were, how to get in the back door if we came in after hours, but notably checking out. "You must check out before 10am and to do that, just put your key in the cat box." as she pointed to a simple wooden box with a porcelain cat on it. I don't know why, but it tickled me. I think it was part her earnest delivery coupled with her accent and just... it was called the "cat box". It was insanely cute.
But now, some pictures:
Taken shortly after taking off from LAX. Nice swirly pattern.
The western edge of the United States.
Complimentary beer and pretzels.
Also vending machine capital of the world.
On the train ride from the airport.
Our hotel room is really, really small. Basically, it's large enough for the two bunk beds and the TV in between. But, it's a bed and quite conveniently located to other stuff, so I'm not complaining.
That's all for this update, stay tuned for more.
I am currently sitting in the airport, sulking in a chair across from the very open and lively airline counter with which I would check in my stuff. Through this line I passed and was at the counter rejected because I was trying to check in too early. My flight doesn't leave for another nine hours, but I like to be early.
I've always liked to be early.
When I worked at Walmart, if I wasn't there fifteen minutes before my scheduled clock-in time, I felt late. For any class, appointment, or interview, if I wasn't fifteen to twenty minutes early, I felt late. Perhaps it's less that I feel like I was late when I arrived, but I always aimed to hit these early times.
Because you never know what could happen in between.
For example, say you're commuting to work from 40 miles away. There's a whole hell of a lot that can happen in between. Weather, car accidents, or perhaps a horny giraffe has died of high blood pressure and is now blocking several lanes of traffic. That extra time works as a great buffer for these kinds of occasions so you can still be, at the very least, on time. If there are no issues, then you're early and get credit for being punctual.
And certainly, the bullet point on one's reputation for punctuality is part of the issue at stake. It's an easy thing to attain on the ever looming "annual review". A high mark there gives one yet more buffer room on something else - small lapses in product quality, perhaps...
But, outside of that (and more importantly as I realized on the train), it reduces doubt. I am here, planning a sleep over at the airport, because I don't want anything left to chance on this very big trip of mine. I get as much work done on my projects as soon as I can to make room for the things that got glossed over, the challenges that weren't foreseen, and any scope creep that may and will occur. I aim to do everything in my power so that if something goes wrong, I did everything I possibly could to avoid disaster.
It's like insurance you get just for being a litte bit impatient, a little bit paranoid, and a little bit proactive.
Well, that killed, like... fifteen minutes...
The "weekly" accountability report was one of those things that was supposed to help keep me in check in conforming to my goals for the year. It's hardly been weekly and it's hardly been keeping me on track (ask me how many times I've ordered Papa John's in the last month. I dare you). But, there was one item on the list that's about to get scratched off and that is the trip to Nihon.
I've probably mentioned before, but this trip is something that my brothers and I have wanted to do for some time, borne out of our budding interest in Japanese animated wares. Anime, in a fashion, was sort of a gateway drug into all manner of Japanese things from games to language to culture to music. It seems only logical that from this fascination we should go and visit the source.
If you were to ask "what are you going to do there?", the answer would be slightly awkward. You see, while there is a list of things we'd like to do, there's no set plan, no schedule, no itinerary. This is probably a terrible way to visit a foreign country, let alone one for people who've never left the States and also have only the most rudimentary knowledge of the native tongue. But, the idea is more one of exploration than anything else. So here are the main points we plan to hit:
The mecca for all things otaku, we'll probably spend a goodly amount of time here. This is probably where most of my money will be dropped on swag, arcades, and god knows what else. There are also plans of hitting up a maid cafe while there, where my brother Chris and I can admire the local selection of females while being entirely awkward around them.
Obviously, food is a huge fuckin' deal over there, and a huge fuckin' amount different than over here. Now, I myself am not a seafood fan, but on this occasion I'm going to make some exceptions. I'll try fish, I'll have one of my brothers film it in case the result is funny. We're already preparing for a bit called "Chris will eat it" wherein Chris will eat things that are.... unusual. Here's the "official" list:
Of course, we need to hit some more mainstream items as well. On the list are:
This is, more or less, the list we've been cultivating for the last several months and it'll be interesting to see what we hit, what we don't, and what we see that wasn't expected. Also, I plan on firing up the month of solid blogging again come June 1 (which means a blog post every day we're over there), so stay tuned for some fun stuff to come!