Japan, Day 1

Normally, I try to post pictures on the blog first, but I couldn't this time because the site was down.  But unlike facebook, I will write a short narrative as I go through the pictures. 

Arrival at the Kansai Airport:

From Japan

It's always a little depressing to walk out of an airport by yourself.  It wasn't my first time completely alone in a country where they didn't speak English or Korean, but I was confident that everything would be alright.  I took the Nankai line to Shin-Imamiya Station as planned.


First picture in the train. While Koreans use the words 'subway' and 'railway,' interchangeably, Japanese strictly distinguish the two. 

After getting off at the Shin-Imamiya Station, I quickly ran into trouble.  I was supposed to get off at the east exit, but I didn't know which direction was east.  So I decided to go out and walk around the vicinity a little bit.

From Japan

hmmmm, may be I should ask for directions instead of walking around too much...



I was surprised at first, because the area was much dirtier and more ghetto than I had anticipated.  I expected Japan to be super clean and nice everywhere, but that obviously wasn't the case.

I stayed at a 'hotel/hostel' called Hotel Chou.  I've stayed in better places in Mongolia and Mexico before, BUT to their credit, it was 2,200 Yen a day (that's 22 bucks if the exchange rate is $1 = 100 Yen, though it isn't). 

After unpacking, I decided to venture out and go to the Osaka Castle.  I was a little worried because Japan's railways are somewhat complicated - public lines, JR, private lines, need to distinguish railways/subways, two different maps... in Korea, you have one map, one card that pays for everything, without distinction between railways/subways and public/private rails.  It's not that I mind getting lost, but it's just that public transportation in Japan is quite expensive and I didn't want to make extra expenditures.  But I was able to figure out everything in about a day.



Area around the Osaka Castle:





 



The Osaka Castle itself: 








After touring the Osaka Castle, I had a sudden impulse to check out J-House.  The only problem was that I didn't know its location.  But I vaguely remembered where Kevin had marked on the map, so I just decided to pick out a station that seemed familiar and go from there.





And guess what? After choosing a random exit and walking around, I miraculously ran into J-House. It was one of the crazier moments of my life.






And this is where I decided to have my first meal in Japan:





It was excellent.  The curry was good, but I was especially impressed with the freshness of the oil they used.

After dinner, I went to Dotunbori, near Namba station, where all the good restaurants are at (supposedly).





And I saw this place, which reminded me of Bryan:



...so I had to eat here.

my second meal in Japan:



It was good, but it wasn't great. It was actually quite similar to Yoshinoya back in Cali. For the rest of the day, I walked around Namba station and went back to the armpits of Osaka I mean er, the hotel.

Once in a blue moon, I like to take a look at "suggested friends" link on facebook.  To find new friends?  no.  Then why, you might ask.  And the reason is, I like to search for people that unfriended me on facebook.  I can't name everyone that has, but I can name you five people that have.  Granted, I wasn't really close with some of those people, but that doesn't change this:  I'll remember you fuckers.  har har. just kidding.  well, 98% of it was a joke.  I'd love to say that I don't give a damn and play it off cool, but in reality, I do care slightly. If I could express my nonchalance on a pie graph, it would be 98% whatevers and 2% what the fuck. 

Sure they'll probably never see me again, but I can say the same thing to about a hundred other people, and I'm sure most people can.  But I don't unfriend people, just because it takes too much damn effort to go through the list, choose my targets, evaluate my past relationship with them, predict our future relationship, execute, and take the risk of that person finding out and secretly hating me.  All I can say is that at least 5 people were willing to go through all that trouble or hate my guts.  whee. 

Okay, I lost interest in this topic already.  I bought a mini globe last week.  It's fantastic.

Reviewing New Year's Resolutions

I think this is a good time to review my new year's resolutions:

1.  Be Healthy:  (Both watching what I eat and exercising)

This was a miserable failure so far. 

2.  Read 2 books a week:  

This was a 'half' failure.  I realized that it's just too difficult to read two books a week without sacrificing a lot of what I enjoy doing.  I shall read just one book a week now. 

3.  Learn another language.  

Again, a complete failure.  I studied Japanese for about 2 weeks.

4.  Expand my vocab.  

Can you guess the result?

What this complete failure of 'internal' policies indicates is that habits are incredibly difficult to change, especially if you're an old man like I am.  The first step of keeping my new year's resolution should begin with identifying an undesirable & time wasting habit, not by listing desirable habits.  My undesirable and time-wasting habit is droning on the internet (I think that expression is wrong but oh well).

I had criticized people who mindlessly switch channels while watching tv, but in all honesty, that is exactly what I do on the internet.  I don't really read on the internet, I just drone. 

(At this point, I feel a compulsive need to look up the word drone.  the second definition of the verb drone, in Merriam & Webster's dictionary, is:

:to pass, proceed, or act in a dull, drowsy, or indifferent manner.  So I guess 'to drone on the internet,' is not a grammatically incorrect sentence, although it does sound awkward.  Drone on the internet.  Drone on the internet.  Drone on the internet.  It does sound weird.

As a transitive verb, the second definition is:

: to pass or spend in dull or monotonous activity or in idleness.  Okay, this one I was sure of.  I just drone.

But anyways, I have an internet addiction problem that I need to address.  I think I wrote about this already, but when my mom came over and I let her watch Korean dramas on my laptop.  Two things I realized was: 1. I had so much time on my hands that I didn't know what to do.  2. I felt like quitting cigarettes, just not as intense. 


...I would also say, 'blog more often,' but that's completely against my less internet policy.

Snow.




And one more for kicks:



I'm the dude in white (right).

Less digital, more analogue please

I went to sleep at 7 and woke up at 2:30.  It's nice to wake up so early because I have time to meditate and catch up on things, such as blogging. 

Computer wastes a lot of time.  My mom came to visit for the weekend (she has been here for about 3 weeks now) and she spent half the time watching Korean dramas, leaving me without a computer.  I couldn't believe how time passed so slowly.  I finished 3 books in four days.  I have the computer now and I'm doing nothing but droning.  I ought to turn the computer off as much as possible because life is precious (cliche, I know, but it's true) and we should savor every moment. Less digital, more analogue please. 

I never hand-write anymore.  I'm not talking about cursive, but literally writing by hand.  Do you know that feeling when you write after you haven't written for a while?  When your hands feel weird?  I feel like that every time nowadays, even when I'm jotting down a phone number.  I remember the time in high school when I decided that I write better on paper than keyboard - It was a hunch I had after owning a computer for only several years (yes, I'm old...).  Now, I'm not so sure, but I do miss those days.  The only problem is, if I write on paper, I will blog less (I have multiple blogs by the way).  What should I do?

Anyways, I had my kindle for about two months now, and I shall review e-books later because I have work to do.  I need to review a leaflet before it's mass produced and eventually end up in the local trash cans.  I hate doing these edits.

You know what I love?  Black Pepper.  But about two years ago, someone (some idiot!) told me that black pepper was indigestible, which lead me to abstain from it for two years. 

But for whatever reason, I decided to look it up because the whole idea suddenly seemed utterly stupid.  And it turns out that black pepper actually HELPS YOUR DIGESTION, contains anti-oxidants, reduces flatulence (something I desperately need though you didn't need to know), etc.

I'm sure it has some negative properties like any other food on the planet, but the lesson is, if you listen to everything your friends say, you might end up not eating pepper for two years. 

 I guess I should blame my own stupidity.

Field Test

On my way back from work, I decided to take couple pictures. Here's what I saw in 10 minutes:











These are all straight from camera (no post-editing, since the camera already edited 'em for me). I love my PEN.