Work and hanging out with friends

Headed to work like usual. It wasn't to busy today so in the afternoon I headed to Shinjuku and met up with a friend who came back to Japan for Christmas break. She had a tight schedule so we only had an hour. We had already eaten lunch but I kinda wanted a doughnut so we went to Mr. Donut then stopped over at Taito Station, played some games and I kicked her butt in Mario Kart and then she left to meet a friend, I stopped at Kinokuniya and then headed back to work.

After work some work friends and I headed to a friends house for dinner and then as I was heading home on the last train I got a call from John saying that he had missed the last train and to come out to Shibuya. When we got there our other two friends had already headed home so we headed to Shinmaruko to meet up with them and spent the night there playing darts and drinking.

Day off

Headed up to school today to get all my visa stuff straightened out and then went to ToToDoN for lunch. After that I hung out at school for a bit and got some stuff done for work. On my way home I got a mail from Dave saying he wanted to check out a burger place in Jiugaoka but when we got there it was rented out for a party so we headed to Shibuya and met up with some other friends for a bit and then headed home.

Commercial Shoot

Woke up super early today and headed to Kurosawa Studios in Aobadai for a Commercial shoot for Mobit, a loan for shopping. I got there around 8 and they had a nice breakfast bento waiting. After that some people changed or were selected for different roles and then we stood around for a while, while they got everything together. One of my parts was a limo driver and I pretty much just opened the door and let the female talent out. Naoto Takenaka arrived first and sate in the car for the shot. He is a pretty big star in Japan and played a part in the original Shall we Dance. Since I was standing by the car and opening the door I got to talk with him a bit and when he first got in the car he just whistled the song Fields of Gold by sing and continued to whistle and sing songs throughout the day. Really nice funny guy. My other part involved holding a professional still camera and acting like a photographer at an awards ceremony. It was a lot of work but they provided lunch and dinner as well and it was cool to work with a big talent like Naoto.

Work

ToToDoN for lunch and then work at night. In the evening I went to bed early cause I have to get up early for the shoot tomorrow.

Work

ToToDoN for lunch and then work. It was pretty cold and rainy today. No fun.

Work and a crazy coincidence

Headed to Shinjuku for work today. One of my teachers from KCP where I studied in 05' and 08' is now working there so we grabbed lunch together. It was crazy becasue although we only meet or talk occasionally, we've known each other for 5 years! Anyhow, I headed home a little earlier than usual cause I was still super tired from the party last night and went to bed around 7pm and felt like an old man when I did.

Work and party

Worked in Shinagawa today and then headed home to change before heading to Dave's place for a party. There were 8 people some pizza and 2 pet hamsters, so needless to say it was fun.

Work, and hanging out with a friend

Work like usual and then in the evening I met up with a friend in Tamachi and we went to Ebisu for dinner. The one place that I wanted to go was closed so we went to Vacanza which is a nice Italian place. We got a pizza and pasta dish which was really good. Then we walked around the garden place area since it wasn't too cold and headed home.

Work and Sushi

Don't usually work on Friday's but I did today. I had eaten at ToToDoN all week so today I went to Sukiya for lunch. In the evening I just relaxed at home. This video below is a really funny video I saw years ago about sushi.

Work and life in Japan

ToToDoN for lunch and then work. As any of you following this blog know, I'm pretty much been in Japan for 3 years straight now. While most of my friends speak English and my job and school all involve English over time Japanese English becomes more prominent in daily conversation and sometimes I'm not sure what is real English and what isn't. I first noticed this when my parents were in town to visit I found myself using words with them in conversation which they didn't always understand. The ones I can think of off the top of my head are "O-cha" meaning tea, "combini" meaning convience store, and "aircon" for air conditioner. I guess I use a lot of these in my English conversation because they are shorter and easier to say than their English counter parts. Another word which I noticed recently is "Eco" It's used in English as well, but I'm not sure if my pronunciation of the word is English or Japanese and none of my friends know either. It's crazy how parts from another language can seamlessly blend into your native language when living abroad.

Work and Japanese comedy

ToToDoN for lunch and then work. Also I found a funny clip from a Japanese TV show featuring a comedy team called Downtown. I think these guys have a couple different shows that they host and I think are some of the best comedy shows in Japan. My favorite show with them is Hey Hey Hey, which is a show where they interview Japanese and foreign musical artists. This is probably my favorite show on Japanese television because many times the hosts give the guests a hard time and you can tell that they are sometimes annoyed by it. Anytime they have foreign artists on as well, it's good to see their response to these guys. I guess the reason I like this show the most is that it feels more like an American comedy talk show with a Japanese style to it.

Most Japanese comedy is very visual and from an American point of view can come off as slightly childish or possibly too simple. I think you need to really watch it and gradually you learn to understand and appreciate it. The clip below is from one of the many shows that Downtown is involved with and the goal of this show is not to laugh.

