Monday, June 30, 2008

School and Ikebukuro

Class like usual in the morning. After class some friends and I went to Ramen Jiro for lunch/dinner. I headed home after lunch and then headed out to Ueno to meet up with Eri. We were gonna go to the Ueno Zoo, but apparently, it's closed on Mondays so we checked out a nearby part and found a big silver reflective ball that was kinda cool.

Eri suggested Ikebukuro and since I hadn't been there since 2005 and didn't really know my way around there I figured it was worth checking out. There is an aquarium in the Sunshine building so we headed there and checked it out. It also had some non-aquatic animals. They had a large tank with Eels, Sting Rays, and Fish that a diver would go in an play with the fish. Outside they had a interesting variety of other animals from Penguins to a small horse.


The best part of the whole thing was the Ocean Sunfish or "Manboo" which apparently is a popular fish in Japan and also has a Internet Cafe that uses the fish as it's name and logo. This was easily the dumbest fish ever and they put it in it's own tank, which was completely empty other than the water and the fish itself. I just it just swims around with it's big stupid eyes and hopes that food goes into it's mouth cause there is no way it could eat something off of the ground due to it's stupid shape. The fish itself is often a nuisance to fishermen in Japan because they break their nets due to their sheer size and it's illegal to damage or kill them because they are endangered. I wonder why... Seriously, that was the dumbest fish ever.


After the Aquarium we went to Namja Town. Namja Town is a indoor theme park. The park features themed dining, carnival-style games, a haunted house, and a cartoon cats. There are two sections that focus on specific types of food. One focuses on Gyoza and the other section focuses on Ice Cream. There is also a pudding store there where I got the Boob Pudding.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Work and an interesting train ad

Woke up and found a mail on my phone from Takehito saying that he is too busy to have a lesson so I was able to sleep in longer than usual. In the afternoon I headed to work and back home after. E-mobile is has a ad in the train and seems like it could be misconstrued as something it's not considering the upcoming election. Not sure, but this looks like another case of Japan's unintended racism

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Work, and BBQ party

Work in the morning till about 6. After work Mason and I headed to Daiba and then met up with a bunch of people from school at the school BBQ party which was finishing as we got there. Once the party ended Mason, Yu, Josh, and I walked around Daiba for a bit and hung out on the beach for the rest of the evening.

Friday, June 27, 2008

No school, signing up at language school, and hanging out with Eri

No school today so I was able to sleep in a bit and recover from the all night study session the night before. In the afternoon I headed to Shinjuku and met up with Josh and Eri and we went to KCP to sign up for language school. It was good to be back and funny because one of the ladies that worked there whom I had never seen before asked me about the KCP music video and told me that she liked clean shaven best in my Facial Hair video.


After signing up there we all headed back to Shinjuku station and went with Josh to pay his rent. Josh had some other stuff to do after that so he left and Eri and I went to Kaiten Sushi. It was pretty good and I ate a lot of Sushi.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

School and work, and toilets in Japan

School like usual and then headed home. In the evening I had work.

When I think about going back to the US, one thing that I think I will miss, is the heated toilet seats everywhere. They are great during the winter to keep your butt warm and the washing feature while weird at first, is great. Some of the toilets have very high tech controls including clocks and they can also be linked to the door to your apartment so they turn off and conserve energy when you are not home. After my first time living in Japan I grew accustomed to this small luxury and when I went back to the US I found myself in a state of severe depression every time I used the toilet. After searching relentlessly online I was able to find some companies that sell heated toilet seats for the US market. Just heat was about $60, I was really close to buying it but there aren't any electric outlets near the toilets so I opted out of the purchase.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Test, Sleep, and work

After studying all night and an hours worth of sleep I headed to school feeling prepared for the test. Took the test and headed right back home, took a shower and a nap till I had to get up and go to work. After work and dinner I think I went right back to bed.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

School, work, and all night study

School like usual. After school I headed to Andrews where we did some studying for the test tomorrow in Operations Management. From there I headed to work, taught some lessons and headed back home for dinner before heading back out to Andrews.
When I got to Andrews there were still 5 or 6 people there studying and a little later, Mason showed up. Around 12 Mason and I went to the lounge in Andrew's building and spent the night there studying and going over the homework. It was kinda sweet cause we had the whole room to ourselves with the security walking by occasionally while they did their rounds. During the course of the night we took a couple breaks and walked to the combini to get snacks and drinks to keep us awake. Around 5:00am we headed up to Andrews and slept for one hour on the floor before getting up and heading to school.

