I had a week off and really wanted to see a part of Japan that I had not yet seen. I thought Kyushu or Hokkaido made sense and I was prepared to go it alone. Fortunately a friend of mine from work, Kanamori-san, was also going to Kyushu so I kind of invited myself along. Thanks for letting me tag along.

Unfortunately it looked like the weather was going to be somewhat uncooperative with us even going. A typhoon was heading towards Japan and although it was not going to be too strong in Fukuoka and Kumamoto where we were going, it was looking like it was going to get pretty bad in Nagoya. Kanamori-San found a cheap (10000 yen) to Fukuoka on Fuji Dream Airlines so instead of taking the train, we were flying. It really saved him a lot of money. The rain was pretty strong when we got to the airport and a flight from Kumamoto was cancelled so I was a little bit worried. We loaded about on time and the flight was remarkably smooth considering we were on the edge of a typhoon.

Kanamori-san is a BIG ramen fan, so a trip to Fukuoaka isn’t complete with Hakata ramen (website of my favorite Hakata ramen shop in LA). We went to Nagahama’s Nagahamaya restaurant for our ramen. The shop looked like we could eat there AND get our oil changed.

The beautiful exterior of our ramen shop.

Other ramen shops in the area.

Kanamori-san spent a year on working holiday in New Zealand and one of his Japanese friends from New Zealand runs a backpackers in a very remote part of Kumamoto called THE スナフキンズ (snufkinz). We were the only guests there the first, but they had a friend staying there and helping them. Dai-san and Mika-san are great hosts and I was immediately comfortable. Of course I’ve stayed at some really nice hotels, but there is still a time and place for a nice backpackers. This was the time and place. More on THE スナフキンズ in a different entry all to itself.

We stayed up pretty late the first night. Kanamori-san was catching up with his Dai-san and I was just happy to listen and be on vacation. Some alcohol was consumed.

The door frames in this country house are definitely lower than US or modern Japanese houses. I had to duck every time I went through a door frame. In the morning, I forgot that that I had to duck and smacked my head really hard as I was walking to the bathroom. So, no, it wasn’t me just thinking I had to duck. I really had to.

 
Day 1

I rented a car in Fukuoka to give us the opportunity to see various places. We decided to go to Kumamoto-shi in Kumamoto and visit the castle there. We walked around the castle grounds. We quicky learned that the castle was of a mostly modern construction, but the castle walls were still from old days, and the castle was beautiful from the outside. The weather was fine, and we weren’t suffering from rain, or high heat.

The architect of Kumamoto castle.

An interesting, if not a little bit intimidating, tour guide.

We also went in search of a special library that was supposed to be architecturally interesting, but alas it was not be found. We did go to a library though, and I tried to make it interesting (but it really wasn’t). I guess I didn’t try too hard because I have no pictures!

After three years in Japan, and over a year with an perfectly valid driver’s license, I drove on the streets of Japan for the first time since 2004. I drove in both the countryside, and the “big city.” Pretty cool. I think I did fine, but from that point forward Kanamori-san drove everywhere.

We headed back to 中十町 (Nakajicho) to THE スナフキンズ and picked up Dai-san and Nobu-san to go to an onsen. We ran some errands at first though, and went to a butcher shop where we picked up some 馬刺 (basashi), or horse sashimi. That’s right, horse sashimi.

The white stuff is basically neck fat, and really does melt in your mouth like butter. Believe it or not, this wasn’t the first time I had horse sashimi to eat. It’s not bad, especially when you throw in some wasabi and soy sauce. Alcohol tends to help as well.

The onsen we went to was great in its kitchiness. It did not have a rotenburo (outdoor bath) but did have many different pools. We enjoyed the various temperatures, went back home, and made dinner.

I slept really well on a futon on the floor. The room was comfortable and the air had cooled significantly.

