Day 1 : Flight Seattle to Tokyo
Departed: Seattle on Northwest Airlines flight 85B, October 14 2006, time 1530.
Arrived: Narita Airport, Japan, on October 15 2006, time 1830.
Linux Onboard
Each seat has its own entertainment console, with video screen and handheld controller. This was an internetworked entertainment-on-demand system. During the flight the system was rebooted. During the booting process, a Linux boot process was displayed on the main wall monitors and everyone's personal video monitor. Then an X11 Windowing process began, just before the customized Panasonic-Northwest Airlines user interface instantiated.
Day 1 : Bus to Tokyo
I used a Limousine Bus service from the airport to The New Otani Hotel. They have an official website with English at http://www.limousinebus.co.jp/e/. I worried before arriving that finding the bus ticket counter would be difficult. It was easy. The bus ticket counter was immediately in the arrival area, with a big sign. The price was 3000 yen.
Tip:
There is a money exchange in the arrival area. THEY DO NOT ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS.
On my return trip (Tokyo to Narita Aiport) I used the Narita Express train from Tokyo Station to Narita Airport Terminal 1. It was about the same price as the bus, and took one hour. The bus ride to New Otani in Akasaka took two hours.
Tip:THE TRAIN COULD BE CONFUSING TO A FOREIGNER, THE BUS SERVICE MAKES NO THINKING OR LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY.
Day 2:
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Ontec in Akasaka-Mitsuke 
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Good Food in Akasaka-Mitsuke
It is custom to take visitor out for every meal. I have had so much great food today, it is crazy. For lunch: sushi , soup, something really complex, and tea. For dinner, I cannot list everything, but here is what I remember:
- raw horse
- raw octopus
- raw fish of many kinds
- sea cucumber
- japanese salad
- ikura
- beer
- hot sake
- hot rice mixed with egg and almost like a soup. (a hot rice dish is customary as the last food consumed in a dinner.)
- green tea
All the above was with three Japanese business men from Ontec. The evening was a great experience.
I was a little slow in wit and intelligence on this first day. I was still in my more casual American clothes, and I felt out-of-sync socially. I did ok at my job things during the day, but at meals I was sort of unintelligent.
Day 3:
This morning I had Starbuck's Coffee, since they were the ealiest opening coffee shop at 700. I noted that there were items for sale there celebrating Starbuck's presence in Japan for 10 years.
It was up to me to get myself to the Ontec office by 900. I did with no problem. The walk is less than 1 km, and only a few turns.
At 1100 a truck transported Ontec demonstration equipment, including the Streambox High Definition and News Gathering Solutions I was in Tokyo to help in presenting.
Ontec personnel and I met at the Tepia -Machine Industry Memorial Foundation, where the Ontec "HD Solutions Fair" was to take place. We began with a speech from an Ontec person describing the plan for how to set up the room. I listened to Nihongo, and understood the part on where the Streambox section would exist. At the end of his speech, I said "Streambox wa doko desu ka?" and pointed to the spot. They said "hi so desu". The next moment I was helping the company President move a table. On this day I started feeling like I was more intelligent, and fitting in with the group.
Tepia Plaza, Tokyo, Fumihiko Maki
Gaienmae Station to Minato-Ku
At around 1700 (5PM) we left Tepia to visit the offices of the Japanese Leisure Channel.
We walked the route of the red dashed line in the following graphic, but opposite
direction than the arrow implies, to Gaienmae Station. There I stepped into the Tokyo subways for the first time.
Tip:
The subway cost less than 500 yen for the round trip. I remember buying 160 yen
ticket stubs a few times.
We went via a few subway lines to Minato-Ku ward, one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo. I'm not sure, but I think we changed from the Ginza Line to the Hibiya Line of the subway. We walked to the JLC offices, during the walk we were within view of the Tokyo Tower.
Tokyo Subways are Great
On my second day in Japan, I had one of the greatest experiences of my life:
| Riding the Tokyo subway. |
I have been on the New York City and Washington D.C. subways several times. But that was nothing compared to this. To further qualify the Tokyo subway experience, I have repelled into crevasses in Antarctica, and in 60 foot seas in the Bering Sea. Still, the whole experience of the Tokyo Subway stays in the top of my life.
It is not a mean and too-fast jungle. It is more like nice and beautiful at a heightened intensity. An enormous wide screen TV with 12 million channels all on with their dimensions interconnecting and informing another.
Riding the train, the city rushes by. It's a great means to get more of the city's ambient texture, by passing it at this speed. City landscapes are cognitive artifacts, enhancing and enabling a mental process. Tokyo is an amazing testament to great civilization, and the Tokyo subway is maybe the best way to access and even contemplate its greatness.
