Searching for Bandwidth in the Land of the Rising Sun

In a most curious technological paradox, I find high-speed WiFi internet public access less available in Japan than in Malaysia and Thailand. I intended to post uploaded photos from the Sunday beisuboru event we attended at the Fukuoka Yahoo Dome. That requires finding a suitable WiFi access point for my laptop, since the firewalls and bandwidth limitations on our network preclude that activity...not without reason. But, hey, this is the land of Sony and Nintendo, right? Mondai arimasen, desu neh?*

I lug my oversized Sony Vaio onto the liberty bus and head for the Canal City Mall, which I'm told houses both a Starbucks and a Hyatt with WiFi access. I expect some crowding, since this is not only Golden Week -  a Japanese equivalent to spring break - but also the first day of the local Dontaku Festival in Fukuoka. But all I need is a seat near a good WiFi signal and an electrical outlet (my laptop battery having long ago permanently succumbed). There I will simply log on, upload, write captions, and post, just like I did in Malaysia and Thailand. Right? No so fast, Gaijin!**

The liberty bus discharges us on a downtown street corner, with no mall in sight. We confront a typical Japanese urban scene where you know the desired destination lies only a block away...but in which direction? My liberty buddy for this sojourn doesn't do standing in one place for more than a nanosecond, so I very quickly find myself following him into a Japanese grocery store. We emerge nanominutes later carrying little boxes of fresh sashimi, complete with wasabe, soya, and hashi.*** We pause on the street long enough to slake our mid-day hunger on raw fish before setting forth on a circle search to find the mall. The gods smile upon us, as we spot other shipmates coming from the mall who give us a direct vector...in exactly the opposite direction from where we were about to head. That saved us at least an hour of fruitless wandering.

We enter the mall and eventually find the Hyatt lounge, but no seats near any electrical source. We come upon another shipmate, who happens to be an IT professional. Her advice: "Forget it. Very slow connection." My liberty buddy, not into computing, blogging, or Facebook, is most pleased at this news. He charges off to a Canterbury of New Zealand store where he finds great deals on rugby shirts. I remain focused on my mission. This mall is huge. There has to be a Starbucks here somewhere. And we know that Starbucks is good for WiFi, right? Of course right.

A vector from another shipmate eventually leads us to the elusive Starbucks. After first procuring my grande non-fatto latte, I wander as inobtrusively as possible around the very crowded shop looking for a seat near an electrical outlet. None exist. Seats, yes. Outlets, not a one. Seems that this Starbucks eschews low margin internet-surfing premises-clogging squatters.

Still determined, I search the adjacent mall common area and sure enough spot an electrical outlet! No seat anywhere near, but the floor looks plenty inviting by this point. I resolutely plunk myself and my latte onto the floor, unpack my huge laptop, plug in, log on, and voila! Interneto desu!

Very.........................................slow.......................................inter....................................neto.

Ten minutes of tumbling hourglass symbols and dropped connections later, my energetic companion loses patience and wants to know how much longer I'm going to be. I'm thinking, maybe a week, maybe two. Clearly I've reached a "know when to fold 'em" moment. Admitting defeat, I unplug and restow my gear and we head out in search of dinner, the earlier sashimi now long since absorbed by our still hungry g.i. tracts.

Thus a disappointing afternoon turns into a fine evening.

Searching aimlessly for a suitable restaurant (criteria: must be Japanese and cheap), we come upon two other shipmates sitting at a yatai. These uniquely Fukuokan mobile outdoor eating stalls adorn the local sidewalks during the evening hours. We join our shipmates. We order birru, Kirin and Asahi. And ramen, Tonkotsu ramen that was first created in Fukuoka. And gyoza, lots of gyoza. Oishii desu!**** Very good and very cheap. Sitting outside, we engage in the favorite worldwide sport of people watching. We are both watchers and watchees. We take photos of nihonjin+ taking photos of gaijin. The perfect spring weather complements an engaging evening of immersion into this fascinating culture and cuisine. The evening far overcomes the earlier disappointment over bandwidth deprivation.

Our Japanese friends have it right. Why would someone want to sit cooped up in a crowded mall pounding keys and staring at a computer screen when he could be outside enjoying a unique slice of humanity? Why indeed? 

Besides, I figure that by the next morning the demand on the Starbucks' WiFi will seriously diminish. Maybe I will dash back to the mall then, before the crowds thicken, and actually get enough bandwidth to post those baseball pictures after all.

Stay tuned....

* "No problem, right?"
**"Foreigner"
*** Wasabe, soy sauce, and chopsticks
****It is tasty
+Japanese people