made in singapore,in japan

well well

2007-07-26T01:37:00.000+09:00

Well, I guess I have ran out of excuses for not writing my blog so here it is. Been really busy nowadays. Life is really full of unexpected things. Since the time I came from Singapore(long time ago in feburary), I have been working like almost all my time. Right on the 2nd week I was back, my friend told me that she is setting up her company and wanted me to help out and I was like, why not, whole not even sure what I had landed myself into. Since then, after my day job at sony, I have been working for couple of hours at night helping my friend out. Sleeping hours average at about 4-5 which is about what I had in university so it wasn't too bad.

Grant, not sure if some of you remembered him, told me to put up my picture in the website where I could advertise for students to teach. About a month after my picture went up, 5 students approached me to teach them English. I am still teaching them part time on and off on weekdays and weekends.

Well, life is not totally about work as I still hang out with friends in the weekends, watching movies and having dinner together. Life is fulfilling, stop me from thinking about nonsense and concentrating on my next plan in life.

Just a preview on what's going to happen next. The next blog entry will probably appear on another website and information will be updated more frequently. That is if everything follow as planned. Let me know if anyone is going for a trip. I am ready to travel anytime. Just need to let me know earlier so that I can save the money and make plans.

yo yo yo

2007-05-07T01:23:00.000+09:00

Hey, been a long time since I have undated my blog. Well, life has been busy with lots of things happening that I well, I got lazy and decided not to update the blog. Rather, I have been thinking of moving my blog onto another site but I am still considering the cost and functionality.

Anyway, working on 2 jobs, parttime teaching english, going out for parties and meeting old friends, travelling to other places in Japan and bringing friends from Singapore around Japan are just the few things that has happened or is still happening within these couple of months. Life is busy but fufilling and I am having great fun. I might be a little out of action for this period of time so don't really need to pay much attention to my blog. I will try to update as much as possible thought and believe me, pretty soon, the blog will be in a new place with new functionalities soon. I hope.

Keep on the lookout for more pictures thought. I will be posting pictures of stuffs that has happened lately.

food and missing home

2007-01-28T13:28:00.000+09:00

Time really flies fast these days. Before I knew it, I haven't blogged for 2 weeks. Well, nothing much really happened. I guess the best highlights of this 2 weeks is that I started on a new animation series One Piece. I'm sure for people out there, they have like watched it so long ago but I just got started. Most of my nights are spent clearing the episodes of the animation and an occasional movie or 2. Two days ago, me and my friends went to eat kani shabushabu, which is kinda like crab hotpot. The crab is really sweet and fresh and as I haven't eaten crab for like ages, the taste of it is just heavenly.

Eating crab just reminds me of home, the taste of my aunt's crab dish and as it gets closer to chinese new year, the longiness of going back increases everyday. Can't wait.

tokyo all the way

2007-01-13T16:45:00.000+09:00

For the past week, I had been going to tokyo on and off to meet my friends and hang out till the morning. Haven't touched my bed for what seems like a long time. Gonna rest alot this weekend.
Till the next time..

happy new year!!!

2007-01-01T21:02:00.000+09:00

Happy new year to everyone reading this...How are all your new year guys. I think this is almost the best new year I had in all these years.

I was in sea paradise in hakkeshima at yokohama. I went there with a couple of friends. First there was a dolphin show and then we went to have a look around at the aquarium. At about 11.30, the countdown program started and the new year was introduced with fireworks which goes according to the music. Among all the fireworks that I had seen, although it's not so long, it's full of beat and impact that it's really hard not to leave the place without an impression. There was a short downtime as we were waiting for the luck draw which we gave up after a while because it's so cold and we weren't really paying attention to the numbers. The rest of the night was spent on rollar coaster rides. Imagine riding coasters in like about 3.00am in the morning. It actually felt like early at night and all the adreline rush kept us awake the whole night. We rested in the early morning and catch the first sunrise of the day.
The whole trip was tiring but..really really fun... unforgettable..

nostalgic X 2

2006-12-25T20:44:00.000+09:00

I met up with my secondary school friend on friday night. Just found out two weeks ago that he just arrived in Japan friday night was his first night. Got lots of information about how our secondary school classmates were doing and all changes. Had a really nice chat with him and also had a nice clubbing night out with him. Also, met up with friends at the club whom I had totally not expected to meet. Came out as an interesting surprise.

The next day afternoon, I met up with a friend whom I know since primary 5 and we were talking about stuffs that happen in the past(which i choose not to say) and also the people we know from then. I went to chinatown for the first time and had dimsum. We were so hungry that 5 of us order like 10 of 2 or 3 items and 5 of like everything else. Nearly died from overeating. It was fun thought. Looking forward to fun on 31 and the 1st. Hopefully, things will be good..

Japanese Exam Level 2

2006-12-03T16:45:00.000+09:00

After a whole year of not much of studying, haha. I dragged myself into the exam hall for Japanese level 2 examinations. The exam is seperated into 3 sections, vocab, listening and reading comprehension/grammer in general and takes up the whole morning, including break times inbetween. Results of the test will be out in Feburary but I think I did not too bad. I was walking home today and was thinking back about all the effort that I had spent on studying and felt really good. Now is time to brace myself up and to start attacking level 1 which I am taking at the end of next year. Hopefully I don't start slacking.

10degrees celcius or less

2006-11-26T15:08:00.000+09:00

I think it is the weather but I'm not sure. I had been sleeping for 3/4 of my weekends and almost nothing was done. It's a super relaxing weekend and I think I cleared all the sleep debt that I ever had in all my life. Feeling refreshed and ready to go. I hope.

settled at last

2006-11-20T21:23:00.000+09:00

Two weekends ago, my aunt, a friend and I went to kyoto on a trip. The place is pretty interesting with streets that mantained the traditional look, temples that are close to 900 years old. The whole place is just rich with history and culture. Transportation around the city is easy. 500 yen and it is enough for the whole day's travel. First time in kyoto but it had been pretty fun. Last week was spent mostly with my friends. It's a week where everyone wants to go out on the same day and my programs are packed from day to night. That explains why I could only blog now. Anyway, life is pretty much settled back to normal and I am trying to catch up with the same old pace again. Still organizing the photos(about 500 pictures in all) and will post them up soon.

trip to kawaguchiko

2006-11-05T23:10:00.000+09:00

Today, we left early and head down to kawaguchiko. It is basically a lake near to mount fuji. My aunty came to visit me and we decided to go there today. It took us about 2hours something to reach the place. The scenary was not too fantastic as it was pretty cloudy and hazy. The boat ride and the cable car ride was good thought. Some of the leaves were red and some where changing. It's a beautiful scene. Today is like taking a holiday and yet it doesn't feel like as I have to go to work tomorrow. Anyway, till next week.

Internet is up!!!~~

2006-10-31T01:11:00.000+09:00

The new world is borned, drought is over, sun is up, life is beautiful. Internet is up at last and life is going to be good from now on. Sorry for the long wait thought, anyone missed me?? Anyway, will be seeing you guys soon.

There and back

2006-10-10T11:30:00.000+09:00

The day that I went with my friends to hakone was perfect. There was almost not a single cloud in the sky and the weather was windy and sunny, not too hot, not too cold. Took really alot of pictures this time round, so much until I had to delete my old ones which happened the first time. The place wasn't really big and could be covered within one day, just that the weather was so good and the view of fuji mountain was so fantastic I had to take more.

Anyway, enjoyed the scenary, the onsen and the food at the hotel. My friend told me to expect a feast with so much food that it was unable to finish. Turns out that I was able to finish the food as it wasn't as much as expected, although really good. I returned home on the 2nd day and slept from 6.00pm all the way till the next morning because I was so relaxed from the trip. Just wanna lay out and not do anything at all.

All in all, the trip was really good, all thanks to the nice weather. A really recommended place to go...depending on the weather.

blogging chance

2006-10-03T18:44:00.001+09:00

Without internet at home, it is really hard to find time to blog. It is especially hard to find the chance to blog with people walking pass at the back. Although they are Japanese, I think almost all of them can read English.

Last friday, my company has a drinking party and I met up with Take and his friends from work later that night. We ended up heading to the same club I was the week before till the next morning. After sleeping the rest of the day, my night was then spent again with some friends from Singapore. The world is pretty small or rather, why are people from my BMT coming to Japan. I mean in such a small percentage of people in Singapore. I already met 2 of them who are in Japan which I am going with one of them to Hakone next week.

Hakone is a very scenic and nice place, from what I heard from reviews and friends. Being so near the train line where I was staying at, looking at the poster everyday as I go to work, that really is a place where I have always wanted to go. I am going to say the same thing, going to put pictures up when my internet is up.

Catch you guys soon again.

blogging chance

2006-10-03T18:44:00.000+09:00

crazy weekend

2006-09-26T09:10:00.000+09:00

I was out the whole weekend from Saturday afternoon. I went to a friend's birthday party, followed by clubbing and stopped over at my friend's place for the night. The next afternoon was spend with a friend followed by another friend's birthday party. By the time I reached home, it was around 2am and I had to get ready for work.

My body felt like breaking this week. Guess I am not as strong and crazy as I used to be. haha. I will have to take off days to rest and to get my visa done. I will be online in a couple of weeks. See ya then.

