Japan Day

The trip to the Japanese consulate didn't go very well. What was supposed to take 10 minutes took an hour, due both to my poor navigation and to the ineptitude of our new GPS system when confronted with a complex interstate system. Eventually, we found the right address and discovered that (contrary to the picture on the consulate's website) the consulate was not in a colonial-style building, but a 20-story skyscraper.
Mom and I entered the building on the heels of a Japanese mother and her kids. (When the elevator started to move, albeit rapidly, the kids were startled.) To get into the consulate, we had to go through a metal detector and get our bags x-rayed - something I hadn't thought about, but which makes sense. It didn't take us long for us to get our business done - at least, not until we realized that the visa required a photo of me. (Just so you understand, I have distributed numerous photos to Japanese entities recently to get ready for this trip. I think everyone in the country will know me when I arrive.) This ended up delaying us, as we had to get a passport photo taken. Fortunately, there was a Wolf Camera near where we did some banking aftwerwards.
Following lunch at the Rock Bottom Brewery (a decent/good chain microbrewery and restaurant), Mom and I returned to the consulate offices on the 16th floor of One Alliance Center. There (as I had feared) I had to redo my visa application because it was too sloppy. Even when I redid it, I was told that it wasn't neat, but they took it, the photo, my passport, and my "Certificate of Eligibility" (a document required in order to apply for a visa, but which is also significant in and of itself). We'll pick up the passport tomorrow morning - probably, as Mom says, because of the time difference between here and Japan.
We ate dinner at a cool chain place called "Nakato." It had both a hibachi steakhouse area (think Kanki) and an area with traditional fare and a sushi bar, as well as private tatami rooms in the back. There was also a little garden to the side of the restaurant. Mom and I ordered a bunch of dishes a la carte, and, though I didn't like everything, there was some good stuff. (If you ever go to one of these places, have the gyoza.) Moreover, before the meal I asked a traditional dressed Japanese woman with a short haircut where the bathroom was in Japanese. When I returned to the table, she talked with my mom and I and forced me into using my meager Japanese skills - which actually was good; she's right that I need to practice. She also took us to see the tatami rooms after our meal (although we couldn't go in).
Tomorrow, as I said, Mom and I will pick up the passport. Then we'll go to the Georgia Aquarium, and...who knows what else. Dad wants something related to Martin Luther King, so we'll be doing something along those lines, too.