It was a short but a very nice trip over to Japan this time. I’ve decided after this trip, I really have no interest to visit Japan in a long while. Over time, I’ve noticed my interest in Japan is waning daily. I’m not sure what happened, but this time it was very apparent. Browsing the shops, I really didn’t feel much of the “wow” factor at the items that were displayed. The arcades all had very old machines that didn’t seem “fresh.” The music shops or the book shops… this time I hadn’t even visited any due to lack of interest. In fact, I’m completely unaware of who the latest artists are for Japan.

Is it still Hamasaki Ayumi? I really couldn’t say.

The currency rate makes Japan much more expensive. My lack of practice in Japanese really showed, as I couldn’t really understand or communicate much this trip around. Overall, while Japan remains my most favorite country in Asia, it’s only a favorite due to it’s safety, organization and friendly (in theory, please read onwards for what I mean) shopkeepers and staff.

For this trip, Wifey and I flew from Macau. At the airport, we saw wifey’s ex-coworkers… and to our surprise, her co-workers were boarding the same flight as we were. Upon arrival to Kansai airport we went over to rent a cellphone and then car. In the end, we took the co-workers with us to Kobe. In terms of Kobe, I’ve always had a very positive impression of the city. It’s clean and it has it’s own distinct style with boutiques and such. Beautiful city lights? There it is quite plentiful. After a yummy meal at Botejyuu we drove the co-workers off to their hotel in Osaka.

After we sent them off, we immediately set forth to some port on Toyama prefecture. Along the way, we got stopped by the police. It was this barricade that had 5 to 6 cops standing around stopping cars. Our car approaches the stopping area, we pull down the window. As a passenger, I looked at the cop as he said something to Marie. Suddenly, Marie just said は～っ？ (Ha?)  and then the cop thanked us and we drove off.

I had no idea what had happened.
Ha?

Apparently, the police had asked Marie to say “Ha” to him to check for alcohol content. What an interesting country this is, no?

The entire drive took around 10 hours so more or less, when we go to the port, we really had not slept in 24 hours. As we got to the port, we were met with heavy rain. When we entered the boat, it was like a cruise boat. It had fancy bathrooms, a restaurant area and various quarters with carpeting for rest. We got onto the boat and immediately looked for a space to sleep. As I tried to snooze, the boat began to shake up and down violently. For a while I was thinking, “Hmm… I wonder if I will upchuck right here?” Luckily for their carpeting, such thing didn’t not happen.

When we got to Sado Island, we were greeted with a fairly old obaachan who was our tour guide for the day. She was very professional and had a million things to say. At Sado Island, I even got to take a picture of the American traitor Charles Jenkins. That guy, I suppose you could say, got what he deserved. He looks as if his soul has been sucked out. When I asked him in perfect American English, “Hey, can I take a picture with you?” He responded in Japanese, “Hai.” Didn’t even look at me. I wanted to ask him some questions about why he defected to N. Korea and such since I had read his book and watched the BBC documentary videos, but I decided not to. He really seemed like a robot.

We left Sado in really high spirits. Overall the tour was perfectly timed and we really had fun. The next time- Tateyama. We got to Tateyama at around 11 pm. The lodging that was picked out for Tateyama was a traditional style Japanese hotel (ryokan). To be honest, if I wasn’t traveling with a Japanese, I wouldn’t really actively pick a ryokan because I don’t like the fact that:

1)      I have to sleep on the floor.

2)      There’s lack of furniture. It’s just a room with tatami, a teeny weeny TV and a water pot.

3)      You have to use a public toilet.

4)      You have to use a public bath.

5)      You have to put away your bedding.

Though for those who have never gotten a taste of such cultural endeavors, I figure it’s an interesting experience. Tateyama I really had no understanding of. When we got to the cable car station, I finally understood that it was a big place for skiing. We were so underdressed. Since we were hiking up a snow mountain, normal people would have powerful boots. Us? Regular shoes. Ear muffs, gloves, scarf? None of that. But somehow we were so amazing, we managed to get around the snowy mountain with just regular shoes and without any gear! Might I add it was only -5C that day too.

From Tateyama we traveled over to Kanazawa which is a nice city in the Ishikawa prefecture. It’s quite nice and has everything a person would want. Cultural sites such as jinjas and brand whore streets for Gucci and LV are all available. Anyway, that night I forced Marie to use her cellphone to talk to a strange Japanese man who could give us information about when there was some light up show at some park. After much struggle, Marie finally used the cellphone.

So we went to some park.
It was alright.

The next day, we stayed at Komatsu where Marie’s mom lives. But cuz her sister was coming at 4 to see the mom, so we decided to go to a modern art museum in Kanazawa. I think most readers know what my opinion on modern art museums are. Ahem…

Garbage.

