New Years Eve

Some of Mason's friends came to visit and I met up with them in Asakusa. Since I lived there for a couple weeks I kinda knew my way around and showed them around. We had planed on going out driving tonight but I forgot the CD's at home so I headed back home while they headed to Ginza to check out the new GTR at the Nissan Showroom. Unfortunately, because of the holiday the showroom was closed and they were not able to enter, so they headed to Shibuya and I met up with them there. From Shibuya we headed to Mason's and the Toyota Rent-a-Car to get the Vitz for the night. After picking up the Vitz, we headed to Mason's got the Skyline and then headed to Yokohama to pick up Mason's girlfriend. Since we were already near by we headed to Daikoku and saw that the cops were patrolling pretty heavily to discourage any drifting in this year or the next. It was pretty funny because many of the cars in the lot had traditional Japanese New Years decorations attached to the front grill of the car. When we were leaving we pulled behind a brand new GTR, it was a good finish to the year. Most of the cars there were vans with lots of lights which we later drove with on the C1.

From there we jumped on the C1 loop and entered the Daikoku parking area. It was still a little early so there weren't the usual amount of cars there and the cops were already starting to close things down. From there we headed to Tatsumi and again being earlier, there wasn't much happening there so we headed back out to Chiba and found a spot near Disney World. There we found a spot near the park where we were able to watch the Fireworks. After the Display had ended we got back on the C1 and found the cops had closed all the parking areas that people normally meet at and parts of the freeway just to slow things down and discourage racing.

On New Years the trains run all night so I was able to take the train home which was good since Mason and his girlfriend were headed to Kamakura to kick off the new year.

Work, Movie, and Dinner

Worked on the website a bit and headed to work. My student was late so I had a hour or nothing in which I played Lego Star Wars for DS which is fantastic.

After the lesson I headed back to Daiba and met up with the parents. Because I helped assemble the new dining room set yesterday they wanted to thank me by buying me clothes. Since this is Japan my size isn't always available at every store so we headed to the GAP. I got a cool new coat for work and a sweater.

From there we headed to the theater to see "I am Legend". I don't care what anyone says that was a good movie. The ending was more like a Japanese movie then a American movie, but I guess that was how the story was written. Anyhow, it was good and pretty intense.

When the movie had finished we started to get hungry so we headed to a place called Gonpachi Soba-Kushi. It was a really good restaurant with a very cool atmosphere. They served traditional Japanese food and specialized in Soba.

Day off and a new table

First full day off. I spent most of the day playing around with videos and trying to play the guitar. Around 4:00 a new table arrived to replace the current dining room table. I helped put it together and it looks good.

I'm not sure if Nike will be using the video, as I don't yet see it on the site but here is a picutre, before and after

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Last day of work for 2007

Work today like usual. Pretty much every had their last day of work today and are able to enjoy a extended vacation until work resumes on the 4th of next year. Many people have of course used a vacation day to take the 4th off as well. New Years in Japan is more like Christmas in the US. Most people go back to their home towns to be with their families and old friends. With many shops and places closed during this time I have been told by many students that I will be very bored but I'm sure I'll find a way to keep myself occupied.

On the way home I passed a nice Supra so yeah, I took a picture of it.

Work and Krispy Kreme Donuts

My manager at work is transfering to another branch and I had a long break between lessons today so I headed to Shinjuku to one of two Krispy Kreme Donut shops in Japan. Since the store has opened there have been lines out the door from open till close everyday. There is always a line in front of the building which extends to the side and usually pretty far past the back of the store. Since I had time and had only eaten Krispy Kreme from gas stations in the US I figured I'd check it out. It was during the week and the afternoon so I only had to wait about 30 minutes before being able to get my dozen and head back to work. Like in the US they give you a free donut sample while you wait in line and I'm guessing the menu is the same. When I told my friend that I was in line he had me buy him a dozen and was very happy to get them. Becasue this is only one of two Krispy Kremes in Tokyo I think my manager really enjoyed it. I guess they are pretty good donuts too, but I still prefer Mr. Donut

Work

On the way to work today I saw the results of a car accident with one of the small trucks that are commonly seen driving around here. The passenger side was totally smashed and if the driver's side had been hit, the driver would probably not have working legs. While Japan has lower speed limits than the US, I think the safety standards are sometimes lower as well considering that the vehicle couldn't have been traveling at a very high speed. Had a couple lessons and headed home.

