The Ice Cold JAPAN Experience

This blog is now obsolete!

2010-03-29T07:24:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last few months teaching myself HTML, CSS, PHP and MySQL - enough, in fact, to have coded a blog from scratch!

Please find any future updates at the following URL:

http://icecoldmax.nonstopbonen.com/

Just thought I'd post something auspicious

2010-02-23T06:53:00.000-08:00

As of February 21st, 2010, I am a member of a globe cover band!

Seeing as I came to Japan with a dream of being a musician, and globe being my favourite band, I figure it's about time something like this happened!

Amazing how it happened 3 days before the 3rd anniversary of my arrival in Japan...

Ah... finally...

Only in Japan...

2009-07-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

Pepsi Shiso has come and (apparently?) gone. Now it's Coke's turn.

I'll give you the tip: Pepsi Shiso tasted like shit. And green tea Coke tastes exactly like Coke. So there you have it.

New Bike!

2009-06-24T00:59:00.000-07:00

Bought myself a new bike the other day for 17,900 yen. It goes like a rocket!

What I don't understand is how the speed changer works. It has three 'gears' but the chain never moves, instead there's some kind of mechanism on the rear axel that controls it all. Anyone know how this works?

Li Yuchun and Yao Ming... Separated at birth??

2008-10-15T08:03:00.001-07:00

Some amazing evidence regarding what is most likely China's best kept genetic engineering secret has been revealed today. China's 'Super Girl' Competition (超级女声) winner Li Yuchun (李宇春) and Houston Rockets superstar Yao Ming look disturbingly similar when their photos are juxtaposed for comparison.

The following photos are presented for your own comparison:

It is completely reasonable to deduce from these photos that China's cloning and genetic engineering experiments are going on now and most likely have been going on since before 1980, when Yao Ming (Codename: CCX-850912) was "born".

Do NOT give up. Do NOT give in. These experiments CAN be stopped. BE ACTIVE, SAVE THE WORLD.

Two-legged Jumping

2008-10-12T01:36:00.000-07:00

Went to the park again today and practiced 2-legged jumps. I discovered that the trick, much like being on a trampoline, is to keep your knees locked when you hit the ground. That way the spring absorbs all the energy, and also flings you back up nice and high. If you bend your knees the energy is lost and you don't get high at all.

Anyhow, here's today's video.

Two-legged jumps!

Some good news

2008-09-28T01:01:00.000-07:00

Huzzah! Today I went to the park to practice Powerising and after about 20 minutes of solid practice, I was finally able to do some two-legged jumps without falling over!!

No vids or pics today (I went alone), but if I improve enough to do something impressive, I'll make sure to get something. Anyhow, up and up from here!

I give up

2008-09-17T13:13:00.001-07:00

That's it.. Spore... I've had it with you.

I gave you a second chance, you know. I played you once and gave you a bad review but you know, I still wanted to play you. Well you just had to fuck it all up again didn't you.

Why, Spore? Why do you have to interrupt my well-thought-out plans every 30 seconds with some inane crap like one pirate ship threatening a planet of 10 bases set up with defense turrets? All I wanted to do was build up my cities on another planet, organise myself a bit more, but nope. EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME I try and do something I want to do in this game, you pull me away! It's like trying to have a conversation with someone while someone else constantly interrupts you by saying "Look at how boring I am!" and then running away as soon as you turn your head.

And not just that. What is with your missions? I have counted about four, and someone has pressed 'Shuffle Songs' on them:

1: Scan planet for life forms
2: Abduct someone or something
3: Laser some "infected" animals

...

Sorry, it's only three.

In all honesty, I WISH this game was actually good! But you know what? It's not. It's not at all well thought out technically (where are the god damn key commands?), nor does the fun last any longer than it takes for one to realise that they're just sitting there with little to no choice in anything, and that they're just at the whim of a pseudo-random number generator telling the game when to send the next wave of pissant pirates to their death above my base, while INSISTING on my presence every single god damn time. Over, and over, and over again. To put it simply, I hate being interrupted and I don't like having to click my mouse so many times!

I give up on you Spore. You make me glad I never paid for you.

My review of Spore

2008-09-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

Spore, the "sim-everything" from Will Wright, certainly was an ambitious project. Claiming to be the "jack of all games", it had a lot of promise! Well, for me the game that was full of promise seemed not to reach its full potential.

The game starts off promisingly. As with many games when you first load them up, it's always a little bit exciting. Then I realise that there's some kind of bug and the sound doesn't play correctly when coming through my MOTU828 audio interface. So, I try to quit to change the audio settings and the computer freezes. Even apple-tab doesn't work. NOTHING works, not even num lock. So, force power down... grr. I then try it again using headphones plugged straight into my macbook pro. This time silence. What the hell? I finally quit and restart it with the sound only coming out of the dinky macbook pro speakers. Oh well, it'll have to do.

The game consists of a number of different evolutionary stages, where the game changes at each point. The first stage is a 2D game where you swim around eating stuff (think Pacman). Then you evolve legs, go out of the water, and wander around beating up stuff and eating it. Then you make a tribe and it's a frighteningly simple RTS game. Then eventually you take over the planet and go to space where it's a space fighting/trading game. Sounds good, right?

Well yes, it DOES sound good. But the problem, and I'm not the only one to say it (and I can't be bothered finding a reference), is that each of these games are not good enough! For instance, the RTS stage is painfully simple, and even on the hardest difficulty it took me no more than 5 seconds to kill anything I could see. Before the space stage, the RTS stage appears to be the stage where one spends the most time, and to tell the truth, I think it is the most fun part of the game because...

The space stage is so unbelievably FRUSTRATING. You've got your home planet and your spaceship, and you have to colonise other planets by kidnapping and depositing plants and animals, collect various types of Spice for trading, and interact with other characters, making alliances and enemies as you quest towards the centre of the galaxy. Ok, sounds like Privateer, or countless other games I can't remember the names of. And hey, I LIKED those games, but Spore's version of it is so frustrating it was all I could do to stop from smashing my computer.

For 1 thing, the individual colonies on each planet, which are required to produce the spice that you'll need to trade, are painfully simple. You only have 4 choices of buildings - factories for money, houses for people to live in, entertainment of whatever time to make them happy, and turrets for defense. So EVERY city I made was 1 factory, 1 entertainment, 4 houses, and some turrets. Then, I realised that the turrets were COMPLETELY USELESS because every single time I was doing something else (like making one of the mind-numbingly repetitive trips to collect the spice from every planet individually (where's the fucking automation for that!??)), I'd get an "ALERT" saying that some hostiles were attacking one of my armed-to-the-teeth colonies and that they desperately require my attention. So I go and it's about 4 low-hit-point spaceships slowly flying over my city, not even attacking, and the turrets aren't shooting them down anyway. OK so I got to kill them, which was fun the first 10 times but how come EVERY SINGLE TIME I do something on the other side of the galaxy one of my apparently useless turret wielding 4-building colonies cry for help? One time I was bombing the crap out of one "enemy empire" on their home planet when I get an alert that these same guys have sent one peon to fly around in a fairly relaxed manner near one of my colonies, causing me to have to go back! So... fucking... frustrating.

Also:

1. Controls are stupid, and unchangeable (where's the reverse mouse Y-axis setting you fucks?)
2. Game is painfully simple, and then painfully frustrating.

Overall it looks nice and is kind of fun, cos you can create your own shit (which actually gets boring after about the 8th time), but I can't imagine it having a life longer than about 3 days.

Oh also the DRM is apparently stupid, but I wouldn't know.

Falling off the powerisers

2008-09-06T23:57:00.001-07:00

Well, I tried the two-foot jump, only to fall over! And then, well, couldn't get up.

More study of getting up unassisted required.

Don't laugh! (17mb QT)

First go on the 'risers!

2008-09-06T01:57:00.000-07:00

Went to the park to try out the powerisers for the first time. So much fun, although so very tiring. And I need to adjust them a bit to make them not rub in weird and painful places.

Also, a vid!

Ice Cold Max on the powerisers!

