I’ve made the hop from Japan to San Diego in preparation for the summer anime conventions. As usual it’s great to be back in my home city, enjoying the sunshine and the long, straight freeways and of course, the abundant Mexican food. We’re making preparations to attend the Phoenix Comicon, a great show we really enjoyed last year. If you’ll be in America’s Hottest City this weekend, stop by booth 381 and say konnichi wa!
There are certain aspects of life in Japan that I like a lot. Amazing food, whether it’s Japanese or Italian or Indian curry and naan brad. Taxis so clean you could eat off of them. Beer vending machines. Having a “vertical” society in which young people learn to show respect to their elders (senpai) in ways we can’t easily conceive of in English. I’m also a fan of Japan’s rail culture, which make it easy to travel anywhere by train to any point in the country. While my perception of trains in the U.S. is “Amtrack” and nothing more, in Japan each train line has its own unique charm, whether it’s the speedy Nozomi 700 shinkansen that travels from Tokyo to Kyoto, the Cassiopeia sleeper train that goes all the way up to Sapporo to my favorite train, or the Enoshima Electric Line, which has shuttled passengers around the Kamakura area for more than a century. One of the most useful train lines you’re likely to encounter in Japan is the Yamanote (pronounced yama-no-teh), the loop line that goes around Japan’s capital city. No matter where you need to go in Tokyo, it’s a good bet the Yamanote Line will get you there.
