May 19th-20th
Flew from San Diego to San Francisco. The flight out of San Francisco
was delayed for
about one hour because of fog. The flight went to
Osaka (Kansai Airport). I left at
8:45am (California time) and
arrived at about 4:30pm (Japan time). During the flight,
one of the
flight attendants noticed that I was playing a handheld video game. (It
was
solitaire.) She asked me to turn it off and I told her that it
could not be turned off. She
took it to the pilot and returned with
it 2 minutes later. I explained that it didn't emit
sufficient
"noise" to interfere with the airplane's operation. She looked at me
skeptically and then left. Including layovers and delays, it took
approximately 16 hours
to complete the trip.
My friend, Dave, who had just moved in the beginning of May to Osaka, met me
at the
airport. (It's a good thing that he did because I
would have been lost trying to
maneuver through the railway systems to get
to his hotel in Osaka. I think that I still
would be lost if I tried
right now!) It took about 45 minutes to arrive at Osaka station.
We then walked for about 15 minutes to the Westin Hotel.
After resting for a while and
then taking a shower, we went out to dinner,
went to a couple of bars, and then called it
an early night and returned to
the hotel. (Note: There were 2 beds in Dave's room.)
May 21st
After waking up, I prepared for the upcoming interviews that I was going to have
in
Tokyo. That included the trains that I was going to have to take
-- and there were going
to be several of them. Dave and I went to
Umeda station (near Osaka station). He
helped me to buy tickets on
the Japan Rail ("JR") system for my trip to Tokyo. We had
lunch at
an Indian restaurant that he had been to before. We went to the 'Den Den'
area looking for a television for Dave's apartment. I looked at
digital cameras to
compare prices with United States' store's prices.
A Nikon CoolPix 995 camera sold for
$500 at one of the stores.
(That was about $100 more than the least expensive price that
I'd
seen in stores back home.) Shopping took us to several stores and the
rest of the
afternoon. I realized that I'd forgotten to bring a
tie and we luckily found one at an
electronics store -- for $4!
We had dinner at a brand new restaurant near the Westin
Hotel called,
simply, 'F'. They served small, inexpensive, and delicious dishes.
Afterwards, we met Dave's friend, Siyaka, at a restaurant/bar and had a
couple of
drinks with her. After returning to the hotel and calling
it a night, Dave helped me to
try and reserve a hotel in Tokyo, but none
of the ones that he found were available.
(That was going to prove
interesting, as you'll read about soon.)
May 22nd
I woke up at 4:45 in order to catch the train from Osaka to Tokyo. I wore
blue jeans
and a short sleeve shirt because I decided that I would be too
hot to wear a suit. (You'll
find out in a minute why I mentioned
this.) Dave walked me to the Umeda station so
that I was sure to
catch the correct train. (This will prove to have been very useful;
wait until you see what happened on June 11th.) I took a train from
Umeda station for
one stop to Shin-Osaka. I then took one of the
bullet trains ("Shingansen") from
Shin-osaka to Tokyo. Then, I took
a train to Yurakucho station and then another to
Kojimacho station.
I found a restroom in which to change to my suit. Guess what?
I forgot to pack my black belt and a black pair of socks to match my black suit.
Great!
Well, there was no time to buy them, so I wore my
black suit with a brown pair of
socks and a brown belt. After
changing, I then walked a couple of blocks to the East
West Consulting
office. (Altogether, it took about 2 hours to get there from the
Shin-osaka station.) After the interview, I took a train from Kojimacho
station to
Ichigaya station and then another train to Shibuya station.
There, I interviewed with
the Robert Walters Company. After
that, I took a train from Shibuya station to Ebisu
station and interviewed
with a company named Panache. (It sounds fairly straight
forward,
doesn't it? Well, it isn't. On nearly every train right that I
took, I went
either the wrong direction or, if I went the right direction,
I would end up going past the
correct station and have to backtrack to the
correct station. Also, with all of the
skyscrapers in Tokyo,
although I would know which street I was supposed to be on, it
was
difficult to tell which direction to go down the streets. Fortunately, I
knew how to
speak enough Japanese in order to ask people on the streets for
help.) After the
interview with the third company of the day, I
backtracked to Shibuya to find a hotel
for the night. I went to one
hotel and they were full. They gave me a printout of
several nearby
hotels. Out of 20 on the list, I called 8 of them and they were all full,
also. I walked back to the station, found a hotel called Hotel-Metz,
discovered that they
had a room available for $152, and took it.
