Ageha = Bad; Mado-Lounge = Good

The past couple of days were busy with Mr. Pachinko in Tokyo for the weekend. On Friday we went to check out m-flo at Club Ageha, which boasts to be one of the biggest clubs in Tokyo. I was not a big fan of m-flo, but in lieu of this event, I "obtained" their latest album and was listening to it non-stop prior to the event so I would be somewhat familiar to what they were going to play. Since m-flo is a big act in Japan, they had advanced tickets for sale with a 500 yen discount compared to the door price, but unfortunately for us, I was too late to buy them. No matter, my perception, and I'm sure the rest of the world's view of advance tickets for a club was that it is just a marketing ploy to guarantee attendance by giving a discount price only. Well, I was wrong. Anyways, knowing that we did not have advance tickets, we went a half hour before the doors opened. This initially seemed to prove to be a good idea, because we were near front of the "non ticket holders" line. Well, we remained in the same position, by the time the doors opened, an hour after the doors opened, and eventually 3 hours after the doors opened. There must have been over 300 freezing and full price willing people waiting in this line, and yet it felt like we were all ignored as none of us without a ticket manged to get inside. This continued to occur even when the "advance ticket" line was completely empty. My body was frozen and my mind was shocked over the logistics of this club. Once 12am hit, Jody and I had to make a decision. The club was in an inconvenient part of Tokyo and we had to decide whether or not to continue to wait in line and risk not going in and then spend a fortune on a taxi ride home or leave immediately and be able to make the last train. We chose the latter after finding out that one of the security staff could not guarantee that any of us will be able to go inside the club. After our frustrations from what happened, we decided to call it a night and save our energy for the next night.

I'm happy to say that the next night was not a disappointment. We went to Mado-lounge at Roppongi Hills. This club was on the 52nd floor with a beautiful night view of Tokyo and Tokyo Tower. As an added bonus, two of the biggest hip-hop DJ's in Japan, DJ HaseB and DJ Kaori were scheduled to play that night. Having been burned the night before, we were a bit overly cautious and made sure to get in the club early. We got in with no problem and had a blast. The music was great and crowd, though a bit suspect in the beginning, was crazy especially when Kaori appeared. The only negative part of the night was going home in what felt like freezing rain. Regardless, the night was definitely worth it and I was very happy that everyone had a great time.

Later this week I'll be heading back to Yonago in Tottori-ken for the remainder of the holidays. I'll be meeting Jim, Akiko, and Jody again in our old hang out places. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'll post the pictures of our time including some from Mado-lounge once I get them from Jody and his new camera.

Losing Expression

Nothing Japan related - The Orlando Magic finally won a game against the Houston Rockets last night, but more importantly it produced a funny picture:



The expression on his face is just too priceless LOL

End of the year party

The company's end of the year party was held last week. It was held at a nice lounge type place in Shinjuku.






As you can see the place had a great view and the food was top notch. However, this smart and very professional atmosphere quickly made a U-Turn when I got there. It became CRAZY. It got so crazy that yours truly was dressed up in a cheap full body reindeer suit, singing "Last Christmas" in a baritone voice while break dancing. Fortunately, my humiliated actions were not wasted as I won a small prize. Winning a company branded pencil never felt so satisfying, just kidding. It was actually something a bit more attractive, but not so much that a normal, sane person would have done to receive it. The best comment of the night came from the chief's wife as she was trying to compliment my disastrous performance. She said, "You were a great chipmunk." Of course, I just nodded my head and smile. The night ended with.... as you guessed, a crazy couple of hours of karaoke. I was so trashed at that point that I didn't know what I sung, didn't really know who was there, and not sure how my stomach got bruised. I haven't been to the office since that party, and I pray to god that people forgot about the crazy gaijin's actions during that night.


In other news, my sport teams are in a funk now after a ferocious start. For basketball, the Orlando Magic have been losing games and don't seem to play like the #1 team in the East anymore. I really hope they don't settle for mediocrity like they have been doing for the past several years. Turnovers and free throws are a huge problem for them. As for football, the Dallas Cowboys have been struggling. Sure they only lost their second game this late in the season, but still the way the played, they do not look like they will make it far in the playoffs. It was the first game this season that I fast forwarded more than 1/3 of the plays. Their playing was just unbearable to watch. I hope they pick it up next Saturday against Carolina.

The 13 year old kid

Who ever said that once a person starts running, it only gets easier is a liar. I've been jogging/running for the past month or so, every few times a week and it has only gotten harder for me. Today, I found myself trying to convince my body not to start walking in the middle of my running course. I ended up not walking, but it was a sheer test of will power that I almost lost and often face when I go running.

In other athletic news, I almost got beat in basketball by a 13 year old, ichi nen-sei high school kid at the local community center. We initially played best of 3 games, up to 10 points all 1 points, which included shots taken from the 3 point line. I saw the kid warm up and I knew he had skills, but I didn't think he would be that fast (or me that slow). On the first game, I started my defense guarding him up close, but he easily took me to the hoop and scored. I noticed that he shot right handed, so I took away his right side. He surprised me and drove with his left hand and scored with a left handed layup. I then started to ease my pressure and gave him more room, so I would be a step ahead of him when he drove in, and he countered by making his jumpers, some even beyond 3 point range. I was totally demoralized at that point. I started using my trash talking technique even knowing that he could not understand my English. I'm sure he thought I was a mental hospital escapee or something. I even did the whole signing the ball after he scored a basket to try to jinx him and told him that he would not score again, but I guess he didn't understand that since he shrugged off my comedic effort. I initially tried to trash talk him in Japanese, but he ended up getting confused for something else I said and as a end result, confused myself. He ended up beating me bad, and come to think of it, I don't think I scored more than 3 points.

