Nerdopolis - dantron2020

Hokkaido and Halloween

2008-11-21T19:20:00.001-08:00

Well, Halloween and me and Azu's Hokkaido trip came and went. Halloween was pretty fun, we stayed out all night in Tokyo, dancing at various clubs that were having Halloween parties. Everyone had a decent costume but me really. Azu and her friends were all a sexy version of something normal (girls have it easy on Halloween). Azu was a sexy gangster, her friend was a cheerleader.... I think hers was actually just a normal cheerleading costume, haha. Eric was... something, maybe the phantom of the Opera? Greg was Lupin the 3rd. I was a scientist... Eric borrowed a lab coat from one of the scientists at school and i wore that all night, so it was another half-assed Halloween for me! The morning after Halloween will lead into my next story.

So, Eric lost his phone at one of the clubs, so like the good drunk friends we are, Mike and I vow to recover it at all costs. So the three of us went trekking back out into the blazing morning sun, still drunk and tired as hell. After maybe an hour of being lost (finding things in the day is harder than the night sometimes) we get the phone back, and decide to stay up all day, since we were up anyway. So, we messed around at some University's open campus for abit after some morning McDonalds, and went to Akihabara, because I decided I was buying a Playstation 3. As you all know, I am a cheapass, so i decide to get a used Playstation 3. So, after eric and i carefully consider the options with the used models, we decide on one, and head out. We all bought Fallout 3 and happily began the trip home. I actually took a nap at erics for about 2 hours first, but that isnt important.

Anyway, so I get home, and pull out my new old PS3 and begin setting it up to play. As I take it out, i notice some particles of.... something in there, and sorta figure it was a bit of dust, and carry on. I plug it in and start setting it up, playing, and everything is going fine.... until the smell. I notice a strange odor coming from it- strange, and bad. So I pop off the HD cover plate to look, and there are more of the "particles" from before, all around in there, and as i look closer, i notice there appear to be.... insect body parts. I get closer and take a good whiff, and it smells strong and awful... of something, i dont even know what. So, i unplug it and shake it, and sure enough, some dead insect bodies fall against the screen inside. In other words, my PS3 came with an insect nest inside. Yep.

I was horrified to say the least. The only good thing is that they were all dead, atleast. I am not sure what kind they were, the dead ones inside looked like what could possibly be dead baby roaches, but, i dunno. Some of the girls at school i told the story to speculate that a somehow pregnant baby roach got inside when it was small, raised itself inside, had kids, and they all had a glorious society inside until the previous owner wrapped it up and sold it to the shop (which didnt notice), at which time all the insects died on the shelf due to suffocation and lack of food. Who knows, but i sure as hell took it back. When ya buy used they mention things like scratches, or missing cables, they ought to have mentioned the DAMN BUG NEST too. I told Mike and Eric here about it, to which Mike replies "atleast my Xbox didnt have any bugs". me- "Not REAL ones, no!"

That put me off used electronics, so I went with a new 80 gig model released in Japan this month. Fallout 3 has been taking most of my times since.

I went to Hokkaido with Azu as well. We went to her cousins wedding, it was very nice. They had a nice dinner and alot of cool little performances and sentimental things. After the wedding we did some sight seeing in Sapporo and Otaru, a scenic city by the ocean. The weather was cold and rainy that day, so we didn't enjoy it as much as we could have. Hokkaido has alot more space than the main island, Honshu, so the city seemed pretty American in layout and appearance. I didnt really like walking around Sapporo at night, the roads were too big and dark, and too few people on the street, like in American cities at night. In Tokyo there are people everywhere all the time, and the building density of normal Japanese cities just seems to create a safer feeling atmosphere, I dunno. However, it was easier to walk around and sight see in the day, so that was nice.

Well, thats all for now. Thailand is in December, i'll post again after we go atleast, maybe once more before we head out. Later!

Pics a long time in the making

2008-10-28T05:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've finally made good on my promise to add pictures. I finally bit the bullet and set up some junk at Flickr, so people can view my random photos here in Japan. I'll take more and add them. All of those are taken on my phone (doesnt do too well in the dark), so if they are a bit blurry at times, remember its a phone!

So, as far as updates go, there hasnt been too much going on in the last month, just my birthday really. We had a party at TGI Fridays in Shibuya, drank too much, and stayed out all night, the usual. Im going to Hokkaido with Azu this weekend, so i'll have some pictures and an update about that in the near future. Im also eagerly awaiting the 30th, when i buy myself a PS3. Its my birthday present to me.

Last weekend, me, Eric, Mike and Greg went to the acrade in Shibuya to play some Street Fighter 4 against randos there. Me and Eric got our asses beat for the most part, especially me (havent played street fighter since super nintendo!), but Mike pulled a few victories out. He's kept with the game through most of its history. I almost had a few people, came down to the final match and a centimeter or so of health. Street Fighter 4 is pretty badass. We're gonna get the home versions, and look into getting some arcade style joysticks in order to train and go pwn people in the arcade. Greg watched for the most part, he likes train and bus simulators *snicker*. It should be noted that Zangief is a cheap ass character. Also, Blanka's special does WAY too much damage.

Its been steadily getting cooler here, and i'v had to start wearing sweatshirts here and there, and even a jacket once! I'm guessing in a couple weeks it will be down right nippy in the morning, and ill want to get out of bed even less than i do already. Mornings in winter suck in Japan... imagine seeing your breath as you dash into the shower and strip. Both Eric and Jon moved recently, not far from where they were already, but are in new places. We're still waiting for Jon and Ayumi's welcoming party, so we can put some holes in their new walls. :D

Anyway, i'll write back about Hokkaido soon!

p.s. look at the new pictures link (i hope it works).

whoaa.... wha...?

2008-09-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah, this is a billion years late, and everyone stopped reading about 6 months ago, i know. I had no internet, bite me!

Anyway... most of you probably know i was back in the states in August. I had a good time, went to Ryan Griswold's wedding, that was a pretty good time. My first wedding actually... heh. I didnt make it to Vegas, unfortunately, so if any of my family/friends living there are reading this, dont think cruised through town and didnt call anyone. Eric and i went to Nagano here when we got back. We stayed in a hotspring for a night, and hiked around the pristine forested mountainous terrain there for 2 days, very pretty area. The pictures im gonna put online dont do it justice. On the way back we decided to take local trains (instead of the express quasi bullet trainish train we took on the way there). It turned out taking a million years, but we got to see alot of the pretty rural areas in central Japan. After doing that, Eric and I came up with a plan to hop on a train the next 3 day weekend we get, and ride as far in one direction as we can. We're hoping we can get to Kyushu (the SW island of Japan).

So, work started after that and it was back to normal. My schools all had their school festivals a few weeks ago. A Japanese High School festival is pretty cool. All the different classes and grades take on random tasks, such as selling food, ice cream, drinks, etc. Other classes provide entertainment by turning their classrooms into haunted houses, or mazes and the such. All of the clubs perform the various routines they've been working on all weekend. The hip-hop dance club was pretty impressive, and so was the marching band at one of the schools. One of my schools had a sorta.... beauty/popularity contest type thing for the festival, sorta like the prom queen or whatever. All of them kept coming up and telling me to vote for them, haha.

Tuesday was a national holiday this week, so monday night Eric, Jon and I went out, since Jon has mon/tues off. We decided to walk the Yamanote line and drink as we walked all night(a train that basically does a circle around Tokyo). We got about... a third of the way around i figure. We started at around 8:30 pm and called it a night(day?) at about 6:00 am. When we were waiting for the train in the morning, all of us fell asleep, haha. I wish I had a picture of the 3 of us passed out on the most uncomfortable bench ever.

We were on track for about.... 4 hours id say. After that we got into unfamiliar territory and i was thrust into the leadership position, with my uncanny tracking and city navigation skills. Some... errors were made.... and well, we ended up in a place we were at 2 hours earlier.... at that point a mutiny was staged, and eric attaked me, BUT... BUT we soldiered on, afterall, to quote Eric (its about the journey, not the destination) *cough* haha.... It probably woulda been fine, but I made the decision to go left instead of right, despite being outvoted 2 to 1 by my crew.

