‘Well then,’ the iPad arrives and pandemonium strikes Tokyo. The trains and the cafe’s have those enjoying the new toy. It was pointless to even try to touch it at Apple Ginza, but it was slightly possible at Yodobashi Akiba – with a five-minute maximum limit. The announcement coincides generally with another anniversary (8 years this time around).
After being excited about Snow Leopard for quite some time now and getting it the day after release. I’m pissed off. It just won’t install. I’ve tried for hours on several computers for days and it just hangs. Now reading, I see that dozens upon dozens are having this problem, and it is indeed as I suspected. Faulty duplication. Upon examination of my disk I see that the culprit is the same as all other reports … Mediagate something or other “Recorded in Singapore!” mine is B09 000124, but I’ve seen reports of 000119. I guess I get to make another trip down to Ginza to see if they’ll deign to replace this thing (though I hear from most all that stocks are sold out and in many instances Apple blamed the user in the earliest cases – though have now backed off of that – and just have been saying to keep checking). After all this, the Air has zero OS because, of course, clean install is the best idea if the install DVD does not fail. This “master” DVD even fails verification in Disk Utility! I never thought to check that. URGH!
Again … I’m not sure of any interesting things going on other than this great restaurant … Spice Pierrot in Ginza. We’ve been going there every weekend for months now and they’ve changed their menu somewhat.
Journeys throughout Tokyo still have yet to reveal a Nintendo DS Lite for me. I had my first steak today in 20ish years. It was at TGi Friday’s in Ginza. It was okay but it made me remember that I don’t like steak. Except if it’s filet mignon stuffed with blue cheese with a red wine demi-gloss … the one from Abigails in San Jose. Nothing can compare to that. Except that it cost about a pair of nice Adidas shoes. Oh well, it was an experience. Other than that we went shopping. E joined Tipness and had to get new shoes as they don’t allow street things to invade the gym. They have tanning beds but it’s typically Japanese. You use a coin to buy a ticket at a machine, then talk to a person to exchange the ticket for a coin, and then put the coin in the machine. Efficiency. They also don’t provide towels unless you pay extra. And if you have a tattoo, the you’re immediately banned from the club.
I’ve been reading “My Name is Red” which was a gift from E for Christmas. It won the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2006 and is quite interesting although dry at first. The name refers to the fact that the story has a swaying point of view … including the POV of the color red … you read it right … the story from the point of view of a color.
It’s been some time since an update due to some vicissitudes of global life. I’m here in Tokyo. In a guesthouse. In a guesthouse that is smaller than closets that I’ve known before. And it is expensive to be here despite the minuscule size and the “kitchen” which is a shared cubbyhole with no hot water, and a coin operated shower on the next floor beside the coin operated washing machine to go along with the coin operated dryer which does not dry but takes a great many hours to try. The toilet is also on another floor and there is no hot water there either. But it is all okay because I need to be here. Those who know know why.
I put out a few CV’s and got a nice response. I’ve accepted a position with a school and look forward to the interesting experiences that will provide. It’s not all final though. I’ve still got to get through the rigourous visa process which can take another month and I’ve got to find another place to live with more space that is not shared. This place now has enough room for the single bunk and room for the door to open and nothing else. I’m hoping to find somewhere that might allow more than 1.5 feet of walking space around the bed (which space is not occupied by the single pole to hang clothes upon) but that doesn’t look good with the budget.
In all my time in Asia it’s been stinking hot and I never imagined being so freezing cold here. It’s raining all the time and I’ve taken to wearing a jacket. It’s incredible. I really didn’t know much about Japan before. My favorite thing is the curries now. It’s nothing like the Thai or Indian ones and it’s quite brilliant. There are lots of Indian places around, but sadly, nothing remotely Singaporean.
We did go to a few places, but I’ve been underwhelmed. You always hear that Tokyo is so incredible and vibrant and amazingly mindblowingly incredible … but I don’t see it. We went to the Rainbow Bridge and the largest ferris wheel in the world and it was not as amazing as I thought it would be. The most incredible thing about here is the way that the city transforms from day to night. In Shinjuku by day it’s just a regular business center, but by night it lights up quasi-Vegas style. Akihabara is geek central, but perhaps less so that Sim-Lim in Singapore. The Imperial Palace was not so great, but noone can go anywhere near it anyway. The most perplexing thing is that you always hear about how Japan is so crowded, but all the places we’ve been are pretty much empty. Perhaps this is just not the right season for seeing the sites? Well, the metro is crowded, thanks.
I’m staying in Ginza and there is an Apple store here with daily auditorium style tips on usage. There is also the Sony headquarters a block away where they supposedly have all the cutting edge stuff to play with and I expect to go there soon. Hello Kitty has an insane following everywhere and any aficionado would just die.
We went to a museum celebrating the Japanese war heros – eg. war criminals. They had displays stating facts about how the US forced Japan into a war and how the Japanese prevailed by destroying the entire American fleet at Pearl Harbour.
The remarkable thing, I suppose, is that I’ve yet to have a “bad” meal. No matter if it is expensive with posh surroundings or cheap and dingy … the food is great. Dishearteningly though, I am already tired of Japanese food much of the time.
