Visiting Japan

[Guardian Enzo]

And so, it ends...

Last day was Jinbo-cho. Didn't see the Paper Sisters, had an hour and could have spent a day. There was a huge crowd of people headed off towards the Imperial Palace (I think) many in kimono, so I assume there was something going on there. It's interesting that the manga has made such a huge impact on American pop culture, yet the light novel hardly at all. Touring those bookstores you see how huge they are over there. That was followed by a second trip to Harajuku to buy myself a Yukata, and a bowl of kimchi ramen from ichikawa served boiling (I do mean boiling) in a stone crock. It was a unique presentation and quite delicious - too bad they allowed smoking. It was a tiny basement place with no possible way of segregating the smokers out. Then a brief, rainy visit to Meiji Shrine, but at that point my feet were killing me and I was pretty gassed. I must have put 70 miles on my shoes on this trip.

Just when I thought I was really starting to understand Tokyo, I was befuddled yet again. When I left the ramen shop, the waitress called me back in and gestured that I should take one of those ubiquitous plastic umbrellas from the stand. I knew there cheap (400 yen) but I guess they're like the bicycles in Amsterdam - community use.

What an amazing time I had - it's strange and surreal to be home, and that's not just the jet lag. I loved Japan - the mad contrasts of old and new. This is a country of paradoxes - how is it that in a country with such a low birth rate, teenagers seem to be everywhere - and have a huge impact on society as a whole? The utter madness of Tokyo in general and Shinjuku Station in particular, endless waves of people that somehow always get where they're going. Those theme songs on the subways and trains - God, I'll miss those! Are they available as ringtones? The technology. When I checked in at Narita, all I had to do is scan my passport and it pulled up everything and printed my boarding pass. How sugoi is that? And boy, will I miss those onsen. They did wonders for my aching back.

As all great adventures must, it ended with irony. In a country where you take off your shoes everywhere, you go through airport security without taking them off. And when I thanked the information desk lady at Narita for giving me directions to my gate, how did she reply? "Do itashimasshite."

What a country.

[asgard_shill]

If you've got some serious coin to throw around and a few days to spare during say Obon, try to hit one of the resorts in Shimoda (my personal favorite is the Shimoda Yamatokan, but I had every bit as much fun quasi-legally camping on the beach).

Just don't try to go in the water at Tatado Beach without a board of some kind. You'll be politely but firmly run off and directed to the other areas there where that sort of heresy is legal. They'll call you a baka gaijin too

The rooms at the Yamatokan are furnished in the classic Japanese style - low tables, tatamis, futons, all the trimmings, with a tremendous view from your private balcony. You're pushing Y30,000 a night offpeak for this, but IMO its worth every bit.

[Guardian Enzo]

If anyone can point me to an MP3 for the tune at 0:58, I'd appreciate it more than I can say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW_0zOR_bdM

If nothing else - which station is it? I can't remember and it's driving me nuts.

[asgard_shill]

It sounds an awful lot like the first few bars of "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks. I don't have a link to it though - sorry.

[Guardian Enzo]

LOL - it's actually one of the "station themes" from the Yamanote line in Tokyo. I'd love to have it as a ringtone. I heard it so many times I can't get it out of my head - I'd at least like to know which station it was.

[Ryuou]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

LOL - it's actually one of the "station themes" from the Yamanote line in Tokyo. I'd love to have it as a ringtone. I heard it so many times I can't get it out of my head - I'd at least like to know which station it was.

It looks like the station it's played at is listed on the bottom of that video.

Originally Posted by RandomGuy

Cheap oil, combined with and an ill-advised love affair with the automobile, gutted railroad infrastructure in the U.S. while driving settlement patterns into increasingly decentralized and unsustainable forms. Entire populations would have to reorganize themselves for rail transportation in America to be truly effective again, to say nothing of winning the hearts and minds of an American populace whose mental image of trains is stuck in the 19th Century. (I've had the misfortune of reading a number of blog comments which make it clear that their posters think the Shinkansen runs on diesel, if not coal. I guess all those overhead wires are just for show. ) Things wouldn't be half as bad as they are now if the government gave Amtrak enough money to maintain what facilities it has and make service more frequent, but politicians use crappy, infrequent service and low ridership as a justification to cut funding still further, leading to even crappier, still more infrequent service with even fewer passengers. It's a vicious cycle.

Of course, I'm secretly hoping for people to abandon that blighted exurban sprawl they've forced themselves into, and form discernible communities with walkable business districts centered around the local train station. It's a long shot, but it's an effective model...

This is something that I dislike and I don't think I'll ever get used to about the States.