Anway.... the night got crazier the later it got. There were a few things that would best be described as stupid. Fun, but..... a bit stupid, yar. I wont say everything, but perhaps one of the dumber ones was scaling a 10 foot rock wall in the darkness and stumbling through the spider infested forest/shrubbery of someones gigantic private estate.

Anway, i'll update again soon!
We're going to Hokkaido in November, and Thailand in December! rock.

Oww, my bank book

2008-05-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

So, its time for an update eh? Jon recently pointed out that i need to either update my blog more or get on Faceook, and since im not yet ready to join the evil world of facebook, ill get my act together. Well, alot has happened.... I took a big trip to Kyoto in March with Azu, her mom, dad, and 3 of her cousins (2 Jr. High schoolers) and one younger one that was 8 years old. The eight year old (Moeka) was probably the cutest, coolest little girl ever. The teenagers were.... well teenage girls, you know how they are. So, we saw more temples than you can shake a stick at, and i'll finally put some pictures up again, i had to buy a new memory card for my DS, and with it came another adaptor, so i can finally get the pictures to my computer again (Azu lost the last one). I started a new school year also. One of my schools changed, one of the ones i liked unfortunately, but fortunately the new school is good also. The downside is i kept the one school i dont like.

My Aunt Carolyn also visited Japan in March! (The first of my family and friends to visit me i might add..... *ahem*) They just so happened to have been to Kyoto earlier also, so we skipped all the temple stuff and i took them to some of the more popular places in Tokyo. We went to the fashion and shopping mecca that is Shibuya 109, saw some crazy people in Harajuku, saw the electric city of Akihabara, and what must be one of the biggest electronic stores on the planet. Picture Best Buy. Now picture 8 Best Buys stacked on top of eachother, and thats Yodobashi Akiba. After all that we had yakiniku (Japanese style Korean BBQ). Kent and I also tried some raw horse for the first time, Aunt Carolyn passed, haha. It wasnt bad actually.

So, on to the next big piece of news. I'm moving out! As the title indicates, it hasnt been cheap. However, i now have my own apartment, all the papers signed, stamped and filled out (i had to go get a custom stamp made for myself for the paperwork), and i move in next monday. People who visit me now have a rent free place to stay, so you slackers dont have any excuse. I have a good amount of room, its a one bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, but there is a loft that is almost as big as a whole other room. The apartment is brand new, just built, and totally rad. its also alot closer to work, it shaves about a half hour off my commute. Anyway, i'm excited to move in, goin it solo for now. Eric and i tossed around the idea of moving in together, but decided to scrap it for now atleast, as it was pretty damn hard to find a central location to both of our jobs (an affordable one anyway). I'll be visiting America this summer it looks, early August, so i hope to see some familiar faces.

Peace!

Random update

2008-03-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

Well, Im actually posting an update within a month, so this is a good start. Things are well, i'v been going to work, Azu quit her job, and is free as a bird these days. She is actually in India right now, she left yesterday. She'll be there for 2 weeks. She decided to go on this voyage alone, without a plan OR a hotel reservation, so we're all hoping she's ok. She was also accepted to a nursing school this month, so she is planning to study at her translator school and nursing school at the same time, hoping to combine the two into a career in the future i think. Eric is actually responsible for this update. We were going to a club to see some girl in a band we met a few weeks ago play again, but Eric apparently caught the plague, and now we cant go anywhere. So, thanks to that the rest of us are all bored.

Azu and I recently went snowboarding in Karuizawa, Nagano. Nagano is where the winter olympic games were held a few years back here in Japan. The mountain was pretty nice, and it was really close to the Shinkansen stop, so we didnt have to travel much. We snowboarded for a day starting in the morning, and spent a night in a hotel there. The Hotel was huge, much to my surprise, and had a buffet dinner and breakfast and a hot spring, so i was happy. The whole trip was a package deal, and it was all pretty affordable. For the first time ever here, i feel like i might have actually ripped someone off instead of the other way around. Last monday we went to Disneyland as well, hah. Azu didnt go actually, her grandfather died (been in the hospital for months) so she went to the funeral in Hokkaido. It wasnt really a surprise to anyone, kind of just a matter of time everyone knew. Anyway, me, eric, kanae, tomomi, sayaka, and her friend who's name i'v forgotten went to Disneyland and had a good time. I had that monday off because i had to put the paperwork in to renew my visa, and everyone else just so happened to have monday off as well.

Oh, and in other news, Nova's bankrupcy finally went through, and i received the backpay for the 2 months i worked for free prior to the closure. It was kind of like when you leave a $20 bill in your pants, and find it 2 weeks later on laundry day. Only this was 2 months of pay, heh.

If you are interested in nature, go read about the winged bringer of death i recently learned exists in Japan. Go to wikipedia.org and look up "Asian giant hornet". Now, i know what you're t hinking "oh, look at Dan and his bug paranoia, hah hah hah" Well, this is not just any ordinary hornet, folks. This hornet, as it turns out, has the most toxic insect venom on the planet (spiders and scorpions arent technically insects i guess). This hornet, can kill a man, no shit, sometimes, in one sting if you have an allergic reaction, which if you are stung more than once in your life, becomes very likely. Not to mention the fact that one of these bastards could sting you multiple times. I found it funny to think of all the fuss people make about killer bees in the states. What I read said killer bees have killed fewer than 20 people ever in the states. these things kill over 50 a YEAR in Japan. They eat bees for breakfast, literally. One of these suckers (when raiding a bee hive) can kill like 40 bees in a minute, a squad of badasses takes down an entire hive in hours. As you read on wikipedia, the horror story just goes on... well, atleast i know to avoid romping around the forest in japan, stepping on hornet hives now.

Well, with that i shall leave you. I may disappear for awhile, i will be going to Kyoto here in a bit when i am on spring vacation, and i will be playing alot of Super Smash Brothers Brawl when it finially hits the import store in a week or so here.

Peace!

A new post!

2008-02-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

This is so late people probably arent even reading this anymore, haha.
Anyway... things have been a bit more normal again lately. I got a new job as I mentioned before, and that is going well enough. I'll talk more about how different the Japanese school ssystem is at the end of this post for those that wish to read about it. New Years came and went also. We had a good time on the 30th. We (and by that i mean eric, jon, ayumi, azu, a bunch of azus friends, and I) went out for dinner at an all you can drink place, and followed that up with all you can drink karaoke. We had alot of fun, but alas, yours truely drank too much. I think the kicker was when I mistook a class of Shochu for water towards the end of the night. Of course, you have to be pretty wasted to do that anyway, because when you think about it... why would anyone order me a big tall glass of water at all you can drink karaoke? Shochu is basically... weaker vodka. I dont like it at all when im sober, and i only realized what it was after id put most of it down, so the 31st was a painful day. Me and eric were both pretty unhappy that day. Jon shrugged it off like a champ. I was happy to hear that one of Azus friends hurled too when he got home, so i wasnt the only one. The scary thing is, i even hurled the night before about 3 or 4 times, and i was STILL miserable the next day for about 10 hours. Anyway, now that i'v thoroughly worried my mother...

Azus birthday was in January too. We were teasing her, because I guess 24 is the age girls should be married by in Japan, and its all a downhill slide in market value from there, lol. My friend Maiko is also 24, and she isn't married or even dating someone, so she said everyone is worrying and pestering her as well. Recently, Azu, Eric and i went to a party at an American friends house in Zushi. He was a Nova teacher, but he's teaching somewhere else now... anyway, his brother is in the Navy here, and they get to buy all their food on the base. So, the party was pretty cool, we got to eat American food and have an American style party for a change. Eric and i played Rock Band, which it turns out is pretty awesome. The drums are fun, i was doing a few songs on hard by the end of the night, but the foot pedal on hard gets rough....

