Dead Frank

Last weekend, I was hanging out downtown San Francisco waiting for my friend.  We were about to partake in one of the finest burgers that our fair city has to offer.  As I watched the world go by, I saw a late model Ford Police Interceptor approaching me.  The side searchlights were still attached.  All other markings had been removed.  No light bar across the roof.  No decals on the side.  The driver was a middle aged man with a couple days of stubble on his face and an ill-fitting stocking cap on his head.  He did not fit the mold of a current or retired law enforcement official.

Then the car rounded the corner and I caught a glimpse of the bold decal that adorned the trunk lid.  Check it out for yourself: http://bit.ly/6ffhHd

They have an official website with very little information and featuring a much more stylish picture of the vehicle in question.

I took down the last few posts.  The removed items were “old school” blog posts, which is to say they essentially contained links to interesting things I found around the web.  That type of content is useful and interesting and worthy of merit, just not for deadfrank.  I would rather keep this space dedicated to my personal experiences and musings.  Plus I felt the writing sucked.

My father suffered a catastrophic hard drive failure a few weeks ago.  He lost many files, including some old pictures from many years ago that he had scanned into the computer.  Thankfully he sent me a copy of those on CD shortly after he scanned them in.  I found that disc this morning.

I took a fun trip down memory lane, looking at two-decade old pictures of my cousins.  I just visited many of them down in Arizona recently.  Seeing how the years had changed us all invoked a very special kind of nostalgia that I haven’t experienced in years.

It reminded me of a couple of things.  One is that we should be taking more pictures.  You, me, and everyone you know.  Carry a little pocket digital camera.  Use the one on your phone.  The best camera in the world is the one you have with you at the time.  Capture those moments.  They will be more special to you a decade or two down the road.  Your kids, grandkids, parents, aunts, uncles, and friends will all appreciate it down the line as well.

It’s so easy to get caught up crossing off items on your to-do list or being frustrated with that guy in another state who isn’t doing his job properly.  You can always be thinking about that party coming up this weekend or what you did last night.  Pictures help you get back t those moments which really matter the most.

I think that a life worth living is a life worth recording.  I think it’s worthwhile to revisit the notion of keeping this blog up to date.  The time has come to put my keyboard where my mouth is.  Ew.  On second thought, maybe not.

Plus, you can thank my mother.  She dutifully reminds me that she visits the site on a regular basis and wonders when I’m going to start writing again.  So this post is for you mom.  Thanks for inspiring me to start writing here again.

I wrote a little bit about the trains when I first arrived in Japan.  Now that I’ve returned to San Francisco and had some time to compare the two, I decided to elaborate on about my experiences.

Getting around Tokyo via train is an incredible, enlightening experience for Americans.  Our public transportation systems are a hollow and lifeless copy of those overseas.  It reminds me of the old movie, Mulitiplicity, with Michael Keaton where he clones himself.  Our public transportation is much like Doug #4.  (Watch the trailer to get a hint.)

Japanese trains run efficiently.  They are on time with remarkable frequency.  There is an information display at every train station that will accurately tell you which train will arrive when.  There are limited trains, express trains, limited express trains, and bullet trains for the long hauls.  There are systems of subways that cover the dense urban jungle of Tokyo.  There are buses and even a monorail.

There are multiple companies that operate different lines.  JR (Japan Rail) is the largest company providing rail service around Japan.  There are also dozens of regional line such as the Odakyu, Keio, and Toei lines run by smaller operations.  Switching from one line to another is a relatively simple affair, especially if you have a prepaid IC card.

There are two systems for obtaining a prepaided card: Suica and Pasmo.  You can purchase a card for 500 yen from most ticket machines.  The best part about these two systems is their interoperability.  It’s kind of like Visa and Mastercard here in the US.  It doesn’t much matter which one you have.  They’re both going to work in the same places.

Once you have one of these cards, you can just wave the card over the reader and pass through the turnstile.  Once you reach your destination, the system will debit the amount of the fare from your card.

Plus you can use the cards for more than just the trains.  All bus systems also use the IC card systems.  So do many vending machines for when you need a quick can of coffee before your voyage!  And I’ve heard tales that some mobile phones have the IC chip so your purchases can be charged to your monthly bill!  How convenient!

I spent my first two nights in Tokyo at the Tokyo Prince Hotel. I picked it entirely based off a magical formula based upon factors such as price, location and opinions from random people who take the time to post things on the internet.

