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.

Work and Work

Work like usual. In the afternoon I headed to UFJ, the bank we work with. Since we do a lot of business with them they wanted to give us something in return so I filled out the forms needed to apply for a Gold Card. I don't really need or want a credit card but it's a sign of status in Japan so it's kinda cool. From the bank I stopped back at the office and then headed off to Tamachi.

Work and McDonald's

Headed to work like usual. I don't know why but I really wanted to eat a big mac today. I guess cause off all the advertising I've been seeing recently. Anyhow a couple months ago McDonald's started redesigning the insides of all the McDonald's in Japan. The inside has a much more upscale look to it and even the images of the food on the menu have been redone to give a higher quality image of the food. It's pretty nice. I think I might have had the wrong mode selected which is why the pictures didn't quite come out like they were supposed to, but you get the idea.

Work

Work like usual. Today I made some calls to people in Africa. The phone system in the countries I called was pretty bad. The volume would fade in and out through out the calls and sometimes just drop the call all together. It's a little frustrating but makes you appreciate the systems we have here in Japan or in the US.

Work

Had work like usual today. I'm still learning a lot of new things and I'm developing a training guide for any new people which should help to eliminate mistakes and save money.

Work and Walking around

Had work like usual. In the evening I met up with Momoko for dinner since she lives in Shinjuku and then I headed home.

Wedding, work, and out

This morning I headed to Dai Shiba shrine in Hamamatsucho for my friend Ryu's wedding. There are a lot of rules associated with weddings here in Japan. Typical dress for guys attending the wedding is a suit with a white tie. When you write a card you are supposed to buy a special card with a string wrapped around it that has a knot that is hard to untie symbolizing a lasting relationship. On the card it self you should not use a regular pen because the thin ink doesn't look as strong so it's recommended that you use a felt tip ink pen. Typically guests give $300 or more as a gift. The money should always be new bills symbolizing a new relationship and the amount should always be odd so it can't be easily divided also in support of a lasting relationship. By western standards $300 may seem like a lot of money but a large part of that goes toward paying for the wedding and also the guests typically receive a gift for coming as well.

Anyhow, after the ceremony everyone took a taxi to Gonpachi which is a famous restaurant where George Bush ate with the former Prime Minister of Japan and other famous people have dined. The food was great and Ryu and his wife changed into more a suit and Kimono respectively and then later the wife changed into a western style wedding dress. It was a lot of fun and it was great to meet the families. Ryu also dressed up as a sushi chef and served sushi to the guests.

Another cool thing with Japanese weddings is that there is usually a slide show with a history of each person telling what they did through out their lives and explaining how they met.
After the wedding I headed to work in Yoga for a meeting and then to Shinjuku where I met up with Momoko for dinner.

Work and out

Headed to work like usual and then went out in the evening with some friends for dinner.

Work and another Winston ad

Work like usual today. Had to do some running around today and saw a new Winston cigarette ad with the muscle guy which is almost as dumb as the original.

Work

Today I contacted a few customers and called a couple local places try and help one guy. In the afternoon I went to Shibuya to pick up three new laptops for work and then spent the rest of the day getting them configured properly and loading the needed software.

Work and a good commercial

Headed to work like usual. I worked with our site and contacted some more customers. In the evening we met with a programmer and went over all the changes we wanted made to our database. He was a good guy and also had some ideas that he contributed that we hadn't thought of.

This is one of my current favorite commercials for a Nisshinbo which is a company that helps develop Eco friendly products. The bear is shaving cause it's too hot from global warming. If this video isn't viewable for you try using vtunnel to watch it at work. The popups are a little annoying but it's safe for work.

Work

Today we had a meeting and looked at ways we can improve the software we use and also talked about any potential problems that could arise with the new business model and how to handle them. It was pretty fun.

Work and out

Work like usual. In the evening I met up with Momoko and we grabbed dinner and picked up some stuff at Donki before heading home.

Work and Onsen

Headed to work like usual. In the evening I met up with my old host family in Daiba and we all headed to the Onsen. It has been a while since I was last there and it felt super relaxing.

Workin' and beauty products for men?

Work like usual today. Today I worked with some customers via E-mail and learned more about how the business is run. In the evening I headed out to Suidobashi and met up with a client before heading home.
On the train today I saw an add for Mascara with a guy pictured. Usually for a mascara ad you'd expect a picture of a girl but aparently this girly looking guy is popular among girls who this product is targeted at.

Work

Headed to Studio 246 named after Route 246 nearby. I got there around 11:00 and ate some food. After getting hair and makeup done I tried on the tux. Although they had my measurements to make the tux with the pants were a little tight. From there I headed up to the set which was another red carpet. The main talent today was Aya Ueto. She is one of the bigger stars in Japan and was the main actress in some of the movies I've seen here. They did the voice clip of her saying the brand and then another escort guy and I walked a bit behind her. The whole shoot was really well organized and finished ahead of schedule which was great. Aya's birthday is on the 14th but the crew got a birthday cake for today however they spelled birthday wrong somehow. So after the shoot we all sang and celebrated her birthday with her.

At night I headed out to Tokyo and met up with Momoko for dinner and then headed home.

Work and train manners

Today was my first full day at SAS3. I'm still learning a lot but it's pretty fun and at night my boss A.J. bought everyone dinner which was cool.

It is the start of a new month and the new train manners poster is out. This one is about sitting close to other people so there is space for others. Unfortunately, with the introduction of McDonald's and other western food here in Japan the amount of fat people is slowly increasing so even if the person is sitting in one seat it can still be uncomfortable to sit next to them.