Day 45 to 51

Monday is another normal day at the office. After work, went for basketball with the pple in nokia. The court was being booked weeks ago, but sue to many reasons, the response was really poor. Only 4 pple, including me, went. Reached there, had shoot-around for 1.5 hours. That was the most boring 1.5 hours i ever had man. Come on, playing a sport that I dun particularly liked with 3 other pple that i dunno well. Finally, we were so bored that we decided to ask the pple in the next court whether they wanna play together. And yes, we played a 5 v 5 full-court with them which was quite interesting.

Tuesday nothing much happen. Wednesday is the FYP list being released. Check the list of projects available, all seems quite boring like that. Nothing much happening.

Thursday went to the gym at 3rd floor of the office building. As nokia employee, you become member of that gym by some corporate plan. that gym is supposed to be very high class, with monthly membership fee around S$150 at least and another 1000+yen per entrance. So ya, went there with a sg colleague and did some workout. The good thing about the gym there is that there is a meter in front of every machine indication the speed and range that u shld be lifting the weights. ya, lifting at the right speed and range make you exceptionally tired and ache. Oh, the running and cycling machines all have a tv attached, so u can watch it when exercising.

Friday after work went to Shinjuku to walk around again. Ate this rice wrapped in egg and gyoza set. Whenever i was in shinjuku, I can hear a lot of HK pple speaking cantonese there. seems like a lot of hk pple like to tour japan. Then when i was eating the gyoza and rice set in this eating place, there were this family of hk pple came in. They sat down and look at the menu. Then the mother said smth like this "tt jap young man's gyoza like not bad." Feel like turning around and tell them I same birthplace as them one... Sianzz... Anyway the dinner is quite nice.

Saturday morning met a sg colleague, lee, and the taiwan supplier to go to Tsukiji Fish MArket together. We met at 9am which is pretty late, so cannot see any interesting action and pple preparing and processing fish in the market. Anyway, this is the famous Tsukiji Fish Market that handled 2000tonnes of seafood daily...

The plant used to make wasabi.
One of the guy processing the head of a Tuna. Tuna is huge.
This is the liver of dunno wat fish.
General view of Tsukiji Market. There are many many lanes like these.
This is some fish sperm, look like liver right? who would eat that....

anyway inside the market, it's damn busy. Folk-lift, trailers, cart, wateva... all sort of mini motor vehicles are driving thru those small lanes to transport the seafood. Tourists like us really very hard to walk around, like blocking and interfering with their job like that. No wonder they banned tourists from visiting the Tuna Auction... sian...

Anyway walked a round inside the market and then went to one of the many sushi stores just outside to have sushi... This is the set that I ordered. YAY

After the meal, it's still only 11am and damn early, so decided to go to Odaiba together. This odaiba is a reclaimed island. Got quite a few attractions there, but mainly shopping places. This is me and lee at Odaiba.
Me inside some shop trying some funny specs.
There are a lot of museums and shops showcasing their newest technology. There is this sony gallery with all their latest released and conceptual ideas. no photo allowed. There is also this very big Toyota showroom where you can do a lot of things inside. THey have this theatre to simulate actual racing condition, and several other games based on driving. A photo with a toyota concept car.
A random photo of Fuji TV station. Didn't manage to see Kimura Takuya there. haha.
Anyway japan really like to copy everything man. This is the statue of liberty in Odaiba.
After that, we spent quite some time in Toysrus. There are a lot of amazing toys that singapore doesn't have. But what is more interesting about the TOyrus trip is that i can see a lot of cute japanese kids around. so funny. They are damn short and chubby. Have some snack in the afternoon.

Me eating ice-cream.
Went to this place to have fries also. The hot dog angle very weird right, make the hot dog look like something else....
Anyway, Odaiba is quite interesting. Stayed there all the way till dinner time and we had this western buffet for dinner. The scenes from the restaurant is very nice. As Odaiba is a reclaimed island off Tokyo, it's connected by this suspension bridge called "Rainbow bridge". The night scene from Odaiba.

