tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274663522024-03-13T17:48:59.875+00:00KatakandyBeing awesome, made to look easy.Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-79853871101342167212007-03-06T01:10:00.000+00:002007-03-06T01:33:39.301+00:00About bloody timeOk, firstly you may notice that I have reverted my post back to it's previous lovely style. This is in the (possibly naive) hope that Blogger has sorted out that annoying spambot problem. I guess I'll find out soon enough.<br/><br/>Anyway, here is the long awaited post that many of you/some of you/one of you have/has been waiting for. I apologise for the fact that this has taken so long and that this blog really hasn't served the function I intended it for, which was to keep you all up to date with my adventures.<br/><br/>Firstly, I will point out that, after a considerable degree of coercion, I have decided to start using my MySpace page more frequently (more so than once every 3 months at any rate) - so I suggest you all join and add me as a friend, so that I look popular and awesome and am encouraged to use it more. You can find me <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thrupney">here</a>.<br/><br/>As far as my adventures are concerned, I haven't been doing too much I suppose. I have settled into some sort of routine - well, kind of. <br/><br/>I still have the same girlfriend, Saori, who is most fantastical, but will be moving to Canada at the end of the month - which is most lame for me, but I am sure she'll have an awesome time.<br/><br/>I have finally been able to control my spending at last, so am no longer broke all the time. This is even after I spent a load of cash buying myself an Xbox 360, a widescreen LCD HDTV and a big hard drive to store all my glorious stuff. Unfortunately, next month I have to drop about £100 just to renew my passport - which is utterly lame. Especially as it costs my American friends less than £20 to renew theirs. UK smells.<br/><br/>In terms of weather, things are finally starting to look up here. It's starting to get warmer now, which was a very sudden change and the days are starting to get a bit longer, which is nice. Strangely enough though, even in the midst of summer, it still gets dark here around 7:30pm - which is a bit rubbish really as I love the long days. Then again, summer here does tend to have all the qualities of poo on a stick - overly hot, humid and long. Still, atleast I get to enjoy spring time before the horror of summer befalls me.<br/><br/>Talking of spring time - I may very well possibly perhaps maybe have plans for this spring. In April, my housemate Don is going to do a 5 day tour of western Japan, including Hiroshima, Osaka and Kyoto. So, if it looks like it won't cost me too much coin then I will join hm and should be able to get some amazing pics. I will have to get my video camera fixed for that one so I can share with you some tacky music videos of traditional Japan. Also, in May, I plan on climbing Mt Fuji. This may well prove to be the death of me, but I'm sure it'll be a laugh - or at the very least, a gruelling and unfulfilling activity. Either way, I'm game.<br/><br/>As far as work goes, all is good. We got 2 new teachers recently and they have just been kids trained. As of yesterday, I lost 2 of my kids classes, including one I absolutely hated on friday afternoons. Now I am down to 7 classes a week and as of April, I should lose 2 more and be down to 5 a week, which will be monkey genius. I have also started teaching a private student on monday afternoons - she is very nice and it's a little bit of extra income, which is cool.<br/><br/>I am going to stick a load more pictures onto <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29982253@N00/sets/72157594222655329">my Flickr account</a> in a moment as well, so you can all check that out if you fancy and see some of the things that I have been up to.<br/><br/>Anyway, I am going to skidaddle now. I hope this proved vaguely interesting and I will make a definite effort to try and keep this page updated more regularly in future. I hope you're all well. Adios.<br/>Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1165460345403269762006-12-07T02:15:00.000+00:002006-12-07T03:00:04.163+00:00Back againHey everyone. Apologies for the distinct abundance of time between my last post and this one. What can I say? I don't spend much time on my computer and when I do it is usually just to listen to music or watch some of the myriad of tv shows that I am trying to keep up with. At the moment I have been watching (in order of priority):<br /><br />1) Battlestar Galactica (2003)<br />2) Lost<br />3) Nip Tuck<br />4) Desperate Housewives<br />5) Supernatural<br />6) Coupling (working my way through it again)<br /><br />When I finish these I then need to crack into Heroes, House, Prison Break, Naruto and Death Note. Far far too much quality television and not nearly enough free time. That's not to mention all the movies that I currently need to watch as well. Man, life is hard. <br /><br />So, now to talk about what I do with the bulk of my time as these tv shows are only a very small part of it and I am sure no one really cares about them anyway. I will do it in bullet point style again as that proved rather popular.<br /><br />1) I got another new housemate. The one who had a acute fascination with plastic bags and the collection there of has now departed. The new housemate is called Danny and is from Essex. I can now add him to my collection... of housemates. I now have a whole 2. The other one, for those of you who can not remember (or maybe I didn't mention it) is called Don and is from Canada. They are both cool and we all get on well. We all have the same free days too (wednesday and thursday) which is cool. We have made a tradition of cooking pancakes on our free days - it is fantastic; pancakes and Futurama.<br /><br />2) I have ordered a DS-X for my Nintendo DS. For those of you who are unaware what this is, it is a small cartidge for my DS which will allow me to listen to music on it and also "improve" it's gameplaying capabilities. It should arrive any day now - I am most excited. I recommend it for any DS owner. Google it and find out exactly what it can do for you.<br /><br />3) Teaching is still going well enough. The novelty has worn off to an extent and the mundanity of the routine of going to work 5 days out of 7 is starting to annoy me. But to be fair, I would experience that with any job and need to put up with it till I retire. Bearing that in mind I then remember that my job is considerably more interesting and easier than most, so for that I am grateful. Not to mention that my job allows me to live in Japan, which is ofcourse awesome. I have got alot more kids lessons each week now too, which is not great as I have been given some crappy classes. Still, some of the kids are really good too, so I don't mind it so much.<br /><br />3) Last night I went to see the new James Bond movie. I was most impressed. I thought Daniel Craig did a very good job of playing a very different style of Bond. It was also a nice way of showing how Bond became the way we know him. In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now I just need to wait for them to finally send Borat over here - I want. On a side not, before going to see Bond we got Coldstone ice creams. Coldstone is an American company and they make the most sensational ice cream. There will be a mandatory visit there for anyone who comes to visit me.<br /><br />4) I have decided to treat you with a load of largely unconnected photos which are all long overdue. Enjoy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/1600/418700/DSC00614.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/400/478339/DSC00614.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />- My friend Marie next to an inflatable Santa in Ginza (a famous area in Tokyo).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/1600/414940/DSC00615.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/400/668390/DSC00615.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />- Me next to the same inflatable Santa.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/1600/283854/DSC00627.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/400/547506/DSC00627.