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:

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".

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:



--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:

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:

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

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

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