Monday, June 23, 2008

School, hanging out at Andrews, and DS

School like usual. The due date for the Statistics test was pushed back to Wensday and we had the test in computer class. After the test Keisuke and I headed to Andrew's and played Xbox and DS for a while. It's raining a lot today, so I think rainy season is finally here. When I got home I was still in a gaming mood and beat Space Invaders Extreme! What a good game!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Work, work, and study

Headed to Takehito's for his lesson and then back home. Oh, recently a new girl moved into my homestay and I haven't really seen her, so I don't know if she's hot or not. She's half Japanese and half American, but speaks no Japanese and doesn't like fish, that's all I know. ha

Anyhow, after lunch I headed to Shinagawa and taught some lessons and then headed back home.

Once I got home, I ate dinner and then headed back out to Tamachi where I met up with some friends at Saizeriya and we studied for the test in computer class tomorrow. Saizeriya is pretty much the Denny's of Japan but with an Italian theme. Well, it's like the American Denny's, not the Japanese Denny's, which is actually a good place to eat more comparable to Olive Garden or a slightly more upscale place. OK, enough about Denny's. The point is that Saizeriya is like the American Denny's and it's not good. It's cheap, but I think the food there is crap epically when compared to almost any other restaurant in Tokyo. Since I had already eaten dinner at home, I didn't order anything at Saizeriya and we got some studying done.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Work and hanging out in Shibuya

Work like usual, after I headed home and the harbor was filled with about 50 party boats. I grabbed some dinner and headed back out to Shibuya where I met up with Josh and Mason at Tower Records. We hung out there for a bit and then went to the Krispy Kreme that opened recently in Shibuya. The line seemed shorter than the line in Shinjuku so we got in and seated rather quickly. There we met up with our friend Yu and walked around looking for something else to keep us entertained till the last train.
We were looking for a place that Josh and I had been to before but couldn't remember exactly where it was. Josh thought it might be the building near the Koban so we got in the elevator and checked every floor. The top floor was totally cleaned out and pitch black. It was pretty freaky and probably a Yakuza hideout... or not. We checked out some other places but nothing was really cool enough and the cool places were too crowded so we just did stuff around the town. Here is a video detailing the night, or at least some of it.

Friday, June 20, 2008

School and hanging out with Eri

Today in Statistics we got the second exam, which was a take home exam. It's a good thing to cause it's hard and I don't think I could finish it all in one class period. After we had the computer class and I headed home.
I met up with Eri in Roppongi at night and we saw the new Narnia movie at Roppongi Hills. It was good, but I had forgotten a bit of the story from the first one so I was a little lost at the beginning.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

School and work

School today and then headed home for quick nap before work. After work I got home and started watching "The Happening", so far it seems pretty cool.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

School and work

School in the morning like usual. In the afternoon, I headed home and watched Iron Man for a bit. That movie is sweet! I had work after and that was the day.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

School and work

School like usual in the morning, it was kinda hot today so after school I headed home and worked on homework for a bit before heading back out for work. One thing that is nice about summer in Japan is what they call "Cool Biz Style". It's a campaign started by the Japanese government to help reduce energy usage by not requiring businessmen to wear ties or suit coats so that companies can run the air conditioner at a lower level in the office. During summer, there are a lot of companies that sell special suits for summer, that allow the air to flow through the suit jacket and keep you cooler. Some of the suit coats are so thin that you can see the white shirt that the person is wearing underneath. Also today, Josh, Mason, and I all wore red shirts and jeans. It was not planned.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Holiday

No school today so I could sleep in. Cleaned my room, and worked on homework. It was pretty hot today so I spent most of the day inside. Started playing guitar again, and my fingers hurt a bit. Got Space Invaders Extreme for DS. It's pretty sweet. The best part of that game is the sound cause it's just sweet.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Hanging out with Eri

Headed to Takehito's in the morning for his lesson and then back home. I met up with Eri around 3 in Daiba and we headed to the Miraikan this is a cool Science Museum in Daiba. It closes at 5 and it's actually pretty big so we didn't get to see everything there but it was pretty cool. I still think the one in Cleveland is better cause it has more interactive stuff. I think the coolest thing there is the giant ball that is covered with LED's so it looks like you are looking at the earth from space. It's pretty cool.

