Good Child Must Not Imitate!

I'm in the spending mood so.. I got another Red Bazooka shirt from the Middle shop in Shibuya.

The same place I got the Japanese Sorry one.

As usual I was "uming and ahing" if I really needed/wanted it, but in the end I just decided to fork over the yen and got it.

I'm pretty happy with it. It says "Good Child Must Not Imitate!"

Cool.

The other teacher that has his iPhone is seriously tempting me to get one for myself.

He's on the same White Plan as me. For 5,000 yen a month he gets unlimited internet and email downloads (as well as the normal phone network of course). He did buy his iPhone outright for 80,000 yen. It's possible to pay it out over 24 months for 8,000 yen a month all up, which is still a pretty impressive deal.

In Australia the best option for internet access on a mobile is with the 3 network and their X-series. Not too bad for $40 for 2GB of downloads, but this just covers the net access. On top of that you'd need to be on a regular pricing plan.

On this day there's also the Sumidagawa fireworks in Tokyo.
Right now I'm watching it on tv.

Yes, I know it's not the same, but we are avoiding the crowds and the view although not "live", omits the rather annoying buildings that seem to get in the way.

The "child" part of me wishes I was there though.

I Love The Nightlife, I Love To Boogie

Tonight was a big night out with the boys in Shibuya.

There was a great turnout, including a friend I know from Brisbane who's only been in Tokyo for three weeks.

After first getting a drink from a combini, we started off in Tasu Ichi (aka. "Love Connection").

It's a small bar slightly erring to the side of more foreigners than Japanese, but it has a nice vibe and cheap 300 yen beers. Some J guys said they liked my shirt. It felt like an English lesson so I didn't talk to them very long. If it's a J girl I don't mind it at all. Hmm.. 

Once we had enough of there, we moved on to Club Atom.

It's strange that tonight, after almost a year of being here, I hadn't been to any nightclubs at all.

I'm glad I hung around and didn't catch the last train. I had a great time.

Club Atom is situated on the left side of Shibuya, walking past Shibuya 109 to the area commonly referred to as "Love Hotel Hill", where there are quite a few clubs.. and love hotels.

I paid a 2500 yen entry which is a bit much for me. I was a little perturbed that the security staff rifled through my wallet. I think that's quite a bit too invasive of my privacy. What are they looking for anyway?

There are three floors to the club.

The fifth floor is the largest main dance floor playing dance music. This was probably the least interesting room to me. I just felt kind of bored here.

I spent most of the time here on the sixth floor Hip Hop room. This style of music is probably the most recognisable music you hear these days, so I knew almost all the songs the DJ played. The DJ was "spinning" tunes on a Macbook Pro!

I danced with two quite attractive Korean girls, that were on holiday in Japan for a few days. Their English was great, and I had a fun time dancing with them. One of the Japanese girls that tagged along with our group came up to me to dance and scared the Koreans away. Shame that. Probably a good idea anyway.

Finally I discovered the fourth floor psychedelic room. One of the other guys told me it was there. I thought it was the exit!

This was the room you come to get blissed out on heavy Trance/Techno tunes. Here, I was doing my most strange dancing, poking my hands through the smoke-machined air and laser lights. Big box, little box. Trippy!

It was a LONG night. Around 4:30am I stumbled out on the street with some of the others towards Shibuya station to catch one of the first trains of the morning.

On the train I sat next to an old man. At first I thought he was irritated that a foreigner had chosen to sit next to him, but he blurted out, "Nice to meet you too". Ok..

He continued with, "Are you American?", "Australia, nice people" and lastly, "Beautiful Japanese girls".

Yes they are.

Neko Don Don!

Ok, you guessed it (or you probably didn't), but I got a new 80's LCD game.

This time it's Neko Don Don! from a little known company called Takatoku Toys (I've never heard of them).

While it wasn't on my initial list of must haves, I tried the windows simulator here and had a great time. (It says you need some dll files, but it ran just fine extracted from the zip file).

Comparing the simulator to the real thing, the programmer did a great job. I just had a go now and the game-play is very similar, so if you're on a windows PC (or virtual machine) give it a go.