Christmas in Japan

Christmas in Japan is a little different then in the US. It is more of a holiday for couples and since it's not a national holiday, most people still have work. Being that the country is mainly Shinto, most people don't really even know the meaning of Christmas. It's funny because often as the holiday approaches, if I talk with a single Japanese guy he'll complain about Christmas and tell me how he's not Christian and why it's celebrated in Japan. However, if you talk to that same guy next year when he has a girlfriend, I'm sure his view is very different.

Japan is good at taking other countries ideas and improving on them. Christmas lights is defiantly one of those areas. While I always appreciate the simple displays that I have seen in the US, Japan really takes them a step further decorating a single tree with over a million lights. There are displays all over Tokyo and many of them are advertised and shown on TV or in magazines so people can plan their visits.

As for me, since my family is in America, and my host family had work, I headed to work to celebrate with my "work family". It was pretty much a regular day except that we had a ton of food and it was much more relaxed.

Here are a couple cool 360 degree views of illumination throughout Tokyo.

Cleaning, Sushi, and a mystery is solved

Cleaned my room and did some laundry today. At night we went to Tsukiji Sushiko which is a pretty good Sushi chain restaurant. It was good. Today was a holiday and most of the restaurants try to take advantage around the Christmas holiday where they charge more for set menus, Tsukiji Sushiko didn't do that. I finally found out why they call it Rainbow Bridge, around the end of the year Rainbow Bridge actually lives up to its name with it being light up in a variety of colors.

Work, work, and hanging out with friends

Headed to Takehito's for his lesson and then to Shinjuku. Work started at 2 and I got there around 12:30 so I had time to kill. Headed to Yoshinoya for a great lunch and then walked around the south side of the station and found some other pretty cool restaurants, one called Den Aquaroom with giant fish tanks that I will defiantly be checking out in the future. Then I headed to Mr. Donuts and to work. After work I called up Charles and he had some friends over so I stopped over his place. He's got a pretty cool set up with a set of V-drums and instead of a monitor for his computer he just had a LCD projector. I guess when you have some money saved from the military you can do stuff like that.

Work, Akihabara, and Restaurant search

Headed to work this morning did lessons till 1 and then had a bunch of open slots till 5:30 so my friend Mason and I headed to Akihabara the electronics town of Tokyo. For some reason French people love Anime and there are always a lot in Akihabara looking for that specific show or figure of their favorite character, such dorks. Akihabara is known for "Otaku" which is a word that means "house" in Japanese and generally refers to people who are obsessed with Anime, computers, or video games. Akihabara is a interesting part of Tokyo that is popular with cos-play fans and home of the Maid Cafe, coffee shops where all the servers are dressed as maids and use very respectful Japanese almost as if the customer was a king. Anyhow we stopped at Mr. Donuts and stopped at a store where Mason picked up a accessory for his Nintendo DS.

After that I headed back to work did my lesson and Mason and I headed to Shinjuku in search of a restaurant for him to take his girlfriend to on Christmas. Tokyo has more variety in places to eat than probably anywhere in the world. Of course there are chain restaurants but there is also an abundance of non-chain restaurants that often have to set themselves apart with more than just their food. Since I had been to Issa in Shinjuku I recommended it and it looked like a good option but they had a "special Christmas menu" which was about $80 per person so we checked out a couple other places in the building but the other ones that looked good were booked up on Christmas. Christmas is a big holiday for couples in Japan and if you want to eat at a good restaurant on Christmas it's best to make reservations a month or more in advance. Next we headed to the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building and checked the restaurant there which was awesome and had a live Piano player and singer but of course was booked up. Since it was about 10:00 and we still hadn't found a place that worked we looked around at the other buildings for places that looked good. The Sumitomo building near by has the top four floors filled with restaurants so we headed down and back up. We headed to the top at the 52nd floor and worked our way around and down finding out that most places were booked up, had a extra expensive Christmas menu or just didn't have the right atmosphere. Finally we found a place on the 49th floor called at Win & Dining and it was really nice. Headed home and got some sleep.

