Working on Culture Day

Today is Culture Day. Not really sure what happens but I guess it's just a day to celebrate Japanese culture. To celebrate I worked in Shibuya all day.

School

Today I was planing on going to the Motor show but my friend wound up bailing out on me so I just worked on school stuff during the day and then went to accounting at night like usual.

Takin' it easy

Today I met up with a friend who is new to Japan and wanted to see Daiba. We met up in Tamachi and headed there. I showed all the good spots and there are some performances going on there as well. In the evening it rained so I just stayed home.

Work, going away party, and Halloween

Headed to work like usual. After work I headed home, showered and headed back out to Tamachi for Juri's going away party. We went to a place called Taketake. It's like any other Izakaya (Japanese style pub) where you sit on the floor and eat food that goes well with beer.

From there some of us went to Sabastian's house in Roppongi where we ate more food and some of the people changed into their Halloween costumes. Roppongi on Halloween night is crazy and there are people in costumes everywhere! Really I could have been happy standing on the street and watching everyone walk by. We went to some bar nearby that was playing 80's music and had a distinctly 80's feel to it. It felt like I had just walked onto the set of an 80's move, the only thing missing was Michael J. Fox. There was a big fat British guy dressed in a swim suit with a towel and swim cap dancing on the pool table which was awkwardly funny. From there we went to another bar next door which was also packed and had several girls dancing on the bar. We pretty much spend the rest of the night there and that was Halloween.

Bank, School, and Halloween Party

Headed to the bank today to set up automatic bill payment. It's kind of a pain in the butt cause you need to fill out a form for each thing and there is a lot of info you need on each form. The owner of my building changed recently so I had to fill out a form for that, I did one for my electricity bill, and one for my Internet. So now I no longer need to go to the convenience store to pay bills, it will all be automatic. The only bill I have to pay at the combini now is the national health insurance.
In the evening I had school like usual and stopped over at 82 Ale to see some friends and then my friend Jin and I walked to the Roppongi and hung out there for a bit before going to the school Halloween party at Muse. It was a fun night and some of the costumes were pretty good.

Windows 7 whopper and teaching kids

Today I had work at 7, taught one lesson and then headed home. I headed back out around 10 and met up with Fumi at Burger King in Oimachi to try the new Windows 7 whopper. It's the same as a regular whopper but with 7 patties of meat. If you are one of the first 30 people to buy it that day it's 777 yen, and after that goes up to a regular price. When Fumi and I got there at 10:30 30 people had already purchased the burger and the lady working told us that 30 had been sold before it even hit 9:00am. Who eats that big of a burger that early in the morning? It's crazy. Anyhow after we got and ate the burger we had in pain in the Burger King for a while and then headed to the combini to get the black tea to help deal with the large amount of grease in our stomachs. From there I headed back home and tried to stay still until 12:00 when I headed out to Shinkoiwa on the east side.

When I got to Shinkoiwa, I met up with Witter and some people he works with to work at a Halloween party/ English school for kids. All the kids were dressed up in different costumes. We basically did 3 separate parties for 3 groups of kids and then headed to a pasta place near the station. After some food we headed to an Izakaya and had a couple beers. I headed home around 11:30.

School and work

Headed to school like usual and then work in the evening. On the way home I saw some random guy passed out on the bench in the station and a station worker telling him to wake up and get on the train. Kinda funny so I took a picture.

Work and School

Headed to work early this morning in Shinagawa. It was raining pretty crazy and outside of the station all you saw was umbrellas. Kinda crazy. After work I headed home, changed and then headed to school to study for the second half of the accounting test. In the evening I had the test and then went home.

Work

Headed to work in Shinjuku today. Since It was the first place I lived when I first came to Japan I feel some kind of attachment to the area. Most people don't really like it cause there are so many people, but I always like going there.

Work and Halloween stuff

Had work like usual. Today I got a pumpkin latte from the combini today and it wasn't very good. It's pretty interesting how quickly Halloween has caught on here in Japan. When I was here in '05 I hardly saw any Halloween decorations and this year there are decorations all over. Japanese love holidays and I guess that is why Halloween has become so popular so quickly. It's still seen as a foreign holiday and most adults don't celebrate it at all but it's becoming more and more mainstream. Anyhow, if you see the Pumpkin Pudding Latte, don't buy it. It's bad.

Accounting

Today I headed to school earlier than usual and studied for accounting with some friends. I think I did ok on the test. One of the problems was a little tricky, but since the class is only an hour long the test was divided up into two parts so one today and the rest on Monday.

