Not Cool

Ok, the first couple little earthquakes I felt in Japan were kind of soothing and gentle. But today I am in the office (yes on a Saturday, putting my six-month project into production) and a big earthquake just occurred and it's continuing in little spurts. Now everyone in the office is wearing their company-distributed green hard hats, looking like a bunch of Mario Bros. And now my stomach feels queezy and an announcement came on saying they stopped the elevators because it was pretty big and I'm on the 30th floor. One of our System Administration guys just asked me if that was my first one and I said that's the biggest one I've felt and he said congratulations how do you feel and I said queezy and he said haha I feel closer to heaven. Not cool, dude, not cool.

Have you ever...

...tried to open a bank account where nobody at the bank spoke English well enough where you could actually ask them questions? And in order to open the bank account, you must have a medical insurance card on which the only thing you can read is your birth date? And even your birth date looked different because it was in Japanese style where years are counted by the year of the emperor's rule at that time? So instead of 1976, you were suddenly born in 51? Not 1951, just 51? Oh yeah and did you know that this year is 17? And then they asked you to fill in the bank account form by using your full name in Japanese katakana characters? And the Japanese bank tellers would not write your name for you so you had to write it yourself? Hello, everyone, my name is　ハロッド　クリストファー。

Japan -> Houston -> NYC -> Japan

I have not posted in a long time. Let me see if I can remember all that's been going on.

I settled mostly everything for converting to a Japan employee, so I am moving back to Tokyo for a year or so. It's up to me how long I wish to stay, I can leave when I want to. I left Tokyo a couple weeks ago, because my 90 day visa was expiring, so I went to visit friends and family in Houston. The same day I left, my colleague and friend Noriko left my company, so that was a major disappointment. She had been assigned to me as my "buddy" to show me the ropes around the office and help me get around Tokyo. I also met many people through her, both at work and outside work. But she'll still be around in Tokyo, so we'll get to hang out. This coming weekend, I may be going with her and some others to a white sand beach that's a few hours from Tokyo by train. We have Monday off for a Japanese holiday, Marine Day I think. One of many random Japanese holidays.

I surprised my parents by arriving in Houston about a week before I told them I could come home. My sister picked me up at the airport. I'm glad they didn't hear about it beforehand, because Linsey cannot keep secrets and ended up telling everyone except my parents. But they were definitely surprised. I got home and walked into the office where my mother was at the computer and sat next to her and she was looking at me like I was a ghost. Later I surprised my dad when he got home from work by just waiting in the office where he always goes after work to put down his briefcase. I had to do a lot of preparing for the move while I was home, like shopping for clothes and furniture and organizing things, so I didn't have as much time for fun things as I would have liked. But I got to hang out with most of my friends. Holden's band played at the Rhythm Room in Houston for Davis's 30th birthday. I ran into McCord there, a friend who lived in Tokyo for three years, so we chatted about it for a bit. My buddy, Michael, proposed to his girlfriend, Sarah, a week or so before I came into town and so it was good to see him. They plan to marry sometime next April. I hope to make it but seeing as I'm on the other side of the world, it may be difficult. Over my last weekend home we had a family gathering, where my cousin Jon showed us photos from his recent trip to China. It looked like he saw more during 12 days in China than I saw during 3 months in Japan.

Then I flew to New York to work for a week and to complete what I thought I needed to for relocating to Japan, like filling out documents, visiting the Japanese embassy, and so on. But I ended up not having to do any of that. My manager told me that the corporate housing had run out so I needed to make my own hotel reservations. I made reservations at the Soho Grand which they told me was on my company's preferred list. After one night staying there, I spoke with the travel agent for my flight back to Tokyo and double-checked that the hotel was on my company's preferred list, but this time they told me it wasn't. What a pain. So after work I moved to another hotel, Morgans on Madison Avenue. The location was worse for my commute but better for being close to friends. I hung out mostly every night. For July 4th weekend, my friend Ali invited Brooke, Margaret, and me to the Hamptons. Her friend Sam has a house, I think, in Bridgehampton. I'd never been out there before and it was really nice. It reminded me of being at my family's old beach house in Galveston. The beach was less than a minute walking distance. It was good to get back onto a beach and into the salt water, even if it was purty dadbern cold. Sam and his buddy Hooper cooked out jalapeno burgers and other stuff and we went out on the town for a bit Sunday night. The next day I hit the beach some more and played in the pool and then we headed back to the city in the afternoon. (Brooke says: "You don't mention us having fun with the cool-as-hell tubes in the pool or anything." Yes, Brooke and I played a lot with the floaty tubes in the pool while Margaret laid out and laughed at us and talked about her new boyfriend, Bernard, whom I coined as Bernardino Suave.) Later that night, a friend of Brooke's from work, Christine, had a small dinner party at her place, which coincidentally was around the corner from my hotel. We couldn't really see the fireworks display on the East River, but we heard them loud and clear, it sounded like a war zone, they were the loudest and biggest I'd ever heard. Dylan came by to hang out for a bit, too. It was good to see her. The next morning I checked out of my hotel and made my way to JFK, flying Japanese airline ANA back to Tokyo. It was a nice but long 14 hour flight. They give you noise-canceling headphones, down-filled pillows and blankets, and there were many movies to choose from. I think I'm pretty much over the jetlag already. Guess I'm getting used to this crazy time-change, day-change business.

