More Reality Checks

So far what I miss most about travel is the constant adventure. Every day there was something new to discover and just walking out the door meant a new challenge. But back in the U.S. I can read all the signs and I am now driving my own car and seeing and staying with friends. Sure I am seeing new things and meeting with old friends, which is great. But the call of the open road is strong.

Sure I could continue to travel some more, if I want to completely delete my savings and my "get re-established" fund, but at some point I will have to find a place to live, get a job, and begin the process of trying to save up for another journey. Hopefully to Budapest, or maybe back to Japan, or how about Greece, or visit my friends in Germany, Amsterdam, Ireland, England, France, or even Canada or New York.

Seattle sure seems like it would be a nice place to stay for a while but, to be honest, I don't think the people of Seattle are very friendly. Sure I met some nice people there, especially at The Zig Zag. But overall I never got a feeling of friendliness or willing acceptance like I have in so many other cities. I plan to visit Portland, Oregon soon and see if I like it better down there. Everyone I've spoken with about it says that they really like Portland, so I'm looking forward to going there.

Not long after I came back from Japan I needed to get to Yakima to see my family. So, still being in a "traveling in Japan mind set", I was thinking that I could get a train from Seattle to Yakima. But there isn't one. So I had to hitch a ride with my sister (Hi Sue, Hi Randy) and her husband. Not that I'm complaining about getting a ride, just the lack of public transport. I suppose I could have taken the bus...

While I was in Seattle I went up into the Space Needle and it was cool! It was such a clear day that you could see the curve of the Earth.

I also ate my first real American (read not McDonald's) hamburger in about 6 months. Coho suggested the Red Mill, which is not too far from his home, and he was right on. A great burger and very tasty. They also gave me a free rootbeer. *heh heh*

I miss having cute little Japanese women all around me and many of them single. When you go from having many female friends to having to rebuild that circle of friends and trying to find friends who are not huge is not easy in America.

People ask me what I plan to do for a job? My hope is to get back into radio. I love radio. It's the only job I've ever had that never seemed like work. Plus I have a real gift of being able to talk to just about anyone and communicate with them. I hope to use this gift in radio broadcasting because communicating through a mass medium is also a gift and skill that I am really good at doing. I will work in radio again, and I hope it is on my terms and with a company I like. That's not too much to ask, is it?

The Suntory Hermes Orange Bitters Story

Murray is the head bartender at The Zig Zag. Coho also works there as the head chef. Murray knew that I was in Japan and so he asked Coho to ask me to look for something called Suntory Hermes Orange Bitters which is used to create cocktails, and is not available in the United States.

I started my search for this "un-obtainium" while I was in Kyoto. I asked my buddy James for help. We found a liquor store but the owner guy had no idea what we were talking about. Over the next couple of days we found few more stores but no bitters. Damn. This stuff is not going to be easy to find!

I even check when I go up to Sapporo. I went to 2 different stores that had lots of liquor and stuff, but no bitters. Now it is a challenge. I WILL find this stuff.

So then it was back to Yokohama. The night I met Melinda was a night that James, his date Mami (mah-me), and I were on the hunt for Suntory Hermes Orange Bitters. We were going to a supposed liquer store, that was not open that night nor when I tried to go back 3 different times to get "the stuff", which, by the way, was near out favorite place to eat, Stoves.

It was at Stoves where James asked one of the bartenders if they know about Suntory Hermes Orange Bitters. Not only had he heard of it, they had a bottle! So I took a picture of the stuff so that we could show others instead of trying to work with the language barrier. That bartender tried to tell us where we could find the stuff. It should be at this store or in the basement. The next day we go to try to find this store.

So I set off to go and try to find this store. I can find all kinds of stores but I do not see any store that might sell Bitters, and I went into a lot of stores that just might have Suntory Heremes Orange Bitters, but didn't find it.

A couple of days go by and I go back to Stoves to see if I can get a clarification on where exactly I can find these bitters. This is Monday of my last week in Japan. I go back to Stoves (like it was hard for me to go back there or something, it's a very cool place) and have dinner and drinks. I find a different bartender and ask them about the bitters. He not only draws me a map but knows the name of the store in English and in Japanese! Awesome!! (Wish I could remember it now). The next day I set out to find this stuff.

In order to get to this store you have to go through the Diamond Underground Shopping Center, then through the JR Train Station, then through the lower floor of the Sogo Department Store, then go into the Lumine Department Store and take the stairs down and there will be the holy temple where the bitters are kept.

