At The Speed of Steve

ok all the video links are working now

————————————–Edit 9/17—————————————-

The group went to Mt. Fuji with the intent to make it to the top.  I really wanted to go to the top but it would have required me to sleep overnight on the mountain.  I really wasnt equiped to do such a feat, but i probably would have done it anyway if it werent for the fact that i had to be somewhere the next day.  This circumstance probably worked out in my favor because of the kind of weather one can expect on Mt. Fuji

As luck would have it though, the buses stopped running very early on the day we went, so we only got to stay on the mountain for roughly an hour and a half.  Very disappointing considering it took 2 hours to get there and then another 2 to get back home.  However, i’d do it again.  The weather that day was very cloudy and misty, but there were certain times that the weather broke.  It was beautiful regardless.  There really is no way to describe it accurately besides –At some point you should go–  that sums it up.  pictures dont do it justice but i’ll give it a shot. (also a video!)

This is Station 5 at mount Fuji, its the highest point you can reach on the mountain by car/bus.

it was a little like silent hill but still awesome

getting high —  2390 meters –or– 7841.207 feet –

Video

On the way home we took this train:

i’m not sure where thomas land is…but you do have to take this train to get there, it also happen to be on the way back to tokyo.  oh and this was starring at me for part of the trip:

Sir Topham Hat himself, kick ass.  (this was next to my seat)

The train we transfered to after thomas land let us off took us to yokohama instead of Shinjuku which is where we needed to go.   we fell asleep and needless to say woke up in a different city than we expected. eventually we made it back to tokyo but it just took longer. lucky for us yokohama is really close to tokyo so it wasnt completely a wash.

Now i know what youre thinking, “what was so important that you wouldnt spend the night at Fuji?” well this is what:

GIGA-BUDDHA

This guy is over 700 years old and weighs close to 50 tons, it has survived countless typhoons and one time a tsunami knocked it off its pedestal.  do you want to see the inside? i sure did:

video

The day after fuji me and dan went to Kamakura its a coastal city south of Tokyo. it was part of a school trip so there were lots of people there.  we saw three shrines while we where in the city, one buddhist, one shinto and another that seemed to be a mix. heres the goods:

Shinto

Video

Buddhist

The Third Shrine

as if the fish would eat that sign anyway…

This should make up for the silence.

Japan has been a trip of first…

First time in Asia…

First time speaking Japanese to Japanese People….

First time in Tokyo…

First time in an Ambulance.

First time in a non-American Hospital.

so St. Luke’s Hospital isnt such a bad place, the people are friendly and their ER is open which is nice.

I guess to make things clear i have to give a bit of a refresher on those of you who werent paying attention in school when they taught the Japanese Health Care System

The Japanese have a nationalized medicine system, which to be fair is a beautiful and noble thing to give health care to everyone. kudos Japan. Everyone can go to hospital and get help, most of the time… i say this because when the hospitals are open, they are top notch. but, and heres the kicker, they close. thats right. closed.  as in, sorry come back in the morning.  only a select hospitals have ER’s that are open all night, and even fewer have english speaking staff.  how it works is you call the ambulance and they call the hospitals to ask if its ok to bring you there (this can take some time depending on the night, hospital operation hours are 8:30 - 5).  now once you get there and they are willing to help its A-game all the way. Also you dont have to worry about insurance because everyone is part of the national insurance program, so as long as the hospital accepts that you are ok (Yes some hospitals dont accept national insurance?!?!).

