Archive for January, 2015
January 8, 2005 – New Izakaya! 100 yen beer!
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Life in Japan on January 8, 2015
After work, I went with Palmer to a new chain izakaya called Ryuu. It has great atmosphere with tatami mat floors and low tables. More importantly, it features 100 yen draft beer (about $1) and 260 yen orders of food. The 100 yen beer even comes with a small mystery snack. Palmer was friends with one of the staff, so we got a free order of food.
You really can’t beat 100 yen beer.
January 7, 2005 – First day back at work
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Teaching English on January 7, 2015
Today was my first day back at work after my vacation to Canada. I expected to be really tired due to jetlag. Somehow, I managed go get through the day without any serious problems. The only major issue I had was that I kept writing December 2004 on all of my student files.
January 6, 2005 – Back in Japan
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on January 6, 2015
I left Winnipeg on January 5, 2005. Due to the international date line, I landed at Narita Airport on January 6.
When I first arrived in Japan in September 2003, it took me about 90 minutes to get through immigration and customs. Now that I am a legal resident of Japan, I can use my gaijin card to enter the “resident of Japan” lanes which are much faster than the “foreigner” lanes. It took me only a few minutes to get through both immigration and customs. I love my gaijin card!
I took the Narita Express to Tokyo station, and then took the Shinkansen to Mishima. At Mishima I took a regular Tokaido line train to Numazu. The Narita Express goes to and from the airport, so there is a lot of good storage space for luggage. The Shinkansen doesn’t have the same ample space, so traveling with a large suitcase can be challenging. Tokaido line is simply not fun with a large suitcase.
At Numazu station I caught a taxi to take me back to my apartment. Thanks to previous experiences, I am now fairly capable at communicating where I want to go with taxi drivers. It was a long day of travel, but it was good to be back at my second home.
January 5, 2005 pt2 – Catwoman is simply awful
Posted by Barniferous in Movies on January 5, 2015
After some weather related delays in Winnipeg, I finally got to Minneapolis with 3 hours before my flight to Tokyo. I grabbed a few souvenirs for The Penpal and her family in the airport, then went to the gate to hang out before my flight.
As we got close to boarding time, Northwest announced that the flight to Tokyo was overbooked, and they were looking for volunteers to take the next day’s flight. They were offering $750 in flight credits and a free night in a hotel. I started considering spending the rest of the day at Mall of America and using $750 towards a future flight home. I then remembered that I was scheduled to work the day after I got back to Japan, and didn’t have the contact information to inform NOVA that I would miss my shift. Also, the flight credit was only good for a year, and I wasn’t sure when I would be coming home again. As much as I like free money, it wasn’t a good choice so I stayed quiet as they kept searching for volunteers.
The flight to Tokyo left on time, and I settled in for 12 hours in a tiny airplane seat. They showed 3 movies on the flight, Shark Tale (good), Little Black Book (which I slept through), and Catwoman.
I have seen some bad movies in my time. Terrible movies. However, I pride myself in surviving through to the end of every terrible movie I have started, with two exceptions: It’s Pat The Movie, and The Pest. If I had an option, I would have happily added Catwoman to the list. To say that Catwoman sucked would be unfair to other things that suck. It was simply shockingly dreadfully awful.
Everything about the movie was bad: the plot, the acting, the dialogue, the horrible tacked on romance, and the discount CGI scenes of Catwoman flying around the city. The action was particularly bad, with so many quick cuts and shaky camera scenes that it was impossible to tell who was doing what to whom. I actually started thinking that a nice 36,000 foot drop into the Pacific Ocean might be less painful that watching the movie.
At this point you might be wondering “why didn’t you just read a book or fall asleep or something other than watching Catwoman?”. When I started realizing just how awful the movie was, I had no choice but to see how much worse it was going to get. Also, every other movie I will ever watch after Catwoman will seem better by comparison. It allowed me to recalibrate my “good movie / bad movie” scale.
If you ever want to punish yourself for something you have done wrong with your life, I recommend watching Catwoman in a tiny, uncomfortable seat while breathing recirculated air with no chance of escape. It is a cleansing experience that will help you atone for your sins. You could also perform your own dental surgery – either one is good.
