MM Sticker Found Under A Bus In Switzerland

[V1GiLaNtE]

To get a beer?

[rherold9]

Cabell and I had a nice date there. Was super cute, tbh

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[Apoc]

Still don't have Global Entry (applied in April).

We did interview on arrival six weeks ago. The agent said he didn't expect any problems and my wife + kid got their approval notices about a week ago. All I have to this point is a phone call from CBP and a hang up when it went to voicemail. I think I'm being trolled.

Unfortunately my precheck expired early October, so I won't have that until GE sorts itself. #firstworldproblems

[Apoc]

Still no approval or denial. I think maybe the FBI is gonna raid my house soon.

[JPolen01]

Hard to blame it on the government shutdown backlog anymore. Are you able to get anyone on the actual phone about the status?

[Apoc]

I did see they've given a one year grace period for anyone waiting on a renewal, because many resources had been diverted to the southern border, so who knows. I had some flights canceled for work, including a flight to India right after I got an Indian visa, so my guess is I got shuffled to the bottom of the pile for another look.

I managed to find an appointment at the airport in April. As part of that, they provide a direct local number. I'm going to call that once we're past the holidays to see if they can clear things up. I don't expect much.

[davej]

I'm headed to Japan this March for the MBA cross cultural, 4 days in Tokyo and 4 in Kyoto. Has anybody been or have insights to offer?
The trip is pretty structured, business meetings during the day and cultural activities in the evenings, but there is some free time I'm looking to fill.

I know it would be Jake's first stop as well, but I'm hoping to see the Toyota amusement park. https://www.megaweb.gr.jp/about/english.html it does look like there are some neat motorsport and classic exhibits there.

I've been catching up on my Godzilla and Kill Bill movies, so I think I'm all set as far as cultural understanding goes.
Drifting an AE86 down Mt. Fuji is a given, but help me find some other fun/interesting things to do.

[ScottyB]

i think G might have visited at some point, i remember him talking about a track he visited.

will you have a chance to ride the bullet train?

make sure you come home with one of those creepy body sized pillows with a scantily clad anime girl on them, its a good look in the airport.

[Apoc]

We went a dozen years ago, but I didn't write up as much about the experience I would have liked.

http://derecola.com/archives/japan/index.htm

Tokyo is okay, but it's NYC with Japanese people and NYC is not my bag. Kyoto is way cooler.

Japanese people are extremely reserved; they often won't speak English to you until you ask them in Japanese if you can speak English to them. They're not jerks, just afraid of embarrassing themselves by speaking poor English. When I was there, my wife got stared at a lot (blond) and I distinctly remember being on a crowded train where people would rather stand than fill the last empty seat next to me. I got called gaijin at least twice in 11 days.

You will be an observer in Japan above all else. It really helps if you have a local who speaks Japanese helping you out. You can get around no problem, but knowing the nuance of the social customs unlocks the next level of emersive experience and a local can help with that. I think conversing with locals is the hardest in Japan over the 25+ countries I've been to... and I took Japanese in college, so I know pronunciation and many customs.

It's on our list to return in the next five years.

[ScottyB]

Japanese people are extremely reserved; they often won't speak English to you until you ask them in Japanese if you can speak English to them. They're not jerks, just afraid of embarrassing themselves by speaking poor English. When I was there, my wife got stared at a lot (blond) and I distinctly remember being on a crowded train where people would rather stand than fill the last empty seat next to me. I got called gaijin at least twice in 11 days.

You will be an observer in Japan above all else.

i've heard these exact sentiments every time i hear about travelling there. you're very much a tourist/outsider. still really fascinates me that their culture operates that way considering how many people visit.

[davej]

i think G might have visited at some point, i remember him talking about a track he visited.

will you have a chance to ride the bullet train?

make sure you come home with one of those creepy body sized pillows with a scantily clad anime girl on them, its a good look in the airport.

lol I'll start on the neckbeard immediately. 

Yeah, we will be taking a bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto, which I'm pretty stoked about.

[Apoc]

It's an odd experience because it's very much a first world country and in many, many ways they are more advanced technologically and in infrastructure ...but it's also sooooo foreign. It's unlike India or Vietnam where the obvious poverty and lack of organized development gives you visual cues of just how different the culture is. Tokyo feels like NYC, but on a planet you're visiting for the first time.

[davej]

Japanese people are extremely reserved; they often won't speak English to you until you ask them in Japanese if you can speak English to them. They're not jerks, just afraid of embarrassing themselves by speaking poor English. When I was there, my wife got stared at a lot (blond) and I distinctly remember being on a crowded train where people would rather stand than fill the last empty seat next to me. I got called gaijin at least twice in 11 days.