(The alternative was to go to another town
(i.e., Ebisu), but I was
exhausted and decided to take what I could get.) I was SO tired
that
I fell asleep at 9 o'clock (2 or 3 hours earlier than usual). Also, I'd
had just about
enough of traveling on trains. On the leg to Ebisu, I
put the ticket in the turnstile, it
buzzed that it wasn't enough to go
through, and I went through anyway, listening to it
buzz at me while I went
to the last interview. Sayonara!
May 23rd
I woke up at 5:00. I arrived at the Shibuya station at 6:00 and
discovered that my train
didn't leave until 7:16. (Shimata!)
There was a 30-year-old-or-so Japanese man
sleeping on the bench.
Obviously, he had had too much to drink, had been there all
night, and was
drooling or spitting on the ground next to his chair. I took 3 trains
and went through the Kamiyacho, Tachikawa, and Fuasa stations to get to my
interview with the University of Maryland at Yokota Air Base, 1-1/2 hours
north of
Tokyo. (It seemed like more -- trains, stations, and time.)
I had my interview (without
a tie because I was so hot after having
walked for 30 minutes in the heat). They offered
me a job.
Ha! Unfortunately, the pay was extremely low, so I told them that I
needed
time to consider it. I then took trains back to Kamiyacho
station and interviewed with
a company named IT Consulting. It
lasted for about one hour and the person told me
that they didn't have any
jobs available at that time. After that, I went to the JR
station,
bought a ticket, and took another Shingansen at 5:30, heading back to
Osaka.
I met Dave at 'The F' restaurant, had dinner, and crashed
(in bed) at 10:30.
May 24th
We ate some baked goods for breakfast (the standard method of operation during
my
trip). I don't remember what we did that morning; maybe we slept
right through it.
At 2 o'clock, Dave and I went to my one interview
for the day with a company called
ProAssist. (Fortunately, I wore my
black belt and black socks to this interview.) It
turned out that
few people at the company could speak English, so at their request,
Dave
stayed and interpreted for us -- for about 2-1/2 hours! I was (We were?)
offered
a 3- to 6-month contract.
Dave and I had dinner at about 8:30. Afterwards, we went to a bar called
"Sam &
and Dave's" at 10:30. We stayed until 6:30am!
Then we went to a casual bar called
Canopy until 7:30am. We
called it a night and woke up at 12:30 in the afternoon the
next day.
May 25th
We went to a picnic at a park in Senri, located 45 minutes by train north of
Osaka,
arriving at 4 o'clock. (It is where the 1970 World Exposition
was held.) Unfortunately,
it (the picnic) had already finished.
With four of Dave's Japanese friends, we walked
around the park,
meeting 5 women who also worked nearby at the University of Osaka.
At 7:30, we had dinner with one of Dave's friends -- Miki -- at a Korean
barbecue
restaurant named "Gu". Gu??? Dave and I
returned to the hotel at about 10:30 and
rested. At 11:00, we went
to a bar 5 minutes away called Scrub. At 12:30, we left and
returned to the hotel for the night.
May 26th
We stayed in the hotel that morning, checking email messages and taking care of
other
things (such as updating my notes). At noon, we met my friend
Atsushi at the "Vie de
France" bakery store in front of the
Yodabashi-Umeda department building. We went
with him to his
apartment where his wife, Akemi, was watching their newborn baby.
We spent around 3 hours there with them. Afterwards, we all went to a
nearby
Chinese restaurant. Dave and I returned to the hotel at 8:30.
We decided to take a
night off from partying.
May 27th
This day was dedicated to going to interviews in Fukuoka. I went to the
Umeda station
to catch the subway to Shin-Osaka (one stop). From
Shin-Osaka, I took a Shingansen
to Fukuoka's Hakata station, a 2 hour and
45 minutes trip. (This time, I wore my suit.)
The owner of
one of the companies met me at the station. (Maybe he'd heard about my
other train and subway experiences.) I had lunch with him and a
representative from
the American Consulate. (He was also trying to
help me find work in Fukuoka.)