Azu also just got back from Shanghai yesterday. She and her mother took a trip there for a few days. I had to work, so i didnt go. Azu's dad was in Hokkaido as well, so it was just me and her brother at home. We did a whole lot of nothing (cleaning included). Azu's mom was worried i was going to burn the house down if i cooked, lol, so i didnt use the stove in accordance with her wishes. I guess when you can communicate at about a 5th grade level, it registers as being able to operate the stove at a 5th grade level, haha.

Well, i am going to go play some Wii shortly, after the final blurb about schools here. I have to polish off my games before Smash Brothers comes out and i spend every waking moment honing my skills to crush Eric and Jon.

Peace!

About Schools:
So, Japanese High schools couldn't possibly be more different. For starters, the High Tech image of Japan that is mostly accurate in all of the big cities, is totally thrown out the window in a public High School. Walking into a high school is like walking back in time 20 or 30 years. They are all old, drafty, unheated, bland buildings. There is no central heating of any kind. In Winter, they burn oil in stoves, and let the heat just.... radiate. The hallways and bathrooms have no heating at all, and sitting on a toilet seat in winter is like putting your bare ass on a bench outside... not fun (actually think i prefer the squatters in the HS in winter). Classrooms also have gas oil stoves.
Next, the biggest difference, and the difference that probably changes the entire dynamic of social relationships in a High School is the class structure. At the start of the year, the students are put into a class, and a classroom, in which they will be all year. Its like elementary school, only you dont have the same teacher. The teachers move around and change rooms in a Japanese High School. As such, there is a big Teachers Room office type thing in every school, and the teachers have a meeting every morning. So when the bell rings the teacher goes out, and the next one comes in. This system (which i dont like) creates this feeling that the classroom is bascially, student territory. Not that American students are respectful, but we have an understanding that we are in the teacher's room, not the teacher a guest in the student's room. This sorta turns the tables in the student's favor for screwing around in class. Also, because they all see the same single classroom full of people for an entire year, they all know eachother way too well, and talk way too much. It can take 5 minutes just to get kids to shut up and unwillingly put away their lunches as they are forced to abide another intruder coming into their domain. Also, as a result, social groups are mostly a product of each classroom. There is little, if any interaction between grades (except at clubs) and much less interaction within each grade of students than in America.
Next, as anyone know knows anything about Japan will know, the Entrance exams to High Schools determine which level of High School kids will go to. Given the rest of the system, i have come to think the entrance exam system is actually a good thing. The reason is, that this is the way Japan separates students with different outlooks on life, basically. For a studious student trying to get into a prestigious University, it would be hell to be stuck in the same classroom of screw-off retards all year. So... basically the studious kids all go to academic High Schools, and the less studious types all go to lower level High Schools. My main High School just so happens to be one of these schools. My Thursday school is more Academic, and the difference is HUGE. Classrooom management needs alot of work in Japan. Kids are often semi out of control, and teachers cant throw them out of class like in America, so to be a kid who wants to learn, in a bad class, means you are not going to learn anything, and there is almost nothing you can do about it. So, you best study your ass off in Jr. High if you dont want that.
Lastly: clubs. Clubs are huge here, almost everyone is in one, and only the renegade type kids proudly proclaim they are in "go home club" when asked what club they are in. Sports clubs operate the same as any other club, anyone can join. Which means everyone who wants to play soccer, can. This is alot more inclusive than America, which I think is a good thing. The Schools with serious sports teams still perform quite well with this in place, so there isnt alot of argument that the kids who wouldnt have been picked in America are dragging everyone down. Now, those kids may not play alot of games against other schools, but i think alot of them would be the first to bow out, given social attitudes in Japanese society. However, it does seem that they do all get some playing time. There are clubs for Tea ceremony, Kyudo (japanese archery), Karate, Judo, Kendo(wooden sword fighting), Gardening, Movie club, Pop music club, and all the sports, basically... you name it. There is an english club also, which I sorta... i guess oversee. Anyway, thats all i am gonna write for now, if anyone has any questions, email me, or comment! peace!
(i dont feel like editing any spelling or grammar mistakes.... so there!)

Back to school!

2007-11-28T03:48:00.000-08:00

Well, as the title indicates, im going back to school! Not in the sense you are thinking, probably. So, since i wrote last, some developments have been made with Nova. Eric and Jon are working agian, which is good... perhaps working isnt the best pay to put it. They're going to work, anyway. Lessons havent started yet, so they just sorta hang around, greet students, and try to look busy. Only a few schools have reopened, so many teachers are still waiting on standby for decisions from Nova, or the new company that took over a part of Nova, anyway. I was in that category.

Anyway, i had a few job interviews, and i just happened to get lucky, and was offered an ALT position. ALT stands for Assistant Language Teacher. So, i am going to be teaching English in 3 different Japanese public highschools, hence the title. As my job title indicates, i will be working together with the normal Japanese English teacher. My duties apparently can range from teaching lessons by myself, to just doing what the teacher says, it sorta all depends on the teacher i guess. This also means that i have to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn, as im sure you all will remember you used to have to do for High school. Its even worse because i have to commute sorta far. Basically i am gonna be getting up at 6 a.m. or earlier everyday now. That aside.... i get sweet vacation time! Summer vacation is 6 weeks here, and i get 60% pay and dont work a single day! I get all the national holidays, spring break, fall break, golden week... its gonna be glorious. I also get 5 vacation days of my choice per year in addition to all the other stuff. (Nova gave 10 for the whole year and didnt give any other holidays...) I'v heard the job is pretty fun, and it will require more Japanese out of me, so i think that will be good too. I have my first day of training tomorrow, and i will start working on December 7th. I am a bit nervous about dealing with whole classrooms of kids, though. Anway... new job acquired, my chapter at Nova has come to a close it would seem. The new company seems to be getting things under way, though.

I'v been teaching a good amount of private lessons in my free time for cash and for something to do. At first i thought i would have too much free time on my hands, and i would go insane, but i feel that i have almost been.... sorta busy actually, between interviews, lessons, and Nova meetings and what not. I visited Eric and Jon last night, and we crashed at Jons house, as it was their day off. They had to work this afternoon, so they made it to work allright. Next week will be my last weekdays off, so i am planning to visit again on their days off. After that its school working hours for me with weekends off!

Well, time to sleep, training comes early tomorrow, Peace! (p.s. Azu lost my card adaptor for the moment, so i can post pictures or videos, but i will find it.)

yay for trips

2007-11-04T20:21:00.000-08:00

Well, alot has happened recently, where to start... Ok, well i'll start with work. So, Nova imploded, declared a type of bankrupcy that protects them from creditors and lets them search for a sponsor to help them rehabilitate. If no sponsor is found, the company will be liquidated and cease to exist. Today they were supposed to announce which was going to happen... and so far i'v heard that they've found a sponsor, and are going to announce who it will be in 3 days. The down shot of it, is it looks like we will all get laid off and possibly rehired, so the company doesnt have to pay our unpaid salary. So... it looks like we will have to go through the whole system of trying to claim our salary from the government, which will give us 80% it looks like, surely after a long, drawn-out beurocratic procedure of some sort. That being said, i'v been looking for a new job... and i interviewed for something that possibly starts in January, so we'll see how that goes. Onward to cooler things.

So a few weeks ago, Azu, Eric and I went to South Korea. That was good fun. It is pretty different from Japan, but similar in some ways too. It sorta reminded me of America and Japan, but had its own unique Korean style as well. The people acted very differently. Not shy and all, and alot more... pushy i guess i would say, in the physical sense. School boys on the train in Seoul seemed to be locked in eternal combat with one another. Girls at the palace we visited pretty much swarmed me and started asking questions in English, and shouting at me that i was handsome, lol... Japanese school girls will sometimes look at me and giggle, but they would definately never talk to me, heh. On the escalator, people would just push right by you, taxis would drive away if they didnt like where you wanted to go... many big differences. We saw alot of Seoul, and ate alot of good spicy korean food/barbecue. Eric and i also watched some sweet Starcraft matches on TV. They have a channel sorta like G4, but mostly dedicated to starcraft and some warcraft3 matches, it rocked. I imagine thats how normal dudes feel when they watch sports. We also went to the National Museum of Korea where my friend Sook works, which is a pretty huge museum, and saw alot of cool history stuff. After that we got boozed up and tried to get into a night club by ourselves, with 0% Korean.... that didnt go so well, so after that we got boozed up back at our guest house with some sweedish girls who were also staying there, and we passed out watching starcraft. The guest house was great by the way, really cheap... like 30 bones a night, and we had our own rooms, nice bathroom, a kitchen, a computer with internet, and could even do laundry if we wanted. Prices in general were cool, a 20 minute taxi ride was like 4 bucks, i was floored. Food was the only thing that was about normal price. Clothes were somewhat normally priced as well, a little on the cheaper side. But admission to all the places we went was really cheap compared to similar places in Japan. It was a good trip, and Sook made most of it possible.

