tom thinks aloud

I feel sapped

2010-09-07T00:27:00.002+09:00

Yup, I do. This summer has been excruciatingly hot, and it looks to continue well into September. I'm doing all my exercise at night now, as surely only death will be the consequence if I tried running during the day.
This very shaky with Miyu at the moment. We seem to have hit a very rough patch, and I'm not even sure I want to try and make it better...I feel bad about it, but its a Mexican standoff at the moment. How long will it last? Who will blink first?
Jay's back to school tomorrow, which will be good for him. I want to send him there x3 times per week, but money is tight at the moment. If only Miyu would get her arse into gear and start being "creative", it would be a relief. But she seems lost in screens. TV, computer and mobile. Constantly glued and seemingly stuck. Her lack of energy saps me.

The lady on the train

2010-08-24T11:31:00.002+09:00

I looked up momentarily, noticing the sparkle glinting off of her high heeled shoes. She was dressed in lots of lace and frills. I think they call it the Gothic Lolita look, or something like that. Anyway, it seems quite popular over here - escapist dress-up for the weekend.
She looked to be in her late 20s, although with that much make-up on her face it was difficult to tell. Those heels must have been giving her jib, because she soon slid them off once she was seated opposite me on the train. She began fanning herself frantically. August in Tokyo is not pleasant, and flitting between air conditioned "spaces" becomes a game we all have to play, if we are to survive.
I went back to my book, which was pretty absorbing, and I didn't notice her disembarking, although I did catch a passing glint of something shiny. To my surprise, when I did look over at her vacated seat, her sparkling shoes remained. Did they slip her mind?

Attack of the orificeman

2009-05-22T11:51:00.002+09:00

On the subway the other day, on me way to a client, just sitting engrossed in my book ("A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry, which is brilliant, btw), when we stopped at Ebisu station. This slightly scruffy looking man comes bounding onto the train, sports bag slung over his shoulder, and almost runs to sit next to me. Quickly gets up again, shunts his back up onto the rack above and then sits back down, in a kinda sprawling manner, legs apart, feet pointed outwards. He then proceeded to use his right index finger to literally drill into every nook and cranny on his body, starting with some deep digging of his nostrils. I thought at first he'd just spend a couple of seconds at it, but he continued for two stops! First the nose, where he'd excavate some sludge and bring it forth into daylight, give it a good examination before plunging back in, wiping any treasures off on his trousers. Next ears, which must have burst an eardrum, seeing how deep he was going. Then onto the gaps between his toes. Yup, shoes came off, and socks, and it was time for the rummage between toes game. This time, he was actually smelling his finger each time, which almost made me puke. Finally, he finished with some scratching under his armpits and then some manic rustling of his hair, before settling down into a deep sleep.
Throughout this little adventure over the contours of his body, nobody else would look at him. It left me slightly flabbergasted and feeling ill, as I hurried off the train.

Photos from recent thangs

2009-05-11T18:57:00.002+09:00

Scorching sunburns and an aborted ekiden

2009-05-11T15:02:00.002+09:00

Made my way down to Arakawa river near Akabane yesterday, for my first ekiden (running relay), with Joseph, Nami and Phil. We hadn't done any training together but were feeling quietly confident we'd put in a decent performance.
It was bloody hot - somewhere in the low 30s, and being beside the river meant there was very little cover. Still, there were at least a thousand people gathered for the event, and we wandered around the grounds enjoying the various costumes that people had come out in. We had decided on doing the race in drag, sans the make-up, so I donned one of Miyu's purple wigs, and Nami had brought along a spare skirt. Must say we looked good, damn good, and there were plenty of appreciative stares as we mingled with the crowds.
The order of running was 10km (Phil), 5km (Tom), 3km (Nami) and 5km (Joseph). Phil got off to a good start, and we expected him to reach the hand-over point at around 50 mins, giving us enough time to have a further wander around, where we came across a small taiko group (Japanese drummers), banging out some thumping tunes.
I then went over to the handover point, jostling with the other runners, looking out for our teamates to come running past with the relay band. And I waited...and waited...and waited...by the time 90 minutes had passed we knew something serious was up with Phil, but Joseph and Nami couldn't find him in any emergency tent or when they ran along the track. After 2 hours we finally gave up and went over to the emergency tent again, to find Phil lying on the floor, covered in wet towel and very confused. He had no recollection of how he got there, and the last thing he could remember was going through the half-way mark but then getting very tired and hot. Then nothing. Everything went dark, and he woke briefly vomitting, and being surrounded by medical staff, who were throwing cold water over him and spraying him with some cool sprays. He blacked out again and then found himself in the tent, wondering where we were.
Although we didn't really get any sort of explanation from the medical staff, who were pretty busy treating about another 20 or so fallen runners, they tried to make Phil as comfortable as possible. We stayed with him for the next hour, chatting and making sure he got re-hydrated, then when he was feeling a bit better, made our slow way back to the station and home.
Disappointed that we couldn't run, but very glad Phil has now made a full recovery, and is looking forward to trying again next year!
Due to all the waiting around, I got pretty badly burnt, which left me feeling very tired and I ended up just crashing out after getting home. Quite a day.

Today's run

2009-04-12T21:55:00.000+09:00

Nakameguro to Yoyogi park and back

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Spring

2009-03-25T07:15:00.002+09:00

Been a heck of a long time. Call it a winter hibernation if you want, but for some reason I just didn't have the inclination to write here, but my mojo is back again, so here I am!
Recent news is that Joseph and I completed the Tokyo Marathon 10km race last weekend, with a reasonable time of around 50 mins. Not quite what we were aiming for (around 40 minutes), but the field was so packed for the first 5km that it was more like a game of dodgems! The last 5km was much more on pace, at around 20 mins, but we lost around 7 mins in the first half. Quite an experience though. Never seen so much lycra in one place before, and the comaraderie amongst all the runners was very energising. There was a bit of anfare at the beginning, with speechs from some local government officials, a male choir and some fireworks. The really clever thing was that we were given individual microchips, which we strapped onto one of our trainers. When we passed he start line, it recorded our start time, and then stopped the count when we passed the finish line. Also provided splits at 5km mark. All the info could be accessed online staright after the race by just entering our bib number.
Next on our running agenda is an ekiden (relay) next month, and I'll be doing a 5km section, so it's going to be like a sprint. for that I'm going to aim for under 20 mins.
If you'd like to watch our race, Joseph test ran his new head-iphone video, which offered live streaming running straight to your living room. Click here to re-live the experience and take in some of the sights of Tokyo. TOKYO MARATHON CAM
Work is going OK, although we were all a bit gutted to get a pay cut of 5%, with little or no notice of it being actioned. Belt tightening time here we come.
Jay is in his dangerous jumping off anything high phase. The boy has no fear, he's like a little monkey. For some reason he says "no" with a posh English accent. Very funny.
Miyu has begun tinkering away with accessories again. The new work station that we installed in the front room, a big L shaped desk, is having a positive affect on both our works. So nice to have a wide exapanse of white desk to get productive.
Will write again soon...I promise.

Christmas 2

2009-01-06T10:19:00.001+09:00

Christmas 1

2009-01-06T10:14:00.001+09:00

Happy times!

Photos from Shizuoka

2008-12-17T01:26:00.002+09:00

Buzzing

2008-12-17T01:08:00.003+09:00

Another 12 hour day slogging away at work today, and I can't sleep because of the adrenaline. Jay's remaining teeth are coming through, so he keeps waking during the night, obviously in some pain, so I've been carrying him around until he nods off to sleep again, completely knackered.
My parents arrived last week, and its been really great having them here, and for Jay to get to know them. Weather permitting, they usually go out for a long walk in the local park, and I think having them around has really accelerated his speech, as he's now chatting away in baby speak, and can now say "papa" and "bye" very clearly. He's been saying "mama" for a while now, and it makes me happy that I've now joined his lexical repertoire : )
I'm bearing witness to the rounds of redundancies that are sweeping through the foreign affiliated companies that I visit. The impact has been quite severe, leaving those that have avoided the cut feeling angry, confused and fearful. One person said she cried for two days, as many of her long-term colleagues were axed. Another described it as the saddest moment in his life. I think people here have taken it so hard because they've never experienced such swinging changes in their work lives before, and such cuts are pretty rare over here. What I'm hearing is that it's going to get worse, which is pretty devastating.
Well, I've got 4 more days to go before I finish for the year, when I can take a break for two whole weeks! It'll be my longest holiday this year, and it's going to be filled with getting my eyes done, trying to do lots of training, and visiting the various Kobayashi and Watanabe clans for New Year. All very exciting.

Photos

2008-12-03T07:48:00.002+09:00

Crisp

2008-12-03T07:34:00.002+09:00

It's a crisp morning here in Tokyo, and I'm feelin rather chipper, albeit suffering from a cold which I think I must have picked up from Jay.
Last Sunday we did our first 15km run around the palace, and in pretty good time too - 1 hr 16 minutes. That's about an average of 5 mins per km, which we need to get down to around 4 mins. A big task, yes, but we have about 4 months to do it, so I'm pretty confident.
The Yen continues to strengthen against the Pound. Last night it was 137 Yen to the Pound, which is a 13 year high. Feel sorry for my parents to be coming over in this situation, and if only we could have reversed our visit to the UK to this year, and they to last year, it would have been much better. Oh well...
There seems to be doubts over the government's economic stimulus package. The plan had been to give everybody 11,000 Yen to spend as they wished, but the Finance Minister is now saying it's unlikely to work, so it may be shelved. Personally I thought it was a bad idea, as even though it'd be nice to have the extra cash, I think most people would have just saved it, which defeats its point.
I was speaking to a Private Equity bod the other day, and he said even though the current climate is tough, it's also a great opportunity to buy distressed companies at low prices, and build them up over a period of up to 10 years. Luckily, his company has a huge amount of cash available for such action, so that they are not solely reliant on financing from banks. This makes me think it's a good time to do some canny investing of my own, but its difficult to judge when to get in, as the markets are so volatile. One option is to buy sterling now, as I imagine it will strengthen in the future, but with its continued decline, again its when to take the plunge.

An end (almost) t a busy week

2008-11-28T22:13:00.002+09:00

My, it certainly has been a busy week for me. Even though we had a public holiday on the Monday, I packed in my usual schedule, work wise, into the remaining 5 days, so it's been quite exhausting.
I was able to fit in a couple of runs during this time, not including the usual Sunday morning scamper around the palace, but was unable to get to the gym. This'll be rectified tomorrow, where I'm hoping to fit in a long 2 hour session.
A really great exercise out of the gym has been pull ups, which I've been doing in the little park next to our mansion. Three variations, of overhand, underhand and parallelhand gives my upper body a really good workout. This I combine with press-ups, squats and sit ups, which can all be done on the little multi-slide, climbing structure for kids. As it's usually early in the morning, I'm not taking up any space that the kids would want to be on, so it's ideal.
Also, for some hamstring work, I do some high kicks to the front, whilst walking forward, which is good for stretching and flexibility, as well as coordination.
This Sunday, we're going to try for a 15km run around the palace, and Joseph has a new app for his iphone, which will hopefully more accurately monitor our progress, and give us some much needed feedback on how we're doing (previous attempts have been disrupted by what I can only guess as my frequency disruptors, which I emit around electronic devices!)

A new year in life

2008-11-21T08:36:00.002+09:00

Well, I've now passed into the final year of my 30s, with little fanfare but with renwed hope and a desire to do more. Yesterday itself was fairly stressful, as I hate interviews, so I was feeling very nervous before hand. As it turned out, it wasn't bad at all, and I even question why they bothered. I was in a room with an old, urbane Japanese man, who spoke flawless, Oxford inflected English, and a rather pretty young woman who would act as my mock trainee. It lasted 30 minutes, and for that time I spent about 10 minutes doing a trial lesson on Introductions and small talk, and the remaining 20 minutes was mostly taken up with the old man seeming to luxuriate in the fact that he could speak jolly nicely, and so will do so, thank you very much! I mean, surely it would have been more cost effective to invite all of the potential trainers for some sort of seminar type affair, rather than spreading it over the whole day, and tying up not only the old don and his colleague, but also one of our Account Executives in the next room, who's job was to come down stairs and collect us from reception, then bring us to the interview room and then go sit in the room next door (he was completely bored out if his head, he said). Mind you, I think this kind of thing goes on a lot in Japanese corporations. The process is far more important than whether or not it's the most efficient or effective way of doing things.
Anyway, that was my birthday. In the evening, Miyu had cooked me a yummy leg of pork, and had bought me Jamie Oliver's new cookbook, which I'm really looking forward to trying out.

