Work

It was kinda cold and rainy today so I just headed to work, did 8 lessons and headed home. In the evening we had Yakisoba and Jumbo Gyoza which was good.

School, Seabus, and out with Eri

Statistics and Operations Management then headed home. Cleaned my room up a bit and headed out to Asakusa to meet up with Eri. She fell off her bike not that long ago so she had a band-aid on her chin and had some kind of eye problem so she had an eye patch on. It was pretty funny. She had never been there so we walked around Sensoji and I picked up some cat things that my Mom wanted. Then we went to the Taiko Museum and grabbed some donuts at Mr. Donut. From there we headed to the port and got our Seabus tickets to Daiba. We got to ride the Himiko boat which looks like it can go underwater. It was pretty cool and had some cool lighting inside. On the boat we ate our donuts and they were delicious cause they were donuts. When we got to Daiba we headed to the Miraikan which is a science museum in Daiba but unfortunately it was closed, next to the museum we stopped in at the Lotteria to use the bathroom which had cool round sliding doors. When we exited we found a room that connected to the museum where they had a huge ball thing hanging from the ceiling. When the place is open the ball lights up and looks like the earth to simulate what looking at the earth from space is like.

From there we headed to Caress, a cool restaurant near where I live. The atmosphere there is really cool. They have cool music playing and around the ceiling they have book shelves which are lit and flower petals hung on strings. On one of the walls they had Deep Blue playing, a cool undersea nature documentary. They had a stone oven and the Pizza there was great! We got some pasta too which was good but I think the portion was a little small, or maybe the plate was big, or... maybe both.

After dinner we headed to the theater to see a movie. We wanted to see Narnia but the show times had ended so we saw "Next" with Nicholas Cage. It was pretty good, but not great. After the movie we walked around the shore till the last train.

No school, Sleep, and work

Since I was up all night yesterday, I slept till 3 so that I got my 8 hours and got up and went to work. After work I got back home, did my homework and went to bed.

School, School Party, and Dancing Sumo

School in the morning like usual. For lunch some friends and I went to the Keio Cafeteria for a cheap good lunch and then I headed home. After I got home I did stuff till it was time to work and headed to work. After work I met up with some friends in Tamachi and then we headed to Midas.
We had the school party there and it was actually surprisingly packed for a Wensday night. They had some prizes that they raffled off and I won $100 in Visa gift cards so that was cool too. At 11 there was a show there with famous R&B people so we all got kicked out, and since we didn't want to pay $70 to stay we headed to A971 nearby to figure out what were were gonna do for the rest of the night. From there we went to some other places in the area and wound up at a club in the end.
It was awesome cause there were four Sumo wrestlers there dancing and getting all the girls. It was just fun to watch cause they were just in their own element having a great time and being big. Two of the guys were in the traditional Yukata and the other two were dressed in casual modern clothes, but they all had the long hair with it tied up on top of their head and were awesome!

School and work

Headed to school in the morning and had the first class with the new teacher. She was still a little jet lagged and the program that we are using in the class wasn't installed on the computer in the room, so we all went to the computer lab for the second half of the class. After class I headed back home and did stuff till it was time for work.

No School

Got a E-mail this morning letting me know that class was canceled since the teacher wouldn't arrive till this afternoon, so I went back to sleep for a while. During the day I did some ironing and relaxed for a bit on the beach. It was about 80 degrees so it was good beach weather. After dinner I went out for a walk and got a call from Charles, so I met up with him and we hung out for a bit and then headed home.

Sleeping

Woke up and headed to Takehito's for his lesson. After I got back home I had lunch and then slept till dinner. After dinner I did some ironing and that was the day.

Work and hanging out

Got up and headed to work. Worked from 11:20-6:15 and then headed home. After dinner I headed out to A971 and met up with Josh and later, my friend Mike and his friend came and met up with us. After a bit longer, three other friends from Temple came and met up with us. Josh needed to get some movie tickets so we all headed over to Roppongi Hills to get some tickets for the next day. It was raining and pretty foggy out so the Roppongi Hills building looked awesome! Since we were already there we headed to Heartland for a bit and then stopped at Midas and then back to A971. Mike's friend lives in Akasaka about 10 minutes away so we headed there. His Dad is the C.O.O. of Microsoft Japan so they had a huge house on the 26th floor with a awesome view of Tokyo Tower from every window. It was easily the nicest apartment I have ever been in. The place easily cost over $20,000 a month!