I also went to Saga, in Japan a few days ago. Saga is on the island of Kyushu, which is the southwestern island out of the 4 biggest islands. Since its more south, which is usually warmer in Japan, i expected it to be just that, but because Saga is on the west coast of Kyushu, it was actually colder, because the west coast faces the Japan sea, which gets its coldness from Russia and the like... so it was a little colder actually. We saw a cool festival, and a castle in the area. We stayed and Azu's friend Juri's house, which is sorta in the countryside one night, and a ryoukan the next night. A ryoukan is a japanese style lodging place. They usually outfit you with a nice yukata to wear, and a nice open room where everyone sleeps on Tatami mats and futons, and you shower in the public bath or hotspring. It was really nice, we had our own hotspring outside our room, and the big public one as well. They served a pretty fantastic breakfast of fresh cut fruit, Sandwiches, bread, milk, coffee, etc. We saw alot of the countryside, various islands, and lookout points, it was very pretty.

Oh, also..... we ate live squid. Yep, it was nuts. We went to this restaurant on the ocean, with tanks as you walk in with all the live animals that will soon be on your plate. Its famous for squid... so we got 4 squids, one for Azu, Juri, Azu's mom, and Juri's mom. I ordered tempura.... So, the squids came.. and there they were, they had their backs sliced up so you could pull the meat off them, so they werent exactly.... lively, but they were alive allright. when you poked em or took some meat, their teantacles would move! I had a few pieces, it was pretty good. Eventually Juri's mom chopped the tentacles, and i had one of those too, lol... it sucked to my plate! i had to pull it off forcefully. the tentacle was pretty chewy, and the suckers were sorta... crunchy. Not as good as the "meat" on the back. Anyway... squid doesnt get any more fresh than that. I took a video, so if ya wanna see, email me, and i'll send it to you. After that we stayed at the Ryoukan and went to Fukuoka the next day, before we caught a plane back home to Kanagawa. A good trip!

Well, I'll try to post again a little earlier about developments with the work situation. Happy Birthday Eric!

Peace.

How's the sky Chicken Little? "It's FALLING MAN!"

2007-09-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

If any of you had been wondering what a massive corporate collapse is like, well just send me an email and i'll give you all the details, because i am sorta in the middle of one right now. Thats right, i may be jobless in a month... or even 15 days for that matter, depending on the situation. We might recover and i might be ok also... but signs are pointing to the less cheery outcome these days. So, basically, the governmet slapped my company with a ban on signing new students to lucrative contracts for 6 months, starting in June. This is because my company was involved in some false advertising, which led some students to get mad and demand refunds, which my company refused to pay. Well, uncle sam decided to stick up for the little guys and forced them to give the refunds, and imposed the above mentioned ban. Now, this would normally be ok, but the company is sorta in a rough patch because the execs are too stubborn to close a few schools that have been losing money, simply because they dont want to give up market share. For the last 2 years they've been running them at a loss just to hurt competition. Well, its come back and kicked them in the nuts, because the combined choke hold on cash inflow, with the refunds having to be paid, with the loss of money on unprofitable schools has led to one minor problem: they cant pay us. So... on the 15th... payday, only maybe 80% of us were paid. They didnt pay the higher promoted teachers at each branch, basically cause they couldnt, and they were the only ones that would be less likely to revolt. Well, they were wrong, after repeated lies about when they would be paid, revolt they did, and all hell is breaking loose. They have only JUST managed to pay them today, which at this point noone saw coming. The thing is, now noone thinks they are getting paid next month, and all kinds of crazy rumors are going around. Anyway... on Oct. 15th if the teachers dont get paid again, all hell is going to break loose. They might get some money to tide them over till the ban lifts in december though, so we'll see. All i can say is its getting a little crazy, and noone is taking their job seriously now.

Anyway... enough about that, i'll cross that bridge when and if i get to it. So, i went to the Tokyo Game Show with Jon. Eric was a pansy and didnt call in, so he didnt go, but we had fun! It was basically like E3, in japanese, with more people in costumes. Anyway, we had a good time, saw some cool games, and the cool thing is it was only like 10 bucks to get in, pretty killer.

In about 2 weeks or less, Eric, Azu and I are going to South Korea to hang out for 3 days. We are meeting a friend of ours named Sook, from UNR who graduated and moved back to Korea, and she is going to show us around Seoul. We're pretty stoked about it. She set us up in a guest house somewhere downtown. Also in early November i am going to Saga, which is in Kyushu (southern island of Japan) for a couple days to hang out in Azu's friend Juri's hometown. There is some kind of festival that time of year, so that should be a good time as well. Mike is also probably coming over in early November too, so that should be a rockin good time. Azu is working night shifts these days, which she hates, but i sorta like actually, haha. She has to work these long 24 hour stretches, and while i dont see her then, she usually gets more time off inbetween, and we can actually do things. We went snorkeling in Manazuru last week and met some girls from sweden. There were alot of fish surprisingly, despite the visibility not being the greatest.

Oh, there was a typhoon that plowed right into us earlier this month too. It was pretty crazy, the ocean waves were NUTS. They were coming all the way up the beach, and over this giant 20 foot cement wall at times. They also knocked out a section of the freeway that is right on the ocean. Anyway, me and azu were going down to check them out before the Typhhon fully arrived, and i stepped over this barrier the city put up to detract people from dieing in the giant waves (it was only like 2 feet high, lol). Anyway, before i could do something stupid, some old japanese dude came running out of his house yelling "what the hell are you idiots doing, you're gonna get swept away!!, dont you know what this means!? get back over here!!" and the like... so he probably saved my life, cause not more than maybe 2 minutes later a giant wave washed past where i was standing. I probably woulda been ok though :P. Anyway, me and Azu were on TV because a camera crew came down to film the giant waves when we were watching them, and as they interviewed us, a big wave came and soaked all of us. It was pretty funny. But yeah, a few students recognized me on TV. So that night it came in full force... scary, crazy rain and wind. The house was shaking and all.

Anyway, thats all for now, enjoy the picture of a few crazy FF10 cosplayers there. I'll let you all know how the ol' company fares here in the next few weeks. Peace!

Alot of Stuff

2007-09-01T05:52:00.000-07:00

Well, i just typed up a long post, and hit a wrong button which decided to terminate all of it, so now i'm pissed off and you'll have to live with the summarized version.
Anyway, i was pretty busy in August with alot of swaps and junk. I didnt do much, other than make it up to Saitama to visit Emily before she goes back to America. Anyway, Mt. Fuji was pretty cool, aside from whole mountain cabin part. There are 10 levels, or stages on Fuji, and you start at level 5 usually, to which you can take a car or bus. We hiked to 8.5ish to sleep, and woke up to climb for the sunrise. In the cabin, we got a dinner, and got to sleep like sardines, or not sleep at all rather, for 6 hours, then get up at midnight and resume climbing in the miserable high elevation cold of Mt. Fuji's peak. There was also a traffic jam of people on the narrow path, because we all woke up at the same time... so you couldnt even move to stay warm. I paid 5 bones for some hot tea that is normally worth 1 bone at the top, because my hands were about to freeze off. We went from miserable summer, to winter in less than a day. Anyway, the sunrise was magnificent, and i am glad i climbed. It cleared up for the sunrise and we got to see a nice one, it was strange being so high. I would not do the whole sleeping in the cabin thing again.. if i ever do climb it again, it would be up and down in one day. By the way, going down is worse than going up. There is a japanese saying that goes something like "Everyone should climb Mt. Fuji once, but only crazy people do it twice". Its about right.

