Welcome To Atsugi - Part 2

I last left you with a portrait of Atsugi. Now, let me give you a snapshot of life out here.

Gotcha!

Here's a picture of one of my bosses, Satomi. Although she frequently declines the title of "my boss," I'm pretty sure she could drop the hammer should push come to shove. Fortunately for me, she's really great to work with. I can always go to her when I have questions about English grammar. Also, I discovered that she's kind of camera shy and doesn't like people taking pictures of her. Also fortunately for me, I was quick enough to get this picture before she pulled her jacket up over her head. Look at that great smile!

Also, you may notice the office she's standing in. This is the office in which I spend most of my time out here. Ok, not most of my time, but at times it does feel that way. Behind Satomi, you can see the window through which I spend a lot of time staring out blankly.

#1 Pachinko player

So, after stopping by the office to pester Satomi, I stepped out to visit one of the local Pachinko parlors with my friend Satoshi.  This was my first time going to one, and Satoshi was bent on showing me the wonders and joy of Pachinko (which, as of yet, I have not discovered).

At first, I conservatively fired one single Pachinko ball into the machine each play. I soon realized that this is not how Pachinko is done at all. I had over a thousand of those little suckers, and it was going to take me all night to go through them at that rate.  So, I cranked the trigger to the optimal strength and let it rip. I watched each ball bouncing and rattling all the way down the machine's face and out of sight. My eyes were darting this way and that, trying to follow of of my potential winners. Lights were blinking, things were beeping and buzzing, an animated character on the game screen was shouting at me in Japanese. Did I win? Did I lose? I had no idea. I just kept firing balls into the machine. After a while, I was just staring at the game in a daze, absorbing all of the lights and sounds, completely mesmerized. Occasionally, Satoshi would look over from his game and tell me "Hit the button!" after which, I would snap out of my daze and frantically start pounding every button I could see on the machine until I was satisfied it had some effect.

Blinking lights

It went on in this fashion for quite some time, until I had completely exhausted my bucketful of Pachinko balls. I looked over at Satoshi's winnings, which had already grown to about 4 buckets. As much as I tried to look like I was having a good time, I'm pretty sure I looked upset. Seeing that I was a bit soured on my first Pachinko experience, Satoshi gave me a bucket of his and commanded me to try again.

I did as I was told and, after another mesmerizing hour or so of watching blinking lights, I had accrued a whopping five buckets of Pachinko balls, which, standing next to Satoshi's stack of three measly buckets, made me feel proud and surely put a smug grin on my face.

So, we split the winnings and, each of us up about 800 yen (roughly nine dollars), bought some beers.

It was a good night. I can safely say that if I never set foot in another Pachinko parlor again, I'll probably be okay.

Welcome To Atsugi - Part 1

Welcome To Atsugi

My town

Welcome to Atsugi. This has been a long time coming, sorry for the delay. Anyways, let me give you an introduction to my city. This is Atsugi City, or, in Japanese, Atsugi-shi. About an hours train ride from Shinjuku Station (Tokyo), my friends from Tokyo and Yokohama call it the boonies, the country, etc. However, it actually has a great urban-like center near the station, with bars, restaraunts, a small mall, and tons of shoe stores. If you can find a more reliable way to tell how urban an area is than by the number of shoe stores per capita it has, I'd be interested to hear it. There are two train stations in Atsugi, one called Atsugi Station, and the other Honatsugi Station (my station). Fortunately for me, Honatsugi Station is where all the action in Atsugi is, and it also happens to be the only station in Atsugi that is an express train stop.

Across the street, you can see the station entrance and the mall. The mall is called "Mylord", pronounced "milord"

A free for all crosswalk. It's pretty sweet

Oh yeah we've got a bus station, too

 Upon exiting Honatsugi station, one is presented with a rather impressive view of a bustling station area. Shoppers are constantly rushing past in and out of the mall, hawkers are on the street crying out their spiels, and shiny black taxis are jockeying for position in the designated roundabout. Merely wandering about the station area will provide plenty to see and do. Check out the mall, visit any of the numerous izakayas (Japanese bars), visit any of the numerous and convenient convenience stores, get some KFC, get some Mister Donuts, go bowling, play video games at the game centers, read comics in the manga cafe... you get the idea.

