The Adventures of Aaron-san (in Japan)

May 31 - Laws of Playstation and Minidiscs

Well, I didn't do much today other than laundry and cleaning my room, so I thought I'd let people know about Japanese technology. Okay, first, since people are emailing me about this, a Japanese Playstation can not run North American CDs by itself, you need a "Mod chip" to do that, which I can get through some "sources" in Tokyo. Second, A Dual Shock controller (what I got with mine) is an analog controller which is used by some games. Lastly, Mini CDs are not the same as Minidiscs. Mini CDs are CDs which look like the outer few inches are shaved off, and only hold a fraction of the playing time, and is primarily used for music singles, but they will fit any CD player, they just look weird. On to Minidiscs, since everyone has so many questions about them. Okay, a minidisc can hold the same amount of data as a CD, and even double the amount if you record in mono (148 minutes), however, this comes at a price. If you record with just a simple line-in cable or microphone, you will get white noise in the background. Usually this is not a problem if the song is at a reasonable volume, but for those especially quiet pieces, you will definitely notice it (though the mega bass feature and hi-end filters minimize this). If you want CD quality, you need a device like a CD player which has an optical output (you know, lasers and all that stuff). Only the newer CD models have them, though. If you can do that, then the quality is that of a CD, but another problem comes to mind (though I have never seen this happen yet). Apparantly with some CDs, there is some Serial Management Copy Protection System, which will forbid you from copying them to Minidisc format. Again, I have never seen this happen, but I am warned about it in the manual. Other than that, the unit is incredibly cool, and came with so much. Also, if you attach the optional secondary battery pack with 2 AA batteries in addition to the Lip-8 that is in there, you get 22 solid hours of playing (for recording time, half that). A regular Lip-8 will last about 7 or 8 hours, but is charged by plugging the unit into the wall with the battery inside. All-in-all, I really enjoy this device, and I wish it wasn't so expensive in North America. By the way, how much are blank Minidiscs in Canada? The absolute cheapest price I can now get them for is around the equivalent of $1.80 per disc. Pretty sweet, and oh yes, for those with Playstations, the average price per game CD is around the equivalent of about $10-15 used, though the brand new ones run around $25. Still so much better than the $60+ in North America.

May 30 - Nagano City

Here is an interesting twist of fate. I went to Matsumoto (again) to get some more blank Minidiscs, but on the way home I got on the wrong train and ended up in Nagano City (I think when the announcements boomed through the train about cities other then what I expected, I clued in). Nagano city was real nice, though I did not have my camera with me at the time. I saw many interesting buildings and stores there, but the city is very confusing, and I was sketching a map as I walked so I could find my way back to the station. I picked up some little trinkets (post cards, books and such, cheap Playstation CDs), and left for home around 6. Unfortunately, I remembered that while any train that stops at a small station will stop at a larger one, the converse is not always true, so I saw us zoom past Murai, and Hirooka, but make a stop at Shiojiri. I got off, and since I have been here before, I knew how to get back home. Pity I had to wait nearly an hour to get back home. So around 7:45, I made it home.

May 29 - Tako Grande

Okay, let me start with the boring stuff. I finished a whole batch of Perl scripts today, and my bosses are so happy. Wonderful. Okay, after a long day of work, all of us in the office got together and caught the 6:23 train to Matsumoto where we would dine at BadenBaden. It was a quaint little place that was known for it's European Cuisine. Strangely enough, I saw very little European food there at all (once I translated the menu to the best of my ability). Basically, I just sat there, and people brought food for all of us in the office (about 30 or so). Some food was good, but I live by the "eat first, ask questions later scheme". Otherwise, I would starve to death. We started with Tako, which if you don't know, means octopus. I could tell right away because of the suckers. However, everyone was expecting me to eat at least one portion, because they put down all their utensils and stared at me until I did. Fine, and actually, it wasn't that bad, though I thank tons of Italian dressing for that (it was basted in the stuff heavily). We were then served German sausage, some fish pate that looked like mint and chocolate chip ice cream but tasted nothing of the sort, some Graten, and finally the piece de resistance, Kobe beef. I wish I could get this stuff back home. It is probably the best beef I ever had, though its price keeps me from getting more (9oz = $60 approx.) After a few more hours of watching my co-workers getting blitzed off of some German lager, wine, sake, bourbon, scotch, rum, gin, etc. we all went home. I tried not to have too much, though it is a good thing I went home when I did. I finally got home and fell asleep sometime around 1 or so.