You’re worried now eh? wondering what happened? well if you have read this far i’m honored to know that anyone cares about what happens to me, luckily it wasnt me that needed all this fun modern medical care. it was my boy and roommate Dan T.

this guy:

Sometimes this Guy:

But mostly this guy:

late at night dan’s chest started to hurt, he was worried it might be his asthma so we wanted to go to the hopsital. luckily, it was just muscle tension in his chest and the doctor gave him some anti-inflammatory. hes ok now but it was a good idea we went. also mad props to our dorm manager who went with us to the hospital and translated as best she could.

two days prior we had signed up for the healthcare system (which is mandatory to have) so everything was covered mostly. we still had a co-pay to deal with but to be honest it wasnt that bad. (38 dollars for an ER visit, EKG, and chest Xray. not too shabby)  we were then advised by the ER doctor to see another doctor once the hospital was open again just to be sure (a lung specialist). so we waited like 3 hours for the hospital to open and saw the doctor. he spoke english much better than we expected and was a general nice person (but hey, isnt everyone here).  his vist lasted about a half an hour and he said not to worry, that its only muscle tension, which seems to be the case because dan has been doing fine.  his visit cost us a little less than $2 additional.

now the medical care isnt free, we have to pay a monthly charge  of about ten dollars(based on income, ours is zero). all and all their health care system is very interesting and leaves something to be desired in America.  i dont think the system would adapt well in America,(what with the closing of hospitals)  but it certainly shows its possible.

St. Luke Lobby

The college dream has come true.

i have made it so i only have classes on tuesday and thursday.

leaving me the other days of the week to do what i like.

the question is….what should i do with all my free time?

….i should get some legos

misc pictures:

-some shots from on campus-

-a rather large serving of pork-

servings here are much smaller than in the US if you missed my implied meaning, this is one of the larger pieces we found in a boxed lunch (bento).

At home i could owe my survival to probably a combination of wawa and giant food stores.  in Tokyo the reigning champion is the Tokyu Store. think of it as a Japanese Walmart…but much better.

without this little guy we would be forced to eat at local restaurants only, and although delicious, highly expensive.  observe:

average price of meal in restaurants: $10.00

average meals per day: 2.5

average days in a week: 7

average weeks in a month: 4

number of months in japan: 3.5

equation: ((((10*2.5)*7)*4)*3.5)= $2450

as you can see, buying your own food is quite adventageous. BUT! you can get so much more than food at the Tokyu store, they have 4 floors with everything from clothes to key grinding. (its also where i get my school supplies)

i’m not saying that Tokyu is the only supermarket in tokyo, its just the best i have found. The others i have been to are not quite up to par, not just with selection but with price. Tokyu is pretty reasonable, and if you go later at night things get marked down even further to make room for the next day’s stock. i think late night Tokyu trips are gonna become a staple.

So who wants to hear the word Tokyu some more? Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu

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Good? Great.

lets talk about Boss Coffee:

its the only coffee drink thats endorsed by Tommy Lee Jones. The stuff is pretty good too, i kind of wish there was more than just starbucks served in a can back home. heres hoping boss makes its way over the pacific before me

Vending Machines are everywhere

its sunday here. i’ve given up trying to figure out what day it is back home, i have a clock that tells me the hour but not the day.  it has been three days since i landed here, the plane ride was a bitch. if anyone says a 13 hours on plane fun, you punch em square in the gut for me.  granted 13 hours on a plane may not be too bad, but figure in the 3 hour flight prior to that, the 1 hour lay over, the 3 hours prior to that in waiting and the 30 min car ride prior to that and the 1 and half bus ride after landing followed by a 45 min taxi ride to your final destination and you have just about summed up the necessary wait time to come from the east coast to Tokyo Japan (actually in Meguro City which is like a sub-city next to tokyo…whatever).

total combined travel time: 22.75 hours | 25 hours awake

today is the first day thats feeling normal so i figure i’d post here with some pictures and some adventure that has already poped up.

yesterday we went to visit the Olympic Park Stadium, its about a 15 min walk from my house.  Japan hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics and the structure still stands.

heres the backstory

We picked a rather interesting day to go though, ordinarily the structure serves as a grounds to walk about and use the various facilities for a fee. however, from time to time the area hosts different sports events. on the day we went there was a junior Judo and Badminton competition of Asia there.

I never thought i would ever go to an Olympic Stadium, especially one in Japan. also Tokyo is a Candidate city for the 2016 Summer games. Pretty cool eh?

also there was a Juggler/Unicycle/Band playing infront of one of the buildings. very classy:

Juggler video