And when the sky is even darker.
Just when we finished our meal and about to leave at around 10pm, say this wedding nearby. Just snapped a pic cos the bride seems quite chio. too bad cant see clearly in the photo.
Had a fun saturday, so sunday is normal. Went church, go home do household chores and rest and so on... Tonight is the Euro 2008 final, let's hope for a good match man.

Day 39 to 44

Previous talked about some very spicy noodles or ramen that I had for lunch. Keep eating and sweating, never eaten something so spicy before. These are the photos, can see how red the soup is. Really bad, the toilet next morning is even worse.

Tuesday is just another day in office. What is depressing about that day is that some health organisation set up a booth at the lobby of the office building. They provided free test on your blood vessels and so on. See how elastic or hard your blood vessels are and determine whether you are suffering from ageing blood vessel or not. Went to take the test and was told that my blood vessel aged 26. What the hell, 2 years older than the supposed age. Was advised to eat less meat, and more veggie, beans, fibre, fruits etc... Therefore that night went home then go supermarket to buy natto, or fermented beans to eat. Damn it's damn erxin tasting la... BUT FOR GOOD HEALTH....

Anyway Italy beat France and thanks to Netherland beating Romania, we're through. yay!!!

Wednesday is a short day cos in the afternoon, I am going to the Shinagawa-ward office to apply for some alien registration card. That means I am a certified foreigner in Japan. Also set up a bank account in this Shinsei bank. Too bad everything is too late and I'll only received pay like end of July. Went for shopping after all the admin stuff. Bought some clothes and a shoe. The shoe is cheap compared to singapore. Think will buy more before coming back home.

Thursday again is another normal day in office. After work, there was this company dinner to farewell some guys. I was not even invited but i very thick skin so just follow along. Had yakiniku, 焼肉. The appetizer is some raw cow liver. Japanese really like to eat things raw.
The BBQ-ing of the meat.
Woke up in the middle of the night to watch Euro quarter-final. Germany dumped Portugal out. Marvellous display. I am so much closer to winning the 10000yen jackpot.

Friday, did something constructive in office. Tried out 3D printing as well. In the afternoon was trying to write the VIP report but then nothing was done. Guess I'll write it next wk then. Dinner is again free, company treating the pple involved in the previous N82 project. I was again not invited and went along cos i have thick skin. HAHA. Didn't take any picture of the food cos too many pple were at the table... After dinner, headed to Roppongi for some drinks. The crowd there was bad tt day.

Saturday stayed at home, did nothing much. Eat fermented beans, white rice and rest. In the evening went to Shinjuku and walked around without purpose. That's it. Midnight woke up to see Holland dio knocked out. YES!!! Italy will have a clearer path, if they managed to beat spain.

Sunday woke up late, went church. Then met up with colleagues to go to Saitama Stadium to watch Japan vs Bahrain. The last WC qualifier group game. Though both sides had already advanced to the nxt stage, it's still a matter of pride as Japanese soccer team would not want to lose in front of the home crowd. Anyway Saitama is like 1 hour+ away from Tokyo.

This is the stadium. Built for the 2002 world cup.
These are my colleagues, the one on the left is a korean and the right is a japanese. The Japanese is really nice person, always arranging stuff for the foreigners in Nokia, while the Korean is a damn funny guy.
The inside of the stadium before kick-off. The girl on the right seems quite chio. HAHA
Supporters waving the national flag.
The players introduction is damn interesting also. The announcer will just anyhow say all the Mahammed, Al Sayeed, Abdul bla bla bla of the Bahrain team. When Japanese team is announced, every player name is being shouted with loud music being accompanied by the PA system, animation on the big screen. Damn cool. Anyway this is Shunsuke Nakamura, Scottish player of the year sia...
And this is the substitute keeper. Dunno if anyone still remembered him, he is Kawaguchi, the first-choice GK in WC1998. That time he was damn handsome and a lot of girls like him. Even weiting's sister also say he shuai.
For the national anthem, they got this opera singer to sing. Cant really appreciate.
It's a photo of Nakamura taking a penalty, which he missed.
In the end, Japan won 1-0 by a very stupid goal in the last minute. Managed to take a photo with the pitch as the background at around 80+ min....
Anyway it's a very nice experience to watch such a live game. Can say that it's so much different from watching Singapore in the National Stadium. Hopefully when the new national stadium is built, the national team will also improved as well. YAY!!!

