Spring Break Collection

Park Hyatt, Shinjuku.  This is the bar where the movie "Lost in Translation" was filmed.

You can see two baseball stadiums on the right hand side, one is the Tokyo Dome and the other is Jingu Stadium.  More on that later.

We found ourselves on the "back" side of this building, looking for this building, confused by the signs on the building which made it sound like it was something else entirely.  This sort of confusion was an every day occurrence, but this time we had professional help.  Natasha asked a delivery lady on a scooter where the building was.  The lady was super nice — she phoned her boss and asked for directions, then she asked some of the other locals where it was.  She simply would not give up.  5 minutes is way past my attention span for gaijin charades, so I wandered off while Natasha negotiated the farce.  Eventually Natasha escaped and the delivery lady zipped off.  We circumnavigated the imposing structure to see what was on the other side, and then we saw another sign that told us we had already arrived.

We came before 8pm, so there was no cover charge.  We had to order drinks, though, and that will set you back 15+ dollars even for a non-alcoholic beverage.  On the bright side, they had free munchies with wasabi peas and puffed rice.  As the sun set, the view got even better.  This was a relaxing way to spend an evening, resting our feet and looking out over the world.

All toilets in Japan are good.  Most have bidets, showers, seat warmers, and flush ferociously.  The toilets at this hotel were even better.  These had massage modes, joysticks to control spray aim, the mens toilets lifted the seat automatically, and an LCD screen provided system status.

If you are wealthy or crazy, you could also order dinner here.  I'll be saving that option for the next time I'm on business with a company credit card.

The streets of Shinjuku are famous for being shockingly busy with light.  You'll see these streets in the scenes from Lost in Translation.  It was very neat to walk about at night, but we were too tired to carry on and we didn't really explore the nightlife, and instead walked a couple blocks to get to our train and retire.

Video Games

Here are the video games I've played sometime during the last year:

Final Fantasy X (2001).  Pretty cool game, great music.  I wish I could tell the "level" of each character so I could try to keep them balanced.

Planet Puzzle League.  This is the same as Pokémon Puzzle Challenge and Tetris Attack.  2 player mode is outstanding when your opponent is good.  Back in undergrad, Frank and I would play epic games with chains going well into the "?" zone.

The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (1998).  Zelda 3 for SNES was one of my favorite games of all time.  This one is A-OK, but not in the same league.  I might get around to its sequel,Majora's Mask, preferably before 2018.

Gran Turismo 4 (2004).  I like to see how long it takes to get all the gold medals for the Super License.  On the day this game was released, Clint and I took vacation and played until our eyeballs fell out.  I haven't done either of the Sarthe 24 hour races, but I tag-teamed Neubergring with Clint nearly two years ago.

Dragon Warrior (1989, US).  In 1989, my brother and I subscribed to Nintendo Power and received this game as our free gift.  Neato.  I recently re-played it on an emulator.  This one brings back the memories.

Clearly, I'm not a modern gamer.  I don't have a current system (except for the Nintendo DS portable).  I haven't played computer games in a while, and I'm not as thrilled to play video games as I used to be.  But my slow adoption of old classics means that I play only quality games, ones that are or should be Game of the Year, ones that are old news and $10 in the bargain bin, ones that emphasize gameplay and fun, and even if they did push pixels in their heyday, they don't depend on graphics to tell a story.

I'll happily accept game recommendations, but don't be surprised if I wait another decade before I get around to it.

Spring Break Collection

Natasha and I went to Taiwan and Japan over spring break.  I didn't write anything about the break because it was so vast that any faithful attempt to describe things would take too long.  So this may be the first in a series where I show a photo and describe a small portion of the break.

The first photo was taken at the Tokyo Imperial Palace gardens.  The palace is in the center of Tokyo, the property value is near priceless due to location and size.  We ate lunch near here, too, and the locals believe that sandwiches sold near the Palace are also priceless.

This destination is easy to get to, was free to explore, and was well maintained in the typical Japanese fashion.  Visitors can only see the gardens, as guards and trees block the palace grounds.  The biggest draw for this location is that it is a park in the heart of a huge city, surrounded by moats and castle-like walls.  The other parks in Tokyo had better looking flora, and I'm sure there are better sites in Japan to look at trees.

As a historic destination, or if you really love castles and vast open spaces located in the bustle of a city, the Imperial Palace is a neat place to visit.  But I will probably not be back there on my next trip, unless the actual palace grounds are opened.

Dream Theater Greatest Hit CD

Dream Theater released a CD called "Greatest Hit (and 21 other pretty cool songs)".  Pretty funny, because only one of their songs was ever popular.  I like DT a whole bunch, but I acknowledge that it takes a while to train your ear to enjoy it.  I listen to DT frequently, and I really like them, but few other people enjoy it.

Speaking of acquired tastes, there is an interesting episode of Radio Lab which talks about the international appeal of country music.  I found the story interesting because I grew up listening to country music with my parents, I really liked it, and it certainly wasn't cool.  I don't listen to country often these days, although some of the old songs are still good for more than nostalgia.  Here is a link to the program, available free on iTunes: iTunes Link

And now, back to the books!