夜色ブログ

[Not yet proofread]

Well, I'm finally in my apartment and am about to become fully aware of how little Japanese I know. To those of you looking for an exciting story, sorry, my planning was largely successful. Feel free to skip this account.

The week immediately prior to my departure was spent transferring my responsibilities at work, running about taking care of last minute necessities and desires, and having fun with friends. On Monday, I went shopping for new glasses since my benefits plan covered me until Thursday. Tuesday morning I picked out a pair between meetings. In the evening on Wednesday, I played LaserQuest with some friends and then had a barbeque at home. Thursday and Friday passed while I was blinking. I picked up my glasses, deposited my last checks, replaced my debit card, but I can't remember which I did on which day. Saturday, I ate my last masala dosa for some time to come and gave my dad power of attourney at the bank should anything need to be done with my accounts while I'm away, then went out with my dad, Trevor, and Karen for an Indian dinner and desert at the elder Kozak's. Of course there was packing and cleaning going on as well. I don't think the basement ended up as clean as my dad would have liked, but there's not too much I can do about that now.

Edmonton and the Canadair J700

Naturally, I failed to set my alarm correctly and it didn't wake me up since it was the weekend. Fortunately, my dad did. There was just enough time to finish packing and head off to the airport. Everything in there proceeded smoothly and as expected, inclusive of the grumpy-looking woman at the check-in counter. The flight from Edmonton to San Francisco was aboard a Canadair CRJ700, which I hadn't flown in previously. It was a nice surprise and naturally had far more leg room and more comfortable seats than the next flight.

SFO

Arriving a few minutes late in San Francisco had me slightly worried after all the fun I had last year transiting through Hethrow with almost an hour more than this time. Much to my relief, the various terminals are connected both outside security and in the gate area, after the security checks, so I didn't have to pass through what I'm sure would have been a terribly long fear-induced process. "I'm sorry sir, you can't carry a trigger lock in your carry-on." Oh, wait, that was in Edmonton, but it would have doubtlessly been similar here. There was a make-shift bus system that tranferred the passengers from the domestic terminal to the international terminal, so I was at the gate with plenty of time to spare, but not enough to make it a drawn-out wait. The food services in the airport are also far superior to those in Vancouver or Toronto.

UA837

I'm not sure there's much I can say about United Airlines that hasn't already been said by others. They're cheap and it shows. Although as an yet unemployed student I think saving 600 CAD was worth the lack of individual televisions, the limited leg room, in-flight announcements that were inaudible from a window seat, and the worst airplane food I've ever had, next time JAL and Singapore Airlines will be tempting my wallet. The flight itself was fairly normal and we arrived 2 minutes early at 14:08. I was quite surprised by the number of non-Japanese on the flight: at least two-thirds. I suppose I should have expected as much since we were flying into Tokyo.

Immigrations, baggage collection, and customs at Narita

My only prior experience in Narita was in transit to Singapore, and while I really didn't get to look around at all, it struck me as a pleasant airport. The immigration line moved quickly and there were no problems at the counter. Even then, all my luggage was waiting on the carrousel when I entered the baggage claim area. They confirmed that I didn't have anything to declare at customs and I was out in the unsecured area within 30 minutes.

Catching the trains

After clearing customs, I headed straight for the domestic delivery services and sent my three suitcases ahead of me. At less than 15 CAD a piece, it beats trying to lug them through the train stations.

I had prepared a number of alternate train iteneraries since I was unsure how long it would take to clear immigration and customs, but I figured I had enough time left to catch the first one at 15:13. The ticketing system doesn't let you pick your final destination if it's sufficiently far removed, so I just bought a ticket to Toyohashi. There is a fare adjustment system that allows you to pay the balance when you exit your final station which is nice.

The Narita Express looked somewhat older than I expected, but it had comfortable seating and was a pleasant enough ride. After just under an hour, we reached Tokyo station. "Oh, fie! I thought 10 minutes would be plenty of time to change trains!" Fortunately, since I caught the 15:13 train from the airport, I had 26 minutes. For one reason or other, I though it looked smaller in the map and focused on it being only the eighth most trafficed station in Japan, neglecting its service of over 4,000 trains everyday. The possibility of a problem first struck me when I read on the train display from Narita that we would be arriving at the fifth basement level of Tokyo station. My apologies to those who want pictures; I was too busy trying to find platform 18 on the first elevated level. I haven't had any luck finding numbers, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was almost as big as West Edmonton Mall. Then again, it was my first time there and I didn't know where I was going, so the experience may have been amplified.

