First time in Tokyo!
I safely arrived in Tokyo yesterday afternoon, around 4:30pm local time. The purpose of the trip? To be a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Linux Rapporteur Group, which was commissioned by SC22 to study the question of whether or not ISO should start some Linux standardization work. I’m hoping the result will be the answer “no“, hence my attending this meeting.
This trip will be a number of firsts for me; the first in Tokyo; the first time working with the ISO standards process; the first time to take a week-long “Atkins holiday”. (Well not completely — I’m still avoiding sugar-laden drinks and carb-rich snacks as much as possible — but the thought of trying to stay on a strict Atkins while in Japan is pretty much a complete joke.)
I’m staying at the Rhiga Royal Hotel, and have found that indeed, Tokyo is an expensive place to stay. The hotel food was terrible, and quite expensive ($36 for the dinner buffet). So for lunch today, I ventured out to the Post Office, where I found an ATM machine which accepted by U.S. ATM card, and then went to a convenience store where I purchased a box lunch for $5, and a 1.5 liter bottle of Diet Coke for $2. Definitely much more reasonable…
Fortunately the hotel has a pretty decent high speed Internet connection, so I can spend most of today catching up with work. It seems to be somewhat of a shame to spend it indoors, but (a) it’s raining, (b) I don’t have a local guide, and (c) I’m swamped to my eyeballs with work and other commitments. In two weeks, when I give a talk in Sheffield, I’ll be spending Valentine’s day with Stacey in London, and we’ll take a few days to do some sightseeing in England. But at least for this trip, no vacation or playing tourist for Ted…