Okinawa

Hope everyone is well.  Everything is pretty much back to normal in Tokyo post earthquake and tsunami, but the areas up north are still devastated.  My company is making volunteer trips to the effected areas but they are poorly organized, most of us find out about them after they've completed.  Apparently, Tepco lied and three times the previously disclosed amount of radiation was dumped into the sea.  Anyway, we are still buying water bottles in bulk from Amazon just to be safe, although there is probably little health risk now.

We took a long weekend trip to Okinawa recently.  The weather was great while we were there, but a typhoon arrived just as we were leaving.  Lots of military bases around there and fighter jets flying through the air, very interesting and lovely place.

Trekking in Yamanashi

We went on a family trekking trip to Yamanashi prefecture this past Friday and Saturday.  The weather was perfect and the ryokan was very relaxing.  We were lucky also to have some live jazz music played at our ryokan at night after dinner.

Photos by Andy at agitatedlight.com

Here are some photos by my friend Andy, at agitatedlight.com, who put together a photo book of friends in Tokyo, plus some from a studio that we rented for his birthday last May.

Happy New Year everyone!

John Lennon Museum & Tama Zoo

John Lennon Museum

 

Tama Zoo

Married

Well, we finally did it. We had a great time in Hawaii with everyone, thanks so much to all our family and friends for joining us. After all the stress and rigmarole, everything seemed to have come together without a hitch, except for the hitching of Meg and me.

It was fun seeing all of our friends from different locations and different times meet each other and get along so well. We only wish we had more time to spend with everyone, without the business of getting married and all. Hanging out at Turtle Bay and Kailua was a good time. Got a little surfing in at Waikiki and Turtle Bay, too. The wedding party house in Kailua was right on the beach, what a great way to wake up every morning, taking a little dip with the boogie boards before your morning shower. And thanks to our families for hosting a couple dinners for everyone to get acquainted. It was so funny seeing my family meet Meg's for the first time, East meets Texas. By the end of the visit, everyone was hanging out and sharing stories, albeit with a lot of hand motions and some translation help.

One of the things I stressed about the most was messing up during the ceremony like forgetting my personal vows due to brain freeze or messing up the Japanese part of my speech. But guess that I practiced so much internally that it flowed out with no problem. I think because I focused so much on that part that I spaced out on a couple other things that I wanted to say, I've done that before. Better late than never, so here goes now.

The second time I met Meg, at her birthday dinner, when she didn't remember me, I was sitting right next to Tom and Naho. Looking back on that, it's funny to think that they would one day both be at our wedding and Naho would be Meg's matron of honor. This was literally six weeks after I first arrived to Tokyo four and half years ago! Our fate was already decided and we had no idea.

Our first trip together was to Bali and the locals kept asking if we were on our honeymoon. I like reading into things from a different perspective and I think that's when the wheels starting turning in my head. Meg later pointed out that it was probably because they are a Hindu island and non-married couples going on trips together is probably not very common. Haha, good point Meg.

Finally, when did I know when to propose to Meg. I didn't know, really. I always heard before from people that sometimes you just feel it. As boloney as it may sound, that's basically how it happened. The timing was right, my company went bankrupt and there was a lot of uncertainty in the air. I wanted to make certain that our wonderful relationship would remain certain. One night, during the time when I was still mulling this over and speaking with my Aunt Paula about finding a ring, Meg and I were out with friends in Nakameguro in Tokyo. After we left, were walking down a quiet little side street to get to the main road to catch a cab, we were looking up and gazing at the few stars that you can see in Tokyo and then...boom, we saw a shooting star. In light-polluted Tokyo of all places. We were both like oh wow cool did you see that and as corny and packaged-Hollywood as it felt at the time, I kind of laughed to myself and said, ok thanks I'll take that as my sign. I wanna make this lovely lady my wife.

There you go.

The venue my folks found for the welcome dinner was very nice and had great food, I think it was perfect size for our group, and the owner was very accommodating. Meg looked so smashing in her beautiful kimomo. Thanks to Yuka and Linsey for helping her put that together. Then the wedding day, we were so lucky to have great weather, even though the clouds seemed to part right at the beginning of the ceremony, making it just a tad sunny and warm.  In case anyone was wondering, the tables were named differently to personalize it for us. First, there were the more obvious Texas and Japan, then Bering which is my parents' church, Isshiki which is a beach near Tokyo that we frequent, Tama which is the area of Tokyo where Meg grew up, Rockin' Robin which was the music store in Houston where I learned to play guitar, 1122 which was the number of days we had been dating until the wedding day, and finally our table was Ku'uipo which means sweetheart in Hawaiian and was also the song playing as Meg walked down the aisle.

