Cascade Crew

[Al Hasse]

I checked into my hotel about 30 minutes ago (10pm locally, 6am PST), so I am officially off the clock until morning. Long flight to Tokyo and then a small layover before continuing to Osaka. I finally got the chance to put our entertainment system to the test, video on demand was great, but I wish I had brought my own headphones

I checked my time inputs and I have 61 hours with more to go in the morning (still Sunday over there). 6 of those 21 hours of overtime are doubletime with 8 more to go. I love long distance business trios when on the clock

I'll try to get out and shoot some pictures after work, the Osaka Castle is quite a site and my hotel is walking distance from it.

[Dewey316]

Glad you made it over safely. Have fun. I am looking forward to pictures.

[DBL_TKE]

Sweet. I've always thought Japan would be an interesting place to visit. Have fun!

[TurdGen1989]

ahh lucky! i definitely want to go to japan some day! have fun

[blue89]

Get us a third gen in Japan picture! Have fun Al!

[85 T/A WS6]

domo

[Al Hasse]

I have pictures from a previous visit I'll put up, the weather isn't cooperating for good shots now, there is a typhoon that's supposed to hit land tomorrow morning so it's been raining every day. Forcast looks like it's going to be just a tropical storm by the time it lands, but will drop alot of rain in the process.

I did have quite the adventure trying to get to work yesterday. Our party consists of two from the company's Singapore Repair Shop, one from Dallas Repair Shop and two from Bothell Repair Shop (myself included). One from Singapore had a map of the area which included the subway system (but not the train system), he said we needed to go to a this station and get off on this one (he had the map), but I disagreed because I'd been here before. There was no arguing, he was in charge because he HAD THE MAP, so we all went along and ended up on the wrong end of town After getting directions, we boarded the subway and backtracked to the stop where I was trying to tell him to go to from our starting point, then boarded the train (not subway). Since we were all together, the training we were there for couldn't start, me and the other senior member of the group weren't very worried. When we showed up an hour late, we told our hosts that the Singapore guys HAD THE MAP and led us astray after all was said and done, I told them they should have listened to me in the first place

The transportation system here is quite the experience and relatively easy once you've ridden it once or twice.

If I ever get the chance to visit the Singapore office, I'll besure to give my two friends a hard time about this experience, and bring a map with me

[iansane]

Sounds like a cool experience. I'm sure you're towering over everyone there as well.

[90droptoproc]

doesn't he always??

[Al Hasse]

I got out and got some shots, mostly night shots on the streets (point camera and shoot without looking). Also got out before it got dark and took some pictures of the castle, after closing time so no inside shots.

The ride home after our hosts took us out for dinner on Tuesday, My camera was borrowed by one of them First shot is me with my Bothell coworker on the left, Dallas tech on the right, the second shot is one of the Singapore tech on the left with two of our Japanese hosts, shot three shows the other Singapore tech on the right.







Just about everyone rides a bicycle here, sometimes it's almost unsafe to be on the sidewalk





This is what it was like most mornings commuting.



Turnstiles



This building has a restaurant on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th floor,My Dallas friend and I ate at two of them over two nights, excellent once past the language barrier.



Random street shots





Fire Station



Some Castle Shots

A very imposing gate..





The Castle, a fine example of Japanese architecture.

[TurdGen1989]

wow im jealous i really want to go there sometime!

[Schultzy89GTA]

Brings back memories being overseas. Thanks Al.

Safe travels.

-Schultzy

[iansane]

Wow. That looks really cool. I'd love to be able to travel more.

[Richster]

Spectacular Pics Al...What a great trip, even if you didn't HAVE THE MAP!
Post some more dude, those are really great and would dig some more!

[Al Hasse]

I don't have a whole lot more from this trip - mostly the same stuff. I'm on the way home now after flying from Osaka Kansai Airport and sitting in Tokyo Narita Airport and waiting for my connecting flight to Seattle. Real bummer about business trips, no time to go out and see what's there unless you're booked over a weekend. I can't say it wasn't fun though, I got to see some people I haven't seen since my last trip here, or their last trip to Bothell.

[DBL_TKE]

Wow, Your camera takes great pictures, especially the night shots!

[Al Hasse]

Made it home safe. The ride was a little bumpy, but uneventful. This was actually one of the first international flights I took that was nowhere near full. Felt good to have an empty seat next to me and use it to lie down across

An hour from hotel to Kansai, about 2 more for check in and security screening, another hour from Kasai to Narita. 2 more hours at Narita, then 9 hours to Seattle. I left the hotel locally at 8:30am Friday (4:30pm Thursday here) and arrived at my house at 11:00am today for a total of 18.5 hours of traveling.

[Al Hasse]

Here's a couple more. I had to do some editing to get sign details on these.

Osaka was the site of Expo 1970, and at the Castle Park, there is a time capsule placed in part by my parent company Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.









And some more of the town, still night time and rainy





My hotel, The Hotel New Otani, I was on floor 16 (exec level )



More castle

[lostinconformiti]

looks like you had fun al, ive always wanted to head over there, but i never was very good at picking up languages. lol

[Al Hasse]