 
 
Day 2

Our plan for the next day was to drive to Mt. Aso. We were surprised by a visitor (チェックイン) sitting on the deck in the morning. Hey! It turns out he owns a guest house around Aso, so he gave us some good tips. Dai-san and Mika-san always baked bread overnight, so we always had a good breakfast ready for us.

We drove towards Mt. Aso and Kanamori-san ignored the somewhat annoying voice of the navigation system and instead listened to the advice of チェックイン and instead took the Kikuchi Skyline. A very good choice. I felt a like a little kid because there was a sign for the Kikuchi Gorge and I thought it looked interesting (See Rock City! See Ruby Falls!). We parked, and went on a short hike along the flowing river and all the rapids. I tried various shots, and of course tried to get the streaming water look. I succeeded a little bit.

This squirrel is nervous about failing rocks. Uh oh!

An added bonus was stumbling across 焼きとうもろこし (yakitomorokoshi), or grilled corn on the cob. Growing up in Indiana, corn on the cob was a summer staple, so I was happy.

Mt. Aso is basically a HUGE active volcano. The caldera is a a valley, with some active areas along the edge. The Kikuchi Skyline terminates at the Milk Road (not the Silk Road, but the Milk Road. This was another suggestion by チェックイン. The view was outstanding, and I took a lot of pictures of the same green areas.

We started down this small road, in spite of the cones in front of the entrance. We learned the cones were there for a reason, but no damage was done so all was fine.

We continued down and across the valley to the active area on the other side. There, in the clouds, it was almost cold! We got a few more pictures and then left Aso.

This picture is actually an older dome, komezuka. But the next two show how active it is.

On the way home, I wanted to go to an onsen, and Kanamori-san wanted to visit a shop that specialized in fans. The shop in 山鹿市 (Yamaga-shi) closed at 5:30 pm, and the Navi said we would arrive at 5:35 pm. That meant no onsen around Aso. That was OK. We made it to the shop, 栗川商店, in time and were able to shop for fans. I didn’t even know I wanted one, and bought four! I’ve given away three already, and kept the fourth for myself. We went to a local onsen, that was more like a Super Sento but were able to soak away our day. Thanks to Dai-san, Mika-san, Nobu-san, and チェックイン for waiting for us for dinner. You didn’t have to wait! We tried to eat dinner outside, but the mosquitoes were just too heavy. So in we went.

The next morning we were able to share a nice breakfast outside, and I was grateful to have the chance to have spent a few days in the countryside. I had one panic driving alone to the airport because the Navi was clearly giving me the wrong directions. Was that a cruel practical joke from Kanamori-san, or just a by product of turning of the car? Fortunately, Kanamori-san showed me how to enter the rental car location into the navigation system, so a quick reset and I was off. To the airport in plenty of time.

Thanks so much to Kanamori-san, Dai-san, Mika-san, Nobu-san, and チェックイン for making my vacation exactly what I wanted. Especially though to Kanamori-san for allowing me to come along, meet his friends, and show me around. My Japanese isn’t good enough to understand everything and when we are together just the two of us, I mostly speak in English. Speaking in a second language is hard work – I appreciate the effort made.

A few weeks ago, a group of colleagues loosely formed around my Japanese teacher decided it would be a good idea to see a soccer match. I’ve described the Nagoya Grampus in my previous post. The only problem was that it was occurring basically at the same time the remnants of a typhoon were blowing through. It didn’t make for the best weather walking to the stadium.

But, in typical Japanese fashion, even if the winds are destroying umbrellas, and you are reduced to a red poncho, it is important to have the Louis Vuitton front and center.

Why carry a Louis Vuitton bag in such a mess? I hope it was a knockoff.
 

The soccer match was fun, and the Grampus won. I think the final score was 5 – 2. Maybe it was 4 – 2. We all emjoyed it.

Sitting inside on a rainy day listening to my elementary, junior high, and high school classmate Byron Schenkman play Haydn. Even have a little tea brewing.

It is nice to have this rainy day to get caught up on some things. Like, for instance, a darn blog entry. It has been a long time since my last entry. I have two other entries in my head but have been unable to shake them out onto paper. But anyway, I do at least have one entry for May.

