Gifu City
Waking up to the call of nature I walked briskly through the arctic-like cold - down the hallway to Yuya's bathroom. Since the Japanese winters are quite mild, barely any of the homes have any central heating, so they depend on electric stand-alone units to heat the areas they are using which are of course off during the night. The daytime temperatures are perfect in comparison - a pleasant 15-17 degrees.
The one saving grace during these late night bathroom visits though are the Japanese toilet seats - the coolest anywhere for sure. All have the standard base and tank, but most have an electronic toilet seat. As soon as you sit down you can hear and feel the seat begin to warm up. Then, after your business, you could just get up, flush and go, but if you want the bidet option the toilet seat will do that for you as well - with settings for men and women of course. The one in Yuya's parents' place even auto-flushes, and some others (in the X Wave hotel for example) begin to pour water into the bowl after you sit to mask the sound of any natural disasters.
I went back to bed, and eventually woke up to the sound of Yuya and my parents talking outside my guest room at the table. I quickly washed up and joined them at Yuya's parents' place for some breakfast. After scrambled eggs, mini sausages, toast and coffee, we had some kitchen table discussions including mini-English and Japanese lessons for all.
I had hoped we would visit a Ramen (noodle soup) restaurant in Japan, so Yuya took my parents and I to one that is quite popular in Gifu, where the Canadian paparazzi unleashed their cameras on the unsuspecting staff. We started with some very fresh gyoza - Chinese dumplings - before being served two types of Ramen, both quite spicy and made for hungry people. Yuya ordered everything, including gigantic beers for my Dad and I which I had serious trouble polishing off.
We then went to a popular nature park in Gifu and had a nice walk around, taking pictures of some Japanese Coy, monuments, more cars of course, and numerous flower arrangements that were part of a local competition. All of this was at the base of Gifu mountain and castle, near the children's playground I remember Yuya taking me to last time I was here - a large wooden obstacle course. We took a break at the tourism centre where cable-car rides to the top of the mountain are booked, and sat for some hot vending-machine coffee. Whenever they say hot though this means the can is like molten lava, but the coffee itself is just above warm. I am now deeply missing Starbucks.
Returning to the car, Yuya then whisked us through the narrow Japanese roads, his engine screaming in the background as he wove through the tight bends and hairpin turns, uphill to a fantastic look-out point where we got a great view of Gifu city. The drive back down the mountain was almost as exciting if it weren't for obtrusive reflectors on the centre line that were placed every two feet, and would seem to take out a tire if one were to stray over the line slightly - which isn't hard to do given the narrowness of these roads.
Once back on ground level, we hit a drug store - quite the experience in comparison to Shopper's Drug Mart - then eventually made it home around 6.30 pm or so. Rina also joined us for dinner - Yuya's mom made some great enoki mushroom soup and fried chicken.
After dinner we gave Yuya and Rina some wedding gifts - his parents gave me a very ornate Japanese gift card with some serious cash money inside. Maybe I should stay in Japan until I spend it all! They also showed us a very nice wedding book they made for themselves; thick pages like a nursery school book, and very professional wedding photos with Yuya wearing a very formal kimono, and Rina clad in 4 eccentric kimonos, from deep red, colourful and flowery varieties to an immaculate white. Obviously the Japanese women put more effort into this than the men! Or maybe Yuya's just lazy. Whichever.
We then fled to our rooms and settled in for the night, preparing for a trip back to Tokyo in the morning to get a taste of the big city.
2007-11-26
2007-11-25
Japan: Day 2
Tokyo to Gifu
The faint sound of a Japanese alarm clock combined with the delicate ring of the wake-up phone call brought me into the morning. It was 5:40 AM and time to have a nice shower, shave and repacking of clothes before scrambling for the bus... likely down the road again.
The night before I had realized that my ziplock bag of personal care items withstood the explosive blast of my body wash container, and everything inside had been covered in a clear, aromatic ooze. I washed everything out that night so I was in business this morning - all was dry and ready to go.
Of course the Kovach's were the last ones on the bus, but we weren't too late. The shuttle headed back to Narita airport where we received breakfast vouchers for ¥1,000 ($10) and went to grab some food at an airport coffee shop. My parents had an American-like breakfast, and I opted for a Japanese meal which was quite good. We then had to catch the Narita express train which would connect us at Tokyo station with the Shinkansen.
