School, work, and homework

Accounting 2 and International Marketing. From school I headed to work till 8:00 and headed home. Worked on homework till it was time for bed, cause all of a sudden it seems like I have a ton.
In the news today China is shipping more unsafe food to Japan, and while worrying about whether the food you are eating is safe or not shouldn't be a normal part of life, it does put a interesting twist on things. Thanks China for all the crap you send to other countries. Commies!

School

Finance, Statistics, and Risk Management. In the afternoon we had a meeting for all the Business majors and went over all the classes that are required. I'll definitely graduate in 2009, but I'm not sure if it will be in Spring or Summer yet. I pretty much have to be one class above full time to graduate by Spring but if I do a internship or study at a language school I probably won't finish till Summer. We'll see.

Learning and teaching

Accounting 2 and International Marketing. Nothing too exciting. In the evening my Host brother asked me some questions about Japanese so he could function better around the house and I was able to help him and answer almost all his questions without looking at a book. So, I guess my Japanese is better but I still have a while to go.

Homework

Not much today, headed to Takehito's like usual and worked on homework during the afternoon. Around 4:30 I met up with a guy from work that wanted me to show him around Daiba, so since I had nothing major going on today, I showed him around. It's interesting to hear people's opinions about stuff that seems normal after living here.

Work and the Onsen

Dragged myself out of bed and headed to work. Stopped at the 99 and grabbed some green tea before getting on the train. It always helps. After work headed back home and then we all went to the Onsen. It was great as always and we did a thing called "Doctor Fish". It was pretty crazy, you put your feet in this tank of water and a bunch of fish come and eat the dead skin off of your feet. It sounds really gross and it kind of is, but it is a weird feeling to have fish cleaning your feet and a interesting experience.

School and A971

School like usual and headed home for dinner. After dinner I headed to Tamachi and met up with a bunch of people from school. It was pretty cold and we went to a restaurant near by for some drinks and conversation. After that most people went home and Josh, Ryan, and I headed to A971 in Midtown and met up with some other guys from school.

One of the guys from our accounting class was there and he knows most of the staff and introduced us to everyone there. He also bought a bottle of champaign and introduced us to some of his friends there.

We met two sisters that ran a dance school which puts on different shows and a couple Temple students study there. The older sister spoke fluent English because she had lived abroad but her younger sister only spoke Japanese so it was a great opportunity to practice speaking. Around 2:30 the two sisters, my friend and I went to a nearby Ramen place called "ippudo". While some people will argue that some Ramen places are better then others, I really can't tell the difference from place to place. Guess it's different when you grow up here. Anyhow it was good and the decor was really cool. They had a wall that was lit with Ramen spoons and another wall that was covered with square ramen noodle bricks.

After that we had planned on going to a place by Roppongi Hills but it was too cold so we ducked into a nearby bookstore to get warm and kept ourselves entertained with the funny Japanese language phrase books. It was a good night.

School and work at Shinagawa

School like usual. Because of a scheduling conflict I'm working at Shinagawa GABA this and next Thursday and it's a much larger school then Tamachi. Tamachi has about 14 lesson booths while Shinagawa probably has over 20 and most are larger. One of the nice things about working at Shinagawa opposed to another school is that my manager from Tamachi transferred there so I know at least one of the people there. It was interesting to see what it is like in one of the larger schools, but I find Tamachi's size more comfortable because it feels more relaxed. It's only one station away from Tamachi and there is a cute girl that works as one of the counselors there, so for the two days that I'll be working there I think it is going to work out well.

Snow in Tokyo?

Got up today and it was a pretty cold. One of my friends from school had already left a message on my computer warning me of the Icy Tundra that I was about to trek across on my journey to school. In Daiba it was slightly warmer and was mostly really really cold rain, but after crossing the bridge into central Tokyo the snow was falling. It really wasn't accumulating that much but traffic on the streets was moving much slower then usual, which I found amusing coming from Cleveland where most people are speeding down the roads despite low visibility and snow covered roads.
Got to school and my first class was about half full; I'm guessing this is due to the weather. Class like usual and then had work. Only had a couple lessons today because of some scheduling issues but tomorrow I will be working at the Shinagawa school, two train stops away. Should be fun... I hope.

