Something strange is happening here. . .

Roku

Right now I am trying to use the Google Maps application on my iPhone and it is acting strange. I am sitting in my apartment in Japan and when I hit the button for the GPS to determine my current location it is telling me that I am at my house in America. Not only that when I move around in this city the GPS indicator moves around on the map of Memphis! I guess home truly is where the heart is, because this is crazy. Not only have I never used the Google maps feature of my phone in America, I have never looked up my house on it ever, so for it to pinpoint my location in Japan as my home in America is very strange.

Well today was a great day then at the last second it kind of crumbled apart. I went to Takasaki to get a work permit for my new job in Tokyo. I thought the process would take a long time so I went to the immigration kind of early, and the process didn't take that long at all! After getting the permit I faxed it to my new employer then hit the town. Decided I would go to my favorite Turkish restaurant and get a Beef Kabob! It was closed when I got there so I thought about going to another place to eat but at the last second I decided to go to an art museum I had seen on my last visit to Takasaki. The featured artist was a Japanese man by the name of Roku. His works were beautiful they captured his childhood vividly! Even though he did paintings of his childhood as an adult the way in which he produced the paintings made it seem as though he had painted each piece when he was a child at the exact moment the scene in the piece was occurring. I took a few pictures at the exhibit (secretly), but the pieces I liked the most I couldn't photograph because guards were watching out for people like me! But here are some photos of his work I did manage do capture on film.

Roku's Showa (Boy's Day) a Japan's festival.

A childhood Hanami (reader's should know what Hanami is)

Listening to an Orchestra of giant Crows

After the exhibit I went back to the Turkish restaurant in the hopes that they would be open by that time it was 11am. Nothing really opens in Japan till around 10am. The only saps who have to be up before this time are people who work at convenience stores and teachers (sigh). I got back to the restaurant and now it was 11:40am, it was still closed! So I decided maybe I will do some shopping, and waste a bit more time. But in order to do that I needed a bit more money I only had about 1,000円 on me. So I looked on my map to find the nearest 7-11 to use the ATM (Google Maps worked properly then). The closet 7-11 was a bit of a distance, so I mapped out a route, and just as I was about to head out the owner of the Turkish restaurant came up and greeted me. He remembered me from my last visit, I sat down and ordered and chatted with him as he made my lunch. I had the Beef Kabob and a Turkish Yogurt drink which isn't what you expect a Yogurt based drink to be like. It wasn't sweet, so much as it was bitter and salty, but it complimented the Beef Kabob nicely.

Turk Sky

Beeg Kabob and the salty Yogurt drink!

After lunch I went to a few stores before coming to one where I debated on whether or not to buy some bright red plaid pants. After much deliberation I got a phone call from my new employer.

This is when things went down hill.

The lady on the phone told me the position and the apartment I would have had with the job were both filled. Surely they didn't JUST fill them that day because I had just sent my work permit to them at like 10am bright and early. So that means the position had to have been filled for awhile and they carried on in all of our previous phone conversations like the job and apartment was still available. This both infuriated me and made me laugh. I was angry because they could have simply told me awhile ago that the position was filled and I could have saved myself the time and effort. She tried to smooth things over by offering me a crappy position in some one horse town, but then my phone "lost reception" and the call dropped :P

So now I not only had to come to the decision on the pants I had to come to a decision on my future; since in about 2 weeks I will pretty much be homeless and jobless! I acted on what I could control and bought the pants and man are they comfortable, sure people back in the states might call them gay or ridiculous. But rest assured I will be ridiculously comfortable! So now I am pretty much back to the drawing board here applying for jobs in Tokyo trying to start over again, but I have a mellow attitude about all that is happening. Seeing Roku's works has brought me great joy! I wish everyone could see the exhibit. But you will just have to get a glimpse of it vicariously through me.