Next in Niigata...

~Hello, fellow sentients. Another busy week has begun for me over here in Japan, and the kids are running around the school like spider monkeys on Pixie Stix:







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--That being said, today's post is about a trip that I took on Monday to Niigata. As you might remember, Niigata is the nearest large city to Nagaoka, and it's also the capital of Niigata Prefecture ("prefecture" is roughly equivalent to a U.S. state).

My reason for returning to the city was to accompany a friend, who needed to fill out some forms at the city immigration office. Hence, our first stop was Niigata International Airport, where the immigration office is located:

^ Niigata International Airport is not large, but it is an important transportation hub because it's one of the few airports on the west coast of Japan that has international flights. Because Niigata is the entry point for all Russian immigrants to Japan (The Russian Federation has a consulate in the city), many of the signs in the airport were in not only Japanese and English, but also Cyrillic.

I nicknamed this place the "Ninja Airport" because the immigration office was so blasted difficult to find. My friend and I found a map in the terminal, but soon discovered that to actually enter the office, we'd have to possess the ability to walk through walls (or smash them down). After wandering up and down stairwells and escalators for ~20 minutes, we gave up and asked for help, at which point we learned that you have to go outside of the terminal, into a nearly-hidden side entrance, and up a flight of stairs to get to the office. Yes, it took us twenty minutes to ask for help, but hey, we're guys...what did you expect?

By the way, your Word of the Post is kuko ( kū-kō, 空 港 ), which is Japanese for "airport".

^ Inside of the terminal were these two gigantic kites from the "Shirone Giant Kite Battle" held from June 2nd to June 6th. I would have gone to see the kite battles, but unfortunately that was the same weekend as my follow-up training in Okayama. Curses!

The process of filling out forms at the immigration office was blissfully short, and we headed to the upper deck of the terminal to relax a bit before our bus departed. I spotted some amusing pictures near the observation deck:

^ Do not throw baseballs, paper planes, or aluminum cans at the airplanes. It makes them sad.

^ Sure, Japanese money looks better than American money, but do they have to rub it in?


^ Before boarding your flight, check to make sure it's not one of those "bendy" planes.

--The airport was mostly dead while I was there, and all of the gates were empty. I did, however, see a "Japan Air Commuter" taxiing on the runway:

^ Seeing an airplane like this makes me excited, and reminds me of one of my medium-term goals in life: to get my pilot's license. A few months ago, I drove out to Sanford-Lee County Airport (about half an hour away from Cary, NC by car) to check out the Wings of Carolina Flying Club, a nonprofit organization that promotes aviation education. At the time, I was scheduled to fly to the other side of the planet in a few months, so I didn't sign up for the ground school or flight lessons that the club offers. However, I plan on doing something along those lines when I get back.

So are you still up for flying, Mike?

--After taking a bus back to Niigata, my friend and I wandered around the malls for a while, which are much larger than the shops in Nagaoka. At one store I picked up this great poster which now adorns my apartment wall:
^ Together now, "Arrrrrr!". Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is one of my favorite films, and the sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest, is coming out on July 7th. By the way, these movies are even better if you read the novel "Iceberg" by Clive Cussler.

While walking through the malls, I found some amusing advertisements:

^ Sometimes, when I'm surrounded by screaming children, I feel just like this guy: "PLEASE KILL ME".

--And here's some extremely weird Japanglish for you:

^ This has got to be one of the most bizarre instances of Japanglish that I've seen in Japan so far. The text, for those of you having difficulty, reads:

We..
We monkey?
No, Ne never.
Cuz such a tight glasses
wearing, you know?

I investigated the advertised website and discovered that "Pokerface" is a store that sells "High Quality Eyewear". Apparently, the quality was good enough for the monkey...although to me he seems a bit displeased with his purchase.

That's all for today from Japan. I'd like to point out that I've added a link on the right to Stef's blog, Out and About in Raleigh, so go check it out (and the scary picture of me glaring at you from the current page). ~Oyasumi!