Tokyo 2007 recap part 3 - Japanese history

One of the fascinating things about Tokyo, and Japan in general, is the mix between the rich old/traditional Eastern culture and the new, technologically advanced, and distinctively Western culture. It only took about ~150 years since the Meiji Restoration for the country to be transformed from a feudal society to a modern one. On our trip we tried to experience both sides of the culture. Here are a few pics:

Most Asian guys probably have a soft spot for the era of samurai and katanas. We visited a sword museum, where we ended up having an hour-long discussion about why a samurai would carry his sheathed blade with the cutting edge pointing up. Poor Esther... she was probably pretty bored the entire time as we debated unsheathing techniques.




The two primary religions of Japan are Shinto (meets in shrines) and Buddhism (meets in temples). We visited quite a few buildings (Meiji Shrine, Senso-ji, and numerous ones in Kamkura):








At this temple, families adopt a particular statue as the entity of a deceased infant or child, making sure to dress them, keep them warm, and leave little toys for them in the afterlife:


If you look closely... what symbol is that on the lamp?


After Emperor Meiji came to power, he kicked off the modernization and Westernization of Japan as the nation's citizens demanded internal change from the medieval-like feudal system. The following is a picture of the Ginza district around the beginning of the 20th century, looking disturbingly like a scene from a Western:


Tokyo ended up being torn down and rebuilt several times. The first few were due to the fact that most of the buildings were made of wood and paper, and highly susceptible to fire catastrophes. The most recent rebuilding was due to American bombing in WWII, which leveled the entire city (as shown in this map):



After the war, Tokyo was able to be rebuilt over 15 years to be ready for the Olympics, and has rebuilt itself back into the 2nd largest city in the world.

Miscellany

Japan pics coming up, now that I've got some from Mike/Esther/Andy!

Amusing website of the week, also sent along by Mike: Fashion4Nerds.com, a website put up by a nerd to synthesize the general fashion "golden rules" he had gleaned from surveying women, in order to help un-fashion-savvy folks (like nerds) be at least presentable. Being one of those, I'd heard some of these before, but things that still surprised me included:

- running/athletic shoes are for the gym only
Comment: really? But they're so comfortable! And it's nice to always have the option of being able to take a break from work and to hit the gym... which is something I'm trying to do now, actually.

- white socks are only to be worn during athletic activities
Comment: obviously, don't wear them with dress shoes... but why can't they be worn for most other things?

- get a mature, dressy coat/jacket
Comment: okay, this one didn't surprise me, but I guess wearing my Champion USA Olympics windbreaker over button-up shirt and khakis/slacks isn't going to cut it anymore.

Incidentally, reading through the website reminded me of how I saw Maria revamp Byron's wardrobe after they got married. No more company T-shirts, things with holes in them, and lots of items of clothing that drew compliments like "Nice sweater your wife got you, Byron."

The Warriors are finally in their customary second-half hope-killing slide. Why do I keep rooting for this team?

The Spurs are looking better, but the Mavs and Suns are the class of the league by far. And the thing is, I can't hate either team since they're fun to watch and don't have any unlikable players (for me, unlikable = either arrogant, or selfish/doesn't play team ball). Shally and I will get the chance to check out the Mavs in person when we go see the Warriors take them on March 12 (which might not be a blowout... for some reason the W's play them well).

Speaking of whom... head over to Shally's blog to wish this great gal a happy birthday today. Through all of the outings, talks, walks, activities, fun times, trials, prayers, and growing pains, she's grown into a major blessing in my life. Happy birthday, Shal!

Tokyo 2007 recap part 2 - Preflight inspection

Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007

I thought that I had everything tied up in a neat little bow (if I had the manual dexterity and aesthetic sense to tie a bow, that is).

I had the plane tickets. I had already packed my suitcase a day and a half before departure. I had just called my credit card company and my bank so they wouldn't be alarmed that their customer was suddenly making purchases in places with names like "Akihabara." Andy and Mike P had both provided handy-dandy checklists for making sure I had everything I needed for my first trip to Asia in around 20 years (the last time I went to Taiwan).

Last thing on my list was to photocopy my passport and credit card. Since I was at the office at the time, I figured this was the easiest part - just walk around the corner and make the copy. As it scanned and the copy came out, however, my eye fell on one line in the passport page next to my high school picture (which probably should have been a clue):

EXPIRES: 2006 JUL 21

Well, crud.

Talk about your rookie mistakes - since I hadn't flown internationally since the Spain trip in 2005, I didn't bother checking my passport - I just knew I had it. Turns out it had already been expired for half a year. I spent the next hour alternately moping and beating myself up over my stupidity, checking the US Passport website to find out that even rush service would take 2-3 weeks, notified family and friends that I wasn't going to be able to make it, and resigned myself to wasting a lot of money on a vacation I wouldn't be able to go on - one I needed after working extremely hard throughout the winter holidays that most people got to relax on.

