Oh! hanami

So another week has flown by....

We 'did' a little hanami last weekend. Korakuen was the main venue and despite a little rain we had a pleasant picnic on the grass with some yaki-soba and chu-hais.


There were a number of wedding photo sessions taking place - I felt a little voyeuristic hovering behind the real photographer but I fired off a few shots as I wasn't the only one spying.
For once it made me wish my beloved camera was digital so that I didn't risk taking too many crap shots.
I do like the not-knowing and the wait before flicking through the prints to see how everything came out.... but maybe my last big purchase in Japan will be a brand spanking new digi camera. I've got my eye on a couple of little beauties so who knows....

With the absence of any quality broadcasting on JTV we usually resort to renting a big load of DVDs for our viewing pleasure. But just recently, we have discovered this little gem - TVLinks - it is packed with goodies and we have gourged ourselves on a diet of disposable USTV.
America's Next Top Model, American Idol, My Name is Earl, South Park, and CSI to name but a few....
The last week has seen me hooked on Heroes - now I'm not usually a comic/sci-fi geek but I've really enjoyed the 18 episodes so far....

.... and hope my new favourite website gets the links to the upcoming episodes some time soon.

In other news:
saving - going OK.
hair length - getting longer.
tokyo - done.
fitness - getting better.

Two years to this very day that I started this lowly blog!!

Ahoy there! Anniversary #2

In what is becoming something of a tradition on my somewhat pointless blog - it is now time for another pirate picture.

Yes, I have been scouring my photos from the past year and, as is tradition, I will post a picture of myself looking stupid once more....


Please let this be the last year that I have this kind of picture available to post....

almost famoose - the sequel

This time it's just my favourite lady who has been enjoying another fifteen minutes of local fame.

A promotion slot for the unmentionable corp saw her encouraging the little kids to shout "he is daddy!" and having a fun time.


Followed by an unrehearsed slot where the presenter decided to catch her out with a bit of fast-firing nihongo.

Sneaky.

oh so tokyo

So Saturday night saw us heading to the big smoke, into the unknown realm of sprout's long lost childhood friend.
Would she be a coco-lulu girl; a goth; a yakuza?.... the possibilities were endless. But in the end she was nothing short of very ordinary (no offence intended!)
The meeting at Shinagawa was a little awkward and very brief as they headed to the tiny aparto in Harajuku and me to Shibuya for a little wander in the rain and a poor night's sleep in a capsule hotel.
Sunday saw "tour guide" mode but it was a packed day that we might not have completed otherwise. The highlight - watching a 22yr old orchestra 'otaku' conducting an (super) orchestra, looking like he was trying to fly as he jumped and flapped his arms.

Also included in our whistle stop tour was the new National Art Center, Roppongi Hills shopping district (yuck), the cherry blossom around the Imperial Palace and a superb oden lunch in an old restaurant in Azabujuban - what looked like a really cool little area to live.

Whilst viewing the blossom, the fact that there were probably more people than flowers was a little off-putting. To add to this, we inadvertently strayed into a festival at Yasukuni shrine - the cause of a whole heap of trouble between Japan and its Asian neighbours.

The evening was spent very uncomfortably having dinner at the family's aparto, with me seemingly on trial, having to prove my credentials. The night wasn't much better, as Monday morning isn't the best time to be at a capsule - alarms going off from 5.30am never make for a good sleep.

The morning saw another highlight though - Tsukiji fish market. In what seemed like another world, men zipped around on motorised carts, cut up huge tuna and sold all manner of strange sea food while women sat in little wooden huts counting up the bills.

After nearly being run-over countless times we made a break back into the real (and underwhelming) world for a sushi breakfast. Yet to have the photos developed but I'm hoping for some good ones....

Akihabara didn't throw up any strange folks to gawp at - maybe we didn't look hard enough.... Harajuku was fun with a Mexican meal nearly hitting the spot.

All in, it was a great weekend - still feel the need to catch up on the sleep lost but hey, I've got plenty of time for that! Roll on Golden Week....