School, School, School

Finance, Statistics, and Risk Management. After dinner today we had a family meeting to thing of vegetarian foods for Tom since the Mom is really worried about him not getting enough protein. It was pretty funny cause we thought of some vegetarian foods and then talked about different meat or fish based dishes that are good.
Well, Bush's plan didn't quite work like it was planed to and the Japanese market dropped a lot today and the rest of the world dropped about 5%. Guess I should get ready to sell my stocks cause it looks like the market is gonna drop 1000 points or so over the next couple weeks. Ouch!

School, Keio, and City Hall

School like usual. Today some friends and I headed to Keio to get lunch from their cafeteria. It's good and it's really cheap, so it's extra good. After school I met up with Tom the new home stay and we headed to Minato City Hall so he could apply for his Foreigner registration card. Got there just as the office was closing, filled out the form and headed home.

work and work

Headed to Takehito's like usual for his lesson and headed to Shinjuku for more work there. That was pretty much the day. The picture is just another example of why the population in Japan is starting to decline. The small dogs which are very common here live for about 20 years so roughly the same as how long kids live at home before moving out.

Work and sleep

Crawled out of bed today and headed to work. Just a usual day at work, it was good to be back after a week break but I was pretty tired from the night before. After I got home I just did some laundry and went to bed.

School and Sake

Had class like usual and after spent some time getting books together. I headed home and had dinner before heading out to SuperDeluxe. I've been there before for different school events but it's pretty small so I always have trouble finding it. I met up with Josh at Midtown and we headed to the spot. It was the school Sake tasting party. They have it every semester and it's usually pretty fun. Many of the kids at school will put on performances, like dance or do some songs and you are able to try many different kinds of Sake that would normally be very expensive. Around 11:00 Josh, Ryan, Yuji, and I headed to A971. We had planned on going on on the last train but we missed it so we headed to a place called Heartland and after a couple hours there he headed back to 971 till morning.

School and a visit to the Dentist

Got up early today and headed to Finance. The class started from 9:00 and seems like it might be a little intense. After Finance had a 15 minute break and headed to Statistics in the classroom right next door.
I had a dentist appointment at 2:30 for a cleaning, so I hung out at school till then and went to my appointment. It was interesting because it was a smaller office and like a Japanese home, you took your shoes off before entering and put on slippers that were kept in a UV light sanitizer. Sat down in the chair and after some small talk and the usual comments about how my Japanese is good she got to work. Looked around my mouth for a bit and complemented my teeth. But, I had a small cavity. She showed it to me and it looked like a red vain on the top of my tooth. After some contemplation I decided to get the cavity fixed.
She started with a cleaning which started with a high pressure water cleaner and then the usual polish and floss like in the US. Then she fixed the cavity in a very short time and the whole thing took less then a hour. While I'm no dentist, I think she did a good job. Guess I'll find out next time I got in for an appointment in the US. Thanks to National Health Insurance, the whole thing only cost $35! Crazy Cheap! National Health Care is great but I worry that if the US switches to that system our overall quality will decline.

Classes and changes

First class today, my favorite Accounting II. Big Fun! Same teacher from last semester and most of the same classmates. We made groups for different projects that we have during the semester and I am in a group with two of the smart girls, which should be good. After Accounting I headed to International Trade which I dropped because I didn't really need it and the teacher is a little much. Bought the Statistics book from Charles for cheap and then headed to International Marketing.

International Marketing seems pretty good. The teacher is a British guy that has worked in the industry and I've heard good things about him. The other bonus is that the class seems interesting, but the book looks like a phone book.

Tomorrow I'm gonna be getting up early for the Finance class at 9:00, it's gonna hurt.

"Back to School, Back to School, to prove to..."

First day back to school. Started with Statistics. The teacher seems like a really cool guy and I heard he represented Turkey doing Judo in the Olympics. Anyhow, the class is math, which is bad, but the teacher seems good, which is good.

After that I had a break till 3:45 and headed to Risk Management. The teacher is the same guy who taught Accounting last semester and it was good to see him again. The class is only once a week but for 3 hours at a time, so it's a little rough. From there I headed home.

