Geocaching
August 15, 2006
I finally got a chance to do some geocaching today. I've had lots of questions about cahcing so let me give you a brief explaination.
People from all over the world hide "stuff", all over the world. The treasures range from little tiny treasures that are so small they only hold a log book, to 10 gallon buckets full of treasure. Generally the cache sizes aren't quite that extreme, they usually aren't much smaller than an Altoids can, or larger than an ammo box.
When you hide a cache you use a GPS unit to get the coordinates (Longitude and Latitude) of the hiding place and you log those coordinates, as well as any clues for the finding the cache or history of the area into the geocaching website. At that point others will log onto the website, find caches for areas they are interested in, get the coordinates of the caches as well as any clues and go off to find the cache.
Today I found 2 caches, 1 was a small tupperware containerfilled with goodies (I left an Underground Atlanta key chain and took a coca cola girl cartoon figure) hidden in a hole in a tree, the other was a cache that was only a log book hidden around a mailbox.
Can you find the micro-cache hidden here? Gie up? Click the picture to see where it's hidden.
The hunt for the caches was fun, but the real joy was seeing parts of the city most people don't see. For example the Godzilla statue pictured at the beginning of this post. I also saw all kinds of small shrines, cool buildings, and a really neat stainless steel ball that reflects the buildings around it (similar to the Bean in Chicago). I had a great time and I was really happy to be able to log a cache or 2 in Asia.
The afternoon puts us on the bullet train. I'm writing this as I watch the cities and towns whiz by. We are moving so quickly that looking out the window fo too long makes me dizzy.
Jetro
August 14, 2006
Today was our big work day in Japan. We spent the day at Jetro (Japanese External Trade Organization) listening to business men talk about entrepreneurship, the Japanese economy, what is effecting both entrepreneurship and the economy, and how they effect each other.
Lunch was on our own and there were many eating establishments within the building. I found an amazing bakery that loaded most of their bread with cheeses and herbs, yummy. I got extra to eat tomorrow.
August 13, 2006
Dorm Life
A visit to a local Shinto shrine followed by a look at a teen spectacle made the morning quite an interesting one. The Shinto shrine we visited is a working shrine. There were many worshippers, as well as tourists, visiting the shrine and the gardens surrounding the shrine. An interesting story about the shrine, people who lived in the city and surrounding cities brought trees from their homes to the shrine to be planted. In this way the marvelous grounds surrounding the shrine were established.
About 100 yards from shrine, the peaceful gardens disappear and the hustle and bustle of the city return. Here, tucked away on one end of a bridge, the local teens come to be admired and photographed. Now these people are not your run of the mill Tokyo teens, rather they are people who are so enamored with a cartoon character that they dress up like that character and hang around a certain part of the city. This area reminded me of a free speech area gone retro.
The afternoon was originally designated as class time, but Jim and I decided that the groups would be best served by giving them some time to catch up on their work. That this extra time was appreciated was evident by the looks of relief on the faces of most people. While the students were working, Jim and I would be in our rooms to give whatever help or advise needed. I retired to my room, propped the door open and was soon barraged by a steady flow of people looking for tech help, video and audio editing help and tips, dropping off completed video assignments, picking up or swapping cables, encoding, ripping, importing, exporting... you get the picture. I stood once to stretch my legs and to a walk to my hotel room door. Looking you the door I noticed many people with doors open, students walking around sharing information, offering tips and helping each other out. It reminded me of my college dorm room during finals week.
When I finally looked up it was dinner time and most people headed out to see the fireworks we had missed the night before. I was exhausted, as was Jim. We headed out with Takato-san, our guide, and had a splendid Japanese dinner at a local restaurant.
Taiko drum type video game
August 12, 2006
Restock
While the rest of the group was out and about today, I had to go to the discount electronics area of Tokyo to restock some of our electronic equipment. We were in need of firewire cables, extra cat 5 cables, a couple of fuses for our plug adapters, and something to help us pull video off a DVD camera that uses the small DVD discs (the computers we have will only take the large discs).
One of the group members, Sachi, speaks some Japanese. She armed me with the name of the area I needed to go, walked me to the train and helped me intrepret the map and buy my train ticket. Armed with a map of the subway, in English and Japanese, my ticket, and enough Yen in change (thanks again to Sachi) I ventured forth. Finding the electronics area was a snap and WOW, what a place.
Picture a main city street with 4 lanes of traffic and sidewalks on both sides. Multi-story buildings line the street. and they are decorated with massive amounts of advertising. The streets were packed with people walking and shopping. There were hawkers with megaphones outside every other store. Every kind of electronic devise known was for sale. Robots, iPods, a zillion different kinds of cell phones, electronic toys, cameras, GPS units, DVD players, computers, 30 inch flat screen monitors, stereo systems, CD players, and on and on. Much of the inventory was sitting on the sidewalk competing for space with the pedestrians.
Walking down the street I felt almost suffocated with visual and auditory sensations. The stimulation was so intense that, at one point, I had to find a quiet corner in an alley just to regain my senses. I did manage to find the items on my list, and in the process came up with a theory. Some of the most popular video games that we play today are very intense, filled with fast action and dynamic music. These games are often made in Japan. Because of the density of the population in Japan, advertisers need to work very hard to get consumers attention. To do this they need to create sufficient “noise” to be noticed. This is reflected in the video games that are created here because that intensity is part of day to day life.
Picture taken outside a hot dog stand in the Tokyo/Narita airport
August 11, 2006
Japan
We bid Korea a fond farewell this morning and boarded a plane for Tokyo, Japan. After an uneventful flight we met our tour guide and boarded the bus for our hotel in Tokyo. The traffic from the airport to our hotel reminded of Georgia 400 at rush hour, but the slowness allowed us to get a look at the city, Tokyo Disney, and the Imperial palace.
The tour guide gave us a run down on our schedule for the next few days and an overview of Japanese culture and what to expect. The information covered everything from how to greet people, shoe etiquette, and how you can go broke taking a taxi, to housing rents in different areas, the culture of the Japanese and their cars, and Japanese fashion.
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