Leaving Niigata for Ibaraki

Today I got up early and had breakfast again. I really enjoyed staying with MSto and her family. They are a great group of people and I had a lot of fun. It was sad to think that I was leaving now. My train left at 12:20pm, and we walked the dogs before that for the last time. And then we waited for the computer internet guy to come over to her house. They were going to get a wireless connection. I helped them out to install a few of the computer parts, and then we left to go to Niigata Station. There me and MSto took a few more pictures, and then I jumped on the train.

I went by Takasaki, which is where I stayed for a few days last November. I was remembering all the old times and how that was the furthest I've been away from Tokyo. Good times, good times. The trip took about 2 hours before I arrived at Omiya station. From there I transfered to the Tohoku line to go to Koga station. Everything was actually going faster than I expected. I arrived there at Koga station about 30 minutes before I was supposed to be so I was just standing around waiting to get picked up. I was assuming that my friend would be a little early to come pick me up, but I was wrong. She was just on time.

From there we went to Matsumoto Kiyoshi, which is just a Pharmacy area. She needed to buy some stuff, and since that area is kinda countryside, it was kind of a big store. I bought some stuff as well. After that I went over to a convenient store next door because I was starving at this point. I got 3 things to eat. It was just average, but it's convenient store food, I wasn't expecting that much.

We proceeded to her house. She was driving, which was kinda weird for me. Her car was a lime green colored mitsubishi pajero kind. It fit her since she has a Rav4 in San Diego. When we got to her house I walked in and gave her mom a gift. We then lounged in the living room for a little bit. Her mom seems nice.

We went to a grocery store because she wanted to send some stuff to places that we would be visiting later on this week. We bought alcohol to send in the mail as gifts. We also sent CFka gift in the mail and asked for it to be delivered the day after we got there. We made a stop to Her mom's friend's restaurant, although at first I didn't really realize it was a restaurant. We talked for a little bit and they pondered and stared... that's what a foreigner looks like. He's not white, or blonde. Kinda weird actually, when people get the image of an American.

Then we went to dinner at a chicken place. It looked kinda rough and the food was quite average. Nothing to be excited about. Their specialty was chicken so everything was chicken. Nothing extraordinary though. We met with YYchi's friend. She seemed ok, but not on the talkative side. The feeling and moment was awkward. But we talked a very little.
From that point we went back to her house and she needed to finish up her final paper for her online class. We worked on it ALL night. Which means we didn't sleep before we went on a long trip. That wasn't good. Although I kept on dozing and taking power naps along the way. She didn't, but was working on the paper. I was amazed and shocked that she didn't get that tired. I was very curious to see what her sister looked like. They don't look alike at all. Anyways, the next morning came faster than we knew it.

Downtown Niigata

Once again woke up early. Had breakfast, it was good. Salad and bread. It's weird to eat that because it keeps making me hungry. Even after we just ate. We then waited ahile till MS's mother came home to drop us off at the train station. We then took a trip to Bandai, or the downtown area. It was quite hot and we needed to walk around to a lot of places.

We basically went shopping for her host mother's gift. We were looking for a nice purse that MSto had, but her host mother wanted. Because she got it as a gift from her friend, we needed to go find it. We couldn't but we found some other purses that were similar. We then stopped and ate Mister Donut for a long while. She ordered a Green Tea Shake for me. It wasn't too bad, but I'm not a fan of green tea. We ate 3 donuts each. Which was kinda a lot because we just had lunch too. We stayed there and talked for a few hours. We were waiting for her friend to call, but she never did. I only had a chance to meet her the time for the fireworks, and that was it. We then went to the Alta, which is the tall shopping center of Niigata downtown. We shopped around a little more till MSto's Mother came to pick us up.

After that we went home and had dinner. I was getting ready to leave the next day. But it's weird because we would get in the habit of watching Korean drama at night from 11pm to 1am. Her mother kept on dozing off. It was funny to see. But the drama right now is really popular. Well among middle-aged women. I've been told that it reminds them of an old Japanese drama. That's why it's been popular as well. There is a huge movement of Koreanism here in Japan and it's starting from the guy in all the sony ads, and the hotel drama. I haven't seen it at this point, but we'll see. The korean drama I'm watching here is actually pretty interesting.

Aquarium Day

We woke up early around 8am to have breakfast. Then we went on a walk with the dogs. It was kinda funny because her dogs would always stop when there is shade and wouldn't move into the sunlight. It was really hot so I understood. But it got annoying after awhile because we would never be able to get home. So MSto picked up the dog and carried her home. While I walked the other dog home.

When we got back home and then called YHwa to wish her a happy birthday. It was funny because I pretended to be a police officer and she was totaled freaked out. She probably hates me now because of the embarrassment when she was talking to MSto.

After that MSto's mom took us to look at MSto's elementary school and then to the aquarium. It was a small little Sea World, not that exciting but they do perform different types of tricks. That was pretty good. Their soak zone is a joke, because you really don't get wet unless you're in the first row. But in Sea World, you would get wet on the 15th row. But I didn't expect much. We had lunch there too. The food was good, although I can't remember what I ate. I'm sure it was something seafood though, since the area is known for seafood.

After that we went to Hotel Toki Messe, it's a brand new skyscraper in Niigata. It had a great view of the city. There are a lot of rivers in Niigata, and according to MS, it has Japanese longest river. The port areas look dirty, but the area around the Aquarium had good looking water. There really wasn't much to do, but to look at the city. It's nice, even though on the news there was mass flooding and water up to 6 foot high. That was in the mountain area according to MSto. But I'm glad that I wasn't involved in that.

From there we went to the "Big Swan." It's actually a really big soccer field stadium but looks like a big swan. It's really nice. We had dessert at La Pienta. It was really good. Once again, I forgot what it was, but it was perfectly sweet and the texture was great. We walked around the park for a little while being attacked by bugs. Then we went home then we went to a nice sushi restaurant. The food was nice. Then afterward, we went to the park with MSto's Best Friend. There we played with fire works. It was fun and it seems that everyone loves to play with those things. Then Home then Sleep.