The seats on the train from Tokyo to Toyohashi were a little short, but other than that it was a very pleasant ride. I quite appreciated how the train tilts the cars independently when turning so that the passengers aren't pulled to one side. Since I only had tickets to Toyohashi, I wasn't quite sure where to go when I got there, so I asked a station attendent who was most helpful. On the previous trains, the cleaning crew reversed the seats, but on this one we had to do so ourselves. All-in-all, it's a feature I wish the LRT had. After another 20 minutes, I finally arrived at Okazaki station. One of the staff members picked me up at the station and took me to the school where I signed the rental agreement for the apartment and then we continued there.

Sleep at last

Being awake for the previous 26 hours or so, I set up my bed and fell asleep immediately. It was actually the most comfortable sleep I can remember. Whether due to being stuck in airplanes for 14 hours and being awake for so long will be determined tonight.

Clockwise from the top: twisted pastry with pistachios, almond paste, and raspberry glaze, funny apple tart with unknown centre, chocolate croissant, cheese Danish

Sadly the pastry itself failed. Mind you, it was better than the grocery stores' around Sherwood Park, which doesn't say much, but it didn't compare with Baguette's. The cheese filling was good; the odd twisted pastry was okay too; I definitely won't approach the funny apple tart again; the croissant hasn't been eaten yet. [Update: the chocolate croissant was good too!]

The chopping board was a good deal. It's a single piece, so I won't have to worry about glue leaking and the board falling apart, unlike some others I'd had the fun of using.

I think I'll be living out of my suitcases and eating poorly for another few days. Some of the stores are rather far away and there's a limit to how much I can carry, especially when larger items like the garbage bag container branded as the "Dust Box".

Today, I picked up the Dust Box, glasses, a bowl, a plate, a set of utensils (knife, spoon, fork, chopsticks, a pair of cooking chopsticks), a kitchen knife, and ten clothes hangers. Add to that some tea, a bag of apples, a pineapple, which actually seems to be one of the cheaper fruits, and some tomatoes, and I'm quite out of arms. Even that took two trips to the stores. I was going to buy some cooking utentils as well, but couldn't find a spatula that had a thin enough front edge, and I'd hate to rupture my fried eggs.

Since I'm not used to paying with cash, I ended up making somewhat of a scene at the register. First I dropped my wallet while fumbling for coins to see if I had the exact change, then I wasn't paying attention and assumed that all the coins with holes were 50円 coins (5円 coins have holes too), then I dropped my wallet again and some cards came out. By this time the person working the register had finished packing my purchase into bags and took the payment with half the coins needed to even it out resulting in even more coins in change for me to carry. The long line forming behind me didn't seem particularly enthused. What ho, yet another thing to get used to.

• ＴＩＭＥ
  愛知県岡崎市羽根町字東ノ郷9-19
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  愛知県岡崎市上和田町字北屋敷51-7
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Tuesday's expedition

Even after being up for more than 24 hours, I didn't sleep for more than eight Monday night and was quite awake by five in the morning on Tuesday. Daylight saving time is not observed in Japan, so in October it's still starting to get light at five, but it's dark by six in the evening. Since my luggage was still en route from the airport, I spent the morning walking along route 248, the main road in this area of town. I arrived at the nearest department store before it opened, so continued on and reached the mall just as it was opening.

Aeon Mall is fairly new and there's a good number of stores there including Sisley, United Colours of Benetton, Baskin-Robbins, Starbucks, and a Bagel shop that has lox and capers. Of course, there are the two anchor stores, ジャスコ (Jusco) and 西武 (Seibu). Seibu's selection seems similar to The Bay, although perhaps a wee bit higher class with more food shops on the first floor: cakes, fresh fish, bread, Japanese sweets. Jusco is a department store that carries wide variety of items: there's a grocery store on the first floor, school supplies, televisions, and clothing on the third floor, and everything between.

After exploring the mall for a while, I walked back to the school to see if my suitcases had arrived yet. Upon entering, the housing coordinator from the student affairs office, Kawakita-san immediately recognised me (I'm almost convinced the staff has secretly memorised our faces from our application photos) and indicated that my luggage had arrived and that they would drop them off at my apartment later in the day. I was rather relieved as I was not exactly looking forward to lugging 150 pounds through the streets.

