It feels like Spring has arrived at last! (0)

11:15 PM by Ren , under , ,

Long time no blog. Thanks for reading!
The upcoming Opening Series event we are working on here in Tokyo begins next week so we have been really busy. My responsibilities at the office have been more than ever and so has the work-load.

Of course, a lot of out of the office work is coming up including me staying at the hotel where we are going to setup offices for event operations for over a week. One of the first things that will be done, though, is myself and a few others will do some interpreting when representatives from MLB in New York come to instruct the Tokyo Dome grounds crew how they want the pitchers mounds built. That will be on the night of the 18th at the dome.

My partner in crime from San Francisco, Ryan, arrived here on February 28th and has been staying at my apartment with me. He mainly does his own thing around the city with his friends while I work but on weekends we are able to go out and do stuff together.

Last weekend we went to a 980 yen all you can eat lunch in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. It was very good, and healthy food so I definitely plan on going again. My favorite thing there was the fish and the curry. Their coffee pudding was also great!



After that we walked around Shibuya enjoying the great weather. We didn't have a lot of time because I thought I had an English teaching appointment (which ended up being the next day). Once I figured things out we were already out of Shibuya but we met up with some other friends who had rented a karaoke box. This was my first time doing karaoke in Tokyo and as a tribute to the 20th anniversary of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album, we sang a couple of his songs as well as other random selections.

Shibuya:




Karaoke:



Searching for songs with the touch-screen remote display:



After that we went to the Tokyo's (not Japan's) capitol building to get the view from the free observation floor. Just like on Google Maps we were able to see all of the helicopter landing areas atop various buildings. It was a bit of a smoggy day so we couldn't catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji. Honestly, it was just buildings as far as we could see.




We then made the long walk home as opposed for paying for public transportation. We took in more views from Shinjuku, and made a stop by Club Ren before making our way back to my neighborhood.


Going under train tracks in Shinjuku:



This is what is on the other side of the tunnel:



A fish tank in front of a restaurant:



We went into an electronics store around here:



Billy Blanks (of Taebo) is a household name here:



It got dark as we neared Club Ren:





A police car refueling at a regular gas station:





It was dark out and while walking through a park with ponds full of big, softball-sized frogs, we saw a weird looking white bird catch one in its mouth. It sat there with the long legs of the frog both sticking straight out of its mouth like tusks. Ryan tried to get some pictures but the lighting was bad and we couldn't keep up with it as it took off.

About a block from the park, right in front of a police station, there was a car which had caught on fire and somehow completely burnt. It seemed like a single-car incident, and I don't think there was any sort of collision. It looked like a Mini Cooper, but I could have been wrong. This is really rare because most cars are new in Japan as older cars (older than around 5 years) are sold to developing countries so you rarely see people having car trouble.






That night we made ramen and pot stickers for dinner at my place and watched a movie while drinking sake.



Sunday I had to earn back some of the money I had been spending so I hosted three hours of English conversation with various students. Ryan tagged along which was nice and gave us more people to add to the conversation which helps with passing the time. He made friends with my students and took some pictures.

Two phones automatically trading contact info:




Kao from China and Sato from Japan:



Keiko from Japan on the left:






Seventy-five dollars later I was done with my English conversation for the weekend and Ryan, Miho, two American friends, and I went to a grilled meat restaurant.



The walk home:



This is a chair in the lobby of an apartment complex:



A famous auditorium at my school:



Something that is very frustrating is how terrible the US dollar is doing at the moment. It is constantly setting record lows versus European currencies and is very low against the yen. On top of this, Citibank has changed their policy and will keep 2% of the money I withdrawal from my US account at Japanese Citibanks from now on. The reason I signed up with them was so I would be clear of such charges so I am really mad that I am going to lose 2% of my savings if I don't do anything about it.

Special thanks to Ryan for taking such nice pictures.



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