The Story so Far

So before I start, I have to shamelessly promote my friend`s blog. She beat me to it but here it is anyways. Shes on her home stretch before leaving, so if you'd like a preview of my adventures take a look at her blog.

Today marks 3 weeks since being in Japan. Its only the start but I`ve been having alot of fun. We`ll start with my first real weekend June 13/14th. Friday after work, a group of people got together and watched a movie. This was mainly to kill time so the bars would open up. Once that hoohah was done, it was time to get goin. The group started off at an Izakya near the train station. Eating and drinking was done. Food was good, drinks were good. Now at this point, everyone was still somewhat tame, no pictures were taken because there was nothing really interesting going on. Then we get this fantastic idea to go to a karaoke bar. There is alcohol served there as well. The following ensued:











The photos are in chronological order. Please note the descent into madness. I`ll let you write the story for yourself. Once 3am rolled around we were ready to crash and the crowd headed home.

Waking up in the middle of the day on Saturday, very little was done. A party was in the works and its location was Shibuya. Hosted by Europeans, it was going to be out of control. After playing Freecell for a couple hours, I left for the train station. Party was at 9 and I had to be fashionbly late. Upon arriving in Shibuya I was greeted with the following sight.





Easily the busiest place I`ve been to. Party was eventful. Details aren`t important, Drinking was done, once underground, once on a rooftop, meeting new people was done, although names were forgotten. The Power Rangers showed up to keep things undercontrol.



NTT Boys repping it as usual



As the party died down, it was back home on the 5am train. The hangover to follow persisted for roughly 2 days.

Then for five days nothing really happened. I was at work. Got a fridge, made some meals. The usual. However, after the five days, excitement ramps up again. It was time for DisneySea. A Sea themed Disney. Check Steph`s blog. She has a pretty detailed retelling of the day.

I started off with a rainy bike ride at 4am to get to the train station. DisneySea was 2 hours away. Me and Rob, a fellow UBC Student and NTT Employee, navigated the treacherous train systems of Japan, followed by the magical monorail of Disneyland.



After meeting Steph and Matt, the day began.













The day ranged from rides to shows to eatting to Steph repeatedly getting だめ`d. When we had tackled all the big rides in DisneySea, we finished our experience off with an Epic Tale. A BATTLE BETWEEN WATER AND FIRE. Pretty unfair if you ask me. Spectacular display nonetheless.





The day, however, was not over. We returned to Shibuya to have some quality Izakya time and fill some empty stomachs. Feeling no real urge to get home that night, we decided to stay in a capsule hotel. These things are damn convenient and North America better start adopting these. For 40 dollars to you rent a 7x4x4 space with a TV an and alarm clock and a mattress. Common shower facility provided.





The next morning, we did some shopping in Shibuya and ate some ice cream.



This was a very long post. Stay tuned for more.

Where I live, What I Eat, What I do

So I though the best way to start of this blog is to post stuff about my daily life in Japan before I start posting any interesting stories and pictures. Get the boring stuff out of the way. I got here June 5th and I have been living in the company dormitory. By Japanese standards this place is huge.



The room has one sliding glass door as the only window to the outside world. I live on the 5th floor so I wake up to this every morning.




Pretty solid view. Better than home. I live by the country side so there is alot of this stuff.




Its a quiet place, alot like Richmond. But nobody speaks english, and everyone is really nice. There is a train station 20 minutes away where all the bars and night life is, I'll save those pictures for next time. Since coming here, I have tasted all levels of food. The lowest being the following.



Instant noodles, the breakfast of champions. Followed by the best Sushi I have ever tasted.



I am a regular at this place. If you visit, I will force you to go to this place. However, I recently acquired a fridge and have been cooking since it is half the price of a regular meal and 3 times the amount. When not at home, I'm at work.



I'm infront of this thing for about 8 hours a day programming in C++ or reading about Haar-like Face Detection Methods combined with Simple Vector Machines.......or something.

Living here has been really fun so far. Its been an adventure trying to figure out how to do everything in a different language. Everyone at work and locals are very nice people. The parties have been really intense since Japan has this fantastic system of paying for all you can drink in a span of say two hours. But I'll save those stories for next time

So I started a blog

This is my blog for Japan. I needed a place to put pictures and write about interesting stuff. This is where it will all be.