You will be an observer in Japan above all else.

i've heard these exact sentiments every time i hear about travelling there.  you're very much a tourist/outsider.  still really fascinates me that their culture operates that way considering how many people visit.

That's a great point, I'm not usually a fan of structured tours/travel, but for Japan I think it will easier to have a guide with us for just about everything.
Thanks for sharing your blog, Chris! Looking forward to having something to do this afternoon.

[Apoc]

One of the best life experiences we had was finding dinner in Kyoto after dark. Pretty much everything was closed except this old couples restaurant and n the ground floor of their house. By restaurant, I mean like eight chairs. They spoke zero English, but there were only two meals on the menu. The guy walked us out front and showed us the plastic versions in the window (super common in Japan). We each picked #1 or #2 and went back inside. We were the only ones there, so he and he wife talked in Japanese to each other and my and I talked English to each other. Communication was a lot of nods and my broken ass Japanese. The food was great and it felt like we bonded with them even though we couldn't really communicate. I tell the story a few times a year, even though that was 12 years ago.

If you can do anything with Buddhist monks DO IT. They can teach you a lot about being present just by observing them.

[CaptainHenreh]

A possibility unrelated aside: Has anyone watched 'Our Man in Japan' on Amazon Prime? I am halfway through, enjoying it!

[JPolen01]

A possibility unrelated aside: Has anyone watched 'Our Man in Japan' on Amazon Prime? I am halfway through, enjoying it!

Not yet but I read a good review of it today. I plan to check it out.

[.RJ]

A possibility unrelated aside: Has anyone watched 'Our Man in Japan' on Amazon Prime? I am halfway through, enjoying it!

2 episodes in so far, love it.

[HAULN-SS]

I went to japan in 2004 to visit a friend with about 5 other dudes. We stayed in the imperial district, hit every bar and museum we could find, stayed at the Akasaka Prince (no longer exists, and was where Lost in Translation was filmed) It was super swanky, and relatively cheap splitting 2 rooms with 5 people. We got asked to leave basically for being white dudes in at least two places, before we could even order a drink. The subway system is extremely well run, and easy to get around in, even super late and super drunk. Ate lots of interesting food, saw a bunch of temples. That's about all I remember from the trip. We kept talking about doing a 15 year reunion but never did. If I go back, I'd like to go to kyoto or somewhere in the countryside. Everyone in Tokyo could speak English, and I don't recall having to prompt them in Japanese. We did venture pretty far out on a train to some town I can't remember, and the English fell off pretty hard at some point.

[G.Irish]

Yeah I've taken two trips to Japan, but that was over 10 years ago now.

If you're doing Tokyo and Kyoto, I can say that Kyoto has a lot more traditional Japanese cultural locations/activities. If you have time, the Kiyomizu-dera temple at the top of Kyoto is not too hard to get to, and the walk up there has a lot of traditional crafty shops you can stop at. Great views and it's pretty much in the city.

If possible, try to sign up for a bilingual guide. We signed up for a free guide, and we paid for her meals and she translated for us. She was invaluable for helping us navigate some parts of our trip where people didn't speak English (e.g. trying to arrange a shuttle to the racetrack in Fukuoka).

You can sign up for a guide here:
https://www.tokyofreeguide.org/

Some fun stuff to try in Tokyo:
-Taito drum performance
-Visit a videogame arcade (they have full size gundam arcade games and other stuff you'll never see here)
-Check out the motorcycle shop district in Ueno
-Walk around the red light district (not that they'll let you inside but it's fun for people watching)

Best thing though is just get a travel guide and find stuff that suits your fancy.

[Apoc]

I did see they've given a one year grace period for anyone waiting on a renewal, because many resources had been diverted to the southern border, so who knows. I had some flights canceled for work, including a flight to India right after I got an Indian visa, so my guess is I got shuffled to the bottom of the pile for another look.

I managed to find an appointment at the airport in April. As part of that, they provide a direct local number. I'm going to call that once we're past the holidays to see if they can clear things up. I don't expect much.

The main CBP number disconnects you as soon as you pick Global Entry. I did manage to find a person at the SeaTac office and he told me it was because the fingerprints taken on our arrival interview were no good. My choice was to try and push it through without, which would make the GE machines useless on arrival, or go to SeaTac. The good news is they said I didn't need an appointment to do this. Soooooo, I'm headed to the airport. 

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A possibility unrelated aside: Has anyone watched 'Our Man in Japan' on Amazon Prime? I am halfway through, enjoying it!

2 episodes in so far, love it.

Seen two so far. I like May and will keep watching because he's amusing, but I was hoping for a fresh take on the genre.