On the outskirts of the station area

And of course, after leaving the station area, you can find the crazy network of streets that go every which way typical of any city area in Japan. And going further, you can find the country. Not 15 minutes walking from the station in pretty much any direction will bring you to a more open, older part of Atsugi.  Heading east will take you to the Sagamigawa (Sagami River).  Famous in Atsugi for the Japanese trout that can be caught here, the Sagami River always has fishermen wading up to their knees through its water.  They rise early, and usually begin fishing as early as the sun permits. But before the fishermen can get out into the waters, egrets are already out, dipping their beaks into the water in search of fish. Truly, the early bird catches the fish here, and I have, on occasion, been on the train early enough in the day to see these birds out in the water (one of the few benefits of staying out in Tokyo until first train leaves at 5am). It really is a sight to see.

That fishing rod is like five times his height! This guy is serious

Nice kids. Thrilled to be practicing English with a real, live gaijin

 But for all the beautiful nature one can find down by the river, it's actually pretty dirty. I'd been told by some friends in town that it was a nice little area to go down to. Of course I did, but I was a bit disappointed to see the trash that had come down river and wound up on the small river bank I was sitting on. Hilariously enough, the pollution turned out to be a good thing when a young man came floating up to the bank on a large piece of discarded syrofoam. I appreciated the lad's humility and simple desire to have fun. He was really friendly, so I started talking to him and his group of friends on the river bank. They were a nice bunch of college kids from the nearby university, trying to have a little more fun before the end of their summer vacation. We chatted for a bit in simple English and simple Japanese before they departed.

A beautiful Atsugi sunset. Note the mountains

And here's your introduction to my town! Stay tuned for more a more intimate report of my life in Atsugi later this week.

First Day in Tokyo (Part 2) Shibuya

I have no idea what I was doing with my camera here, but it resulted in a cool picture of the artwork on the exterior wall of Shibuya station

 If you have ever seen online footage of a sprawling urban intersection suddenly being flooded and engulfed by a sea of Asian people, it was probably filmed outside Shibuya station in Tokyo.  A commercial center glowing in neon lights and buzzing with activity, this area is the Japanese equivalent of New York's Times Square. Here, one can spend all of their money on a plethora of luxuries, ranging from the hippest high-priced fashion, swanky bars and restaurants, and colorfully lit arcades and pachinko parlors. Matt and I decided to check it out, hoping for the quintessential Tokyo experience.

Madness

Gojira!

Incredible

A memorial of Japan's most faithful dog. It used to meet its owner at this spot everyday. The old man died, but the dog continued to wait at the spot for years

 At any rate, we made it to Shibuya no problem and walked out of the station to a truly impressive sight.  The station is right by the famed intersection I mentioned earlier, so this humming, buzzing mass of pedestrians was our welcome party. These pictures and my descriptions really do not do the experience justice. The best way I can describe it is that it felt like being at a concert, except with no music and the crowd making small migrations every time the traffic light changed.  We made our way to the catty corner of the station, seeing many bright blinking lights coming from the alley there. I could not help bumping into my fellow pedestrians and stepping on the backs of their shoes, as I could not pull my eyes away from the sights around me and look where I was going. There was so much going on everywhere I looked.

After making it across the sea of people and passing through the festive archway leading into the exciting alley complex of the entertainment area, Matt and I decided unanimously that we were absolutely famished. Trekking around Tokyo under the merciless sun for the day had finally taken its toll on us, and we needed a quiet place to hunker down and refuel. Fortunately, there are many such places in this area. We found a great little ramen shop with a diner style wrap-around bar.  You wait in line outside, put your money into a vending machine, and buy a ticket for each item you would like to purchase. After obtaining your food tickets, you are free to enter the restaurant and take a seat. I gave the ticket for my ramen to the woman behind the counter and just sat there, glad to have a chance to be idle.  The ramen was served in a few short minutes, and I could not have been more grateful for it.

The ramen bowl was huge, full of meat, noodles and vegetables, and had a thick layer of oil and grease floating on top of the broth. It was absolutely delicious. The only thing remaining in the bowl, after I was finished with it, was the bit of broth I couldn't ladle out with my spoon.  Then it was time to move on. The place was busy and it would have been pretty rude to sit there for the extra hour that I probably needed. Unwilling and unready to head back into the chaos, I hoisted my bag and camera onto my shoulder with a sigh and shuffled out the sliding doors in Matt's wake.