We went to Saitama for a yukata party with the gang up there as well. That was pretty fun. We drank alot, emily drank even more than alot and was a bit... well sickly the next day. It was a good time.

Also, there was a night me, Azu and Juri did some partying where i work, Hiratsuka, and basically stayed up all night and caught the first train home. Only.... we sorta fell asleep on the train. So the next thing i know, a train guy is waking me up. I think to myself (still drunk) "how nice of him to wake us up at our stop" so we stumble down the platform, me thinking "thats odd, i dont remember an exit there in Kozu... oh well, thats useful" Juri then says "thats the shinkansen entrance!" So i think "hrm... dont remember a shinkansen (bullet train) entrance in Kozu... thats really useful too!" Then as we continue down the platform, one of us finally reads a sign and we realize..... we're not in Kozu at all, we're in Atami. Atami happened to be the final stop on that train.... which is about an hour south west of Kozu... soooo we got back on and rode home, this time a little later, and managed to get off the train this time, barely. Juri somehow woke up and got me and Azu up. Then we got to walk home in the blazing morning sun, passing people going to work. Awesome!
Anyway, Azu eric and I are planning a South Korea trip this month, so i'll keep you posted! Peace!

Typhooooon! Just kidding.

2007-07-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

As the title indicates, i almost got to see a raging typhoon last weekend, but.... didnt. My little sister in okinawa got to see one up close and personal though. After boning Okinawa, that same typhoon went for Japan proper, and did some typhooning in southwest Japan. It was SUPPOSED to come up to where i was as well.... but it decided to turn away. This is good news for everyone... but i wanted to see a badass typhoon, so i was sad. It did make for an easy day at work though, because the bulk of the students cancelled that sunday. An earthquake also hit recently as many of you may have seen on the news. I felt it, but it wasnt so strong where i am. It was an odd feeling. I was teaching a lesson and all of the students are like " Earthquake!" and i say "what? who? where?..... i dont feel any - ah, yep, sure enough". The building sorta started to sway back and forth, it was dizzying. Azu's hotel is like 30 or so floors up in a building, so she felt the swaying pretty strongly i guess, and the elevators stopped and all the guests paniced. Anyway, it did alot of damage in Niigata where it originated, mostly to old buildings.

Well, enough about Japan's many natural disasters. Last night Azu and i partied in Shinjuku with some of her old friends. All of them went to college in the U.S., so they could speak english really well... but they mostly all spoke japanese the whole night, haha. Only if they wanted to say something important to me in particular did they speak english. We ended up doing some cosmic bowling and then setting up some teams and betting for drinks at the end of the night. You may not know this, but i am a TERRIBLE bowler. It is not uncommon for me to gutterball numerous times in a row. However... for the first time in my life, i managed to pull my dismal score up from the depts with a few lucky spares and a strike, and get over 100 to save my team and win the game! For the first time ever i scored over 100... so i was happy. All the girls outbowled me and Azu's other male friend Yu, so we couldnt do girls vs. boys. It was a sad night for us.

In about a week and a half Ronn, Azu, Tawnya, and I are going to climb Mt. Fuji. We'v already reserved the cottage, so its happening! We are planning to start on the 29th, then sleep for a few hours in a cottage near the top, then wake up at 2 am, and finish the climb to see the sunrise from the top. Im told climbing Mt. Fuji is nothing short of miserable, so... hopefully the view will pay off.

Happy Birthday to AdriAnne!

Festivalicious

2007-07-12T23:20:00.000-07:00

So, alot happened last week. To start, there was the whole television extra job. I worked as an extra on a Japanese television movie. It turns out, the story is actually pretty famous. They are doing a remake of some old japanese World War 2 story, its going to be a 2 hour television movie. The title translates into something like "I want to be a shell" or shellfish. All of my older students know of the original movie. The younger students just look at me puzzled when i tell them the name. One class, haha... there was one old dude with 3 other younger students. He was the only one who knew of the story, and was very surprised and sad that the other people had never seen or heard of it. I guess it involved some kind of Japanese officer that was wrongly accused of some war crimes, and the title has something to do with wanting to clam up, like a shellfish or something... i dunno. Its going to be on TV here on August 24th i heard. Interestingly, i also heard that Hollywood is currently working on a version of the story. Anyway, i got to work with a couple famous people. For anyone who has seen Jet Li's newest movie, Fearless, you will know one of them. The final japanese fighter that Jet Li fights at the end was the main character in this movie. His name is Shido Nakamura. The other guy is an american dude, who is famous only in Japan. I'v seen him on TV a few times, his name is Patrick, or Patkun as they say here. Anyway, as far as my part went, i was in about 3 scenes. One scene where an officer comes into our prison and demands to see one of the american prisoners. Another scene where the main guy is talking to all the prisoners and telling us we'll be working in a coal mine, and later at the end, when the war is over, and all of us prisoners get to happily leave the prison. I'll let you guys know if i see myself on TV, haha. It was an interesting experience... involved alot of waiting, and doing the same thing over and over again until the director was satisfied. But, i was paid pretty well for my time, and it was more like an adventure than work. I got to stay in a pretty nice traditional japanese Hotel for a night, talk to alot of other random foreigners who were also prisoners, and I also got to travel to a rural town in the mountains, and see a new place. The other foreigners were from all over, some from brazil, sweden, australia, argentina, canada, africa. Basically it was anyone who appeared to be american with the exclusion of anyone asian looking. One of the brazilian guys only knew japanese and portuguese, so i had to speak to him in japanese when i spoke with him, haha. I was actually supposed to do another scene today, but they called back and told me that the scene was removed. Also, i was asked to do another event.... like some kind of staff job at a justin timberlake concert? i dunno, but i was working that day, so i told them i couldnt. I guess they'll be calling me for anything these different companies get asked to find people for.

Anyway, this week was also Tanabata, which is a star festival of sorts. Has something to do with some prince and princess of the stars, who were too happy together, and only wanted to lay around and be in eachothers company when together, so the gods separated them, and said they can only meet one day a year. That day is the Tanabata festival! It just so happened, that the biggest, or second biggest Tanabata festival location is Hiratsuka, where i work now. The festival lasted for 4 days, and for the 2 days that i participated, involved me being wasted until last train, and having a hang over the next day. It also involved about 5 zillion people walking all over Hiratsuka, and alot of awesome, artery clogging festival food, like battered deep fried potatoes covered in butter, and meat on a stick. It was pretty fun, until the next morning, when i wanted to hurl on a student.

Azu and i also went to Odaiba. We saw some cool movies in the Sony science center, but didnt have enough time to see as much as we wanted, because i had to catch a bus to Ibaraki for the extra thing.

Well, thats about all for now. Me, Ronn, Azu, and Tawnya were going to meet for another 21 dollar burger this week... but Ronn and Tawnya forgot to save enough money to ride the train to the restaurant, so plans were cancelled. Jon also had to call off the Kawagoe festival gathering planned tomorrow. He gave a long, thorough list of reasons, and i couldnt really dispute any of them, so that was that! I got a hold of my sister Brittany in okinawa, and was informed that she's getting..... married! Yeah, planned for next summer i guess. Crazy. Anyway, i am going to try to visit her this fall sometime if i can, so that should be fun. Thats all for now. If you find yourself hating summer, just think of me sitting in 80% humidity right now, it may cheer you up!

Talk to my agent

2007-07-04T03:58:00.000-07:00

Kidding, i dont really have an agent. However, i AM going to be an extra in a japanese TV drama! So, a few days ago a got an email from a coworker at my old school that was about some company looking for models or extras or some such. The days they needed people just happened to be on my days off, so i decided to give it a whirl. It said they needed white dudes with short hair, that were in their 20s, and looked like it. I seemed to fit the bill, so i took a picture of myself, and emailed it to them from my phone. they got back to me, and said they wanted me to do whatever it was they were doing, haha. So, today they gave me the details. Tomorrow i will be meeting one of their people in Shinjuku at 6:30 pm. From there we're going to Ibaraki, which is in another prefecture to the north or some such. They are going to put me in a hotel for the night at their expense, and the next day we will be "shooting" haha. They are making a japanese WW2 TV drama, and i am going to be a captured american soldier, lol. Azu said it was perfect since she thinks i look like a skinny prisoner of war anyway, hah. So... thats the news for this week! I'll let you all know how it goes on my next post.