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />- A typical scene in Ginza; large, advertisement-covered, well-illuminated buildings.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/1600/635582/Image018.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/400/927700/Image018.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />- An unnecessarily graphic sign for the toilets at a cinema in Yokohama.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/1600/992016/Image025.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/400/118885/Image025.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />- My friend Yimin holding two large, cuddly, pudding-shaped chairs. What more can I say.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/1600/272937/Image027.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/400/373167/Image027.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />- The beautiful Nintendo Wii. I want one so bad. It is very very tempting to save up, buy a big tv and then get a Wii. Ofcourse if that happens then I will be forced to stay here for 5 years until the next generation of consoles. Although then the whole cycle would probably just start again. Damn you Region Coding!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/1600/625284/Image029.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/400/334685/Image029.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />- A very cool hat I found. I feel "F*CK OFF TEENAGE DESTORY" says everything a young man could possibly want to say. In the end I opted for an even better hat though, which I will post a picture of later. All I can say about it is "DO YOU KHOW MY HEAD?" - all will become clear later.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/1600/240552/Image030.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/400/662069/Image030.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />- My housemate Danny dressed as a monkey at Karoake. We were all smashed and went to Karaoke where we found costumes - so naturally we dressed up immediately. I was a Koala, Ade was Picachu, Anthony was a rabbit (I think), Sam was a happy hamster thing, Jay-Jay was a Tiger - there were other costumes too, but my memory of the night is hazy at best. Good times though.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/1600/567042/Keita.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/25/1283/400/541879/Keita.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />- Lastly, my friend Keita with my other housemate Don. This was taken on a night out drinking which resulted in far too much straight vodka being drunk. Nasty.<br /><br />5) The night before last we hosted a houseparty in our apartment which went really well. There was load music, much alcohol and even some break dancing. T'was most great. I suspect there will be many more houseparties in our apartment as it is unique in that, unlike all our friends, we have no neighbours (ie. we live in a stand-alone building with no adjoining apartments) - so we can have loud parties without any complaints from people. This is great as the last house party I went to ended in the police being called out due to noise complaints. We already have a christmas party planned for the flat. My friend Emma is going to come help us decorate the flat appropriately. I will be sure to get some pictures of it for you.<br /><br />Anyway, I think that is all for now. Sorry that this has taken so long to post. I apologise as well to anyone that has emailed me that I have yet to reply to. I will endeavour to get back to all of you asap. Hope you're all doing well. Adios.Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1161878512501744182006-10-26T15:43:00.000+00:002006-10-27T01:29:36.640+00:00BonjourHey. Sorry I have taken so long to update this (again). This is going to be quite a short, half-assed update; but I wanted to put something up on here.<br /><br />For starters I wanted to apologise for being so crap at keeping in contact with you all. Basically the only time I spend in my flat I am either asleep, getting ready for work or just hungover and not in the mood for chatting on msn. The rest of the time I am out living it up like a king - which is excellent, but it makes keeping in contact with you all more difficult. Still, rest assured that I certainly haven't forgotten any of you and I hope you're all doing well. I often inform my friends here of many of the excellent stories from home in which you have all featured - which probably bored people to death as they haven't met any of you, but that is no concern of mine. Speaking of which - you all need to get yourselves out here. Life here is so much better and more fun than in England and it seems such a shame that you are all missing out, so you really need to get yourselves over here.<br /><br />Anyway, time for some more bullet point updates - although I can't really think of much.<br /><br />1) Sweat, sweat, sweat: One thing that sucks big style here is the strange affinity Japanese people have for unreasonably high temperatures. Now that the weather has become nice and mild (mid-November and it had only dropped to 'mild') all the shops and trains have decided that we need the heating on. Not only that, but the average heating temperature is 28 degrees. So basically I can walk about enjoying not sweating for once and then the second I get on a train, it's back to being baking hot. It is utterly lame.<br /><br />2) Girls: They continue to be fantastic. There are quite a few that I like, which is nice. Things are going quite well with a few of them as well. Many of them will all be at the same party on Sunday, so that should be interesting. It may well all blow up in my face, but I am sure it'll be amusing.<br /><br />3) Drinking: I am still spending loads of money and getting wasted all the time. It is fantastic. I am learning all the good tricks for getting wasted more cheaply and yet am still spending all my hard earned pennies. Still, I don't mind. This sunday there is going to be a big halloween party at my friend's house just down the road. I am trying to decide on a costume. There will be many beautiful women there in ace costumes which will be nice.<br /><br />4) Sight seeing: I have done bugger all. I will do some again at some point and get you all some pictures.<br /><br />5) Teaching: Getting easier all the time - I love this job. Two of the teachers at my branch are leaving in a month or 2 though which sucks as I get on well with them and also it will mean that I will get a shit load more kids classes which will be utterly poor. Still, I just let my kids run wild now as I really don't care if they learn anything or not. Hell, I don't care if they catch fire - as long as they don't bother me and I am still being paid for it.<br /><br />6) BOOM! I can't think of anything else now as I am a little wasted and want to go to sleep. Adios :)Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1160584089053413482006-10-11T16:20:00.001+00:002006-10-11T16:34:16.040+00:00BastardsI have been forced to change the template on my blog because some stupid spambot things were laying seige to the comment section on one of my previous posts for some reason. This is particularly annoying as everytime someone leaves me a comment, I get an email telling me about it. Unfortunately, even after I told it to stop doing that because the spam was generating a lot of emails for me, it continued to bombard me with emails. So I had no choice but to change the whole template of the blog so that I could have word verification on the comments sections. Needless to say, I am not a happy bunny.<br /><br />Anyway, below is the video of the Sakuragicho clock as promised. Unfortunately some of the lights were out on the day that this was filmed, but you'll just have to live with it. It goes through this whole light show every half hour and it lasts for 5 minutes, though there is only about 3 minutes of it in the video. It's just another factor contributing to Sakuragicho being one of the coolest places in Japan.