New Years

This New Years was kinda weak just because I was still pretty jet lagged so I fell asleep before the ball even dropped and I couldn't have as much fun as I wanted to. Steve came over in the afternoon with Rock Band 2 and Corrigan came over and we spent the whole afternoon playing, it was awesome. Then Corrigan left before dinner cause he was having a party at his house and Yu-Chih came over after she finished working. We had dinner and played some card games, Wii games, and watched some movies, before I fell asleep. I think I fell asleep 5 min before the ball dropped cause I kind of remember the count down. Then I woke up on the couch around 4am and went to bed.

Meeting up with friends

Mostly just relaxed during the day, watched some movies and played some games. In the evening Brian and Corrigan came over and we played a lot of video games. We Started with the Dreamcast and played all the old favorites like Power Stone, Rush 2049, Bomberman, and Ms. Pac-man Maze Madness. From there we moved onto the Xbox and played some Monkey Ball and then the Wii where we played Mario Kart, Mario Strikers, and Sports. Needless to say it was a good day. Brian brought over some 360 games and I got to see Call of Duty in full HD and that game looks awesome! He let me barrow Halo 3 which is also good. We were gonna get Taco Bell, but we all lacked the motivation and Brian had to work the next day so he left a little early.

Shopping, seeing old friends, and Mexican food

This morning I headed out with Mom and Dad to do some more shopping. Finding size 14 shoes is tough in Japan but I guess it's still difficult here cause we weren't really able to find anything good. For lunch we went to the Kirtland Tavern for some of their burgers which are great. In the afternoon I met with with Kevin and we went up to Toyota to see a bunch of people that we worked with. The building was new but not much had really changed. It's the car business though so I wouldn't really expect it to. From there Kevin and I headed to the Koko Bakery downtown and got some bubble tea. After that we headed to Jalapeno Loco where I had my first taste of real Mexican food in a year and a half. It was good, but not as good as I remember. It's weird how tastes change. In the evening we went to Kevin's and played Wii.

Church, Mario Galaxy, and band practice

Headed to church in the morning and then home. In the afternoon Dad and I played Mario Galaxy. That game is great. Around 7 Chris and Brian showed up and we started practicing. Steve showed up a little later and we went through our entire set list. It's gonna be a good show. This is a cheesy video to promote the show.

Shopping, video games, and band practice

This morning, we met up with my brother and his wife and went shopping. It was nice to go to a store where most things where too large instead of too small. I was able to get a lot of clothes for much cheaper than in Japan, which is great. We went downtown for some soup at a Chinese restaurant and then stopped at the Koko Bakery across the street for some bubble tea. In the afternoon I played Wii a lot and then had band practice with Chris, Steve, and my Dad filling in for Brain on bass. It was good to play a lot of the old songs and surprising at how much we all remembered.

Relaxing and playing video games

I think I'm still a little jet lagged but I woke up after only 8 hours of sleep and didn't have much luck sleeping in, partially cause of the adjustment to the time zone and partially cause of my birds which double as an alarm clock. Yesterday my brother brought over a bunch of video games and left them over for me to play. So I spent most of the day eating Christmas cookies and playing Wii. In the evening Kevin and my brother came over and we played a lot of Mario Strikers.It was a good day.

Christmas!

Woke up this morning a little earlier than usual and had breakfast. I hung out with my birds and played some games. In the afternoon my brother and his wife came over and we had spaghetti for lunch. After that we opened presents. Steve got Rock Band 2 for the Wii and we played that for a while and my Dad got Wii Fit. Pretty much spent the rest of the day playing video games. It was a good day.

14 hour flight

Long day today. Headed to Narita around 2:00 and when I got there I found out that my flight was delayed for two hours. Luckily I was able to find a power outlet to plug into and played a some Portal while I waited. I hate how the airports all charge to use the Internet, so dumb. When I got on the flight I was pretty lucky cause I was the only person in my row so I was able to lie down and sleep a bit. Since the flight is 14 hours, it’s good to be able to sleep a bit.
When I got to Chicago the first thing I noticed was the amount of fat people, the second being the snow. Crazy stuff. Living in another country for a year and a half really changes your perspective on your home country. There is a saying “you know you’re in Japan when you take the train from Tokyo to Osaka and check your watch to make sure the time is right when you get there, but when you take the train in America you check your watch to see how late the train is.” I think another one that can be added to that is “You know you are in Japan when you see a guy and aren’t sure if he is a guy or not, and you know you are in America when you see a girl and aren’t sure if she is a woman or not.” At least that is one of the first observations I made. The men in Japan sometimes dress very feminine and the girls here in the US sometimes dress very un-feminine.
So, I got to Chicago and had a two hour layover there and then when I finally boarded the plane there was another one hour delay cause the sensor in the door wasn't working so I think I got home around 11:30. Still on Japan time and my parents got a new TV, so I was up till around 3 playing video games on it. It's awesome!

Odaiba and the Onsen

Today Kevin and I headed to Odaiba and went to the Super Autobatics store. It was the biggest aftermarket car shop I had ever been to and I’ve never seen that many rims in one place. It was a Tuesday so the parking lot was kind of lacking in cool cars but it was still cool to check out the shop. I had never seen so many different types of rims in one area.
From there we headed to my old homestay and met up with my host parents. They were glad to see me and meet Kevin. We went to Decks and got some Tonkatsu there casue the Shabu-Shabu place had a half hour wait. After that we headed to Tokyo Teleport station where we took the bus to the Onsen. Most Onsens prohibit people with tatoos from entering because of their association with the Yakuza so Kevin took a extra towel and wore it like a cape to cover his tatoo. It was cool, but I don’t think he was able to fully relax because he was so concerned with hiding his tatoo.