Day 32 to 38 --- DisneySea and N82

Tuesday, my sister returned to Tokyo after her trip in Osaka and Kyoto. That night went to eat some tempura-don for dinner. During dinner, she told me about her trip in Kyoto and Osaka. Seems interesting, shld find sometime to go there.

Wednesday, I took a day leave to go to Tokyo Disney Sea with my sister. Initially that was not planned, however the weather forecast said that wednesday is a cloudy day with no rain. Such a good weather man, so must take leave and go disney sea. If dun go now with my sis, maybe no chance to go, cos it's damn weird to go there alone.

So early in the morning we left the house at 0830, even earlier than the time that I left for work normally. Took a train to Tokyo Station within the station, walk walk walk n walk and change to another line. Train station in Japan is really big man. I bet the Tokyo Station is as big as Suntec City. Anyway, change train and alight at some station which I forgot the name. And then board some special disney train to go to disney resort. You can either go to Disney Land or Disney Sea. Since Disney Sea is unique to Tokyo, of course go Sea lah. Anyway, this is a photo of sis in a Disney train. The handle and the window all are Mickey mouse shape, just like the hong kong one also.
What is different from the hong kong disney is that the tokyo disney is really a resort. From the station that we board the Disney train, the first stop is all those disney theme hotel. The second is Disney Land and the third is Disney Sea. As for the Hk one, u can choose not to take the train cos everything is within walking distance. So alight at the Sea station and bought the ticket at 5800eyn each.
This year is the 25th anniversary of Tokyo Disney, so there is a series of special celebration programme. ya, interesting neh... We were there at a little past 10 in the morning and managed to finished everything at around 6+pm. The rides there are nice looking and enjoyable rather than scary. Only the first 1 we took is scary one, some free-fall drop thing. The scary part is that you do not know it's a fre-fall ride, it package itself like some adventure ride in some 19th century style hotel.

Disney Sea is really a well-designed place. Once you are inside, there is no way u can see anything outside of the theme park. You also cannot see one area from another. This create the illusion that the theme park itself is very big. I think it make use of space very well. Just a series of photos of the theme park.

The entrance.

Some fake mountain and fake old ship.Some late 1800s USA theme building and ships.
The general area with nice buildings of dunno what theme.
The middle east region.
People waiting for some carnival style perfomance.
And the parade/performance/carnival bla bla...
When you are in Disney, the whole park is full of those disney music and parade are every now and then in different part of the park. So you really feel those pple are siao, so happy and creating some festive mood everyday for wat??? but ya, got the atmosphere.

In disney, bought this chicken leg for 400yen. It's damn nice... Also spent 1000yen to play some game. The prize is some big soft toy of Lilo & Stitch, whichever is the non-human monster thingy.

After we finished all the rides at around 6+, we decided not to wait for the firework, headed back to some restaurant to eat SUSHI. OOISHII.

Thursday morning woke up at 5+ to send sister to the train station. She is returning to singapore. Though I'll have my room back, but seriously, will feel lonely again.... Miss my mum and sis. haiz... Another normal day in office, dinner went to eat with KY and his brother. Sukiyaki in Shibuya. Yay, I think sukiyaki is my favourite japanese food. Really nice.

Friday is another normal working day. After that went home rest, watch Italy match on TV. Italy really disappoints me man. haiz...

Saturday is rest day. Woke up damn late due to the football on friday night. Woke up at late afternoon and do some cleaning as usual.... On the tv, saw that got some 7.2 scale earthquake in northern japan. From the tv, the shake is really strong and the damage like quite xiong. They said that tokyo can feel around 3-4 scale shake. But dunno leh, cant feel shit man. Maybe too deep asleep. But ya, quite sad, the previous got the Akihabara case, then now got heavy quake. Japan is scary...