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by Ryuou

It looks like the station it's played at is listed on the bottom of that video.

Yeah, but the kanji is ugh, I guess he'd like the names in romaji~~
I'm kinda curious myself, haven't heard that tune though.
(and I'm glad it isn't just me who recorded all kinds of JR train music on my first trip to Japan) xD

[LynnieS]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

LOL - it's actually one of the "station themes" from the Yamanote line in Tokyo. I'd love to have it as a ringtone. I heard it so many times I can't get it out of my head - I'd at least like to know which station it was.

That's "Airy" played on track 16 of the JR Shinjuku station (and it looks like 3 other stations?) for the Chuo-Sobu line. Unfortunately, I don't know who is the artist or even if it is taken from an actual song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7hub4QRaE

[Chronosphere EXIA]

Man! I want to visit this country soon.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by LynnieS

That's "Airy" played on track 16 of the JR Shinjuku station (and it looks like 3 other stations?) for the Chuo-Sobu line. Unfortunately, I don't know who is the artist or even if it is taken from an actual song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7hub4QRaE

LOL - that explains, it, it's the track closest to my hotel! Thanks a lot. I had no idea any of the songs (other than the Tokyo Disney stops) actually had names. Now I just need the MP3!

[Ryuou]

Originally Posted by Mystique

Yeah, but the kanji is ugh, I guess he'd like the names in romaji~~
I'm kinda curious myself, haven't heard that tune though.
(and I'm glad it isn't just me who recorded all kinds of JR train music on my first trip to Japan) xD

Well if you or Guardian Enzo have ones that you want to know, just tell me the time on that video and I can try and tell you the station name. Although my kanji reading capabilities aren't all that spectacular when it comes to names, I should be able to figure it out for stations in and around Tokyo.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Ryuou

Well if you or Guardian Enzo have ones that you want to know, just tell me the time on that video and I can try and tell you the station name. Although my kanji reading capabilities aren't all that spectacular when it comes to names, I should be able to figure it out for stations in and around Tokyo.

:30
1:05 (I think it's Meguro)
1:24
2:44

Strange the impression silly little things like these can make in your psyche. I wonder who writes these things.

[Ryuou]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

:30
1:05 (I think it's Meguro)
1:24
2:44

Strange the impression silly little things like these can make in your psyche. I wonder who writes these things.

30 - (Spring) Yoyogi 2, Shinagawa 4/14, Kawasaki 4 (ect.)
1:05 - Shinjuku 15, Oomiya 19, Utsunomiya 5 (ect.)
1:24 - (Kigi no mezame) Shinjuku 12, Kamakura 2, Kawagoe 3/4 (ect.)
2:44 - (Spring, new version) Akihabara 5, Yotsuya 3, Ichigaya 2, Tabata 1, Kouenji 2, Tennoudai 1 (ect.)

I take it the season is when it's played during the year. Actually you know what, it's the name of the song. Not sure what the numbers are though. Track, platform, line?

[LynnieS]

Originally Posted by Ryuou

30 - (Spring) Yoyogi 2, Shinagawa 4/14, Kawasaki 4 (ect.)
1:05 - Shinjuku 15, Oomiya 19, Utsunomiya 5 (ect.)
1:24 - (Kigi no mezame) Shinjuku 12, Kamakura 2, Kawagoe 3/4 (ect.)
2:44 - (Spring, new version) Akihabara 5, Yotsuya 3, Ichigaya 2, Tabata 1, Kouenji 2, Tennoudai 1 (ect.)

I take it the season is when it's played during the year. Actually you know what, it's the name of the song. Not sure what the numbers are though. Track, platform, line?

The numbers give the track at which each snippet is played.

[Guardian Enzo]

I miss Japan.

I miss the jaw-dropping temples and shrines in the strangest places.
I miss convenience store bento from 7-11 and AM-PM when you're starving and poor.
I miss curry bread.
I miss businessmen and hot women reading manga in public without a trace of self-consciousness.
I miss vending machines everywhere with 20 kinds of coffee in a can.
I miss Tommy Lee Jones' face on the vending machines.
I miss toilets more technologically advanced than my laptop.
I miss the jingles at every train station in Tokyo.
I miss the utter chaos at Shinjuku Station that somehow is completely ordered.
I miss the coffee-cart girls on the Shinkansen.
But most of all,
I miss waking up in the morning and thinking "Sugoi - I'm in Japan!"

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I miss Japan.