<br /><br /><div align="center"><object width="289" height="245"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ffwJb6VBy-8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ffwJb6VBy-8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="289" height="245"></embed></object></div>Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1160581975199127262006-10-11T14:54:00.000+00:002006-10-11T15:52:56.786+00:00Not for kidsI will start off by offering my apologies for my distinctly infrequent posting on this blog. As you have no doubt ascertained, I usually spend very little time actually sitting on the computer and when I am on it, I usually can't be bothered to do anything other than listen to music or watch Peepshow. Anyway, I am spending this weekend (well, wednesday/thursday - my weekend) at home, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to give you an update.<br /><br />Unfortunately I can't really give you too many details about what I've been doing as most of my memory of the last month is kind of hazy and the few things I can remember, I would rather not have documented records of. Basically I have spent the last month going out pretty much every single night. Until today I had only had 1 drink free day in a month. Said day was sunday, where I had actually vowed to give up alcohol for a week to save money, as funds were running decidely low. That lasted all the way up to monday evening, where I went out with some friends and had all sorts of wonderful adventures. It was a fantastic evening, but unfortunately I somehow decided that it would be a brilliant idea to spend the last of my money buying drinks for everyone I was with. This is why I am having to spend my weekend at home. Fortunately it is payday on friday, which is good as I only had about £7 left. I had enough money for 1 meal today, 1 tomorrow and then my train fare to work on friday. Still, it's all good and it was totally worth it for monday night. I guess I could go into more detail about that one - it's one of my more interesting evenings out, but by no means particulary outlandish when compared to some of the nights I have had.<br /><br />Ok, so it started at work. I was talking about how I hadn't had any alcohol for 36 hours and how this was totally awesome (well, in theory it was awesome - in actuality it was pretty lame). Shortly after this, I got invited to go for drinks in Yokohama by my friend Yuri, who was meeting up with one of her friends in TGI Fridays. Even though I wasn't planning on drinking again for the rest of the week, I am not one to turn down an invitation out. The invite was extended to Emma and Brian (who I work with) and so we all headed back to our respective homes to go get changed. Wen I got home I decided to have a couple of 'house doubles' as I had bought a big bottle of schmirnoff the other day and figured that it is always a good idea to lay the foundations if one is planning to have a fun evening out. I rapidly discovered that as I hadn't had much vodka for a while that I had apparently lost my taste for it - it was decidedly unpleasant. Then again, I did try and mix about 4 shots worth with a quantity of fruit juice that wasn't much greater. The second one I made definitely went down more easily. Anyway, after those and having got changed I was ready to head out into town.<br /><br />I met Brian at the Kamiooka station as he also lives here and we often do nights out in Kamiooka. We got to Yokohama and met up with Emma and her boyfriend Alex and then headed to TGI Fridays. We met up with Yuri and her friend, who was very nice. We also bumped into our friend Jon who is a cool American barman who works at an awesome bar right near where I work - we go in there all the time (I now have a tab there and everything). We stayed in TGI's for quite a while and this is where my memory starts to fade. I remember at some point leaving to buy 'street beers'. Well, I say beers - I picked me, Brian and Alex up some chu-hi's. These are disgusting <em>fruit</em> flavoured, alcoholic beverages. I buy these instead of beer because they are 7% instead of 5%. Seems to me that if you are going to drink something cheap and nasty, it might as well be strong. Now my memory becomes very fuzzy. I remember that Brian and Yuri left to get the last train. This had been my original plan as I had the 1pm to 9pm shift the next day and I hate doing that with a bad hangover. Still, as I was having an awesome night and also becoming better acquainted with Yuri's friend, I decided that I would stay out. We went to a convinience store, where I decided that it would be a brilliant idea to buy us all a big bottle of Jinro (some nasty spirit - who knows what it is) and a big bottle of green tea (which works so well at covering up the taste of alcohol - much better than lemonade or fruit juice etc). Unfortunately it wasn't like we had glasses or anything, so I demonstrated the appropriate method of consumption. This involved drinking a large quantity of Jinro straight from the bottle and then quickly following it up with some green tea. I demonstrated this a number of times - just to make sure everyone understood the technique ofcourse. By this point I felt like my head was likely to fall off, so I passed the bottles to Jon and Alex who happily consumed it all between them. The next thing I remember is that we had somehow wandered over to Sakuragicho. Now this is within walking distance of Yokohama, but it must be like 30 minutes or something and I don't remember any of that. I remember that we encountered some guy who was playing the bongos like a king, but by that point I had become otherwise engaged - although I am not going to go into any details about that. Anyway, after a while Alex, Emma and Jon headed off on the walk back to Alex and Emma's house and left us to our own devices. If you've lost track of who is where, then just go back and start reading again - I have no intention on helping you out on this one. Basically, the night continued to be most excellent and I ended up waking up in Sakuragicho right near the big clock/ferris wheel thing - which I will be posting a video of in just a moment. I managed to get a train back, get home for 3 hours sleep and then get to work. Strangely I was feeling most death-like the next morning (well later in the same morning). I was also decidely unpleased to find that I had my end of probation evaluation that day. Still, fortunately<em> </em>I am awesome at my job so I am sure I did fine. I have also become something of a legend in my own time because I go on nights out pretty much every night and yet somehow still have perfect attendance at work - although there have been some occassions where I would definitely have been better off calling in sick. Still, I am determined not to have any days off unless my leg falls off or something.<br /><br />Anyway, that was a very brief and largely undetailed description of one of my nights out. I guess on the scale of crazy nights out, with 1 being standard fare and 10 being utterly insane, that one probably scores about a 6. To be fair I have left out all the details about the parts of the evening that most appealed to me, but I have no intention of putting those sorts of details on the internet.<br /><br />Anyway, that aside all is going really well. There is never a boring moment here; most nights out are adventures; I am constantly meeting loads of new and interesting people - basically life is still stunning.<br /><br />I apologise for the fact that this post is pretty terrible, but it has been composed with no real care or consideration and atleast it's something. I hope you are all well and excelling at whatever you are doing - those of you that aren't should get yourselves on the next flight over here (unless ofcourse you have some sort of aversion to being happy, in which case I would recommend Norfolk).Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1158130396679510872006-09-26T21:25:00.000+00:002006-09-26T12:33:13.106+00:00HedonisticaliticismSorry I have taken so long to post anything. I am rubbish and spend too much time going out. Anyway, here is the long awaited video of my flat, which I filmed about 2 weeks ago but hadn't posted. I will be doing another update within the next two days about everything that I have been up to.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><div align="center"><object width="289" height="245"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/88_gLMsGyOM"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/88_gLMsGyOM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="289" height="245"></embed></object></div>Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1157903004453252922006-09-10T15:43:00.000+00:002006-09-27T03:02:27.136+00:00Death to the little onesOk - more stuff. Bullets again as I am tired and intoxicated and can't be bothered to do things properly. These are not in order, but I am sure no one cares - or at the very least, I don't.