It seems that rainy season, or 梅雨, is upon us. It hasn’t been officially declared as far as I know, but the weather certainly would indicate that.

I guess this is my fourth rainy season here in Japan. It is traditional that I highlight each one in my blog, like I did here, here, and here. Judging from the previous entries, I may be a bit premature declaring rainy season. I’ll be sure to let my blogosphere fans know for sure. And true to form, a typhoon is on the way. This is the second of the season for Japan, but typhoon 4W, Songda, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

Sometimes its nice to have a really rainy day to just stay in, read, write, study, clean, nap, etc. Tomorrow though, I have a late afternoon soccer match with a bunch of friends. No, I’m not playing. I’m going to see the Nagoya Grampus (Japanese site here) play in Toyota-shi (豊田市). The stadium is partially covered, but I’m not sure if they can close the roof if it is too windy. It could be a very unique soccer experience.

What is a grampus, you might ask? It is apparently a killer whale, which the Nagoya Grampus home page says adorns the top of Nagoya Castle. I always thought they were dolphin on top of the castle, and the official Nagoya castle website calls them dolphin. The Grampus website refers to them as killer whales. You be the judge.

The team used to be the Grampus Eight which was always confusing to me. It made me think they were a rugby team and not a soccer team because I thought there were 8 players on a side in rugby (but actually there are 13 in rugby league, 15 in rugby union). The “8” comes from the official symbol of Nagoya, which is the kanji for 8, 八, which I have as the little icon for this blog. I can see why they dropped the Eight – quite confusing.

Let’s hope the typhoon fizzles out and the match goes on without too much difficulty.

Sorry to all for the lack of posting. On 3/11 the earthquake hit and I was good initially at using social media and my blog to let people know how I was doing, and then obviously I just stopped. There are multiple reasons for that, and just the general energy that each day took following the Tohoku earthquake and the uncertainty associated with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant kept me from blogging.

First thing to report is that I am hardly impacted by the earthquake and by the ongoing issues at the power plant. Radiation levels in Nagoya are at background levels. We are on a completely different power grid so even if I conserve energy it has no impact on the people who are going through the power outages (conservation is good no matter what, don’t get me wrong). For the technically minded out there, Nagoya is on a 60Hz system, and TEPCO and northern Japan use a 50Hz cycle. So the cost of conversion between the two systems are high. The biggest impact I’ve felt personally is that my favorite yogurt is currently unavailable. That’s a small price to pay.

At the beginning though, it wasn’t so clear exactly what was up. My colleague decided on Saturday night, after the quake hit on Friday, to evacuate with his pregnant wife and young son. Other gaijin were also considering leaving as well. My company had no official policy immediately following the events either. Of course I received lots of encouragement from around the world to leave Japan immediately. Apparently the entire island was going to be destroyed in the eyes of some people.

On Tuesday following the quake, my company offered voluntary home leave for expatriate employees and families in Tokyo, but not Nagoya. That didn’t go over too well with the Nagoya-ins, and eventually on Thursday that offer was extended to expatriate employees in Nagoya as well.

I continued to pay attention to the news, plus we were privy to good technical data and analysis of worst case scenarios. Also, we found various links to real data that included radiation levels in Nagoya, a colleague of mine built a little radiation dosage spreadsheet, and I quickly realized that if I did choose to stay in Nagoya, I would have plenty of time to evacuate if things really did get bad.

So I stayed. The general panic and exodus of the expatriate community did not go unnoticed in Japan, and those that left are being called “flyjin”, which is a play on the word “gaijin,” which means foreigner. The media is reporting that there are plenty of business relationships that need to be repaired as those that left slowly come back.