No school and Ice Skating

Today was a Temple Holiday so I didn't have school. In the morning I headed to the Mega Web in Odaiba and met up with Kate for a bit before she and a bunch of other sales people headed back to the US. It was pretty hot today so after being out and about for less than an hour I headed back and took a shower before heading out to Takadanobaba to meet up with Eri.

We headed to the Citizens center to go ice skating. Eri hadn't skated for a while and maybe kinda forgot how so she had a little trouble but we had fun. It's crazy going there cause there are all these little kids doing triple axle flips and crazy spins so it seems like you're in a Olympic training center and then you're just doing laps around the outside of the rink so it's a little intimidating. Before we left Eri fell somehow and since she was holding onto me she pulled me and although I stayed on my feet somehow I pulled a muscle and my neck kinda hurt for the rest of the day. From there we started heading back to the station but stopped at a Bubble Tea place that was pretty good. Then she took me to Waseda University where she goes and showed me around the campus. Finally we went to Starbucks and had some coffee before heading home.

No School and meeting a friend

The teacher from Operations Management is still in the US so class was canceled. In the morning I got a call from Kate, a girl I worked with at Classic Toyota in the US. She won a contest and Toyota sent her and some other sales people to Japan. They had a really good trip starting off in Nagoya, looking at Toyota city and the plants there. I think yesterday they came to Tokyo and had a pretty full itinerary. Since tomorrow is a holiday we decided to meet up after work. After work I headed to the Imperial Hotel where she was staying. It was pretty nice and the room that she was staying at was about $600 a night. Anyhow she wanted me to show some cool stuff in Tokyo but since I finished work at 10 and it was a Thursday a lot of places were closed. We stopped at Harajuku and then Shinjuku. After walking around we caught the train back and I went home. She'll be flying home business class, so Toyota really hooked it up nice!

Second day of school and work

Today I had Statistics and Info Systems. Statistics is taught by Mirikatani and Info Systems is taught by the same teacher who is teaching my operations management class so Prof. Swinton came in as the sub and that was the day. After Ryu, Andrew, some other friends and I all headed to Ootoya for lunch. After that we all went to Andrew's and hung out there for a bit.
I left around 2 stopped home, changed, and then headed to work. Taught some lessons and headed home. Since the teacher for Operations management isn't here, I don't have class tomorrow and Friday is a holiday, so I have a 4 day weekend!

Back to school Back to school...

Got up super early ate breakfast and headed to school for my first class of the summer semester. This semester starts at 8:30 everyday so it's gonna hurt a little bit. Operations Management was the first class today. Only about 14 people in the class. The teacher didn't show up cause she is still in the US due to visa issues so it was taught by Prof. Swinton, who is the head of the business program here. For teaching a class that wasn't his and going through the slides for the first time, I think he did a really good job. After class I headed back home, had lunch, changed, and headed into work.

Last day before school starts agian

Not much happened today. Slept in a for the last time before the semester starts and did whatever remaining laundry I had left. For dinner tonight I ate a ton of Gyoza and they were good.

Laundry and hanging out in Takadanobaba

Almost caught up with my laundry but not quite. In the evening I met up with Eri in Takadanobaba, her side of town, which is a college area of the town. When I got there we headed to the Big Box which is a big entertainment complex near the station that includes bowling, games, karaoke, pool, shopping, and more! We stopped at the Game Center, played Mario Kart and Taiko Drum Master. After we finished Taiko, there was some kid who brought his own sticks and was crazy good on the Oni or Devil level, which is the maximum difficulty. It's crazy cause there are some people that are so good at the different rhythm games to the point where it doesn't even seem like a human is playing.

After that we headed out to a Thai Restaurant near by called Kao Thai, which was pretty good. I got the Pad Thai which was wrapped in egg like a omelet but still very good. Eri got some kind of Pineapple rice that was served in a pineapple and was pretty good.

From dinner we went to Karaoke for a bit and then headed back to the Big Box to the Internet Cafe there. This one was bigger than the one we had gone to in Shinjuku and had more to offer. After getting a membership card, everything from choosing a room, ordering food, and paying when you leave is automated. Essentially after you have your membership there you can use all the facilities without any social interaction. Pretty interesting. This place had a wider variety of room styles than the place we went to before and also had Pool, Table tennis, darts, and karaoke available. There was a family room available so you could have a small party for up to 8 people. They had silent air cleaners above every booth and the whole place had a very cool style to it.