The example I bought was in absolutely mint condition, still in the box with all the inserts and instructions with strong LCD blacks.
I suspect the original owner left it in a cupboard for twenty six years without playing it at all, which maybe from a collector's point of view is justified, but to not play the games borders on criminal.

After station beers® with T & N, I couldn't wait till tomorrow and bought the required LR44 batteries to run the game from the 99 yen shop. (Actually 104 yen each for two. Apart from false advertising I was pretty pleased not having to wait until tomorrow). 

This is one really FUN game. I'd say it's even better than the Bandai ones I have. So why did I buy it instead of just playing the sim? 

 
I'm a big fan of old school things, and LCD is about as old school as it gets for computer games. Sure, if it was able to be played on my DS I probably wouldn't have got it and I'm definitely not going to power-up my laptop on the train just to play this.

So, for a night of beers this seems like money well spent.

Just to finish off, I want to thank the mothers for the sweets I got for teaching their kids. Yes, I work harder for food, AND I got notification for the special something from Yahoo Auctions.

Come to daddy..

Japanese Sorry

The gf has quite expensive taste.

For a special treat we stayed at the Cerulean Tower in Shibuya.

Our room was on the 33rd floor. The view from the window was fantastic.

In the picture you can see the Hachiko crossing outside the station, Harajuku, the immense Yoyogi park, as well the skyscrapers of Shinjuku in the background. VERY cool.

Run the mouse over the picture for a day and night effect!

Once settled in, we went up to the Executive Salon for some free snacks. Now, by snacks I mean we ate and drank the place virtually dry.

 
There was an assortment of delicious cheeses, chocolates, biscuits and cakes that we had ample servings of, as well as two Asahi, a Guinness and champagne. Nice.

From there I rushed a little drunkenly ahead of the gf into the heart of Shibuya to get to some shops before they closed.

I mainly wanted to get that Red Bazooka t-shirt I've been mulling over for quite a while.

The sales girl spoke good English. She wouldn't let me try on the actual shirt. She allowed me to try a sample of another shirt to get the size right. It felt a bit awkward taking off my shirt in the middle of the store, but at least I was the only customer there at the time.

 
She was really helpful. I was deciding between small and medium. I've lost a lot of weight in Japan so I was a little worried getting a shirt that I might grow out of quickly.

In the end I got the smaller size anyway as it looked more "fitted" than the other one.
It's a cool shirt. It has "Japanese Sorry", with a samurai performing Seppuku, on himself. On the reverse it has "Please use it whenever you like". Hover the mouse over the picture to see both sides. For 3360 yen, a good buy don't you think?

At another store nearby they had a sale. Two shirts for about 2000 yen. Some of them had the craziest undecipherable English.

They had dressing rooms, but they wouldn't let me try them on. Huh? No sale, SEE YOU. I'm not buying anything without trying it on first. 

The next morning we had a nice breakfast, again in the Executive Salon. I tried to eat as much as I could and I think I succeeded. 

To my thinking it's strange to stay in a hotel when I'm living in the same city. Having said that, it was a more than nice little outing for both of us.

Thanks gf.

Crunky Melon?

Just in case you were ever going to try Crunky, avoid the melon flavoured one.

Usually there is no decision-making involved. There's only one Crunky. The original is the best and slightly cheaper too.

Tonight I was craving some good ol' Crunky goodness. For a change I tried this one from the Family Mart in Shibuya. What a mistake..
Why is melon Crunky bad?

Well, it's really white chocolate DISGUISED as melon. It's a pale green colour and maybe there is a hint of melon taste, but I really think it's my mind WANTING to believe it is.

I just don't GET white chocolate. It's like a sweet that wants to be a chocolate, but just doesn't fit in.

This looks like a limited edition. The more limited the better.

While I was walking around Shibuya I found some more guitar shops! Cool.

In case you want to find these, head out the south exit and get yourself up on one of the elevated walkways. You should be able to see a few music store signs on one of the buildings. In that vicinity there are a few music stores. Enjoy.

To make amends tonight, I got a party pack of Ghana and Crunky from Hanamasa, a 24 hour supermarket that specializes in bulk foods and imports.

For dinner we ate at Paul in Yotsuya.

While primarily a bakery, we had a delicious chicken and mushroom quiche with salad. The clincher here, is that they give a basket of free bread that tastes fantastic. Not just any bread. There were cheese, nuts, and fig breads.

