September 6, 2019 - News Post

I experienced my first Owlquake last month.

For those of you unfamiliar with Owlquakes, perhaps I should explain (this should be most of you, since I made the word up). An Owlquake is when you’re in a fourth floor café, surrounded by live owls in an enclosure, and an earthquake causes the whole building to sway. Owls tend to get uncomfortable under those circumstances, and it’s a bit freaky for humans as well.

The owls jumped around and looked ready to attack. The earthquake lasted a surprisingly long 20 seconds or so. The owls did NOT calm down after that. Thankfully, no one was injured by owls or the swaying building.

This event featured several firsts for me: First time going to an owl café. First time holding an owl on my arm. First time feeling bad for an owl forced to stand on my arm. First earthquake. And first time in Japan.

Did I mention the Japan part? I probably should’ve led with that. I went to freakin’ Tokyo!

Japan was fantastic. I had never been to a country quite so foreign to me. One cool thing about living in Hawaii is its proximity to Asia. Flights to Japan are short and cheap (well, cheaper than from the mainland). I’m pretty sure there are other cool things about Hawaii, but who wants to dwell on that?

I spent about a week in Japan, which was barely any time. The wife had some work there, and I tagged along “because Japan”. She worked while I ate ramen, hit some toy stores, ate sushi, visited STUNNING electronics stores, attended a festival, ate more ramen, and then it was time to go.

Yes, I know a lot of you are frequent world travelers. Half of you are probably in Tokyo right now. But for me, the whole experience was oddly dreamlike. Things were mostly familiar, but somewhat off. When going into a supermarket, for example, I recognized the layout. Isles displayed roughly the same products as home. I could tell where the laundry detergent was, where the produce was, and what was the pharmacy. Yet any products I picked up contained illegible text. This oddly didn’t slow me down as much as I thought. Good thing for the Google Translate App.

Did you know that they have stores that actually carry electronics? You can just go buy them instead of ordering online. One place had a whole floor devoted to gaming chairs. Another floor was dominated by mice and keyboards. You can actually view these things in person before buying. It made me feel like some sort of god king.

Even more than usual.

People there were pretty much like anywhere else. Some were warm and welcoming, some were not. For every “Japanese customers only” sign I saw (more than a few), there were several people willing to be patient and kind as I struggled to communicate.

And did I mention their toilets?!? They’re like something out of the future! Heated seats, self-cleaning bowls, built in sounds, air fresheners, butt sprinklers, and more!!! I feel like I’ve been relieving myself in a rusty bucket all my life. How do we not have these here??? (Future toilets, not rusty buckets)

There point is, I had an absolutely incredible time. I loved every second of my visit. Well, almost every second. I could’ve done without the Owlquake.

I loved Japan. You should go. And I should go again.

We'll travel separately, though.

-Jeff