Not much to report from last Tuesday. We spent a few hours at work planning out what we wanted to see in some of the cities that we were going to go to, but didn't do much else. July 1st was the start of the fiscal year for the company, so everyone had more important things to do than worry about us.
On Wednesday morning we took off for Toyohashi to see the plant where all of the trains are made. It is a huge facility that not only produces the bullet train, but also over 30 different models for domestic use as well as export. The Toyohashi plant built the cars for rail in LA, Chicago, Maryland, and many other lines across the world. They currently have a final assembly plant in Milwaukee, so a few of the people we talked to had been to Wisconsin! We briefly talked about Miller beer and Brewers baseball :)
After our plant tour, we took another train to Nagoya to check in at the Marriott. The hotel is operated by a subsidiary of our company, and is located in the high rise above the train station. Known as one of the best business hotels in the country, the Marriott has cool views and nice rooms. Mine was on the 39th floor, and had a nice view of a fancy fashion school across the street.
My two favorite features were the fancy bathroom with a window looking over the spiral building across the street, and the sky lounge on the 52nd floor. We treated ourselves to some fancy drinks and some very sophisticated appetizers in the form of french fried potatoes (fancy, eh?) There was a piano+singer duet that "just flew in from Saigon for a few weeks" playing in the lounge, and we watched a storm form out the windows. Here we are acting like we are really cool in the elevator.
The next morning we checked out of the hotel and took a local train to Takayama, a mountainous city located at the geographic center of Japan. We checked into another company owned hotel, and sat down for a lecture on the hotel business and local tourism. After the lecture, we were treated to an amazing 7 course dinner in the hotel's restaurant. The main course was Hida beef, a local specialty that was cooked right at the table, and melted in your mouth.
Here is the view from my room:
After dinner I decided to check out the main attraction for the hotel, the traditional Japanese baths (onsen) that overlooked the mountains. There are two floors, one for men and one for women, with a variety of different hot baths and pools to sit in. It was nice and relaxing once I got used to naked Japanese men walking all over the place. The baths are traditionally taken in the nude, except for the small towel that many wear on their head to keep dry. Here I am with my towel:
As I was short on pockets, I did not bring my camera to the bath, but here is a picture that I stole off of their website. Same view, but no snow when we were there:
The next morning we explored town for a few hours before our train ride back to Tokyo. We checked out a morning market, the old private homes, a historical government building, and a replica folk village. It made me feel like I was at Old World Wisconsin.
The train ride back was pretty empty, so I switched some seats out and relaxed:
The next day was the 4th of July, so Mike and I decided to go back to America. Since that was logistically difficult, we settled for going to Yokosuka, a town about an hour out of Tokyo and the home of the United States Seventh Fleet. They had a big celebration going on, and we got settled in just in time for a great firework show over the water. Even more impressive than the fireworks was the Japanese turnout for the American celebration. One local man heard me cheering and brought me a 24oz (non-alcoholic!) beer as a gift. It was very touching and will also allow me to add international ambassador to my resume.
After the show we went down to Club Alliance to pretend we were back in the United States. We conversed with people in English, ate hamburgers, and drank Miller Lite. They even had red, white, and blue drinks! I added a tiny American flag to one of my drinks (you can barely see it in the picture below), and then took off to catch a train ride home before service ended. The celebration was fun, but neither of us wanted to miss the last train and sleep in the park.
Sunday was pretty uneventful. I finished watching season one of The Sopranos, and went to mass in Roppongi again.
Today was our first day of station staff duty, aka actual work. We met at Tokyo Station, changed into uniforms, and had an all day crash course on how to be a good station staff member. After a thorough tour of the station we received lessons in bowing, important Japanese phrases, and how to wear a uniform. After learning how to do a proper salute, I was more convinced than ever that the train company is actually a secret military force in disguise.
Tomorrow we have one more day of lessons and video watching before they will let us near real customers. I guess that is not entirely true though, as Edson and I attempted to help a Finnish woman and her daughter who were lost in the station during our tour. Sure, most foreign visitors speak English, but that didn't mean we knew anything about how to help her find her train. Fortunately for us, one of the girls we were working with also spoke English and was there when we tried being helpful.
Well, I guess I have one more day to memorize the platform layout and the name of every station in the greater Tokyo area..
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