Work

Work like usual and then home.

Work and Soccer

Met with my private student in Shinjuku today and then headed to Ebisu for work. In the evening I met up with Mike and his friend who is visiting from the States and we went to the Hub to watch the Soccer game Japan vs. England. I've never really been into sports, and soccer is no exception. The final score was Japan 1 England 2. It takes forever for people to score and I feel like I'm just waiting for something to happen. Since each goal is only worth one point the excitement from one goal if very shortly lived. I donno, just not my thing.

Work and a new Commercial

Headed to work like usual today and then home. The commercial that I was part of in April is on TV and you can actually see me in this one. They have the making of and the commercial on the official site too.

Kamakura day trip

Met up with Mio in the afternoon and we headed to Kamakura. It was the capital of Japan at one point at about an hour from the current capital Tokyo. When we got there we rented bikes and headed to Kua'aina for lunch. From there we headed to the beach and then to the Big Buddha. After that we headed to Zeniarai Benzaiten shrine which is a shrine where if you wash your money it is supposed to double. From there we headed to Hachi Mangu walked around there for a bit and then headed home.

Work and tree flavored Pepsi

Had work like usual. Today I went to Frijoles for lunch. It's as close as you can get to Chipotle in Japan. Not quite as good, but not bad. I stopped at the conbini before work and got the latest flavor of Pepsi. Baobab Pepsi. It tasted like Pepsi mixed with Ginger Ale and some lemon mixed in. Not really recommended.

Work and marketing

Today there were some guys who were dressed up like animals who were marketing for the local pachinko parlor. Kinda funny seeing these guys standing around and waving at people while handing out tissues with advertisements attached. Stuff like that just cracks me up.

Japanese signature and Work

Headed to Shinjuku and met up with Mike and another friend. We stopped at a shop that makes Hankos. A Hanko is basically a signature stamp used in Japan for opening bank accounts, moving, signing for packages, and making large purchases such as a car. The stamp is your name and they can range from $20 to over $200 depending on the material it is made out of and size. Up until this point I've just signed for things western style. While I feel the signature is a better option since it's harder to copy it's an interesting system.

Work

Headed to work like usual. Took a picture of a cool old building behing ToToDoN after lunch.

Work and the game center

Headed to work in Shinjuku. I saw a new game at Taito Station. The concept is that you have a table and when your wife brings food that isn't acceptable you flip the table over. Pretty good concept. I like the idea of flipping tables if I get angry about something, so I loved this concept.

Work and party

Headed to work like usual and then in the evening headed to Shibuya for a birthday party.

Cleaning and out with friends

Cleaned the place and then headed to Roppongi where I met up with some friends at a Cuban restaurant. After that we met some more people at A971 and then I headed home. Saw an Odyssey today. It's pretty much the coolest van ever. I stopped and took a picture cause it looked so cool.

Harajuku and Work

Met up with some friends today in Harajuku. For lunch we went to a place called Teddy's bigger burgers. It's a pretty good Hawaiian burger chain with good, big, burgers. At night I had work like usual.

the DMV and Work

Headed to the DMV this morning in Samezu. Samezu is a really old style town and the area near the station felt like old Japan. Kinda cool.
International licenses are ok to use in Japan, but technically if you are living here you should have a Japanese license. It's good to hang onto the international license though cause it can get out out of tickets since the cops don't want to deal with the paper work.
As an American the process of getting a drivers license can be tedious but worth it when you consider the cost of driving school which can run over $3,000. The first thing you have to do is go to JAF, the Japanese Automobile Federation. You need to go to one of their offices to have your licence translated or it can be done by mail. It costs about $30 for the translation. I had mine done in Tokyo in 2008. One of the requirements for changing your license to a Japanese one is that you have to be able to prove that you've been driving in your home country for 6 months before coming to Japan. Unfortunately, I renewed my license right before coming to Japan so it looks like I got it days before coming there.
When I went back to the US for Christmas, I got my driving records but the dates on my "records" matched the dates on my license again making it look like I had just gotten my license before coming to Japan which is why this took me longer than it should have.
Anyhow, I headed to the DMV with:
-my passport
-my US license
-my foreign ID card
-the translation of my US license
-copies of the front and back to my US license and foreign ID card
-and money

I got there around 9:30 and submitted my paperwork. The building is 3 floors with a course in the back. Very different from the DMV in the US. Anyhow I headed up to the license exchange section, submitted my paper work and waited. After confirming some details and signing some papers I headed down to the first floor to get a picture taken for the form and then took the vision test. It consisted of looking at circles that have the sides, top, or bottom open, and then a color blind check. From there I headed back upstairs to pay the $24 fee and took the knowledge test.
The knowledge test was made up of 10 questions and taken on a touch screen computer. I got all 10 right, cause I'm awesome and then headed back downstairs where I made the reservation to take the actual driving test. Unfortunately, you can't do it the same day unless you call in Advance.
In the evening I had work like usual and headed home.

