Saturday, 04 October 2003

It's only a paper room: Our ryokan in Tokyo has all the comforts of a traditional 19th-century Japanese hotel: Sliding doors made of rice paper, wooden floors with tatami mats (no shoes, please), futons for sleeping, and—of course—complimentary high-speed internet access. I'd upload a photo of the room, but at the moment it looks like my luggage exploded in here, so you'll have to settle for the pictures in the brochure.

I'm also pleased to report that, after two years of eating airplane food with a metal fork, a metal spoon, and a flimsy plastic butter knife, Singapore Airlines is trusting the passengers with all-metal utensils again. I feel safer already just knowing that common sense has prevailed somewhere in the world.

Today's activities in Tokyo included the Adventure of the Japan Rail System, which involved almost a dozen rail stations that did not appear on the map; apparently an invisible rail line connects Narita Airport to Tokyo, stopping at several phantom suburbs that don't appear on the map either, all designed to convince the foreign passenger that he is on a train going the wrong direction. But perserverance (or blind luck) paid off in this case, and we eventually found our way to our stop.

What we didn't find was an ATM that dispenses cash to foreigners, in spite of several dozen attempts. My ATM card, which works in America, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Mexico, and pretty much every country I've been in to date except Cambodia (which didn't have any ATMs)… doesn't work in Japan. Apparently there are only two or three banks in Japan that accept overseas ATM cards; while my Japanese vocabulary remains at its pathetic six-word level, I now know what the phrase "your card doesn't work here, foreign barbarian!" sounds like, having heard it from every talking ATM within walking distance. Tomorrow's itinerary now includes a pilgrimage to the nearest Citibank.

- Posted by Scott Forbes at 4:10 pm. comments.