The Arrival

2008-09-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

After a brief scare, caused by the EMS tracking reports saying "Return to Sender - Address Incomplete" and the frantic, bad-Japanese phone call to the post office made by yours truly to correct the problem, my new toys have arrived :)

Everyone, meet the future cause of countless broken bones, sprained ankles and god knows what else:

They weigh about 4kg each. They came in a dented box that looked like it was about to fall apart, with no packaging around the individual units apart from some plastic sleeves on the springs and knee-cushion. Was it like that from the start? Or was it from the day it spent in Customs. Well, who knows. The units are intact. Now, I just have to wait until tomorrow to try them out! More photos to come!

Those Sneaky Chinese...

2008-09-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

I am awaiting the delivery of my Flying Jumpers from Hong Kong this week. After paying US$60 for express delivery, I was told to expect them 2 days after they were posted. Moreover, I was told they were posted on Saturday, i.e. 4 days ago.

After trying my EMS Tracking number in the Japanese EMS site and getting an "Item Not Found" response, I start getting a bit anxious. Then, after an oh-duh moment, I find the Chinese EMS webpage and put the code in there.

2008-09-02 20:20:00
HANGZHOU
Posting
　
2008-09-02 21:39:55
HANGZHOU
Arrival
at Sorting
Center
　
2008-09-02 22:35:25
HANGZHOU
Despatch
from Sorting Center

Those sneaky Chinese! They lied to me! It was only posted yesterday!

Argh, I can't wait for my jumping stilts!!

Digging up the causes of overtime work in Japan

2008-09-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

Very interesting article here about the Japanese work ethic. Their (over-)working has often appeared to Westerners as a sign of "Japanese Determination" or Diligence or whatever the hell you want to call it, but as I've told a number of people already, it's just that they are wildly inefficient, with no clear boundaries about their own responsibility or authority. That's what makes them work so long - it takes twice as long for anything to get done!

Still, I don't blame the individual. Even JPs who agree with this know that it's not that people WANT to work from 6am-11pm every day, but the system is so archaic and... well.. BROKEN... and, well, there's little they can do about it. In truth, I kind of feel sorry for them.

The lines demarcating an individual's authority are unclear, which means that the limits of responsibility are also unclear. Employees are never clearly instructed about their own authority and responsibility. It seems to me that the root of the problem of excessive work habits in Japan lies here. In an organization where the authority-responsibility structure is unclear, employees are unable to make their own decisions and must constantly refer to their superiors. But because these superiors are also unclear about their own authority, they can't make responsible decisions. Problems just get shuffled around and everyone ends up working longer hours.

Too right there. Take my experience the other day at a Tokyo Post Office (notorious for this kind of inefficiency). I went there to pay the fee for the yearly Japanese test I want to take this year. I had to pay, and then post the receipt with my application form by certified mail. So I go in, and there are two windows. One says "Postal Savings and Insurance", the other "Mail". So I go to the mail one.

"Can I pay this fee and post this off by certified mail please?"
"Oh sorry, you have to take a number and pay at the next window."
"But I want to post th..."
"Next window."

So I got the number. And waited. And waited and waited and waited. There were only about 10 customers in the whole place, and about 6 staff behind the counters. But only ONE staff member handling the waiting customers at the non-mail window. The frustrating thing was that the two women manning the completely unoccupied mail window were sitting there in some kind of eyes-open meditative state. I looked at them with a kind of "get off your fucking arse" look and one jumped to her feet and started rummaging through a folder of documents.

Pissed as I was, it was nearly my turn. Finally I get to the window.

"I am in a hurry, can I please pay this and post it by certified mail?"
"Well, you can pay it here, but you'll have to go to the Mail window to post it off."

Step 1: Pay fee.
Step 2: Left-strafe 20cm.
Step 3: Post.
Step 4: Facepalm.

Spending Time in Preparation

2008-08-30T04:28:00.001-07:00

For what, you may ask? Wait and see!

I hate television, especially Japanese television!

2008-08-08T22:48:00.000-07:00

I hate television.

Wait, let me clarify. I like some television shows. I hate sitting down in front of a television at a time set by the TV station, then to have my show interrupted by ads for things I won't buy.

I HAAAAAAAAAAATE it. So much that I NEVER do it.

"Oh, you should watch TV while you're in Japan, Dave!" says probably everyone, "You'll learn the culture!"

Yeah well I don't give a crap! I'm learning about Jap culture well enough by talking to people.

The point of this blog entry, however, is to vent my furious, burning anger after watching less than one hour of the Japanese Olympic coverage.

So last night, I pull out my dusty inherited TV from its covered-with-towels-and-boxes hidden spot (since I NEVER watch it anyway) and turn it on to NHK. Cool, the opening ceremony. Ok let's watch for a bit.

Ok that was pretty cool I guess. A bit boring now that all the people are just walking around. What's this? Everyone's coming out in different order? I wonder why that is... hmm what does the net say.. ooohhh it's because they're coming out in Chinese stroke-order order. Wow.. so.. CHINESE.

Ok well I'm bored now, I'm turning it off and going out drinking and Karaoke or something.

Wow! Drunk! Bed Time!

Ok I just woke up and remembered that the Olympics are on. Turn on the TV from bed and ... wow, Judo! Australian TV never had Judo! Watch watch watch...

Well this is OK I guess. But this isn't NHK, it's TV Tokyo. What does NHK have on? Oh, some drama. Weird, there are surely heaps of sports on... Oh well, back to TV Tokyo. Hmm, Judo still. How long is this going to... hey.. HEY.. WAIT A SECOND.. I've already SEEN this one. Why are they showing it again? Ok so some Japanese girl won a Judo match. But I saw this just before? Even the commentary is the same. They've just pressed 'replay' or something. Man what other sports are on... *checks internet*... beach volleyball!! God damn it Japs, show me some Europeans in bikinis!

Ok fuck this i'll just eat breakfast and maybe it'll change.

Nope, still Judo, although at least other countries are being shown now. Hmm surely NHK will have some coverage soon.. *switches channels*

WTF? The opening ceremony again? Come on, the olympic schedule says there are like a million different things on today!

Sigh, back to TV Tokyo, and... what's this? Oh for fuck's sake, JUDO again. A Japanese guy this time, who loses by one point. Flash back to the commentators (one poncy looking guy and 3 ditzy bitches) and they're discussing some loophole in the system where the best of the people who lose their judo matches have a chance to progress to the next round anyway. Typical Japs, can't win anything so they have to find some obscure way to get through. Ok finally these idiots have stopped talking, back to the action. .... Wait a minute... what? NO! It's that replay of the one Jap girl's Judo match AGAIN. For the FUCKING 3RD TIME THIS HOUR!!!

Here's an idea, I'll go to the NHK website and see if they have a tv program or broadcast schedule for it.. Ok here we are. Let's see. 1:50pm - Opening Ceremony replay, followed by an hour or so of Men's Gymnastics. News at 6:40-6:45, then...

JUDO.

The SAME FUCKING JUDO that's been on TV all day!!

FUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously the guy whose car is directly below my balcony would be well advised to park it across the street for then next few days, lest a moderately heavy CRT television comes falling from the sky!

Fun with Fireworks

2008-07-06T04:39:00.001-07:00

Step 1: Buy fireworks.
Step 2: Set camera to maximum exposure time.
Step 3: Set fire to tip of firework (hand-held type).
Step 4: Spin the arm that is holding the firework in the largest straight-armed circle you can.
Step 5: While spinning, get someone else to take the photo.

Result:

Oh it's urgent alright.

2008-06-11T09:39:00.001-07:00

More HDR fun

2008-04-02T23:28:00.000-07:00

In a similar vein to Tuesday's effort, here are some HDR photos of some more sakura and another bridge.

Bottled water - in a can!

2008-04-01T04:10:00.000-07:00

I know this can be found elsewhere on the internet, but I found it at my local supermarket and couldn't resist taking a photo of it. Good English, Jappy-japs!

Fun with HDR

2008-04-01T01:23:00.000-07:00

I decided today to try my hand at making some HDR photos. The photos are of some cherry blossoms in Sansuna Park, and the New Koto Bridge, both in Koto-ku, Tokyo. Software used was Photomatix Pro 3.0 - very simple and fast. Next time I'll give it a go with photoshop. For now, enjoy!

What the hell is this thing? A rubbish bin?

2008-03-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

Taken on the bridge near the Yumenoshima Marina, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

I knew I was fast, but not THAT fast.

2008-03-19T21:52:00.001-07:00

Take it as strong encouragement to learn touch typing. Alex, I'm talking to you.