<br /><br />1) Roppongi night out - see post <a href="http://lightningjack.blogspot.com/2006/09/pooh-san.html">here</a>.<br /><br />2) Got a new house mate. A Canadian guy called Don. He is pretty cool and brought a slimline PS2 with him which I am sure will be good for a laugh every now and then.<br /><br />3) Getting better at Mario Kart arcade. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but there are MK arcade machines. Everyone loves them and they are wicked. Is always ace to kick some Japanese school kids asses at it.<br /><br />4) Had kids training. It was my own personal hell. They had us pretend to be students all day (6 year olds) whilst they taught us. Needless to say I hated every second of it and gave the instructors evils throughout and generally took the piss when asked to do demonstration teaching. It in no way prepared me for teaching kids.<br /><br />5) Have now taught a fair few kids lessons. Mostly I hate it, but it is easy enough. I have a few annoying, crappy kids - so I just bully them in submission. I had one goofy looking kid who tried to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kancho">Kancho</a> me with in 30 seconds of meeting me. Fortunately, as Tom had indirectly warned me of this by sending me a link to another teacher's blog, I saw what he was trying to do. I instantly stopped him and made him sit down. Man, I hate kids.<br /><br />6) Had a night out in Kanazawa Hakkei (where I work) with Emma (work mate), Alex (her boyfriend) and Don (housemate). Went to a cool bar called Honey Style, although we have renamed it the Honey and Jon in honour of the cool American barman there. He is a music producer - you should all check out his stuff <a href="http://www.myspace.com/mfsgaffle">here</a>. We missed the last train home, so had to crash at Kanazawa-Bunkho, which is one stop away at the flat of a guy called Geoff/Jeff, who is a friend of Emma/Alex. Was a good night but I got about 3 hours sleep in total and was working 10-6 the next day. I was so so so ill, it wasn't even fair.<br /><br />7) Steve Irwin died. Happened on 4th September for anyone still unaware. Bit lame as he was a legend. Still - just one of those things I guess. I didn't even know Stingrays had barbs.<br /><br />8) Have learnt how to say all the days of the week and months of the years and most colours in Japanese. Have been getting our (hot) staff members to test me on it.<br /><br />9) Have filmed the inside of our flat but have not put it online yet. Though I should probably redo it as me and Don rearranged the lounge and it is loads better now. Just need to hook it up with some vodka etc and it will be amazing.<br /><br />10) Dawn is out of hospital and within 48 hours came on a night out in Yokohama; crutches and all. I was most impressed with her hardcore dedication. We have also brought her housemate Bridgette (from New Zealand) into the fold. Gotta expand the empire. To that effect I am getting more numbers etc (good old Fortune Phone) to expand the group with.<br /><br />11) Been listening to a lot of Oakenfold again. The Bunkka album is great.<br /><br />12) I watched episode 1 of series 4 of Nip/Tuck. Glad to see the show still has the ability to surprise me. Crazy stuff and totally awesome.<br /><br />13) My brother Nigel came to visit me. Well, he was only business in Tokyo, but he took an extra day to come to Yokohama to hang out. It was most excellent and in his short time here he saw more stuff than I have in a month. Still, it was great and the milky bars were on him.<br /><br />14) I have taken many great pictures and have a load of stuff my brother took when he was here - will post them up soon.<br /><br /><br />There are probably other things but I can't think what they are so that will have to do for now. Please excuse the shoddy grammar and spelling through out as I can't be bothered to even try and do it properly.Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com246tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1156764729786820702006-08-28T11:26:00.000+00:002006-08-28T11:32:09.796+00:00The Tales of Fortune Phone #1Pardon the pun, but Fortune Phone works like a charm. I can't be bothered to go into details but it seems Dawn was right about it's wonderous abilities; ably demonstrated as they were with the assistance of a distinctly lovely barmaid in some club I was in last night.<br /><br />I will be putting it to the test much more often in future.Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1156680362699312962006-08-27T12:00:00.000+00:002006-08-28T11:33:26.576+00:004) KamakuraI know no one has chosen this yet, but I have decided to post about it quickly anyway. Below is a slide show of pictures I have taken of all the temples etc at Kamakura. You will notice a picture of myself looking sullen in there somewhere (I am inside the backside of a giant Buddha at the time). The other 2 people who crop up are 2 of my friends - Dawn and Yimin. The last picture is of my new phone and in particular, the phone charm attached to it. They are so popular here - everyone has to have a phone charm by law, so it seemed rude not to get one. The picture is included because I bought my charm at the giant Buddha statue and it is supposed to bring good fortune. So my phone is now known as 'Fortune Phone'. Dawn said that now whenever I ask a beautiful woman for her number I am guaranteed to get it because of the power of Fortune Phone. I will have to put this to the test in the near future and perhaps chronicle the results in The Tales of Fortune Phone.<br /><br />The pictures in the slideshow are on there in the order I took them and I have just included them all because I couldn't be bothered with any form of editing. If you can be bothered then you should wade through them as there are some cool pics.<br /><br /><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rRrVbEjjl18" width="289" height="245" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div><br /><br />NB. Five bonus points for anyone who spots the Zelda reference in the pictures.Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1156674849211425692006-08-27T10:33:00.000+00:002006-08-27T10:34:09.223+00:00The ChoiceOk, So I have been a bit lame recently as far as keeping you all up to date goes. For that I apologise. To be honest, it's just because I spend all my time either working, going out or a very small amount of it sleeping. Anyway, I thought I would give a very brief, bullet-point account of what I have been up to and then you can just choose which things you would like more details on.<br /><br />1) Went for a night out in Ropongi in Tokyo and got totally smashed. Stayed up all night, then went to work from 1pm-9pm the next day and died.<br /><br />2) Lost a room mate, but gained the largest room in the flat.<br /><br />3) Been teaching for 3 weeks now and recently had my kids training. It was a nightmare.<br /><br />4) Went to Kamakura and visited many temples and shrines. It was amazing, inspite of the unbearable heat and sweating. I have many pictures of this (143). Will probably make a slideshow of them all.<br /><br />5) Have been meeting many new people who have all been really cool.<br /><br />6) I have been trying many new and exciting types of food.<br /><br />7) Been enjoying the fact that life has totally turned around from being utterly terrible to being totally amazing.<br /><br />8) There's more stuff, but I can't remember it now and I don't have time to think about it as, surprise surprise, I am about to go for another exciting night out.<br /><br />Anyway, if you want more info about any of these then just post a comment with the number of what you want to hear more about.Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1155902188564967752006-08-18T11:12:00.000+00:002006-08-18T11:56:28.686+00:00Oh the effortI so totally can't be bothered to do this post, but I need to put the effort in and get it done.<br/><br/>Ok - so where were we? Ah yes, I had just finished training. Ok, so I will try and give an overview of what has happened since then.