So on September 17th I began my trip to Japan. Above is my plane a Boeing 777. There isn't much to say about the flight, it was 10 hours long, rather uneventful and I watched a few movies and slept very little. The only thing that stood out to me was how quiet the Japanese are, if they spoke it was just above a whisper. Except for times when I child woke up you could easily sleep without ear plugs (at least most people could I guess). Below are some more pictures from the terminal at San Francisco and one at baggage claim at Haneda in Tokyo.
Tokyo was interesting, what little I saw. I took a cab from Haneda to my hotel near Narita where I would be departing. My cab driver seemed to want to practice his English as much as I wanted to practice my Japanese and so we would talk using the other's language. The drive was probably about 30 minutes, which just served to emphasize how huge Tokyo is. We were doing about 125 kph the whole was (nearly 80 mph) and on the way there a red sports car flew past us like we were not even moving, it had to be doing close to twice our speed. One thing that I could not get a picture of is the guard rails along the freeways. Most have red lights woven around them like Christmas lights and have a colorful LED pin wheel rotating at the start as a warning (even though there is a brick wall behind it). These walls though largely obstructed my view of the city, but I was able to see a huge expanse of some large buildings when we went on a web of changing freeways. I hope I'll be able to visit this Spring during break and get some pictures as well as explore. The Hotel was amazing, the toilets here are different and high tech. The one pictured below from my hotel room is the standard I've seen, but in other little shops and restaurants I have seen more complex toilets with more buttons than I care to understand right now. The bath tubs are also about 2/3 as long but about twice as deep, those are nice. Service here is completely different too. When I got to my hotel the staff rushed out and unloaded my bags and took them up to my room (and this is was a cheap hotel, just a little more than a Super 8 or Motel 6). They also included robes to wear in addition to more bonuses that I've seen in a Holiday Inn going for $120. Also of interest are the two books, the teachings of Buddhism and a Japanese/English New testament. I haven't seen this outside of Tokyo and suspect that the New Testament is there more for the Americans who visit considering Japan is less than 1% Christian. the last two pictures are of the catalog in the room. On the planes and in hotel rooms they have catalogs so you can buy stuff you want. The flight attendants actually would showcase some items now and again on the flight.
After my stay at the hotel I boarded a flight for Fukuoka early the next morning. By noon I was with my program coordinator and took a train to the hotel (so by this point I've taken every form of transit I've seen except a Rickshaw, seriously, I saw a hand pulled one in Fukuoka, I just didn't get a picture). Check in wasn't until 3pm and it was currently 12:30, so we checked our bags and headed for a little ramen shop. When we entered there was something like a vending machine where you placed your order and got a ticket which you turned in to the cook. I dropped one of these in:
This little thing, about the size of a quarter, is a 500 yen coin, worth just over $5 US. It is crazy to drop this little thing into the machine and have it pay for your WHOLE meal. It was good though, nothing like ramen back in the states, it was basic though with green onions and a piece of pork. The most amazing thing was that the owner saw that I had eaten all my noodles and was just working on the broth, and he actually brought me more noodles! No charge, and it wasn't even normal, whatever his reasons he just decided I should have more to eat, I seriously love this country.
The next series of pictures are taken during my walkabout with Elan (pronounced Ee-lahn, she is an American) to the various temples and shrine (both Buddhist and Shinto) in Fukuoka, it is amazing the was the ancient is so integrated with the modern, and in the culture. I apologize for not being able to explain the meanings of most of these things at present, they are somewhat new to me as well.
This is one of many Buddhas, I understand that there are several types with different meanings, some of which are pictured below.
You can seen the Oni face at the top. Oni are like Ogres or demons, though not in the western sense of the words.
I love the way Japanese design just blends into nature.
This "little guy" was hanging out at one of the shrines, he is bigger than my hand and his web was the size of king size bed.
This is a Shinto Gate, you'll be seeing these a lot.
This is an altar for burning incense sticks in.
Here you have a series of Buddhas, each with their own altar.
This is a Shinto shrine.
Here you can see a Shinto gate just built in downtown.
This is one of the Buddhist Temples, sorry the picture isn't better.
This is a 5 tiered Pagoda, the 5 levels are significant, I just do not recall why.
Elan and I saw this in a park, we're not sure what it is or what it represents, but it was interesting.
The last thing I want to show you is onigiri, rice balls, they usually have something inside them like meat or pickled vegetables. I had some for dinner last night and am eating a few for breakfast this morning. They are good and inexpensive, about $1.50 each. Some have a kelp wrap others do not. The one pictured is egg and eel. It was good.
These are about the size of the palm of your hand. Three is about my limit for eating these, so imagine they will become a staple for my lunches. They come in a wide variety of flavors, so plenty still to try. Well that's all for now. I need to get packed back up and ready to go. Orientation today and then I meet my host family. Hopefully have much more to say by the weekend!
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