Meeting a friend and a awesome restaurant

Woke up pretty late today and headed to Shinjuku where I met up with my friend Kevin. It was good to see him again, we talked about all the recent events in our lives and Enjoyed "Coming of Age Day". This is a great holiday where all the hot 20 year olds dress up in Kimonos and walk around. I think this is my absolute favorite Japanese holiday.

Around 5:30 Kevin headed home and I met up with a bunch of Mason's friends. We walked around Shinjuku and checked out this really cool restaurant that I saw before but hadn't had a chance to visit it. It features Aquariums all over and cool music to complete the atmosphere. While the food was a little expensive considering the small portions, it was really good.

Auto Salon

Got up today and mailed Ryan but he was sick so I headed to the Auto Salon myself. There I met up with Mason's posse and checked out the show. It was pretty awesome. It's always amazing how many guys there are there just taking pictures of the girls. Sometimes it seems like there is as much money in cameras as there is in cars at these shows.

One of the cool things about shows like this, is that you get to see all kinds of cars done up that you would only see stock in the US, mainly cause cars that cost $70k+ are driven by older people that drive stock. Every booth had different shows going on and I was able to see some of the racers that I have seen before in Best Motoring videos, so that was pretty cool. While the GTR has just been released less then a few months ago, there were already people modifying them for more power.

I think the car that stood out the most was a 03' Celessor (Lexus LS430) that had a fish tank, the front seats removed and replaced with amps, a slot machine, and lambo doors. Crazy stuff.


Of Course the girls were fantastic.

Work, and going out driving

Work today from 10-4ish. This weekend is the Tokyo Auto Salon (TAS). It started yesterday and is running till Sunday. Since I had work today I'm gonna be going tomorrow but tonight going out driving. During most of the day today it was pretty cold and rainy so I almost stayed home, but after some convincing I changed my mind. When I headed out, to my delight I found that the rain had stopped and it felt slightly warmer. I met up with my friend Ryan in Daiba and we headed to Kokubunji to meet up with Mason and his posse. Mason and friends had been at TAS all day so they were able to tell me a little about the show. Ryan and I wound up waiting a while cause one of the guys got lost at TAS and took a while to get there.

From there we headed out one Skyline, and two rental Vitzs' strong. Typically Auto Salon weekend Daikoku is packed, but I think the poor weather throughout the day discouraged many people for showing up. We still saw some cool stuff though.

Some work today and meeting up with friends

Headed to Shinjuku today and did a lesson. After I headed home, changed and headed back there. In Shinjuku I met up with Aki, one of my friends that I met in the US. We went to a place near the station and grabbed some food while catching up on recent events. We hadn't seen each other in a while so it was good to see her again. From there we headed to Shibuya and met up with some of her friends. One of the guys I met is a pro soccer player in Japan and he was a pretty cool guy. Another guy I met worked as a business analyst for a consulting company and he was a pretty cool guy too. The last person I met was a girl that Aki works with. Since only Aki and her co-worker, spoke English, the conversation stayed in Japanese and was good practice for me.

Long day at work and meeting new Homestay kid

Taught eight lessons today. While I don't think this is something I would want to do for a career, like every other job I've had I am one of the best employees there. Guess that's just how it is when you are the Man. When I got home I briefly met the new homestay student. He's a vegetarian and doesn't eat meat or fish. He drinks milk but doesn't eat cheese. It comes from the same animal, what the heck? Eat Cheese! Anyhow, now the meals that are served are very different from before since they contain less meat and less protein. Vegetarians, they think they are better then everyone cause they don't eat meat, but really they just go against nature by not eating meat. Weird.

More Work and a Sweet F430

Today had another 6 lessons. While waiting to cross the street I took some pictures of a red F430 parked the the street, my favorite Ferrari. Sweet!

Work and the parents return

Had work today and now that it is the new year my lessons slots are filling up faster then I can open them. I had six lessons today and after met up with Mason and his friends in Midtown to show them around and then hang out for a bit at A971. When I got home there was a note and some souvenirs waiting for me. The parents got me some kind of metal lion thing that lights up and plays music. If you remove the head there are small shrimp forks inside. It's hilarious. The other thing they got me was some chocolate candy.