One of the top sites to see in Hiroshima is the Peace Memorial Museum. As an American, it was a very interesting experience.

First, the logistics. It’s open most days from 8:30 am until 6:00 pm, which is somewhat surprising since most places in Japan don’t open until at least 10 am. There are audio guides for rental at ¥300, but I passed since I read earlier that most explanations were in English as well. What surprised me though is the extremely cheap admission: ¥50 or 50 cents! I don’t think I’ve ever been in a museum that was this cheap that wasn’t free. I suppose they don’t want to turn anyone away for paying too much.

The museum is separated into two buildings and the first room you enter describes the events leading up until the bombing. There are displays along the perimeter describing Hiroshima’s history, from the early 1600s leading up until World War II. The room being dimly lit seemed to add to the somber mood.

From my education growing up, the descriptions didn’t seem to be skewed towards Japan or anti-American. The reasons given for why the United States dropped the bomb was to cause a quick end to the war. With a topic that could very easily be subtly described in one country’s favor, the Hiroshima Peace Museum was pretty neutral and didn’t place excessive blame on the United States.

There were also some artifacts in small display cases, including a watch that stopped right when the bomb detonated. Pretty incredible to look at.

Another display showed the difference of Hiroshima before and after the explosion. Virtually all the buildings within one mile were destroyed. The only ones that survived were heavily reinforced concrete buildings, mainly to guard against earthquake shocks.

The target for dropping the bomb was a T-shaped bridge at the connection of two rivers – used because it was very easy to identify from high altitudes. The actual bomb exploded 800 feet to the south-east due to crosswinds.

The museum is located 1/3 of a mile south of the bridge so I got the chance to walk across it a few times while in Hiroshima.

This before-and-after highlights the A-Bomb dome, the remains of which are still standing almost 70 years later. Prior to 1945 it was used primarily for art and educational exhibitions.

Another prominent feature of the museum is the letters from the mayor of Hiroshima. For every nuclear test that is carried out in the world, the mayor sends a letter of protest and displays a copy in the museum. Each time a protest letter is sent, the mayor hopes it will be the last.

Continuing on to the second building shows more artifacts from the atomic bombing.

Finally, there were paper cranes folded from Sadako Sasaki – a Japanese girl who was diagnosed with Leukemia due to the bombing and set out to fold 1000 paper cranes for good luck. She died at the age of 12.

A museum volunteer saw me reading her story and approached me with some origami paper. With basic English, he taught me how to fold a paper crane. It remains one of my best travel experiences from Japan. I still have the crane and it will go into my box of prized possessions.

The museum was very well done. It’s strongly conveys a message of peace and eliminating nuclear weapons rather than placing blame. It was a little strange at first, but I didn’t feel unwelcome at all for being an American. The museum and surrounding memorial park is the main reason people visit Hiroshima and for good reason – it was incredible.

On my last full day in Kyoto, I decided to head south and take a day trip to Nara, a small city famous for it’s temples. But I wasn’t really there for the temples. In fact, I didn’t really see them at all.

Instead, I went to see Nara’s other attraction: deer. Throughout the city there are over a 1200 wild deer that roam around and seem to eat anything they can. For the last thousand years, the deer have been considered sacred and up until 1637 killing one was punishable by death. The deer have been declared national treasures and are treated extremely well by the locals and visitors.

If you want to feed the deer the best place to visit is Nara Park. You can buy a package of 10 crackers from various stands for 150 yen. I paid with a 10000 yen note and the woman warned me to put away the change in paper bills quickly because the deer will eat them.

There were also lots of school children in the park on what looked like a field trip. I love their matching outfits and color-coded hats used to keep track of them.

There was also an older group who talked to me as part of an English assignment. They were shy at first, but then asked me a few questions like where I was from and what’s my favorite Japanese food. When I would answer, they’d write it down in their notebooks.

Okay, back to the deer. 90% of the time they are calm. You can go up and pet them or rub their fuzzy antlers. But they sure love those crackers and will mildly harass you to get some. I had six deer literally chasing me at one point.