So, last week Ronn and i went with a coworker to a restaurant in Harajuku that serves Kobe beef burgers. I was told they were fantastical, so we decided to go, despite the steep price. For those unfamiliar with kobe beef, its a very delicious, high quality kind of japanese beef that is really expensive. The burger started at about $21, and for anything extra, it was $2 (cheese, bacon, avacado, etc). It came with tomato, lettuce, onion, and what not. Anyway, i got some cheese and avacado on mine, so the burger ran me 25 bones. Combine that with a $9 beer (one that dwarfed Ronn's meager $5 beer and made him feel like less of a man i might add), and you have yourself a $34 meal, and you dont even get fries! Now, i dont want to hype anything up, so i wont go into details. I will say, however, that Ronn and i will both be returning to get another in the future, and i feel the burger price was pretty fair. I dunno if i will go for another $9 beer... but the burger is a definite yes. On a side note, you dont really need fries, because it was a very large burger, and i was full and happy after just eating that.

After that the 3 of us (me, Ronn and my coworker Raphael from Florida) went and got some bubble tea in Shinjuku, and stumbled into a really expensive furniture store. Ronn was scared of the bubble tea, so it was just me and Raph with the tea. Anyway, it was pretty hilarious, because me and Raph walk into this swank store sipping bubble tea and Ronn is in flip flops, haha. So at first a rather snooty looking store lady told us to get the F out with our tea, hah. After chugging some tea at the entrance, we go back in, and were about to sit down when we realized that the couch we were about to sit on was a third of our annual salary. So from there, we started a sort of scavenger hunt through this large, 8 story furniture store to find the most expensive thing in the store. Well, there were some pretty sweet couches, tables and chairs and what not. At first we thought we werent going to get higher than the 22 thousand dollar pimp couch on the 4th floor. However, we found the floor with traditional japanese furniture, and found a table that ran 40 grand, and a cabinet that was about 53 grand. We also saw a really crappy looking shelf of some sort, that i swear to you, i could have fuggin made in wood shop, for 58 THOUSAND dollars. It must have been made from wood that was stained in the blood of virgins or something. Anyway.... on the top floor, way in the back, in a room you had to remove your shoes in, we found an armoir (sp? you know, that crappy french word) that won the competition. Yep... a 68 thousand dollar armoir (see above pic). I couldnt even tell why either, was the stupid thing. It was lame. There were some tables made of really rare and intersting wood that seemed to deserve a price that high... but alas, who knows. Maybe all the metal is platinum.

Well, Azu and i are going to Odaiba tomorrow, for real this time. I'll write about my acting adventure, and maybe a soccer game i am planning to go to in the future. If i can get eric to leave his hermitage in Saitama.

Peace!

Rockin and rollin

2007-06-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hello again from Japan everyone. Well, atleast to the people that read this. i have no idea how many people do really... only mike and lark ever comment, but anyway! So its been a pretty long time since i posted. Laziness is the reason, sadly. Work has been going pretty well. Recently my company has been in the news a bit for some mishaps with promising students things they couldnt fulfill... which landed them with some restrictions on student contract durations. Anyway, last week was payday, and i was planning to buy a new TV... a 32' flat panel LCD to be exact. At the same time this contract restriction business was in the news, that payday there was some kind of holdups with banks, and our paycheck deposits were late everywhere. So that morning, the TV guys called to confirm the delivery (i was paying upon delivery). i confirmed it, and went to the ATM to get my cash..... only there was no cash. So.... long story short, the delivery guys came with my TV, and i couldnt buy it.... so they took it back, and i got no TV because their lateness boned me! I was also a little worried... comapany in the news... no pay... started to wonder if i still had a job. But anyway, it wasnt a big deal, and i got payed, not soon enough to save my TV, alas, but everything was fine.

I was also informed that my little sister brittany is in Okinawa now! I havent heard from her yet, but i hope to soon, so i can go visit her down there. Maybe she can visit me too, who knows. The marines decided to send her to paradise instead of hell, so that worked out well for her. I havent done much new lately. Eric, Jon, and Emily are all back in America right now on vacations, and Ronn is working overtime like a sucker, so iv had my days off to myself. Last week Azu and i went to the DaVinci museum exhibit thing they have had in Ueno, and we got to see an original piece of his work there, being borrowed from Italy i guess. Its the one with the arcangel Gabriel and the pregnant virgin mary and stuff.... i forget the name and i am too lazy to go look it up. I also read a book! You should all be proud, it doesnt happen often. I read Kafka on the Shore, by Haruki Murakami. It was good. He is a pretty popular japanese novelist, and many, if not all of his books get translated into english. if any of you are readers you have undoubtedly heard of him. Next month, azu and i are hopefully going to climb mount Fuji, if we can get the days off coordinated and all that. Ronn and Tawnya might do it with us as well. Eric and Emily expressed interest also. I'll let you guys know! I am told its a hellish experience, but worth doing.

So, a few days ago i left my cellphone on a train. It couldnt have been worse timing. i was going to meet Azu and Tawnya in Yokohama, we were gonna go have some fun.... anyway, it fell outta my stupid dress pants pocket, and the train sped away before i realized it. So... i didnt know azus number, or ANYONEs number for that matter... so i had no way of getting a hold of them. And despite azu saying we would meet at the train station, without my confirmation neither her or Tawnya ever came to check. So... i ended up waiting 2 hours in a train station, sweating, instead of going and having fun. 2 hours later, i talked to a guy at the station, who told me it had been found, and was in lost and found in Hachioji....... which was about an hour in some random direction i'v never been. SO, i went there, and got it... killed another 2 hours, and then met azu back in yokohama around 7:30 for dinner, instead of 3:00.... then went home. Moral of the story: dress pants are fin lame.

Oh, if you havent already, go look at the sick origami video on mikes blog.

Peace! Daniel

Yo

2007-06-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

Well, its time again for a new update! So last week i went to Disney Sea with Azu, Ronn, and Tawnya. It was alot of fun. Somehow, the weather was almost perfect (it got kinda windy at night) and there were no lines! It wasnt even all that crowded, so we lucked out i guess. I was told the lines can be heinous, but we didnt wait more than 15 minutes for anything the whole day, it was pretty nice, especially for anything Disney related. Disney Sea is alot like Disney Land, only it sorta has a waterish theme, and is more geared towards adults, or atleast young adults. You can buy beer at just about all the restaurants there, so you can get ripped if ya feel like it! The show was pretty impressive. It was this big illuminated water show in the big lake/bay thing in the middle of the park. There was this fire dragon that rose outta the water to spew fire also, and the volcano erupted! So i thought it was pretty sweet. Ronn missed the first part of it because he was getting another churro. I didnt blame him though, we looked for damn churros ALL DAY. We kept getting false leads from people. One girl we asked didnt know, but decided that telling us a place where there were in fact NO churros would be better than admitting that she didnt know. By the end of the day we were hell bent on eating some churros, and by god we did. I was double fisting churros when we found them finally. We were gonna eat at the swank disney restaurant there, but when our jaws dropped as we saw the price, we decided to hold off. I spent more on food than my ticket... but i did eat alot, and i enjoyed myself so i have no regrets. The tower of terror and Indiana Jones rides were pretty cool.

