Below is my sixth Japan Journal, sent at the end of June, 1995.

Japan Journal #6

Tomorrow marks the one-month anniversary of my arrival in Japan. Which means I can do everything I’ve done so far only five more times before I return to Canada (I think, however, that I will choose to fill my remaining months here doing new and interesting things.)

Celebrity Sightings

Western stars are apparently very popular in Japan. I have seen tons of advertising for lots of Hollywood movies. Forest Gump, Shawshank Redemption, Die Hard 3, Batman 3 (interestingly, they are referred to as Die Hard 3 and Batman 3, not as Die Hard With a Vengeance and Batman Forever), and others.

With fame, of course, comes recognition. The Japanese, it seems, are very big on this, so celebrity endorsements, which are now out of vogue in North America, are popular here. I've seen Harrison Ford on a poster promoting Kirin Beer (apparently there are TV commercials with him as well, but I haven’t seen them), Charlie Sheen (I think it was him- it looked an awful lot like him if it wasn't) on a poster for some brand of cigarettes, Robocop (whether from the movies or #om the TV show I have no idea) use some spray to zap the nasty cockroaches (which bore a suspicious resemblance to the California Raisins, except these guys were brown instead of purple), and Madonna in a TV commercial. The only reason I knew it was Madonna was because "Madonna" was shown at the bottom of the screen for the first few seconds of the commercial. She was wearing what looked like a ceremonial suit of armour, was wielding a sword larger than her, and (of course) was wearing enough make-up that it probably outweighed her entire costume. She was fighting a golden dragon that had a tendency to turn into smoke wherever she struck. (Or maybe the smoke coalesced into a dragon.)

I have no idea what the commercial was for.

Blues Brothers Sightings

If you haven’t already seen The Blues Brothers, go out and rent it, NOW, and view. Do not continue reading this Journal entry until you have seen The Blues Brothers. Do not read any subsequent Journal entry until you have seen The Blues Brothers. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200.

"Have you seen The Light?"

"YES! Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ, I have seen... THE LIGHT!!"

(My e-mail address will make more sense to you, as will the previous dialogue, once you have experienced the greatest movie ever made for yourself.)

The National Enquirer will keep you up to dale on Elvis' current whereabouts, the Japanese media about the latest Aum revelations, and I will keep you informed on Blues Brothers sightings in Japan.

I was in Yokohama Station, looking at the various poster advertisements as I was walking along. One poster had a picture of the a movie-theatre type seats. Sitting in these seats were look-dikes for various famous musical artists, past and present. I saw Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, Prince; and there, right there in the middle, were two gentlemen, black hats, dark sunglasses, black jackets, white shirts, black ties-- The Blues Brothers! I I was most impressed. I’m going to take a picture of this ad the next time I see it. (And if I could remember which company made the ad, I would go out right now and buy at least three products from them.)

Monday morning, I am eating breakfast at the dorm, and (as usual) the TV is on. In order to preserve what little remains of my mind, I have taken to ignoring the television, especially in the A.M. But I suddenly hear the opening chords to Gimme Some Lovin. This is the song The Blues Brothers opened with in Bob’s Country Bunker. My head immediately snapped up, and (for the first time) the TV had my undivided attention. Sure enough, there's a rotund man in full Blues Brothers costume dancing on a stage to a large crowd of fans. Granted, at one point he flings his glasses off, and the song is in Japanese, and the melody has been altered from Gimme Some Lovin, but the influence is definitely there (or, if I were feeling uncharitable, I could say it was an obvious rip-off).

I couldn't wipe the grin off my face all day.

Further Blues Brothers Bulletins as events warrant.

Musical Interlude

The Japanese advertising industry enjoys taking popular or well-known North American tunes, giving them the musical equivalent of plastic surgery (I could just say rearranging, but the magnitude of the changes is greater than that would imply), and playing the result (not always better) as the backdrop to commercials. I heard an incredibly bizarre version of "My Favourite Things" (from The Sound of Music) while a commercial showed pictures of beaches, sea, and the occasional bird. 

The Bartle Hymn of the Republic ("Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord", or, as some people know it, "Jesus puts his money in the Bank of Montreal") was the score to some other commercial... altered almost beyond recognition. (it wasn’t until ”His Truth is marching on", or, "Jesus saves Jesus saves Jesus saves" that I clued in. I still wasn't absolutely certain until the next time this ad aired, when I was able to compare what they played to what I knew right from the start.

There have been many other commercials where I've thought, "hey, I know that tune," but haven't been able to place it. I guess it's fair game-- after all, how many Japanese are going to know Western traditional or Broadway songs, and how many viewers of these commercials are going to be in a position to call out, ”Hey! You! Copyright infringement!" Somehow I get the feeling the Japanese are not quite a litigation-oriented as the Americans.

Of course, most commercials, aside from making your brain want to explode if viewed before noon, are not remarkable. I'm just commenting on the ones that I notice, which are a minority.

But What Does it Mean?

I have noticed the Star of David in a couple locations here. It is the design for a clockface in a large shopping mall, and is engraved, with some writing that I can’t read, on the wall of a school that the bus passes every morning on my way to work.

Given that there are very few Jews in Japan, I doubt very much that it has the same symbolic meaning here that it does in North America and Israel. Which makes me wonder, is the Star of David just something the Japanese think looks cool, so they incorporate into various designs? Or does it have some other meaning that is quite different? I have no idea. I am curious, though.

These Boots Were Made for Walkin'

Saturday was to be a hike up Takao-san, which is outside of Tokyo. "Was to be?" I hear you ask. Ah, you are very perceptive. You see, we (Susan Huggett, co-ordinator of the Co-op Japan program and all willing Co-op Japaners) were to meet at 11 am at Takao station. I completely misjudged the travel time required, and, though I did not take any wrong turns in my route, I ended up arriving at Takao station promptly at 11:30. Oops. I looked around, but there was no sign of Susan or other Co-op Japan people lingering around for latecomers such as myself. 

It was rather depressing, actually, because I had no idea where they had gone and I realized I had come all this way so I could walk around and probably get lost all by myself. Heck, if I'd wanted to do that, T could have just turned off the main streets around my dorm. It would have saved the time and expense of coming out to Takao.

Then someone taps my shoulder. It's Wilson. a fellow Co-op Japaner, who was in Vancouver with me in May. He just arrived too. So we were both in the sane predicament- but at least we weren't walking around aimlessly alone. We could walk around aimlessly together. Which is exactly what we did. For awhile. Then Wilson walks into a bookstore, buys a map, and starts studying it. Wilson, you see, is Chinese. This is not very significant, but what is important is that he can also read Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin, I’m not sure). Which means that the Kanji words, which look like so many chicken scratches to me, are recognizable as Chinese characters to him. And though pronunciations differ, often meanings for various characters are the same or analogous.