Immigration Day and Niigata

I woke up hella early to get to the High School by 9:30am. It's a two hour train trip, keep in mind. I showed up early, and once again, EK showed up late. We meet The assistant President in the morning and we talk over the contract, and the other paperwork that is necessary for the immigration office. It didn't take that long and it was good to find out exactly how much I get paid and how long I was going to work there too.

We were kinda hungry so we go to Denny's again like yesterday. But this time, EK forgot my resume in Japanese that he spent all last night translating. So he's doing that while I eat since I was starving.

We head off to the Immigration office, the lines are a little bit longer, but not really. It was hardly a wait and we had all the papers in line. We talked to the lady at the desk and realized that we were missing one paper from the high School that we needed. We needed the brochure of the school. But it was a non-essential paper so we proceeded to the other line and she checked everything and said that it would take about a month. EK was going to go back to the school and get the brochure and then come back to the immigration office to get it done because I had to go home and change clothes to go on my trip to Niigata. We parted ways at the ishikawa train station. We took a picture.

It took forever to get home because it was a slow train, but when I got to Ofuna station, I wanted to take another train to Totsuka so I could take the bus instead of walking. On the train, there was a group of little kids that were part of some group. The kids were cool, but the Brittish guy watching them was starting to bug me. He was kinda weird and touching the kids, kinda in the wrong way, but not sexually. The train was held up for about 20 minutes and I was like, come on hurry up. There was an "accident" and when I got off the train I saw the blood on the platform and was like... whoa... Kinda freaky. Brings reality of life and death in your face. The platform was filled with cops pushing people to one side so they could clean it up.

I proceeded to my house, it seemed to take forever. When I got home and changed and left again. It really seemed to take a lot of time. I took the Tokaido train again, but this time the "accident was all cleaned up. So I got to Tokyo station ok. First the train I wanted to take, had all the reserved seats taken up, and I didn't know how to use my Japan Rail Pass either. I end up walking on the wrong shinkansen. It was the one I wanted, but all the reserved seats were taken and the train master told me to get off and get on the next train. I had a reserved seat on the later train though.

It didn't take that long to get to Niigata. I passed by Takasaki which is the home place of MTka. I was nostalgic of my last trip to Japan, and was beginning to think that I'm really traveling now since it was the furthest I've been from Tokyo.

I arrived at Niigata station and it took a little while to find MSto, but we did. And I met her dad at the station. He seemed very nice and then we jumped into the car and off we were to her house. We passed a lot of things that I would later see in the week, but she pointed them out to me anyways.When we got home, we had dinner. I was really late, I was supposed to be there in the morning, but I arrived for dinner, so I felt really bad. The dinner was good. We watched some tv, it was the Asia cup at that time. Then we went to sleep.

Immigration Day

I was planning to finish up all my paperwork today to get ready for my trip tomorrow. I had to get up early in the morning to go to the High School I will be working at. I arrived early like usual and EK arrived late, like usual. But this time he received a call from the president of the school, actually his assistant to say that he can't meet with us today. So EK and I decide to go to the Immigration office in Yokohama anyways to finish up the paperwork. When we got there, the lines were pretty short especially since it was an immigration office.

But it doesn't seem that many people want to live in Japan for some odd reason. I only had to wait 10 minutes, which is unheard of in the United States, well at least in San Diego. We later found out that we didn't have all the necessary papers to apply for my certificate of eligibility. Which in one word, Sucked. That means that I would have to go to the immigration office again the next day, when I had a reserved ticket to go to Niigata early in the morning. It was too late to go back to the High School and come back to turn in all the papers, so we had to do it the next day.

So we are just lounging in the immigration office, EK decides to take a nap because he was up all night finishing up something for me. Or that's what he says. I have no idea. Later we were supposed to met a "friend" of his. She's a friend of mine too, but more of a "friend" to him. She was in Yokohama for the day, and to be honest with you, I forgot she was even alive. She disappeared into thin air leaving school without much notice and all of a sudden turns up in Yokohama. I always had suspected him with her, but well... we'll see.

We met up with her and I didn't want to be a third wheel so I called up MTka after she finished work to see if she wanted to hang out. She had the time so we all met in Shimbashi Station to go to dinner. First we went to a computer store so I could show her which Wireless LAN to buy so she could have internet at her house, but she didn't have enough money to buy it.

Then we proceeded to go to dinner. We ended up at a German restaurant. The food really wasn't good, but The girls enjoyed themselves with Beer and Smokes. While the guys enjoyed the juice and water. Kinda weird feeling to be honest with you. I could feel some tension building between MTka and EK. It was funny to see, but I'm sure KM was very awkward since it was the first time she met MTka.

After dinner we went to Karaoke at Big Echo. We stayed for a few hours and like usual, EK sings the really difficult songs that don't sound good. He also likes to hog the microphone and quits half way through the song. The girls really enjoy themselves because they are borderline drunk. But they smoke like a chimney. I could hardly breathe. We really sang over our limit because we almost missed the last train to get back home. It was actually kinda bad since after I get back to the train station I still have to walk home, and I'm wearing a suit and it's hot as hell like usual. I know, my tone doesn't sound good, but it was because we didn't get what we needed done. I really wasn't mad, I enjoyed myself and everything always turns out alright anyways.

Imperial Palace Day

Today I actually woke up kinda late. I didn't get up until 9am, and that was only because it was raining pretty hard. I had to get up to shut the windows. Which was good since I had to meet my friend at 10am. I was late for the first time when I was in Japan. I didn't get to the bus stop until 10am, which was when I was supposed to meet my friend. The bus ride was 15 minutes like usual, but the bus was actually late.

