One of the toughest things about living in Japan is the difference, and cost of produce. The different varieties of items available are just as vast as what we are used to in the USA, but the selection is sometimes much different. Living on a budget, I would often go to the Japanese equivalent of "the dollar store" where food and produce are also available. One is able to get produce such as three carrots, a piece of broccoli (imported from the USA), around a pound of small potatoes, a small bunch of bananas, a half, or whole head of cabbage (depending on the market rate), and more for a buck. The apple Sami is modeling with in the above picture probably goes for two to three dollars. I think it is similar to a Fuji.
Japanese Coronas
I probably wouldn't have this picture if it wasn't for Sami's new-to-Japan eyes. She reminded me how peculiar it is that Coronas in Japan come with a package of fake lime. I have never tried it, but once got a weird look when asking a bartender if my corona would come with a real lime or not. Apparently he had never heard of the fake stuff sold at stores!
Horizontal cereal
Cereal is another thing that is a lot more expensive in Japan than it is in the USA. I don't think this is common, but some boxes of cereal are printed on horizontally.
Kid's size beer
From my experience and observations in Japan, one can buy alcohol at any age, but for must be twenty years old to consume it. Drinking in public is legal so I imagine people use these little cans for taking on picnics. I think I have never seen a Japanese picnic without beer.
The moon shining on a wing as we fly over the Pacific
Monday morning in Japan I woke up around 8:30 AM on Ryan's floor dreading the long day of travel ahead of me. We had lots of time before I was to take off, so he generously made me a big breakfast. It was so big that I needed to saran-wrap the portion I couldn't eat. In the cupboards was a brand new box of saran-wrap which I attempted to open. However, as I slid my finger in a flap of the cardboard to get it to break loose, I was deeply cut by the blade used to cut the plastic. For the first time in my life I "sprayed" blood, getting it on my arm and sleeve. That, along with my neck which had gone stiff the morning before, put me in very poor traveling condition.
A lounge at Narita airport
My flight ended up being fantastic because I was the only person in my row of two seats. Just like my last flight from Tokyo to San Francisco, where I was upgraded to "economy plus", I ended up with a great seat! I had all of my stuff sprawled out on the seat next to me, and had the comfort of two trays to use to set my complimentary bottles of Chilean wine, as well as other stuff.
Looking down at Ukiah and Lake Mendocino from my seat
All of this room ended up costing me, though, because I left my wallet on the plane when we got to San Francisco. This really frustrated me as there was $735 in my wallet, worth more than anything I own. As I tried to board the train for downtown I realized that I had nothing to pay with. I called the lost & found, and they told me to go to Northwest Airline's baggage office to talk to them about my claim. I had to take SFO's monorail to that distant part of the airport, and just before arriving I got a call on my cell phone from a jolly-voiced, flamboyant male employee of Northwest saying, "Hello Reeeeennnnnn.... I think I've got something you want....come over here sweetheart." For a moment I stopped thinking about my wallet and just thought "I am truly back in San Francisco." I then asked him how he got my number and he said he found it on the business cards I made for the sole purpose of getting into a party a month ago in Tokyo. Anyway, I went and found the man and graciously received my wallet, which was somehow $100 short. As I noticed that I stopped, and wanted to say something, but realized there was no way of proving this and I was already $635 dollars richer than I was ten minutes before that so I had to just accept that the cleaner, who originally found my wallet, probably gave him/her-self a Benjemin for their troubles. I am lucky they didn't take it all and just trash the rest in their big garbage bag.
Now with most of my cash and belongings in my possession I was ready to get on BART to go downtown. When I got there I got out and made my way to the bus depot where I took a Santa Rosa bound Golden Gate Express bus. This was a total of $14 compared to $32 on the Sonoma County Airport Express bus. With Ukiah being my final destination, I did some research and realized that one can get to Ukiah via BART and Greyhound for cheaper than one could go to Santa Rosa on the Sonoma County Airport Express (cheaper by a dollar, but you get much more distance for your money!).
Another problem arouse in San Francisco when one of the two wheels that was holding my 75 or so pounds of luggage started to malfunction. It was totally unusable by the time I got to Santa Rosa, and I still had to walk a mile to get to the place I was getting picked up at. At one point, I have no idea when, but the wheel completely fell off! This left me rolling on just one wheel, and had the opposite side of the bag dragging against the sidewalk. That suitcase is going to have to be demoted to being used a storage box from now on.
