Archive for category Visitors
March 25, 2006 part 2 – Press this button in case of muggers
Posted by Barniferous in Visitors on August 1, 2016
After a dinner with my parents and my future in-laws, we took my parents to check in at their hotel. I booked a room for them at Hotel Miwa, which is a sensibly priced hotel just north of Numazu station.
Before deciding on a hotel, I did some research online and asked coworkers. I learned that not only was Hotel Miwa convenient and reasonably priced, but some of the staff spoke English as well. The last time my family came to visit, I was able to get them a room in the dormitory style place I was living so they were never too far away. This time they would be a 15 minute walk from my apartment in a country where they couldn’t speak the language. The staff having some basic English ability was a big relief for all of us.
After we got checked in, my father in law handed out printed itineraries for all of us (bilingual of course), complete with contact numbers for everyone. We also took a brief walk around the hotel to get my parents familiar with the area. The Penpal’s father made sure to point out the “press in case of emergency” buttons near the station in case they were suddenly cornered by a gang of muggers.
For some reason Japanese people (especially the older generation) believe their country is dangerous. In my several years of living in Japan, I have never felt safer. Typically the only things that get stolen in Japan are bicycles and umbrellas. Yes, there is crime, but the average person would actually have to go looking for trouble to put themselves in an unsafe situation.
We said goodnight and decided on a time to meet in the morning, then I retrieved my bike and rode home. It was a strange feeling knowing that my parents had just traveled 9000 km to see me, but they were staying across town.
March 25, 2006 part 1 – My parents return to Japan
Posted by Barniferous in Visitors on July 31, 2016
Today my parents returned to Japan for their second ever visit. The first time they came was in June 2004 when I was living in Kawasaki. My sister also came that time and we spent two weeks traveling around Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, and Hiroshima. They also spent a day with my then girlfriend and her family in Numazu.
This time my sister is staying at home. My parents and I have a schedule that includes Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, Tokyo, and a lot more time with my now fiancee and her family. I’m really looking forward to it!
I am now getting to be proficient at traveling to Narita airport, having done so 8 times before. I took the slowest (cheapest) trains, using the long ride to read books. Lately my train reading has been the John Rebus novels by Ian Rankin. I got hooked thanks to the free library in Hello House, and have been a big fan ever since.
I usually get to the airport just as the flight is scheduled to land, which leaves time for people to get through immigration and customs. This time I was surprised to find my parents already waiting inside the terminal because their flight had landed early. They had their suitcases and were ready to leave the airport. I was so happy to see them in person! We talk regularly, but it’s not the same as being able to give someone a hug.
The last time I had seen my parents is when I flew home suddenly last fall when my sister was sick. When you don’t see someone for 6 months, they really look different!
Learning from their last visit to Japan, we activated their JR rail passes right at the airport. When you buy the rail pass, you are given a voucher than can be exchanged in Japan for your pass. The 7 days (or 14 or 21) starts from that point. You can only exchange the voucher for tickets at major stations, and I didn’t want to have to worry about finding a place to do so in Shizuoka.
After getting the passes taken care of, we boarded the Narita Express for Tokyo, and then took the shinkansen to Mishima. We were met at the station by The Penpal and her family in both of their cars. It was the first time for them to see my parents since they were in Japan two years ago, and also the first time since The Penpal and I got engaged. We loaded up the cars and went out to Gomi Hatten for dinner.
Gomi Hatten (Japanese Website) is a noodle shop / Chinese restaurant with huge portion sizes. If you leave hungry you have literally done something wrong. My parents were tired from their flight and were probably not in the mood for giant steaming bowls of soup, but they were happy to be on the ground and with family.
I’m really happy that my parents are here! I missed them a lot and I’m really looking forward to a few weeks of sightseeing!
January 11, 2006 part 2 – How not to use a sento
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Tokyo, Visitors on May 13, 2016
Image courtesy of the good folks at Wikipedia
January 11, 2006 part 1 – Finding Capsule Land
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers, Visitors on May 12, 2016
Disclaimer: UPS is the nickname of one of my friends visiting Japan. This post has nothing to do with United Parcel Service.
