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Published: February 1st 2008
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When I left Japan six weeks ago, I left not knowing if or when I would return. It was a challenging year and a half for me but I made it through with a few new friendships, thousands of great photographs, and numerous stories.
For months I had been talking with my friend Burt about traveling in India, Nepal, and Cambodia. We had it all planned out and I had found amazing ticket deals - all of our flights for only $1250!
Well, kudos to Dad. I had been putting in a little time over at his company, attempting to give his office a complete makeover, when the national group for nondestructive testing asked if we knew of someone who’d be willing to fly to Japan (economy-class) to proctor some professional certification exams. I jokingly raised my hand… Next thing I know I’m reading a notebook of material and taking a proctor certification exam. Then I’m researching flights to Japan, shopping, packing, booking tickets, and WHAM!
In the blink of an eye, I’m sitting in my hotel room in Tokyo, drinking tea and watching absurd television. My brief stint back home just seems like some dream I had.
Inside my hotel
There was a bowling alley, movie theater, shopping mall, and even Sea World-esque aquatic arena. It was a nice dream, though I’m sorry that not everyone was in it. Please don’t be upset if I didn’t meet up with you - it doesn’t mean I don’t love you, I just didn’t have enough time. But I’ll be back soon and I’m planning on sticking around a while longer. Hell, I even signed up for a cell phone!
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I was met at the airport by a nice little man by the name of Mr. Jimbo. Jimbo-san was to take care of me during my stay in Tokyo and he did a great job. At our first lunch, he was surprised that I “could” eat sushi and that I liked it! I told him that I also like unagi (eel) but that it was expensive in Texas and you only got tiny pieces of it. So he took it upon himself to find an unagi restaurant within walking distance from the exam center. I can safely say that I’ve had enough to last me for quite a while.
The testing was pretty boring - eight hours of watching between six and fifteen Japanese men sweat it out over difficult English engineering exams. It
Omurice
Omelet and rice combo that I've been missing. did give me some time to reflect on some things, which until then I hadn’t had the time to do.
I’d like to say that I missed Japan. There are definitely things that I like about this country and that I do miss, but on the whole I was unhappy here and it taints my view. And any bit of nostalgia that I had been feeling during my first few days quickly evaporated on my last full day in Tokyo…
I came to Japan with all 63 exams in a locked, hard-case box. As I was not leaving Japan right away, I was to ship them back to the society in that box. So the last day of testing I dragged the case back to the hotel and asked the guest relations people about my shipment options. They told me that the hotel across the street had DHL service, which is what the society preferred. Great, I’ll send that off first thing in the morning, grab some breakfast, then go tour Tokyo for the day before picking my passport up from the Indian embassy at 5:30.
The next morning, I lugged that thing all the way
over to the other hotel where I am informed that no, they only ship documents. I returned to my hotel and asked the front desk where to go. They sent me to the baggage delivery service. After talking to them for a while, I learned that I have to ship stuff in their boxes (regular cardboard things). When I told them that I must ship the case as is, they told me to speak with guest relations. Alright, so I tried guest relations again. They said they could ship it and I started filling out paperwork. Oh, but it’s 32kg (about 70lbs), so it’s too heavy for them to ship. Fine, call FedEx. They called FedEx and I talked to the customer service person. They’d send a courier to pick it up, but they wouldn’t be able to get there until after 12. Well, checkout’s 11AM and I had wanted to do something, but instead I agreed and asked for a late checkout. They informed me that they would call me when the courier was on his way, so I took the case back up to my room and finally got some breakfast (around 10AM when I’d been up since
Yeah...
Only in Japan would you turn on the TV and see this. I wonder why Oprah never has a show like this. 7AM). Then I went back up to my room and proceeded to watch a movie on my computer while I waited for their call. Half-past noon rolled around, and I still haven’t received a call. One arrived and I rang FedEx customer service again. Apparently they had called the front desk an hour before, but the front desk failed to contact me. I told them to recall the courier and to call me back, but to dial my room directly because I didn’t trust the front desk. It was almost two and I hadn’t heard anything. I extended my checkout again. I called FedEx again and practically threatened them. Next thing I knew there was a knock at my door, and it was the courier with a woman from guest relations. If she was not about my age and had nothing to do with the situation, I would have really bit her head off. As it was though, I growled at her enough to get my point across without making her cry.
I have had so many situations like this in Japan that it just infuriated me more. For a place that many believe to be a model of
efficiency, it is sometimes severely lacking in organization and communication and therefore it takes fives times as long to do anything!
It’s good that I’ve been to Tokyo twice before and have seen most of what I want to see there. The two things I hadn’t done were stay at a capsule hotel and visit the Tsukiji Fish Market. Now I can at least cross the first one off the list.
My last night was spent in what would be my mom’s worst nightmare - a capsule hotel. I found the capsule to be roomier than I had imagined. I fit myself, my big rucksack, and my daypack in there comfortably. It could have been a little cushier, but all in all, it was a pretty decent place. They provide you with a yukata (robe) and some towels, there’s a TV and radio in the capsule, and they had free internet.
That’s it for Tokyo. Now I’m going to have some fun!
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anonymous
non-member comment
how deep were the easy-bake-motel rooms? I'm guessing someone like me would have to hang feet out of the door. Looks like a car trip in a station wagon.... ahhh, memories.