Afterwards, we went to the company
owner's office and he demonstrated for me the
software that his
organization was developing. After that, we went to the IBM office
where I had a different interview. (I was offered opportunities from
both companies.
Amazing!) After that interview, the company owner
took me back to Hakata station so
that I could return to Osaka. I
had some extra time at the station and he helped me to
buy a gift to take
home for one of my friends. I took a Shingansen back to Shin-Osaka
station, arriving at 8:45pm. Dave and I made plans that I would meet him
at the 'F'
restaurant no later than 10 o'clock. If I wasn't there
by that time, then it would mean
that I had other interviews in Fukuoka the
next day. In the meantime, I left 2 messages
at the Westin Hotel,
hoping to catch him there. I had a beer at the 'F' restaurant and
Dave found me sitting there. We had a couple more beers, returned to the
hotel, and I
fell asleep around 12:30.
May 28th
I spent the whole day helping Dave shop for furniture.
"Helping" simply meant walking
around with him. (Oh, how I
despise shopping!) We had dinner at the 'Africa'
restaurant in the
Shinsaibashi area and then went to a couple of bars -- the 'Grand Cafe'
and
'It's A Bar Isn't It'. We got back to the hotel at 11:45.
May 29th
In the morning, Dave helped me locate some work visa organizations in Kobe
(KICC and
CHIC). Then, we spent the afternoon shopping for furniture
for Dave's apartment.
That night, we tried to eat at 'The
Budweiser Bar', waited for about 15 minutes, and
decided to go somewhere
else. (We wondered if it was because we weren't
Japanese.)
After dinner, we went to the Hub, Ryan's, and Canopy Bar. We turned in
at about 10:15. (Furniture shopping -- and going out to bars night
after night -- can
take it out of you.)
May 30th to June 8th
(These days were a blur. I must have had too much to drink and
forgotten to add
entries to my logbook.)
June 9th
Dave was taking care of some things on the computer when I woke up at 11:15.
At
1:00, he and I checked out of the hotel. At 1:30, we had
lunch. After that, we went
to Dave's new apartment. He said
that it's located in the "Beverly Hills of Osaka".
It
could be. It has a magnificent view of the valley and the bay to the
east, is very
spacious (over 2,000 square feet), has hardwood floors in the
family room, dining room,
and hallway; 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3-door
security, and underground parking.
After moving things in, we went
shopping for some basic necessities -- bath towels, food,
and an iron
(Dave's necessity). I also bought some more souvenirs. We ate
dinner at a restaurant located about 15 stories above ground called 'The Asian
Kitchen'. They had
very good food, but don't let them put you in a
booth or you won't get the fantastic view
of the city. (If I were
with a woman, it would have been a romantic view. Sorry, Dave.)
We returned to the apartment after dinner. Dave found a 3-inch
spider in the
bathroom. At about midnight, we slept. Guess
where? On the floor. Dave was also
in the process of buying
furniture, so he didn't have beds, couches, chairs, etc. I slept
that way for the next 4 days. However, it was better than paying $150
per night for a
hotel. (Thanks, Dave.)
June 10th
I woke up at 6:45. Actually, I woke up every 45 or 50 minutes during the
night. (Not
funny.) At 9:00, Dave's bed arrived and they set
it up for him. At 10:00, we went
shopping for more necessities --
sheets, bathroom items, and curtains. I also bought
some more
souvenirs for people. That was an all-day event and we returned at 7:00.
We were exhausted and took naps until 8:00. We went to the
Italian restaurant 'Soeur
et Frere' in the Sannomiya area. The staff
was very friendly, the food was very good,
and when we asked the staff
where was a good place to have a few beers, they suggested
the 'Be In' bar.
It was raining outside and they gave us an umbrella. (Dave, did
you
ever return it to them?) We found the bar (with much effort),
but when we tried to
open the door, it was locked. So we went to one
of our old standbys -- The Hub -- and
had a beer there. We spent
some time with a couple of Japanese women when I got lost
looking for the
bathroom. (No, really!) One of them showed me where it was and I
bought them beers as thanks. They joined us, we closed down the bar,
we all took the
same train, they got off about 2 stations before us, and we
got back to the apartment at
about 1:45.
June 11th
I woke up at about 8:00. (I was getting used to sleeping on the floor.
