Nagoya Day

I will be telling you what time most of this was written, as it was written over the course of a day in a notepad, then transcribed into laptop. So right after I finished typing the last entry, it was roughly 7:00pm. I was lying on my futon mattress (about 1.5in thick on the floor) and I decided that I would bathe and go to Lawson's in the morning. I was going to combat my jetlag this way. So I slept. I woke up every three hours, but I slept all night long. It is now 8:00am. I am going to brave the public bath, hopeully it will be empty and I can get a picture, and then head to Lawson's for food. I do not know what I will do today, but I have only to be back at the airport at around 5:30pm. I went for a relaxing, and, thankfully, solitary bath. It was interesting showering while sitting on a stool in a line of showers, but the tub afterward was heavenly, if a bit too hot. After the bath, I had planned on checking out. But I decided to use my last hour of A/C wisely. I used the hot water pot to make myself some tea. I think it was a seaweed tea. Very mild. On the hot water pot that I had, there was some interesting Engrish. What is Engrish, you ask? Well, it is when the Japanese people misuse the English language, which is pretty much all the time. On the Hot Water Pot in the Ryokan Meiryu (room 204): Sweet Tulip the blue sky, warm sunshine, soft wind, the sweet small of flowers heartwarming breathing space Now isn't that nice? The sweet small of flowers breathing space. Yay! On with the day. While drinking my tea, I watched an hour of Japanese morning television. They were discussing one person's specialty foods, much like the show Food Finds on FoodTV back home. It was interesting, but check out time was 10:00am, so I had to head out. Upon checking out, I went to the Lawson's around the corner and picked up some Mitsuya Mikan (pop that tastes like Clementine oranges!) and some Zaru Soba (cold buckwheat noodles with some soy-wasabi-scallion dipping sauce). I ate it and broke my fast back in the general sitting area of the Ryokan Meiryu where a little white kitty with funny ears was sitting. Soon after, I cleared out and made my way to the Kamimaezu Subway Station. I bought an all day ticket and headed off with the intention of going to Meijo Koen (Meijo Park), but on the subway, I chanced to see an advertisement for an art gallery called Art Square showing some of Yoshitaka Amano's works. Lucky me! For those who don't know the name, Yoshitaka Amano was the one who did the art and character design for such anime as Vampire Hunter D and quite a few of the Final Fantasy games. Ever heard of those? And it was only one more stop down the line, so I had to go there! At the time this was written first, it was in a pad while sitting in "Central Park" where there is a good amount of trees, water running through carefully sculpted paths, and homeless people. I guess they claimed Central Park as their own. This was until 10:45am. The art gallery was amazing. Yoshitaka Amano's works firsthand are beyond compare. The way he uses metallics and simple lines, swatches of color... Look it up. Go. Now. Well, wait until you finish reading this entry. Upon entering, you see a painting of Celes from FFVI, then D (Vampire Hunter D), the cover from other anime, more fantasy pictures, and more. There were eight or nine from Vampire Hunter D, four or five from various Final Fantasies, and other fantasy works, including a really cool charcoal rendition of Batman. The music in there was weird. They played some Japanese music, plus a mix of American music, including: "1, 2, 3, 4, Get Your Woman on the Floor," "So, Sally Can Wait" (not the title there, but I don't know it) and "Lump." Very odd. I think it's going to rain, also. Outside of the Art Square, there was an emigmatic staircase leading into the underbelly of Nagoya. But before I went there, I went up to the fourth floor above Art Square, which held a Yellow Submarine. Yellow Submarine is a hobby shop and a haven for all theng nerdy. It was air-conditioned and chock full of models and things, card games, toys, and various other things that would just sit on a shelf and collect dust. They were cool, but not buy-me-now cool. Now, it was time to investivate that staircase in the sidewalk. Little did I know that Central Park was not only a park in the center of town, but a whole underground mall that stretched for blocks! It was cool, but all of the shops were either restaurants or clothes shops. Being not hungry and larger than pretty much all of the Japanese population, I wandered on. I decided to go topside and check out an anime store I saw while sitting in the park. It turns out that it was a Mandarake, which is a 9-story anime/manga/toy store. I walked the floors, looking at all the displays, including a Buddy Lee (Can't Bust 'Em) action figure which cost 12600Y, or $126US. I still felt the rain coming after walking all those floors, so I headed back down to the sanctuary of the subway. Now, let me say how truly convenient the subway system in Japan really is. It is easily navigable, despite language barriers since they usually have English translations of the stops. They are cool, breezy, clean, and they run smoothly and on time. With my day pass, I could ride them all day. I worked my way towards the stop where I could hop the bus to the airport, but I yet again got distracted. I saw a sign for a stop called something like Shonai Ryukai Koen (Park, remember?). As I mounted escalators, the air smelled strongly of rain. Very strongly. Sure enough, the rain had just stopped and the area was parkish with conservatories which were, unfortuantely, closed. Still, it was cool wandering around there for a bit, including when I happened upon a gaggle of schoolkids. Having had enough fun in a wet park with rolly-luggage, I went back to the subways to get to the normal train, which led to the bus, bringing me safely to the airport. Only, what, three transfers there? And that was from a close subway stop. Now I am at the airport, penning this into the notebook from the Fast Food PAL cafe which is where I are my last meal in Japan last time I was here, which was a Teriyaki burger. I will not make that mistake again, I am staying away from their food. That was 2:45pm. I am now writing this in the laptop, sitting in the corner of the arrival floor, where the JCMU students should be coming out any time now, they are probably in customs right now. It is now 6:45pm. I spent these four hours wandering from store to store, playing Metroid Fusion, and using their Internet Corner which cost me 100Y for 10 minutes of net time. It let me compose an email or two, at least. I also had my first Melon Soda of the trip. I missed that so much. Well, I am going to go pay attention to the gate and see if anyone vaguely caucasian comes out. Talk to you from JCMU!!!