Exhausted

2008-11-19T00:18:00.002+09:00

It's been an exhausting day. 12 hours of work, plus various bits of editing work afterwards. I've also had to prepare for the upcoming interview with the major Japanese trader on Thursday, where now they're demanding we be completely familiar with 136 pages of training materials so that we can randomly demonstrate any part of it on the day. We were given the materials yesterday, so I've been trying to memorize as much as possible, but will probably have to wing it on the day. I think it's pretty unreasonable to expect us to be fully prepared with this, and it seems there must be a gap between what the Account Executives from our company are promising (the earth), and what can be reasonably delivered by us in such a short time frame. Our CEO yesterday said just so much yesterday, but that economic circumstances means we are in a weaker position, so must try and fit to what clients demand.
With all this work, I'm trying to figure out a way to also fit in the necessary training for the 10km next year. I've tried getting up a bit earlier, but it's been a struggle, truth be told, although the Sunday runs are much easier with the added obligation of working as a team. I'm also finding it difficult to fit in any gym time, which is something I'm really missing. Ideally, it would be great to have a home gym, but at present there's not enough space : (
Phew, I'm knacked. Off to bed!

Autumnal day

2008-11-17T22:57:00.002+09:00

A really lovely day today, with the leaves cascading down from the trees lining the Meguro river providing a splendid backdrop for my mid-afternoon run.
For one reason or another, we couldn't make it to the Lasik clinic yesterday, so will have to wait for another opportunity to go have my eyes tested to see if they're suitable for the operation. Actually, it gave me an opportunity to check out some others on-line, and I may go to another one I've located in Shinjuku, as it's cheaper. anyway, we'll see.
The economic downturn hasn't as yet bitten into my workload, thankfully, and I'm currently very busy. Must go see a major Japanese trader on Thursday for an interview and demo, to see whether they will give our company a big contract. It seems we're competing against a much smaller operation, who have been bad mouthing us at every opportunity. Hopefully, they'll see the quality we can bring to their training needs, and go with us.
My parents are going to be arriving in Japan in less than a month, and will be here for the Christmas and New Year festivities. Had planned to go to Hakone for some onsen action, but it seems all the major hotels are already booked up for Christmas week. For some reason Miyu doesn't want to stay in a Japanese style inn, preferring something more Western. I'm not too bothered either way, so the search continues.
Did I say I got into the Tokyo Marathon? Pretty impressive, as it was hugely over subscribed, with only a 1:17 chance of getting a place. I reckon it was because I put down I was British, as I know 3 Japanese who didn't get a place. Anyway, it gives Jopesh and I a real focus now, and a training plan is taking root.

Lasik

2008-11-14T23:33:00.002+09:00

Having worn glasses for the best part of my life, it is with some trpidation that I go soon to have my eyes lasered, and hopefully corrected. It's all rather exciting, and I can't quite imagine what it'll be like. For anybody that knows me, I'm half blind - extremely short sighted, and whenever anybody with good eye sight tries on my glasses they feel dizzy and soon get a headache - I kid you not! I reckon it'll be the little things that I notice most, like waking up in the morning and not having to flap around looking for my glasses, or actually being able to see clearly when I'm having a shower or bath. And going to an onsen is going to be so cool, as I'll be able to fully appreciate the beauty around me, and not be in some blurred world of my own. I wonder if it'll change me in any way, as far as my character is concerned? Will it affect my stature nd my confidence?
Well, the test is on Sunday to establish whether or not I can actually have the operation, so I'll wait until then to really start wondering how it's going to affect me.

Beautiful day

2008-11-13T10:04:00.002+09:00

It's a gorgeous day out, and Fuji san is in full splendor with its peak snow capped for just that photo perfect effect.
Jay's come down with a rather nasty cold, which has him coughing like an old man. He's a bit cranky, but still manages to smile away and sit in his little push cart playing with our old mobile phones. Recently, he's been experimenting with walking with his eyes closed, which is a bit scary to look at, especially as he a approaches obstacles, but it's a positive sign that he's developing his spatial awareness. He also manages now to walk backwards and has really got into getting us to read to him, often the same book over and over again!
I was really saddened and disgusted about the news regarding baby P, the 18 month baby who was brutally murdered in London. Seems like a systemic failure on the part of the care system and the various hospitals that saw him. A broken back, 8 broken ribs and multiple contusions and bruising which makes you wonder how anybody could have missed seeing the abuse he was subjected to. However, the blame of course lies squarely with the mother and two men who were convicted of this appalling crime. They deserve to be put away for the rest of their lives. How anybody could inflict such pain and suffering on an innocent child is completely beyond me, and leaves me with a hollow feeling inside. When I first heard the news, I was repulsed and was racked with nausea, anger and tears. Why, why why?

The long weekend

2008-11-02T07:01:00.002+09:00

Yay! It's a long weekend for us Nipponese and I'm just getting ready for my early morning run with Joseph in Komazawa Park. After doing a few kms, I'm off to the gym with Tomo, our neighbour, for a work out. After that, I'll probably be so exhausted I'll need a nap!

Countryside photos

2008-10-13T13:51:00.002+09:00

Communing with nature

2008-10-13T13:30:00.002+09:00

An extremely active day was had yesterday, which saw me at the crack of dawn to go meet Joseph for our regular Sunday morning trot around the Imperial Palace, followed by a 3 hour hike through the mountains Tenkaku and Ootaka.
The hike wasn't really planned, but seeing as I was at home alone and what with my thinking recently regarding the importance of nature to the human body, it was a good opportunity to follow up on it. The trip out to the mountains took just over an hour, on the Seibu Ikebukuro line, which was spent reading a translated manga called "Death Note". It's a pretty good read, and questions human morality and the battle between good and bad. I got off the train at Higashi Agano, a wee little station nestled in a valley, surrounded by tree covered mountains. The first thing I noticed was how quiet it was, and how sweet the air was. The smell of freshly cut wood hung in the air, as there was a logging company just 5 minutes walk from the station, with about a hundred trees stacked on top of one another. I found the path which began the trail quite easily, and almost immediately was engulfed in forest, birdsong and a few stray butterflies that crossed my path. An involuntary smile creased my face, and with a deep breath I set off.
The hike was described as Moderate in the guide book I was using, although some of the steep inclines left me quite winded, and I was soon working up a good sweat. It wasn't until I reached the peak of Mt. Tenkaku that I met some people. As is usual when hiking in Japan, the party I met were made up of 10 or so retired men and women. They had come the opposite way to me, so that they were almost finished, having started out a lot earlier in the day (about the same time I was huffing around the palace). We bid farewell, and it wasn't until I was descending from Mt. Ootaka that I met another party, a couple in their 30s, also going in the opposite direction to me.
By the end I was pretty exhausted, but could only stand on the train back to Tokyo, as it was full of other hikers, the majority old, who were resting their weary feet. When I did eventually get a seat, I promptly fell asleep, and may even have snored a bit before jerking awake when we pulled into Shibuya. Walking home, surrounded by concrete and steel, I couldn't help muse about the stark contrast of surroundings I had experienced in one day, leaving me feeling stimulated but also tired enough to fall into a deep slumber soon after getting through my front door.

Jay the model

2008-10-11T01:07:00.001+09:00

The man sees colours for numbers

2008-10-10T22:30:00.002+09:00

I met an accountant recently, who told me that whenever he thinks of numbers or he sees numbers, each number is a colour or a combination of colours. I'd heard about this in a documentary I watched about the world record holder of reciting pi to about 30,000 digits. Fascinating. Also, he said that about 50% of the accountants that work in his company are ambi-dextrous, which was unexpected.

Starnge video but great song

2008-10-08T16:59:00.003+09:00

Very strange but brill video and song by Devendra Banhart.

Lazy day and music exploration

2008-10-08T16:35:00.002+09:00

Having a bit of a lazy day today, due to some client cancellations. I was going to be really active and go to the gym, but I think I overdid it a bit yesterday, so decided to take it easy.
Listening to Emiliana Torrini, who has such a beautiful voice, quite similar to Bjork, and Vampire Weekend, who are very cool.
Also began reading The Return of Merlin by Deepak Chopra, which although is about the whole Arthur, Camelot story, is very philosophical and questions the state of the world and society today. Here's a quote from the introduction:

"What society thinks of as reality today is the hypnosis of social conditioning, an induced fiction in which we are all participating. It is the melodrama of a humdrum existence, filled with trite obsessions and trivial pursuits, wherein our only fate is to born, grow old and die.
If we could only realize it, the keys to the miracle of life lie in our own consciousness.
Life will bestow miracles on us when we begin to see it as an expression of the miraculous. Life itself is a miracle. We are here and now - that is a miracle."

Never a truer word be spoken, and yet it's true, we seem to forget that this life we live in is pure miracle, and just about the most amazing thing to ever happen. I'm constantly weighed down by mundane thoughts and actions which in the grand scheme of things mean little, but seem to take on more significance than they deserve. Just free association here, but does this have anything to do with living in a city? Because a city is a human construct, artificial and unnatural. Does being within such a construct extinguish our inner flame and awareness of the miracle of life? Would living more in nature, near the sea, next to open ground and trees lead to a second awakening of our consciousness? Are we destroying what is beautiful and miraculous in order to satisfy "trite obsessions and trivial pursuits"?

Farewell Emi

2008-10-07T21:09:00.003+09:00

We saw off Emi today, as she embarks on her big adventure in the land of the Kiwi and sheep. It's all very exciting, and both Miyu and I were wishing we were going too. Maybe we'll go visit her at some point over the next year - that'll be nice.
Miyu, Jay and Watanabe mum also returned to Fuskushima to go visit friends who have just this week given birth to a baby boy and girl. So, I'm in Tokyo by my self, and without any familial obligation I treated myself to a two hour session at the gym. A full round of weights, followed by 40 minutes aerobic workout. Felt fantastic! Think I'll finish the day off with a movie and then get an early night.

Photos from the day

2008-10-05T21:39:00.000+09:00

Early morning run and filling up with fish

2008-10-05T21:20:00.002+09:00

I felt particularly groggy this morning, having not had a very restful sleep. Not really sure why, but I was still able to get up at 6.30am and after glugging down a cup of extra strong coffee, didn't feel too bad. Meeting Jospeh at Nakameguro station, he didn't look too hot either (due to a cold), but after some lively conversation we felt good enough to trot around the palace once again. This time we noticed an English style red brick building, which was very grand and it surprised us both that we hadn't noticed it before. We finished off by stretching on some very soft, dew topped grass, which when I was lying down on, the juxtaposition of blue sky backdrop and Imperial trees was very calming and would have made an excellent photo.
BREAKING NEWS! There's just been a commotion outside at the mansion block next to ours. A fire engine and ambulance has just come blasting up the road, there's a strong smell of gas in the air, and the firefighters have just rushed out a small child and what I presume is the mother. Cor, it's all go here!
Anyway, back to my day. After returning home, I fed Jay and took him to the park, where we played with some giant frogs and threw a football around. Then back to home for a quick nap before heading out to Tsukiji to meet up with Miyu's mum for a slap up sushi feast, which included a whole crab miso soup. Delicious!

