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travel logs | japan 3 / 17 complete |
| mexico written, to be posted | ||
| moscow coming soon |
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Travel report day 1 - shifting to fast time Travel report day 2 - waking up and getting up has never been easy... Travel report day 3 - Cherry blossoms in Ueno park and gadgets from Akihabara
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eyeweiss goes japan!トビ will try to post as soon as
an adequate WLan hotspot is found....
This should be fun.  Posted: Thu - April 1, 2004 at 03:05 PM Travel report day 1 - shifting to fast timeIt's 14:49 hours, but they call it ten minutes to two here in London.
As I pass Assembly Point A, it is beginning to dawn on me that things
are turning different. All the cars have a tendency to drive on the wrong
side, and I finally shift into hyper-perception mode: everything remained
the same, yet everything looks different and interesting.
 
 Heathrow's terminal 1 dislikes wireless networking, so this won't be posted before another 16 hours. The cable for my ixus conveniently rests in my luggage, which with some luck should also make it to tokyo by tomorrow morning. So no pictures until then. update: Terminal 1 does like wireless networking, but thoroughly refuses to accept my credit card number... Flying time left: 11.4 hours Status: bored but not tired anymore... m (G_G) m iPod: Plaid - Rakimou Battery: 72% 21:08: Everybody is asleep, no idea how they pulled it off. We had Mystic River, which features excellent character development and multiple-angle exposition. It's about time we get started with that kind of narrative finesse in games as well. That, and in-game actors like Sean Penn. (^-^) .oO(might be tricky) Flying time left: 7 or so hours<br> Status: sobering up from lunch time wine again, boredom is creeping around the narrow 747 corners iPod: Massive Attack - What Your Soul Sings Battery: 66%
Travel report day 2 - waking up and getting up has never been easy...01:00-ish, now called 9:00 am: I just got spit out of whatever swallowed and chewed me for the last couple of hours. On time to take some shots of these amazing siberian rivers:
Started reading Computer and Video Games: Amazing, a whole world of journalism opened up before my eyes. Honestly a fun read (up to that bit where they describe ShellShock, the vietnam game by the makers of Killzone, as a game for S&M fanatics. Ouch!) And it's called "SM" you wankers! Flying time left: We're crossing Dzhugdzhur Mountains, so that means 2:33h left Status: undead? Sunlight does no harm yet iPod: listening to not much due to excellent Samsonite foam ear plugs d (^o^) b Battery: 57% update: Played a quick game of Go and won by 3.5. Not much, but getting closer to japan seems to help! 12:13: Landing was smooth, so was immigration, customs and getting the Japan Rail Pass. This seems to work. Right as I set my powerbook to Tokyo time, the train leaves. On time. Me, I'm in my car, in my seat. They even marked the numbers on my ticket. First cherry blossoms sighted! 
 
 Everybody is friendly and competent. Another 1:30h on the train, and I should arrive at Ikebukuro station, close to our Kimi-Ryokan. Transit from Narita to Ikebukuro: 1:30h Status: Super-confident. Genki des ka! (^ x ^) Battery: 42% 14:24: It is happening. I have lost all means of communication. The hotel was easy enough to find, thanks to japanese tourism-fool-proof easy usage happy customer pipapo map and description service. The problem was of course arriving way too early. So I bravely, and even more hungrily, set out to explore the district, Ikebukuro-cho or whatever it is called. Haha, lost after one crossroad. New record. 
"rosa" cinemaThen, hunger strikes and I need to feed, so the thought of a big bowl of noodle soup pops up. But here, this is not tourist happy nest, this is very they live. So no engrish signs. Eventually I give up and venture into the only pub that has tables not at the counter. Here I am at "Salvia's", Kirin Ichiban beer and some battery left: 
Time for beer and food to arrive: writing this passage (approx. 6 mins) Status: Happy and hungry (^ ^0) Audio track: Some weird bloke with a microphone outside the restaurant trying to sell something nobody apparently wants Battery: 36% 16:43: I am clean. I had a shower which was like coming back from the dead. Our room is huge, compared to the innards of an average refrigerator. 
The café at the trainstation had wireless lan, but I lacked the necessary WEP code. I'll have to buy that. Online. Haha. But there will be a way. Right now, I'm recharging my p'book and waiting for sasch, who will probably drop in around 10pm. Enough time to download and edit all the pictures you should be seeing already! Time until シュニダーサん arrives: 5 hours Status: (=_=' ) .oO(*busy bee*) Listening to: the guy outside our room painting the stairway Battery: ...charging... On last beer before we finally hit the bed 
 Posted: Sat - April 3, 2004 at 01:37 AM Travel report day 3 - Cherry blossoms in Ueno park and gadgets from Akihabara10:30: We met Trixter
from the gameware forum in Ueno park. As it is cherry blossom season,
people where hanging out and having picknicks or simply wearing cardboard
boxes.
 
 
16:56: finally, found wireless access...in the apple store in ginza (you probably know it from the infamous store openning video...) Much to do, so no pics yet. Go to my .mac site for the high res versions of the other pics. Hot tea from a vending machine. 
Time left for uploading pics: approximately 3 days on this network Status: wet. iPod: New panasonic inner ear headphones Battery: 64% LAter: Akihabara was a blast, of course. Millions of trashy looking stores selling the latest from iPods to rice cookers. We browsed through eight story software shops, the biggest shop for writeable media and 'hobby' collectors places. I bought collectible miniature food and games for the dudes at Rockstar. 
 
 
 
 00:25h: We decided to publish the calendar with all our endeavors to .mac. The items contain the page numbers for the 2003 edition of Lonely Planet Japan ISBN 1 - 74059 - 162 - 3 -d (^o^) b- Time left until curfew: 35 minutes Status: aching all over from running around all day long. Kirin beer is our friend. iPod: is going to be our shopping list, as I sync all the iCal todos onto it. Battery: 42% Posted: Sun - April 4, 2004 at 04:57 PM
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