Last Day of School

I previously mentioned that the school year in Japan runs from April - March with a few weeks of vacation along the way. As I received my new schedule for the new school year I was a little saddened to find out I would be losing a few of my students that I have become so close with over the past year. In particular, a couple of my high school students who always made our weekly lessons quite interesting. They always put my whiteboard to good use!

Night Art at Roppongi

This past weekend was Roppongi's Night Art gallery which was a little similar to Nuit Blanche back in Toronto. A handful of random art pieces and spectacles are on display around the Roppongi area free of charge for the general public.


What kind of art event would it be without a 7-meter tall fire breathing robot? A pretty crappy one if you ask me. Glad I was able to stumble upon one that night.


Tons of interesting things to see but I'm not really going to post all the pictures here. The magical effect and newness of Tokyo and Japan still hasn't worn off yet and I'm sure it won't anytime soon.

日本 = WBC champs!

Japan took the World Baseball Classic title just a couple of days ago and the pride has been in full effect with my students and their families. Lots of the younger boys are crazy about baseball and refer to themselves as some of their favourite players. Ichiro performed well in the final game after struggling through most of the tournament. One of Japan's ace pitchters Yu Darvish (Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters) showcased his talent on an international stage. Interestingly enough he's half-Iranian, half-Japanese and still only 22 years old. Keep a lookout for his name as he will undoubtedly make a break for the MLB as he will be coveted by a number of title contending teams.

The Human Jukebox

Wandering in Ueno Park last week I came across a human jukebox-- an elderly man inside a cardboard constructed booth performing with a trumpet and tambourine. He had three different song menus to choose from, each having about 50 or so songs. I decided to give it a whirl and fed him ￥200 to play Beauty and the Beast. To my delight he wasn't a letdown at all. This guy needs to be hired to do in-house events.


The countdown is on! About two weeks away from the full exposure of cherry blossoms blooming all over the Kanto area. Ueno Park is a pretty common spot for viewing and there are already a few trees starting to show their much anticipated sakura beauty. Can't wait to be part of the herd and add more to the photo collection.


Fact: I'm very meticulous about photographs; on most occasions I'll take the same or similiar shot a handful of times just to make sure I find the right picture.

Fact: I do enjoy being in pictures-- but as a result of my pickiness I'm usually the one who ends up taking the photo. This means I'm usually absent from the picture as I have yet to figure out how to be in two different places in the time space continuum simultaneously.

Of course, there are some exceptions though.


Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream...
(in actuality it was really a small pond/lake)
After disrupting a group of ducks, feeding ducks, and being chased by ducks, a random seagull landed on the ledge of our boat. Surprisingly it didn't budge when I took out my phone to get a closer picture of it. And even better it didn't take an unwanted poop in our boat either >=].

How Hungry? Very Hungry.

This morning as I rolled out of my bed still half-asleep and opened up my internet browser I astoundingly discovered that Google has wonderfully selected another fantastic design for another one of their renowned text banners.


Published back in 1969 this touching story of a caterpillar out looking for something to eat was written by Eric Carle. It's still one of my favourite childhood books and I recall flipping through the pages countless times during in libraries and bookstores when I was younger.


The memoribilia from the pictures above were taken in various stores here in Japan. There is actually a Japanese translated version to the story containing the same picture art. One of my co-workers shares the same passion as I do for this book and has a lot of caterpillar themed stationary (pencils, notepads, pencil cases).

Go hungry caterpillar, go!

Ebisu Sky Garden

Ebisu Sky Garden! Composed of several shops, restaurants, bars, towers, and of course the infamous meeting place in Hana Yori Dango. Neat place to hang out and spend a day just relaxing and of course eating!


Sapporo Beer Station can be found here and one of their corporate office lies on the other side of the garden area.


Think this is some sort of banquet hall for celebratory events and venues. Not exactly 100% sure but I witnessed several top-notched dressed individuals heading into the building with various gift bags and flowers. Definitely seems a bit upscale and westernized.


