Day 153 - My Last Post, Katajikennai Tokyo

 

So this will be my last post.  It was supposed to be on day 151, my last day in Japan but amongst all the saying goodbye and packing, I didn't quite get around to doing my last post.  But I have to say that I maximised every last hour in that city.  

On Friday Melon, Karina, Kristian, Dre and Duncan and I headed out for a de-lish dinner in Shimokitazawa.  We had daikon salad, gyoza, eggplants and raw mackerel that was seared with a massive blow torch right in front of our eyes!  Then we headed to the meguro tavern to say goodbye to the regular customers.  It was so sweet, there was quite a turnout.  I was surprised.  I mean, I had only worked their for 5 months and, 2 nights a week at that.  But I guess, they were quiet nights so it was really a chance to get to know the regulars.  Anyways, it got to about 12:30am, and I had booked a table over the road for 11:30pm, so already running an hour late.  we rushed over and waited to Edith and kei to finish at the tavern and come over.  They brought some regulars too.  It was such a good gang.   We ate so much food, amazing chicken, this crazy sausage thing that tasted like a thai green curry and you wrap it is cabbage, add roasted peanuts and squeeze a bit of lime over the top and its a flavor explosion.  The bar closed at about 4ish, (I think) but the four brothers that ran the bar sat down and we chatted until 7:30am (I think).  I was totally trying to explain to them that a bar like this would be amazing in Melbourne and I am sure that I convinced them that they should expand out.  Please please please. I will be your most regular customer!  

Then it was time to say good bye to Kei and Edith. Arg, it was so hard.  They walked me to the train station, like so many other nights and when it was time to go, both Edith and I were crying our hearts out.  I couldn't stop saying 'thank you and it was fate' and edith couldn't stop saying ' Don't change, don't change!  I cried all the way from meguro station to nakano.  I really believe that I was meant to meet the people that I did in Japan and even though I did not have so many friends, The ones I had were incredibly generous and loads of fun!

Then I still had not packed my bag and it was time to shove everything in.  Coming down the stairs I got a massive bruise slipping down the stairs while carrying my sheets from the laundry.  I should really post a picture of it because it really is nasty.

Anyways, so packing in a drunken and emotional state is probably not the best so I decided to sleep for an hour and then keep packing.  I had also arranged to meet a friend for coffee at 12:30 before my house inspection at 2pm.  I told you, maximising my hours.  So I was about to head out for coffee, but i had lost my house keys.  In my frantic state of packing, I loaded them into my suitcase. Anyways, calmed down, found the keys and off to meet my friends, I mean ...student.  I had a crush on this person when I was teaching so I was excited when he wanted to catch up for coffee, but after losing my keys, getting lost at the wrong exit, i only had tome for a quick (30 min)  coffee.  Anyways, then it was time to run back to the station because I had my room inspection between 2-3pm and I had finished packing or cleaning.  I'm an idiot. But it was all OK, sakura house arrived about 2:25 which gave me just enough time to finsh shoving my things in a bag, throw some things away and vacuum my floor.  Made it.  Off to the hotel to meet the other but the bus was full, so back to shinjuku station to take the Narita express to the airport.  It was super easy and then a last bit of duty free and I was on the way home.

I suppose my last night in Tokyo was quite fitting for my experience.  Lots of drinking, eating, chatting and very little sleeping!.  Coming back to Melbourne, I  was/am wondering how I would/will fit back in here.  But I suppose we will wait and see.  What I think Tokyo gave me the confidence was that I can really complete a challenge when I set one and I can get through difficult situations, like moving to a country where I don't speak the language, don't know anyone and have no money....and leave on such a high.  A place where I can now speak just a tiny bit of the language, have some amazing friends, I can eat rice everyday, if not twice, I went local and I can navigate my way though shinjuku station (most of the time).