It is safe. And that is also a testament to the greatness of Japanese civilization.
recommended reading: "Subway Guide to Tokyo" by Boye' Lafayette De Mente
Taxi to Tepia and Demonstration for Japanese guests.
Today I rode my first Tokyo taxi, from Hotel New Otani to the Tepia. An Ontec employee had made a print out of map and text to give to the taxi driver. This helped make the journey an easy one. Tip: The taxi fare was around 1100 yen for a ride from Akasaka to the Tepia which is near Gaienmae Station.
Once at our exhibition space, I began the new experience of introducing our Streambox product to Japanese guests. This went easily. The display of functioning equipment helps convey most of the message. The questions guests had usually fell within certain topical spaces, and my combination of yes/no answers, hands-on demonstration, and print outs almost always provided the guest with the info they sought. I was deeply in debt to Ontec employees who helped with fuller descriptions of our broadcasting and streaming video solutions.
Ginza, Tempura, Sumo Wrestlers, and Toy Stores
The evening of Oct 18 an Ontec employee invited to guide me through the Ginza District. We used the subway from Gaienmae Station to Ginza Station.
Walking around the district, I spotted a sumo wrestler. My guide informed me this was one of the most famous sumo wrestlers. He was on his way into a restaurant.
We found a large toy store,
Next we went to what my guide described as a renowned tempura restaurant, Ginza Tenkuni. It is 120 years old as of 2006. It was the most delicious tempura I've ever had, and a very pretty establishment.
We went in a Japanese department store, and it was 8 floors. Mostly women's items, with only a portion of 2 floors with men's wear.
Ginza District was beautiful, much like Times Square in NYC. It's a must see for anyone visiting Tokyo.
More Demonstrations, display breakdown, and company party
Oct 19 was the second day of the "HD Solutions Fair". I believe it was a success. After 1800 (6PM) we tore down the equipment and transported it back to the Ontec office. It was a good experience working in a team effort.
That night we went to Akasaka-Mitsuke for a really nice party. The restaurant had little wooden lockers for shoes, and it was a more traditional Japanese business dinner establishment than I had seen before. I really had fun with all the food, conversations, and joking.
Taxi ride by the Imperial Palace, Tokyo Station, and Narita Express
My flight from Japan to Seattle leaving at 1530 (3:30PM), I needed to get to the airport by 1330. My plan was to use the Narita Express.
Using the N'EX meant getting from Hotel New Otani to Tokyo Station. I checked out of the hotel and boarded a taxi.
The itinerary of the taxi was the one of my best experiences while in Japan.
- Kioi-cho --> Expressway No. 4
- Expressway No. 4 -->Uchibori-dori Avenue
- On Uchibori-dori Avenue I began to see the Sakurada-bori Moat, and the beautiful rock wall that surrounds the Imperial Palace.
- We turned and went through Kokyo-mae-hiroba Park. This was amazing scenery of the Palace front entrance and a large plaza for the public.
- We turned southeast for a couple of blocks to Tokyo Station.
Tokyo Station is an amazing experience in itself. The ticket purchase office is in front entrance area, and easy to see. The price of the ticket was a little over 2900 yen. I followed the signs to the Narita Express. Tip: To Americans it may seem to be a fairly long way to the boarding area.
Tip:
The N'EX (and probably all Japanese trains?) tickets have a train-car, row, seat designation on them. There is only Japanese script and numbers on the ticket.
A rider must locate the boarding zone for their car, and (once train arrives) find the seat with naming convention same as airline seats. I will post a picture scanned from
my ticket later.
The trip to Narita was different from my Tokyo experience. I got to see Japanese farming countryside, and smaller more middle class cities. A wide paved bicycle path followed the train tracks through the most remote parts of the countryside. It looked like a good way to bicycle tour.
The architecture was much more austere once out of the center of Tokyo. Very practical and functional look to both houses and businesses.
I got off the train at Terminal 1 at the Narita Airport. It took about an hour or more to get through check-in. I got a snack, sat down and watched a tourism promotional for Ho Chi Min City. My plane began boarding process and I stepped off the land of Japan.
DATE: 10/22/2006 05:15:16 PM
- A double shot latte was just over 400 yen
- subway ride through 5 stations on one line was 160 yen
- udon soup and tempura lunch around 700 yen
- taxi on 10 minute ride was 1100 yen
- nicer lunch was 980 yen
- train ride of one hour from Tokyo to Narita was a little over 2900 yen
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