2007/09/04 at 17:26

Well, last night's meeting went well. I met with someone from Qualcomm Tokyo, who happens to be Australian, and who happens to know people there who could help me get a job. Fantastic. The one in the Canon R&D department sounds particularly interesting. Woo.

The food was also particularly tasty. I had a specific kind of Japanese beer, whose name I forget, and a drink which has been called Japanese vodka, because it's made from [sweet-]potatoes, though it's not distilled. I also had something that my Tokyo-dwelling Australian friend had never heard of, which turned out to be soupy tofu with an urchin in it. Which wasn't bad.

I got back to the hotel relatively late, around 9pm, which means I got to bed later than I have been lately, which probably aided in my sleeping-in this morning until 5am. Almost acclimated.

This morning, however, was quite an adventure. The initial plan was to get up, "Activate" our JR passes (which involves taking them to the station and saying "One /n/-week pass, please! Here's my voucher!") then going to Hiroshima, tourtourtour, come to Kyoto, check in, go to sleep, explore Kyoto tomorrow.

At least, that was the plan, up until we got to Ueno station, and noticed the JR pass shop doesn't open until 10:30.

So we decided to try for Tokyo Station, as it's bigger, and therefore maybe it opens sooner. Well, yes, sort of. It opens at 10. But, thanks to the time it took to get there, we had to wait only two hours, rather than three. The plan now was to get into Kyoto, hang out there today, and go to Hiroshima tomorrow.

So breakfast was bought, and I putzed about a bit. I found an open access point that allowed http connections, so I could check mail but not IM.

Finally the office opened. The process was relatively painless. The "fun" began just after we got our train tickets to Kyoto. The ticket is entirely in Japanese, save for a few numbers. Unfortunately, none of these numbers seemed to indicate the platform number, so we had to run around the station showing our cards to various attendants trying to find the track number. On top of that, it turns out our tickets don't actually work in the ticket machines, we need to show them to an attendant, then effectively hop over the turnstiles. Fun. Did I mention I'm carrying my backpack, with all of my worldly possessions? Heavy.

So, eventually we find the train. Once we got on, I take out Sparky, only to find the battery pack has died. I could read my comic book, but I'm saving that for the trip to Australia. So I decided to just look at the scenery as it whizzed by.

Unfortunately, while we did get a no-smoking car, smoke wafted in from the adjoining car, making the entire trip a smoke-filled adventure. Plus, I have a headache from the tension. Ow.

Once in Kyoto, we notice it's hot. Hotter than Tokyo, and more humid. We ended up eating at an overpriced, not-very-good Italian restaurant, then walk the twenty minutes it took to get to the hotel.

At this point, I'm tired, have a headache, and am starting to miss hearing people speaking English. I'm sure a nap will do me good, but for now I'm just cranky. And tired, for some reason. Oh well, I'll try to sleep now. Goodnight.