From the museum we went to the Venus Fort and walked around the Toyota Mega Web and rode in the electric car that steers itself, it was fun. From there we went to the leisure land, did the photo booth and I let her win a game of air hockey.
After that we headed to Aqua City and ate at "to the herbs" an Italian restaurant. From there we went to the park near by and walked around for a bit.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Work and Indiana Jones

Headed to work like usual. It was kinda hot today so it didn't seem so busy. After work I headed back home, and my Host Dad told me that the new Indiana Jones was having a pre-screening today and that we'll go tonight. The movie isn't officially released till the 21st next week but since it's been out in the US for a while, it seemed like I've been waiting a long time to see it. Overall I thought the movie was pretty good, but of course the original movies were much better. There were some dumb gimmicks, but nothing too crazy if you compare it to Temple of Doom. It's a fun movie, but like the new Star Wars movies, it could never live up to the hype and expectations. Lucas ruined the Force in Star Wars by explaining it as a genetic thing, he ruined Indiana Jones by having aliens involved in the plot. Smooth Lucas, real smooth. That guys a jerk!

Friday, June 13, 2008

School and Party

Stat and Computers. After class I headed home, did some laundry and then headed out to Shibuya where I met up with Josh and some other friends from school. 3 people had birthdays this month, so we had a party with everyone at a Italian restaurant in Shibuya. The food was pretty good, but it was fun to hang out with everyone.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Regular day and a rant about fashion in Japan

School in the morning and work at Night. Japan has a lot of interesting fashion, from very feminine men, to guys that dress and style their hair like Greasers from the 1950's. While I don't do either of those things, one thing that I really enjoy here in Japan is the variety of crazy T-shirts. While in the US people often have shirts or even tattoos with chinese characters on them, English is pretty cool here, so there are many shirts that have English on them. Similar to the shirts with chinese characters in the US, many have no actual meaning and often just feature the other language because it looks cool. There are more than a couple shirts here with English writing that makes no sense at all and can sometimes be very entertaining, especially when it is used on a sign or public place. Anyhow, the store near my house has some kind of shirt sale going on and I took a picture of one of my favorites. The Japanese on the shirt translates to "recycle people after they die", I thought this was pretty funny. Sorry for the quality, there was a sign forbidding pictures so I took it in a hurry and it blurred a bit.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

School and work

School in the morning. After class I had a meeting for Finance Club. We're doing a virtual stock trade with 3 of the top Universities in Japan, and we are winning. It's good. When the meeting finished, I headed back home and then headed out to work. Did some lessons and headed back home.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Base in Yokosuka, and Work

Got up this morning and headed to Tamachi where I met up with Charles. His military ID expires in a month or so, so I wanted to stock up on some stuff before that happened. Got to the base, picked up a new tie, socks, and some other stuff. I headed back a little earlier cause I had work and Yokosuka is about 40 min away from Tokyo. Headed to work and did some lessons and then back home.

Monday, June 9, 2008

School

Got the stats test back today and I got a B so, that worked out good. After I had computer class and it was a little cloudy today, so after class some friends and I went to Ramen Jiro. The line was really short so we only had to wait for 30 minutes to get in and sit down. That place is so gross but soo good. It was awesome cause while we were eating the guy sitting next to me stopped, leaned back and took his shirt off, refocused and continued eating his bowl in his undershirt. It was hilarious. After eating there, we all stumbled back to school holding our full stomachs.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Work

Headed to Takehito's and had the lesson with him. After I stopped home for a bit, had lunch, changed and headed to work. Today was in Shinagawa which is kinda fun cause I usually have students that I've never met before and also on the weekend people are much more relaxed then after a long day of work. After work I headed home, and did homework for computer class.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Work and Laundry

Had work like usual. During my break I stopped over at school and printed out some stuff and then headed back and finished the rest of my lessons. It's a warm Saturday today and I think there were over 40 of the party boats light up in the harbor. I'm surprised they don't hit each other.