Anyway, I've got a new handphone. This N82 might look normal. The design isn't fantastic, but then it is a real good smart phone. Has all the features u need. Can surf web very fast. HAHA. got GPS also, dunnid to scare getting lost in japan. The camera is 5mpx with xenon flash. damn pro la. can substitute a digicam. The brown thingy on the left is a 1GB thumbdrive. it's free, look quite classy rite. Got it from the supplier SMK fair last week. From the chio salesgirl. HAHA.

The is a photo taken using the N82. comparable to the Canon camera right? The GPS system is fantastic also. Sunday I went to another church. Cos I overslept and missed the Tokyo Union Church service. Went to Tokyo Baptist Church in the afternoon instead. That is somewhere in Daikan-yama, 20min walk from Shibuya. So with the mighty N82, equipped with GPS. I found the way there easily. It's not easy to find your way in Japan. After church, went to eat sushi alone AGAIN. Sushi is good. Unagi Unagi, salmon, Tuna ikura la bla bla... Had a haircut after that.

Monday, in the morning, finally gotten back my passport from the lawyer. VISA and everything is settled. So my days without identification in Japan is over. So damn scared that some police of whoever wanna check my passport then i cant produce.... So ya, now can go and make some foreigner's card and open bank account. Been here for more than 1 month and still no pay yet.... Resource drying up...

Day 29, 30 n 31 --- the crazy ass of Akihabara

Saturday morning is spent tidying the room. Do all sort of household chores and so on. Woke up pretty late due to the alcohol on the previous night. By the time finish household chores, already past lunch time. So went to cook some noodles with some veggie and beef. I have no salt, no sauce and no oil no thing at home, everything is boiled and this is the product.
This is way too blend and totally cannot satisfied my appetite. Furthermore, after the meal, i need to do more cleaning. The kitchen and the dishes. Very tired and decided to eat out for dinner. Dumplings and fried rice. GOOD!!!
Went to Shinjuku to walk around. Saw a lot of nigerians and PRCs on the street on the road. They keep asking me to go to some strip-club. Actually it's pretty cheap, but wont go. At least not alone, if go in kenna extort then how...

Sunday went to church. After church then every big screen in Sunday was showing some idiot, rented an Isuzu truck, drove 100+km to Tokyo, Akihabara and rammed the truck to the pedestrian. After that, got out and took out a knife and went on a stabbing spree. This idiot managed to kill 7 pple and injuring another 10. Really f***ed-up. He said he is tired of living and just wanna kill. Come on, just commit suicide and burn in hell, the scene is so bloody and ya, dunno how to say la. Anyway Japan really has a lot of crazy ass, 1995, some idiot tt looked like Rasputin released the Sarin poison gas in several subway lines. 2001, this man who is jealous of smart kids went to a top elementary school and anyhow kills. Wateva...

Anyway, too disgusted and scared and no mood to walk around. SO went home instead. Rested awhile and prepared dinner. This time round, it's much better. Still beef, veggie and some shrooms. But with sauce.
It is actually quite delicious. Later in the night, went for a jog in the neighbourhood. Growing fat...

Monday is another day at work. Wat is happening is that after a day of work, we went to watch baseball in Tokyo Dome. Yomiuri Giants vs Seibu Lions. This Yomiuri Giants is like NY Yankees or Real Madrid a few years back. MEaning spending tonnes of $$ to buy n sign the best players but not getting results. WHere the Seibu Lions is the team leading the league. In the end, Seibu won 9-3, it's like a 5-1 thrashing in football.

It is a big stadium. More than 50k capacity. Some photo from the game.
The head at the bottom left corner is the head of a PRC engineer. He works for Foxconn which is Terry Gou or 郭台銘's company. Also known as 鴻海. Been on biz trip to Nokia this week and he came to watch the baseball match with us also...

Tokyo Dome is really a very interesting engineered building. The Dome is not a concrete building, it is a piece of canvas. The shape is being maintain by pressure difference. The pressure in the dome is very high, like blowing a balloon like that. So when the match ended, the open the door and let pple leave, due to the pressure different, you literally get sucked out of the building. THe feeling is very funny. And that's it...