But it was then that I realized how much I needed to stay in the peaceful(ish) ramen shop. I looked up at the dazzling array of blinking lights and bright advertisements, only to see a blurred mix of colors that made no sense to me. I suddenly became aware of all of the noise around me, and the volume began to swell.  I could hear every footstep, street hawker, arcade siren, every single voice in the chatter around me.  I began to feel dizzy, a slow panic began rising in my stomach. It was too much. I told Matt to stop. I had to stop.

Construction workers taking a lean. Even in Japan, construction workers lounge about for the majority of their shift. Just kidding, I probably walked by on the one five minute break these guys took all night

In a few minutes I was right as rain, however, not without a new respect for the power of over-stimulation. I began to question how one could live in such an environment on a regular basis. I felt like I was in a circus.

Shibuya bus terminal

More bus terminal

 We decided to take it down a notch and hit up a nearby arcade for some simple minded entertainment.  I failed miserably at many attempts to win stuffed animals and anime figurines that I'd hoped would be souvenirs for my friends back home. (Sorry guys.) After seeing my 100 yen coins disappear one after another, in vain, into the game machines, a kindly game clerk came by and opened the glass case of the machine I was playing, asking which toy character I was trying to get. Feeling kind of silly, but also too humbled to worry about it, I laughed and pointed to the male version of the little cartoon character inside. She obliged, placing the toy on the absolute edge of the bottom of the pile.  Two turns later, I had managed to get the damn toy. Perhaps I just felt a bit more relieved about it than elated, but I couldn't help but feel a little cheated considering that the game clerk hadn't come to my aid when I was playing one of the games with cooler
prizes.

The train station

Day or night, Shibuya is buzzing

 We decided to head out and wander the streets for a while. The sun had finally retired from its day of making Tokyo a living hell and nightfall had come with a cool breeze. The rest of the night was spent meandering around the busy areas we could find, searching for good night photography opportunities. I took a few shots of the lights and the people, as well as a few shots of the famous Shibuya bus terminal.  Finally, being to tired to even want to find more adventure, we decided to head back to the trains and begin the trip to Omiya, home sweet home for another week or so.

This map is at least 5 feet tall

First Day in Tokyo- Part 1 (Akihabara)

Nerd Mecca

Akihabra, also known as Electric Town, is a world famous electronics commercial hub and, coincidentally, is the nerd Mecca. Here, one can find any manner of gadget or gizmo imaginable and beyond, all at a reasonable price, of course. If that isn't enough to catch the attention of any geek or nerd, then the piles upon piles of anime, manga, and scantily clad cartoon figurines is sure to do the trick. For those who are not familiar with anime or manga, please let me enlighten you. Manga, the japanese word for cartoon, refers to the vast library of Japanese comics, ranging in subject matter from cutsie stories about high school romance, to ink intensive, bloody swordsman stories, to page-turning motorcycle adventures, to disturbingly graphic cartoon pornography. Anime, as you may have already guessed, comes from the English word animation, and refers to animated manga, also covering all the aforementioned content. There are many American geeks who are infatuated with Japanese manga and anime, but the population is relatively small in the states. In Japan, industry of anime and manga is a booming one, and any convenience store has a wide selection of popular, pulp manga readily available. Needless to say, hearing about all these wonderfully nerdy things being concentrated into one easy to access place, I decided to make Akihabara my first destination in Japan. (Under the guise of needing a cloth for my new camera lense.)

Tokyo! Oh boy!

So, the day began with an early departure from Omiya. My roomate, Matt, and I packed our bags and left giddily and filled to the brim with excitement. Tokyo! Oh boy! One of the biggest, most fast-paced cities in the world was at our fingertips and we were eager to explore. Matt's Japanese is considerably better than mine, so fortunately, navigating the trains to Tokyo was a painless endeavor, and we were there in no time.

Gamers

We emerged from the Akihabara train station into the sun-baked streets of Tokyo. Filled with anticipation and eager to see if Akihabara lived up to its reputation, I was happily surprised to find, not 50 steps from the station entrance, a huge mob of nerds gathered on the streets. Each was hunkered over a portable game device. Moving in closer to see what all the fuss was about, we soon realized that the congregation was actually a system of network games, with each gamer connected to a few of his nerd brethren via the infrared sensor on their handheld games. I came to find nerds, and nerds I found. Never before have I seen anything like this.