I found my friend waiting right where I told her to wait for me. It was pretty cool. I haven't seen her (RSri) in a long while. It's a weird feeling to see people that you haven't seen in a long time. We got on the train platform to go to Tokyo Station. The Tokaido line was very late, which could only mean that there was an "accident." So we used another line to get to Tokyo. By the time we arrived there, it was starting to get hot again. But not as hot as previous days. It was more comfortable.

We stopped at the Ochanomizu Train station and got off to walk around. I took a tour of Meiji university. It was pretty cool, I hadn't walked into a Japanese University before. Japan likes to build universities up high, which is a contrast from building it wide like they do in America. The university was about 23 floors high. It had a good view of the city too. I also took a tour of the cafeteria, which isn't that special, but I did see a lot of girls in high school uniforms. I thought that was kinda weird since it was a university and high school is out on summer break.

Then we proceeded to the National Veterans Shrine. We took pictures a little, and walked over to a castle like area. There was a small stadium which was showcasing Judo and Kendo. We watched for like an hour. It was interesting and there was so many kids doing it. I mean the whole stadium was filled. There had to be at least a couple hundred people there. I'm not sure how many, but there were a lot. It's a very common sport in Japan.

Afterward, we headed to AM/PM to get something to eat and drink. I bought a lot of food since I was starving because I woke up late and couldn't eat breakfast. I bought a sandwich with pork cutlet, pound cake bread, sushi, and gatorade to drink. The first was just average, but the other two were pretty good. We found spot to eat right outside the Imperial Palace. We talked for a long time. It was interesting, I was enlightening my friend of how I was going to teach my English class, and about Japanese politics. It took a good chunk of time. We talked about other things of course.

It got kinda late so we started to walk to Tokyo Station. It started to rain a little, but never ended up pouring. It was a really fun day, and I'm glad that I got to go there. I felt really at peace. The views were great, even though the moat around the palace was disgusting. The walk home from Ofuna station was pretty good too. I stopped in the Oh Plaza! building to the 100 yen store but it was closed when I got to that floor. It was a bummer.

When I got home and opened my windows, I noticed the moon. It was kinda weird because that was the first time that I had seen the moon since I've been in Japan. It reminds me of a lot of things from San Diego.

After that I got started on my 7/11 dinner. I bought cold soba noodles with a soy sauce dip. It's a very traditional dish that they eat in the summer. It wasn't that bad actually and enough to make me full. I just went out to throw out the trash and decided that I should update my xanga before I fell asleep. At first I thought I've been losing weight, but I really think that I've been able to remain the same. Even with all the walking and eating of Japanese food. That's not a really good sign for me since I thought I'd be losing weight.

Tomorrow I will be heading to Yakumo high school and working to get my Certificate of Eligibility to turn into my working visa. It better be done tomorrow because I don't have any other time to take care of it. It will be too late. Actually it is already too late. I was lucky that I could change my schedule around to fit it, but now I really won't be able to. I'm about to go on my Japan Journey all over the place and I physically won't be here to take care of it. Problem is I don't know where to go and when to meet EK. He better e-mail me or I'll be pissed. I didn't want to put my trust in him, but now I'm afraid that I will be let down and suffer the consequences which will be a lot. There is a lot riding on this contract on his end and on mine. Ok, I will go do something else now, I might watch a movie or fall asleep, we will see.

Kamakura Beach and Public Bath

At first, my plan for the day was to go to a Free Consultation for a Foreigners in Yokohama, but TTki asked me if I wanted to go to the Beach with him and his brother and his brother's friends. I said yes, because I should go. So I went over to have lunch, then we were off to the beach in Kamakura. It's very famous for the beach as well as the Big Buddha, which I visited in November last year. Kamakura city isn't that far from my house since that's where I walk home from.

The beach is disgusting. I can't believe I walked into the water. Its not even comparable to San Diego. They had a pile of Trash right in front of where we were sitting. The water and sand weren't that great. But it was still fun. Even though I might die of disease later. I did cut my foot stepping on something in the Sand, but I think the Salt from the ocean cleaned that off great. It was more fun than I thought it would be. I'm glad that I went.

After that we went to a public bath. It's a very common occurance in Japan. I don't understand it to be honest with you. But they all like it. I'm not much for relaxing, but I'm on vacation so I agreed to go. Even on my vacation I'm still busy as hell. I still find it strange to go to those things. They have a variety of different baths. Hot water, Hotter Water, Sauna, Hotter Sauna, Water that makes you float, There was one that was brown, COLD water, electric water, and a regular jacuzzi. I couldn't tell you which one I enjoyed the most, because they were all kinda on the bad side. But I think it was just because it was overly hot. We stayed their for a few hours, and then went back home. It was good since we were really dirty from the beach then really clean because of the public bath.

We all had dinner together. I stayed over there for a few hours talking and watching TV. We saw the soccer game between Austrailia and Japan... Japan lost... again. Then we watched a boxing match between a comedian and a former boxer, that was quite interesting. The last thing we were watching was Air Force One. After that, I was getting tired so I came back here. And the only thing I've been doing since I've got back into my apartment is type xanga entries. I talked to my sister a little, which is always good. She's up early, I'm kinda surprised. I still feel kinda dirty, which isn't good at all, but I think I will sleep soon, since I can barely type and I'm tired as hell. Good Night.

Busy ass day (Ginza, Shinjuku, Roppongi Hills, Omiya)

Like I said in my previous entry, I had to get up early because he had work. I ended up waking up at 6:30am. We got ready and started to head to Yurakucho Station. From there me and AHda parted ways. He told me to go walk around Ginza, it's one of the biggest shopping districts in Tokyo. The problem was it was 7:30am. Nothing opened till 11am because it was a Saturday. So imagine how bored I was. I walked up and down all the streets. I bought breakfast at a FamilyMart, which consisted of rice balls and some Japanese chips. I walked over to Hibiya Park to enjoy it. But it was HOT. I saw another film crew making a commercial. It wasn't that large scale so I couldn't figure out which brand it was. I know it was for orange juice since they had so many bottles around. The star was a little boy, so I don't think he was that famous. I even took a nap at the park because my feet were killing me and I didn't get much sleep.

