Hustlin'

So I have a job, in theory, but the salary hasn't been worked out yet. They gave me a lower offer than I had expected, and I really do need the money, so...we need to figure that out. They want me to start on June 2nd, so I'm guessing it will work itself out somehow by then. In the meantime, I've decided that I need to try to work-if for no other reason than to get me out of the house. I don't really want to do it, but I'm putting myself back in the English conversation game.

There is a website where you can register and put up your details, and then potential students can contact you. Usually you meet at a coffee shop somewhere, talk for an hour or so, then go our separate ways. Kind of like a date, except that money changes hands at the end (well...I guess some dates are like that ;) ) If things go well, then you usually meet once a week and continue to study English. I've done it before, and it really depends on the person. If you have a energetic person who can actually speak English, it can be quite fun. Other times it can be like pulling teeth.

"So, what did you do yesterday?"

"Uhh.....yesterday?"

"Yes, what did you do yesterday?"

"uhh....I....walk......dog"

This continues for an hour.

So anyway, I registered at this site yesterday, but it turns out there are roughly 5000 freelance teachers registered on this site in the Tokyo area! Goddamnit. So I tried to make my profile as attractive as possible, in order to attract as many potential students as possible. I have to sell myself, after all. I have my snazzy profile picture up, favorite color, interests, that kinda thing. For favorite movie I put Fight Club, which I think might attract some Brad Pitt fans, but I should probably change that to something a little more accessible to everyone.

In short, it's just like signing up for an online dating service. Here's hoping I can get some good "dates" out of it.

honeymoon wrap-up

So I'm back in Japan after spending 2 weeks in the states. Still not over jet-lag, which is bad since I have a lot of writing to do (in Japanese) for an interview Friday. More on that in a later post. Honeymoon was a lot of fun, but very tiring. In particular, I got really tired of eating out for every meal. Also, I really missed eating Japanese food. Shoko and I ate udon at the airport when we got back to Tokyo and it was soooooo good.

So the first leg of our journey was to New York. On the first day Shoko was digging New York, talking about how she could see us living here in the future. Heh...by the end of the week she was saying "I don't think I need to come back to New York ever again". New York is basically like Tokyo, except much dirtier. Someday I'm going to go back to New York and take a bunch of pictures of dirt/trash/filth, and then I'll take pictures of clean Tokyo streets...and I'll have an exhibition where the photos are divided into Tokyo and New York, with titles for each. The title for the Tokyo section will be "Tokyo: Winning the War on Chaos", while the New York side will be "New York: Losing the War on Chaos". We compared Tokyo and New York throughout the week, with Tokyo winning (in our minds, anyway) most of the contests-like public transportation, cleanliness, safety, etc. Though I think New York wins when it comes to food-mainly because it is cheaper than in Tokyo. I think though that our perception of New York was skewed by the fact that we were staying in Times Square, which....sucked. Way too many tourists. I much preferred just wandering around the East Village.

Highlights from New York include going to a Yankees game (vs. the Mariners)---



We also caught the Lion King on Broadway, which was fantastic, and saw my friend's sister as she and her classmates gave their final presentations for a class at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Ah, student films...it was very cool though.

After a week in New York we flew to DC. We were "randomly selected for additional screening" at LaGuardia. It was ok because we had plenty of time and the TSA people weren't rude or anything. Still...it was annoyinig. We got to DC and went to some Smithsonians, and also to the Spy Museum, which was great. After a few days there we went to Baltimore to attend the wedding of a friend of mine from middle/high school. Here's the four of us at the wedding:



So after the wedding we went to Reagan National to fly to Chicago as there is no direct flight to Tokyo from DC. Again we were "randomly selected for additional screening". Grr...so we went to their special screening area, and there was a group of middle eastern-looking gentlemen also being screened. Big shocker...they actually let us go first, while they lectured the other people about what was going to happen.
I was not particularly proud to be an American citizen at that particular moment. So I was talking to the TSA guy, and he said that if you change your flight you will get flagged. Both times we had reservations for a later flight but ended up taking an earlier flight. So that explains that, I suppose.