Outside Akihabara Station

Sega

We ventured onward to the technology quarter, or Electric Town. After walking on for a few blocks, I began to start wondering if we had perhaps gone the wrong way. But upon reaching the next major intersection, we discovered a huge, seven story, Sega arcade and knew we must be getting close. Already starting to feel the heat taking its toll on us, we decided a visit to an air conditioned arcade would probably be a good idea. Inside, we found (surprise surprise) countless crane games on the first few floors. Unfortunately, my photographic expedition in the arcade was short-lived, as I was asked to put my camera away (extremely politely, of course) by the arcade staff. This is unfortunate because there were very many interesting game machines up in the higher floors of the arcade. Some games require the gamer to have their own deck of magnetized character cards (think Pokemon or Magic cards), which are placed on a table-like game surface. The gameplay is then controlled by introducing new cards and moving the cards to different positions on the playing area. The coolest one I saw was a soccer version of this, with up to twenty players able to play one game simultaneously. The entire game was displayed on a large screen up in front of all of the machines.

Matt loves crane games

Here is the nice young man who notified me that
photography was not allowed

AHHHHH!

After throwing a few hundred yen away at the arcade, Matt and I decided to move onward, as we had not yet penetrated the heart of Akihabara. A few blocks further, we found ourselves wading through crowds, and began to see more and more manga shops, maid cafes, and electronics outlets. The moment I saw a grown man walk by dressed as a school girl, I knew we had found our destination.

Old School

You can see a maid in the lower left hand corner there

These pictures do not communicate how huge everything is

There were many places to see and visit on the main drag. However, any savvy traveler knows that the real attractions, the authentic locales, are found tucked away in side streets and alleys. In most cases, one must search and seek out the hidden treasures. That is the reward for the earnest traveler. So we ventured into the noisy, crowded, ungodly hot alleys of the electronics quarter, taking a deep breath before diving in. The chatter of voices mixing with the cries of street hawkers in front of every business filled the air and created the soundtrack for the streets. Megaphones and loudspeakers offered every deal and product available. Brightly colored signs, posters, and advertisements covered in kanji and kana attracted they eye at every turn. The excitement permeated from the streets like the heat from the asphalt.

Welcome to Asia

We ran into another American

How was I to find something as simple as a lense cloth in all of this frenzied chaos? "Well we could check in there," Matt said, pointing at a small corner shop with a picture of a camera the size of a car posted out front. The shop was like a clown car of merchandise. The size of a foot locker, it was filled with several rows of shelves and glass cases, all chock full of every kind of photographing device you could shake a stick at. Lenses that see far, lenses that see close, x-ray lenses, lenses that do nothing at all. I was astounded at the collection as I squeezed through the narrow aisles, past sweaty bargain seekers, and around blind corners. After circling around the store twice and finding every camera accessory but the simple lense cloth, I opted to attempt communicating with the staff over taking another lap around the shop. After feebly attempting to ask for a lense cloth in Japanese and recieving a "Jeez this guy is hopeless" look from the store clerk, I pulled out my camera and performed the universal sign for "clean the camera lense" with an invisible cloth in my hand. I've been getting by so well on these "universal" signs that I've actually been considering throwing out my Japanese phrase book and dictionary.

Yes this is real

My attempt at communication was successful, and within minutes I was happily on my way, the proud new owner of a lense cloth. Back on the street and wandering to our next destination, my attention was suddenly captivated by a loud, high pitched squealing overhead. Bewildered, I looked up and was greeted with a most unexpected sight; a Japanese french kitten maid with a megaphone, backed by two mannequin maids. What could I do but frantically struggle with my camera bag, rip my camera out of its case, and start snapping pictures of such a sight. She was calling out, in the hyper cute, dog whistle pitch cry used by Japanese women to attract mates. She was calling all nerds. "Come drink over priced coffee and ogle your french maid waitress you desperate nerds!" she cried. Being a professional, however, she was kind enough to to pose for me and make a very cute little heart shape symbol with her hands. Realizing that this was, in fact, a secret message to me, and me alone, that she was hopelessly in love with me, having seen me approach on the street, I decided that we were going to visit a maid cafe. "Dude we gotta go, man!" I told Matt. After convincing him that visiting a maid cafe is one of those quintessential Japanese experiences, and that I was feeling faint from the heat, we strolled right into the dark entryway of the building, where a Japanese french maid ushered us into an elevator and punched the button for the 2nd floor.

