Report from Japan, Part 1

I'm tired and my feet hurt.

Does my honesty shock you? I'm sorry. I can only say what I feel. And right now, what I feel is that maybe I should have brought along some walking shoes if I was planning on spending an entire day walking around Tokyo.

But I did. Mostly in Yokohama, but I spent three or four hours in Akihabara, Electric Town. It was cooool, man. Not just for the high-tech DVD players and plasma screens and GPS units, but for the little things. Like the store that sold Tower Cases for people building their own computers. These were some neat cases. I kind of wish I'd taken a picture. You'll just have to trust me.

The only thing I bought, though, was a pack of batteries. They're very good batteries (NiMH, 1600 mAh), which means they'll keep my Nomad Jukebox alive for a few hours more on the flight home. But, really, they're just batteries. Not too exciting. I'll probably go back later and go nuts. Maybe not "nuts", but certainly unstable.

The flight over was pretty uneventful. Although I used to be a Premier Member on United (because I flew to places like Japan all the time), I haven't flown much in the last year or so, so that's gone away. It'll be back after this trip makes it into the United computers, though. The main effect was that I didn't get to sit in the slightly larger section of Economy class.

However, since it was a mostly empty flight, I did get to move to my own row of four seats, which was very nice. I'm a very relaxed person on flights. Take turbulence: I actually kind of enjoy it. The plane's shaking up and down, and I'm relaxed in my seat. Ahh. Or screaming babies. I hear a kid screaming his fool head off, and I'm thinking "Yeah! You go, kid!" Because the truth is, if it were socially acceptable, I'd occasionally like to do some screaming myself. Airplanes are uncomfortable and cramped, and I was stuck in one for twelve hours. I'm glad somebody had the courage to scream and cry about it.

The other problem I faced on the flight is that I read way too fast for my own good. I finished the Iron Chef book. And Atlas Shrugged, which I had scheduled for at least a week. I shall refrain from commenting specifically on the philosophy, and merely say that the book is didactic and preachy (on purpose), and I didn't find any of the characters remotely appealing. So it wasn't the best 1200 pages I've slogged through. And now I've got just one book and one graphic novel for the flight home. Sigh.

Right, so anyway, Japan. I took a few pictures today, but I'm going to be putting them up on my work site (because it's news! And because, er, I don't have to pay for the bandwidth that way). The photos are up at my work page; most of the pictures you'll want to look at are at the bottom, under "Staff" and "Site".

The next two days, I'll be working long days, which means no super-exciting anecdotage. But after that, I rampage through Japan like I've got two days off. What a great analogy.

Hey!

Apparently, I was mentioned in the British magazine "ComputerActive". If anyone could scan the article or (better yet) offer to send me a copy, I'd be mighty grateful, and I might even pick you up a Japanese souvenir. Anyone?