Yesterday I was wondering about my drinking party last night, and hoping that I wouldn’t get wrapped up in a big deal when I just wanted to stop in few a few drinks and then go home.   Turns out the universe was on my side.

Halfway through the day yesterday I got a message from another attendee of the party, and he said that he had to work late, and the organizer of the party had a sudden business trip, so they wanted to cancel the party.  It worked out pretty well for me – I could go home and take it easy last night instead of staying up late drinking and eating.

Kuniko and I celebrated with some okonomiyaki at home, and an early bed time.  I think I got about seven hours of sleep last night, which should be just about right.

I promised a coworker that I would join him for a drink at the tachinomi tonight after work.  The last time I agreed to meet for a drink at the tachinomi I ended up stuck at a very expensive restaurant eating a long dinner and entertaining two female coworkers as well.

The nice thing about a tachinomi experience is that you can wrap it up after a drink or two, and still go home and be productive.  Unfortunately, this guy doesn’t seem to want to do that.  If we end up at another long, expensive dinner I’m going to have to think twice about meeting with him again.

This is the reality while working at a Japanese company, however,  and sometimes you’ve just got to deal with it.

Pictures from this entry can be found here.

On Saturday morning early we caught a slower bullet train to Shin Kobe station, and then a faster one from there all the way to Tokyo.  The Yamaji’s were nice enough to buy us the tickets for the train, and also to pay for a hotel room at the wedding place.   Nice people!  We relaxed on the three hour train ride, and when we arrived at Tokyo station I think we were pretty well rested up.

Right away we went out and met an old friend at the station, Nel.  He lives in Chiba with his wife, daughter and incoming second daughter.  It was great to see him after so long.  He hadn’t changed at all.  We went to an interesting Chinese restaurant in a nice shopping center that featured a waiter who poured tea in a very acrobatic way.  I wish I had thought to take some pictures, but it was a very interesting presentation.  Lunch was pretty good, and I could (temporarily) scratch my dim sum itch.  After lunch we tried to burn off some of the calories by walking around the Imperial grounds near the emperor’s palace.  It was my first time visiting, and it was nice to walk around in the wide open spaces.  The area was unlike most of the rest of Japan, so it was a good experience.

After walking around a bit we said goodbye to Nel and headed off to check into our hotel.  The hotel was located near Omotesando station, just a few minutes walk away.  After checking in it was right back out the door to explore the area.  We had fun walking through the ritzy parts of Tokyo and also poking around in Harajuku.  There was some of the best people watching I’ve ever done there, too.

We stopped in for a local beer on the way back to the hotel, and then finally met up with the Yamaji’s, some extended family, and Yuki and Anna.  From there we took a long train north, meeting the Fukumis at an African (?) restaurant that apparently was a regular haunt of Mr. Yamaji at one time.  The place was a lot of fun, and we ate and drank a lot.  I was trying to save myself to have a clear head the next day, but Mr. Yamaji would have none of it, and was clearly looking to party hard.

After several hours we checked out of the restaurant and made the long trip back to the hotel.  We almost got into a fight with a bunch of young guys that were casually walking in a wide line blocking the sidewalk.  We tried to pass through them, and they called Mr. Yamaji an “old man” before they saw Yuki and I right behind them.  They quickly changed their tune and moved out of the way, and just like that I was robbed of a chance for my first Tokyo street fight.  Maybe next time.

The next day we took advantage of a late checkout and slept until about 10 am.  Then we spent the rest of the morning getting all dressed up for the ceremony.

And it was a very nice ceremony to prepare for.  Anna and Yohei looked nervous but very happy, and the Yamaji’s did a great job giving their daughter away.  It turned out that Yohei’s family was just as nice as the Yamajis, and it seemed to me that they got along very well.   They had a Japanese priest who said some very nice things and gave them a little advice on finding (and keeping) happiness.  The only bad news of the whole thing was that I found that our camera’s zoom out function died, so every time I zoomed in I would have to shut off the camera and then turn it back on go back to a regular angle.  I’m gonna have to figure out what’s wrong with it before Bali in December.

The reception was also very well done, and we had a primo seat.  For some reason Anna and Yohei put us at one of the “seats of honor” closest to the bride and groom.  I don’t know what we did to deserve it, but it was a great spot.  Easy to take pictures, too.

After the ceremony we took out time and went back out to Tokyo station to do some omiyage shopping, picked up some dinner and beer to enjoy on the train ride back, and we were at our doorstep in Akashi by 10 pm that evening.  Nice!

