Recently in Neo-Japanese Category

Last weekend, I believe the number of my killed brain cells due to massive alcohol consumption is a lot more than it should have been. I cannot learn, can I? A friend of mine whom I actually got to know through the website for frequent travelers was visiting Tokyo just for last weekend. Our common friend working for an airline decided to join us and he flew more than 6000 miles just for 23 hour stay! We opened a bottle of cava (Spanish sparkling wine) for our reunion at the wine bar. Then, I took them to a Japanese pancake place for dinner (Okonomiyaki), and showed them how to cook it. We went drinking in the homo district. How many bars did we go? hmmm.. I should say 5. I am really amazed that these two friends did drink a lot on the day of arrival from the other side of the world. When we got out of this dancing gay club thingy, it was already bright out. 7 o'clock to be exact. It was fun though. are we college dudes?. None of us had any hangover the next day. Whenever I decide to drink a lot, I take this anti-hangover thing before drinking and I take this other anti-hangover thing after drinking. They are not drugs. They are more like supplements. Hepalyse is the pre-drinking pills I take. They are very popular here in Japan for anti-hangover and they work brilliantly. Since we are not strong with alcohol, many of us including myself take this. After taking the pills, I feel totally okay after 8 shots of tequila :) These pills' ingredients are multi vitamins with some cattle liver essence. They are legal. The post drinking anti-hangover thingy is turmeric. They have special anti-hangover turmeric package and if you take this with lots of water, your liver will dissolve alcohol efficiently for you. As a matter of fact, I bought these for my friends as Japanese souvenirs. I am not sure if they like them but I thought they are creative souvenirs instead of crappy Japanese fans and such :0 So if you happen to be in Japan some time and drink, you should look for these at one of the drugstores. These two products are an alcohol soaked suggestions from an alcohol soaked headed guy :) Happy hump day!

We are supposed to be in the middle of the rainy season here in Tokyo. I said "supposed to" because it's been pretty dry and summer-like every day here in Tokyo. We haven't had much rain. It was 34 degrees C / 93.2 degrees F today. It is definitely hot. Not humid like every summer though. This year, we have to get used to "hot" due to saving electricity efforts. As I numerously mentioned that we are saving electricity and we are short of it due to the nuclear power plant shutdown caused by Tsunami. We are almost reaching the maximum. If we exceed that, unexpected black outs. That would be a nightmare as medical devices cannot function for those who need. It's more serious than having to worry about ice creem in your freezer melting. This is why a lot of office buildings cannot set airconditioners' temperature below 28 degrees c / 82.4 degrees f. Some buildings are required by law to save 15 % of usual electricity usages. However, it's hot. So this comes to rescue. This is the deodrant "ice cooling" spray that you can apply on your clothes! I was skeptical first but when I applied it, oh wow! it did cool me down. So whenever I cannot use airconditioning and it is sticky and uncomfy, I use this. You should pick it up if you are in Japan and if where you are gets hot :) Of course, if I am not saying I am never using airconditioning. I am just trying to use it as minimum as possible to contribute my part. It is not so bad after all :) But keep hydrated and avoid heat strokes! Happy summer day from Tokyo, Japan!

So I had an early morning conference call today. Ridiculously early. I grabbed a cab and got off in front of the office. I guess I was half asleep or fully asleep. I left my iPhone back in the cab and realized that when I got to my office. It was too late. I worried about someone stealing data or my SIM card or iPhone itself!!! I didn't get the receipt and don't know which taxi company (there are so many here in Tokyo) it was. BTW, I left my camera behind in the cab both in NYC and London last year (twice). For both times, I didn't have a receipt. It was over. When will I learn? Of course, I did craigslist and every possible thing but it didn't turn out. I thought I had to give up this time as well but I had like 5 minutes until the conference call so I called my iPhone several times. After a minute, I got a call from the taxi driver. He said he didn't know how to take a call on iPhone so he called me by looking at the caller ID on my iphone from his mobile. Anyway, he said he'd deliver my phone. I guess this doesn't happen much in NYC/London, does it? To appreciate him, I bought a prepaid shopping card and sweets even though he would have delivered it anyway for free. It's so much cheaper than replacing it with a new one, you know. Anyway, I am glad it came back. If you cannot get hold of the driver, the driver usually sends it to the nearest police station and the police station notifies the cell phone company and the cell phone company sends a letter to you. (Yes, I have left my cell phone once in a taxi. I am stupid). In a nutshell, if you leave something behind here in Japan especially in a taxi, make sure you get a receipt and your chance to get it back is not that small at all :) I'd say more than 80% or more. Even if you don't have a receipt, you could get it back. really. Of course, it would be better if you don't leave your belongings behind in the first place...but.. :) Good day!