So a short train ride later, we are at the base of Mt. Takao. We climb up (climb is a misleading word-- there's a paved asphalt path all the way up, with stairs if at any point it gets very very steep), and sure enough, just finishing their lunch, was the rest of the Co-op Japan crowd. I would have never found the mountain, never mind climbed it, if Wilson hadn’t shown up-- I lucked out that he was exactly as late as me.

Leslie Takes Up Smoking

So we all sit around and chat for a while, and Wilson and I eat our lunch. It was very pleasant. We compared jobs, dorm rooms, welcoming parties... When we were ready, we started hiking. I had thought the plan was to walk up the mountain, eat lunch, and walk down. I was wrong. We continued hiking along what was now simply a dirt path, which was much more to my liking. The temperature was not too hot, but it was very humid so I was sweating freely before too long. We were still climbing, mostly. We arrived at another summit about an hour later.

"If it wasn't so foggy," I said, "I’m willing to bet the view from here would be stunning." I was told that was indeed the case. But I couldn’t see a thing. Just white clouds. We took another break there, so I sat down, took off my knapsack, and drank some Aquarius water. (Aquarius is sweetened water stuff, which I have taken quite a liking to. It's like Gatorade, except not coloured.)

I noticed after a few minutes that someone was smoking behind me. I found this odd, because I couldn't smell it. I turned around, but no cigarettes were in sight. I turned back and continued the conversation I was having. But wait-- there it was again. Watching carefully, I noticed that it wasn't someone else that was smoking-- it was me! Steam was literally rising from my back and shoulders. I guess that because the air was cool up where we were, and my knapsack didn’t allow my back to breathe or the heat to dissipate, that I started to smoke once I took the knapsack off. Regardless of the reason, everyone had a good laugh behind my back. Er, at my back. With my back. Whatever.

We hiked for a couple hours more, and then we all went out for supper. I had a pretty good time. And I slept quite well Saturday night. It was a good day. .. not strenuous, but a nice walk for a solid three and a half hours or so (broken up by lunch and rest breaks) climbing up and down a mountain.

'C' is for Chocolate

On the way back from work yesterday, I had a chocolate fit. I needed chocolate. If what I experienced in that moment is anything like what ex-smokers (or those trying to become ex-smokers) describe as a "nic fit", I now have some sympathy for those who lapse. I went up to a kiosk, which is a tiny convenience stand, and bought some M&M’s. Never have I enjoyed a chocolate candy so much in my life.

That’s it for now. Have a fun and safe Canada Day!

Leslie

Podcast for Inquiry S05E19: Quantum physics is both very real and very, very weird, with Dr. Adam Becker

Dr. Adam Becker is a journalist and astrophysicist. Adam is the author of What is Real, a history of quantum mechanics. His most recent book is More Everything Forever, which dismantles tech billionaires’ grandiose delusions about the future of AI and humanity. In addition to his writing, Adam is the creator and host of the podcast Dreaming Against the Machine, where he hosts conversations about what a good future could look like. 

In today’s episode, Adam talks about the physics of Newton, Einstein, and  Quantum Mechanics. This of course leads to a discussion about Schroedinger’s Cat, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance”. Quantum mechanics is both incredibly accurate and self-contradictory, which is why what it means - what is real - continues to be fiercely debated among physicists today. 

Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts (Spotify Apple YouTube Music Deezer Player.fm), or listen here:  

A video recording is also available:  

My fifth Japan Journal, sent in June 1995.  

Japan Journal #5

I had a few ideas and thoughts so I thought I'd share them with everyone...

Bowling for Yen

Wednesday (after work) was a bowling night for our department. I found this out when I arrived at work on Wednesday morning. (Apparently my manager mentioned to me at some previous point, but my memory, true to form, decided not to file that particular piece of information.)

I asked if we were going five pin or ten pin bowling. Many blank looks. Apparently five-pin bowling doesn't exist in Japan.

I had a kick-butt first game (score: 185). 1 got a strike on the 9th frame and struck out on the tenth. I was pretty excited. 8 frames with colour... Of course, I lost my rhythm entirely for the second game and ended up with a score of 101. But I ranked 7 out of 35 or so people, and my first game was the high single.

(As the general reaction seems to be people staring at their respective computer screens, leaning back, yawning, looking bored, and other subtle-like-a-sledgehammer signs of people thinking, "Who cares?", I'll move on to another topic.)

A Three-Hour Tour

There was a traffic accident this morning on the Keikyu railway line between where I live and where I work. It took me nearly three hours to get to work today. I took a couple trains until I reached the last station that was in service. Remember when I said that the trains aren't all that crowded? They were this morning. Wow. I had my knapsack between my feet and I wanted to pick it up. Wrong. I had no room to lean over, no room to bend my knees, nothing. So I ended up shuffling from place to place. Insane.

At the last station, I asked how to get to Nobi station (that's the station I would normally get ff the train at). To get to Nobi, I had to take the train BACK a few stops, and take a bus from there. I did. Now, if you walt crowded, pandemonium, chaos, and a few other words that illustrate disarray and disorder, you should have seen this place. It demonstrated quite graphically to me how efficient Japan's train system is for commuters, and also how dependent Japan is on the trains. When the train went off-line, it was a major undertaking to get people to work, school or wherever. 

And, as someone put it, I work "out in the sticks". I can only imagine the problems if a similar event occurred in or around Tokyo.

But a series of buses (where taking a deep breath could be felt by the three people pressing up against you) later, and I arrived at work just before 10 o’clock. (I left my dorm this morning, as I do every morning, at 7:10. Usually I get to work at 8:30.)

However, I didn't find any of this stressful. One, I knew that everyone living in my dorm had to face the same thing. Two, there was nothing I could do, so why worry? Three, I was able to ask for, and understand, directions in Japanese. And I got here with no wrong turns, or additional delays.

For the first time, I feel comfortable here. I’ve been quite perky all day as a result. Granted, my Japanese was not as eloquent as I like to believe my English is, and I had to ask people to repeat themselves, but I was able to communicate, to ask and understand the response, in Japanese. 

It's still at the level of "Where is Nobi Station?" "Take the number 3 bus." -- but it works. And I can build from there. Which makes me a happy camper.

Japan Times

There is a table that contains several newspapers for general use by the department. One of them is the Japan Times, which is an English-language newspaper. I got used to reading a paper each day in Canada. It’s nice to keep abreast of events. Of course, some things take a bit of getting used to-- the dollar refers inevitably to the U.S. dollar, the TSE is the Tokyo Stock Exchange-- but it does cover world events satisfactorily. 

An All-Nippon airplane was hijacked a couple days ago. The guy may or may not be an Aum cult follower. Basically, a guy with an ice pick wanted to be flown back to Tokyo. The police did nothing for several hours, then rushed the plane, disarmed the hijacker, and released all the hostages. I think no one was hurt during the raid, though a few were injured beforehand.