So now we're back, and it's definitely good to be home. 2 weeks in a foreign country (ha) is a long time. Next up: work!

Trippin'

So Shoko and I were thinking about going on a honeymoon in early May, but we weren't sure if we could go, for two reasons. One, I was looking for a job, and if I found a job and they wanted me to start work immediately, I wouldn't be able to go. Two, Shoko wasn't sure if she could get all the days off from work or not. Well, I haven't found a job yet...things are progressing on several fronts, but nothing official yet. Also, Shoko got all the days off by saying she was going to attend her cousin's wedding. Well...we are planning on attending a wedding while we are on our honeymoon, but it's the wedding of a good friend of mine from middle/high school. He and Shoko are not related, as far as I can tell :)

So we're going on our honeymoon, but since I don't have a job, I don't really want to spend much money. Too bad we're spending a week in NYC. At least Shoko was able to get a discounted rate for the hotel through work. I definitely need to get some new shoes while I'm in New York. My loafers (that I would theoretically wear to work every day) are just about done. They've lasted me for 3 years, so that's nice. Can't say I would buy that brand of shoe again though (Gordon Rush, in case you're wondering). Maybe Bruno Magli is the way to go...

Olympic Soccer Stuff

So the drawing was held, and both the men's and women's U.S. teams have been drawn into groups with Japan. This means that I should be able to see some U.S. soccer here in Japan, which is always good. On the men's side, the group should be pretty tough, as the group is comprised of the Netherlands, Nigeria, Japan, and the U.S. I remember watching Nigeria win the gold medal in Athens in the '96 Olympics. Actually, I saw the U.S. women beat Nigeria for the gold medal as well, which was great. Here's hoping both teams do well. I'll be happy if the U.S. just gets out of its group-though I would like them to beat Japan, of course-a bit of revenge for the Gamba Osaka vs. Houston Dynamo game (which Gamba won 6-1? I think). Go USA!

So this is what it has come to...

So when I was working, most of my conversations were in Japanese. At home my wife and I usually use Japanese as well. As a result, my English skills have started slipping. And now I'm out of work, so I'm not using Japanese all that much. My Japanese skills are rapidly deteriorating, which is bad. So...right now, I can't really speak either language all that well. So I'm stupid in either language...great.

One reason I want to start writing this blog again is because I think it might just help me recover some of the language/writing skills I've lost. Though I haven't been very good at posting regularly...

This morning I went to see an archery demonstration. These guys were trying to hit targets, basically. The catch was that they were on horseback, and the horse was galloping down the track. There were three targets in a row, and due to the speed of the horses, each rider only had a few seconds to draw an arrow, notch it, aim, and shoot at the target. I had a camera with me, but it was Shoko's camera. There was too much of a lag in between when I pushed the shutter button and when the picture was actually taken. I couldn't figure out how to put it on continuous shooting mode/movie mode. Oh well. Next year I'll have to get myself a nice SLR in order to take some good shots of the action.

Soccer ramblings

Upcoming U.S. Men's soccer team friendly matches:

()=world FIFA ranking

May 28th at England (11)
June 4th at Spain (4)
June 8th vs. Argentina (1)

I admire Bob Bradley's wanting the U.S. team to play difficult opponents, but don't you think this schedule might be a bit much? I would love to see the U.S. beat England at Wembley...though if they win any of those three games I'll be a happy man.

Weddings n' such

Hey hey, guess who got married....well, we've technically been married for almost half a year now. In Japan it's common to register your marriage at the local courthouse before you actually get married. Shoko and I did that last October and planned on having a wedding in the springtime. I proposed to her on her birthday last August, and she decided that we should have the wedding ceremony on my birthday (April 5th), so that I would never forget when our anniversary was. So...that's what we did. My parents came over from the states, and some friends came up from Miyazaki (where I used to live). Everybody said they had a good time, and we had a good time, so...yeah. A good time had by all. Here's where we had the wedding, just in case you want to check it out.

Math n' Rap

So this page, which I found on Rolling Stone, is pretty funny. I could only guess about 1/3 of the songs based on the information given on the graphs. How well do you fare???

