Dep: Manchester

Arr:Tokyo

Although a few already know, I have kept things a bit under the radar of late, so I guess this post is mostly for all those I haven't been able to catch up with properly in the last week.

To be completely blunt, shit well and truly hit the fan recently and the end result was me being forced to depart Japan on short notice, waving goodbye to Tokyo. For now at least. It's a very long story that I won't go into on here, but I hold no regrets. While sat on the flight back to blighty I got chatting to the woman who nabbed my row's window seat (who oddly enough, was reading a book called "New Beginnings") and it began to fully dawn on me how many incredible and eye opening experiences I've had during my time in Japan. I've literally billions of stories and although my move was cut short to a few months, the experiences I had in that time have genuinely shaped my outlook on the world and the sort of life I want to lead in it. I could fill this blog for years recounting all these experiences, but it seems a bit odd when I'm no longer living there. My storytelling will henceforth come at the price of a pint :P

Last night I was reminded of a well known quote:

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."

This really is true - at least from my experience - and so while I've no real idea where i'll be or what i'll be up to in the future, I do know that bigger and better things lay ahead and I'll be making damn sure to see all the doors that open up for me along the way. Despite everything and in a strangely full circle way, just like I did back in August when I wrote the intro blurb at the top the of the page, I've no idea what to expect and yet hold a blind overriding self confidence that somehow, in some way, everything will work out awesome  : )






Laters x

Every Sunday the streets of Harajuku and the surrounding districts become literally filled with cosplayers (people dressing up as their favourite characters from film/tv/games etc) and general Harajuku fashion.  A normal Sunday afternoon walk through these areas is therefore rammed with some of the strangest (and in honesty, disturbing) sights you can see here, and since this last Sunday was also Hallowe'en I decided there was only one place to kick off my day...

Alongside the usual collection of gothic lolita, cyberpunk and just general full on weirdness (google image search for a vague idea of what im on about lol) there was one person in particular who I thought had pulled out something a bit special.


Just over a large bridge from Harajuku, Yoyogi is best known for it's massive park and the Shinto shrine enclosed within it.







Each and every Sunday masses of Japanese people in their teens, 20s and 30s descend on Yoyogi to dance the day away or play live to the thousands of visitors walking around. Some of its awful, some of its actually really good, all of it is hilarious and EASILY makes it into my top 5 things to see in Tokyo.

Went to the Studio Ghibli museum today...

Also known as Asakusa Kannon, Sensoji is Tokyo's most sacred temple and easily the most visually impressive I've seen so far. Not only impressive from the buildings, but also since its a busy working temple, so as you wander around you get to experience the monks and average natives going about their rituals.

In order to keep the sushi & rice wine flowing and a roof over my head while hunting down a programming job, I recently began working part time as an ESL (English as Second Language) instructor. The job title isn't all that accurate in fairness; I have absolutely no knowledge / experience of teaching and to be perfectly honest my English skills aren't that amazing either, but essentially the job revolves around just chatting to people, which despite the free beer on tap back at home I can just about manage :)

[ edit: I do know several other ESL teachers who do actually teach, I'm just not really one of them :P ]

In Japan teaching English is a massive industry, and there is a huge demand not only for genuine teaching in proper language schools but also more casual conversational practise in 'conversation cafes'. These don't exist in the UK - at least I've never seen them - but the idea is the cafe owner hires several native English speakers to hang around and have afew drinks with the locals, get them talking about pretty much anything and help them out if they ever get stuck or unsure how to express something - idioms and phrases being the most usual.

I say talk about anything, last week I was reminded of one of my favourite Fawlty Towers sketches...




I once raised the topic of America's influence on modern Japanese culture. Once and never again. From then on literally any topic I brought up, this customer managed to slip the discussion back to WWII and its effect on Japan. Never dodged so many conversation bullets in one go in my life! Although thankfully very admiring of Britain, sidestepping the guy's clear resentment towards the influence of America on Japan's younger generation, whom he felt were "unappreciative of events 65 years ago" and "quick to abandon thousands of years of tradition for rap music & some cheeseburgers" left me needing a swift top-up at the bar...