May 28 - Shopping and more

Okay, I woke up at a good time, had a decent breakfast, and caught the train at Hirooka so I could arrive at Matsumoto around quarter after 9. Everything was going great, until I realized that nothing opens (except the train station) until 10AM (and they close at 3 in some cases, you would wonder how they stay open). Anyway, I got some plastic cups, a desk lamp, I have a fan waiting for me on the second floor of my residence, so I didn't have to buy one of those), and a pair of shorts (not too badly priced). I picked up some KFC for lunch (yes they do have it here), and just started wandering after that. I found a used game shop where I finally broke down and got a cheap playstation (basic unit + one controller) for the equivalent of about $80. I then noticed their rather large selection of used games and picked up an armful. Hey, at 10 bucks or less, I can't complain, so I got 6 games to keep me amused for a while (including Final Fantasy 7 (say, isn't that out for the PC yet?). This is truly a great store, because they also sell music CDs, Minidiscs (both blank and ones with music on it), toys and novelties imported from other countries (including America), and VHS videos, all excellently priced). I was about to leave (since my arms were full and it was hot), when I looked in another electronics store and lo and behold there were cheap Minidisc players. Wow, an MZR-50 (sony, and top of the line), for under $200, and I could get it tax free with my passport? Sold. I don't have much for it other that what came with it, but it is incredibly amazing. Oh well, after a long day, I headed back to Hirooka, stopped off at a McDonalds, got a Big Mac meal, and headed home to take a shower and relax (strange, according to the scale here, I have lost about 10 pounds. Interesting). Oh, and to top it off, I still have tons 'o' cash to last me until June 20th (I hope).

May 27

I wish it wasn't so hot and sunny all the time here. It makes it real hard to do work (and people like it hot in the office, not that an entire room full of computers and laser printers (did I mention those lasers were colour?) Finished some work on some printers' web pages with Javascript and DHTML. I still have to work on the Perl scripts that make them though... Okay, it looks like the welcome party for me is in Matsumoto at a place called the BadenBaden (Burden Burden). They serve European style food there, I am told, but it is rather expensive (good thing I am not paying for it). I got permission to take tomorrow off to search for some emergency supplies and other stuff (whatever catches my eye). Saw the 1,000,000 yen challenge on TV tonight. It is a show where they pick a family at random and have them do crazy things to try and earn their million yen. One man was asked to recite all 112 elements in the periodic table of the elements in alphabetical order in 3 minutes or less. Another family competed against another family to see who could stay awake the longest after a whole day of running and swimming (and a big late dinner). The winners stayed awake for almost 6 hours from the start (around 11PM). Remember, in this case, the entire family must remain awake (including the kids).

May 26

What a day. I got to play with web pages for most of the day and answer some of my email. Well, it looks like I have a party being thrown in my honour this Friday (if I am reading this email right) in (you guessed it) Matsumoto. Also looks like the guys here want to throw another party on Saturday to celebrate the arrival of Peter. I am starting to get used to all these formalities here, like when you are at any festive occasion (company dinner, party, etc), you always pour for another person (never yourself), and if you take even one sip of your drink, someone WILL fill it up for you. So I guess the secret is to not drink too much. Found out about police policies here too. It seems that they can hold you for up to 48 hours for no reason, if you ever get arrested, the conviction rate here is 98%, and every cop rides in a station wagon (Go Wagon R!) because the streets are so small (A sidewalk and a half in width), and so congested, you could never outrun the cops. Oh yes, speaking of the roads, I don't know if I will ever quite get used to them. Two lanes of traffic try to fit down those sidewalks...er roads. I almost get hit every day because there is no shoulder, just fences and concrete walls. Oh well, as long as you keep your eyes open, everything is okay. Besides, people drive reasonably well here. I don't think I will ever get used to riding in the drivers side of a car as a passenger (it seems really weird).

May 25 - Payday

Hooray! I actually have money now. Too bad it will be too late to go shopping tonight, and everything closes here on Tuesday. I will have to take a day off this week and go get some much needed shopping done. I was given another lecture on the policies of the plant by someone in personnel today. Some old stuff, but at least I didn't need to rely too heavily on the translator there. The last of the Waterloo students arrived today (Peter). He spent the last two days in Tokyo, and since it is blatantly obvious that he knows no Japanese, I can understand why he said he felt so isolated. I think he made a grand tour of Europe before he came here, because he left Canada on May 9th. Hmmf, wonder where he got that kind of money... Been getting some email from just about everybody now, including some of those people I met on Saturday in Matsumoto. Great, though I can't understand all of what they are saying (they are trying to speak in Engrish). Oh yes, I saw some interesting TV tonight. First a gameshow like I have never seen before which included many events like blazing air hockey (they set a puck on fire before they play with it), and a show called "Best Japan TV" which was similar to that of say "Real TV" except more explicit in the footage they show (i.e. car crashes, boat accidents, helicopter explosions...) Very strange.

