took the plunge tonight

[Windmill Boy]

Hello all

After a  year of dreaming / planning, I  just  took  the  plunge  and  bought  my  non  refundable tickets  for  Japan  tonight.  Jan 20 - Feb  11   for $541.90.   Went  with  Northwest,  I could  have gotten it literally a  couple  of  dollars  cheaper  through  Japan Air Lines or  American Airlines (Same JAL flight) but  they  couldn't  issue  E-tickets for  some  strange reason.  And they  would  have  slapped  you  with  a  $ 45  service fee  for  mailing  out  the  tickets  to  you within 2  days -- go  figure.

At  least I  am  still  getting  2  meals  each  flight (a rarity  for  American  based  companies  right?)  and  I  Scored  the  same  seat  on  both  flights without a  seat  in  front of  mine.  What  is  the  price I  will  have  to  pay  for  that  ha ha ha ---  eau de  Toilet nearby?

Called mother  tonight  and  I  found  out  that  she  will  spring  for  my  3  week  Japan  rail  pass  as  a  Christmas  present  Ho ho ho -- not  a  bad  deal  in  my  book!  Now  If I  can  scam  a  few  nights  at  the  Tokyo $  seasons  for free  I  will  be  styleing.

Sapporo  girl  fell  through  but  I  have  a few  other  people  to  visit with, but nothing  romanticlly  inclined  though on the horizon.

Still hoping trying to  pass  my  Japanese class  --  at  least I  am  familiar  with  about 500 words  more  than I  was  before  the class  even  If I  cant  conjigate  the  proper  tenses  and I  use  the  wrong  particles at  the  wrong  times too  ha ha ha.

Gingerbread  season  is  upon us  and I  decided  to  do  an  Art  deco  styled  movie  theater  this  year  so  now I  will  have  to  pull  that  out  of  my  hat  in  the  next  couple  of  weeks too.

Que'  Sara Sara sara  what  ever  will be .....

That  Windmill  Boy

[Howard]

... in response to took  the plunge tonight, posted by Windmill Boy on Nov 20, 2002

WB,

I hope you have a BLAST

Good Luck and Godspeed, fellow travelor

Keep the Faith

H

[Bob S]

... in response to took  the plunge tonight, posted by Windmill Boy on Nov 20, 2002

Welcome to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Is that rail pass for local trains only, or can you get on the Shinkansen with it?  It is worth looking into.  Bullet train is sweet.  I'm across half the country in a couple hours.  But it is about as expensive as an airplane ticket.

(I'll check with my students to see if any want to meet up with an American traveller and show him around.)

See you soon!

Bob in Japan

[Jeff S]

... in response to Re: took  the plunge tonight, posted by Bob S on Nov 21, 2002

It includes the Shinkansen. You can only buy it if you have a tourist visa and only outside Japan - so you're probably out of luck. We buy the certificates before we leave from the travel agent in LA, but you have to redeem it at a bigger JR station in Japan. They've always checked our passports and Mari-chan's green card:

http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en01.shtml

A 14 day green car pass is about $500 and a regular is $350 - that's about the same as one round trip from Kansai airport to my wife's family's neighborhood in Kokura. One trip there about 5 years ago, I was on the shinkansen every day for seven days. It works for everything except private lines and most subways. I was on some teeny local trains in rural Yamaguchi and on the main Hikairi lines between Tokyo and Osaka

- Jeff

[Bob S]

... in response to Re: Re: took  the plunge tonight, posted by Jeff S on Nov 21, 2002

Oh yeah, I knew going in that I was S.O.L. as far as getting a JR pass.  But the longest is only good for 21 days.  I typcially go 60 or more days between Shinkansen trips anyways.  Round trip from Tokyo to Kansai area runs around 28,000 yen or about the price of a regular 7-day JR pass.  No real change for me.  It's all good.

[Jeff S]

... in response to took  the plunge tonight, posted by Windmill Boy on Nov 20, 2002

Off to the land of the little people.