Test and meeting up with friends

Headed to Ebisu to prove that I had learned something during the past three days by taking a 2 hour long test. It was actually kinda difficult, but I think I did ok. The grammar section is probably pretty bad but the rest was ok. After the test I headed home and worked on different things till 3 when I headed to Shinjuku to meet up with Ayuka. We went to Club Sega and played Taiko Drum Master, House of the Dead 4, and a couple rounds of Mario Kart. From Club Sega we headed to Big Echo a nearby karaoke place. It was pretty fun and she was a good singer. Then we headed to Rakeru and grabbed some Omuraisu for dinner. After dinner we walked around and looked at the different light displays in Shinjuku and she headed home. Then I headed over to a izakaya near work in Shinjuku and met up with Mike and Daniel, friends from 2005. We headed to the guest house that we stayed in when I was here in 2005 and I got the guitar back that I had when I lived there before. Naturally, we headed out to the streets to put on live performances to the amusement and confusion of onlookers. Jumped on the last train home and went to bed.

Final day of training and more work

The last day of training for now. Today we did Personalization and Grammar. For Grammar we were trained by a new trainer and although it was stuff I had learned in high school it was no good. Again after the training I headed to work did some lessons and headed home.

More training and more work

We had a different teacher today who was from Britain and we focused on different teaching techniques and professionalism. I found some of the techniques were actually of value while the professionalism was just telling about how I already live my life. After that I headed to work and did a couple lessons before heading home.

Training for a Raise

Headed to Ebisu today for a 3 day training which when completed I will receive more money for each lesson I teach. The class lasted from 11 to 4 with a hour break for lunch. The guy teaching today was from Ireland and kept the class interesting. For the first part we talked about lesson format and things that we should be doing to prepare. After the break we focused on cultural differences that we should be aware of which was pretty interesting. In Japan if you shake your leg rapidly when sitting it is believed that you will be poor in the future. I'm not sure why that is but it was interesting to learn. The training focuses on changing your teaching style so that there is less negative feedback from clients and will hopefully help GABA lower that .02%. Headed home after the class, had dinner and uploaded some more Green Screen stuff.

Work and more editing and uploading.

Spent the afternoon editing and uploading songs for the Green Screen YouTube page and then headed to work. I only had two lessons today but I also got paid for a extra lesson just to read through the basic lesson plan that GABA has, so it wasn't too bad. Tomorrow I start a 3 day training which when complete I will receive a raise.
Here is a player with all the songs that I have uploaded excluding the extra stuff.

Teaching and uploading videos

Lesson with Takehito like usual and off to Shinjuku to teach there. After that I got home and worked more on uploading and updating fan sites for my old band Green Screen. I had my parents send the old videos of the shows we did and I'm working on getting all the songs up on Green Screen YouTube page. Unfortunately, some of the songs weren't entirely recorded or not recorded at all so I won't be able to upload them, and the songs that weren't entirely recorded I have to edit with the CD or with other shows to make a complete song but at least it's there.
This is my personal Favorite "Peaches N' Cream"

Work and Work party

Saturday I had work like usual and in the evening had a work party from 7-10. It was awesome. There were about 300 people Clients and GABA staff. It was at a nice place called T'suki Club NYX. Right on the water with huge windows providing a great view of the the Tokyo Bay. The party was totally catered with as much as you could drink or eat. They had red and white wine, gin tonic, whisky, and some other drinks. They had a large selection of food from Steak, Pasta with crab, Sushi, and more. When it was time for desert they kept up the same level and brought out plate after plate of cheese cake, moose, cream puffs, and other stuff that I didn't get a chance to try. GABA parties always have a similar format where Clients have to ask instructors questions in order to get tickets. At the Halloween party the tickets got you drinks but at this party you were put in a raffle for some pretty nice prizes, musical tickets, movie tickets, dinner at the T'suki Club. Pretty good stuff. I didn't have my camera with me but I grabbed some pictures from their website so you can get a idea of the place. Pretty nice.

My other day off

Got a package from home with some presents for Christmas. Some of my favorite cookies and pazels, New shirts, socks, and chocolate truffles. Other then that, worked on some different projects and that was the day.

Work and getting a new train pass

Headed to work and did two lessons. After I didn't have any lessons booked till 6:00 so Eri and I headed to Shimbashi to renew my train pass, although she's Japanese she grew up in the UK and Hong Kong so hasn't been very many places in Tokyo. While we were in Shimbashi we walked to Shiodome and I showed her the Nihon TV clock and the News Museum which is a museum showing old news stories. It sounds lame, but it's actually pretty cool the way they have it set up. Then we headed back to work, finished our lessons and headed home.

