After the conference, Sebastien and I stayed in Tokyo for the weekend. When we were buying train ticket at the station, Eli found us, and came along because he was staying in Japan for extra days. Well, that was fine, but he had no hotel reservation at that day. So, although we always paid our hotel, I asked the reception lady (very nice) if we could have extra person in our room. She said that I would need to change larger room which would cost 10000 yen (about $85), and we would need extra bed which would cost 4000 yen ($35). So, Eli would need to pay 14000 yen. So, I asked him if he wanted to pay that much money for one night. He was like, “oh whatever.” So, I told the nice reception lady to go ahead and change our room. But, when we were waiting for the confirmation, Eli just said, “oh, well, that’s lots of money, so I will find somewhere else. Can you tell her I won’t stay here.” Hmm, well, I was annoyed. I was almost pissed. I was thinking, “you tell her!” But, since I am a nice person, I asked her to change back our room. After we settled in, we went to the Imperial Garden. Well, we couldn’t get inside of the Imperial Place because it’s not open to public (dah, emperor lives there!). It was pretty cool to see the garden even though there wasn’t much to see. We also checked out Japanese restaurant which supposedly inspired Crazy 88 (restaurant in Kill Bill). The restaurant was pretty neat, but there were so many foreigners! Weird! Although there was so much potential to be great weekend, my Tokyo weekend ended up pretty bad. I wish I hadn’t stayed there. I was still tired from the conference, being a guide for everyone, and continued to become a guide in Tokyo was not my intention. Anyway, I uploaded couple funny video clips, so check them out.
July 11, 2007 04:38 AM
Comments
kenny, welcome to Japan. Did you know that Japan has huge video game companies?
I really sympathise with the tedium of being the tour-guide. Being the only person to speak Japanese you should have see it coming! When I was with a university group in Barcelona - only two of us spoke Spanish with skill; the rest either spoke none at all or could say hello, good-bye. Their knowledge of Mexican restaurant menu Spanish did nothing because... uh.. Spanish food isn't Mexican. One person was upset because, and we told her before hand, that a tortilla in Spain is not a tortilla in Mexico. Anyway, it was very frustrating to have a team of Americans expect to see things in a foreign city but expect you to be not only their guide but interpreter. Who cares about what you want to do and see? When I got angry and told people to figure out the subway on their own (how hard is it, people! fucking coloured lines and numbers... duh! and everybody working in Spanish mass transit speak English!) my professor told me later that night that those students complained about my bad attitude.
I hope you have a better time in Japan that what you've had thus far. Maybe you'll have time to visit your parents in Hiroshima?
Yeah, I know. It was really sucky to be a translator. But, at the same time, I wanted them to enjoy Japan, so I did what I could do. I too left my friends in the station because I was so pissed!! Well, they did figure out how to get back, and they actually thanked me because they could learn Tokyo subway system... Hmmmmm, so I guess I was being too much of mom or what! Anyway, Tokyo is over, and now I am staying with my parents in Hiroshima. It's good, I guess, but kinda boring!
