Rikugien Gardens

I had no idea where we would go today. Yoko said one of her friends suggested Rikugien Gardens. We got off at Komagome station on the Namboku line.

This is just near one of the bridges. The turtles and the fish fight over the bits of bread thrown in by sadistic japanese.

This is where we had green tea and a bean paste sweet. Yuko had a hot tea and I had an "iced" green tea.


You can see the chunk of ice in mine.



After the gardens we went to Ochanimizu where there is a wonderland of guitar shops. I've been looking for a steinberger-style guitar that can fit in my suitcase.

After the eighth shop of so, I could see that Yoko was looking drained so we went home. I found one guitar that I may go back to see tomorrow before I go to work.

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.

Yokohama Sub Day

The gf decided instead of going home on one of the last trains back to Tokyo, she decided she'd stay the night and get an early train in the morning.

I was more than happy for her to stay. We watched the movie and there really wasn't much time to walk down to the station. So.. that means we had to get up at 6am so she could get to uni by 9am.

I have never gotten up so early in Japan it just about killed me. Walking down to the station wasn't too bad. It was walking back alone back up the hill to my place that was a struggle.

There I was in my singlet and shorts stumbling back watching the salarymen make there pilgrimage to the station. I imagined they were thinking "pfft.. gaijin!" Once I got back I virtually tumbled back into bed until a sensible time of lessee hmm, midday?

Today is sub day so not too busy at work. Derek was late to get there, so I covered his first lesson. Normally I am only obliged to do the last three shifts of the night but I was asked nicely so I did it.

I saw Derek on the train and for some reason I said out loud "O-manko" quickly realising I was actually saying something in japanese that was not quite good to say on a train. Oops.

I went into the supermarket and got some bread, 98 yen for eight slices. That is cheap so I got two. Also I bought Calpis as usual and some more Crunky. Love the Crunky.

All Good Things Come At The End

I had absolutely nothing planned for today, my day off. I know, I know I'm near Tokyo. The gf is busy today so I don't feel like going around by myself.

There are some guitar shops in Ochanimazu near her place but it's not worth going there just for that. Although, it would be nice to see some pretty guitars and things.

I already have too many back home, but it would be nice to have something like a headless, portable guitar I can take anywhere. There are some secondhand Les Pauls going for a reasonable price that are tempting. I guess it will depend on their condition.

What I HAD to do today was my laundry. I have not done one in about two weeks I think. I'm starting to "recycle" my clothes I wore before. Eww.. The washing machine made the biggest noise like it was going to explode. I'm sure Derek and Jesse would have been woken by the sound.

After I hung up my washing I got on the net. I'm trying to sign up for Amazon Japan but it doesn't look like there is enough space to put my full japanese address. I'm thinking of getting some headphones. I don't know if I can wait till I go back to Australia to bring my other pair here. I wish I had brought them.

I also checked out Ebay. I haven't even got paid or my japanese bank account set up, yet I feel the need to spend if you haven't already noticed.

Gf sent an SMS asking about my day and later on asked if I wanted to have dinner with her. It was about 5pm and even though I didn't do too much I was a little tired. I called her back and asked if she wanted to come over here and I'd cook her dinner.

She arrived quite quickly. I hid the garbage bags in a cupboard and walked down to meet her at the station. We went to the supermarket to get some things. I got Calpis, soap, bathroom cleaner, chicken and a bottle of my favourite Brown Brothers Crouchen Riesling wine from Australia! I can't believe it when I saw it there.

I made a rice, vegetables, onion and chicken dinner, and if I say so myself it was a feast. Gf liked it and ate all I had given her. We watched "Blades Of Glory". It's not a bad film but not great. There are some parts that were hilarious though.

After that I showed where Keikyu Tomioka was on Google Earth (It took me ages to find it last night), and also Brisbane in Australia. We went to sleep around midnight. My boring day off has been better than expected.

Jimmy's Going Bananas

You're probably thinking I meant to say "Jimmy's going to get bananas" (which I did by the way), but no, as you should know by now, this is the day of the week I dread the most. 

My freakin' kids class. 

 If you saw these little dudes and dude-ettes, you would think they were cute as buttons, but in reality they can become in an instant, demon's spawn. 

 I meant to take a group pic with my camera but I had the mothers watching me from outside the window and also another shy young girl, Mei who was just trying out for the class so I didn't think it was the right time. 

