Japan feels like...

I have been wandering around for days with a sense of de ja vu, trying to figure out what is so familiar about being in Japan. Yesterday I finally got it. Being in Japan is like camping. Everything is smaller and there is never enough ice.

Right now I could write an ode to ice, my declaration of eternal love for frozen water. There are roughly 8 billion convenience stores in Japan and not one of them serves fountain drinks. I don’t know if it is energy conservation or a cultural bias but Japan is a pitifully ice poor country (really, someone should have a telethon). We do have two ice trays in the freezer in our apartment, each one makes eight 1cm cubes, just enough to tease you but it never really puts out.

The kitchen is also reminiscent of camping. It consists of two stove burners and an easy-bake oven. Luckily on the upside, you can buy delicious, beautiful and healthy food anywhere in Japan. You can get good restaurant quality food at any convenience store, grocery store or little hole in the wall food stand you see, and trust me you see a lot of them.

Well, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let me tell you about Akihabara. I bravely struck out on my own to buy a printer in Akihabara. For those of you who don’t know, Akihabara is the center of the universe for electronics. Three times a day gadget geeks drop to their knees and bow to Akihabara. I had to change trains twice, once in Meidaimae and once in Shinjuku. I have mentioned the size of Shibuya station twice now, Shinjuku station could eat Shibuya station and still have room for one or two one line stations for dessert. I have no Idea how many separate train lines meet at Shinjuku, but if you get on the wrong train there you could possibly end up in Europe. I am also pretty sure I caught sight of a Minotaur while I was switching trains.

I made it to Akihabara and it scared the hell out of me. First of all electronics are not my strong suit, luckily I married an Uber geek. The problem was that my Uber geek is currently on the other side of the planet. Going to Akihabara by myself is like someone on a learner’s permit being dropped directly into formula one racing. So I left the train station crossed the street with about a thousand salary men (a sea of guys in dark pants and white shirts and dark ties, It’s fun you get to pretend you’re in the matrix) and practically ran into the nearest department store that had a Duty Free sign outside. Duty Free means tourists and tourists means sales guys that know English. My survival Japanese is good enough for everyday, it is not good enough, however, to explain the compatibility problems I am afraid of having if I buy the wrong printer. It was touch and go there for awhile though, his English was about as good as my Japanese, between the two of us we were able to hook me up with a Canon ip100. It is awesome. It does photo printing and regular printing, and it only weighs about 4lbs, and I bought it all by myself (I’m so proud of it).

I will post again soon.
Hugs

Liz