Not wishing to give the wrong impression mind, 99% are very easy to talk to and extremely friendly; chatting to the locals also provides a great opportunity to mine for recommendations on what food/drink/places to check out. I thought it odd when first starting out that both places warned me to never give out my number to customers, but after only a couple of shifts soon understood why. Although the cafes bring in a wide range of people from college students to professional singers to police chiefs, over here there's a certain section of Japanese women who go a bit crazy for western guys, and they come in big numbers (paying the cafe owner big money) to come in and chat with one for a few hours every evening. It can actually feel a little creepy at times but for each of those moments there are 10 ridiculous comments that make you laugh (like being told you look like Brad Pitt, serious :S) or interesting insights into Japanese life. Being the only Brit in either cafe helps as well, being more of an oddity generally allows me pick of the more interesting customers to talk to, rather than being caught in a fairly predictable conversation about where I'm from / what my plans are in Japan.

Work in an Eikaiwa is definately something for the short term, since you're not an actual teacher there's not that sense of fulfillment in your work to make you want to carry on for a serious period of time. That said though as a way of funding your travels somewhere new its a laugh, you'll meet loads of interesting people and its brilliant when you first arrive for picking up local knowledge and insights into the culture. Also to be fair, after a very short while you'll find yourself much more appealing to the actual teaching recruiters, if that's the path you want to take.

Oh, one more thing though... if anyone reading this intends to come here, don't teach at Ray's Club.

Just trust me.

First off, yeah, sorry. I've been a bit lax on updating this recently, the honest reason being i've just been so insanely snowed under with a million and one dramas minor & major. The past couple weeks have been somewhat chaotic to say the least but there'll be plenty of updates coming shortly :P....

OK so since arriving part of me has been (not very) secretly looking forward to experiencing an earthquake. Nothing major, it's not like I want my probably not amazingly quake resistant house to be seriously tested / blatantly fall to pieces around me. But apparently at some point it's fairly inevitable and provided it isn't some massive disastrous one I kinda think it'd be a cool experience.

Earthquake preparations are taken pretty seriously here obviously - for instance next to my bed when I arrived was a glow in the dark luminous yellow box, containing an emergency chain ladder complete with grappling hooks and a bunch of signalling stuff (I ended up putting it away in the wardrobe, you can tell I too take this pretty seriously). I was also advised to prepare a survival kit as well - presumably with basic first aid, food & water, little red book incase the chinese invade etc - and keep that next to the escape box.
What got me thinking about this though was this afternoon i was sat at my desk chatting to a mate back home when suddenly the floor seemed to move back and forth a couple inches, just once, but very quickly. It was the same sort of feeling you get sat in a car that stops suddenly. A quick snoop online later and it turns out that yep, I'd just had my first earthquake experience :D Although it had a magnitude of 5.1 (moderate) it was centered about 50 miles away and so deep inside the Earth (a touch over 26 miles) that it was barely noticeable.

Still though, got me thinking...

So now the luminous glowing box of doom is out from the back of the wardrobe and back next to my bed, and while I'm still (perhaps weirdly) looking forward to a decent quake, maybe I'll look into that survival kit after my next pay day. Never know eh? Besides, could also be useful if Godzilla decides to attack again...

Over 200'000 geeks, nerds and generally sunlight averse people. Hundreds of exhibitions. Eight massive arenas. One event...

Tokyo Game Show!


No not my foray into ridiculously cruel and impossible to win Japanese TV entertainment, TGS is the biggest computer games conference in the world and this year I had a ticket :)





I find myself saying this most days but this time there really aren't enough superlatives to describe just HOW weird some of what I saw that day was. From a 40 year old Japanese man dressed up in a Sailor Moon school girl outfit (don't ask, i really dont wish to remember) to "romantic adventure" games, to people strolling around casually in insanely detailed and immaculately produced home made costumes from practically any major game you can think of from the past 20 years. Unfortunately footage hit abit of a brick wall early on - just after I entered I was rushed by a bunch of security guards shouting and pointing at my camera and lack of press-access pass : /





It was a cool experience, it definitely gave me some stories to tell down the pub (or Izakaya) and i did enjoy trying out some of the unreleased games & 3D stuff they had there. Just the limitless neons, laser shows and 30ft+ lcds beaming out games trailers and footage to an ocean of gawping onlookers was quite impressive in of itself. The retro corner was well worth checking out as well - largely for the ensuing flashbacks of getting a kicking at street fighter by my bruv, or playing streets of rage with my mate Danny when I was about 8 - even if it did make me feel a bit old. Winning a bunch of free stuff (game,  tshirt etc) was pretty fun too (and the proceeds off eBay will go a long way with my rent this month :P).