We really enjoyed the whole event, and we have to try to figure out how to pay the Yamajis back for all their hospitality in the near future.  Now Anna and Yohei are off to Europe to spend about a week traveling between Paris, Rome and Barcelona.  Nice idea for honeymoon!

No time this morning to recap our busy weekend in Tokyo.  Hopefully I’ll have some time tonight to transfer pictures from my camera and summarize the weekend.  Now we’ve got to get our act together and go back to work…

Starting from 9 pm last night I am night allowed to eat or drink anything, because of my medical check at work today.  Luckily I had a delicious dinner at 6 pm that Kuniko made for us when I got home.  It will be hard to remember not to drink anything this morning.  Usually I have some juice or coffee, and I usually make some hot tea when I get to work.  If I forget and drink something, I’m sure the doctor will give me a hard time.

I should be done with my testing by lunchtime, but I’m not sure I’ll have an appetite.  I have to drink a barium shake, combined with an X-ray, to get a peek inside my digestive system.  Ick.

Tonight I’ll be packing for the trip to Tokyo.  We’re planning on meeting Nel at Tokyo station tomorrow for lunch, and the Yamaji’s invited us to dinner at an African (!) restaurant.  Should be fun!

Each evening after work we are doing a little preparation for the wedding coming up this weekend in Tokyo.  Kuniko has a party she is attending on Friday night, so she’ll have limited time before we have to leave by bullet train on Saturday morning.  That means that the only time we have to get ready is in the couple of hours between getting home and going to bed (we’ve been going to sleep a little earlier these days because of the early wake up time).

Luckily I have no special plans tomorrow night, so I can get all packed and ready then.  I’m not allowed to eat or drink before the medical check at work, so I’ll be plenty hungry when I get home.  Maybe a run to the Thai restaurant for dinner?

This week on Friday during the workday I need to go get a medical checkup at work.  This is one Japanese big company custom that I think is pretty nice.  The company pays for everyone to get a complete physical every year, so the medical center in our factory is full of people for a week or so.  It is my first time getting a physical there, so I had a ton of paperwork to fill out.  Hopefully on Friday it will go smoothly.

Classes are going relatively smoothly at work.  My group lesson students are starting to get comfortable in their classes, which usually means fewer shy students, but it also means a little more Japanese is spoken in some classes.  I need to work a little harder to keep them on task, but otherwise no problems.  So far, so good…

We’re still getting up early every morning – and going to bed early every night.  Last night we went to bed around 8:45 in the evening, which I’ll admit is pretty damn early.  But the good news is that we’re both getting lots of sleep, and I think at least in the first half of the day we’ve got plenty of energy.  The second half (after lunch), not so much.  Maybe it is time to calibrate the schedule a little more.

Friday night we headed over to Ciro for a birthday dinner.   This was the first time testing out our secret way to get reservations at the restaurant (bypassing their rule of taking reservations only two weeks in advance), and it worked perfectly.  Our secret method is pretty simple, ask the manager.  As usual, dinner was excellent.  They make a huge assortment of antipasti, served both chilled and warm, and it was fun to select some for ourselves this time.

Saturday, Kuniko had to go to work for most of the day, so I met up with Yoshi and we did a climb up Mt. Rokko.  Our starting point was new – Okamoto – and from there we made the climb up to the summit in about three hours.  On top we took a break to recharge our energy.  I was pretty tired when I got to the top.  It was my first hike since before summer, so my legs were just 0n the edge of cramping up.  Luckily some nuts and chocolate saved the day.

Yesterday Kuniko again was gone all day at work, so I spent the day resting my legs, catching up on Survivor and Amazing Race, and playing games. For dinner I grilled some chicken thighs, made some fresh salsa, and served grilled chicken tacos.  Yum.

Now I’m off to work.  I’m trying to build the habit of going to work early these days.  Monday is tough, though.

Yesterday was my 41st birthday, and it wasn’t really a big event.  Kuniko and I had decided to move the party to tonight so that we could do something fun.  The plan is to go to Akashi after work and have a nice quiet dinner at Chiro over a bottle of wine.  I can’t wait.

Although yesterday was quiet, there were still some birthday events.  Kuniko bought me a new necktie, which is starting to become a tradition, and a package and birthday card arrived from the USA.   The Birches sent the card, which was pretty funny (as usual), and my parents sent along some goodies.  One of the funniest things they sent was a copy of Cosmopolitan magazine for Kuniko to check out.  The cover has lots of attention grabbing articles like “How To Have Sex That Will Knock Your Panties Off”, which I think cross some serious cultural lines.  Should be an entertaining read this weekend.