There is a difference, though, between how a local and how an expatriate should react to this situation. For the locals, this is their country, they have their ties, and it is their government who ultimately will be responsible for controlling the situation. They were being told everything was OK, so with some skepticism they accepted it. For the foreigner, given a choice to hope the information was correct and to believe they were not in danger or given the option to return to their homeland, the choice was pretty easy. A lot of my colleagues ended up sending their families home as they stayed on and continued working. The company’s policy all along was that it was safe and remains to be safe, but life in Japan is different than it was before the earthquake.

I am glad that I stayed, and so far I feel like it was the right decision. The period was pretty stressful though as information was fluid and the truth was hard to figure out. I really felt similar to the way I felt post 9/11 in Los Angeles. We were not directly impacted in LA, but definitely impacted as two colleagues were killed on one of the planes (I didn’t personally know them), and my brother lived in New York at the time. There was a general heaviness in the air all the time, and nobody knew exactly how to behave or the expectations on their behavior. That kind of stress is omnipresent and it takes a while to process everything that is going on.

Over time, the amount of thought and energy associated with the events reduce, and life becomes more normal. Of course, for people in Nagoya that happens much faster because most of us are not faced with any real hardship. What continues to be hard for me now is knowing how to help. I’ll have more on that in a later blog entry.

Although I’ve tried to get the news out on Facebook and Twitter, I thought I would also add a post to my blog because there may be some friends that are reading this blog that aren’t Facebook or Twitter friends. I’d rather saturate with information than under-report and have people worry.

Currently everyone is concerned with ongoing search and rescue operations. Also, there is a real threat at the Fukushima nuclear power plants as well. The event there is already Level 4 (on a scale of 7), and equal to the event in Tokaimura in 1999. Incidently, I was 18 km away from the Tokaimura event, and nearly oblivious to what was happening. Communication has changed a lot since then.

Anyway, to many folks in the US and abroad, distances in Japan are a mystery. I put together a little map to show where Nagoya is relative to Fukushima. Nagoya is about 300 mi SW of Fukushima. In terms of distance, that’s a little longer than Indianapolis to Detroit. In addition, the prevailing winds tend to be to the north and east, so in the event that the incident becomes more severe, the likelihood of a major impact to Nagoya is small.

I’m not trying to be cool, or downplay the seriousness of what is going on. I’m very concerned, more concerned for people in the area though than specifically for me. If this incident escalates, it will be very bad, and I am really hoping the Japanese agencies are being forthright with the information. I hope the concern of “shame” does not trump doing the right thing.

One of my colleagues is leaving the country with his small child and pregnant wife. Some European-based companies are evacuating their personnel. I think the memory of Chernobyl and other accidents is still strong in Europe. I have not been directed to leave, nor do I expect to leave. I am monitoring as best I can, I have my work BlackBerry with me and configured to alert me to every email, and if requested to leave, I will.

As most of the world knows, Japan was hit with an 8.9M earthquake yesterday afternoon. I was at work, in a meeting, and we all looked at each other wondering if what we each individually thought we were feeling was actually what we were feeling. Nagoya is a long way away from Fukushima, so instead of the sharp thumping kind of motion, we felt like we were on a waterbed. Everything just felt kind of squishy.

I am fine. My apartment is fine. My workplace is fine. Nagoya appears to be fine as well. As a matter of fact, everything here appeared to be business as usual today. It was basically business as usual last night. The only thing I worried about yesterday was any impacts due to a tsunami. My workplace is, well, WATERFRONT, so there was reason to be worried. The warning for my area was for a smaller tsunami and it is situated so far up a protected bay that I felt the danger was low. But what do I know. I left work as soon as the first train was available, and walked from Nagoya Station to home. I wasn’t in the mood for a subway.

I’m still worried about my friends and former colleagues in Ibaraki-ken. It was hit very hard, and there have been a cluster of smaller earthquakes in Ibaraki. I saw the picture above from AFP / Getty Images, which is a bridge over a river in Hitachinaka. You can see the surge of water flowing upstream.

A wide view of the bridge from Google Maps.

A closer view,

And the relationship to downtown Mito.