I spent a good hour feeding the deer and watching them chase people. Adorable little things.

On more than one occasion I talked to the deer, telling them to stop biting my clothes – as if they could understand. Even if they could, it would be Japanese, not English.

I started to get creative and made the deer work for their crackers. It took some time to teach them, but they finally caught on.

The deer in Nara are smart. Bowing is a sign of respect in Japan and over time some of the deer have learned this. They will come up to you and bow their heads in order to get a cracker.

Between the deer and monkeys, I probably spent $40 buying food for them. But there’s no way something like this would exist in the United States, so it was money well spent.

With a rainy day, I decided to visit the Kyoto Aquarium. It didn’t have very good reviews, but I found it to be a good option outside of the temples and shrines.

First stop was the frog and small fish exhibit. Neat, but nothing too exciting.

This was their largest tank with a fisheye view and it displayed eagle rays, green sea turtles, and hundreds of fish.

But the main attraction here was the penguins. Native to South Africa, they are used to the warmer temperatures in this open-air exhibit.

One great thing about the layout is how close you get. At the far end in the picture above, the glass only came up to about shoulder height. But there was a ledge you could stand on and it would come to chest level.

I loved how the penguins would just belly flop into the water.

And the sound a penguin makes when walking is very distinct. Flip. Flop. Flip.

Suddenly employees started ushering people to the outside of the walkway. I had no idea what was going on but everyone looked excited. After ten minutes of anticipation, they let two penguins loose outside of the exhibit.

They let them walk about 100 feet before returning them to the others.

Here’s a video of it (might not show up through email). I have a strong feeling that – like feeding the monkeys by hand – this wouldn’t happen in the United States. It’s a shame though because everyone was fascinated by seeing them up close.

I like to imagine the penguins see this as an opportunity to plan their escape. Each day two different ones will go out on these scouting missions and then report back to the group.

After the penguin exhibit, I walked through the rest of the aquarium. It was pretty small and if you aren’t interested in penguins, it would take less than 90 minutes to see all of it.

At ~$20, it was more expensive than most Kyoto attractions but I thought it was worth it. If  you don’t like penguins though, best to skip it and find something else.

Saturday started my golden week holiday. I left my apartment early at 6:30 am then transferred in Tokyo for the Shinkansen and finally arrived in Kyoto at 11:15 am. The train ticket cost $135.

First stop was lunch. I got sushi and went with two rolls which had lettuce in them and a dressing – it was almost like a caesar salad rolled up with seaweed.

After eating lunch, my first stop was Kyoto Tower. It was built in 1964 and has been criticized for adding a modern component to such a historic city. On the positive side, it’s not a shrine or temple. 🙂

The observation deck is 330 feet tall and sits on top of a 9-story building which has a few department stores and a camera shop on the ground floor. There’s also your obligatory American stores with a Starbucks and Baskin-Robbins.

After paying the 770 yen admission, I took the elevator to the top for a view of the city. It was nice on a clear day but due to it’s dated interior and somewhat high cost it’s certainly not a must-do in Kyoto.

Next, I headed to Kikaku-ji – the Golden Pavilion. This building’s design dates back to 1397 but was rebuilt after being set on fire by a crazed monk who later killed himself. It serves as a Zen Buddhist temple. One unique thing about this temple is the top two floors have a gold-leaf coating.

Unfortunately, I went at the worst time: in the afternoon when it was crowded and facing the sun. Sorry, no postcard-worthy pictures here. Most travel pictures look great because you crop out the crowds. This is what it looked like a few steps back:

And from the shore line on the right:

I ended up staying around an hour or so, but it became too much. My parents are coming to visit me in Japan in June (which I’m really excited about!!) and I’ve already warned them about the crowds here. If I was going again, I’d get there at 9 am when they open.

The rest of the day was spent checking into my hostel and uploading pictures. There’s a guy in my room who’s from Vancouver so I had to give him a hard time about the Canucks. The rooms are probably the smallest I’ve ever stayed in but it was cheap so that’s expected. Sunday will be a busy day for me – I’m going to try and cover a lot while the weather is still good.

