Japan (better late than never!)

Mood: Tired
Theme Song: "Little Razorblade" - Pink Spiders

Well, friends and neighbors - last time I wrote, I promised to dish all about Japan. And then I got busy and forgot all about it. (*typical*) It's been awhile, but I'll do my best to share my recollections.

I really enjoyed my trip there and, like most of my travels, I highly recommend it. Not just because Japan is *cool* but also because I think everyone needs to push out of their comfort zone at least once in their lives. Traveling to Asia - Singapore and Japan - was one of those "push" moments for me, and I will always be grateful for the experience.

I flew from Singapore to Fukuoka, which is is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyūshū. You can read more about Fukuoka here - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2161.html. I attended the annual meeting of Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists which was held on the island. I took an overnight flight from Singapore - it was either that or lose a day hanging around in Tokyo Airport - and so when I arrived, I was both jet-lagged and disoriented. My co-worker met me at the airport. What is funny is that I had protested that it was unnecessary and that I am perfectly capable of finding my way around. I mean I've done it in other foreign countries where I don't speak the language - Italy, Germany, Cyprus. However, I was unprepared for the complete and utter *foreignness* of Japan. I really wish I had been more diligent with this blog, and had captured my impressions right away because its difficult now to try to articulate the way I felt.

I stepped off the plane, and of course everything was in Japanese. That didn't throw me so much as that fact that nothing was in English. And also that, stupidly, it just hit me that I cannot read Japanese! In Europe, everything is in the Roman alphabet, so even if I don't know the language, I can sound it out and make an educated guess. You could even drop me in to Russia and because I can sound out Cyrillic letters, I can usually figure out (sort of) what is going on. Even Turkish doesn't scare me! But it was so strange to see signs, and know they were telling me something, and not even be able to make heads or tails of it. It was also odd not to see English paired up with everything. Oh, there were a few English signs or icons, but nothing compared to what I am used to. I think, in all my years of travel, that was the first moment when I truly felt like a "foreigner".

So it ended up being a very good thing that my co-worker, Taka, met me at the airport. I had read that most people in Japan do not speak English, but I wasn't sure if I fully believed that. It's true (or at least that's what I experienced). We went to my hotel, where Taka was able to get me checked in and before he left he wrote down directions to the convention center on a piece of paper, so all I had to do was get in the cab and hand over the piece of paper. I went to my room which was very small, even by European standards. (I later found out that they had put me at the "fancy" hotel). I realised I needed an iron - and so I quickly logged on to find out how to say "I need an iron and ironing board please" in Japanese. If you're curious, its - 私はボード、してください。アイロンとアイロン台を必要があります。(How you pronounce that is beyond me!) All I could figure out is that "ironing board" = "Airon dai". So I called down front and asked for "Airon dai  tetsu okudasai" (basically "I would like iron ironing board please"). I had to repeat myself several times. About 20 minutes later there was a knock at my door - and a very nice woman showed up with.... an ironing board. No iron. It took a great deal of pantomime to explain that I also needed the iron. I felt so incompetent!!!


What was also really funny was in the room there was this sign - 

Yes, I'm confirming all kinds of cultural stereotypes here - but come on - its funny, right? ;)


So I managed to get a few hours of sleep and then off to the convention center for the afternoon. I was so proud that I was able to use my few bits of Japanese with the taxi driver. Did you know they all wear white gloves, and the insides of the taxi are immaculate?

You haven't lived until you've been in a Japanese taxi, listening to Japanese radio! Something else I learned was that at Japanese conventions, when its the end of the day, the music they play to shut everything down is "Auld Lang Syne". Of course, they don't call it that - nor do most of them know that we associate it with the New Year. It's just, as I was told "store closing song". 


That night, they took me to dinner at a fantastic sushi restaurant in town. It was true Japanese style - shoes off, sitting down under the table, everything. I loved it. I let them order for me, and I ate everything put in front of me. My promise with myself on this trip was that I would try everything, and not let my normal "ewwww" factor affect my decisions. I am so glad I did that - it has forever changed the way I will approach new foods and cultures.


The following day I flew to Tokyo. Again, I had an escort (chaperone?). And again, my natural independence rebelled against this. I have flown over 150,000 air miles by myself! And yet... the Fukuoka airport was mind-bogglingly confusing. EVERYTHING was in Japanese. Japanese people running everywhere. I'm sure I could have navigated it eventually, but it would have definitely been a challenge. By the time we got on the plane, I was so glad to have Miho with me. At one point, while we were waiting at the gate (where all the announcements were in Japanese only - probably because I was on an internal flight), she went to the store and left me sitting by myself. I spent the 10 minutes or so just looking around, people-watching. And yet I felt so out of place. Little kids were staring at me like I was some sort of oddity on display. (Well, to be fair people stare at me like that lots of times so maybe it wasn't being in Japan that did it... LOL)


We arrived in Tokyo where Miho helped me hail a taxi and off I went to the hotel. I stayed in the Akasaka Region of Tokyo - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akasaka,_Tokyo, at the Akasaka Grand Prince Hotel - http://www.princehotels.com/en/akasaka/. That night I had an AMAZING sushi dinner in the hotel - and I was so proud of myself because I ordered everything in Japanese. (I carried around a piece of paper with all kinds of relevant Japanese phrases written out how they sound to me (i.e. Toire-wa desku? means "Where is the toilet")). From all my extensive sushi bar experience in Seattle, I know the names of the fish and dishes I like, so that part was easy. What was fun was learning about sake. I am now a convert - love the stuff! I haven't tried it hot, but I fully intend to!