I was on the early fast train to Tokyo but not unfortunately, not on the RED JAPAN which was the new fast train series and looked ultra-cool. Still, ours looked pretty good and we made it down to Tokyo no problem if you can or want to ignore the light dusting of radiation we got while passing Fukushima. :)
I was nervous about navigating Ueno but found nice big signs as well as free wifi! Go Japan! I found the exit where I was to meet Minako and settled in at a Starbucks and then the bakery. Ueno Station is a busy, busy place and this was a leisurely Saturday morning. It was fun to watch people and there are way more foreignors down here than up in Sendai.
Just like Pearl Harbour, the Japanese are especially sneaky when meeting in large crowds. Its unfair because they can see me from miles away while they blend in quite easily. She came at me from behind and there she was. She didn't want to leave the station in case she had to pay again but then she quickly figured out that I wasn't leaving Ueno as I had to meet Megumi there at 5:00 pm. After a quick lunch of noodles that I was graciously allowed to pay for, we walked to Ueno Park and we quite surprised to see little pink buds here and there on the trees. A huge group surrounded one tree and upon closer inspection, we saw 3 cats sleeping on a nook in the branch. By Japanese standards, this was really cute and hence the picture taking hordes. I love the Cherry Blossoms and remember that it was in full swing when I first came to Japan. People camp under the trees and drink and eat. It's a pleasant way to spend the day. We continued to walk toward Ueno zoo and stopped for a refreshment as the temperature was close to 17 degrees. Nice. We also hit a bookstore because I wanted to buy "Botchan" by Natsume Soseki. I like the story because it tells the tale of an English teacher who moves to the country to teach to ill mannered children. It reminds me of moving to Shibata from Tokyo. I hadn't read it in awhile and wanted to read it again. We went and sat back down in the park and people watched again. A guy stopped in the middle of the lane and then proceeded to make up songs about the people walking by him. It was all accapella and no one seemed to be too nervous about him. Minako wasn't sure if he was drunk or not. Minkao worked at the same language school that I did-GEOS and was the teacher who taught beginners. She now works at an American company but doesn't speak so much English now even though she is a great speaker. At the time we met, I didn't speak any Japanese so it was strange to be sitting down together 10 years later conversing entirely in Japanese! She was quite critical of my reaction to meeting again and I guess was expecting something more than my zombie "oh". I showed her my fake teacher persona that I use with the kids once in a while. I rarely talk down to kids in class and I do consider my vocabulary but do talk to them as if I am talking with an adult. She loved my hyper exagerrated voice and smile I use. The kids love it when I do it. I really dropped the ball on the foreign greeting after 10 years there. We had a good laugh about that. It was so quiet and peaceful in the park even with all the people. A perfect way to end my time in Japan. Minako hung around to say hello to Megumi and spent a few minutes revisiting my lack of enthusiasm at the meeting time when Megumi and Tomo showed up.
Tomo had been in Prince George as a student and we had crossed paths for one night in Vancouver before we met again in Prince George. I joke about him being the best roommate. We met up with Kentaro in a pub next to the station and the server we had was super energetic. I have never seen anyone so happy! It was great. We tried to hook her up with Tomo but no luck. We found out her name was Nanami. Star server and cute factor 11!
We went to the Asakusa temple and walked around a bit. Pretty. I had visited several times while living in Tokyo. Later we hit another pub and had some more grub and drinks. The group next door was quite loud. I had fun with Ken's and Tomo's English by integrating crude words into their sentences. Good guys with good senses of humour. We said goodbye to Ken and rode a very crowded last train to Tomo's place. His apartment was tiny and probably the size of our bedroom. Shower and washroom were also micro. Had a good sleep, got treated to breakfast and headed back to Ueno station to wander around in the crowds somemore before I called mercy and Megumi took us to the airport.
Although the tragedy of the tsunami was the overriding theme of this trip, another tragedy of comparable scale and scope also took place. This tragedy would be the maintenance of the Air Canada mini-tv. On the way over, my screen worked for about 5 minutes and then shut down. I passed it off as a one time thing since the other 400 screens appeared to be fuly functioning. On the way back, I was looking forward to seeing the Oscar nominated films and special episodes of my favourite tv shows. Can you believe that my screen on the way back was also not functioning?? Unbelieveable. The steward gave me a ticket but all I wanted to do was read my books. I did sleep most of the way though as Megumi hogged her television screen. We picked up our truck at Sharon's, spoke briefly to Rob and then headed back up to Prince george. Megumi navigated us out of Vancouver and was so exhausted by this that she slept the rest of the way up until we hit a brutal snowstorm at MCleese lake. Couldn't see at all and the speed was down ot 60 and the blinkers were going. It didn't last too long though and we made it home. Nice to be back. Here ends the Japan adventure!