You might want to stay at some minshuku (like bed and breakfasts or Phils pension house as was discussed on the board a while back.) The first entry in the list if you search "minshuku" on Google (the site promotion filter wouldn't let me post the URL for some reason) called The Japan Mishuku Center, is a great English language reference with listings of these accomodations all over Japan and a little about whet to expect, how to act, etc.

For $5000 to $8000 yen per night ($42-$65) per night and including breakfast and dinner, it's a great travel deal for Japan, plus there's the full language and culture immersion advantage you won't get by staying at hotels. You'll probably have to write to them and explain how you're allergic to seafood including katsuo-dashi (the basic soup stock used for almost everything - made from dried skipjack tuna.) That'll throw them for a loop. I hope you like curried rice and yaki soba (Japanese style chow mein noodles) because those will probably be the main substitute for the main staple of Japanese inns - nabe (a big creamic pot with katsu and seafood broth, with fish and veggies simmered inside) Especially in winter, nabe-mono is the mainstay of rural Japan.

Your post brought a flood of nostalgia back in my single days on business in Japan. Most Japanese women will think it's far cuter if you make major gaffes using the language than if you're fluent - so go ahead and boldly use your limited Japanese. I sometimes use the wrong words on purpose, just to tease. Gaijin who are fluent in Japanese are a bit scary to most Japanese - and I'm sure you'll find plenty of young people who would like to practice their English on you, They all learn in school, but few ever get a chance to try it out - at least most of those in the countryside.

Anyway, tanoshimi-nasai!

- Jeff

[NateD]

... in response to O Medeto gozaimus, Elic-san., posted by Jeff S on Nov 21, 2002

Hey Jeff,

Reading over your little post gave me a bit of nostalgia and brought back some fond memories from Japan...and some not so fond ones.

When I was studying at Chubu last year, we lived in a dormitory.  The food there was...so-so.  In fact, whenever it was beef curry night, we all ended up with our mouths watering because it was some REALLY GOOD stuff!  I absolutely love it!  I've also found, recently, that I no longer really care so much for the traditional long-grain rice here in the States and think I'll have to hunt some short grain rice out because of the way it clumps together.

When I stayed at my host family's for the weekend, the first night I was there, my host mother fixed sushi for us, as well as some really delicious chicken (it had some kind of breading on it that was sweet, almost like honey).  And then on Sunday, before I returned to the university, she fixed some nabemono.  And I have to say that the nabemono was absolutely delicious!

These days, whenever i tell someone that I managed to develop a liking for sushi while I was in Japan, they look at me and wrinkle their nose.  But it's really good stuff!

Ja mata,
NateD

[Jeff S]

... in response to nostalgia, posted by NateD on Nov 21, 2002

Don't know about your neighborhood, but around here Japanese rice is common and cheap. There are several brands grown in California and are as good as the Japanese versions - Shirakiku, Tamaki-mai, Botan, Cal-Rose, Kokuho Rose, are a few. They run between 3.99 and 10.99 for a 20 lb sack. Rice of that quality in Japan would be at least Y5000 for a 10 kg bag - nearly $50. My friends who visit us from Japan are shocked at how cheap and good the rice is here. In fact my old friend from Takasago-shi in Hyogo-ken couldn't get over the fact that rice here is "CHEAPER THAN DOGFOOD!" I still chuckle about that.

Sushi and nabe make up a substantial portion of my diet these days. Out here in Suthern California there's a sushi bar on every street corner. Most cater to haku-jin (california rolls, crunchy rolls, etc..) and don't have such good fish, so you have to look around a bit to find one with primo fish. Nonetheless, there are half a dozen good ones within 15 or 20 minutes of my house to choose from.

You know they make curry packaged sauce. You just cook up the meat and veggies and dump the block of curry sauce in, stir for a while and it makes great Japanese style curry. House and Vermont are two brands available around here. If you have any difficulty finding it, just let me know.

The chicken you describe sounds like chicken kara-age or sometimes called sesame chicken. Part of the secret of that sweet tasting batter is ground up goma (sesame seeds)

Geez I'm getting hungry with all this talk of food.