The second game, I adjusted my game and convinced myself that he had killed my family, like the one of many plots in a Jean Claude Van Damme movie. I decided to use my slight height advantage, (he was only an inch or so shorter than me, these Japanese kids are growing.. I don't know what kind of milk they are drinking nowadays) and post him up. Fortunately, for me he was a sucker for my pump fakes and I scored a bulk of my baskets that way. On defense, I got used to how he drove to the basket. His major flaw was that more than half of his lay-ups consisted of scoop shots, which were easier to block. I ended up blocking a couple of his shots, and was thankful he didn't adjust in time for me to win the second game.

The third game, he was dead tired as was I, but I still had my deranged Van Damme mentality on me. He was missing his jumpers that he previously made with ease, and when he drove in, his layups actually did not go in. I was shocked at first and quickly thanked god for the blessing. My game on the other hand was on point. I was hitting most of my shots, but struggled trying to drive successfully against the kid. I'm embarrassed to say that the kid actually blocked a couple of my shots also, but nonetheless I ended up beating him pretty good.

As I was about to faint and hit the floor, the kid pleas for one more game. At that time, the gym was spinning and I was light headed, but I saw the kid's fire in his eyes, and his hatred of me for beating him. I agreed to his last challenge, but made the game go up to 7 points instead, since my knees were shaking from exhaustion. Unfortunately for the kid, it was more of the same. His shots look really tired and I was hitting mines for an easy victory. I asked him why he was so good, and he told me that he playing on his high school basketball team. I got the big "Ahh.. naruhoudo" (in English - "Ahhh... so that's why") expression on my face and shook his hand and thanked him for a great work out. He was very frustrated because we both knew that he was the better player in terms of skills, (he had a smooth jumper, he could drive either left or right, and he hustled like a mad man), but I got the last laugh at the end. I had a huge smile on my face while biking all the way home.... for beating a 13 year old kid... hmm.. that just doesn't sound right, does it?

My rush hour

My rush hour in Northern VA/Washington D.C. - a simple 30 minute drive to the office can turn into 2 - 3 hours





My rush hour now consistently takes the same time everyday but...




Which would you have to choose?

"Team game... do you know team game?!?"

I went to Saitama this past Saturday evening to play basketball with my co-worker's team. To my pleasure, they didn't mess around in the traditional 1 hour team synchronized warm ups consisting of a variety of stretches and lay up drills. A quick shoot around only lasted about 10 minutes then they quickly picked teams and started the full court game.

Their playing style was the same as last time, all run and gun and not much defense. Since this was my second stint playing with these people, I wanted to make more of an impact and play aggressively, like I usually do in the States. As I was the visitor, I did lots of passing even though I was open during my first several possessions. However, most of the passes went in vain as the recipient would pass to another teammate who was double teamed or they ended up throwing it away out of bounds. I didn't mind too much, and continued playing hard especially on defense. I stole the ball a couple of times and started the fast break and noticed that the leader of the team kept shouting to me to pass the ball up court, which I did but did not need vocal instructions to do it. The late 30 year old leader who still dresses like a member of Johnny's Entertainment with a Yankee (Japanese wanna-be gangster) attitude, was on my case the whole night. The guy had an arrogance about him that I could not stand. He on Japanese standards, was a ball hog. He would shoot the ball when he was double teamed and would take ill advised three point shots. He even tried to make passes a bit more fancy which caused him to completely miss the open player. During the second half, our team was losing, and I decided to kick it up a notch. I was going to start taking over the offense. I took the ball up court and tried to set up some sort of plays. However, no one on my team was cutting to the basket and they were all just watching me play. I decided that I would start shooting more if I was open, but at the same time, I made a conscious effort not to shoot more times than the leader. Well, I did that and what comes as a result of that? The leader, comes up to me with a pissed off face and a voice that just sparks an altercation and barks "Team game... do you know team game?!?" This was the first time he ever spoke to me in an English sentence. I was quickly enraged with fire. There were about 6 players on both sides of the court who had a shoot first mentality on the court, and he was the biggest one, yet he calls ME out on it. However, I knew I was in HIS territory playing with HIS team. So I swallowed my animosity towards him and answered back "Yeah, I know team game". That shattered my motivation to play any longer as I found myself passing the ball just to anybody as long as the ball was not in my hands where I would receive more criticism.

I quickly took myself out of the game in disgust to what just happened and observed the rest of the night on the sideline. While watching the last hour, I became more frustrated seeing the leader shoot with no hesitation, and him laughing and comforting other team members that shot the ball recklessly even though they had a few open players. I found myself for the first time questioning whether my deep frustration and newly found hatred for the guy was caused because I was a foreigner and not part of the original team. Maybe I was actually being a selfish player, or the guy was just a prick.

Later that night, I was told that a possible reason might be because that the players just wanted to have fun and that they played just to exercise. I could understand that, but my understanding of "Sport" is not only to play and have fun, which I find is the most important, but the best thing about sport is the competitiveness aspect to allow a player to dig deep inside oneself to win. I saw that attribute on a number of players that night, which set the tone on how I played. After all that I finally came to the conclusion that I was never going to play there again.