So I go there and I find them on the shelf. 2 bottles. Small bottles. So I take them and go to find a clerk. With great difficulty I communicate to him, with the help fo a co-worker who speaks o.k. English, that I need to buy all of the Suntory Hermes Orange Bitters that they have. All of them. He heads back to the back room and I wait.

He comes back and says that they have no more, but they will have a case coming in on Wednesday. Okay I'll come back Wednesday and buy them. So I buy the 2 from the shelf.

Wednesday comes around and I go back to the store to buy the bitters, but they did not arrive. They will be in on Thursday. *big sigh* Okay, I'll come back tomorrow. I'm thinking; I leave on Sunday so this stuff had better be here. But I have faith because the Japanese Customer Service does not like dissapointed customers.

Thursday is the big day and I go back to the store. They have the case of Suntory Hermes Orange Bitters waiting for me, all packaged up with wrapping and a small ribbon as for a gift. **An aside here; in Japan if you buy something and you say "Gifto" meaning this is a gift for someone, they will wrap it up nice with a small bow, and put it in a nice a paper gift bag too, all free of charge.**

Now I put all 8 small bottles in my lugage and pack it out of the country. Where I bring them to Seattle, and take them to Murray at the Zig Zag.

I tell him that I have something for him and I produce the 2 bottles of bitters and say "Do you know how tough it is to find this stuff?" Which he does, and says you got 2 bottles huh? Yeah I say, I got all they had on the shelf... then I produce the case and put it on the bar and say "I hope it will be enough." Murray about fell over. "Good timing on that one." He says. Thanks. He wanted to pay and I said no. I just did a favor for a friend, so just think well of me. He and the Zig Zag were very greatful.

Another life long friend found. And the good folks at The Zig Zag were very generous and hospitable to me. Thanks Coho, Ben, Kacy, and Murray. The Zig Zag is one classy place run by classy people. Enjoy those Suntory Hermes Orange Bitters.

America!

I made it to America just fine. I hate to say it, but I have flown a lot in the last 6 months and by far the worst service that I have had on an airplane was my flight from Narita Airport in Japan to SeaTac, Seattle Washington, USA. It was an N.W.A. flight NW6.

First there was a beverage service, and then they handed out pretzels, and then a hot moist towelette. A paper towelette. Not a real towel, like every other airline does. Plus it came after the food. Not before. So you have dirty hands before you touch your food. Plus the fat ugly cow of a stewardess was not very good at all. She would hold out the cup waiting for you to grab it instead of placing it down on the tray table.

We only got 3 beverage services. This is an 9 hour flight and you need lots of water and you need to get up and about many times to keep the blood pumping and your ass from falling asleep. On the other flights they serve water and juice many times during the flight. They serve it so ofter you don't want any more, but it makes you have to pee so it also gets you moving around to go to the toilet. Not on this flight. It sucked. If I am paying a thousand dollars for a flight the least they can do is give me more water since I can't bring my own on to the goddamn plane!!!

Seattle is a lovely city. Also in America, based on Seattle, is that there are many different colored people. You see someone who looks African, or Asian, or South American, but they speak to you with a Seattle accent. Also I was walking down the street and heard conversations in Yiddish, French, and I think Iraqy. So very different from other cities in the world. Also, when you go to another country, the person driving the bus is an Australian, or Thai, or Japanese, but in America the people look like they are from different parts of the world but they speak perfect American English.

The people in America are really big. Even bigger than the people of Australia. Not just fat (the fattest person I have seen on my travels so far was in Seattle, she had to go sideways through the door) but just plain bigger, taller, broader. Just big.

The next time I post I hope to have some pictures for you. I hope to have some taken from the Space Needle.

Last Post From Japan

I am in the Narita Airport waiting for my flight. I was lucky enough to be able to travel to the airport with Melinda. We had some great times together while we were in Yokohama. Yes that is an understatement. A big understatement.

My thoughts on the last day in Japan as I make my way to yet another new country, the USA:

Japan is a great country, but has some issues that I do not agree with, like any other country. For instance this is the first country I have been too where some bars, restrants, and other establishments where white men are not allowed to enter. Japanese only. Racism in all of it's forms is bad and it really hit home when the short man in a tuxedo would not let me push the elevator button to go upstairs to the club. There is more to this story, and it sticks with me, maybe I'll tell you later.

Also the little trucks. I love the little trucks here. They look like the kind of car you hold down on the floor and then pull it back. They are very kakooi (kah-koo-ee) or cool.

I love how they have big mopeds and drive them like they are big motorcycles. Which they are, really, but they still look like mopeds... with 500cc engines. They even sound like big bikes.

