Japan

I visited Japan four times. First in 2009, then in 2013, and finally twice in 2014. None of these visits were for work. In 2009 I went with a partner at the time to visit some of his friends. In 2013 I visited my college friend who had moved there. This was the purpose of the next few trips.

I grew up on Japanese culture. My parents worked in broadcast engineering and had Japanese colleagues who worked with them in the US. When they moved back to Japan we set up a trade ritual. Every winter our family would send a big box of recorded VHS tapes, American candy and toys to Japan. We would get the same in return. I eagerly awaited this box from 'the future' and consumed everything in it.

The big box of VHS tapes came with big benefits. In the days before the Internet I was able to watch Japanese animation far before it came to the States, and for the television shows that did make it to the US (like Power Rangers) I was able to give spoilers to my friends at school! Visiting Japan helped me understand the concept of time lag. I felt that while some parts of the States were ahead of Japan, Japan was an indicator of what might happen in the US. I was able to have fun with this idea, and made a series of predictions about the future.

When I finally visited Japan, the place seemed very familiar to me. I grew up on a lot of the same food. It was easy to find my way around. The entire city felt peaceful and logical.

Image	Notes
	Welcome to Japan! I flew into Narita International Airport on March 30, 2014. There was a direct flight from Portland to Tokyo, and I was able to use my hard-earned frequent flyer miles to get the roundtrip flight. I hopped on the plane, and 10 hours later I was in Japan! Excellent.
	My friend A met me at the airport. He whisked me to a Starbucks to get me loaded up on Caffiene so I could get on the right time zome more easily. Then we went to explore. A is from America but moved to Japan four years ago. He taught himself Japanese and runs little companies remotely from Japan. There are incentives for foreigners to live in Japan but make money elsewhere. That is one reason my friend A is here. His cost of living is actually less in Japan with the tax incentive.
	We walked around at night, looking at all of the different buildings. This was normal to A, but I found it helpful in getting used to the jetlag.
	Every year, Japan has a cherry blossom festival. The trees blossom beautifully, and everyone picnics in the park.
	We went to a local park to pick up some food from a night market. Lots of food vendors out at night, and all of the light reflected off of the cherry blossoms. Very pretty.
	A actually lives outside of Tokyo, so we took the train to get there. The next night we stopped at a Ramen restaurant in the little walking streets near his place. Ramen restaurants are one of my favorite things in Japan.
	Later that week I met up with a friend of a friend who was in town from Toronto, Ontario. We decided to go on a long walk from Yoyogi park where the largest of the cherry blossom festival was happening through Shinjuku and down to the entertainment district.
	The entertainment district was fun at night. As we walked we encountered a sign that said "Robot Restaurant". Why not?
	Tickets to the Robot Restaurant were expensive, but we felt it was worth it. We were whisked right in by the manager, as the show was about to start in 5 minutes! And what a show it was! Girls began drumming wild beats as the entire room filled with projected video.
	Giant robots followed the drumming. They started as shadows of mecha warriors surrounded by fog.
	A tron-like experience followed the mecha warriors. Shiny suited men on circular motorbikes. Would I reccomend this? Yes!
	Back at A's small apartment I got to see a very nice view. A's place had a nice heated floor, something I think is a good idea for all small spaces. It kept the place nice and warm. I was able to sleep on the floor in a blanket. Cozy! This was the view from A's balcony at Musashi-Kosugi Station.
	The morning view was also excellent. A and I would sit out there in the morning and discuss things like projects we worked on. We started working on some small projects in college, and we enjoyed trading strategies.
	A and I worked in the evenings in the rooftop room accessible to tower residents. The room was outfitted with massive windows and a little balcony. We sat there with notebooks, planned things out and quietly worked while looking at the view.
	I wanted to include some pictures of transit in Japan. The Japanese transit system is very logicl and timely. It is breeze to be able to get almost anywhere you want to go by subway or rail line.
	The subways stations are clean and well-lit. Everything is very orderly. There are places for people to stand and load into the train. This allows for easy loading and unloading of people.
	I haven't been to Japan during the tourist season, so I've never had the experience of loading into a vehicle. I was taking some time off work to go here. I don't like to travel when places are crowded. Often this means going abroad during the winter or early spring. The upside of this is that you can get a place to yourself. The downside is just that - it can get a little lonely and cold.
	See this almost empty station? It was nice to have all of this room to think.
	Japanese advertisement of a Shiba Inu in space. Shiba Inus are a popular dog in Japan. They are very cute, but are notoriously difficult to train, as they are clever and crafty. Hiya Shibe. Let's go to the moon!
	A took me to a store near him that had cheap Japanese candy. To give some reference, a bag of Green Tea Kit Kat bars can cost up to $15.00 in the United States. Here, that same bag of 15 kit kats only cost 100 yen, or $1. I loaded an extra suitcase with Japanese candy to take back to the office. I like Green Tea flavored everything, and Japan has that in spades. In addition to Kit Kats (which also come in Strawberry flavor, sweet potato and many more), I found Green Tea Pocky (a popular biscuit stick snack dipped in chocolate), green tea gum, and melty chocolate with green tea flavoring inside. I also loaded up on crunchy, salty and savory snacks.
	My $50.00 bought me an entire suitcase full of candy. I brought some of it to the office and it made everyone very happy. I grew up on a lot of this, so I was happy to get so much of it at a decent price. No more buying imported snacks for a while!
	Earlier in the week A and I stopped by an arcade in Shibuya. He showed me the cartoon photo booth machines there and we got some pictures. The software is good at distoring one's face to look extra cute and kid-like. Most Japanese arcades have photo booths of some kind. This machine was part of an entire floor of a 5 story arcade. Half of the 4th floor was filled with photo machines. There was even a women-only area with props and costumes for girls to take photos in without being bothered by men. Interesting.
	I'd like to talk about some of the food in Japan! After growing up on so much of it, I was elated to be able to eat everything.
	Most mornings, A made a simple breakfast. This one consisted of Agadeshi tofu, rice and fermented pickles. YUM!
	One morning A made me a breakfast of strawberries and sweet cream! Strawberries are rare in Japan and are highly regarded. There is even an albino strawberry with a pink inside. I usually costs upwards of 500 yen (5.00 USD) and is much larger than a regular strawberry. I had a bite of one in 2009 and it was delicious!
	A and I spent some of our nights playing Age of Mythology on Steam. It was an old favorite of ours. When I returned home we continued to play it. We'd do Apple Facetime and connect through our laptops to play epic four hour games against computer opponents. It was an exercise in collaboration.
	It was good to visit A. He was quiet and thoughtful most of the time, as he usually is. He was going through a bit of a hard time and I wanted to be there to help.

Japan

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