Sunshine and rainbows (bridge)
P-Day! So today was ultimately the impetus for my being here. Despite my enjoying taking the opportunity to toodle around Japan for a little bit, this trip was really about presenting my poster at Interspeech. I’d fallen asleep before I could do a practice run last evening, but I was up, as usual, around 5 am, which gave me plenty of opportunity to run through my poster and go over my notes. After primping myself appropriately and getting good luck wishes from my hubbie, I was out the door at quarter to 8 am. Mercifully, there was nary a raindrop in sight, and it really is amazing how a little sunshine can buoy the spirits and lighten the step. I walked down to Ueno to catch the train to Tokyo station, and, given the hour, got to experience a little taste of Japanese rush hour. To say one’s personal space was compromised would be something of an understatement. I really did empathize a bit with sardines as we were squeezed into our little metal tube. I clung to the metal bar for dear life, as I wasn’t left with much place to really stand and get balanced. Thankfully, when I changed trains at Tokyo station, the train to Makuhari was significantly less populated, and I was able to snag a seat.
I was glad I left earlier than I had planned, as, for whatever reason, the train I hopped on didn’t go all the way to Kaihimmakuhari–it stopped at the station before. I was a little unsettled when everyone left the train, and I was left sitting there by myself, until the conductor came by and let me know it wasn’t continuing on. So I changed platforms and waited 15 minutes for the next train. Thus, I rolled in at almost exactly 9:30 am, and quickly put up my poster. Pretty soon, folk were coming by and I was prattling on about linguistic experience and word learning. I had a steady stream of visitors to keep me busy, with only a few lulls in traffic throughout the two hour presentation period. Even had a few big names swing by and take a look. All in all, a successful presentation with no questions I couldn’t answer. People had positive things to say, which is always nice. Once the bell rung (literally) to end the session, I packed up and headed for lunch. I was eager to use my meal tickets, and in the end, I succumbed to the allure of cheese (which I miss!) and grease, and had a cheddar bacon burger at Tony Roma’s of all places.
From there, I hopped on the train back to the hotel to drop off my stuff and get changed. With rain in the forecast, I had to take advantage of the semi-sunny skies. I was soon out the door again and on the subway to Shimbashi station, where I would change to the Yurikamame train that would take me out to Odaiba, a man-made island with futuristic buildings and apparently a nice view of the city. We whizzed through gleaming skyscrapers and across the bay on Rainbow Bridge, affording pretty spectacular view of the Tokyo skyline. I got off and wandered down towards the water, after being accosted by a small Japanese kid who spoke earnestly to me in Japanese before running back to her mom. There was a nice beach and boardwalk with a view of the bridge, which I strolled down aways before cutting back in (not before passing a miniature Statue of Liberty of all things). Odaiba really did have futuristic buildings, one of which looked kind of like a space station! I made the lengthy walk around the island before heading into Venus Fort, a mall styled like an 18th century European town. It was bizarrely dim inside, but there were a plethora of stores for the shopping-fanatic. I was feeling a little less inspired, however, as I don’t really have money to shop, nor does my particular fashion sense align with the Japanese style.
So I headed out in search of food, stopping in at Decks, yet another mall (they really do love their retail therapy here!) I ultimately settled on tonkatsu again, and was grateful for an English menu. I had a delicious selection of breaded pork cutlet rolled with cheese (yay cheese!), breaded shrimp and breaded crab cream croquette. I was eager to see the Rainbow Bridge lit up with its eponymous colours, so I headed out to the deck to catch a glimpse. While it was lit, there were no rainbow colours to be seen. I headed down to the beach and sat down, as I saw several tour boats conglomerating in an area with a good view of the bridge. I waited for about half an hour, enjoying a bit of Pride and Prejudice on the iPod, before giving up and heading back to the hotel.