Holidays ... スタート！

The holiday season is officially here as Thanksgiving finally arrived. I find myself extremely homesick. My life is great here, don't get me wrong, but what I had back home was also special. I find myself missing the great holiday food and especially spending time with my family and friends back home. I miss listening to the 24/7 Christmas songs from Washington D.C.'s WASH-FM. Call me crazy but I even miss going into the trenches and battling the holiday crowds during the busy Christmas shopping season, particularly Black Friday. Last year during Black Friday, my family and I went to three different shopping venues (Leesburg Outlets, Pentagon City, and Georgetown), spanning over 40 miles to hunt for the best bargains. It was hell I tell you and I was exhausted to the point where I didn't know if I would be able to drive home. I ended up not buying that much but the memories I got, good and bad were priceless. In Japan, there is no Black Friday, but there is a national holiday. Unfortunately, yours truly does not have the whole day off. I still have to get some work done before Monday's deadline. Booo.

In other news, I will officially start Japanese class next week. I will go 3 times a week until the end of December. After then, I will continue with Japanese lessons, either with the same institution or another of my choice. So, as of now, I'm pumped and in learning mode. I hope this motivation will last.

To end this post, I will post a few random pictures of what I saw in the past few days -





Christmas in Nishi-Shinjuku



My view of Mount Fuji from my office window, taken today.

Roppongi and stuff

It was a Roppongi weekend for me. There was a nice lunch party at a restaurant near Roppongi Hills. I thought it was going to be a small get-together for a friend who just recently came back from NYC and her friends. Instead, when I arrived to the restaurant, I saw a line formed that ended all the way outside. I should have known that when I first met her, she was really outgoing especially for a Japanese woman so her popularity should not have surprised me. Unfortunately for me, the weather was cold and rainy so waiting in line was the last thing I wanted to do.




The restaurant was called Ciao Bella. When arriving inside the first thing I was greeted with was an open bar with decent tasting wine.



The reserved restaurant was packed and all the seats were lined up against the wall to accommodate the extra standing room. I was surprised that this once thought small get-together would be turn out to be bigger than my company's Christmas party from a year ago. I found mingling with people a bit difficult, mostly because my Japanese is on the weak side which as a result lowered my confidence to approach the many strangers in the room. I tried to drink a bit more wine to compensate, but atlas I just found myself frustrated with trying to get my first Japanese words out. Though this was a demoralizing moment for me, I found it motivating to study the language harder so the next time an opportunity arises where I'm full of strangers, I can effectively communicate with them. The highlights of the party were the food, one of the best Risotto's I have ever eaten, and I got to meet and talk with the gravure model's Hoshino Aki's father, which he confirmed that everything on her is real. For those who don't know about her, google her, you should find plenty of images. The next step is to ask him to bring her out one day hehe.

After the lunch party, the day was spent looking around Roppongi Hills.



As you can see, not many people were out that day due to the horrible weather.

On a totally different subject, I'm very satisfied with how the Dallas Cowboys have been doing and this season's television coverage with them. I think the only game they did not show this season (on local Washington D.C. programming) was when they played against the winless and still winless Dolphins. Other than that I have seen all their games including their recent victory against the Giants tonight. Next up is the Skins!

Stronger

Checked out Kanye's blog for the first time and saw how he and Timbaland developed the beats for Stronger. I thought it was really interesting on how much work goes into just making one aspect of the song. It really made me appreciate the blood and sweat that real artists go through especially the ones that are just trying get into the music industry. One artist is my friend Nkeng - www.songsfromabove.com.

Anyways, here is the Kanye clip -


Stronger Revisited from Kanye West on Vimeo.

Sunny weekend

It was a beautiful weekend. The weather was warm and sunny.

Here is a visual recap -



Part of the hiking trail to see Daibutsu (Big buddha) in Kamekura.



Daibutsu.



Close up on the enormous monument.



Hung out at a nearby beach.



Chilled at a cafe overlooking the water.



Bunkasai (Culture Festival) at Tokyo Agriculture University in Yoga.



Main stage at the bunkasai.

Thursday Enkai recap

The enkai was held at a really neat restaurant in Shinjuku.







The place was called Nana Iro Temari Uta. As you can see from the pics, the decoration of the place was unique. There was a huge turn out, around 36 people came to the farewell party. At first, I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to meet more coworkers that I haven't met yet, but I was wrong. Unfortunately, with big parties like this, it was actually harder to talk to new people because everyone stuck to their own departments.

The food was great. I enjoyed the sashimi the most. The party was an "all you can drink" but I actually did pretty good and did not get wasted like the majority of the people did there. There was a second party at a sports bar nearby, but I only stuck around for the first part of it. About 2/3 of the people went home and the remaining people at the bar were falling asleep.

From my personal standpoint, besides eating yummy foods, the night was below average and easily forgettable. It did not beat the previous enkai I had with the VP of global operations. The most important thing though was that the departed co-worker was happy. She was moved that so many people came to support her for her farewell party including the managers of the local office.

More Enkais

There is going to be a farewell party for one of my co-workers on Thursday. She has been with the company for a while now and decided that it was time to pursue a career change. Since I only started working at the office for a few months, I don't know her that well, but one interesting fact about her that I found out fairly recently is that she has a "secret" job on the weekends as a radio personality on one of the J-Pop stations in Kanagawa-ken. I thought that was really cool. I have to remember to ask her if she has Billy's "Boom Boom Wonderland" on heavy rotation...