After a series of elevators, escalators and numerous underground paths it was obvious that my parents' dual rollie-bags were becoming a nuissance while navigating the Japanese underground - and all because of blind people. The Japanese have large, rubberized embossed dots indicating a change in elevation - whether it be stairs, elevators or an incline; and large lines which signify an exit. These are great for the blind, but not so great when my beloved parents are each carrying two rolling bags in addition to jackets and a violin, and the casters catch on these little nubs and cause serious baggage management issues.
Nevertheless, we arrive at Tokyo station, make our way through the terminals via another series of clean underground pathways until we arrive on the platform, and board the Shinkansen. As expected we leave on time, and the train flies toward Nagoya at a million kilometres per hour.
On arrival at Nagoya train station, Yuya's dad, Masami and his fiance, Rina were there to meet us. We drove toward Gifu - me with my camera out the window every five minutes to take shots of numerous passing cars that I didn't recognize, or buildings with loud advertising which usually involves the use of random English words for cool factor.
Just after parking in the Shimoda's driveway, we greeted Yuya and his mother - they pulled in right behind us, Yuya driving his brand new four-door Civic Type-R - and entered Yuya's late grandfather's house. Since his grandfather passed away, they had renovated the street-facing house, where Yuya and Rina will live after the wedding. Yuya's parents still occupy the connected house behind his grandfathers', and both homes rest at the dead end of a very narrow street just barely wide enough for two-directional traffic.
After some kitchen-table discussions, and giving us a tour of their renovations, my Dad got out his violin and had a rehearsal with Rina's friend (also Rina) who will accompany him with the piano. I sat glued to the computer and did some much needed emailing while the duo played on, and Rina selected which pieces she would wanted to hear during the reception.
When the rehearsal concluded, we were whisked off to the cars as our favourite big-sushi restaurant was going to fill up soon, and if we wanted a seat we best move out. Yuya's parents took off first to grab some seats while Yuya hung back to wait for the fat Canadians to get their act together. We then piled into the Type-R and the V-TEC kicked in quite a few times during our express trip to the restaurant, Senari. What a car.
The Shimodas treated us to quite a feast. The sushi chefs worked their magic, and placed gigantic pieces of sushi covering miniature pieces of rice - or in the case of the tamago (egg-omelette sushi) the rice was nori-strapped to the top of a huge slab of egg. We sat and drank a lot of sake, and consumed many rounds of fish, grilled whole shrimp, chowan mushi (egg and seafood soup) and fresh seaweed - all placed directly on the countertop. The most entertaining part of the evening involved watching two guys at the bar inhale packs of cigarettes while dipping flaming Fugu fish fins into a large cup of sake.
When the Canadians were full, we eventually headed back to Yuya's place and drifted off to sleep before 9pm.
The faint sound of a Japanese alarm clock combined with the delicate ring of the wake-up phone call brought me into the morning. It was 5:40 AM and time to have a nice shower, shave and repacking of clothes before scrambling for the bus... likely down the road again.
The night before I had realized that my ziplock bag of personal care items withstood the explosive blast of my body wash container, and everything inside had been covered in a clear, aromatic ooze. I washed everything out that night so I was in business this morning - all was dry and ready to go.
Of course the Kovach's were the last ones on the bus, but we weren't too late. The shuttle headed back to Narita airport where we received breakfast vouchers for ¥1,000 ($10) and went to grab some food at an airport coffee shop. My parents had an American-like breakfast, and I opted for a Japanese meal which was quite good. We then had to catch the Narita express train which would connect us at Tokyo station with the Shinkansen.
After a series of elevators, escalators and numerous underground paths it was obvious that my parents' dual rollie-bags were becoming a nuissance while navigating the Japanese underground - and all because of blind people. The Japanese have large, rubberized embossed dots indicating a change in elevation - whether it be stairs, elevators or an incline; and large lines which signify an exit. These are great for the blind, but not so great when my beloved parents are each carrying two rolling bags in addition to jackets and a violin, and the casters catch on these little nubs and cause serious baggage management issues.
Nevertheless, we arrive at Tokyo station, make our way through the terminals via another series of clean underground pathways until we arrive on the platform, and board the Shinkansen. As expected we leave on time, and the train flies toward Nagoya at a million kilometres per hour.
On arrival at Nagoya train station, Yuya's dad, Masami and his fiance, Rina were there to meet us. We drove toward Gifu - me with my camera out the window every five minutes to take shots of numerous passing cars that I didn't recognize, or buildings with loud advertising which usually involves the use of random English words for cool factor.
