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.