Maybe the pile of
sweaters I laid under me was helping.) I went to
pack away one of my pairs of shoes for
my return trip to the United States
that afternoon and found a centipede stuck to the
side of one of them.
Now what would attract a centipede to the side of one of my shoes?
At 10:00, Dave's realtor and handymen arrived to look into existing
apartment
problems. Because of the time that it took, he and I got a
somewhat late start for me to
catch the JR train to Kansai airport.
I caught the train at 12:30, hoping to catch my
flight that left at 2:45.
You guessed it -- I missed it. It wasn't necessarily because of
the late start, though. The train splits in two at a station called
Hennoi. One half of it
goes to the airport and the other half goes
to Wakayama station. I was on the wrong
half. I had fallen
asleep before reaching the Hennoi station and woke up at the
Wakayama
station. I doubled back on the train, got off at Hennoi station, took
another
train to the airport, and arrived 15 minutes after the plane took
off. I tried to get on
another flight, but the least costly one-way
flight that I could find would cost $1,550.
So, I calmed down, ate
McDonald's for lunch, got some cash, and returned to Dave's
apartment at
about 8:00, hoping that he would return that night. I lucked out and he
returned at 9:30. You should've seen the look on his face!
He said that he felt very
bad because he felt responsible since we
got a late start. (It was actually my fault; if I
hadn't fallen
asleep on the train, I would've realized that I was on the wrong half of it.)
After putting things in the apartment, we took the train to get
something to eat. We
returned around 11:00 and hit the hay at about
11:30.
June 12th
I got up at 8:45. I ate raw soba noodles for breakfast. At 10
o'clock, I called United
Airlines about getting on a flight either that day
or the next day. No dice. I decided
that I would pay for
flying on a different airlines because I might not leave on United
until
July because The World Cup soccer/football tournament was happening in Japan
and Korea and flights were overbooked. Dave suggested calling a
travel agency that
he'd used before -- Number 1 Travel. They found
me a seat on Thai Airlines for the
next day. They said that I would
have to pay for the ticket that day between 3 and 4
o'clock since I'd be
flying the next day. Afterwards, I learned that I could have flown
on United through Tokyo at about 4:30, but I wouldn't have been able to get
there in
time since it takes about 3 hours to get there by Shingansen, not
including taking
additional trains and subways.
Dave and I left at about noon, I got the cash to pay for the tickets, and we had
lunch.
We then went furniture shopping again. We learned that
some furniture stores are
closed on Wednesdays. Wednesdays?
Why Wednesdays? At about 3:15, we went to
the travel agency and I
paid for the tickets. (I would pick them up at the airport the
next
day.) After that, Dave and I had a beer at a pub to kill time before we
went to the University of Osaka at Senri again. Since we missed the
picnic, his colleagues there
wanted to give him a welcoming dinner.
After dinner was when the humor began. I
began taking pictures of
the people at 2 of the 3 tables there. Then I asked to have
someone
take pictures of me with the 5 women at the third table. Everyone,
including
the women, was laughing about it. During the train ride
home, Dave asked me why I
wanted to have my picture taken with those women.
I said that I did it because they
were part of the group but seemed
isolated from the other 2 tables. Also, they had
offered me a chair
at their table when he and I arrived while people were determining
the
seating arrangements. He told me that those women weren't part of the
group.
D'oh! Well, I hope that I never run into those people
(not the women!) again.
We got back to Dave's place at about 11 o'clock again and went to bed (he did, I
didn't) at 11:30.
June 13th
At 5:30, Dave left for Tokyo on a business trip. (Dave, thanks for not
waking me up. I
needed the sleep.) I got up at 8:30.
At 10:00, I left for the train station. At 12:30, I
took the JR to
Kansai airport (and not Wakayama). On the train, I met a guy and his
girlfriend who had moved to Osaka from The Philippines 2 years before. As
soon as I
realized it, I began speaking Tagalog with them. It's a
strange thing when you think
about it -- An American guy speaking Tagalog
to 2 Filipino people on a train in Osaka,
Japan. Believe it or not,
I caught my flight on Thai Airways at 4:15. On the plane, I
met 2
Japanese passengers -- a man and a woman. I also met a flight attendant
from
Thailand. Stay tuned -- Maybe there will be a follow-up
story about her.