In my opinion, the Japanese did exactly the right thing. Reminds me of Israel's policy with hijackers-- "We make no deals with terrorists." (I'm trying to remember where I read that. Damn, I hate it when I forget my sources. Oh, well.) if you are known to stand by that principle, people aren't going to mess with you... or rather, if they are, they won't bother taking hostages in the process.

I also read about the Shell sea-burial turnaround about disposing of one of their oil-carriers. I have a few thoughts about that, too, but that's not Japan-related in any way so I won’t take up your time preaching my thoughts about it.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend.

Leslie

Podcast for Inquiry S05E18: Society suffers as sports gambling insinuates itself into people’s lives: Darragh McGee

Dr. Darragh McGee (Instagram) is an academic at the University of Bath and the author of Imitation Games. He details the deceptive practices gambling companies employ to entice new customers, and how they are encouraged to place bets habitually. In-play betting is very different from simply wagering on the outcome of a match - which leads to a discussion about the nature of addiction and its relationship with problem gambling. Like many firms, gambling companies prioritize profit above people, and Darragh compares gambling firms with Big Tobacco. Darragh describes how gambling firms make it trivially easy to sign up, and deliberately challenging to leave.

Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts (Spotify Apple YouTube Music Deezer Player.fm), or listen here:  

A video recording is also available: 

My fourth Japan Journal, sent on or about June 19, 1995. 

Japan Journal #4

Another week, another Journal entry. . .

Cancer sticks everywhere

People here smoke. It drives me crazy. I hate smoke. And I'm very lucky, in that there's no smoking (that I've been able to detect) in the dorm that I live. I’m also fortunate that smoking is permitted in only designated areas at work. Unfortunately, one such designated area is a few meters from my desk, and despite the "very efficient air filters" that surround the place, my eyes invariably start to water each afternoon. Blah. There is (thank goodness!) no smoking on trains, but everyone makes up for it by smoking double-duty while walking to/from the station, while waiting on the platform, etc. And you want a non-smoking section in a restaurant? HAAHAHAHA!!! Silly, naive foreigner... (not that I would ever make such a blunder. Who, sophisticated, cultured, world-wise me? Well, okay, maybe once...)

And everyone smokes. There’s smoking advertising on billboards, in magazines, on trains, and there's even cigarette vending machines. "Nice day, nice smoking."

There’s also beer vending machines. Can you imagine what would happen if there were beer vending machines in Canada? The ones that weren’t vandalized by drunkards wanting a free drink would disappear within hours of being set up and mysteriously appear in some university student's dorm room. (The ultimate in cool: your own beer dispenser. What's that? You want a Canadian? *punch* there you go. Oh, your friend prefers Labatt Ice? *elbow* At your service, madam. Help yourself.) No, I don’t think either type of vending machine would last long in Canada...

The Japan Diet

I haven't stopped on a scale recently, but I can tell I've lost a bit of weight since I've arrived here. I have to buckle my belt one notch tighter than I did when in Canada, and my pants are still looser.

But it only stands to reason. I mean, look at what I am consuming. No sugars, few fats, no snacks, no desserts. (And no chocolate!! ARGHI I'm suffering major withdrawal.) My diet has completely changed, and even after three weeks I can identify only about 75% of the things I put into my mouth. And since meals are a fixed size (aside from rice, which comes in infinite quantities), I am consuming less.

And I've lost weight. What a surprise.

Aside: One of the first things I did when I came back from Israel was go to a Harvey's and have a superburger, hotdog, fries onion rings, and a milkshake. Then I went to visit my grandfather at his golf club and had a full breakfast- bacon, eggs, toast, and hashbrowns. I went out with some friends that night and had wings, garlic bread, and a chocolate sundae *simultaneously*. I was in Israel for four weeks. I wonder what I'll have a craving for when I return from Japan...

Zen Fish

On Thursday we had two fish for dinner at the dorm. Let me make that absolutely clear – two fish. With scales, eyes, tails, and teeth. I almost expected it to flop about on my plate. It turns out they were cooked though. But how does one eat?

I've become fairly adept with chopsticks. But after 45 minutes of struggling through skin, bones, and unidentified fish parts, trying to eat only those pans deemed fit for human consumption, I had managed to get through one-third of one fish. At this rate, I would be finished in time for breakfast. I was continuously picking out bones. Then I would eat that small part, and nearly choke on the two bones I missed.

Then a Japanese man sits beside me. He effortlessly splits the skin with his chopsticks, and lifts the spine of the fish at the tail and in one stroke removes about 97%, of the creature’s skeleton. Within *5* minutes the entire fish was gone, and he moved on to the second one. And I didn’t see him choke on a single bone.

I looked at my own plate and simply lost heart. I went to bed a bit hungry that night.

Maybe, just maybe, by the time I leave here, I will master the Fish Zen technique of eating.

(Or maybe the Japanese have learned how to swallow fish bones and not gag.)

Japanese Media

The TV is always on in the dining room of my dorm. So twice a day, while I eat, I watch whatever charnel is on (not that I understand any of it– see below).

NOTE: There will never be a television in the kitchen or dining room of any house of mine. Never.

I have come to the following conclusions about Japanese media based on my subjective impressions, virtual complete non-comprehension, and decidedly non-random sampling:

1. Japanese game show hosts really enjoy abusing their contestants. I've seen contestants put into embarrassing situations, really bizarre settings, and once a host threw a (foam? plastic?) hammer across the stage and smacked a poor fellow right in the nose. One contestant looked like a sumo wrestler. (Maybe he was.) He was treated with the utmost respect. Weird. 
2. The Aum cult (accused of being behind the sarin attacks) leader is more "popular" than Elvis and OJ combined. This guy’s photo appears on the front page of every paper, every day, and every newscast has a file photo that they show at least once every time I've watched a show. I'm not sure if there's any new news or not, but I’m sure the guy's third-grade substitute teacher has been interviewed by someone...
3. Japanese television advertising = a Dali painting given motion. The stuff is just insane. I play a game where I try to figure out what product is being advertised before the final camera shot gives it away. I inevitably lose.

You know how sometimes your dreams consist of a hodgepodge of random images that make no coherent sense but force themselves upon your (sub)conscious and everything happens so fast you can't catalog it all or even remember what the hell was going on and you wake up and you’re almost out of breath?

That's a Japanese commercial. Maybe it makes more sense if you understand the language, but somehow I rather doubt it.

They're dangerous to my brain first thing in the morning. I tend to mutter to myself a lot during breakfast.

On language

I have spent twenty-two years working damn hard to be able to express myself in a coherent, articulate manner. I take pride in my ability to communicate any idea I have to others. It is a skill that I have worked on for a long, long time, and I believe it (among other aspects of my personality) sets me apart from many of my peers.

Here, I have yet to achieve the level of an idiot. The frustration and anger I feel is very potent. T cannot STAND it when someone tells me how much something is, and I ask them to repeal it, twice, and then it takes me another ten seconds to parse and understand. I am infuriated (with myself) when I am reduced to saying, ”How much this?” or "Went. Uh. Yesterday-- there. Saw, um, places. Not buy."