I noticed my camera sensor had some dust on it so I went into Tokyo to get my camera cleaned on Saturday. I have a 10 day trip coming up on the 26th, so I figured now would be a good time.

I visited Canon’s flagship store in Ginza, Tokyo’s high fashion district. Real estate in this area is incredibly expensive and in 1990 at the height of Japan’s economic boom this area had the highest real estate prices in the world.

I dropped my camera off at the adjacent service center and they said it would cost about $10 for the cleaning and be ready the same day. It’s the kind of service that Japan is known for.

To kill some time, I walked into the display room. They have every Canon lens currently produced for people to try out. Boring if you’re not into photography, but if you are, it’s amazing.

In photography, the lens matters much more than the camera body. You can put a bad lens on an excellent body and you will get poor results. But if you put a nice lens on a entry-level body, the shots can turn out really well.

As such, the price point for lenses can get pretty high. The most expensive lens they had was an EF 800mm f5.6L which had a list price of $17,500 (shown below). People who use this lens will photograph wildlife, sports, and landscapes from a distance. To some degree it looks like a RPG and using it near airports is probably a bad idea.

To try out a lens, you simply point at which one you want and an employee will attach it to a camera body for you. The camera bodies they had ranged from the entry level 550D to the Canon 1Dx which costs $6,799 for the body alone. The shutter speed can reach 14 frames per second which starts sounding like a baseball card in the spokes of a bicycle.

There are well lit displays to practice photographing  – like a bouquet of flowers or a bowl of marbles for the macros lenses. And with tens of thousands of dollars in camera gear in strangers hands, they must be very trusting or have a nice insurance policy. I stuck around for awhile (very carefully) playing with the expensive toys.

My camera was done a couple hours later and it looked just like new. All ready for my trip this weekend. The weather doesn’t look great, but hopefully it clears up. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I’m living in the largest city in the world and surprisingly trash is not an issue. The streets are very clean and if there’s an empty bottle on a train, someone probably left it by accident.

However, the amount of public trash cans is staggeringly low. In fact, Tokyo has removed virtually all public trash cans since 1995. The reason why is fascinating: terrorism.

On March 20th 1995, members of a religious cult carried out five coordinated attacks by releasing sarin gas on the Tokyo subway. The attack occurred during rush hour and the liquid sarin was contained in plastic bags which were punctured using the sharpened point of an umbrella. The liquid quickly became a gas and caused havoc during the busiest time of the day. Thirteen people died and over 6,000 others were injured.

The public demanded answers from their government so Tokyo, and much of Japan, decided to remove trash cans for security purposes – even though the bags were left on trains instead of placed in trash cans.

Today, trash cans are still identified with Japan’s most serious terrorism attack of 20 years ago. If you do find a trash can in a Tokyo station, it likely looks like this:

Whether banning trash cans has made a difference has yet to be seen. Similar to the United State’s knee jerk reaction after 9/11, many think removing trash cans provides a false sense of security. Awareness has probably helped more than anything as people are more conscious of their surroundings.

In the meantime, everyone carries their trash with them. It’s not as bad as you would think, but can surprise a lot of visitors. My garbage at my apartment is a different story, but that deserves its own post – more on that later.

After checking the weather forecast, I decided to spend Saturday night near Mt. Fuji and return on Sunday. One night in a hostel costs 2700 yen, whereas a one-way train ticket costs 3000 yen, so I might as well spend a night there and make the most of it. Plus the weather looked promising. An overview of the Kawaguichiko area is below; I didn’t go to all of these places, but wanted to point them out. Mt. Fuji is located towards the south.

Starting at the bottom left and going counter-clockwise is Aokigahara (known as the suicide forest – saving for another trip), the hostel where I stayed (K’s House), a theme park near Mt. Fuji (skipped), Chureito Pagoda, Kachi Kachi Ropeway (cable car), and finally a look over the lake towards Mt. Fuji.

