(This is one of my more tired/disorganized posts)
A few notes about the Hotel Asia Center: In my second room, every time
I entered the room and put my key in the slot, the fan would come to life with
a loud scraping and groaning. For all of my rooms, there was no wireless, just
an Ethernet cord attached to a router. However, there was wifi available in the
lobby. When I was at breakfast one of the days, I overheard one of the
foreigners say loudly that free breakfast coupons are provided to all holders
of a foreign passport; if you’re Japanese, you have to pay 900 yen. It explains
why it’s called a cultural ticket.
Also, I noticed that the restaurant is very full of Japanese people at
times other than breakfast. At lunchtime, all restaurants, including Restaurant
Fuji, are filled with salarymen. In addition, private dinner parties were held
in the hotel restaurant a few times, filled with rowdy, raucous salarymen.
At breakfast, there was a blond French woman and an Asian man (who may
have also been French) sitting at the table next to me.
The bed in my second room was strangely lumpy, instead of flat like
before. The temperature control was next to bed, which was convenient if you
wanted to turn on the heat or A/C from the comfort of your bed.
In the morning, I could hear a group practicing singing in room across
the hall, including the song “Good Day” by IU.
Slightly sore throat and some mucus that has been bothering me for
several days: allergies? A cold? A smoking room?
Check out and go to Tokyo Station
Wander around looking at food. Buy cheesebread slices as omiyage (‘souvenir’),
eat at Fairytale Café, buy bento (‘boxed meal’) for train
Wait in wrong line at platform. Mostly male cleaners this time; part of
the process includes turning the seat sets around.
Ride train.
Arrive in Sendai. Pass people
wearing Rakuten Eagles baseball shirts. Baseball game playing on TV in waiting
area. Parts of station under construction. The west exit reminds me of Otsu
Station.
Meet F-sensei at 3:30pm. Shown apartments from the outside in a
whirlwind of information. I met F-sensei at the entrance of the Tohoku University
Botanical Gardens (took taxi from station. Taxi drivers says a 10-min drive is
definitely not short and not long) at the 3-way junction. He described his car
as a “ponkotsu-sha,” a piece-of-junk car, that was “silver metaric.” After
seeing the apartments, we visited a nearby bike shop, but they only sold new
bikes and the good ones were expensive.
Then F-sensei dropped me off at my hotel. They had lots of amenities
available, but the internet didn’t work (for me, at least). The wifi wouldn’t
connect, so I asked for a LAN modem, but I was told the wired internet wasn’t
working. So I was forced to use the 2005 Windows XP computer in the lobby (free
usage with a printer). The antivirus was Microsoft Essentials, and it said it
had expired because XP isn’t supported anymore. I just checked my email as
quickly as possible, printed F-sensei’s email so I could translate it later,
and got off the outdated machine. As I was leaving, I saw a tall man with a
huge fro. No way, a foreigner?! I thought, since this hotel was directed toward
Japanese guests. But then he turned and I saw he had a Japanese face.
Since I wasn’t able to use internet and I didn’t feel like exploring, I
bought some food at the nearby Family Mart and then watched TV in my room. I
also visited the manga corner and enjoyed one of the two massage chairs on the
6 floors. A guy in the hotel’s pajama robe was already occupying the other
chair when I arrived. Massage chairs can be very loud and very strong. I also
think it was designed for a taller, wider person, so my shoulder blades felt
bruised afterwards. While I was reading, several other hotel guests came to
check out the manga. Some of the men were also wearing the hotel robe. It’s
strange, because hotels that have English always warn you not to wear your room
slippers and robe outside of your hotel room. But I guess it’s okay. I’ve done
it with Japanese people at inns that have public baths or hot springs.
Later, I went to Family Mart to buy some food, then ate it as I watched
TV in my room. I liked watching enka (an older from of Japanese singing).
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