In the past 5 years, I have been sent to the USA by my employer Exact Software three times. But this is something new: I am being sent to a country I have never been before. Where they speak a language I don't know. But with 5 days to prepare myself, what could possibly go wrong?
Early in the evening, quiet at Schiphol airport. Plenty of time to check in, say goodbye to my wife and parents, then walk over to the gate. The plane wasn't too crowded either: I had 3 seats all for myself. I had expected an isle seat, but instead I was treated to a lovely view out of the window. The old city center of Amsterdam looked like an illuminated spider's web spread out over the dark ground below.
The plane was a Boeing 777, operated by Japan Airlines, with a state-of-the-art entertainment system on every (economy-class) seat: films, music, games, and all ready to start when you want them to! There was even a game to teach you a few Japanese words. Starting with numbers: ichi, ni, san... But I soon got bored, and with 3 seats at my disposal, it wasn't too hard to sleep for a few hours. But I wish I hadn't, it only made me feel worse.
It was past 3 o'clock in the afternoon when I landed on Narita Airport. I bought a ticket for the Narita Express to Tokyo. The 15:45 train had just left, so I had to wait another hour for the next. Never mind, this gave me the time to buy a snack and a drink, and to bother the NTT DoCoMo representatives at the airport with my difficult questions about i-mode. Trying to exchange a few words of English with the locals, soon proved the 'Lost in Translation' prejudice right. This promises to be a trip with a lot of confusion and misunderstanding!
I boarded the train, and just as I was wondering why all other people stayed on the platform, I realized that this train was at least 4 minutes early. Impossible in a country where trains are famous for their punctuality! Too late, the train was already moving, and not in the direction I had in mind. This train was going deeper into the airport, taking me from terminal 2 to terminal 1. The solution was simple: jump out at the next stop and run across the platform, where the right train was about to leave for Tokyo. At 16:45, the train made a short stop at terminal 2, precisely in time to pick up the travelers I had left behind 4 minutes earlier!
A man asked me for my ticket. The conductor? No, the man who had reserved this seat. Ah, numbered seats! The man seemed annoyed, but stayed polite. His companion was even friendly enough to show me to my seat. Juu ichi A!
At Shinagawa Station,
I had a quick transfer to the
Yamanote line.
Minutes later, I arrived at
Gotanda station.
The Tokyu Stay Gotanda hotel was easy to find.
At 19:00, I checked in.
The room was small, but worse than that: it was a smoking room.
I mean, it smelled like the room itself was still smoking.
I phoned to the receptionist, but they couldn't help me.
Ventilating the room by opening the door to the balcony didn't help much.
I'll do some more complaining in the morning.
Got up at 7, in time to wish Tracy goodnight (through MSN). This time difference is so silly...
At 8, I went down to have (complimentary) breakfast at Jonathan's: pancakes.
I am glad Eddie had explained to me in detail how to walk over to the SCM office: even though the distance is short, no way I would have found it on my own.
My first working day started nice and easy. Getting to know my co-workers. Then came the jetlag. In the morning, I felt a little sleepy. In the afternoon, I felt very sleepy. Finally in the evening, I felt better.
For lunch and dinner, I followed Robin and the colleagues from KL to small restaurants in the neighbourhood. Good thing they know their way around here! And good to know there are so many nice places to eat out here.
Not a lot on TV, but the 'rollercoaster karaoke' was pretty funny though.
Well, nothing to complain: I have a computer and broadband internet.
And fresh air in my room!
Yes, my complaining worked: I am now in a non-smoking room.
Apart from the smell, there is hardly any difference with yesterday's room.
Just a little less view, as I moved down 3 floors.
Robin brought a bag of 'kruidnoten' to the office, just to give our Japanese and Chinese co-workers an idea what Sinterklaas is all about.
In the afternoon, we went to a Korean restaurant where we had to eat with steel chopsticks, instead of the regular wooden ones. Tricky! This is where all the hours of training I got from eating with my in-laws came in handy.
