Lost in Japan

We went to see "Lost in Translation" tonight. It was one of the best movies I have seen in a longtime. I was remembering how I felt when I arrived in Nagoya, Japan as a kid as a summer exchange student. I was 15 and pretty immature. They show Bill Murray going through Tokyo and with all of the neon lights and Japanese chracters in neon scripts it shows just how overwhelmed he is by all of the visual stimulation. Kind of like the the time Flanders visits Vegas with Homer. I remember being really lost, the culture shock for me was instantaneous. I wanted to welcome the opportunity of a lifetime but instead I spent two or three days missing home before I got it all together and really got into being in Japan. I finally felt really good about the whole experience when I would wake early and get on a great townie bike with a 3 speed hub and ride around the city. See a pattern here? I'd get up at about 5.30 and get on the bike and go around the city of Nagoya exploring. I never really got lost because I knew how to get home from the huge TV tower in the middle of the city. I would ride through the center city shopping area and then go through the business district and see all of the people going to work. The train stations were great, they had bike racks outside that were full with about 300 bikes, all really cool townies like the one I was lucky to ride. I never felt so at ease my whole adolescence except when I was riding a bike. The palaces were really cool too, I'd spend a ton of time riding around the plazas near them and marvel at the architecture. And then when I got home, the family grandmother would make me french toast...odd, but really good, without fail every morning there it was. Looking back now I realize that that was the most time I ever spent in a city, and I actually liked it!