Undokai like weekend

It was a sports filled weekend for me. Saturday was the monthly soccer tournament. This time was a bit different than the rest. Joining our team for the first time was a friend who is a linebacker for his American football club but rarely plays soccer and another was a coworker of mines. Both of them were actually very effective having scored a goal each. The funniest moment of the game happened when I was waiting at the sidelines and the referee said this about the linebacker turned soccer player "Man, I can't believe how big that guy is. Its crazy and he is running so fast!" Unfortunately with the Japanese Hulk on our side, we had similar results as the past tournaments coming in 3rd place... out of 4 teams =P The good news though though is that our team is getting better and I think its just a matter of time that we can get first place. For myself, my stamina is improving and I am starting to get a bit better. I think my skill level moved up from "Suck Badly" to "Somewhat sucks". Later that night, my friends and I ate at a Steak Cafe and ended the night playing Wii Sports at my place.

Sunday was my first time playing basketball competitively with another co-worker who invited me to play with his team in Saitama. This was also the first time I ever went to Saitama. Taking the train there from my place was not so bad, about 45 minutes via Sobu/Chuo line. He picked me up from the station and we went to the recreation center. The recreation center was huge. It had about 3 full court games going on in the main arena. I was used to playing in elementary schools where the court length is a bit smaller than the normal full court, so this was refreshing. After about 15 minutes of warming up, we started the game. I was a bit nervous because I was already sore from the day before, but I made a scoring impact early on in the game. The key word is early because even though my team was leading by 15 points in the first half of the game, we lost by 30 at the end. These guys were so fast and the game was 1.5 hours long. Whenever I had the chance, I tried to slow the tempo of the game, but usually it was a run and gun type of deal. Regardless, it was fun and I had a great workout. I hope I can play competitively again.

Today, I am sore as hell, but I love this feeling even though I can't move very well. I hope I can keep this level of activity up so I can lose the excess pounds and finally be in shape again.

I don't know Karate but I know CRRAAZZYY

Its official, it seems anyone can make a hit music CD in Japan.

Billy Blanks... yes..him again and his hit single.. yes I said it, hit single, its actually in the top 50 songs in Japan "Boom Boom Wonderland"



My personal favorite line of this well thought out song was "Lets stay strong like Tokyo tower"....

I'm inspired. Who cares about technology? Be on the lookout in 2008. I'm going to hit Japan with my debut single, "Hairy Back". Its like Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back, actually its going to be exactly like his song except I will replace the Sexy with Hairy. You guys better start lining in front of HMV now to get your copy! Yeah.. its gonna be off da chain.

Holla at your boy.

Double D

Sling Drama

So the biggest game of the NFL season which included my Boyz taking on the Pats came on today. There was a lot of hype the whole week from the fact that two unbeaten teams were going to duke it out this late in the season. Even though I have Tivo and already programmed to record this game, I wanted to watch it live. So I woke up early for the 16:15 EDT start time. Of course, being Mr. Unlucky, when I started my Mac and clicked on my slingmedia, it said that it could not locate my box. My initial reaction was "What the hell?". I've never seen this error before and out of the hundred of times that I use my slingbox, why does it have to muck up now. Fortunately for me, my little bro who is the keeper of the box was able to help me out and reset the boxes and re-configured the settings. The result was that I was finally able to watch the game, but I missed most of the first half. It was a forgettable first half as the Dallas offense only had the ball for a few minutes and did very little. The beginning of the second half of the game was exciting where I saw the Boys take the lead for the first time but at the end the Pats were too strong and blew out my beloved Dallas Cowboy team out of the water. I was really disappointed. I hope this bad start is not going to be the theme for me this week. So far, I've not been in the best health which I have already gone to the doctor today and I have a soccer tournament and the full court basketball later in the week. I have got to stay strong and stay positive... stay positive....

Time flies

Ever since I got to Japan, I have been disoriented with time. I found myself countless times asking myself which day of the week it is, especially during Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. They all get jumbled up and I usually mistaken each day with the other. I guess when I was living in the states, each day had its own identity. Monday was the first day of the week and everyone at work complained how they wish it was still Sunday. Also this was when Football discussions would be at its heaviest talking about the games the day before and the game coming up later in the evening. Tuesday was when traffic during rush hour would start getting heavier for the week and it was also known as American Idol night. Wednesday was hump day when everyone at work would start making plans for the weekend. Thursday would usually be the first night of the week that I would go out, like eat at a restaurant or meet a buddy for coffee. Friday, rush hour in the morning was light but it started earlier in the evening because everyone had the same idea in "starting the weekend early and avoiding the evening rush", this is also when I get to look forward for extracurricular activities with my family or friends. In Japan, everyday besides the weekend seems to be exact versions of each other. No day really stands out, except for Monday and Friday for the start and end of the weekend. At work, no one really talks about what they do outside of work, so conversations tend to be the same each and every day. Besides a really good drama season, there are no television programs that establishes the day of the week like in America. I'm not complaining about this, because it just makes the weekend come by a lot quicker but at the same time, I feel that time is flying by too quickly that I can't stop and slow down to enjoy where I'm at and reflect on various things.

