Niigata and Back

I realized a little while ago, I'm taking a trip by myself, for myself, for the first time EVER. This is not a great feeling. But everything WILL be OKAY.

(written while scared on the plane leaving Miyako)

but that was then, this is now.

[Thursday]

I actually had enough time after work to do everything that I NEEDED to do before leaving. I didn't have time to finish cleaning. Or start cleaning, for that matter. At least the dishes got done. And the laundry.

So I ate (Mr. Doughnuts is having a Massive sale, so I ate pastries for dinner), got the airbed and pump and headed to the airport. I got there early, but better to be. Even if the entirety of check in and security took all of 10 minutes. And that’s cuz I took my time.

While waiting I dig into my new book, Terry Brooks’ Running with the Demon. Remember, I bought a Terry Brooks book on my first Amazon order, because it was on the best sellers list, and the review was “If you’ve never read a Terry Brooks book, The Genesis of Shannara is a great place to start.” So I thought, why not? And it was right. It was a highly enjoyable post apocalyptic magical read. Unfortunately it was 1) the first of a trilogy, and 2) newly published.

So I looked online during my last (2nd and most recent) Amazon order, and he has this trilogy, The Word and the Void that comes right before the Genesis trilogy and the characters in the Word trilogy are mentioned Heavily in the Gen tril. So I figured, why not? And yeah. So I started eating.

Also, while I’m waiting, there is this crackheaded gameshow on the TV where these two teams compete in a game of shiritori for REALLY good food. Shiritori, or head and tales, is a really good game for beginners as well as higher level learners of (just about) any language (although Japanese is easier to play then say, English). You start with a word (the game show was using 3 syllabul words while dancing and singing. And the Afro. Oh the Afro on the Japanese host . . . ) so, KitsuNE (fox) NEzuMI (mouse) MIruKU (milk), you get the idea? So, ya, very fun. And one of the contestants was so hot! Good to watch.

So I get on the plane, and my seat is next to this nice couple, the lady of which is pregnant. Not a lot, but enough for me to worry about her getting sick and the plane going down. It was not a very good flight. Mostly because of my brain and it’s irrational thoughts. But I ate more than half of my book (totally teared up when the main character talked about her childhood dog dying of cancer, remembering BJ, too clearly) and got to Tokyo without incident.

On the train I met this REALLY nice Korean lady who married a Japanese man and has houses in Soeul, Tokyo, and San Fransicso. We talked about my new life, and her kids in college (her son is at a Japanese school and struggling, mostly because of all of the kanji he hadn’t learned since he was 9 and how it was still a good experience and her daughter working in Fukuoka). She was even nice enough to wait fro me and transfer trains with me until we got to the Yamanote line and I had to go to Ueno and she had to go to Shinjuku.

I got to Ueno (and was feeling really tired by this point) but found the Oak Hotel easily. Checked in. Took my first bath In Japan (since I got here). And crashed.

[Friday]

The next morning I was woken up by Tiffany asking when and how we’re gonna meet up at 8:20 in an email. I email her that I’m sleeping til 9 and will contact her later after going to the Tourist Center. And she’s lucky she got that much.

By 9:20 I’m out the door, eating my cinnamon roll, taking pictures of the temple I passed on the way to the hotel the night before. I also prayed, rang the bell and everything. I wish I could find a temple in Miyako, they’re so peaceful. I like the idea of not praying to any One in particular, just the Universe in General. That’s when Tiffany emails me saying I’m a lazy a… The nerve.

So I get to the Tokyo Tourist Center (on the 10th floor of the Tokyo Kotsukaikan building, right in front of the JR Yamanote line’s Yarakucho station (just south of Tokyo station), phone number 0332013331) and they gave me a highway map and were very helpful. Then I took about an hour on the subway to get to Tiffany’s school (after enlisting the help of 2 station workers and a random nice lady who speaks English to help me figure out where I was going) and I eat lunch with her and together (attempt) to direct Chris, who was driving down from Murakami, Niigata-ken, to come pick me up. Theory was that yes, I could spend the 10,000en to take the shinkansen up to meet Chris at her city’s train station. Or she could drive down (she likes driving, and her rental car doesn’t count mileage) and we’d have 5 hours of talking to spend together. Theory worked. We met up and I said bye to Tiffany and found Chris, just with enough time for me to realize that Tiffany kept the map, but Chris remembered where to go and we got back, no problem, for (one way) cheaper than the shinkansen and we talked the whole 5 hours. It. Was. Awesome.

In Murakami we met up with Joel (their RA, like our Block Heads, just not as interesting an name) and ate really good Ramen (I had Sapporo style) then we played darts (I don’t stick, I’m not good, but I don’t stick enough to win or place 2nd each game), and had drinks with Joel, Shan (or Sean, I don’t know), Katrina, and Katrina’s friend Becca who was also up for the weekend. Good evening. Then we went home and crashed.


