Saturday morning two delivery guys showed up with our new TV, and set it up for us in the living room. They fiddled with the settings, had me put my personal seal on a piece of paper, and then took off.
I was left with a giant TV and nothing to do all day but try and figure out how the thing works. A couple of things surprised me right from the beginning:
One, it’s bigger than I remember. When we looked at the TVs in the stores, there were big TVs everywhere, and so they didn’t seem quite so big. Actually, as I write this I’m getting used to the size, and it seems like a good size for the room that it is in. So, I got used to it quickly.
Second, we can watch digital TV. I thought that digital TV was a long way off, but apparently it is up and running here. They just hooked up the TV to what I thought was a cable TV jack in the wall. Actually, it goes to some kind of antenna that picks up a digital signal.
The digital signal is amazing. Part of it is that it is on a big TV, but you can compare easily the old regular signal with a new digital broadcast. The digital broadcast takes up the whole widescreen TV, and it is so sharp that you really feel close to what is happening. I always thought it would be a minor improvement, but it is a big jump in quality. And, it’s free – just like getting a signal from an antenna.
One interesting thing is that when you watch shows in digital, it is in widescreen, and sometimes you can see that the cameraman hasn’t quite gotten used to that yet. I’ve seen lots of stagehands and producers on the edges of the screen, standing unintentionally at the edge of the camera’s field of vision. Usually they don’t show up on a regular size screen.
I watched some DVDs to see how the cinematic experience went, and that was fun, too. After watching digital TV you can see that the digital signal is even nicer than a DVD. Watching my favorite scenes from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings was so cool.
Anyway, Kuniko got home in the early evening, and we watched one of our favorite shows, IQ Supli together for the first time in several months. It’s a quiz show, and it is fun to try to figure out the answers. Kuniko has a big advantage over me because of all the kanji questions, but it is still fun.
Later on Kuniko’s sister came by after a concert in Osaka. It was her first time to see the new place, so we gave her the grand tour, and ate and drank in the living in front of the monster TV. Around midnight we set up a futon for her to sleep on in the living room, showed her how the air conditioning worked, and we headed to bed.
Sunday we had chilaquiles for breakfast (from a suggestion my mom made), and then hung out for a while at home before heading to the station about lunchtime. We had some ramen for lunch, and then Kuniko grabbed a train to head to work, her sister grabbed a train to head back to Osaka and catch a bus, and I headed home to relax.
Tonight I’m not sure what we’ll be doing – I’m not sure when Kuniko will get home. It’s raining now, so our options are a little limited, but we’ll probably just stick around here and get some rest. Tomorrow it’s back to work, and I think I have a busy Monday with five classes.