I don't feel that I am quite done with Tokyo and will definitely go back there to visit.  But for now I have wonderful memories and mementos.  Maybe I need to start up another blog starting up my new life in Melbourne.  Again.  Wish me luck.  But for now, sayonara Tokyo and Katajukennai. xoxo

Day 150 -- Packing is hard

Especially when I have brought 3 pairs of shoes in the last week.  Mmm, where will my clothes go?

Day 149 - my little kokeshi

 Today I got my latest tattoo.  I went with my friend Edith from the meguro tavern, who has kind of become my coach.  First it was just coaching for coctails but now its for lots of things!  Anyways, the tattoo artist was amazing.  Kooky but talented.  His studio was in between harajuku and shibuya.  It was not like the factory experience I had in Amsterdam.  But we were at this guys house/studio for over 3 hours working out the best design, testing options and then drawing.  I even showed him some photo shop stuff.

It felt like a collaboration and he really cared about what we were doing, despite the language barrier.  He really looked at the lines of your body and compared wit with my other tattoo to make sure they would work togther and he drew up several designs for me.  He warned Edith that she might have to wear a wedding dress one day.  

And once he had finished my tattoo he said 'show me the cute one'!  

She is so cute!  I love her.  She has a personality.  Cho Kawaii ne?

Day 148 - Besutotaimu

Last night melon, Karina, Dre, Dincan Kristaina and I headed out for a nice dinner.  We went to Yuian which is on the 52nd floor of the Sumito Building on the west side of Shinjuku.  The view was incredible.  My horrible camera does not do the view justice.  Kristian and Dre both got some great photos so I will upload them later.  Anyways the restaurant had a special on at the moment.  It was all you can drink for 1250en.  Plus a set course for 3500en.  My favorite was the Japnese amberjack.  Not sure what fish it was but it was delicious.  Plus I really made the most of all you can drink.  Duncan, however, was still feeling a little tender from Saturday night, which he still has no recollection and so he stuck to the orange juice.  Still good value for money though.  OJ can be expensive here.  http://r.gnavi.co.jp/fl/en/g002213/

Then I googled 'Best time' in Japanese.   


Also forgot to mention that we went to the Tokyo Modern Art museum Today.  Saw some nice things including 'Ceramic Design of Sakaegi Masatoshi - Rhythm and Waves'  I especially liked his boiled egg holder.
http://www.momat.go.jp/english/

Now it is 5:30am in the morning and I can't sleep so its a good chance to blog.  I just checked my emails and their is one from a student that I have/had a crush on.  He wants to catch up.  Hrmmmm?  It does not rain but it pours...

Day 143 to 145 - Every Hour Counts

Friday (day 143): Taught 12 lessons then off to Meguro Tavern for drinks and then karaoke with regular customers and staff.  it was so much fun, I even sang 2 songs despite hating singing...I was belting it out at one point.  Several beers do help.  There was lots of dancing  but at 5am, it was time to call it a night....I was teaching at 10am. Got home at 6am.  Thanks so much to Alex (2nd picture on the right) for organising such an amazing night. 

Sat (day 144): Taught 12 classes after 2 hours sleep then I met Sophia and Alex at Hachiko Wall  because on saturday night she was being filmed for a documentary  'Hafu' that is about half Japanese people living in Japan.  http://www.hafufilm.com/  We drank (skulled) a couple of chu-hi's at the combini and then headed to trump room for a night of debaucherous ( I think thats a word) fun.  Lots of drinking, dancing and crazily enough I met two people that used to work at the Queen Victoria Market.  Crazy times.  I even went local.  Melon has some evidence so I will upload them later.  So, out dancing all night and maybe had 2.5 hours sleep, can't really remember when I got home.  Although melon tells me now that we left the club at 5am, and then So I am guessing I maybe had 1 hour, maximum.  Trying to decide whether to see the guy again.  My last few night in Tokyo are precious.

Sun (Day 145): Taught 12 lessons beginning at 10am and cried saying goodbye to two of my students.  Then a quick dinner burger with co-workers and off to bed for a decent 10 hours sleep.  Making the most of every hour left in Tokyo.

