Day off and going out

Today was a day off. I've recently started watching a Korean drama, and it's super unrealistic, I don't know why all the 40-50 year old women here love these shows so much, but whatever. Anyhow in the evening I met up with Josh in Marunouchi and we went to the Marunouchi House. It's 8 different bars/restaurants all connected together inside and out with a balcony on the 7th floor of the Shin-Marunouchi Building. It was really cool and has an awesome view. We met some cute girls there as well. All and all it's a good place to go.

Work

Work like usual today. Nothing too exciting.

Day off

Since it was the day after the final, I decided not to work today and just relaxed at home. In the evening I just played games, studied Japanese, and cleaned my room.

Final Final

Had the final final, finally. It was similar to the midterm and I think I did well. However the night before I was up late for no good reason and was tired so after the final I went home and went to sleep. In the evening I met up with a friend and had a couple drinks before calling it a night.

Work

Today was a usual day. Work like usual and studied for the final tomorrow.

Work and a soccer game

Today I headed to Temple to help with the Open Campus and promote the school to potential students. It's usually fun and people ask a lot about my experiences living in Japan and at Temple so it's interesting. It finished around 5 and Ryu, Ayane, and I all headed to Shinkoiwa to watch the Temple soccer game. I didn't even know we had a soccer team but it's supposedly one of the best and is the second best team in their league. Anyhow, we were the only people watching, apparently the games don't attract many fans, but we still had a good time cheering at the game.

Work and sleep

Had work like usual and then headed home. In the evening I was tired from the night before so I just watched a movie and went to bed.

Party

Cleaned my room during the day and headed out to A971 at night where I met up with Charles and a couple other friends. While we had all planned on going home on the last train, we wound up staying out all night. Charles' friend works as a Lawyer here in Tokyo, makes good money, and likes going to Salsa clubs. We all went there and it was actually kinda lame so after a short time we headed to Muse and then went to Mos Burger before finally going to Lex. After Lex, got some McDonald's went home.

Computers final

Had the computers final today and it was similar to the last one but still ok. In the evening I met up with a friend and we headed to Kawasaki where we did some shopping and then went to the TBC Diner with is a 50's American style dinner complete with a big jukebox. It was pretty good, but the milk shakes are nothing like the ones in the US. From there we went to Minato-mirai in Yokohama and hung out till it was time to go home.

Work

Today was a study day so I didn't have school but worked a bit in the evening.

Work and Korean club

Headed to work like usual and then in the evening I met up with John, Ryan, Josh, and some girls from school at a Korean club. The majority of the people there were female making it great and we were the only foreigners there. It was pretty awesome. Since it was a Korean club they were playing Korean music. Korean club music is crazy. The video I have below is just an example of how one song has so many different parts it almost doesn't make any sense musically and I often felt confused as to weather the song had changes or was just at a different part in the song. Another thing that really set the music apart from other music is that most songs would feature a part where everyone would sing something that sounded more like a cheer at a sporting event than part of a song. The song I have below starts at about 40 seconds in and the main part that people would yell along with in the club is the part where the girl keeps saying "OK". This was one of the top songs in Korea last year. This isn't a perfect example, but it gives you a little bit of an idea of how crazy the songs can be and how many tempo changes and musical changes can take place in one song.

This second video is just to show that not all Korean music sounds like that, just what I experienced at a Korean club here in Japan. This song was released in 2004.

BBQ on Marine Day

Today is Marine Day, one of many Japanese holidays that have been made up to give people more days off. As many people do some friends and I had a BBQ near Tamagawa River. We had burgers, steak, and beer. It was pretty fun but I ate way too much and after I just went home and took a nap.

Work

Headed to Ginza today for work. In the evening I just watched some movies at home and did some laundry.

Work

Today I had work like usual and then after work just relaxed at home cause I was pretty tired from the day before. Saw an add on the train for McDonald's which I found amusing. It's for all the chicken items they sell now and the text at the bottom translates to "Summer's Dramatic Chicken". Not sure how chicken is dramatic but it seemed funny to me, so here is the pic.

School and Yokohama

Today was my last day of Biology all I have left of summer is two finals one next week and another the week after. After school I headed hom and took a shower before heading out to Shibuya to meet up with Yumiko. She is a friend I met through John and is super nice. From Shibuya we headed to Yokohama and the Pan Pacific hotel for dinner at Cafe Tosca. After that we walked over to World Porters which is a big shopping center in the area. Since it was after 9 all the shops were closed but the game center was still open so we played a round of Mario Kart and Taiko Drum Master. From there we walked around the Minato Mirai area and it had changed a lot since I had been there last year. Yokohama is celebrating it's 150th anniversary since Japan opened to the outside world so they set up some cool blue light things around the docks and it looked awesome!

School

School like usual and then relaxed in the evening.

