Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever had a stuck like that in Japan before. After landing at CTS last night, the plane stopped on a taxiway to wait, as the gate we were supposed to come in at still had the previous flight at the jetway. There was a lingering thunderstorm over the airport, so the tower wasn’t letting anyone take off, even though our flight and several after it had landed without incident. After nearly half-an-hour, and with other planes stacking up behind us (that’s a guess, since I really couldn’t see what was going on, other than what I could see out the left side windows), they had us taxi over to the ramp for us to wait for a gate to clear around the same time the rain subsided. The pilot shut down the main engines so we wouldn’t suck in anything. Another half-hour passed, then without warning, the tractor that had ninja-ed in and attached itself to the nosegear towed us into our newly assigned gate. Of course all this happened without me seeing any planes backing out of their gates or moving away from the terminal. We had actually landed early, but deplaned over an hour late. Continue reading ‘Stuck’
Archive for the 'Culture' Category
Page 6 of 37
I heard the rumor that the Mayor of Obama-shi, Fukui-ken was going to have a statue of Uncle Barry made, but I was hoping that it would be a professionally-made full-sized bronze. This is what we got instead. Sort-of looks more like Tanaka Kunie with a suntan than the C-in-C. It’s painted concrete, and I hope it’s something the art club of a local school did and not something the city paid for.
The only “I (heart) Obama” goods I could find were some phone straps, neck lanyards, manju, and senbei. I really wanted a shirt or stickers, but since we’re into the second term and Barry can’t run again, the whole connection between the city and the man will fade, and the production of goods will cease. That probably goes for a bronze statue too: This probably isn’t a temporary solution until the bronze arrives with only a few years left of the administration. I think I missed the boat on stickers or a shirt. The senbei were funny, since it had the image of the face on the front, and the back of the head on the reverse. Those definitely wouldn’t have made the trip from Obama to Osaka, no less the bustling around Osaka and the various flights to Sapporo and Honolulu.
More pictures after the break…
Though I was in Matsue, I didn’t get over to Yaegaki-jinja. I don’t think I’ll ever make it back to this part of Japan again, but I won’t regret missing the opportunity to walk through the shrine precincts muttering “Kushinada“. I did see Matsue castle from the bus, but I didn’t get to go inside or take pictures. I guess I’m a little bummed about that.
I went all the way to Uji, but the weather hadn’t been cold enough for the majority of the momiji to turn to red, and Byodo-in was covered in scaffolding and plastic sheeting for a 3-year renovation project. I guess Byodo-in is more interesting to Hawaii folk than the average American, because of the 3/4 scale concrete replica at Temple Valley. They supposedly have a really nice garden, but I’ve been to some other famous gardens and was underwhelmed, so I passed on the 500-yen entry fee. The throngs of shouting schoolkids queued up made my decision to pass easier.
I spent all morning and the better part of the afternoon on the Shinkansen from Hakata to Okayama, and a highway express bus from Okayama to Izumo-shi to witness all the kami in Japan congregating at Izumo Taisha (go look up “kannazuki”on the internet). All the gods were with me, as all the ticketing and connections worked out perfectly, though it did take a while to find the Misdo in JR Hakata-eki. Spent about ten minutes wandering around then finally asked the information booth girl. Turns out it is right next to the shinkansen gates, so if I looked for that, I’d have found the donuts incidentally. The ceremony had lots of fire. The rainy weather let up just in time for the ceremony to commence, and the stars and moon came out.
You can spot me easily here in Fukuoka. I’m the one guy in a MulitCam jacket and green pants in a sea of black and grey-suited businessmen. …oh, and I have a beard. It’s probably more glaring since I’m in an area with a lot of business hotels. I should blend in better when I get into the sticks this evening.
It’s finally light out enough for me to see. I woke up at 04:00 (09:00 HST) and couldn’t really get back to sleep. The little spot of sky I can see from my room is blue with wispy clouds, which is in sync with the JMA forecast for today. Unfortunately, it’s supposed to be rainy on the Nihonkai coast where I will end up this afternoon. It’s snowing a lot up North (16cm overnight in some areas), and there are gale force winds blowing up skirts in the Kantou region. The internet says there are two Mister Donut locations within JR Hakata-eki, so I know where I’m having breakfast! Continue reading ‘Aozora, for Now’
Landed in Fukuoka and breezed through immigration, baggage claim, and customs. My bag got the “priority/first-class” treatment, so it was one of the first out on the belt! The customs guy actually asked me to open my pack duffle and my Kifaru, but was somewhat discouraged when he found it to be packed tighter than a sausage. The inter-terminal bus was right there, and I got over to the domestic terminal and subway station with ease. 250-yen got me to Hakata-eki, and the Garmin got me to the hotel without too much of a hitch (“track up” might have made my life a little easier, though). I’ll head downstairs to the onsen, then maybe look for a convenience store. I was going to walk over to the nearest Menchanko-Tei, but I’m not feeling hungry, since it is midnight at home. Continue reading ‘What the FUK?!?!’
Sunday, 06 October 2013
The promise of the undiscovered frontier brought everyone except the stand-up crew out of the woodwork, even under the threat of possible heavy thunderstorms. We met at the end of the road in Sunset Hills in Pupukea to explore the much-storied Pupukea-Paumalu trail network. Briefly, the area had been considered for development, but the community worked together with the landowner and State to get the land preserved as a multi-use wilderness area. The weather was fine when we arrived, and there was no hint of muckiness at the parking area. Ckucke had taken a photo of the trail map at a local bike shop with his phone, so that was our only reference, other than topographical information from my GPS. Continue reading ‘Enjoying Sunset Hills’
HI5-o at Kuakini this morning. Boom lift exterior lighting into an upper floor window.
(0)Bumped into Eric and Jackie from Chinatown Boardroom sans Hannah and Enoki at Lion this morning. Hope they enjoyed the movie!
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