(no subject)
Ah - what a weekend. Sleep at the oddest recorded hours in my life so far, and an episode of Dallas between myself and my spring break plans.
Well this dates back a bit - Friday the wife of a former Japanese LLM student I had met in Philly arranged for myself and the other LLM students to tour the Imperial Palace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokyo). This was something of a special privilege - there were provisions there for gaijin (audio tour), but we were the ONLY ones we saw that day. I think its safe to say this would be have been significantly more difficult without a Japanese arranging it. Well, I took this seriously - I wanted to be a dignified culture ambassador for my country here.
BUT - the night before the complex negotiations ensued for spring break in Kansai (Kyoto, Osaka, Nara). While many many others are heading for Thailand, I thought US customs would perfer I remain in Japan - and I would be remiss if I didn't see a couple more places on the island. I've been trying to bake this plan for the better part of a month, and I've had about a dozen people commit and subsequently back out - then some would recommit, rinse and repeat. I'm a big planning-ahead type, but not even my meticulous and caution nature could contain this particular clusterfuck of wills. Anyway - negotiations ensued between princesses and tightwads (which I say with the greatest possible affection guys) about the reservations and practical details. Of course - this went in a chatroom until about 6am.
Rounding back to the point - I had to maximize what sleep I could, so by design I was cutting it close. Again - I wanted to be a dignified culture ambassador for my country here. So I put on my suit - trying to be good about this. Fast-forward to a train arriving 11th hour and my ass well dressed sprinting (in Cole Han shoes with no cushion or grip whatsoever) across downtown Tokyo - only to arrive JUST in time (dignified) in a sweaty dress shirt. Apparently I got greedy with 2 hours of sleep.
Anyway - to the damn pictures:
And the inner gate:
And the view from one of the bridges toward downtown Tokyo (train station is well behind those buildings):
Ready for ancient Japanese castles??
Too bad. This keep is the best we can do. It was a fairly minor building. Its a LOT smaller than it looks. The walls and moats (its walls within walls, etc) are SERIOUSLY epic - but pretty much all of the substance of Edo castle was destroyed in a chapter of history I find to be largely forgotten back home(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebombing_of_tokyo). (is sure as shit isn't here)
This is the modern palace where the Emperor currently conducts his functions of state:
From there we went to the Marunouchi building for a light expensive lunch. Never have I seen such a shining example of corporate excess. It was white-collar luxury carved into ebony with gold leaf on a pale wood wall lit with subtle track lights between 5 tone marble pillars.
Then I passed up fighting games in Akihabara for the precious few REM cycles I could get that afternoon. At some time around Thursday I stopped keeping track of what day it was - so forgive the very odd transitions. I'm pretty sure its Sunday now - but its hard to be sure.
By now Spring Break had begun - so I filled a dinner invite with my Kansai trip compatriots to chill and iron out last minute trip details. So, as is the beginning of all Tokyo adventures pertaining to the exciting the horrible - off to Roppongi we go.
And and adventure it would be. First we had dinner, Chinese, a good time. Some friends learned the hard-way (that I already learned the hard way thanks to D) that some peppers are just to flavor food NOT MEANT TO BE EATEN. Away from there love-dodecahedrons started coming into play. Some drama latter, needed by friends and wide awake, it was dinner time again. So back to the cock/scorpion restaurant (if you need some clarification on that see the prior post). This time JELLYFISH!!
Seriously - totally light eating experience. It was in a cucumber salad, and it tasted damn well like it belonged there. Image the midpoint between onion in vinegar and something properly pickled, thats it. Anywho - drama ensued. Then when we were just winding down, it ensued some more. Bar to bar, restaurant to restaurant, conversation to conversation. High school drama comments aside, helping people with these kind of things is kind of my element. This was definitely an episode of the young and the restless not to miss - something of a finale. Things were solved - or at least all but. Then again with my current sleep level, I may have just hallucinated the whole thing staring at a Roppongi snow globe. Yeah - thats right - I referenced St. Elsewhere. So now - the night after the palace, it was 5 in the morning....today.....? Time for an early morning BBQ breakfast in my 4th rolling dinner since 7pm the....night......before..?
As a sidenote car fans, in this 72 hours of daylight and midnight: V8 Vantage;
Finally got a picture of the new GT-R as requested. Like a bird watcher, this is a rare and elusive breed - 3rd one I've saw here - best pic I could do in time:
Other than that its been the sexy:
And the insane. Like my sleep deprived sanity needed to be challenged with what the hell a Wayne and Garth style AMC Pacer was doing here:
Anyway - as a final point: whereas at dinner I had 3 cohorts for Kyoto and hotel reservations - by dinner (no 4) the cheese stands alone, and I'm going to Kyoto my damn self. I suppose I could use some laid back quiet time anyway. If all goes to plan (or at least whats left) next time I post there will be a bullet-train involved.