MLS Cup

Ok, so once again it's the Revs vs. the Dynamo in the MLS cup this year.
I'm gonna have to root for the Revs this year-they've been very close in recent years (runners-up in 2002,2005, and 2006), plus they got to the the big game courtesy of this goal.

Then again, how can you not love what DDR has shown he's capable of?

What a nutter.

Still, gotta support the Revs this year. Now if I could only find my musket...

October Business Goings On

In early October I took part in MIPCOM 2007 , a large trade fair for the television industry. Which meant that I got to go to France for awhile, always nice. Although I was there for business, and was quite busy for most of the time, I did get a chance to visit the Henry Matisse museum in Nice, which was good. Actually, before going to Nice we were in Amsterdam to visit 2way Traffic , a company that we do business for. While there I was entertained by a man named Taco Ketelaar, who in addition to having an interesting name, served as the executive producer for the original version of fear factor, which originated in Holland. He said that for the original show, they didn’t have much of a budget, and so instead of hiring someone to test out the challenges the planned on filming for the show, he did most of the dirty work. He said that one time he was in a glass coffin wearing only a pair of briefs, while many boa constrictors were placed on top of him. One of the boa constrictors started to bite his belly button, but he managed to remain calm and have the offending snake removed. Talk about dedication to your work…
After our time in France we continued onwards to London for more business meetings. After spending 1 1/2 hours in the baggage claim of Heathrow Airport waiting for our luggage to arrive, we finally made it to our hotel. When I inquired about the weather for the following day, I was told,

“It’s supposed to be cloudy but no rain. However, in London you have to make sure you aren’t deceived by the three w’s. Weather, wine, and women”.

Thanks for the tip-

After 10 days I returned to Japan. I went straight to a 7-11 to buy some umeboshi onigiri, washed down with a bottle of pocari sweat. It was good to have Japanese food again…

I had a week to recoup/catch up on work/follow up on everything from MIPCOM, and also had to prepare for TIFFCOM , which was happening the next week.
Which meant more business meetings with clients…

I also somehow managed to get married during all of this. Well, just the “registering our marriage” part. Shoko (my wife) and I are officially married now, though we won’t have a real ceremony until next April-more on this later.

Recently...

It's been awhile.

Though it's not like I don't have my reasons-

Today I left for work at 8:30am, as usual, and got home at 11:30pm. Later than usual, but not by much.

So basically all I do is work these days. That and travel an hour to/from work. An hour commute is the norm for people living in/around Tokyo. The good thing is that I'm not driving that long, so I can just kick back and read/listen to music. The bad thing is I'm squished in between lots of other people on the train. So even if I wanted to blog about my life, it would pretty much only be about work and/or going to and from work. Lowlights of today:

1. Going to a lecture that laid out what anti-piracy measures are being implemented in Korea. Only thing I learned is that whatever it is they're doing, it's not working so well.

2. Calling a company in France sometime after 10pm, the woman on the other end said "isn't it quite late in Japan? Why are you still at work?"

C'est la vie...


So yeah, work, work, and more work.

OK, so that's not quite all. I got engaged back in August, and Shoko (my fiance) and I have been doing some wedding planning. The big event will be held here. Swanky! Is all I have to say. Oh, and in Japan, the couple getting married gets to foot the bill. Sweet!
Hmm...any other exclamations that start with "S" that I can think of?


Shazbot!

funeral wrap-up

OK, a week late-gomen!

I was at the funeral of my co-worker for most of last weekend, which meant standing outside in the heat wearing a black suit for most of the weekend. I was pretty tired after the whole thing was over and done with. I took a few pictures of the event-

On Saturday they had the equivalent of the wake, with various people caming to pay their respects throughout the afternoon/evening. I took this picture on the train home:



The next day was the actual funeral. A lot of people contributed flowers for the funeral-each placard is a person (or company) that chose to donate. What you can see in the picture is only about 1/4 of the total-needless to say, the guy had a lot of friends/close business contacts.

In need of a black tie

So...it's been a little while.