In order to arrive early, I woke up at 5:45 am Saturday morning and walked to Higashi-Fussa station (Higashi = east) to leave on the 6:51 am train.  The main train station near Mt. Fuji is Kawaguchiko station and it takes about 1.5 hours from my apartment. I grabbed a bento box at Hachioji station and enjoyed my cheap breakfast (370 yen) while looking at Mt. Fuji approaching out the window.

After a couple transfers, I arrived at Kawaguchiko station at 9:00 am. First thing I did was grab a two-day pass on the retro buses that circle the lake.

I didn’t have a lot in mind when planning this trip, but I knew I wanted to see the Kachi Kachi ropeway, so I went there first. I got there at 9:45 am and while it was still early, there were plenty of people around. The cable car ride was short, but it provided great views of the town, Lake Kawaguchiko, and Mt. Fuji.

Wanting to get away from the crowds, I followed a short trail to an overlook.

You’ve probably noticed the seemingly cute raccoon and bunny characters. They are based on a surprisingly violent Japanese fairy tale, simplified below:

A man and woman live together and own a vegetable patch. A raccoon starts stealing their vegetables, so the man catches it. The raccoon apologizes and cries for help but when the woman sets it free, it kills her.

The man was very angry and a rabbit offered to get revenge for the old man. The rabbit convinced the raccoon to carry some hay in exchange for a rice ball. When the raccoon carried the hay, the rabbit set the hay on fire, burning the raccoon.

The the rabbit appeared in a disguise and asked the raccoon if he wanted to go fishing. The rabbit built his boat out of wood, but convinced the raccoon to build his out of mud since he was heavier.

Out on the water, the raccoon’s boat begins to sink and cries out for help. But the rabbit began to hack at the boat with it’s paddle, and the raccoon eventually drowns. The man and rabbit live the rest of their days in peace.

All around the cable car area there were plenty of scenes from the story:

After the ropeway, I took the bus partway around the lake. I caught it in plenty of time, but it was packed full and standing room only. I walked trying to find somewhere to eat, but ended up going back to the station to get pick up my luggage and grabbed lunch there.

Tired of waiting on the bus, I checked into my hostel and then rented a bike.

Within minutes I remembered how much I enjoyed renting bikes when I traveled around Europe. You cover much more distance than walking and you can take in the sights and local scenes better than on a bus or train. You also can get away from the crowds pretty quickly.

I started by crossing the bridge over Lake Kawaguchiko and then a found a small park used mostly by fisherman. As I turned the corner I saw a girl standing overlooking Mt. Fuji which looked to make a good picture.

I went up and showed it to her, and she asked if I could send it to her so I got her email address and sent her a copy later.

I stuck around the lake until after sunset then went back to the hostel to charge my cell phone.

For dinner I took up the hostel’s recommendation and visited a local restaurant.

The menu had some interesting options including bear and roasted frog.

I decided to go with the sliced horse meat with onions and boar hoto noodle dish. I’m not someone who can describe culinary dishes with extreme detail, but I will say that I wouldn’t order the horse again. Still on the search for the elusive whale and dolphin meat though.

On Sunday I decided to sleep in. I normally would wake up early for a sunrise shot, but the weather was supposed to be cloudless, which doesn’t make for very interesting sunrises. On top this, the sunrise is at 5:45 am and having woken up early the day before, I wasn’t ready to do it again.

Instead, I left my hostel at 9:00 am. I took some pictures around the lake, but the magical lighting that occurs at sunrise was already 3 hours gone. Instead I found a roadside stand and got grilled corn and beef (brushed with a teriyaki-type sauce) for breakfast, but at 900 yen it wasn’t a cheap breakfast.

Around 11am, I decided to bike to Chureito Pagoda. It was about 3 miles away and took about 20 minutes thanks to being mostly downhill.

At the base, there is a large torii marking the entrance before you climb the 400 steps to the top. There’s no fee to enter and it’s open 24 hours a day.

Riding back was a bit more challenging, but it wasn’t so bad that I wouldn’t do it again. There’s also a train station near Chureito Pagoda for those who don’t want to walk, drive, or take the train.

I got back to Kawaguchiko and decided to check out an Herb Museum. While the garden wasn’t in bloom, there was still a nice area in the greenhouse. I got some lavender ice cream and relaxed for a while.