After an eventful evening in Roppongi where we drank at 5 different bars, UPS and I were looking for a place to sleep for the night. I was happy to find a nearby hotel, but UPS insisted that on his last night in Japan he wanted to stay in a capsule hotel.
A capsule hotel is a cheap option for a place to sleep if you don’t have a problem with small spaces. Instead of a room, you rent a small capsule to sleep in for the night. I had heard of capsule hotels before I moved to Japan, but had never stayed in one. In the interests of being a good host and trying new things, I agreed and decided to use my Japanese language skills to find us a capsule hotel.
We walked towards the big Koban across from Roppongi station. The police officer at the front appeared a bit nervous as we approached, probably because he had interacted with more than his share of drunk foreigners in English before. He appeared to relax when I greeted him politely in and managed to ask him where the nearest capsule hotel was in decent Japanese. This was particularly impressive considering the amount of beer I had consumed over the evening. The officer told me that there were no capsule hotels in Roppongi and that I would have better luck in Shibuya. Since the trains had already stopped, he pointed out where the nearest taxi stand was. I thanked him and we were on our way.
The taxi driver did not seem too pleased about transporting two obviously drunk gaijins somewhere after 2:00am. We were fascinated by the street level view of one of the world’s biggest cities. The cab ride didn’t take long and cost about 1200 yen ($12).
We got out at the Hachiko exit at Shibuya station, and I asked directions from a nearby Koban while UPS hung out at the famous dog statue. Hachiko is a well known meeting place, and after explaining the story I got a picture of a very tired looking UPS next to Japan’s most loyal dog. We set out for a large capsule hotel building called “Capsule Land” which was just up the street.
On the way we had another interesting encounter; UPS managed to get propositioned by a street prostitute. For real.
I didn’t even think there were any street prostitutes in Japan, so this was all the more surprising. As we slowly walked up the hill, she said “hi”, put her head on his shoulder, and said in an adorable voice “Sex? Sex??”. UPS said no thank you. She nodded her head yes while saying, slightly more confidently, “Sex! Sex.” this time as a statement, not a question. We somehow politely removed ourselves from her rather pleasant company and laughed about the ridiculous situations we had experienced during the evening while we continued walking to Capsule Land.
There aren’t too many other situations where talking to two police officers and a hooker would constitute a good evening. I love having visitors!
January 10, 2006 part 2 – Tuesday night in Roppongi
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Visitors on January 17, 2016
Disclaimer: UPS is the nickname of one of my friends visiting Japan. This post has nothing to do with United Parcel Service.
My friend UPS and I arrived at Roppongi station around 9:00pm. On the way, I had tried to prepare him for the Roppongi nightlife experience; we were about to be harassed by very persistent touts representing different local bars, all of them would be willing to bargain, and many of them were going to try to get us into expensive places with hourly charges. I explained that I was not interested in hostess clubs or strip bars. We stashed our backpacks in coin lockers at the station, and wandered out by the famous crossing.
I have been to Roppongi in the evening several times before, but never on a Tuesday. It was a lot less busy than other nights, so we had the full attention of all of the touts. At first we handled them fairly well, not getting sucked into conversation, and moving along with polite but firm “no” answers to their suggestions.
One of the touts was advertising a strip club. We said no. He said that they had the “nakedest” women in Tokyo and good prices. We said no. He then told us that we could come check it out for a minute for free to see if we liked it, no obligation. As I was starting to say “no”, UPS said “one minute free? Sure, let’s check it out”. I gave him my most disapproving stare as we followed the excited tout to a nearby tall, narrow building. We got into a very tiny elevator while our new best friend explained that there were several women working, and we could have any of them dance for us and drink with us. He also told us that if we really liked the women, there were private rooms where anything that happened was between us and the dancers. “You might get a blowjob, maybe more, who knows, that’s between you and the girl (wink)”. I had a bad feeling about this place when we got in the elevator, and it was getting worse as the ride continued.
