The Real Japan
Aug. 29th, 2007 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drpaisleyWed. dawned cloudy. Rohanna, Adam and I partook of the excellent breakfast buffet at the hotel, then settled in to wait for Jeff, Darice and Merna (Darice's mother, hereinafter "Mom"). I hopped into Pinky's Place to chat with the denizens, who were amused that I was living in Wed. morning while they were still in Tues. evening. Chatted with Dragonet, which was nice. Tully provided me with some "helpful" phrases in japanese.
The gang showed up eventually, and we tried to be helpful, walking over to the convention center to see if setup had started. Nothing going on there. We went back to the hotel, and found where Registration was. Got our badges, saw many friends. Finally found Doubt, and made arrangements to meet at 5p to go to the baseball game. We went over to the mall and had lunch at Crawford's Crabshack. While we were there, it began to rain. Not light rain, more like the "this way to the ark" downpour. We bought supplies at the convenience store in the mall (including asmall bottle of Yoichi 10 year old single malt whisky (very tasty, I must say) and headed back to the hotel. At 5, we met Doubt and contemplated the continuing rain. Jeff, Doubt and I went ahead and rode the train to the stadium, where everyone was leaving in disappointment. Jeff kept walking around the stadium, and we finally found a gate that was open with vendors right inside. Jeff managed to explain to the security guy we just wanted to buy hats, and he let us in. Souvenirs acquired, we squished back to the train, and thence the hotel.
Rohanna was tired, so Adam and I accompanied Jeff, Darice and Mom back to their hotel, which they said was in a neighborhood that looked like the real Japan. Boy, were they right. We got off the second train to a wonderful vista of tiny streets illuminated by innumerable flickering neon signs, most of which were totally incomprehensible, though we did see the 7-11 and Circle K stores. We left mom at the Pearl Hotel and went wandering the streets, with Jeff leading the way (for some values of leading). After 20 or so minutes, he found the bar he had wandered into the first night we got here. He walked in, and the woman behind the bar pointed and exclaimed "Jeffu!" We had beer and whisky and some very good grilled chicken and pork, then wandered on into the now-rainless but still muggy night. We wound up at a hole-in-the-wall sushi place where we did the point and nod school of ordering. Yes, it's true, I ate some freshly-prepared sushi: tuna, and some unidentifiable white fish. Quite interesting. Still not my food of choice, but I'll probably try more.
After leaving Jeff and Darice at the hotel, Adam and I began our journey back to civilization. We made our way back to the train station, but managed to use a different entrance, and wound up on the platform waiting for the local train, rather than the express we had taken before. All I knew was that the sign said Yokohama, which was the station we needed. Eventually, a train arrived and we shuffled on with the rest of the folks who'd been waiting. Eight stops later, we were back at Yokohama Station. We then had to make our way deep into the bowels of the station to the subway line for the final leg of the trip home. None of the colors we had been using for benchmarks were the same, but we managed to follow the signs and get to what seemed to be the correct train. Three stops later, we hopped out and were greeted by the Queen's Gate sign for the mall by our hotel. Hooray, we made it!
Must go now, more later.
The gang showed up eventually, and we tried to be helpful, walking over to the convention center to see if setup had started. Nothing going on there. We went back to the hotel, and found where Registration was. Got our badges, saw many friends. Finally found Doubt, and made arrangements to meet at 5p to go to the baseball game. We went over to the mall and had lunch at Crawford's Crabshack. While we were there, it began to rain. Not light rain, more like the "this way to the ark" downpour. We bought supplies at the convenience store in the mall (including asmall bottle of Yoichi 10 year old single malt whisky (very tasty, I must say) and headed back to the hotel. At 5, we met Doubt and contemplated the continuing rain. Jeff, Doubt and I went ahead and rode the train to the stadium, where everyone was leaving in disappointment. Jeff kept walking around the stadium, and we finally found a gate that was open with vendors right inside. Jeff managed to explain to the security guy we just wanted to buy hats, and he let us in. Souvenirs acquired, we squished back to the train, and thence the hotel.
Rohanna was tired, so Adam and I accompanied Jeff, Darice and Mom back to their hotel, which they said was in a neighborhood that looked like the real Japan. Boy, were they right. We got off the second train to a wonderful vista of tiny streets illuminated by innumerable flickering neon signs, most of which were totally incomprehensible, though we did see the 7-11 and Circle K stores. We left mom at the Pearl Hotel and went wandering the streets, with Jeff leading the way (for some values of leading). After 20 or so minutes, he found the bar he had wandered into the first night we got here. He walked in, and the woman behind the bar pointed and exclaimed "Jeffu!" We had beer and whisky and some very good grilled chicken and pork, then wandered on into the now-rainless but still muggy night. We wound up at a hole-in-the-wall sushi place where we did the point and nod school of ordering. Yes, it's true, I ate some freshly-prepared sushi: tuna, and some unidentifiable white fish. Quite interesting. Still not my food of choice, but I'll probably try more.
After leaving Jeff and Darice at the hotel, Adam and I began our journey back to civilization. We made our way back to the train station, but managed to use a different entrance, and wound up on the platform waiting for the local train, rather than the express we had taken before. All I knew was that the sign said Yokohama, which was the station we needed. Eventually, a train arrived and we shuffled on with the rest of the folks who'd been waiting. Eight stops later, we were back at Yokohama Station. We then had to make our way deep into the bowels of the station to the subway line for the final leg of the trip home. None of the colors we had been using for benchmarks were the same, but we managed to follow the signs and get to what seemed to be the correct train. Three stops later, we hopped out and were greeted by the Queen's Gate sign for the mall by our hotel. Hooray, we made it!
Must go now, more later.