Re-acquaintance

I recently spent a day off meeting up with a friend I haven't seen in quite a while.

 The last time I had seen Erika and Maxine was a year and a half ago. God, that went by too fast. Still, catching up took no time at all, and the timing coincided with Maxine's birthday having just past. The kid's 4 years old now, and she's grown into a really sweet child. What's more, Erika recently put another baby into this
world, a boy this time, named Liam. So she's been keeping busy.
 Just like old times, them and Ken and I met up and spend half the day just walking through shopping malls - more for the food than for actual shopping - and eventually made it to a park to let Maxine loose. The newborn, Liam, slept through the whole thing, so I can't really say I got a proper chance to meet him, but hey, that just meant I could give Maxine more of my attention.

 And though she did struggle to remember me a little bit at first, our re-acquaintance was quick and we got to play with each other lots, riding mini-trains across the mall, going up and down slides, bonding over ice cream and the like. Unlike the previous times, this time I could really chat with her, with some interesting results.

 "Maxine, what's your favorite kind of frog?"
 "Um...pink!"
 "With or without cars?"
 "With a car."

 Being that Erika lives rather deep in Chiba now, it's harder to meet up than it used to be. She's one of the first friends I made in Japan, though, so I'm glad we could all meet up like this. I do hope it won't be another year and a half until we do it again.

Oedo Onsen - Relaxation Theme Park

 When you think "Theme Park", surely the word "relaxation" doesn't come to mind. I mean, unless you let off steam by sitting in a roller coaster. I respect that too. But of course, if there were such a thing as a theme park based on the idea of having a relaxing time, then you could probably find it in Japan, where there is a word for "death from over-working." It just so happens that the Oedo Onsen indoor theme park offers just that: a sweet escape for people hoping to get away from their routinely stresses. 

Bryan, Ty and I in our yukatas.

 After running a 7 year old boy's birthday party at the job, I was in need of just that, so I headed down with my workmates Ty and Bryan to have a look.
 Upon entering the theme park, each person is given a yukata (traditional Japanese clothing) as well as a bar code bracelet, making it so that people can make transactions without having to carry around a wallet, since the yukata is pocket-less. Wearing the yukata is actually quite comfortable, but it also serves a double purpose - with everyone walking around in traditional Japanese clothes, you do feel like you're taking a trip back in time.

The footbaths.

 The idea of an onsen in Tokyo is actually quite peculiar, given that hot springs are usually found some ways outside of the city. As you would have guessed by the name of the place, having an onsen is actually the main attraction of the theme park. This is made possible by pulling hot spring water from incredible depths. The result is actually quite authentic, even though these hot spring waters lack the natural benefits of some of the other "purer" springs, which are filled with minerals that do wonders for the skin and health in general. The full body baths don't allow for mixed bathing, but there is an exterior section to the theme park that has foot baths. Within those are small rounded stones you're meant to walk on to massage your feet. It's actually horribly painful. If you have a little extra money to spare, you can pay 1700¥ to get your feet suckled by little fish. That's practically the price of admission (2200¥) so we opted not.
 That aside, Oedo Onsen is full of food stalls selling a wide range of food, from ramen to fish on rice, as well as games of the kind you're likely to stumble upon in Japanese matsuri-type fares - catching goldfish with a paper net, pop-gun shooting galleries, etc. It all contributes to the atmosphere and make the place a viable option for a date, despite that the baths are separated like I stated above.

 For those who want to take their relaxation to the next level, the second floor of the indoor theme park is strictly dedicated to reclining chairs with televisions attached. The room is dimly lit. As you would expect, the sounds of people snoring fill the air the moment you enter the room.
 That about summarizes Oedo Onsen, really! I do reckon it's a great place to bring foreigners visiting Japan, or to go on a double-date alongside another couple. Or to just do what I did and go with a few friends of the same gender and let loose.