May 24

Interesting. Some of the other guys were all hungover from last night (some of them sure can drink), and they basically locked themselves in their rooms all day, but I went to the JOY 401 and bought a cheap set of headphones, so I wouldn't have to borrow Andy's all the time. I also picked up some more Manga, as there was a whole shipment of new stock. Geez, too bad it was raining all day here, and it was so nice yesterday, too... Got together with the rest of the people who were not hungover (all 6 of us), and went to Yato-san's house where she cooked us all a big meal. I still couldn't eat some of it (I'm sorry, Tako is still too much for me, though everyone else seemed to like it). We watched some movies subtitled in Japanese (People VS Larry Flynt), and went home to get some sleep.

May 23 - Matsumoto

Spent most of the morning stumbling around trying to get the guys together so we could go. We originally planned on around 4 or 5 people coming, but instead it turned out to be 14 (friends of friends...) We finally got on the train and arrived in Matsumoto around 1PM and saw a very nice train station. It even had a model of Matsumoto castle in a glass case. We got outside, and WOW, this is one of the best cities I have ever seen (and such a nice day too). We all split up into smaller groups and explored the city. We found some huge music stores and I got some JPOP CDs to listen to. Pretty good stuff. I also found some cheap electronics stores and discount stores where I can get things like fans and desktop lamps really cheap. Afterwards, we all went out to some place that Ippae knows and had a great huge dinner for all of us. I still find something about sake unsettling for some reason.

May 22

A very busy day. It seems I have been chosen to try and "improve" Epson's web pages. They really liked one of the tricks I did (highlighted text when you move the mouse over it), but they needed it to work under all versions of Netscape and IE back to 2.0, which I just couldn't do, so I am trying to find a way to get around that but still have the same effect. It was about 7 or so when I got home, and I watched some TV while looking up some of the spoken words in my Dictionary. I did find out that Crayon Shinchan comes on every Friday at 7:30PM on Channel 1 (yes, Channel 1). Someday if I get a VCR, I really should tape some of this... Oh, and nothing is quite as funny as the Leonardo De Caprio commercial for Suzuki ("Go Wagon R!").

May 21 - Trash is good

After a whole day of debugging Perl scripts (joy!) I got to see some real fun. Well, I went and visited Andy on the 2nd floor and he introduced me to a few people on the floor who are leaving in a few months, so they gave me some of their "trash". I got a nice TV out of the deal and a fan. That takes care of some things, anyway. We all plan to head to Matsumoto this weekend to take a look around the city and check out the supposedly "better" shopping district, which includes a real great music store(s) I hear. Saw some goofy TV last night. Hmm... there were commercials about some Pepto Bismol type of stuff, and the woman who was advertising it had a purse shaped like a stomach. There was also a program about how they catch sharks in Japan, cut off their fins for food, and don't use the rest, and some program showing how to hide in the little inlets in the walls along the tracks of a subway should you happen to fall down in there. Strange. Now I have to get a VCR. I can't understand this stuff the first time through.

May 20 - People that speak english like to hide

Not much happened in the way of work today. The lastest printer files are still being worked on so I played with Perl today and wrote a clock in four different languages (English, Japanese, French, German). Not useful at all, considering we all have clocks in the bottom right hand side of our screens here (a.k.a. the Windows clock). Go figure, just as I learn enough Japanese to say a few phrases to people do other people who speak english pop out of the wall. Back home I met two other Waterloo students who recently moved in (Andy and Ash). They told me about their trip through Tokyo and I should head up with them sometime if I am serious about getting some electronics (and I can get it menzai (tax-free)). Andy's Minidisc player is cool. I can just think of the things I could do with that... Well, when I get paid, I'll be sure to pick one up.

May 19 - A trip to Makudonaruduzu

Okay, McDonalds for those who don't like to see English marred through katakana. Good news, since my bank account will not be set up until next month some time, I will get my first pay cheque in cash. Great! Now I can actually buy stuff instead of just looking at it. Met up with one of the other residents on the floor. His name was eppai, and since he has a car (lucky him), he took me for a ride around Hirooka/Shiojiri. We stopped my a Mcdonalds a little later on and I actually managed to order a meal all by myself for once (eppai told me what to say, but I think he was just being sinistar having me say Ojama shimasu). This is a rough transcript of this amazing conversation:

Clerk: Irasshaimase!

Me: Ojama shimasu.

Clerk: Ee...? (laughing in background)

Me: Ah, hachiban no setto o kudasai.

Clerk: Onomimoto wa nani ni shimasu ka?

