Well it is rainy season and I am back again in Tokyo. You may ask yourself, ....didnt Craig just get back from a trip to Japan. The answer would be yes. To be exact, I was back in the US less than amonth before making the decision to come back. I wish I could say it was because I found a job here, that would have been a great oppportunity. The truth of the matter is that I did get a job but it is in Boston. I will start working at MIT at th end of the month. The position title is Administrative Officer in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. I wont go into allthe details, mainly because there are still so many questions I have about what is not part of the job. Upon receiving the job offer I made the hard decision to take one last trip before starting. Yasu had no objections to having chance to spend more time together but he did say he had to work.
I left Boston Last Thursday and arrived here Friday afternoon. The flight was not bad at all. I was upgraded to Business service and it is sucha different experience. The seat reclined to a flat bed-like position, were I a few inches longer I would not have felt like I do on many beds I have slept in in Japan where my feet hang over the end. I did, however, have a nice relaxing experience. The food choices were exceptional and what can you say about an open bar, truffles, and a whole season of 24. Well, a foot massage might have been nice but taht was not gonna happen. After landing and making my way through custons on the fast track, I picked up a phone at the rental counter, exchanges some money and bought a ticket to Kanagawa. After leaving the plane and boarding the bus less than an hour had elapsed. I was schedule to be settled at Yasu`s space by 1930. Even with the Friday afternoon rush hour in downtown Tokyo we arrived a bit ahead of schedule.
While the plane ride was relatively comfortable I did neglect to say that I did not sleep very much. I was ready to garb a quick bite to eat and then crash. Well, we ended up doing some planing and then headed out to eat. We were back early but we had made plans to be up early yet again. We did not want to wait very long to get ourselves over to Yokohama. Even though we did not have much time or the desire to travel very far, both yasu and I have wanted to see this city. The Chinatown area has been written about often and there was great praise. Yasu booked a hotel for Saturday night and we were off.
The forcast was cloudy, some rain and on the warm side...yucky weather. I should have planned my wardrobe a little better. We made it work though. After only three train transfers, we rolled into Yokohama. The sun kept teasing us, First it would hide behind the clouds, then it would be bright and beautiful. After a few hours of that we resigned ourselves toa mall area called Queen`s Mall (no comments from the peanut gallery). For lunch we opted for Hiroshima style Okonamiyaki. As it turned out, not my favorite style. This version of a cabbage pancake was layered rather than mixed together and was less tasy I thought. I was more used to the version, introduced to me by Takeshi and his family at a great neighborhood place in Nagoya. The cabbage was mixed with lots of goodies and then fried and topped witha few condiments. Lets not go into a cooking lesson here. I have over time been able to replicate the recipe so if you are ever around my palce, you can ask for Craig`s version of okonamiyaki.
Back to Yokohama.... After lunch we made a short trek to the Cosmo Clock, Proclaimed to be the world`s largest Ferriswheel, with a clock in its center. The whole weather thing made getting good pictures of the clock and the city views less than delightful. We left after taking a spin on the rollercoaster and getting our heads thrown from side to side, mind you after being stuffed into a car that was not made for a somewhat tall middle aged american guy. Get it? It was just an hour before we could check in at the hotel so we meandered over to a nearby seaside park and walked, took some pictures and relaxed. After checking in to our room in the middle of the afternoon, it was time for a rest. The hot humid weather wa s a bit draining. After the sun went down, we went back out.
The streets were packed and the restaurant hawkers were working overtime to fill the seemingly endless number of eatieries. It did not take long for us to make a decision because one, we were starving and two, we really had no clue as to which place was any better than the next. The choice we made was a good one. There was a set number of courses and we added a few peking pancake rolls to complete the meal. Stuffed and almost ready to sleep, we decided to head back to the Cosmo Clock. We were determined to get batter pictures and hoped to get some great views of the city at night. Even though it was Saturday night, neither one of us xpected to see the long lines that greeted us. We waited well over an hour to get our butts into a gondola. It was worth the wait. By the time we were atop the ferriswheel, the sky was clear and the lights bright around the city. I only hope that the pictures we took did justice to what we saw.
It was approx. 2300 and neither one of us beong club kids, we headed back tot he hotel, after picking up a few drinks and some munchies. The night ended uneventfully, save the rash of misquitoes that hovered over my bed during the night....Yasu did not want the AC on but instead opened the window....needless to say, he got an earful the next morning, and a few bites of his own.....too bad I say (with a smile on my face).
After taking advantage of the buffet breakfast, wheich had some very good asian and ameriacn selections we headed back to Tokyo. A little house keeping, a little shopping for domestic goods and a dinner out ended to day. Early to bed because we had plans to hit the fish market, relatively early, but not so early that we would catch the tuna auction.
Be back soon.
Craig
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