My "Lost In Translation" experience :)
(Obviously the below was posted AFTER I landed - no internet on planes yet!)
So I find myself on the plane from Tokyo to Singapore, watching "Knocked Up". And it's good in parts, but overall just cringe-worthy, so I decided to write an update, and rave on about how much I loved Japan.
I mean, I knew I probably would. I've had this long distance affair with it since I was a kid. But actually getting to go there and wander around was amazing :) It's as stereotyped as you'd expect - 35 million people crammed into one place, there's people everywhere. And everyone smokes! Well, all the men do. All these Japanese men in business suits, smoking. And playing Pachinko, in huge Pachinko parlors. Or cycling around :) And all the girls spend all their time using their phones...
All the young guys have cool long hair styles - but by the time they put on a business suit and start working, all the hair becomes short and boring. I found very few exceptions to this rule. And it seems that when they become really old, then they change from a business suit to a traffic warden suit, and direct traffic. I have never seen so many traffic wardens in my life, and they're all old men! It seems that it's cheaper to install two old men with glowing sticks than to install traffic lights :P
Anyway, enough generalisations - down to the blow-by-blow! I got into Narita airport on Sunday evening, and got told that due to traffic the airport bus was running an hour late. So I decided to brave the train system instead - which was fun, until I got to the station, and tried to find the hotel, which was three blocks from the station. After an hour and a half I found the hotel :P But I did get to do a lot of sightseeing in the process!
The hotel (Keio Plaza Shinjuku) was really nice, and they gave me an upgrade to the executive suites on the 41st floor. Which was really nice, except my ears popped every time I went from the lobby up to my room or back down :P And it was right next door to the Cisco test site, which was convenient :)
I wandered around a bit locally in Shinjuku (the area I was staying in) on Sunday night, then eventually went back to my hotel room - the mattress on the bed was even harder than the futons at home, but I got used to it eventually... Monday morning I wandered around Shinjuku some more and got my bearings, explored the giant shopping malls and then in the afternoon I decided to brave the train system again. Wandered around Tokyo central for a while, and Shibuya, and then on a whim decided to stop in on Harajuku.
And Harajuku where I really fell in love with Tokyo :) Finally, a place where I feel free to be myself - where leopard print, fur trim and shiny things aren't just accepted, they're expected. I could have spent SO much money on clothes there (and they're legitimate boys clothes! :P) but I restricted myself down to a few items :) I spent a lot more time just browsing through shops and admiring all the clothes - both on the shelves, and on the people.
Eventually I dragged myself away and went back to my hotel - decided to splurge so I had a really nice tempura dinner in one of the hotel restaurants (they cooked it in front of me), and went to bed at 11pm, to try and keep myself fresh for the exam. Which of course didn't work - I woke up at 3am, and couldn't sleep again until 5:30am, so by the time I got up for the exam I was a bit of a zombie :P Had a buffet breakfast, and then wandered off to my exam
(I'll write about the exam in a separate post, I promise...)
Post-exam I was pretty mentally and emotionally drained, so I sat around the hotel room clicking refresh on my email - eventually I decided I should go wandering again. At that point I discovered that there was an area of Tokyo with 200 gay bars in a 3-block radius, and that it was 10 minutes walk from my hotel room. This always happens to me - anytime I visit a new country, I always end up staying near the gay district, completely by accident. (I'm sure long-time readers of my LiveJournal remember that my home in Singapore was a five minute walk from all the gay clubs, and that the office i worked in was on one of the busiest beats in Singapore - I didn't even pick the office location!)
So I wandered down to Shinjuku Ni-chome (the aforementioned gay bar area) and had a look around. Didn't go into any of the bars, just looked :) And there were so many tiny gay bars, it was so cute! Eventually I came back to my hotel room and fell asleep (after a little telephone drama) - woke up early, packed in a hurry, and caught the train back out to the airport.
And that's me up until now! I'm actually kinda enjoying watching "Knocked Up" out of the corner of my eye... and I am REALLY looking forward to a few days in Singapore with family and friends :) But Tokyo definitely was amazing, and I can't wait until I get to go back again. And next time I'll have brushed up on my Japanese so I don't feel so "lost in translation" and I'll go with other people so I have someone to share the experience with instead of being alone... :P And I'll spend more time there. And explore. :)
So... who's coming ? ;)
So I find myself on the plane from Tokyo to Singapore, watching "Knocked Up". And it's good in parts, but overall just cringe-worthy, so I decided to write an update, and rave on about how much I loved Japan.
