Leaving Japan

Before I knew it, two months have already passed and I'm on the last day of my trip to Japan. While I will definitely miss many things in Japan, I also miss many things from Thailand and am looking forward to go back. Actually, the clerk at Sakura-kan told me that I look more happy than usual, similar to other guests who are leaving.

To get back, I took a bus to the airport and that it where my unlucky streak continued. Having 200 MB left, I tethered my phone to my computer to use the Internet on the bus and make plans back in Thailand. And then, 200 MB disappeared in the blink of an eye! At first, I thought that it was because I was browsing the web on my computer too much, but in fact, it was due to another reason.

For some reason, Google services decided to use 183 MB. At first, I thought it was just my luck, but when one of my friends also complained with a similar amount, I knew it was no coincidence and the size looked similar to an OTA. Pulling out my laptop and reading the logcat, I discovered that it was the 4.3 OTA that everybody has been waiting for, but it came at the wrong time for me! Luckily, the airport has free Wi-Fi, so I'm not stuck waiting without the internet.

But upon arriving at the airport, I've discovered something else. The Thai Airways checkin counter opens at 3 pm, leaving me with 2 hours having to drag my bag around everywhere. There is a coin locker, but I don't feel like spending 500 yen just to store my bag for a few hours.

Empty Thai check-in counter

Luckily, the airport has a "mall" where I could eat lunch and shop around. The lady at the food court was very nice. She helped me find a seat and recommended about the food ordering procedure.

The Airport Mall

My lunch — Doria Mushroom & Meat

After shopping around for a while, it's finally time for check-in. The queue was very very very long, but I could bypass the queue because I've used internet check-in. However, I don't really understand the point of internet check-in at all. What does the airline get by getting me to login and click a button on their website?

Tbe queue overflowed the area for the check-in counters!

My flight will leave soon, so I will end this post here. Thank you for following my blog!

The Railway Museum

My internship has already finished, so today I got the day off. Having already went to most places in Tokyo, I've decided to head to the Railway Museum in Saitama. The cheapest way to get there from Tsukuba is to take the Tsukuba Express to Nagareyama-Otakanomori station and take the Tobu Noda Line to Kita Omiya and walk a bit to the museum.

Did you remember that I said that most public places close on Monday? I've completed forgotten about that until I arrived there. Luckily, this place closes on Tuesday instead of Monday or my trip would've been a waste.

Before I've entered the museum, I've decided to have lunch first. I walked around and looked for a restaurant before ending up in a ramen shop. The menu I ordered was "ゼロ系" which I thought was a strange name for a ramen. Later, I've found out that it's a reference to the 0 Series Shinkansen.

Now, time to enter the museum! The ticket is ¥1000 and you can either choose to get a physical ticket (an IC card you'll have to return when getting out) or add it to your Suica card. Since I don't have a Suica card and my Rabbit card didn't work, I opted for the physical ticket.

Entrance ticket

Train station-style entrance gate

After I got into the museum, I've found out that the choice to have lunch first was a huge mistake! Being a train museum, they have old-style "ekiben" or train station lunch boxes on sale which you can take and eat it on the trains prepared.

Poster for "ekiben"

One of the trains designated for eating

Inside the museum, the main area consists of many trains from many different eras from steam train, diesel train and finally electrified trains.

A bird-eye view of the gallery

You can also view the inside of some trains

Most displays are in Japanese, but some videos and descriptions are also available in English.

A few of the posters have English QR Code

But they are usually less detailed than the Japanese counter part

On the upper floor, there are history of train in Japan, collection room for train-related artifacts, and a "learning" area for kids.

History of the Japanese Railway

The format of train ticket almost haven't changed in the past few decades

Japan has been using vending machines for a very long time!

Some kind of show of "one-day" at a train station

The collection room

The learning zone

Next comes the most interesting part of this museum, the driving simulator, which allows you to try driving a few of the lines available (different lines have different features and assistive capabilities). The images used aren't generated but are actually footages taken from a real train. The system assists you by recommending the speed, but you're on your own for actually maintaining those speed. By the way, stopping at the station is very hard!

Let's try the Yamanote Line!

Instruction... but I have no idea

Someone else driving the simulator. He looks like he's good at this.

And that's it for my tour! There's actually another section which allows kids to drive mini-trains on a track outside, but unfortunately, I'm no longer a kid.

An invitation to a Japanese house

Yesterday, me and other foreign interns were lucky enough to be invited to Kojima-san's house for an Okonomiyaki party. Though unluckily, due to a certain chain of events, I ended up with this while trying to get there.

In any case, Kojima-san's wife was kind enough to give me first aid and so the party continued. This is my first time in a real "typical" Japanese house, so it was a very interesting experience for me. Unfortunately, due to my phone being like above, I couldn't get many pictures.

Okonomiyaki, or "Japanese Pizza" as Thai people call them is a Japanese food originated from the Kansai region. The food itself is similar to pancake, except that there are various toppings to put onto it. "Okonomi" means "what you like" and "yaki" means "fried", so I think the name means that you put whatever you like and fry it (and there are indeed many kinds of okonomiyaki). Apart of okonomiyaki, Kojima-san's wife also cooked many side dishes for us. Gochisosama deshita!

Okonomiyaki being cooked (by Kojima-san's wife)

Finally finished!

Me and Joseph trying to make our own Okonomiyaki

Shokibarai Party

Yesterday, apart from visiting TUAT, I've also came back and attended a "Shokibarai" party held by the nice people at the office. "Shokibarai" literally means chasing away the heat (though I won't say it's as hot now as it was some week ago) and their concept is apparently to "eat spicy food to beat the heat".

