How I spent my summer vacation #2
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
This story left off as I headed to Kamakura, a day trip on the JR Chuo-Soba line. Although I'd already seen the Daibutsu ("Big Buddha") at Nara's Todaiji temple (and wormed my way through the hole in the temple pillar said to be the size of Todaiji's Daibutsu's nostril...this is said to guarantee one a space in Buddhist heaven), but Kamakura's Daibutsu is the famous landmark statue that sits outdoors, resplendent in verdigris, beaming beatifically at all who pass. You can even go inside for 20 yen and look at all the welding (not recommended if you're really tall or claustrophobic). Worth a look, but not nearly as interesting as the nearby Hasedera, dedicated to Kannon , the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The main shrine features a beautiful and unique eleven-headed figure of Kannon, said to be the largest wooden statue in Japan. There is also a very interesting cave with many different sculptures of different gods and goddesses (definitely not for tall or claustrophobic people). The museum is worth visiting, and there is a beautiful overlook, where you can see the sea, which is not all that easy to do in much of Japan...
May is an interesting time to travel in Japan. It seems that every schoolchild is on a class trip. Elementary schoolchildren are in flocks, all wearing yellow hats. Middle schoolers wear uniforms, as do high school students. Many times in Japan, someone will ask you to take their picture ("Shasshin wo totte kudasai"--Please take a picture for me). That's what I thought was meant initially, but this time was different. What I was being asked was to appear in the picture with the students. I'm not entirely sure why, probably the novelty of having one's picture taken with a foreigner, although Kamakura is a famous tourist destination, and not all that far outside Tokyo. Maybe they were also practicing their English, as well, although I would have been perfectly happy to speak to them in Japanese. I really don't much care to be photographed, but in Japan, being polite is more important than you can imagine, so I was a good sport and played along. This happened quite a few times, which freaked me out a bit, but what can you do? (At least I didn't hear the one phrase I just hate, so I didn't have to call anybody rude or uncultured...)
Then it was back to Tokyo, and Akihabara, electronic gadget capital of the universe. Not many bargains to be had here (probably more likely in Osaka's Den Den Town, as Kansaijin are noted for bargaining prowess, but I've not tested my mettle there yet...I'm getting better at Kansai dialect, but I still have a long way to go...) but there sure is a lot of stuff. This is not a place for the faint of heart, the light of wallet, or those people who just have to have it all. If I should ever win the lottery ("takarakuji attara...") there are quite a few things I'd like to come and pick up, not the least of which include:
--a massage chair (the ones that get imported here just don't have all the features the domestic models are packed with, although there's a Panasonic model that's close at costco.com)
--a laptop (what the Japanese pack into one kilogram never ceases to amaze me! and we get stuck with big, clunky, ugly things... )
--(in my dreams), a Japanese cellphone that would work on some network over here (not a GSM one)...the prepaid phone I got for less than $100 is more feature laden than anything you can get over here for three times the price, and a lot smaller to boot. But it only works in Japan...all the GSM phones they had were the big clunky ones you can get over here, and there were no good deals. If I extend my contract with my current carrier, I'll get at least $150 subsidy toward a new handset...but should I wait for UMTS? Should I go for convergence, as much as I fear combining my valuable PDA with my not -valuable keitai? Too many questions, so little time...
Akihabara is a large urban neighborhood, filled with nothing but electronics and related stores--software, music, games, phones, you name it. Of course, there are a few other things like banks, the ubiquitous SBUX, takkyubin, and conbini, but the focus is on electronic powered stuff. Everything from computers (pasokon) , home appliances, cameras, walkman, office automation gear (like labelwriters), electronic musical instruments, anything you can think of that runs off of wall current or batteries. Some stores that have duty free areas also have cheezy souvenirs like t-shirts and imitation samurai swords, but that is definitely not the main business of Akihabara. You can get custom LAN cables cut off of reels of cable and terminated on the spot, NICs by the handful, odd lot, used, and discontinued gear, anything from Cisco routers to Sony Clie PDAs. Buy your own transistors and build your own boards--there are even places with old vacuum tubes, should you need such things. Test marketing in Japan is done by running up a couple hundred of something and stationing a sha'in (company employee) from Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi in the store to see who looks at it, who picks it up, who asks questions, who plays with it, who buys it over what period of time. There are gadgets in Japan that will never see these shores that are cooler than cool. I could spend a couple of days in Akihabara exploring, just seeing all there is to see, but there is so much to see it is far too much in the short time I had.