100 words

Into the second year...

2008-02-26T06:16:00.000-08:00

And so the second year of the Ice Cold JAPAN Experience begins! As of Sunday, the 24th of February anyway. Here's hoping for another exciting and adventurous year in the Land of the Rising Sun!

これからも、よろしくね！

An icy day for the Ice Cold Max

2008-02-02T21:36:00.000-08:00

It's been snowing for about 12 hours straight in Tokyo! Here are a couple of pics.

Roll your own

2008-01-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

Came across this unbelievable story tonight on digg.com

Can you believe that?! Imagine, there you are thinking you've met the person of your dreams, someone so similar in so many ways, both adopted, etc. Things start heating up and then one night, you go out, have a few glasses of vino rosso, head back to the pad where things really start heating up... oh god!

Before you know it, you're head over heels for this person. A strong, magnetic, almost impossibly perfect relationship seems to plan itself out in front of you. You can see the whole future ahead of you and you feel completely satisfied with it... and then... and then... ...!!!! Oh god it is just too unbelievable...

You've gotta feel for these two. Jesus, if that was me I'd be lopping off my third leg, gouging out my eyes and loading myself up on so many drugs until I forgot what the hell had happened. God only knows how much therapy they'll be needing!

Back in JP

2008-01-08T00:17:00.001-08:00

Arrived this morning after a grueling 27 hours or so of travelling - Canberra to Sydney (bus), Sydney to Singapore, Singapore to Narita, Narita to Tokyo (Skyliner)... I came home, ate some sushi and then went straight to sleep for 4 hours.

I don't know what people mean when they say "The journey is half the fun": sitting in a plane doing fuck all for hours on end doesn't really float my boat...!

Anyway, back in the big city and looking forward to another adventurous year!

Summer Holidays

2008-01-06T14:01:00.000-08:00

Spent the last 3 weeks back in sunny Australia. The first week and a half or so was in Adelaide visiting Mum, Peter, Simon et al, and the second week and a half spent in Canberra with friends from back in the day.

Most noticeable thing when arriving back in Australia? The smell of the gum trees. Such an unmistakeable smell... Nice, though!

It's a strange point in my life, I feel. After spending ten months in Japan, and knowing that I am returning for at least that again, coming to Australia was "going on holidays" rather than "going home". In all seriousness, going back to Tokyo now feels more like I'm "going home".

Furthermore, three weeks was just too damn long for this holiday. I remember before I came how happy I was at the thought of three weeks doing SFA, but now I couldn't be more excited to be going back to that crazy, adventure filled Tokyo life.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for making my stay as enjoyable as it was! It was a damn good holiday and I'll be back in December!

Sometimes, Japanese children are just too cute not to post on a blog.

2007-12-08T08:24:00.001-08:00

Exhibit A: Four year old Ayane. Photo taken whilst she is wrapped around my leg between fits of laughter.

Even the Ice Cold Max melts at a sight like this :~)

The best deodorant in the world....

2007-10-10T06:13:00.000-07:00

... is this one. Not because of the smell, but because of this unbelievably awesome name.

Now just watch all the chicks wet their panties over me.

A scene while bike riding...

2007-10-07T08:50:00.001-07:00

A little shot I took while riding my bike in Nishi-Shinjuku today...

Not a sight you see everyday in Australia!

The Untapped Market: Korean Mothers

2007-10-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

Something I`ve discovered in the last couple of weeks is the number of immigrant Korean women who are living in Japan, are married (usually) to Japanese men, and have children. The children are often attending International School, and so study English a hell of a lot more than their native Japanese counterparts. This in turn causes their mothers to realise that their own English levels are far below the standard required to efficiently supplement their child`s learning while at home, and thus presents an interesting and practically unlimited source of work for private English teachers such as myself.

What brought this on was what occurred today. I gave my second lesson to one Korean mother, who was referred to me by the mother of my one-and-only piano student, also Korean. While having this lesson, she told me that another friend of hers is coming immediately after the lesson because she, also, has a young child at International School and feels she needs to be able to speak more English. However, when it rains it pours. That one friend turned out to be two friends (now a friend of a friend of a friend!), and the two of them both informed me that many of their other Korean mother friends are similarly interested in taking lessons!

Incredible! I didn`t even have to search for them. It seems that in this case at least, once your foot is in the door, work will find you! Happy days!

Trip to Mt Fuji and Hakone

2007-08-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Yesterday I got back from an overnight stay near Mt Fuji. It was really quite amazing. It's a bloody huge mountain!

We rented a car and drove out of Tokyo. It is only about 100km from the centre of town so it wasn't a difficult journey. As we approached, we saw the giant mountain peeking out from behind the clouds. Really quite impressive.

We drove up as far as we could (halfway) and got out to have a look around. Fuji is divided into 10 stations, 1 being the bottom and 10 being the summit. So after driving to 5, we decided to walk to 6. It was chilly but the sun was strong - a little too strong as I was to discover after we left by means of a terrible sunburn. Anyhow it was a pretty easy path, a bit gravelly with all kinds of volcanic rocks and whatnot. The view was fantastic, however.

We left, and drove about another 40km to the place we were staying, near Lake Saiko at the bottom of the mountain ranges. Quite a nice little place - like a bed and breakfast but for only $50 a night each including breakfast! Great views of the mountains from our window.

The next day we drive off to Hakone where we discover an even bigger lake called Ashinoko and we find a whole lot of (what the Japanese refer to as) pirate ships transporting people around the lake. So, we took a cruise on one of them to the other side, had lunch, and then cruised back again. On our return we took a ride on the Hakone Ropeway, a big long cable car system taking you up and over the mountain. Good fun! During the ride you go over the Hakone hot springs - quite literally hot gas bubbling out of the ground, and a strong smell of sulphur.

After that, we drove back to Tokyo, though the roads were jam packed and it took us at least an hour more than it should've. We took a break and drove down to Odaiba in Tokyo Bay and had dinner, took a few more photos, and then came back home.

It was a great weekend! Fuji-san is really impressive so I recommend it to everyone.

If you want to see the photos, well, I hope this link works.

Give me a break!

2007-08-15T03:16:00.001-07:00

This screenshot was taken at roughly 7:15pm. And it really does feel like 38 degrees :(

UPDATE: It's now 12:35AM on Saturday Morning and WeatherDock tells me it's 31 degrees, feels like 34. Fuck, shit, give me a fucking break.

Burger King in Tokyo!

2007-08-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

Burger King is back in Tokyo after a number of years away! I went there last night, to the one in Nishi-Shinjuku's I-land Tower and got the good shit, the Double Whopper.

My verdict: Delicious, and absolutely enormous. They use NZ beef, which I guess is close enough to Aussie Beef for me to be at least moderately patriotic.

Happiness is...

2007-07-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

The final instalment of the HP Saga!

My new place!

2007-07-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

So, two weeks ago, Takako and I moved into a 60 sq. metre 2LDK apartment in Honancho, only 5 stops from Shinjuku. Here are some pictures!

The living room: those stupid paper curtains have since been replaced. Also there is now a yellow armchair that doubles as a massage chair in there too.

The kitchen: came with a free gas cooker (most people take them when they move out).

My bedroom: well, at least, my new desk in my bedroom.

The bathroom. You can't see it but there's a pink toilet seat cover on the toilet. Damn girls.

View from the living room - on the left is the kitchen, my bedroom and bathroom. Right is Takako's bedroom.

Anyway, it's pretty nice! Spacious due to our lack of furniture, but still comfortable and easy to clean. No wuzzas!

I'm lovin' it.

2007-07-13T08:17:00.000-07:00

Tokyo McDonald's new menu item:

And yes, it was as delicious as it sounds.

Seriously....

2007-07-01T23:43:00.001-07:00

The mother of one of my students, wearing probably the best T-shirt in the world.

Driving in Tokyo ROCKS!!!

2007-06-28T02:30:00.000-07:00

So, today I rented a van and drove it around Tokyo, moving house! The moving was pretty hard work but driving the van around Tokyo was TOTALLY AWESOME. Such an amazing feeling of freedom, with the a/c cranked to max, cruising arond... jesus... it was awesome.

I want a car.

Here's the van I rented...

... and here's what we filled it with!