Just after parking in the Shimoda's driveway, we greeted Yuya and his mother - they pulled in right behind us, Yuya driving his brand new four-door Civic Type-R - and entered Yuya's late grandfather's house. Since his grandfather passed away, they had renovated the street-facing house, where Yuya and Rina will live after the wedding. Yuya's parents still occupy the connected house behind his grandfathers', and both homes rest at the dead end of a very narrow street just barely wide enough for two-directional traffic.
After some kitchen-table discussions, and giving us a tour of their renovations, my Dad got out his violin and had a rehearsal with Rina's friend (also Rina) who will accompany him with the piano. I sat glued to the computer and did some much needed emailing while the duo played on, and Rina selected which pieces she would wanted to hear during the reception.
When the rehearsal concluded, we were whisked off to the cars as our favourite big-sushi restaurant was going to fill up soon, and if we wanted a seat we best move out. Yuya's parents took off first to grab some seats while Yuya hung back to wait for the fat Canadians to get their act together. We then piled into the Type-R and the V-TEC kicked in quite a few times during our express trip to the restaurant, Senari. What a car.
The Shimodas treated us to quite a feast. The sushi chefs worked their magic, and placed gigantic pieces of sushi covering miniature pieces of rice - or in the case of the tamago (egg-omelette sushi) the rice was nori-strapped to the top of a huge slab of egg. We sat and drank a lot of sake, and consumed many rounds of fish, grilled whole shrimp, chowan mushi (egg and seafood soup) and fresh seaweed - all placed directly on the countertop. The most entertaining part of the evening involved watching two guys at the bar inhale packs of cigarettes while dipping flaming Fugu fish fins into a large cup of sake.
When the Canadians were full, we eventually headed back to Yuya's place and drifted off to sleep before 9pm.
2007-11-24
Japan: Day 1
Toronto to Tokyo
[6.55pm EST]
So here we are - my parents and I waiting in the Air Canada Airbus A340 at Pearson International Airport for our take off to Japan. It must be a timely one as well, seeing as how the time between our landing in Tokyo, and our leaving for Nagoya is only an hour and a half.
We sit calmly as we hear that the navigation systems have become unexpectedly problematic. Not to worry, so assures our captain. "It's not unlike your computer at home. Sometimes you just need to reboot it to get things working."
Well that gives me a burst of confidence, let me tell you! The fact that this multi-millon dollar aircraft is similar to my error-prone Windows desktop at home that I got on sale for $1.95 provides all the comfort I need to know that hitting CTRL+ALT+DEL on our jumbo jet we will not only take off safely, but let us arrive alive with all of our limbs intact. I am now fairly certain that there is little chance of the GPS system conking out in mid-flight and directing us into the path of a large mountain face. In Kazakhstan.
Anyway, the power shuts off for about five minutes, then turns back on. About 10 minutes later our captain comes on the air again, indicating that - as expected - the reboot worked. Another problem has developed however in the engine! Super. "A valve in one of the engines is frozen shut - all it takes is to move it back and forth a few times, and we should be good to go. Sorry for the delay folks - we just have to wait for the ground crew to help us out."
So just a valve is it? Good thing the problem lies in one of the engines and not something important. Like the navigation system.
After another hour or so of waiting, we end up running into traffic. On the runway. No, we're not taxiing yet - we're apparently on the wrong side of the runway, and need to wait 20 minutes for the runway to clear so that we can cross it and make our way to the de-icing area. As we eventually cross the runway, and sit in a line up for about a week we are finally promoted to the status of "de-ice-able". This means that the airport services guys in the earmuffs outside run the expensive machinery which blasts alcohol and ethelyne glycol (anti-freeze) on the wings and fuselage of the plane, so that nothing gets frozen stuck during take off (or in mid-flight).
We end up leaving the runway 3 hours late. Needless to say we will not be meeting our connecting flight on time. This sounds like an episode of the Amazing Race already. How typically Canadian. At least we have a good selection of in-flight entertainment to maintain our sanity: Ocean's 13, Chicago - or "our classic movie" as the steward referred to it, or some Harry Potter flick. I'm glad I have my technology to keep me company.