Work and meeting friends in Shinjuku

Headed to work this morning, taught a bunch of lessons and then headed home to change before heading out to meet up with some friends. We were supposed to meet up in Nishi Nippori and go to a good pizza place, but by the time I was heading out, everyone was done eating Pizza and on the way to Shinjuku. We met up in Shinjuku and went to a Izakaya that we've been to in the past. After that we all headed home.

Laundry and hanging out with Eri in Ebisu, Shinjuk, and an Internet Cafe

Did some laundry today and watched Dune while I did some ironing. That movie is so good. In the afternoon I headed to Zara to pick up a new suit. My current suit is the same one I've had since high school and the style is more than a little out of date. Also wearing a suit everyday I work also influenced my decision. Should be good.

In the evening I met up with Eri in Ebisu. We went to Rue Favart which is a cozy three story cafe with a relaxed atmosphere, cool music, and good food. After that we walked around Ebisu for a bit and then headed to Shinjuku. We went to a place called the Mystery Bar, which was a izakaya style bar with a "Mysterious theme". The one in Shinjuku I guess isn't as good as the one in Ikebukuro so we left before we ordered anything.

After that we just felt like taking it easy so we headed to a Internet Cafe nearby and watched the movie "The Prestige". Internet cafes in Tokyo are pretty cool actually. They are relatively cheap with different payment systems based on the time you say, from 15 minutes to all night. Some of the places even have showers for the overnight customers. You get your own private booth with a TV, PS2, and a PC. Different places have different types of booths where you have a office style chair, sofa, or sit on the floor Japanese style. Most places have a big selection of free drinks and the one we went to also had free ice cream! They also have shelves of Manga making part of it look like a library and also PS2 games can be borrowed if you are really bored. There is a movie selection which rotates on a monthly basis and streams directly to the PC for viewing. The booths always have headphones so inside is relatively quite. After that we headed home.

Warm weather agian

Woke up today to warm sunny weather. Seemed like it had been cold and rainy since Mom and Dad left. Anyhow, I headed to work and after crossing the bridge walked the rest of the way to work. I had 6 lessons and then headed back home.

Work and dinner with friends

Headed to work today. It wasn't as busy as yesterday so on a break Mason and I went to the game center and raced in Wangan Midnight. After work, I went out with Eri and Maria and we got dinner at a nearby Izakaya.

Back to work

Got up and did some laundry. After that I headed to work, taught 8 lessons and cam back home.

Cleaning and Ironing

I don't know why, but for the last three days it has been cold in Tokyo. So today I stayed inside most of the day cleaning my room and doing laundry. Yep, that was about it.

Getting back into a regular schedule

Met up with Takehito this morning for his lesson and then headed to Shibuya where I met up with Aki for lunch. She was out all night the day before singing Karaoke so her voice was done. It was pretty funny.
After that I met up with some friends in Shinjuku and we did Karaoke for a bit ourselves.
When that finished I met up with Eri in Shinjuku and we grabbed some dinner and sang some Karaoke too.. She sang a couple songs in chinese and korean, which was kinda cool, and I did the 5 songs that I know in Japanese and English songs for the rest.

Wedding!

I had some confusion with my work schedule but fortunately I was able to close all but one lesson for my Saturday schedule. So I headed to work taught one lesson and then went to Omote-Sando for Hirofumi's wedding. It was at a place called the Anniversaire. When I got there I think I was the only white person there and after meeting my Host Dad I waited in the Kaneko family room where I met some of the other relatives. After that everyone signed the book and handed in their card. From there we all went to the wedding chapel which was kind of attached to the building. It was interesting cause the chapel was built exclusively for western style weddings and had several robotically controlled cameras mounted on the walls pivoting and snapping pictures of the whole ceremony. The "priest" was a older white guy who spoke fluent Japanese in which he conducted the ceremony keeping the typical wedding lines that are said in movies like "you may kiss the bride" or "I now pronounce you husband and wife" in English for effect. For me it was kinda weird seeing the western style wedding in Japan, since it seemed to loose some of the meaning, but I guess it's just my perspective. After that we all headed to the reception hall where we had a awesome meal. I got home around 10:00 and chatted online for a bit till it was time for bed.

Taking the parents to the airport, ironing, and hanging out with Eri

Got up super early today and met up with my parents in Tamachi. From there we headed to Narita to catch their 11:10 flight back to the US. It was kinda weird going home cause I had gotten so used to having them with me everywhere I went that when I still looked back when I was on the escalator. After the long train ride back to Tokyo I was back in regular Japan mode I guess.

