It seems Japan is now importing mechanical labor. Take a look at this mechanical flagman compared to the other one here. Doesn’t this guy seem a LOT whiter?
Lucky bag
I decided to go to Soup Stock Tokyo for lunch today. I basically had two reasons, to get some food since I was hungry, but also to force myself outside and go for a bit of a walk. On these gray, chilly, winter days, it is very easy to simply do nothing. Lately I’ve been “recharging my batteries†and plan to continue to do so. Or, in other words, I have been exceedingly lazy by plan. I haven’t touched work and don’t plan on it until I get back in the office. So to get out, see humanity, and get some food seemed like a good idea.
It is chilly, but not freezing, so it was no problem walking to La Chic shopping center to get to the soup place. The streets to the Sakae area of Nagoya were not very busy, so I thought the holiday weekend might be keeping people at home. Once I got to La Chic, I noticed that there was a special line just to get in to United Arrows. Perhaps I had misjudged the crowd. Then at Soup Stock Tokyo, there was a long line as well. Apparently everyone wanted soup.
After eating, I thought I’d walk around La Chic to see what the fuss was all about. The entire shopping center was packed and there were special routes on and off the escalator.
That’s when I remembered and discovered that it is Lucky Bag season. I noticed that last year as well. You never know what is inside a “Lucky Bag.†Sure, there might be some nice things, but are they nice things I want or need?
Also, traditionally, there are many big sales in the period as well. It is traditional to clean your dwelling at the end of the year, so with all the newly found storage space, perhaps it is just as important to fill that space up again.
What I forget, when judging crowds in Nagoya by sidewalk congestion, is that there is an immense network of underground passages from subway and train stations to shopping areas. I bet many of the people I saw in the shop never actually set foot outside. So whatever I see above ground on a cold day, a wet day, or a hot and humid day I probably need to double or triple.
It’s beginning to look a lot like …
It is early November in Nagoya, which means BREAK OUT EVERYTHING XMAS! Yes, it’s time to break out the Christmas music, hang the lights, and put up the decorations. It is only 6 weeks until Christmas so it is time to start now.
Last weekend I noticed that it looked like things were starting to go up. This week I even made the subject of my English class, “Christmas Season.†No, I am not an English teacher, but I facilitate a weekly conversation class at lunch time at work for those who are interested. It is actually pretty fun.
Anyway, this morning at Starbucks, I noticed the music. Christmas tunes already on the air. The other night I noticed it when I went to the ATM, wandered to Tokyu Hands to by some cleaning supplies, bought more cleaning supplies at Muji, and then ended up buying a new coat at Orihica. Oops, that was an expensive trip to the ATM. Oh well, you can never have too many coats in Japan.
Early in the week it was cold. As a result, everyone broke out their winter clothes. It was convenient too because November 1 is the end of typhoon season and apparently the start of winter clothes season. It has warmed up at the end of the week, but that didn’t keep people from putting their winter clothes back in the closet. Nope, it is scarves and heavy coats until Spring arrives (probably around hanami). I’ve even fallen in to the trap. Today we had a bowling event with 60 co-workers and I wore my jacket while riding my bike in case it was cold when I rode home. It wasn’t.
For some reason, I don’t mind the early start to the Christmas season here. It is actually pretty, and Christmas doesn’t really have the same meaning so it isn’t quite as forced. We don’t have the Thanksgiving buffer either, so there is no natural barrier. So I’ll enjoy the 70 deg frightful weather in my brand new fall jacket and be at peace with it.
caution, caution, warning, warning
It is hard to get your attention in Japan. There are bright lights everywhere. In the countryside, pachinko parlors are lit up like the fireworks shops in Tennessee I saw as a child driving “straight through†from Indiana to Florida. In the cities, restaurants will have old-fashioned blue, amber, or red lights like those on top of a police car or fire truck. What are those lights called anyway?
Recently, the city of Nagoya decided to move bicycle traffic off of the sidewalk in front of my house to the road. A lane was removed from the road, and a temporary bike lane has been set up. This change was before my unfortunate tangle with a bike, so I didn’t cause this change. Because the routing is new, there is a traffic monitor at every corner of the bike lane whenever it intersects with anything. Since a lane ends in the street, special notice is given as well. Because it is dangerous to put a real flagman in the road, a special mechanical flagman is used. The mechanical flagman usually stands in front of a truck and the truck also has many things to catch your attention as well. All this to prevent you from, apparently, missing the point and plowing into the flagman, the truck, and the bicycle lane up the road.
In this picture you can see the mechanical flagman standing in front of two barrels behind two cones with a couple of arrows. He’s in front of a double men working sign, a go slowly sign, and a truck. The truck has red lights on top that flash in a rotational pattern and amber lights on the side that flash on and off. Next to the flagman is a light disk with round lights that flash on and off in a circular pattern – at least the inner ring. I’m not sure what the outer ring does. Of course, there is also an animated flagman on the truck just to make sure. It is even more dramatic at night.
I think I’d be so mesmerized by all the action that I would end up driving straight into it.
It was bound to happen
Sooner or later, it was going to happen. At some point on the streets of Nagoya, I expected there were be an accident with me, a bike, and another person. Today it happened, but not as I expected. I changed my usual walk home pattern today by taking the elevator to street level because I was looking for a Kinkos / FedEx since I had to ship something back to the States. I knew there was one very convenient to my apartment and near the subway exit, but I could not remember if it was before or after the stairs. I took the elevator since it’s exit is further from my apartment.
The elevator is sort of recessed from the sidewalk, so as I was walking out I was kind of lost looking and trying to get my bearings. Which way to the FedEx? At that point, “Boom†and I was knocked a little off balance. I didn’t see anything and that was odd. I thought I had run in to someone, but I couldn’t see anyone. Then I looked down and saw that a rather petite young lady had run in to me with her little bicycle. “Gomen ne!!!!!!†she uttered. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry†she said. I was still kind of just surprised by it. At that time, I wasn’t even sure whose fault it was. I was fine and she was fine, so we went on our way. She didn’t even knock me over so she must not have been going that fast. H = MV as we all know (momentum equals mass times velocity). Her mass was small and I’m not sure about her speed, so it wasn’t too bad.
I should have been paying more attention, but she must have been riding pretty close to the side of the sidewalk for me to walk out right in front of her. So I blame her! But all is OK. Oddly, I thought I would be the one to hit someone on my bike.
I needed to go to FedEx to mail my old MacBook back to Apple. Long story short, they wanted my MacBook for some wireless testing as I had sort of a strange problem with my wireless dying when the wireless network had any other computer on it. I finally was ready to send my old laptop back and FedEx was the shipper I was told to use. I had my shipper number and my commercial invoices ready and I thought that was enough. Not in Japan! Did I have a Lithium battery? Not sure. If so, is it a safe battery? I did indeed have a lithium ion battery. I had to assume it was safe. But, I had to print a sticker out from their webpage. I got the store to do that for me.
I also needed to fill out other forms too. A RADEC form for radiation declaration and an FCC740 form for compliance to FCC regulations. Luckily, the laptop had the FCC compliance numbers printed on the case, so I was able to fill out the form. I am afraid that I made a mistake though, and somehow the package will be returned to me. Japan takes these requirements very seriously. I’ll probably be tracking this package more carefully going OUT than I would an inbound package.