This was no different. While it wasn’t as bad as some modern art museums in New York, this rates as number… 3 most terrible bullshit experiences for modern art. There was a art piece that I really wanted to show everyone here. Basically it was a concrete backyard, with weeds and unkept leaves on the floor. Basically what you would see at an empty parking lot. When I took out my camera, a small Japanese lady completely gave me one of the most horrid expressions and asked me to put away my camera immediately.

We left the art museum quite quickly.

We headed to Komatsu and got to the cemetery in fairly good time.
Candles were lit.
Incense were burned.
… and then we were done.
It was a much less complicated affair than for Chinese people. For us Chinese people, you’d have to prepare fruits, money to burn, etc. etc. I wonder if I’ll have to do that for my grandpa when I return to New York?

After the cemetery we went to a really nice jinja.
From there we set off to Osaka.

Our hotel was quite swanky and I was really surprised at how great the location was for the hotel. Since we were both really tired, we slept fairly promptly. The following day we slept in a bit. That day was considered “shopping day.” Somehow we were able to browse a few department stores to occupy us all the way to 8 pm. Because we were kind of price comparing, we had decided that today, we would go in the morning to buy some stuff.

On impulse Marie bought a Wii Fit Plus. While for me, I bought this cute clock thing that tells you the time and how it feels when you push it’s button. So we decided we shall do the duty free procedure. As we got off the elevator an old obaachan bumps Marie out of the way and says, “Thank you.” Then storms off. I suppose old people feel they have right of way no matter what? Who knows.

We get to the duty free counter. There are two signs. One is written in Chinese and one is written in English for “Duty Free.” I walk over to the English sign and tell the staff…

“I’d like to do the duty free for my purchase.”
Bitchy woman looks at me and replies only in Japanese
“You’re not eligible”
What?
We ask why.
You have to purchase above 10,000 yen.

I point to my receipt.
“これは十万以上でしょう？” (This is above 10,000 yen though)
Then she gave me some other bullshit excuse that I couldn’t understand.
In fact, Marie the native Japanese speaker couldn’t understand either.
Then the staff goes
“Your purchase isn’t eligible because you bought accessory type items” (Such as tape, cords, batteries)
I respond, “No, I bought a game and a toy.”
While Marie added, “We didn’t buy that, look at the receipt, IT’S WRITTEN IN JAPANESE!”
Then bitchy sales lady goes, “Oh, you’re not eligible because you’re buying software, not a machine.”
“But this is a machine, we bought the Wii Fit Plus.”
The bitch walks away for a bit to think of other ways to shoo us away.
As she walks away, Marie quickly asks, “Is there someone who can speak English who can help us?” (In rather polite Japanese)

Ok… this is a cultural point that is gonna be hard to translate. But in a normal situation, a good salesperson would say (Or at least that’s what I think):
“すみません、いらっしゃいません” (I’m really sorry, but we don’t have an English speaker on staff.)
Instead this bitch doesn’t use honorifics with us and says to us in really rude Japanese:
“いませ～～～んっ！” (No!)
Though my ear heard her say “いない！” (Naw!)

She comes back.
And you know what? The bitch found another way to deny us of what is rightfully ours!
“You can’t do duty free, you used the BIKKU camera points card for this purchase.”
Being the cheap American that I am I responded.
“But no where did you write such rule here.” (Pointing on the table where they had rules written for duty free)
The bitch persisted.
Our blood is boiling from anger because this bitch is not helpful and impolite. I’ve received better service in China and Hong Kong!
I was thinking maybe to give up.
Then the bitch in Marie came out.
“I want to see where this rule is written for where I can’t get duty free if I use my BIKKU card” in perfect Japanese.
Bitch sales lady looks for something.
Once again in really rude Japanese.
“Here’s info in English for the BIKKU card.“
We read it.
It mentions no such rules.
We bitch again.
Then she hands us some laminated rule sheet written in Chinese.
We request for it in English but was met with no delivery.
As we read both sides, it was true. You really couldn’t use it. But shit, the principles! If I could speak fluent Japanese, I totally would just stand there and make a fuss. Not for the sake of doing the duty free. But to get the bitch fired.

In the end, we copied down the staff’s name. Marie will submit a letter of complaint online. While I will have her email me a copy and handwrite the complaint and mail it directly to the BIKKU Namba shop. I don’t care if no one reads it but I will do as much as I can within my ability to make sure the bitch’s shitty attitude gets put in the light.

After BIKKU, we went over to eat kuru kuru sushi. We couldn’t find the 100 yen version, so we resorted to eating the 120 yen version. It was quite good though :)

2 pm we arrive to the airport and soon Hong Kong… =)