This week, i went up to Kawagoe and hung out with eric, emily, jon, ayumi, and ayumi's parents. It was a good time, we got some dinner and had a merry time. Azu was slaving away in the coal mines, so she didnt get to come, alas. It was sorta funny in the horrible sort of way, recently. So, i went to work at about... 7:30 last saturday. That day, Azu left for work before me... i got home around 7:00.... and she got home about 4.5 hours after me, haha. I was telling her how i had a glorious lunch of rice and Shabu Shabu, (this big delicious pot of boiled meat and vegetables and what not), as she was getting ready for bed after her 15 hour work day (that doesnt include travel time). And she goes "wow.... sounds great! i had a 30 minute lunch, and i ate a can of tuna, like a cat!" It was pretty funny... atleast for me, haha. Thats pretty much been par for Azus course the last couple of weeks with her hotel opening. She doesnt really get days off regularly... crazy. But, apparently its not that out of the ordinary here. Azu said atleast she doesnt work in the restaurant, i guess they've been so busy, that the staff has been working basically the entire day, and sleeping at the restaurant, only to wake up and work some more.

Anway, i had a 3 day weekend this week because i was moving to my new branch, and i enjoyed the majority of it at Jon's house, playing xbox and reading his comic books. I was reading Y, The Last Man. Its a sweet comic series about how every creature on the planet with a Y chromosome basically dies of some kind of plague instantly. So yeah, men everywhere all die simultaneously almost. Only one man is unaffected, him and his pet monkey, who is also a male monkey (making the pair doubly amazing). Anyway, its interesting to think about. The world is in a pretty messed up state at the moment, as would be expected i suppose if half the earth's population suddenly died. Also theres the whole fact that the current generation is more or less the last one as well. There is a crazy group of fanatical chicks that have been going around and burning down sperm banks and what not also, because they dont want there to ever be men on the planet again. They are also trying to kill the main character, as you might expect. I think the comics have taught me that being the last man alive would basically suck.

Anyway, we also went shopping, and i bought some japanese comic books that i am going to try and read. They are supposed to be a little easier to read, and have furigana (that says what the kanji are), so maybe i can hack it.

Living at Azu's has been good, a few cultural differences aside, everything has been going well. Tomorrow i start at my new branch, so i will have all new students and coworkers. Anyway, bye for now! My internet is still not reliable, so i will do more once it is.

Been a few

2007-05-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

So, its been a busy couple weeks, and i apologize for the lateness. I will attempt to pin some of the blame on Azu and her lack of internet, however. I am currently pirating a very weak signal from her neighbors. As you may have guessed from my previous sentence, i moved in with Azu this week. Its been nice, except for carrying 2 really heavy suitcases, my laptop, and an extra bag through train ticket takers, smashing into keikyu during rush hour, and carrying my suitcases 50 miles to the end of azu's station train platform. I am pretty sure i killed a few people getting onto the train to Yokohama during rush hour... ah well. Moving sucks. I am going to see if i can get a video going of her house and what not to show you guys. For the next couple weeks i have a much longer commute. It hasnt been so bad, except the time i almost fell asleep and missed my connection in Ofuna, that coulda been bad. I also took a video from the train that i would like to show you folks.

So this week it was mostly moving and unpacking. I managed to meet up with Ronn, Tawnya, and her friend on wednesday, and we hung out in Harajuku and Shibuya. It took all day, but i managed to find a man bag that was only 1380!, thats about 12 bucks or so for those of you not familiar with Yen. Considering i saw a T-shirt that day that was over $200, yes a T-shirt (not even that cool), i think i did pretty well for a bag. It was hidden between a couple bags that ran bout $60. I know what most of you are thinking. "A man bag?! its not acceptable for men to carry a purse-like object on their shoulder!" WRONG. In Japan, its perfectly acceptable, and there is an entire man bag industry, so there. Also, its just handy when you need to carry a few extra things, BACK OFF.

The week before Ash was here. Eric covered most of their trip, so click on his link cause i am feeling lazy. We had fun, we did the Kawagoe Area the first day, Tokyo the next, and had some mexican later that week. When i stop being lazy and post some pics, i will include the few pictures i took from the top of the sunshine 60 building. Its pretty weird being that high up. Buildings you thought were high before dont seem so high when you are at 60 stories. The Tokyo metropolis, which is the largest in the world it turns out, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Tokyo_Area), is pretty amazing from above.

Well, i am going to post this before my internet cuts out again and i get angry. I am going to Disney Sea next wednesday with Azu, Ronn, and Tawnya, so that will be fun, i will write again after that. Oh, i also got my first real paycheck, and lemme tell ya... payday is sweet!

Big News!

2007-05-06T05:31:00.000-07:00

Well, not so much time has passed, but some new stuff has come to light, man. So last week, on wednesday, my boss so to speak, calls me up and informs me that something has come up, and that I can transfer to Hiratsuka effective at the beginning of June, if i want it. I only had about 3 hours to think it over though, and it involved my schedule changing to all early shifts, and my days off changing to thurs/fri. The place is however, about 15 minutes by train from Azu's, towards tokyo, saving some time if i meet up with R&T or E&E after work. Well, I accepted, so starting in June, i'll be at a new location! Early Shifts also make it easier to meet up with eric and emily, so i may actually see them more than once a year. Early shifts are.... well, early. Its not really that early, i'll probably have to wake up at 8 am, which I am not a big fan of, but other people would say that's late, so I guess I can't complain. Wait, yes I can, and I probably will.

Well, aside from that, on my day off wednesday, I went to the beach. This past week was "Golden Week". Golden Week is a series of unrelated Japanese national holidays that happened to be right next to eachother. I think they are unrelated... my students were terrible at explaining golden week, and I forgot to ask Azu, so thats my story. Anyway, since there were already like 3 or 4 national holidays, companies are usually nice, and just say "what the hell, take the whole week off". Golden Week is business as usual if you work at Nova, so the only thing golden I enjoyed was the Golden increased business on the trains, and the Golden fact that all my shifts started early that week because thats what my Nova does on holidays, or the Golden closed banks, atms, etc. Well, that aside, the weather was fantastic this week where I live. Not too hot, not cold, no rain, perfect days really... so I guess that was golden. I'm rambling now... anyway, I went to the beach, it was sweet, and we went to a shrine near here, and climbed a billion steps to the top of a little foresty hill, and got to enjoy a rather nice view of the area. The landscape is really beautiful here, and you'll get to see that some day when I stop being lazy and put up some pictures. From the beach, we could see Hakkejima sea paradise, which is an amusement park on an island or something.

In other news, yesterday I went to Azus again, and we saw Spiderman 3. Aside from being alot more expensive, and getting specific reserved seats, Japanese movie theaters are pretty much the same as ours. Atleast the one in Azus town is, it was equally large, and had seats like most new cinemark/regal theaters. One odd little quirk: their discount times are at night, and are expensive during the day, unlike ours. I am told this is because japanese people typically do other stuff at night, and most people use trains to get around. If a movie lets out late, after trains have stopped for the day, people are boned and cant go home, so i guess thats why fewer people go at night (btw Lark, trains do stop here around 12:30ish, so you either go home, take a cab later, or sleep on the cold hard floor of the train station, which involves spooning with hobos if its in Shinjuku) . Our "discount" price was 1200 yen... maybe 11 bucks or so. Usually its 1500 yen or up to 2000 at times i guess. On the first of every month though, all movies are 1000 yen, its some sort of special premier day. Also, wednesday is ladies day, and they get in for 1000 yen, horseshit! Azu told me this is good, so when I get to pay for her tickets in the future I will be paying less! I failed to see how it was a win situation for me.

Thats all for now! Ashley is arriving in Japan soon, and I am heading up to erics tuesday night after work for some good times, so i'll blog about that next. Peace!

Happy Birthday Mike!

P.S. that is the main sign for a hair salon near my apartment.. i encourage you to click on the pic and read it. Later i will post a pic of the main label.

Yay for computers

2007-04-27T03:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so its been a while, for that I am sorry. I did however, finally get my laptop, so I am back online! Here is one picture of a temple me, Ronn and Tawnya went to near my house. I am gonna have to post my pics on another site I think and then just have a link to them so you guys can look at all of them. Anyway... I got a memory card for my phone, so I can put my pictures on my comp now as well.

