Blue Note

Headed to Blue Note Tokyo tonight. Keiko Matsui was playing to promote her new CD coming out beginning of next year. They put on a pretty solid show and did some Christmas songs as well. After the show we hung out with the band backstage and then got on the bus where we hung out at Mixx at the ANA Hotel.

More Light Displays

Was near Tokyo Dome today so I walked around there for a bit to take some pictures.

Hanging out

I met up with one of my friends in Shibuya. We were just hanging out at Starbucks and some random homeless guy comes and sits next to me and just starts talking about stuff. After about 5 minutes he asked for some money so I gave him 100 yen and then we left. After walking around for a bit we saw a "Fugu" or Blowfish restaurant that had a pretty awesome sign in front so I took a couple pictures of that.

Pizza Burger

Work like usual but for lunch I headed to Burger King and got the new Burger King Pizza burger. On the website they are marketing it almost as a Christmas meal which is kinda funny. I called in advance cause I wasn't sure how long it would take them to make it. The guy on the phone told me about 5 minutes and I headed to Shibuya to pick it up. When I got there I told them that I had called ahead to order it and the girl working there gave me a funny smile like I was crazy for ordering it. Maybe she thought I was planning on eating the whole thing.
Anyhow I got the burger and headed back to the office. It was actually really good. The bottom bread is like pizza with just tomato sauce then the beef is on top with cheese and onions on top and the final bun on the top. I split it with one of my coworkers but if I really tried, I think I could have eaten the whole thing.

Christmas lights

Headed to Tokyo Midtown today to check out the Christmas display they have set up. Pretty much the same as last year except they have lights behind it and a smoke machine in the middle if you watch the full display.

New Company Car

Today we got a new company car. It's a Lexus LS600h and it's pretty nice.

Work and Out

Woke up early and headed to Chofu studio for a shoot. Got to the studio at 9 and had breakfast. Then after sitting around for a while we had lunch. Then maybe around 1 or 2 we got on set and started shooting. It was made to look like a cafe and somehow was an advertisement for a microchip company. It was also in french which made it even more confusing, but I guess I'll have to wait till it comes out to try and understand it.

After that I headed to Shibuya where I met up with Josh, Beck, and Yu at Outback Steakhouse. That place is a lot like Fridays so I don't really like it. The food isn't really good, I don't feel good after eating it, it's way too much food, and for food I don't really enjoy it's overpriced. However despite all the negatives for me I will still go every now and then to remind myself of why I don't go. After dinner everyone just headed home.

Touring a friend around Tokyo

Work like usual. In the evening I met up with my friend Jason who is visiting from the States. We headed out to Shibuya where we met up with Dave and some girls at Hub. From there we headed to Roppongi and hit up 57 since there was a party there and Dave knew the people working there so we got in cheap. It worked out well cause it was Jason's birthday as well so Dave got a bottle of Champagne for everyone which was good. Around 2 or 3 we all headed to Dave's place, played cards for a bit and then crashed there.

Work and Out

Today after work I went home and took a nap till 11:00 and then got up and headed to Roppongi where I met up with Josh and Ryan at a small bar and then we went to Lex for another friend's birthday party. Josh pretty much knows everyone there so we had free entrance, coat check, drinks, and access to VIP. It was a fun night.

Early Thanksgiving

Work like usual. In the evening I headed out to Ebisu where I met up with my friend Don and one of his friends at Buri for a Thanksgiving party. They actually had a pretty good representation of what Thanksgiving is like including turkey which you don't see very often in Japan. They were missing a couple things like pumpkin pie and sweet potatos but overall they did a good job. From there we headed to two different places where Don knows the owners in NakaMeguro. Good times.

Out and about

Did laundry and other things that I don't usually have time for during the week and in the evening I headed out to Shibuya where I met up with John, Kazu, and their girlfriends. I guess it was a typical night in Shibuya, we had a couple drinks, relaxed, and then took the last train home.