Moving out

2007-06-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally moving out of this guesthouse and into more permanent accommodation, namely, the aforementioned 2LDK in Nakano-ko, 5 stops from Shinjuku. Should be good! I've just finished packing and, luckily, I haven't accumulated much more stuff than I arrived with, save for some speakers, a laptop, a keyboard... but they're all boxable so no wuzzas mate.

The room certainly looks empty, with, well, practically nothing in it. Still, I couldn't be happier!

Next stage, next dream!

Photos from last night's Karaoke and drunken partying

2007-06-22T08:36:00.001-07:00

A selection has been made for your enjoyment :)

Karaoke pictures! Me, Takako, Vince, Catherine, and Lance.

Quite shitfaced by the end of it, I got carried through Ikebukuro... Vince was far worse though.

Vince then got so drunk at home that he went crazy. Destroying the house etc. When he wrestled me...

... I took him down...

...and we carried him into his room.

Get in there you drunken lunatic!

omfg wtf vince!!!

2007-06-22T03:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks Vince, for last night getting so destructively drunk that you set fire to the flyscreens and then released two powder fire extinguishers in the doorway of our place. Even my laptop keys are covered with the shit. Further thanks for not cleaning it up despite being in our now-blanketed-in-pink place all day.

What's new these days

2007-06-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I realised I haven't updated my blog with any of my recent happenings lately, so I thought I'd give a bit of a rundown of the latest.

First and foremost, I am moving out! My contract at this guesthouse expires on the 30th of June, giving me 13 more days here. Yesterday was spent looking at apartments with my friend Takako, and after a lot of anxiety and decision-making inability on her part, she finally agreed that moving out with me would be a good idea. Yesterday we found a great 2DK in a place called Hounancho, only 5 stops from Shinjuku, for ¥135,000 (AU$1350) a month. Obviously divide that by two, and then add the cost of utilities (which, hopefully, won't be all THAT much) and I am paying only about $30 a week extra than I am here. The size of the place is amazing though - compare this: Current room in guesthouse = 9 sq. metres (plus shared kitchen, bathroom etc.). New place = 60 sq. metres! And only sharing with one other person. Suh-weet. The only unfortunate thing is the difficulty asosciated with renting an apartment in Japan. While we got one without the usual "key money" (literally a "gift" of 1 month's rent to the owner just for good faith), the fee for the real estate agency is also 1 month's rent. In other words, to move in we have to pay, in total, $1350 (fee), $1350 (first month's rent), plus compulsory insurance and lock-changing fee (about $300), plus Takako, having more savings than me, has to pay $2700 as a deposit, and even if at the end of the contract the place is in perfect condition, all of that is guaranteed NOT to come back. Then comes the cost of furniture (fridge, washing machine (which can be gotten cheaply second hand), curtains, etc. (the place is unfurnished)). So, yes, it's a bit of an exercise, but overall I think it's pretty good. It certainly beats "guesthouse" living, not only in that one's own apartment is much larger, but also the feeling of it is a lot more permanent, unlike the notorious "temporary housing" feeling one gets from living in "temporary housing" such as a guesthouse. Furthermore, Jose (my now former housemate) moved into another guesthouse not far from here, is paying $50 a month more for ANOTHER basement room that STINKS, is DIRTY, and quite a bit smaller. I think a 60 sq. metre two-bedroom apartment near Shinjuku is way, way, way better.

Otherwise, things are going on as usual. Work is still the same except these days I have Thursdays completely off, due to the only students I have on Thursdays having gone back to Korea (they are Korean) for the duration of the Summer. Occasionally I might have some work to do (for instance, this week I had to make audio-books of a selection of children's picture books for the kids to use while they read so they can hear correct pronunciation), but at least I get to stay at home to do it. Certainly beats the fifty minute train ride (including two transfers) it takes to get to work. Not that I have to pay for it (Japanese companies most often pay for the transport of their employees), but the hassle of it is something that isn't missed on a day off.

Today I went to Harajuku, home of Yoyogi Park and the Meiji Shrine and met my friend Saori from Nagoya. Jose came as well and we wandered around, past all the transvestites, girls dressed up lolita style, goths, people holding "free hugs" signs (one was a cute girl, but she was dressed in some kind of bright green and hooded superhero tracksuit), headbangers, rockabillies, Jamaicans with drums, unicyclists, rockers... you name it, Harajuku has got them. Feel free to add to that list if you can think of any other genres commonly seen at that park.

Actually, I thought of a perfect way to meet girls in Yoyogi park. All you have to do is get a little and extremely cute dog. A poodle, a chihuahua, or (like we saw today), a litter of SEVEN baby Dachsunds, anything will do. And then walk them through the park. You will need some kind of hyperchronic counting mechanism to count the number of times girls will approach you and say how "kawaii!!!" (cute) your dog is, thus opening the door for whatever brand of "nanpa" (err.. 'pick up lines'?) you want to employ. Being foreign is usually a good nanpa in itself (although admittedly, it only attracts a certain type of girl), however, a foreigner who can speak Japanese well enough to at least SOUND fluent increases its potency tenfold.

Anyhow, that's about all for "happenings". The house is slowly becoming empty with more and more of us leaving, which is actually a bit sad. Oh well, better things await. However, I fear I will be a bit put out with all the moving business, and having to spend a fair bit of money on the move and acquisition of furniture. Happily, I remembered recently that it is tax time in Australia and so I must get on to my former employees and get them to forward my group certificates. Should get a fair bit out of that, which would help enormously.

Otherwise, life continues. The weather has become hot (20 degrees at night, over 26 during the day) and shorts are now my uniform. Lovin' it. Apparently tsuyu (rainy season) is about to start and so I'd better get ready for a month of constant, heatstroke-inducing humidity and twenty-four hour rain. Thank god for air conditioners.

With that, I sign out. Oh wait, actually, with THIS I sign out:

My housemate, Vince, has a giant haemorrhoid that he describes (among other things) as "an anal dumpling". Enjoy that image, the lot of you.

Thought for the day

2007-06-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

There is many a wife and steady job that has ruined a good fisherman.

What home schooling does to you

2007-06-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

Seems that homeschooling really does make kids into complete social retards, as perfectly demonstrated by the winner of the American National Spelling Bee in his interview on some American morning show...

Scombridae? I thought you said Scom-BU-dae...

Fun with GarageBand

2007-06-03T06:17:00.000-07:00

So, I spent the afternoon making a song with my new piece-o'-crap keyboard. It's not really polished or anything, but when I put in the lyrics (first time for me, since I never used a program that could record audio) I decided that it HAD to go up here.

Enjoy!

I'm back, baby!!

2007-06-03T03:23:00.000-07:00

Went to Ochanomizu today and spent 9800 yens (AU$98) on a little 49-key midi controller today. Finally the drought is over and I can get back to making music! It is a happy day today :)

Fun times in the shaky country...

2007-06-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Today, this happened while i was in bed :-

June 2 (Bloomberg) -- A magnitude 4.6 earthquake shook buildings in Tokyo at 2:43 p.m. local time today. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

It's funny, earthquakes. I mean, I was just lying there (I know it was 2:43pm but come on! I didn't get home till 6am!) and all of a sudden it feels like the bed has just dropped about 5cm and then started shaking.

My housemates didn't even notice though... Weird.

Vince's 19th Birthday

2007-05-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

So, last Saturday was Vince's 19th Birthday. To celebrate, we all went out to 2 hours of all-you-can-drink karaoke and then spent the rest of the night in an 80's nightclub called Castillo's, in Roppongi. It was a great night - I was more drunk than ever! Unfortunately Vince's camera broke half way through the night so all we get to see are some pictures of karaoke. Nevertheless, here they are, commemorated on this blog forever. Enjoy!

Before karaoke. Takako, Me, Jose's friend Takashi and Jose.

The group at karaoke.

Me, Takako, Jose and Takashi again. I think I am singing Eternal Flame.

The group again. We had a huge karaoke room!

Takako, Me and Vince's Canadian friend Keith, getting a bit friendly!

After karaoke!

After karaoke, again! That's Vince with the big pink turd on his head.

Vince's prank on Jose

2007-05-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

1. Lay plastic door-frame pieces against Jose's door.
2. Open some umbrellas, place accordingly.
3. Move air filter, fire extinguisher and chair into somewhat annoying positions.
4. Wait until Jose wakes up.
5. Wet pants.

