Buddha Air

Arrived in Japan yesterday, got soaked in Tokyo, had dinner with SFU Engineer and friend BC, and settled in at my hotel at Shin Yokohama. A few observations and stories from the day's travel:

- Why is it that whenever I go to the airport in Taiwan, I see Buddhist monks? You don't see that many monks around Taiwan, but yet they convene in airports.

- I took the Hello Kitty flight. It was SERIOUSLY Hello Kitty. The waiting room was completely decked out in HK (Hello Kitty) - not just a few items, but completely renovated. I'll post a picture on this posting shortly. When we boarded the plane, all the personalized LCDs were showing HK with accompanying song over the loadspeaker. Our meals had Hello Kitty decorations and ice cream.

- Tokyo is the New York of Asia. Everyone dresses sharp and walks fast.

- My hotel room is small. Only a little larger than the double-sized bed. But it comes with a pants press - a large flat electric device that opens like a laptop and you put your pants in. Neato... but really rather useless. I'd rather they gave me an iron and ironing board so I could do my shirts too.

- Travel is almost always a sweaty affair for me. Just lugging around luggage. If it's hot out, I'm bound to sweat. If it's cold out, I'm probably wearing more layers and then I get hot, so I'm bound to sweat.

Anyway, the worst of the travel is over. The hardware I brought to Japan works, and now I can spend time doing the same stuff I would have if I were in Taiwan.