So awful.
January 5, 2005 pt1 – Too cold to take off
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on January 5, 2015
I was awake at 4:45am Winnipeg time, and managed to get to the airport at 5:30. It was below minus 35 degrees outside, so I was looking forward to getting back to a more sensible winter in Japan.
When I checked my bags, the employee at the Northwest airlines counter switched my seat on the Minneapolis to Tokyo flight so I could sit in an exit row. I am not a very tall person so leg room is not usually an issue on flights, but I was not about to turn down extra space. After checking in, I was pleasantly surprised that my friend Janet woke up early to meet me at the airport for a farewell Tim Hortons coffee.
After a short visit, I went through security where I was randomly selected to have my bag searched and shoes X-rayed. This was my first time ever to be selected for this kind of screening. It was a minor annoyance and was over quickly.
The major annoyance came at boarding time. Northwest announced that the air temperature on the runway was -35 degrees, and that their deicing fluid was only certified to -33 degrees. They said that we could not take off until the temperature increased enough to deice the plane.
There are a lot of annoying delays with air travel. However, people are far less likely to complain about delays related to safety. Nobody wants to take a chance with frozen wings on a plane. After about 30 minutes of waiting, Northwest announced that they were going to borrow some of Air Canada’s heavy duty deicing fluid so we could finally leave. I am not sure why Northwest didn’t have the serious deicing fluid in Winnipeg (Winterpeg), but that was probably a decision by someone in a warm office somewhere far to the south.
Remember friends – when traveling in the winter, make sure there is lots of time to catch a connecting flight in case it is too cold too take off.
January 4, 2005 – Last night in Canada (again)
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on January 4, 2015
Today started with a great breakfast at the Wright Spot with my dad. I then went for a haircut, appreciating the fact that I could communicate properly with the stylist. After that, I finished my packing and my family took me back to Winnipeg.
We had a nice dinner together at Earl’s, and then I got dropped off at a hotel near the airport. My flight to Minneapolis is at 7:30am tomorrow, so it’s convenient to be near the airport. Compared to most of the rest of my visit home, it was an early night. I can’t believe how quickly my return to Canada went by. I will miss my family and friends again, but I will not miss the crazy winter weather.
See you soon Japan!
Request for a name change
Posted by Barniferous in Uncategorized on January 4, 2015
After posting the New Year 2004 epic Bongo Battle story, I had the following conversation on IMessage:
I have since updated the post to change the name from “Hippie’s girlfriend” to “Sunny”.
January 3, 2005 – Greyhound Bus
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on January 3, 2015
My car was still stuck in the parking lot of my sister’s apartment building. This was especially annoying because the parking lot in the neighbouring building had been cleared of snow 3 times since the big snowstorm. The neighbouring building also had a different property management company. Unfortunately the apartment vacancy rate in Winnipeg is very low, so property managers can get away with being lazy.
I ended up taking a Greyhound bus back to Portage la Prairie. The Greyhound bus was just as glamorous as I remember (i.e. not very). However, it is a safe, reliable way to get between cities on horrible winter roads.
The only exciting thing that happened in Portage was a visit to the dentist. Apparently the dental hygienist was flirting with me and was asking about me after I left. As usual, I was completely oblivious.
January 2, 2005 – House of 1000 Corpses
Posted by Barniferous in Movies, Return to Canada on January 2, 2015
After several days of heavy snow, and no snow clearing in the apartment parking lot, my car was seriously stuck in the snow. I didn’t do anything during the day. In the evening I got picked up and went to my friend W+C’s for dinner. They love horror movies, so we ended up watching House of 1000 Corpses which was written and directed by Rob Zombie. It was an interesting combination of cheesy and extremely gory, but was overall entertaining.
January 1, 2005 – New Year’s Hangover
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on January 1, 2015
Happy New Year! Due to a combination of hangover, lack of available vehicle and tiredness, I didn’t really want to do much with my day. I decided to watch some movies, but my sister and her roommate somehow don’t own a DVD player. Fortunately Movie Village was only a few minute walk from the apartment. I rented a player and some movies and spent the rest of the day being relaxed.
Drinking in Japan 
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