I put new strings on my guitar-first time in at least 2 years, I think. Which is...just sad. I really need to take better care of my guitar. I've had it since I was in high school, and it has always served me well (although the action is a little high)...and what do I do? Neglect it. I've been playing it a little, and suffice to say I am way out of practice. Plus I don't have any calluses, so it's kinda painful to play. I learned how to play Weezer's "Butterfly" the other day. It's ridiculously easy, as I suspected.

So I've been busy at work lately working on finished up a contract for a company in Spain, which means I have to do a lot of contract writing-which is difficult sometimes seeing as how I'm not a paralegal. It's interesting though. I've been modifying confidentiality clauses lately, and my favorite phrase as of late is "...which shall not be unreasonably withheld by Licensor".

Anyway...

This morning when I got to work I was informed that someone I work with had died suddenly, at the age of 49. I had weekly meetings with him to talk about music.

So I'll be attending my first Japanese funeral this weekend. Japan is mostly a mix of Shinto and Buddhism, where Shinto is used for auspiscious events such as weddings and births, wheras most funerals are Buddhist.

The dress shirts I had made arrived yesterday in the mail-I guess I'll be wearing one of them to the funeral parlor-

As of August 2nd, I will have been living in Japan for 6 years. I'm very much looking forward to year number 7-already there are some big things planned, and I think year 7 will be a year to remember...

but first, a look back at some of the highlights of the first 6 years (in no particular order)

1. The Erekocha festival in Miyazaki

Held every year in downtown Miyazaki, this festival is basically a big dance/taiko competition. Groups from all over come to compete, and it's worth checking out just for the costumes alone, which are very elaborate. So there is a taiko competition as well, which features a guest performance by the taiko group Hibikiza. I don't think they are allowed to compete though-they're just too good Yeah, so I highly recommend you check this movie out-might be a bit slow, but worth it. Eventually around the 0:45 mark. Did I mention I go drinking with that guy from time to time?
What was I talking about again? Oh right, Erekocha...so my first year in Miyazaki Wes and I somehow got recruited to "judge" the dance performances. We had to rate each group based on how well they worked together, how nice their costumes were, how well they represented Miyazaki, and...some other stuff that we couldn't figure out because we couldn't read the Japanese. Oops! Ah...good times.

2. Going to Yatogi Falls

Yatogi Falls is a 73m high waterfall, located about 45 min from where I lived. I went there many times, and it never failed to impress me. There's a good swimming hole around there too...

3. Adventures in Thailand

I went there for xmas my first year with Joe and some other coolie. We saw the royal palace and wat pho, including the gold buddha that's the size of a school bus in Bangkok, then headed south to Ko Samui, where we relaxed on the beach
. Highlights of the trip include: the foam party, the three of us performing an imprompteau karaoke version of "Baby's Got Back" in the back of a taxi, MBK, and...need I even say it? Shaking railings...

4. U.S. Vs. Portugal, 2002 World Cup

The World cup was being hosted by both Japan and Korea-the U.S. team was playing only in Korea, so Wes, Claire, and I went to Korea to watch it. The U.S. was up 3-0 only 30 minutes into the 1st half, and hung on to win 3-2. It was a pretty intense game-I can remember glancing nervously at the clock like once every 5 seconds after Portugal scored their 2nd goal, hoping the U.S. could weather the storm-and they did! Which set the stage for much celebration/consumption of jinro

5. Becoming friends/family with Mariko

Ah...Mariko...my host mom, basically-though we never lived under the same roof. I spent countless hours at her cosmetics store just talking to her/customers who happened to be there. I don't think I would have made it this far without her *sniff*
random pictures of Mariko

6. Other Cool People

I've met a ton of interesting/wacky people in Japan-like the trombone playing Buddhist monk, the oil painter who happened to be yakuza, a guy who, the night before a soccer game, decided to eat an entire block of cheese, knowing fully that he was lactose intolerant (he missed the game), and a whole mess of other crazies. Gotta give a shout out to Joe, Wes, and Swatch/Tomomi

7. My Main Squeeze

Yeah.


That's about all I can think of off the top of my head...

forgetful

So I got some custom-tailored suits, and they fit very well. So well, in fact, that I keep forgetting to put on my belt before I leave in the mornings.

