July 28, 2003

After work, I went to Shibuya, to a party being held at The Ruby Room. It was a gathering of people who keep web journals of their lives in Japan. I met a lot of interesting people, including RobPongi, and the folks at TokyoDV. I also met a few people from Metropolis, as well as a number of other journalists and writers. I drank a few, talked a lot, and met a guy pimping cheap massages outside. It was a crazy night. No, I did not get a massage. I'll post the photos later. Yes, I keep procrastinating, the Ginza photos will also be up soon.

July 25, 2003
Another day of training. I had three classes after my training was finished, and luckily, they were very nice students. Nothing else is new. I'm going to look at a new apartment in Sagamihara next week. It's a private apartment and is cheaper than where I'm living now. I'll be two stops away from Machida, and I'll be closer to Shinjuku as well as, I think, Yokohama. I'll give more details as things progress.

July 24, 2003
Today sucked even worse than yesterday. I had training all day, which lasted 8 solid hours. It would be an understatement to say I was exhausted when it was over at 7:00PM. I shouldn't complain, next week I have a three day vacation. I'm going out for a nice dinner on Tuesday evening, then to a jazz show on Wednesday, and Thursday(if I have any money left over), I will got to Yokohama(finally!).

July 23, 2003
I was just watching the new Ladytron Quicktime video, and it's pretty excellent. I'm only working a half day today, so I start at 5:00PM and work till 9:00PM(which really sucks as it ruins my day to go anywhere or really do anything). I don't really care though, a lot of good things are happening this week. I'm meeting some interesting people tomorrow night after work, I hope that goes well. I'll be in Shibuya, and will join them after I finish a training course for my school.

July 21, 2003

It's nice to be back online, e-mail finally works, and things are looking good. I've been to Machida twice now, and I really enjoy walking around there. I went again the other night, and ate tacos out of a little truck parked near the back of a shopping center. Those tacos were excellent. It was one of those Volkswagon mini-vans, but it was decorated with neon signs, Jamaica stickers, and lots of Bob Marley stuff. Inside was a crazy looking Japanese guy and his girlfriend. Both decked out in retro outfits. After I polished off three tacos, I headed back to the station. Nothing else new is happening here, just relaxing and doing my work. I have a little vacation coming up, I haven't decided what I'm doing yet, but I hope beer and good food are involved.

July 19, 2003
How can I describe what just happened... Well, to start, my host was hacked, pretty hard. His server got it's ass kicked, and everyone lost their website. The last time it happened, it only took about a day to get things running again. This time, it took nearly a week. I was very upset, not only was my website unavailable, but I lost ALL of my e-mail along with it. This definately ranks up there with "Most Frustrating Moments." I decided it was time for another host, though I will continue to use my current host for storage and video transfer purposes. Tera-Byte.com will be my new host, and we can thank Georg, Andrew, and my mother for taking the time to assist me in getting this site running again. Thanks guys!

July 14, 2003 (evening)
I went to Ginza to meet my friends Maiko and Akiko. Maiko had a gallery opening in Ginza, she is a print maker, and her work is amazing. She is easily one of the most talented print makers I have ever met. During the opening, I was introduced to Hodaka, and Ushio, also artists. After the show, I was invited to join them for dinner, and I had such a good time! We ate all kinds of delicious foods, and they introduced me to the fine art of wasabi grinding. I had a great time, check out the new "Ginza Party" gallery in the Peeps section.

July 14, 2003 (morning)
I'm sitting in the barber shop as I type this, 1000Y for 10 minutes of haircutting. I know I should just buy an electric cutter and buzz it all off, but my head is a funny shape, and I would look scary. So now I wait, 10 minutes per person and I am the second in line. This place is called QB, and I have no idea what that stands for. I'm tired, and sitting here is putting me to sleep. After I finish with my haircut, I'm going home to change into a nicer outfit, and then I'm leaving for Ginza. It's another overcast day, which figures, since it's my day off and the sun only shines when I'm working inside. I have to go to Shinjuku to transfer trains to get to Ginza, it's a little bit of a haul, but it will be worth it. I'm looking around at the haircuts these guys are getting, I think they only have one style here, short. I brought a photo to show them of how short I want my hair, but I'm starting to think there's no point in doing that now. I'm getting short, short hair whether I like it or not.

July 13, 2003
I need a haircut, desperately. My hair has grown to the point where it's borderline afro. My sideburns are as thick as my hair, now that's just not right. I had another interesting day. I've been sitting at home all evening writing letters to my hometown people. For dinner I had a bento box with chicken, eggplant, and tofu for dinner. The bento boxes are discounted at the local Seiyu after 7:00PM. Bento is wonderful.