Looking at the weather and not wanting to get back late, I decided to skip the sunset and take a 4:00 pm train back to Higashi-Fussa.

I was lucky this weekend that the weather was so clear (I actually got a sunburn on my neck). A lot of people that come to Mt. Fuji can’t see it from a distance because it’s often covered by clouds. The best views are early in the morning, just after sunrise. Unfortunately, that means around 5:30 am. I didn’t catch a sunrise this time, but I definitely want to catch one when I get back. I’ve heard it’s the best time to see Mt. Fuji’s reflection in the lake.

Looking back, I didn’t get my money’s worth from the bus pass. Next time I’ll just rent a bicycle instead rather than waiting for a bus that only comes twice an hour. I’d much rather spend more money to save time.

I’m planning on returning to Mt. Fuji in a few weeks to see the cherry blossoms. They bloom a little bit later than in Tokyo so hopefully I can take another weekend trip to see them. I’m already starting to think about how to best catch the sunrise when I get back.

I’m convinced there is something wrong with Japan’s timezone.

Right now in early March, the sun sets at 5:30 pm. Not too bad, it’s winter right? Tokyo has roughly the same latitude as Raleigh, North Carolina so you would expect them to get the same amount of daylight. Which is true; both cities receive about 11.5 hours of daylight on March 1st.

Fast forward a few months and not much has changed, other than longer days.

But look at the hours of useable daylight, especially in late June.

On the longest day of the year, the sun rises in Tokyo at an absurd 4:26 am and sets at 7:00 pm. Those hours in the morning serve no purpose as everyone still goes to work around 8:00 am and the trains don’t even run yet. Most stores (regardless of the time of year) don’t open until 10:00 am, including supermarkets.

Japan also does not use Daylight Saving Time. I’ve read that it’s common for people in Japan to work long hours during the week and relax on the weekend, whereas in the US most people leave work by 6 pm and have time in the evening for other activities, whether it be sports, church, or family time. Perhaps if Japan (specifically the eastern part) had more hours of usable daylight, there would be more time to recover during the week.

With how many signs are illuminated at night all over Japan, that extra energy could be saved by moving to Daylight Saving Time. I find it odd that a country that is so fanatic on conservation and energy efficiency hasn’t done this.

Cover photo by Ed Brambley via Flickr.

Related: Why is Japan kept in the dark? – japantimes.co.jp on 17 OCT 2006

Well it took me about a month, but I finally managed to get a good picture of the Tokyo skyline.

My first few attempts weren’t that great. I first tried the observation deck at the Bunkyo Civic Center. It’s free to take the elevator to the 25th floor and it has some nice panoramic views.

I was able to get a good view of Shinjuku and Mt. Fuji, but to me the picture isn’t the best and the contrast is pretty flat. Granted Mt. Fuji is about 80 miles away and this was a pretty clear day, but I still wasn’t thrilled with it.

But last weekend I took a short trip to Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in southern Tokyo. The 20 mile train ride to Tokyo costs ¥800 one-way and takes about an hour.

The trip to the 52nd floor with the observation deck costs ¥1500, but for an extra ¥500 you can go to the City View deck on the roof and walk around the helipad.

I went back downstairs in time to catch the sunset and got some pictures I’m happy with. If you’re interested in seeing them larger, visit my Flickr site here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mszelistowski/ or click on the image to see it full size.

I’m really happy with the last picture. I didn’t have my tripod with me so I had to place my camera on the ground next to the glass window. I used my bunched-up jacket as a make-shift tripod so I could get it framed properly and make the horizon level. The exposure was 20 seconds as evident by the light trails in the bottom right.

I definitely think I’ll print a large copy when I get back to Greenville. I’ve got a few other pictures in mind that I want to take before I leave and I’ll make more posts when that happens.

Near the Yokota Air Force base there is a sushi restaurant called Sushi Santa. From my apartment, it takes me 3 minutes on my bike.

Inside is a sushi bar that can seat at most 15 people. It has a family atmosphere, where the chef and his (presumably) wife know almost everyone who walks in.

