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a long day

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Kawasaki, 2020.03.09

I woke at three this morning, unable to shake the jetlag. So I had an early breakfast followed by a chat with Mari and the kids. I told Ken that I found his nice note saying that he'd miss me, and he said, "Yeah, I'm over that."

Mari and I worked out some strategies about handling things like the imploding Canadian dollar as well as the crazy demands for thousands in payments to the landlord and real estate agents.

Then I had a chat with the HR people at NN Life about my upcoming start date. I learned that they've split the entire company into two teams: A & B. Teams A & B alternate weeks in the office. I suppose it's to minimize everyone's commute and city-center time, and to lower the population at the office. Anyway, the call went well.

So I had a follow-up chat with Mari.

Then I went to the ward office to get my "My Number" (SIN equivalent), and to get my address registered. I had to tell them that I had a key already, because they wouldn't do it the day before I actually possess the key. I then picked up two signed copies of a document saying that such-and-such is my address. I got a similar document which to be honest I can't make out. All in, it took about 90 minutes.

Then I went to the Yaesu district of the inner-east-side of "downtown Tokyo" to open a bank account. That, too, took quite a good deal of time. Along the way I learned that they offer prepaid credit cards, which seem like a great idea. I told the fellow I wanted my son to have one and he said The Boy would have to wait 'til he's 13.

After that I crossed town to Shinjuku to pick up a "pocket Wifi" device to connect my voice/text-only phone to the Internet. 5GB of data for $35/month.

Then I did a bit of shopping to see if I could replace the Y1500 non-circular polarizer filter that I left at home. Nope, not for that price anyway.

And finally, I popped off the train to go to a sushi boat place that I remembered. I couldn't find it (or the Thai noodle place) but I did find a "sushi shinkansen" place. There's a normal conveyance with plates doing the rounds, but if you order something special a shinkansen flies out on its own track, taking the order to the right customer.

And then home.

rand()m quote

Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.

—Eric Hoffer, The Temper of Our Time