The greatest mistake I ever made was falling in love with something I could never have.

Seven years ago I visited Japan on a whim and a $450 plane ticket, and promptly I fell in love. With such wonderfully enticing foods, locales, language, and seemingly everything else, how could I not want to be there? So it was that less than three years later I set out on the JET program to live and work in the place I loved. I got a taste of the life I wanted to live.

After three years on JET my time was up, but I didn't feel like my "Japan life" was over. I applied for jobs in Japan and in the nick of time managed to land one. I would be living in Tokyo in an amazing house, and living the dream of working a "real" job. What could be better?!

In the words of Chris Martin, sometimes the things that you love just don't love you back.

After a particularly long period of waiting, my work visa application was denied, and I was ejected unceremoniously back into the legions of the unemployed, this time looking in a city and even a country that I didn't really want to be in.

Fast forward two years later, and I'm still in that city with another rejection under my belt. It's becoming abundantly clear that Japan just doesn't want me back.

It's hard watching your dreams crumble in front of you. On days like today, I really think that getting that $450 ticket was the biggest mistake I've yet made. Had I never made it over to Japan, maybe today I wouldn't be stuck in this seemingly-endless cycle of disappointment.

Posted by Justin at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In Tokyo, the number of annual train rides per person is 742.

Tokyo's population is 35 million. I'm not sure if each of those people is taking 742 rides per year, but it's nonetheless impressive, considering New York's population is 19 million.

Paris: 216
London: 129
New York: 94
Boston: ha ha what?

Other facts:

• The average delay for the shinkansen (bullet train) for the entire year of 2007 was 30 seconds. Let's see the airlines duplicate that!
  
• The shinkansen started running in 1964. "Bullet" train in the US? 2000. 36 years later.
  
• France's TGV system is almost as extensive as that of the shinkansen, spanning 1180 route-miles. Vive la France!
  

Posted by Justin at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not long ago I was reading a monthly publication released by some sort of train-system watchdog in Japan. Being that I am in love with the idea of quick and non-shitty rail transit, it was pretty interesting to me, despite being dry.

One particular section that caught my eye was a timeline of events regarding the production of shinkansen (bullet) trains in Japan. On this timeline, I read the following: in 1972, all new Series 1 (I think it was 1, but it doesn't really matter) trains were outfitted with scrolling displays on the outside. These displays are the LCD kind of thing that show basic information like route number, destination, name, etc.

What struck me is that a great number of the trains on the MBTA subway system in Boston still have paper/static displays on their side...and half of the time they show the wrong destination. So to recap: Japanese trains got digital displays in 1972. Almost 40 years later, the MBTA has yet to catch up.

In other news, I noticed in the news paper this morning that the MBCR (the commuter rail division of the MBTA) has given up on its bid to buy new trains from the Toronto transit system. Of note is the fact that those trains are 20 years old. So wait, if those 20-year-old trains are considered "new," how the hell old are the old trains?!

With our public transit system in such a state, it's a wonder anyone uses it at all. Way to go!

Posted by Justin at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yesterday evening I attended an alumni hobnobbing function for my college. It was interesting enough, I suppose, with the requisite social posturing and asking how/what everyone is doing. This time, of course, there was a great deal of condolences about lousy "at least it's a job" jobs, along with well-wishings in the torpid economy. Nothing particularly surprising.

At this event I was forced to recognize something about my own job that I knew all along but didn't want to think about. Whenever I'm asked what I do, I tell people where I work. I'd rather not tell them the specifics about the peon-like existence I live. When people hear where I work, they always make noises of being impressed; after all, it does sound kind of impressive. Naturally I would rather keep it at that, but social graces dictate that one must press the issue and ask my actual title. So they ask.

Invariably I tell them my position, and I've come to recognize easily just how quickly the interest fades from their face. Let me correct myself: the interest doesn't fade so much as it flees. Unfortunately, for both myself and the "interested" party, social graces again dictate that they continue forward and ask about what exactly I do. This is where I tell them, and we both do our best to steer the conversation in a new direction.

I hate how I bore people.

Posted by Justin at 8:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A few interesting tidbits about the sushi that everyone loves to eat because they think they're cultured:

While I was in Japan, I was told in what I think was a half-joking manner that the best people to make sushi are old men. They have dry and cold hands, which enables them to pat the rice together in the perfect way, and also preserves the fish in its freshest state. Thinking back on it, I do recall that most sushi makers at "regular" (read: not 回転寿司 kaitenzushi, the conveyor belt kind) sushi places were gentlemen on the elderly side.

Just the other day I heard from a coworker that women are a poor choice for sushi makers; they have warm, moist hands, which apparently can cause problems patting the rice and also can spoil the fish. Of course, this is why you don't see many, if any, female sushi makers. I'm not sure how much I believe that a pair of warm hands can "ruin" the raw fish in the very short time it takes to make a single piece of nigiri sushi, but it is true that the female headcount of sushi makers in Japan is very low.

Food for thought.

Posted by Justin at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)