After they dropped off my suitcases, I walked back to the first department store, 西友 (Seiyu), that was closed when I was there in the morning. Seiyu is similar to Jusco, but much more run down.

After exploring a bit more I decided to grab dinner at a chain called Pastel; it's just under 10 CAD for a plate of pasta. Apparently the Japanese take on Italian food is better than Italian food too; although at the moment, I'm still partial to the North American variant.

Tuesday: 13 kilometres

Placement exams

Placement exams were scheduled for Wednesday morning, so after waking up early, I headed to the coffee shop owned by the school. The breakfast special there was 350円 and consisted of a hard-boiled egg, a large piece of toast, a coffee or juice, and some off-white drink whose contents I have yet to figure out. While not terribly expensive, I think I'll stick to eating my toast at home, at least once I have bread and all.

The written portion of the test was held first and I think I am satisfied with my performance on it except for one or two questions. The interview on the other hand was as expected: rather disappointing (probably for the teachers holding the interview too). Since my Japanese education to this point has essentially consisted of two textbooks and some notes off the Internet, my reading and writing ability far exceeds that of my listening and speaking. This discrepancy, I trust, will soon be remedied.

After the exam, I wanted to find a pair of kitchen scissors, but hadn't liked any that I saw in the department stores on Tuesday, so I headed north to find a knife shop. Naturally, I forgot that the map I had looked at on-line was far more extensive than the one I had in my bag. My map ended at the mall, and relying on my memory, there was a knife shop about three times as far to the north. Eventually, I found it and found a chopping board and some scissors and made the somewhat painful walk back to my apartment.

Wednesday: 21 kilometres

Blisters

After walking some 34 kilometres in two days, my feet had become rather sore and blisters had developed. Don't worry, I didn't take any pictures! Regardless, I figured it would probably be a good idea to buy a bicycle. I wasn't so much concerned with sore feet and blisters since my feet would become accustomed to walking more, but rather with the time it takes to walk, especially north of the river.

After searching a bit on the Internet, I found a shop nearby and walked there Thursday morning. En route, I happened across a patch of trees and other flora about 350 metres long and 50 metres deep running along side the road. Perhaps it's just because of differences in native vegetation, but it felt much more wild than the patches of greenery in the Edmonton area. In the end I found a bike, but one my size wasn't in stock, so I would have to return on Saturday. Two more days of walking!

Some more exploring ensued to the northeast and I found a Toys"R"Us and an electronics chain. People were actually lining up at the electronics store before it opened. Does this happen at home too and I'm just ignorant of it? There weren't any special sales as far as I could tell.

Thursday: 15 kilometres

Strange bicycles

The design of Japanese bicycles is significantly different from what I'm used to at home. Typically they have a low, if present, top frame bar, almost like women's designs in Canada, except even lower and on all unisex models. The handle bars are higher, so you sit more upright while riding and they come standard with baskets, chain guards, lights, and mud guards. I have to say that it will take some time to become accustomed to, assuming that ever happens. They severely violate my sense of style.

When you purchase a bicycle, it is registered with the police so that should it be stolen and recovered, the police can return it. This is despite having lower bicycle theft rates than in Canada. The concept of locks are also very different. They stop the rear tire from spinning and lock the handle bars so they can't turn; however, there is nothing that anchors it to an external object, so anyone can come along with a trunk and throw your bike in the back of his trunk.

Since buying a Trek Soho and adding a mud guard, rack, light, and chain guard is a little out of my price range, I picked up a Japanese-style bicycle on Saturday. It actually has three gears! although, I haven't figured out how they work.

Home-made food!

I'm finally eating my first home-made meal and I haven't vomited it back up yet! Okay, okay, so that's not particularly surprising, but still, it's nice to be eating something a bit more substantial. The package of spaghetti contains lots of little tid-bits of note. Click on the picture for more details.

Aside to dad: go buy yourself a real knife. I had no idea how dull they were until tonight. You'll enjoy it, really. You certainly cook enough. Oh, and if you remodel the kitchen while I'm gone, make sure you install a gas line for the range. （＾＿＾＊） You've always said you prefer gas cooking, and it's not as though we have to worry about earthquakes rupturing the gas line.

A very quick update regarding my 1.6 mm spaghetti photo on Flickr: I found the 1.8 mm variety when shopping today! Apparently people do care.