They ask if you want more. We had three.

A cheap feed is a good feed. Just avoid the green Crunky ok?

Gambling For Kids

For a Saturday and to be working, I am in a good mood.

Today I'm posted in Tama Plaza. It's situated about 20 minutes from Shibuya on the Tōkyū Den-en-toshi Line.

Is there anything worth seeing there? No, not really. Not even one single UFO catcher.

Speaking of..

After a small streak of bad luck, I've managed to score big tonight.

At Taito in Shibuya, I watched a young girl sink about 2000-3000 yen trying to win an limited edition walking Rilakkuma in a cow suit. She had to go twice or was it three times (?) to the cash machine.

The first time I didn't go near it, and respected her position. There were a few people hanging around it, so the last time I went closer to stop anyone else from taking it.

When she came back I motioned to her that she was free to keep trying, but the look she gave me showed that she had finally given up on it.
I had 500 yen and 100 yen in my wallet.

I could have gone to the cash machine and changed the 500 (it was 200 yen a go, or 500 yen for three tries), but I didn't think I'd get it first time.

I DID.

When the girl saw me with it, she had her mouth open in disbelief that I'd won it first go. I had an attack of the guilts and almost gave it to her, but I thought I probably put in almost as much trying for this myself the last time, so I kept it.

Because I had two goes left, I opted wisely for a different machine.

I saw some Marimokkori, so I asked them to let me use my two remaining tries on this one. This one was only a 100 yen machine, but I thought I could get it easily. I got the green one first go!

 
I asked to move the other yellow/green one into position. It was done nicely, so much so that I could use the claw to actually tap the bulge of the plushie, inching it into an even better angle. Yay, he shoots, he scores!

All for 500 yen. Not bad at all.

Very Very Thanks!

As long as the Japanese don't hire English proofreaders for their advertising campaigns and shop names, I will always have some great english to take photos of.

This one is in the CIAL complex of Yokohama station.

This is how I feel every time I find myself "trapped" in an amusement arcade.

Of course today was no different.

I managed to flee Yokohama before succumbing to the siren's call of the arcades (ok, I looked at a few BEFORE work).

Thinking that maybe just a quick peek in Shibuya couldn't do any harm, is where the trouble starts.

Being a "100 yen a pop" day doesn't help either.

To cut a long story shorter, I picked up my first grey Gloomy^® murder bear for 300 yen after watching another guy's moves on the machine. The second was a 100 yen give away when the staff girl let me have the money shot (NO, not that one).

I missed a few other potential prizes later, but being my good hearted self I helped some young japanese win their very own Gloomy^®
These bears have a battery that shakes it's victims around (It looks more like he's masturbating but that's what gf thought, not me). Nothing to write home about. Better than one that does nothing I suppose. Here's a video demonstration.

I also went to my secret shop. I was looking for some Bandai solar games and only saw Kyofu No Mujintou (Shark Island).

I had a quick play of it. I couldn't work out the controls. It's not my long lost video game, but 1050 yen isn't too bad a price as long as I read the instructions first. There're a few simulators on this link too that you should try. Not exactly perfect, but it brings back some memories.

You'll notice in the left side of the picture is Airport Panic for 2100 yen.

Decisions, decisions. I saw a Nintendo DS secondhand for 12,800 yen. Tempt. If I stop spending money I'll probably save some good money one day.

One interesting thing I saw outside Yodobashi in Yokohama, was a Fiat Barchetta.

I haven't seen a Fiat, let alone their convertible in Japan at all. I saw this car in Italy many years ago and hoped it would one day come to Australia, but that day is still yet to come.

I'm happy with my little Mx'y. Pity I don't have it here. I miss driving, that's for sure.

Shibuya's Amusement Arcades

Ok, I don't know why I decided to do this (well I do. Remind me to punch out that teacher). Everyone needs some kind of therapy and I guess mine is telling everyone about what's happening in catcher land.

So without further ado.. It's Shibuya's turn!

The most obvious amusement arcade is the Club Sega. It's located at 35°39'38.28"N 139°41'52.07"E.

The only win I can remember here is Woodstock, the night we also played a puck game.

