The heat is still strong in Tokyo and from weather forecasts, it appears that it won't let up any time soon. The electric bill last month was double the normal amount. The AC units in my place are literally on all the time. I wonder when Fall will finally come in and relieve these hazy, hot and humid days.
In other news, I am looking forward to meeting my old friend since junior high this Friday. He will be in the Tokyo area for business. I haven't seen this guy in years so I can't wait to catch up. There is also a planned picnic on Tama river this Saturday with friends so my weekend will be action packed.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Road trip to Tottori
Just came back from an exhausting road trip to and from Tottori. During the Obon holiday period, traffic was no joke and there were traffic jams all over the place. I enjoyed my trip back to the Yonago area. Like before, things have changed but for the most part, the city I once lived in still remains the same. Here are the pics!
This is a view of one of the many parking / service areas that I stopped at during the trip. The best thing about taking road trips is stopping at these points to get refreshed, eat some of their specialty foods and in this case, take in the nice view.
Finally in Yonago with my old friend Mount Daisen in the background.
Oh yes, Sushi! Fresh AND cheap sushi. One of the main reasons that motivate myself to go back to Yonago!
Besides Sushi, I love eating tako yaki at Tako hachi. I was relieved to see that this place did not follow the typical restaurant trend in Yonago and was still up and running. I was also glad to see the same worker there I have been accustomed to seeing since I lived there over 7 years ago!
During Obon, many people go back to their hometowns to visit family members who have passed away. Though a bit somber, there are also many traditional activities that take place. For instance, a teenage sumo tourney!! I was surprised to see that the skinny guys did very well.
Also was able to attend a Matsuri. I love Matsuri!!!
Day time street view.
Best part of Matsuri is the food. I pigged out like crazy. Especially the friend chicken. Loved how this stand managed to make a famous fried chicken icon their own.
The name of the matsuri was burned on the hillside. Pretty amazing sight which unfortunately, this picture could not capture.
I was also able to get out of Tottori and went to check out the German theme park in Okayama-ken. I was expecting a lot more when I first heard that this place existed. Unfortunately, the only thing German I found though was the beer and sausages.
This is a view of one of the many parking / service areas that I stopped at during the trip. The best thing about taking road trips is stopping at these points to get refreshed, eat some of their specialty foods and in this case, take in the nice view.
Finally in Yonago with my old friend Mount Daisen in the background.
Oh yes, Sushi! Fresh AND cheap sushi. One of the main reasons that motivate myself to go back to Yonago!
Besides Sushi, I love eating tako yaki at Tako hachi. I was relieved to see that this place did not follow the typical restaurant trend in Yonago and was still up and running. I was also glad to see the same worker there I have been accustomed to seeing since I lived there over 7 years ago!
During Obon, many people go back to their hometowns to visit family members who have passed away. Though a bit somber, there are also many traditional activities that take place. For instance, a teenage sumo tourney!! I was surprised to see that the skinny guys did very well.
Also was able to attend a Matsuri. I love Matsuri!!!
Day time street view.
Best part of Matsuri is the food. I pigged out like crazy. Especially the friend chicken. Loved how this stand managed to make a famous fried chicken icon their own.
The name of the matsuri was burned on the hillside. Pretty amazing sight which unfortunately, this picture could not capture.
I was also able to get out of Tottori and went to check out the German theme park in Okayama-ken. I was expecting a lot more when I first heard that this place existed. Unfortunately, the only thing German I found though was the beer and sausages.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Crazy heat
Man, its been crazy hot here. The AC at my home has been blasting nonstop for the past few weeks. A guy who I play basketball with said he just bought an AC unit and got it installed yesterday. YESTERDAY??? I thought that was insane that he survived this long without AC, especially at night.
Since the start of the heat wave, I basically stopped playing basketball outside. This past weekend though a couple of people convinced me to give it a shot. Man.. I sort of regret I did that now. My game wasn't bad but I only managed to play a few games before I felt myself suffering from heat exhaustion. It was cloudy earlier when I originally agreed, however once we arrived to the court, the bright sun made its debut and burned everything in its way, including my now damaged dark skin.
Not being able to play basketball every week and some convincing by a couple people brought me back to my old basketball team. I played my first game in over half a year with them recently. It was actually pretty good. The system changed a bit and there were not as many people as before. We were running more games than just doing drills which is the way I like it. I am happy so far and I think I will continue to join the practices from now on.
Finally, obon is coming up in almost 2 weeks and I'll be taking some time off and heading west to Tottori. I haven't been there in about a year and am looking forward to it. I would say I can't wait to eat super fresh sushi at reasonable prices, but I had a sushi explosion yesterday at a local kaiten sushi. The only thing I am not looking forward to is the super long drive in potentially bad holiday traffic there...
Since the start of the heat wave, I basically stopped playing basketball outside. This past weekend though a couple of people convinced me to give it a shot. Man.. I sort of regret I did that now. My game wasn't bad but I only managed to play a few games before I felt myself suffering from heat exhaustion. It was cloudy earlier when I originally agreed, however once we arrived to the court, the bright sun made its debut and burned everything in its way, including my now damaged dark skin.
Not being able to play basketball every week and some convincing by a couple people brought me back to my old basketball team. I played my first game in over half a year with them recently. It was actually pretty good. The system changed a bit and there were not as many people as before. We were running more games than just doing drills which is the way I like it. I am happy so far and I think I will continue to join the practices from now on.