Internet and me

2006-09-19T20:16:00.000+09:00

Well, Internet is my life. I realised that I can't do without it. Been living in loneliness and boredom whenever I reached home. My place is a nice place, really, I just need internet. =(

My Tungsten Palm gave up on me yesterday. No matter how hard I press the screen and tap on it, it just refuses to respond. Even thought, I am still not will to give up on it. I guess this is the most expensive piece of equipment (other than my pc which isn't counted) which I dismantle and that is just what I did. Trying to take out the parts in such a way I could put it back together, I managed to seperate the case away from the LCD screen and even could see the different chips in the circult board. While admiring the internal beauty of it, I accidentally switched the thing on and guess what, the touch-screen worked again. The next few steps were the most scary of them all, putting them back together without short-circuiting it. I went on unexpectedly smooth and I got the whole thing back together again. To my happiness, the touch-screen is still working. I guess some of the wires got loose somehow and I had secured it back on.

It was on the news yesterday that Yoshinoya reintroduced beef bowl to Japan after about 3 years. Due to mad cow disease, beef bowl has been replaced by pork bowl and only yesterday did Yoshinoya tried to see if the market will accept it for 1 day. Guess what, there are people who waiting 12 hours just to be the first to get to eat their beef bowl. Talk about Kiasu Singaporeans who queue overnight for tickets. Japanese are doing the same thing. I wasn't into the craze but I did saw a long line outside the Yoshinoya near my place.

I am still in the office. I bought a whole 1.2 litre of bottled ice (left the water in the freezer overnight) and plan to leave the office when all the ice has melted. I don't thing I could leave so soon as I have work to do anyway. Till next time.

When my internet is up, pictures will be up too. I promise.

Using brains and eating chocolate

2006-09-13T18:31:00.000+09:00

I'll like to open up a question the the web and hopefully someone can provide me with an answer.

I had been using alot of my brain power lately(not that I haven't been using it in the past) and I realised that the more brains you use, as in the more analytical thinking you did in the day, the more you want to eat chocolates or something sweet. I'm not sure if anyone else have the same revelation as me or if there are any research going on about this topic but do let me know your ideas and thoughts on this, and any articles or links will be helpful. have a nice day, and eat more chocolates..

movie and karaoke

2006-09-11T09:22:00.000+09:00

On Sunday, I tried to find my way to yokohama station from where i am staying now. Turns out that I took the wrong train and had to make a big way round. Anyway, serves as a lesson to check before I go which also means. I NEED INTERNET CONNECTION!!. Still got to wait for about 1 month more.

Today, i caught the movie miami vice, which I am sure quite alot of you should have watched long time ago. Japan takes so damn long to translate a movie, or at least show it. Well, the movie was realistic, that's all I can say. Of course there are the usual car chase, gunfights and everything but for once, the gun shots in the show actually seems real. The sound of the gun shots just reminds me of my army days. The story is about the usual drug dealings and pretty girls and undercover cops.

After reaching home, I went out with my new roommate to meet his group of friends for karaoke. The group is well fun and happening, just brought karaoke to a new high level that I thought will never ever be reached. One thing I realised about Japanese songs is they really excite and intensify, depending on what kind of songs. Maybe I am missing out alot of the Chinese song community but only in the later few years did fast pace songs catch up in the song community. Right now, I am just practicing trying to catch up with the WORDS in the fast pace songs. Anyway, I had fun and now I am back to office, getting ready to start my work. Till next time.

Another new place

2006-09-08T09:18:00.000+09:00

Sorry for the very long wait. Lots of things had been happening in my life lately. Firstly, in the middle of august, I returned to Singapore for a one week holiday. Had lots of food and met up with my family and close friends. Really did enjoyed myself. Although one week is kinda too short.

After coming back to Japan not long after about the end of August, I had to move to a new place to stay. Right now, I am situated on the south of tokyo in the prefecture of kanagawa. The place is still not too far from tokyo but it feels very very very rural. The distance from the staion is amazing as in my building can be seen just from a train passing by. The rest of the buildings are only about two or three stories high. I haven't yet found a groceries store in my area but there are tons of food places around. I just saw a pub yesterday, maybe heading there someday after a tired day of work.

My new place's station is one station away from where I work, which means, I could commute by bicycle which is what I'm doing everyday. Think it's a healthy lifestyle and I will probably be doing it everyday. It takes about 20 mins by bicycle which isn't too bad as the roads are not that rough and the scenary is pretty good along the way.

My new roommate rides a bike. I had to ride on it on the first day to go around getting stuffs for the house. Think I'm getting used being the back passenger. Also, I realised that getting a car license in japan isn't that bad. I just had to convert. again. haha. Just a passing thought, it definately beats travelling around by bicycle. Moreover, the traffic isn't that bad.

My new place is much much bigger than my previous place. Think about my room 1.5 times bigger than my old place, with an attached living room which is like 2.5 times the size of my old room. The pictures of my old room are in flickr. Anyway, when I'm done with designing my new room, pictures will be posted. Of course, with a larger place, all of you are welcomed to stay at my place althought, it's best to let me know earlier because bookings have already started. haha.

new place

2006-08-02T00:34:00.000+09:00

I don't usually blog when the week starts but this is my first day of work in Sony and how to say, wow, Sony is the place man. For those who have been to U of A, the work place I'm in feels like Eller College. My workbench where I work has space for two people, two monitors connected to my pc and hmm really good environment to work. We can wear almost anything to work and by the way, there are massage chairs that we could use too. However, I got work to do already and I feel that life's pace is going to pick up within no time. Anyway, I think life is going to be busy but good for a while...so wish me luck.

busy weekend

2006-07-30T16:33:00.000+09:00

In the morning, I travelled to one of the stations along the way of my train line as I had always wanted but in the end stopped at this cafe that I had been to last time. This place left such a good impression that I had to go there again. First of all, because it is in an area where there isn't alot of tall buildings and more of like a residential area between a urban and rural setting. Next, the cafe is at a corner which isn't really protronized other than ojiisan and teenagers. The cakes in the shop are really delicous and the coffee is good. The place where I sat had windows which overlook a designed passway and small bushes along the way. It's kinda hard to describe and I didn't take any pictures(will do next time). It's a really relaxing environment which doesn't remind me of anywhere I had been but it really feels like and escape from Japan(the people) in Japan. The afternoon was spent meeting 2 friends and passing them stuffs followed by 2 drinking parties at night with people from my company. This time, unexpectly, I spoke up more often then I think I would and actually enjoyed myself. Sunday which is today, I will be going out to meet Take, Kenya and Akiko, japanese people whom I haven't met for so long and I had spend so much time in usa with them. Looking forward to it.

My real job starts on Tuesday, which i'm really not prepared and not sure what is about it happen. Just hope all things are good.

about myself

2006-07-24T09:47:00.000+09:00

Lately, I have come to realise few interesting about myself. Lots of times, you don't know things about yourself unless someone tells you about it. I was blessed with friends like that. Anyway, the one thing that I will disclose now is that on the phone, I actually sound like a 19-20 year old teenager. I'm not sure if it is a good thing or not but i'm pretty sure it's definately not an easy thing to change. Probably that will explain why I don't attract girls of my age. If anyone has anything to tell me which you think I do not know, please do. Be it good or bad, I will not explode at you. haha.

Anyways, my weekend wasn't as exciting as I thought it will be. I was invited to join a friend and a taiwanese friend but I rejected as I was tired. It's hard to mantain friendship especially when work gets busy and the only time left is weekends.

My train ticket to the office is provided. The same ticket includes stops at all stations along the way. I have always wanted to stop at all the individual stations and check out the surroundings if possible. Going to work at the new place means that I will have to buy a new ticket and I don't have much time left to check out the rest of the stops right now.

heating up

2006-07-18T00:21:00.000+09:00

With the coming of summer, things are starting to heat up. To begin with, I was told that Sony had been searching for other candidates but couldn't find a suitable one and so they had asked me back to work there. As decided, I will begin to work in Sony from the start of next month. The working environment there seems tough, wish me luck. Next, summer also means fireworks festival and this time I went with my company friends to Yokohama. Anticipating the overwhelming crowd, we went there about 1pm to tour around the place and also to book a good seat. Last year's lesson taught me that because I had missed like a good part of the first half looking for my friends as I was late.

The day before, I went to a barbeque gathering with some Singaporeans and Singapore loving Japanese and a club that has a live band. The place we had barbeque was below a bridge in case it starts to rain which it eventually did. What was unexpected was instead of falling vertically, the rain was falling horizontally due to the rain. With no place to hide, we were all soaking wet pretty soon. The rain stopped like an hour later and all of us were drying our clothes in the sun that suddenly appeared. Barbeque continued and we had yakisoba(fried noodles). This day reminded me so much of Singapore. My Japanese friend know one of the DJs and so I was invited to this live band. The music was pretty good except that I could catch only about 5 to 10 percent of the English they sang due to the bad English accent. Looking forward to more fun next week...

2006-07-10T09:15:00.000+09:00

For the first time in like few months, I spent the whole weekend at home. As expected, not a single cent is spent which is to punish myself for spending too much last week. Not that it's too much of a punishment as I already have alot of stocked up food at home and I got my chance to clear it. First time cooking pasta for me alone and I lost all sense of judgement on how much pasta to cook. I went over next door and asked my american friend, Leo and after only after cooking did I realised that Leo ate very little each meal. I ended up having to make another round of pasta, in order to finish up the rest of my sauce. My sleeping hours for Saturday was screwed up and Sunday was back to normal which I'm glad although I missed the last soccer match.

I just had an interview with my company's client Sony last week and the interview went ok but they wanted someone with more experience. So , I'm back to the doing-nothing-but-still-get-paid state of life again.

