Wandering Musings

Two posts in one day, after two weeks of nothing? Crazy!

Not really. Yesterday marked my two month anniversary in Japan. I can’t believe it’s only been two months. In some ways it feels much much longer, yet at the same time things are still new and foreign, like I just stepped off the plane.

So, funny story. Last Monday, around 9:30, I was woken by my doorbell/intercom buzzing. I always hate answering because there’s a very good chance I’ll have no idea what the person is saying. Not surprisingly, the man was speaking Japanese. A phrase I’ve found very useful: Gomenasai, Nihongo ga wakarimasen. I’m sorry, I don’t understand Japanese. This just made him speak slower. Like that helps! I figured out he was with the internet company. As with most apartments, you have to buzz people in from downstairs… a simple task, right? Not if you don’t know what the buttons on your intercom mean. I pushed one, and suddenly a very loud alarm started ringing throughout my apartment. GREAT! I couldn’t make it stop, so I ended up pulling the button off the intercom. That stopped it. I changed quickly (meanwhile, the guy keeps buzzing my apartment) and opened my door to run down and let him in. Someone else had already let him in because he was right there, standing outside my door. All right. So he came in and I showed him where the phone port is. He pulled out his cell and started talking to someone while tinkering with the outlet. So THEN someone else buzzed my intercom. He said a whole string of something. I apologized and used my useful phrase again, but he didn’t even bother to slow his speech. So I opened the door to go downstairs again, but again, this man was standing right outside my door. With absolutely no idea what he was saying, I just kept apologizing. Of course it had something to do with the alarm I had pressed, but how do you explain it was just an accident using gestures alone? Then the internet guy joined the ‘conversation’ and it got a little awkward. I’m sure the maintanence guy thought I was being attacked or something. He and the internet guy talked, and, I guess, worked everything out. The internet guy had me sign a few papers and that was that.

It all worked out… and makes for a pretty entertaining story at least. And hey, now I know what one more button does. I’ll have to add it to the list.

It’s been a while since my last post. October and November are the busiest months at Aeon, I’ve been told. I certainly don’t disagree! So forgive me if my posts are lacking over the coming weeks. I do have some pictures for you. Not many, but these constitute the final day of my Hokkaido trip. Suzanne and I had a few hours to wander around Sapporo before catching the train to the airport.

The famous clocktower, Tokeidai, in Sapporo. I didn’t have high expectations, since I’d read it’s nothing spectacular. But it was very quaint, and an icon of the city – one of those things you have to see while there, just to say you’ve seen it.

A slightly disorienting angle, but it was a difficult building to photograph. From afar, it looked like a gigantic television screen displaying a shimmery underwater scene. Up close, you could see that the outer face was actually composed of thousands of various shaded blue tiles swaying in the breeze. Very cool.

Another brightly colored building.

Sapporo’s eki (train station) in the hub of the city, and a close-up of the clock. I don’t particularly have a thing for clocks… Sapporo just happens to have quite a few of them.

Preparing to depart. I got in trouble for taking these pictures – no electronic equipment allowed during takeoff. Nevermind that we weren’t actually moving yet, and that digital cameras don’t emit electrical signals, but… there’s wisdom in knowing when to pick your battles.

…There’s also wisdom in knowing when to be sneaky. These I did snap during takeoff. Sorry about the poor quality. The sun was at a horrible angle. That large mountain, I believe, is Mt. Yotei, one of the 100 most famous mountains of Japan.

And that’s it. Hokkaido was beautiful, and definitely worth visiting. Perhaps I’ll return to see the famous snow festival this winter. Although come winter I’ll most likely be sick of snow and ready to jet off to Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost island, for a tropical getaway. Stay tuned…