A lot of application crashes on my notebook today. In the evening, I did a complete virus scan, which revealed nothing malicious. Guess it is just another proof of how crappy Microsoft products are. But out here in space, no one can hear you scream.
Well, what can I say. Just another routine day. Already.
Well, eating out is always exciting of course. Robin, Thiam and Seng Loong take me to a different restaurant every time. Today, lunch was barbeque. On a big table with a built-in grill. Too bad I didn't bring my camera with me. Tomorrow I will!
Robin gave me some kind of Japanese puzzle in which you have to separate 2 metal anchors.
My first few attempts to solve it have failed: it seems pretty impossible.
And according to Robin, this is only the simplest out of a series of three!
I thought 7:30 would be a quiet time in the restaurant, but it was actually quite busy. The waiters were running as fast as they could, between tables and kitchen. And sometimes, the guests are in a hurry too. Upon leaving, a man knocked over his soup and spilled most of it over his pants. Which only made him run out even faster.
I had chosen the same combo as him, the only Japanese-style dish on the complimentary menu, so I became extra careful and finished the soup first, just for safety. It was really good actually, provided you put the stuff in your mouth, not on your clothes. And now that I have tried all 4 possibilities, I can honestly say this one stands out in terms of filling your stomach. Ooph, hours later I still felt heavy inside.
By the way, I finally figured out the proper procedure for leaving the restaurant after you have eaten. You are supposed to write down your room number on the 'zero yen' check before throwing it in the basket near the door that connects Jonathan's with the hotel.
In the afternoon, the five of us went for Indian buffet (Seng Loong is missing in the picture as he is holding the camera).
After work, we went to
MOS Burger.
There are a lot of hamburger restaurants around here, but I wonder why.
Who needs burgers when you have this delicious Japanese food?
They probably only make people fat.
Which is already showing in the streets of Tokyo, I'm afraid...
After work, as always I went for dinner with my colleagues, and after that we made a short walk through the neighbourhood. We took a quick look inside one of the many Pachinko places around. What an incredible noise! How can anyone last for more than 5 minutes in here?
After we said goodbye, I noticed it was true what they said about prostitution in Gotanda: walking alone on the streets around the station for just 5 minutes, I was approached at least twice. But never in a pushy way. The streets are pretty safe around here.
The weather forecast for this weekend says rain, so I stopped by at the 7-Eleven to buy an umbrella and a simple raincoat.
Back in the hotelroom, I got some useful tips from Robin on MSN for my trip to
Nikko,
tomorrow.
Still dark outside when I got up at 6:00. After breakfast at Jonathan's I went outside. It was raining, but it was just a drizzle, and the entry to the subway was right outside the hotel anyway. Once I had figured out how to buy a ticket at the machine, I was soon on my way on the Asakusa line.
I got out at Asakusa station, went upstairs and followed the street to the Tobu Railway terminal. Robin's detailed instructions really helped me out here. Only a few minutes early, I arrived at the Tobu Sightseeing Service Center. At 8:00 sharp (and I mean sharp), the shutters were raised. A friendly hostess sold me an 'All Nikko Pass', then guided me though a secret passage onto the platform and escorted me all the way to the platform. Only minutes later, at 8:10, the train left for its 2-hour journey to Nikko.
In Nikko, snow was falling.
I took the bus to the temples and shrines, bought a ticket to get in,
and started walking around and making pictures of the beautiful snow-covered roofs.
In the early afternoon, when I had seen most of it, I walked back to the main street.
I found a restaurant on the 2nd floor of a big souvenir shop, where I had noodle soup.
Then I hurried to the busstop to catch the 13:42 bus up the mountain.
From the bus, I saw
Lake Chuzenji,
but in this weather it looked grey and dull, so I did not bother to stop there.
Instead, I got out at Ryuzu-No-Taki and watched the
Ryuzu Falls.