The staff seem reasonably friendly, but it's actually pretty small and winning is a little difficult.

Very close by is Adores at 35°39'40.44"N 139°41'53.57"E.

Apart from the "broken" machine winning these mugs, the staff don't really want to give easy wins.

I played here for Wonka chocolate paying more than the retail and the blue DOA doll, that I had no help from the staff with. Dammit!

Not to be mistaken with Shinjuku Sports Land actually IN Shinjuku, they also have a Shinjuku Sports Land here in Shibuya.

You'd think they'd just call it "Shibuya Sports Land", but that looks like it's too difficult to change.

Should you come here? In one word,...no. It's tiny. The staff here are practically non existant, and the prizes are a bit of a yawn. I couldn't be bothered searching for the geo-codes. It's on Center-gai. If you REALLY want to go here, you'll find it.

Almost done..

This brings us to yet another Taito Station on the east side of Shibuya station. It's at 35°39'35.01"N 139°42'7.41"E, right next to Bic Camera.

This is where I got this espresso coffee maker for the "bargain" price of 1400 yen. Hmm..

This place has bad karma. I don't feel like I can win stuff here easily. Trust your feelings.

Finally just to make this a thorough review, I made my way to the last discovered catcher in a small alleyway across the busier road from Club Sega.

You know you are in the right place when some seedy looking places pop up, and the odd love hotel. It's not really worth seeking out. I have never played these machines and never will. It feels even worse than the Taito.

Well, there you have it. I'm spent. This will probably be the last catcher review. We can only hope.

I found my otaku wet dream of a shop here in Shibuya. I'm not going to say what it is. Let's just say it's my guilty secret and it brought back a lot of memories.

Finally I received my cashback cheque from Nikon. 5000 yen! sweet. That's going to buy a LOT of Crunky.

Marimokkori

One thing you don't see every day is a guy in a green suit with an unmistakable bulge walking down a busy Shibuya street.

No, it's not an aroused Gachapin, but until now I finally learn of Hokkaido's famous Marimokkori.

I was trying to take a picture with my camera, but there were too many other people trying to take his picture and it was raining. Many thanks for the youtube post of this video.

Just when I was thinking Japan wasn't that strange this happens.

Stainless Steal

You'd think after my craziness on wednesday I would've avoided the game arcades like the plague. 

 No such luck. 

 I'm trying to think of my rationale, and the only thing I can think of is that it's one of the places I can go where there is zero reliance on speaking Japanese. I have no problem whatsoever asking staff to move an item. 

 "Pink one, sumimasen.." 

 So, before work I perused the arcades closest to work. I didn't play any. Just looking. 

 After work I went to the Gento near Minato Mirai. I like some cool mugs with Japanese writing and manga girls, but the way they positioned them made it impossible to win. 

 I went to Shibuya and looked around the usual places. 

 One machine drew my interest. A japanese couple were winning some stainless steel Disney coffee mugs easily. The catchers claws were actually picking up the boxes and dropping them in the chute with ease.

 I thought at first this must be a fluke, but it happened three times!

  Sensing a broken machine, I thought they must have set the sensitivity on this one to "non rip-off" mode. I couldn't resist so I tried three times and got all three, 300 yen! I was tempted to keep on going, but my better judgement decided to stop while I was winning.

 What am I going to do with all these mugs? I may keep one box. The other two are likely to be gifts. 

I just have to decide which one I like the most. Big decision.

The Killing Spree

The intervention didn't work (ok, there wasn't one), and I still go to the UFO catchers. 

 I was still hankering for Wonka chocolate after we finished the Valentine's Day one. 

 I made a bee-line for the same Taito near Minato Mirai, but they weren't there anymore. 

 To my surprise I saw an ugly Lilo & Stitch doll at the bottom of one of the chutes so I picked it up. Another freebie! It was probably left there because whoever won it decided it was too butt ugly to take home. 

 I will probably end up donating it to one of the students. 

 I was a little peeved about the chocolate, so I went into Yokohama's Daiei supermarket and got some Meiji Black for 85 yen but it WASN'T enough. I was still unsatisfied. 

