Japan
So it`s day 4 (or so), and I`m extremely unhappy here. Everything sucks, and I`m regretting ever coming here.
As if... :P
I never posted my grades for UBC this semester (just haven`t gotten around to it yet), but they can take their `F` for Japanese and shove it where the sun doesn`t shine: while my Japanese sucks, I`m surviving here on my own just fine. I spent 2 hours with just Aya`s parents on Monday night, and we got on just fine. Granted: I understood about 1/2 of what they said (and I believe they understood much more of what I said), but getting an A in both my Japanese courses wouldn`t have impacted that at all.
Test 1: explaining to Japanese officials that I had lost my passport (hint: it all worked out in the end).
So I filled out the immigration forms on the plane, but left the Passport number section til I exited. Then opened my bag (schoolbag) to get at the passport, and couldn`t find it. So I emptied the bag (there wasn`t much in it), tipped open all the books to check if it was stuck in a book, and generally rummaged through the whole thing. Four times. No passport. So I approached a security dude, and asked (in Japanese) if he could speak English. He looked more panicked than I felt... :p
So after a 15min discussion with Immigration in mixed English/Japanese, my passport presented itself to me, lodged between the pages of one of my books. Gah...
Aya and her sister (Ayumi) picked me up at the airport and drove me (2 hours!) back to Aya`s house. I had met her mother before when she came to Vancouver over a year ago, but I hadn`t met her father. He was very friendly. Her mum was pretty astonished that I could have a conversation with her (last time we met, we were both limited to smilling and nodding at each other).
I picked up a bottle of 12yo Jamesons for her parents at the airport. I was a little (ok: a lot) disappointed that they didn`t have Bushmills (they did the last couple times I was there), and that the *only* Irish whiskey they had was 12yo Jamesons. I was originally wanting 20yo Bushmills. Irksome, but no biggie. They were surprised, and appreciated it. I had checked with Aya beforehand, and her parents have had western alcohol before, but they were both still shocked at the 40% label... :P
We went out to dinner (me, Aya, parents, Ayumi, Ayumi`s husband and Ayumi`s son) to a local sushi place. Twas pretty awesome, food whizzing by on a conveyor belt you basically just grabbed what you wanted (the plates were colour-coded for price).
Test 2: Get from Funabashi to random place far away via public transit.
I went to Akihabara in the morning (getting around Japan on the trains is pretty idiot-proof, there`s signs in English everywhere (and the stops are announced in English), and the different rail lines are colour-coded. I don`t understand why people keep telling me that it`s complicated) to just wander and shop for a while.
I hit an internet cafe for a bit, then went looking for an electronic dicationay and a camera. I pretty much just picked the first store I went into (6 floors of electronics....) as the one I was going to make my purchase in, against all advice from people to shop around haggle. I`m really not interested in that, I just want to get the stuff and be gone...
The irksomeness began on the 3rd floor where I set off the alarm on the Up escalator. I hadn`t bought anything at this point. I emptied my pockets for a shop assistant, and proceeded to set off the alarm with empty pockets and no belt. I suspect the metal bar in my leg is to blame, but I chose not to share this information (it`s waaay too complicated for my current level of Japanese).
I needed to go to the 5th floor for the Electric Dictionaries, and set off
every
damn
alarm
on the way up.
And then they wouldn`t take my credit card. But they accept visa, I asked. Yes, they said, but you have a foreign visa. My temper was fraying at this point, so I guess I must have growled heavily at them. A 15min phone conversation and swiping it 20 times (or so) made it work. Dictionary secured.
Back down three floors (setting off the alarms on the way, and having to have the same damn conversation every time...), I went to buy a camera. Same rigamarole with the credit card. After 30 minutes of them fighting with the machine, I just asked them where the nearest ATM was.
Camera: 19,500 yen (about CAD$260).
Dictionary: 39,500 yen (about CAD$530).
One of life`s ironies is that I need to use the dictionary to be able to use the dictionary... It`s intended for Japanese people learning English, not the other way around. So when I type in English, it gives me Kanji (the Chinese characters), but without a pronunciation key. On the upside, I can manually draw in a Kanji and get it to translate (and provide a pronunciation for) it. So I`m pretty happy with it.
Then I met up with Fred (a buddy from Vancouver who just happened to be in Tokyo for a couple days). We went to see their science museam, which was, frankly, freaking ridiculously awesome. I`ll have to write about that all by itself at some point.
Spent a couple hours hanging out with him and Masoyo, and then headed home.
And it went fine until the last leg... :(
Basically, at the first/last bus station, when I arrived in the morning it was empty. That evening (and I was late for dinner with her parents at this point), it was packed with all sorts of stalls and such. And I was panicked so I just couldn`t think straight. Like: "step outside and take a look around" didn`t occur to me...
However, there was a police hut (they`re all over the place) just outside (the wrong door) and they were super helpful. They just walked me over to the taxi rank, and I got a cab from there.
Then it was me and her parents for 2 hours, or so. It was nice, and we were (apparently) able to communicate reasonably well. Also: sake = win.
Tuesday, we got up at 2.30am to go to a hot spring (Onsen) near Mt Fuji. Some of my photos of Mt Fuji are freaking awesome. No photos in the spring because cameras are a no-no (what with all the naked men and so forth...). I have to admit: just sitting in a rock pool of hot water, looking out across the mountains at the rising sun, surrounded by naked Japanese men (talking about Japanese people in Vancouver, ironically enough...) *sounds* entirely boring, but it`s definitely an experience that I`m taking to the grave.
Basically, that whole day was a road trip with Aya and her friend Aya (I met her over a year ago in Vancouver), about 3 hours each way. It was a major deal, and something I`m extremely grateful for.
More on that some other time. I need to get back out to the city... :)