In other news, I saw 1408 the other day. I am usually a wimp when it comes to horror movies, but U.S. horror flicks do not affect me as much as Japanese ones. Actually, besides the Exorcist, I can't really remember a movie that screwed me up. I was into the movie for about two-thirds of the way, but it got kind of predictable and lame towards the end. I thought the idea of the movie was good, almost like the 7th Guest (A horror game I used to play when the CD-ROM just came out for computers and I was the first of my friends to own a double-speed cd-rom drive on my 486.. ok.. I'm talking geek.. I'll stop) but the movie strayed away from the scary characteristics of the room and its past victims, to try develop John Cusack's character, which took away from the scariness. In Japanese horror flicks, they tend to focus more on the ghosts and why they exist rather than their living counterparts. That is why I boycott those movies in order to have nightmare-less nights =)

Pictures from this past weekend

Early October update

October is finally here. I can see the Halloween promos in the store windows. The weather has been noticeably cooler with the exception of yesterday and today which have felt more like summer. Along with the change of seasons, there have been changes with me as well. I have officially been fully transferred as a Japanese employee. Previously, I was getting paid and everything going to my US accounts, but now I look forward to using cash more than my CC. It is just in time also, because I am starting to go low on the flow and unfortunately, a lot of places especially the small establishments that I go to during lunch time do not accept CC. So this is very good timing. I have moved desk locations again, by recommendation of the HR manager to a more social location in the office. Now I am starting to get to know a lot of the employees and have established a few lunch buddies which is great, but also contributes for my dwindling cash resource. I am starting to get more friendly with the HR guy, which I would have never imagined after the whole debacle that occurred earlier this year. As far as my work load, things are smooth sailing. There have been a few occasions where I lost a weekend due to working, this may also include tomorrow, where I am scheduled for a conference bridge in the afternoon for a production implementation. I am hoping that the event will go smoothly so I will be able to finish before my friend arrives to Tokyo, but with this position, its always hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Later this month I will look forward in being a sports maniac. There is another soccer tournament scheduled and I have also planned to play with one of my co-workers and his team in Saitama. This will be the first time I'll be playing basketball in an actual team environment. All my other basketball sessions at the local community center consisted of just playing 2 on 2 or 3 on 3. So I'm excited to play a real full court game.

Other than that, nothing else really going on. I was requested to put more pictures, but I looked through my cell phone and did not find anything interesting. I promise I'll be more camera happy and post some pictures in my next entry. So please stay tuned!

Fall approaching

The air is starting to get cooler and the humidity is fading. This is a sign that fall is approaching. I did not say that it is here because I am still sweating through my clothes during the daytime. I can't wait until the temperatures are consistently below 24 Celsius so that I don't have to worry about being drenched when I arrive at the office.

Fall is also the sign that the windows are opened a lot more often in order to receive the refreshing cool breeze. Unfortunately, having the windows opened made me realize how loud and obnoxious my neighbors are. I think two guys live next door to me. Not really sure if they are just friends or a "couple". I've met them a few times in the hallway, but all we did was exchange Konichiwa. These guys love to get drunk at night time between 1 - 3 am, especially in the weekends and just yell at each other. In the day time, they love to sing what appears to be Japanese show tunes, hence the "couple" possibility. I have no objections to their lifestyle, but I would like for them to have some respect, especially when they have their windows opened. We share a balcony, which is separated by a thin wall, so sounds are easily heard. Also my balcony entrance and theirs are just feet apart. I am very respectful and lower my volume when I have the windows opened and know they are at home. In Japan, it seems that direct confrontation is a "No-no" so usually I have to get a 3rd party involved (land lord/maintenance dude) in order to indirectly tell them to "Shut The.....front door".

Yep, fun times.

Busy weekend

The weekend was kicked off with a work sponsored nomikai (drinking party). I got a chance to meet more coworkers as well as enjoy some good food and drinks. The party started from the office where food was ordered in, and moved to an izakaya in Shinjuku. The VP of the company, the primary reason why the nomikai was held wanted to end the night with a crazy time at karaoke.

Saturday was my sports filled day. I was suppose to play both basketball in the morning and soccer in the evening. Unfortunately, but as expected, I had a huge hangover. I could barely move and felt very sick. I ended up bypassing the basketball session in order to recover in time to participate in the soccer tournament. The tournament went better than I expected. Our team ended up in 3rd place, with less players than we had in our previous try where we placed at the bottom. Afterwards, my friends and I enjoyed a nice dinner of yaki-niku. The yaki-niku restaurant was one of the best I have ever eaten. Though, expensive, the meat was so soft and tender that it literally melted in my mouth when I ate it. It gave me memories of my first time eating kobe beef. Yep, it was that good!





Sunday, I went to Yokohama. The visit was well worth it. I had the opportunity re-visit some of the sites and meet people that I have not seen in a few years as well as reminiscing memories of when I first came to Japan.



It was a great but busy weekend.

Kunoichi

Today I was stoked to find out that Kunoichi or, "women of ninja warrior" as we know it from the states on television tonight. I never watched this show when I first lived in Japan, and I never had any interest in Japanese crazy variety shows but last year, G4 introduced me to Ninja Warrior (Sasuke as its known in Japan) and later "Women of Ninja Warrior". Ever since they showed the first marathon, I have been hooked. its not much the athletic abilities that intrigue me, but the type of contestants that compete to the show and their wacky falls that they endure through the obstacle courses. I even started keeping up with the athletes and their progress through the ever challenging Midori Yama. Like the one guy who works at his local government office and built a replica of the course in his own backyard. Every time they show that course, I keep thinking of how similar it looks to the training grounds you see in the Taliban propaganda video clips. Yeah, I know, I iz krazy, anyways, so when they showed the show tonight and fact that I was actually watching the most recent version (they only show the previous years versions in the U.S.), I was really excited. Since I'm now living in Japan, I definitely want to try to go watch a taping of Sasuke or Kunoichi one day. I know I sound like a maniac by revealing my obsession of this show, and though it may be somewhat true, I am actually a normal average joe... I swear!