So I'm back in the Tokyo office now, met with HR, got my new business cards (English on one side, Japanese on the other side), getting my visa (gaijin card) in a few weeks, need to open a Japanese bank account, get my stuff shipped from Houston, and start looking for an apartment. It's weird to be back and knowing it's not just for a short business trip and knowing I won't see any friends or family back home until December.

Houston Blues in Tokyo

Next weekend is Japan's Blues Carnival, I just found out today, so many blues musicians are in town. Houston blues guitarist, Little Joe Washington, is playing at Shibuya Club Quattro on June 16. That's right, the same homeless guy who gets up and rips on the guitar at places in downtown Houston and at the Continental Club, and who gets around town on bicycles he trades for at the Third Ward swap meet, and who hocks his guitars when he runs out of money, and who is known for collecting everything and creating a mass of filth where he ends up squatting (like the top story of the Continental Club), is going to be playing in Tokyo. For a measly 6,000 Yen ($56 US). I can't believe it.

Approaching 60 Days

I haven't updated the blog in a while. I've been too busy working and playing and not having visited anything where I took photos. I went to see that jazz show, which was really cool. But the two girls I went with, Noriko and Rei, were not expecting such rocky, jammy kind of jazz. They were expecting low key piano and horns or something. I guess they didn't know what jazz fusion was when I told them :D But they still liked it. It was really exotic stuff, too, there are three Africans in the band, the guitarist is Brazilian living in Austria (ok), and the drummer is from Brooklyn. I actually talked to him a bit after the show.

Then last weekend I went to look at apartments to get an idea of where I would want to live and how much I can expect to pay. Unbelievably, it's more expensive than Manhattan. To live reasonably close to work (within 3 subway stops or so) I will be paying 190,000 to 250,000 yen (divide it by 107 for US$) for a one-bedroom apartment. My company has a few real estate brokerages they use and I have two different brokers helping me. I was with one of them that weekend, Keiko-san. She picked me up at my hotel and we drove all over Tokyo. I hadn't been in a car since I got here, other than a taxi. I didn't think to wear shoes that would slip off easily because I had to remove my shoes to see each place. So Keiko-san made me wear some ridiculous sandals she had in her car. When looking again on Sunday, I made sure to wear my slip-on work shoes. It was cool to see some other areas that I hadn't seen yet, and I saw some things that I want to go back to see, like Ginza which is the Fifth Avenue of Tokyo and has an old famous kabuki theatre where they have headphones for foreigners to translate and explain what's going on. And I also want to check out some of Japanese hot springs, called onsen, that lie around the city. She recommended one in particular that is really nice and welcomes foreigners, which is not the case all the time because there are certain rules and protocol to follow which tourists often neglect. Like soaping off or shampooing in the hot springs, which is a major no-no. What igmo would think that that was ok in the first place? You basically just go and take a dip in boiling hot water and then they have masseuses and areas to eat and relax. Everyone walks around in funny robes and sandals.

Later last Saturday night I went to a house warming party for a colleague. He and his new wife are both Chinese so there was an ample amount of good Chinese food and my Kiwi manager-manager was grilling some lamb chops. But I couldn't eat too much because I was going to a birthday party of a friend of Noriko's. We went to a pan-American restaurant, and they had some awesome chili that tasted like home. Afterward we went to a dance club called Muse, which we have been to more than a few times. It's cavernous and has multiple levels. You enter through a little door and head downstairs to a dance floor area, a hang out area with tables and pool tables and there are little cubby-hole seating areas everywhere, then there is a lounge area further downstairs and even a large karaoke room and a vip room. I would expect to hear some Japanese dance music but no, it's all Western stuff and they love it. And of all people, we run into my manager who was there with another guy Pete, who is engaged to the head of HR. They had continued going out from the house-warming party and let their respective women head home. Pretty funny.

Then another week of work ensues.

This past Friday night, I went out with some colleagues after work for a small dinner and then karaoke for like 4 hours (oh noooo, ha ha). It was myself, Noriko, Ishimori-san (Belgian-Japanese), Florent (French), Marc (Brit), and some of Noriko's girlfriends, including one who was hmm puuurty nice. Annnyhoo, I rocked the house with my exquisite renditions of Mr. Brownstone by Guns N' Roses, Where Is My Mind? by the Pixies, the Rolling Stones, On A Plain by Nirvana, and then Marc and I did the Run DMC version of Walk This Way. Rock! The karaoke places here put everywhere else to shame. We were in a tall building overlooking the city and fully stocked with beverages and bits of food. You just pick up the telephone in the room to order something and boom it's there. The song selection was pretty impressive, Japanese songs, Korean songs, Chinese songs, and English songs. And they had everything from Top 40 to Iggy & the Stooges, which I would've sung but didn't want to scare anyone too much :)

Today the weather is really nice with a cool breeze, in the high 60's/low 70's. Well, that's it for now. The plan still is to come back to the US in mid-June, then probably move back here in July for a one-year stint.