I also love the food here and I have lost weight here. Not because I am not eating, it is because I am eating good, healthy, Japanese style food.

I love the shear, incredible, variety of everything here. What color of shoe do you want? What kind of TV? What size? How about eyeglasses? What color? What style? Hats? Baseball style? Fedora? Floppy summer hat? What color? What size? With or without a flower on it? Shopping is a dream here.

Customer service is impeccable. I went to go buy a CD, but they didn't have it in stock, the counter guy said, after doing an exhaustive search for the music, that if I wait 30 minutes they would have one sent via currier to this store from another store... "HMV" the competition!!! at no extra charge, and I would only pay their price. Impressive to say the least. I waited for the music.

Other things are that I sometimes feel invisible in this country even though I am the most obvious thing in 3 blocks. Because few people look directly at you. The glance is very powerful here, and I stare down all of these people who do stare. If you glance away it means that you are of lower stature than they person staring. And we all know that just aint happening with me.

I really, really like it here. I have never felt so safe in a country and I like the people here. They are a bit shy, especially the men, but the women are more open and always willing to learn more English. ah, hum.

I will arrive in Seattle today and stay with Coho for a few days, I think. I will keep you updated on the strange new country known as America. I am nervous to go to a country currently at war. I look forward to eating a hamburger.

Pictures and Stories

Goofing around in a department store. There are so many different department stores and so much stuff to buy here. Like pillows that you can make to look like penises. People walking by were doing double takes and then laughing. It was fun to do because Japanese people would never do something like this. So it made it even more fun to do.

This is my new life long friend James. I met him on the a cigar web forum and when he found out that I was on a trip around the world he offered to show me around Yokohama, where he lives, and parts of Tokyo. I had met him initially when I was in the airport going from Bangkok to Koh Samui Island in Thailand. He has been a great friend, a guide, and an all around good guy. I do not think that my experience of Japan would be as great were it not for his companionship. We had much fun and good times together. He showed me his favorite hangout Stoves Bar.

This is the georgeous Melinda, at Stove's. Here is a story that novels and movies are based on. James, his friend Mioko (me-oh-ko) and I were out going to have dinner at Stove's Bar, and try to find Suntory Hermes Bitters for Maury the bartender at The Zig Zag, where Coho works (that is another story) when we walked past this woman, Melinda, who was looking around as if lost. I stopped to ask if she needed some help. She said yes, that she needed to find an electricity converter plug. (Japan works on 100 V, with the same style outlets as the US system). We just passed a huge electronics store, Bic Camera, so all 4 of us go into the store looking for this converter. We found it. Then asked if she had eaten? She said no, and we invited her to come with us. She is from Budapest Hungary and is in Yokohama on a business trip and leaves the same day as I do, and we are staying in the same hotel. Hmm. She is from Budapest, I am from Ellensburg, and we meet in Yokohama Japan. Coincidence? I can only hope so.

Where is Thom? I am somewhere in this photo, try to find me. This is the busiest street corner in the world in Shabuya and it wasn't even very busy this time. This is also the same street corner where some of the filming of Lost In Translation was made. There are some very freaky people in this area. People dressed in all one color. One woman was all day-glow green. Her hair, her eyes (yes her eyes), her clothes, her shoes, her fingernails, all day glow green. I couldn't stop staring at her. Freaky-deaky.

On another note, I feel completely safe in this country. Not once have I been scared or afraid to go places. I have been down some alley ways where I would never have ventured in the U.S. for fear of being mugged or beaten. But not here. Not only that but I do not have the overwhelming fear placed on me by media sources and the government that I will be attacked by some crazed wacko with a bomb at any second. This is a country of peace and I like it.

Speaking of bombs, I have found NO ONE in my travels who likes George Bush. No one. When I talk to them they also want to know why he was elected twice. I do not know, because I didn't vote for that idiot. Then they say, almost everyone and I'm not exagerating, "Clinton was a good President. I like Bill Clinton. He was a peaceful man." Indeed.

My journey abroad is almost at an end. I have only 4 days left in this wonderful country and on my wonderful trip. It truly has been fantastic and I am well aware of how fortunate I am to have been able to go on such a long and fulfilling adventure. My hope is that each one of you will too be able to experience the global village as I have. I feel humble but proud.

Where The Hell Have I Been?