Finally, obon is coming up in almost 2 weeks and I'll be taking some time off and heading west to Tottori. I haven't been there in about a year and am looking forward to it. I would say I can't wait to eat super fresh sushi at reasonable prices, but I had a sushi explosion yesterday at a local kaiten sushi. The only thing I am not looking forward to is the super long drive in potentially bad holiday traffic there...
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Summer fireworks and festivals
The best part of the summer for me is when the rainy season is over and the summer festivals begin. Unfortunately this period is usually the hottest time of the year and mix in some high humidity and you get a yucky combination. This summer has been especially bad with day time highs averaging 37 degrees Celsius. I honestly cannot keep the AC off. Anyways, this past weekend I went to check out the festival and fireworks in Chofu. The fireworks were awesome but the food that I got from the different stalls were not so impressive. I plan to visit a couple more festivals and see more fireworks in the coming weeks. I am definitely enjoying this time of year. To end off this post, here are a couple of pictures and a video via my iPhone for your enjoyment!
If it is cut off, you can check it out on my youtube page by clicking on Chofu Fireworks 20100724
If it is cut off, you can check it out on my youtube page by clicking on Chofu Fireworks 20100724
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Tohoku Trip
It was really nice to take an extended vacation. Unfortunately it is a national holiday in Japan now, however I am back at work. Anyways, my vacation involved taking a road trip to the Tohoku region where I went as far north as Iwate-ken. Other than that I took it easy in Tokyo and just enjoyed not looking at my work laptop though I must admit that I did take peaks on my BlackBerry from time to time. Sometimes, I wish my work never gave me that phone.
Matsushima bay is considered one of the most scenic places in Japan.
Did a brief stop in Fukushima.
In Sendai.... cow tongue never tasted so good!!!!
Checked out the Pacific coast line from Miyagi-ken. Too bad the weather wasn't perfect.
Appi in Iwate-ken. Great time there!
Funky trees.
Nice park in Iwate which sort of reminded me of Inokashira Park in my area.
Matsushima bay is considered one of the most scenic places in Japan.
Did a brief stop in Fukushima.
In Sendai.... cow tongue never tasted so good!!!!
Checked out the Pacific coast line from Miyagi-ken. Too bad the weather wasn't perfect.
Appi in Iwate-ken. Great time there!
Funky trees.
Nice park in Iwate which sort of reminded me of Inokashira Park in my area.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Vacation and Apps
Man.. I'm finally going to take a vacation longer than a few days starting this Friday. Its been actually about a year since I've taken an extended vacation. Pretty crazy actually. I will be heading to northern Japan. I've always traveled East to West in Japan so I'm looking forward to seeing what the Touhoku region is all about.
I will also be making sure to take lots of pictures with my new phone. Speaking of that, I have been "app store crazy" buying all different kinds of apps including this one photo app. It was much cooler than the default photo application on the phone, but a bit slower. Unfortunately, I found a bug where when taking photos using the flash the entire application would freeze and you would have to exit and re-launch the app to continue to take pictures. I e-mailed the developers and surprisingly they e-mailed me back promptly. It was nice to see this kind of response especially for a 1 dollar app. I actually became one of their beta testers. I was helping them test out their new fixes throughout the weekend, however their latest fix seem to have solved the flash problem but it was buggy everywhere else. I pointed this out to them but they haven't responded since. I hope they do soon because I would love to take some photos using their app during my upcoming trip but at this point its almost unusable due to the bugs. I will probably contact them if I don't hear back in the next 24 hours asking if they completed their fixes into their final release. Hopefully all will be good and I'll be able to post some nice pictures when I get back.
I will also be making sure to take lots of pictures with my new phone. Speaking of that, I have been "app store crazy" buying all different kinds of apps including this one photo app. It was much cooler than the default photo application on the phone, but a bit slower. Unfortunately, I found a bug where when taking photos using the flash the entire application would freeze and you would have to exit and re-launch the app to continue to take pictures. I e-mailed the developers and surprisingly they e-mailed me back promptly. It was nice to see this kind of response especially for a 1 dollar app. I actually became one of their beta testers. I was helping them test out their new fixes throughout the weekend, however their latest fix seem to have solved the flash problem but it was buggy everywhere else. I pointed this out to them but they haven't responded since. I hope they do soon because I would love to take some photos using their app during my upcoming trip but at this point its almost unusable due to the bugs. I will probably contact them if I don't hear back in the next 24 hours asking if they completed their fixes into their final release. Hopefully all will be good and I'll be able to post some nice pictures when I get back.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Soooo close!!!
Watching the world cup games late at night during the work week was awesome, at least that is how I felt before struggling to wake up for work a few hours later. The tournament is far from over, but my world cup dreams were shattered when Japan barely lost to Paraguay last night. The feeling was worse than when the US team lost to Ghana in overtime. The Japanese had it in their grasp and it all came down to penalty shots. I knew from the way both teams were playing that as long as the Japanese players didn't go fancy with their penalty shots they had a very good chance to make all of them. However, Komano totally choked and decided to take that extra risk to shoot the ball so it would go right under the crossbar, instead it hit the cross bar and the goalie didn't have to do anything to get the miss. From that point, everyone knew it was over for Japan. I feel bad for the guy, but really, I felt worst for the other players like Tulio who gave their heart and soul to try to advance to the elite 8. Its a good thing Japan has banned guns in the country, because I'm pretty sure even though Japanese people won't outright admit it, they must be fuming pissed at Komano. I know I was. Oh well, this emotional roller coaster is what the World Cup is all about. It was really fun while it lasted and I will definitely miss going "Blue Samurai" crazy in Tokyo.
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