Little House In Ise

We landed at a run and haven’t really slowed down yet. First day on the ground was hell with the kids in different states of jet-lag and the heat and humidity overwhelming us from the moment we got off the plane. We flew from Narita to Nagoya where we over-nighted. The hotel was very nice and walking distance, for two adults hauling two kids and two massive cart loads of luggage, from the airport. The only draw-back was that the carts didn’t fit into the elevators up to the hotel Though the place was really comfy and pleasant we woke up at Lost-in-Translation hours and had a very early breakfast. Megumi wanted to tour the airport as it is a bit of an engineering marvel (artificial floating island etc …) so we gave it a go. We were too early for most of the fun stuff (the robot center was closed and shuttered) so we hopped on the train to Ise.

We took the Kintetsu line which may have been a mistake but we’ve only done it once so I dunno yet. Have you ever heard of a train with stairs? I hadn’t and we had to get through the smoking car to get up the flight of stairs to our seats. Hauling the kids was tough enough but the carts of luggage made it a real challenge. To think that some folks in HR (single, no kids) suggested that the whole trip was easily doable in a day still makes steamed. We made it with only lightly frayed nerves, small bruises and no contusions to speak of.

So, our house, air conditioning, fans, power, water, gas, fridge, cell-phones and washer-dryer (one machine don’t get me started) are all a go. The fiber optics for the phone, net and TV are due on 9/11. My parents can’t wait to get Video Skype going again. The family car, a Honda Fit, arrives next Saturday. I wanted to get a “Life” just to tell people that I finally had one but the Fit was a better deal. I’m looking into single or tandem dual seater “minica” for my commute.

The boat with our stuff hasn’t arrived yet so we are short of most things. Life is better than camping due to the hard work and brilliant timing of my in-laws. They showed up on day three with a pickup-truck load of futons, chairs, tables, pots, pans and anything they could think of that would fit. We were all in awe. Then they stepped past Megumi and me and went straight for the kids… well duh! It was great seeing them and we were sad that they had to leave so soon.

Work is going to be funky. I haven’t really gotten a feel for it yet. Suffice it to say Asyst-Shinko is very Japanese — picture stereo-types from 90s movies and you’ll have a glimpse.

Aikido is still on the back burner. I have scouted three of the dojo where the folks in my ryu train but have yet to attend a single class. You can probably guess that I’m close to popping with frustration. I’ll meet the local dojo-cho on Monday. He has already given me permission to train for that evening and provisionally there after. I bought a new gi (Mizuno, light judo type) for the occasion.

I’ll send this the next time I can find a poorly secured hotspot. Sadly, that’s not a joke.