Recent pics

2008-10-04T22:49:00.002+09:00

Autumn sunshine

2008-10-04T22:30:00.003+09:00

Ahh, my favorite time of year. The sun is shining, the temp is in the mid-20s and the nights are cool. Ideal hiking weather, which I hope to do a little of soon.
Miyu's sister is staying with us for a couple of weeks b4 heading off to NZ for a Working Holiday, and she's a god-send. Jay loves her, she's a hairdresser so we're getting free snips and she does the washing up after dinner. Plus she's trying to cram in some last minute English learning, and I'm glad to be able to help out in that respect.
Jay is now pretty comfortable walking around, and he's discovered climbing. He loves to climb up on a dinner table chair after pushing it up to the sink, and help out with the washing up. The small things in life really are quite wonderful.
It's a Saturday night, and I've been out with my friend Jason, who turned 40 last week. He was looking for some advice in the love department, saying that he was wondering if it would be OK to ask out a 21 year old at a North Korean university...I tried not to laugh, and told him quite directly to steer well clear. Sometimes he he's quite childlike himself.
Looking forward to my regular Sunday morning run around the Imperial Palace tomorrow morning with Joseph. It's great to spend some time with my friend and share our thoughts on life, and it leaves me very energised for the rest of the day. The reason we're doing it is to be in in shape for next year's Tokyo Marathon, where we'll hopefully get a place in the 10k run (although we only have a 1 in 17 chance of getting placed, as it's so popular!) We've currently stuck to one lap of the palace, but we'll soon be working our way up to two laps, which will be 10k. The run itself is very easy, as it's very visually stimulating, and there are a horde of other runners racing around, even though it's 8am on a Sunday morning.
Work is going quite well. There was a bit of a lull in September, but it's again picking up and I'll probably be doing about 50 hours a week up until Xmas, which is good for the family coffers. It's also pleasing to see that my hard work there is paying off, in that I've build up a solid reputation, and my services are so in demand that the staff are fighting over getting me to take on their clients. It's also satisfying because this is what I visualized for myself two years ago when I got the job, and now it's been realized.
We're contemplating buying a house or flat, which is pretty exciting, and something that I'll feel very good about. A place to truly call our own, and to do with as we want. Ideally we'd like a garden, but it would mean moving further out, to somewhere like Kamakura. I do like urban living, but the prospect of all that space, really appeals, and I'm sure would greatly benefit Jay's development. Just got an image of a house up a hill, overlooking the ocean. Summertime and we're having a garden party with a group of friends. The bbq is sizzling, and we go and cool off with a swim in the sea. Ahh...

A cold wind blew through

2008-08-21T22:39:00.002+09:00

I'm not sure if it signifies the end of summer, but few nights ago a long gust of cold wind blew through Tokyo, and the temperature has thus plummeted. Good news in that I no longer need the AC on all night, so I'm not waking up with sandpaper eyes. It's strange though, because it doesn't really feel as if I've enjoyed this summer, seeing as I've been working throughout, and haven't really done any of those typical summery things (beach, bbq, holiday!)
Looking forward to Jay and Miyu returning home this weekend. I've really missed them, and I feel as though I've missed out on Jay walking and almost talking. Seriously, he's now up on his feet most of the time, and can take up to about 10 steps unaided. I think the daily interaction with a bigger family he's been getting up in Fukushima has been very positive, and has taken the burden off Miyu as well. She's sounding a lot more relaxed on the phone, and didn't really sound like she wanted to return! It would certainly make life a lot easier if we lived in close proximity to family, as several friends here in Tokyo can attest to.
I've recently discovered a very cool section of the Open University HP here, which basically provides a number of course for free. Although there's no contact with lecturers, you can work your way through various course materials at your own pace, and can interact with other students on-line in various subject related forums.
It's such a fantastic idea, and I hope they continue to develop and expand on the available programs - education for all!

Am I?

2008-08-15T00:55:00.001+09:00

I am the man I think I am
but am I the man you think I was?

space

2008-08-15T00:05:00.002+09:00

It's not often that you can say Tokyo feels uncrowded, but if you were to visit at the moment, you'll see that it's true. Why? Obon. People must head home at this time of year and pay respect to the ghosts of ancestors past, who are visiting at this time. If one chooses to stay in Tokyo, you'd notice that people kick back a bit, and the pace slows. The mad rush that is the pulse of this lively city takes a week long siesta. And that is where I am - in a hazy siesta. I feel older. A thought crossed my mind the other day thinking "wouldn't it be nice to buy a porsche". A sure sign that I am approaching my mid-life crisis. In view of this, and to lend it some clarity, I've decided to laser cut my eyes and discard my glasses in November. The question is, will it change anything?

No.1 Jay

2008-08-11T17:07:00.002+09:00

Flying, flying, flying bye, bye - is it really a whole year since Jay was born? Well, seeing as he had to try and haul a kilo of mochi (pounded rice),tied to his back with two furoshiki, across the Watanabe livingroom, I guess it was!
He really didn't appreciate it though, as his screams of protest attested, but he was able to stand and take a few steps, so those present were satisfied that he was strong enough to carry on the family line ; )
As a reward, we unveiled a massive fruit tart with one candle in the middle, and Jay soon forgot about the mochi, and tried desperately to gorge himself with the brightly coloured fruit. Again, he found frustration though, as I had to try and hold him back as flashbulbs popped for his birthday photos/videos. Then an auntie unwrapped a superb toy and all was calm again as Jay got playing. He was so engrossed that he barely noticed me leaving the scene, soon to be whisked back to the bright lights of Tokyo on a speeding midnight bullet train.

Fireworks

2008-07-29T23:08:00.004+09:00

Last week, Thursday to be exact, we met up at Machiya station and made our way to the highest mansion block in the area. Ascending to the 21st floor, we were greeted at the door by H, who had kindly invited us to her swanky pad up in the clouds to take in the spectacular fireworks display which was exploding over the river nearby.
It was extra special because it was Jay's first, and he gurgled with joy as the sky lit up in multi-coloured explosive hues of shimmering delight. Great company too, with a famous illustrator in attendance (whom I must admit I'd never heard of) called Radical Sizuki, who's got a rather cool HP here - LINK
They also had this huge cat, who was so placid and easy going that he wasn't bothered one bit when Jay got rather excited and began pawing him like crazy. Fisrt time to meet a cat up close and personal. Although I'm not a big fan of keeping cats on the 21st floor, H had what must have been the longest balconey I've ever seen, encircling a quarter of the whole, rather large building. Apparantly it makes for quite an adventure playground for cats.
H's husband is an artist, who makes quirky pieces which are very popular here in Japan. One of them being a barbed wired teddy bear. Ouch!

Trapped

2008-07-23T23:48:00.002+09:00

On reaching the ground floor of my apartment building this morning - on my way out to work - a trapped sparrow flew helplessly around the enclosed entrance way and eventually banged itself unconscious against one of the window planes. It lay on the ground twitching for a few seconds, and I tried to cup the little bird in my hands to put it safely outside. However, it quickly woke, and began running around the space, with me chasing it, eventually just opening one of the doors so that it could run out to freedom.
Later, I was speaking to a woman who's mother had just died, and instead of grieving for her loss, she has decided to clean up her parents house. She wants to organize it and apply the #Toyota way" so as to set up a functional, and more importantly, efficient, place to live. She told me all this, and then suddenly recalled how soft her mother's deformed hand was, and how when she used to stroke the woman's back in times of extreme distress, it would sooth and calm her incredibly quickly.
A monotone man later told me that there was nothing he liked better than to do his job, because he loved it and there was nothing he would rather be doing than making loads of money buying and selling loans on the open market. He laughed heartily when I suggested Australian wines were not to be compared to French wines,and then went on to regale me with the wonders of going on a wine tasting holiday in Bordeaux.
Upon arriving home late this evening, after dashing madly all over this overheated city, Miyu said Jay had spread dry cous cous all over the kitchen floor, sending her to her wits end and denying the little fella a pencil to hold as a magic wand.
And so it goes.

3 years, and counting...

2008-07-13T23:37:00.004+09:00

I'm happy to report that Miyu and I have reached our 3rd anniversary, and so to celebrate, we decided to book a swanky hotel in Karuizawa for the weekend. It was all bloody nice, with an outdoor private bathtub on the balcony and more room than Jay could fathom! He really loved the massive expanse of carpet to speed crawl around and playing around on the bath deck. For Miyu and I, we appreciated the fine French food for dinner and the complimentary champagne, plus a surprise cake which the management had left in our fridge (the place came with its own kictchen too). The country air was bracing and the sunshine surprisingly strong, and Miyu even got her shopping fix because not 10 minutes from the hotel was an outlet mall! An added bonus was that we could spend some time visiting my grandmother and uncle and aunt. Their daughter had just had a baby, so it was a bit of a baby fest. Funnily, when I was holding Mako, the new baby, Jay went into a bit of a tantrum. Didn't like dad holding another baby at all!

Half way mark, and then some

2008-07-08T00:49:00.002+09:00

Well, the rains are almost gone, so we must be into the summer season. Apparently this year's going to be a stinker, and I ain't looking forward to all that walking around with me suit and tie on. Perhaps I need to cultivate a frozen mind. Talking of frozen stuff, a frozen yoghurt shop has just been launched in Tokyo, so will have to sample me some of that soon. Jay said his first proper word yesterday, after waking from a slumber, he crawled into the living room and said "hello", in a rather perplexed manner. I think he was still half asleep. He then sped toward my charging i-pod, making a gurgling sound. A button has finally been sown onto one of my shirts by the button fairy, so no danger of exposed flesh in the city of Tokyo...from me at least. I think though, that I have lost my eye for photography, and I'm at a loss to think where I left it. A hefty reward to anyone who finds it...

The joy of exercise

2008-06-20T22:16:00.002+09:00

Ahh, it's been an exhausting and somewhat frustrating week, and what better way to end it than to hit the gym for 2 hours, doing an intensive workout finished off with a 20 minute 5km dash ^h^ I've also began to do a bit of karate again, up on the roof of our "mansion" late at night, going through the 27 or so kata that I have locked away in my memory. The release of tension, and the relaxed and serene aftermath of exercise is something I wish everybody could experience and enjoy.

Running tips

2008-05-24T17:58:00.002+09:00

I'm realy enjoying this running lark at the moment. I've conditioned myself into going for a run every day now, be it in the morning or evening, clocking in between 3 - 7km each time. The results have been fantastic. My weight has come down to 67kg from 70kg and now I'm working on my speed. A good tip I received from another runner is to do hill sprints. This entails including a few hill sprints into the usual running course, which is quite easy around Nakameguro, and the result is better speed generation. The first few times is a killer, but my legs do feel stronger now, and it feels like I have more energy. All jolly good, what!

Takao san

2008-05-22T10:26:00.002+09:00

We went on a short hike, Jay's first, up the nearest mountain called Takao san recently. As it was during Golden Week, it was pretty crowded, but the weather was perfect and the ascent easy. The clean crisp air reinvigorated my senses and brought wonder to Jay's. The sheer abundance of multi-hued green must have had a strong impact on him.

Jay at play, and then sleeping like dad

2008-05-14T00:58:00.001+09:00

Green eye, blue eye

2008-05-13T23:56:00.002+09:00

Walking along a familiar riverbank this morning, I noticed a cat licking some grass. It had been raining during the night and although it had stopped some hours previously, the dew still clung to the grass, offering the thirsty cat some fresh beverage refreshment. As I approached, it looked up at me, as if it knew me, as if saying, "Alright there, Tom. This rain water is delicious. You should try some." I then noticed something unusual. His left eye was emerald green and his right eye ocean blue. He blinked at me twice, then bent down to continue enjoying his morning brew.

Just me and Jay...oh, duck

2008-05-11T12:19:00.002+09:00

It's Sunday, the rain is petering out and Miyu has been given a day pass to Shimokitazawa to trawl the shops there with her friend Chihiro for kool clothes. That means me and the little man have a whole day together. After writing this, we're going to head on down to Mori Art Museum in Roppongi to take in the Turner Prize Retrospective. It'll be interesting to see Jay's reaction to Damien Hirst's work! It's been a while since I took in any modern art, so really looking forward to it, although now I'm thinking if I'll be able to take the push chair in there or if I'll have to carry Jay around? Hmm, will check out their HP.