They have an english menu which is a photo album with different kinds of sushi shown. Each roll has a white, red, or black sticker on it, indicating its price: white is ¥150, red is ¥280, and black is ¥410.

You can order each roll individually throughout your meal or everything at once. The chef will make the rolls and then reach over the counter and place them on your board. I think most people order them as they go.

To pay, the chef counts the colored chopsticks in your container. As usual in Japan, tax is included and no tipping. I ended up paying 1440 yen for my dinner.

It’s a great concept and being so close while the chef makes the rolls was entertaining. I’m sure I’ll be coming back here plenty of times in the next 5 months.

Yesterday was an interesting day. I bit the bullet and bought some cooking supplies and made my first meal since I arrived in Japan two weeks ago. My extremely small kitchen was finally put to use.

At noon, I went to meet a coworker in Nakano, about an hour away by train. He was giving a test preparation course for TOEIC, Test of English for International Communication – used to determine the everyday English skills of non-native speakers working in a professional environment. He asked me to help read some of the sections and answer student’s questions.

Although I couldn’t understand most of the Japanese instruction, it was pretty interesting. I was asked ‘What’s the difference between “Why don’t we go to the store?” and “Let’s go to the store.”‘ Things that just come automatically must be pretty difficult for a non-native speaker. The questions on the practice test varied in difficultly. Some were pretty straightforward and even funny, but probably not intentionally:

Others were a bit more difficult. There were spoken dialogues between multiple people that were played through speakers. The dialogue wasn’t typed out in the test booklet and was played only once. Then there were three printed questions for each dialogue. Those were a bit tougher and even if your English is excellent, if you weren’t paying attention you would get it wrong.

I took the test with the rest of the class at the end. We didn’t check our scores immediately, but I’m fairly certain I got them all right. The 100 questions for the listening portion took about an hour.

Afterwards, I played some pool in the lounge area with the students. It was a nice Brunswick table but I don’t think it got used much. Luckily the rules of 9-ball are pretty universal.

I went back to my apartment in time for dinner at the most American restaurant I’ve been able to find in Fussa so far: Zuccotto.

I ordered two cheeseburgers with avocados. The waitress had to go get someone who spoke better English to make sure I wanted two of them (second time this has happened to me). I finally remembered to bring my camera along, so I managed to get a meal picture. I’ll probably do this more often as it turns out much better than just using my phone.

I should be getting a Japanese iPhone this week which should help with getting around and translating. Other than the gym, I don’t have any major plans this week, but I might take a trip next weekend.  More to come on that later.

This past week has been mostly meals with coworkers. I haven’t gotten a lot a time to myself so far, but plan to go into Tokyo this weekend.

On Wednesday, the 15th, we ate at Dohton Bori, a cook-it-yourself restaurant. The food is served to you raw and comes with pancake-like batter which you cook in the skillet at your table. Instead of chairs, you sit on padded cushions and leave your shoes at the front entrance, taking the wooden key with you.

After dinner, I tried to join a gym. I knew exactly what I wanted: a gym with a squat rack that’s open late and within 45 minutes by train.

Earlier I did research online and found out squat racks aren’t very common in Japan. Understandably, since Japan isn’t known for their weightlifting. Instead, gyms are filled with cardio equipment and resistance machines. There are some CrossFit gyms, but those are small and located 45 minutes away – not going to work on a regular basis.

I first tried to join a gym called Megalos. It’s a chain of gyms – or sports clubs as they’re called in Japan – that have a lot of amenities: a lap pool, sauna, indoor golf driving range, nice locker rooms, and of course a gym.

The closest one to me was located in Tachikawa, a medium-sized city by Japan standards, which seems larger due to the high-rise buildings and tons of people.  It was about 17 minutes away by train, not including the 10 minute walk to the station.

I arrived at Megalos, but found out I could only get a gym membership with a bank account, which I didn’t have. I tried to offer paying six months ahead of time with cash, but the receptionist shook her head no. To get a bank account, I needed a phone number and free time to visit a bank on the weekday, which I didn’t have. Discouraged, I went home.

