My 8th week (has it already been that long) in Japan began with me sleeping in a bit Sunday before heading off to Nagoya and the Toyota Museum of Cars. This day was also my first real mulligan of the trip when after consulting my Japan guide book I believed the museum was located in one of Nagoya’s suburbs, namely Sakae. Believing it was fairly close from the train station I decided to take a cab and save some time and trouble since by the time I arrived in Nagoya it was raining as well pushing 3PM and the museum was closing at 5PM. Once we set off and began the slow ride through Nagoya after 20 minutes I began to see the outskirts of the city. My cabbie who was very friendly spoke no English but seemed clear where we were headed even if I was not. As we began to leave Nagoya I realized that actually there are two museums belonging to the Toyota company and although I was headed to the one I wanted it was actually several miles north of Nagoya. After the 30 minute trip we pulled up to the museum and I not so happily handed over 6800 yen ($65) for the cab’s services. Although I was still mad at myself for screwing up the directions the museum was great and housed roughly 300 cars from all nations from FDR’s presidential sedan to a limited edition Lamborghini Countach as well as many early Japanese models. I also learned something new about Japan as I began to depart the museum near the closing time and had yet not had any lunch. At the modern silver and glass cafeteria in the museum I saw they were advertising “chili dogs” which was quite surprising and something I had not seen since arriving in Japan. Being enticed by the thought of a chili dog (all the car viewing had me in an all American mood maybe) I plunked down my 300 yen and waited. The clerk took a seemingly average hot dog popped it into the microwave, waited the requisite 12 seconds and handed it to me with a polite bow. When I asked where the chili was he pointed to a red picnic style ketchup container sitting quietly on the counter next to me. Although the Japanese are nothing if honest and low key in their advertising calling a microwaved hot dog with ketchup on it a “chili dog” is a true affront to chili dogs the world over. After leaving the museum this time I located the proper subway, which was ultra modern and by far the nicest I have seen yet in Japan. As I made the 40 minute ride back to Nagoya, I paused and angered myself again as I paid about 5 dollars for the trip as opposed to the expensive route I took there earlier in the day. Once returning to Nagoya I spent the remainder of my Sunday touring around the streets of Sakae and even located the Outback Steakhouse which I promise to use as Break In Case of Emergency location either for myself or an visitors should they make it to Japan and are in need of a good American chain restaurant. I then headed home near midnight and called it an early night. The following day was one of those lazy days that at times give me trouble here in Japan. Other than a trip to the department store for a Starbucks, some food shopping as well as picking up my weekly dry cleaning I did little else to report. For some reason doing absolutely nothing at home in the US seemed fine but doing that here in Japan feels completely wrong even though it is often what is most needed after the long workweek.
After another week at the office, and when I say office I mean 100 Japanese kids screaming and begging for me to throw them in the air on Saturday I headed to Fushimi to check out Ryan’s DJ gig at Club Maverick with some other English teachers. The true fun part was I decided to take my first trip to a Japanese capsule hotel as a place to stay after my night out in Nagoya. As I may have said before the only bad part at all thus far regarding public transport in the Japan is the lack of late night service. Therefore rather than spending for the near 70 dollar cab ride home if you miss the last train (12:08AM) the 2800 yen ($26.50) price for a night in a capsule hotel is a much more economical and easy way to enjoy a night out without worry. After stopping in Kanayama to drop off my bags at the hotel I headed to the club and had a fun night listening to some music and meeting some friends over some (OK many) drinks before returning to Nagoya Inn Capsule at about 4:30AM. The hotel is located in a rather plain looking office building in the area of Nagoya known as Kanayama. Kanayama is one of those typical Japanese locations, crowds, bright lights and tons of traffic, it sort of reminded me of the town on Mars from the Schwarzenegger movie, Total Recall where he meets the chick with three boobs. After reaching the 7th floor and removing my shoes I headed thru the large TV room where several Japanese men were sleeping off hangovers on weathered couches before reaching my capsule. I climbed the ladder and hopped in and immediately was taken at how spacious and comfortable the space was. Although the unit would never be called “big” it is certainly a more than adequate place to sleep after a night out. The unit which is about as wide as a double bed even allowed me to sit up without my head touching the top of the capsule so it certainly is not “underwear-drawer like” small either. On the side are controls for the built in TV as well as a panel containing a small shelf for belongings, a built in alarm clock, personal air conditioning control as well as a radio.
So this is where Week 8 comes to a close, where I always hoped it would falling asleep in a capsule hotel in my new city in the wee hours of the morning, rain falling in buckets outside with Kyoto and clear skies on the agenda for tomorrow. As I have often spoke of before there are things about traveling that can be frustrating but the high one can get from not only surviving but surviving well in a completely foreign place is unmatched.
Japanese Baseball Update After winning the championship last season after years of futility (sound familiar) my home team, the Chunichi Dragons from Nagoya had a rough off-season as their best and most popular player, Fukodome took off for the greener pastures of Wrigley Field in Chicago. This year after a somewhat lackluster regular season they played well down the stretch and made it to the playoffs as a wild card ultimately knocking off the heavily favored, Hanshin Tigers (Red Sox of Japan, years of futility, recent success, rabid fan base) of Osaka in the first round of the playoffs before falling to the hated Yomuiri Giants (NY Yankees of Japan, deep pockets, insufferable fan base) of Tokyo.
One interesting thing to note about baseball in Japan is the ability to tie in a post season game (if the game if still tied after 12 innings it is called a draw as the Dragons/Giants Game 3 was) as well as the top team having all playoff games at their stadium, as a wild card team the Dragons never played another home game at Nagoya Dome once the regular season ended. I’m sure someone could do a much better job of summing it up but baseball is a good social barometer for the differences between Japan and the US. I can never envision a situation in a tooth and nail playoff series two teams playing to a tie and the fans being satisfied with that in the States.
Inglewood Up to No Good One of the best parts of this week was hearing California Love by 2PAC at Maverick as Japanese club patrons bounced happily on the dance floor.
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