Work

Work like usual. In the evening I played the game Plants vs. Zombies which is awesome.

Back to work

Back to work today. It was good to get back to work after the break and good to see everyone again. We got a new manager at work and he's pretty cool, so so far 2010 is off to a good start.

Last day of vacation

Today I met up with a friend in Azabu and we walked around Tokyo Tower and then headed to Ebisu for dinner. Most of the places were closed still cause of New Year's so we wound up going to Zest which is one of the few Mexican places in Japan. The inside looks like a saloon from an old western and they had the bull machine set up there for people to ride. The food wasn't bad either. We walked around Ebisu a bit and saw the light thing they had on Display which was pretty cool.

New Year's party with the host family

Woke up and did some laundry before heading to the Host Families place for Osechi. As usual they had way too much food but we all had a good time.

New Year's Party

Woke up a little later today and watched a movie and then headed to Dave's place for the New Year's day party. Witter, Dave, and I and three girls. We played cards and had a lot of eat and drink.

New Year's

New Year's in Japan is very different from New Year's in most other countries. If you watch TV on New Year's in the US it usually shows all the parties happening all over the world including Japan where it is usually very quiet. Most people go back to their home towns and eat Osechi, a bunch of traditional Japanese foods with their families. Osechi has many parts and while people used to make it in the past, because of the work and time that it consumes making it more and more people buy it from the store or buy half and make the other half. As a result, most of Tokyo is very quiet/boring around this time with many stores and shops being closed for till the 2nd or 3rd. After the New Year however, the shops that are open have the biggest sales of the year and some also something called a Fukubukuro. Fukubukuro's are bags with a bunch of random stuff from that store in them. The value is supposed to be more than the price but you don't know what is in it.

Anyhow, I watched a movie in the afternoon and at night I headed out to Shibuya where I met up with John and Dave at Hub. Shibuya was very empty and Hub was mostly guys so we left shortly after arriving. We checked out LaGato and then wound up going to Camalot for the count down. On New Year's the trains run all night but only one or two every hour, which is great. John headed home and Dave and I stayed in Shibuya amazed by how empty it seemed. We went to Burger King for the first meal of 2010 and then walked around trying to figure out the next move. We stoped in front of a place called Derori which is a kind of Rock bar where some girl told us to come in so we did. It was kinda weird. There was a guitar, bass, drummer, and a guy on the mic. They weren't really together or really doing anything but some people seemed to really be enjoying it. It almost felt like we had walked into some kind of weird cult. It was a strange but very interesting start to 2010. Then we both headed home around 3 am.

Azabu to Roppongi and back to Tamachi

Today I met up with one of my friends at Monsoon in Azabu for dinner and then we walked to Roppongi. On the way there we passed a temple that had a bunch of lanterns lit up near the entrance which looked kinda cool and then stopped over at StarBucks. Some of the Christmas lights were still up so it was kinda cool to walk around there but all the big displays were already taken down. In Tokyo Midtown they had some crazy Bamboo decoration around the one fountain that looked kinda cool. We walked around there for a bit and then headed to Tamachi where we stopped at 82. On the way back to the station some drunk old guy jumped into the bushes and it was pretty funny so I took a picture.

Work, Food, and work

Headed to work in the morning. They had the New Years decorations set up in front of the building which is a usually three pieces of bamboo. I headed to Mita for ToToDoN for lunch and passed a 3 hour line at Mita Jiro. Crazy. After I headed home. In the evening I headed back to work for my last day of the year and it was actually pretty busy.

Work, work, and out in Nishi Azabu

Headed to work in the morning in Shiodome and then home for a quick nap before heading out to Tamachi for work at night. After work I went to Nishi-Azabu where I met up with Takehito and some of his friends at a Okinawan style restaurant called "Taiyoujin"which is run by a semi-famous comedian. In the bathroom they had postcards with pictures of the girl named Reiko. It's funny cause in red it says "careful not to burn yourself" and the white near the girl says "If you eat Reiko, you will get burned" Pretty funny stuff.
When I got there Takehito and his friend's all clapped for me for about one minute to congratulate me on graduation and then I sat down and we ate some Okinawan food and had some drinks, beer and Okinawan sake. I guess Takehito often goes to this restaurant and he knew the staff pretty well and was often calling them to bring more food or drinks. Everyone was really funny and we took some pictures with the comedian girl Reiko, who was pretty nice. Around 12 I took a Taxi back to Mita with Takehito and then took the last train home from there. Good times.