Everyone began returning home on Tuesday and Wednesday after the wedding. Wednesday the 23rd was Tom and Naho's anniversary, we later found out. Happy anniversary guys!  Meg and I flew to Kauai for a few days. That island is so gorgeous, definitely want to go there again. We took a zodiac tour along the Na Pali Coast and saw tons of dolphins everywhere and they came right up to our boat like 3 feet away from us. Most of them were spinner dolphins, the ones that jump in the air and spin like tops, they're so genki. The winter swell was starting to come in so we couldn't go into the caves unfortunately but it was a really fun ride. Coincidentally the two other couples on our tour were both newlyweds, from Idaho and Seattle. Afterward, we went to Waimea Canyon, the second largest canyon in the US after the Grand Canyon. I missed it the last time I was in Kauai with my family 20 years ago because I got sick. We ran into John and Gina there, too, my parents' friends who were also at our wedding. The rest of the time we just drove around and visited the little towns around the island, laid by the pool at the hotel, and watched the big waves coming in along the north shore. We easily could have stayed another month.

Thanks again to all our family and friends for being so supportive.

Chris & Megumi

P.S. Happy birthday, Mom!

Plastic island in the Pacific, gross

When we were in Kauai on a zodiac tour, our tour captain told us about this "plastic island" in the Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of Texas. I didn't believe it but yeah it's true, why hadn't I known this before. The vortex of the ocean current has gathered all plastic in the ocean that has collected since the 50's into this mass plastic soup. Horrible. Here's some reading:

• Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash
• Greenpeace trash vortex
• Sea of Trash
• The world's rubbish dump: a tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan

London & Paris

I was in London for three weeks on a business trip starting the weekend before my birthday. Our new company is continuing to merge, slowly. It was great to finally meet face-to-face some of the UK colleagues I've been working with for the past four years. My friends John and Sarah (and their 11 week old newborn boy Levi and their labradoodle Hank!) have been living in London for over a year now and were nice enough to let me crash at their flat for the whole time. I hadn't seen them since their wedding so it was great to catch up, and play with Levi and Hank.

Generally we took it easy, seeing things around town and at times doing the touristy thing. Regents Park, Notting Hill, Tower of London, London Eye, Churchill Museum that has underground bunkers they used during WWII, sat for a service in St. Paul's Cathedral, Tate Modern, and I even took the Jack the Ripper walking tour one night. And of course I did some pub shopping involving fish and chips, shepherd's pie, and lager.

Originally I was supposed to be in London for two weeks then my trip got extended, so at the last minute on Friday night before my last weekend, I decided to go to Paris. I'd been there once before in 2000 with Michael and John but wanted to see some more stuff while I had the opportunity to be in Europe. Seeing Paris, I felt more like I was in Europe than in London. Really is an amazing city. And they have this awesome rent-a-bike system now that is everywhere, so I just checked into my small hotel around Bastille, ate at little cafes, and rode my bicycle up and down the Seine, stopping at Notre Dame, Tour Eiffel, Musee d'Orsay, and Place des Vosges.

Then I got back to London and it dumped snow all night long, the most in 18 years. The trains and buses virtually stopped. Office was half empty. No clean up trucks on the street, thick ice on the sidewalks, man what a mess. It all melted away by the rain a couple days later.

Also I feel the need to gloat a bit because, since I was on a business trip, I was able to fly Virgin Atlantic first class. A. Maze. Zing. Their car service takes you to and from the airport, both in your departure city and your destination. Which from Tokyo is even more amazing because normally you have to take a bus or a train for 1-2 hours to Narita. And you sit in little pods on board the plane that lay flat, so you can actually sleep comfortably. And personal security check-in. And blah blah blah. Even better, I met three guys from Radiohead (2 guitarists and bassist) who were also in the clubhouse when I was leaving London to return to Tokyo. I asked to take a photo but they said "it's kind of weird". Whaeva Mr. Celebrity, ha. But they were actually really nice and chatted with me for a bit, they were on their way to LA to continue touring.