Dinner provided us with an option of seafood tempura, or "the chicken". Though I chose the latter in the interest of nutritional value - assuming both options would have some Japanese flare to them - it was obvious from the man beside me that I picked the wrong one. After some time he likely assumed I was attempting to come onto him by the number of times I looked over and drooled. Oh well. The sake was a great hit though, so if anything is calming my nerves on this flight, it's the booze.
On to read another chapter of The Art of Intrusion, and we'll pick this up later on.
Over and out.
...
We arrive at Tokyo's Narita Airport, and the pilot announces that All Nippon Airlines (ANA) - along with Air Canada in the Star Alliance group of airlines - will have people available to help with rebooking various flights for those who were relatively stranded due to the Toronto weather delay. We all know it was an Air Canada stupidity delay more than anything else, but I'll leave that alone for now.
After disembarkation, ANA have setup a booth immediately outside the gangplank. You think our Canadian counterparts would have done that? I think not - it always seems like mass chaos at Pearson whenever there are flight delays and cancellations. The girls from ANA - even with their limited English skills - were great at assisting us. Unfortunately the flight we had missed that evening would not run again until tomorrow evening, so they indicated we could alternatively take the Shinkanzen - the Japanese bullet train - and that would be leaving around 10 AM the next morning.
A woman from Toronto who was likely going to miss her 8:30 am tour bus in Nagoya the next day was obviously upset since neither of the options would help her get there on time. Since there were some frustration and some language barrier issues, a really nice Japanese kid - who was also part of the flight delay mess - helped out the ANA girls with some more advanced English translation. I can't remember his name now for the life of me but he was a great help. Ultimately ANA would have a shuttle bus to take us to a hotel tonight, a boxed dinner, then a shuttle in the morning so we could connect with the inter-city train that would take us to the Shinkanzen.
Passport control was about a 20 minute wait in line, after which we had to have both index fingers printed and our picture taken - courtesy of an all-in-one job by NEC. After emerging from the security check, we grabbed our checked bags, went through a very brisk customs check, and headed for the ANA counter where we would receive our boxed dinners and await the shuttle bus. We ate our surprisingly good boxed dinner at the airport with him before the bus arrived to take us to the X Wave hotel.
The shuttle drove us approximately 60km away from the airport, and eventually turned down a typically-narrow Japanese road, stopped at the dead end, backed the behemoth up in a tight parking lot entrance and stopped outside what looked like a Thai rub-n-tug parlour. Are we seriously staying overnight in the Tokyo ghetto? Nobody said we were bound for the Marriot, but we weren't expecting the X Wave to be this dire. Then again, by Canadian standards even a Japanese dive is pretty nice in comparison to what ours would be.
As it turned out we weren't staying at the adjacent building. The hotel was actually back up the street, across the main road, at the end of the street. The bus couldn't have turned around there so of course the larger woman of the tourists on our bus complained that walking more than 30 feet was required. Let's go fattie - if you wanna sleep you better hop to it.
The hotel was adequate - definitely not catering to the luxury starved but nice for a change. We were each given our own individual rooms and settled in for the night after having some beer, Cup Noodle and tea from the ubiquitous vending machines - both inside the building and scattered around the street corners.
We watched some TV programs we couldn't understand until about 1:00 AM Japanese time, then settled in for the night since we had a bus to catch at 7:00 AM the next day.
[6.55pm EST]
So here we are - my parents and I waiting in the Air Canada Airbus A340 at Pearson International Airport for our take off to Japan. It must be a timely one as well, seeing as how the time between our landing in Tokyo, and our leaving for Nagoya is only an hour and a half.
We sit calmly as we hear that the navigation systems have become unexpectedly problematic. Not to worry, so assures our captain. "It's not unlike your computer at home. Sometimes you just need to reboot it to get things working."
Well that gives me a burst of confidence, let me tell you! The fact that this multi-millon dollar aircraft is similar to my error-prone Windows desktop at home that I got on sale for $1.95 provides all the comfort I need to know that hitting CTRL+ALT+DEL on our jumbo jet we will not only take off safely, but let us arrive alive with all of our limbs intact. I am now fairly certain that there is little chance of the GPS system conking out in mid-flight and directing us into the path of a large mountain face. In Kazakhstan.
Anyway, the power shuts off for about five minutes, then turns back on. About 10 minutes later our captain comes on the air again, indicating that - as expected - the reboot worked. Another problem has developed however in the engine! Super. "A valve in one of the engines is frozen shut - all it takes is to move it back and forth a few times, and we should be good to go. Sorry for the delay folks - we just have to wait for the ground crew to help us out."