When I woke up I got an e-mail on my cell phone from MiTa informing me that one of my friends was going to be in Tokyo and that I should meet up with her if I had time. Since I didn't have anything to do till 7pm, I decided to give her a call. We discussed that we would meet at Shinjyuku station at 1:30pm, which was still a few hours away. But after I finished my nap, I headed over there. I spend about 1.5 hours just walking around the station to kill time. I asked the information lady a few times for a few different things because I had nothing else to do. All she did was give me different maps.

at 1:30pm we met and walked around Shinjyuku. We were looking for a place to eat, but we could never agree to anything. So we stopped at a Lotteria, which is a Japanese version of McDonalds. Just as we were walking in, a lady around us said "dorobou" which means Thief. That was the first time I heard about a crime in Japan. Shinjyuku is actually known for it's non-safe environment, so it shouldn't come as a surprise. My friend CFri was kinda shaken up because that was her first experience too. The power went out at the Lotteria too. We walked around Shinjyuku more and then we both got bored and didn't know what to do. I asked her if she had been to Roppongi Hills, and she said no, so that's where we went.

Roppongi Hills is a brand new Tower in the city of Roppongi. It has quickly gained fame because the area is known for the people being rich. The building itself looks big from the outside, but walking around inside wasn't that big. They only allowed us to go up to 6 floors, but the design was so weird that it didn't seem like it had much to offer. I'm not sure what the other floors above the 6th floor were, but it looked pretty important since there was a lot of security.
We went outside to TV Asahi and in the building there was games and shops. Me and CFri played a game and won back to back, they gave us battery powered personal fans that say TV Asahi on them. It was cool. Then we went back to Shinjyuku and parted ways at Tokyo Station.

From there I went to Ueno station to switch lines to get to Omiya.
When I got there I was welcomed by my friend CNto and her entourage of friends. At this time I was about to die because I was exhausted. But seeing my friend and her friends made me feel really good. They are all nice people and we went to a bar type of place to eat dinner and drink. At first I didn't drink, but I did later because it helps me understand Japanese better. They were fascinating. There was a guy who was a computer systems engineer, another who loved computers..apple. Another comedian type, then the girls. They seemed nice but were kinda in their own world.

I had to rely on a friend to translate for me, which I really hate. I know they start to hate it too. I need to study more, but don't really have the time to. It makes it difficult, but we are all still able to communicate. Its kinda weird since their English should be perfect. They have all studied English since Junior High School, but everyone has so much trouble. They don't even speak a word of it. It's worse than my Japanese. They seem good, so I will make friends with them. It never hits me that I won't see some of my friends anymore. I will miss CNto when she's gone. She's always a great person to talk to. She understands me and we joke a lot. She always hopes that I have a good life in Japan. She's always so helpful too. I told her that night that when She went to my Farewell party, I felt REALLY special. Well because she's not the social type, by that I mean parties and such. Yeah, it's still weird that I'm in Japan. I hope to make friends still, so I will steal CNto's friends from her. I would really like to get to know a few of them better. Some of them are weird though, but anyone will do now.

I jumped on the train at 9:30pm and didn't get back to my station till 12am. Then I had to walk home which was another 32 minutes. It was such a weird feeling as I was walking home. I really missed being at my house, but the one in Yokohama, not in San Diego. I mean I should have missed being in San Diego, but I haven't yet. I just miss the weather. Anyways, I got home and ate some bread and slept.

Finishing up the day

After I cleaned up a bit around my apartment, I headed off for Ueno Station. I took the Tokaido line from Totsuka to Tokyo, then switched to the Yamanote line to get to Ueno. I thought that I left a little late, but I got there right on time. I was surprised. I found AHda, he looked much skinnier from the last time I saw him which was about 1.5 years ago. He was all dressed up because he just got off of work. So we headed to the red light district of the Ueno area because he had heard that there was a good restaurant there. He couldn't find it so we just settled into any place, he was starving. I had what I thought was Chicken katsu-don. It was pretty good. The restaurant was kinda interesting. You had to order and pay before you sat down. I don't think I've ever ran into that in Japan except for maybe McDonalds.

Then after dinner we went to go play pool. Sometimes the people in the red light district are so annoying. They always come up to you and ask if you want a massage, or want to have a drink with someone. I think its funny sometimes, but this time, the hookers on the street were saying that. There are a grip of business guys in the area, so obviously business is booming. It's kinda weird, but at least one of them was helpful. We couldn't find a pool hall, but one of the people told us where it was, even though at first we thought he was lying to us. Once we went in, they put us on a waiting list. We were the 4th name on the list. Which would probably take a few hours, and it did.

Meanwhile, we walked around a little and he took me to Ueno park. It's a very famous park and they were getting ready for a festival the next day. It was nice at night, kinda. It was very dark and creepy, but there was this big lake in the middle with plants growing all over. There were a lot of homeless people living there too. He told me something that I never knew and it might be dangerous to be putting on my xanga. But I noticed something about vendors with the booths at the festivals have an amazing similarity and certain traits which would lead me to believe that they are part of an "organization" that is quite famous in Japan. The story AHda told me made sense and had logic behind it, so I'm convinced.

After that we went to have drinks at a bar/ cafe next to the pool hall. We played 6 games of 9-ball in a span of one hour. I won 4 games and lost 2. The 2 that I lost was because I made the mistake at the wrong time. I could have swept him, I was playing incredibly good that night. So good that we were both surprised. I was making super amazing shots, of course out of luck. But a win is a win.After that we needed to rush to the train station to get to his house before the last train left.

We made it on time. He lived by the Yurakucho Line, kind of near Odaiba. Which is made on artificial land, built on top of an old landfill...sounds spendid doesn't it? The area looked great, with all the developments and such, but the smell wasn't that good. His apartment was messy, but what should I expect from two brothers. We watched some TV and drank a little before he went to sleep. TV was interesting because the shows that were on. He had an Indian opera channel, and there was another program in Japanese spoken and hosted by foreigners. That's really rare in this country so I was surprised, since no one on the show was Japanese. I couldn't sleep until 5am because it was SOOOO DAMN HOT! It was bad because he had work the next day and needed to leave the house by 7:10am.

