Bloom In Japan

In good fashion I haven’t done anything with this site in months (many months). At any rate, today I deleted a few thousand spam comments, so if I accidentally deleted something of substance, I apologize. Things here have been good to great. I am still working for the same company for almost 9 months, and I’m being paid for it, which is an upgrade over the first try. I am still dating the same girl for almost 10 months now, and things are going so well that we are contemplating getting an apartment together. That all rides on the assumption that I get my visa renewed. That little kink expires in about 6 weeks here, which is making me nervous. I have seen and done a whole lot in the past 10.5 months, but there is so much more that I would like to do and see. I am in the process of getting approval for my visa sponsorship, and then hopefully I can ask the kind government of Japan to allow me to remain in the country. Beyond that, it’s damn hot here. Rainy season didn’t contain as much rain as I was expecting, but the summer is here in full force. I came down with some crazy virus yesterday at work, which landed me in the hospital to be sure I wasn’t dying on the spot. Luckily I have some great friends here that were able to help a hopeless foreigner navigate a medical emergency. At any rate, I dunno if I can promise to update too much, but I will nonetheless try. As always, I hope all is well with everyone back home and beyond. Peace outs.

I’m still here. I’ve never been too good at keeping up on these blog things anyway, but now that I’m actually genuinely busy, it has been impossible to make myself sit down and keep this thing updated. I think for the time being I will just be randomly posting important happenings, and throwing pictures up on Picassa. I need to sit down and do a bit of an overhaul one of these days, but I have no idea when I’ll be able to do that. In the meantime, if anyone out there would like some specific information, feel free to post some questions in the comments section. I will do my best to reply to them and everything. At any rate, I need to go back to work, take care everyone.

Let me begin by saying あけましておめでとうございます、Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu, Happy New Year! I know I’ve been under a rock again lately, but such is life while scrambling around in a foreign country. I thoroughly enjoyed my Christmas and New Years holidays, spending some quality time with the woman, and catching up with my family via Skype. I will provide more details of recent events later, but it was nice to get a break from the grind of work. I hope everyone else out there enjoyed their holidays, and I wish you all a happy and safe 2008.

Since it takes me about 3 months to post pictures, I have decided to just start uploading everything to Picassa without write-ups, which I will add when I have time. So from now on, you will be able to check out my albums here, and see the raw images that make up my new life in Japan. I have a ton of videos to transfer to digital format, but with work beginning again, I won’t even try to make an estimate as to when they will be ready.

In exciting news, my sister has arrived in Dominica, and is set to begin Medical School on the same island that Johnny Depp ruled over in PotC. Ironies aside, it should be an amazing experience for her, and I wish her all the best. Hopefully I can convince her to start some sort of blog, so that we can live vicariously through her keystrokes.

Once again, Happy New Year everyone, I hope to communicate on a much more consistent basis in 2008. Peace.

VACATION. No work for 3.5 days, oh how sweet it will be. On the surface teaching English should be a relatively easy thing to do for a native speaker. That kind of changes when you schedule yourself to work 60-hour weeks with split shifts and 3-hour “naps” for sleep. I hope that all of the hard work post-NOVA will pay-off as I enter 2008 as a bonafied サラリマン (salary-man). I will spend the next 2 days celebrating my first Xmas away from home, but I will have a nice video chat with the family, and I will have the little lady to keep me company instead. At any rate, I need to finish my beer and get to sleep. じゃね！

9 days until I can take a breather and stop being Mr. Anti-Social

Working double shifts every day isn’t as cool as I had planned. Naw, it hasn’t been all bad, but I have been super super busy. I’ll be working every day until Xmas, so until then my posts will continue to be sporadic at best. Things are going well though. Living in Tokyo has been pretty amazing so far, and I would expect it to be even better once I have a little money to enjoy it more. The leaves are finally changed over here, and the temps are beginning to approach the cool side. It’s still nothing like back home though, especially when comparing it to the recent snow/ice storm. At any rate, I won’t make any more empty promises, but I will be trying to update when possible. I hope things are well with everybody.

Here comes some more random junk…

September 18th, 2007 - Let’s Get Lost in Tokyo!