Fever

2008-05-10T00:52:00.002+09:00

Jeez, Jay's come down with a fever around 40 degrees C, which is mighty high and a big worry. He's all lethargic and grumpy, as you would be if you were burning a hole in the floor like the human torch! He still manages a smile though, and even tries to crawl towards me when he catches sight of me as I enter the bedroom, only to fall like a crumpled bag, his muscles like jelly. Times like these I wish I could absorb his pain like a human sponge, but instead, I'll just patiently mop his brow and sing him lullabies in my off kilter voice and hope it speeds his recovery.

Snake

2008-05-08T11:12:00.002+09:00

Cycling along the Meguro River this morning, and I came across a huge snake! I didn't think they had them in Tokyo, but there it was, slithering along the path in front of me, chased by an old man who was shouting at it excitedly. It was about 1 metre in length, and silver brown in hue. It escaped into the hedges, and I tracked it for a while, spotting it periodically glinting in the shrubbery. Some people believe snakes symbolize money and wealth, so here's hoping!

Boys Day 2008

2008-05-08T00:33:00.002+09:00

We ventured up the mountain to British Hills for Boys Day this year, and what a strange place it is. During the Bubble Years, a rich businessman, who loved all things British, decided to build a mini-village with replica manor house, pub, cottages and gardens on top of a mountain in Fukushima. He imported all the stone from Britain, as well as antique furniture, fittings and books (for the library). It's actually pretty realistic, in a souless kinda way, and the pub lunch of chicken and chips was the worst food I've ever had in Japan (so they got that one right!) Jay loved it though. He had a great time crawling around the big empty library.

A wet dash around the Imperial Palace

2008-05-05T11:02:00.002+09:00

A mixed bag of tricks so far for Golden Week '08.

Saturday found me waking very early, with Miyu and Jay (who were off to Fukushima to shoot a video for Miyu's friend's wedding), in order to take part in the 9th Tokyo English Life Line (TELL) Runathon. I'd decided that I needed some sort of target to all this running I was doing, so I combined testing myself in a race (5km), with contributing some funds to a very worthy cause (TELL provide a free telephone counselling service to foreigners here in Japan, the only one of its kind in the country, as far as I know).

I was a bit nervous, as I hadn't been in a race for about 10 years, but I thought, with about 200 runners competing in the 5km run, if I could come in the top 50 I'd be very happy.

It was pissing it down with rain, which meant I'd stay cool and not over heat. The trains to the starting point were not crowded, and I plugged into my ipod and listened to some fast beat tracks to get me in the mood for speed. Upon arrival, I got my registration number and my number to stick on my top, and warmed up. B chance I bumped into Akio, who's a Account Exec at my office and who was running the 10km course. We chatted until it they called for the 5km to begin.

I didn't have any real strategy as such, apart from try to get out in front of the pack and then keep a steady pace. The starting gun went and I sprinted forward, dodging around people and trying not to slip on the slippery concrete. I soon found some space and settled into a more reasonable pace. I could see the front runners, who were going at a tremendous rate, and thought if I could just keep them in sight, that'd be good.

The rain was really coming down hard, and visibility was dire. It didn't help that I was wearing glasses, as the water pooled on my lenses, lending my view a distorted vision. Anyway, I focused and kept moving, occasionally getting cheered on by some early morning tourist parties, all following a brightly garbed tour guide with a long equally bright flag.

A couple of runners passed me, and I tried to keep up, but they were really fast. Mentally I said no more will pass me, and I kicked in to finish. At the back of my mind was the prize money on offer for the top 10 finishers, but I thought no way will I be in with a chance. The finish line approached all of a sudden, and I couldn't believe it was almost over! The two faster runners in front were sprinting to the line, and when they crossed it, they were given a sheet of paper - 9th and 10th. I looked up at the big digital clock, 20 minutes and 40 seconds! Blimey! Not only did I make it in at 11th place, but I'd beat my personal best by about a minute!!

My lungs felt like they were about to burst, and walked off my thundering heart beat. I couldn't believe it - 11th! This racing lark is well good.

I found out that the winner had got in around 16 minutes, which was a long way away indeed for me, but it gives me a new goal to achieve.

Run, run, run

2008-04-27T09:54:00.002+09:00

Hello, hello.

A rather busy week with new clients starting courses at work and some also finishing, which means writing up reports. The office is being re-painted and renovated, so it's all a bit chaotic, but everyone seems to be coping well, no doubt cheered by the fact that Golden Week is just around the corner!

I've upped my running this past week, going out for about 5km 6 days out of 7, which has resulted in feeling very energised, albeit with a huge blister on my small toe! What prompted me to do this was a study I read about which took place in Scotland, showing the positive effects of listening to music whilst exercising. The researchers found, on average, runners could improve their performance by 10 - 15% if they were plugged into their ipods and listening to some up tempo tunes. So, I gave it a go, and I must say it has really helped. Especially toward the end of the run when things begin to ache a little bit, a blast from Simian Mobile Disco will give me the extra boost to keep on going. All this seems pretty logical to me. I mean, music has that power to motivate and move us, and humans have always had some sort of music, be it a drum beat or an electro mash-up, and now science finally "proves" it.

Some more pics

2008-04-12T15:10:00.002+09:00

A lazy Saturday afternoon

2008-04-12T14:52:00.002+09:00

Spring in my step and the sun is shining, all is good. Five tattered cats bask in the rays of April sun, in a concrete church yard not far from our house. I buy a bar of organic soap at the local supermarket, and the price charged is 25% lower than the display price. I go and buy another bar, and feel slightly naughty. It's the little things that keep us happy. I'm contemplating going to the gym to try my new routine. One rapid round of light, high rep weights and another of very heavy, low rep weights. But my body aches from a week of running. Running around like a rat in a race, but feel like running some more. Caught in a loop. I suddenly realize I don't have a hobby. Do I have room for a hobby? Time seems shorter now with Jay on the scene, not that it's a bad thing, but I do feel slightly uneasy not having a hobby (I don't think going to the gym counts - that's just exercise). Is my world contracting? Does it contract as we age? Do we get more tunnel visioned? Maybe, and that brings a slight melancholic smile to my face, the tears dried up long ago.

Sakura falling

2008-04-09T15:08:00.003+09:00

How quickly spring has come. The river walk near our home has turned pink with cherry blossom, and we've had a couple of hanami sessions (drinking/eating under the cherry blossom tree).
Jay can now pull himself up to a standing position, and spends a lot of time leaning on the coffee table playing with toys and sprouting a language all of his own. He's a fast crawler now too. He loves playing hide and seek with us around the house, giggling loudly whilst trying to find us.
Enjoying work at the moment. Some new courses have began in the fiscal new year, and I'm trying out new ideas with positive results. There hasn't been too much negative impact from the sub prime crisis, although I do hear of cut-backs and some belt tightening going on in the financial sector.
I've been trying to get back into exercising again after taking two weeks out due to a nasty virus that we all came down with. Also making efforts to get back into meditation, after reading of the positive long term benefits it creates in mood and well being.

A great new workout

2008-03-06T22:31:00.002+09:00

I've recently changed my exercise regime at the gym, and the results have been encouraging.

1. Begin on the eliptical ski machine, and instead of using the handbars, just use legs instead, to intensify the exercise. 20 minutes.

2. Stretching for about 5 minutes.

3. 20 reps each on 10 weight machines. Push about 30% - 40% of your maximum load, and by the 20th rep it should be quite hard to complete. Make sure you move rapidly between machines, with no extended breaks.

4. Move onto free weights, using bar and dumbells. Again, a variety of exercises, depending on how energetic you feel, and stick to 30 - 40% max weight load.

5. Stomach work on the floor, then finish with more stretching.

The whole round can be completed in 50 - 60 minutes, so easy to fit into a busy schedule.

And the snow came down

2008-02-10T09:47:00.000+09:00

Don't know what's going on but we had another dump of snow last night. The cold slushy type that feels like deep freeze. I'm just chilling out at home today, as I have two days off! Tomorrow's a public holiday, you see. Been invited around to a friend's house for some authentic Indian cooking, which we're looking forward to. Think I'll pop out now and head to the gym. Miyu and Jay are still snoring away in the background : )

Brutality

2008-02-07T10:15:00.000+09:00

It still shocks and terrifies me to read or hear about the extent of human brutality in this world. In "The man with two heads" by Elena Lappin, she writes an investigative essay about Binjamin Wilkormirski, who wrote the factually contested book "Fragments", in which he describes his childhood experiences living in Nazi concentration camps. The horrific extent of this can best be summed up in the following passage, I think.
"Binjamin's memories of Majdanek camp are a series of terrifying tableaux. Rats crawl from the corpses of dead women, lice run over his face in "racing, ticklish streams", tiny, starving babies chew their own fingers down to the bone. Binjamin is kicked in the back of his head by a guard's black boot, and thrown head-first against a wall by another guard. He hears "the unmistakable sound of breaking skulls" when babies are killed. At the consequent "red mess" his stomach heaves with "horror and disgust"".
Think about that for a moment.
Binjamin was around 3 or 4 at the time. He survived Majdanek and was transferred to what he thinks was Auschwitz, where again he made it through until the end of the war.
I then read and looked at a photo essay by Jillian Eddlestein, called "The truth commission", which documented proceedings at The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa between 1996 and 1998. This commission, headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was set up to try and understand what had happened during the dark days of Apartheid, and through understanding, to try and forge a new identity for the country for the future. Encouraged by the possibility of amnesty more than 7,000 perpetrators came forward to confess their crimes, and, hoping for justice and reparation, around 20,000 victims made statements to the commissioners over the two year period. A description of one of the incidents follows.
"On 8 May 1985, Qwaqwahuli Godolozi, Sipho Hashe and Champion Galela, leaders of the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organization (Pebco), went to meet a British diplomat at the airport. They were never seen again. Although it was suspected that the police had been involved in their disappearance, for fifteen years their widows, Monica Godolozi, Elizabeth Hashe and Nomali Galela, did not know what had happened to them. In1996, Joe Mamasela, a security policeman at Vlakpaas, the training ground for the counter-insurgency movement outside Pretoria, told the Truth Commission that the three men had been led into an "animal shed" at Post Chalmers where they had been interrogated. He said: "It was brutal. They were tortured severely. They were brutalized. I strangled them. They were beaten with iron pipes on their heads, kicked and punched. They were killed, they died one by one. I have never seen anything like it in my life. It was blazing hell on earth."
And that is just one example of the thousands of atrocities that took place under that regime.
You would think that we would learn something from such occurrences. That we'd resolve never to repeat such moments of "blazing hell on earth", and yet it continues to happen. You look at events in Sudan, where rape was used as a tool of war, or of the many reports of torture of prisoners in China and North Korea, the appalling treatment of supposed terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and just the constant white noise of smaller incidents of horrific murders that are reported daily from around the world, and you wonder -
Who are we?
What can drive people to commit such moments of fury?
How can anyone ever reconcile their actions, whatever the circumstances?

