Work

Work like usual and then home. August is so hot now, it's super humid and hot outside so the second I leave my house I sweat a ton. Can't wait for the month to be over.

Work

Work like usual and then after walked around a bit and found a Temple not far from my house that looked pretty cool at night.

Work and Shinjuku

Pretty tired from the day before so I slept till I had to go to work. In the evening I met up with Ryu and some friends of his that are visiting from America. Usually it's interesting to hear what people have to say about Japan when it is their first time. They really seemed to appreciate the fact that it's ok to walk in the street and drink beer. We met up in Shinjuku and I showed them around there. Since it was a weekday most of the places we went weren't too busy which was good.

Tokyo and Tamachi

Today I met up with a friend in Tokyo and we got some burgers at Kua'Aina. From there we walked around the Marunouchi area and then went to Marunouchi Home. Since it was Monday there weren't many people there and the view was good.

From there I headed to Tamachi where I met up with Witter, Beck, and some other friends from school. Since yesterday was 8/2 82 Ale was selling all their drinks for 500 yen. One of Witter's friends was visiting so we all hung out there till last train and went home.

Work, Sleep, and Shinjuku

Takehito had to go to Osaka for business this weekend so we rescheduled to today. After the lesson I went to Ooyota for lunch and then headed home. In the evening I met up with a friend and on my way to the station the people who cut my hair stopped me and gave me two cans of CC Lemon. (the CC Lemon website is awesome) Not really sure why, but they are nice and I need the vitamin C, so I was grateful. I went to Shinjuku for a bit but the weather was pretty crappy so just played some games and then headed home around 10.

Work and hanging out

Headed to work like usual and then back home. I was gonna head down to Kamakura for a beach party there, but by the time I would get down there it would be over. Instead Beck and I headed out to Shinjuku where we met up with some girls and hung out at an Izakaya near the station.

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.