So just a valve is it? Good thing the problem lies in one of the engines and not something important. Like the navigation system.
After another hour or so of waiting, we end up running into traffic. On the runway. No, we're not taxiing yet - we're apparently on the wrong side of the runway, and need to wait 20 minutes for the runway to clear so that we can cross it and make our way to the de-icing area. As we eventually cross the runway, and sit in a line up for about a week we are finally promoted to the status of "de-ice-able". This means that the airport services guys in the earmuffs outside run the expensive machinery which blasts alcohol and ethelyne glycol (anti-freeze) on the wings and fuselage of the plane, so that nothing gets frozen stuck during take off (or in mid-flight).
We end up leaving the runway 3 hours late. Needless to say we will not be meeting our connecting flight on time. This sounds like an episode of the Amazing Race already. How typically Canadian. At least we have a good selection of in-flight entertainment to maintain our sanity: Ocean's 13, Chicago - or "our classic movie" as the steward referred to it, or some Harry Potter flick. I'm glad I have my technology to keep me company.
Dinner provided us with an option of seafood tempura, or "the chicken". Though I chose the latter in the interest of nutritional value - assuming both options would have some Japanese flare to them - it was obvious from the man beside me that I picked the wrong one. After some time he likely assumed I was attempting to come onto him by the number of times I looked over and drooled. Oh well. The sake was a great hit though, so if anything is calming my nerves on this flight, it's the booze.
On to read another chapter of The Art of Intrusion, and we'll pick this up later on.
Over and out.
...
We arrive at Tokyo's Narita Airport, and the pilot announces that All Nippon Airlines (ANA) - along with Air Canada in the Star Alliance group of airlines - will have people available to help with rebooking various flights for those who were relatively stranded due to the Toronto weather delay. We all know it was an Air Canada stupidity delay more than anything else, but I'll leave that alone for now.
After disembarkation, ANA have setup a booth immediately outside the gangplank. You think our Canadian counterparts would have done that? I think not - it always seems like mass chaos at Pearson whenever there are flight delays and cancellations. The girls from ANA - even with their limited English skills - were great at assisting us. Unfortunately the flight we had missed that evening would not run again until tomorrow evening, so they indicated we could alternatively take the Shinkanzen - the Japanese bullet train - and that would be leaving around 10 AM the next morning.
A woman from Toronto who was likely going to miss her 8:30 am tour bus in Nagoya the next day was obviously upset since neither of the options would help her get there on time. Since there were some frustration and some language barrier issues, a really nice Japanese kid - who was also part of the flight delay mess - helped out the ANA girls with some more advanced English translation. I can't remember his name now for the life of me but he was a great help. Ultimately ANA would have a shuttle bus to take us to a hotel tonight, a boxed dinner, then a shuttle in the morning so we could connect with the inter-city train that would take us to the Shinkanzen.
Passport control was about a 20 minute wait in line, after which we had to have both index fingers printed and our picture taken - courtesy of an all-in-one job by NEC. After emerging from the security check, we grabbed our checked bags, went through a very brisk customs check, and headed for the ANA counter where we would receive our boxed dinners and await the shuttle bus. We ate our surprisingly good boxed dinner at the airport with him before the bus arrived to take us to the X Wave hotel.
The shuttle drove us approximately 60km away from the airport, and eventually turned down a typically-narrow Japanese road, stopped at the dead end, backed the behemoth up in a tight parking lot entrance and stopped outside what looked like a Thai rub-n-tug parlour. Are we seriously staying overnight in the Tokyo ghetto? Nobody said we were bound for the Marriot, but we weren't expecting the X Wave to be this dire. Then again, by Canadian standards even a Japanese dive is pretty nice in comparison to what ours would be.
As it turned out we weren't staying at the adjacent building. The hotel was actually back up the street, across the main road, at the end of the street. The bus couldn't have turned around there so of course the larger woman of the tourists on our bus complained that walking more than 30 feet was required. Let's go fattie - if you wanna sleep you better hop to it.
The hotel was adequate - definitely not catering to the luxury starved but nice for a change. We were each given our own individual rooms and settled in for the night after having some beer, Cup Noodle and tea from the ubiquitous vending machines - both inside the building and scattered around the street corners.
We watched some TV programs we couldn't understand until about 1:00 AM Japanese time, then settled in for the night since we had a bus to catch at 7:00 AM the next day.
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