Soft Camping in Okutama

Since coming to Japan, I haven't really gone proper camping. There was that one time I slept inside the concrete tube, but you know, none of the traditional stuff. More's the pity, because camping is kind of my thing. I was a boyscout for longer than five years, growing up. I'm a big fan of the great outdoors. It just so happened though that a few workmates of mine decided they would get together and throw a camping trip - mind you, none of the hardcore stuff, but just a simple get away with a rented shack, sleeping bags and campfire. So I got off work and hopped on a two-and-a-half hour train ride to Okutama.
 It turned out to be quite a relaxing get away. Though I arrived at 10 in the night, my coworkers, Akemi, Ty, and Bryan, met me at the station and we got to it pretty quickly. Our rented shack was just big enough to have the four of us lay out our sleeping bags, but we were sure to get some campfire time in before that, and even pull out some fireworks.

Bryan, Ty and I. By our mental age combined, we're 12.

 It had actually been a longer time than I remembered that I had hung out with a group of people who were actually in the same age range as I was.  Even though one of us had to make it back to Tokyo in the morning, we still had the following day off, and we figured we'd make the best of it.

 Though I had been to Okutama once before, coming again in Autumn was definitely a good choice if only for the colors. The region being so choke full of mountains as it is, hiking trails of all lengths and difficulties were easy to find, and gaining some height gave us a good view of the autumn leaves and the scenic countryside towns nestled deep in the valleys. It was hard to believe we were still in Tokyo prefecture, with the air so fresh and not a single busy street in sight.

By the time we came down, though, we were good for lunch, so we rented  poles and plunked ourselves down for an afternoon of fishing. If truth be told, I'm not the best angler out there, but it's not like we found ourselves any random creek. The fishing area was heavily controlled and just about anyone had a good chance of catching fish here. The deal was we had half the day to catch five fish each, after which we were free to do what we wanted with them. Catching fifteen fish between the three of us took us less than two hours in total. We then brought them up and had them cooked on skewers.

Our expedition ended with a dip at a hot spring, and we finally the long train ride back to Tokyo. It was just enough to fill the day, but all in all, it just left me craving for some good old fashioned hard camping. The kind with tents and bears and peeing in bushes. That'll come another time, hopefully.

Between Brothers

A tandem human flag between my brother and I. Regards from North America!

From My Uncle's Estate

I'm in North America!
 On my way to Montreal I stopped along my uncle's place for a long overdue visit. He owns goats, horses, a pool, a gigantic house atop a hill with a pond at its foot, and all the things that make life good. Here are a few pictures.

An aerial shot of the property. Notice the barn too.

My uncle, aunt, and cousins. You can't tell but they're twins.

Dude, this place is a petting zoo. That's an alpaca. He looks sympathetic.

My cousin and his dwarf pony. It won't ever grow bigger than that.

The Workmates

Today we celebrated the 4th year anniversary of my current branch at the job! I've been working with some of these guys for quite a long time. They are, left to right:

Leftmost, yawning: Kei! He brought me up into the company from when I had just started. He's so graceful, as you can tell.
In white, kneeling: Yumi! She's the newest receptionist at our current branch. She's kind of quiet. She has really long, skinny fingers.
Guy with a mask, top: Jay! He's actually a member of a very well known break dancing crew called Now or Never (where he goes as G.) He often makes jokes during class about how Chinese he is.
Sitting, black: Nana! Remember Nana? She's back in the company and she's as good a superior to me as she is an adventuring mate.
Top: Mana. Yes, there's a Nana and a Mana. She's been the manager at this location since the dawn of time, back when My Gym was for dinosaurs instead of kids.
Holding up a V: Takashi! He's the art teacher. He's actually really good.
Big, in front: If you don't know who this is, I must kill you.
Thumb up: Tad! His actual name is Sean too but he had to change it because he came in after me. Haha. Only room for one Sean here.
Ginger: That's Daniel. He's the newest instructor in the crew. Watches a little too much South Park.
Far right: Michael! He plays the guitar. Babies hate him.

A Break From the City

Man my camera doesn't do to good here. Maxine's grown!