Work and out

Work like usual. In the evening I headed to 82 in Tamachi where I met up with John, Mike, and some other friends. From there Mike and I headed to Ebisu where we met up with Don at Buri and headed to Aoyama. Before hitting up the party we stopped at a pretty cool bar that Don knew and then headed to the party at Chambres D'hotes which I think is usually a restaurant but is used for parties on weekends. Good times.

Work and Billboard Live

Work like usual. In the evening I headed out to Billboard Live in Tokyo Midtown where I met up with my friend Ken. He knows the drummer from Swing Out Sister and got use back stage passes. The venue is pretty cool. We sat on the floor close to the stage and the sound wasn't too bad despite the fact that we were in the corner. The band was good and put on a terrific show. They had curtains behind the band which opened for the encore revealing an awesome view of Tokyo as the background.

After the show we went back stage and talked with the band for a while before heading to 57 to talk about the label that Ken is moving to Japan. Pretty cool stuff.

From there I headed to Rina's bar and met some cool people there before heading home.

Work and out

Work like usual. Today a customer came by and brought a bunch of ice cream and other sweets so that made the day go by a little quicker. In the evening I met up with Josh, Beck, Mike, and Yu in Shibuya for bowling and then Mike and I headed to Dave's place for a party. From there John, Mike, and I headed back to my place and they crashed there.

Work and out

Work like usual. In the evening I headed to Jiyugaoka where I met up with a friend for dinner and headed home.

Work and out

Work like usual. In the evening I headed out to 57 in Roppongi to see my friend's band play. They moslty do rock stuff and put on a fun show.

Another commercial

Usual Sunday today. Headed to Shinjuku for work. I found the Gatsby CM that I worked on is out now. I don't appear in this one but helped out behind the scenes choosing the model, her dress, and some coaching for the Kimtaku.

Work and out with friends

Work like usual. In the evening I headed to Shibuya where I met up with Dave and some other friends at the Hub for a big and then headed home.

Work and out with friends

Work like usual. After work I headed to Marunouchi where I met up with some friends at Pagliaccio for dinner and then we headed to the Cotton Club which is a really cool Jazz bar. Inside it's got a great layout and there isn't a bad seat in the place. It's not to big so it's got a really cool personal feel and the staff is all very professional. Pat Martino was playing, they got a video showing part of their first show. The band was really tight and my friend Ken knew all the guys in the band so we got to talk to them before and after the show. The owner also owns Blue Note which is another Jazz club in Tokyo. We talked to the owner and he worked as a producer in Cleveland. Small world.

Busy blog change and new CM

As you may or may not have noticed I haven't posted in a while. Basically with my new company we are going through a merger and there are a ton of changes being made with both our company and the one we are merging with. On top of that business has been going crazy and move than tripled the past 3-4 months. Since most days I'm just working and I know most people hate my posts where I say "went to work and went home" I'm going to post less frequently.

The only update recently outside of work is the Aoki commercial I was in is out finally. You can see me briefly walking on the left around the 2-3 second mark.

Workin'

Another busy day at work today. Since we are merging with another company there are a lot of issues right now dealing with the shippers and under which names each order will be . So today I delt a lot with the shipping companies to make sure that everything goes smoothly. Crazy day.

Relaxing Sunday

Headed out to Shinjuku where I had a quick lesson. I tried the new Cheese Fondue Burger at McDonald's. In the afternoon I met up with a friend and we walked around Shinjuku for a bit before heading home. For some reason they have a big Eva in Shinjuku station promoting the Lumine mall

Back to work

Had work like usual and in the evenining I just relaxed.

Day 2

Woke up and the clouds had cleared around Mt. Fuji. I headed to the Onsen for a bit in the morning and then after cleaning up the place we got back in the car and headed to the park nearby. We played freeze tag, baseball, piggy back race, and some other stuff. After that we all got back into the car and headed to a spring with water from Mt. Fuji. After that we headed back to Tokyo and after spending some time in traffic we got back to Shinjuku around 8:00. We all went to Burger King and had all-you-can-eat Whoppers before dropping everyone off at the station.