-Jeff

[joemc]

... in response to took  the plunge tonight, posted by Windmill Boy on Nov 20, 2002

Hi Wind,
     It's good that you have taken that plunge.
     you'll have fun,Japan is great place to be.
     If you have the time and chance take a trip to Kobe.
     It's good to hear from you,I hope you have a
     trip report when you come back.

[Dave H]

... in response to Re: took  the plunge tonight, posted by joemc on Nov 21, 2002

Hi Joe,

How's it going?

I would also suggest that WB tries a "whale dog on a stick." I hear that Ray highly recommends them. )))

Dave H.

[Jeff S]

... in response to I agree!, posted by Dave H on Nov 21, 2002

.. back in the 50s, Japan's economy was horrible, the country was rebuilding from the ashes of WWII and food was scarce. Whale meat was an inexpensive, readily available protien. It was common in school lunches. My wife didn't care for it and her family considered it lowly fare - only suitable if there was nothing else to eat, so she never went out of her way to have it. Others of her generation and a bit older, people in the 50 to 65 year old range, ate much more of it, out of necessity back then, so acquired a taste for it. Kind of like remembering your mom's fried chicken when you were a kid.

These days it's considered a delicasy. We have a mid 50s Japanese couple friends and the husband loves whale meat sashimi (raw) He has it every time he goes back to Japan, but it's getting rarer and more expensive all the time. I suspect the roast whale on a stick from a street vendor is now either extinct or will be soon. I doubt the practice of eating whales will ever stop completely - even though the laws will forbit harvesting them, but the high price and scarcity will probably keep a black market on the meat going for a long while.

- Jeff

[Bob S]

... in response to When my wife was growing up..., posted by Jeff S on Nov 22, 2002

"whale meat sashimi (raw) ... it's getting rarer and more expensive"

At an izakaya with some students, one obasan almost talked me into trying a plate of basashi with her till we got a look at the price (~$20 for a small plate of 4 pieces of horse sashimi).  We gave it a pass.  Went for the pig intestine stew instead.  While not completely disgusting, I don't plan to order it on my own any time soon.
Don't know what I'm going to do if someone offers me maguro no me (tuna eyeball) or inago (fried grasshoppers).  Ii-tadakimasu! (Bon appetit!)

[Ray]

... in response to I agree!, posted by Dave H on Nov 21, 2002

Dave: That ain't no corn-fed beef in them corn dogs! Actually, whale meat tastes pretty good if you don’t know what you’re eating. Is whale meat a seafood???

Windmill: If you have the opportunity, you should definitely try some Kobe beef while you’re over there. You’ve never tasted anything like it! Have a great trip!

Ray

[Windmill Boy]

... in response to I agree!, posted by Dave H on Nov 21, 2002

Werk om te Leven  Leef niet om te werken

(work to live - don't live to work)

[Dave H]

... in response to Is  that  the  seafood  variety  of  the..., posted by Windmill Boy on Nov 21, 2002

Hi WB,

Is whale considered seafood? I wonder if you are allergic to it? Ray found out that whale oil is better than x-lax. ROFLMAOCUMLTNTPIMP!!! (coughing up my lungs trying not to piss in my pants) Or maybe better yet "CIMP" (crap in my pants) If you do eat a "whale dog on a stick" from a street vendor, I suggest putting on a Depends (adult diaper) first. LOL It all happens so quickly you may not find a CR in time! Besides, it's hard for you tall guys to squat down low enough to make it through the little hole in the floor. He he he...ha ha ha

trouwen vermogend... ...uittreden jong (marry rich - retire young) LOL

I used a Dutch online translator, so that probably isn't the proper way to say it.

Here's a web page of onlne dictionaries and translators (posted before) for guys looking to translate letters and emails in just about any language (Bisaya, Tagalog, Hiligaynon, Burmese, Chinese, Gilbertese, Japanese, Javanese, Taiwanese, Korean, Fijian, Indonesian, Malay, Nepali, Samoan, Thai, Tibetan, etc. http://www.word2word.com/

Dave H.