This was particularly close to home for me, because I thought that perhaps I had crossed that bridge before when I lived in Mito. On further review, I probably didn’t go over this bridge often, but it certainly made it hit closer to my past experiences. It was still very close to Mito, and I drove alongside the Naka river every day for miles going to work.

As a by product of this earthquake and tsunami, I’ve gotten a lot of hits to my website through search engines. If you read this, please consider making a contribution a charity that will provide relief to the people so severely impacted by this event. I have provided a link to the American Red Cross. Certainly if another charity is more appropriate, do not hesitate to donate.

Where does the time go? A couple of weeks ago I went to Hokkaido for the first time. It’s not really accurate to say I visited Hokkaido. I went to ニセコ (Niseko) in Hokkaido to go skiing. To say I had a feeling for Hokkaido would be a bit of an overstatement.

I’ve wanted to get to a snowy place in Japan, and certainly there are closer places than Hokkaido to see snow. However, a few colleagues from Tokyo were going, I was invited, and it seemed like a great opportunity. The only difficulty was that the tour was arranged out of Tokyo so I had to get to and from Tokyo.

At first, I really had no intent to even ski – I was planning on just enjoying the ambiance of a ski area and resort town. However, the more I looked into where we were going, the more I realized that maybe there wasn’t much else to do except for skiing. It had been at least 10 years, maybe closer to 15 years since I last went skiing. I would say the last time I went skiing was when I was living in Europe and had a weekend getaway to Wengen. 15 years is a long time ago.

Our flight was from Tokyo to Sapporo (Chitose) and then we took a bus to ニセコ. Although it was dark once we got properly on the road, it was become increasingly obvious that it was snowing. Hard. Looking out the front of the bus, I was mesmerized by the snowflakes in the lights. I love when it snows, and I don’t often get to see it in Nagoya, and definitely don’t see it much in LA.

The obligatory rest stop / shop.

And some dangerous icicles waiting to impale someone.

We checked in to the Hilton Niseko VIllage and picked up our pre-arranged rentals. It was great that we could rent everything, including pants, jacket, goggles, helmet, and gloves. I had my own gloves, actually, but everything else was welcomed. I rented a helmet for the first time. Things have changed a lot since the last time I skied and helmets are a lot more common. All I could think of before skiing was totally tweeking my knees, and the Natasha Richardson accident. I couldn’t do anything to protect my knees, but I figured a helmet was a good idea.

Our first night we just ate in the hotel as we all were keen to eat and be relaxed for a full day of skiing the next day. I really can’t remember what we did the first night, but I know that I visited the onsen. It had a rotenburo as well (outside bath), that was unfortunately covered and only open at one end. There is nothing like sitting in an pool of hot water, surrounded by snow, and watching it snow. I will never tire of that. And although it was cold enough to snow, it wasn’t SO cold. One of the cool things about this ski area is that it is not really at a high elevation. It has a ton of snow, but is maybe at 1000 m. That’s it. So it isn’t like skiing Winter Park at 10,000 feet, freezing and getting winded just picking up your skis.

Fresh for the day.

The resort we were staying at was a ski-in resort. We walked out the ski valet area and hopped on a gondola. That’s the way to do it. My colleagues seemed like they were much better skiers and one had been at the resort for a few days and was telemarking. Yikes. I was glad to send them on their own way and decided to ski on my own. Admittedly, I was pretty nervous on my first run. Would I remember how to ski? The answer is … mostly. On the first run I had one of those falls where my skis ended uphill from me, one attached and one detached, and I kept sliding. Oops. I made it up to my ejected ski and spent the next 20 minutes trying to re-engage the binding. That’s so frustrating, and I probably ended up 20 feet down the hill by the time I got the ski on. It turns out I was on an intermediate run anyway. Oh cool.

The view from the top of the gondola.

And a picture after my first fall. Notice the snow on my goggles.

