Jeff in Japan

That first weekend, I didn't have internet

June 3rd:

My third day in Japan. Relatively uneventful so far. I’m writing this entry offline, as I cannot find an unsecured wireless network anywhere! It’s as if everybody knows how to use their network here! (Which seems preposterous!) I also had no problems getting through the airport customs. (Which, again, seems preposterous!) The flight itself was also quite uneventful, especially given that it was Air Canada (they are way low tech), except for when we landed and some of the Japanese school girls who were on the same plane with me asked if they could take some pictures with me. I was pretty flattered, and of course I said “Sure.” I was met at the airport by Matsumoto-san and Nishina-san, where Matsumoto-san is a preposterously generic looking Japanese businessman, and Nishina-san is a slightly portly, short dude with dyed hair and nearly perfect English.

I gave them the omiyage (souvenirs) I brought from Canada, and they were both impressed. We drove first to the tri-Ace offices to meet with some of the people there. Nishina-san is a pretty funny guy; he was giving Ishii-san a hard time when we got there! And I’m always surprised by Gotanda-san. He’s the president of the company, and yet he seems like just a regular squirrelly game developer. Well, after that we went to drop stuff off at my temporary apartment, which is actually pretty nice. See pictures:







Unfortunately, it doesn’t have internet. Well, after that, they took me out for dinner nearby. We ate sushi, and I forgot how much better Japanese sushi is than Canadian sushi. It was absurdly delicious, (and it wasn’t even a very good restaurant). I tried uni (sea urchin) for the first time, and it was actually quite good, I don’t know what Fred is talking about. It tastes a bit like tuna, and it is so soft it melts in your mouth. We also drank some beers, and those were pretty good too, even though I was like “Oh my god! Not more beer!” After we finished eating, I was really feeling the jet lag, so they walked me home and I crashed right away.

The next day I woke up at like the crack of dawn due to a touch of jet lag. It was good though, I had plenty of time to shower and stuff before meeting Matsumoto-san and Nishina-san again. I tried to withdraw money from the bank, but as it turns out, my Canadian ATM cards don’t work in most places. Oh well, no money / breakfast for me…  Well, I met those guys at 10:00 in front of tri-Ace, and we walked to the realtor’s office. (In Japan, you need a realtor to rent an apartment.) The realtor printed off a few sheets to show us what was available, we picked a few that looked decent nearby and set off the check them out. The first place was awesome. The building was only 2 years old, it was right near tri-Ace, looked really modern inside, and had a reasonable (for Tokyo) rent. The second place we checked out was a shit-hole. It was old and run-down and there were stains on the wall and it was smaller and further from tri-Ace. We were scheduled to keep looking for places on Tuesday, but I know how fast good places get taken in Vancouver, and since Matsumoto-san kept talking about it, I decided that I would go with the first place I looked at (as preposterous as that sounds). So, we returned, filled out some paperwork, then went back to tri-Ace. After figuring out where to exchange some money, they gave me the rest of the afternoon off, so I decided to venture back to Akihabara to buy a camera.

Again, Akihabara is the Mecca of geekiness on the planet Earth. After looking around a bit, I decided to buy a 5.1 mega pixel Olympus FE-150 camera, because it has the only two features I care about: image stabilization, and a lithium ion battery, and it was pretty cheap at about Canadian $200. Most of the other cameras were 6 – 8 mega pixel, so I feel like I have a small e-penis as a result, but I saved like $100, so I’m not complaining. I looked around Akihabara a bit more (DS Lites are sold out everywhere, and Xbox 360 is dirt cheap; preposterous!) then decided to go home.

I bought some groceries and realized why people say the cost of living in Tokyo is high, GROCERIES ARE PREPOSTEROUSLY EXPENSIVE!!! For example, I paid $5.00 for THREE apples, $5.00 for THREE oranges and $5.00 for a small thing of cherries! (The cherries are the best deal in my opinion, at least they are about that price in Canada too.) Milk was $4.00 for 1L, eggs are okay at about $3.00 for 10, chicken is reasonable at $3.99 for a half pound of breast meat. But the produce scared the shit out of me! $50 FOR A FUCKING WATERMELON!!! $70 FOR A FUCKING HONEYDEW!!!!!





And I thought Safeway was expensive at $1.49 / lb of melon! $70!!!?!?!?!?!?! How the fuck can anybody afford $70 for a fucking honeydew!?!?!?! IT’S THE SAME PRICE AS A PLAYSTATION 2!!!! And they’re not even fresh! I checked them, they are pretty past ripe! I figure I’m gonna keep eating on the zone diet (and for those who don’t know, it’s not a “diet” in the “I’m gonna lose weight” sense, it’s a diet in definition of diet, ie, the set of everything you put in your body). Anyway, I figure I’m gonna do that, spend the extra money to keep my intake levels up and say “fuck it” to buying any extraneous technology. I’d rather keep my CrossFit Elite level of performance than have more crap any day.

Well, anyway, the today I managed to get a bit more sleep. When I woke up, I went war-walking (I tried to walk around finding an unsecured wireless network), but it was fruitless, as my rant at the beginning has alluded to. I also tried to use a payphone to call Kylie, but it didn’t work, and I wasted a dollar. Fuck. I’ll have to wait until Monday to tell anybody I am alive. Oh well, such is life…

So, here I am, without internet, and without any means to contact the outside world; feeling bored and sitting at home alone… And as a result, I’m on my like 8th cup of tea.

Well, at least I have a camera…

Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

- Jeff

posted by Jeff Sipko @ 15:55