<br/><br/>On Friday I had the day off (think I mentioned this last time), so I just chilled like a villain and relaxed. On saturday I had my first day of teaching which was at Kamiooka. This is my nearest school but not my regular one. It was pretty hectic as Kamiooka is a busy school, but it was nice enough and the teachers were pleasant. It is pretty tiring doing like 8 lessons though. Your throat really dries out too - from all the talking I guess. It was ok though and you soon learn that you really don't have to do that much preparation for lessons once you have had some practice. I did 11am-7pm that day I think - there abouts anyway.<br/><br/>On sunday I was to have my first day at my usual branch. I was doing 10am-5pm (well is like 5:40pm, so closer to 6 really). I had already been over to this branch the week before to get the route sussed as the map Nova gave me sucked big style. I gave myself plenty of time anyway and trekked over there on sunday morning and arrived for 9ish. What I didn't bank on was that the big shopping mall (how American I know) was closed. So I was like "how exactly do I get into the school!?". It was so, so hot outside too so I was kinda gutted that I couldn't get in the building. I waited around till 9:30 then decided to check the instructions to see if there was another way in. At the bottom of the page in small print was a sentence saying that if you get there and it is shut, to go around the side, past the bike stands and up the steps, where I would then have to sign in. I went round the side of the building and past the bike rack and right round like 3/4 of the building - no steps or anything step-like. Needless to say I was getting kinda concerned as I didn't want to be late - Nova fine you for that. In the end some old Japanese man noticed I was totally lost. He came up to me and said "Nova?", so I replied in the affirmative. He then managed to direct me back down to the intersection I had come from and then round to the far side of the building down another road. I was sceptical as it was kind of totally not what the map said, but I was out of options so I followed his directions. Needless to say, his directions were spot on. I found the steps, got signed in and then got one of the security guys to show how to get to the Nova office (the building is like a giant warehouse attached to the shopping centre/mall so is like a maze). The rest of the day went pretty well though. I met some of the other teachers who were all really nice and helped me out. Things are a lot easier going at my branch (Kanazawa Hakei) than at Kamiooka as it is much smaller and quieter, which is cool. The day went well and then I went home.<br/><br/>I got home and had about 20 mins to get showered and changed and ready for a night out with my housemate Callum and a load of his friends. We went to this cool bar on the roof of some large buidling in Yokohama (as mentioned previously). I was kinda concerned as it was super hot and the place had now aircon as it was open roof, but being that high up there was a decent breeze so it was cool. I got to meet loads of wicked people from all over the place and it was great fun. A load of us then went to Karaoke till like 5am and enjoyed many more fine Japanese beers. I know it's hard to picture me going to karaoke, given my intense dislike of the very premise of amateur singing in public. Still, once you have properly "prepared" yourself for it then it is kind of a laugh and you can stay there for hours and hours. You have you're own little booth, you each pay 3000 yen (about £15) then you can stay there all night and whenever you want more drinks you just use this little phone in the booth and they bring you stuff.<br/><br/>I awoke at 5am on monday morning to find myself still in the karoake in Yokohama and feeling a little worse for wear (apparently I had slept for like an hour). We trekked home and got back for about 7am, so I then went to sleep until about 11am. I was then teaching from 1-5 at my usual branch. It was less than enjoyable given how I was feeling, but you just have to suck it up and get on with it - atleast it was only a half day. Afterwards, my friend Sophie from work took me to a cool Indian curry place right near my house - which was most cool. I then went home and died completely.<br/><br/>Tuesday I was back on top form and went to work to do a 1-9pm shift. The time goes by surprisingly quickly in this job, which is awesome really. After this shift finished I was then off for 2 days which was great.<br/><br/>Wednesday I finally did some washing - almost all my clothes were smelly and grim from all the sweating (nasty stuff). I got them all washed and hanging up - I haven't ironed anything yet though. I just do a shirt each morning as and when I need them, as big piles of ironing suck. I chilled out for most of wednesday and then met up with 2 friends (Dawn and Yimin) in Sakuragicho in the evening. We toured round for a bit, then went to the top of Landmark tower. I tried to film it but my video camera is being lame so I need to buy a head cleaner before I can film any more stuff for you lot. The view from the top of the tower is pretty special though. The lift is crazy too - it does like 69 floors in under 10 seconds. I think it is meant to be the 2nd fastest lift in the world or something. You barely feel it moving either; I was expecting to be stuck to the ceiling. We then went to a chinese restaurant in one of the lower floors which was nice and classy and had interesting food. Am so loving how every meal here is an adventure.<br/><br/>We then went to Kannai (one stp away on the subway) and trekked round to find a pub. In the end we went to a "traditional English pub" called the Queen Merry. It was like a home from home - well, ok that's totally not true - but bless them for trying. Basically I was like "Ooh a Union Jack - let's go there!". This was a mistake as the place was super expensive - I paid 600 yen (£3) for half a pint of Heineken. Still, it was kinda nice to have some European beer again. After that we all got the last trains home around 12-something.<br/><br/>On thursday I trekked into Yokohama as I had arranged to meet Sam at 12. I arrived late as I was tired and the heat was annoying me - I really can't stand it, and these last few days have been the hottest days of the summer here apparently, so you can imagine what it's been like. I couldn't find Sam so I trekked to my bank to cash some travellers cheques as I was super poor. Unfortunately my bank doesn't cash travellers cheques - lord knows why not. The directed me to another bank which took me a little while to find, but I got there in the end (fortunately). Normally things like this would be a mild annoyance at best, but this weather just massively amplifies my aggitation - so I was in a foul mood. I decided to go hide in Yodobashi as it is massive and has aircon. I went up to the giant TVs floor and watched a bit of 'National "Ooh America is so great" Treasure'. I then got a call from Yimin who was coming into Yokohama to pick up a phone, so I met him at Yodobashi and got him hooked up with a mobile at the same place I got mine. Which reminds me that I totally didn't mention that earlier - on monday after work I trekked into Yokohama and got a phone. It was a total mission to get it sorted, but I persevered as I am a champ. Sam joined us around 1ish - he was late as he had been out drinking till 5am the night before; he had missed the last train home so went into a random bar and was taken care of by loads of Japanese people who bought him loads of drinks all night (lucky sod). We then got Sam a phone, although this took all day as for some reason they decided to make things more difficult for him. We also went to various pubs in this time to get some nice cool pints in. I also tried a weird alcohol called Shochu, which is like Japanese vodka. All I will say is - if you come to Japan, don't try it. It is nasty. I order 'lemon and shochu'. It had about as much lemon in it as a bucket of sand and they seemed to have mad it super strong (imagine 'house double' and then some). So basically it was like drinking slightly watered-down vodka and they had given me a massive glass of it. Took me quite a while to get that one finished and had a bit of help from Sam. Still, you have to try these things atleast once I guess.