I have a tendency to do the same run multiple times – the first time I’m rather timid because I don’t know the run, the proper way, what is over the next ridge, etc. On subsequent runs I can ski a little more confidently, and that confidence translates to more aggressive skiing. I had plenty of tumbles, and I did tweek both my knees and I really hit my head. I was glad I had my helmet on.

Coincidently, the whole crew met up at lunch, and so we decided to ski together in the afternoon. It turns out that most of the rest of the crew was better than me, but not all, and not significantly better. In the afternoon though it was snowing really hard, my knee was hurting, and I could feel myself making mistakes and I figured the opportunity for further injury was increasing, so I forfeited my last run and called it a day (and headed straight for the onsen).

I didn’t know The Village People had a restaurant in Niseko.

A picture towards the end of the day. The snow was heavy at that time.

We were able to find the village and enjoyed a little nightlife. We went to a great seafood restaurant run by an Australian bloke and ended up at a bar / hostel / ryokan called the Half Note which appeared to have been taken over by gaijin. The proprietor and his wife and two others performed jazz standards while guests watched, played pool, or just hung out (check out the website). Eventually our team left, went back to the hotel, and closed down the karaoke room. Then I went to onsen again. Hey, I was treating my knee.

I think I was pretty tired.

Dinner pictures of oysters, crab, sashimi. Yum.

Enjoying the local pub.

Unfortunately, I had to leave the next morning due to flight constraints, while 3/5 of the crew remained and skied another day. I couldn’t have skied very well anyway, as my knee was very tender. I bought the requisite omiyage at the airport (a ton!) and headed home.

Tomo met me at Haneda, we checked out the new International terminal, and then I headed back to Nagoya.

A great weekend – full of fun from start to finish. Do I know Hokkaido? Not really. Maybe I’ll make it back sometime to see more than a single ski area. But what I saw was beautiful and I have great memories of my weekend there.

OK, I had a pretty negative article about the hate bus. But this is a beautiful day here in Nagoya. It just keeps snowing, and snowing, and snowing as I exactly said below. This is really only the third day that I’ve seen snow in Nagoya. The first was around Christmas 2008 and it was really just flurries. The next was New Year’s Eve in 2009. Off and on snow had been predicted, then retracted, then posted again. Well, we’ve had mostly ON and it is really, really nice. I don’t need to drive anywhere, I don’t need to take the train. I have no idea if the roads are bad or if the train schedules are messed up. I do know that I went for a walk and had a blast. The snow makes things so peaceful.

I wanted to make sure I got out before it turned to rain, or stopped. But it is continuing.

Street scenes.

I love my furry winter coat. No, that is not real fur. It is another UNIQLO purchase.

She’s got to be really cold.

The shrine across the street from my apartment.

And some local greenery (in black and white).

I’ve maybe been complaining about how cold it is. Maybe that’s only on Facebook or Twitter, but it’s cold for Nagoya. There’s no central heating in my apartment although I do have radiated heat through the floors in part of my house. Not all rooms, so I have cold areas and warm areas. I like the heated floors, but because they are heated by hot water, my gas bill gets pretty high in the winter.

One way to combat the cold temperature though is to wear warmer clothes. So I’m sitting here in wool socks, a wool sweater, and thick “house pants,” plus a HEATTECH (link in English or Japanese) turtleneck from ユニクロ (UNIQLO). Yes, here I am talking about underwear again.

UNIQLO, as I have posted before is about the only place that I can find clothes that come close to fitting. I’m preparing to go to Hokkaido in a couple of weeks, so I figured I needed long underwear. Everyone swears by HEATTECH so I also bought some long underwear there. And now, I can’t stop wearing it or buying it. Do people in the States often wear longjohns to work? Do you have to reach a certain age to do so?

I don’t know the answers to those questions, but I am not alone in my love of leggings in Japan. Nor does it seem to be an age thing. Many of my younger colleague’s tights poke their way out from under their pants when they sit with their legs crossed. And we know from past posts that leggings under pants are fashionable. So on these colder days, I shamelessly wear my long underwear to work, smugly knowing that I am staying warm.

