:: Ray's Periodic Rantings ::

:: Thursday, July 19, 2007 ::

One last trip abroad, without children

The morning of Wednesday, July 4, saw Mary and I at O'Hare Airport, boarding an ANA 777 bound for Narita Airport, outside Tokyo, Japan. We had had a few airline miles saved up, and planned to take a trip to somewhere on the other side of the planet for some time. Then, in April, we discovered that Mary had a bun in the oven, and the urgency of our trip, if we were to do it before there were children in the picture, grew drastically. We were both interested in Japan, and Mary had a couple of friends there who could help us with planning, so we went for it, settling on a 10 day trip in July. We flew home on Saturday, the 14th, and were both spacey from lag until Tuesday.

We visited Tokyo; Kamekura, a seaside destination with plenty of shrines and temples about an hour from Tokyo; Lake Toya, a volcanic lake and hot springs resort on the northern island, Hokkaido; and then the outskirts of Tokyo again. Along the way we had some amazing food, and saw and experienced some things that not everyone gets to see.

If you will indulge me, I made a few observations:

- Having lived in and near Chicago, I am not unaccustomed to big cities, but even I was a little bit intimidated by Tokyo. Granted, I was lagged and tired, but that place is big and dense on a really impressive scale. Seeing it lit up at night, I began to understand the inspiration for some of the dystopian worlds in science fiction books and films. Blade Runner and The Fifth Element come to mind.

- Almost moreso than in the United States, the Japanese seem either connected to the earth, or far removed from it. Every little bit of land that can grow rice or other crops is planted, yet many seem addicted to the blaring noise and distractions in the pachinko parlors.

- With a lot of people in such a small country, the Japanese have recognized the importance of a robust passenger rail system, with fast, frequent service to virtually everywhere. They have had to...if everyone drove cars all the time, they couldn't build enough roads to get themselves around. As it is, traffic is terrible, almost all the time. By contrast, rail travel there is fast and efficient. Trains depart when they are supposed to, and arrive within a minute or two of when they are supposed to. And, if you have a DoCoMo phone, you can pay for most of it by touching your phone to the turnstile when you enter and leave.

- Many of the newer train systems have very impressive display systems that indicate which stations are coming up, how long it will take to get there, and on which side the doors will open. And in the Tokyo area trains, there is plenty of advertising, of course.

- While many Japanese ride and commute on bicycles, they are generally not allowed on trains. The trains are simply too crowded and strained to capacity.

- On long distance Japanese trains, cell phone users are required to move to the vestibule during their calls. That is a rule I wouldn't mind seeing applied on our local Metra trains.

- The Shinkansen trains are faster than Eurostar trains between London and Paris (I haven't had a chance to ride the true French TGVs yet), but the ride is smoother and the cars are more airtight. On the Eurostar, I noticed some ear popping when entering and leaving tunnels, but there was almost none of this on the Shinkansen.

- The Japanese continue to eat tuna with seeming disregard for the dangers of its mercury content. I wonder if and when they will see some ill effects from this, and whether it will ever alter their diet.

- Air conditioned spaces in Japan are kept at a comfortable room temperature, instead of cold or freezing like they are here in the States.

- The Japanese really are shorter. At 6'2", I was a good head taller than anyone in the country, except other westerners, and I hit my head on low doorways more than once.

- The Japanese drink less fluids than we do. A glass of water was usually a small, six ounce glass. Coming here, they must think we are addicted to water, constantly carrying our bottles around.

- United Airlines business class sucks compared to ANA.
:: Ray 7:59 PM [+] ::
...