Maybe not as breathtaking as the falls Tracy and I saw in China, but still very beautiful.
The path along the falls was wet and slippery from the melting snow,
I had to be careful not to fall.
Not much people around here to pick me up.
At the temple complex, it had been not too crowded already,
but up here, there seemed to be only a handful of people around.
Quite different from what Eddie and Robin had been through.
But that was just their mistake, going there during autumn leaves!
I did not go any further up the mountain, but instead took the 15:34 bus down to Chuzenji to see Kegon Falls. What an incredible sound, the water vigorously crashing down on the rocks deep down below. I took some pictures from the top platform, then took the elevator down to the base of the waterfall. When I got back up again, it was getting dark. And it was still very quiet here. I started feeling lonely, and quickly took the 16:43 bus back to the station. From the bus, I saw Shinkyo Bridge. It was beautifully illuminated, but I did not feel like getting out to take a picture.
From the timetable it was clear that the bus and train did not connect very well, I had to wait for almost an hour at the station, so I might as well eat there. I found this little place on the 2nd floor, where an old lady served me cold soba.
For some reason, the ride back was scheduled to last even longer than when I got here: we left at 18:10 and arrived at 20:55 in Asakusa. By the way, there is a silent 'u' in Asakusa, which makes it sound like 'a-suck-sa'.
I got back on the Asakusa line, and I had almost made it back to Gotanda without any trouble, when the train made a surprising twist. Before I knew it, I was at an uncharted station along the KeiKyu line. With a little help of some people, I managed to backtrack to Sengakuji Station, from where I could pick up the track to Gotanda. Around 22:30 I was finally back in my hotel room, my camera filled with 156 photos. Excuse me for not showing them all here.
Last week, Tei-san had told me about
Akihabara Electric Town.
Well, it would be a shame to leave Tokyo without some fun-shopping for electronics.
Getting there by train (the
Yamanote line,
the same one that brought me here one week ago)
was easy,
but still it was quite late when I arrived (I think around noon).
I had been sleeping so long, I had almost missed the free breakfast at Jonathan's
(which is available from 6:00 to 10:00).
Walking out of Akihabara Station, I soon found myself on the busy main street (Chuo Dori). Some of the things I saw there:
After walking around for some time, visiting many many stores, I started drifting to the north, in search for something to eat. I ended up at a small restaurant near Okachimachi Station. Here you had to buy a ticket from some kind of vending machine, then bring that ticket over to the counter to order your food. Luckily I had already seen this system a few days earlier, when I was eating out with my colleagues. And I must say, it actually works quite well! As long as you can find the button that matches your choice of food, that is!
After my meal, it was already past 3 o'clock, I could have just taken the train from Okachimachi Station, but I still did not have enough of it all. So I walked back to Electric City for another round! This time, I managed to find many of the small shops with cheap parts and second-hand stuff. You could buy a used notebook for under € 100. No thanks, but I did buy a small webcam for 1000 yen (about € 7).
Man, my knees started to hurt. Going up 7 or 8 escalators, then walking the stairs all the way down, time and time again, began to take its toll. When I could no longer climb another stairway, I dragged myself back to Akihabara Station and went back to the hotel.
Today, the weather gods had been really friendly to me.
Rain had been predicted, but instead I had gotten a nice, sunny day!
So how do like my USB X-mas tree with 7-color LED? I saw it yesterday in Akihabara, and I just could not resist buying something electronic and totally useless! Anyway, it is now cheering up the SCM office.
We had lunch at the top floor of the department store near my hotel. Afterwards, we went to the roof to enjoy the view over Gotanda.
Robin, Thiam and I had dinner at a Thai restaurant where they served - naturally - very spicy food. After that, we visited some book stores in the neighbourhood. It was not easy, but we finally found a very small section with books in English.