Then, Mike sent me a few websites of companies who are in the business of, shall we say, streamlining the renewal process. I'm not sure exactly how. But as I began checking through the websites advertising next-day renewals, my fading hopes began to flicker just a bit, and soon I was in full-on manic mode flipping through Google listings, reading through fine print, and making phone calls to see whether this would really be possible. As my coworkers began packing up to go home for dinner, I happened upon the Travisa agency, which had an office in San Francisco, and confirmed that they had one more opening for a fast passport renewal that would enable me to get it back Friday evening.

I ended up changing my flight (I was originally going to fly out with Mike Friday morning, direct to Tokyo, and changed it to fly out Sat morning with a transfer at LAX), woke up at 6 in the morning Thursday to drive up to SF and drop off my renewal material, worked a full day, then on Friday, dropped Mike off at SFO, came back, worked, then drove up to SF again to pick up my passport, enduring some bumper-to-bumper traffic along the way - it took 2 anxiety-filled hours as the office that had my renewed passport closed at 5 pm, and I had to call them and rely on their good nature to stay late on a Friday night so I would be able to pick it up (I tipped the guy that stayed).

Even with passport in hand and other loose travel ends tied up (some Japanese currency on hand, packed, etc.), I was still a wired ball of anxiety, as I've only flown once by myself before (and that was domestic), and never internationally, and particularly not to a country where I didn't know the language. I overreacted quite a few times, from worrying about making it through the security line in time to get to my gate, to wondering whether my luggage would be able to follow me through my LAX transfer, to trying to study as many common Japanese phrases as I could get through while finally on the plane to Tokyo. Turns out that everything went exceedingly smoothly - made the flights with time to spare, landed in Tokyo at 3:30 pm, picked up my luggage that was already circling, and was on a bus direct to the hotel by 3:55 (now that's efficiency). When I finally knocked on the door of the room and Mike welcomed me with a "Hey, you made it!", I finally took a clean breath for the first time in 4 days.

So, some takeaways and comments from this whole experience:

- Even though I'm close to 30, I'm so immature/unsavvy/naive in so many ways. Check the important stuff, stupid. Don't take things for granted, like "They'll send me a notification if I need to renew my passport, right?"
- Thanks to Mike for finding the info on companies that can do fast renewals.
- Turns out that as cynical as it can sound... money can actually provide opportunities when it seems like there are none. 'Course, he who continues to throw money at problems without actually solving them or preventing them from happening in the future, will soon be without any money.
- Things that are more likely to stress me out are circumstances that I cannot control, such as traffic delaying me from making a deadline.
- When I'm under stress, I tend to withdraw and get really, really quiet (Shally got to experience this, for the first time in our relationship).
- Speaking of Shally, thanks to her for being a great support and outlet to help me get through everything:
[06:12:35 PM] Shally: how ya doing?
[06:12:41 PM] Bob: stressed
[06:13:15 PM] Shally: can you take a sec to take a deep breath, praise God cuz it's gonna work out?
[06:13:59 PM] Bob: thanks for the reminder... just did :)
- I experienced a lot of grace - undeserved favor - in this whole ordeal. There was only 1 more spot open that week for a fast renewal, and I got it. The folks at the company staying late to let me have my passport. I even lost my parking ticket for 5 frantic, muttered-curse-filled minutes in a parking garage before reminding myself to take a deep breath, recenter on God's presence, repenting, and then realizing it was stuck in a crack in my cupholder. It was enough to remind me to leave a Starbuck's doughnut next to a guy sleeping on the street in SF.

Next up: some highlight experiences, and the top things implemented in Japan that we should do here (and vice versa, which is a much smaller list).

Tokyo 2007 recap part 1a - FAQ addendum

What's that on your face?

I have a bit of a mustache and beard going since I mostly didn't shave since I left, so it's about 2 weeks' worth right now. I was fully intending on shaving it all off once I got back, but the amusement from seeing people alternately crack up, stroke their chins, etc. got the best of me. Haven't decided on what I'm going to do with it yet although I have an idea. For those of you who have seen it, you can vote:

a) continue growing them out?
b) shave just the mustache?
c) shave just the beard?
d) shave it all off?
e) (contributed by Mike P) shave just one side of my face?

If you haven't seen me yet, IM me and I'll send you a url with a pic.

Tokyo 2007 recap part 1 - FAQ

Why Tokyo?
Dr. Andy first floated this idea back in November or December. Since he had spent a year there 15 years ago, the daughter in his host family was getting married, and since he and Esther were going to attend anyway, why not make a vacation out of it. The opportunity to experience Japan with a person who could speak, as well as some time with the locals, was enticing, but more than that, it'd be basically a last chance to spend time with these good friends before the wedding. So, Mike P and I took him up on the offer.

How was it?
I'd say it was more of a cultural immersion/mind expansion-type vacation as compared to a chill/relaxation-type vacation. We set a pretty brisk pace moving from sight to site (which word is the right one to use?), took lots of pictures, ate lots of food, and also got to spend a good amount of time with Andy's host family, which gave us an insight into the local culture - quite cool.