2006-07-04T22:38:00.000+09:00

Before I realized, another weekend has passed. This week however has gotten a little busy. Starting to have stuff to do at work, meeting up with friends after work and trying to catch enough sleep so that I do not fall asleep the next day. These days has been coming and going since the last week and times flies very fast.

Father's Day

2006-06-21T00:13:00.000+09:00

It was father's day last weekend. I haven't done anything or rather, I did not do anything for fathers day all these years so today, I have decided to wish my father a happy fathers day!! I was asked the question about what my father's job is today which gave me the inspiration to search the net for pictures about my father and surprisingly, alot of pictures and articles came up about him which i'm sure some of them even he himself did not know about it. Anyway, the best picture I have found so far about him online is this. I'll include the article together with it. This will be my first present to him on father's day and more to come from this year on. Thank you father. Without you, I will not be what I am today.

news article

this weekend

2006-06-19T01:52:00.000+09:00

Another weekend has past. Went to an international party yesterday and had lots of fun. Met alot of interesting people too. Anyways, on the way back, saw a guy brought out of the train on a stretcher and also another guy sleeping on the station bench. People walking past were like looking at him and at that moment, it just feels like he is a lost and found item and people walking past are identifying if it's their item. haha. anyways, been watching world cup lately too although not all the matches. Everything else is the same otherwise.

davinci code

2006-06-11T01:09:00.000+09:00

I might be a little slow cos I'm pretty sure alot of you people have watched the movie. The whole movie was pretty complicated but quite interesting, at least to me. Caught the movie with a few friends whom I haven't met in a long time. Found a good resturant that wasn't too expensive and the food was pretty good too. Also, today I realized there is one place that I am really afraid to go. I guess it's the least expected but the place where I'm really afraid to go is the mobile phone company's shop.

When I first stepped into Japan, the first place that I had the most trouble with was with the phone company, the fact that I'm not good in the langauge. Today, I stepped into the place to change the payment method(after dragging it for few weeks). After getting into the place, there is a sudden wave of fear that start to overcome me. Memories of the first time start flooding my brain and when thrown a question on what I want to do there, I actually paused for a few seconds to gather my thoughts. Anyway, at least this time, my understanding level of the language has gone up from 20 to about 60,70 percent(thanks to this 9mths of hardwork) . The process went on smoothly and I got all my doubts clear and leave with a full understanding of what the hell the plan is about and what I'm getting for as compared to the first time.

I hope that fear doesn't creep in the nex time I go there again.

Sunday

2006-05-21T21:06:00.000+09:00

My roommate moved out of the apartment today and I'm back to living alone. Today, I went to the cafe at about 4.00pm and started timing how long it takes for me to finish a Japanese comic book. I'm not going to anounce my time but I'm really slow but I will try to improve. Suddenly find joy in reading a book in a cafe sipping coffee as I go along. After that is grocery shopping. Daikon(raddish) is really really cheap today. One whole piece cost about 100 yen=1.5SGD=1USD. Was going to buy 2 but I know I couldn't finish it up so I only got 1. Looking forward to the relaxing days ahead and a whole apartment to myself. bahaha!!

relaxing weekends

2006-05-14T14:37:00.000+09:00

Another weekend where I spend most of my time at home relaxing at home. Yesterday there was a company gathering where few of the traininees met up to drink and chat. It was pretty fun. Anways, a whole week of full day work with nothing much to do is much harder to pass than a half day of crazy work to do. My skills in sudoku has improved, Japanese has improved and also interpersonal relationship has improved. Pay is coming in so i'm not really complaining. Life is good now...really good.

Golden Week

2006-05-06T18:40:00.000+09:00

It's the famous once in a year Golden Week holiday. For most companies it's 1 week but for mine, it's like 3 days holiday which isn't too bad. I went to Kanamori on Wednesday and seen the big buddha and lots of other shrines. Thursday was spent at home packing and cleaning up the place. I went out with a friend to karaoke, bowling and walked around shinjuku for the whole day on Friday. Today is Saturday and I was looking for food to cook when I realised my potatoes in the cupboard had a purple stem grown to the length of up to about a meter. I guess I should really cook my stuffs and not leave them in the cupboard for too long. Pictures will be coming up soon.

SketchUp

2006-04-29T14:55:00.000+09:00

Just downloaded the program SketchUp from google yesterday. I have never really touched a program on 3D designing and I was playing with the program for about 6 hours yesterday only to complete a rough model of my room. I'm just amazed at the size of the program and the simplicity of controls. I spent about 6hours maybe because I'm still not used to the controls but i'm pretty sure the time spent can be four times shorter if I'm more used to it. For those who wants to see my room 3D, ask for the file and I will send it to you. In the meantime, have a look at the 2D pictures in flickr. I have to warn you that it's not really that fantastic as it's the first time I attempt at such a program. Enjoy.

internet down

2006-04-18T00:32:00.000+09:00

Internet has been down these few days. Reason....unknowned. Right now I'm in internet cafe, talking to my gf. Every once in a while scolded by the cafe-in-charge-person for talking too loud. Come to think of it. Which internet cafe doesn't allow you to talk. Moreover, I'm whispering. Something you got to come to accept in a foreign country.

television

2006-04-16T01:34:00.000+09:00

Just bought a television which is about a year old for 2000yen. Now that I have a television at home, just felt that home without a television is not a home at all. With this, most of my free time is spent on the tv of course. One thing I hate about Japanese tv programs is the number of food introduction programs they have on and let me tell you it is really alot. When they introduce food in different parts of Japan, there is no chance that they will say something is not delicious and from the way the food is shot or filmed, wah, it looks fantastically yummy. Some of it is so good that it can make me hungry again even thought I just finished dinner. Friends are over here in Japan now but I haven't got a chance to meet them. Till next time

Singapore food and culture festival

2006-04-10T01:33:00.000+09:00

There is a Singapore food and culture festival in Japan starting from Saturday. Me and a group of Singaporeans went down on Saturday and I went down again on Sunday because I forgot to bring my camera. Basically, there is an area where they sell Singapore food and another area with a stage and some booths that explain about Singapore. On the opening day, Dick Lee was present with Sachiyo, a Japanese who have stayed in Singapore for many years and they were talking about Singapore. After that, Tanya Chua was singing some of her songs. The thing good about the event here is because there was not many people and we could go near to Tanya to take pictures with her and also chatted with her a little. Quite an interesting experience. During that time, we met a few more Singaporeans and was invited to one of their houses for a spendid dinner. After that we had karaoke and had lots of fun. Next week, Valent and his gf will be here on a holiday. I should be bringing them around so get ready for more pictures...

sakura

2006-03-31T10:23:00.000+09:00

Hey people! First of all, I will like to apologize for the lack of entries. I was swarmped with my job, updating my ipod with songs, going out with friends and teaching classes until I realised that I did not have time for myself. Last week, I received Clifton's really long email about life and began thinking about mine. I actually planned to blog about this but needed sometime to sort out my thinking and stuffs. I will like to thank my friends, who are always there to support me and reading my blog while what I do is just go about my way of life. I do not have a habit of giving presents and rarely try to contact my friends and sometimes I feel that I neglected all of you guys, but believe me, I still remember you guys all. Back to Clifton's email, I will just like to comment that I had that idea way back in my army days and planned to carry out that idea and live the best of my life. Sometimes, I really wish I could put everything away, sit down under a tree, read a book, lie down under the sun to relax. Taking 2 hours chatting with friends over lunch followed by tea or coffee at a coffee shop, this is the kind of life I love to live. Reality is always different. Life in usa had been fantastic. The first 2 years were pretty normal. I tried not to concentrate too hard on my grades and just take my time, mixing with the community and getting used to the environment. As I advanced into my 3rd and 4th year, work load increases. Living my normal way of life starts to get difficult. With things I want to achieve and get done within a short 17hours of awake time(I usually sleep 4-6 hours during then), it's obviously too short. Then, the next comes balancing. I start sacrificing things, sleep, time with gf, hanging out with my friends and last of all my grades. At that moment in time, near the end of my 4th year, I began to think to myself, when you start to put a huge load on yourself, it is good in the sense that you are on your toes, ready to accept anything that comes. What's bad is that you start to lose your ideas of living life, and sink into the society's pace of life, in another words, loose yourself and important things around you. I didn't totally lose myself thanks to the friends around me who had taught me the enjoyments of life, food, wine, party and fun. I am really glad to have you guys around to support me and always there for me.

Now in Japan, it's flower viewing season. Japanese have hanami parties, where they sit below sakura trees in groups and chat just about anything. Although, it's flower viewing parties, flower viewing isn't really the theme. Beer and food is the theme. I had the honor to join one pretty big group yesterday and had lots of fun. I think we had the most food and drinks among all the groups in Ueno Park yesterday. It's also during this time when I relax and though about what's mentioned above. Pictures will be up later today and I got to start work soon. see you guys.

2006-03-12T16:17:00.000+09:00

This weekend I had the rest I always wanted. For 2 days, I slept till after 12.00( about 2pm) to be exact. Relaxed around till about evening, had dinner and slept early. Think I was dead beat for the past week. Bought the 5g ipod(black) and was arranging my songs for most of the week, together with presentation practise and resume writing all to be dued for next week. Unknowning ly, I have stopped noticing if a Japanese show have English subtitles or not. If they do, I will unknowingly look at them and understand more of it. If not, I will just look at the show and understand not 100 percent and still be happy after that. I can feel that everything next month will get exciting. Job interviews, friends visiting and friends returning to Japan. I've got to save money...