Kamakura

Today I went to the town of Kamakura with my friend, Reiko, and two of her colleagues from Bloomberg, Takako and Luke (who was born in Taiwan, raised in the States, and attended college in Japan). It's about an hour train ride from Tokyo. It was nice to get out of the city for a bit, although the crowds were thick because of Golden Week. There is a nice little beach there and a group of old temples and the Great Buddha statue (above). We walked around the town to see the sights and stopped by the beach before heading back to Tokyo Station. Then we got some dinner at their office building where Bloomberg is located, across the street from Tokyo Station. We had last Friday off from work and this week we have off today, Wednesday, and Thursday. So it's a three-day weekend, one day of work, three-day weekend, one day of work, two-day weekend kind of week.

What's new with me. I had a telephone conversation with my manager in NY and my manager in Tokyo this week. The project I'm working on here has been extended in time due to the traders needing more time before they test the new software and code I'm upgrading right now, so I will now be here until mid-June before heading back to NYC for a couple weeks. Then, if my negotiating powers prevail and they pay me what I need to afford living here, I will be heading back to Tokyo for a one-year stint. But I can also leave before one year if I want to. I would like some time to travel around here more and, if my pocket book can handle it, Thailand and New Zealand and Australia and maybe Singapore and maybe Fiji and maybe China and and. Plus I'll need time to come back for a couple weeks over the Christmas holidays. I'm meeting with a guy in HR next week to go over the differences in Japanese benefits and the tax situation, then I'll speak again with my manager in NY. There are some trade-offs for working and living here. Working-wise, there is good comraderie within the Finance Technology team here and I get along well with my manager here, but then the team is smaller so I will be working harder and more hours. Living-wise, I think it's obvious, it's a foreign country which is exciting and hostile at the same time, for someone who knows little of the language. Hopefully next week I can also see some apartments.

Tomorrow night I'm going to see Joe Zawinul play at the Blue Note with my colleague, Noriko, and her friend, Rei. Should be fun.

Ueno Park

Once again, had a very busy week in the office but also a fun week outside the office. My friend, Noriko, had a birthday dinner with some friends on Monday night and she invited me. We went to an Italian restaurant. The appetizers were really good, but the main course was kind of like Hamburger Helper. One of the guys in the finance tech group at work is leaving the company in a couple weeks, so he took us out for drinks after work on Friday. (Social activities like drinking are very much part of the work culture in Japan.) I'm still trying to figure out if I'm going to move here, so my company's real estate brokerage is taking me around to see some apartments next week. They do all the wheelin' and dealin' for you (because you need to speak Japanese, obviously). You just tell them what you need, what areas you're interested in, and how much you're willing to spend, and they go find you some places. I'm finally starting to get the hang of the food here, I think my stomach had some growing pains to go through. Everything you're used to in the West is very expensive here, like meat, cereal, orange juice, and canned or frozen vegetables like corn, peas, broccoli, green beans, and carrots. There is a lot of noodles and rice and funny little Asian vegetables like bits of seaweed and bamboo stalk and mushrooms and, for some reason, asparagus. My friend, Dudley, gave me the first season of Arrested Development on DVD before I left, which turned out to be greater than great because CNN and the Discovery Channel get really boring and monotonous (they've been talking about Pope stuff for a month now...next!). Last night I went to catch a flick at the local Virgin cinema near my apartment at Roppongi Hills. A very fru-fru, shi-shi, posh kind of cinema experience. Price of admission = 1800 yen, about $16.50. But hey when you're desperate for something else besides crazy Japanese game shows that you don't understand anyway. I ended up seeing National Treasure, which actually turned out better than I expected. Today I ventured to Ueno Park in north Tokyo, where there are many museums and old shrines dottings the park. It was a gorgeous day, so I mostly just walked around. I want to go back to see a couple of the museums at some point. I have some time. One month down, one to go. The week after next is Golden Week, where there are 4 national holidays in 7 days. One of those days, my friend Reiko is going to take me outside Tokyo to a town called Kamakura. Some guys from my office are getting together to go bowling one night, too. I also want to go see Joe Zawinul play at the Blue Note one night, he's a well known jazz fusion musician who once played with Miles Davis and helped buoy a lot of other great jazz musicians. I also just think it would be cool to see a jazz show in Tokyo.

Shibuya & Omotesando

地震!

My bed started shaking at about 7:30 this morning. It was just a small one but still...my first. Apparently they are pretty common here, like in California. Earthquaaake!!

Ohanami