Contrasts

2008-02-04T16:49:00.000+09:00

Yesterday we had a huge dump of snow, and today we've had blazing sunshine.
Have more or less settled back into the work routine, although things haven't been as hectic as they were last year...yet! It's nice though, to have a bit a extra time to spend with Jay and Miyu. The little monkey now has two tiny teeth peeking through in the lower front quadrant. He knaws anything that is within grasping distance, so we've thought it time to start him on some basic food. Just diluted miso soup at the moment, which he really loves! Kinda goes all over him at the moment, as he hasn't got the handle of dealing with swallowing something on a spoon, but he sure does enjoy it, as can be seen in the photo above.
He's began to do this ultra cute thing too, where he'll put his face into my chest as I hold him, then I say "where's Jay?" and then he pops up smiling and laughing, and repeats this for the next ten minutes, getting increasingly giddy with lack of oxygen due to hysterical cackling!
Ahh, the joys of parenthood : )

The proximity of loss

2008-01-25T17:10:00.000+09:00

I was just thinking today, that living in an post-industrial age, where the distinction between classes have definitely been eroded, there is a greater sense of unease at falling from grace, as it were. I mean, let's go back a hundred years, and we'll find people are basically born into a particular level in society, so that if you were born a son of a banker, you could expect a comfortable life, materially, where-as if your father was a street sweeper, it was much more likely you would end up doing similar menial work, for not very much pay. Now of course, there is greater social mobility, and if you showed a particular talent for, say, computer programming, it would be very possible for you to become a well paid software engineer, even if your family background was poor. Opportunities like this exist today, although of course you still have to work damn hard to achieve your goals, especially if you come from a disadvantaged background. So, all very nice, but it also holds true that you could easily lose everything in one fell swoop. Say you tied up your savings in some risky derivatives on the stock exchange, and the markets suddenly collapsed, like that recently did, or that you were mortgaged to 125%, and you lost your job, house is repossessed, etc, you get the idea. You'll find yourself on the street, quite easily. Family broken up and sleeping in a cardboard box, like the growing number of homeless you see around Tokyo. It all seems very fragile, don't you think? But is this just the pay-off for living in a turbo charged capitalist world, where individual rights are gradually being ground away so as to fully worship mammon?

Sunset/sunrise

2008-01-20T09:55:00.001+09:00

One week on

2008-01-20T09:19:00.000+09:00

Well, a week has passed since I decided to knock the booze on the head, and I must say it feels blooming marvelous! Most noticeably, my energy levels have shot through the roof and I feel much calmer. In addition, I'm happier on the whole and better able to organize myself. On the downside, it takes a while to get to sleep at night. Having that beer or wine before turning in certainly helped get one off to sleep, but it was often a disturbed sleep, having to wake at 3am to relieve the old bladder. Now I just sleep right through until the morning, and wake feeling refreshed. It's amazing really, that I'd kinda forgotten how it feels not to have the effects of alcohol in my bloodstream. I'd just gotten used to drinking a bit everyday, as it "relaxed me", but looking back on it having emerged from the fog, it had the direct opposite affect. I highly recommend it to anyone.
It's pretty darn cold here at the moment, but as is usual at this time of year, the sun shines through, and it helps lift the spirits. I've just spent a couple of hours, Sunday morning, playing with Jay, and now I'm going to go out for a quick workout at the gym. Then it's off to the shops to buy a new heater and some curtains - should help keep the apartment nice and toasty!
Have a great day!

Some more pics from the UK

2008-01-19T00:02:00.000+09:00

Pics from UK

2008-01-18T23:53:00.000+09:00

A glimpse

2008-01-18T23:43:00.000+09:00

I was walking from Hatsudai to Shinjuku on Wednesday, as I had a bit of time on my hands after finishing a session at Apple. I passed a tiny dry cleaners, and I looked in to see an old lady sat behind a very small counter, surrounded by plastic wrapped clothing. Sitting on her lap was a boy of about two, happy as can be playing with a toy in front of him. The old lady had her hands around his waist, and his little legs were crossed in front of him. It stopped me in my tracks, that sight. I presumed the old lady was the child's grandmother, and she had this loving glaze on her face, exactly the same as what my mum looked like whenever Jay sat on her lap. A concentrated mix of proudness, concern and love which made me smile and at the same time choke up with tears.

Walking

2008-01-17T11:14:00.000+09:00

As I was waiting for the Shinkansen to set off on its journey to Fukushima last Saturday, I got to watching how people walk, and just how idiosyncratic it is. Thoughts crossed my mind regarding whether how a person treads is in any way a reflection of their character, emotions and attitude to life. Then, expanding on those thoughts, to how I walk, and what little differences manifest themselves when I'm feeling excited, sad, happy, etc. How do you walk/feel?

Some pictures

2008-01-15T11:42:00.000+09:00

New Year musings and resolutions

2008-01-15T11:04:00.000+09:00

A belated Happy New Year to one and all!
I feel like I now finally have the chance to catch my breath after Jay's arrival, and will hopefully be penning here more regularly.
Ohh, I've just noticed there's now an add video option on the blogger toolbar. Will try it out a bit later...anyway, am now back in Japan and back at work, with our 3 weeks of Christmas and NY merriment passing into fond memory. We all loved the time with the Kobayashi family, and I found it touching that we could be together and properly introduce the newest addition to the clan. On Jay's part, he seemed to a adapt very well to both air travel and foreign climes, as well as sharing attention with the Kobayashi cat, Pip! For me, having been 3 years since last venturing to England, I basked in the foreigness of the place, especially in the first week of our stay, when even the physicality of people was a wonderment to behold and ponder.
Upon returning to Japan, I've been gathering my thoughts for the coming year, and deciding what to aim for and achieve. I have identified two factors which I think will make a big difference to the quality of my life - giving up alcohol and learning more Japanese. Now, as most of you know, I do enjoy a good tipple or three, but I've found recently that it's affecting my speed of thought and response. I think it's clouding my judgement and I think I don't need it to have a good time. Yes, it's a social lubricant, but I'm already pretty sociable, and I don't have to get a pint down me to feel relaxed enough to talk to people. So, from yesterday I stopped drinking. Secondly, the Japanese. It's an obvious factor really, that the more my skills in this regard improves, the better my life will be, or at least the better I'll be to react to given opportunities whilst living here. It's always challenging, I think, to try and stick to learning a new language if the work or social environment is in another language - for my case English. But, I have to focus and aim for improved fluency. So, this started today, with the first stage being completion of "Japanese for Busy People 1", which will act as a good revision of what I already know. Then, after completing it in a couple of weeks, I'll move onto JBP 2 and 3, which will also involve increasing my kanji ability. By the end of the year, I want to be able to converse with Miyu fully in Japanese for an evening, without any usage of English.
So, they're two big aims for this year. Others include putting more focus on writing short stories, so that within 5 years, I want to have an income stream from it; reading a book a day with Jay and having fun with him; keeping fit by doing my exercises first thing in the morning, to give me a boost for the start of each day; learn to touch type; and cook a new dish every week, as this is something I really miss doing.
To help me achieve these things (and other things!), a friend of mine told me about 6 principles that she follows which have really helped her achieve a tremendous amount last year:-

1. Keep it simple but fun
2. Remember that we only live once and never look back
3. Make sure you spend your time doing what you want to do
4. Don't rush, but be quick because life moves fast
5. Remember the things you have and not the things you don't
6. Never be angry because you are the one that loses out

They're very simple, I think, but reverberate with truth, and I was really taken by them when I heard them.

The sound of silence

2007-11-10T14:40:00.000+09:00

Which is what is ringing out in the apartment at the moment, as Miyu and Jay are in Fukushima for one of Miyu's exhibitions, so I'm here holding the fort. No work today, so instead of sleeping in I woke at my usual time of 6.30am and cleaned the apartment. Next did a couple of loads of laundry and then decided to analyse my income for the past year, using Excel and comparing forecasted income against actual income. The variance is about 20%! The way we get paid is by contact time with the client, so if a training session is cancelled, then we get nowt. This means that it'll probably be better to have a schedule that is 20% higher than what it is now to get what I should be getting...unless of course nobody cancels, and then I'll be rather busy!
Anyway, going to go out "on the piss" tonight, with the boys. haven't done this for such a long time, what with Jay being the centre of everything, I'm rather looking forward to it. I do miss the little fella though. I was talking to Miyu this morning and she's discovered some sort of bald spot behind one of Jay's ears, which sound peculiar.
Must now venture out, as the rain has subsided, to go find my bicycle, which was hauled away by the local government guys as I'd parked it illegally : ( Hope I can find it!
Oh yes, exciting news is that we're going to UK for Christmas! Booked and paid for the tickets last week. Fuel surcharge is ridiculous, and even Jay has to pay for a seat (albeit only 10% of the price of ours), even though he wont actually get a seat!

Here I am

2007-10-24T14:06:00.000+09:00

Apologies for the lack of postings, but it's proving to be a luxury at present, what with nappies, feeding, batheing and having fun with Jay taking up most of my free time (it's GREAT!) The little man is really coming along, and now smiles, scowls and can look very mischievous. He's also now able to hold his head up unided when we hold him, and he really enjoys soaking in the sights and sounds that must all seem wonderfully new to him. This inundation of the senses must be seeping into his unconciious because he's showing a lot of REM, and movement. Sounds are also forming. Nothing really solid as yet, although Miyu and I swear he says "hello", it may just be proud parent syndrome. We bought a baby car/buggy, and have been out and about in Nakameguro, to various parks. When awake, he stares at everything wide eyed with a slight smile playing around his lips. Then he promptly shuts down and falls asleep, to try and make sense of what he's just experienced!
For myself, there's a whole cauldron of emotions bubbling around my cranium. Happiness, joy, fear, worry and even sadness when I have to leave every morning and spend hours away from both Jay and Miyu. It's times like this when I wish I was wealthy enough to afford taking a few months off to spend real time watching my son grow.
I'll post a few pics later.

Home Alone

2007-09-24T14:04:00.000+09:00

I find myself at home, all alone this (long) weekend, frantically cleaning the place up for Miyu and Jay's arrival in a few weeks. It's actually got to be a bit of a pig-sty, truth be told, and now there seems to be so much more free space. Although that's all very positive, man, there's been a couple of mishaps. The biggest is that my external HD, which holds all of my photos and movies, seems to have stopped working! And the frustrating thing is that due to it's sleek design (a Lacie 250 GB FA Porsche design), there's no way to open it and have a peek inside - no openings on it, just a couple of vents. If anybody knows what to do, please drop me a mail! At the moment it makes a screechy whirring noise, then dies down and a tiny light flashes green/orange. Yikes.
I've been reading some books regarding a baby's intelligence, and helping him develop it. Some of it may be quite common sense, like did you know a baby goes through four stages of walking? 1st, free movement of arms and legs in a prone position, 2nd crawling, 3rd creeping (meaning on his hands and knees) and then lastly walking on two feet. It's very important that the baby goes through each of these stages as they're like building blocks for not only his motor-sensory development, but also setting off all sorts of neural pathways that will stand him in good stead for the future. And the earlier baby is given the opportunity to be on his tummy to try crawling the better. Imagine if you were kept on your back all the time, and that you couldn't turn over by yourself? Very frustrating, no? So anyway, I explained this to a sceptical Miyu, and put Jay onto his tummy last week. Well, he was off! He began kicking and pulling and was soon a good 6 inches from his starting position! Then he fell asleep, completely knackered! Miyu's a bit worried that he might not be able to breathe in that position, but as long as you keep an eye on him, he should be fine. "Back to sleep, front to play."
Jay's also smiling a lot more now. Not just in his sleep (which might only be due to gas), but when he sees Miyu. It's awfully cute.
I caught up with one of my Aussie friends a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't seen Pierre for 5 years. We had both attended the SCI Kosugi Farm summer camp when I first came to Japan, where we spent 2 weeks in the mountains of Yamanashi, refurbishing a building for drop out High School kids. Pierre, like me, was one of the older people attending the camp, so compared to the uni. kids that made up the majority of attendees, we both fell into mentor like roles. He was a triathlete, and I'll always remember the first day of the camp, waking early to go explore the area and watching Pierre come jogging down a mountain track, having just ran 5 km! This was something like 6am, and we had a full day of labour intensive work ahead of us. Anyway, we quickly became friends, and we, with Anto, another of the "elders", formed one of the groups who climbed Mt. Fuji. Well, we actually ran up Mt. Fuji, as a challenge, and because we were all quite fit. Big mistake for me, as although it was fine going up, coming down was like walking on shattered glass!
So, I met up with Pierre a couple of weeks ago, and together with Aroop and his girlfriend (sorry, name escapes me!), we went to a huge Brazillian festival in Yoyogi park. Some cool impromptu performances of high energy drumming in the crowds were the highlights for me. I was amazed by the amount of meat sizzling away on these HUGE bar-b-qs! God knows how many cows were slaughtered for it but it must have been in the triple digits, I kid you not. Pierre is an engineer by trade, and he was over in Japan for about 6 weeks working on setting up and maintaining wind turbines all around Japan. His work takes him all around the world, which seems very adventurous, were it not for the fact that his girlfriend is more or less having to live alone, as Pierre is always going off on another assignment! He's still doing the tiathlons, good on him, so is as skinny as a rake and little of his appearance has changed.
I'll leave you with a video of Jay - enjoy!