The reason I was able to settle for the low-budget bus ride to Santa Rosa was because by brother-in-law goes to law school there and was able to take me with him back to Ukiah. I relaxed for a bit before going to bed and getting some real sleep for the first time in 30 hours.
Enjoying the Mendocino Coast
The next day I was asked to deliver a bicycle to Fort Bragg in a brand-new truck. I said, "sure," and got behind the wheel for the first time since April 2nd.
An American automobile
I took a break at a world-class trail/park along the coast between Albion and where Highway 1 starts going up the Navarro River. It was so nice, and a reminder why I believe California is the most beautiful place on Earth.
I never get sick of looking at this
As you can see in a blog entry from earlier this year, the last time I was on the Mendocino coast I saw a bunch of whales. I was pretty sure that this time I saw some as well, but it ended up being a group of porpoises. They were all swilling in a group which would make the water move in a current in the direction they were going. They were even jumping out of the water, but I couldn't get a picture of any of them airborne.
I know two families with property that look over this
As you may know from my last blog entry, I found out on Friday morning that Ryan and I would be receiving free passes to the Japan VMAs from his manager. We originally scheduled to arrive in Saitama, a prefecture north of Tokyo where the event was held, meet Ryan's manager and his wife, and go together. Unfortunately plans changed last minute and Ryan and I had to go to Tamachi station in Tokyo to get our tickets because Ryan's manager and wife became unable to go.
The Saitama Super Arena
A glimpse of the Red Carpet Show
Exchanging our vouchers for passes
The business cards that Ryan and I made for entry into a party around a month ago have been extremely useful lately. When exchanging our vouchers for passes into the venue we unexpectedly were required to submit business cards. Luckily we came prepared! We also passed them out to a bunch of people we met at the show.
In the arena, ready for the show!
The show started at 6:00PM sharp to the sound of Green Day's drums. I will let the following video do the talking. This was my favorite show of the night, because I always wanted to see Green Day live!
There were also performances by Boa, The Black Eyed Peas, Ciara, and some Japanese bands. Having worked at countless concerts, I have a decent idea of what it takes to put on a show. This show, though, had an incredibly elaborate stage setup, film crew, pyrotechnics, and more, which made for the most impressive concert setting I had ever seen in my life. I kept wondering how much it must have cost!
Katy Perry's show and attire were very fun!
I was very pleased with an unscheduled, surprise lifetime achievement award given to the Beastie Boys, who I also have wanted to see live very much. The three of them appeared on stage, first as silhouettes on a big white screen, then the screen lifted to reveal that the three of them were actually there! They all had microphones turned on, and the beat for "Sabotage" was playing, but they didn't perform. The cultural and language barrier made their acceptance of the award a little funny and after a long silence one of the Beastie Boys blerted out "Awkwarrrrrrd." That was one of the funniest moments of the night.
Making an exit
Two-thousand or so people had standing room admission to the show Ryan and I looked down at them from our seating area as the show ended. I was jealous of them when the music was playing, but it was nice to have a seat to watch the show from. I ran into a former student of mine outside the venue who apparently watched the show from the standing area.
Ryan taking a picture for some girls who asked in English
We ended up not getting into any afterparties even after trying our best to contact Ryan's connection at MTV Japan. We ended up going out for drinks at an all-you-can-drink place which was only around $10 for an hour and a half. I unfortunately leave here in just over a week but luckily I am under budget overall for this trip.
Around 1:00AM this morning I came to realize that the extremely loud drops of rain I could hear outside were actually sounds of water dripping into my apartment! As you see, it was even all over my bed, and the tatami floor was drenched!
Video of the leakage
This led to a miserable night of sleep, even with my earplugs in. I kept thinking I was getting wet and having weird dreams.
My luck changed as dawn broke
It turns out that a friend of Ryan and I is generously giving us both tickets to the MTV Japan VMAs (video music awards) scheduled for tomorrow. Hmm, what on Earth am I going to wear? At events like that you either dress fancy, or "look cool" so I guess I only have one option being that I am a bum. I will let you know how it goes. Ryan was kissed by Courtney Love one time he was at the VMAs in the USA. I guess you really never know what tomorrow will bring in this crazy world!