Daisies in bloom placed in the courtyard area of the garden. The surrounding buildings appeared to block out most of the sunlight to this area so I was actually quite surprised that all the flowers they had placed here were in bloom.

アツプル ＆ シナモン

Started out so Simple and Innocent
so Simple and Innocent
so Simple and Innocent
so Simple and Innocent...

Chemistry like Apple and Cinnamon
like Apple and Cinnamon
like Apple and Cinnamon
like Apple and Cinnamon...

<3.

White Day!

I explained sometime last month that Valentine's Day in Japan is a backwards tradition in perspective with western culture; the male is showered with gifts instead of the female. For White Day it's supposed to be the girl's turn to receive gifts and chocolate. Above is one of my gifts I received, very unexpected as I thought Valentine's was the guy's occasion. So simple and sweet though >=].
アリガト!


Flavoured ice cream encased in a edible heart container. I thought I saw these sometime earlier while in Japan but never actually went to try one. Turns out they're pretty damn good even though the heart shell has something like a styrofoam texture. Ended up going with the mint chocolate chip flavour. Oishii.


Fell victim to another piece of cake and dessert. Thanks to a certain someone I've been eating way too many sweets and desserts lately. Actually now that I further ponder upon it, I think my food consumption in general has increased. I'm going to get fat!

Re-Structuring

This is what my school staff looked like back when I started last May. The school year here in Japan runs from April - March, with one week of vacation in May, August, and December. It's pretty common that staffing changes are made or shifted to different areas at the start or end of new school years. This just so happens to be the case for my quaint little school.


Here's the up to date version of the staff photo. This though is going to likely change in another month or so since we are supposed to be getting another new teacher as another one is leaving. One of the new teachers in the picture I actually interviewed, hired, and trained so I really hope it turns out well!

On another note... I now have two Japanese managers breathing down my neck instead of one. Joy.

WTB Defusal Kit

BOMB has been planted! Apparently this contraption is a toy bomb in which the goal is to successfully diffuse it. Have never seen anything like this before and I'm surprised in this day and age of global, cyber, and bio terrorism a device like this would be even on a store shelf. I can't say I wasn't fascinated by the sight of it though and would even consider taking one home... if I could somehow elaborately explain myself out of airport customs.


Special release of Capcom's Biohazard (Resident Evil 5) with the X-box Console. Definitely going to help push more units here in Japan as Nintendo and Sony are still dominating the video game console market.


Kyle talked me out of buying a mahjong set the other night claiming it was a non-sensical idea. Turns out Ed borrowed one from a friend and we spent a good part of our night tossing tiles around. Naturally, I ended up finishing on top.

Ichiban Ramen Desu!

Although ramen may never fill the void from not having pho, I have to say it actually came pretty close in doing just that the other night. I've probably tried ramen from more places than I have fingers (counting thumbs too) and it seems I've discovered my new favourite joint. The icing on the cake is that it's amazingly only 5 minutes away from my apartment.


Best ramen ever! I think I may have divulged into to secrets of their recipe-- an extremely large component of garlic, onions, and maybe ginger too. Absolutely sensational to the tastebuds.


Looks kinda sketchy, but sketchiness more often that not increases the interestingness factor for a dining experience. At least in my sketchy experiences anyways.

Naritasan

This part of the shrine is actually pretty massive since I first spotted it while I was riding on the train when I was going to the airport back in December. I thought it would actually be a little bit bigger in person (not that I'm unimpressed or complaining).


I love you Sigma 17-70mm MACRO! Shoving you millimeters away from focus points is probably one of the coolest things ever.


There was a tiny little olive green bird fluttering amongs the trees when I took this picture. Can you spot it? If you can't, click the picture to open it up in a new browser to get an enlarged version. If you still can't spot it get your eyes checked :O.


The only other thing I could ask for is the weather to not be so murky and damp. I suppose I shouldn't complain though since it's not really an unmanageable inconvenience when I venture off exploring or attempt to take photos.