Cold and Rainy Day in Tokyo

Just kinda took it easy today since we were both pretty tired from the Yokohama and Kamakura trip. In the evening we went to the Tokyo City view and the Mori Museum in Roppongi Hills. They had a new exhibit of Indian art, it was pretty weird. In the city view section they had a promo for the new Microsoft phone and girls in mini skirts helping to promote. It was pretty effective. At the one part of the City View there was some Japanese singer/piano player singing Christmas songs. It was alright, but if I had gone on the 19th Boyz II Men would have been there.

Teaching, sleeping, and traveling

This morning I headed to Takehito's for his lesson since he had gone to Osaka this weekend for business. I think we were both off to a slow start because when I got there he was making a banana shake and made an extra for me. It was pretty good. After the lesson his girlfriend cooked a pasta dish for lunch and salad which was good.
I was still pretty tired from the night before so when I got back home I took a nap for a couple hours. Around 3:00 Kevin and I met up with Eri in Meguro and headed to Kamakura. I hadn't really been there for a while and it was cool to see the area at night.

From there we headed to Yokohama and went to Cafe Tusca in the Pan Pacific hotel for dinner. Eri had some gift certificates so it was all free. The place was really cool though. The view from the restaurant was great and there was a live three piece jazz band playing. The service was great and the food was even better. After an extremely satisfying meal we walked all around Yokohama.

Work and out in Roppongi

Had work like usual. After that I stopped home and got ready to head back out. Kevin and I headed to Roppongi where we met up with Aki and some friends for Korean food. It was pretty good and we ate a ton. It was cool cause they had grills on the table and cooked a ton of food, followed by a huge plate of meat which was also cooked and eaten. From there we headed to A971 where we met up with some friends from school. About an hour later we all headed to Muse.

Meji Jingu and Roppongi

Today Kevin and I headed to Meji Jingu and saw a funny wish thing there. After that we headed to Aoyama and checked out the Honda headquarters. We headed back to Nishi Koyama and Kevin got a hair cut in Japan. The girl cutting his hair loved him, it was hilarious. Then we headed out to Shinjuku and met up with some of the Korean kids that I went to language school with. It was pretty cool and we ate a ton of Yaki-Tori. From there Kevin and I headed to Roppongi and checked out Midtown, Roppongi Hills, Oak Door Bar, Heartland, and A971. It was pretty dead so we stopped over at the Hard Rock Cafe and then walked through 911 before heading home.

Shibuya and work

In the morning, Corrigan and I headed to Shibuya, got Subway for lunch, and had a Krispy Kreme donut for desert. After that Corrigan hung out in Shibuya for the day and explored and showed off at one of the bass guitar shops there. I went to work and we both got home around the same time. My good friend Yumiko was in town so I met up with her for a bit and headed home.

Work and Shinjuku fun

Worked today. At night Corrigan and I met up with Witter and some friends in Shibuya and then I met up with Eri in Shinjuku. At the end of the night we all met up in Shinjuku and went home. Good times.

Work and driving around

Worked today like usual. After work I headed home and Corrigan and I headed out to Kawasaki and met up with Mason. We headed to a sushi shop that Mason knows, but it was already closed, so after that we went to the game center where Mason won a couple prizes from the UFO catchers. I didn't think he would be able to win one of the prizes which is a hat so I made a bet that if he wins it, I'll wear it and wound up wearing it. From there we went to Mason's place, got in the Skyline and stopped over at a Ramen shop for some food before heading out. It was a Tuesday so not too much was happening, but we stopped at the usual places, Daikoku, Tatsumi, and Shibaura. Saw a couple cool cars and a girl in a white RX-7 raced and beat us on the freeway. The Skyline just doesn't have the suspension. Good thing Mason is trading it for a Silvia S15.

Tokyo, Asakusa, Shibuya, and Shinjuku

Headed to Tokyo to check out the Imperial Palace and then took the train to Asakusa and looked at Senso-ji and the drum shops there. After that we headed to Omotesando to walk around a bit and check out the Uniqlo UT shop. From there we walked to Shibuya, checked out some places and then went to Shinjuku where we met up with a friend and went to Rakeru for dinner. Finally we went to the 8-bit cafe, had a drink and went home.

Odaiba, Bowling, and Ootoya

Headed to Odaiba today. We got there around noon and were kinda hungry so we went to Kua'aina for lunch and then walked around Aqua City, Decks, and headed to Venus Fort. On the way to Venus Fort we sat some good Skylines parked in the parking lot so we took some pictures. When we got to Venus Fort we walked around there stopped over at Zara and then Went to the Toyota History Hall, Mega Web building, and Design Studio. They had a cool display of older exotics at the History hall and we were able to check out the wheel chair things at the design studio. After that we stopped in at the Leisure Land and then headed back to Decks where we went to Sega Joypolis. It's pretty crazy and it's huge. There are a bunch of rides and games. The one that we played with Initial D where you sit in an actual car which moves based on how your drive. It was pretty awesome!

From Daiba we headed to Tamachi and met up with Witter for bowling and then went to Ootoya after for dinner and headed home.

Work, Ebisu, and Roppongi

Headed to work today like usual. Corrigan was feeling better but now had a cold so he just stayed home and watched "the Office". When I got home he still wasn't 100% so I met up with a friend in Ebisu, we took some pictures and then headed to Roppongi where we walked around and looked at the light displays at Midtown and Roppongi Hills are pretty cool. There is some kind of art thing going on at Midtown and that one picture is of a bunch of mirror clocks with peacock feathers attached to the second hands which I found to be pretty creepy.