Category: Travel
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SQ11: The Flight of a lifetime!
If I have been delinquent in my blogging over the past few weeks I apologize – I have been preoccupied with work. Overloaded may be a more accurate term, but that is no reason to neglect you, and I apologize for it. In my defense, I have a great article that was ‘in the can’…
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The Urinating Boy, and the weirdest volunteers ever…
At the north end of Platform 2 of the Hamamatsucho Station on the Yamanote line there is a statue/fountain that may be the strangest I have seen since I got to Japan. I actually have no business at this station and never would have seen it, except for that another gaijin that I met recently…
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Altitude Dashboard
Okay I admit it… it seems I have not been paying attention, because I just found a personalized dashboard on Air Canada’s Aeroplan page that seems really helpful. I wish I would have known about it sooner, because it really does appear quite useful! In fact, I have used it today to prove that fact!…
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Sick…
Being sick sucks. I discovered earlier this week though that it can suck a lot less… if only there were ways of doing things more efficiently. I had been coughing and sneezing for a week, but Monday afternoon, realizing that I was short of breath after a single flight of stairs, I decided I needed…
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Big in Japan: The Week That Was…
For those of you who follow not only my blog but my Twitter as well (@MGarvis) you will likely know that I have been walking a lot since I got to Japan, and my FitBit (www.fitbit.com) has all the proof you need. You may also have noticed that Tuesday and Wednesday this week my daily…
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My Japanese Diet
With two notable and disappointing exceptions, I have eaten only Japanese food since I arrived in Tokyo. I have tried the Chinese restaurant one more time – it may taste good, but the food has not agreed with me so I will not be trying it again. Other than that, really I have stuck to…
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A Twist…
If you are a frequent reader of The World According to Mitch then you know that I very often take experiences that I have had (or observations that I have made) and apply them to the world of IT. For a change, I thought I would take this opportunity to go the other way. This…
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Back to Japan!
I got a nasty email today from a friend who is angry that I have been writing about PowerShell. Actually to be completely accurate he doesn’t care that I blog about PowerShell, he is just upset that it has been several days (a week?) since I last wrote about my travels in Japan. I am…
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They DON’T all look the same!
You know how some ignorant people will say that ‘all Oriental people look the same’? Well I am not and have never been one of those. I Have been aware of the differences between Chinese and Japanese for as long as I have understood there was Karate and Kung Fu. So how is it, will…
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Iye Sumo!
I have been joking for a month that people here were going to mistake me for a sumo wrestler, but it was really supposed to be just a joke. I couldn’t believe it when this evening three elderly (mid-50s) couples were passing me in the street, and one of them stared at me and said…
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Pictures from Day 2…
I have been in Japan since Wednesday evening, and it is now Saturday morning. For my readers in North America the time shift is simple… this morning in Japan is yesterday evening for you, and this evening in Japan will be this morning for you. I think… I have been promising that I would start…
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My (Second) First Full Day…
Today (Friday) was my first full day of work at Rakuten… or at least it was supposed to be. I went to bed at a reasonable hour in order to be well rested for my morning presentation to many of the stakeholders of my upcoming project. Things do not always go according to plans, and…
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A Stranger in a Strange Land…
Have you ever walked through a grocery store and not known what anything was? I had that experience this evening. Although there are pictures on a lot of things, the only items (aside from fresh fruits and vegetables) that I could clearly identify were Frosted Flakes, Coke Zero, and Cote de Rhone. It might have…
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Japan: Day 1
I arrived at the hotel thoroughly exhausted yesterday, which I suppose is to be expected. Fortunately the check-in process was smooth and simple, and I got into my room within five minutes. If I had to pick a single word to describe Japan so far it would be Efficient. Certainly it is clean and everyone…
The World According to Mitch 