I *hate* feeling incompetent. I don’t feel that at work, say, even though I don’t know much about my project (yet)-- I'm learning. But when I tried this morning to buy stamps for postcards and wanted to ask how much it was to send a postcard overseas and I couldn't– I wanted to ram my head through a brick wall.

I was told that once I got to Japan, and was immersed in the language, I would pick it up much more quickly than I would in Canada studying on my own (or in Vancouver). It's been three weeks, and the only thing I've managed to pick up is a cold virus. (Which has since been defeated by the noble white blood cells of my immune system. Three cheers! Huzzah.)

Friday Night Excitement

Not that I had any planned. No meal is served Friday evening at the dorm, so I’m forced to venture out into the Real World. (Something I haven’t seen much of-- my weekday schedule consists of Wake up, go to work, return to dorm, go to sleep. Repeat.) I hop on the bus from work and realize several minutes later that I do not recognize any of the scenery around me.

The bus makes its final stop about fifteen minutes later in the middle of nowhere. I think it was a hospital parking lot. I could be mistaken. I have no idea where I am.

So I decide to walk for a while. Still nowhere. And it looks like there’s a lot of nowhere looming ahead. I figured that this meant I was going nowhere fast, and should consider changing my approach.

A kind cashier at a 24 hour convenience store told me to catch a bus at the stop directly across the road. Fine. I get on, and at the end of the line is a train station. Right idea, but it's the wrong line. Think of it as needing a Via rail train and landing at a GO station. Oops.

After many misadventures (buying a ticket for the wrong train, waiting close to an hour for a bus that never appeared, asking directions of different folks and completely not understanding the answers, nodding and smiling and thanking them for the effort), I finally have the good fortune to meet a Japanese woman who read my expression (which probably closely mirrored my feeling at the time of resigned despair) as something other than "foreigner happily wandering aimlessly around bus depot", and gave me directions, in English, on how to get to a train station on the Keikyu line (the one I wanted).

My brains being a bit addled, I didn't understand her even then (though her English was very good). So she walked me to the station. Bless her heart, I may never have gotten back to the dorm without her. (Not that I’ll ever see her again. It was just such a nice thing to do.)

In all, it took four hours to get from work to dorm.

Pretty exciting stuff eh?

Beer beer beer beer wonderful beer

Yep, Saturday was a beer fest. I will not, and I steadfastly, absolutely, under all circumstances refuse to consider calculating how much I spent on Saturday night on said substance. And that’s in yen. I refuse even more so to convert that into dollars. But I had fun.

There were about 30-odd people that showed up to the gathering, of which I knew one: me. So I introduced myself to a bunch of people (the person that invited me, did so over e-mail, and was quite surprised to discover that I am male), and spent a pleasant evening chatting and drinking and making new friends. If I play my cards right, I may have even found a Japanese tutor. Yay!

Amongst other folks, I was talking to someone who went to Mac, lived on King St., and was "about a 4-iron’s distance from the Medical Centre." For those who don't know Hamilton, this is VERY close to my home, and I know the area quite well. It is amazing how refreshing it was to be able to discuss Hamilton landmarks. 

It was a gorgeous night. A bunch of us left the pub that was getting a bit crowded and too loud for easy conversation, and went to an outdoor bar with a rooftop patio. We sat outside, sat and chatted and drank and laughed and I just caught the last train back. I made a few friends, received a few offers to show me around Tokyo (which I intend to gratefully accept in coming weeks), and overall had a pretty good time.

And I will not consider how much I spent. Not for a second...

Everything is open on Sunday

Sunday I spent in Yokohama Just looking around. There's no silly restrictions about Sunday shopping here. In fact, from the look of things, it’s the prime day to do so. I toured shopping malls, outdoor sidewalk vendors, department stores, pachinko parlours (that's another thing I don’t understand yet), video arcades (at 100 yen a pop!), restaurants and fast food joints... just touring.

Of course, I forgot my camera But that's okay. Yokohama will be there next week.

I decided not to do the Disneyland thing because, well, when you hear reports that a place is extremely crowded, and this is by Japanese standards, I figured it would be a good idea to wait a while. (The Electrical Light Parade, or whatever, is ending soon at Tokyo Disneyland, so people are flocking to catch it before it departs forever. I saw it at the California site, so I'm quite willing to forgo seeing it here.)

And that’s about it.

Until next time,

Leslie

 My third Japan Journal, sent on June 12, 1995

Japan Journal #3

Now, I know you're all thinking, "Japan Journal"? What’s that? I borrowed the "Chapters" idea from a friend who went to Japan, and he’s claiming copyright (and I can't blame him). So, in a gesture to maintain the harmony, my (mis)adventures in this distant land have been renamed. 

I know that there are people out there who I have not included in my journal list. Please feel free to spread my e-mail address to people who may be wanting to contact me but don't know how to reach me. Once again, my address is: elwood@syrinx.dq.isl.ntt.jp

Irrelevant Observations 

Not surprisingly, a very common thing I see on trains are walkmans. I don't see the walkmans themselves, as those are tucked away in an inside pocket or bag, but I do see lots of ear-phones and the cords running from the ears. And there’s something that the walkmans have here that I haven’t seen in NA that I saw and thought-- "Hey, that's a really good idea".

How many times have you set up your walkman, just right so it sits in your pocket, the earphones reach your ears, and you're listening, and suddenly the tape stops? Or, you want to rewind a song? This has happened to me a few times. Solution: Put the controls (play, rewind, etc.) on the earphone cord. So you just reach to the right place on the wire, hit the button, and you don’t have to dig the walkman out of your jacket/pocket/purse. 

Another meaningless sidebar: there's a lot of animation here. And every animated character has BIG eyes, so they all look more Occidental than Oriental. (Of course, they all bow to each other and speak in Japanese.)

Myth Busters

Contrary to what I'd been told, I am not a giant here. I really don’t think that there's a significant size difference among young (35 years old or less) people. I'm taller than most but not by much, and not as tall as others...

Service: I was led to expect that service everywhere is so incredible that if you indicated you wished to purchase an item, it would be ready, delivered, set up in your living room, and the money automatically deducted from your account before you could blink twice. (What, me exaggerate?) While I haven't had poor service anywhere, neither have I had exceptional service. It's been un uniformly good.

Food, Glorious Food

Eggs were served on Friday morning at breakfast. This has happened before, but what deserves comment is the fact that these eggs were served raw. People just cracked them open and poured the egg over their white rice. I looked at the egg, at my rice, back at the egg, and at my rice... and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe next time.

People who have seen me eat know that I take my time when having a meal. I eat slowly, and I chew my food. (Some theories take the stand that I’m too busy talking at mealtimes to actually eat, but I don’t believe them.) Not so here. I find I’m racing through meals at record pace. I’m also getting zits again. Argh. I figure this means that either a) I'm going through puberty again, or b) I'm experiencing a teensy bit of stress/anxiety/culture shock.

