Update from the land of the rising sun.
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Hello you lot, Well another week has gone by and I have managed to survive. I have figured out how to shop and use the washing m/c, with help from Yoko and Reza. I can even get to work and buy a monthly tube pass. Well, Kevin wrote it all down on a piece of paper for me to give to the girl at the counter but I added the Start Monday bit! When I showed Yoko she said that the spelling was correct but I phrased it wrong. It should have been gfor Monday it startsh. Now I know where in Star Wars they got the idea for how Yoda spoke!
Still canft understand the addressing system, well there isnft one. All the areas are divided up and given numbers and then those are divided up again and give another number and each building plot is give another number. Sounds logical doesnft it? But you`d be wrong because the numbers are all random! So if my house is No.13 then my neighbours might be No. 1 and No.67. To make things worse the first number is in Chinese!
On Saturday I cycled from my place to the office in Mita. It was a great ride and going, I only got lost once. I got a police man to take my photo standing with my bike in front of the Tokyo Tower to prove it and he asked me where I was from and when I said England he said gDavy Beekham, Manchester Unnitedh I just smiled and said Ari-gato and cycled off. Got a bit lost getting home though. There are more cannels in Tokyo then in Birmingham and that has more then Venice! Donft ask me where I went but finally I got home just in time to get ready to go out again because it was Kevin and Louisefs house warming party and that was a better laugh then Tuesday. Pictures to come soon. When we arrived Louise was having a panic because the caterers had not turned up and she didnft have their number. It all worked out in the end though. Their new place is lovely and big. Their kitchen is bigger then my whole flat! They do have a spare room so I asked if I could lodge with them! Well it would be very convenient if I was close to the office. (Their place is about a 30min walk from the office and Kevin cycles in most days.) There were some kids there are well and some put on the TV to keep them entertained but there didnft seem to be any suitable TV programs for them to watch! Maybe I will have to start watching Saturday night TV in Japan! In the end we put on a DVD.
Then on the way back I stopped at the gIto Yokadoh supermarket that Reza had told me about. Its easy to find because it has a big bird logo on its roof. He likes it because they give out free samples of food for you to try. I took a pickled plum that one bloke offered me and it was horrible! To make matters worse I didnft know what to do with the stone and spat it into what I thought was a tray for the stones but it wasnft! It was a ladies food samples. Oh dear. It was just too embarrassing but all I could do was say sorry. I hope they understood! I then had to finish my shopping with this awful taste in my mouth. Another lady offered me a sample drink, but I plaid safe and said no.
Cheers. PS did you know that the reason why the Japanese where face masks is not so that they catch your germs but because they have a cold and donft want to give it to you! Paul Fincher. [Week 1] [Week 2] [Week 3] [Week 4] [Week 5] [Week 6] [Week 7] [Week 8] [Week 9] [Week10] [Afterwards] |
Work is going fine. I`m not only just teaching them all about Oxtel stuff but basic TV as well. I quite enjoy doing this. Cant do any practical stuff as the demo equipment is still in India. David Y, Sakamoto and I went to Sky Perfect TV on Friday whose office is very close to my place, so that was a bit strange having to go all the way into work just to drive back out to Edogawa again. The office is near the big Ferris wheel that I cycled past last weekend. There would have been no way that I could have found the place without David Y driving me though. It was good fun being asked all those questions in Japanese and David translating them. I think that they were very happy with what the IS2 can do and are looking to buy 12 more and then maybe even HD stuff.
On Tuesday Kevin took the whole office out for dinner in Roppongi (the well known gentertainment areah) and we had a great time. I`ve put the pictures from it up on the website and that gives a good indications of what it was like. The funniest picture is of me looking at a raw king prawn, thinking gthey want me to eat this?h Loads of beer and sake was drunk but I was fine the day after but Reza needed to be picked up from the train station because he couldnft face the 15min walk to their house. And the account chappy, Hoshino, didnft come in the next day! After we had eaten we went round Roppongi to see the sights and Kevin had to call in at one club to see an Ex. There were lots of ladies there but very few clothes. One girl was obviously felling the cold ( if you know what I mean) so she had to do a dance to keep warm. 
I know that karina has asked if I will be putting a dog in the basket on the front of my bike. Well, I am not but there are plenty of people who do! I have taken some pictures of two girls who were doing it and I even have taken a picture of a woman carrying two kids on the bike, on in the front basket and one on the back!
Met loads of really interesting people, Canadian guy Matthew is quarter Portuguese, quarter Japanese, quarter Thai and the rest is Chinese who went to Reading Uni!. There were some very nice women there as well. I got talking to a Japanese web designer, Ikumi, who is thinking of coming over to the UK to work but she doesnft want work in pubs. This one woman got up and sang three songs, she was very good. Afterwards we danced Salsa and Meringue, I knew those dancing lessons would come in useful one day! Some of the Japanese women were dressed in kimonos. Around 11:00 the people who had to catch the Subway home and to leave as it stops at midnight! Just like the bloody London Tube. Why they cant run an hourly service or something through the night I donft know. Lots of places are open g24 hourh so there must be a demand for it.
On Sunday I didnft have much of a hangover so went out on the bike again. I ended up cycling around Tokyo Disneyland and found out that its only about 5 or 6 miles from my place. Closer to the summer I will have to go and see what its like, it looks good but I think it was a bit early in the season as there werenft many people around. I like the Mickey Mouse busses very retro! 
In the afternoon I went north and followed the Edogawa. Loads of people were playing sports on the banks of the river. Mostly Baseball but there were also pony rides and even some people playing cricket! When I felt like starting back I crossed the Edogawa and cycled back on the other side. This was outside Tokyo and was more like the vale of Evesham then anything else as it was all farm land. Ended up doing about 30 miles in all.