Busy is good

2006-03-05T16:23:00.000+09:00

Hey guys, it's me back again. Yesterday was a totally filled up day. First of all, I woke up around 6.30 so that I could be ready to leave my house at 7.30 to go over to my parttime place. It takes about 2 hours trip and it starts about 9.30. Anyways, I had about 4 hours of classes yesterday which means more money and also alot of teaching practise. Can say that I am getting more comfortable with teaching but still need more time if my target are kids. I am just glad that the learning cards I bought over from Singapore helped. I had to travel a little and lunch inbetween and everything ended pretty late when I returned home.

Today woke up at about 12.00(make up for the whole week's lost time) and I was watching memoirs of a geisha. It's weird that they try to put in English conversations in Japanese environment. It's like not important words in the background are in Japanese while the important conversations are in English. Later when the Americans come into the picture, it just seems that everyone can speak English really well. Other than this, the rest of the movie was really good. Read the book long long time ago so I can't really judge on the acurracy of the movie.

These days, other than studying Japanese and working, the rest of the time is spent on rearranging my mp3 songs. I am renaming the tags, arranging them in Itunes and getting them ready for ipod(which is coming). I am still deciding when I should buy it.

Heard about a festival in Japan now. It's called Hinamatsuri. Basically, people make dolls in the shape of gods. What happens next is that say for example someone has an illness or something, this illness is transferred to the doll and people put the dolls on boats and sail them off in a river. Suppose to bring illness and badluck away. This explanation is based on what I heard, didn't really researched into details. Let me know if any part is wrong. Anyways, thinking of relaxing the rest of my day. Till next time

update

2006-02-26T12:52:00.000+09:00

Took me quite some effort to come back in and write a blog. First of all, the project required for graduation has been finished and now I'm working on a different circuit board. Also, more time is spent on Japanese langaguage. Saturdays are spent on working, Sundays are spent on keeping the house clean. Time just go past so fast. 2 more months before I really begin working, but first of all need to get past the interview stage and lots of other things to prepare. So till then, keep you guys updated as much as I could.

Relaxing day

2006-02-12T02:27:00.000+09:00

This saturday, I woke up thinking I had to go teach tution when I realised that it is a public holiday. yeah, in Japan, if a public holiday lands on a Saturady, there will only be a holiday on Saturday. Anywayz, I stayed at home and lazed around, packed up the place, watch a movie called "Stealth." Another movie waiting for me but I guess I will watch it tomorrow.

Something interesting happened on Friday thought. I was writing a program for playing sounds on speaker on my circuit board. When I was running it, weird sounds was coming out(because it is not working properly) but after that, "hello world!" starts showing up in the console( message from the circuit board). This hello world thing is actually a project that i done a few months ago and no where in my code tells the board to show the message. My friend was telling me it is a curse. haha. After correcting the program a little, the word that start flashing was "給” which means give. I decided to call it a day as I don't want to see what is next in the series of message. haha. Anyway, I think this is not as scary as what my friend got the last time.

During the message displaying project, instead of "hello world!", the message that came out was "死”which means death. I think that would have been more scary. Glad I didn't get that.

harajuku

2006-02-05T22:21:00.000+09:00

Today went to Harajuku with some friends. Explored parts of the street where I didn't explore the last time I went there. Luckily, this time I'm equiped with my camera also and took some interesting pictures. Look out at the flickr link at the side bar. Basically, there is a gathering area where people who like to dress up in gothic style costumes gather. Be it for making friends, or for photographers to snap away, there are quite a big group of them standing around and enjoy the company of their own kind. Me and my friends mingled into the crowd and emerge with some cool shots of them. After that, we headed for meiji temple and witnessed a little of a traditional Japanese wedding. According to locals, these wedding are pretty rare and really glad that we got to catch it. What's different is that the wedding is kinda quiet and I only caught a part of it. Quite interesting thought. Back to work on Monday. Can't believe the weekend passed so fast.

Earthquakes

2006-02-04T00:07:00.000+09:00

Felt three light earthquakes these few days when I'm in the office. Not to the extend when things on the table start to shake, more like hangers swaying and coffee in cup splashing. All these makes me realize how fortunate Singaporean are in Singapore when they don't have to be born with the fear of earthquakes and typhoons. Also, they don't have to bear with the hot weather in summer, cold weather in winter. On the down side, there is no "real" snow to be seen in Singapore which is quite a good exchange I think. Tomorrow going to carry on my parttime teaching job, just when I thought that I have a weekend to rest at last.

train blog:maid cafe

2006-01-28T18:10:00.000+09:00

my friend introduced me to a maid cafe today. basically, it is just a cafe except that the waitress are all dressed as maids and they call the customers master. these places are usually found in akihabara and usually frequented by otaku-term that mean people who are crazy over manga and anime. other than that, i was shown shops that sell manga characters and dolls. can say today is quite an eye opener for me.

train blog:new grave design

2006-01-27T17:37:00.000+09:00

there is an advertisement about a new grave design that allows the pet to be buried together with the owner. one thing for sure is that there will never be advertisement like this in the trains in singapore.another thing is that i do not know how advance the technology goes for grave designs but i am pretty sure buryin with pets is not really hard to do.not sure if it is a really good point to advertise.lookin forward to 2 days of holidays next week but i will probably go office the whole time.

Ghost in the shell

2006-01-27T01:18:00.000+09:00

Today watched an animation movie which I borrowed from a friend which is called "Ghost in the Shell 2:Innocence." The story is pretty interesting and futuristic. Movie's animation is very realistic and the 3D graphics are really well done. Kinda impressed at the level of clarity and how far we have came from animation movies in the past. Been walking past a stationary store which I have never been before and went in to have a look. They sell templates for comic books drawing and have lots of designs and interesting backgrounds. Kinda of wonder how they draw the comic books using the templates. This Saturday there is a gathering for the people staying in my dorm. Also, I might be meeting a friend whom I had met when I went over to San Francisco when I was there looking for a job. It feels like a long time from the time I was in San Francisco till the time I got the job, which makes me feel like blogging what happen when I went over to San Francisco.

Basically, I went to San Francisco just to attend a 2 day Japanese-English Bilingual Career Fair. Bringing only my friend's suit(because I didn't have my own then), and a few daily necessities in a backpack, this is the trip where I travelled with the least luggage. I stayed at a co-ed youth hostel, the cheapest and nearest I could find. The rooms are like army style, double decked with cheap mattress but what is there to complain, the price is cheap. I would expect that the people staying there are there for travel but turned out to be wrong. There are actually people there to take exams(2 japanese in the common rooms), to look out for graduate courses(the lady sleeping across my bed) and looking for places to stay(someone I talked to in the hallway). The Japanese guy that I am going to meet on Saturday was in the common room and had trouble with booking hotel rooms as his English is not really good. He is doing a round america tour with another friend. So I sprang at the chance to practise my Japanese and went to talk to him even till the extend to help him book his hotel rooms.

On the day of the job fair, it is kinda exciting and nerve wrecking. I didn't expect the whole environment to be totally Japanese, all the way from greeting you in Japanese at the door till the presentations all done in Japanese. Basically, it's more of a Japanese Career fair than a bilingual career fair. Walked around first to find some Japanese friends from my school, followed by getting brochures of companies and free goodies. The first booth that I really find out information from is actually the one that I am currently working in now. Sat through their lecture knowing only about 40 percent of what they are saying and talked to their representative in English followed by presenting my resume. They were asking me for interviews and I agreed to go for it after going for toshiba interview which was planned before I reached san francisco. Toshiba intervew was kinda packed with people sitting in about 8 seats behind and 3 interviewers at the booth interviewing us. The whole interview took about 1/2 hour and they told me to check the board to see if I qualify for the second round of interview. My name never appeared on it apprantly. So back to the original company where they lead me to one of the hotel rooms for the first round of interview. It went quite smoothly with a translator to help me on the parts where I did not know how to say it in Japanese. Following that, I went to the next room to have an interview with the President of the company. Kinda shocked that the president actually came down for the job recruitment. It went pretty smoothly and he offered me the job depending on my chances with toshiba. So in the first day by the afternoon I already had a job offer and so kinda relax on my search. Went to a few more letures and looked at a few more companies but didn't really talk to them. Met up with Thiha, my ex-roommate and walked around San Francisco for the rest of the night. For the second day, I had an interview with sandisk and got a free 16MB CF card. Quite cool. Nothing much happen for the rest of the day and so went with my Japanese friends from University to a food court nearby for food.

Anyway, all in all, the trip was indeed an eye opener and alot of first times for me. Just thought of writing it down before I forget about it later. This trip can be counted as a big changing point in my life and so it is quite important to me. I think.

snow

2006-01-21T14:23:00.000+09:00

it begin snowing this morning. wanted to stay at home but have to go for a company meeting.it is not thd first time i see snow but seeing it outside your house is something different. feelin kind of exited. will take more pictures when i reach home.

testing

2006-01-18T21:39:00.000+09:00

please forgive me on the capital letters. it takes too much time to change them on my handphone. waiting for the train now. in today's japanese class, we did alot of cooking. we prepared 3pots of nabe(hotpot)and some other assorted dishes. most of the people that come today are chinese so it is more of a chinese class than a japanese class.

testing

2006-01-17T20:32:00.000+09:00

Hi, i am just testing on sending blog by email. this entry is sent by my phone actually. just want to see how fast it takes. now i am at home. nexttime when i post my blog will be from the train

present myself

2006-01-16T21:46:00.000+09:00

arrgghh. Presentation tomorrow. My heart is beating really fast. 今はどきどきしてる。Wish me luck.

new year

2006-01-16T00:28:00.000+09:00

A year has passed so fast. Didn't really feel anything this time round. Anyway, everything is still the same. This trip to Singapore wasn't that bad but it wasn't that good also. I fell sick just before I go back to Singapore and was sick all the way till when I go back to Japan. I'm just happy that I am able to meet my gf and hang out with her.