We were taken to a Thai restaurant called "Khun Po" around 6 kilometers away from AIST by personal car. "Khun Po" is a Thai word which means "father", however, all the staffs here are female, so I'm not sure where the name came from.

The restaurant

P' Miki and "Khun Mae" (Mother)... not sure why

Initially, we had ordered Som Tum, Mamuang Him Ma Parn, Tom Yum Kung and Yum Woon Sen. Three out of the 4 dishes were spicy. The day before the party, I was asked to phone the shop and told them to make it "Thai spicy" (we ordered 3 dishes of each, with one dish being less spicy for those who can't eat spicy food).

Being in a Thai restaurant, my senior and I had a lot of chance to share about Thai culture, such as how Thai people eat (though we used chopsticks here), the Kings and history of Thailand and also other miscellaneous facts such as the full name of Bangkok ("Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit" if you're interested).

After we've finished eating at the restaurant, we've all headed to Starbuck to talk a bit more (many people are leaving or will be leaving soon, so this is also treated as a farewell party) before heading back to AIST.

A Visit to TUAT

Today, my senior and I asked for a day off (our projects are mostly finished anyway) to go and visit 3 of our friends from our university who are summer exchange students at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, or TUAT for short (Japanese call it "noukoudai"). While the name of the university suggests that it is in Tokyo, its Koganei campus not in the central part of Tokyo and takes around one hour to get there from Akihabara on the Sobu and Chuo line (which means 2 hours from Tsukuba).

Train Route on Google Maps

After we've arrived, our friends picked us up and the station and it was a short walk to the campus.

Me and Tanasak together with our friends at TUAT

A hand statue in front of a building

Then, we were taken to visit the lab that one of our friends, Chanon, works in. Unfortunately, we couldn't visit the other labs because they are people working there and we would disturb them. However, we've learned about the project they've worked on for the summer — a sudoku solver, a system to distinguish writing from drawing and MIPS hardware programming.

Chanon's Lab

We also had lunch at the cafeteria, which was quite cheaper than the lunch at AIST. Most menus were only around ¥300.

After that, we parted way with our friends since they have to go and present their projects. We were recommend to go and take a look at the Edo-Tokyo Open-air Architectural Museum at Koganei park, which is a display of old Japanese house and we were also allowed to go inside some of them.

The bus we took to the Koganei Park

The entrance of the museum

An old house (but not so old)

There seems to be a lot of people drawing pictures

This Sony television should be about 60 years old

Blowing fire to heat water and cook rice

An old train from Shibuya to Shimbashi. It's not air-conditioned, but it's electrified.

Train Tickets

The train is one of the most convenient transportation in Japan, being very easy to use and also very punctual. A timetable is published at the station and on the Internet, allowing me to run and enter the train at the last minute a few times already (not a good habit though...). Anyway, today, I will write about the different type of train tickets available.
Normal Ticket
A normal ticket is a ticket you can buy at a ticket machine at the station you're departing from. For casual travel, this will be the most common type of ticket used. The ticket is valid for one trip departing from that station (i.e. you cannot buy 2 and use the other one for the return trip, despite the price being the same.)

The ticket will contain the name of the originating station and the price of the distance you are allowed to travel. If you travel further than the allowed distance on the ticket, you can use the fare adjustment machine at the destination to pay the difference. Upon use, a hole will be punched in the ticket.

A normal ticket for the Rinkai line departing from Tokyo Teleport station valid for 200 yens.

A fare adjustment machine

IC Cards
An IC card is technically not a train ticket, but a stored value card. However, you can use it to pay for the train by tapping it at the gate of the originating station and at the exit gate of the destination. The correct fare will automatically be deducted from your card.

There are many companies providing IC cards and different area of Japan uses different cards. In the Tokyo area, there are 2 provider of cards — Suica and PASMO. You can use both at both the JR trains and the subways. The main difference is that you need Suica card to get a JR commuter pass and a PASMO card to get a subway commuter pass.

An advertisement for Suica

Unlimited Rides Ticket
An unlimited rides ticket is a type of discount ticket only available in some area and allows unlimited travel in an area within an amount of time. For example, the Tokunai pass by JR allows unlimited travel within the 23 wards of Tokyo on JR trains for 1 day. Similar tickets are also available from subway companies. Example of other unlimited ride tickets include the Japan Rail Pass and the Seishun 18 pass.

A "Tokunai" ticket

Multiple-trip tickets / ticket book (kaisuken)
This is a type of ticket for people who often take the same route. Available from the ticketing machine at the station, you can buy 11 tickets for the price of 10 valid for 3 months. "Off-peak" and "Holiday" tickets are also available which gives you 12 and 14 tickets respectively. If you live in Tsukuba, a vending machine at Dayz Town also resell these tickets individually at a slight mark-up.

A holiday ticket between Tsukuba and Akihabara

The menu for buying a multiple-trip ticket

Commuter Pass (teikiken)
This is the type of ticket people use for going to work or going to school. For a fixed price per month (you can get additional discount for buying 3 or 6 months), you can get unlimited rides between 2 specific stations on a specific route. To get a commuter pass, you must contact the ticketing office. For convenience, a commuter pass can also be written onto an IC card. A commuter pass also allows you to get on or off at any stations between those 2 stations. If you travel beyond the route allowed by your commuter pass, you can use the fare adjustment machine at the destination to pay only for the part that is not covered by your computer pass, or if you use an IC card, the appropriate fare will automatically be deducted.