Week 11
After a late work day this week, I went out with my team lead, Akira, to get some food. We stopped at a place called Ippudo which, according to everyone that I have talked to, has the best ramen for a very reasonable price and to be honest, it was amazing. It was well seasoned, spicy but not too hot, and the noodles didn't become soggy. It was the best ramen I have ever had.
After the ramen, I suggested that we go for sake (rice wine) at a place another coworker recommended. After getting lost for a few minutes in a pretty risque part of town, we finally found the place. Their menus were chalk boards which hung on the wall, and when we asked for the sake menu, they simply found which board it was, plopped it in front of us and helped us decide. We chose 2 different kinds of sake: a sweet fruity one and a sour one that tickled the throat.
Part way through the sake, I was wondering where one could get sashimi. One can get sushi almost anywhere but I had yet to see sashimi and thought we might as well complete a trifecta of quality Japanese cuisine (Ramen, Sake, Sashimi). Akira then pointed out that almost every single restaurant had sashimi, so we got 3 different kinds of fish. There was one in particular that had a very smooth texture and tasted phenomenally good.
My team lead Akira and I after some great food and drinks.
Later on in the work week, we had a earthquake drill. Everyone was notified ahead of time and I was kind of excited to see what an earthquake drill looked like.
To give some context, when an earthquake occurs, there are 2 "earth waves" that are released by the quake. The first is a small fast wave that doesn't cause any damage but can be recognized by recording equipment. The second wave is much slower but very destructive . So, Japan has multiple recording stations around the country, and when the small wave is detected, a message is sent (very quickly) using phone lines or internet that an earthquake is coming. Also, because there are multiple recording stations, the timing of the second wave can even be predicted and some areas can get a countdown. There is very little time between the warning and the big wave and it depends on how far away you are from the earthquake origin and a recording station but even a few seconds is enough time to get under a table or some other kind of safety.
So, at 10 am there was an announcement that "an earthquake is coming in 30 seconds... " so everyone got up from their chairs ("20...") and got under their desk ("10...") and I followed suit. They then played the sound of an earthquake which would probably have been frightening if we weren't making smelly shoes jokes at each other. Afterwards, we slowly crept out and some people put on helmets. In addition to the helmets keeping their heads safe from the imaginary rubble, the helmets also had different colored labels on them signifying different emergency training or roles: medical, fire fighter, organization, food distribution, communication, leader, etc. The leader helmets then assessed the situation and organized a plan. There was probably more to it but without understanding what they were saying, the plan was to get back to work.
On Saturday, I set out to go see Tokyo university. Along the way I saw some mysterious stairs lined with beautiful blue flowers. Curious I climbed up to see a temple and garden. I had happened upon one of the older temples in Shiragana. It was very peaceful and pleasant and had several shrines.
Just off the main stairs were some other stairs leading to a platform, and off of this platform was a very rocky set of stairs going to a rocky hill. Climbing these stairs and looking away from the temple gave me a view of the city against the blue sky and a Domino's pizza across the street. It felt like I was inside the temple's bubble of traditional Japanese culture and was looking at the modern world which was right across the street. It was a weird feeling.
After finding a train and taking 2 too many high speed trains which had me about 20 km east of the university before finding my way back, I finally found Tokyo university late in the afternoon. Because of the time, there were few people actually in the campus and I mostly meandered around the buildings while some students studied in the coffee shops which didn't give much in terms of sight seeing.
So I made my way to a lake in the center of the campus. The lake was in a valley surrounded by forest which gave the illusion that I wasn't in the middle of Japan's largest university but surrounded by nature. After being frustrated over my prolonged train journey, it was nice to relax next something so peaceful.