 I caught the train to Shibuya and proceeded to the Adores UFO catcher. There I saw WONKA chocolate! Again I played for it and I'm sure that I paid more for it than retail. (700-800 yen? *bah!*) The important thing is that it's mine... all mine. 

 At that point I should have went home but I foolishly went to the other Taito and saw a two cup espresso coffee maker. I spent 1400 yen getting it. Did I need it? No, I have one here at home. Oh boy.. 

  How do you know when you are addicted to UFO catchers/claw machines? 

  1. You have a 1000 yen note broken up into 100 yen coins (just in case). 

 2. You play for things you don't need or really want because you are "sure it's easy to get in". 

 3. You watch other people have a go to make "strategies" for winning. 

 4. You play for the hentai dolls because they are kind of "sexy". 

 5. You go to the catchers at every spare opportunity to see if there's anything new in them. 

 It's ok if you don't think this is funny. I'm being serious! I'm sure there are many more "clues" for catcher addiction but these are all I could think of quickly enough to write this post. 

 You'd think with the gf away at her mother's, I'd be out partying, but no the UFO catcher monkey is well and truly on my back. I'll leave you with another Shibuya crossing photo with my new camera. Ooh, the pretty lights.. Why is there ALWAYS someone in the photo looking at me taking the picture? Hello, you've never seen anyone do this?

Building A Theremin on a Snowy Day

Last night we went to Oh Calcutta, an Indian Curry "all you can eat" restaurant. 

 And eat I did. For 1050 yen each I got myself stuffed more than a taxidermied animal, feeling like any sudden interruption would invoke a technicolor yawn onto the streets of Shibuya. I couldn't even look at food displays of other eateries.

One of the other teachers told me earlier in the week he had built a theremin from a kit within, Otona No Kagaku ("Science for Adults"), a japanese science magazine. 

 It was 2300 yen at Book 1st, a bit much but I bought it anyway. For some reason I got an extra 1 yen back in my change. Weird.

  Today was snowing A LOT. You have to be careful what you wish for, because I could have made that snowman I wanted to make last time.

 Instead, it seemed a good time as any to put together that crazy theremin.

  All the pieces were neatly packed in the styrofoam box. 

 It wasn't too hard to put together. The only thing missing was a screwdriver to put all the bits together. I ended up using my swiss army knife.

The pictures were well detailed, the instructions of course in Japanese. It's like putting a PC together, or maybe Lego. 

 All the pieces could really only go in one way. Some of the screws wouldn't go a deeply in their threads but they held on ok. I couldn't put in the last screw with my knife. 

 

I didn't have any batteries so we scrounged around the apartment, taking them from the aircon and TV remote controls. At first the sound was really quiet until I worked out where the volume was.

 

It's not the most musical sound. More like what an intoxicated robot would make. As you can see the gf is more wrapped up in her newspaper than my musical masterpiece. 

 Reluctantly we went out. The gf wanted to go to the Yotsuya library, and I wanted to get some batteries from the 99 yen shop. Outside the snow was building up. It felt uncomfortable trudging along the iced footpaths. Water was making its way into my obviously not waterproof shoes soaking my socks.

  After the library, we went up to the 9th floor concert hall for a good view where we could see the snow falling over Tokyo. 

 Making our way back we found 198 yen Haagan Daaz cups in the supermarket. That's really cheap so we picked up six of those.

 Sampleman tried some mandarin pieces and decided it was good. 

 From the 99 yen shop having got the batteries, we went home and feeling drained we had a cat nap for a while. 

 It's so cold. Samui!

What's The Time?

I could tell you, but it would probably be five to ten minutes behind. 

 Maybe I spoke too soon, but my "fixed" watch is anything but fixed. 

 For some reason the second hand decides to have a little break every now and then, and the chronograph is all over the place. (I admit that it did fall from the couch to the floor, but I doubt that is a hard fall). 

 This is not a good thing. 

 It has the potential of a) making me late to get to my school and b), making me run classes over their scheduled finish time. 

 Yesterday I woke up early to go to the watch repairer again to see if it might just be something simple. Say, a bad battery or something. 

 They said that I had to reset the watch which they did, which "sort of" worked. I thought maybe that reset thing would also fix the time problem. 

 So, with not a lot of time to get to work, and not much small talk in japanese I left and hoped everything was ok. 