In this new year, I redesigned my room and throw more stuffs into the cupboard, which means my room is neater and nicer. I have extended my table(adding another box) and made space for some of my electronic items on the table. Pictures are in flickr.

Throughout the next few blogs, I will introduce the place i'm staying to you guys so keep a lookout.

busy busy busy

2005-12-21T00:59:00.000+09:00

I know busy is not an excuse but the truth is I have really been busy for the past few weeks. Firstly, I have to write technical manuals in Japanese, projects are abit behind and friends are coming back from USA. As per usual, my time is spent on learning Japanese except that my weekends are more fufilling. Last weekend night was spent outside. I managed however to catch the first train back home just in time to change and make it for my first part time job, conversation school teacher. Class size is about 4-6 people and ranged from different levels. In a way it is good for me to practise teaching which I realised requires alot of skill. Going back to Singapore on the 25Dec and will be there till 11 of Jan. Time to catch up with my friends in Singapore. Until then, I will have to clear as much work as possible so that I could enjoy myself in Singapore. Wish me luck and see you guys soon.

nostalgic

2005-11-23T16:04:00.000+09:00

It has been a long time since I have been able to sleep till anytime I feel like, wake up and do whatever I want. Today is such a day. I was supposed to go out but changed my mind. Instead, I stayed at home and listen to Chinese pop songs and study Japanese. Listening to the songs that used to be popular few years ago, bring back thoughts of what I was doing during that time. I remember my university days where I will study in the weekdays, watch tv at night and go out with Lucian and Louanne in the weekends to do groceries or just to relax. Felt like I really came a long way and 4 years pass by so fast.

another week passed

2005-11-20T18:51:00.000+09:00

This week is the same as other weeks before with few happenings. On friday, I went with my company to an embedded systems exhibition in Yokohama. It's a pretty nice place with many interesting building designs and the Yokohama landmark tower is there also. At the exhibition, just paticipated in a survey and got myself a thermal cup. Well, I take it that I used my travelling money to buy the cup. On Saturday which is yesterday, I had a gathering/drinking/eating party with people from my company. The gathering this time beats the one before as I could understand more of what other people are talking about and I have more new friends around. Also, we get to meet trainees from few semesters before us and they are working in other companies now. Their faces surfaced on the company website and this is like the first time I actually met them face to face. Quite an interesting experience. After drinking alot and eating alot, today was spend at home trying to clear the stomachache which I had from since I woke up till now. I am also trying to warm myself up in this cold weather and trying to attain better scores in a game i'm playing. Tomorrow is another day of work, I'm just glad that wednesday is a holiday which makes the week shorter.

2005-11-14T22:47:00.000+09:00

Sorry guys for not updating my blog for a long time. I have been very busy trying to catch up with my projects and whatever free time I have left is spent on animation, japanese drama and studying Japanese. I did not step out of the house during weekends as well except for grocery trips. I had the sudden urge to start to cook Japanese dishes. I started with miso soup and some tsukemono( which wasn't good) and will be trying to cook nikujaga tomorrow. I am also making plans to go back to Singapore during the winter. Will post it in the blog when I'm confirmed with my plans.

back to normal..not really

2005-11-03T23:53:00.000+09:00

ブログ始まる時から、英語と日本語と中国語のバージョン書けば良かったと思ったんだけど、時間がないし、自信も持てないから、全然してない。日本語の勉強が始まるばかりから、間違い所がいっぱいから、誰にも笑わせたくない。でも、最近突然気が付いた、間違い事は勉強中絶対出会った事だ。そして、間違いないなら、新しい事は学ばれない。だから、自分で決める事は今から日本語でブログを書く事だ。今まで私にとって、日本語はそんな本気に勉強しではない。興味だけだ。これは日本語上手になるの第一歩だ。誰がブログを見たら、間違う所を直してくれない？

まじめ事以外、僕の生活は少し慣れた。友達会うのが少なくなったんだけど、研修の仕事が増えてるから、そんなに暇ではない。いま一番気になるのはお金だ。もっとセーブしなきゃいかない。そして、バイトも探してる。今もう晩いから、そろそろ寝る。今度は色んな面白い事を教えてあげるよ。また来てください！

How to say, after James left for Osaka, I am back to my normal life here in Tokyo. Everday going to work and coming back home to learn Japanese, ocassionally hang out with friends. With the start of the new phase of training, the hours that I have to go to work also changed. Instead of mornings for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I get mornings for Tuesdays and Thursdays which means I get more days of not having to wake up in the early mornings. Also, this phase of training that I choose is at a different environment, about 5 mins walk from the previous location. Also, one of my closer friends which I go to work with everyday is in a different program from me. Therefore, it feels to me like I have been to a totally new place. Lecture is in Japanese, friends around are all Japanese( or have Japanese blood in them) and I don't get to speak English much at all during work. I guess the environment is good if you are learning the language but it is also pretty stressing. Things are going okay now but there is still alot to come. Wish me luck. During the past days, I have been with James to many places including Odaiba, Asakusa(again) and Disneyland(again). Many stories to tell even if I went to some of the places more than once.

busy

2005-10-31T14:52:00.000+09:00

Sorry for the lack of update. My friend just came to visit me from singapore and he is staying at my place. My current training phase is just over and I am going into another new one. Been to many places within this week and came home late and tired. Will fill you guys in maybe later during this week. sorry for the wait.

new friends.

2005-10-24T00:52:00.000+09:00

How I met my new friend goes a long way back to taking a flight back to singapore from the usa. As the transit country of the flight is Japan, there are many Japanese taking the same flight back from the U.S.A. As me and my father were boarding the flight, I chatted up with the Japanese woman and told her that I am going to Japan to work. After that, we exchanged contacts and said that we will meet in Japan. From the time from I reach Japan till this week, we had never been able to meet up. This weekend is the first time when I actually met up with her and had a nice chat. She is a Japanese woman about 60 years of age with an adopted son who is a dj of a radio station. Also for those of you who know, he is also the voice over for one of the parts of "Iron Chef" show, which is pretty interesting. So it has been interesting. My friend from Singapore, James, visted me and I am bringing him around Japan. So it will be a busy week for me. heee

white hair

2005-10-20T02:04:00.000+09:00

Yesterday pulled out the 2nd white hair I had for about 5 years. I'm not sure if I had more or not and I'm not sure if it is a good sign or not but I'll still continue to take care of my hair and health. Maybe I'm not studying hard enough. hee.

End of phase update

2005-10-19T00:11:00.000+09:00

As the beginning phase of my training is about to come to an end, a comprehensive exam is coming up also. Thought that I should give an update about my own targets and goals and which I had met or not.

Japanese: Aimed to reach level 2 by end of this year. At the rate it goes seems like I might not be able to make it. Chinese characters i'm at about 300 words still and I need to reach about 1000. Grammer still less than halfway through, still far on vocabulary words. I will need to work double on it.

Money: Not earning althought trying to control my spending. Spending alot more every weekend due to hanging out with friends which I think is alright. Going to get a job when I get my visa so this will have to wait.

Friends: I think I am pretty satisfied with the amount as I have almost no time for anything else during weekends. Will want to make more only Japanese speaking friends then I will be forced to speak only Japanese to them.

Life: life is pretty settled now that I have bought most of the things i need. There are still many other things I want but those will have to wait till I earn enough money.

In general, the next steps are: Get my visa--> get a parttime job --> get the things i want-->happy.
At the same time study Japanese.

Autumn

2005-10-17T19:04:00.000+09:00

With the coming of autumn, the weather becomes colder and the heater is turned on in many buildings and offices. I'm still like in the summer wearing short sleeves to work and all only to realise that I am the only one. Everyone around me were like in long sleeves. Not that I wasn't cold but I wasn't that cold to need to wear long sleeves. I guess I had built up a defense mechanism for cold somehow during my four years in USA. For those who had been talking with me knows my "One with the weather" technique. Haven't had the need to use it yet but I got to start wearing long sleeves soon or else I will stand out too much in the crowd or freeze.

disneyland update

2005-10-16T02:28:00.000+09:00

Pumpkin scarecrow: Reason it's there-- Halloween is coming.

Pooh's Hunny hunt. The setup is really interesting and it's a a story based with well thought out planning and nice effects. Enjoyable and relaxing ride. Wanted to take more pictures but not allowed to.

Main castle at night.

The main castle in Disneyland. Because it's halloween, many black and orange designs can be seen.

Picture before buzz lightyear's ride. The ride is interesting and the first time I take it. It's like there is a joystick on every cart which you can control which direction to turn. At the same time, each person sitting there has a lazer gun where they can point at certain spots to shoot to earn points. The gathered points will be shown on the cart which you can compare to the chart later for skill level.

for more pictures goto:http://www.flickr.com/photos/35478544@N00/

drinking

2005-10-16T01:56:00.000+09:00

Sorry about the change in website. There has been a problem with my previous one and I moved here temporary. I just went to a drinking party with people from my company. I guess when you start to pick up a new language, there are days when you were unable to speak no matter how much you try. It just happened that today was one of those days and I couldnt' mingle well with the crowd at all, although my money is well spent as not talking means eating and drinking more. Well, there are definitely more chances to meet them so I'm not really worried about it. Weather is becoming cold. Got to get ready.

