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[[I’ve noticed that many people have come to my site by typing in the search string “Densha Otaku”. I’m presuming that you’re after information of the Japanese movie/manga/TV series of a similar name “Densha Otoko“. Click that link for the Wikipedia article.

I haven’t got any reviews of the story here, I’m afraid. But I hope that link gives you what you are looking for. Feel free to look around my site anyway. - Chidade]]

I don’t like trains.

But they’re a part of everyday life here, and my only means of transport besides walking. I ride a train at least once a day.

At least they’re efficient. If you missed your train back home, you could wait 20-40 minutes til the next one arrived, except maybe in morning peak hour. Here, if you missed your train, you wait about 5 minutes and definitely no longer than 15.

A lot of things about you - where you work, where you live, where you shop - is influenced by which train station you live closest to and how long it takes to get there. Almost everyone has their train travel expenses paid for by their jobs. Trains are serious business here - if this were a different country, I could imagine how powerful the train drivers union would be.

But still, I don’t like trains. Rattly as hell, and quite often you have to sit side on, not facing front or back, so I often feel sick. They’re also expensive, compared to trains back home (the flipside being the service, I guess) and now that it’s winter they insist on heating the seats and blowing hot air on your legs, which only makes them feel stiff and arthritic and 10 times worse once they hit the cold outside.

I hate express trains most. They can be frightening because of how loud they are. Having an express suddenly pass your train in the opposite direction can startle you too, never mind making your ears pop. Worst of all are all the suicides here. Death by Train seems to be the most popular way to go in Japan. The Chuo Line in Tokyo is the most popular line to jump in front of, for a few reasons, but it makes me feel ill to think why.

I’ve already seen a few victims. If they’re failed attempts, the station masters all race to pick him/her up bodily and get them away as quickly as possible, so the trains can run again. Never mind trying to do basics like supporting their neck in a brace to protect their spinal cords, just hayaku, hayaku - the trains are 3 minutes late now!

Gods I hate trains. I miss my Focus.

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Yesterday was the 4 month anniversary of my arrival in Japan. It’s gone past so bloody fast it makes my head spin.

I don’t think I’ve done enough to show for my time here. I’ve been to Kyoto twice, and Tokyo maybe once a week, although lately it’s been once a fortnight. My Japanese has only improved the way it can by living in this country. My adopted nee-san has taught me a few words and how to speak more casually in Japanese, as opposed to the hoch-Nihongo they taught me at uni. But I haven’t opened my textbooks once since I arrived here.

Everything that I’m glad I’ve accomplished here so far has just happened, with no real involvement on my part. Although admittedly I have done things like booking shinkansen tickets online, then waking up on the morning of my departure thinking, “Well, better go then. Will I need my backpack?”

I’ve always been a random person. Most stuff that I accomplish I do so spontaneously.

While I’m glad I’ve done everything that I’ve done so far, I wish I did more of it. Four months have already gone by and I think maybe 70% was wasted. Heck, I haven’t even blogged enough. I haven’t made the videos that I can imagine in my mind, I haven’t written the programs I’ve psuedo-coded, I haven’t written the freaking postcards I promised to everyone.

Why?

I don’t know what it is about this country that makes me want to sleep, but this country makes me want to sleep. I think it makes everyone want to sleep! You can see them all dozing off on the trains, and yet they have the uncanny ability to get up and off at their station. There is something in the water here, I suspect. That’s why there’s so much coffee-in-a-can available in vending machines.

The caffeine levels are higher here than back home too, I think. I’m a Pepsi addict, and while they don’t have Pepsi Max here, I still knock back a few cans. Especially the uber-tall ones - 500ml. And while I might’ve drunk as much back home, I never ended up awake all night. Then I oversleep to compensate - 12, 13 hours of sleep!

My sleeping patterns are fucked.

Actually, if I could accomplish everything I wanted to do at night time, then it wouldn’t be a problem. The dilemma is that a) my housemates like sleeping at night, b) while Japan is a 24-hour country, it’s not the case in tiny Yokohaman suburbs and c) my Xacti C6 has poor night time performance without a tripod.

It’s already a few weeks into the new year, but I guess I ought to start a resolution - to make better use of my time here. Otherwise, I’ll have to stay here longer to make up for it and I’m sure my cat wouldn’t like that.

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I wrote well over three months ago that I had bought an iPod Nano, officially making me an Apple Bitch. But I don’t regret it. I love the thing. I’ve scratched it to hell too, like the stories say, but then again, anything I own tends to look shabby after a while. I’m not going to bother trying to get it replaced. I’ll just get one of these, once their goddamn checkout facility accepts my credit card.

Anyway…

It’s the 4GB black variant. And I swear it knows what I’m thinking. Could we put it past Steve Jobs to put mind-reading technology into his products? It would explain why I randomly crave cola beverages. Aah, I don’t care. It’s uncanny ability to pick the best song to play at that moment, or it’s ability to guess which band I want to hear next is all part of why I adore my iPod (named “nano-kun”, by the way) so much.

I do have a small gripe and that’s with iTunes. The design could have been so much better. Especially if it wants to be your computer’s default media player. Like, for starters, where the hell is the ’stop’ button? But it’s only a minor gripe.

I jumped on the bandwagon quite late, I know. And all the jokes and social commentary about people not being able to “live without my iPod” have died long ago, I know. No need to resurrect them here. But I’d forgotten just how much better it was to listen to music through a pair of headphones. Plastic, bud earphones, yes, but even so, I’m hearing parts of songs that I never noticed in my car stereo or radio. Then there’s the ultimate euphoria you feel when a song plays that just seems to fit your life completely. A soundtrack of you. You are in a movie, this is the song that makes viewers’ souls soar.

Not only that, but it makes the 40 minute walk to work more interesting, and when the facist totalitarian fuckers at work get on my nerves, I can stick it in my ears to make the urge to kill go away. I have a special playlist for just such an occasion.

Also, thanks to nano-kun, I’ve rediscovered Oasis and Paul Kelly. I can get an Aussie music fix easily, when even the pillows gets too much. I can practice what I’m going to sing next at karaoke too.

So, basically, nano-kun for teh win.

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