Day 141- Shopping and Brunching with Sophia

Had a great day with Sophia.  We went to a buffet brunch in Omotesando Hills where one of the waiters had a crush of her and we got free wine.  Then we wandered through Harajuku where I picked up this crazy fur skirt for 1000en ($12AUD) then strolled down to Shibuya.  

Great day, love being a lady of leisure...

The skirt is very tight so lets wait and see how it actually goes...Nancy Ganz are in order.

Day 140 - I' m a Booth Skank

I feel like a skank.  

I have a new client in my booth every 45mins.  

I teach 12 classes a day.  

Thats 60 clients a week.

I am working for the man.

Day 139 - You should go to Nozawa Onsen

So this totally looks like I've taken photos of postcards and then put them up but this is for real.  This is Nozawa Onsen and I did not want to leave. Its a small village in Nagano (think 1998 winter Olympics) and it is as picturesque in real life as it is in the postcards.  The town is famous for powder snow and 30 free onsens in town.  The second picture was our 'local'.  And after 4 days in this town I am in the routine of  sleeping, onsening, skiing, eating, skiing, onsening and eating and then doing it all over again!

I went up on the Wednesday night and got there a bit after 8pm and was taken up to Nozawa Cottage while Melon, Karina, Dre, Duncan and Kristian were arriving from Tokyo. So the owner of the cottage invited me down to a local bar to celebrate Australia day and kill some time while I was waiting.....The gang arrived at about 12:30am and I was a little tipsy but very excited to see them! cottage which is right on the edge of the slopes, just 150m to the main gondola. 

In the morning we had a look around town, got our bearings and then headed to the hire shop to get some gear and hit the slopes.  Kristian and I were skiing and both hadn't been in over 10 years so we had a 2 hour lesson (with a hot Swiss instructor).  It was great to ski again, but I really had trouble trying to relax into it.  I would go super fast and then freak out a bit and then either crash or slow right down and come to a complete stop.  Or I would just plough the whole time.  So my aim was to try and get better turns and maintain some consistent speed.  It too me a good 3 days to do it but by the end I was much better.  I think that I wanted to be so good at it but I was trying too hard.  Yes, I am a big fat try hard.  Anyways, I've found that this sport really tests your personality.  I am a control freak and I don't like heights, so being unable to control my speed and getting on chairlifts was a bit of a test.

The first day Kristian and I were heading up the baby slop to practice a run or two before the lesson and it was my first chair lift ride of the trip.  We are going up and I am getting a bit anxious because there was no bar.  Or at least we thought there was no bar.  We get over half way up and my knuckles are white clenching the side of the chair and melon yells out from ahead, 'put your bar down'.  I felt so much better when we had the bar down.  Obviously.  Then on day 2 there was a single chairlift that really didn't have a bar.  It was fine for most of the time, until I opened my eyes and got kind of dizzy. So I made it to the top but then coming down was another story.  This run was quite steep compared to the other baby run we were on.  So I was headed for the powder snow going kind of fast and then planted face first into the snow, it didn't hurt a bit but I managed to lose a ski on the way down.  I started freaking out thinking that's it for my ski experience but thank god Karina was nearby with her snow borad and managed to dig around for my ski while I was freaking out about losing it.  By this stage, the confidence and energy levels had taken a bit of a knock and it was a rough afternoon.  So back to the baby slopes and had a couple of nice runs because i thought that was my last day and so I just relaxed into it and it was great.  Saturday was a day off and the other guys went to see the snow monkeys but I was buggered and stayed in the village with Karina.  We had a stroll around town, ate okonomiyaki and saw the cooking onsen,.  Then went home for a nap.  We went to the crazy little izekaya for dinner and ate some great food and drank sho-chu.