Our lunch party was the biggest so far: with Ken back at the office, there were now six of us. We went to the same Chinese restaurant where we had lunch last week on Monday. It was quite small there, but eventually we were able to join onto a single table.
When we walked back, a few drops of rain were falling.
Really, nothing more than a few.
Still, I saw umbrellas being deployed everywhere.
Looks like Japanese people are very worried about keeping their hair dry.
As Robin stated earlier: they seem to be afraid they might melt.
The deadline for the coming codedrop comes nearer, the tension is slowly rising. My colleagues are already counting down to the time they will all go home for Christmas. And even though I like it here very much, I look forward to going home too. Back to Tracy, back to Choco.
But before we can leave, we have to face one final, difficult decision:
how to spend our last, precious weekend in Japan?
While my colleagues were making plans what to do this weekend, the term okonomiyaki came by a couple of times. Sooner than expected, I learned what it really was all about. Tonight, the five of us went to a small okonomiyaki restaurant. Luckily, it was not too far away, for it had started to rain. I should really keep a closer eye on the weather forecast!
The two ladies running the place did not speak anything other than Japanese. Ken managed to order us some of the famous pancake/pizza-like things. One of the ladies prepared them for us at our very table, and they tasted really good. For those of you who think you don't like Asian food: you will definitely like this!
For lunch, we went to a small restaurant specialized in chicken, just around the corner. Man, that chicken was good. I just pointed at a picture on the menu without knowing what it was. No regretting that! Another example that Tokyo restaurants have something for everyone.
We worked until late, 20:30 we finally left. There was some stress about a live server crashing on our invoice service (or so they say). Looks like Ken will be at the office tomorrow. And the rest of us, we still haven't got a clue how to spend our weekend!
Back at the hotel, I spent a few hours on the internet planning a route through Tokyo. Just like the first weekend, www.japan-guide.com provided me with a lot of useful information. Thanks for the link, Robin!
Woke up around 6:30, even before the alarm clock, an excellent opportunity to catch some of the early action at the Tsukiji fish market.
It wasn't far by subway
(Asakusa line
followed by
Oedo line),
at 7:50 I was at
Tsukiji Shijo station.
Standing on the escalator rising up from the station,
I could already smell the fish.
I entered the wholesale market, the place to be, and it was busy. Really busy.
I mean, big as it may be, there just wasn't a single spot to stand
without the risk of getting run over by these motorized trolleys wizzing around.
It literally kept me on my toes!
Somehow I managed to battle my way through the biggest madhouse in the world alive and in one piece, and I started looking for some sushi. Like my colleagues had warned me: people were standing in line for the sushi restaurants. I found one that was a little more quiet, don't know why, maybe the other ones have better food? It was nice though, sitting at the counter, right in front of the chefs. Actually I had already had breakfast, but then I already knew I had to keep some room in my stomach, so that wasn't a problem at all.
I left the fish market and walked over to
Ginza.
But I was over an hour early, most shops do not open until 11:00!
So I took some pictures, spent some time at the local Bic Camera
(a big electronics store),
and gazed at a huge line of people (rough guess: 500+) that were in line to buy a lotery ticket
(grand prize: 200,000,000 yen, that's almost one and a half million euros).
The Sony Building is a permanent display of Sony products and innovations, with some lifestyle on top of it. I played for a while with a VAIO U Series, and with a CyberCode-driven information system at the lobby.
Took a quick look inside
Printemps.
As the name suggests, this chain of department stores originates from France.
Well, this is not really my thing, but I know for sure
this one's much nicer than any department store you can find in the Netherlands.
Tracy would love it.
I took the Yamanote line to Shinjuku. First I had lunch in the underground mall around the station: noodle soup and rice with beef. Then I walked over to the Metropolitan Government Office. From the 45th floor, I had a beautiful view over Tokyo. Too bad it was a bit hazy, otherwise I might have been able to see the mountains outside the city.
