tempura, Italian, onigiri and sweet potato. And one craptacular night.

Well it's been a week since my last post, so I'll fill you in on what's happened - I can't say it'll be as entertaining as last week, but I can't find Godzilla every week!

Last Wednesday I had my first Japanese lesson - I can now (theoretically) tell the time in Japanese (although it won't be much use, by the time I get it out you'll have to add another 15 minutes or so. Anyway, I enjoyed it, it was just a free community class taught by local housewives in Tsudanuma, so it was a good chance to interact with locals. After that I discovered an awesome second-hand music store (going to be bad for my wallet I can see!) where I bought my first Nine Inch Nails cd (who'da thunkit?). I then joined my workmate Steve(-o) for lunch at an Italian restaurant. It was so good, for 1100Y each we got a decent meal AND a decanter of wine each! Awesome.

Here is Stevo being a bad influence on Beaker

Things got nasty


Friday night was one of the most craptacular nights of my life. I finished work at 9pm, and decided to go clubbing in Shinjuku, as my friend Yu was out. So I arrived at Shinjuku around midnight, managed to find the club again, and found Yu. However, after an hour Yu said he was going home. This meant that I was now alone at the club, in the middle of Shinjuku with no way of getting home until the first trains around 5am. While I wasn't mad at Yu because I don't think he should have to babysit me, I was just annoyed in general at the situation. Dancing by yourself (well, surrounded by people but still alone) is only fun for a couple of songs, especially when the music is shite. So I decided to walk to the main part of Shinjuku to try to find an internet cafe to sleep at until the first train - the internet cafes here are 24 hr and you can get a private room, good for those pesky times you miss the last train home. So I walked the 15 mins or so to Shinjuku Station, very grateful I'd bought my ipod and headphones (which make very good earwarmers) and scarf, seeing very few internet cafes. When I finally found some they were all full. So I thought "I know! I'll sleep at McDonalds!" as I'd heard this was a common solution to my problem. So I found a McDonalds, bought some food so that it looked like I was actually interested in their product and not just their oh-so-comfy benches, and just as I was handed my food a sign was placed across the stairs to the upstairs eating area, which I correctly guessed meant it was closed for the next 2 hours... Doh!!

So at 2am I found myself walking the streets of Shinjuku with a delicious hot chocolate and not -so-delicious burger, wondering what the hell I was going to do for the next 3 hours. After a bit more walking around, I realised I really had to find somewhere warm, as no matter how suave scarves and jackets look, they really only do so much to protect against the cold. So I headed back to the club, deciding that despite the crappy music and smoky air, at least there I could feel my fingers. I found a comfy seat in the corner of the room, and spent the next 2 hours or so with my headphones on, getting strange stares from some guys and thinking "either ask me to dance or stop staring", and counting down the minutes till the first train. To top off my wonderful night/morning, once I was on my train I fell half asleep, and woke up just as the train was pulling out of my station - as I woke up I thought "hmm I wonder what station we're leaving", then saw the name of the next station - dammit! So I did a quick platform change at the next station, waited another 10 minutes for the next train and eventually got home at 6:20am, getting some sleep before starting work at 1:20pm.

Anyway, I was pretty happy with the way I handled the situation - this was the first thing to happen that could've made me really miss Australia, but I didn't really feel that. I survived walking around the streets of Tokyo in the ridiculous hours of the morning by myself, without freaking out. I'm sooo happy I had my ipod though - I think without it the night would've seemed 3 times as long.


Today I got my first haircut in Japan - the thought of getting a haircut but not being able to tell the hairdresser what you want is kinda scary, so I was a little nervous haha. I went to a place suggested by Stevo, and luckily there was an Australian girl working there, so she was able to help me and so now I don't have the beginnings of an afro on my head! woot.

Tonight I met up with a new friend Yoshi in the city for dinner - I had my first tempura! It was very nice, and again quite cheap! Then we went back to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building I visited on my sick day - got to see the lights of Tokyo from 45 floors above ground!

Bright lights - crappy picture. This is looking towards Shinjuku station.

excuse my Joker smile.

I've been meaning to get photos of the people I work with, and so far I've only remembered once. So here's a photo of Stevo and Cheryl at work.
Next Sunday we're having a party at an izikaya - kind of a going away party for one guy and a welcome party for me and the Assistant Trainer Steve (from NZ). So I promise to get photos then. I think I was so lucky as far as my home branch is concerned - everyone is so friendly and so much fun to work with.

I thought I'd show you some of the food I've been eating since I've been here.

From all the convenience stores/supermarkets you can buy onigiri - rice balls - which have different fillings. However the fillings are marked on the packaging in kanji - as you'd expect - so I have no idea what's in each type, making onigiri a mystery package for me! So one day I just chose one at random, deciding I'd work my way through them until I knew what was in each one. The first one I chose I was lucky, it was tuna and mayonnaise, my favourite type so far. The second time I tried it I wasn't so lucky - I chose the pink one as I thought it might be salmon. Well I was half right... it was salmon roe.
It was okay - the texture was just very odd. So I'm not sure I'll be eating that one again.

Also most supermarkets have grill-type cookers outside, from which you can buy hot sweet potatoes. I only realised what they were last week (thanks Cheryl!) and have since been buying them often, they're so yummy!

Also, just to prove that I've been eating healthily, here is my dinner from the other night - prob the third (half-)homecooked meal I've had since I've been here.


Tomorrow is the start of my 7 day work week - it would usually be the second day of my weekend, however I have training all day so that I may teach children (I'll get a day off to make up for it sometime in April). Then Thursday I start my regular working week, and next Tuesday which would normally be my day off I'm working to cover Carrie, who's going on holidays. Going to be a fun week I'm sure haha.

Oh and I'm going to join a gym this week, as I feel like I'm getting lazy and fat. Will be a good way to meet locals.

To finish off, here are some photos from my visit to Shinjuku on the day I was sick - I know I promised these ages ago but tough :P

Walking around Shinjuku, I pretty much got lost many times on purpose. Since I wasn't looking for anywhere in particular this seemed like a good way to explore the area - just walking down random streets and alleys.
A temple in Shinjuku

The inside of the temple
A shrine in Shinjuku Central Park



The Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings - the ones I was at the top of.
One view from the top of the tower. In the distance of one of the windows you can actually see Mt Fuji on a clear day - however the day I visited it was very hazy and cloudy, so I couldn't see it. But anyway - in every direction all you can see are buildings and buildings.

So I've been here over a month now, and have to say I really love this city. I think I'm going to find it very hard to move on, as I know that anywhere else I go won't be as safe as this, or as convenient. I've already reached the stage where I get slightly annoyed at a wait of 5 minutes for a train (in Brisbane missing a train would mean a 30 minute wait for the next one). This city is exactly what I needed in my life at the moment. I'm loving the food, the people I'm meeting are so friendly, and I feel so at home. So for the time being I'm really happy :)

Listening to: Arcade Fire - Neon Bible