Tokyo, Japan

I just got back from playing tourist on Mt. Fuji, a thing I always wanted to do but never got around to. I'd like to say it was amazing, but it was shrouded in fog on the way to and from so I couldn't really see it. And once you're ON a misty mountain, you can be on just about ANY misty mountain.

But still I'm glad I did it. When I went to China with my brothers a few months back, Jay and I could clearly see Mt. Fuji sticking out above the clouds as we flew over Japan. Now all I have to do is combine the two trips in my mind and I have one full memory of this thing. Ah, the power of induced memory...the tourist version of "The Manchurian Candidate."

I've been playing tourist here more than I planned. When I booked this last-minute buying trip I found out from reading Gifts & Dec Magazine that the Tokyo Gift Fair was going on this week, so I extended the trip and went to the show on Tuesday.

Stylish, very stylish. Expensive, very expensive. Now I know why you have to hock a kidney to afford shopping in Tokyo. Even the wholesale stuff breaks the bank.

I did find a few things that will work as affordable stocking stuffers, though. Too bad I don't speak a word of Japanese. I've come all the way here to find things, but I have to fly home to buy them. Lucky break that Mitsuko was born over here. I'll let her fingers do the walking and have her call from the store when I get home.

Anyway, with the show done I had time to wander the streets of Tokyo. Go to Disneyland. Ride the Giant Ferris Wheel.

That Ferris Wheel experience was funny. I've always been afraid of them. But Tokyo has one that used to be the world's tallest and it was within walking distance of the Big Site Convention Hall where the show was taking place. I'd say I swallowed my fear and conquered my cowardness, but you should see the notes I was taking to take my mind off the experience as I rode that dang thing. By the end of the page you can almost hear the girly screams leaping from my scribbles.



Photo-phone pic of the Eye in the Sky (from the safety of the Earth)



That 70's windswept look...Trump's got NUTHIN' on MY 'do



Ferris Wheel Meltdown...a transciption of the above written scream:

Notes from the Tokyo Gift Fair (Translated from the original gibberish)
Don't go down the food aisles - the frenzy over free crackers is international

Loudspeaker announcement delivered by one of those generic woman's voices that sound computer generated
"People are increasingly concerned with safety these days. We present many well-designed survival kits. Visitors will receive an attractive gift." Decorative cyanide tablets, just in case?

Wares for sale
In the Taiwan Pavilion:
a whole booth dedicated to clip-on ties - and wigs

After the Fair
I decided to go to Palette Town and ride the enormous Ferris Wheel. I've always been afraid of Ferris Wheels thanks to my older sister, Tracy. She's reformed now but she used to be a sadist. There was a terrible experience at a parking lot carnival. The swinging, the swinging...oh god, I can't go on.

Anyway, I was at the Tokyo Big Sight for the Gift Fair and

Ok, this is where the wheel starts turning and I start climbing to the sky with the calm and cool demeanor for which I'm rightly known
The wind was whipping thru the thing and I'm holding onto the bar for dear life, as if that's going to help. I've jumped out of a plane for God's sake - WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE. It shouldn't be this scary

The writing stops here, with an ambiguous yet disquieting ending much like that of The Blair Witch Project

click here to see a sampling of the product I purchased in Japan!

Hangzhou, China

It's so funny about perceptions and biases. I'm not a deep person so I will try to refrain from proselytizing, but yesterday while we were waiting for the driver to take me and my agent, Ma to Hangzhou, the people from the factory were joking about how strange the driver looked, how weird he acted, how much he looked like a gangster.

For the life of me, he just looked like a skinny kid. Normal haircut, Izod-type shirt, chinos. I guess it's sort of like celebrities and type-casting. America's sweetheart might actually be a pain in the butt, and the killer on the Sopranos might actually volunteer at Meals on Wheels. We think of them as a certain way based on their skin or how close together their eyes are, I guess. (Among other things).

It's just funny when you run into it in another country and see how ridiculous the whole thing is.

Anyway, our gangster finally picked us up and took us on a WAY back-roads route to Hangzhou. The countryside of China always looks so surprisingly modern from the super-highway, but up-close it's a strange mix of big houses on narrow concrete roads next to foul-looking streams.

The driver wasn't trying to entertain me...he just wanted to save the toll, but the trip was much more interesting from the back seat of his car.

Hangzhou is a pretty famous place because of its scenery and the lake it surrounds. I've only been to the airport here before when I fly in for work so it was kind of a treat to see a "new" town after all these buying trips to China.

I went out for a run this morning so I could see the lake up close. One of my best runs ever from a memory point-of-view. I didn't intend to run around the whole dang thing, but when I passed one fellow jogger he seemed to decide he needed to win another Gold Medal for China. He kept speeding up to pass, cutting in front of me and then slowing down. I don't like to race, but I also don't need a running partner so I kept trying to either pass him or run on the other side of the road. But then he'd zig on over to get in front of me again.

Heavy sigh. By the time he was finished with the competition and stopped running, I was already almost half-way around the lake, so I figured I'd just keep going.

It's was only 10 miles so it really wasn't a major deal, but considering the dodging of traffic, the multiple roads, parks and peninsulas and all the signs being in Chinese, I felt like I accomplished something by finding my way around and back to my hotel.

There's only one drawback. When I land in Japan later today, the guy in customs better not open the bag I keep my "used" gym clothes in.

I'm smellin' major international incident here.

Narita, Japan

This keyboard is going to be a bit difficult to navigate as it is primarily in Japanese...but here goes (and forgive me if I cannot use contractions as I cannot find the apostrophe).

I am on my way to Hangzhou, China tomorrow for work and I have a quick layover here and strangely, I am very happy to be back. Even though, as you all know, last time I was here I was dead broke and worried about that lost $9K. But eventually during that time I began to just calm down and let fate take its course.

So everyday I would walk down this long path, through a bamboo forest, past rice fields to the temple in town. And I remember it as one of my fondest travel experiences. I couldn't (oh wait...I found the apostrophe, even though the key isn't marked with one. Always let your fingers do the walking)...anyway, I couldn't go anywhere that cost anything so I had to just wander.

I don't usually have the patience to wander. I'm usually trying to GO somewhere.

So when I arrived at my hotel and saw that old path I thought, well heck, why don't ya walk into town. It was just as I remembered it...except for the dump, the traffic, the overpasses and the low flying aircraft.

They were all there before, it's just that I never remember them when I think about the long walk into Narita.

It's great to be back.



(from my last trip to Narita with Mitsuko)