Not too long ago, when someone was going to some place he hadn't been before, you would have a map, and on that map there'd be a big blank spot where you were going and possible the text "here be dragons". Okay, maybe that's a little longer ago.

Nowadays things are slightly easier. Not only did I get a map of Tokyo from the people at the Embassy last Tuesday, which conveniently doesn't actually contain my new home (Tokyo is just too damn big), we also have the power of the Internet.

So I went and created a nice little map that holds some of the important places for me (the pushpins are probably not all at exactly the right place, but they should be close at least. Number 1 is the international house where I'll live, number 2 is the research lab at the University of Tokyo where I'll work. Number 3 is the University's main campus. I'm not sure I'll be there very often; likely I'll have to go there for some administrative stuff (like registration) but after that I'm not sure. It's possible the Japanese courses I will get will be there, but I don't know. Number 4 is the Japan-Netherlands Institute; there's a possibility I'll get a job as a Dutch teacher there. Number 5 is the world headquarters of Aikido, arguably the most important Aikido dojo there is. If my schedule (and my injuries) allows it, I hope to train there. And number 6 is the airport where I'll arrive, which is quite a ways outside Tokyo as you can see. Fortunately I'll get a free taxi from the airport to my dormitory.

On a related note, some of you may be thinking "why isn't he using Google Maps? That's blasphemy!"

It's true that Google Maps has much better satellite/aerial images for many places (for instance Narita airport. But for most of Tokyo, Live Local is on par, and I do like the features of Live Local better. For instance it's not possible to just create a collection of pushpins and share them like I just did with Google Maps.

Also, see if you can spot the baseball fields around the international house. There's quite a few of them!

Categories: Personal, Japan
Posted on: 2007-03-24 19:38 UTC.