Back down, I walked around in Shinjuku Central Park and visited the Kumano Shrine there. Then I went back to the station and took the Yamanote line back to Gotanda.
I went to an
NTT DoCoMo
store I had noticed last Monday.
I knew I could not buy a Japanese
i-mode
phone
(something I had already found out in
Akihabara),
but there was still some way they might be able to help me.
If only I could borrow one of these handsets,
then I would be able to see if the
DoJa
applications I had been making in the past
would function equally well on the Japanese cousins of my i-mode phone.
It took some time to overcome the language problem (the DoCoMo support line acted as an interpreter), but finally I could see my own games in action on one of the latest FOMA handsets, an SO903i. And I am glad to report, all applications functioned perfectly! My graphical demo with the 3 spinning cubes ran at a frame rate of around 60 fps. Compare that to 8 fps on my old NEC N341i!
I went to the department store near my hotel, and up to the roof to take some pictures of Gotanda in the dark. Then I went down one floor to eat udon soup with tempura topping.
Before 7 I was back in my hotel room.
Turn on my laptop to update this diary,
and MSN with my colleagues about plans for tomorrow.
Today, I spent most of the day in Tokyo Disneyland. Finally I can brag to all of my friends that I have visited the Disney resorts in all five locations: Orlando, Anaheim, Paris, Hong Kong and finally Tokyo.
According to the
website,
the park opens at 8am already, which is quite early, especially in this time of year.
I had planned to be there that early to beat the crowds,
but I overslept.
I took the Yamanote line to Tokyo station. Man, that station is big. It was quite a walk over to the platform for the Keiyo line. I had my doubts about the rapid train standing there, but some other passengers were able to tell me it would surely stop at Maihama station.
There were a lot of people going into the park, but the ticket office could handle them easily, no long lines. But inside the park, that was a different story. All major attractions had big queues. I remember walking by Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters at 10:40. It had a waiting time of 100 minutes, and the return time for Fastpass users was already 19:00-20:00.
Other attractions with similar queues:
Big Thunder Mountain,
Splash Mountain
and
Haunted Mansion.
As for
Space Mountain,
it was closed due to refurnishment.
I knew I should have gotten up earlier,
and I knew I should have stormed through the park collecting Fastpasses straight away.
But hey, there's still plenty to do here.
And with no intention to wait for any one of the attractions above,
I had plenty of time to try some of the things I might otherwise have skipped,
with waiting times of 30 minutes or less:
I had to leave at 6pm, so I missed the
Electrical Parade
and the fireworks.
But I did get to see the Christmas parade and a show at the castle forecourt.
And after sunset, I was able to make a few beautiful pictures, just before I left.
After all my visits to Disney parks around the globe,
this was my first time in Christmas season.
That alone made this visit worthwhile!
I hurried back to Gotanda to meet up with my colleagues at 7. What a timing, my train arrived there at 19:00 sharp. Robin was the only one there, our intended shabu-shabu party dinner with the others had been cancelled unfortunately.
But we had to eat one way or the other, so the both of us went over to Pepper Lunch, one of Eddie's favorite restaurants during his stay here.
Another great lunch: grilled salmon. Feels just like home, Tracy has made me this many times!
In the evening, Robin, Seng Loong and I went to the ticket office at
Gotanda station
to buy tickets for the train back to the airport.
Seats for the
Narita Express
are reserved, and the weekend before Christmas is said to be a popular time for travel,
so it may be wise not to wait to long.
Thiam will be flying out tomorrow, so tonight was his farewell dinner. We did what we had initially planned for the weekend: we went for shabu-shabu. The Chinese call this steamboat, and the Dutch know something similar under the name of fondue.
An unlimited supply of beef, pork, mushrooms and vegetables, in a pan filled with boiling water.
And some nice
sake
and iced tea to wash it down.
Robin and I skipped the raw egg dip, that seemed us a little too risky!