OMFG!

2007-05-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Man, here's a movie I can't WAIT to see!

Eating the forbidden fish...

2007-05-19T08:28:00.001-07:00

I managed to find an izakaya today that served whale sashimi! Honestly though, it didn't taste any different to other kinds of sashimi, except maybe it was a little oilier. And I guess it's a bit darker. What a rip off though - 5 slices for 900 yen! I mean come on whales are HUGE!

Engrish

2007-05-18T08:31:00.001-07:00

I have it on good authority that girls actually like tasty "nuts"...

Word of the day

2007-05-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

pimpnicity, as in:

The key to being a pimp, is knowing that you are a pimp. When you question your pimpnicity, others will too.

My Brother's Pussy

2007-05-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

Everyone, meet Calypso.

Some Purikura and stuff

2007-05-13T03:15:00.000-07:00

Went out last night with Jose and two girls, Satomi and Kahori. We went bowling and Satomi DESTROYED us all with a score of 160. Christ!

Anyway we took Purikura and the machine had an option to send them to mobile phones. So, here they are!

Also we went to an Izakaya for a delicious dinner, and then to karaoke!

Also, Happy Mother's day, everyone.

Thoughts on women

2007-05-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

In my job I encounter a lot of women: mothers, in particular. While their husbands are off slaving away (and yes, this is Japan so I literally mean slaving) at the office, these mothers have the arguably unenviable task of looking after their little sprogs. And it is through repeated meetings with these women that I come to this conclusion: Women (particularly Japanese women) over 30 quite literally turn into baby-making factories.

I know it sounds obvious but oh my god! It seems every week one of them has a new one. They come in carrying their expressionless offspring bundled up in some kind of baby-carrying sling around their shoulders, mopping up their dribble and telling them to stop screaming. It`s kind of funny I guess, maybe it`s from coming from Australia, but the penchant for literally giving up work for a good 6-8 years to raise children seems to be rife here. Women just turn into housewives and stay that way for what seems like bloody ages. Then they get a part time job, or something.

No wonder Japan`s population is so god damn large. It`s because seemingly every woman can just drop everything and queef out a couple of babies. Not only can they, but when they get to 30, they feel socially compelled to! Amazing.

Anyway I`ve ranted enough.. This wasn`t nearly as interesting as I thought it was going to be. Sorry, sports fans.

This cat loves you...

2007-05-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

Meow!

Atami!

2007-05-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

It being Golden Week, today Jose, one of Jose's friends named Sebastian (half-swiss half-japanese) and I made a day-trip to Atami. Atami is a beautiful little seaside town on the Izu Peninsula, about 2 hours south of Tokyo. It is famous for its hot springs and its picturesque beach scenery.

So, we left at about 9am, caught the normal express train from Shinjuku to Odawara, which took about 100 minutes or so. Then, we caught the Shinkansen for just ONE stop from Odawara to Atami. You are probably thinking "Why would you take it for just one stop!??". Well, it is a 10 minute ride and costs 1240 yen one way, so it's not ludicrously expensive. A local train would take much longer and Jose and Sebastian had never had the Shinkansen experience...

So we got there and headed for the hot spring. It was great! It was on the roof of a hotel; it had an outdoor pool that was about 58 degrees C, a sauna, a spa, a cold pool, and it all overlooked the ocean, as you will see in the photos I will post below. Very nice atmos, and it was only 1000 yen for all the sauna and spa'ing you could handle.

After that we went into town and found ourselves something to eat. It was ramen, and I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to eat raw fish (Atami being a seaside town after all) but Jose and Sebastian were too concerned about spending heaps of money (admittedly, the restaurants were tourist traps and quite expensive).

Next we caught a bus down to the beach, where we went on the sand (it's really dark here in Japan) and found a beach volleyball court! Next to it, 4 random girls were just chilling out, sort of half-heartedly throwing a volleyball to each other. So I wandered over and asked them if they wanted to play with us on the court. They said yes, and we had a fun time!

After that, we heard some drums and wandered over to the source, only to find ourselves in the middle of some kind of festival, with people dressed up dancing and drumming and what not. Very Japanese!

Finally, we bought some beers, sat out on the sort of jetty-type thing and drank them, and caught the train back. It was such a long day but now my skin feels all nice from the sauna and hot spring, the volleyball was pretty strenous (and my pants are now full of sand), but all round it was a fun fun day. Enjoy the pics!

A statue in Odawara

The hot spring, on the roof of a building overlooking the sea!

The view in one direction...

And in another...

And in another!

The Atami Beach...

The Atami Beach again...

Some traditional Japanese dancers (what's this called, can anyone help me? awa odori or something?)

A big taiko drum

The scene of the festival

A dead shark doing it with a dead manta ray...

Japanese kindness

2007-05-01T06:01:00.000-07:00

Today a nice thing happened! While eating all alone at the ramen shop near my house, feeling sorry for myself because I have a cold and am tired and irritable, the kind (read: drunk) old man sitting next to me stood up, payed for his meal, then insisted that he pay for mine as well!

I politely asked why, and he said "no no don't worry! your japanese is very good! keep it up!!"

"uh... sure!" i said, and continued eating. He just wandered off.

Free dinner! Thanks, Japan!

Jose's fifteen stitches

2007-04-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

Poor Jose! Yesterday while apparently giving a piggy back to a rich, thin Korean girl with big boobs, he fell flat on his face, whereby the glass broke and cut his face.

He is lucky! That is damn close to his eye!

Another job!

2007-04-26T03:27:00.000-07:00

Well, as well as my job teaching English to little kids, now I am also teaching piano to a 5 year old Korean girl named Min.

She's adorably cute - really affectionate! Every time she sees me she just runs up and hugs my leg - today she was kissing my hand! hahaha

Best part is, it's mega easy and her mother is paying me 2500 yen per 30 min class, once a week! Awesome!

Monja street

2007-04-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

Went to a place called Tsukishima today, a place famous for its Monja-yaki (which is like okonomiyaki but not so much pancake, more like stirfry vegetables i guess) with Jose, and some Taiwanese friends of his from his school. It was OK and mega el cheapo! Only 1300 yen for enough food to fill me + a big jockey of beer!

It was pretty fun I guess. Anyway the real purpose of this blog entry is just so I can deposit these photos here.

So, enjoy, and excuse my weird looking hair.

久しぶり！

2007-04-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

Met up with my long-time friend Shiori tonight! This is the girl that I have known longest and still keep in contact with. 9 years! I met her when I was 15!

We (me, her, her friend Asuka and Asuka's friend Mr Endo) went to Shinjuku to eat Okinawan food, which, I soon discovered, is basically anything as long as it's topped with copious amounts of ゴーヤー (go-ya-), a.k.a. "bitter melon". It was OK, I guess.

Anyway it's always funny hanging out with Shiori because it seems that no matter where I go in the world, she comes there within a year or so of my arriving there. First I meet her in 1998 in Okayama, then when I lived in Nara in 2001, she was at uni in Kyoto. Then I go back to Canberra and sure enough, she gets a job at the Japanese embassy in Canberra in 2005. Now I am in Tokyo and she's applying for jobs in Tokyo! I told her that she should stop following me and she smirked and punched me in the arm.

Anyhow, it was a fun day!

Babel

2007-04-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

Watched this movie the other night. Pretty good! Lots of drama, and a real fly-on-the-wall feel about it.

Then again, that may have just been me. When I watched it, I didn't realise at the time but there were supposed to be subtitles. Half of the movie is set in the Moroccan desert, and I thought that the point was that you DIDN'T understand what they were saying, thus giving it that "watching people" kind of feel. The rest of the movie was in Japanese and English, and I had no trouble understanding that. I thought it was quite a stroke of genius - make the words unintelligible so one has to actually think about what one is seeing in order to make sense of the movie, instead of just reading what they're saying. This, combined with the story of the deaf Japanese girl all seemed to make sense...

Or so I thought! Thinking it was just a bit suspiscious, after watching in sans subtitles in Quicktime I thought I'd have a quick look at running it in VLC and sure enough, SUBTITLES. And I missed them all.

Still, I guess it at least somewhat demonstrates that it was a good movie by the fact that even though I had no clue what these Moroccan sand monkeys were talking about, I still understood what the hell was going on.