I think we were able to pretty much saturate ourselves on Tokyo... the only cultural experiences left would be to attend a baseball game and a sumo match. If I were to go back to Japan, it would probably be to visit some place like Kyoto or Hiroshima.

In upcoming recap posts, I'll tell a few stories and post some pics of sights, food, and things that they do over there that we ought to do here stateside.

Did you have jet lag?
I don't have a large sample size of opportunities for jet lag (having flown over an ocean only twice in the last 20 years) but after sleeping 2 hrs on the plane and a 2 hr nap after getting home, I was pretty much synched back up again... unlike Mike, who apparently slept from Saturday night till Sunday at 4 pm when he called us while we were at basketball.

Did you buy anything?
We brought home a bunch of snacks and a few gifts. We did have our eyes open for a Wii just about the entire time we were there (given the relatively weak yen and absence of sales tax) but alas, were unsuccessful.

Did you really say "Ninja" to anyone?
Nope, only under my breath. I was too afraid I'd get shuriken-ed. Seriously though, it's pretty westernized over there - aside from the language barrier, I didn't feel that out of place.

Although... Andy did tell this story when we were at the touristy-street market outside the Senso-ji temple, when he and Esther got separated from Mike and me:

"When we couldn't find you guys, I was thinking, 'Uh oh, how are we going to find two Asian-Americans in this sea of Asian people?' But then I realized I didn't need to worry, because I spotted Bob pretty easily. One, he's taller than most of the people around him, and two, he was wandering around with this pleasant, 'Where am I?' look on his face."

Sayonara!

If all goes well, I'll be wandering around Tokyo muttering "Ninja?" to all the Japanese people. Wish me luck! (and maybe some Divine protection for this woefully un-savvy traveller)

Ballin' with celebrities

My bro just IM'ed me:

2:54 PM Dave: guess who i just played basketball with
adam sandler
holla
hahah
3:04 PM me: how?
3:06 PM Dave: he was at the gym
so we called next
hahaah
he's decent
we should have won
but my friends were rusty
b/c one friend ran over to play
me: he's pretty tall right?
Dave: nah
5'8?
me: shorter than me?
3:07 PM how does he play
Dave: umm
perimeter
weak jump shot
good court vision
good movement
better than me
but not good

Sorry for the lack of posts this week... hectic. I'll make it up to y'all when I get back.

If I were an M&M...

Make your own M&M at Become An M&M.

A question...

Would you rather feel:

a) unloved and alone in the world?

or

b) inadequate and disrespected by everyone?

And why?

Weekend recap and other recent thoughts

A bunch of us bid farewell to Esther this past weekend, who's heading down to LA to getready for the wedding and marriage to Dr. Andy. Had a nice time reminiscing about various memories from the last couple of years. I was already missing Andy from my primary weekly community (even though his frequent visits the last few months mitigated that some), and now it'll be even more apparent that they're not around anymore. I'm still excited to see how God shapes their new life together in SoCal.

Also, I'll be spending a week with them (and Mike P) in Tokyo in about a week and a half. Looking forward to getting a glimpse of a new culture! I have an awful lot of background reading to do before then (hello, Wikipedia!) so I have some idea of what to look at. Can't rely just on the Simpsons for my education:


Remarkable happening: I ran my streak in Bang! games of dying first to 6 straight, complete with the unlikely hat trick of dying first 3 times in 2 games on Sunday (I got resurrected by a special card and promptly died again). Man, I stink.

Saturday night, Shally and I were generously given some tickets by Phoebe to a neighborhood concert at 1st Presbyterian Church in downtown San Jose, called "Downtown Sounds: Faith With a Beat." We got to hear some piano-based Gospel, some rap/hip-hop, and Stanfurd's a capella group Testimony. The latter was actually quite good - they took some well-known CCM songs such as "Shackles" by Mary Mary, "Liquid" by Jars, and even "The Papaya Song" and jazzed them up with the vocal arrangements and harmonies (including a beatbox rhythm performed by a girl - usually I've seen guys do the beatboxing). I actually ended up picking up their album - yes, yes, I gave money to Stanfurd. No big deal, right? S and I then hit up Cluck U's (University Chicken) afterward for a late night hot wing dinner. Tasty.

Speaking of Stanfurd, saw this written on ESPN this morning... harsh, but kinda funny:

Stanford upset No. 3 UCLA 75-68 last night in a victory that saw Cardinal fans rush out of the stands after the final buzzer as though Carrie Fisher suddenly appeared at midcourt in her Princess Leia costume. Then there was a lot of awkward nerd jumping and high-fiving. And then I presume the excited few who didn't succumb to asthma attacks or have their frail bodies trampled headed off to storm a comic book shop en masse.

Star Wars fan? Must-read article here on how some of the events in Episodes 4-6 need to be reinterpreted based on what we now know from the prequels. For example, the writer asserts that R2-D2 and Chewbacca are the Rebellion's top field agents and real "stars".