The hilarious thing so far this year

I know I may be about a week late and most of you already know about this, but I just saw this clip and I could not stop laughing. I know people may feel sorry for her, but she came on another talk show to defend herself but "personally" for me she failed to change my perception about her. Anyways, this has to be the best clip of the year:

Weekend Recap

Saturday –

Met up J and A at Shinjuku. The last time we saw each other, I was riding my bicycle back home from their apartment after our last time we all hung in Yonago over 3 years ago. When I saw them coming out of Yodabashi camera, I felt like I was transported back in time. Both of them did not change at all. Actually, that is how it was for almost all of my friends that I met again in Tokyo. It seems, phyiscally everyone is stuck in time, which is a good thing. Must be all the fresh fish that is keeping everyone young. Anyways, we went to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant in Lunime. My coworkers recommended me this place as being very authentic and good. I made a quest to find a decent Pho place in Tokyo since I arrived and unfortunately the quest is still continuing. The food at the restaurant was decent but it catered heavily to the Japanese taste. The Pho combo I had looked almost like Ramen except for it had rice noodles. The soup didn't have any beef but it had the same cut of pork as you would find in ramen. It didn't even come with lemon, herb leaves and bean sprouts. Also I couldn't find any hoisin sauce which I usually overindulge myself when I eat Pho. Needless to say, the Pho and restaurant was subpar, though I did notice that there were Vietnamese people making the food. Anyways, back to the min topic, so we all talked for a good amount of time just shooting crap and catching up. Afterwards, we headed to Aoyama and Omotesando to go to chill and eat cake at a café. The place we went to was called Anniversary.





The cakes and tea we had were amazing. We later walked to Shibuya to look at some more shops before heading to my neck of the woods to eat dinner and end the night with karaoke! Yep, the infamous karaoke. I haven't gone in so long, actually never gone since I arrived in Tokyo so I was really excited in going this time.



As expected, we ended the night with a bunch of laughter and embarrassing but memorable moments.

Sunday –

I had to wake up early to head to Kawasaki to catch my friend's American football game. It was the first game of the season. Going to Kawasaki was not so bad, but I did have difficulty in trying to find which way the stadium was since the station had multiple exits. I failed to identify which exit I had to take when I was looking up for the directions earlier. I tried to use my super human directional instincts but as usual, they were useless. I ended up taking a taxi to the stadium. I was a bit late but I made it to the beginning of the second quarter. This is the first football game I ever saw in Japan so it was refreshing.



My friend's team ended up winning the game by 6 points. Actually the score was 6 – 0. The kicker failed to score on the PAT. After the game, I joined him and his team to a victory yaki-niku extravaganza at a local restaurant. Everyone pigged out, including yours truly. This was the first time I ate raw beef liver. It was interesting. It was a good time but I was so stuffed from the food that I couldn't do anything else. I headed home afterwards just to crash and sleep until I had to get ready for work today.

Chewy Chicken on a stick

Its Friday here and another week has passed, well almost. This week was pretty busy at work. We had a few complications and I found myself working several hours straight without a lunch and bathroom break. Yesterday was an exception. Things were slow and I was bored out of my mind. I did manage to talk to a few coworkers which eased the boredom, but most of the time, I was just reading up on some random Japanese tutorial sites. Last night I went to Ebisu. I enjoyed good conversations and good food. I ate at some random yakitori (pieces of various parts of the chicken on a stick) restaurant. The majority of the food was was pretty good but I did have some difficulty in chewing and swallowing a few of the pieces. I was not really sure exactly which part of the chicken those pieces were since I let my friend order everything. Afterwards, I headed to Shibuya to meet Mr. A&F before heading home. I was very surprised to find that the trains were really crowded even though it was around 11:30 ish on a Thursday night. It felt almost like the morning rush except there were more drunk people.

I'm pretty stoked for tomorrow. I'll be meeting friends that I have not seen in 3 years when I last lived in Yonago. I'm hoping the weather will cooperate tomorrow. I've seen mixed forecasts indicating rain or just cloudy. I hope it will be the latter.

Bombed in Shinjuku

On my way to the office, I usually have to pass a half mile corridor to get to my office. The walk is not so bad because it has a skywalk, like the ones you find at the airport. Well anyways, I was walking on the skywalk minding my own business and I noticed a disheveled old business man about 20 feet ahead of me. I see plenty of those everyday, so I thought nothing of it. Well as I drew closer to him, we were both walking but he was walking a bit slower than my pace, a vile and heinous oder infiltrated my breathing space. The guy busted some major ass and I was the first of the dark cloud's casualties. I couldn't believe that a smell like that existed in a human's bowel. It was like smelling horse manure, who just ate really bad Chinese food, up close, on a very hot and humid day. It was so bad that my eyes started watering. Before my vomit started to come through my esophagus, I took a deep breath and picked up my pace to pass the nasty guy. To my dismay, he picked up his pace as well and didn't let me pass him. I got frustrated and got off the skywalk and finished walking through the corridor skywalkless. I will never forget that guy or that wretched smell. If I ever see him again, I'm going to be prepared and have a bottle of Febreeze handy to spray that sucker down.