Ah yes, the name!

2007-08-25T20:34:00.000+09:00

So, we've decided on Jay. There's some funky kanji (Japanese characters) that go with the name, but I can't write them with my keyboard.
This weekend finds me in Tokyo, and not up in Fukushima with Miyu and Jay. Reason being Miyu's back in hospital due to slight complications, which means she just needs to rest up for a week or so. Amazing how much I'm missing them. Miyu sends me photos of Jay everyday, and I swear he's changed every time. Not in any major way, but subtle little differences that I haven't seen in the flesh. Makes me feel like I'm missing out on him growing up. Was reading somewhere that the first six months contact time between father and newborn is really important for their happiness and well-being, and where am I? Hundreds of miles away! Damn this having to work thing!

It's all in a name

2007-08-25T20:22:00.000+09:00

Hello peeps.
A few recent pictures of Jay to keep you amused.
He's got that pout down pat. I wonder where he gets that from. This combined with his habit of raising his little finger when he's drinking milk, may already be indicative of his sexual orientation...! Or maybe he's just a born performer ; )

Baby at 2 weeks

2007-08-19T13:56:00.000+09:00

Baby Week One Video - Staring

2007-08-14T23:41:00.001+09:00

Baby Week One Video - Hiccups

2007-08-14T23:25:00.000+09:00

An afternoon nap

2007-07-29T15:51:00.000+09:00

It's silent now in the Watanbe household, up here in Yabuki, Fukushima. As is tradition on a Sunday, ramen noodles were ordered for lunch, and delivered to the dining table 15 minutes later. Piping hot and delicious, everybody tucked in and all that could be heard was happy slurping. We finish, wash the ramen bowls, and 30 minutes later, the delivery man returns and takes the bowls back to the store. All very efficient and great service. To keep the soup and noodles from spilling over, there is a special carry bow on the back of the delivery man's scooter. Set within complex system, this basically adjusts so that it maintains an upright position. Also, elasticated vinyl wrap covers the top of each bowl, so there's no spillage. Everybody is now asleep, their stomachs full with ramen, whilst I type away on Miyu's baby Mac.

The choosing of names

2007-07-29T15:37:00.000+09:00

With a baby on the way, a constant thought in ones mind is the name. Here in Japan, it is common to think of names, and then consult a monk who specializes in analyzing the number of strokes in the chracters that make up that name. He determines whether the chosen name and the family name are well balanced and if it will bear good fortune. We haven't reached that stage yet, but we will be doing so soon. Also, with more and more people marrying non-Japanese, people try to find names that sound Western but can be written in Japanese kanji. For example, "Jay" is very popular. A British/Japanese couple I know chose "Isamu", so that if need be, the "I" and "U" could fade into the background to produce "Sam". It certainly adds further complexity to choosing names, as there are more factors to consider. How it sounds in both languages, is the meaning of the sounds funnny or strange, how will people shorten the name chosen, what could be alternative readings of the kanji, what does it rhyme with in other languages????? Considering all these things, it brings to the fore the importance of the name choosing. Of course, the child could change name, but that's still not usual (although very easy to do, actually). I must ponder further...

Another one bites the dust

2007-07-09T13:58:00.000+09:00

Got some great news today from my friend Joseph today. He proposed to his girlfriend Satoko and she accepted! I'm so happy for them as they're such a lovely couple, and clearly goo-goo about each other. Congratulations you two!
Miyu's now safely settled into her parents' house, and is fully prepped for the impending arrival of the little 'un. When I was on the phone to her last night, he gave the strongest kick so far which resulted in Miyu screaming out in pain and shock! I'm sorry for Miyu but at the same time kinda stupid proud about it : ) I mean, he must be pretty healthy to be knocking around like that.
I've also noticed a lot more young parents around Tokyo recently. Dunno if that's due to the fact that I'm soon to join their ranks (OK, maybe I'm not so young...), or if there's been some sudden explosion of kids. The government has been making various noises about the importance of increasing the population, so maybe, like good citizens, the Japanese have decided to get jiggy with it a bit more. And this is no mean feat, as a recent global survey found Japan to be bottom of the jiggy stakes!
This living by ones self thing is a bit over rated I think. Especially when you've gotten so used to having somebody else around. I find myself unable to sleep very well. The bed just seems a bit too large to be comfortable. Dare say I'll get used to it, but the thing is I don't really want to! I really want Miyu to be here, but I can completely see the logic of her staying up in Fukushima for the time being. Ahh well, roll on birth!

Another realm

2007-06-26T11:02:00.000+09:00

Miyu and I went to a couple of restaurants recently. First to a Vietnamese in Ebisu for some lunch time noodles, and secondly to a rather swish French place in Minami Azabu, to celebrate Miyu's bday and what may be our last intimate meal together.
Observations from them - in the Vietnamese place, 90% of diners were women (ladies who lunch in the main). Two of them behind us photographed every dish that was brought to them so that they could add it to their blogs (they were talking about it rather loudly). Apparantly this action, of photographing dishes in restaurants is causing chefs around the city a real headache. When they prepare the dish, up to recently, they have timed everything so that by the time the food is plonked in front of you, it is ready to eat. However, now with this extra delay, the food is no longer in prime condition by the time diners put the first bit of food into their mouths. Hot food continues to "cook" even after it's taken off the heat of the cooker. a good chef takes this into account and will, for example with pasta, strain it whilst it is still quite hard. But, it is still cooking and softening, so that by the time it has completed it's journey from kitchen to table, it is al dente. I actually tried this at home a couple of weeks ago and it really works. So, the question is, what do chefs do to counteract this? Will they ban all food photography in their establishments? Or will they have to take food off the heat even earlier? How will they measure this?
Another interesting sight was two women arriving at the restaurant, chatting, they sat down, read the menu, ordered and then fell into a deathly silence as they flipped out mobile phones and didn't speak again until the food arrived. This sort of behavior used to be considered rude, but is it now acceptable? I've seen it in other places too. A boy and a girl on a date, walking down a street but both furiously texting away on their keitais. Maybe it was a case of bad date and they were telling their friends, but I think not. Is this the norm? What is the implications on person to person, face to face communication? Why is it so tempting/easy to interface with a device than with people? Is this true in other countries or is it unique to Japan?
In the confines of the snazzy French restaurant, it was filled mainly with couples. It was an expensive place, and there seemed to be a lot of monied folk in there. It was inteesting to see how couples ordered. It followed a pattern. Couple enters restaurant, led to table by waiter, woman is seated first, menus are read, some discussion about the menu, waiter appears, and then man orders food and drink with no consultation with woman. Woman looks miffed but holds her tongue. A bit of pouting follows, but man ignores and consults his two keitai (yes, the more the keitai the more "important" you are). keitais are left on the table. Both man and woman talk with each other, but their glances always slides toward their little bundles of telephonic joys. Have mobiles become the new children of couples? They need constant attention, must be picked up regularly and sometimes rings/cries. Could Japan's demographic timebomb be reversed if mobiles were banned?

The heat

2007-06-23T12:58:00.000+09:00

It's really hotting up here in Tokyo at the moment, and even with my new "cool biz" suit, I find myself being reduced to a puddle of sweat on a regular basis. The heat is really affecting Miyu too, as her body temperature is higher due to the baby. So, we went down to Bic Camera yesterday, and bought a neat little electronic fan for the bedroom. On starting it up back home though, we found the noise it made at top speed was akin to a airplane taking off, and hence not condusive to entering the land of nod...
I met an interesting person last week. He'd just started working at one of the top investment banks, but previous to joining had been a doctor. I asked him why he had decided to change careers, especially after devoting 8 years to the medical profession, 6 of which were as a student. He said he had always had two passions in life - medicine and investments. After two years in medicine, he realized he wouldn't be able to excel in the job, so changed over before it was too late.
So there you go. Just goes to show it's never too late to change your mind about something.

A Super Deluxe night

2007-06-13T10:19:00.000+09:00

After a hard slog of a day yesterday, where in addition to my job I completed the first part of a proof reading job I'm doing for Miyu, I headed down to the very funky environs of Super Deluxe, in Nishi Azabu. Accompanying me were Mr Tame, Mr Broomes and Mr Aroop + g/friend. When I arrived, the place was packed with people taking a breather after the first musicl act, who apparantly were a bit into shock tactics. Next up was an experimental Jazz quartet, who utilized a lot of strange musical instruments to create some noize...I didn't really get what they were trying to do, and as the show went on, the crowd seemed to ignore them more and more, if the volume of conversation was anything to go by. It was quite funny watching their piano player. Her posture and pained expression said " I don't want to be here. I'm so f***ing tired I want to sleep." Which she did!
The last band up were fantastic. Such a difference to the previous one. Again, it was jazz, but there was so much energy in their performance. The double bass player, a big dude with glasses and long hair, was really giving it his all, and the crowd were whooping it up. Simultaneously, there was a live drawing going on behind us, involving four young artists who used black paint on white canvass to produce their music interpretation. All very inspiring and left me feeling energised and promising myslef to come and visit this superb place more often in the future.

Hiccups a plenty

2007-06-12T16:45:00.000+09:00

Apparently, a healthy baby still in the womb hiccups a lot, which I was very happy to read last night as the little 'un inside Miyu has been doing an awful lot of it recently! Something to do with their lungs and how they can pump oxygen around their tiny bods. He should have quite a head of hair on him by now too, and get this - he'll soon shed his body hair plus a filmy coating, then consume this and this'll constitute his first dump when he emerges into this world!!
My re-introduction to gymdom continues apace. I ventured down to the Tipness Shibuya on Sunday, and spent four hours doing a variety of sweaty things. First off a 20 minute warm-up on the stationary bike, followed by 10 minutes of stretching, then weight machines and free weights, followed by two classes of Slim Box and Fighting Rush and finished off with some more much needed stretching. Cor, I was knackered! The two classes were great fun though. The first a combination of boxing and aerobics, and the second a hyper fast combination of karate, kick-boxing, boxing and aerobics. I was a puddle of sweat afterwards, but a smiling puddle of sweat. It felt really good. After showering, I spent 30 minutes in one of those amazing Japanese massage chairs, dozing off to the rhythmic pummelling of my sore muscles.

The passage of time

2007-06-07T09:40:00.000+09:00

Yikes!
Isn't it amazing how quickly time flies? Take this blog for example. I haven't added anything since May 11th, but it only seems like last week. I suppose I have other things on my mind.
Miyu is now staggering under the ever expanding girth of her belly, and the almost constant kicking from the baby. He really is a strong 'un, I can tell you. I was watching a Karate video on YouTube last night with Miyu, and the baby began a flurry of punches that left Miyu feeling quite nausous!
Talking of activity, I dragged my not so pert arse to the gym for the first time in ages yesterday. I've now given up on ever seeing the local ward gym re-open, so have instead opted for the much posher (ie more expensive) environs of Tipness in Shibuya. Now this used to be my old grunting ground, but I gave up my membership due to the easy proximity of the very cheap ward gym. Just wasn't to be, I suppose. So, yesterday saw me back pumping iron amongst the muscle Marys and would be super models who seem to be the majority members there. It certainly is more exciting a spectacle than watching the pensioners at the public gym! I started off with a session of "Power Rush", which contrary to what it sounds like (a steroid toking raver in the throes of nirvana), involves combining aerobics with resistance traning using a barbell and weights. I opted for some light weights, as I didn't want to injure myself on my return to gymdom, and then proceeded to sweat my self through a tough class accompanied by pounding pounding techno music and a female instructor whose body seemed to consist solely of muscle and tanning lotion. As it was mid-afternoon in mid-week, I was the only male amongst an all female cast. The sensei had put me at the front of the class so that I didn't miss anything, but I think I must have taken a regular's spot, as a very annoyed looking gazell of a woman stood behind me staring daggers into my back for the whole class (I could tell due to every surface being made of glass). So, apart from feeling a constant prickling on the back of my neck, it was very good. Worked the whole body and next time I'm going to try some heavier weights so that I can really feel the burn, baby!