<br/><br/>Later on that evening we were joined by Dawn and we toured round some bars. We went to a couple of cool places that we already knew and it was generally cool. Then we all left around 12ish to get the last trains.<br/><br/>Today (friday) I was back at work. I awoke to find that this day was the hottest one so far (goody!). First off I got the subway to some other part of town (Konanchou or something) to pick up my Gaijin card - so I am now 100% legit. Then I travelled back a load in the opposite direct by tube and train to get to work. I finally met the last members of staff that I hadn't yet met and it was all good. I was only doing a 1-5 today so that was cool. I then trekked round the 100 yen store with another cool person from work called Emma and we bought loads of cool stickers to decorate our mail folders - I can't really be bothered to explain that one, so make of it what you will.<br/><br/>I am now home and have finally stopped sweating - good old aircon. I swear it is not right that a person can sweat this much and not like die from some horrible sweat-induced death. I am amazed I haven't shrivvled up like a raisin or something. Anyway, I am now going to go get dinner. I bought myself some cool fried pork strips in some un-named but lovely sauce and some weird seasonsed hash brown things that they have here which are stunning. I hope everyone is well and that this post wasn't too boring/illegible. I know I normally put more effort into my posts and try and speak properly in them, but I really can't be bothered I'm afraid (especially given the length of this giant mecha-post).<br/>Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1155315841256939302006-08-11T16:30:00.000+00:002006-08-11T17:07:00.556+00:00SenseiYes that's right - I have now finished my training. I can't remember if I mentioned previously that I was about to do any training, but I was and I have (if that makes sense). The training took place over tuesday-thursday. I was a little worried about it at first because, as you'd expect, we had to wear a suit. Now this weather makes you sweat when you are in a t-shirt and shorts, let alone a suit. Fortunately however I awoke on tuesday to find that the heavens had opened and that it had rained throughout the night. This was brilliant as the rain had dropped the temperature loads and also got a lot of the water out of the air so the humidity was now down to a comfortable level. It was like some good old British weather had come all the way over to Japan just to help me out. Unfortunately, the price for this was that everytime I left the house, the weather would wait until I was about halfway between my house and my destination and then it would rain on me and I got soaked. This literally happened without exception everytime I went outside - even if I had been watching the weather and it hadn't rained for a good couple of hours beforehand. Needless to say, I wasn't overly impressed with that. I then bought an umbrella from some random store, but I have a feeling that it is a women's umbrella as a) I bought it from the women's section and b) the brand name is 'Dandy' - it was one of those really tiny 'will fit in a hand bag' style umbrellas too. So no doubt I was looking like the most macho Gaijin in all of Japan. I didn't care though - it was the first one I saw in the shop and I was in a rush and getting really tired of being wet. Unfortunately, the second time I opened it the thing decided to open up inside out and I ended up looking rather silly in Yokohama centre (another <span style="font-style:italic;">Silly Gaijin</span> moment - there will be many of these).<br /><br />Anyway, that is all besides the point. As I was saying, I have just spent 3 days doing my teacher training, or OJT as it is known (no I don't know what that means, but I'm guessing the last word is 'Training'). It was all pretty nerve-wracking as I have never taught anyone anything really (despite claims to the contrary at some previous job interviews), let alone teaching people how to speak English. The first day involved observing lessons and learning the rules and then climaxed in teaching the first half of a lesson. We were all really nervous about this, but it went well and was kinda fun really.<br /><br />I have just realised that I said 'we' and I have totally neglected to mention the people who I met on the course. I was one of 4 people being trained. There was another British guy called Sam who I had met on the Visa day in London and also on my flight over, then there was an American called Dawn and a Canadian guy called Yimen. They were all really nice and we all went out each night after training and no doubt we'll continue to stay in contact throughout our time here. Although having said that I need to get a phone first - life without one really is unpleasant. Hopefully my bank card from my new Japanese bank account will turn up soon and then I shall go straight to Vodafone and sort myself out with something awesome. As you can no doubt imagine, over here the basic free handset is pretty much on par with the really expensive stuff back home in terms of features (ie. mp3, camera, video etc - and you can chose colours too).<br /><br />Anyway - day 2 of training: On this day we taught 3 full lessons. Again, everyone was a bit nervous about it, but we all got through it and like anything, the more you do it the easier it gets. It felt good to finish the second day and get a few lessons under our belts. After training we went to a cool restaurant called Asian Kitchen. It is kinda funky as there are touch screen computers at each table that you can use to order more stuff and it comes really quickly.<br /><br />On Day 3 we taught 4 lessons. This was 2 lots of 2 lessons back-to-back. This was more nerve-wracking as this time we got to chose which lessons we taught (there is a massive amount of different ones) and then had to plan for two lessons in a short period of time. It all went well though, as I am still alive and they didn't fire me. I was being slightly cocky about it all and when asked what areas I will try and improve upon I just said that "I will try and be slightly more awesome, if indeed that is even possible" - I'm sure they loved it.<br /><br />When Day 3 ended we met up with my housemate Callum and some of his friends (another Scottish guy called Dan, who I'd met before, and a Canadian called Amy) and trekked round some bars. All but 3 (Dawn, Sam and myself) of us headed back at 12ish to catch the last trains back home. The 3 of us that remained trekked round various bars until the first train which was at 5:30am. Sam and Dawn joined me on my train to come have a look at Kamiooka and we got a McDonalds for breakfast as it seemed to be the only place open at 6:30am. Then they headed back to their homes to get some sleep and I walked back up the hill to get 4 hours of sleep.<br /><br />Fortunately I have had today off as I have felt like death for most of it (as I am sure you can imagine). It is now almost 2am and I need to get up for no later than 8am as I have my first full day of work tomorrow, so fingers crossed it is awesome. I am not at my normal branch for tomorrow as they needed me elsewhere, so I will actually be at the Kamiooka branch which is good as I won't need to get a train. I will be at my usual branch (Daie Kanazawa Hakaie) from sunday onwards (with the exception of the 2 subsequent saturdays of this month where I will be at Kamiooka branch again). So essentially I am going to get 2 first days I suppose as my second day of teaching will be my first day at my new branch. Then on sunday night, it is the first of Callum's leaving nights as he is leaving Japan later this month. He has booked a cool bar in Yokohama which is actually on the roof of this massive building and over looks the centre. If you watch the video I posted showing the centre at day and night, then you might see it. It's the building on the right, which I think has 'Mores' written on it. Well, if you can see it - it's on the roof of that building. So that should be brilliant. That'll be another 5am job, so work on monday should be interesting. Fortunately I am only doing a 1pm-5pm shift on monday though, so it shouldn't be too bad (I hope).