Some Things Don’t Change

When I left Canada, Die Hard 3 had just come out and there was major promotion for Batman 3, due out Real Soon Now. Then I arrive in Japan, and on my way to work each morning I see advertisements for the new movies Die Hard 3 and Batman 3...

Painting the Town Red

Saturday night was the Co-op Japan Kangekai (welcome party). About 25 of us (15 or so gaijin, the rest English-speaking Japanese) met for dinner in Roppongi. We went to an Indian buffet restaurant (I’m getting used to Japanese prices– 1450 yen for a buffet was cheap, and I didn't convert it to Canadian funds). It was okay– yellow rice and four kinds of curry (curry chicken, curry mutton, vegetable curry, and something else). It got a bit monotonous after a while.

There are two Co-op Japan students in the Tokyo/Yokohama area that have been here for eight months or so. They organized the get-together, and were a source of much wisdom. (Apparently there was a way to call overseas very affordably, even though it may fracture a law or two here and there (just like jaywalking is also against the law). However, recently (in the last month or so) NTT has really clamped down on this by reprogramming the phones not to accept a certain kind of telephone card. So I can’t call cheap, after all.) It's good to talk to people who were in your shoes not so long ago, and can tell you the stuff you need to know... and they're full to party with.

After the meal, we had to decide which club to go to. Roppongi is a fairly small area composed of club after bar after club after bar. And each club has one (or more) employees working the street. What is working the street, you ask? It is handing out "discounts" and "specials” to those lucky people who walk by, and basically doing everything possible to get folks into *your* club. And nothing attracts them more than a crowd of 20+ individuals looking for a place to party for the night.

It was insane. Jessica, who organized the event, had at one point five people simultaneously talking to her. Take the stereotype of an aggressive, mega-hype salesman, and that is a somewhat scaled-down version of the schtick here. It’s unbelievable. Everyone offers the best prices, the best girls (or best guys, depending on the audience), the best music, the best deals, all over here here here here come right this way you lucky people no don’t talk to *him* over here yes for all you we can cut a special deal I'll talk to the doorman you're a special person come to my club we get you in no cover cheap drinks over here wait there's a cover but 7 free drinks don’t listen to him they water down their alcohol oh no sir not at all I'll open a bottle right in front of you over here follow me!

Everyone's a professional scam artist. Very smooth approach, different styles of delivery. (Oh, and few Japanese people were working the streets. Everyone spoke English, although the coupons they forced into your hands were in Japanese. The names of the clubs were English. Obviously, this entire neighbourhood is designed to capture the foreign market for nightspots.)

And they are all very aggressive.

Nobody seemed willing to make a decision, so I started battering with a few of them. (Heck, if they’re all there, use 'em to our advantage.) If one guy made an offer, I'd repeat it to the guy next to him. Could he beat that? Sure. But then the original guy revised his offer... 

And I had four of ’em bidding down. We finally went to a place that had a cover of 1000 yen, but which included 5 free drinks. (Turns out the place does water down their alcohol, as I’d been warned, but I was given drinks that were 90% ”alcohol", so our group did okay. )

The music was mostly dance, drum beat from hell and bass that you feel in your chest more than you hear with your ears. I was shocked when I heard Sting's "Englishman in New York" played there. (Granted, it was speeded up somewhat and there was an overdub of drums that nearly drowned out everything else.) But we all danced, had a few drinks, and everyone seemed to have a pretty good time. I left in time to catch the last train back to my dorm.

Let me tell you, it feels WEIRD leaving a club al 11:00 pm to go home...

Japan's Alternative Scene

Yesterday (Sunday) I spent the day at Yoyogi Park. one of the larger parks in Tokyo. It was quite pleasant. I just entered the park, started walking around, and followed whatever caught my eye. I encountered a large shrine in the middle of the park. There were boards on which people hung their wishes. (You could purchase a piece of wood on which to write your wish nearby.) The temple itself was quite ornate. People stood, threw coins into a large container, clapped their hands together, and bowed. Many people repeated this several times. I watched a service take place, which involved a lot of ritualized bowing and kneeling and more bowing. I didn’t understand a thing. But it was interesting to watch.

Just outside the park is a major street that is closed off to traffic every Sunday. Bands of every description (and I mean that) set up their equipment along the road and start playing.

Never in my life did I think that I would see a group of people that would make the patrons of Sanctuary (also known as the Vampire Sex Club, a bar in Toronto) look mainstream. But then, never before had I been to Harajuku.

It’s difficult to explain. On the two blocks to the street itself are an astonishing array of different people. There's the dancer flailing about; I can't decide if she's supposed to be having an epileptic fit or portraying a puppet whose master is having an epileptic fit. But weird to look at, any way you choose to. And there's the collection of girls with hair of just about every colour among them. One is wearing a black cape, has white makeup on, heavy on the mascara, and a black leather facemask with many chains, zippers, and metal holes in it. She looks like the only thing she's missing is a whip (I'm not sure whether she'd be on the giving or receiving end, though). Another one has fishnet stockings up one leg, nothing on the other, thong-type underwear, and a bra. That's it. (With dyed hair and mega makeup, of course.) And there's at least  50 or so people, each of which merit a description... unbelievable.

And there’s the bands. From greasers (we're talking bulletproof hair) right out of the '50s to heavy metal bands to breakdancers to a Beatles cover band to R&B. Dozens of bands, each with their own setup. They’re placed right across the street and beside each other. Most are pretty poor, but there were a few that I sat and listened to which were quite good. Many bands had a following... I guess some people come by his place every Sunday. In order to listen to your band you had to stand right next to the speakers or else everyone else’s loudspeakers would seep in between songs. The place is wild.

And that’s about it. Next weekend should be interesting-- I'm going to an International Beer Festival on Saturday and Tokyo Disneyland on Sunday (which, I'm told, is unbelievably crowded).

Until next time,

Leslie

My second missive from my time in Japan, sent on June 5, 1995.

Chapter 2!

Well, it’s been one week in Japan, and right on schedule, those feelings of

disorientation are coming on strong...

Asa-gohan, hiru-gohan, ban-gohan. . .

The above translates to 'Breakfast, lunch, dinner", but the literal meaning is "morning-rice, midday-rice, evening-rice" and it is probably more accurate. Gohan can be translated as either "rice" or "meal", and for the Japanese, they really are synonymous.

No kidding, rice is served three meals a day, *every* day. I managed to escape one meal, where I had ramen (a Chinese noodle soup), and I was asked, "Don't you like rice?" Actually, I do, I love rice, but even so...

There’s an old university expression, "Man cannot live on beer alone”. (More recently, I saw this on a poster with a scantily clad voluptuous female with a strategically placed beer bottle preventing it from being classified as unsuitable to be viewed by minors.) However, I would guess the version here would be "Man can live on starch alone". (Of course, the latter being a modern expression, and not an old one, it may have to modified to be gender (sensitive? neutral?) if these Chapters were ever to be published...)