It was Nozomi's birthday! Who, you say?
 Well Nozomi's Ken's step-sister. You might've seen her on the blog a few times. Here, and here and here, notably.
 We got festive and drove down to Chiba prefecture, where Erika has moved to in order to settle down with her boyfriend (who happens to be the father of her child, but this is now old news!) An hour's drive from Tokyo, Chiba is a neighboring region a little removed from the city lights. It's spacious. People in Chiba have space. Something I haven't seen in a while.

Erika and Maxine getting ready to dip their feet.

The ladies! Nozomi, Erika, and Zara, Ken's girlfriend.

After some extensive grocery shopping in a super-duper market with lanes four-Seans-wide, we brought the car down a little deeper into the prefecture and settled by the river for a barbecue. It was all kinds of lovely to be able to take it easy with friends in somewhat of a secluded area, away from all the noise. I admit I got a little engrossed in catching tadpoles and frogs and shrimp and fish and whatnot, but it was bit of an escape I needed, and I sure was glad to be there. I hadn't swam since my brother was here last. Maybe I'll forget how.
It was also nice to see Maxine again, who I haven't visited for the past six months or so. She can talk now, so I had to struggle to keep my swearing in check. I hope I did alright.
On a side note, Chiba prefecture kind of strikes me as scenic and nice, as opposed to Tokyo's other neighbor Saitama, which in comparison kind of seems bland and lacking in identity (sorry Saitama people! I know some of you read!) Rent being several times cheaper, a lot of people choose to commute from neighboring prefectures on a daily basis to get to work. I guess it's a considerable trade-off seeing as in you can actually get a house. With a yard.
 All in all, it was a good time, and definitely good to catch up with some friends.

Brief Note: Tricking in Tokyo

Millo, his friend Steve, Kazue and I with some Tokyo trickers.

I'm absolutely ecstatic. Thanks to an acquaintance of Millo's, we've found a gym catering to the tricking community within Tokyo. They're a real great bunch and we've made friends already. I can't wait to get back into practicing and put up pictures of videos of my progress. Expect that soon!

Pullquote: Suits

Kazue, Steve (Millo's friend from France), Ken, me, Millo

We had a Monopoly night where everyone was required to wear a suit to play. Our definition of suit was pretty loose, however. It was a fun night.

"I like wearing suits," I said to Ken. "If only to do things people wouldn't expect from a guy wearing a suit."
"That's not possible in Tokyo," he replied. "People here have seen guys in suits do everything imaginable."

The Other One

My brother Alan has landed in Tokyo and will be here for another 8 days. He's six feet tall and looks like Squidward. Arriving with him were two boxes' worth of Froot Loops, a bunch of chocolate, a tub of mouthwash of a size you can't get here, and everything else I requested and more. It was like early Christmas.
 I took the week off from work and will be touring Tokyo alongside him, going through all the staple sight-seeing as well as a couple of things I haven't even done myself.
 Good times await!

Excessively Sweet 22

 It had been a long day at work. I had just finished hosting a birthday party, that I was headed to another - Erika's, who celebrates hers one day before mine, on March 2nd. So I slumped my way to Shibuya, exhausted but eager to have a good time. Ken met me at the station and guided me to the venue.

 And as I got there, it took me a few seconds longer than it should've to look through the familiar faces and to realize that most of them had never even met Erika. 

 This was my surprise party.

Clockwise around the table, from left: Aala, myself, Ken, Lo, Lo's girlfriend Haruka, Ewan, Manami, Ai, Nozomi. In case you're wondering, I'm wearing a mask on top of my head. Everyone looks tired here.

And of course, what better venue than Sweets' Paradise, a cake buffet. That's all you can eat cake, with a little bit of pasta on the side.  I can't stress how awesome Sweets' Paradise is. This country has such a candy side to it that I suspected the existence of such a place long before I had even seen it. No doubt countless young girls with copious amounts of blush celebrated their birthdays in the exact same way I did.

 I had a chance to gorge myself in sugar until the point where I had to confirm by checking my pulse that indeed my heart was going through some kind of overdrive, at which point I slowed down. About half an hour in, the shop's manager suddenly came out with another plate of ice cream and fruit cake and the staff started singing me a happy birthday as they handed me a t-shirt.