[Saturday]

The next day, we got up, made pancakes, watched all of the new episodes of Avatar (except the one the Just aired, like 4 hours ago, Friday night), did some sight seeing in the rain, so we didn’t see much, but I met 2 of the 20 (?) buddhas that protect Murakami. We had lunch at the Sukiya, cuz Miyako doesn’t have them, and I missed it, where I ate nikudon covered in 3 cheeses. Heavenly.

Then we drove to Shibata (45 min or so) and went shopping at the mall. Because they have one. I bought a Wonka bar, some Christmas presents, some tosey socks, a new hematite necklace, among other stuff. Then we stopped at the Book Off (because we SERIOUSLY don’t have one) and I got some art books. Two by Yoshitaka Amano, my favorite artist, and some anime/manga art books. They make me happy. And an xmas present for Leo.

Then back home in time to go to the famous Senagawa (?) Onsen, which had 1 indoor bath, and 4 outdoor ones. Kinda cool (temperature wise), but fun and relaxing. Then we finish just in time to MISS kaitenzushi (sushi on a conveyer belt) and eat pizza and French fries at a diner. Then home to make a cheese cake and watch the NEW Avatar and the first ep of Hana Kimi. We were so full, so no cheese cake that night, but the next morning . . .

[Sunday]

We got up and had cheese cake for breakfast followed by kaitenzushi for lunch (one right after the other) (Oh! The salmon was awesome! Just like I imagined!!) then popped over to Jusco to buy some happy toys and some Final Fantasy Potions. And here’s where I really get to see how much Leo reads my journal. Cuz he’s getting one for Christmas, and we’ll see how much of a surprise it is. Then to bank and Curi’s main school, Higachuu for a bit of their something or another festival. The kids had decorated their classrooms and then each of the 3 grades competed in a chorus contest. They were soooo good. So much better than my shogakkusei. And the 3rd years were the best of all. I guess by 9th grade your voice kinda balances out.

Then we (im)politely excused ourselves and went for a drive around the (now sunny) Murakami and surrounding area. Will post pictures in a bit. It’s just gorgeous.

We even found a “park” that had trials. And yes, those stairs were practically vertical, but I Climbed A Mountain! (or part of it anyway) and I Felt Good.

Then we made it back to Higabhuu for the Otsukare party, which was a nomihodai (all you can drink) but there was an awesome selection of Japanese style food too, and we had some good converstions with Curi’s supervisor (who seemed a lot more comfortable when I started talking Japanese to her, Chris has been told not to talk Japanese to her English teachers, but I’d forgotten that in the all you can drinking), Curi’s principal, and the Math teacher, Maruyama-sensei, who had the misfortune to be sat next to me, but warmed up nicely after (drinking a lot) and some polite Japanese conversation. He was adorable!

Then we politely (for real this time) excused ourselves to go to a different onsen, which was more expensive, smaller, but the outdoor bath was on the 3rd floor, which had a really nice view of the night lights that neither of us could see without our glasses. But we could imagine. And the massage chairs were free at this onsen. Very nice time.

We left, because we were getting tired, and on our way out I bought my omiyage (“souveniers” but more like obligatory gifts to coworkers), because Niigata is famous for it’s rice, I got some mochi snacks, which are made from rice, and easy to distribute around the office. Then we got home, shared some files (pictures, shows, etc) and got to bed waaaay too late to . . .

[Monday]

Wake up at 5 in the morning. Chris drove me to the station, I caught my train. Slept a bit, transferred to the shinkansen, slept some more. Got some good pictures on my phone (that I can’t get off without a micro SD card), transferred at Tokyo Station, transferred again at Hamamatsucho and got off at Haneda airport.

I finally had breakfast, which was a toasted ham and brie sandwich on a baguette. Envy me that sandwich. It was very, very tasty.

After I checked in I tried to find an English magazine and failed. So I went through security in less than 3 minutes and actually got to my gate in time for the earlier flight. But was told I’d bough such a cheap ticket that I couldn’t transfer it, even earlier. So ya, ate more of my book. Wrote a few emails from my keitai. Finnaly got on the plane to Naha, which took almost as long as flying to Miyao directly, where I had a row of seats all to myself, where I saw a perfect view of Mt. Fuji that just kept going as we went around it, no camera though :( During the flight we passed over another island I hadn’t previously known existed. It was gorgeous. Mountains straight up to the sea, but not cliffs. Really beautiful.

I killed the first Word and the Void book and began the second. Then another layover in Naha (which was so warm I changed out of my jeans into my pajama capris and I’m still hot).

I ate a nikumon that wasn’t called that. Aguichi (kanji) mon. Or something. But I asked and yeah, pork inside. Tastey, but not enough.

And then I wrote this accounting by hand. I just finished and we just got high enough on my Naha-Miyako flight for me to take a picture out of the window. I hope it comes out, the clouds are gorgeous.

So yeah. 14 one sided, handwritten pages. And I’m going back to my book :D