Tokyo Auto Salon

Headed to Shinjuku where I met up with Jon and we headed to Makuhari for the Tokyo Auto Salon. It's the biggest aftermarket car show in the world with over 600 cars spanning three huge buildings. We got a little late start to the day so only had an hour or so after we got there so I didn't get enough time to take some good video, but got as many pics as I could. I was a little disappointed, and felt that the show last year was better, but it was still cool. We stayed till closing and wound up running into another guy I know there so we all headed to Shibuya, got food and talked about life till last train. Good times.

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.