Earthquake Machine

On my way to the office, I heard loud noises coming from where the taxi stands were located. I turned my head to see what was going on but a small crowd had gathered and blocked my view. I detoured from my normal route to check out what the deal was.




It was an earthquake machine and volunteers were asked to try it out. In return, they would give the volunteers a small gift bag. I saw one run through and fear ran down my spine. The machine shook the volunteers so hard that they could barely stand. It was like an amusement park ride gone terribly wrong. The realization that I live in a place that is suppose to get the "big" one soon slapped me hard in the face. The phrase that I heard from the Discovery Channel a few months ago about Tokyo as, "the city waiting to die" kept playing over and over in my head. I mean I have already experienced some earthquakes in my short time here, but they were nothing. Most of them I didn't even know were earthquakes until I had to confirm with other people that they were indeed earthquakes and not another case of my indigestion. I know I may be over thinking the situation, but coming from the Washington D.C. area where earthquake is not even a part of our vocabulary, gun violence is less frightening than the ground moving uncontrollably. I really hope that I will not get shaken up like a martini when the "big" one does hit Tokyo.

Raining

Doh! I spoke too soon. It is now raining in Tokyo. From the weather forecast I saw earlier, it was suppose to stay hot/humid and partly sunny until next week. Oh well, I guess you can rely on the Japanese meteorologists the same way you can about the U.S. ones.

Slow times

Hot and humid days. This has been the theme for the past 2 weeks in Tokyo. Actually I believe last week Japan broke several high temperature records. I haven't seen any rain in weeks now, which I am not complaining but it would be nice for the temperature to go down so I don't have to abuse my AC units everyday. I haven't seen my electric bill yet, but I bet its through the roof.

As for my life, these days have been pretty quiet for me. This week was suppose to be really busy for me at work, but the projects that was suppose to go live got canceled due to miscommunication with the testing and deployment teams. I have taken advantage of this slow opportunity and the fact that I am allowed to work from home to focus on my Japanese studying. Yep, I started my Japanese "boot camp" recently. I got myself a 3 level intensive Japanese course. I never took any formal Japanese classes before, so even though I can somewhat communicate with the locals, my language ability is really rough around the edges. I am hoping this will assist me in building my foundation with the language. I also recently bought a pearly white Nintendo DS to help me study Japanese. I bought this elementary school game with it that helps me with writing and reading Kanji, the Chinese character part of Japanese writing. I found that this game coupled with my electronic dictionary have been effective in increasing my vocabulary.

I also had the recent opportunity to ball at the community center near my apartment. It was not bad but the best part was that it was FREE, which is really hard to find in Tokyo. There were two older guys and a couple of ghetto junior high school kids at the court shooting the ball around. I started out shooting with the older fellas. They were ok, but I ended up getting rejected when they telepathically decided to play 1 on 1 with each other. It was so random, I mean, they didn't speak to each other at all when they were laying their bricks and all of a sudden they were going at it while I was left watching on the sidelines like young English orphan in front of a candy store. I ended up intruding the junior high school kids on the other side of the court. Yeah, they were smaller than me and much younger, but I didn't care, I just wanted to play hehe. I asked to play 2 on 2 and they happily agreed. One kid thought he was a part of one of those And-1 videos, always doing spin moves and dribbling behind his back while he went to the basket. I have to admit, he had some pretty good dribbling skills for a junior high school kid, but his shooting was really weak. I on the other hand was rusty with everything. My shots were flat, dribbling skills were non existent but the worst thing was my stamina or lack thereof. These kids were running circles around me, but I was not about to let them win. My team did end up winning, by a large margin too, but it was mainly thanks to my team mate. I was glad that I ended playing with them rather than the older guys.

On a last note to this post, my working from home streak will end this Friday when I have to go to the office. There will be a big reshuffle in terms of cubicle locations, and I have to take my stuff and move to another part of the office. I was just getting used to my location too. The best part was that I was only steps away from the break room where I would go frequently to get free tea and juice. Oh well, I guess good things can't last forever.

ラーメン (Ramen)

How to order ramen:

Welcome party recap and food news

Yesterday, I had my welcome party. I was pretty much left in the dark on the actual plans until 10 minutes before. The whole day I was pretty busy with work and skipped lunch. It turns out that skipping that meal was a bad mistake.





The party was held at a restaurant called 音音 (Sound Sound) in Shinjuku. The restaurant was about a 10 minute walk from my office building. As you can see from the pictures above, the place was pretty elegant. I came with the first wave of people. So we started the night early. I let my co-workers order my food and drinks. This proved to be a fatal mistake. I was handed beer after beer. the food that was ordered was non-oily and non-absorbent. This combination started my demise for the night. When the second wave of people came, they quickly ordered Japanese sake. Of course in Japanese culture, you cannot refuse anything that is given to me. The guy offering me the sake was very happy go lucky and was very eager to find out how strong I was. By the time the 3rd and final wave of people came to the party, the volume of sake increased and my happy go lucky friend soon started to order various sake from the different regions of Japan. The one from Aomori prefecture was like a dagger to the heart. I was quickly finding myself laughing to every joke regardless if I really understood it or not. I also found myself speaking Japanese, not knowing if I really made any sense. Yep, I was trashed. There was suppose to be a second party at a club in Roppongi, but I could barely walk, so I said I couldn't do a nijikai and we all went home. I honestly don't know how I made it home. I did take the train home, but it is a fuzzy memory to me.

