Category: General Musings

I’ve presented a lot about odd things here in Japan, and things that are different from the US. I’ve never spent that much time talking about the mundane. Perhaps, because, well, it IS mundane. However, when it is a half world away, the everyday is a little bit different.

 

Today I decided to go to the Aeon Mall across from the Nagoya Dome on a quest to find a tennis bag. I want something like the bag in the picture. You know, I have to carry twelve rackets with me all the time. Not really, but when you don’t have a car to dump your stuff in and you have to take a train, it is nice to consolidate so you are not balancing a bunch of stuff on your lap. You can put shoes, change of clothes, balls, etc inside. They are harder than it sounds to find. I’m going to have to use my Japanese internet search skills to find a tennis shop in Japan. I struck out, by the way. No shops in the mall that carried what I was looking for.

I also was looking for a general sports bag that would function as an overnighter. In Japan, you need a bag for every occasion. I have my general purpose Ben Sherman flight bag, sometimes called my man purse. It is good for running around for the day. It’ll hold a couple books if I am studying, and easily my iPhone, iTouch, and BlechBerry (I know, I don’t need an iPhone AND an iTouch but for some reason I think that putting music on my iPhone will take up too much space even though it won’t). It also fits nicely in the basket of my ママチャリ, so I don’t have to worry about things rattling out of my pocket as I go down the street. But the Ben Sherman bag is too small for a weekender that requires me to take my computer. We won’t even talk about the bulky backpack I bought that holds nothing (North Face Recon “backpack”). I use it and curse it every time. Well, it works for some things. I found kind of what I was looking for at Aeon, but they didn’t have enough selection for me to decide. I think I’ll just take a bag from a sleeping high school kid in the train. That’s the kind of bag I want.

I decided that I really don’t like malls, whether it is in the US or Japan. There is so much concentrated consumption, yet still I don’t seem to find anything I want. Why is that I wonder? I did find the source for all the bright colored clothing though. Yikes! While I was at the mall, I thought I would put together a bit of a “day in the life” as I headed home from the mall to my home. There is a lot I haven’t shown in photographs, primarily because I see them every day. I need to do better documentation of my time here through “stock” photography.

Let’s start at the mall. As you can see, it is a very big mall, much like a suburban American mall. This is almost suburban. It is indeed an architectural masterpiece.

 

The mall is out at the Nagoya Dome, where the Chubu Dragons baseball team play. The subway entrance hallway is completely dedicated to the team.

 

The mascot of the team is, from their name, a dragon. I’m not sure how this equates to a dragon. It seems more like a mouse to me, but I guess the mascot had to be cute.

 

Arriving at the entrance, there is always the subway map with fees above the ticket vending machine. I always have a 5000 yen pass with me, so I never pay attention to the price and rarely look at the map. I should look at the map because I have taken the wrong subway a few times when I thought I knew where I was going.

 

Once you get your ticket, you have to pass through the entrance wickets.

 

You wait for the subway by the track. In some stations there are walls that keep you from being able to jump into an oncoming train, but in most cases it is like this station. The yellow strips are for blind people to make their way around the station. The ligher yellow is where the door will be when the train stops. The geek in my always looks at the center of the doors and the center of the tiles to see how good the conductor hit his marks. You can see the raised dotted yellow tile in front of the door.

 

Here’s my local exit for this line – the Hisaya-odori (久屋通) exit of the Meijo line (名城線). After one year, I’m discovering that this is a rather convenient subway line, and I like that it runs every 5 minutes on the weekends instead of 10 minutes like the other line closer to my house. However, it does not take me to Nagoya station. It takes me about everywhere else though. There’s abundant information on each track, including a timetable, a map of the stops and the time to each station, a plan of the station, the location of the exits, and local bus information including line a bus stop location. The time table is in white for weekdays and pink for holidays and weekends.

 

Before you go into the wickets, you have similar information including the general subway map, general train information including the time table (for two lines), and advertising. Also a map of the area also with advertising is available.

 

This subway station happens to be in the city center, and like many Japanese cities, there is an extensive underground network connecting stations to stations, and buildings to buildings. Of course, there is plenty of shopping and dining underground as well. Although I prefer to stay above ground, this can be very convenient on super hot days, cold days, and wet days.

 

The subway entrances are typically easy to find, and they are always marked with their icon and also generally have the same architectural look. You can always count on any number of bikes parked out in front of a subway station.

 

This is the biggest intersection near my house, and is the home to two subways lines and my local Starbucks. Traffic seemed to be really thin when I took these pictures.

 

Walking home from the subway stop, there are many things to see, including:

Tearing down another building for yet a new, unoccupied building?

 

A wedding center.

 

A typical view.

 

My bank, which happens to be a 7/11. It has an international ATM that allows me to withdraw from my savings account. Rare in Japan. It is not really my bank, but I use the ATM there all the time.

 

An import car. Odd.

 

A ubiquitous Yama-chan. They are everywhere in Nagoya and specialize in Tebasaki (手羽先), which is basically chicken wings.

 

And the Lawson’s in my apartment building. It is a convenience store where I can also pay my utility bill. One is due, so I should pay.

 

A view of my apartment building, and one of the bike parking areas.

 

I toured around my neighborhood a little bit too. The streets were very quiet, but I was able to find another Yama-chan. I told you they were ubiquitous.

 

And for those of you who wonder what taxis are like, here is an example of two different types. The blue one and the black one. There is a white one too, but I was unable to see one stopped to take a picture. They are actually different sizes and different prices, but I’ve never really noticed the difference. I don’t often take a taxi anyway.

 

Oh, and this morning, I finally got a picture of a Hate Bus. Yes, both yesterday and today I heard them.

 

Unfortunately, more noise is coming. I recently read this:

Official announcement of the campaign season for the Lower House general election.

It was decided that the Lower House general election is to be held on August 30, after entering the campaign period on August 18.

Please endure noise from vehicles of candidates [ed. emphasis added].

 

I noticed a little Engrish on my walk as well. It is a flower shop.

 

And finally, tonight was the last night of the Nagoya Castle Matsuri. I went for some yakisoba and a beer, and then stumbled across a lantern ceremony at a local temple. 5000 lanterns are offered for the spirits who were killed in World War II. Today is the anniversary of the end of World War II. I’ll post the pictures from the Matsuri and the lantern ceremony another day. I think this is enough for now.