I guess one of the major reasons why I haven't blogged regularly is that bashing guy from the neighbor country who happened to criticize everything I posted here because of this web. It doesn't allow me to blog more than I want to. It's freaking inconvenient. So I decided to move to the easier platform. However, migrating everything takes time since this is not my work. Thankfully, my IT skills will help me do this by myself so it's all good. I will see if I can have this done by the end of next month. That's my personal project :) In the meantime, I will stick with this til I complete the freaking thing.
So we officially entered the "rainy" season. In Tokyo, the rainy season usually starts in early June and ends in mid-late July. However, we have entered the rainy season 12 days earlier than usual this year. Many people get blue because of too much rain and humidity. Compared to last year (which happened to be the second hottest summer in history in Tokyo), it's very mild and nice. I actually like the rainy season because green is greener and you get to appreciate flowers and quietness which rain shuts noise out even in the middle of Tokyo. Besides, this is the longest day time in a year. The sky gets slightly blue and bright before 4 in the morning and I love the rainy dawn like that. Luckily, I got to see rainy gardens recently. One of them is the Imperial garden near my office/place. Since it was a cloudy weekday, the garden was rather empty. But hydrangeas and azaleas were in full bloom. I believe the Japanese garden can be very different from other styles and my DNAs tell me this is the most fitting :) The other garden is the bamboo temple garden in Kamakura which is like 1 hour train ride from Tokyo. I and my friend went there in the very early morning so no tourists wouldn't be there. We made the right decision :) It was very sacred, quiet, and beautiful (the second photo). It was raining but the rain made it better actually. Anyway, I am not sure how to conclude this post but don't get devastated if it rains. It might be a great way to appreciate green and quietness by relaxing. If there is a Japanese garden near you, I'd suggest you to go there when it rains :) it's zen. It does cleanse you. :) Good day!

This is my new year's Japanese traditional meal called "Osechi". My mother and I prepared this. It took a lot of time to prepare this including dumping LIVE pranws in boiling water. But it was a good meal. Many say this traditional meal "Osechi" doesn't taste good but my mother's motto is to make it better. So we change the tradition a little to make it better and it was worth it :) In addition to this, we had my favorite champagne, Billecart Salmon. It was a good first day. How was your first day in year 2010?

• I think I blogged less for the last two years. But since I upgraded the platform and found an easier way to create a slide show, I don't have a good excuse to leave this site without updates :) haha. I will see.
• There are many foriegn tourists lately and I usually get asked by them for directions. When I was walking to get a cup of coffee after the new year's meal with my family, one couple approached me and asked "Do you know the best sushi restaurant around here??" Many restaurants/shops are closed on New Year's day but I gave them a direction to one hotel with a good sushi restaurant. Honestly, when the market is closed, it's not a good time to have Sushi because it's not fresh. Bad times (New Year's holidays and Mid-August "Obon" holiday)
• I think I finished packing. Yay! I am going on vacation from tomorrow. And I packed a lot of stuff for souvenirs this time!
• This year's resolution for me is to climb the tallest mountain in Japan. Mt. Fuji (the 5th slide)!

Okay, for the long flight tomorrow, I should go to bed and sleep :) Here is to your wonderful year 2010!! Thanks for visiting! bye!

Happy Hump Day!

I know I've been saying my favorite city on this planet is always Tokyo and I don't think this will change. There are so many things I like about this city. However, just like Plato said, there is no perfect ideal stuff. There are some things I do not like about Tokyo.

1. This should actually be true in any city in Japan but lots of people do not let the emergency vehicle come through and walk in front of it or drive.
2. Many walk abreast slowly.
3. Conditioned air in the building or any train is usually ridiculously warm and stiffy.
4. Many give me the dirty look when holding a hand with a guy. (Not currently as I am single but back then when I was attached.)
5. I don't like the voice signals on those trucks saying "Turning left. Turning left. Turning left" Shut the fudge up!
6. The international airport is very far. (almost 2 hours from my place to the airport. However, this will change as the domestic airport in the city will have slots for international flights next year :)

However, even with these, my favorite city on this planet is still Tokyo. If you haven't been here, you should come over here to see how great this city really is. :) Have a great weekend!

I have been busy at work. Dealing with promotion stuff (It's not good to say I don't wanna get promoted? But not every promotion is necessarily a great one in my opinion.) BTW, for those in the States or Canada and want our brands invitation sales coupons, please e-mail me. I have a few left still :) Anyway, Complex projects to deal with and I am honestly tired. So I wanted to clear my head and see something beautiful as this was a national holiday here in Japan. It was a long drive but it was really worth it. BEAUTIFUL!!! so... Autumn greetings from Tokyo, Japaneven though this place wasn't in Tokyo...

No, I shoudldn't have done this at work while I was very busy but I needed a break. So I did this. It was damn difficult by looking at the instructions but I made my pet out of 1000 Japanese Yen ($10 = €7.10) bill. Can you see the feet and the tail? I really miss our old 1000 Yen bill as he was better looking and my idol.... Anyway... Voila. :) Meet my new pet.
Happy Fresh Week!!

Why don't I do something neo-Japanese since I haven't done it recently. The new fresh brand new week has begun :)
Have a wonderful week!!