This morning, I was paying the price. My head was spinning and my stomach was in shambles. Thank god I have the opportunity to work from home, or else I would have had to use a sick day. I was happy that I survived my first nomikai as a "salary man". I know there will be more of this in the near future, so I have to be more smart about it next time. I definitely need to eat bigger meals beforehand and not to mix any drinks.

In other news, I finally went to a kaiten sushi near my house.



Oh yes, Kaiten sushi. I love sushi, especially when it is cheap. I'm always on a quest to find the best kaiten sushi. The quality at this place was decent, but that was because I was comparing it to the quality found in rural Japan. The service was outstanding and the chef was really friendly and talkative. They even gave a 10% off coupon for the next time. I was impressed with the service and will be coming back.

I also tried out a Thai restaurant near my apartment. The restaurant is located in a small alley. The only reason why we found the restaurant was because my friend spotted the Thai flag hanging outside. The restaurant also had the menu outside. The price was not so reasonable. I was going to try the restaurant sooner or later, so I decided to indulge myself and take a chance. I was greeted by a Thai lady with really bad Japanese. I knew I would be getting authentic Thai food so I ordered a lot. It turned out to be a mistake. The food was shit. The spring roll appetizer was really small and bland. The curry was too oily and Tom yum soup lacked flavor. I was very disappointed but at least I know now and will not be going back to that place.

Finally, I found a community center near my place, actually about a 15 minute walk that has an indoor basketball court. The best part is that they do not charge an entrance free. The big draw back though is that the court is only opened Monday through Saturday from 12:00pm to 1:00pm. Luckily, I work at home some days, so I think I may drop in when things are slow hehe. Now I just need to buy a basketball and get some friends to play with and I'm set. I guess the latter is easier said than done. Is there anyone in the Setagaya ward of Tokyo who likes to play basketball and is free during 12 - 1??? Please leave a comment :D

Yakiniku

I finally indulged my 焼き肉 (BBQ) craving at Yoga today. Like I always say Good food + Good People = Good Times. I'm so full right now that I can barely move, yet I feel so satisfied. This time, I also tried different types of meat that I never ate before. One of them was raw beef mixed with egg, pork tongue, and pork intestines. Yeah it sounds nasty, but it was actually pretty good. Being a bit drunk beforehand also helped in my willingness to eat them hehe.

Most people have a day off tomorrow and some even a week due to Obon, but I have to work. Since I follow U.S. rules, I don't observe any Japanese holidays. I will choose to work at home for tomorrow and maybe the day after. The only day I really have to go to work is Thursday, because that will be the day of my welcome party. But I think I may go to work atleast 2 or 3 times this week. I just hope it doesn't get too hot, because that will definitely factor into my decision whether to go or not hehe.

I also have to open up my bank account tomorrow. This will be my 3rd attempt in opening up a bank account. I hope I can finally accomplish this task.

Soccer recap and Odaiba

I will cut right to the results first. We lost the soccer tournament. We tied a few games and lost the rest. The tournament was fun, but the fact that we were playing on a clear sunny day and 98 degree weather turned my stamina into dust, not that I had great endurance in the first place. Every time I stepped into the field, my shoes would start burning. I was really afraid that my shoes would start smoking when I started running. The teams that were at the tournament were supposedly beginners, but I had my doubts when they showed up with matching uniforms. It seemed like we were the only team that didn't have proper uniforms. Especially me, I was wearing my running shoes and basketball shorts. I didn't even have the proper socks and had to buy them at the store near the field. We were the only team as well that didn't have a real elaborate strategy. Our only rule was to "run and pass". As I mentioned before, we managed to tie a few games, one of them was I think was to the number 1 team that day. Our reward for playing so hard was to indulge ourselves at a 焼き肉 (BBQ) restaurant but because we headed out at an odd time (after lunch hours but before dinner hours) all the restaurants were closed. We ended up going to a Chinese-chain diner instead. I had a great time, and would definitely do it again. I definitely need to get into better shape though. I also need to get myself some proper soccer shoes. I am really sore right now and I can barely walk, but I feel great.

I've managed not to be lazy and have taken and uploaded some new pictures. So to end this post, here are some that I have taken in the past few days:



Though a bit fuzzy, this is a picture of the krispy kreme doughnut shop in Shinjuku. Its kind of hard to see but there is a huge line just to get into the shop. It honestly looked like one of those lines you see at an amusement park to one of the most popular rides. I like krispy kremes, but I have never seen a line like that before just to eat one. Also note that this was taken at about 9pm on a Thursday night, which is usually a less crowded off-peak time. I can't imagine how long the line is during peak hours.




I went to odaiba last night to see the fireworks. Here is a picture of the Fuji TV studio. Its a unique building and the sunsetting made the backdrop nice. No other real reason why I took this picture.




Here is the famous ferris wheel in odaiba. Its been a few years since I last saw this. It brought back some 懐かし feelings.




Finally the fireworks. I didn't go up close to the fireworks fearing the massive crowd by the sea, but I ended up getting a satisfactory view.