...to be continued
May is an interesting time to travel in Japan. It seems that every schoolchild is on a class trip. Elementary schoolchildren are in flocks, all wearing yellow hats. Middle schoolers wear uniforms, as do high school students. Many times in Japan, someone will ask you to take their picture ("Shasshin wo totte kudasai"--Please take a picture for me). That's what I thought was meant initially, but this time was different. What I was being asked was to appear in the picture with the students. I'm not entirely sure why, probably the novelty of having one's picture taken with a foreigner, although Kamakura is a famous tourist destination, and not all that far outside Tokyo. Maybe they were also practicing their English, as well, although I would have been perfectly happy to speak to them in Japanese. I really don't much care to be photographed, but in Japan, being polite is more important than you can imagine, so I was a good sport and played along. This happened quite a few times, which freaked me out a bit, but what can you do? (At least I didn't hear the one phrase I just hate, so I didn't have to call anybody rude or uncultured...)
Then it was back to Tokyo, and Akihabara, electronic gadget capital of the universe. Not many bargains to be had here (probably more likely in Osaka's Den Den Town, as Kansaijin are noted for bargaining prowess, but I've not tested my mettle there yet...I'm getting better at Kansai dialect, but I still have a long way to go...) but there sure is a lot of stuff. This is not a place for the faint of heart, the light of wallet, or those people who just have to have it all. If I should ever win the lottery ("takarakuji attara...") there are quite a few things I'd like to come and pick up, not the least of which include:
--a massage chair (the ones that get imported here just don't have all the features the domestic models are packed with, although there's a Panasonic model that's close at costco.com)
--a laptop (what the Japanese pack into one kilogram never ceases to amaze me! and we get stuck with big, clunky, ugly things... )
--(in my dreams), a Japanese cellphone that would work on some network over here (not a GSM one)...the prepaid phone I got for less than $100 is more feature laden than anything you can get over here for three times the price, and a lot smaller to boot. But it only works in Japan...all the GSM phones they had were the big clunky ones you can get over here, and there were no good deals. If I extend my contract with my current carrier, I'll get at least $150 subsidy toward a new handset...but should I wait for UMTS? Should I go for convergence, as much as I fear combining my valuable PDA with my not -valuable keitai? Too many questions, so little time...
Akihabara is a large urban neighborhood, filled with nothing but electronics and related stores--software, music, games, phones, you name it. Of course, there are a few other things like banks, the ubiquitous SBUX, takkyubin, and conbini, but the focus is on electronic powered stuff. Everything from computers (pasokon) , home appliances, cameras, walkman, office automation gear (like labelwriters), electronic musical instruments, anything you can think of that runs off of wall current or batteries. Some stores that have duty free areas also have cheezy souvenirs like t-shirts and imitation samurai swords, but that is definitely not the main business of Akihabara. You can get custom LAN cables cut off of reels of cable and terminated on the spot, NICs by the handful, odd lot, used, and discontinued gear, anything from Cisco routers to Sony Clie PDAs. Buy your own transistors and build your own boards--there are even places with old vacuum tubes, should you need such things. Test marketing in Japan is done by running up a couple hundred of something and stationing a sha'in (company employee) from Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi in the store to see who looks at it, who picks it up, who asks questions, who plays with it, who buys it over what period of time. There are gadgets in Japan that will never see these shores that are cooler than cool. I could spend a couple of days in Akihabara exploring, just seeing all there is to see, but there is so much to see it is far too much in the short time I had.
...to be continued
Stardock Forums