 It wasn't. 

 Today I brought my alarm clock and used it as a backup. I don't like the idea of using it. I think it makes the students too conscious that this is a timed class. 

 To cut a long story a little bit shorter. I rushed from work in Yokohama to Shibuya to get there before they closed. 

 This time they said they'd check it and for me to come back in, in a week. So crossing my fingers. For now, I'm going to have to bring Mickey out of retirement for a while. 

 While I was in Shibuya I wandered around. 

 First, I went to the Ishibashi music store. I tried out the black L6-S guitar. This one sounded as good as the other one I tried. I MUST have had a bad one.

  Moving on, I did go to the Adores UFO catcher here. They had a 100 yen per play. I couldn't resist and after too many tries, I got the blue "sister" of the other DOA doll that I already have. 

 Someone is going to need an intervention soon. This is possibly getting out of hand now. I'll stop.. er.. maybe. 

 I used another expired coffee coupon. With a Totoro smile, I was secretly hoping he wasn't going to turn it over and look at the date. He didn't. 

 A small American film crew with a video camera wanted to film me while I was using my wifi phone on the internet in the Shibuya street. I must of been in a good mood because I said yes. 

 I just hope footage of me is used for good, not evil. 

 I was hoping to find a Daiei supermarket or 100 yen shop to get some juice for my new shochu, but it somehow eluded me to where they were. 

 On the other side of the station (opposite side to Hachiko), I saw a long forgotten Taito. Yes, I went in and was tempted but I resisted. 

 I noticed earlier that I was over-charged for a trip from Shibuya to Yokohama. 

 I printed out the receipts and found they had in fact made me pay 240 yen extra. Lucky the train staff knew what I was talking about and gave me a refund without any problems. 

 A bit of a long day. Another bit of bad news is that the gf lost her phone in a taxi. 

 We're hoping that the reputation of Japanese honesty brings it back home.

Snowing In Japan?

I knew it was cold, but this morning I looked out the frosty window and I thought I saw snow flakes falling outside. 

 Yes, it's true! After weather reports of 50-70% chance of snow it was actually happening right outside my front door. 

 It wasn't snowing heavily. With what was coming down, I couldn't collect enough of the white stuff to make a snowman. As much as I wanted to, I had to get ready for work anyhow.

  As soon as I finished work I rushed to catch the first train to Shibuya. 

 It's one of the places in Tokyo where you come out of the station and get awestuck from the view looking from Hachiko square towards Center Gai in wonder, with all the pretty lights and tv screens.

Finally today I got to pick up my watch from Taga Watch Repair. 

 It looks like they did a great job. Everything seems to be working as it should. There was a loose bracelet pin that I asked them to look at and seems ok now. The last thing I want is the watch to come off my arm.

 This is it. Isn't it real pretty?

In the store next to the foyer, there was Medicom Toy Project 1/6, a toy store selling collectible figures. 

 

In the front window there is a Mickey Mouse smashing a guitar. I think this was a sign to point me in the right direction to find the watch repairer. I WANT!

After that I had a brief look around Shibuya. I saw a black L6-S (like my old one). Again, they ask way too much for it. Vintage? I don't think so. I didn't give this one a try. Maybe some other time. 

 The gf has been sick in bed lately, so my mission today is to get mineral water, Pocari sweat, yoghurt and a pizza. 

 I hope she gets better soon. I feel her pain. 

 Day off tomorrow. Woo HOOOo!

Where The Streets Have No Name.. Literally

One of my little irritations about Japan is the confusion with finding how to get somewhere. 

 By that I mean that most streets in Japan don't have street names, and if you think that is bad, they are numbered when they were built, NOT consecutively or logically. 

 Now normally I don't have anywhere specific to go, or my route is pretty well mapped out, but today I had in mind to take a detour to Shibuya to get my old "un-repairable" Swiss Military watch to what may be regarded as the best swiss watch repairer in Japan. 

 I left the apartment about an hour earlier to account for any problems. Lucky that I did, because I was wandering up and down those streets in total bewilderment. I asked about five people for directions and while I was in the general vicinity, I wasn't having much luck. 

 Finally I found it. There wasn't any sign in romanji or English. There was a small foyer with some japanese for the floor I was after. After going up the elevator to the third level, the room didn't even have a sign! It looked like some temporary office space. 

