And in the end, what else can you ask for from a weekend?  Friday night we went out after work to have dinner at a new restaurant for us.  The place was dark, and the seats had no backs, and they were playing traditional French music in the background.  There were a few red flags, but despite that, it was a pretty good restaurant.  Some of the food (like the ratatouille) had been pre-prepared, but we a delicious cut of duck that had been pan seared and served rare – and that was really good.

One complaint that I could make – not specifically about this restaurant – is the procedure for ordering a bottle of wine.  In many restaurants they open the wine somewhere else, the proprietor tastes it themselves, and then they just pour the wine directly into both of our glasses.  In this restaurant he poured it in and said, “A very delicious wine”, as if daring us to argue.  As it happened it was a very delicious wine, but I’d prefer to make that determination.  Not all restaurants do this, but it seems like it often happens when we order a bottle of vino.  So no Michelin star for this guy.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key.  I stayed home and did some hiking, and Kuniko worked both day.  Luckily next Sunday she’ll get a day off.

Our quest for the perfect French restaurant continues.  We’ve already found a restaurant that serves great Japanese-style French food in Kobe (Anonym).  That is relatively easy to find – the tough part is to find a “real” French restaurant.  We’ve had plenty of misses while we’ve looked, and even the misses are fun for us to try.  Tonight we’ll try again.  Hit or miss, it’ll be a nice way to celebrate the end of the week and the start of the weekend.  At least for me – Kuniko is busy Saturday and Sunday.

Reading the news about the storm damage is pretty depressing.  Besides the human toll, there are effects all the way over here in Japan. Kawasaki Rail Car is a factory that builds trains for the North American market located in Yonkers, NY.  At work yesterday I heard that they suffered some light damage, and they will remain closed for the time being.  Maybe the whole week.  They have some systems that they share with another American Kawasaki factory, so that one will remain closed as well.  This means less emails for some of my students, but overall an impacted delivery schedule which nobody (including the customer) likes.

So it is under this condition that I’m teaching classes to students that are affected by the big storm.  Hopefully everyone can crawl out from under and start returning to normal.

I used up all my morning time reading about the big storm on the east coast of the USA.  Some pretty scary stuff!

Twice a week I have early classes at work.  Usually they are on Wednesday and Thursday, but today my Thursday class switched to my Tuesday class.  That means I’ve got a busy morning ahead of me.

Recently I’ve been going to work early to plan my lessons for the day and have some quiet time before things get busy.  With an extra morning class today I’ll have an hour less of planning time before my regular teaching schedule starts, so it is always a little bit of rushed.

I read on the news that the SF Giants won the world series – that was a surprise.  It seemed it like was over quickly.  I didn’t really recognize any of the names except for some of the coaches.  Names like Will Clark and Dave Righetti – those guys I remember from when I was a big fan.  It was a little bit of a blast from the past for me to remember those days listening to games on KNBR am radio.  Good memories!

Well, the weekend was everything I was hoping and more.  Lots of downtime, reading, listening to music, housecleaning, and delicious foods.  Friday night I met up with Komori sensei for a couple of drinks at Donkey and to see his pictures from his trip to the SF bay area.  He even had some pictures of the Sonoma plaza – too bad he couldn’t hook up with my parents while he was there.  He really loved the area, but he was surprised how cold summer was in San Francisco.

Kuniko was working on Saturday, but in the evening her friend Kori and her family came to pick us up and take us to their home/store/bakery.  She  is the lady that runs a cooking school, as well as selling breads and snacks from their home.  It was a perfect environment for having a party – they have a huge kitchen area, and plenty of seating for the six of us.  We ate pasta, cheese, and even a big bowl of shabu shabu.  Her two young sons (three and five-years old) kept us entertained, and got over their temporary shyness pretty quickly.   Kori’s husband didn’t drink that night, so he could drive us back to our place afterwards – what a nice guy.

Finally on Sunday we got up a little earlier to go into Osaka and see “Argo”, and we were really caught up in the movie.  Talk about “edge of your seat” – we were nervous through the whole movie.  Highly recommended if you have a chance to see it.  After the movie we did a little shopping in Osaka, and then Kuniko went on to attend a seminar, and I returned home to continue my weekend of relaxation.  Thanks to all this time to rest up, I think we’re ready for another busy week at work.

If there ever was a day where I felt like saying TGIF, today is it.  Our busy weekend last weekend combined with a heavy load of classes this week has left me tired out and waiting eagerly for the weekend.  Tonight I’ll meet with Mr. Komori at Donkey in Akashi  to recap his recent trip to California.  It shouldn’t be a wild party (at least, I hope not) and then I’ll head home early and start enjoying the weekend.

The first thing on my agenda is to sleep in.  Luckily for me, I can sleep in on both Saturday and Sunday.  It’ll be nice after getting up at 4:30 am every day for the last two weeks.  I also need to clean the house and do laundry.  We’ve been so busy we’ve been neglecting the house work.

Saturday evening we’ll go over to Kuniko’s friend’s house and have dinner.  We threw a taco party for her previously, and she wanted to return the favor and cook some Italian food for us.  Her husband doesn’t drink, and has offered to drive over and pick us up, and then drive us back home again afterwards.  Nice guy!

Unfortunately for Kuniko she has to work both days, so she’ll be just as tired despite it being the weekend.  Tough schedule for her as usual.

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.