I have been making very good use of my JR Rail Pass. I am currently back in Yokohama, but I recently took a sleeper train up to Sopporo on the North Island of Hokaido. To paraphrase David Sedaris (sp?) "That was a supposedly fun thing that I will never do again." I thought it would kind of cool and fun hanging out with people in the bar car, and having dinner in the diner car, and... I must have been high or something, because it was a long, boring, and sleep deprived ride. Getting to sleep was not a problem, but staying asleep and getting a nice deep sleep was not happening.

The clickitty-clack of the train will put you to sleep, it is very rythmic and I rather liked that. But when you do get to sleep, the train makes a few, something like 4 or 5, stops during the night. When it stops I did not notice it. But when it goes again... eyes open, huh, wha? Oh, train... yaaaaawwwwn stopped. Moving, now... drift... drift... fucking train. Minutes go by... decide to bust out the i-Pod. Drifting... sleeping... eyes open, huh, wha? Oh, train... yaaaaawwwwn stopped. Moving, now... drift... drift... fucking train. Minutes go by... decide to bust out the i-Pod. Drifting... sleeping... Repeat

But I did get to meet the push cart girl. Her name is Fuko. She lives in Sopporo and is a physical education teacher. We had a good time looking for a place to eat, when we found the outdoor eating and drinking spot in the streets of Sopporo. It goes on every night of the week during the summer time. They close 2 blocks of downtown from 3 to 10. Live music, beer, whiskey, and tastey food.

Fuko and I infront of the Sopporo Tower. This is also the site where the annual snow festival is held where they do some amazing things with snow sculpture.

BBQ Squid. This was so delicious I ate way too much of it. I think squid is the beef of Japan. It is everywhere.

Speaking of eatting. There have been a few instances in Japan where I do not know exactly what I am eatting or how to eat it. The other day I ate fried cow's stomach. It looked like a bunch of chunks of meat, it kinda looked like pork. It was very chewy and I asked Fuko what we were eatting and she said "Um, how do I say... stomach from cow." Reaaaally? This is good stuff. "Do you like it?!" Oh, yeah, let's get some more of this.

Thom and Fuko drinking beer on the street of Sopporo.

It tasted like chewy beef seasoned with a little salt and pepper, and shaved bits of fresh onion. I want some right now. It was that good.

Then the other night I went out searching for dinner in Sopporo and I came upon a tiny spot that specializes in Gozo, I think that's right. It is like a dumpling only fried on a skillet, with minced pork and vegetables in the mixture, they were wonderful. I want some right now. It was that good. The thing is the Gozo came with a soup, rice, and a small plastic container full of chopped cabbage, shared with the table. What would you do with the cabbage? I put some in my soup bowl. I saw some patrons give me strange looks but I went on. A little later another patron came in, orded, and put the cabage on his plate and some soy sauce on top of it and ate it like a salad. Oops. So I put more in my bowl. It was good that way.

On a different note. I plan on keeping Reality Check going even after I come back home. I enjoy posting things going on in my life and as long as you enjoy reading it, I will keep posting. I think that coming back home will be very interesting for me as I see my home country again through eyes newly opened.

Be well my friends,

Thom

Kyoto etc.

A quick post today, I only have an hour as other people are waiting to use this station.

Today, and the last 3 days I have been in Kyoto which is one of the most metropolitan cities that I have visited in Japan. There are many tourists here. Not only white people from all over the world, there are many people here from Isreal and Germany, but also many Chinese, Korean, Tiawanese, and other Japanese who are here for a visit.

Yesterday I met up with 3 really nice women in Kyoto on the bus. We went shopping, eatting and having an all around good time. But they all had to leave before 11 PM. Damn that last train!

Thom, Ishi (ee-shee), Shizu (Sheet-zoo), Kahzuha (Kah-zoo-ha) 9-3-2006

My philosophy on travel:

Traveling is about solving everyday problems every day. Each new culture has it's own way of doing everyday things. From how do you hand over change? In Australia you put the money on the counter but in Japan you put the money on a change plate, and in America you put it in their hand directly. How do you say hello, thank you, excuse me, beer, and how do you order when the menu is in a different language? How do you greet people? Do you bow? Shake hands? Wai, with your hands held in prayer fashion up to your nose as they do in Thailand? This is travel. Learning that the culture you live in is not the only culture in the world and getting completely overwhelmed by a new language and lifestyle but still making your way to around while making new friends.

People all over the world want the same things; A warm dry place to sleep. A safe environment. Peace with their neighbors and the world. Food enough to eat. Friends to share their life with. A good drunk every now and then... maybe that last one is mine, but every place I've been to on this trip likes beer.

This guy will write your name in Kanji in an artistic style and then look into your eyes to then write something about you. It was worth 1000 yen.