Hello, folks! After a(nother) long delay in updates, I'm finally adding stuff.
Well, what's happened since my last note? I was in Austin for a week, and have been back in Osaka for the last two weeks. Nothing much happened during the first week back. Things are moving right along at work. I'm going through a paranoia fit about disclosing details on the web, so I'll just say that things are heating up and the real work is pouring on. At least it'll make the weeks pass more quickly.
Last Saturday I finally had my first incidence of train bad luck. There was a company picnic out towards Kobe that I tried to go to. I think I must have spent three hours riding trains back and forth, watching my stop zip past, before I figured out which train was the "local" train that would stop where I wanted to get off. I think I went between Osaka and Kobe about 4 times before the day was up. Of course, by the time I got there it was 4:00 and I had lost all hope of attending any picnic. It had become a matter of principal. At least now I know that the train lines aren't necessarily named for the stations at their ends.
Last Sunday I went back to Kobe to take a cable car (San Francisco-style, not suspended-by-cable style) and ropeway (suspended-by-cable style cable car) up Mt. Rokko, which directly overlooks the city. I had some general directions on how to get to the base of the cable car from the train station, and I decided to walk instead of take the bus. Well, I ended up walking what must have been miles up that silly mountain before I found a way back down and decided to take the bus instead. The trip to the top was a lot of fun. The mountains there are very steep and "bumpy", so there are no buildings obscuring the view. When you get above the general city level, the whole basin stretches out below you, and there are buildings or docks everywhere. The photos give you an idea, but it was very hazy, so they're not clear. It's quite a panorama. At the end of the day I just came back to the hotel, took a shower, and crashed in bed, going to bed at a reasonable hour on the weekend, for once.
I added lots of photos last week. I took most of them within several blocks of the hotel. However, there seems to be several dense-retail areas like this all over town. I've also decided that the pictures will be grouped by the days on which I take them. As I get more, it'll be a bit easier to get around them.
That's it for the time being. I'm now off to meet up with a friend and catch a train to Kobe...