On a complete tangent - do unborn babies dream? And if so, does the fact they are physically attached to the mother mean that the mother can somehow share in those dreams and vice-versa? Any thoughts?

And some more

2007-05-11T16:07:00.000+09:00

Some photos

2007-05-11T15:57:00.000+09:00

A wet end to GW

2007-05-07T11:46:00.000+09:00

After a glorious string of sunny days, yesterday's torrential downpour brought to an end a very relaxing GW here in Tokyo. Miyu and I ventured over to Gotanda and visited Akachanhonpo, which is like a giant baby emporium selling everything you need for children and parents under one roof. I checked out the baby chairs and spotted a very nicely designed one which we may buy a few months from now (no sense getting it now as the baby wont be able to sit-up for a while after birth). Bought a very cool baby sling called Natures Sway Sling, which is very ergonomic and easy to use. It holds the baby in a cocoon like sling, and keeps body contact with the carrier (which is supposed to be important for development). We were going to buy lots of baby clothes too, but after consulting with Miyu's mum, was told she has a whole stash of baby clothes from one of Miyu's aunts, so we wont have to buy very much. That's a relief, as baby clothes are really expensive! Plus, as they grow so quickly, they outgrow everything in a few months, so I'm a bit loath to splurge on designer gear. It's a very good business to be in though. No wonder a lot of top designers now have a baby range - it's a real cash cow.
The baby's moving around so much inside Miyu's womb now. You can actually see this rippling wave of movement across her belly, as the baby seems to flip and turn. Very "Alien" like, but surprisingly not disturbing at all.
One of the things that I've been noticing going to places like Akachanhonpo here in Tokyo is the attitude of young fathers to their children. I had this image that they'd be more distant, letting the mums do most of the work, but it's quite the contrary. Maybe the fathers from previous generations were like that, but these fathers are very hands on, it seems. At least they are when I see them. I suppose during the week they don't get as much chance to be with their kids, so they try to make up for it on their days off. Plus, I've heard from several Japanese fathers that they don't want to be like their fathers were to them - distant and untouchable. They really care about bonding with their kids. I think this attitude is also seen in the recent spate of magazines that are aimed specifically at young fathers, and how the central message in them is the importance of maintaining closeness to your child's growth. It's definitely a good thing, I think.

Heroerotic sport

2007-05-06T11:22:00.000+09:00

Just read an excellent article in The Observer about man love in football. Very funny: LINK
It seems very obvious really. The whole spectre of watching extremely fit men run around "fighting" each other, and then rejoicing in their glory when they score. And yet, men don't see anything homoerotic in it at all, which is rather funny as in fact it's extremely so. Are we all in denial, or is this an important aspect of men's nature that needs to be expressed?
Spent a very lazy summery day yesterday in the local park. Miyu and I picnicked, read, tried some code breaking (from a very good book by Simon Singh - LINK), slept and took loads of pictures of some gorgeous flowers. Yes, flowers. I'm totally comfortable with my softer side, you see ; )
I'll post some flower pictures later...

The avoidance of eyes

2007-05-05T12:14:00.000+09:00

It's Golden Week here in Japan at the moment, so Miyu and I decided to head on down to Enoshima yesterday for a bit of sand, sea and sunshine. This involved taking the Shonan Shinjuku train line all the way to Ofuna, and then changing to the monorail for a short ride to Enoshima. What really shocked and disappointed me was the fact that nobody on those very crowded trains offered to give up their seat for a very obviously pregnant Miyu. In fact, the people in close vicinity to her, who were sat down, either pretended to sleep, looked away or knotted their brows in concentration reading their books. This was exhibited even by people who were seated in the priority seats for people who need to sit down (handicapped, old and pregnant women), but who were obviously very able bodied. Had us both seething I tell you.
When we did arrive at Enoshima, it seemed like we were in fact in Shinjuku station at rush hour. The sheer volume of people there was quite shocking. Queues everywhere, and it made stopping on the streets almost impossible due to the steady flow of people traffic carrying you along.
Funny thing was, and something that added even more to the notion we were in fact in Shinjuku station, was the escalators taking you to the top of the hill. The island has a large number of temples, and it's quite steep, so somebody must have thought it'd be nice to install these escalators right in the middle of such tranquil antiquity. Miyu was glad of the assist though!
We had planned to cross the island and then take a ferry back to the main port. However, after trekking up and down lots of steep steps (and escalators), we found the ferry wasn't in operation! So, Miyu decided she didn't want to face the crowds again, so we took the short-cut along the cliff faces. This involved some not so easy rock climbing, which Miyu took in her stride very well, considering she's seven months pregnant. The only mishap was we both got our feet slightly wet in the sea at a particularly difficult stretch of the cliff face.

Trekking Northern Takao Ridge

2007-04-07T21:06:00.000+09:00

25 days off

2007-03-08T12:53:00.000+09:00

I've been away, hiding in an emotional hole for the past 25 days, with not an iota of an inclination to write anything. Miyu has been gone for 22 of those days, back in her home town in Fukushima, half of them spent horizontal in hospital, as her placenta was not where it should have been.
She returns today, and lo and behold so has my inclination to write something (although my fingers are strangely awkward, tapping away on this keyboard). The words "muse" springs to mind, but also the thought that I'm a lazy bastard lurks more to the fore...
So, what's been happening in Tomland since almost a month ago?
!. Living on my own has been, dare I say it, great! The reason Miyu left was because we had a hum-dinga of an argument, which resulted in her saying her farewells and storming out, promising never to return. A couple of days later we'd made-up, over the telephone, but she'd gone back to her parents, and then to hospital. She needed the rest, and I needed the space, I suppose. At first, I thought I'd go out and get pissed every night, dance till dawn and hang out with friends. I ended up staying in most nights, having a couple of beers, watching movies and reading. I kinda felt guilty at first, to be doing "nothing", but then I chilled and enjoyed it.
@. Work wise, I realised I need something full-time. At present I'm working at Phoenix and doing some private lessons. Had a word with the HR manager yesterday and we agreed it'd be better if I went full-time. This means I'll get some paid holiday and hopefully more work. Also get paid a bit more too :)
#. I've continued with my preps for the big 100km Oxfam hike. The gym at my local sports centre is now under reconstruction, I was going there regularly (saw that wall punching guy again, and this time he didn't punch the wall...or stare at me), about 3 times a week. So, been doing running and mountain biking instead. Last Sunday went on a 20km ride to the Tama River. It was a warm, sunny day and I only needed a t-shirt and shorts. Loads of people out and about doing outdoorsy things, like me. I think the exercise is just about counter balancing the beer I'm consuming, although I'm sure there are worrying signs of a beer gut appearing (or is it a phantom pregnancy?)
$. Erm, I think that's it! I know, it's pretty embarrassing how little I've actually done in these past 3+ weeks, but there you go.
Hopefully I'll be back to keeping up a regular stream of snippets, so until the next time.

White noise in Tokyo

2007-02-11T22:24:00.000+09:00

It had been 20 years since she'd ventured so far from her countryside home town, but the imminent arrival of her daughter's baby and the curiosity of seeing how she lived had compelled her to come. The very fast journey by Shinkansen had caused a mild panic attack, as it seemed to her that surely such a mass of steel going at such a speed would go flying off the track at any moment. Closing her eyes helped, but her youngest son, who had also come along, had been very excited on the train, it being his first time to travel on the bullet. He kept tugging at her arm to look out the window to see something he had seen, and when she did all she saw was a blur of sickening motion.
When they arrived at Tokyo station, she couldn't see her daughter and husband on the platform, which caused her to begin sweating and wondering if they had had an accident on the way. Then she got a keitrai message from them, saying they'd just got to the station and would be there in a minute. So, not dead after all.
She was happy to see them both, but found it difficult to express it, seeing as the platform was swarming with far too many people, all jostling to either get off trains or get onto trains. It was chaotic, and she wished they'd all just go away.
They managed to navigate through the throng, down some extremely long escalators and then onto another busy platform to take them from Tokyo to Ebisu, where her daughter lived. "It'll take about 20 minutes, mum." The daughter said. 20 minutes, my god, that's like a life time. The seats on the train all faced inwards, and sitting like that, travelling sideways, made her immediately feel nauseous. So she turned her body awkwardly sideways, so that she was facing forwards, which felt a bit better.
The music chimed as they disembarked from the train, lending the whole scenario a dreamlike quality which she quite enjoyed. It reminded her of when she was at kindergarten and the teacher used to get all the children to play musical chairs. The anticipation of the music stopping always sent butterflies fluttering wildly in her tummy.
Out of the station and people kept zigging and zagging all around her. Some looked miserable and very tired, dressed in dark suits and carrying large briefcases. She saw a group of girls all wearing skirts that surely should be illegal, as they left absolutely nothing left to the imagination. And how could they wear them in the middle of winter? Then she saw a young man wearing a skirt, with a nail piercing out from under his lower lip. He also wore lots of dark make-up. Was this Tokyo, or some sort of dream world that she'd suddenly stepped into, maybe pied pipered in by the soothing station music?
It was much warmer here than in the countryside. With her heavy down jacket on, she felt like she was going to over heat. It didn't help matters that to get to her daughter's place, they had to climb a hill, which left her exhausted. If this was what living in Tokyo was all about, then there was absolutely no danger of her ever living here. Give her the wide open fields and the uncrowded roads any time of the day - yes please!
But there ahead of her stood her daughter, holding her husband's hand and turning in her stride to smile back at her. And she noticed then the bulge of her stomach, and what it contained inside, the thought of it, made her forget all her stress. Well, at least until the next train journey.

A state of apathy, unless in Japanese company

2007-02-09T08:37:00.000+09:00

It seems remarkable in this age of blogs, vblogs and homepages, where everyone and anyone can share their thoughts and opinions with the world, that the act of voting for government has fallen so out of favour with so many people.
Now, I haven't conducted any sort of extensive research, but having discussed this matter with many a Japanese, most no longer vote in local or national elections. Why? Some can't see any relevance to what the politicians are sprouting to their own lives, some think the difference offered between those standing for election is so minute that they might as well be of one party, and others believe even if they vote, nothing will actually change.
I find this all very sad. The right to vote is surely the backbone of any democracy, a right which hasn't always been there. If recent local elections are of any indication of the trends in voting numbers, where less than 40% of the electorate cast their votes, then are we really living in a fully representative democratic nation? Is it not in fact going back to an old way of governance where a few decide what the majority must follow?
Further more, I was talking to a Japanese friend of mine yesterday, and he recalled when working for his first post graduate company, whenever an election was due to take place, the president of the company would call an all employee meeting, and tell them all who they must vote for! This riled my friend and he voted for the opposition candidate out of spite for his president's strong arm tactics, but I wonder how many of those gathered at that meeting simply accepted the order and did what they were told? Is this a sign of a democracy?
Looking at the current crop of top ministers in government here, you'll quickly find several dynasties going back many generations. The Prime Minister is the son of a former Prime Minister. The previous PM was the son of a leading minister. Where's the new blood which can generate new ideas? Sadly it is just not there, which just goes to reinforce another conception of politics here - an old boy network which benefits those in the loop and excludes those outside IE the general public.
Such a set-up can partly explain why the majority of people are no longer interested in involving themselves in politics, but I wonder how long this will last? Is it possible that some form of revolution could erupt and cause a sea change?