Well this dates back a bit - Friday the wife of a former Japanese LLM student I had met in Philly arranged for myself and the other LLM students to tour the Imperial Palace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokyo). This was something of a special privilege - there were provisions there for gaijin (audio tour), but we were the ONLY ones we saw that day. I think its safe to say this would be have been significantly more difficult without a Japanese arranging it. Well, I took this seriously - I wanted to be a dignified culture ambassador for my country here.
BUT - the night before the complex negotiations ensued for spring break in Kansai (Kyoto, Osaka, Nara). While many many others are heading for Thailand, I thought US customs would perfer I remain in Japan - and I would be remiss if I didn't see a couple more places on the island. I've been trying to bake this plan for the better part of a month, and I've had about a dozen people commit and subsequently back out - then some would recommit, rinse and repeat. I'm a big planning-ahead type, but not even my meticulous and caution nature could contain this particular clusterfuck of wills. Anyway - negotiations ensued between princesses and tightwads (which I say with the greatest possible affection guys) about the reservations and practical details. Of course - this went in a chatroom until about 6am.
Rounding back to the point - I had to maximize what sleep I could, so by design I was cutting it close. Again - I wanted to be a dignified culture ambassador for my country here. So I put on my suit - trying to be good about this. Fast-forward to a train arriving 11th hour and my ass well dressed sprinting (in Cole Han shoes with no cushion or grip whatsoever) across downtown Tokyo - only to arrive JUST in time (dignified) in a sweaty dress shirt. Apparently I got greedy with 2 hours of sleep.
Anyway - to the damn pictures:
And the inner gate:
And the view from one of the bridges toward downtown Tokyo (train station is well behind those buildings):
Ready for ancient Japanese castles??
Too bad. This keep is the best we can do. It was a fairly minor building. Its a LOT smaller than it looks. The walls and moats (its walls within walls, etc) are SERIOUSLY epic - but pretty much all of the substance of Edo castle was destroyed in a chapter of history I find to be largely forgotten back home(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebombing_of_tokyo). (is sure as shit isn't here)
This is the modern palace where the Emperor currently conducts his functions of state:
From there we went to the Marunouchi building for a light expensive lunch. Never have I seen such a shining example of corporate excess. It was white-collar luxury carved into ebony with gold leaf on a pale wood wall lit with subtle track lights between 5 tone marble pillars.
Then I passed up fighting games in Akihabara for the precious few REM cycles I could get that afternoon. At some time around Thursday I stopped keeping track of what day it was - so forgive the very odd transitions. I'm pretty sure its Sunday now - but its hard to be sure.
By now Spring Break had begun - so I filled a dinner invite with my Kansai trip compatriots to chill and iron out last minute trip details. So, as is the beginning of all Tokyo adventures pertaining to the exciting the horrible - off to Roppongi we go.
And and adventure it would be. First we had dinner, Chinese, a good time. Some friends learned the hard-way (that I already learned the hard way thanks to D) that some peppers are just to flavor food NOT MEANT TO BE EATEN. Away from there love-dodecahedrons started coming into play. Some drama latter, needed by friends and wide awake, it was dinner time again. So back to the cock/scorpion restaurant (if you need some clarification on that see the prior post). This time JELLYFISH!!
Seriously - totally light eating experience. It was in a cucumber salad, and it tasted damn well like it belonged there. Image the midpoint between onion in vinegar and something properly pickled, thats it. Anywho - drama ensued. Then when we were just winding down, it ensued some more. Bar to bar, restaurant to restaurant, conversation to conversation. High school drama comments aside, helping people with these kind of things is kind of my element. This was definitely an episode of the young and the restless not to miss - something of a finale. Things were solved - or at least all but. Then again with my current sleep level, I may have just hallucinated the whole thing staring at a Roppongi snow globe. Yeah - thats right - I referenced St. Elsewhere. So now - the night after the palace, it was 5 in the morning....today.....? Time for an early morning BBQ breakfast in my 4th rolling dinner since 7pm the....night......before..?
As a sidenote car fans, in this 72 hours of daylight and midnight: V8 Vantage;
Finally got a picture of the new GT-R as requested. Like a bird watcher, this is a rare and elusive breed - 3rd one I've saw here - best pic I could do in time:
Other than that its been the sexy:
And the insane. Like my sleep deprived sanity needed to be challenged with what the hell a Wayne and Garth style AMC Pacer was doing here:
Anyway - as a final point: whereas at dinner I had 3 cohorts for Kyoto and hotel reservations - by dinner (no 4) the cheese stands alone, and I'm going to Kyoto my damn self. I suppose I could use some laid back quiet time anyway. If all goes to plan (or at least whats left) next time I post there will be a bullet-train involved.