Laundry and Vacuum Day

I woke up early like usual, and then started to finish the conversations that I started the night before. I started to get prepared for my trip coming up. I know my room has been kinda dirty and there are a lot of spiders and bugs that keep on biting me. And there is starting to be a bees nest around my place. I needed to confirm the dates and times with all my friends that are coming up. So I could find out which day would be better to get my visa. I feel bad because I had to move people around and change things. It better be taken care of early and quickly. I need to get my clothes cleaned, although I have no idea of where to get to get it done.

I decided that I will meet my Yokohama friends on Monday, and get the Visa on Tuesday. I'm doing laundry now and vaccumed the living room, kitchen, bathroom and stairs already. I'm waiting to do my bedroom last because I don't want to use up a lot of power in here. I will meet my college buddy later on tonight at 8pm at Ueno station. I will stay at his house tonight that way I don't have to commute back and forth. It would be a lot of hassle to do that since it's over an hour away. That's why I'm doing this entry early. Well, I'll write more when I get back.

Shibuya and Ikebukuro Tours

I woke up really early again, 5am because of no curtains. I make it sound bad, but it really isn't. I like waking up early and getting an early start on things. I didn't come to Japan to sleep. So I started to get ready and head out for Shibuya. I had to wear a suit because I was going to have an interview at 7pm that night. So naturally, it's hot as hell.

I got to Shibuya station early around 11am because that's when I though we agreed to meet, but it was actually at 12pm. I walked around the station looking for something to do or to read, but nothing really. So I spent a good part of the time looking for the restroom. They aren't labeled very well and are really not easy to find. Around 11:56am, CSma called me to tell me that she was there, so I walk to the steps and I didn't see her, but for some strange reason she was standing where I was. I didn't see her at all.

We went over to Shibuya 109 where the "trendy" things for females are. It's really another world in there. So strange indeed. Then we walked around and through the "love" section of the city. We found our way to Tower Records. We went through 7 levels. It took a LONG time and my feet were killing me at this point since I've been walking a lot lately. We collected a lot of fans and other stuff. We stopped in the book section and read a book about "you know you've been in Japan too long when..." It was pretty funny. Some of it is true, other parts are weird. I noticed at that point that we were surrounded by a lot of Japanese foreigners. It was actually kinda weird for me. I've gotten used to only looking at Japanese people so when I saw something different, it kinda shocked me.

We left Tower Records and ate at Yoshinoya. There are about 8 locations in Shibuya all less than one mile away from each other. The service was EXTREMELY fast. CSma got her food before she finished ordering it. I was shocked...I mean it was really fast that you'd wonder if they even cooked it. It was good. I had pork kimchi. They no longer have any beef bowls because of the Mad Cow Disease incident in the United States.

We then jumped on the train and headed for Ikebukuro. There really isn't much in that city till we got to the SunShine City. It was really busy, and crowded. I really don't know why, but it was. It must be the only thing that they have going on, so everyone crowds. That was interesting for me. They have a shopping area. We sat and drank some "coffee" at Seattle's Best. I didn't drink coffee and niether did CSma, that's why I have the quotes. From then, we went back to the Station so I could get to my interview on time.

The Interview
I went to Kogamome Station around 6:30pm because we were supposed to meet at 7pm. The Interviewer met me at the East Gate then we walked to the office. We sat down and started talking. He carried himself very well. His business idea was good. It made sense. I like the idea, and got involved, but I can't start working until after September. It seems that He wants me to work as a part of his school. He's a very good business person because you can't really tell what's going on behind the scenes. It lasted about one hour, I filled about some paperwork, but couldn't sign the contract because I don't have a working visa yet. But all I have to do is sign and mail it back. It took me about 2 hours to get back.

From there I bought dinner at 7/11. I watched some tv. If you remember from last week. It was English on TV, but much better this time. The phrase was "you can call me after 10pm.." or something like that. It was more useful from what I remember. I was exhausted at this point and sweating a lot since I was still wearing my suit. I came home talked on the internet for a little bit, and then fell asleep at the computer, which has been quite common for me since I've been in Japan.Sorry to the people I was having conversations with... like BH.

Song of the Moment: Maroon 5 - She will be loved

Yokohama Tour 2

This was the second day in a row that I went to the exact places that I went previously. But with a different person. Today I met with CSma, and we went the same places but in reverse order. We started off in Motomachi street. Where we saw a film crew taping for a soap drama.
Then we proceeded into Chinatown where we saw another film crew taping for a show featuring a restaurant. She looked pretty famous. But I wasn't so sure. No one seemed to know her though. It's kinda weird how the Japanese treat their famous stars. They just go about their business. No one asks for an autograph or crowd them from doing what they need to do. They stop to look and ask who the people are.

Anyways, we stopped at a Number 2 ranked restaurant in Chinatown. They were kinda rude, but what do you expect for a hole in the wall restaurant. It was very crowded, and not as good as the one I ate at yesterday. I little more expensive. I wasn't impressed at all. The lunch menu wasn't spectacular, but somehow they were ranked number 2. CSma didn't get her food till after I had more for like 20 minutes. I had to eat SLOW so I wouldn't finish before she had her food. Then we left to Yamashita park.

I showed her the Goddess of Water, and the song of Yokohama, and San Diego. We took a picture with the Downtown being in the backdrop. It was really nice. Not extremely hot since we were near the water. I showed her the Indian Sister City gift. I forget what it's called, but I knew at the time. We started walking past the Police Headquarters and then saw something kinda interesting.