Turns out I picked well.  While this isn’t the cheapest hotel in Tokyo, by a long shot, you can bank on the rooms being clean and reasonably sized.  This means you have enough room to walk around your bed on all sides.  Americans may find the hotel rooms to be small compared to your average Holiday Inn.  You’ll know what to expect if you’ve stayed in the heart New York or San Francisco.

The service at the hotel is impeccable.  The whole staff speaks English well enough that you don’t need to worry about stumbling through your special request for three tubes of extra toothpaste at two in the morning.  You can borrow an umbrella from the hotel if you forgot to bring one during the rainy season.  And there is a convenience store located in the basement for all your late night snacking and binge drinking needs.

What really makes the Tokyo Prince Hotel worth checking out is the location.  It neighbors the Tokyo Tower, which is the tallest structure in the city.  I was lucky enough to score a room with a full view of the tower.  This undoubtably set my expectations of the entire trip unreasonably high.  The picture you see here is view from my window.  The view at dawn really soothes the rough edges of jet lag.

There is nothing that subsitutes for first hand experience.  You cannot learn how to fly a plane just from reading a book.  This is why you need to log hours before they give you a pilots license.  You’re going to have a tough time learning how to paint a picture just by watching Bob Ross and never picking up  brush.  And so will you have a hard time understanding how huge some of these office buildings are without standing at the very base of them and looking up.

Perhaps what is so remarkable about these skyscrapers in Tokyo is not so much the height but frequency with which they occur around the city.  Most metropolitian areas have a cluster of sky scrapers in the central financial districts.  The heights of buildings taper off outside this core.  Tokyo has massive office buildings sprinkled throughout the metropolitian area in every ward.

The best way I can describe Tokyo is through a metaphor that will make sense to most Californians.  Take Los Angeles and make the entire thing as dense as San Francisco.  Triple the number of skyscrapers from both cities.  Now increase the average size of the buildings to eight stories.  That’s Tokyo.

That word.  I do not think it means what you think it means.

Update: This truck appeared to be a delivery truck.   It was parked in front of a local beer distribution warehouse in Tokyo (near the Hamamatsucho Station).

Update: Neil points out that maybe it does mean what they think it means.  I refuse to let facts ruin my post.  Enlighten yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_(container)

According to my highly scientific methods of calculation, there appears to be seven umbrellas for every person in Tokyo.

Let’s start with the rain itself.  During the rainy season, also known as tsuyu (梅雨), it probably will rain every day.  My limited experience with tsuyu tells me that it won’t rain all day, every day.  The rain comes in the morning or the evening for a couple hours.

Chances are that you’ll forget your umbrella at home if it’s sunny in the morning and you’ll need to buy a new one.  I did this a couple times during my two week stay.  Fortunately you can get a cheap clear umbrella at any convenience store for 1-200 yen.  You can get a decent umbrella for 5-700 yen.  A deluxe umbrella with a nice pattern on quality fabric at a outdoor shop or department store shouldn’t cost you more than 2000 yen.

Chances are that you’ll forget your umbrella on the train.  Every time we rode the train to the end of a line, conductors would sweep through and gather up an arm full of umbrellas left throughout the cars.  Your chances to forget your umbrella increase five times when you hang it on a hand rail.  They go up twenty times if your mind is occupied with thoughts of a pretty girl or negotiating multimillion dollar import/export deals.

Chances are that you’ll forget your umbrella at some place of business.  Most shops, restaurants, and other places of business have racks outside for you to place your umbrella so you don’t track water all over their floor like some kind of heathen.  Your chances to forget your umbrella increases about three hundred times when it stops raining while you spend a few hours relaxing at the onsen.

As you might imagine, all these factors lead to you losing your umbrella once or twice.  And if you’re a social person who entertains guests from time to time, someone will probably leave a couple umbrellas at your place as well.

Trash cans are exceptionally rare in Japan.  Recycling is taken very seriously and you can find a recycle bin next to every vending machine.  If you have a wrapper from the pastry you bought at the bread shop… well, just stick it in your pocket until you get home.

The reason behind this is very unclear.  Some people say trash cans disappeared after the serin gas attacks years ago.  Others say that Japan never really had that many trash cans in attempt to keep you from littering.  Backwards logic, perhaps, but it seems too work.  This place is amazingly clean.

The picture you see is the first trash can I’ve seen on my travels.  It was found in a temple in Kita Kamakura.