Me: Coca Cola o onegai shimasu.

Clerk: roku hyaku yon-en, kudasai.

And the rest I have trouble remembering, but I got my change back and got my food (The Big Mac combo was number 8, which is what I asked for. I suppose I could have asked for the "Bigu Mako setto". Maybe next time. I will remember that Ojama kudasai means "I humbly enter" from now on (usually used only when invited into someone's house). That manga really helps. I'll have to pick up some more sometime soon. Oh yes, bamboo shoots on pizza taste pretty good, but I can't get used to seaweed.

May 18

A long day at work, especially without my supervisor (I wonder where he went). I went after work to the honya again and picked up some more comics for my reading pleasure. You can learn a lot from these things, and they are pretty to look at, too. Ah, real food today, and no more una-don (look it up if you want). Oh yes, I think I've figured out the laundry machine today, though I can't read any of the instructions (they are all in Kanji, no kana anywhere!). I met some of the guys on my floor, and some even speak English. Whew, I thought I couldn't talk to anyone for a minute there.

May 17

I almost forgot that all stores are open today, but no matter. I went and took some pictures of Epson (well, some. I couldn't possibly take a picture of all possible locations). I went back to that Joy 401 mall and discovered the 2nd floor. Wow, a bookstore (honya). I could hardly read any of it, but I picked up some Manga (comics) of Aa, megami-sama (A series I am familiar with), to help with me reading. I also found an electronics shop where I saw TVs, VCRs (sorry, VTRs), and Minidisc players (totemo sugoi desu yo). Perhaps if I can every get my bank account set up (if I can every get my alien registration card), I can get some of this well priced hardware.

May 16

I went to the Joy 401 today and looked around. Surprisingly, it is not that big of a mall compared to what it looks like from outside. I saw a toy store (joy) where some strange toys exist, including Crayon Shinchan plush dolls and every offshoot of a Tamagotchi imaginable. there were also game systems and games there at prices that shocked me (in the sense they are considerably cheaper than at back home). I found a grocery store and bought some drinks (orange juice, coke) and some bread and Darjeeling tea for a grand total of...Y1100! Everything is way more expensive here in the way of food, and that bread I bought has 8 slices and cost $1, but that's the best deal they had. It's really hot here today, and I just wandered around the city taking pictures for the rest of the day (I got some good ones).

May 15

Today was an educational day. People at the office are starting to notice me and I'm not sure if that is good or bad. I get the feeling I'm being treated like a cuddly little panda bear that everyone wants to go and see. There are other english speakers here, but I'm the only one from Canada in the section where I work (What is Sukaidomu like?) Oh yes, I have solved that time difference thingy. For some reason, Japan doesn't have a daylight savings time, so as you back home change your clocks, we don't, so the time difference varies between 13 and 14 hours depending on the time of the year. Also, I don't know if I mentioned it before, but the slippers I wear indoors (have to wear indoors) say "Memory - a lovely slipper for your happy life). I think tomorrow I'll go to the Joy 401 mall to get some food and stuff. Oh well, at least I got my Alien registration card applied for today. Too bad it won't be ready for pickup until June 2 (how appropriate).

May 14

I once again woke up nice and early to catch the train to Shiojiri from Hirooka-eki. Simple (kantan desu) I put in my Y190 in the maching, pressed the big orange button that lit up on the machine, and got my ticket. It was right on time and I met Jim at 8:53 right on time almost to the second. We first went to a Polaroid shop where I had to get more pictures taken for my Alien registration card, and then passed a yochien (kindergarden) on route to city hall. Pity I forgot my address, so I'll have to do all this tomorrow now as well. We made it back to Epson at around 10:10 where I caught the rest of the meeting (none of which I could understand), but after having it translated, I think I know why I was hired. It seems Epson, being as powerful a company as it is, made an insane amount of profit in '97, and don't know how to spend it. Tada, that's where I come in. I then fine tuned my PC so that it could dual boot to Win95J and Win95 and also installed heaps of software. I then reviewed Perl for the rest of the day, and after work I went to pick up my Hanko (which should have been ready by now). Since I was going in alone this time, I memorized the phrase "Hanko kudasai." which means "Name stamp, please" (roughly). I wonder if it was how I said it, because he seemed afraid of me then (Ahh, here. Take your stamp, take all my stamps! Please don't hurt me!" I didn't think I did anything wrong, and also, what is the average height here, 5'2"? I then went home to have some supper and read some more of my Japanese textbook, which I am going to need.