 Thankfully the assistant knew enough English to tell me the watch would take two weeks to overhaul and cost 15,000 yen. Not too bad. I had thought I'd be prepared to pay up to 20,000 yen before giving up to buy a new one. 

 For anyone that happens to need a swiss watch repaired, this is who they are - Taga Watch Service Centre, Mani Building 303, 37-10 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, TOKYO. 

 They are said to be the only watch repair technician in Japan approved by Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. 

 I'll be happy to get my watch back home. 

 For now it's "Mickey Time", a watch that I've had for about twenty years only requiring the occasional battery change and strap replacement that I can do myself. It's "old school" Mickey, not scary, modern "Michael Jackson" Mickey. 

 All I need now is time to get to work.

A Wham Christmas

Christmas is coming. 

 Just like back in Australia, the retailers here milk the season for all that it's worth as well. 

 At least there are some pretty decorations all over the place. This one's outside the Tokyu Hands store in the Takashimaya Square complex in Shinjuku.

  This is the "Shinjuku 07 Southern Lights" display near Krispy Kreme.

  This is a strange one. 

 The famous Shibuya 109 fashion building has the usual Christmas decorations around it. For some reason it says if you look closely "Xmas in Las Vegas". Oh really. 

 On a final note, just about every day I have heard Wham's "Last Christmas" playing everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. I swear it's driving me nuts!

Yoyogi Park and Shibuya

Nothing special planned for today, but we did a big trip around the Harajuku and Shibuya areas without using the trains. 

 As you might remember, Yoyogi Park is next to Harajuku. We saw the usual freaks hanging around the station there, including the "Bono" wannabe, "free hugs" people, and an old man dressed up strangely with a "second" head hat. 

 The things lonely people do to get some, or any kind of attention.

  Yoyogi Park always has a great atmosphere - A few DIY rocks bands busk on the footpath, and people having picnics. 

 The autumn leaves look quite good here too with the pretty colours. 

 One thing that really stood out in the park was watching the autumn leaves, in this video flying seemingly of their own accord. It looks like the hot air from the subway grill makes for a spectacular sight.

   

 From Yoyogi Park we went on our way to Shibuya stopping at Levain, the french bakery to get pumpkin bread and some yummy raisin scones that we ate there before moving on.

  We had a wander around Shibuya. For some reason we had a craving for Azuki icecream so we bought a Haagan Daaz Azuki Milk and Azuki Kinokuniya supermarket icecream. Strange, for a cold autumn day? maybe.. 

 Walking around we found a funny t-shirt place selling Red Bazooka shirts. Some really cool, strange ideas here. Gf liked the "Ping Pong dash" one. Basically it means ringing ("Pin Pon") a stranger's door bell, then running off. Ah, those crazy japanese huh? 

 Another strange thing we found in a store was a JR Yamanote and Chuo line clock and that - "JR East has begun selling a clock that plays those melodies you hear at various stations. Each station has its own melody which gets hammered into the subconscious of commuters." 

 If anyone's interested just what the train melodies on the Yamanote sound like click here. In particular find "Takadanobaba", the music will sound familiar. Apparently it is the home place of it's creator. Cool huh? 

 We made our way back to Yotsuya slowly but surely. I'm glad I wasn't by myself. Until I get some kind of GPS, my sense of direction isn't going to get any better around here.

I am Otaku

I didn't feel like going straight back home after work so first mission was the catchers. I was hoping to pick up some more chocolate. 

 All up I spent something like 2300 yen, but I THINK I at least covered my losses. 

  First I went for a BBQ twisties-like snack box called "スコーン". I think I spent a ridiculous amount for this, but I had to get that Goddamn box in the fricken chute. FARRRK!!!

  Anyway, after that I spied some Dead Or Alive Bikini girl mugs with um, breast "bumps". 

For anyone who doesn't know, the DOA characters are from a video game on Xbox featuring said bikini girls playing volleyball. 

 

Very juvenile, but I have no objections to playing this game. This is Jimmy who yes, once got Lara Croft, "Tomb Raider" on all fours in a suggestive pose. Maybe that is something I shouldn't write on a public post. Hmm. 

