Suica Penguin Rocks Out!

 This is the latest JR advertising with everyone's favourite (especially the gf), Suica Penguin. 

 Here you can see him rocking out on a mobile phone "guitar". 

 Basically the ad is saying how your mobile phone can act the same as the Suica train card. Practically a cell phone credit card. Not only for the trains, but also you can use it also to pay for purchases elsewhere like restaurants, combini etc. Pretty cool huh? 

 Now if only I can find a way to get hold of one of those inflatable Suica Penguins outside many restaurants. Hmm. If anyone has a spare one lying around, I'd be happy to take it off your hands.

  The japanese here means "Moshi Moshi". It's what japanese people say when they answer the phone.

  A few choice rock poses!

 

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!

Kichijoji

This picture is from Kichijoji, where I'm subbing a kids class. 

 Walking back to the station I glanced at this narrow corridor thinking it would make a cool photo. So, a few seconds later I walked back and took this pic. 

 Kichijoji isn't a bad place. It's about twenty minutes from home on the rapid train. What makes it extra special is there is a cool discount sweets shop. I saw the Ghana/Crunky party packs that I had been "winning" on the catchers. To my surprise it was only 315 yen, making my efforts a bit of a waste. 

 Earlier today while standing freezing in the shower I answered my phone finding out that I'll be doing a new regular lesson. I hope next year is not going to be too hectic. I'm really enjoying my schedule right now as it is.

An Office Christmas Party

What a day!

Walking to the school I noticed this new "smoking area" box. 

 Unlike a lot of the designated areas, this great design is totally enclosed, letting the fools that smoke suffocate on their own fumes. Good. 

 Busy as usual at Yokohama. By the end of the day I was quite worn out. I have to say thanks to Jon for taking my last lesson. This guy is "tha man". 

 I was thinking just to go home, but swayed by popular opinion (and alcohol), I decided to hang around for (one of the many) office christmas parties. 

 Jon and I hadn't gotten any christmas presents, so we decided to try our hand at the UFO catchers. He tried a Gachapin gumball machine, and I tried a Rilakkuma christmas bear. We both lucked out. 

 At another place, we coerced the staff to make a cool manga sake glass easier to sink. After a few tries, they made it a (bump the machine) giveaway. With my 2 cent advice, I finally got Jon to sink it. I told him to keep it, but he thought to give it as his christmas present. What a nice guy huh? 

 I didn't try anything else so I decided to get 500 yen worth of chocolate at the Daiei supermarket instead.

  By the time we got back a LOT of students and teachers arrived. Much more than I expected. I want to put this picture up because I think the look on my face's quite funny. I'm hoping no one's going to mind having this posted. I just want to show what a great time we all had.

 Unfortunately this only made me think it would have been a better idea to have stayed in the office and drink as much of the alcohol as possible before they arrived. 

  We passed the presents around in a circle like a "secret santa", and when the music stopped, that was your present. Lucky for Jon, his cup was "won" by his flatmate! I got these interesting Moomin Valley sugar spoons. Oh, the left over mayonnaise was a "token" gift from staff as I was leaving. Strange, but useful! 

 A lot of people made their way to karaoke, but I decided to head home as I didn't want to be stuck in Kanagawa. I wasn't exactly sure when the last train was to get home and I wasn't in any mood for an all-nighter. 

 I was around Shibuya momentarily passing by the catchers, and for nostalgia's sake, the Tasu-Ichi bar. I didn't go in though. The place was packed and I'd had enough fun already. 

 The Yamanote line was packed with commuters. It seemed to take forever for it to show up but I finally made it home. It feels quiet being here all by myself. 

Strange.

Ticket To Ride..

..back to Tokyo.

I'd been getting paranoid about how I was going to get from Osaka back to Tokyo, when I am flying back from Australia.

We went first to Yotsuya library. I took back the last CDs I borrowed and the Japanese Grammar book that I merely perused. I WILL eventually learn a bit more japanese I promise.

I picked up some more CDs, Paolo Nutini, Rolling Stones, "Forty Licks" and an Audioslave CD.

From there we went to Shinjuku to get me a train ticket!

I was curious to check out the bus fares first. We went to JR's highway bus booking office and found a last available seat for 6000 yen and an early leaving time. Although the price isn't bad, the thought of 8-9 hours in a cramped bus makes me feel sick.

I WAS spoilt by a very fast, comfortable and spacious Shinkansen ride to Kyoto. So, we said we'd think about it and made our way to the Shinkansen booking office. The line was long so if I said "no" the gf would surely give me a real dirty look.

Although not as cheap as the Kyoto ticket, I bought a one way fare for 14,250 yen. A little bit more than the plane ticket, but then again I don't have to find a way to the airport to be there at 630am.

I'm glad to have that sorted. All I need to do now is to find myself a place to sleep there for three nights. A bed, wifi connection and a fridge should be all I need. Oh, and a shower would be sweet.

From there we were craving Krispy Kreme donuts. I was thinking the worst, but the line was pretty reasonable, and even better than that, because I bought a box we got them in about 5 minutes!

I was a bit worried we wouldn't get our extra free donut in line, but the girl must've seen my face and gave me one. Must be those sad puppy dog eyes of mine.

The gf got a New Year's Card for a friend at Tokyu Hands. I was surprised to get a call from my old flatmate, Derek. He's finally got hold of an electric guitar. He asked if I could help him learn it. I said I'd give him a bit of direction, and he could find a lot of stuff on the net as well.

We had some ramen at Kohmen again before making our way back home.

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.

Six Months In Japan and Counting

I have now made the half year mark of living in Japan and to tell you the truth it doesn't feel like I've been here that long at all. A funny thing is no matter how long I have been here, I still get a "wow, such a short time, welcome to Japan!" from the Japanese. 

 Looks like I'll never be anything but the new arrival. Everything's been sweet so far although I'm pretty tired from a usual busy saturday at Yokohama. 

 These pictures don't fit anywhere else so I've decided to put them here.

  The Gf looks quite hot here with a small head of a model courtesy of the recent Metropolis English magazine. I'm glad there is SOMETHING to read here in English.

  This was seen in a japanese sweet shop window in Gion, Kyoto. What are those dogs doing to each other? Hmm.. Notice the Azuki rice balls nearby.

 

This is a poster of something I was hoping to take a photo of in Tokyo (This was in Gion as well). 

 It's a japanese production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" which from this poster I had decided to call it instead, "Kabuki Jesus".

  This is an "outtake" from the Kyoto trip. I like the photo so here it is. Red or Blue Pill?

  Oh, who could forget the "Super Smile" supermarket on the way to Fushimi Inari, Kyoto? Uh, I did. here it tis.

 

Last but not least, i have to mention that I have been called "Sampleman" by the Gf, from my insistent need to try any food samples that we happen to come across in food areas. I like it. It makes me feel like a superhero. This is also from Kyoto. 

 She comes up with some great ones. You have to love "power pants". I'll leave that for you guys to work out on your own.