On Thursday, we went to another cook-it-yourself type restaurant. This one had an open fire grill at each table and you ordered as much food as you wanted for a set price. They were pretty strict about time limits as they even had a sign in English.

My last organized meal with coworkers was on Friday night when we went to a sushi restaurant. Like the past two nights, we had to take off our shoes and put them in lockers at the entrance. The sushi was really good, as was the generous amount of mixed drinks and sake. We started off with some small plates, then ordered large portions of sushi.

Finally, a pro-tip for those of you who stuck around until the end. If you’re ever find yourself eating sushi in Japan and want to score bonus points with the natives, learn how to properly put soy sauce on your sushi roll.

Do not dip your sushi roll into the small container of soy sauce, regardless of how little soy sauce you soak up.

Instead, pick up the pickled ginger (Japanese: gari) and use it to lightly coat the rolls.

After multiple drinks, it was time to bike home. I’m very thankful I was able to visit these different restaurants within my first week of arriving. The people I work with have been very welcoming and while the language difference causes some problems, it’s always fun pulling out our smart phones and using Google Translate to understand each other.

After meeting Saki, we quickly bought train tickets. The airport is on the far east side of Tokyo and we had to pass through Shinjuku (red dot) in order to get to Fussa Station, where my apartment is located. I was going to stay in a hotel for my first night, but Saki checked into my apartment earlier and I could move in when I arrived.

The ticket cost the ¥4700, or about  $47. I didn’t bring any yen with me, but luckily my Charles Schwab debit card worked without a problem. I couldn’t use my American Express corporate card because the self service kiosk required a PIN and the airport currency exchange was going to charge me $75 to exchange $600 into yen, so I passed. I grabbed my luggage, tickets and boarded the train with Saki.

The train was about half full and extremely quiet. A woman passed by with a cart of food and drinks and although I didn’t get anything, the prices looked pretty cheap: $3 for a whiskey and coke.

On the way there, Saki gave me laminated sheets of the neighborhood where I’ll be living, pointing out restaurants and grocery stores. He set up his phone to broadcast a wifi signal so I was able to connect with my iPad. We talked sports for a bit and I showed him highlight videos of the NHL including a line brawl and goals. Hockey obviously isn’t big in Japan, but I saw there is an Asia Hockey League and they have a few games in Tokyo I might try to watch.

I also got a cell phone paid for by the company. I’m not sure if it has internet access or not, but I’d like to get one that does. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an iPhone, but I could use it as a wifi hotspot and connect to it using my personal iPhone. With Skype downloaded, I could call back home pretty cheaply.

We changed trains in Tachikawa to more of a subway type car. This train was also extremely quiet and not very crowded since it was 9:30pm on a Thursday. Not only was the physical train quiet, but no one said anything. No one was talking on their phones and you could hear someone opening a bag of chips 40 feet away at the other end of the car.

We arrived in Fussa Station around 10 pm, 2 hours after leaving the airport. I did a good amount of research before arriving, including the Google Street View of Fussa Station, and it looked like I thought it would. I turned a corner and knew where things were before seeing them, including the Mister Donut and McDonald’s.

We stopped at a curry restaurant and I ate my first meal in Japan: beef curry with a chicken cutlet and a caesar salad. I counted 7 Americans in a restaurant that seats about 20. Looks like a good amount of people from the military get off base.

We took a taxi to a 7-Eleven and I withdrew $500 dollars, or ¥50000 from the ATM. 7-Eleven is one of the few places in Japan that has 24/7 ATMs; most ATMs only work during business hours. The Charles Schwab online checking account I have doesn’t charge any foreign transaction fees and also refunds any ATM fees, domestic or international. For a six months assignment abroad, this makes a big difference. If you’re planning on taking a long trip, I’d definitely look into it.

We walk about a minute to my apartment door with my bags. We pass through a gate with a four digit code and go into my apartment. It looks exactly like I thought it would. This is normal housing for one person. I’ll make another post later with pictures of my unit.