<br /><br />Anyway, I will update you all about that as and when it happens. Again, sorry for the no doubt large amount of typos you will find in this. I need to go to sleep and can't be bothered to proof read it, but I said that I would post this today and I knew that if I didn't do it now, it wouldn't get done for ages.<br /><br />Right - g'night all :)Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1154936157630757442006-08-07T07:07:00.000+00:002006-08-07T07:35:57.683+00:00The MeatOk thought I'd write some more about my impressions here thus far. I can't be bothered to spell check this, so just try to cope with it. Anyway, I will start off with the negative and then counter it with the positive.<br/><br/>Firstly - the weather. I think I have mentioned it before, but I hate it so much that it is worth mentioning again. The humidity, my God; my God, the humidity. Even on the days when the temperature has dropped a bit to like low 30s or maybe high 20s (who knows), the humidity is always there to make you suffer. I'm sure it can not be healthy to sweat this amount - it's certainly not pleasant, that is for sure. Tomorrow I get to go out in a suit in this weather - boy am I excited.<br/><br/>Other negative points... hmm can't really think of any off-hand. Granted there is the small drawback that people here don't speak English, but it's not really a problem as you can still do everything you need to get done really. Besides, as of tomorrow, I shall be helping to spread the joy of English to Japan.<br/><br/>So, onto the positive points. We'll start with the people as <a href="http://totbox.blogspot.com">Rami</a> requested that I speak a bit more about them. I haven't really met any Japanese people as of yet, bar my housemate's girlfriend. All the ones I have come across in shops etc though have all been very nice and as helpful as they can be. It is decidely different from Britain, where many people who work in shops usually regard the customer as a nuisance. I was expecting lots of staring etc as well, but for the most part Japanese people don't seem that fussed by foreigners (even though we are quite rare here).<br/><br/>Next: Food. Food here is largely excellent, as long as you have an open mind and like rice. They have alternatives to rice like noodles and such and even chips in places, but for me it's all about the rice. They are also big fans of italian food, so if you're a pasta fan then you're set. Generally, there seems to be a lot more variety over here. Even from the big names - there are drinks by Pepsi and Coke-Cola here that you don't see anywhere else. Yesterday I had a 'Melon Cream Soda' by Fanta - it was lovely. I guess that's the case all over the world though with weird fizzy drinks that seem to be unique to certain countries.<br/><br/>Ok so onto living cost. This can go either way here - it's possible to live very very cheaply indeed as traditional Japanese food from the supermarket is quite cheap, especially if you bulk by ingredients and cook it yourself. Rail tickets everywhere are quite cheap - ranging from about 80p to £1.50 or so; but they don't do return fairs here, everything is a single. One thing that is handy though is this thing called a 'Fare Adjustment' machine. As everything here is automated so there aren't people on trains checking tickets. You put your ticket through a machine to get onto the platform. Then when you reach your destination you put your ticket into another machine to leave the station. If you haven't paid the right amount then it will spit the ticket back at you. You take it to the 'Fare Adjustment' machine and it will tell you exactly how much you are short by. You top up the ticket and away you go - genius really.<br/><br/>If you have any questions about other stuff that I have no doubt forgotten, then just post them on here and I will answer them. Otherwise everyone ends up asking the same questions on msn and I end saying the same stuff over and over. <br/><br/>Anyway, hope you're all well - Adios :)<br/>Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1154887480300425342006-08-06T18:02:00.000+00:002006-08-06T18:08:03.970+00:00SakuragichoHere is a video of Sakuragicho - an area about 5 minutes walk from Yokohama centre. I filmed it earlier this evening. I will do another post tomorrow with a bit more meat on it, but this will have to tide you over for now.<br /><br /><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HP3XZP7rNfM" width="289" height="245" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div>Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1154768485024283052006-08-05T08:48:00.000+00:002006-08-05T09:03:21.753+00:00Doko eki desu ka?Watch in awe as I effortlessly make the interesting seem dull:<br/><br/><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3gjb2OKEcdk" width="289" height="245" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></div></embed><br/><br/><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kR5Myqc6OK0" width="289" height="245" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></div></embed><br/>The top video is from just outside Yokohama station. It is very busy round there and there is lots to see. I went in a store call Yodobashi, which Ed would love - it is the largest electronics store I have ever seen. It's has 7/8 floors and each on is massive. It's odd as well as they were showing Resident Evil on 67inch HD TVs with the sounds up massively loud. Still, I'm not complaining - it was awesome.<br/><br/>The second video is most of the walk from my flat to near where the station is. It's at night and very shakey as I was attempting not to get run over (they are not big on pavements here), but it gives you a vague idea of the area I live in.<br/><br/>I've not been up to too much. I went to a weird restaurant last night which is like the Japanese version of a takeaway place - only the food is actually really nice. You go in and there is a vending machine on the wall with pictures of different meals. You put money in and press the button for the meal you want and it spits a ticket at you. Then you sit at the bar and hand in your ticket. A couple of minutes later and the food is presented to you. It's all in like a mini stir fry thing and simmers away in front of you. Tis all quite fun. I'm finally starting to get a bit better at using chopsticks too which is handy. Atleast Japanese rice is really sticky, so it's easy to eat with chopsticks.<br/><br/>I also went to a supermarket to get some shopping. I bought totally random stuff, just to satisfy my curiosity. Most of it was lovely, though I bought some weird dessert thing which I didn't really like. It was like two small cubes which were of a very weird jelly-like consistency. They didn't really taste of anything to be honest. They were probably like urinal cakes or something - god knows.<br/><br/>Anyway, today I have just been chilling like a villain in my flat and enjoying the aircon. I am off out in a couple of minutes though as I want to go to the supermarket again and I also want to take a trip on the tube to see where I am supposed to be working.Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1154603057443604382006-08-03T10:45:00.000+00:002006-08-03T11:08:18.816+00:00Day 1<p>I am going to give you a very very brief account of the journey and my first day here. I apologise for any spelling mistakes - I am not going to be being very thorough with this.</p><p><strong>Tuesday:</strong> Left house at 10ish in the morning. Trained it up to the max and got to Heathrow in the afternoon. After the customary long waits and check-in etc I boarded my flight at 7:15pm. The flight left at 8ish and took about took about 12 hours or something. Well, we landed at 3:30pm local time, so that would've been 7:30am in UK I think. I met all the other Nova people travelling during this time as well. Anyway, we're now on wednesday...