I was nervous about navigating Ueno but found nice big signs as well as free wifi! Go Japan! I found the exit where I was to meet Minako and settled in at a Starbucks and then the bakery. Ueno Station is a busy, busy place and this was a leisurely Saturday morning. It was fun to watch people and there are way more foreignors down here than up in Sendai.
Just like Pearl Harbour, the Japanese are especially sneaky when meeting in large crowds. Its unfair because they can see me from miles away while they blend in quite easily. She came at me from behind and there she was. She didn't want to leave the station in case she had to pay again but then she quickly figured out that I wasn't leaving Ueno as I had to meet Megumi there at 5:00 pm. After a quick lunch of noodles that I was graciously allowed to pay for, we walked to Ueno Park and we quite surprised to see little pink buds here and there on the trees. A huge group surrounded one tree and upon closer inspection, we saw 3 cats sleeping on a nook in the branch. By Japanese standards, this was really cute and hence the picture taking hordes. I love the Cherry Blossoms and remember that it was in full swing when I first came to Japan. People camp under the trees and drink and eat. It's a pleasant way to spend the day. We continued to walk toward Ueno zoo and stopped for a refreshment as the temperature was close to 17 degrees. Nice. We also hit a bookstore because I wanted to buy "Botchan" by Natsume Soseki. I like the story because it tells the tale of an English teacher who moves to the country to teach to ill mannered children. It reminds me of moving to Shibata from Tokyo. I hadn't read it in awhile and wanted to read it again. We went and sat back down in the park and people watched again. A guy stopped in the middle of the lane and then proceeded to make up songs about the people walking by him. It was all accapella and no one seemed to be too nervous about him. Minako wasn't sure if he was drunk or not. Minkao worked at the same language school that I did-GEOS and was the teacher who taught beginners. She now works at an American company but doesn't speak so much English now even though she is a great speaker. At the time we met, I didn't speak any Japanese so it was strange to be sitting down together 10 years later conversing entirely in Japanese! She was quite critical of my reaction to meeting again and I guess was expecting something more than my zombie "oh". I showed her my fake teacher persona that I use with the kids once in a while. I rarely talk down to kids in class and I do consider my vocabulary but do talk to them as if I am talking with an adult. She loved my hyper exagerrated voice and smile I use. The kids love it when I do it. I really dropped the ball on the foreign greeting after 10 years there. We had a good laugh about that. It was so quiet and peaceful in the park even with all the people. A perfect way to end my time in Japan. Minako hung around to say hello to Megumi and spent a few minutes revisiting my lack of enthusiasm at the meeting time when Megumi and Tomo showed up.
Tomo had been in Prince George as a student and we had crossed paths for one night in Vancouver before we met again in Prince George. I joke about him being the best roommate. We met up with Kentaro in a pub next to the station and the server we had was super energetic. I have never seen anyone so happy! It was great. We tried to hook her up with Tomo but no luck. We found out her name was Nanami. Star server and cute factor 11!
We went to the Asakusa temple and walked around a bit. Pretty. I had visited several times while living in Tokyo. Later we hit another pub and had some more grub and drinks. The group next door was quite loud. I had fun with Ken's and Tomo's English by integrating crude words into their sentences. Good guys with good senses of humour. We said goodbye to Ken and rode a very crowded last train to Tomo's place. His apartment was tiny and probably the size of our bedroom. Shower and washroom were also micro. Had a good sleep, got treated to breakfast and headed back to Ueno station to wander around in the crowds somemore before I called mercy and Megumi took us to the airport.
Although the tragedy of the tsunami was the overriding theme of this trip, another tragedy of comparable scale and scope also took place. This tragedy would be the maintenance of the Air Canada mini-tv. On the way over, my screen worked for about 5 minutes and then shut down. I passed it off as a one time thing since the other 400 screens appeared to be fuly functioning. On the way back, I was looking forward to seeing the Oscar nominated films and special episodes of my favourite tv shows. Can you believe that my screen on the way back was also not functioning?? Unbelieveable. The steward gave me a ticket but all I wanted to do was read my books. I did sleep most of the way though as Megumi hogged her television screen. We picked up our truck at Sharon's, spoke briefly to Rob and then headed back up to Prince george. Megumi navigated us out of Vancouver and was so exhausted by this that she slept the rest of the way up until we hit a brutal snowstorm at MCleese lake. Couldn't see at all and the speed was down ot 60 and the blinkers were going. It didn't last too long though and we made it home. Nice to be back. Here ends the Japan adventure!