 We later headed out to karaoke, where Millo joined us, and that's always fun, too.

 So big thanks to all my friends who made it, and to those who couldn't as well.

Memorable quotes:

Ewan: Do you think they're genuinely happy it's your birthday, or is it just part of the job?

Myself: I host birthdays. It's part of the job. Or maybe that guy's a better person than I am.

 I met Ewan at one of Aala's events. I'm rather fond of the physicist. He doesn't talk much, but he's always got something interesting to say when he does. 

Aala: You've had 21 birthdays already. Who cares about the 22nd. Your gift is behind the curtain over there.

Ewan: It'll be midnight in 45 minutes.  Maybe you're going to have a sudden urge to read newspaper.

Ai: It's definitely impossible to throw a mint into someone's butt hole.

I've known Ai for a bit now. She's a long time friend of Ken's who I'm due to properly introduce sooner or later.

Manami: This is a poor gift, but it's something I picked up from Malaysia. Sorry it ain't much.
Me: Dammit Manami. You didn't have to get me anything at all.

Manami: But it's such a bad gift. I'm really sorry.

Me: Don't say that. I'm grateful, really. Thanks.

Manami: It's so bad and it's all written in Malaysian.

Manami I met at the same time as I met Ewan. She actually speaks pretty good French.

Still at it

Here's a video of me practicing my tricking at work during the after-hours. I haven't lost any of it! Go figure, huh.
 As it turns out, I'm pretty sure I'm in better shape now than I've ever been, so it sure makes it easier to succeed at new techniques I haven't been able to do before. I'll resolve to learn one new trick every month.

It's Valentine's

My likeness on the bottom left!

...And nothing really exciting happened over the course of the day! Mostly I've been receiving gifts from students though, notably chocolate, a few cards, and in one case a T-shirt, even.
  Of course, the big problem is I can't read a card received from a Japanese child. It's hard enough to read the language regularly, but add on top of that the whole 4-year-old's handwriting aspect and I'm done. I tried passing the card along to one of my coworkers who couldn't do it either.
 Sorry, Rino-chan, I tried. I really did. But I'm no cryptographer. Your gift was heart-warming and I appreciate it no less.


 "Sean, you fart-head," says you. "Why didn't you confess your undying love to some girl?" Well, it doesn't work like that in this country. I promise I'll explain that on the second Valentine's day thing that happens on March 14th. I'm not even kidding. Japan kind of took this whole commercial holiday to a whole other level.

So what did I end up doing?
 Well I got together with Millo and Ken and Kazue and we played Monopoly.
How unromantic.
I actually lost first, which goes to show that my skill at Monopoly hasn't increased in the last fifteen years. If you have to know, Kazue won. Fitting, because she sees herself getting into the business of renting out houses and such.

Mr Tanaka's Fishing Hour

Happy New Year, folks. I'm actually back in Tokyo, but I do have lots to share about what I've done during my trip down in the Kyushu area. There'll probably be a small burst of posts within a short amount of time, so heads up!

Mr Tanaka and I.

If I've learned one thing about Ken's father, Mr Tanaka, in the past week, it's that he's pretty passionate when it comes to fishing. The guy's got a whole room serving as a dedicated "fishing closet" and fishing poles tied to the top of his car. "Take us with you some time," Ken had offered one day, and he took us up on that and brought us along.
 "We're going minnow fishing. It's not difficult, nor is it easy, so it's just the right level for you guys," he had said as we were driving.
Mr Tanaka then explained to me how, although it isn't common practice to fish for such small species in America, it is relatively common practice in Japan. Of course, the way to do it is very different, requiring adapted bait and equipment.
He then brought us to what appeared to be a ditch on the side of the road. The weather was colder than what I had come to expect, and it wasn't long before my hands were shaking and red.

"That looks like the bait," you would say.