Work

Today I woke up at Dave's place, headed home, showered, and changed, and headed to work in Shinjuku. For lunch I had Sukiya and then took a couple pictures in the area after work. A lot of my friends don't really like Shinjuku cause it's really crowded, but for me it's a part of Tokyo that I love. It's just got that feel that is so unique to Japan and it's got everything.

Work, Onsen, and Party

Today I woke up at Witter's house around 7, left the house while 4 other people were asleep on the floor and headed to McDonald's for Breakfast before heading to Takehito's for his lesson and then work. During my break at work I headed home, took a shower and changedinto fresh clothes. After work I headed to my host familie's place in Odaiba for dinner and then we went to the Onsen. I took the last train from Daiba to Shin-maruko where my friend Dave lives for a party there. There were 15 girls there, 5 hot, 5 cute, and 5 just ok and 9 or so guys so it was a good party. Since I arrived later than everyone else I had to catch up on drinks a bit with everyone else and then we all went to Yoshinoya for a late night Gyodon. After that I'm not really sure what happened.

Christmas

Headed to work for one lesson and then headed to Shin-Koiwa where I met up with Witter for the Christmas Party. Witter planed it and it was Japanese style which ment KFC and pizza. Near his station is a KFC and a Mos Burger so Witter gave me the receipt for the chicken from KFC while he got the chicken from Mos Burger. There was a line of people outside the KFC waiting to get Chicken but since I had the receipt from the order I was able to just go in to the second floor and pick up the bucket which had the chicken, a salad, a ceramic place, and a small cake. From there we headed to his place and in total 11 people showed up. The pizza arrived a little after most people had arrived and we ate a ton of food! There were also about 6 bottles of wine, white and red, a bottle of tequila, and a bottle of champaign which we went through before I finally missed my last train and myself and three other people crashed at Witter's place for the night. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cake

Just worked today. In Japan around Christmas time you can find every pastry shop and combini selling Christmas cakes. Usually they are pretty expensive but you can find them for 300 yen at a combini. Anyhow it's just cake with strawberries and cream. It's not that great but if someone offers it to me, I'll eat it.
The best thing about Christmas cake is that it's a term which applies to unmarried women older than 25 years old. Christmas cake may well be sweet and delicious, but no one really wants any after the 25th. So, if you're an unmarried Japanese woman, after the age of twenty five, you're in extreme danger of becoming a Christmas Cake. It's just funny... and true.
It's kinda crazy though cause it creates a pressure for women to get married before that age or they feel they will be single for life. This perception is starting to change and many young Japanese don't follow or believe this, but I think it still is in people's thoughts weather they believe this or not. This is considered an old way of thinking and most younger Japanese don't really follow it, but I think there is still some influence on people. This is clear when you see many women over 25 who go for foreign men because Japanese men aren't interested in them.

I'm Batman

Today is the birthday of the Emperor of Japan who tried to take over the world so it's a national holiday. Anyhow, I stayed home and played Batman Arkham Asylum which is the best Batman game that I've ever played. It's been a while since I was able to play a game for a full day without wanting to stop and this one has done it. The story, graphics, gameplay, and general feel of the game are all perfect. The voice acting is done by the people who did the voices in the Animated Series which just makes it cooler. Some of the levels are really intense and keep you on the edge of your seat. This is easily one of the best games of 2009.

Workin for a livin'

Worked the morning in Shiodome and then at night in Tamachi.

Work and Men's Pocky

Had work in the morning in Shiodome and then headed home for a while and then back out to work in the evening in Tamachi. I stopped in the combini and got a box of Men's Pocky. When I was here in 2005 I got a box of Men's Pocky which came with stickers of girls but now unfortunately it doesn't. It's the same as regular Pocky but with a darker more bitter chocolate. If you are a girl and try to buy this at the store they usually won't let you cause it's for men. That's not really true.

Work in Shinjuku

Headed to Shinjuku today for work. Did a lot and then went home. In the station they have huge posters advertising the new Final Fantasy. From what I heard, it's not as good as the past titles in the franchise but I'm sure it will still sell well cause of the name. I'm not a big fan of RPG's cause they don't really take any skill just time, but they are super popular here in Japan. Already I've heard stories about people being late to work because they were playing it too much. Funny stuff.

English Christmas Party for Kids

Today I worked in Koiwa for an English Christmas party for a kids school. I was the Narrator in the play that we did and then we played Bingo and Christmas Janken, which is Christmas themed Rock Paper Scissors. The kids loved it and it was fun. After some of the staff and I headed to Wara Wara for food and drinks. There was some lady there who had a really stupid sweater on so I took a picture. It looks like she cut out the elbows on the sleeves and used the cloth to make a elf hat. It was hilarious. From there we headed to Watami which is pretty much the same thing as Wara Wara and then I missed the last train. Some other people missed it as well so we all crashed at John's place.

Work

I watched a movie today and then headed to work. It's super cold today.