My rating: 7/10

Complaint??

2007-04-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

This morning I was phoned up by my boss, who told me that one of the students' mother's had complained about my teaching style. She said that I was "skipping over" exercises, using the teacher's guide during the class (apparently I should have memorised it? News to me.), and not encouraging enough speaking. Riiiiight.

I really don't understand this! In each of my classes we progress through the textbook and activity book - it is usually listening, reading, speaking and writing. Because of the number of classes we have and the number of pages in the textbook, we can make sufficient progress just by doing one double-page spread per class. The rest of the class I fill with English related games - Hangman, English Karuta, Bingo etc.

So here's what I have to say to whichever mother complained:

FUCK YOU BITCH, you got something to say? Say it to my mothafuckin' face.

i-Unit!

2007-04-15T02:52:00.000-07:00

Look what I got to see in real life today at the Ikebukuro Toyota Building!

the i-Unit!

Almost makes up for not going to the Aichi World Expo...

Pictures of my place

2007-04-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

By request, I took some photos of the place I'm living in...

Looking from the front door - to the left you can see a little of the doorway to the common room (i.e. it has a table, the Wii etc.)

The kitchen. A bit messy. Note the bins - you have at least two in Japan - one for combustibles, one for non-combustibles.

The hallway for all our rooms - it's a bit of a Chinese laundry up the back there.

My totally awesome machine and new speakers!

Some pics of work

2007-04-12T07:05:00.000-07:00

Decided to finally take some pics of my workplace today.

It's pretty good I guess. Today I held the first "fun musical english class" which involved me, a bunch of kids, and their mothers in the room (pictured below), with me playing nursery rhymes on the piano while the kids attempted to sing. Ah well, it was OK.

The front of the bulding

The sign at the front door - translates to "Jinyu Family Classroom"

The room where the action happens. Note the lack of chairs (we all sit on the floor - fine for the kids but my knees sure do take a beating)

On another note, I got my first phone bill today. ¥11,022. That's like $130. Oops!

FOSTEX PM0.4

2007-04-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

These are my new speakers! I feel obliged to tell you that for the price, they are amazingly good! They're less than a foot tall and about half a foot wide, so don't take up much room. But the power is quite astonishing - I'd never have thought that speakers so little could pump out such powerful sound, especially the bass! They literally shake my room. And the clarity is fantastic too. Hard to believe! Highly recommended.

These days...

2007-04-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

Not all that much going on the last few days with a couple of exceptions. Firstly, I have to work on Saturday mornings, which shits me off because it takes nearly an hour to get there (and I start at 10am), then I work for just one hour, then again almost another hour back home. It sucks a bit. But ah well, that's Japan for you. It has its pros and cons.

Anyhow I went out on Saturday night with my friend Takako, pictured in the Hanami post below. We went out to an Izakaya, a Japanese style "pub" (for lack of a better word), but these places also serve good food. Anyway I guess we must've eaten and drank a fair bit because after only an adequately filling meal (and about four beers each) we were set back ¥8000 between us. Still, it was yummy!

Today I went to work from 10, and didn't leave till 7. I probably would've been more upset had I not been able to sneak a nap in at lunch time. Heh heh. It's funny, I keep talking to people about my job and how it's pretty easy and they paid me in advance, and they pay for my lunch sometimes, and how I sneak naps in and stuff and they always say they're so jealous! Haha maybe this job isn't so bad after all! In fact, today one of the mother's of the students "donated" an electric keyboard to the school so (presumably) I can play songs and use them to teach English with. Oh well, might be fun, but jeez, these mothers are gung-ho crazy about surrounding their 3 year olds with English. Does it really have that much effect?

Also today I bought a pair of FOSTEX PM0.4 speakers second hand. Only ¥10,000! Retail is substantially more than that, and substantially more again in Australia. So, a good buy I thought.

Otherwise, life kicks on. Here's a picture of one of my neighbours, Jose (from Spain) with which I end this blog entry.

New Route

2007-04-06T02:26:00.000-07:00

I have managed to cut 15 minutes and 130yen each way off my commute to work by rerouting my path. Previously I was going from Nakaitabashi to Ikebukuro (Tobu Tojo Line), Ikebukuro to Takadanobaba (JR Yamanote Line), then Takadanobaba to Minami-Sunamachi (Tozai Line). But now I go Nakaitabashi to Ikebukuro (Tobu Tojo Line), Ikebukuro to Iidabashi (Yurakucho Line) and then Iidabashi to Minami-Sunamachi (Tozai Line).

As boring as that sounds, trust me, it's a big difference!

Wizzout.

UPDATE: I changed it again to reflect the fastest option as discovered by using tokyo-subway. Now it is the Marunouchi line from Ikebukuro to Otemachi. About 5 mins less, same amount of money, only this time I get to look at Tokyo Dome twice a day...

Karaoke Challenge 2007

2007-04-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Karaoke Challenge 2007 has begun! And in an effort to directly compete with Sho, I have recorded myself singing Eternal Flame.

Enjoy!

Maze for blind people

2007-04-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

This is outside the train station at Takadanobaba. Seriously, if I were blind I'd be wandering around for days.

Also, see all those pigeons? When I was taking this photo there was a group of about six male pigeons (not in this photo) all fighting over one female pigeon who just sat there in the "copping it" position. It was crazy - one male would jump on her back and just as he's about to stick it in, another male would charge at him and knock him off in a flurry of feathers and squawking. Eventually the female either copped it or flew off in boredom. That's when I thought "Gee, this is just like real life!"

Murder in Tokyo!

2007-04-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

Did you guys all hear about the recent murder in Tokyo?

For those of you that can't be bothered reading that article, the gist of it is this: A 22yo British girl named Lindsay was apparently being stalked by a 28yo Japanese guy with plucked eyebrows, however, because she had developed some trust in him she had agreed to go to his house to give him a private English lesson last week. Her bruised and naked body was then found in a bathtub full of sand on his balcony, and he had scarpered from the cops down the fire escape and with no shoes on. He is yet to be caught and arrested.

This happened about four train stops from where I work, and the Canadian girl I work with was her friend! Can you believe it? Murderer on the loose in Tokyo!

Hanami!

2007-04-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

Went to a Hanami Party (that's the one where you drink beer under the cherry blossoms in the park) today in Yoyogi Park. It was pretty good except the place was totally PACKED with people. I mean, it's an enormous park with toilet blocks and everything but still, the line for the toilets was still like 40 minutes for the guys and over an hour for the girls. It was fucking ridiculous. But, we all drank beer and had a good time - there were like 6 DJ's hanging around playing mostly dance music and people were getting really drunk and dancing around. It wasn't even a special event, just a regular Sunday, although it is the last day of the Spring Holidays so I guess that was why.

Anyway, here are some pics.

Some of the people in the group that I was with. Notice the other people around the park - well, this was the NON-crowded area.

A girl named Rei.

Me standing in front of a whole lot of cherry blossoms! By this point I think I was a little drunk.

My friend, Takako.

A Vast Improvement

2007-03-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else noticed how much Google Earth rocks these days?

Check out this awesome image of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and Park Hyatt Tokyo.

Visit from the fire department!

2007-03-31T07:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight I cooked some gyouza. Unfortunately, it made a lot of smoke. I mean a LOT of smoke. The fire alarm sounded and it was F loud but I couldn't turn it off!! Eventually some firemen came and asked me all sorts of questions, like my name, phone number, who owns the building, how much rent I pay, who I live with, what I'm doing in Japan, how long I'm going to stay, do I have a girlfriend, where I work, how long does it take to get to work, how I like Japa.. hang on a sec, what the hell were they asking me all that for?

... Did they want to be my friends...? Weird.

Nevertheless it was the best gyouza I've ever cooked. Maybe I should do it again and then invite the guys out for all night karaoke.

My two best buddies

2007-03-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

I just... oh my god... I just don't know what to say... Where do they find these people...?? I bet they are from space.

Happiness is a new Macbook Pro

2007-03-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I'd just write a little note here to tell everyone that Macbook Pro's ROCK.

Let me list some of the most obvious features (mainly compared to Windows) - i.e. the ones that I can see just by using it for a few hours.

1. It's POWERFUL. Seemingly I can just run anything, and everything at once.
2. It looks WAY KEWL.

... do we need any more reasons?