Disneyland

2005-10-12T01:36:00.000+09:00

Monday is a public holiday. Me and a group of friends went to Tokyo Disneyland. After waking up at about 6.00am, I took about 1 hour and 45 mins to reach the place and we entered Disneyland at about 9.30. Firstly, we got the fast pass for space mountain and went to queue for splash mountain. After both of the rides, we got the fast pass for big thunder mountain which is due at 5.00pm. In the meantime, we went for riverboat ride and another snow white adventure(which is a waste of time). Then we rested at a resturant till the time and we went for the big thunder ride. After that, some of us left early and the remainder of us went for pool's hunny hunt ride and the buzzlightyear ride followed by some shopping.

Can say that this trip is much more interesting than the trip to LA disneyland. Although it's a rainy day, there is still lots of people around. It's kinda weird also as usually when I go to LA disneyland, it's always like in the middle of the holiday and this time round, it feels like a holiday when i'm in the place but I know that it's not. Also, hearing the words all in Japanese gives a weird feeling. Kinda hard to explain. I guess I need to do more planning before I go there again so that I can make full use of the place and money spent in the place.

From Tuesday's onwards, the lectures in my work place will all be conducted in Japanese. The reason is because the lecturer from another department will be teaching us and he gives lectures in Japanese. So far, I can still understand what he is saying although there are words that are very specific to engineering which I still need to work on.

Study day

2005-10-09T20:19:00.000+09:00

Today, I tried to study in the library but the whole place was packed since early in the morning. Totally didn't expect that especially it is a rainy day. Went instead to KFC and bought myself a meal and stayed there for a couple of hours. Managed to stuff lots of Japanese words into my head, hopefully they stay there. That is the highlight of my totaly uneventful day.

thoughts

2005-10-08T18:18:00.000+09:00

As I said earlier, the offer ended on friday and I managed to eat the same beef bowl for six days in a row. Guess I wouldn't be eating much beef anytime soon?

Chinese was never really my favorite subject and when I was young and forced to learn it, the Chinese characters never really sinked in. I know that one day something from there will come back to haunt me. It feels like I have commited a crime and never served my sentence.. Nowadays, I'm writing Chinese characters whenever I have the time to, learning the sounds of each character in Japanese. Feels like I am relearning Chinese characters again. Feels nostalgic seeing all the characters again in a different form. At least I am serving my sentence.. and I don't dread it as much as I did in the past.

Japanese Lessons

2005-10-05T23:49:00.000+09:00

Today , I went for my first free Japanese class. The class is conducted by volunteers from the city of Shibuya for foreigners who want to learn Japanese of all levels. When me and my friend Leo reached there, one of the teachers greeted us and started talking to us. Before we knew it, she put us right to the highest level class available. Leo was like telling her that maybe our level is not there, but all she say was that it was okay and ask us to follow the class. The class of my level have about 10 people including us. Most of the people are from China but they stayed in Japan for many years. It turns out that the class was not as hard as we expected. Mostly, we were taught common conversation's grammer and certain words that are close in meaning. The class is actually just perfect for me as the level that they teach is about just above where I am. It is a pretty good deal, given that the lesson is free. The transport back and forth cost about 240Yen which is all we have to pay for 1 lesson.

Cheap beef bowl

2005-10-05T00:56:00.000+09:00

As autumn approaches, matsu ya, a chain store specializes in cheap rice bowls reduced their prices down even more from 420 to 380 yen for the big size and 320 to 280 yen for the small size. Since the day I found out about the deal, I had been eating in that store once everyday. These stores have machines where you buy tickets for the food that you want to eat and present them to the store keepers. At this moment in time, I have ticket stubs for 3 days consecutive and the deal last till friday. I will post the collection when I have completed them all.

Last few trains of the day

2005-10-02T02:16:00.000+09:00

Boarding the last few trains of the day is so different from boarding the train at other times. In the morning, almost everyone is going to work and there is a solemn atmosphere and people are quietly squeezed in the trains. In the afternoon, the trains are not so squeezy and it is a little rowdy as there are small groups of teenagers chatting in the trains. At night especially the last few trains, the whole train is like a fish market. Almost everyone in the trains is drunk and with the loud conversations they have with their friends, it is totally unexpected from a 12 am train from what I had experienced. Other than trains, it's a common sight to see people lying face down drunk in the train stations, something definitely cannot be seen in Singapore. Today met up with my friend from Singapore together with 4 other of her friends. It's an interesting break as I have not spoken Singlish for one whole day in a while. It is the first time I had pretty decent Chinese food too.

library

2005-09-28T22:10:00.000+09:00

Today I got off work early and planned to sleep on the train on the way back. I took the train that stopped at every stop and fell asleep all the way until 5 stops before mine. Now very awake, I went to the library and started browsing some books and I came upon a prize winning composition essays written by students from primary four to secondary three. So I started reading the essays and realised that my level is somewhere between primary 5 and secondary 2. For the passages, I will be able to understand the general meaning behind it, but for the words, I am able to understand but could only read all the words at about primary level. So I guess I'm not at primary 2 as I thought I would be. Well primary 5 isn't very far from it either so I got lots to work on. Wish me luck.

End of long weekend

2005-09-26T00:56:00.000+09:00

Women dancing on a makeshift stage.

fish on a stick on charcoal. Looks good but didn't try.

Fishing game using an easy to break net. Seems like a traditional Japanese game.

Colored balls where children buy, scoop and bring home with them.

Me and my father had a splendid lunch of buffet shabu shabu. Lets just say we ate so much that there is no need for dinner. haha. After that, my father came over to my apartment to have a look at the environment. On the way to the station from my house, there happen to be a festival (which has been going on for 2 days and I didn't know) and both of us went to have a look. It's pretty interesting with games and food all of which are very typical of Japanese culture. After that, I met a friend and we watched shrek(with japanese voice over) on my computer. It's kinda interesting to watch a show in English dubbed over with another language. It's just like watching americans talk and instead chinese words come out. That's the end of the week of 2 super long weekends and back to work on monday.

FUGUUUU

2005-09-25T01:50:00.000+09:00

Today we had fugu. Met up with Sachiko and then my father and friends and we covered some parts of Ueno before heading for the Fugu resturant. In case you don't know, fugu is a very poisonous blowfish that needs a chef with a special certificate to be able to prepare the delicacies. There are reports of people who try to cut fugu at home and ended up poisioning themselves. Anyway, the resturant we went to sells only fugu dishes and we had a set dinner that cost about 4000yen per person. The first dish is fugu sashimi and fried fugu, followed by a fugu shabu shabu style. When the plate of "raw materials" come, parts of the fish can be seen moving, imagine the freshness of it. The following dish is when they use the soup for the shabu shabu to make fugu porridge followed by ice-cream. Haven't had such a fantastic meal for a long time. Got to thank Sachiko for introducing and my father for bringing us. Anyway, he will be heading back 2 days later. Will be going out to lunch with him before he leaves.

mooncakes

2005-09-23T00:29:00.000+09:00

Together with supplies, I had about 7 mooncakes. So today I had a small gathering with 4 friends, eating mooncakes and drinking chrysanthemum tea, feels good as even in the states, I don't do this much. Father is in other parts of Japan right now and so I had to start my unpacking of all the supplies which will probably take a couple of weeks. Weather is getting cooler. I think I might be one of the few people who wants the weather to get cold so that I could eat food that tastes better in winter. Weird as it seems, I am actually looking forward to the cold winter, at least now I am.

Supplies!!!!

2005-09-20T23:00:00.000+09:00

I'm currently at the hotel that my father is staying at. For those who do not know, my father came to Japan for business for about a week and I am staying with him for this period of time. At the same time, he brought supplies for me all the way from Singapore. At first I thought that it will be a relaxing and fun trip. Well, it isn't that bad except that I had 3 heavy bags of stuffs to bring back home from the hotel and after the 2nd trip today. My body is aching all over and I still have one more to go tomorrow. Well, guess that's the price to pay for a better life ahead. Japanese tv has nice shows, makes me want to buy a television.

On the train today, there was a guy sitting on the seat trying to put on a short sleeve shirt and he was having difficulty. An old lady standing at the side helped him put the shirt on. Both of them are strangers! Makes me wonder, from acknowledging the person holding the lift door open to helping a stranger put on a shirt, how far will kindness of Japanese people go. Also, history does have an influence on how the culture of the country becomes, all which I have no idea of. Too many things to find out, too little time to do so.. Maybe these answers will show themselves to me soon..

language exchange

2005-09-15T23:39:00.000+09:00

Today met up with a Japanese housewife to carry out language exchange. Today's topic is cooking and I found out receipes for many simple dishes. I also realised that I could not easily come up with receipes for dishes in Singapore. Maybe now will be my quest to search out for good food and learn their receipes. Get ready guys, the chef is coming out of his shelf.

Train tips

2005-09-15T02:50:00.000+09:00

For those people going to Tokyo, you will definitely need to use the trains to go from a location to another destination. Here are some tips( I feel) will be able to help you enjoy a smooth squeezy ride instead of an uncomfortable squeezy ride.