I thank Saki and get settled in. The first thing I did was unpack my laptop and tried out the internet. I plugged in the ethernet cord and typed in the LeoPalace user name and password and connected without a problem. I then unpacked my wireless router I brought from the US and plugged it into the wall. No problem there either. That’s a big deal to me. I don’t watch much TV, but it would be extremely difficult to not have wifi for six months.

Everything is going well until I try to take a shower. I don’t have a towel, but figure it’s not a big deal. I turn on the shower and find the blue faucet works, but the red one doesn’t: no hot water. Not only that, but the cold water is ice cold. After traveling since Wednesday morning at 4 am and being in four different airports, a nice hot shower on Thursday night would have been nice. Looks like that will wait until Friday. I settle into bed, turn on my heater, and start typing on my computer.

All is well until my heater turns off. The heater has some kind of timer on it. I do some research online and find that the LeoPalace heaters turn off automatically after three hours. Discouraged, I turn it on high and try to get some sleep.

I finally moved everything into my 10′ x 10′ storage unit on Saturday with some much needed help. Besides moving sofas down two flights of stairs, it went pretty well. One of the good things about a one bedroom apartment is it’s hard to accumulate a lot of stuff, so the packing and moving went quickly. 

Also in preparation for Japan, I’ve been enjoying my favorite meals here in the United States. In the past week I’ve eaten 4 Five Guys burgers, nachos, wings, waffles, Chick-fil-A, and doughnuts. I should be set for eating rice for the next five months.

On the other hand, one of the first things I need to do when I get to Japan is find a gym, preferably with a squat rack. I’ve done some research and it looks like there might be one 20 minutes away by train. There’s a few CrossFit gyms over there, but they all seem to be >45 minutes away, so if I try those, it would likely only be on the weekends.

I received my passport back with my Japanese visa last week, so I should be all set. My only concern now is the weather. Hopefully tomorrow goes smoothly, but I’m anticipating some delayed flights due to the coldest weather in 20 years hitting the midwest. My flights got changed this morning, but I’m still flying out tomorrow morning out of Greenville. I’m flying to Newark, then to Chicago, and then finally to Tokyo, using United Airlines. Hopefully it’s not too bad:

United Airlines spokeswoman Mary Ryan said about 200 mainline and 1,300 United Express flights were canceled so far this morning, but that those numbers would change throughout the day. The airline is based in Chicago.

“Thankfully, at least here in Chicago the snow has stopped falling,” she said. “But we are experiencing record low temperatures. That still has an impact on our operations.”

She said the airline canceled flights proactively to prevent customers from traveling to the airport in freezing temperatures and give them enough time to reschedule flights online.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2014/01/06/flights-cancellations-delays-winter-storm/4337773/

Keeping my fingers crossed…

In picking where I wanted to live, I decided to stay near Fussa which is on the western side of Tokyo and close to work. It is also home to a United States Air Base, Yokota Air Base, so there’s a good amount of Americans in the area.

After looking at some options with the apartment company Leopalace, I decided on the apartment complex below. The pictures were taken from their website.

It’s around 200 square feet.

Needless to say, it’s going to be different. It won’t be furnished so I’ll be finding a pillow and a mattress as soon as I arrive. It also won’t have an oven, clothes drier, or counter space.  But I just view it as staying in a dorm room for six months – shouldn’t be too bad.

Getting to work

I won’t have a car in Japan so my options for getting to work are the train or biking.

By train:

From my apartment (at the bottom of the map) to Fussa train station is a 10 minute walk. I’ll take the train northwest for two stops which takes ~5 minutes. From Ozaku station, it’s a 21 minute walk to where I’ll be working (the red marker). Total time ~36 min

By bike: 

I think I’ll have access to a bike over there, so if I follow the main street (249), I could probably get there in about 15 minutes. I’ll probably bike to work fairly often. Hopefully it doesn’t rain very often.

It looks like the road 249 is fairly wide with dedicated bike lanes based on Google Street View, so it shouldn’t take me more than 15 minutes.

I’m looking forward to my trip and I keep saying, if anything, it’s going to be something completely different.

33 days until I fly out.