 For all the bedlam they gave me I think they actually managed to retain the vocabulary I was teaching them. Still, Koudai is "da man". This kid looks like he is somewhere else but as soon as I ask him what a word is, he knows it! At the escalator I told him "up and down", so he knows another two words for free. I want to be his dad I'm so proud of him. 

 Anyhoo.. this morning I was expecting a registered letter that I missed delivery of two times already. I told both Jessie and Derek to listen out for the doorbell. The funny thing is we all heard it and jumped out of bed at the same time! I now have officially Japanese National Health Insurance. I brought the Pocky to work but I managed not to eat it, tempting as it was. 

 I brought my umbrella home that I left at Fujisawa. I thanked Sarah for prepping my kids class and she said she didn't do it. Funny that, considering IT'S HER JOB. 

 I asked a student, "What would you do if you could be invisible?" and he said "I can't say". I don't believe it. Even an innocent japanese person can have a dirty mind. Who would have thought? 

 I told one of my students that I was going to make spaghetti tonight. I lied and made a miso soup, noodle, seaweed and onion concoction. Sounds weird but I think I have created a new japanese food. I will call it Sugoi!

A Belated Reflection

I know this is a little bit late (by a day or two), but it's already been one month since I have been in Japan!

It feels like yesterday that I arrived. I have to say that I still think it's great to be here. I haven't had any big issues come up yet.

I'm not exactly sure how I 'm supposed to pay my mobile phone bill and health insurance. Damn, I haven't even worked out the crazy garbage issue. (EVERYTHING is burnable if the fire's hot enough)

Anyway, let's talk about my day. Shall we?

The gf was meant to be at class by 9am but neither of us could get up, so she missed it. She said not to worry about it. I was fine to go, but she was just as tired as I was from the day before.

I left her house about 1130am and got home by 1pm. It was absolutely pouring with rain. Looks like summer has really arrived in Japan. I was very weary, but I tried to keep myself from falling asleep in my bed.

Once I got to work I got a call from head office. it looks like my school director didn't see me making my way into the building and said I was late to them. I clocked my card on time so no problems there.

My first class was a no show but the rest of the day was full. As usual I made a few of my classes run over time making me late for the next one.

I went to the supermarket to buy a few basics. The Crunky AND the Pocky were on sale so you know I HAD to buy both of them. I'm not going to be losing the weight I was hoping for. I want abs. Is that too much to ask?

Harajuku, Meiji-Jingu & Krispy Kreme, Shinjuku!

As usual we slept in till around midday, but I was happy to go around sightseeing. 

 First we caught the train to Harajuku. Unfortunately we didn't see the colourful, creatively dressed fashion victims I had seen in books. Instead there were many punk looking rejects and a guy in a dress. 

What a disappointment.

We went around the corner to the Meiji-Jingu Shrine which was cool. Here I am at the first Torii gate to the shrine. There were another two or three getting closer to it, but once you see one Torii gate you kind of seen them all. Well, it's the only picture I took, so this is it.

   

 We washed our hands and mouths before entering the shrine. Here I'm trying to get gf to tell me what this place is called. 

 

I'm trying my best "cool" pursed lips pose. This is from inside the shrine area. There were a LOT of tourists here. This is pretty much the first time I have seen more foreigners than japanese.  

 I'm trying to tell gf to say, "Hi, to the video" but she keeps on saying just "Hi". I think it's cute.

 

Next, we went to Yoyogi Park to chill and saw Rockabilly dancers, actual bands with mini amps and picnicers. This would be a nice place to bring my guitar and for us to have a picnic also. Gf and I looking over the fountains. 

 

From Yoyogi Park we walked towards Shibuya to her favourite french bakery that was about 10-15 minutes away and got some pasteries. I mentioned to gf that I saw a girl on a train with a Krispy Kreme donut box and she knew there was one in Shinjuku. 

 So.. Next stop Shinjuku! 

  This is a part of the lineup for the Krispy Kreme shop you can see on the left hand side of the photo. Along the right side of the bridge you see here is the line. The lineup continues along the front of the shop as well. This is a 2 hour line! We went later on, only waiting 30 minutes. They gave us a free donut in line. I bought a dozen donuts to which gf said "Really?!"

  Before we went home I wanted to take a picture of the lights of Shinjuku. Even after walking through the seedy streets of Kabukichō, I couldn't find the ideal place for the perfect photo, but this is an example.