I went into the Customs Museum. I know, sounds fun, the Customs Museum. Inside, they had things that showed how they find drugs, weapons, fake products, old uniforms, old money, fake money compared to real money. It was fascinating how it all works. The exhibit that I really liked was the counterfeit products. It asked you to tell the real from the fake and they look so much alike. But the customs can tell the difference. It's really amazing. The tour guide was like 60 something years old and knew a little English, which surprised me. I didn't think that they would be interested to learn the language. We spent like 30 minutes inside or so.

Then we went to Yokohama World Porters where, guess what?? We saw another film crew shooting a commercial for Apple Box. Don't ask, I've never heard of it either. We stayed there for like 40 minutes trying to figure out who the stars of the commerical were. The people who were filming were like, you don't know... and yeah, no one around knew. Then we went inside to look around.

The next stop was the CosmoWorld where I saw a film crew the previous day. I was expecting to see them there again, but they weren't. We walked inside the Queen's Square and looked around the snoopy store a little. Took a picture of the leather snoopy, and then we saw a police exhibit. They had little kids dress up as police officers. It was cool, but I think it was mostly done for the little people. I got to take a picture with some cute female officers. That was really cool! Sorry BH, and QA, but I thought it was really Cool.

Then we walked into the Landmark tower, where the tour of Yokohama would eventually end. As we walked in, you would never believe what we saw. Yeah, Another film crew, but this time was taking for a Japanese nightly program. The announcer seemed like she was famous. The rest of the people were college girls competing to go on a free trip somewhere. It was kinda interesting. After filming they did a commercial for the sponser, Asahi beer. They messed up a lot, I mean a lot. They had do to a lot of takes. I didn't want to watch anymore because it got boring. We went inside the Sony Plaza to see foreign items brought to Japan to be sold. Then we walked out to Sakuragi-cho station where CSma would go one way, and I would go the other.

Part 2 - DrinkingI was supposed to be at Konandai station around 7:45pm to me TTki and his mom because we were going to have dinner and drink. We were going to meet MayuTno and Akko at a bar type kind of thing. I arrived there early. After that I ordered a Calipis sour, then a gin/tonic, then something else that TTki also ordered. It was kind of a lot since we had big cups. It was amazing, but MayuTno found $100 in the bathroom. So dinner was only $40. That was crazy. I think my Japanese improved because of Alcohol. I found how old everyone was and when MayuTno's Birthday was. It's November 26th, so don't forget. I thought I would be drunk or puke my brains out, but neither happened.We stopped at 7-11 on the way home to get some poccari sweat, It helps a lot. I had to meet CSma again the next day to tour a city in Tokyo, so I was praying that I didn't sleep in too late.

Yokohama Tour

Today I met YYchi at my house at 10am. I'm glad that she found her way to my house ok. She looked around for like 5 minutes. I was wondering if it was worth the 4 bucks for her to get here just to look at my apartment. Anyways, we set out to Yokohama Station from Totsuka station. When we got to Yokohama station, we immediately changed to the Neigishi line to go to Sakuragi-cho station. But we forgot to exchange my Japan Rail Pass to get my reservations and tickets. That was a bummer because now I had more work to do.

We started off looking around the Landmark Tower and shopping around the different shops. We had lunch at a really nice restaurant called Avocado. It overlooked the cosmoworld next door, and the best thing was it was cheap. It was glamour at an affordable price. I had pasta, with a salad, some bread sticks and dessert (blueberry cheesecake) for $10 or 1000 yen. That's a really good deal. We proceeded to go to Queens Square right next door. We stopped by the snoopy store and disney store. We took pictures with the largest leather snoopy in the world. It wasn't that big, but it was cool.

Then we walked over to Yokohama World Porters. We shopped in there for a little while. Then we walked over to the Cosmoworld. There we saw a movie crew filming something. That was pretty cool, although we didn't see any famous people. Then we continuted to walk to Yamashita Park. We looked at all the sister city gifts, and the homeless people. Then we continued into Chinatown where we had dinner. We found this nice little restaurant in the back that had all the dishes at 500 yen. Which really isn't a bad deal. We had what would be $22 dish in the US for $5. It was much smaller though, but what do you expect from a small country? We walked and talked some and then we went to Motomachi street.

From there we split up and she went home from Ishikawa station. And I went to Ofuna station. I walked home, which is about 20 minute walk. She didn't end up getting home until 11:30pm. We started at 10am, so that was a very long day and it was a lot of walking. My feet hurt, but then a good night sleep helped for the next day

Marine Day

Today is a national holiday in Japan. I really didn't do much all day today. I woke up early like usual, and then started chatting. The MSN webcam and audio worked very well today. I was connected with my family for hours, but all we could talk about is how bored we were. That was about it until I was talking to YYchi, and she told me that I should go for a walk. I thought that was a great Idea, since I needed to go to a train station to pick up the newspaper for a job listing.
Around 5pm I took off to go to Ofuna station. It wasn't that bad of a walk. At first I was pretty slow, but then when I got closer, I picked up the pace. It took me about 30 minutes to get there, but the trouble I had was finding that stupid newspaper. When I arrived at Kamakura city, I got a call from CSma, since we were going to be meeting this week. She's in Osaka right now, but she'll be back to meet me on the 21st and 22nd. I finally found the newspaper in a kiosk at the train station. From there, I got kinda hungry, so I did what any normal American would do, and go to McDonalds. I ordered a McGrand combo with a Gingerale drink. The drink tasted just like a Sprite, and the sandwich was kinda interesting. They added a horseraddish sauce that gave it a kick I wasn't expecting.

Well, earlier in the day, I was chatting with one of my friends SEK, and she introduced me to a friend of hers that has a language school in Japan. It's quite an interesting system that they have. I'm interested in it even though nothing is really ever set. Its more like a private English tutoring session. We made an appointment to talk tonight at 8pm, but he didn't call until 8:20pm. At that time, I was still walking home from Ofuna station, so he said he would call me back in 30 minutes. I hurried home since I was 30 minutes away. I got home about 20 minutes later, and got ready for the call. I reviewed the website again. The conversation was kinda short, and all we really did was set an interview day and time, and location. It will be on the 22nd at 7pm at a train station on the Yamanote line.