In honesty though I don't think I'd want to go back to either this or another similar convention elsewhere again. I'm glad I went once, It was a great 'box tick' and I would've regretted not seeing what it was like if I hadn't, but yeah, once is definately enough. I guess it's the same deal with any kind of convention, but the place seemed to be a magnet for the ones who took an otherwise perfectly acceptable hobby, that extra step (or ten) too far. Before going to TGS this year I considered myself a pretty serious gamer, attending and seeing / meeting a bunch of other people who also call themselves that swiftly made me reassess my eligibility for the title.

I do enjoy hiding myself away now and then and conquering the virtual world in Civilisation, or taking Cardiff to the champions league final in Football Manager. For my sins i've even dabbled in the crack cocaine of the gaming world, WoW (dont panic, i've been clean a few years now); but I'm not in the same league as 99.9% of those at TGS, i'm not even playing the same sport.

Cool experience, but not for me.

First off, the food here is fantastic - I'll post more about it once I learn more Japanese and can work out what it is I'm actually eating - but yeah every now and then you naturally end up craving some home comforts, its inevitable. Now my Dad is known in our family to make a seriously mean madras and as a result i've developed quite a taste for a good curry, so when I heard others in the apartment block talking about a local curry house I of course got quite excited.

me:   "Ooh what did you have? jalfrezi? dupiaza?...."

Jo:    *confused* "Chicken."

me:    *sigh*   : |

So yeah i'm yet to find an actual indian restaurant - or apparently anyone who even knows what a real curry is - although all's not lost, I have found a temporary fix. One that slakes my indian food cravings while also appeasing the moderate addiction to Greggs that I developed last year in Manchester... I bring you... deep fried CURRY DOUGHNUT !!



Y100 (bout 80p), WIN.

Baked things in general are pretty cool here actually, I hadn't expected the Japanese to be very up on that sort of food but in Tokyo at least you struggle to find a single street without a boulangerie or patisserie. They have a fascination with the French over here which I guess explains their depth of breaded delights (you can get a roll with literally anything in / on / covering it here) and day to day you occaisonally see french words in place of where you'd expect Japanese - to the extent where in some cases (like with bakers) these replacements seem to be the standard name.

Anyway... curry doughnuts, get on the case Greggs.

OK so a lot is made of the Japanese work ethic, stories of people playing 'clock out chicken' as the first people to leave in the evening are seen as weak and unfit for further employment. I won't lie, this doesn't really fit in too well with my own ideas on the whole work/life balance. That said, whoever you are you've got to agree that my local supermarket has definitely gone a step too far...

I have an official residence in Japan!

Since when I first arrive in Tokyo my social circle within a 6000 mile radius will be somewhat limited, I've opted for a shared residence. It's essentially a bit like a swish student halls but targeted at young city workers; you get a private room and all other facilities are shared amongst the other residents.

So drumroll please... here's the new gaff!




 
some quick snaps of the living area & kitchen.

That's the plan anyway.

One month to go now until the final part of that and with my first 'real' job resigned from (if anyone's going on a leaving do any time soon - lucky voice ftw, seriously) my swanky mancunian flat left behind and my ace neighbours babysitting the larger items of furniture I couldn't bring myself to chuck / sell; I'm now back in sunny Somerset visiting family before I leave. If all goes to plan almost the entire clan should be arriving across the time I'm here. It'll be odd to say bye but I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone again.

With the majority of my debts paid off now (woo!) the only major thing left to organise is the search through tiny cupboards disguised as apartments online to find myself somewhere to live upon arrival. I'll be sure to post up some pics once I've sorted a place for definite.

In other news: after two rather nerve wracking interviews and about 20 hrs on Megabuses to London...


I have my visa sorted :D Been told I look like a Japanese pirate in the photo, while for others apparently I look like a terrorist. Not phased though, since either way its still a massive improvement on the 'ben from eastenders' passport photo of shame...

The list of things to do before the trip to Heathrow has now become eerily short and the reality of what I'm about to do still hasn't quite sunk in, but then to be fair, it probably won't until I'm sat on the plane :P