Oh, Japan

Sadly, maid cafes, which abound in Akihabara, make their money off of these innocent girls, and I was not allowed to take any pictures, for free, in the establishment. Honestly though, I don't think it is much of a loss for you, reader. The cafe was remarkably unremarkable, the decor aspiring to give the customers a "classic, brick garden cafe" ambiance, but failing to do so. It came off as a cheap, bare bones set up that hinted the owner of the establishment knows such an establishment can't last too long, so it's probably not worth investing too much money in. Customers can pay 500 yen for a thumbnail sized photo of themselves with a maid, or can pay 1500 yen for a short DVD of themselves reading a script alongside a maid in a staged conversation. It was incredibly touristy and super cheesy. Either way, I bought my seven dollar glass of ice coffee without complaint, and enjoyed the performance given by our maid waitress, in which she used her powers of cuteness to perform maid magic on our drinks, rendering them more delicious. It was fun, and I'm glad I checked it out, but I couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed that the whole atmosphere was a little more "cute" and a little less, how would you put it.. "scandalous." (Those of you who have ever visited a Hooters may reserve your judgement now.) Although, maybe I'm better off for it.

The highlight of the day was when Matt, upon noticing our server's Pokeball attached to her bag, challenged her to a Pokebattle (yes, he owns one too), right there in the middle of the cafe. We had a good laugh over the incident later on, realizing that nowhere else on earth, could we have had an impromptu Pokebattle with our Japanese french maid waitress over a cup of coffee. I love Japan.


Stay tuned for Part 2... Shibuya

The Apartment Entry

A little friend I found in the apartment. His head is facing down.
These critters can jump about a foot off the ground!

 

 

I suppose I should do an entry about my apartment... I know some people are very curious about tiny Japanese apartments. And, indeed, my apartment is a bona fide, standard issue, tiny ass Japanese apartment. Yes sir, it's got all of the modern conveniences necessary to life these days, all practically sized to fit the needs of one individual. Wow. But, I suppose its for the best really. I mean, if I had a great apartment to spend all my time in, what would be the point living in a foreign country? I could spend all day inside in Chicago right? I'll take the optimists' point of view and say that having an unimpressive apartment is inspiration to go out and see the world.

 

La Casa de Trevor

 

 

So, here is the view one is presented with upon first stepping into my apartment. From here, you can essentially see the apartment in its entirety. Kitchen on the right, bathroom on the left, living area to the fore. Oh, and of course, how could I forget the all too necessary cow oven mitt hanging on the wall to the left. Certainly a major selling point for my apartment.

 

Where is the dryer?

Tofu!

 

 

Turning your head approximately 10-15 degrees to the right will reveal the wonderfully convenient washer/kitchen combo. Yes, you can cook your food and clean your clothes or dishes all in one easy-to-manage space. It's amazing how much time I spend shuffling back and forth throughout this 1m x 2m space. WARNING: Dishes do NOT go in the washing machine. 

A roof, four walls, a floor, and a door.

 

 

Three paces forward will bring you through the front hall/laundry room/kitchen/bathroom area into the main living area. Here, you can see my lovely Western style bed (a futon NOT on the floor), television, table, book shelves, low-down couch-type thingy, and a rack for drying clothes inside (come wintertime), air conditioner (thank God), porch, floor, etc...

 

The vast variety of my professional wardrobe.

 

Another eight paces will bring you to the porch door of my apartment. Yup, that's it... this is my apartment in all its splendor. This is where all the magic happens. Be jealous... very jealous.

One day a torrential downpour caused my street to temporarily become a river.
I had to wade my way home, shoes in hand, Huck Finn style.

Yeah...

 

Now take nine paces back toward the front door and turn to the right. Here, you will see my very efficiently designed bathroom. Again, my apartment is fortunately fitted with Western amenities, so I have a toilet I can sit down on. I have encountered the Japanese-style toilets, but that's an adventure for another blog post. Yup, efficiency is the name of the game here and in a space the size of most of your closets I have my toilet, sink, and shower. The one gripe I have about my apartment is the incredibly tiny shower it has. I don't know if it was a matter of design for Japanese people or a complete disregard for the comfort of bathers, but whoever made this shower made it so tiny that I have to stand width-wise down the length of the shower. I have to wash half of my body at a time, and I can't turn around without being attacked by my shower curtain like a wet plastic ghoul lurking in the bathroom.

Yes mom, it is always this clean.

 

 

 

All gripes aside though, I really do love the place! It's finally started to feel like home to me, and I get some satisfaction knowing that it's all mine. It's a comforting feeling to know that I can move anywhere in the world and burrow out my own little niche so that where no matter what, I have a place to call my own.

 

 

And I will leave you with a shot of the night sky from my porch.