 Anywho.. it took about 600 yen to get that one. I cheated, and asked the arcade staff to make it a little easier though. 

 After that I saw some Rilakuma headphones with cute bear headpieces that I thought would be hilarious to wear on the train listening to my iPod. 

 Again, I spend too much on doing that so I quit, cut my losses, and got the hell outta there finally.

  I did a walk around Shibuya before heading home and eating some curry pasta. Yes, you heard that right. I don't think this has existed before this moment, so I have decided to call it "Jimko", named after us.

Woodstock, Not The Festival

She wanted to go to a Brain Science Institute information show in Aoyama, I wanted to go to the motor show. 

She won. 

 The motor show runs next weekend so I guess I wait a little longer to have my photo taken with a lot of hot girls with the cars. Thanks girlfriend. 

 It was all in japanese, so apart from a robot that could follow the movement of a red ball it was a little boring. 

  We walked through Aoyama past a lot of interesting buildings with expensive fashion clothes. We had Haagan Daaz icecreams and a free Macdonalds coffee with more expired coupons. 

 

It cost 320 yen to have the icecream at a table and 260 yen take away. As you can see on the look on my face I am not impressed.

Along the way we saw a Honda dealership. I laugh a little that they call the Honda Jazz, a "Fit". I saw a Honda S2000 convertible for only 3,900,000 yen (about $40,000), much cheaper than in Australia. I couldn't resist jumping on the Harley-style motorcycles. 

We had some green tea, caramel coffee and Cheesecake at Cafe Madu. We made our way to Shibuya. We haven't been there for a while. I checked out the Blister toy store, Bic Camera, Apple Store and some UFO catcher arcades and Don Quijote. At Blister, I saw two big Totoro stuffed toys. One was 30,000 yen and the other ginormous one was 90,000 yen! The larger one would be fantastic, but virtually impossible to get into a suitcase. I'll have to wait for their 50% off sale.

The Apple store had someone showcasing and performing their music, but like everyone else I was having a play with Apple's cool iTouch looking at websites. This thing is REALLY cool, but I think I'm going to hang out for the iPhone. The Taito arcade had a Star Wars R2D2 that projected a light onto the walls. I didn't think I could sink it, but at the Club Sega I played for a Snoopy Woodstock toy and won it first go, 100 yen. Sweet.

We played a puck game as well. I was beaten nine to seven. Yes, I let her win a little. If I kicked her butt I'd pay for it later. I just know it.

By this time we were both hungry. At first we thought a Yakiniku, but they had no chicken meat so instead we did an "all you can eat" at Shakey's Pizza for 1500 yen each for two hours. The pizza is not that great, but you can't say you are still hungry after that. Actually I felt a little sick from all that oil and cheese. Feeling bloated we caught the train home. Someone has a fixation with the Suica Penguin. Not naming any names.

Don Quixote, What Do You Say?

Every shift today is full. That means I have seven classes so it will very busy.

I caught the train back to Tomioka but I still can't get myself to leave any earlier. I ended up leaving home again about 730pm. I talked to my brother for a while and a friend said that there was a Live Earth concert broadcast live on the internet so I ended up watching a bit of that as well.

Gf decided she would meet me at Shibuya. I said at Hachiko the dog which was funny, as this is where EVERYONE meets up here. By the look on her face she wasn't too impressed.

This is the famous dog. The story goes that this dog used to go to the station every day to meet it's owner but he died and the dog still came until 11 years later he died as well. If you look close to the picture you can see the japanese dude behind the dog giving the thumbs up like me!


This is the big intersection outside the train station and near Hachiko.







This is the busy saturday night main thoroughfare that leads to my favourite gaijin bar, Tasu-ichi.





Gf and I went to a Korean BBQ because after searching for somewhere to eat, this looked like the best choice. The heat from the hotplate was making my eyes tired, but the food was pretty good. It was my first taste of steak tartare or for a better description, raw beef and egg. I prefer the beef cooked, but I even prefer it more than tongue and cheek that Yoko assures me tastes good.

After we ate, we still had a bit of time to look at the giant Don Quixote, a giant "Crazy Clarks" type discount everything store.

"Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow"

Don't I look cute in this?

The gf looks better.