"This is how you can see if you're a true ninja," Mr Tanaka said, beaming. "A real ninja can resist the cold for a very long time." He laughed as he cast. Holding that thought into consideration, Mr Tanaka is probably a much better ninja than I.
 It was only thirty-five or so minutes in that I heard him excitedly shout "bite! Pull it out!" I didn't even notice at all. See, when a minnow takes your bait, you don't really get very strong feedback. But he had noticed the tiny ripple around my bobber.
 Sure as hell, I pulled my line out and had a minnow.
 "It's a miracle!" Tanaka beamed. "You are a true ninja!"
 Mr Tanaka, within the next thirty or so minutes, then proceeded to catch four of them himself. We returned home and put them inside a small fish tank. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of how I became a True Ninja, capital letters and all, complete with running nose and frozen hands.

Let's Make Octopus Balls

Octopus balls! That's takoyaki in Japanese. No, they're not octopus testicles, you fools. They're fried batter with little bits of octopus inside. In recent days Aala's been having quite some fun throwing takoyaki parties left and right. I actually narrowly missed the last party and had to cancel at the last moment, leaving Aala and his roomie Jean-Paul waiting for me at the station for no reason, which they got on my back for (shame on me!) So I owed them to come to this one.

 A couple of Aala's friends were present, and so was his girlfriend, Yuko. Between she and Ken, I guess 90% of the takoyaki was made. It was a pleasant little gathering and Aala got to show me pictures of himself dressed as a panda and walking into stores for Halloween. I didn't take part in the crafting of the octopus balls so much as I kind of just watched and ate. I'm no stranger to takoyaki, but I must say, I don't think it has its equivalent in the western world. I can't say "takoyaki tastes like" or "is like," because it's kind of a wholesome food with its own identity. And not that many westerners often eat octopus to begin with, so yeah.  Or am I wrong? You can write something in the comments below the post and say something like "I ate octopus!" or "I love the balls!" if you like.

Aala looking just about as graceful as usual.

 In Japan, takoyaki isn't even much of a main dish so much as one part of a larger meal. It's kind of associated with street stalls and is something that can sometimes be picked up like one would pick up a hotdog in New York. But there are specialty restaurants that will offer a myriad of varieties.

Off topic, take note: I'm likely to join Aala as he rides the train in a full panda costume some time soon. Yes, of course I'll be in costume too.

Hosting a Tourist

Here I am, at Haneda airport terminal. It's 11:30PM and the last trains are about to cease, but I'm here hoping to intercept a certain someone.
 Flocks of business men and women come out from the baggage-pick-up door, droves of them, and it's slowly occurring to me that I don't even know which flight my contact is coming from, but I'm hoping it's not the 11:35 one, 'cause that one got delayed to 1.
 That's when my Indonesian penpal, Canti comes out. I recognize her right away, cause she has blue hair. Also, her hat is a monkey. Also, Canti is a witch. Go figure.

I met Canti on the internet over her putting up a request to find someone to go to a haunted forest with. She was to come to Japan for 10 days for her 22nd birthday, with her "Couch-Surfing" host, and we were to do just that. Though my schedule and her's conflicted and it no longer seems like we'll get to do that, other developments have arisen, and it turns out her host hasn't been too reliable at all.
 So I've been hosting Canti at my place for the last two days.
 And that's been fun.


Exploring the city with Canti re-awakened in me the amazement I had when seeing everything for the first time, too. It was lots of fun getting her perspective as a first-timer, too -- especially considering Canti's background. I call her "witch" (she half-jokingly calls herself that too) but Canti is actually seriously a practitioner of Wicca, complete with a witchcraft altar and all that. She's by an enormous long-shot a lot more sensitive to all things spiritual than I am and has only a limited time to buy gifts for her friends, seeing as she's leaving the country October 1st.

Today had us going through some of the places that not too long ago had me quite giddy, such as the market streets of Ameyayokocho, Ueno Park, Asakusa, and the Ikebukuro cat cafes.

Also she loves cats.

 "Whoa," she said as we approached a temple in Ueno Park, "the energy here is totally different. We just walked through a barrier." Though I don't think her spirituality is what defines her, Canti definitely has some times when she's aware of this kind of thing. I may be atheistic, but I do have a lot of respect for that.