Yesterday for lunch, I found a cafe I had read positive reviews about earlier in the week. It's a local okonomiyaki shop called TIME. There's no English translation for okonomiyaki aside from literal ones like "fried as you like it"; just accept it as a Japanese food item. It's a cross between omelettes, pancakes, and bunch of other things. TIME did indeed take me some time to find: the sign for it is a bit smaller than a US letter piece of paper. I had a general idea of the location, and I had read on the review site that there aren't any large signs in the area like you find around the bigger restaurants and chains.

I ordered the スペシャル (special), so I don't really have an idea of what I ate; most of the flavours were too different from what I'm used to. I managed to detect, cabbage, shrimp, egg, and some sort of bacon-like meat. Regardless, it was tasty and a very generous portion.

Next time I go, I'm going to ask the owner or at least the attendant if I can take some pictures since the place has a great atmosphere. It's in a rectangular concrete building that was actually pleasing for a change. There are a good number of concrete buildings here that are quite refreshing to look at and be in: the concrete is used in the visual design of the place as opposed to just being a structural component. The seating area is on the main floor of the building, which is just slightly below ground level. The tables are single slices of wood taken from rather large trees and each is supported by a single steel beam from the floor. The front of the building is set back from the main road and has a large window allowing the patrons to look out on a small green patch concealed from the road. To access the cafe itself, you have to take a catwalk elevated about half-a-floor. Well, that's about as much as I'll say without pictures.

2007 Gourmet Plus Rally

While I was there, I saw a poster for an event, the 2007 Gourmet Plus Rally, and since I like food, I decided to investigate a bit more especially considering that TIME was quite affordable, as lunch or dinner can be had there for under 10 CAD. After classes today, I found a pamphlets for the event.

The pamphlet has a small map and brief entries for each of the seventy-eight participating restaurants. Each entry lists the establishment's name, phone number, address, a recommended item from the menu along with its price, a special available for people with the event passport, typically a free drink or dessert, the days the restaurant is closed, its business hours, available parking, the time the last order is taken, and special notes.

All this is great because in an unfamiliar city, knowing the approximate cost of a meal at a restaurant greatly aids the selection process. And even better, although there are four or five places on the list with meals costing more than 30 CAD, most are around 10 CAD! I.e., this is definitely something of which I will be making good use.

Why you should read and not skim

After talking with the Uchida-san from the student affairs office about my gas bill, which was actually a notice of payment from the last bill and finishing what was hopefully one of my last general supply shopping trips, I didn't particularly feel like returning to the store again to pick up groceries to make dinner. Turning to the event pamphlet, I found a reasonably nearby restaurant with prices under 10 CAD, looked it up on the bigger map I bought today, and set off. It's about a 20 minute walk to the south-south-west from my apartment. (I dislike cycling after dark since the streets aren't exactly illuminated, and I don't really mind walking.)

I arrive in the general location which is just to the north of the entrance of Minami Park and start looking around for it. The restaurant, じゃんご (Jango), appears just of the north of the park entrance on the map, so I figured I was close. I walked around the block once, then again, then the adjacent block, checked the map, and repeated the process, but there was no sign of the shop. I was even looking for US letter paper-sized boards on the sidewalk. Alas, I was having no luck, but decided to check the pamphlet once more. I read the entry for the restaurant again, "[blah, blah, blah] . . . 定休日：木曜日 (Teikyuubi: mokuyoubi)!!!" "Bloody hell!"

I have forgotten once again that in Japan, almost all shops, which are not in business 365 days a year, take a holiday once a week. Unlike western countries where this is usually a Sunday, in Japan, it can be any day of the week. Of these days, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday seem most popular, and the above part of the entry that I just read happens to mean, "scheduled holiday: Thursday"!

Alas, not all is yet lost

Naturally, now that I'd resigned myself to stop at some random place on the way back to my apartment, I find the restaurant I was looking for in the first place. It was closed, of course, but I know where to find it next time.

Additionally, the random place that I stopped at on the way back was half-decent too. For 1150円, which at today's exchange rate less the 3% or so that the bank takes off works out to 9.92 CAD, I had a meal with a small potato salad, a medium bowl of noodle soup similar to the beef-and-dish dish we often make at home, and a plate of crab fried rice. That's right, real crab meat! for under 10 CAD!! I hope all of my Canadian and American readers are enjoying their crab-flavoured pollock at home.