From there I headed to Jon's place and helped him move to his new place and then headed to John's place to pick up a few things he was holding for me and then headed home.

Vacation!

Today I got up and met with my friend Dave in Shibuya and we headed to Tokyo from there to get the rental car. In Tokyo we met up with Witter, and three other friends. I was the driver for the trip and Dave managed the music.

After about 3 hours or so we got to Yamanashi. It's a quiet country area near Mt. Fuji and is a nice change from the concrete jungle of Tokyo. We went to Shiki's place there which has an awesome view of Mt. Fuji and relaxed there till her sister and friend showed up.

Then we headed down to the BBQ area and made some good food. The building itself is a collection of condos which people buy, but the layout is like a hotel. It has an indoor pool and onsen attached as well. After dinner we sang karaoke, played cards, and beer pong.

Work

Headed to work like usual. In the evening I met a client in Suidobashi and then after that I went with my boss to meet a potential business partner.

Last day at Tamachi

Today had work like usual. In the evening I headed to the Tamachi office for the last day there. From one of my students who works for Coke I got a bunch of Coke goods, like a glass, tie, and business card case. From another student I got some McDonald's gift certificates. Thank you! Since it was the closing of the office after we all went out to a Izakaya near by for food and drinks.

Work

Work and then home.

Work

Work and then home.

Work

Work like usual and then home.

Work and out and about

Headed to work like usual in Shinjuku. Today they had a huge inflatable lady set up near the station holding a camera to advertise a new digital camera. It was kinda creepy.

After work I met up with some friends and we went to Burger King. Right now at Burger King there is promotion where if you order a regular meal set you can get all-you-can-eat Whoppers. The burger has to be eaten in 30 minutes and the wrapper has to be returned as proof along with your receipt. A Whopper is pretty filling as it is so for my second burger I just got a Whopper Jr. and stopped. I've got to be honest, I'm a little worried that western fast food companies are going to make Japan fat.

Work and out

Met Takehito today and saw his new son. He is really small. I worked during the day and just relaxed in the evening.

Friday

Headed to work like usual and then home.

Holiday but work

Today was another national holiday. Autumn equinox day. Nothing too special today.

Work

Work like usual and then home.

Work

Headed to work like usual. In the evening I stopped at ToToDoN and then worked in Tamachi till closing.

Work and Tokyo Marketing

Today was a national holiday, "Old People Day". Not really sure what the holiday is all about, but it's kinda sweet.
However, I just headed to work like usual, no old people for me. During the day I had to go to some of the banks we deal with in Tokyo. The Yamanote line, which is probably the busiest line in Tokyo was covered inside and out with Pocky ads. It's pretty cool to see since the same ad is covering the whole train and it costs companies a ton of money to do it so usually the ads are pretty good.

Day off

I was planning on going to the Tokyo Game Show today but I was pretty tired from last night and after mailing my friend and hearing that there was no Nintendo booth or Sonic 4 I just decided to stay home and watch a movie.

Work and party

Headed to work like usual. I got out a little early today so I headed home, picked up some dry cleaning, and changed before heading back out to Tamachi where I met up with John, Hide, and some other friends. From there we headed to a place in Omote-Sando which was really cool. We met some people there who came with us to Roppongi and then headed home. Good times.

Work and other stuff

Today my boss was in Nagoya with another co-worker so I was working alone. In the morning I went to UFJ in Nihonbashi and got some documents approved and then headed to the office. From there I took some other documents to another UFJ nearby and did some more paper work. The girl helping me introduced me to most of the people she works with so now I know everyone in the bank!

I finished my work around 3 and then headed to the ward office to update my foreigner ID card and then got a haircut before heading to Tokyo where I met up with Momoko for dinner. From there we headed to Shinjuku and walked around Shinokubo. We saw a place that had a good looking ice cream thing so we stopped in there and one of the guys I went to language school with in 2005 was working there. He is on his 3rd year of college to become an architect. It was good to see him and he gave us a good discount as well. One thing I love about Korean people is that they always hook people they know up.