10 hours, 5 movies, 3 bad movies aborted 10 minutes in. So it goes on the annual international plane trip I've been taking since 2012 to a Transatlantic location (this time, I went to Japan again). Friends, I feel like it's my responsibility to bring up this very important point when booking international flights: see what the movie service is. I grew up in a time a long long time ago when there was just one solitary movie playing for the whole plane, no decisions, just a blanket statement by the airline saying, "this is what you're getting so be happy about it." Along with the plane food. Paradoxically, airplane movies are the ones I have the strongest memories of, from experiencing the comedy mecca of " anger management" to the strong emotional attachment I had for "Big Fish," to the "wow did that really just happen" excitement of "Safety Not Guaranteed."
The movies for this trip were not totally memorable, but a solid purge of vegetation after a fairly admirable streak of not watching movies. Watching the dawn of the planet of the apes in Japanese was pretty interesting, especially when Caesar of the apes was making legendary quotes during his Hamlet- like soliloquies.
In 2 separate trips to Japan, I've made plenty of mistakes. But friends, don't make this one: if you're going anywhere outside Tokyo on your trip, do yourself a favor and get the JR pass, the train pass for visitors in Japan. It's like a get out of jail free card coupled crossed with a hall pass. You can take it on most trains in Tokyo. If you have the slightest inkling you're going outside of Tokyo, get it. The downside is you wasted a little bit of money; the upside is you saved a HUGE amount. ( basically sums up Jeremy hill's fantasy value for the rest of the season as he will get those carries for at least 70 yards every game, just a matter of if he busts a couple and gets in). Anyway, yea, get the jr pass, make sure a place is open (Japanese public building like museums apparently close the day AFTER a national holiday), don't try to walk your way with luggage to a new hostel you've never been to before, and always say "yes!" If a girl asks you to go to an onsen (hot spring) with her (See Japan post from 2012).
Other musings:
1.) A million rainbows, cocktail hostesses dressed in butterfly costumes, a guy in a silver helmet playing guitar. No, I have not contracted a brutal acid addiction while in Tokyo. It's the no. 1 trip advisor show in Japan, the robot restaurant. A 10 billion yen establishment. Probably the Las Vegas of Japan in terms of glitz, glamor, wretched excess, and drawing foreigners with money. Surprisingly few waitresses taking orders.
2.) Maid cafe: there are maids everywhere passing out flyers, some not looking over 18. I mean, are these girls going to school?
3.) Subway system in Japan: the exit matters. In fact, the distance between the next stop on the subway and the distance of the subway station itself could be the same. So map out which exit you want to get out of before you move, otherwise it'll cost you some steps.
4.) How many restaurants, video game arcades, and department stores do you really need? I guess a lot, because most of the ones we passed were full. And they LOVE Xmas . Maybe even more than america, especially the commercial nature of it. And the Christmas songs are in English! Do Japanese people really know why Mommy was kissing Santa Clause, or who Carson Brown is in "Winter Wonderland?" I doubt it, but it did put me in a festive mood, and I got my annual Christmas song fix out early.
5.) In this edition of things that are weird in Japan... Why so many advertisements on the trains? Almost every inch of the place is covered in ads, although that it is the main method of transportation for Tokyo-ians (is it that or Tokyo-ers?) it's probably similar to the amount of ads placed on the 405 freeway.
6.) Hostels in Japan are the new way to go. They have their own chain, they cater to plenty of tourists on a daily basis, and they're relatively cheap. Contrary to the image of a seedy, disreputable establishment, hostels have friendly staff and a pretty sustainable business model. We stayed at four different hostels, and they've really become the new hotel chains. There are your chain hostels, your downtown locate hostels, and your mom and pop hostels. One hostel we stayed at literally as someone who was renting out extra rooms in their home. Especially with the lack of space in major Japanese cities like Tokyo and Kyoto, it makes sense for both consumer and hostel owner. With hostels around, who needs hotels?
7.) People watching is an inescapable practice in Japan because besides people, there are just more people. Having been to Japan twice, there is a discernible difference between the average Japanese person's appearance and the appearance of people of other Asian ethnicities. A polite way of saying, no we do not all look the same. The difference is hard to describe, but Japanese people definitely have great hair, especially the guys. I may have seen more faces in a week here than I see in Los Angeles in 2 months, mainly due to the volume of people going in and out of subways. I keep envisioning my brain darting from one face to the next like a scanner, incessantly absorbing new stimuli until it overloads and explodes.
8.) Huge difference between sitting on one's butt all day looking at a screen and walking around all day. Hip hurts, leg hurts, knee hurts, feet hurt, name a body part in the lower half and it probably hurts. Train in your body to go through the level of endurance it takes to take walking tours, people.
9.) You know how people can get lost in vegas for awhile and lose track of time and sense of reality? That happens in Akihabra in the video arcades and pachinko parlors. My friend and I started playing and next thing you know 4 hours had passed.
10.) You know what food I've had way too much of the last week? Seaweed. Seaweed is like the tomato or cheese of Japanese cuisine, it's everywhere and in everything. Even if a dish is like 95 percent meat, Japanese people will sprinkle seaweed in there for some vegetable intake. It contributes to the same unique flavor that most Japanese dishes have, the salty, fishy flavor that is most easily identified with miso soup. Maybe it's also why McDonald's and other American chains do pretty well here: Japanese people might be tired of their own food, no? I mean I've only been here an week and I already tired of the infinite ramen houses and sushiyas and need some actual food.
11.) Coming off the flight at Narita Airport, there was an admonition to report to the authorities if you had come from guinea, Kenya, and a number of other African countries. Other than the seeming absurdity of anyone from those countries coming to Japan, it seemed like a bend to the power of Ebola.Or maybe I'm just overreacting and the big scary quarantine room they had with hooks and scapels and medications wasn't that intimidating.
12.) In many ways, Tokyo is still living in 2002: the video arcades are full, bookstores are booming, malls and department stores in general are still profitable and being erected, and people still crowd around reading manga. The ridiculousness of people reading can't be understated here: in America with everyone on their iPhone, playing games on their phone, staring into their smartphones seemingly on a 24/7 basis, it's refreshing to know that there's still a part of the world that thrives in the recent past, a bastion of probably one of the best times in the history of the often world. I kinda want to live here. But by golly, I would really miss having a car to get around.
13.) Private homes in Japan have a habit of having their last name labeled in the front to indicate the name of the residence. It's not like I've never seen this in America, but in an era of privacy, Internet theft, and the Information Age, it seems like a blunder waiting to happen to let anyone and everyone know exactly where you live, or at least anyone who sees your home to know who's living in it. Japan still doesn't see it that way, apparently.
14.) The train noises can become annoying. Urusai! There's one familiar refrain that goes on incessantly, without fail.
15.) Don't forget to set your fantasy football lineups or stock market orders or automatic ATM withdrawals or what have you. It's tempting to just forget about the old world while living in the new, but it can be a pretty transcendent experience to see what Kobe or your favorite football team did the previous night, without any reference or previews or analyst breakdowns or whathaveyou.
16.)
I was constantly worried about cash and running on the budget I had structured for myself, but accessing funds is not the hardest thing in the world; there are 7 eleven stores all around he city that accepts international atm cards. And really, when you have the option of DOUBLE raw sushi to lays steak requiring some extra cash at your favorite all-cash restaurant, who can turn it down?
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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