Work and Shibuya

Headed to work and did some lessons. After work Mason, Ryan, and I headed out to Shibuya to meet up with Josh and some other friends since Josh is going back to America for the holiday. We just kinda hung out for a hour or so and then it was the last train so I headed home.

Day off

Tuesday is my day off this month, cause that is how I made my schedule. Mostly just spent the day studying and doing some laundry.

Work and Kanji

Now that I'm off school, I'm either working, studying Japanese, or having fun. Today was work. Did some lessons and headed home.

One major difficulty when studying Japanese is learning the Kanji. Japan took many things from China but Kanji is something they should have left there. It's ridiculous. You must be able to read at least 2000 Kanji in order to read a newspaper. Many of my students will tell me about times when they would be making a presentation at work and forget how to write a specific Kanji. On TV, they have games shows that test people's knowledge of Kanji. When native Japanese have trouble writing in their own language, they have shows dedicated to testing people on their reading abilities, and games to help keep your Kanji level high; it might be a small sign that the system could use a change. I always tell my students that they are so lucky because they only have to learn 26 letters.

Work and Work

Headed to Takehito's today and did the lesson with him like usual. After we had Oden for Lunch and I headed out to Shinjuku. For December it actually wasn't all that cold today. Walked around for a bit and went to work. After work I stopped at Starbucks, grabbed a coffee and headed home for Dinner. Got some things organized and that was the day. No work tomorrow so I'll just be relaxing and studying Japanese.

Work and Daikoku

Got up around 8 and headed to work. My last student today worked in the TV division at Sony and told me about a Canadian guy that works next to him and he just graduated from a regular University and can speak Japanese. So if Sony will hire Canadians, they must be really eager to hire a actual person. I'm in! After work I headed home and did stuff till 7:30 when I headed to Shinjuku to meet up with Juri, we headed to the NS building and grabbed some dinner then walked around and looked at the Christmas Illumination.


Around 12 I met up with Josh and Mason and we headed to Daikoku. Daikoku is a popular spot on Saturdays and there are always a lot of cool cars there. One thing that I'm amazed at every time I go is the music that is playing. There is a group of guys that have their 3 vans loaded with huge speakers that are all connected and blasting music throughout the whole lot. They had a extra car that they have hooked up for extra power and one of the guys hooks up some mixing equipment and DJ's right in the lot! It's crazy and there are usually people Break Dancing near by. It is sooo loud. Today there was a police car parked near the Koban (Police Box) so no one was drifting but we still saw a lot of sweet cars before we headed home.

Cleaning, Laundry, and Driving

First day off since school ended so I slept in till around 10 or 11. When I got up I cleaned my room and did some laundry. After dinner I got a call from my friend saying that he wanted to go driving. I met up with him at Kokubunji, we did a lap on the C1 and headed to Tatsumi to hang out. The guy with the Skyline was there and a group of guys that had 3rd RX-7's. It was pretty awesome. One guy had a widebody Supra with a crazy kit on it that replaced the headlights with ones that looked like they were off of a Lambo. It was pretty sweet, but I think I like the stock lights better. You might notice that the front plate on the Silvia is angled back a bit, there is a kid that puts the top of your plate on hinges so when you are going at higher speeds the wind pushed the bottom of th eplate up keeping it out of view of the speed cameras. The Police don't seem to patrol the freeways too much and there isn't anywhere to sit like in the US so the Speed Cameras are the only thing to worry about. If you do get a ticket from a speed camera it can cost upwards of $1,000, pretty crazy. There was a guy with a old Fairlady Z that we started talking to and found out that he works at Nissan. After talking with him for a bit we asked about other spots and he said he would show us a couple local ones that he knew. We stopped over at a small parking garage/rest stop mostly for Taxi's but there were Tuner cars coming through the whole time we were there. From there we headed to the Shibaura PA. It was awesome. It's probably about as popular as Tatsumi and many of the people we saw at Tatsumi were at Shibaura. There was a group of people there wil 8 or 9 2nd gen. RX-7's. Since it was a little cold we went inside and talked about cars and different spots and meets in Tokyo. The first Friday of every month at a Yokohama PA there is a Exotic meet with Ferraris, Lambos, and that type of stuff. Should be good. When we were leaving one of the 1270 Porsche Carrera GT's in the world pulled up because the guy had the roof off and wanted to put it back on since it had gotten colder. I took some pictures and he told me that it is a fun car. It was a good night.