Friday, June 6, 2008

School, Ramen, and hanging out with Eri

Stat in the morning. Had the test which I think I did well on and then the computer class. After class some friends and I all went to Ramen Jiro a ramen chain in Tokyo that always has a line wrapped around the building during the day. They serve huge portions and if you can eat all of the biggest size, you should feel accomplished, or at least feel like not moving for a while. It's a crazy amount of food and not recommended more than once a month, but it's a lot of fun to challenge it.
After that I sat down at school for a couple hours while I waited for my body to digest the food so I could get back home ok. Once I got home I took a shower and headed out to Roppongi where I met up with Eri. We headed to Roppongi Hills and the Tokyo City view. It's pretty cool cause it's 53 stories up from the ground and offers a awesome view of the city. One of the current exhibits currently being held was the BMW Art Car Collection. It was pretty interesting, people just painted some BMW cars and they had them placed in a really cool room. It had a ton of clear plastic tubes hanging from the ceiling creating a walking path and a very unique effect. They had some cool lighting set up in the corners of the room to simulate cars driving by at night. You're not supposed to take pictures but when I tried to anyhow I found that my camera needed to be charged so I wasn't able to get any shots of the room.
The Mori art museum is also there and has a lot of really strange but interesting art on display. There were a couple that really stuck out for me. One that was kinda weird was a cow cut down the middle and put in a glass box so you could see the insides, it looked like something from a weird movie. One of the other cool things they had was a black sphere that was cut in half and the way it was presented made it look like you were looking into a black hole. It was really cool. They had a bunch of cool video art, which ranges from interesting and cool, to just plain weird.
Recently they opened the Sky Deck so you can walk around on the top of the building and take in a breath taking view of Tokyo with no windows to create any annoying glare. The weather was great that day and even 54 floors up, on the roof in the open air it was very comfortable. The air was warm with a cool breeze occasionally blowing across the surface of the building. It was amazing to see all of Tokyo lit up with nothing between you and the city.
After we went to Koots, a Japanese style cafe with a lot of green tea flavored drinks and traditional snacks. It was pretty good.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

School and Work

Class like usual, in the afternoon I did some study for the stat test tomorrow and then headed to work.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Holiday and work

No school today. I love the summer semester cause almost every week we have a holiday, which makes it really easy to put projects and homework off but also really easy to stay caught up. Hopefully I'll be doing the latter. Anyhow, today there was a small BBQ party in Daiba with school people, so I headed there and it was pretty fun. We had 3 grills and a ton of food. I think about 18 people total came to the party and some company was filming a Hong Kong commercial near by that we watched. At one point Andrew gave me his glasses and I put them on, it made me look smarter.

After the party I headed to work and again was fully booked so I did 5 lessons straight. I had a double lesson with one of my favorite students, so it made work fly by. Most of the time I really enjoy my job, which is good.

School and Work

Operations Management today. One of the groups did their presentation and that was the class. It was kinda cold and rainy today, I guess cause it's the beginning of the rainy season. I hung out at school during the day and worked ahead on my homework for that class. From school I headed to work.
When I got there I only had a couple lessons booked, but after my first lesson had completed all 6 of my lessons were booked, so I went non-stop till 8:30 and headed home for good food and sleep.

Monday, June 2, 2008

School

Had Stat and the other class like usual. After that I hung out at school for a while and headed home.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Relaxing and ironing

Headed to Takehito's for his lesson and then back home. Spent the rest of the day getting my room in order and doing laundry. On TV today was the movie "Precinct 13". It was dubbed in Japanese and I watched part of it before going to bed, it seemed OK, but the I think the voice dubbing took a little away from it.