So after receiving a contact for a modeling agency from a friend, I decided to venture into the middle of Tokyo and do my best to find the agency. What should have been a relatively easy journey, turned into a marathon session of walking, as I stubbornly decided to walk a “short distance” from Ebisu to Roppongi. About an hour into the trip I realized that I had no idea where I was, and proceeded to consult a map. Bad idea. If you’re like me, you would assume that all maps face north. Well in Japan, they don’t. Every map is facing a different direction, so if you’re too lazy or stupid to check the compass rose, you end up getting even more lost. I finally ended up asking some kind gentleman for directions in broken Japanese, and he directed me to a subway that would take me into Roppongi. After getting there however, I became lost once again, and ended up not even finding the agency. What do I do next? Of course I do my best to get lost once again. Long story short, I ended up walking a good 15km all around southwest Tokyo, spending time in Ebisu, Roppongi, Omotesando, and Harajuku, before settling in Shibuya and chilling for a few hours. I hung out at a place called Shibuya 109, which is this very upscale shopping mall, but more importantly it is like heaven on earth if you like the ladies. Literally every other woman/girl you see is model material. Sitting there with my jaw on the ground was one of the most entertaining experiences of my life. After gawking at the lovely ladies for a bit, I decided to get some grub at a McDonald’s nearby. As I walk upstairs to use the bathroom, I hear a table of college kids start laughing and notice they are looking at me. This is pretty standard as a gaijin in Japan, so I think nothing of it and continue on to take my piss. As I come out of the bathroom the same kids are waiting for me and start saying Orurando, Orurando. I need to make a post on this subject soon, but needless to say the Orlando Bloom thing is rather strong here. They end up requesting that I take some pictures with them and then ask me if I would like to eat with them. I of course took them up on their offer, and had a great time talking to some really cool kids. After a bit we parted ways, and after unlodging my gigantic head from the doorway, I continued on my journey. Anyways, I finished my night by heading over to Shinjuku to explore the famed Kabukicho for the first time. This is THE red light district in Tokyo, and is said to be the most dangerous place in all of Japan. I don’t know if I would go as far as to say that, but it was definitely an experience. I’ve never been approached by a Nigerian man and handed a menu full of women before that night, but now I can say that I have. At any rate, after wandering around Kabukicho for awhile, I hopped on the last train and went home for another night of 3-hours sleep.

September 25th, 2007 - Beautiful Sunset in Miyoshi Town

No words needed…

Since I’ve been a major slacker and haven’t uploaded anything new in the past month or so, I figure I will spend some time now and just throw up a bunch of random junk. Let the fun begin…

September 10th, 2007 - The First Day of Work at NOVA

Here are some pics from the morning before my first day at NOVA. Notice how happy (and tired) I look beforehand, and how super-genki I am afterwards. If I only knew then what I know now…

September 13th, 2007 - Missing Last Train in Ikebukuro

Ah, what a wonderful night this was. The roomie Eric and I decided to hang out in Ikebukuro and get shit-faced. When I say shit-faced, I mean drunk to the point of passing out on the street, but more on that in a second. After throwin’ back countless shots and guin-eye (plural for guiness?), we decided to go hitup a ramen shop for some 1AM eats. I don’t remember much, but I do remember only eating about a quarter of the massive bowl of noodles before feeling a little woozy. The chef wasn’t too happy with me when I thanked him and left his masterpiece barely eaten on the counter, but I figure it was better to leave than to give back a slightly used portion of his meal in a disgusting way. Anyways, this was the point that I lost Eric, and began my solo adventure for the night. I remember walking into an alleyway and sitting on a bench next to a fellow drunken salary-man who happened to be reading a manga. Luckily for me there was another issue laying on the ground, and I proceeded to pretend that I could read Japanese fluently for a good 20 minutes before exchanging nods with the gentleman and continuing on my journey. At this point I lose almost all memory, but shortly thereafter I begin to feel quite sleepy. As trains have ceased operations until 530AM, I am desperate to find a cozy spot to catch some Z’s. What better spot to sleep in Tokyo than a small cove between the train tracks and street? It actually turned out to be one of the cleanest and most secluded spots that I could possibly find, and it served its purpose until around 5AM when I woke up to the sound of trains. I proceeded to board my train back home, and promptly passed out. Some time later I was awoken by a slap across my head, and looked up to see Eric with a big grin on his face. We exchanged pleasantries, and both quickly fell asleep once again. By some miracle I awoke 30 minutes later to notice that we had bypassed our home station, woke Eric up, got off at the next stop, and hopped on another train to go back. What do we do then? Of course we pass out again and almost miss our station again. Long story somewhat less long, we finally got back to the apartment at 730AM, and spent the remainder of the morning/afternoon sleeping off our massive hangovers. Good times. Here are a couple cellphone pics from the bar before the stupidness.

September 13th, 2007 - Trip to Ochanomizu to Try and Find a Guitar

So with my supposed salary advance soon to be on its way, Eric and I decided to go in on a guitar together. After asking around and doing some research, I learned about a place in Tokyo called Ochanomizu, which is famous for its guitar shops and other college targeted stores. It turned out to be quite amazing, with a good 30 music stores within a half-mile radius. We searched and searched, and finally found a used acoustic for 8000 Yen ($80), and decided to go get a drink at a local bar before making the purchase. Of course we ended up staying at the bar too late, and by the time I went back to pickup the guitar the place had closed. It turned out to be kind of a good thing though, as my financial situation was not going to be good anytime soon…

September 14th, 2007 - Daytime View from the Front of My Apartment

September 16th, 2007 - First View of the Mountains from My Apartment

September 16th, 2007 - Chilling in a Park in Ikebukuro…The “Bike” Night

I met my roomate Michael and his friend/manager Reiko (the birthday girl from Typhoon night) out in Ikebukuro to have some street beers in the park. It was a pretty chill night, but later on was when I missed my last train home and had to find my way back from a few stations away. Thanks again random stock-boy with bike…

more to come…

Holy crap, a friend just informed me that my favorite band, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, will be playing a show in Tokyo on January 11th. You have no idea how happy this makes me.

Yatta! I just received an email letting me know that I was selected in the lottery for the Tokyo Marathon, meaning I am eligible to run 42k with a bunch of crazy athletes on February 17th of 2008. This is awesome news for me, and means I better start getting ready now. I hope Mike got similar news.