I had to head back to Tokyo on Sunday but I had just enough time to get in half day skiing before i caught the train and It was great.  We stuck to the baby run but it was great all being on the mountain together and skiing and I really finally relaxed into it.  Had better turns and was maintain a more consistent speed.  Still not a great skier by any means but I feel like by day 3 i finally got it . And I would totally go skiing again.  Especially where there is onsens.  After a long day my body was so tense from trying so hard.  I thought i would be worried/nervous about getting naked in front of friends but it was not a problem.  Like it was the most natural thing in the world.  Get undressed, wash yourself on the side of the bath, acclimatize and then sit in the bath... so relaxing. 

Anyways, enough ranting on, but nozawa onsen is a great place to learn how to ski + powder snow (so you never hurt yourself) + great food + onsens = the most relaxed I've been in 6 months.

Day 133 - Saying Goodbye Already

It's been a little hard the last couple of days saying goodbye to students when  I am not quite ready yet.  It feels real now and while I am excited to be going home, I feel a little sad to be leaving some of my favorite students/clients....

These are a few presents and a beautifully written card from one client that, 3 months ago was very shy and un-confident with his English.  Now he has blossomed and he can't talk fast enough for his own liking and he is attending English seminars at his company.....onward and upward....plus I love the fact that he said many Japanese are 'allergic' to speaking English...it goes in the 'best phrases box' along with one client who came to class on Saturday and said he had an 'alcoholic headache'!

Check out the pressies below, one of my clients works for a major dental company.  He gave me some toothbrushes, a toothbrush shaped pen, toothbrush mobile phone decoration and some hello kitty tooth stickers and told me that healthy teeth are very important.  FYI, chewing also helps activate your brain.  Who knew!

This last one is Hina Matsuri dolls, they are very Japanese and celebrate girl's day on March 3rd.  

CHO KAWAII NE?

Day 131 - I mean Day 113 (retro-post) - Sou Fujimoto

 

 

So I totally forgot to put this up and today seemed like as good as day as ever because it was from day 113, but today is day 131, so both days have a three and two ones.....

Anyways, when Bridge and Jules came to visit we went to the Watari-um Museum to see the 'Forest, Cloud, Mountain' exhibition by Sou Fujimoto.  In such a small gallery over 3 floors we were kind of in and out in 20mins. The best part was the top floor where he had constructed one model, which took up the whole room.  It was a small piece of Tokyo with a pathway carved through it and it had small moments where he proposed his visions of the future.  I also like the floor with all his dog models and drawings.  Not everything was so 'beautiful'.  the bottom floor was ok, but had these strange plastic dogs in the space.  They freaked me out.

I think its over now, it finished on the 16th January 2011.  Sorry. 

Photos by Jules Ong

http://www.watarium.co.jp/exhibition/1008fujimoto/index_e.html

Day 130 - I thank thee 7-11 for my dinner

It's a quiet Saturday night in and I am eating rice, tofu and gyoza and watching 'keeping up with the kardashians', season one (I have watched the other seasons).  I don't know what's worse....that I'm home alone on a Saturday night sans alcohol or that my entire dinner I prepared (microwaved) from the 7-11 across the road......My diet is white.

Day 127 - Ready for Skiiing...Sort Of

So I can't wait to go skiing with melon and co next week at nozawa onsen...I am heading up next Wednesday.  So, as per usual, I am totally disorganised... I have no ski gear but at least now I have some snow shows!  After much debating between stella mccartney for adidas, tiger and lacoste, I went for these, and they even have a slight wedge heel....what do you think?  Now i just need some clothes to go with the shoes...