Some things are the same everywhere...

I had to get my picture taken for my alien registration card. Not having a suitably sized photo with me, I had to go to one of those booths that blind you then manage to capture you in the instant you blinked. Sure enough, Japan’s instant-ugly booths manage to capture you in as unflattering a manner as possible, just like the ones in Canada I guess some things never change... Of course, there are a couple differences. The picture here is much clearer, sharper, and the colours probably won't run after a week (as they did the last time I went to one of those tacky things in Toronto). It also cost about 600 yen (close to $10, compared with $2 in Canada)...

How many CS geeks does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A humourous anecdote. (At least, I find it humourous.) On Friday, I went to a "young researcher's presentation" meeting, where, you guessed it, the young employees of the Database Systems group (where I am) present their research themes to the rest of the department. Of course, it was all in Japanese, as were all the supporting documents, so T couldn’t make head nor tail of either. It was three hours of "blah blah blah computer blah blah internet blah database systems blah blah blah electronic money exchange (!!) blah blah blah".

One of the presenters was using a PC hooked up to an overhead projector to assist him. Anything that came up on his computer screen was displayed on the projector for all to see. Halfway through his presentation, his computer crashed. He spent a couple minutes fiddling, to no avail. The lights were turned on, and he resumed tinkering. Then a couple well-„meaning souls went up to help him out... still nothing. A few minutes later there was a crowd of about ton people standing around this guy and his portable... he had disappeared entirely (from my perspective) in the throng. Remember, this is a room filled with computer scientists, database architects, software engineers, and other researchers... Finally, the problem was fixed by simply rebooting the laptop. (Whatever the Apple equivalent is to the three-fingered salute...) And everything worked fine.

Today, the 5th day of the 6th month of year 7....

Say WHAT? That's right, we're in year 7 right now. Didn’t you know? Oh, you’re thinking it's 1995. Well, that's true, too. It’s 1995 years since Christ's birth (or death? whatever), and that's what the gaijin use. But it's also 7 years into the current emperor's reign. Most Japanese documents I have (which aren’t too numerous, I must confess) use year 7. Every time a new emperor is crowned, the year resets. I wonder if Japanese history textbooks use, for example, 1837, or "in the 32nd year of Emperor whatever's reign..." (When my understanding of Japanese has reached a sufficiently advanced level, I plan to answer this question by direct observation.)

Time to leave?

The stories are legendary, naturally, of the Japanese working hours. I was told time and again not to expect to get away with the 8 hour working day. And I didn't. I was thinking that ten hours a day, on average, would be fair and just, and I'm quite willing to put that in. However, staying much past 5:15 (1 get here at 8:30 every morning) is like pulling teeth. On my first day, my boss said, "We can't pay you for overtime, so please don't stay past your contracted hours." Every day, as soon as my "contracted hours" have expired, he comes by my desk and implores me to leave. I almost feel guilty for staying late to type up these Chapters, but I wouldn't feel right doing it on Company time...

I realize it’s one thing not to expect overtime from the gaijin, but to pressure me to go when there's still everyone here... We'll see how things work out. (Besides, at this point, it's not as though I have anything to do when I leave here... )

More on the left/right thing...

Japanese do a lot more than just drive on the left side of the road. (Of dourse. They eat, drink, sleep, work... nobody just drives for a living...) It influences a bunch of other things, as well. Which way to look when crossing the road, where the passenger door is, etc. And something else.

When two people are walking towards each other, as often happens on a sidewalk, what do they do to avoid bumping into each other? Easy. One or both take a step to the right, so a collision course is no longer set, and everyone walks on, content in their lives. I try applying the same thing here. 

It’s a crowded platform, I’m heading one way, and this girl is walking the other, right towards me. Trying to avoid running headlong into her. I step to the right. She spies me at the last minute, and does what's instinctive for her-- she takes a step to the left. Result? Well, if not for her lightning reflexes, we would have collided and spent the next half hour apologizing profusely to each other...

So remember: when in Japan, it's polite to step to the LEFT, not the right.

Easy to remember, but it feels weird in practise. (Of course, I have now run into the other problem: Japanese person approaching, Leslie thinks: Step left. Gaijin approaching, Japanese person thinks: Gaijin. Step right. Result? <CRASH!>)

Munchables

Based on my extensive research (dormitory and company cafeteria meals, vending machines which are everywhere, snacks served at my welcome party, and browsing a couple convenience stores), I have concluded that whereas North Americans cannot get enough sugar in their snacks, the Japanese cannot get enough salt. We have chocolate bars, pop, sweetened juices, cereals, and desserts. I can't recognize half of the snack foods I've had here, and anyway there aren't equivalents in North American confectionary. But everything I have had here-- the dried squid, the seaweed, puffy pastry type finger food- have all been very, very salty. 

That’s not to say the food is all too salty. Not at all. Just take everything in North America that's sweet, transform the product into something else, and make it have as much salt as the original sugar, and you’ve got the idea. Is this significant to the anthropologist who wants to gain a deep understanding of the Japanese way of life? Probably not. But it's something I noticed.

Let it ride.. .

On Saturday I went to the Tokyo racetrack. (I was worried that, after my welcome party on Friday night, I would be in no condition to move on Saturday morning. .. but it turned out that after a few beers and whiskeys, at the early hour of 9:30 or so, everyone was headed home... either my tolerance is way above the Japanese norm, or my workmates just weren't in the drinking mood...) Betting on horses is new to me (I did it once before, years ago, in the States I think), so I can't really make comparisons between here and there.

But I did feel a bit out of place. People pouring over their stat charts, checking against who the experts predict will win, looking at past histories, getting the odds sheets printed, etc. etc. I needed to have the betting cards explained to me. So I used a very simple formula. Bet on the winning horse. (There were other exotic combinations, but I couldn't be bothered.)

How did I choose this horse? Again, simple.

Before each race, all the horse were walked around a small track, paraded for all to see. I would look at each horse (I know nothing of horses-- I enjoyed riding them, I took care of them for a summer, but that’s it), and pick which one looked big and strong. Then I bet. First race: Out of eight horses, mine came in a respectable second. But I had bet to win... so kiss 500 yen goodbye.

Wait a sec! 500 yen? That's over eight bucks! What the hell was I doing?

So the next race, this time with 16 or so horses, I bet just 200 yen. 

Halfway through the race, I was ready to tear up my ticket. My horse was WAY back. Then, on the final stretch, he comes out of nowhere and closes the gap. Omigod. I'm starting to get excited, despite myself The closing few meters, he’s just half a head behind the leader, and... DOH! they cross the line, and my number just misses. Argh. Two second place finishes in a row.