The man with the Gallic voice

2007-02-08T00:08:00.000+09:00

I was in a local eatery today with Miyu, enjoying a large bowl of udon noodles and a large katsudon (deep fat fried port fillet on a bed of rice). I was so absorbed in eating, as I was very hungry, that I'd failed to notice the French man enter the restaurant and take up a seat behind us. I'd ascertained he was French because he was speaking to his colleague, telling him this was a cheap, but good quality Japanese restaurant that he really liked.
From listening to his voice, I got the strong impression that this was a tall, slightly over-weight and attractive man. He had a charismatic voice, which was a real joy to listen to. He chatted away whilst they ate, turning from the subject of food to office gossip.
So imagine my surprise when they were leaving and I could finally set sight of this man. He looked very Japanese! Short, balding and sweaty faced with a big beer belly and stumpy little legs. I did a quick scan of the restaurant to make sure he really was the source of that rich textured voice, and sure enough, it was. I couldn't believe how different he looked compared to the mental image of him I'd built in my mind.

Shadow cat

2007-02-06T23:00:00.000+09:00

I caught sight of it out of the periphery of my vision, just as the sun was setting on Tokyo. It was about 20 metres in front of me, going uphill at a fast pace. As I watched it, it merged with the shadow of an on-coming pedestrian, up and into a wall and then when the man had passed, it re-emerged, it's fur glistening slickly as if it had just dipped itself in some premium oil. I quickened my pace, as I'd been told repeatedly by my wife that if you touched a shadow cat, you'll be guaranteed riches beyond your wildest dreams.
I think it must have realized that I'd spotted it, as it suddenly quickened it's pace. Luckily, I'd been doing a lot of sprint training recently, as our company sports day was due next month, and I wanted to win a medal. Even though I was in my suit and work shoes, I was able to gain on the elusive shadow cat, and I began to feel confident that I'd soon be stroking it and then looking forward to the cash piling up.
A big truck turned into the road I was running on up ahead, and the cat jumped into it's huge shadow. I followed, and thankfully, this being a narrow Tokyo back-street, I could keep up with the vehicle. The truck stopped. It was some sort of removal company van, and I skidded to a halt beside it, keeping my eyes fixed on the shadow lest the cat slipped out unnoticed.
I was breathing deeply through exertion and excitement at my future prospects. I could give up my stupid job and we could go and live on some paradise island.
Then came the screeching and the headlights, coming from my right, very, very fast. The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air, faintly aware that my legs felt soft and squelchy and my head was beginning to pound. Slowly, I came back to earth, landing quietly in my mind, and for a moment all was still. Then time caught up, and everything was too loud and far too painful. I blacked out.
When I came to and opened my eyes, I could see my wife and parents sat next to me. I was lying on a sheer white hospital bed, and there were a lot of tubes stuck in me. A machine beside me was beeping rhythmically, and it took me a few seconds to realize the noise was my heart transposed into electric signal. I was floating in cotton wool and I felt extremely stoned.
All of a sudden, from a shadow cast on the opposite wall made by my wife, the shadow cat emerged. It jumped out and landed on my chest. It dipped it's head down to my face and did a sideways stroke across my face, tickling my nostrils. I sneezed, loudly and the cat jumped straight back into my wife's shadow. I a dopey smile and closed my eyes.

Pounding the wall nonchalantly

2007-02-06T15:51:00.000+09:00

Having recently discovered my local municipal gym, I try to make it down there three times a week. It's a pretty basic set-up in there, one treadmill, a couple of stationary bikes and about ten weight machines. There are no free weights, which is annoying, but for 100 Yen for one hour, I ain't complaining.
So there I was this morning, going from one machine to the next and building up a good sweat. About six other people were in there too, all quite old and probably retired. They looked pretty trim though, for their age. One dude sat down on a chair beside one of the windows. Tanned and well muscled, and an air of slight menace that I'd felt when I first saw him. He was watching me do some lateral pull-downs, and I tried to ignore him. After my second set, I looked over at him and he was still looking at me. It wasn't a curious, open stare, but an intense, cold beam that made me uncomfortable. I quickly looked away and started on my third set.
When I finished, a rhythmic "thump, thump, thump" started from his direction, and I couldn't help but look over. There he was, cool as a cucumber, still watching me with a sneer and punching the wall next to him with his bare right hand. These weren't little patsy slaps, but big pounding sledgehammers, piling into that wall like a bulldozer. I gulped and moved onto the next machine.
The punching continued as I began my reps. I tried to concentrate, but the more I tried to ignore him the more I wanted to look over at him, which I did. He was still looking right at me, and I don't know for sure but I don't think I saw him blink once. His eyes were black, hard and tiny, and they seemed to glint with terror. I was getting a bit scared now. Maybe he didn't like foreigners? Or maybe he didn't like newbies to the gym?
With these thoughts racing through my head, I continued the workout. Then suddenly, the pounding stopped, and he quickly stood up. He marched over to the pec squeeze machine, sat down and began doing reps. Every time he completed one rep, he'd let out a bass tonal grunt. He didn't stop for the remaining fifteen minutes I was there, and I'll tell you in a couple of days if he's still there, the nonchalant wall punching man.

High in the sky of mammon

2007-02-05T23:00:00.000+09:00

I was up on the 48th floor of the Mori Building in Roppongi Hills today, to begin a new training course for one of our clients. Unable to book a room as the money makers had descended en mass to screech about making more money, we found a quiet corner next to floor to ceiling windows, offering a majestic night sky view of Tokyo. It was breathtaking. The client was a young currency dealer, who has aspirations to be a rock star and had just bought his parents a second hand BMW from a colleague.
Elsewhere that same day, but earlier, I passed a homeless man pushing a cart laden down with scavenged clothes. His face was almost black with the constant exposure to the strong winter sun. Salarymen passed him by in droves, ignoring him and making him nothing more than a fragment of some waking nightmare, quickly forgotten. I veered close to him, making sure he was, in fact, real and was almost floored by the stink that emanated from his dank body.
There's a lot of anguished writing at the moment, both here in Japan and abroad, regarding the ever widening poverty gap. The rich keep getting richer and the poor are disappearing down some bottomless hole where they can never escape. Towers of prosperity, propel the wealthy ever skywards and create cities within cities, where the key to entry is a fat wallet and the right connections. Mustn't be flash about it though, as this can lead to banishment, as has been amply demonstrated by the rapid rise and astonishing fall of internet tycoon, Takafumi Horie. He was in court about a week ago, crying big fat tears of bitterness at how unfair the authorities had been to him.
I reckon one of the reasons the higher powers came down on him like a tonne of bricks was because he just didn't give a ****. He didn't play by the rules and he waddled his fat arse in the faces of rich and poor alike, much like an old Harry Enfield creation, "Loads-a-money". Young people actually looked up to him, for being "more American" and independent, but he didn't give a **** - all he was interested in was waving his cash and shouting "okane ippai!"

Alcohol and caffeine

2007-02-05T09:49:00.000+09:00

I did a little experiment during Jnuary, where I stopped drinking any booze nd coffee. Partly to detox nd also to see how it would mke me feel, seeing as I was imbibing both of those poisons on pretty much a daily basis.

Well, initially it was a tad uncomfortable. I suppose you could call it withdrawal symptoms. Slight headache over the first two days, coupled with constipation because my morning coffee also acted as a body poo flusher! After that though, things settled down. I felt much calmer and could sleep better during the night. Waking up in the morning was easier too, and I found it quicker to get going.

Overall, it was a very positive experience, and although I'm going to continue drinking both substances, I'm going to cut back a lot. Booze just for special occasions and coffee only in the morning (clean out the system, as it were!)

The Trailwalkers

2007-02-04T13:49:00.000+09:00

As I mentioned before, I'm taking part in a sponsored hike in May, where in my team of 4 we'll be trying to complete 100km of mountainous terrain to raise funds for Oxfam Japan.
Here's a link to our homepage: THE TRAILWALKERS

We're aiming to raise 2,000 GBP / 480,000 Yen, so if you'd like to have the pleasure of knowing I'll be walking on a multitude of blistering pain for two days, then click on the link above, and go to our donate page, where you'll be able to pledge your support!

Aching and cramps

2007-02-02T19:31:00.000+09:00

I'm sore all over at the moment, as I've been doing some training for an upcoming charity hike called "Trailwalkers", in May. I'll be posting a link to a funky HP which my friend and fellow team mate, Joseph, has set-up in order to raise funds for the walk. It's been organized by Oxfam Japan, and although there have been many such events in other countries, it'll be a first for Japan.

It's very exciting and challenging - 100km in 48 hours, starting in Odawara and ending in Yamanakako. That probably means absolutle nothing to you, but if you're familiar with the geography of those locations you'll realize it's very mountaineous. Meaning our legs are going to fall off, covered in huge blisters. So, training is called for, and Joseph and I have been meeting up to go on some runs and do some weight training.

I'm sure I'll get used to it soon, and the aching in me legs will subside, but at the moment it's pretty painful.

Coupled with my exercise induced pain, Miyu has been having some truly terrible stomach and lower back cramps recently. Got so bad that she had to go to hospital for a check-up. The doctor said the baby was fine (now about 6cm!), and couldn't really offer any explanation for the cramps. He offered to take Miyu in and monitor her, but she thought it's be better to stay home, and if it gets worse, then the hospital is only 10 minutes away.

So, we are currently the house of pain. I think I'm going to go now and break my alcohol abstinance with a glass of red wine. Should dull the pain.

The old man under the bridge

2007-01-28T11:19:00.000+09:00

Once a week, I go visit a client in Tochomae, which is located next to the bustling neon of Shinjuku. After following a long, impressionless underground walkway to exit A5, I emerge into the greenery of a small park. I turn left, and walk under a footbridge, and hat's where I see him.

He's maybe 50 years old, short and haggard. There's a kid of concrete shelf just under one of the bridge supports, which he has converted into a kind of open plan home, but without the walls or roof (well, the bridge is the roof in that it keeps the rain of him). There's a sprawl of "stuff" that he must have collected over the course of years, such as a gore-tex sleeping bag, warm blankets, half a dozen plastic umbrellas, a cooking stove, some dirty looking pots for cooking, a neatly stacked collection of manga (which a lot of homeless people re-sell after being discarded by salarymen), a fairly new radio which is turned down low but seems to be always on, as well as every other material object that a person needs to survive living under a bridge.

Sometimes, if it's cold like today, he'll be sleeping in his arctic sleeping bag, which he has zipped over his head, and piled about five blankets on top. All of his possessions are seemingly scattered around him in disarray, although maybe there is some chaotic order to them which I'm not picking up on. I've seen a policeman walk straight past him without even glancing at him, and this is the same reaction of everybody else who walks under that bridge. It's like he's invisible, or at least if people keep looking straight ahead and ignore him, then there's no need to think about it. It being the rising problem of urban homelessness which has been steadily increasing since Japan's bubble economy meltdown of the early 90s.

In turn, the homeless keep themselves to themselves. They set up little communities in parks, using blue tarpaulin and cardboard to construct a new subdivision in urban living. Depending on how long they have lived in one particular location, their homes can be very sophisticated "buildings", with entrance for taking off your shoes, with a kitchen, living room and bedroom (I kid you not). Some have even been able to find local electric power outlets, so that they have televisions and microwave ovens. The parks are popular because it gives easy access to toilets and washing facilities.

Occasionally, you'll see a news report about police trying to "evict" whole tarp villages, as happened a couple of years ago in Osaka. In that particular case, the homeless took the case to court, and the judge ruled that in fact the police were in the wrong. The tarp constructs could be viewed as homes, taking into account how long the people occupying them had been living there, so they could stay and continue living there. I'm not too sure of the technicalities, but in effect that was what was decided.

This all seems very different from the behaviour and attitude to the homeless in London. Here, the homeless don't beg. Instead, they scavenge and set up make shift stalls selling manga in Shibuya. They walk around with big resin sacks filled with crushed cans which they can take to the government recycling depot, and get some cash. They form communities in parks around the city, so that the blue tarp of their homes blend in seamlessly with the everyday of living in this contradictory city.

More baby photos

2007-01-22T15:39:00.000+09:00

On a happier and more personal note, we went along to the Red Cross hospital last week and got some new pics of the baby. She/he's now 4cm long and 11 weeks old, and everything seems to be in good working order.