Part of the problem is that I'm totally not awake yet...getting up at 6:25am and leaving around 7am so I can hit the gym before work.

Today I forgot my towel (which I use as a sweat towel, washrag, and towel to dry off after I shower at the gym). You can rent one from the gym, but it's a little under $3. For a set of towels. Blah. It's about $4 to go use the gym.

Gotta make sure I don't forget my towel/belt.

"(back in the) cut like neosporin"

Shoko came back on Sunday evening, which was cool. We lazed around and I cooked dinner, and afterwards we enjoyed the passing thunderstorm. There weren't many thunderstorms when I lived in Miyazaki, but there have been several in the short time I've been in Tokyo, which is cool, 'cause I enjoy them.

It's 4:15pm, local time-glancing up at the TV I saw a bit of this new show we have on-some kind of mystery show that takes place at a high school. At any rate, one of the main characters had on a t-shirt that said "Alien Sex Fiend".

Yeah, typical high-school male, I suppose.


Back to work-

Updates

So it's been a little while. I've actually been busy this week (gasp) at work, as I am currently negotiating deals in Spain, France, Holland, and Thailand. After work on Wed. I had plans to hang out with Jon, who is the boyfriend of Sarah, who introduced Shoko and I. Anyway, I had to walk through Shinbashi station in order to get to where we were going to meet up. In the station this Japanese guy comes up to me and says "excuse me, do you speak Japanese?"

"yeah...what's the problem?"

"I think we might have met before"

"Ummm...I doubt it"

"Ok, well, sorry, but do you have any change?"

"Knock it off!"

and he scurried away. Accosted by guys looking for spare change in the station-life in the big city, baby. So when I looked up Shinbashi station on wikipedia, I also found a link to the area where I work, which is part of Shinbashi. The picture of the building I work in from that article is kinda nice too:




A friend of mine from college who has been living in Japan is switching jobs, and has just moved to Tokyo. So today I'm going to show him around a little bit. The plan is to eat lunch in Shinbashi, then maybe head to Odaiba, which is where Shoko and I went on our first date. Speaking of Shoko, she left Friday morning and won't be back until Sunday evening, leaving me to my own devices this weekend. Apart from hanging out with friends, my only plan is to buy alcohol in order to mix up some cocktails. Considering I didn't leave work until after 9pm last night, I think I'm entitled to a lazy weekend...

Things I Learned Today

From Kidscreen magazine

Grandparents buy one out of every four toys sold in the US

Kids adopt consumer electronics devices at age 6.7 now, compared to 8.1 two years ago.

Weekend Wrapup

So lately I've been making mixed drinks at parties I've been going to-which is not to say I've been to many parties lately, but...at Sarah's "Girlie Drinks Party" I ended up making something called a Southern Soing, which is a Singapore Sling, except w/ apricot liqueur. Then it was green-tea matrini's at Wes's place in Kyoto, which also turned out fairly well. So...I decided to get a cocktail shaker so I could make some stuff at home. Which meant going shopping on Saturday, which meant braving the horde of people who were also shopping in Tokyo. I was at Shibuya crossing around 6pm, which was a giant mass of people. I ended up with a cocktail shaker in the shape of a penguin. Question: will drinks taste better simply because they were mixed up in a penguin? My gut feeling is "yes, they do".
I spent a large part of Sunday playing Pro Evolution Soccer. After several hours of playing the game crashed, and I had forgotten to save...bah. I was pretty out of it all Sunday, having made myself get up (relatively) early, since I knew I would have to get up early this morning. Got up at 6:25am in order to hit the gym before work. I go to the gym in Ginza, and can walk to work from there. So around 9:15am I set out to head to work, hobbling down the street because of both the lack of exercise (first time going to the gym in 2 weeks) and my choice of footwear (half a size too small). On my way to work I often see foreigners wandering around Ginza-there are several hotels where foreigners visiting Tokyo often stay in Ginza. The problem is that at 9:15am there's nothing going on in Ginza-none of the stores are open yet. Even if they were, do you really want to spend your vacation shopping at the Gucci store in Ginza? I wouldn't think so, but...what relaxes you, I guess.

Oh My Lord

You said it, Mr. announcer.