3. It automatically detects when the lights are low and dims the screen and backlights they keyboard (see post below)
4. No viruses or spyware, and unhackable.
5. Applications don't chew up all the memory, and when you close them they don't leave your computer chugging like a fat girl with a tub of butter. You close it, it's gone. Not that I NEED to close it, since I can seemingly just run everything at once.
6. Fonts look better. In fact, everything looks better.
7. Magnetic power cord!
8. All the good programs for Mac are really good, and furthermore, most of them are free!
9. iTunes works and looks better. For instance, you're listening to music and someone calls you on Skype. Well, iTunes pauses, you make your Skype call, then when you hang up, it resumes playback but fades the volume in.
.... 10. A variety of funny applications, like Photo Booth, with which I took the following photos.

All good fun. Seriously this computer rocks and I hereby order you all to go and get one.

Say harro to my rittre friend...

2007-03-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

My brand new Macbook Pro 2.33ghz 15" Laptop. Only 309,800 yen! Lol.

One month!

2007-03-24T04:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Well, today is the 24th of March and I've now been here for exactly one month! Let's try and tabulate the things I've done in that month.

1. Got a place
2. Got a phone
3. Got a job
4. Got a bank account
5. Got a haircut

Hmm well that's actually about it, but considering I have to do all this crap in Japanese maybe it represents more of an achievement than it would otherwise. I mean, I have become (and am becoming) more and more familiar with Tokyo. I mean I can get around without getting lost now and well, I'm generally enjoying myself! What more can I ask for, really?

Anyway today I went to Akihabara just to have a look around. Then I came back and went and got a haircut. Ludicrously expensive (4800 yen) but I was pretty desperate, as anyone who has seen me lately knows... On the way there is this funny pub that I thought I'd take a photo of. So anyway, here is the photo of the pub, and me after my haircut.

Tonight I'm going to some friend of my housemate's farewell party in Shibuya. So let's see what happens!

Ok ciao for now!

I wonder if they're really hot...

Booyaaaaah!

Day trip to Kamakura and Yokohama

2007-03-18T01:33:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

Yesterday I was taken by my new friend Yumie on a day trip to Kamakura, which was the capital of Japan from 1135-1333 AD. Quite a nice place and it's full of historic things to see, in much the same was as Kyoto and Nara are - in other words, lots of statues, shrines, temples and the like. So we went there in the morning (takes only an hour to get there from Tokyo) and started wandering around! Saw the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, the Big Buddha at Hase (photos below) and a variety of other crazy things, including this weird cave network full of little statues that you're meant to pray at for good luck, prosperity, fertility etc.

Lunch was a big plate of sashimi. It took me 3 damn weeks to get some of that good stuff into me so I was feeling all good about it all day hehehe. Then we went to the beach - well, coming from Australia it wasn't particularly impressive, but then, coming from CANBERRA maybe it is, actually.

On the way back we stopped in Yokohama (it's about 1/3 of the way back to Tokyo from Kamakura) and wow, that place was really cool! Futuristic buildings, tonnes of shops and restaurants, lots of construction and other cool looking things - at one point I saw 4 layers of roads i.e. ground level and then three separate levels of roads suspended by various pillars above it. Seriously, amazing architecture!

We didn't get back till pretty late, and only when I finally got back did I realise that it was St Patrick's day so we quickly went and grabbed a beer and went home. It was such a fun day but a whole day of walking and talking Japanese (like 9am --> midnight) really took it out of me. So I came home, went straight to bed, and slept for a good 13 hours!! Unbelievable.

Anyway, here are the pictures! Seeya!

A "torii" - the trademark of Japan

Me standing in front of a bloody large statue of the B-Man himself. Apparently he used to be in a big wooden temple but it got destroyed by an earthquake.

Another shot, up closer this time. Actually for 20 yen you can go for a walk INSIDE the statue.

Yumie at the beach in Kamakura

Yokohama Night View!

Good thing to remember No. 1.

2007-03-15T03:45:00.000-07:00

When you go to a Yakiniku restaurant (that's the ones with the little barbecue on the table in front of you) and you see something on the menu called "Horumon", remember that that isn't a plate of hormones, it's a plate of bits of intestines. Discovered that last night to my surprising delight but it seems my own intestines weren't quite so delighted by the presence of "their own kind" and promptly discarded the foreign intestines along with all the beer I washed them down with.

Once again, adventure at your own peril :)

Roppongi is fucked!!

2007-03-15T03:17:00.000-07:00

If you were to ask me "Max Breaker, what is the worst experience you have ever had in Japan?" I would instantly be able to say "Going to fucking Roppongi!!!!"

This place is a cool looking place with lots of restaurants and karaoke and happening things, but it's just FULL of fucked foreigners and darky hustlers!

Walk out of the train station and within seconds you're accosted by someone - I dunno, Africans I guess, darkies anyway, and they get you to shake their hand and then give you a business card saying "Come into my bar! Hot ladies with revolving (sic) titties!! Gentleman's clubs!!!" Worse still, they follow you up the street!!

Anyway they are always offering some stupid deal like 4000 yen for 2 hours of non-stop drinking. And they always promise that there will be "hot ladies" inside for you to talk to. Anyway, we "negotiated" as much as we could with one guy and it seemed to be OK. Sure enough though, no other customers but us and the "hot ladies" were a mixture of overweight darkies and plastic surgery South Americans. Where are all the Japanese girls at?? Jeez.

So they talked to us for a while but I just couldn't be stuffed talking at all. Just small talk. Ordered a few more beers that took forever to arrive. Arrrrrgh the memories of it are nothing but memories of complete shit.

I mean sure, if you're there on a business trip and you just wanna get some P.I.V. ACTION, then sure, you want bitches - japan's got bitches. But it's complete crap going there if you want anything other than foreigner whores!

So there. My rating for Roppongi is a big fat 0 where 0 is the worst and the possible highest score is 10 to the power of a trillion. Adventure at your own peril.

First day at work

2007-03-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was my first official day at work - although it doesn't actually seem like it yet because all I'm doing is sitting in on classes taken by the current teacher who hasn't left yet and isn't leaving till April. So, it's more like training by watching. Anyway it's ok.

It takes me about 45 minutes to get there, and I have to ride 3 different trains (for those who care, it's the Tobu Tojo line to Ikebukuro, the Yamanote to Takadanobaba, then the Tozai Metro line to Minami-sunamachi). Cost is 500 yen one way but work pays for that :) The worst is when I have to catch the train back late, like Mondays apparently have the latest class starting at 6:30, so by the time i get on the train home (say, 8 o'clock or so), all the office men are on their ways home and the trains are PACKED to SHIT. Last night it was all i could do not to be accidentally felt up on the train! haha no, just kidding. but we still looked like sardines in a train-shaped sardine tin.

Hmm, here's a random thought. For those who don't remember, I have a room with no windows. I was getting the shits because I'd wake up after x number of hours and still be out of rhythm no matter how many hours I slept, I think because my body didn't see any light and it wouldn't know to start waking up - i.e. I'd be all tired even after sleeping for like 13 hours or something. Well, problem solved! Now I set my alarm half an hour before i need to get up, wake up, turn my heater on and my LAMP, reset my alarm for half an hour later and roll over and go back to bed. So I fall half-asleep, start getting warmer, and start waking up a little bit. In half an hour my room is toasty and I'm ready to get out of bed! Works a charm.

Anyway, that's my genius thought for the day. Now I'm off to work! Seeya!

Got a job!!!

2007-03-10T00:20:00.000-08:00

Good news everyone! I got a job at a little home-run English school called Jin-Yu English Club. It is run by one woman who started it for her daughters because she was so unsatisfied with the english classes they were attending, so she started her own! Anyway it has about 60 students aged between 4 and 10 or so, and basically they hire one native-english speaker to take classes of about 6 kids at a time.

So yesterday I went and sat in on one of the classes and jeez it looked fun, and easy!! These kids look like they WANT to learn (i.e. it's not part of school so they're only there cos they want to be), and they were all really energetic and happy and actually, their English was pretty good!

So yeah, it looks like a lot of fun. I start on Monday at 4pm - this first week I'll probably just be sitting in and helping out the current, departing native-speaker, this American guy named James, until I get it all worked out and then can take over from him in April.