When I got home I did some laundry that had accumulated during the past couple weeks and tried to organize my room a bit. I went to a couple stores nearby looking for a new shirt that would fit well for the wedding and after having 3 different stores tell me that my arms are too long but they could order shirts, I wound up at Zara where I was able to get a shirt that fit well.

In the evening Eri came to Daiba and we went to the Sony ExploraScience science center. It was ok, they had some cool stuff but some of the things there seemed more like promotions for Sony products and not really science related. I guess after going to the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, this one seemed a little lacking. Wow, usually I talk about how much better the Japanese version of something is, I guess this is one of the exceptions. From there we went to Kua'aina for dinner. It was good as usual and after we checked out the Toys R' Us that is near by. It was definitely smaller then the one I had been to in the US, but had many different toys that can't be found in the US as well. One things we saw there that we both found interesting was the drinks for kids that are made to look like beer. One was called "Kids' drink" （こどもののみもの). I'm sure if a product like this was released in the US there would be a lot of people complaining about it. Check the web link and click on the "CM" link in the side bar, they have many of the commercials for the drink and they are pretty funny.

After that we headed to the Giant Ferris Wheel and rode it. That thing really goes up high, and it does get a little scary, but it's a lot of fun. From there we headed to the Amusement Land nearby and did some Purikura. When that was done we headed to the beach and hung out there till it was time to go home.

Ueno, World Trade Center, and Daiba

Checked out of the Hotel this morning and checked our luggage there. After that we headed to Akihabara to get a quick look at the crazy electronic district of Tokyo and then headed to Ueno. From Ueno we headed to the Tokyo National Museum. It consists of a couple huge buildings with exhibits from all over the world.

For the last day we got a room at the Apartment of one of the Mom's friends so we headed there around 4 and met with her to check in. This guest room was larger then the previous one and was also located on the 37th floor with a ocean view from the balcony and bath tub. It was pretty cool. We got settled in there and then Dad and I headed back to the Hotel to get our stuff and bring it to the guest room.

After we got the stuff in the room, we headed to the World Trade Center where we watched sun set, got a great view of the city and took some awesome pictures.

The viewing room closes at 8:30 so we headed to Daiba for dinner. We went to an Italian place called Trattoria Maruumo in Decks. It was good and we were able to eat outside on the deck. After that we walked around Daiba for a bit and headed back to the Guest room.

Hair cut, Karaoke, meeting Aki, and Tokyo Tower

I needed a new hair cut pretty badly so I met up with my parents this morning and we headed to Shinjuku where I get my hair cut. They did some shopping while I was getting my hair cut and after we headed to Daiba where they did some more shopping while I took a shower. Since we had been thinking about the Hawaiian burger place since we ate there we tried the Kua'aina in Daiba. It was pretty good and the one in Daiba offers a good view of Rainbow Bridge. After dinner we headed over to the Amusement Land by the Ferris Wheel and did Purikura and sang Karaoke for an hour.

When that hour ended we jumped on the Rinkai line and headed back to Shinjuku to meet up with Aki. She is a good friend that I met when she did a study abroad to the US when I was just starting college. My parents hadn't seen here for at least 6 years so it was good that we could all meet up. We went to a Tonkatsu place in the NS Building and then made a quick stop at Club Sega for 4-player Mario Kart.

After that Mom, Dad, and I all headed to Daimon to take a look at Tokyo Tower up close. While it just looks OK during the day, like most things in Tokyo it looks best at night. We walked around the tower and then checked out a near by temple but couldn't really check it out that much cause it was being renovated. Before heading back we were all feeling thirsty and there wasn't anything in the vending machines that seemed appealing at the time. So after checking a couple combini's we wound up at Family Mart. How appropriate.

Nikko

Got up a little earlier than usual today and met up with my parents for a 2 and a half hour train ride to Nikko. Last time I was in Nikko was in 2005 and then I arrived at the Tobu-Nikko Station but this time we arrived at Nikko station. I asked the station guy for help, but he wasn't very helpful so after looking at some of the maps they had there we figured out that the Tobu-Nikko station was just up the road with a helpful information center. After a 5 minute walk we got there, got the info we needed and headed out in search of a place to eat before going to the Temples.

After lunch we got on the bus and headed to Toshogu Shrine. In that area there are a bunch of shrines and temples all in one area so you can see a lot in a small area. Some of the temples you have to climb a lot of stairs but the view at the top is almost always worth it. We checked out all the cool places and headed home around 6:00.

After a long train ride home, we got back into Tokyo, grabbed dinner, and went back to the hotel.