Road Trip

On April 25, 4 co-workers (locals) & I went on a trip to see a bit more of the surrounding countryside. Fukui Prefecture is exactly as Hayao Miyazaki depcits the Japanese countryside in many of his films (My Neighbor Totoro & Spirited Away). The highlight was a visit to the seaside town of Tojin-Bo on the Sea of Japan. I should have taken pictures of the market street leading to the cliffs overlooking the sea. Barbecued giant squid on a stick, shrimp, crabs (at $80 a throw) and a multitude of other seafood was laid out in the sun. The smell, as you can imagine, was terrific. Walked out to Oshima Island, which is a nature preserve & is supposedly haunted. Then drove back to Maruoka city to see the oldest castle in Japan. Wrapped the day up with dinner at a world famous yakitori restaurant. The name was in kanji, so don't ask me what it was.

Link to photos.

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Green Tea

Green tea is available everywhere here. Wish I could buy it like this in the states. Most vending machines here have a large selection of hot & cold coffee, various teas & maybe 1 or 2 soft drinks.

Tuesday evening, we rode the train to Sabae. Visited Nishiyama koen (West Mountain Park). Here are the pictures.

I REALLY need to take a conversational Japanese class, and soon. It looks like I'll be coming to Japan once or twice a year as long as I work for SEH.

Kyoto a-go-go

Went to Kyoto today. Saw many historical temples & sites. Oh, and the cherry blossoms were blooming, which added a certain flair to everything. Photos, (almost 150 of em) are here. Then came back to Takefu, and, with 2 co-workers, burned $170 on sushi. And, yes, fugu fish was on the menu tonight. And it was good.

Cultural Differences

The more I work with my Japanese counterparts, the more obvious the cultural differences become. For instance: all Japanese employees wear a company uniform (tunic, trousers & cap) in one solid color. Somewhat different than American companies, but pretty conventional. Where it becomes less conventional is the gender role. The mens' uniform is light blue. The womens' uniform is, you guessed it, pink. That's right: men wear blue, women wear pink. It's also interesting to observe customs during lunch. The men sit together, the women do likewise. The only exceptions are the women who work on the production floor side by side with the men (very few). They sit with their co-workers. I feel like I'm in grade school all over again. For more details, see the following links: Salaryman & Office Lady. From what I've been told (and yes, I've asked), and observed, these articles still accurately describe life in the workplace here in Japan.

I see a theme developing...

Tonight, the Takefu plant manager and two other high ranking managers treated my boss & I to dinner at a Korean barbecue. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a restaurant with a grill built into the table. The wait staff delivers raw meat to the table, and it's up to you to cook it on the grill. When I say meat, I mean the usual stuff like chicken, pork & beef. I also mean such Japanese delicacies as tongue & beef intestine. To my credit I tried everything. I really didn't much like the intestine. The taste wasn't bad, but it was like eating gristle (too tough). The tongue, while chewy, was quite excellent. Of course, it wouldn't be a meal without beer AND sake. Lots of sake.

Choo Choo to Takefu

Six hours on three different trains to cover a good portion of Honshu Island. Started at Shirakawa at 10:15 AM Wednesday (That's 6:15PM Tuesday in Oregon). Rode the bullet train south to Tokyo. One hour layover, then another bullet train through Yokohama & Nagoya. End of the bullet train line was a little nowhere town called Maibara (Google Earth couldn't find it). Nine minutes to move self & luggage to next train. NOT a bullet train, but a little swaying happy-go-pukey that took me the rest of the way to Takefu. I will take most of this same trip in reverse on May 9, ending up at Narita Airport with a nine hour flight to PDX to look forward to.

I had my hiking GPS with me, so I was able to follow the progress of the trip as I travelled. The GPS indicated an average speed of around 170 for the bullet train segments. Did I mention that these trains don't slow down when passing through a station if it's not a scheduled stop? I had just arrived on the platform and had my back to the tracks when one blasted through. No noise until it's right next to you. Then it makes a hell of a lot of noise. My digital camera can take low quality videos, so here's what the next one looked like:

Shirakawa Station

Unfortunately, not much of Tokyo is visible approaching or leaving Tokyo Station. Just lots & lots of suburbs and low rise buildings. My boss & I arrived at the station around noon, and it was still very crowded. We had an hour to kill, so we had lunch & did some people watching. The outbound train was nearly deserted, so I had my pick of seats, and plenty of room to strech out. I took a couple more videos on the trip. Here's some rural area between Yokohama & Nagoya:

blurry countryside

Finally, here's our train leaving Nagoya Station:

Nagoya

The hotel is within 100 ft of the train station, so I was able to get settled very quickly. Next up is getting to the Takefu plant tomorrow, then Kyoto on Sunday. The Vancouver site interpreter will be in town, and is interested in a Kyoto trip, so I'll have a native speaker along for the ride. Should make life much easier.

Sake is evil

And Shirakawa is known for putting it in convenient little bottles just begging to be consumed. That is all.