Today ended with Canti leaving for Kyoto in the middle of a raging rainstorm the likes of which I haven't seen since the last tropical typhoon, but she'll be back in Tokyo in two days, after which I'm sure there'll be lots more to show her.

Things I've Been Doing

Sometimes I don't post in a while and it may give the impression I'm just hanging in dead time. That's actually not too far from being false, I guess. Though work's been taking up a lot of my time, I do manage to squeeze in a few activities, but nothing out of the ordinary. Those would merit their own posts here. Here's what I've been doing lately, outside of the big adventures and crazy shit.

I went to Ueno Zoo again with Erika and Maxine and got in a fight with this goose.
I don't usually beat up barnyard animals.

Ken introduced me to his sister and nephews.
They've got lots to learn in the ways of gaming.
Yeah, I hang with children on my off days too.

That aside, I've also introduced Ken's step-sister to my job.
We celebrated at a steak house for her employment and my promotion.

Speaking of work, they transferred me to another location after my promotion.
I'm not very happy about it. This picture captured one of my last days at the previous place.
One of the kids decided to wear a shirt that didn't fit just so he could match mine.

One of my older colleagues taught me the butterfly twist.
I'll show you guys when I get really good at it.
 This is me practicing and warming up with butterfly kicks.

And that about sums it up. But hey, there's less than a month left before my next big trip. If you don't know about that yet, I guess you'll know soon enough.

Lake Town

Here's Koshigaya's Aeon Lake Town. Japan's biggest shopping center just won't fit in cramped-ass Tokyo, so it's way out here in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere, one hour away from the city. It's not even in the Tokyo prefecture. Hard to miss it, though. The place is 200,000 square meters large  and its own train station.
Speaking only in numbers, Lake Town houses 200 different stores and is the 28th biggest shopping center in the world. It's not exactly the closest to the top, but hell if it isn't big.

Accompanying me are Ken, Erika, and her daughter Maxine. Also, there's Andrew! He's Erika's 15 year old brother. For the sake of introductions, if someone took baby Maxine, made her ten times bigger and gave her the gift of speech, then the resulting life form would probably be a lot like Andrew.
 Here's a picture with both Andrew and Erika looking particularly like goblins. Maybe it runs in the family?

Chilling in a home hardware store.

Back to Koshigaya Lake Town, the mall is split into four sections: Water, Forest, Wind and the Outlet section, which is completely outdoors. The three hours we spent there took us through a little less than half of the place. Today being a national holiday, though, it was impossible to buy anything: lines stretched out even out of the doors of certain stores. As much as I also would've loved to buy some furnishing for my crib, the distance home was also a cumbersome obstacle. 

My highlight? Maybe just watching Maxine play around with the other kids in this lego-themed shop. The name of the shop itself, "clickbrick" looked alarmingly like "dickbrick" due to the poor choice of font for the shop's logo. But this is Japan, so who cares! Hurrah!
 But yeah, in conclusion, Laketown is like a big dog. It's big.

Am I Beautiful Yet?

Purikura are photo booths. For girls, mainly. We tried. Here's what we got for it.

 

Which one's your favorite?

What I've been up to

Though the last few days have been a blur, what with moving and all, I did manage to enjoy going out some in the presence of my buddies. I didn't bother making individual posts for each outing, since nothing really screams "Japan," but hey, here's what I've been up to in case anyone was wondering.

There've been a couple of work parties recently. They're fun, but most of the time I can't
really understand what's being said. My boss is the guy on the left.

I went to see "Dark Shadows" with Ken, Erika, and this guy David. I didn't really like
the movie so much, but it had its charming moments. This was after the screening.

I went to a club with Ken and Sofie, but it was pretty dead.
We met a bunch of fun people that night, regardless.

This girl was cute. We danced.

I hung out with Lisa for the first time in a while at the first ever
Ben & Jerry's to open in Japan. Neither Ben nor Jerry were there.

And that's about it! I have a week off vacation from work starting today, and I plan on going on a small trip to the beautiful Hakone area. Expect some nice pictures when I get back.