I do keep it a little old school on the tights, going for the waffle material as opposed to the silky material they offer as well. I almost went with camouflage as well, but I don’t have anything camouflage, so why get the tights? I can’t emphasize enough that, although they pants and sleeves are a little short, the HEATTECH is really nice to have and makes the chilly Nagoya mornings and nights a little toastier.

And for my Midwestern friends and readers, the weather here is nothing compared to your winters. I know it. But I’m a Californian now.

Rumor has it that as you get older, it gets harder for you to read smaller (or regular print), especially in low light. It’s called presbyopia.

Mayoclinic.com states:

Presbyopia — the gradual loss of your eyes’ ability to focus actively on nearby objects — is a not-so-subtle reminder that you’ve reached middle age. A natural, often annoying part of aging, presbyopia usually becomes noticeable in your early to mid-40s and continues to worsen until around age 60.

You may become aware of presbyopia when you start holding books and newspapers at arm’s length to be able to read them. If you’re nearsighted, you might temporarily manage presbyopia by reading without your glasses.

Unfortunately, I can attest first hand that the rumor is true and annoying. Over the past few years, my ability to read small print in low light has deteriorated greatly. So for all my colleagues I used to tease on business trips when they held their menus far away, or brought the menu closer to a light, enjoy your Schadenfreude. It totally sucks.

My eyes are messed up anyway, farsighted with astigmatism. As I’ve gotten older, my farsightedness has actually improved, while my near vision for reading has gone south. So really, the solution should be bifocals or progressive lenses. Sigh. I can still read fairly well without reading glasses though – or at least I can read English. I’m completely blind reading tiny Japanese text with furigana. It is impossible, so I have a pair of reading glasses (and not the pharmacy reading glasses – no sir – my farsightedness and astigmatism precludes that) that I use when I am reading Japanese or small English text.

When I was back in the States in November, I had a pair of lenses replaced because they had become too scratched somehow, and I was tired of seeing starbursts at nighttime through my frames. As a vain guy, I have three pairs of glasses so it wasn’t a major impact, but these frames I wore probably 90% of the time. OK, 99% of the time. I went to the doctor and had them arranged to be express shipped to my brother’s place in Boston since I was not going to be back in LA.

Fortunately, the glasses arrived in Boston while I was still there, I popped them on, and they felt really, really good. Ahhhhhh. Then I pulled out my iPhone to read something, and I couldn’t make out a thing. Everything was completely blurry.

The previous year, my Doctor and I had reached a bit of a compromise. We thought that I could go with my 2008 prescription that overcorrects my farsightedness, and helps my reading ability as well. It isn’t really enough for reading, but it is adequate. I didn’t want to transition to bifocals yet because that is admitting that erectile dysfunction is just around the corner. Actually, I didn’t want to make a change just prior to moving to Japan. In 2010, I got another eye check and of course things had changed. So I had a new prescription and again my Doctor and I agreed to stick with the old prescription but to perhaps update my reading glasses.

When I went to get the new lenses, the optician pulled the 2010 prescription to make the lenses, resulting in beautiful distance vision but horrible reading. Of course, I found that out in Boston. I also had gotten rid of all my old prescriptions in Japan because they were “out of date.” Luckily, my optician agreed to send me the new old prescription and now I am in the process of getting new lenses in Japan.

Of course, in Japan, the lenses are much more expensive. Nothing like paying for lenses twice in a 3 month period. And I was greeted with a matrix of options … how much thinner, what kind of coats, and how much edge distortion are you willing to accept? I kind of shot for the middle – I hope the lines will be straight enough. We’ll see in one week how well the new lenses work.

I had Tomo with me to help with the transaction, and even with him present it was hard to communicate the various things I needed / wanted. However, I’m pretty confident we got the right lenses on order in terms of correction. I’m just worried about the extra stuff like the coating, the index of refraction, and the distortion. Oh well. Time will tell.