1) Always use the first few or the last few carriages of the trains as they are usually the least crowded ones. If you happen to catch an all female carriage and you are a female, then lucky you. Else you will have to move up afew more carriages.
2)If possible, when you enter the train, try to squeeze your way into the middle of the carriages, as in between the two doors. Most probably you will not get a seat but you will avoid the weight of human beings crashing down on you from all sides.
3)Second worse case scenario is when you are squeezed standing near the entrance of the door. Don't worry. You will not die of suffocation. Just stay calm and grab a bar or handle if possible and pray that no one will push their weight on you when the train moves. If possible, stay close to the sides and avoid at all cost to go against the flow of human traffic. You will definitely regret it if you don't do so.
4)Worst case scenario is when you have people leaning their whole body weight on you when you have nothing to hold on to. If you are in that situation like me today, you could
i)Push any bars nearby to balance back your weight.
ii)Lean back at the guy when you have the chance to.
iii)Or free fall.

Well, hope this helps and if anyone have any other suggestions do let me know, especially solutions for the worst case scenario.

Greetings

2005-09-13T02:20:00.000+09:00

What is still confusing about Japanese is the greetings. Whether it is the morning or the afternoon, as long as you step into the office, the greeting used will be ohayougozaimasu, which means good morning. In textbooks we are drilled to use the greeting only in the morning and here I am faced with a situation where I could use it anytime in the day. Also, before you leave the office, you are suppose to say otsukaresamadeshita(literally means you had a hard day's work). Well, mostly this phrase is used at the end of the day before you leave but then I just realised today that there are a whole variety of situations where this phrase can be used. In an elevator greeting strangers, in the streets greeting public sweepers, the situation is endless. Guess after studying a language for years, I have just barely skimmed the surface of it and there is a whole wide sea of knowledge out there to be explored. Somehow, I got to find a way to drink out all the sea water fast. Maybe I will buy more straws.

special weekend

2005-09-12T00:06:00.000+09:00

At last there is one special eventful weekend. On saturday early evening, I went with my friend, Taka over the border to Saitama, which is above Tokyo. The plan was to hang out in Saitama and to stay over at his place at night. When I reached there it was around 7.00 and we headed down to an open air hot spring. It's the first time I have been into one and it's quite an interesting experience. Other than the normal spring water, there is another heated spring water area and also another jacuzzi style area. Basically, after the whole experience, I left feeling refreshed. Next my friend's father brought us to a sushi bar where I had the freshest sushi that I have ever eaten before. I was also introduced to sake and another variation of Japanes alcohol. After that, I followed Taka to meet his childhood friend to a few food and beer places that lasted till about 3.45 before we returned home. Sunday was basically spent at a park in Saitama, followed by a nice afternoon chat with Taka's mother. Somehow I am able to understand like more than 1/2 of the converstion but I still need a translator. I only managed to return home in the evening to get ready for the next day.

laundry

2005-09-10T14:32:00.000+09:00

One thing I love about having a laundry machine in my house is that I will never never ever lose another sock again. Yeah!!!

food.

2005-09-08T23:56:00.000+09:00

Saizeriya is one place that me and my friend from the same training program planned to visit at least once a week. It has been deemed his favorite place as the place have the food he likes and a nice environment. For me, the food is of reasonable price and a good chance for me not to eat alone. Few days ago I was resting at an open top resting area and looking at the clouds, things that I had not done for a long long time. Felt relaxing except it is kinda weird because the wind was very strong and the clouds were moving really fast. Sort of felt that the earth was moving instead of the clouds.

back

2005-09-07T18:08:00.000+09:00

Hey guys, I'm back. I just went on a break from blogging to reflect on my life and what I want to do for the future. Sorry to keep you guys waiting. These days nothing much have happened. During the weekends, I went out with Kenya and a couple of friends to a BBQ gathering at a park. One of my friend, Taka, cooked for us really good yakisoba and we had fun. The park was pretty big, about the size of 1/2 of Bishan park, I think. The weather was really good, windy and sunny all the way until Sunday night when the typhoon travelled to southern Japan where the wind picked up speed and it started to drizzle non-stop. Just now when the weather was cleared for a while, I went out to the library to look at some books and around my neighbourhood to have a look at the houses designs and what they grow in their gardens. My area has lots of landed houses, the designs vary ranging from traditional designs as in the wooden doors and arches to modern concrete and high tech looking houses with their own garages. Occasionally, there will be an apartment building that stretches up 12 stories that adds flavor to the area. My place is relatively safe although some say that crimes are increasing. There is a police post right outside my house so I am not really afraid.

Next thing that caught my attention is the trains. Well, as many of you already know, the trains in Tokyo are crowded as hell, especially when I am on my way to work in the morning. Although, I rarely see the train attendants pushing people into the trains, it is still packed to the point where you are cushioned in all directions by humans and all you see is heads and the advertisements displayed in the carriages. It is during times like this when I don't even have the chance to take out my learning card where I observe the people and what they do. In the order of what most people do on the trains, sleep, read, phone message or checking email and make up( for women). Thought that the last one is strange as I don't think there are many females will touch up their make up in the trains in Singapore. Thought that it is interesting.

got milk?

2005-09-02T00:29:00.000+09:00

I am not sure what changed but I have started a habit of drinking milk. Not that I am complaining but it is kind of weird because I have never been a big fan of milk and I have never liked it. Probably because I think I am not healthy enough. I guess. Anyway, a small carton of milk cost around 200 yen and I can drink like 2 cartons a week which makes about 2 litres of milk per week. I think if Clifton were to see this, he will be shocked because he knows that I usually do not drink that much milk in one week.

middle of the night

2005-08-31T03:26:00.000+09:00

It is the middle of the week and I am already hoping for weekends to come. Everyday is like a routine, going to work, coming home and waiting for the next day to start. Luckily, I will be getting my alien card in the weekends, which means I will be able to set up a bank account, hopefully.

typhoon

2005-08-26T01:24:00.000+09:00

First time experiencing typhoon. Luckily i'm at home. Well, how to say, very strong wind and rain. Hopefully tomorrow it gets better. Before coming to Japan and even before taking up Japanese, I told myself never to spend a single cent and master Japanese. Now after taking 2 classes and buying more and more textbooks, I can tell everyone that not spending a single cent to learn Japanese is virtually impossible. Anyway, hopefully I do not spend too much money buying books and rather more time studying it. My girlfriend says my English sucks. Hopefully, the English that is appearing in this blog from now on will be better.

First meal

2005-08-24T21:35:00.000+09:00

Hey, first time I cooked something for myself in Japan. It is simple but filling and still have remainder for tomorrow's lunch. Want to know the technology level of arcade centers in Japan. You will be amazed. Well for a start, the basic drums, keyboard, dj and guitar games are still around. Also some of the old fighting games are still around such as the street fighter series. New games that can't be found in Singapore or other places are fighting games that original from Japanese manga or comic books. There is like about 4 or 5 of those kinds around and look kinda fun. Sometimes there are tornament held such as Initial D, the last time I saw in singapore. Here, there is a big screen in the middle of about 8 consoles and it shows occasional battles from on of the consoles. The games are Tekkan 5 and Gandam something. Just thought that it is cool. For Wenjie, remember typing of the dead, they have the keyboard here. Only problem is the words are in romaji which is not easy to type at all. Other than non betting video games, there is still another section of betting video games and another section of pachinko. Will not go into pachinko today as I had not tried that one. Saw some people play the betting video games and I tell you, it is really crazy. Firstly, for Clifton, there is a champion football game that looks really cool. You buy cards of players and place them on a board and they location are detected. You can move around the players to place them at the desired location and during game play you can shift the player's location and also change players just by sliding the cards on the board. Check out the website:www.wccf.jp. Other than this, there is also games for boxing and kingdom army strategy game that resembles this kind of play. Next, there is also an RPG kind of game where the coins you deposit will add up to the life that your character has. You will move around the dungeon to collect items to help you in your quest and fight creatures. Also, items can be obtained for your character to equip and to become stronger. The game looks like it can be pretty money intensive. Other than all these, there is alot of ufo catcher games and when i say alot, i mean a whole floor of them. If you still do not know what are ufo catcher games, they are those where you move your claws around inside a glass box and try to catch or scoop up sweets or soft toys, these seem to be a big favourite here. Anyways, I think I have said too much. Keep you guys updated on more stuffs happening here.

weekend

2005-08-22T08:26:00.000+09:00

Hey, back from a fun weekend and not ready to start work. Well, Jeff came back from osaka and kyoto and told me about all the fun that he had, makes me want to visit those places if i could find the time. Basically, we met up with Sanae on Saturday and explored parts of Ikebukuro. Nice shopping area, very suitable for Carol. I'm pretty sure of that. On sunday, we went down to Ginza as Jeff wanted to see some art galleries. Somehow we were not really able to find alot but the place is pretty cool. They had the main road sealed off for people to walk and somehow during that time, Tokyo doesn't seem so crowded at all. There are some people walking their dogs, photographers shooting pictures and people relaxing and strolling. Most interesting thing is within that one place, many things can be seen going on at once. Did not bring my camera with me but I sure will the next time I go. This is a place I will recommend to Lucian. Most of the shops around are expensive boutiques. Not much of a buying stuff place but of a seeing place. Highly recommended by ME. haha. Well, Jeff is leaving for L.A today and it's going to be boring days for me again. Keep you guys updated if any interesting things happen...