The elevator opened directly into the entrance of a small bar. The tout called out in Japanese that customers had arrived. We were led into the next room to find no other customers, but three sexy women were dancing to some terrible club music. Just as the tout was explaining the pricing system and where we could order our drinks, UPS interrupted by saying “well that was one minute – thanks but we’re going somewhere else”. The tout couldn’t believe what he just heard, but UPS stood firm. The tout was no longer our new best friend, and the elevator ride down to the main floor was a lot quieter than the ride up.
After that experience, we decided to find a place where we could get actually get a drink. We zigzagged through the touts on the main street and went to Wall Street bar first, the home of a memorable experience on a previous night out. After that we went to the infamous GasPanic, and eventually three other places that I don’t remember the names of. Every time we left one place, we got greeted by the same group of touts, who were now friendly and looking forward to seeing who would get us to enter their bar next. Bar number 5 was a salsa dancing bar. We were barely in any condition to walk let alone dance, but the drinks were reasonably priced.
UPS and I were seated at the bar. I was enjoying my drink wondering how I ended up at a salsa dancing bar in Tokyo after 2:00am. I finished my drink and looked over to see that UPS had fallen asleep on his bar stool. I woke him up and told him it was time to look for a place to sleep.
The touts were happy to see us again and started their sales pitch yet again. I told them that my friend had just fallen asleep in the last bar. None of them wanted to have a passed out, non drinking customer in their bar, so they all told us to have a good evening and come back soon. As much as people complain about the touts in Roppongi, the interaction during our evening was pretty fun.
I have been out to Roppongi before, but have never gone to 5 different bars in the same night. It was a challenge, but our next challenge would be even bigger: finding a good place to sleep.
January 10, 2006 part 1 – Respectable sightseeing
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Greater Tokyo Area, Visitors on January 16, 2016
I was confused when my friend UPS woke me up. I was not on my comfortable futon in my room. I was also not on my slightly less comfortable floor couch. I was sleeping on the hard floor in my coworker Vivian’s room, still wearing the same clothes from the day before. UPS wanted to get going before having to engage in any awkward conversations with Chrissy, Vivian’s roommate that he became “acquainted with” the night before.
We walked back towards my apartment, and I was unfortunately not able to get a straight answer on how his night went. We ate, got cleaned up, packed, and took returned to the train station, bound for Kamakura.
At this point in my 2 plus years in Japan, I have been to Kamakura several times, however it never stops being an impressive and interesting place to visit. UPS and I went to see Daibutsu, the giant bronze Buddha statue, and Hase temple. I was able to pass along a lot of the information I had learned from previous visits, and also got an impressive picture with giant Buddha’s sandals!
From Kamakura we went to Yokohama, then took Minatomirai line towards the Minatomirai area. We spent a long time wandering around both the port area and Yokohama Chinatown, stopping for some great food. The Chinatown area is very energetic at night, and despite being in Japan, feels like you have wandered into a different country.
After exploring for some time, we decided to continue on to our evening destination: Roppongi.
(cue ominous music)
January 9, 2006 part 4 – Karaoke makeouts
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Life in Japan, Visitors on January 15, 2016
Disclaimer: UPS is the nickname of one of my friends visiting Japan. This post has nothing to do with United Parcel Service.
After enjoying bubble tea with The Penpal , my friend UPS and I met up with my coworker Vivian and her roommate Chrissy. Vivian had met UPS a few days ago, thought he was fun, and brought out her roommate to hang out with us. Over drinks UPS and Chrissy started immediately flirting with each other.
After a few too many drinks, we went to Uta Club, the favourite discount karaoke place for Numazu area teachers. It was at this point that Vivian and Chrissy, both British, unleashed on us one of the worst pop songs to ever come out of the UK: Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum) by The Cheeky Girls.