That's convenient because I'm meeting my friend CSma that day, and I guess one day we can go to Chinatown and the next day, we will meet somewhere on the Yamanote Line. That way I'm in the area already, but I think I would have to dress nice, which would be a total bummer since it will be very hot that day. Like everyday. So I might bring a change of clothes or something. I'll figure it out. That was bascially my day. Not too exciting. Although I figured out that there are five 7/11 from Totsuka Station to Ofuna Station. That's a lot for a small area. Anyways, I will take a shower and probably sleep early so I can wake up and meet YYchi tomorrow morning at Yokohama station. Good Night.

Song of the Moment: Michelle Branch - All you wanted

Shopping and Yamashita Park Fireworks

Today started early like usual. 5am is when I first woke up, and then I went back to sleep until around 8:30am. I of course immediately go to the computer because I wanted to write in my xanga so I don't leave any details out. I had lunch today over at TTki's house. It was curry, and it was pretty good too.

Then at around 2pm TTki, MTki, and me went over to Yamada denki to pick up my $50 rice cooker. I didn't realize that it was so expensive when I converted the money. But to be honest with you, it was one of the cheapest ones. I also strolled around to bought a new printer, scanner, and copier. It's really nice and I thought I had gotten a good deal from it. It was about $178 but came with free paper and ink for printing photos. It's not that bad since it's a multifunction printer. I haven't even set it up yet.

When I got back, I did some laundry. I wanted to vacuum today, but didn't have enough time. At 5pm MTki and me were supposed to meet MTki's friend and she was going to take me to Yokohama Yamashita park to watch fireworks to celebrate the 150 years that the port of Yokohama was opened to foreigners. It doesn't sound like something I would like to celebrate, but the fireworks were incredible. They lasted about an hour. I have some good footage on my digital camera and I'll try to figure out a way to get it on the web. After that, since there was a billion people there, me and KKo went to a bar, where she bought me mint chocolate crepe and grapefruit juice. She seemed nice even though I heard otherwise. I think that they believed that there was something hidden behind that and the reason why she was nice. But I won't go there. I just got home and I'm dead tired. I'll continue with my journey in Japan tomorrow.

Song of the moment: Porno Graffiti - Music Hour

going to Musashi-Urawa

Today I woke up early like usual because I have no curtains. I didn't do much during the day, but cleaning up and finishing unpacking. My room is quite nice now. I really am starting to feel like I live here now. It's a very comfortable feeling to have. Especially since it's nice and that that expensive. I tend to wake up and start by going on the internet to chat. I check my e-mail and then look for something to do. I had pork mayonaise at TTki's house. Then I came back and did some more stuff to kill time. We had to move some tables back to the other house and I got two smaller tables.

I was supposed to leave at 3pm but didn't leave until 3:30pm to meet my friend CNto. I hadn't taken the Shonan-Shinjyku line before so I didn't know I had to get off at Nishi-oi station and to transfer to another. But I learned it only after making one stop so it wasn't too bad. I finally made it to Shinjyuku station at 5pm, but I couldn't find my friend until 5:15 because it's a big busy train station. It was fun trying to find it though. We found each other and then we took another train to Musashi-Urawa where we met with my friend's Teacher and another student.

They aren't dating...at least that's what I think. It was fun. We had dinner at Jonathon's and I had lasanga, that's probably not how you spell it though. It was good and didn't upset my stomach which all the foods in Japan has done to me. By 9:30 we called it a night and decided to go home. When We got back to Shinjyuku station, I learned that I didn't have a train that went back to Totsuka station. So me and my friend had to be inventive to find another route back to the station. I took the Yamanote line to Shinagawa station, and then the tokaido line to Totsuka. I jumped on the last bus to get to near my house. I'm surprised that I made it without that many problems.

I have to learn some Japanese and figure out how to get from place to place. It's a struggle for sure. But I'm getting there. I made it home about 12:30am. I took a shower and was planning to write this entry, but died and didn't wake up until 5am this morning. Because again...curtains. I'll write more tonight.

Meeting the Boss

I woke up early today because of the damn light and heat again. But it was ok because today is an IMPORTANT day. I am going to see the President of the school I will be working at today. That's a pretty big deal.

I was supposed to meet EK at 11am at Jiyuugaoka Station off of the Tokyuu Line because we were going to meet the President at 3pm, but EK got a call in the morning saying that they need to move the time because the President has a meeting later in the day. So they changed it to meet us at 11:30AM. In true fashion, we were late to meet each other. EK's train ran into an "accident" so we ended up meeting at 11:15am. We didn't get to the school till around 11:45am. We first met with the top people at the school, Takagi Sensei, and Tetsuo Shiomi-assistant board chairman. At first things were pretty rocky. It seemed as if I wasn't going to get the Job at all. They could only offer me about 60,000 yen less than I originally expected. That's a lot of money and the hours wouldn't work with my visa application because it's not enough to qualify for a working visa.

Then another person entered the room, it was English instructor Ogawa. She was really nice, looked much younger than I was thought to believe she is. She took us on a tour of the school, and I was able to talk to some of the students and see a bunch of school activities.

When we went to the office, we met with President Kondo, and he reassured EK and Me that no matter what, I will have a job. I have his Gurantee, that he will take care of everything and even give me more hours and pay. That was completely a shock to EK. He was so worried because if I didn't get the Job, I'd be completely screwed because I just bought all the furniture and I wouldn't be able to live here if I didn't secure the visa. Which now I have. So fortunately everything worked out. I still haven't signed a contract or anything, but at least everything is working in the right direction.

I'm thrilled, yet still don't believe that I have my own apartment and working in a foreign country. It's kinda weird. Thank you EK for doing this for me. It's really great. I'll also be an assistant coach for the Tennis Team too. The school hasn't seen any of the English Oral communcation teachers involved in afterschool activities, so this was good. I think I will have a lot of fun and it will be a good experience, I'm sure.