I miss the jaw-dropping temples and shrines in the strangest places.
I miss convenience store bento from 7-11 ans AM-PM when you're starving and poor.
I miss curry bread.
I miss businessmen and hot women reading manga in public without a trace of self-consciousness.
I miss vending machines everywhere with 20 kinds of coffee in a can.
I miss Tommy Lee Jones' face on the vending machines.
I miss toilets more technologically advanced than my laptop.
I miss the jingles at every train station in Tokyo.
I miss the utter chaos at Shinjuku Station that somehow is completely ordered.
I miss the coffee-cart girls on the Shinkansen.
But most of all,
I miss waking up in the morning and thinking "Sugoi - I'm in Japan!"

Ah, it's the post holiday blues, i see... only this time round it specifies to: Nihon blues

Well then, you better work hard and save up to return then, don't you?

[Ryuou]

It's looking more definite that I'll be able to head back to Japan this August. I can't wait. It's been over a year already and I've been suffering from withdrawals the whole time. If I can't make it over there this summer, then I won't be able to go back until after I graduate, which would be after the summer of 2011. That'd be horrible, so I hope it all works out.

[Nerroth]

Hi.


I had a couple of questions for those of you who have been, or are from, Hokkaido.

*What are the temperature ranges on the island season to season? (I hear it's like parts of Canada, being warm yet dry in the summer and cold and snowy in the winter...)

*Is it difficult to find hotels, guest rooms or whatnot that have the same kind of central heating and/or air conditioning that you'd find in places like Toronto?

*Is there much to be found regarding the Ainu in Sapporo (or Satporo, if you prefer) or would you need to go to places like Nibutani to see more?

*I had heard there were a few sites not too far from Hakodate which are similar to Sannai-Maruyama down in Aomori (allegedly, these sites and Sannai-Maruyama were nodes of cross-strait traffic, but I'm not sure) - does anyone know for certain, and if so, whether or not they can be visited the way the one in Aomori can?


Sorry for the inconvenience.

[ZephyrLeanne]

OK time to attack the questions.

*What are the temperature ranges on the island season to season? (I hear it's like parts of Canada, being warm yet dry in the summer and cold and snowy in the winter...)

For Hokkaido (within the more central areas, at least) summers are generally hot but not humid, and winters quite cold and snowy. So, yes, like Canada. But beware of the fringes - they're more like Yukon or Alaska. *A Japanese who's been to Canada is rare indeed. At the expense on my Japanese skills.*

*Is it difficult to find hotels, guest rooms or whatnot that have the same kind of central heating and/or air conditioning that you'd find in places like Toronto?

If you're worried about that, the major cities of Sapporo and Hakodate have no lack of them. Minimally, if you intend to use trains a lot, then get yourself a JR Pass/JR Hokkaido Pass which will entitle you to discounts at JR hotels, which are usually 4-5 stars. All have creature comforts (within the big cities), last I checked. Otherwise, just look about, most hotels in Sapporo have such stuff, no worries really.

*Is there much to be found regarding the Ainu in Sapporo (or Satporo, if you prefer) or would you need to go to places like Nibutani to see more?

It's SAPPORO, right? Even when I'm drunk, my beer can still tells me SAPPORO. Well Ainu stuff... Sapporo Pirka Kotan is a good place to start. But I think it's the only insitute in Sapporo on Ainu, so get your bearings from there.

*I had heard there were a few sites not too far from Hakodate which are similar to Sannai-Maruyama down in Aomori (allegedly, these sites and Sannai-Maruyama were nodes of cross-strait traffic, but I'm not sure) - does anyone know for certain, and if so, whether or not they can be visited the way the one in Aomori can?

Hm. Not that I know of.

[BOFH_of_OZ]

Originally Posted by ShimatheKat

For Hokkaido (within the more central areas, at least) summers are generally hot but not humid, and winters quite cold and snowy. So, yes, like Canada. But beware of the fringes - they're more like Yukon or Alaska. *A Japanese who's been to Canada is rare indeed. At the expense on my Japanese skills.*

I know a Japanese who's been in Canada. She said that most of Hokkaido is like Toronto-Ottawa region in that regard.

Originally Posted by ShimatheKat

Minimally, if you intend to use trains a lot, then get yourself a JR Pass/JR Hokkaido Pass which will entitle you to discounts at JR hotels, which are usually 4-5 stars. All have creature comforts (within the big cities), last I checked. Otherwise, just look about, most hotels in Sapporo have such stuff, no worries really.

That raises another question: which is cheaper, JR hotels with the discount or regular ryokan without it? I couldn't care less about Western style rooms/amenities, but price difference for three-four weeks' could be significant. And I don't think I can use gaijin houses, since I'll be moving around a lot (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, and maybe a couple more cities)