Then comes on the instant replay. Sure enough, just a few feet behind the line, and my horse is in second place, inches behind the leader. But the heavens parted, my horse was given wings for the split second it needed, and on a frame-by-frame it became clear that I had WON by those same scant millimetres I had thought deprived me. Then I found out that the race paid 15 to 1 ... yee-hah! I was rich! 3,000 yen! if only I had stuck to my original 500 yen (yeah, and if my bubbi had batzim.)

I lost on the subsequent bets, but my horse came in 2nd or 3rd each time. Not bad, considering my selection "strategy". Beginner's luck, pure and simple. T netted about 2,000 yen in terms of betting, but (of course) lost when you count admission, food, and transportation costs... speaking of which,

I can't believe the prices...

Travel is expensive in Japan. Getting from the airport to Yokohama last week was over 4,500 yen (about $75). Then from Yokohama to my dorm was about another $10. Trains cost a *lot*, even you're not going far. Unlike our public transportation system, where you pay a fare, and you get to where you're going, whether it be the next stop or the next city, in Japan fares vary depending on how far you go. (I have no idea how to determine what to pay-- so far, I've always travelled with someone who knows, and followed their example. It works, and I've had enough to learn to keep me busy without worrying about it.) 560 yen here, 120 yen there, another 240 as you use another line... Already you've spent $16. And that’s one way.

(Fortunately, I have a pass which allows me unlimited travel from my dorm station to my work station, and all the stops in between. However, the bus from Nobi (work station) to the lab is 160 yen, each way, or about $5 per day.) Yikes! I have to stop converting things into Canadian funds, or I’ll drive myself nuts... (in case you’re wondering, I'm using a conversion rate of roughly 60 yen to the dollar. When I left, it was hovering at about 62. 1 have no idea where the Yen/dollar spread has gone since.)

After horseracing, I was brought to Shinjuku for a whirlwind tour. And whirlwind pretty much describes the place... it's huge, busy, crowded, unbelievable. There's a (supposedly famous) English bookstore there. For the first time ever, I walked into a bookstore, and walked out without a newly purchased book. I was intrigued by one, and looked at the price.

The publisher's price, printed right on the cover, was $6.99 (Canadian). Not bad, I'll pick it up. HOLD OFF, I'm in Japan. So this is a North American import. So how much is this small, fairly thin paperback?

Flip the book over, and there's the price tag. Over 1,600 yen. Now, using a 100-1 rate, that's still sixteen bucks for a paperback! With the yen as high as it is, we're talking about over $25!!! I put it down. (I know, I know, I have to stop converting... )

And supper, which was good, but not fantastic, with two beers, ran me 2,500 yen, or over $40... (1 can't help it.)

What have I got myself into?

I sat down this morning and got a detailed job description from my boss. Yikes. I have now come to the following two conclusions:

1. The stuff I’m working on is fascinating, cutting edge stuff This is WAY beyond anything I've seen at home. (Mind you, I haven't had too many hi-tech positions.) The equipment on my desk here is worth more than my yearly salary. 
2. I'm in way, way, WAY over my head.

During the month of June, my boss wants me to become familiar with a particular application by rewriting it. That way, I can know it well enough to develop the conceptual model required to get past a technical hurdle that no commercial database currently supports. Once I've done that, all I have to is code, implement, and test this enhancement, and of course leave enough time to document it thoroughly and give numerous presentations on it (presumedly in Japanese) during my final few weeks here. I'm here for six months, and already a week has passed, and I haven’t compiled a thing...

What have I gotten myself into?

Anyway, that's it for now. I think I'll head back to my dorm, change out of my work clothes, have supper, a bath, a shower, read, and go to sleep. (Yes, a bath and then a shower. The baths here arc like  whirlpools at home. but with a few differences. First. you *must8 rinse before you enter the bath. You also don't wear a bathing suit. Not a big deal, since we’re a dormitory- of all males. It's pleasantly hot water, but not too hot, though warmer than a jacuzzi. And it's just water-- no bubbles or jets or chlorine.)

Gambate kudasai!

Leslie

"It's 10006 miles to Chicago..."

My first Japan Journal, sent at the end of May, 1995. 

Chapter 1!

Hello, all! A number of people have asked that I keep them up to date on my experiences in Japan, so rather than write a separate letter to everyone (which would leave me with no time to actually work), I'll be sending general information out to you in installments. (Those who remember Leo’s trip to Japan are already familiar with this.)

Four Weeks in Vancouver

I lived on campus at Canadian International College for the four weeks I was there. I lived in residence at Waterloo for my first year there, then moved out and never had a desire to go back. I was reminded quite vividly of all the reasons that I do not enjoy residence life as much as others do there...

Basically, my days were as follows: wake up, go to class, eat, study, read, call people. Not a very exciting time. However, Vancouver itself is beautiful, as I discovered when my parents and my grandmother (Nanny, my mom’s mom) came out during my last few days there. (Yep, they came to visit me. It was wonderful. Now there are several pools going on back home as to whether my mom will visit me in Japan or no.) I also managed to sneak in a trip to Victoria one weekend, and spend time with my relatives there.

I learned a lot of Japanese in Vancouver-- probably about as much as possible (for me) in a one-month time frame. However, already it is obvious that it is woefully inadequate. I usually enjoy expressing myself somewhat more eloquently than, "Me, Tarzan. You Jane." but right now it’s about all I’m capable of.

I can read easily two of the three alphabets of Japanese- hiragana and katakana This is a good thing, except that virtually everything in written in the third- Kanji. And there’s only about 1500 or so that must be known to be considered even remotely literate. Argh. So I’m still entirely dependent on other's abilities in English...

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles... and Elevators

Aside from the large differences between Canada and Japan (language being the most formidable (for me) so far), there’s also a lot of little things. First of all, it's amazing how similar, superficially, Japan and Western countries are. There are cities, buildings, roads, billboards, etc. Of course, there's Japanese writing on the ads, but I am still amazed at the amount of romaji (Japanese words in Roman characters) and actual English on signs, clothes, and television.

My respect for Japanese programmers has increased dramatically. My computer here has a standard, English keyboard. The keyboards to display Japanese characters are the same physically, but each key has a different meaning.

How all the thousands of characters that make up Japanese are stored, and the arduous keystroke-combinations that must be used to type a standard Japanese sentence, are mysteries that I will not even attempt to learn until I have mastered the language proper.

But what amazes me is this: They program their computers in *English*. Now, for those who don’t know much about computers, yes, there are many different computer languages. But they are all (at least, the ones I know) English based (except for IBM's-- anyone out there know JCL?). For example, there’s if, print, loop, while... all these words perform functions that their name would imply (or at least something close). Knowing English, it’s not too difficult to learn another *computer* language. I will be working in C, a language I'm familiar with. But the people here are also working in C, which is English based. So they're writing in (what is to them) gobbledegook, and what results is technology that is beyond anything I’ve worked on or seen working in Canada This is difficult, complex stuff- and it's being done in their second language, or a language they don't understand at all.