After the trip to the school, EK and his father took me to a very nice Sushi restaurant. The average per person who eats at the restaurant is $100 a person. We could order anything we want and the chef would do it, but usually people just ask the chef to make them something good, and the chef would prepare something. He had a lot of rare fishes and things that are in season only a few weeks in the year. So I was lucky. I had one dish that was worth 3000 yen and it was small. He said that its so rare that I probably wouldn't have another chance to eat it again. He's probably right. It was nice, but I had to drink Sake to go with it. EK's dad made me drink. I didn't end up drinking that much, only two shot glasses. But it was enough to make me feel full and give me a headache. Then EK drove me home.I bought a calling card for my cell phone, so now I have a prepaid cell phone, and then I threw out all my trash. So now I will go unpack some more and probably take a shower and sleep. Good Night.

Getting adjusted to Japan

I didn't make an entry yesterday because I was tired and hot as hell. So I'll do it now, even though I'm tired and It's hot as hell. I woke up early in the morning because I don't have curtains. It's kind of a drag because I have to wake up every morning at 6am if I want to or not. But it's better for me because then I can start early on the things that I need to do. I went over to TTki's house to eat lunch, it was good Fried Rice. Then I went back to my apt and talked on Messenger. I was talking to my family. It was weird that I was thousands of miles away from them and talking to them. It's still surreal to me.

Then after that, TTki's Mom took me to buy the rest of my furniture. I got a lot of small stuff as well as some more big stuff. I bought a mattress, two bean bags, mirror, box tower for clothes, fan, dish dryer tray, a bowl/cup set and a bunch of things for the kitchen including some food. Totaling around $250 which is more than I expected, but still not that bad. After that trip to Nitori, and Yamada denki, we went to go eat soba with tempura. That was nice.

Then I came home and started to clean up and unpack some things. I set up my tv, and was watching some programs as I was putting things together. There was this one program that caught my attention, but it was trying to teach Japanese people how to speak English. The first phrase that I heard, and this was the reason why I started to watch was "I never keep this pocket open." I was like, when the hell would anyone ever say that. I was so scared, but the program was lead by a native English speaker. He's Japanese was damn good, but it was strange that he would be teaching such a lowsy useless phrase. The key word was "keep," but still, they should have used another sentence. I was so scared at this point that I would be doing that for the next year or two. Then I finished cleaning and showered and slept.

Moving from place to place

Yesterday was a Jammed packed day. Me and MTka woke up a little late so we had to run to the train at 8am. That was fun screaming through the streets of Saitama to get a Train. I didn't even know what train station it was. It was next to Urawa Station on the Takasaki line, I think. Anyways, from there, we transfered to different trains running. The trains were incredibly crowded, which made it difficult for me since I had my backpack and MTka was carrying my Sleeping bag. We finally arrived at Shimbashi station where me and MTka parted ways. She went to work and I was waiting for EK to come pick me up.

He showed up two hours later that he said, which for some odd reason, I was expecting. While I was waiting, I counted all the foreigners that I saw, which ended up being 33 foreigners in about 2 hours. That's such a small number because there were at least a thousand people who walked by me. Then we were on our way to go to Totsuka, which is my area in Yokohama. We kinda got lost since I don't know the streets to get to my house and EK had never been there.

We stopped at ate a Skylark Gusto store. I had seafood Yakisoba, which was actually pretty good. Then we went to a pay phone so I could call TTki, but he had given me the wrong numbers. So I just had to go show up at his house, which I did. And immdiately after we went to my apartment, which is nice and big. Rare for Japan. Then we went shopping for things that I needed for my apartment.

We went to a best buy type of store that was closing, but they didn't have anything, then we went to Yamada Denki, which is another type of Best Buy. There we bought a refrigerator, water filter adapter for the sink...which doesn't fit, water pitcher, Vacuum cleaner, iron, stove, and a bunch of kitchen things at a 100 Yen shop. Not bad for only a second day. It wasn't all that expensive, but still rather expensive. I still need to buy a table or two for my guest room and kitchen. And a few other trinket things.

Then we came home and put everything in place, it's quite nice to tell you the truth. I'm borrowing TTki's TV and Microwave/ Toaster (it's a two in one) and they are allowing me to use their futons, so I wouldn't have to buy one. I'm also using their fan, but I think I will buy one more for the other room. I get my laundry done for free, which is REALLY nice of them. The gift that I gave TTki's mom was good. She really liked it. It was a bottle of Remy Martin. I think she appreciates it, and I appreciate that they will let me rent their room. After that we went to TTki's house to eat dinner and watch some soccer. When I left, Japan was losing One to Zero. Then I came back to my apartment and started to unpack until I just fell asleep.

Then I'm awake early because of the sunlight. I need to get some curtains...It's 9:14am right now, but I've been awake since 7am, so I think I will be ok when School Starts. I'm thinking about going to 7/11 to get some breakfast, and get some things that I think I will need like Scissors and tape and some paper towels. Well I'll write more later. Bye

Song of the moment: Chemistry - Point of No Return

The surreal life - First day in Japan

It's kinda surreal. I'm actually in Japan right now. I've hooked up a wireless internet card that I bought in America and it works here in Japan. The day started weird, I was taking pictures of my house and my family because it's the last time I will see them for a month and a half. It's been the first day actually night that I have arrived. It finally hit me on the airplane that I'm going to Japan. It was a great plane trip over. I spent a lot of time talking to my friend CNto. That was fun.

When I got to the Airport, the line for immigration was kinda long. Then I went to Exchange money, and waited to get picked up by my two friends, EK, MTka. They were late, like I expected but I didn't really mind. I had some time to soak it up. I got picked up and then we went to dinner. I had mabo tofu, and I had to pay for dinner, and all the tolls to get there. That kinda sucked. It got kinda expensive too. It's about 10am there and it's about 2am here. So I will sleep now. Night.