May 13

Doh! I woke up nice and early to get to work on time, but I got lost on the grounds (they're huge!), and almost came in late. I met with my supervisors (the ones I haven't already met), and was explained to what I was supposed to be doing here. I get to play with Epson's online documentation in both Macromedia and HTML format as well as maintain a whole heap 'o' Perl scripts. I then experienced my first company lunch (11:45 - 12:30) and had a decent chicken meal, and discovered the Epson convenience store at the same time (totemo benri desu!) We had a department meeting at 12:30 where I was expected to introduce myself after hearing some progress reports I couldn't understand. (well, my introduction didn't go that badly, I just re-used some Japan 101 material which went something like "Watashi wa Meroiku Aron desu. Kanada-jin desu. Wateru Daigaku no gakusei desu. Kampai!" Later on in the afternoon I went with Jim, another Engrish speaker to get my Hanko (name stamp). I was told it would be ready ashita (tomorrow) around the same time. I need to apply for my Alien Registration Card tomorrow (9AM) in Shiojiri, but I have a meeting at 10AM... this should be good. At least I saw part of the city today (Gas: Y80/L Hirooka Harley Davidson club, and that annoying sign that says "TRAIN + ING = TRAING!" Am I the only one not getting it?) Sometime soon I will simply have to buy myself some form of entertainment. I've already read through my magazines.

May 12

Woke up early and caught some complimentary TV. Good god is it weird! I'll have to pick up my own TV/VCR combo to record some of this "culture". I saw a news program where puppets were being used for some spots, and a Crash Bandicoot exercise program. I checked out around 8AM or so and caught a taxi (takushi) to Shinjuku-eki (Shinjuku station) where I realized I should have bought a ticket yesterday in Narita/Tokyo where some people actually spoke english. A few hours later, I bumped into some American girl who was there just touring the country and had a vast knowledge of the language and bought the ticket for me. Being thirsty again, I bought a can of "Lemon CC" with the "POWER of 50 Lemons". That woke me up! Especially since it was another 2.5 hours to Shiojiri. At about 1:10 I pulled into Shiojiri and hailed a cab to take me to "Shouen Seiwa-sou" where I was to be living. Pity I found out later I could have got off at Hirooka station (which was the next one) and saved a bundle on cab fare. Oh well. Once at my residence, I signed in, which was quite a task since she only knew Japanese. I then received a tour of the place, and she explained the rules (again, only in Japanese). Geez, I'm paranoid to do anything here! Less than an hour after I got there, my supervisor and another student (Keith) came and escorted me to Seiko-Epson where I had to unpack and setup my computer of which the boxes were to be taken away the next day. What a system! PII 333 MHz, 64 Meg RAM, 6 Gig drive, ATI Rage Pro card (Ok, so It's not that ultimate), and a 17" monitor (Trinitron, of course). Shortly after I finished, I went back home to catch up on my sleep.

May 10/11 (tale of a 13 hour time difference)

I left Pearson Airport at 10:25AM (on time). One of the attendants at the airport confused me with someone else and I almost got shipped to Dallas, but I eventually got to Detroit all right, and ahead of schedule (less than an hour; a boring short flight on a small plane). Then there was Detroit Airport... really big... it took about 15 minutes to get to my terminal which wasn't even halfway across the airport. The 747 was absolutely huge (seats 10 across with 2 aisles) and was full of orientals (big surprise). Even the food on the plane was...different, but we did get 3 full meals, snacks, 3 movies (Flubber (English), Resovoir Dogs (Japanese), and some other movie which was based on a John Grisham novel but also in Japanese). Strange thing was that I was flying against the time zones, so the whole flight seemed like an infinite afternoon. Oh yes, and for some reason it is a 13 hour time difference. I don't know why, I though it was 14, but no, it is 13 hours.

After finally arriving in Narita Airport, we were all shovelled off to Immigration to make sure our paperwork was in order, and then to customs to get our luggage and check in. Luckily, my bag was easy to find and not to hard to get at. I bought a train ticket to Shinjuku for 5:13 and waited in the station (looks like a typical T.O. subway station). There I saw my first Japanese vending machine. At the time, I didn't notice the individual prices on the cans and only saw the big Y1000 sign on the front and thought "10 bucks for a Coke!?" Later I realized my error, and saw it was only Y120. Still expensive, but I was real thirsty (It sure is hot here). I knew the train was finally coming because of the cheesy Glockenspiel music (Musak) playing over the speakers. Forget a whistle or bell, just solid music. I got to Shinjuku station an hour and 15 later and stumbled around for yet another hour trying to figure out where the West exit was (where's the bloody kana!?). After figuring out the gesture for hailing a taxi, I got to Shinjuku Washington Hotel and checked in (Y12500 later). I had a quick shower, and then collapsed for the night.