2005-08-19T08:34:00.000+09:00

Hey people. First time I write my blog in the office before people come in. Well, update on current situation. First of all, I am still a tourist visa status. Hopefully everything will be settled soon.

one week break

2005-08-17T21:45:00.000+09:00

Hey guys, after disappearing for one week, here I am back again. Basically this one week holiday was pretty eventful. I went for one of the best fireworks display, beach with friends, visited a temple and tokyo tower. Jeff came over from the USA to visit us and i'm to bring him round to meet other mutual Japanese friends and also to see the place. The fireworks display was the best I had seen in my life so far. Guess how long is it, 1 hr and 30mins. Unbelieveable right. First time I am able to snap picture and enjoy the fireworks, really rewarding. It isn't really that dark at tokyo tower, that is just one of the effects, but the view is fantastic too. Too bad the clouds was pretty thick that day so didn't get the see fuji mountain. Got a nice tan at the beach but it's all peeling off. The temple I went to is Sen sou ji, didn't take any photos there and I will definitely go there again. Guess it's time I post some pictures up.

2005-08-10T08:30:00.000+09:00

Same thing as usual althought there will be a holiday from thursday onwards for about a week. In that time most probably will not be able to update my blog. Just to let you guys know in case you guys are checking for updates. haha. Anyway, I don't think I have so much fans yet. So far there are no comments. Anyway, I have a friend that is going to be in the area, so will probably bring him around and at the same time tour the place myself. Hopefully the both of us will not get lost. That's the plan for the next few days until i'm back to work. My gf is complaining that I did not mention her in the blog so get ready to hear more about her from now on.

2005-08-09T08:29:00.000+09:00

Want to know the difference in prices from a big shopping center and a discount shop. 3000 yen to 150yen. Well, quality has yet to be compared but at the big shopping center, that is the cheapest I can find. At least now I know where to look for my stuffs. Well, guess the thing new about this place is not only the culture but also about living myself. Without a roommate,things are really different. Things are getting on smoothly so far because I open up my wallet flaps a little more. Guess some stuffs that has to be bought has to be bought. Maybe think of it like open up the strings more so that I could save in the future. Weird concept but it works, at least for food. Looking at the pictures in carol's website reminded me of the fun times the group of Singaporeans had when I was in Tucson. Kinda wanna go back and join them. Well, Japan is fun too, I could feel the energy, life, history and culture behind the city which I had yet to explore. Lots of time, for now, settle down.

2005-08-08T08:45:00.000+09:00

Thinking back, this is the first time I had been staying alone for about 10 days. What happened before was I was either with my family or friends, not reallyin a house where I was alone. So far things are going fine. I have sort ofa cozy place with the things that I need. Groceries enough to last me for a short while, still alive and kicking. Anyways, slept alot today. Tonight,got to do some important things like studying and such. Till later.

2005-08-07T08:45:00.000+09:00

Well this is a message to my family and anyone who doesn't know. I do not needtissue paper at all. They are giving out so many in the streets I thinkthat if i collect them all, I might not even need to buy toilet paper.I should be able to use them for months and months. Also another thingthey give out in the streets other than phamplets are fans. The fans are like the plastic ones they have during national day but these really comes inhandy during the hot summer nowadays. Well, today basically spend about 1000 yen plus at an internet cafe catching up with some friends and my gf online and searchingfor more information about japan. Think it's quite expensive but i don't knowbecause I had never been to one either in Singapore or in U.S.A. Anyway,it's so good seeing old friends and able to talk on skype and downloadingall the stuffs that I need. I think I might be going to the internet cafe onceevery 2 weeks until my internet is set up, kinda like the environment there.Most people there are actually mainly to read manga and the price is the same. Today also is the day where I bought groceries. Wanted to buy knife but the place doesn't sell, so didn't bought meat in the end. Anyway, I got rice enough to eat for about a month or so, depending on how much I eat nowadays which hasdropped since I went back to singapore. Might not be able to eat as much as the timeI was with clifton. haha. Tomorrow will be going out with neighbours to getsome of the rest of the things that I need. See ya guys.

2005-08-05T08:50:00.000+09:00

A very sleepy day. Trying to keep awake during training class, luckily, I already knowall that is taught, only now it's really fresh in the head. Doing well inclasses, which give me time to try to advance faster than the rest, and at the same time catch up on my japanese. First time doing laundry here, thedetergent cost about the same in usa, only reduced in size, at the rate thesegoes, I better start to find another part time job soon. Anyways, leave thethinking till next time. Tomorrow is an early day...

2005-08-04T08:49:00.000+09:00

Things are more or less on the way but not settled. Still need to wait for the school to send me my certificate of graduation and with that, i could do tons more things. Anywayz, I didn't write yesterday because I went out todrink with my old friends from usa,Take and Grant and a new friend i met here.Well, all of us ended up drunk and I had to carry my friend home. Well,kinda first experience for me, carrying someone accross the streets full ofpeople, riding the trains and also dragging him all the way back home. It's kind fun in a way as we get to talked to people who we normally will not talk toAt the bar, got to know a friendly group of people beside. At the station,we met an american guy who came over and ask if we are alright. Turned outthat he's from U of A. kinda cool huh. Then next on the train talked withan elementary school teacher. Anyways, it's an experience. For today, thingsare as per normal. Met up with kenya, u of a japanese friend. Went out to eat,had fun. Guess that's about it. got to sleeeep..soooooon...

first day

2005-08-01T17:51:00.000+09:00

The first day of training. Met the people, go through the orientation, listened to the lectures(50-80% in) and walked round shibuya area. Didn'texpect the company to be pretty big. Prospects looks good although the problem now is the language. Guess I will be here for quite some time.Met people from other places in the world working in the same company. Most of them are at a later stage of training but it is fun to talk to themand see how they cope with the life and stuffs.

2005-07-31T17:51:00.000+09:00

Last day for me to relax before work start. Woke up very early today about5.15am. No idea why but the sky was already bright, after doing some stuffsgo back to sleep again and woke up at 11.30. Studied and ate lunch. Temperature going up, around 29.6 degrees celcius now. Interesting aboutsummer, people in the streets besides giving out info sheets about their shops also give out tissue paper and fans. So can usually see people walkingin the streets at the same time fanning themselves. Quite amusing to see.

2005-07-30T17:50:00.000+09:00

Spend the day at home again, more time studying. In the evening, went outfor dinner as lunch wasn't full enough, was eating at a small playground when a cat came for food. I finished up nearly every thing leaving the"sauce" of the meat and a small clump of rice. I should have known thatcats don't eat rice. When i place the box on the floor,the cat immediatelygo for the sauce and totally dried the sauce section. I wonder will the cat die if it had too much msg. Just a thought. Anyway, on the way back,i found a nice box which is now officially my table for my laptop for days, months to come.

2005-07-29T17:50:00.000+09:00

A day of loneliness. Went to shop on my own, bought a few needed groceries,then cooked some noodles and rest at home the rest of the day. Will be good ifI could find someone to talk to.

first day

2005-07-28T17:49:00.000+09:00

Hey, it's a day of many first times. It's the first time I took the trains alone, first time finding the place to meet my friends alone, first timethat I try to get a phone ready in Japanese and first time feeling the tremors of an earthquake. The whole experience is scary but yet exciting. My senses after being here for 2 days has reallylevelled up by quite a bit. Anyway, seeing familiar faces after even oneday brings lots of relief. We went to take neo print, chat, drink and karaoke,really loosen the fear and tension that had been building up unknowningly for the past few days. Anyways, for you people out there, you can email myphone at (send a comment if you want to know). Only text please and not too much words else I willgo broke. Will reply you as soon as I can. Think I will rest tomorrow.

Arrival

2005-07-27T17:48:00.000+09:00

The day to go to japan had came finally. Having lots of mixed feelings,I boarded the plane to Japan. The thought about going to a country where I'm not exactly good with the language has never crossed my mind until I am there. Looking down from the plane, the scene is one that is so overpowered by green. The color of the green is brighter which look likewell kept carpet grass only it's not. Of course buildings exists but notas much as singapore or usa, at least on the way to the airport. All thanksto Grant(a friend I met in usa), he came to the airport and share with memy first experience of trains in japan. Not as crowded as I think, from the airport to my office location which is in shibuya. Along the way, phonecalls came from the company to grant's cellphone but the words that I could hear are gibberish and words that sound like japanese. The reasonis partly due to the lack of practise and loud background noise. When Ireached my office, it's already pass 8.00pm, way later than what I hadpredicted. Well, one of the person in charge of helping people like us brought me on another train adventure to my apartment. Some of you mighthave seen clips of train operators pushing people into trains, well, I didn't see it thought, but I did end up in a situation where you can not move at all because around you is people squeezing you from all directions.Kinda an experience with 2 big luggages and a laptop bag. Finally did reach my apartment, settled in with a "make shift" bed bought from the local "walmart" like convenient store. All for today, getting my energy read to settle tomorrow's stuffs.

Introduction

2005-07-05T00:32:00.000+09:00

Hi people, lets start with an introduction. I'm 25 this year, just graduated from U.S.A, heading for Japan to start on my career. I'm not a person of many words, just wanna let the people around me know what's happening in my life, my thoughts, hopes and dreams. For a start, I will like to thank all the people in usa for being there for me and that I sure miss you all alot and also to my Singaporean friends to catch up with me while you can before I head off to the land of the rising sun. The next post will be about the day I arrive in Japan and what goes after that. So keep a lookout!!