A jam-packed, rainy Wednesday morning train from my place in the suburbs of Tokyo, to Tokyo Station started Sami and my trip to the southwest to stay in Osaka and Shirahama of Wakayama prefecture. We had avoided rush hour trains until this point of Sami's visit, and this ride was especially grueling because it was a warm rain storm so everyone was overheating in their damp suits. This was also the first day we used our seven-consecutive-day unlimited train pass. I just had a random memory from a few weeks ago when it was raining hard which causes backup in front of train stations as everyone carefully closes their umbrellas without getting themselves wet. However, as I closed my umbrella all of the water on it rushed down to the tip right into a woman's purse. Luckily she didn't notice. Oops!
The location of Shirahama. Osaka is right by it. (Click the "X" to close the information box in the map)
Our first stop: Osaka Castle
We were met in Osaka by our old friend Asami, and her mother who guided us around for the day.We were only to spend around twenty-four hours in Osaka, but I liked it and really got the feeling that it is not nearly as busy of a city as Tokyo is.
On a hill and surrounded by a moat
View from the castle: Park, hotels, and offices
More offices
Asami and her mother with us in Namba, Osaka
We stayed the night at Asami's house and were treated to some great hospitality and delicious food. I was happy that Sami got a chance to go inside a Japanese house while here. Japanese people don't have people over to their houses as often as Americans do so it is rare for foreigners to see exactly how people live here.
The town of Shirahama (meaning "white beach")
We left Osaka around noon the day after we arrived and went to the town of Shirahama for a night. Getting from Shirahama station to the coast requires a twenty-minute bus ride.
Empty Bus
The lacking of people in this bus illustrates how there were very few tourists in Shirahama being that it was the middle of the week. Thankfully, the public busses, which mainly cater to tourists, still were efficient and ran on time.
Shirahama's main beach
"What a pretty beach, Japan is full of natural wonders," you may ponder to yourself. Think more down the lines of "Japanese people do some crazy things to make money," because this sand was all brought in from Australia to compliment this hot-spring-rich area, and turn it to a tourist destination. I think they did a pretty good job!
A peaceful escape
Sakinoyu Hot Spring
(photo from WikiTravel)
Just out of view in second picture up from here is a very famous hot spring that Sami and I indulged in that evening. Men and women each had their own, seperate pools, and you are required to go naked. These springs are some of the few in Japan that are outdoors and right on the coast. They were very beautiful and relaxing, but I still like the springs on Shinkinejima more.
Befriending locals
We ate dinner at one of the only restaurants we could find that was open. These two girls were our waitresses and we could tell they were very interested in us, and were actually talking about us loud enough that I could understand everything they were saying. When they took our order I let them know what we wanted and as I did a man jumps out of the kitchen and says "Your Japanese is really good!" I thanked him and later on the two waitresses got less shy and started chatting with us, and at one point the whole staff surrounded us as we told them about ourselves. An older lady, probably one of the owners, gifted us a couple of oranges which we ate at our table after our meals. They liked us so much that I was pretty sure they were going to give us our meal for free, but alas we paid and went to our hotel. Oh ya, Sami was told she looks like "Britney".
Sami in her bath-robe
Our hotel was a very old, dirty, and somewhat creepy place. The staff were all old and slow, and seemingly unable to take care of this place effeciently. The lesson learned here was that you get what you pay for, because this is the cheapest place we could find.
Our morning walk
In the morning we walked to the main beach and took a paved, coastal path to view a famous, little island that Shirahama is known for. It was great weather that morning, but it started to get cool and breezy later that day.
View from the trail
Continuing on the trail
Arrival!
This beautiful landmark is seen on many postcards and travel brocheures. The coast at Shirahama is primarily sandstone and there are many caves and interesting sights, some of which I got pictures of so keep scrolling down!
All blogs found on this site written before 2009 have been imported from MySpace. Some may not look too pretty, and some of the pictures won't enlarge, but it is a small price to pay to not have to deal with MySpace's primitive blog setup anymore!
I recently graduated San Francisco State University. I majored in Japanese and minored in International Relations, and spent a year studying at Tokyo's prestigious Waseda University. I grew up in a very rural area of Humboldt County California. That remote setting built up a lot of ambition in me to get out and chase my dreams. Thanks for reading!
From my experience and observations in Japan, one can buy alcohol at any age, but for must be twenty years old to consume it. Drinking in public is legal so I imagine people use these little cans for taking on picnics. I think I have never seen a Japanese picnic without beer.