School, work, and Fridays

School like usual and then work. After work I headed out to Shinagawa to meet up with some friends. My friend Mason, is going back to the US tomorrow, so we had a send off meeting for the 3rd time. You can tell by the picture, he isn't really happy about moving back.

School

School like usual, the Japanese heat and humidity is really starting to kick in. Summer here is a little rough.

School, work, and Wendy's?

School like always, and for lunch I went to Wendy's. My whole experience ordering take out with Wendy's was fantastic. The service level here in Japan vs. the US is like night and day. The staff welcomed me with a smile and took my order with a good attitude and a smile through the entire interaction. At no point did I feel unwanted or like I was bothering anyone. The service level here is so much higher it's crazy. When you go to a place like Wendy's or any other fast food joint, you really realize the difference in service compared to the US.
Anyhow, after that I had work like usual.

Work

Work like usual in Shinagawa. Today when I went for lunch at Sukiya, there was a white guy working at the restraunt. It was kinda weird cause I spoke to him in Japanese and he responded in Japanese. It just felt weird. In the evening I caught up on this weekends blog entries and went to bed.

Work and out with work people

Work like usual today. When I got home I got a call from my parents telling me that my bird had died. It was a pretty bad end to the day. But I had already made plans to meet up with people from work in Ebisu, so I met up with them there and after a couple hours or so headed back home.

School and Mason's going away party

School like usual and then back home. In the evening I went out to Shibuya where I met up with Mason and some other friends for his going away party. We went to some place called Tom Boy cafe. Not sure where they got the name of the place, but it was average food and all you can drink. After that everyone wound up walking around on the street till last train and heading home.

School and Burgers

School like usual. After computers Beck and I took the bus to Shibuya and got burgers from Kua'aina and then headed back to school for negotiations. It's July and the Humidity is really starting to kick in now.

School and work

School like usual and work after. For lunch I got some spaghetti but I was wearing a white shirt and got sauce on it so I went home before work to change my shirt before going to work. Stupid spaghetti! After work some of my coworkers and I headed out to an Izakaya near by for a couple drinks before heading home.

School, Tanabata, and RX-7's

School like usual. Today is Tanabata which is basically a Japanese star festival based around two stars that meet from across the milky way, so it's supposed to be like two lovers crossing the river to meet. People mostly celebrate it by writing wishes on pieces of paper and a lot of the girls wear Kimonos.
07/07 also has a different meaning. For my friends and I it is all about Mazda RX-7's. Today there was a crazy RX-7 meet at Daikoku. Almost the entire parking lot was filled with tuned RX-7's. It was awesome. One of the biggest RX-7 tuners in Japan was there with a couple of his cars and one of the pro drifters was there as well.


The cops started shutting down everything around 9:30 and we left around 10:30 when their megaphones got too annoying. Although I had brought two batteries for my camera, only one was charged, so I only got footage in the parking lot and the driving footage is all from my friends crappy digital camera. I'll have the video up when I finish editing it.
Anyhow we took the Aqua line to a rest stop which is located in the middle of the ocean. It was amazing. You drive in this tunnel which is under the ocean and has giant fans along the top to circulate air so people don't suffocate when driving through it. When the tunnel ended we were at the rest stop which is a 6 story structure in the middle of the ocean. From there you take a bridge the rest of the way to the land, but on all other sides all you see is ocean and the cities in the distant horizon. Since it was in the middle of the ocean there was a lot of wind and salt water that was blown up making you feel humidly salty, but the wind kept it cool, so you just kinda feel weird. We hung out there for a bit and then headed back to Tokyo around 12.

Bio test and work

Had another bio test today which meant watching another video of a creepy German guy in a black hat like the guy who burned his hand on the medallion in Raiders of the Lost Ark dissect a human body. The video focused on the digestive track and they showed the whole process and all the organs. Those videos just don't appeal to me. After the test I headed to work and then home. We got a new counselor at work and she is super cute, so work is a little better than before.

Work and Study

Had work in Omotesando today. It's a cool area with a lot of high end clothing stores, but there are also a lot of people with really bad fashion and gross foreigners. After work I headed home, my friend Ryan came over and we studied for the Bio test tomorrow till about 11.

Work and Independence Day

Had work in the afternoon like usual and then headed to school where I met up with John and we headed to the New Sanno. The New Sanno is a really nice military hotel. You can only get in if you are with someone who has a valid military ID. One of the guys from school met up with us and a couple other people from school and we all went in. They have a couple restaurants inside that serve American food and American prices.

Work and School party

Had work like usual and then in the evening I met up with Ryu and we headed to the school party at Flower. The club itself is pretty cool but every school party there has been lame including this one. The party was pretty weak so we left around 10. When I got home I watched a crazy Swiss movie about vampires that my brother recommended and went to bed.

School, Bowling, and home

School like usual. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have so much time between classes so I went bowling with the bowling club and it was pretty fun. We played 3 games. On my last game I got a 175 which is pretty good for me.

School and Work

School like usual and work. I can't believe it's July already. Time is flying by.