Day 120 - Old Year and New Year

So its been a while since I posted anything and that's cause I just got back from the best few days ever.  Bridge and jules came to Nippon and i met them in Kyoto on the 31st December.  It was snowing.  It was cold but it was beautiful.  We went to kinkakuji (golden pavilion).  The next day we got on a train and went to hida takayama and the ride was amazing.  I don't know how many photos I took of the snow.  We got there and dragged our cases through the snow, (damn me for not having proper shoes) and got settled in.  It was super quiet in town, dead in fact, but we found a fun little place to chow down on some ramen after escaping out of a yaki-niku shop that looked super cute on the outside but like a hairdresser on the inside, super strange.  We took stroll through the picturesque town and it felt like10pm but it was only 6pm.  
Time went slowly in this town. Forced relaxation. 
So we headed down some stairs to a litltle izekaya that, from the outside, looked pretty trashy.  BUT, on the inside it was super cute, shoes off, we had out own little booth with lowered table and we had to ring a little bell for service.  No english menu but one with pictures, we made some good choices pizza, edammae, some skewers and then some bad choices, cartlege deep fried (it looked like popcorn chicken on the menu) and some kind of chicken gizzard.  So we put them to side and kept on drinking.  Then jules gets on his serious face and says 'i have a question to ask'. So i said,' this sounds serious, do we need another drink?'  he says maybe and then whips out a massive diamond ring and says 'what do you think about this?'.  I cover my mouth in shock and can't say a word.  Bridge starts giggling and says 'is this a gift?'  then she giggles some more and keeps eating edamame.  jules looks a little nervous now and i am sending bridge telepathic message 'say  something say something'.  then she says 'of course'!  Of course she said of course!!  So then she puts on the ring, she didnt know which hand and it was all very exciting, but the whole time i am wishing that i could shrink into the timber walls behind me.  i could not back into the corner small enough for my liking.  I yell at jules and told him, he could have waited until i went to the bathroom or something.  This is a moment that is for couples and i already feel like a third wheel on their tour through japan.  Apparently jules had been carrying the ring around for days and had been waiting to find the right place to do it.  he also had a speech prepared but that apparently went out he window when he decided to propose ina litltle izekaya in takayama!  love it!  so we celebrated an the rest of the Ong's came down to have a little drink....

The next day the town seemed to wake up so we checked out the local markets, sake breweries and the old town with traditional streets. it was so beautiful...that night we ended up eating at some random restaurant as the doors opened on us automatically and we felt we should go in!  it ended up being a great experience, we communicated though pointing at other people dishes and the waitress had the best laugh.  the next day we were off to Yokohama. 

So after walking around the block a couple of times we found the rose hotel pure 1980's.  pretty funny.  but great location, right on the edge of china town.  we dropped off our bags and headed for port terminal while there was still light.  Its still a great project, its aged really nicely and actually gets used.  mostly to photograph minato mirai and the Ferris wheel....We had read about a themed park style restaurant that is supposed to be reminiscent on 1920's shanghai so we though that sounded interesting for dinner.  we found it, but it was nothing more than a tacky food court and place where you could dress up and have glamour shots taken.  so we headed back toward some busy looking street stalls and got some pork buns and dumplings take away and headed back to the hotel....after getting addicted watching some bad meg ryan film and then the aviater, went to bed, ready to hit Tokyo the next day.  

A whirlwind three days....akihabara to look at electric town, through the CBD, imperial palace.  Shibuya crossing, Parco basement, 270bar for dinner and drinks.  (ps.  the desserts there are really good)!  
day 2, the fish market after 9am (no tourists allowed before 9am) , ate breakkie at a tourist sushi bars and downed a tasty (but overpriced) negitorodon.  Then to harajuku, to the sou fujimoto exhibition its open till the 16h January at the warati museum, and its worth a look.  
day 3, we met in ebisu for breakkie,  walked through daikanyama and then went to ginza to see the sony centre.  it was a little disappointing and i am not sure about the 3d tv's but it was worth a look. Then shimokitazawa for dinner.  we met at the station and in one of the tiny back alleyways we found a place for dinner which is a tiny yakitori bar, so super cute, we made friends with the girl that works there, i wish i knew the name!  so then we kind of bar hopped across shimokitaweren't quite ready to go home so we went to another bar (after accidentally going into a girlie bar and being told that it was probably too expensive for us!   but then it got to about 3am and we were all a little tired so after a stop at maccas we caught a cab back to shinjuku and after a little teary at the station i was home about 4am.

I had the best time with bridge and jules and did loads more sightseeing in 3 days than i have done in 3 months.  When they left, i was sad. But on the upside, its only a month till i can see them again.  xoxo