Entries this day: Beauty_and_Function Bling_Blingin' Breakfast Connected_almost Eminem Lost_hotel_key

Beauty and Function

5:36am JST Saturday 29 March 2003

I've been up for an hour. Many things in Japan are beautiful and/or functional:

(!) Made green tea with the little tea brewing set on the desk. I put the tea pot on the electric burner, pushed the on button. Few minutes later, the water was boiling, but I couldn't figure out how to turn it off. Pushed the ON button again and that didn't change anything. I hoped I hadn't just reset a timer to heat it for five minutes or something.

Picked up the teapot and it turned off. I verified that it wasn't just coincidence. When I pick up the pot, the heating element turns off. Nice.

(@) There are three pushbutton switches and a clock built into the headboard of the bed. One switch turns on/off the overhead light. One turns on/off the light above the bed. One turns on/off a little light at the base of the headboard, perfect for illuminating the way to the restroom at night, without being too bright in sleepy eyes.

(#) The toilet is a marvel in itself.
(&) sit on the seat and the bowl begins to fill with water, rather noisily, possibly to politely cover any splashing noises of one's own.
(&) finish the job and then press the button labeled with a picture that looks like water spraying up at a butt. Guess what it does? Warm water to clean, and a pressure adjustment that spans from not-enough-to-reach to water-fountain-out-of-control all the way past the bathroom door (not that the door is all that far away in a small Japanese restroom).
(&) and then a button labled with water spraying up at a seated woman produces a gentler, wider stream of warm water aimed for the vulva (or testicles)
(&) the seat and lid open easily, but they make no noise when they close. Ever knock the lid down on a toilet at night, causing a huge clatter and possibly waking up the entire house? Not here. The seat and lid each descend softly and silently shut.

(*) There's a flashlight at the bottom of the headboard (for use in case of earthquakes). It turns on automatically when taken off its hook and off automatically when placed on its hook. How? The tube of the flashlight has a slot cut into it right where the batteries touch. The hook slides into that slot, both pushing the batteries apart and holding the flashlight in place.

Mood: contemplative Music: Mirah _You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This_

Bling Blingin'

6:48am JST Saturday 29 March 2003

You know what's crazy? I've got 218,000 yen in my wallet.

Breakfast

9:08am JST Saturday 29 March 2003

Munched breakfast down in the restaurant; I don't know if it coulda been free because I had a room, but it was an actual buffet, not just a continental breakfast like at a small US hotel.

1600 yen for any of omletted eggs, runny scrambled eggs, ham, sausage, tender beef & veggies, hash browns, croissant, fruit bread, pineapple pudding, chocolate cake (for breakfast! "Japan is great! Give us the chocolate cake!"), peeled hard boiled eggs, corn flakes, peas, ripe bananas, orange slices, apple slices, noodle salad, coffee, tea, milk, orange juice, tomato juice, and grapefruit juice.

I tried to take cues from those around me on polite table manners. It seemed that they used the same plates to get more food, and more people had both hands/wrists on the table than one hand in lap. No elbows on tables. No one threw food or climbed on the table; no one shouted or stuffed whole bananas into their mouth.

No tips left on tables, but a wait person would pick up all the used dishes and stuff.

Connected almost

10:06am JST Saturday 29 March 2003

I'm at Virgin Megastore, with English music and announcer over the loudspeaker. Fiona said this is where they have an internet cafe and she's exactly right, but the cafe opens at 11am. However, the computers are all wirelessly connected. So I should be able to connect right now. They even have three different wireless signals to choose from.

BUT! Each one requires and password, and the password is not "virgin" for any of them.

12:54pm JST Saturday 29 March 2003

Nice. I got some phat time online chatting with peeps and reading lots of emails and replying to some. Many people who want to keep getting my updates! I replied to those that were particularly funny replies.

I gotta split and buy chapstick and meet Andrew, Cookie, et. al. under the four story clock at the building where Nova is headquarters!

Eminem

1:55pm JST Saturday 29 March 2003

Oh my gosh.

If I understand this little card correctly, Eminem is playing somewhere in Japan on May 23rd and May 24th!! Could it be?

Yes, it could.

Is it?

I don't know. But if Cookie does in fact meet us (me, so far) here, I'll ask him, and ask him to help me purchase tickets for the show. I hope I can go! I won't quit my job over it, but I'll definitely ask for the evening off.

Whoooo!!

Lost hotel key

3:23pm JST Saturday 29 March 2003

Fuck.

I lost my hotel key.

3:41pm

Okay. I'm in my room but still no key. I paid 2100 yen because I lost my key, but when I asked for another to get into my room they said they would have to make it.

Maybe she meant they have to go get it. But I'm up in my room with no key, while I should be out looking all the places I've been to find it. I've got all my shit dumped out onto my bed from my backpack which is the only thing I had with me.

3:43pm

Okay. I called the front desk and told them I'm going to go look for it. They said my new one would be ready in two hours.

5:06pm

Wow. What a rollercoaster. I *almost* left my room and thought, "what if someone found my key and comes to take all my stuff (computer) while I'm gone?" I flipped a coin, "heads means I'll do something about protecting my stuff.." it was tails. My stuff will be safe.

I've gone from feeling like an idiot lost in a world where I cannot speak nor read the language, carefully repeating "sumimasen," which is a general "I'm sorry" good for slight bumps or inconveniences, then "I lost my key" in slow words while pointing to my piece of paper on which one of the people downstairs wrote in Japanese "charge for losing key" on the receipt I received after paying 2100 yen.

Once I realized it didn't say "I lost my key," I had someone else write "I lost my key" on a different piece of paper, but the kanji looked close enough that I thought it was the same thing.

People who didn't know English gave me various responses when I showed the first paper. One cop showed me where the hotel is. Close.

A girl soliciting money for the apparently helpless people who live on a volcanic island and have no food could speak enough English to tell me "same" when pointing to English "I LOST MY KEY" and the Japanese script on the second piece of paper. Ah.

Showed the second piece of paper and got faster results. "Nope, no key here, bub," but in Japanese of course.

In the building where the Nova office is located, one cat said, "you follow please" and I followed him up an elevator and to a room that said "EMERGENCY" where I showed the correct piece of paper. They hadn't seen a key.

Up to the Nova office where I had been for a second to see Cookie (turns out he saw some of the others (Andrew, Janelle, Kevin I'm guessing) meet up, but they weren't actually "by the clock" which is where I understood we were to meet. I didn't really think they'd be there, which is why I didn't search around too much, but just wrote a letter to Colleen sitting exactly underneath the huge clock). They hadn't seen a key either.

Back downstairs to where I had purchased stationery for writing said letter. Showed the second piece of paper and the woman instantly said "ah" and turned around, grabbed the key.

"Arigato, arigato" Thank you thank you.

Though I had intentionally kept my mood up, suddenly my mood launched. I sang to myself:

"I found my key
I'm so happy
Everyone look at me
cause I found my key"

All the way back to the hotel. I smilingly showed they key to one of the girls who had helped me. Up to the front desk I showed the key and the receipt. He took both and then gave me my 2100 yen back.

"But I still need a key."

"Ah, just one second please."

After a bit he returned with a new key. Fair enough.

Back in my room I'm like, "I AM THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD!!!" for having negotiated through all of that to get my key and my 2100 yen back, jack. Aright.