July 11, 2003

I'm learning all about Japanese cartoons from my students. I finally understand who Anpanman is, and the wonders of a doradoor. Doraemon is on every Friday at 7:00PM on channel 8, Tokyo time. This show is borderline insane, but fun to watch. This cat from the future returns to the past to make sure Nobita-kun(this young boy) is happy and enjoying life(correct me if I'm wrong). It's not exactly a cat either, it's a robot with a pocket from which it can pull out crazy inventions. It doesn't have ears either, they were eaten off by mice. One such invention(as I witnessed in last weeks episode) is a pair of glasses which allow Nobita-kun to eat bad tasting food by making it appear delicious when you put the glasses on. I'm guessing from the characters behavior(seeing as I don't speak ANY Japanese yet) that he doesn't like his mothers cooking. So these glasses greatly improve his life, and his mothers life from having to deal with Nobita-kun's poor appetite. Sadly, I was called away from the television to take care of more pressing matters, such as the consumption of dinner, so I was not able to witness the finale of this episode. Doraemon is amazing, worship this thing.

The other cartoon, Anpanman, is equally astounding. Anpanman is a living breadman, his head is made of a sweet bean bun. He exists to care for the hungry and poverty stricken people in the bread world. When he finds someone who is hungry, he says, "If you are hungry, eat my face." Then he offers a chunk of his head. It's really freaky. When he's in danger, he can throw off his head like a weapon, but then he has to return to the bakery for a new head. He's accompanied by a number of friends including Currypanman(who's head is a curry donut, he looks nasty!), Shokupanman(who's head is a slice of white bread), and Cheese(this strange looking watchdog thing). His worst enemy is Baikinman, this evil bacteria thing who causes a lot of trouble. Anpanman is also vulnerable to water, as it melts his face into this grotesque mass, and once that happens, he loses his powers(this is a childrens cartoon by the way). I'm not sure what worries me more, the fact that I can recite all of this, or the fact that it exists. Either way, I thank my students for sharing this vital information with me, I'm not sure how I could survive in this country without this knowledge.

July 8, 2003

Machida was wonderful, I finally got to visit it after hearing so much from my friend Katrine. It's a wonderful place with many interesting import stores selling goods from Africa, China, the Philippines, and of course, America. I bought some tea, peanut butter, and a lot of candy. There are these fascinating Japanese cooking and baking supply shops that sell these big bags of dried mushrooms along with various flours and syrups. The smells were so nice, and the bakeries along the sidewalk all displayed delicious looking things in their windows. Katrine showed me some excellent import stores carrying different Asian teas and fruits. The fruit here is beautiful, there is a lot of variety, but the price is a bit high. Again I had miso ramen for dinner(don't worry Miho, I try different kinds of miso ramen!), and it was delightful as usual.

July 7, 2003
I had another interesting day, my students were nice and my family is finally using Instant Messenger to talk to me. This evening's been a little dull though, I came home, ate my salad for dinner, and watched some Japanese television. Not much to say today.

July 4, 2003
Happy fourth of July! I hope all of my friends in the States are having fun drinking beer and eating hotdogs. I haven't had a hotdog yet, but I've been eating a lot of sashimi and drinking lots of green tea.

July 3, 2003
Today was really interesting. I went to Ebisu, really only because I haven't been there yet. There wasn't much to see, but I met a nice fellow who showed me a few good spots for photography, so I will be adding a new gallery soon for my Ebisu photos. What do you think of the new navigation for the Place galleries? I figure I'll add another train stop for every place I visit. The Yamanote Line is fairly accurate for a map, but the Keio line is rough and not intended to accurately depict the proper distance between those stops. The Keio line isn't quite as relevent as the Yamanote Line(the JR Line). It's going to take a little time before I have the Nakano and Ebisu galleries up and running. However, I added new photos to Place/Shibuya and Food/Shinjuku.

July 2, 2003
DSL access is on and fast. Daily updates are on the way and a new interface is in development. Thank you for e-mailing me so much and keeping in touch. I love reading everyones e-mails! Keep me updated and I'll keep you updated. New sections are being added to the photo galleries including "Local Artists," and, "Modern Fashion." New galleries may take a month before they will be available. Also new will be a "Fun" section added to the global navigation. This will host desktop images, as well as video and sound from the Tokyo art and performance scene.

July 1, 2003
I was going to stay in today, but I changed my mind. Rather than sit on my ass, I finally went to see the Matrix. It was excellent. I was completely entertained, though I can see why some people left confused. Translating that thing must have been a pain in the rear. If it wasn't over a 1,000Yen to watch, I'd go again. I went to the theatre in Minami Osawa, and it was easily one of the best movie experiences I've had in a while. Just the right volume, just the right size screen, and just the right seating arrangement(which, by the way, was assigned seating). Total satisfaction, and the theatre smelled nice too, like caramel or something.