Yesterday I was feeling a little bit under the weather.  On the train to work in the morning I was getting cold sweats, and I was pretty listless at work despite having new lessons in all my classes and even a class for the production workers in the south part of the factory.  I taught there just before lunch, but by the time we wrapped everything up and I walked back across the factory to my regular classroom, I had only 45 minutes to have lunch and get ready for my next classes.

The end result was that it was a battle with my body to get through yesterday, and I was very happy to get home and crash.  It turned out that yesterday Kuniko was off a little early from work, so she had dinner ready for us when I walked in the door.  After dinner I took my temperature (normal) and then went right to bed.

I feel a little better (although still sleepy) this morning.  Mission accomplished?  We’ll see how things go at work today.

We had a lot going on this weekend.   Friday night we met up after work to go to Costco and stock up on red wine, beer, and other goodies for the household.  We bought some pre-cooked ribs and a Korean salad to bring home, and they were a big hit.  The Korean salad was a first for us, and although it was a little salty, it did taste pretty authentic (and went well with the beer we were drinking).

Then on Saturday we met up in Kobe for some shopping and to see a concert by Kuniko’s students near Mosaic south of Kobe station.  The usual suspects were there – lots of familiar faces among the teachers and parents that came.  After the show we went back into Sannomiya to do a little more shopping and then had dinner at a “French” restaurant that had more Italian food on the menu than French.  Dinner was fine, but the service was a little kooky.  Wine was poured from our already opened bottle elsewhere and then delivered to us, food came up from a dumb waiter elevator from the ground floor, and even the salad took 30 minutes to prepare.  A little strange, but the food itself was quite good.

Sunday we again met in Kobe in the afternoon, this time for a jazz concert by a guy named Ozone (pronounced Oh-Zo-Nay) and his band, No Name Horses.  Kuniko had received a great price on the tickets at her school, and there were lots of school staff there, too.  We sat near the back of the performance hall (it turned out row 5 on the ticket meant row 5 from the back) and enjoyed the two hour performance.  The first half was quite good, showcasing most of the performers and changing styles between latin, blues and piano jazz.  The drummer was the most impressive musician, and I think the band was very aware of that.  He had plenty of solos.

As soon as the performance ended we rushed out the door, picked up a couple of presents at Kobe station, and then brought them back to Okubo to bring over to the Fukumi’s house for dinner.  They had invited us over to look through pictures from our respective holidays, and enjoy some dinner.  Sayaka had cooked shepherd’s pie, quiche, and they even surprised me with a birthday cake and candles.  It was very nice of them – and a big surprise for me.

Their pictures of their trip to Italy were really well done.  They had gotten a new camera, and they like to take pictures with lots of goofy poses, as well as the landscape and sights.  You can tell they really enjoy their traveling holidays.

After four bottles of wine, dinner, and cake, we walked back home to get some rest, and kept on resting all the way through the Monday holiday.  It was a good thing we had the holiday, because I think it would have been very hard to go to work after all the rushing around on the weekend.

We’re going to make another run to Costco this weekend.  It is no secret that we’ve been there much more often now that it is so close to us.  This time we’re stocking up on wine.  I’m not sure what else we’ll pick up, but it’ll be fun to poke around.  When it was a two hour drive to Costco we’d save up for a long time and then go nuts filling up the car with goodies.  Now we seem to go to Costco even for just a few things, since it is on the way home for us.

I’m finishing up my first week of classes with the new students.  I’m pretty happy with most of the classes, but there are still some that need improvement.  Next week I’ll focus on those particular classes to try to get the balance right.  It’ll take a while to get everybody comfortable, but once that happens I think the classes will run much more smoothly.

Friday is here – and I’m already thinking about the upcoming three day weekend…

We’re past the midpoint of the week, and already the hustle/bustle of a new term is slowing down.  My current project is to find some good workbooks to use in class as homework assignments.  It is surprisingly difficult to find ones that I like.  Mainly I want the students to work on vocabulary at home, and then we’ll do grammar and speaking skills in class.  I’ll continue to dig through Amazon Japan – hopefully something will turn up soon.

The upcoming weekend is looking like it’ll be a busy one.  Two jazz concerts, a party, a lunch, some shopping, and a trip to Costco.  Luckily it is a three day weekend, and we can do almost nothing on Monday.