Humbling.

Most of the people in my department at work speak varying degrees of English-- most of those at my dorm don't. (Yep, another dorm here, but at least I have a room of my own, and I don't think I’ll be awakened at 3 am by heavy metal music blaring at top volume on somebody’s stereo down the hall).

Most people know (at least, I did) that one drives on the left side of the road in Japan. I knew this to be true, but I didn’t quite register what that means. For example, when two cars are headed towards each other, as often happens on two-way streets, I often think, "Is that car far enough away from the other to avoid a collision?" However, I since I’ve arrived here, I have realized that that wasn’t what I was thinking. I was verifying "Is that car far enough *to the left* of the other car to avoid a collision?"

So when I look at two car approaching each other here, I still ask myself the latter question, which comes out as a resounding NO (since cars pass each other on the right), and there's a moment of panic as I expect a terrible accident... which never occurs.

It’s about a 20 minute walk from my dormitory to the train station. (Then I take a train for about 45 minutes to another station, then it’s a 10 minute bus ride to the MF labs from there. A heck of a commute.) I tend to make a habit of looking at drivers of vehicles while I walk (it gives me something to do). Often, I've had that instinctive panic button pushed, "OH MY GOD, that person isn’t even looking anywhere near the road!" or "HOLY COW, there’s no one driving that vehicle at all!" Of course, the steering wheel (and other driving equipment, such as gas pedals, brakes, ignition, etc.) is on the opposite side of the car, compared to North American vehicles... that panic reflex is subdued, now, but it kicked in pretty strongly the first time I observed the "driverless vehicle" effect.

The trains here are... complicated. They're not nearly as crowded as I was led to believe they would be (but then, I’m not in Tokyo, where most of the stories originate). They are sometimes quite full, but no more so than Toronto subways are during rush hour (and usually considerably less so). BUT, although they run on a fair exact schedule, navigating from one station to another can be a damn near impossible job.

First of all, there are different tracks, which branch to different lines, which of course take you to different stations. So a train that stops at Station A may next go to station B, but after that goes to C and D, whereas another train may go from A to B, then turns onto a different track so the next stop is station E, then F. So you have to be careful.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. In addition, to getting on the train that runs along the proper line, you have to get on the right "express level”. What does that mean? Well, not every train stops at every station. A train in the above example may come from somewhere, zip right past station A without even slowing down, and stop at B, then skip C altogether and stop at D. So if you just want to get from B to C, you're out of luck if you get on that train. (Well, you have to double-back. But make sure you don't get on an ”express" train that skips C on the way back, as well...) On top of this, add transfers, and no fewer than FOUR level of express... sometimes I'm amazed that I make it to work in the morning at all.

Of course, I can see the necessity of all this... if every train stopped at every station, it would take forever to get anywhere. So the complexity is necessary, but brutal to comprehend, especially for a foreigner who can't read Kanji, because the train's route and the express level are written in Kanji only. So I end up with four sheets of schedules and frantically comparing characters to make sure I end up on the right train (and get off at the right stations). So far, I’ve missed my stop only once, and fortunately had no trouble doubling back to get to my dorm...

A neat thing here is the elevators. They’re not much different from the ones at home, but they have one enhancement. When you push the call button, a chime sounds and the light above the elevator that will come turns on. 

When the elevator arrives, a different chime is heard and the doors open. So I can't play that childhood game of standing in front of the elevator I guess is going to arrive...

A lot of things are signalled by chimes here. Before an announcement, a chord (or series of notes) is played, on trains, buses, and in stations. If a train is going to charge through the station (see above), another (this time discordant) sound is made.

I haven't had much time to see anything outside of my dorm->work->dorm circuit yet. I landed in Japan around 3:30 pm (Japan time, I have no idea what time my body was on) on Monday, and Tuesday morning at 8:30 I was at work. After work, I go back to the dorm, eat supper, bath, shower, and go to sleep.

Tonight is my "welcome party", and I suspect that I will be expected/forced to consume large quantities of various nuns of alcohol. Fine, except I just made plans to see horse racing (I think that's what it is) for tomorrow, and I have to be ready to go by 8:30 am.... that may be painful.

Apart from communication frustration caused by my language shortcomings, I haven't really felt any of the "culture shock" that I was told to expect. That will probably come, though. After all, it's only been four days.

Keep in touch.

Gambatte kudasai!

Leslie 

A lost personal travelogue, found 31 years later

As a child, I was fascinated with Japan. It was a growing, successful country with a rich history that was very different from what I grew up with in Canada. I took several Japanese language electives in my first three years of undergrad, and in the fall of 1994 I learned that I had been accepted into the Co-op Japan program. 

I would be working for NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) in one of their research labs, investigating potential high bandwidth consumer applications for video databases. 

In May 1995 I went to Vancouver for a month of near immersive Japanese language training and acculturation, and in early June 1995 I arrived in Japan. I started writing emails to friends and family (after convincing several family members to get an email address, something many of them saw no need for at the time) shortly after my arrival (this was before the era of travel blogs). 

Several years ago, I found that the CD on which I had backed up these emails was corrupted. I asked everyone I was still in contact with if any of them still had copies. I posted on Facebook. Unsurprisingly, no one still had email archives that stretched back nearly thirty years. 

Then, last week, an old friend from high school contacted me. She's moving back to Canada so was going through boxes she hadn't opened in decades, and in them found printed copies of my Japan Journals. She scanned them, and (after correcting the (many!) errors made by Acrobat's image->text feature) I now have my Japan Journals again. 

I will start publishing them on this blog, unedited and in full, starting on Sunday, with a new Journal coming out every two weeks. 

It's been a blast rereading these after all these years. I hope you enjoy. 

Leslie

Podcast for Inquiry S05E12: We’ve been here before: Apocalypses past and present with Lizzie Wade

Lizzie Wade is the author of APOCALYPSE: How Catastrophe Transformed Our World and Can Forge New Futures.  She is a science writer focusing on archaeology and anthropology, a contributing correspondent for Science, and her work has also appeared in Wired, Archaeology, National Geographic, and Slate. Follow her work via The Antiquarian newsletter at theantiquarian.email

The conversation starts with how ancient Egypt, which was very hierarchical and funneled lots of resources to its ruling class, collapsed when a prolonged drought struck. Lizzie explains how the Mayan civilization still very much existed when it was first contacted by the Spanish, despite the centralized state dissolving centuries earlier. Lizzie ponders whether there are grand themes in the study of history, or if it’s just one damn thing after another. According to Lizzie, contemporary society is facing its own apocalypse, but there are options available to us to address it. 

There are two great conferences taking place in Ontario in August 2026: 

• World Humanist Congress August 7-9 in Ottawa https://www.worldhumanistcongress.org/  
• BAHACON August 21-23 in Sarnia https://bahacon.com/ 

Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts (Spotify Apple YouTube Music Deezer Player.fm), or listen here:  

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