I mean, I knew I probably would. I've had this long distance affair with it since I was a kid. But actually getting to go there and wander around was amazing :) It's as stereotyped as you'd expect - 35 million people crammed into one place, there's people everywhere. And everyone smokes! Well, all the men do. All these Japanese men in business suits, smoking. And playing Pachinko, in huge Pachinko parlors. Or cycling around :) And all the girls spend all their time using their phones...
All the young guys have cool long hair styles - but by the time they put on a business suit and start working, all the hair becomes short and boring. I found very few exceptions to this rule. And it seems that when they become really old, then they change from a business suit to a traffic warden suit, and direct traffic. I have never seen so many traffic wardens in my life, and they're all old men! It seems that it's cheaper to install two old men with glowing sticks than to install traffic lights :P
Anyway, enough generalisations - down to the blow-by-blow! I got into Narita airport on Sunday evening, and got told that due to traffic the airport bus was running an hour late. So I decided to brave the train system instead - which was fun, until I got to the station, and tried to find the hotel, which was three blocks from the station. After an hour and a half I found the hotel :P But I did get to do a lot of sightseeing in the process!
The hotel (Keio Plaza Shinjuku) was really nice, and they gave me an upgrade to the executive suites on the 41st floor. Which was really nice, except my ears popped every time I went from the lobby up to my room or back down :P And it was right next door to the Cisco test site, which was convenient :)
I wandered around a bit locally in Shinjuku (the area I was staying in) on Sunday night, then eventually went back to my hotel room - the mattress on the bed was even harder than the futons at home, but I got used to it eventually... Monday morning I wandered around Shinjuku some more and got my bearings, explored the giant shopping malls and then in the afternoon I decided to brave the train system again. Wandered around Tokyo central for a while, and Shibuya, and then on a whim decided to stop in on Harajuku.
And Harajuku where I really fell in love with Tokyo :) Finally, a place where I feel free to be myself - where leopard print, fur trim and shiny things aren't just accepted, they're expected. I could have spent SO much money on clothes there (and they're legitimate boys clothes! :P) but I restricted myself down to a few items :) I spent a lot more time just browsing through shops and admiring all the clothes - both on the shelves, and on the people.
Eventually I dragged myself away and went back to my hotel - decided to splurge so I had a really nice tempura dinner in one of the hotel restaurants (they cooked it in front of me), and went to bed at 11pm, to try and keep myself fresh for the exam. Which of course didn't work - I woke up at 3am, and couldn't sleep again until 5:30am, so by the time I got up for the exam I was a bit of a zombie :P Had a buffet breakfast, and then wandered off to my exam
(I'll write about the exam in a separate post, I promise...)
Post-exam I was pretty mentally and emotionally drained, so I sat around the hotel room clicking refresh on my email - eventually I decided I should go wandering again. At that point I discovered that there was an area of Tokyo with 200 gay bars in a 3-block radius, and that it was 10 minutes walk from my hotel room. This always happens to me - anytime I visit a new country, I always end up staying near the gay district, completely by accident. (I'm sure long-time readers of my LiveJournal remember that my home in Singapore was a five minute walk from all the gay clubs, and that the office i worked in was on one of the busiest beats in Singapore - I didn't even pick the office location!)
So I wandered down to Shinjuku Ni-chome (the aforementioned gay bar area) and had a look around. Didn't go into any of the bars, just looked :) And there were so many tiny gay bars, it was so cute! Eventually I came back to my hotel room and fell asleep (after a little telephone drama) - woke up early, packed in a hurry, and caught the train back out to the airport.
And that's me up until now! I'm actually kinda enjoying watching "Knocked Up" out of the corner of my eye... and I am REALLY looking forward to a few days in Singapore with family and friends :) But Tokyo definitely was amazing, and I can't wait until I get to go back again. And next time I'll have brushed up on my Japanese so I don't feel so "lost in translation" and I'll go with other people so I have someone to share the experience with instead of being alone... :P And I'll spend more time there. And explore. :)
So... who's coming ? ;)