Where to start... ok, so Ronn, Tawnya and I have met up a couple of times for various shenanigans since we all have wednesday off. We met eric and john once in shibuya and went to an outback steakhouse there. It was good! The girls (Azu and Tawnya) were getting their hair cut, so the 4 of us wandered around in the rain looking for outback with erics leadership being our only source of guidance. We made it, so that was good. We also found a restaurant near my house that specializes in American food, so i go there occasionally. The crazy thing is.... they have good mexican food. I know, the very notion is rediculous, but i did it, i found a place with good mexican food here. Its not the best i'v ever had or anything, but it is damn good, and its certainly the best iv found in Japan. Real salsa... good quesadillas and burritos, and taquitos, and chile con carne... however you spell that. Anyway, they have alot, and i havent had any that werent awesome. The quesadillas rock. My only gripe is it needs to be spicier. They arent big on spicy here.

Enough on that, so my newer roomate, Alex, we'll call him Alex S to avoid confusion with Alex W, has his girlfriend visiting him from Canada right now. They seem to be having fun so far. I think we might be going out for Yaki Niku tomorrow night with Azu. I am moving down with Azu next month if anyone didnt know. Its going to be a significantly longer commute for me to work, but i guess its just a standard japanese commute, so my students just kinda nod when i tell them how long it is. It will be about an hour and 15, but i figure i can just read or study on the trian, so it wont be a big deal. I have a few students who commute 2 hours into various parts of Tokyo, so they dont really seem to be surprised at the time. One of my students today... while doing a lesson on daily routines, revealed how she wakes up at 5 am everyday, and goes to bed at 1 am. I scolded her after i got done looking shocked, then told her how i feel bad if i get less than 6 hours a night. Another of my students, a high school girl, has a self imposed hour commute to HS (she chose this school) because the uniforms are cuter.

My work branch is sorta secluded. Kurihama is basically in the sticks, its 20 mins from my place, which is 20 minutes from Yokohama proper. My place is still technically yokohama, but Kurihama is another city technically i think... anyway, my students all say its in the coutryside. I am told that a few stops away in Miurakaigan, there are in fact cows and farms and junk, so i guess i cant argue with them. its not really that far away geographically though from Yokohama. My train line, keikyu, gets pretty intense in the mornings. Fortunately i never have to use it at its worst, except when iv returned from yokohama during the evening rush hour. It sucks then. Azu used it once in the morning going to Tokyo and sorta refused to ever do it again, so i guess its bad. My school is small, but you get to know alot of the students, so thats kinda nice, if they are cool. Sucks if they arent. Kids classes are nuts.... i am coping with Juniors ok, but i had a kinders class a few days ago that made me want to end my life. They just ran around screaming, climbing on the counter, no joke, trying to throw eachother off, while screaming at the top of their lungs, while i got to sit there and try to paint a smile on my face for the parents. They did nothing but be unruly. Trying to get them to not be unruly just encouraged them i think. The advice i received: smile more.

So, the most recent thing i did was last sunday. I stayed at Azus house sunday night and we went to a hot spring that night. I find them to be very nice despite having to be naked with a bunch of other dudes. But really, you are the only one who cares at all, so as soon as you realize you are just being stupid, they're great. I was trying to get some japanese practice, but its surprisingly hard to get people to talk to you. Most people simply wont speak to you ever, unless you address them directly. So, in this pool that had red water ( a good conversation starter) i found some younger guys, and managed to strike up a conversation, it was cool.. We talked for about 40 minutes or so about various things. They were college students in the area. One of them was very shy and only listened mostly, but the others were happy to give me some practice, and wanted to hear some english here and there as well.

Ok, thats all for now. I will be more regular about things now that i have a computer. I will try to figure out how to show all my pictures from kamakura, cherry blossoms, etc as well. Peace!

An update!

2007-03-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so in hindsight, coming here without a computer was foolish. That being said, it hasnt been easy for me to get on the internet. So... where to begin. Work was stressful at first. They sorta just throw you right in. On the second day of training you have to teach a whole class by yourself.. 2 actually. After 3 days of training, you are teaching a full day by yourself. Planning lessons and stuff takes time when you are new, so you have to get the hang of it, but it comes quick. I have been disappointed about my location. I am basically far from Azu and eric/em/jon/ronn/tawnya. As ronn put it yesterday, we live in a big triangle of ass. Wed/Thurs are my days off, erics em and jon are mon/tues. i work till 9 mon/tues. Ronn and Tawnya are tues/wed, so we can get together on wednesdays. Wednesday and sunday when people get off earlier are about the only days its feasable to meet up.

Proximity to friends aside.. my place is cool enough. Close to the ocean, lots of stuff to see. I am told by other americans there is a kick ass mexican restaurant in my town run by a guy that learned in America, so they say he has it down. I havent been jonesin yet, but i am sure i will in the future. The folks at my branch are cool, its pretty laid back. Everyone smokes though, so i am alone on breaks while they all go smoke, haha. My students have all been pretty nice for the most part with a few exceptions. We have a younger student that i havent taught yet, that apparently has never spoken a word of english in class, he just points at things. He is sorta.... difficult. The older students are usually the most talkative. Younger students are harder because they are usually more nervous and shy. Adjusting was difficult at first, but im doing well enough. Azu is transfering in a few days, so she'll be closer, and i wont have to visit her in her jungle apartment. This apartment... good lord. Something in it creates humidity, i shit you not. it just GETS that way. it is about 3 times more humid than anything youv ever been in at any given time of day. I hung up a work shirt the other day when i stayed there (it was 100% dry) and it was damp the next day when i went to put it in my bag. Its crazy.

My apartment kinda sucks. I gather its the village bicycle of nova places. Everyone sorta cringes when they hear where i live. I guess its about the crappiest, most expensive place you can come by. Also, the door has no key lock, just a combination... so thats great.

Havent done much since i got here. Hung out with the saitama gang a few times, and me and azu took a drive with her dad south of Odawara and checked out a few dive shops we plan to do business with when the weather gets a little nicer (and i get paid). We also saw some cool scenery. She really lives in a nice place.

Anyway, i gotta order my computer so i can join the civilized world again. peace!

Its hard to check my normal email right now, but if you wanna get a hold of me, send it to my phone for now, i usually have it on me all the time. When i get a computer and memory card of my own, i will post pictures, or maybe just a memory card. I could use azus comp if i get the card. I apologize for a lack of punctuation, this keyboard sucks.

Japan

2007-03-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

Well, i'v been here for a few days now. I saw azu, eric, ronn, tawnya, emily, and some of azu's friends the first night i got here. Since then i'v been down in Odawara mostly after a stop at my apartment in Yokohama to drop off my stuff and meet my roomate. He seems nice enough. I took care of my gaijin card registration thursday, and got my cellphone yesterday, on which you can email me at dbhuff@ezweb.ne.jp . It was a long involved process with the phone, analyzing plans and what not, i think azu was tired by the end of it, but i settled on AU, because they had a good deal on a phone that had english and a nice camera, which killed 2 birds with one stone. I was going to go with softbank, because they had a plan that was only about 10 bucks a month, and i could talk to anyone on softbank for free from 2 am - 8pm. If azu had been on softbank, i probably woulda done it, but to get the 10 dollar plan you had to take a crappier phone with a crappy camera, and azu isnt on softbank, and if you call people outside of softbank with that plan you get hosed basicaly, soo... i went with AU.

Anyway, as soon as i get a memory card, and a reader, i will start puttin up some pictures. My phone seems to take a pretty nice picture.

Leavin on a jet plane.

2007-03-11T22:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I have one more day here in the states. I am a little bit nervous, but mostly I just dont want to pack. You would think that with near infinite time on my hands, I could get things done. Wrong. I leave in roughly 36 hours, and I have done... nothing. Eric and Emily, if you read this before I arrive, I will be there Wednesday evening. Azu said you were joining us and Ronn and Tawnya, but your msn message gave me the general impression you had no idea when I was arriving. Anyway, we are meeting in Ikebukuro for good times.

Ok, I am going to go pack, wish me luck.

Dan

Alpha

2007-02-24T11:29:00.000-08:00

Ok, blog created. mic test.