But yeah, 250,000 yen a month, transport costs covered, and since it's a little school, I can probably negotiate my own holidays and stuff. So new laptop, here I come!

get this everyone...

2007-03-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

You guys won't believe this, but i am blogging from a Nintendo Wii! That's right, I am typing each letter by pointing the remote at an on-screen keyboard!

Awesome!

Furthermore, I have another job interview tomorrow!

Ok, seeya!

First Job Interview

2007-03-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

Had my first job interview today. I thought it might have been good and it offered 250,000 yen a month. With a company called Kids International.

Was greeted at the door by a mid-20s Japanese girl who spoke unbelievably good english, and she told me to sit and wait. Then an older, balding Japanese man came and sat down and in a thick American accent said "Naaaiiice to meeetcha!" And then he gave me the spiel.

Basically the jist is this. I don't TEACH them anything per se, instead I would be "providing an international environment for 0.5 to 12 year olds". Eat with them, take them to the toilet, wipe their bums as well probably. Sigh. Furthermore if i were to start, first I'd have to do a 4 hour unpaid trial. Then 3 days of 1000 yen per hour trial. Then go on reduced pay (230,000 yen per month) for 3 months. THEN go on full pay (250k/month) from then. Holidays? Well you accumulate 1 day per month. But you can't take any till your 7th month. So in the 7th month, you can take 7 days, but (and i quote) "you can't take them all at once!". Also sick days come out of holidays.

Anyway they were exceptionally nice. They understood that I am "in the recruiting stage at a lot of places" so I have till Monday to get back to them. Honestly, I don't think I'll take it. Sure it looks mega easy but it looks like a big pain in the freshly-wiped 0.5 year old bum. And I want my month of paid holidays like all the school-based teaching companies are offering.

Oh well, regardless, it WAS fun walking through the streets of Gotanda, Tokyo in my suit, although my new shoes gave me blisters on my heels god damn it! It's funny, when Japanese see a whitey, they give them a stare. But when they see a whitey in a suit with a tie and everything (helps if you're wearing sunglasses too), they give a long stare, like they're trying to perceive you from every different angle. Very strange and very noticable.

So, now I'm just chilling out in my windowless basement guesthouse, using my neighbour's computer like he said I could. Still have to find a map of this area so I can find the supermarket - everyone else who lives here or HAS lived here keeps saying there are no supermarkets nearby, but it's cheaper just to eat out at any one of the little food shops that dot the street between here and the station and around. And that's probably true - hell I went to 7-11 for dinner tonight and brought home a big plate of noodles and chicken nugget type things for 368 yen (~AU$4).

Aiight, wizz out.

Some more stuff...

2007-03-06T06:47:00.000-08:00

Ok I am borrowing my new neighbour's computer at the moment, so it affords me a few moments to update my blog and stuff!

So, what's new... well, I moved into this place yesterday and then today i went to a shop called Nitori (which is like the Japanese IKEA) and bought $50 worth of stuff. But $50 goes a long way at Nitori! That was a cushion for my chair, two lamps and a set of bedsheets!

Furthermore, when I got home I looked behind this mysterious door (I was just exploring) and found a treasure trove of furniture! Must be left overs from the renovation that happened to this place last year or something. Anyway, using a combination of what i bought and what i "found", my room is looking pretty schmick! Below are some photos.

Also tomorrow I have a job interview for an english-teaching kind of job, except that it's more like babysitting I fear. I mean, the students are between 2 and 8 or something. 2?!?? What am i going to teach them? how to say "poo poo's and wee wee's"? "duck! cow! quack! moo!". All the meanwhile there are security cameras on us so over-protective parents can log in on the net and check what their little diddumses are up to. Give me a break. So anyway, I intend tomorrow to tell them "Thanks for the offer, I actually have a few other offers that I am considering at the moment..." and see what they do. I mean basically I want paid holidays, the ability to take some holidays whenever I want, and to not have to work weekends or public holidays. Is that too much to ask? Seemingly not, since every other company offers it...

Anyway, next time I come on here I'll undoubtedly have news. So until then, enjoy these photos of my room (and my dinner).

(This meal cost me 398 yen. Dirt cheap but tasty!)

You know what i love?

2007-03-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

Shinkansen!

Found a place!

2007-03-03T22:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm moving out of Saitama tomorrow and into Naka-itabashi! Found a great place there - large room, free electricity and internet, clean and renovated building, should be great! All for only 61,000 yen a month and that's INCLUDING utilities :)

So, until i get a computer this blog may not be updated so much, but I'll see what i can do. I'll try and get some photos up at some stage so until then, just know that I am happily making my new life in Tokyo in a cool new place just minutes from the city!

Until next time, then!

UPDATE: Here's the link for the place. I am in room B-08. Also it seems there IS a PC in the common area - well, according to this website anyway - so until I start working that'll be useful.

Only in Japan...

2007-03-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

Found some rather amusing items at everyone's favourite store, Don Quixote...

UNIQLO

2007-03-02T06:05:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention that I bought some jeans from UNIQLO, possibly the best store in the entire world. You know how people say Japan is expensive? Well, sure, rent is a bit much and owning a car is practically impossible for anyone who's not a millionaire (because of exhorbitant parking fees and taxes), but food and clothes are DIRT CHEAP! While I was in Shibuya I stumbled across one of these fabulous stores and found a completely cool looking pair of jeans (which, in Australia would most definitely be close to $90 or $100) for 3990 yen or AU$43.56.

I can't remember the last time I found clothes of this quality for such a low price. AND if you're lucky, you can stumble into this store during a clearance and get the same stuff for half price! As for food, well, after buying my jeans I went to a noodle restaurant - you know one of those ones with the wooden bar and the stools - and got a giant bowl of soup noodles with what could only be described as half a pig's worth of pork floating in it, AND a bowl of rice, for 600 yen (AU$6.50).

Seriously, this rocks.

Photos from Shibuya

2007-03-02T05:13:00.000-08:00

Went exploring all by myself for the first time today, and decided to go and visit Shibuya, just one of Tokyo's main shopping districts. Check out the lights and signs on the buildings and also, the amazing number of people crossing the road at this busy intersection in the photo with HMV in the background.

(photos still crap - is it the camera phone? or am I just shaking it around or something!?!)

Tokyo is a three-dimensional city!

Q-Front building with giant screen

Honestly, there must be 1000 people crossing this intersection every 30 seconds...

Bright lights in the street malls of Shibuya

Some pretty lights

Response!

2007-02-28T20:36:00.000-08:00

Got a response from one of the three jobs I applied for yesterday, saying that I have passed the initial screening process and now have to fill in some email questionnaires and whatnot.

Check it out here.

I told you guys it wouldn't take long! Check out the pay, 250-280k yen a month, that's like between AU$2690 and $3013 per month. Cool!

Cold, cold, cold

2007-02-28T02:31:00.000-08:00

Cold and windy today... nothing much occurring.

Applied for 3 jobs today and sent email inquiries about two places to live, so hopefully I'll hear from some of them in the next few days.

Haven't really done anything - except go to the supermarket and eat tsuna-mayo o-nigiri (tuna and mayonnaise rice balls wrapped in seaweed), but soon we might go to this hamburger family-restaurant type of place called "Bikkuri Donkey".

Great!

Got the photos

2007-02-27T05:37:00.000-08:00

Ok they are a bit blurry but here are the ones I took in Akihabara. Remember i'm just trying to work out this phone so i obviously didn't have it on night mode or anything. Oh well, let's just say... "the quality will increase".

Akihabara

2007-02-27T05:12:00.000-08:00

Went to Akihabara today and actually, took some pictures on my phone. But until I find the damn CD for the computer I can't actually download them. So, when i work it out, i'll post some of the cool photos of it.

Anyway, we explored Yodobashi Camera, a massive camera/electronics store with about 8 levels. On one of the floor we found a whole range of BB guns, like full-on shotguns and assault rifles just hanging there on the wall, hehe.

Went to McDonald's and got (for the three of us) one big mac set, one teriyaki burger set, two chicken burgers and two cheeseburgers - all for 1570 yen! Haha although Japanese McDonald's is still oily - I can feel the oil leaking out of the skin on my face as I am typing hehe.

Oh well, that's it. You can probably expect photos soon. As soon as i work this crap out anyway.