School, career fair, and work

School like usual and then the career fair before work. I talked to the people at Barclays Capital, Abercrombie & Fitch and another company called Bios. I don't really want to work in finance, but I was interested in what Barclays had to offer. They seemed pretty cool actually. Abercrombie is just expanding to Japan now. Right now you can only get their stuff through online stores but they are opening a physical store in Ginza soon and are looking for people. Bios is a consulting company and they actually seemed like one of the better companies there despite the fact that I never heard of them. From school I headed to work and in the evening I studied for the accounting test tomorrow.

Work and school

Another early day in Shinagawa. This morning it wasn't very busy so I finished by 9:00. Usually I don't ride the train around rush hour, but since I finished at 9 I was able to experience it in the morning. Shinagawa stations is one of the bigger stations in Tokyo so there are a lot of people moving through it everyday and two main exits. The exits are large halls with all the people leaving the station walking in the middle and all the people entering the stations walking on the sides. Even exiting my building it was kinda crazy because of all the people pouring out. It was like being in a river of people. In the evening I had school like usual and ToToDoN for dinner.

School and work

School like usual and then work in the evening.

Work and school

Today is the first time I worked the morning shift which starts at 7:00 so I woke up around 5:00 which was bad but after I headed home for a bit and took a nap before heading back out to accounting.

Work

Headed to Ginza today for work. On my break I stopped by the Nissan showroom and checked out the new 40th anniversary Z. It's pretty cool and the wheels are awesome.

work, work, work

Work like usual today and then home. Trying to save some money so I'm staying in as much as possible for the next 2-4 months, so this might not be worth reading till next year.

School and Shibuya

Had school like usual and in the evening I met up with a friend in Shibuya for dinner at a Thai place and then headed home.

School and work

School like usual and then work.

School

School like usual and then home.

School and work

Headed to school like usual. ToToDoN for lunch and then work. Took some pictures in stat class today and one at work. As you can see Japanese often find a way to make their notes cute.

Sports Day and hanging out in Shinjuku

Today is a national holiday. "Sports Day" which I guess is just a day where people play sports? Usually school kids, but I did laundry instead.

In the evening I met up with Eri in Shinjuku. It was good to see her again. I hadn't really hung out with her for a while and it doesn't seem like she changed at all. We were gonna check out a restaurant on the east side but the one was closed and we had trouble finding the other one so we walked over to the west side and ate at Issa. After we headed to Taito station, played a game of Taiko Drum Master and did purikura and then went home.

Most Game centers have Purikura and they usually have signs saying that guys by themselves aren't allowed, they have to be with a girl. I guess there was an issue with guys going up there and trying to pick up girls in the past so they have that sign to try and prevent it. They also had a new machine which uses computers to make your eyes look bigger and more like an elf. Pretty crazy.

Work

Headed to work in Shibuya today. It wasn't that busy and after work I met up with my friend Dave for a drink before heading home. It was kinda funny cause we met up with two of Dave's friends and one of them was dating or at least with one of my students. She was surprised to see me there. After about an hour I headed home and took it easy.

Work and hanging out

Headed to work like usual and then home. In the evening I met up with a friend in Harajuku for dinner. We were gonna go to a burger place there which she says is the best burger in Tokyo, but it was reserved so we wound up going to a Thai restaurant instead. From there we headed to Shibuya and then home.

School and Birthday Party

Headed to Shinjuku this afternoon and met up with my friend Daniel whom I haven't seen since since the wedding. He recently got a job that requires a suit so I went with him to the Perfect Suit Factory to help him pick out a new suit. From there I headed to school and then after class headed to Shibuya for a birthday party at Outback Steakhouse. There were real Australians eating there, so I guess it's pretty authentic. The portions were as big as the US and I didn't really feel good after because it was just too much food. Guess my stomach has adjusted to Japanese portion size. After we stopped at Club Sega to take Purikura and then headed home.

School and work

School and work.

School

Headed to school early to work on accounting and then headed home after class.

School and work

Headed to school for the stat test. It was hard and then I went to work.

Study and school

Headed to school around noon and spent the day studying for the stat test till. As you can see from the pictures we all studied together but still had some confusion. In the evening I had accounting like usual and then went to ToToDoN for dinner.

Study Study

Headed to school around 1 and met up with my friend Keiko and we studied for Stat until about 6 or 7. Not too exciting, but hopefully productive. On the way to school I saw a sweet R34 parked on the street. At school Keiko brought some candies which are basically small cups of jello, there is a warning on the bad telling old people and kids not to eat them cause they usually wind up choking and dying.