Work and the commercial

Headed to School this morning to use the copy machine and then stopped at Cortese to pick up some new shirts. I went to Ootoya for lunch and then headed home. In the evening I had work like usual. The Mobit commercial from a while ago is finally out. You can see my hands opening the limo door in the beginning and for less than a second you can see me taking pictures of them in the last 2 seconds before the rates are displayed.

Work and Ramen

Headed to work like usual and like usual there was a long line outside Ramen Jiro.

Work

Headed to work in Ebisu and then home.

Work and party

Headed to work like usual. I saw some guy walking down the street with what look like Capri jeans and a crazy weird hat. Sometimes the style choices made here are just bad. I really wonder what was going on in that guys head when he chose to buy that hat.

Day off

Cleaned my room and did some laundry today. Fun times.

Work

Today I worked in Ginza cause Tamachi was dead. I always like going to Ginza, cause it's a cool area. In the station they had some cool adds embedded in the walls.

Work and Words

Work like usual. The word for today is "久しぶり” said "he sa she bu ri" usually translated as "long time no see". It can also be used to talk about something you haven't done in a while. You can say "Hisashiburi ni I ate a burger" meaning It's been a while since I last ate a burger.

Work

work like usual and then home.

Work

Had work like usual. In Japan there is a huge selection of drinks to choose from and the selection is constantly being added to as companies test new products. The one in the middle under the Fanta name is called "Tensai" meaning genius. It's a drink marketed at students as a drink that will give them the energy they need to study. Wonder if it really helps.

Work

Headed to work in Shinjuku. Panasonic has been advertising a new vacuum cleaner adn I saw this ad in Shinjuku station. It's pretty cool cause it covers the wall and the floor.

Work and party

Headed to work like usual. After I stopped home, changed and headed out to Shibuya where I met up with a bunch of friends. We hung out till after last train and then 6 of us took a taxi to Dave's house where the party continued until I fell asleep.

Working on Friday?

Since Monday was my day off I worked on Friday. For some reason it's been really busy on Fridays recently. In the evening I met up with one of my friends at A971 for a couple hours and then headed home.

Back to normal and a new trian manners poster

Today was back to work like normal in Tamachi. It's still a little slower cause many people have extended their vacation to include Thursday and Friday for 11 days off in a row. The new train manners poster encourages you to keep your music at a low level on the train. Sometimes people listen crazy loud to cover the noise of the train.

Last day of Golden Week

This past week was Golden Week which is a string of holidays that most people use to travel to their hometowns or take overseas trips. As a result of this Tokyo is more empty than usual and traveling is so crowded that it is usually uncomfortable and sometimes the prices to travel during this time are higher. I stayed in Tokyo and worked, today as well I worked in Ebisu.

Work and marketing

Headed to work in Ebisu like usual. I found a site for Muji which is basically a Japanese Target. They have a really good site marketing their products and showing how a lot of them work. Check it out! This one here does an auto play of all the products and is a great way to kill time at work while you are waiting for the clock.

Shinjuku and Shibuya

Headed to Shinjuku where I met up with Ayako for her lesson. After I stopped over in Shibuya where I picked up a couple shirts for summer and took advantage of the golden week sales. Right now Docomo has some kind of marketing campaign featuring Darth Vader pointing and asking who is your boss. It's pretty cool.

Work and Party

Headed to work in Ebisu again and then home. In the evening I headed to Dave's place for Izumi's birthday party. There were about 20 people there and it was a lot of fun.

Saturday

Work like usual and then in the evening I met up with Mio in Roppongi and we went to Tofuro again. They have a really good Ginger Beef dish there which I love. It comes with really good soup, rice, and it's awesome. We stopped at the game center where I kicked her butt in Mario Kart and Taiko Drum Master 13.