</p><p><strong>Wednesday:</strong> We arrived at Narita airport, Tokyo. We went through customs and were then met by a Nova representative who sorted out our luggage for us (it was delivered next day to our respective homes) and told us how to get to our different destinations. I travelled via train (the Narita Express) to Yokohama. The trains in Japan really do make me embarrassed for British public transport. They all air-conditioned and clean and even though the average height in Japan is shorter that in England, there is still loads of leg room - even for someone of my height. I was met at Yokohama by an american guy called Greg who worked for Nova. He was very nice and had been living in Japan for 10 years. He showed me to my flat (eventually - the map Nova gave us was rather inaccurate, so it took quite a while). I then met my housemates - an American called Russle and a Scottish guy called Callum. Callum took me to the local bar/restaurant which was fantastic. You take off your shoes and walk around in socks - which is brilliant. Then you sit on the floor and there is a well under the tables where you put you're feet. The food is really cheap (in terms of the price of each dish) so you can order loads of different little dishes. The beer is also fantastic here. They even have slippers that you put on to go to the bathroom in, which is kinda neat - even if they are all size 6. He then showed me round the local area a little before we headed back for the evening.</p><p><strong>Thursday:</strong> This morning my luggage turned up which was nice as I could finally get a shower and change my clothes, so I smelt less like a dead camel. This afternoon Callum showed me round Yokohama which is large and basically broken up into lots of smaller sections (or wards), like how in London you have Knight's bridge and Camden etc. I also had to register at the Ward Office today to get my certificate of alien registration (yes, I am an alien - though I prefer the term Gaijin). It was a relatively painless process anyway, as Japanese people are all very helpful. The one thing that is a pain here is the heat and humidity. I got back today and was absolutely dripping. I have never sweated so much from doing so little - it was absolutely disgusting. I came back to the flat on my own as Callum is off to watch a football match (some Scottish team against a Japanese one - just a friendly I believe). I got a shower and then powered on the aircon in my room, which is a god send. I am now waiting till 9pm (is 7:55pm now) as I am off to shin-yokohama to meet up with Callum and his mates for beers and food. I have a vague idea how to get there. All I know is that it is 30 mins on the tube, I know roughly which train to get and it's about the 25th stop. I have a feeling I will get terribly lost, but lets hope not. I will try and get some video footage of it for you all. I have included below a very brief bit of video footage from my travels today. You will be able to see the big wheel etc from that picture of Yokohama that I posted on here previously. The really tall building that I am near is the tallest building in Japan. Don't worry if you can't see the video yet as it takes YouTube a while to sort it all out. Anyway, hopefully tonight's adventure will go well and I can tell you all about it tomorrow. Adios.</p><p></p><br /><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3W-gk-OQ9TM" width="289" height="245" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div>Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1154537527060713282006-08-02T16:50:00.000+00:002006-08-02T16:58:18.843+00:00ArrivalHey everyone. Just so you all know, I have arrived in Japan. I got here at about 3:30 in the afternoon, which was about 6:30am for you lot. I have had about 3 hours sleep in the last 48 hours.<br /><br />I have been out exploring the area near my flat and I went to the local pub with one of my housemates for a few beers and some local cuisine, which was fantastically mad. <br /><br />Fortunately we have broadband here which makes life easier, however I am too tired to post about it all now, but I promised I will update you all soon.Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1153474032450204542006-07-21T10:22:00.000+00:002006-07-28T14:08:42.686+00:00My New HomeAt long last, I now know where I will be spending my year in Japan. I received an email this morning giving me all the relevant details. I shall be living in a city called Yokohama. It is about 20 miles south-west of Tokyo and it looks like this...<br /><br /><div align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/83/Yokohama.jpg"><img title="Yokohama" alt="Yokohama" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/83/Yokohama.jpg" width="70%" align="'center" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br />As you can see, it looks amazing. Hopefully this will encourage you all to come visit.<br /><br />I will have two other flatmates - an American and a Brit, who have been living there since June and September 2005 respectively. It'll be a bit odd that they have already lived there for so long I suppose, but on the plus side they will be able to show me around and make my job of adjusting a lot easier no doubt.<br /><br />Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan. You can read some more details about it's history <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokohama">here</a> and visit the city's own website (in English) <a href="http://www.city.yokohama.jp/en/">here</a>, which is packed with information about the things to see and do in Yokohama.Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1151147397426225962006-06-24T00:06:00.000+00:002006-06-24T11:26:12.786+00:00CountdownI have just received a letter from the <a href="http://www.teachinjapan.com">Nova Group</a> informing me that my departure date is the 1st August. <a href="http://katakandy.blogspot.com/#clock">The clock is now ticking...</a><br /><br />I now have an absolute mountain of things to sort out over the next 5 weeks, including another trip to London to sort out my visa etc. Going to London on a week day is going to be an utter pain as not only will it cost me £70 in travel expenses, but it will also cost me the £48 I lose from not working that day. Quite a bit of money considering I will likely spend my time in London standing in a queue at the Japanese embassy. Still, it's got to be done I suppose. At least they have managed to secure me a relatively cheap flight. It should take me approximately 12 hours to get from Heathrow to Japan. No doubt once I arrive, I will be unable to walk due to the immensely cramped conditions.<br /><br />They haven't said as of yet where I will be stationed, except that I will be in the Kanto region. This is the region to the south-east of Japan and it means that I will be very close to Tokyo, if not in it. This means that I will have to do a little bit of travelling to see some of the more traditional side of Japan, but it also means that I will be in or near one of the most bustling metropolises in the world, which will be exciting.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/25/1283/1600/Kanto.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/25/1283/400/Kanto.jpg" alt="Kanto Region" title="Kanto Region" border="0" /></a>Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1149615328130618032006-06-06T18:33:00.000+00:002006-06-06T17:35:28.140+00:00SkypeI have created a <a href="http://www.skype.com/helloagain.html">Skype</a> account, so people will be able to contact me easily whilst I am in Japan. The program is very easy to use and as long as you have a microphone and speakers you will be able to make a call to me on your computer for free. The quality is actually better than using a landline as well, although I suppose that depends on the quality of your microphone etc - but I am only using a <a href="http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/79215">cheap microphone</a> and it works fine. Once you have installed Skype, you can add me as a contact and give me a ring - my username is LightJack.Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27466352.post-1146666078105463112006-05-03T15:19:00.000+00:002006-05-03T16:58:11.583+00:00The BeginningI have created this blog to chronicle my adventures in Japan. I should hopefully be jetting off in August. I will post again when I find out my flight date and which city I will be moving to.<br /><br />For those of you wondering what Katakandy stems from - it is an amalgamation of the words 'Katakana' and 'Andy'. It seemed appropriate as Katakana is the form of Japanese used for western things which have been incorporated into the Japanese language.Lightning Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743881222946365169noreply@blogger.com2