Some of the greatest music ever written has come from the UK. Musicians like David Bowie, The Beatles, The Who, Radiohead, and so many others have created amazing, timeless music that has brought joy and enhanced lives around the world. Unfortunately, for every fantastic musician, there is one horrible, soulless, pop monstrosity that summons an awful hit song from the depths of music hell. The Cheeky Girls represent the worst parts of pop music.
Usually I would link the song, but I have too much respect for my readers to link a catchy earworm that includes lyrics like “touch my bum, this is life”. You can look it up yourself at your own risk.
While we were singing and drinking, the flirting continued between UPS and Chrissy. Vivian and I were singing an epic duet, when we turned around and saw UPS and Chrissy making out like teenagers. Vivian mentioned that she didn’t want to see that, so UPS and Chrissy crawled under the table and started making out there.
Vivian and I sang a few more songs, deliberately being off key and horrible to try to distract our friends from their not very stealthy makeout session. We eventually realized that UPS and Chrissy were no longer interested in singing and wanted to call it a night. Chrissy suggested that UPS and I should go over to their apartment for another drink (read: more makeouts). I was tired and wanted to get home, but since UPS didn’t know his way around Numazu and didn’t have a phone, getting separated would create some problems for the next morning. Vivian said that if necessary I could crash on the floor in her room, which is exactly what ended up happening.
Vivian and I fell asleep next to each other on her floor, trying our best to ignore the giggling noises from Chrissy’s room. UPS was absolutely making the most of his short time in Japan, and who was I to stand in his way?
January 9, 2006 part 3 – Bubble Tea
Posted by Barniferous in The Penpal, Visitors on January 15, 2016
Disclaimer: UPS is the nickname of one of my friends visiting Japan. This post has nothing to do with United Parcel Service.
After spending the day exploring Numazu and Mishima, my friend UPS and I had ramen for dinner. I’m not talking about the instant stuff which is the stereotypical diet of college students, but the real, big bowl of hot delicious noodle soup in a restaurant. If you ever visit Japan, you must eat ramen, preferably in a small shop with a narrow counter. UPS had been wisely practicing his chopstick skills before spending 4 months in Asia, so he did very well eating slippery noodles with sticks.
We stopped in at my apartment to drop off our purchases, and then met The Penpal at the nearby Seiyu for a quick visit. Seiyu has a small food court area where I have eaten a few quick meals before. They also serve bubble tea. UPS had tried bubble tea before, but The Penpal and I hadn’t. We all ordered some and sat down to drink it.
UPS asked The Penpal what she thought of the bubble tea. She said that she liked it, but was very surprised when the balls shot into her mouth. UPS and I, being two mature, educated Canadian men, started giggling uncontrollably. The Penpal looked confused, so we decided to be nice and explain that “balls” could refer to several different things in English. She was embarrassed for a few seconds, and then joined us in giggling and making immature remarks about the balls in our bubble tea. My girlfriend is the best!
January 9, 2006 part 2 – A new bad habit
Posted by Barniferous in Shizuoka, Visitors on January 14, 2016
Disclaimer: UPS is the nickname of one of my friends visiting Japan. This post has nothing to do with United Parcel Service.
After lunch we went to Mishima, which despite being a small town does have a few interesting places to show off to tourists. As we were walking away from the train station we passed a cigarette vending machine. UPS was surprised to see that smokes only cost about 300 yen per pack, which is around $3 CAD. In Canada the government taxes cigarettes heavily, and the average pack is about $10. UPS told me that on his 4 month long trip of Japan, India, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos that he had a few goals. One of the goals was to pick up a bad habit and quit before going back to Canada. With that in mind, he fed 300 yen into the vending machine and bought his first pack of cigarettes.
UPS was very proud of himself, until we realized that neither one of us had anything to light the cigarettes with. We walked into a nearby convenience store (which itself sold cigarettes), and bought a lighter. When we got out, UPS lit up his first of likely many cigarettes on his Asian vacation.
We continued on down the street and explored the nearby Rakujuen park and a few of the small stores in the area. UPS happily puffed away through most of our walk, happily adjusting to his new addiction.
Drinking in Japan 
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