Meg Said Yes

On December 31st, 2008.

Christmas in Tejas

We enjoyed Christmas at home in Houston this year, after having to stay in Tokyo last year. It was great to be with family and see lots of my friends. Meg and I even took a road trip one day through the Brenham and Sealy areas. Two days before we returned to Tokyo, I popped the question to Meg and ...

Weddings, Yukatas, Hurricanes & Bankruptcy

A whole lot has happened in the last half of '08, let's review. My friends John & Sarah are expecting their first baby around Thanksgiving and my cousins Jason and Patrick each welcomed new additions to their families; went to the beach a lot in July and August until I got an inner-ear infection which somehow busted my right eardrum; started a little band with some friends; a yukata party; the wedding of friends Saori & Julian; Hurricane Ike barreled through the Texas gulf coast, leaving friends and family without power for up to two weeks; financial system chaos and the Lehman bankruptcy; saw Radiohead play Tokyo; then got a small fracture on my left ankle playing futsal (soccer on a small court); trekking (though not for me) and seeing the leaves change in Kamikochi; and America electing its first black president.

Whew.

Hurricane Ike hit Texas the same weekend that my company went bankrupt, man what a great weekend. The frustrating part of Lehman going under was that the Asia region was still profitable, but the dealings in the US and Europe caused the whole company to collapse. And of course the Treasury secretary decided to let us fail while saving others, I'm sure there were some backroom deals made, but hey it's done now. Luckily, we (Asia and then Europe and then India) were bought out by a domestic Japanese investment bank called Nomura Securities, so at least we have our paycheck for now, though of course there's still a lot of uncertainty on what the future holds. The transition process is painfully slow, mostly because Lehman was a global company in every sense of the word and our infrastructure heavily relies on the US, which of course is now owned by another company, Barclays. Commence legal nightmare time.

But I digress, life goes on. I was happy to know that all my family and friends in Houston were safe after the hurricane, albeit in the dark for a while. Below are various links for photos I've taken since July (click on them for more photos, Gran, he he).

Obama is big news here. Whether or not you voted for him, living abroad gives you an entirely different vantage point, and the way people see the US has changed again. There's a noticeable difference already in the number of times I'm haggled by Brits, Aussies, whoever, on being American. Most of the foreigners I've encountered in my three years in Tokyo have had a sense of defeatism, fickleness, short-sightedness, and basically no optimism about the US. The president-elect has not been proven yet, but the fact that the US can go out and do a complete 180 has reminded everyone just what we're all about.

So, pics now. Here are some from Culture Day last week at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. There are archers on horseback, a Japanese tradition for the past 1,000 years. Even the saddles are old and traditional, but sadly there are none of these saddle craftsmen left in Japan so they choose to reuse the same ones over and over.

Kamikochi is a Japanese national park with beautiful trees this time of year. I went with Meg, her mother and sister for the weekend and we stayed in one of the nicest ryokans I've been at in Japan. My ankle was fractured so I couldn't do much trekking but I waddled around the flat parts and took some photos, including some of a monkey that nearly scare me to death when it appeared out of nowhere. They get threatened when you stare them in the eye, so I had to divert my attention in another direction while aiming the camera to take photos of it.

My friend Jeff has that video game Rock Band, which inspired my friend Andy to start playing drums, which inspired him to find these sound studios to practice on real drums, which inspired me to join him after discovering you can also rent Stratocasters and Les Pauls for super cheap and play on Marshall stacks, which inspired us to start our own little awesomely corny band called Motor Azabu. Rock.

Summertime, especially July and August, is a time for matsuri (festivals) held in neighborhoods all over Japan. People wear lightweight linen or cotton kimonos called yukata. My friends Kaori & Sebastien threw a yukata party at their house in August.

Finally, here are some random pics taken for our beach excursions to Isshiki kaigan (beach) on the weekends in July and August. It's about an hour and a half ride on train/bus from Tokyo. Really worth it just to get out of the city for a while. We also ran into a French bartender we knew from a place near our office who has a little bar on the beach during the summertime. It was really funny, he looks like a pirate now.

I look forward to seeing everyone in Houston over Christmas and New Year's!