Yesterday it was goodbye to Thiam, today it was hello to Min Bee. So once again, there were 6 of us at the restaurant: Robin, Ken, Min Bee, Cheryl, Seng Loong and me.
Our first experience with okonomiyaki made us craving for more. At a different restaurant though, where we actually got to make them ourselves. Lots of laughs and lots of picture-taking!
Just a few more days to go, almost time to say goodbye to Japan.
And to this waitress at Jonathan's,
who was always happy to improve her English by talking with me as she served me breakfast.
In the afternoon, I paid my last visit to the NTT DoCoMo store, to do some more testing with DoJa applications on Japanese cellphones. I actually had to skip lunch with my colleagues for this. Luckily, I still had the instant noodles I had bought the night I arrived in Tokyo.
Just like last Saturday, it took me 15 minutes to explain what I came for, once again with the help of some interpretation by DoCoMo's own helpline. I don't mind, for the people here always stay patient and polite, no matter what. And in a sincere way, it never feels like fake or plastic (as it often does in the USA).
This time, I received a P903i (a FOMA device) and an N506iS (based on the older MOVA technique). Again, the 903i proved to be an extremely fast device, running my homemade first-person shooter at an incredible 100 fps (without the use of a 3D graphics API), thus blowing both my own N341i and the N506i completely out of the water. If only we had handsets like that in Europe! Too bad it is no use trying to buy one here. If you are curious why, read this: http://euc.jp/misc/cellphones.en.html
No serious problems on our final working day, so we were able to finish our job here without any stress.
And afterwards, our last dinner together. Robin and I had natto for a side dish, which was quite strange to eat, but still it was nice to have tried it.
Tomorrow, everybody will be flying out, except for Min Bee, who has to be stand-by for Christmas. She will be leaving on Wednesday.
Last breakfast at Jonathan's, last time to hear this strange yet beautiful Irish-style music I have been listening to each and every day. One of the many things I will be missing.
I went back up to my room to stuff the last few things in my bags, then hurried down again to check out. I would meet up with Robin at the Gotanda station ticket office at 8:15. I was a minute late, still in time for us to take the 8:20 train to Shinagawa Station.
Numbers on the platform at Shinagawa Station showed us the exact spot for us and our bulking bags to board the Narita Express.
It was 3 weeks since I had been riding on this very track, but this time there was plenty of daylight to have a look around. After an hour of relaxing, talking and staring out of the window, the train made its first stop at Narita Airport.
I got out of the train and waved goodbye to Robin, on his way to terminal 1. Walking through one of the many isles in the immense airport building, I came across some check-in machines. A friendly hostess helped me scanning in my passport and entering my e-ticket number, but eventually the machine just didn't like my name, and I moved on to the regular check-in desks.
Checking in and going through the security checks all went very smooth. Way too much in time, I arrived at my gate. There was a desk there where I could plug in my notebook's power supply, but unfortunately the converter was in my check-in luggage. No problem: to me, a piece of paper will do just as well.
Up in the air, once again with my own private entertainment system in front of me. Poor Robin, he's flying this old KLM-operated 747, with everybody watching the same movie at the same time. But with a wide choice of movies and games under my fingertips, I still couldn't resist listening to the same old rock ballads over and over again.
In particular Dreams by Van Halen, amazing how this little gem could escape my attention for the past 20 years. I really had a little catching up to do with this one. Sammy Hagar at his best, crying the "higher and higher" chorus into my ears, painted a smile on my face, so wide that my headphones almost disappeared into the corners of my mouth. And with every guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen, the plane seemed to be speeding through the cold dark polar night even faster than before.
Actually, I hadn't expected the sun to set during a daytime flight. It turns out the winter season doesn't leave much sunlight to fly through on a flight like this.
The plane had almost caught up with the sun again when we landed on Schiphol airport. A welcoming committee, consisting of my wife, dog and parents, was already waiting for me there. Customs didn't trouble me, so it wasn't long before I could join them and drive back home.