Buggery!

I'm not sure if this is a global trend, or a kid's 'thing', but on Planet Japan, bugs are big.

We were down at Toys 'R' us this weekend trying to pickup a present for Nicole's friend and right in the centre of the store they were selling... bugs.

Bloody Big Bugs! Not little ants or tiny termites or squishy worms, these are gigantic horned beetles from South America!


These tough little buggers have travelled all the way from some latin american third world hovel, only to be sold in Odaiba to a little snot-nosed Japanese kid. Apparently they sell very well even at US$25-30 a piece and they're rather hardy, a small slice of fruit will keep them going for weeks...


Certainly not my cup of tea, wouldn't want one in the house, what if the little bugger escaped and I sat on it... we'd both be well and truly buggered.

Random Pics

PACHINKO! You won't believe the noise in the palour, it drowns out everything. The way it works is you have to collect the little stainless steel balls and you can trade them in for cash or gifts... ironically, most of the large Pachinko parlours are owned by the... Koreans.

Proof that you can buy almost anything from vending machines... this one sells brollys.

Japanese 'HDB' apartments in Chiba...

View from the top

Over the weekend we had lunch at the top of Ebisu Garden Tower, on the 39th floor. The chinese food was mediocre but the view was spectacular. In truth, the beauty of Tokyo lies up close, when you wonder around the back streets and alleyways and experience the charming stores, smell the grilled chicken from a yakatori restaurant, see the traditional details of old wooden buildings and touch the intricate handicraft.

When you look at Tokyo all the way from the top... it looks like shit.

I've never used a GPS set in Singapore and never needed one (which makes me wonder about some Singaporean posers who have GPS systems in their cars, you know who you are...), but looking at this picture you can see why one would need a good in-car GPS system to navigate the crazy streets of Tokyo. This photo is but a small section of the city, imagine another 1000 similar photos pieced together and you can realize the maze in which we live in.

Furthermore, that's just above ground, now imagine the same amount of commuter traffic under the city and you'll have a clearer picture of the Tokyo train system. Throw in a quake or a godzilla attack and you have absolute chaos...

DisneySea

After a long golden week here in Japan, I decided to take an extra day off and take the family down to Disney Sea. As it turned out, it was the perfect time to go. The weather was great and the golden week crowd was back at work, the park was large but the infamous long queues were practically non-exsistant. The longest wait we faced was all of 15 minutes... perfect!

As Mei and Nicole had already been to Disneyland, we decided to checkout DisneySea, according to them, it is a much better park, with newer attractions and newer facilities. The prices were exhorbitant! ¥5800 for an adult and ¥3800 for a child, to top it off, another ¥2000 to park. We chose to drive because a train ride would have taken over an hour, but from Shinagawa and by the shutto expressway, the drive only took 20 minutes.

The moment you enter the park, it's an assault on the senses, a huge musical spectacular was going on, right in the middle of the bay. Of course all the characters were singing in japanese... very, very strange indeed. The park is clearly geared for the home crowd, imagine Indiana Jones screaming in japanese, or Mickey giggling in japanese... Planet Japan. Even the weird Harajuku girls in there maid and princess costumes fit right in, it was hard to tell whether they were park visitors or park employees... But, having lived here for close to 6 months, there's not much that'll bother me anymore.

All-in-all a mickeylicious time to be had by all.

The Tower of Terror, 3 went in, then 2 chickened out...

A real ship, converted to a lounge and restaurant.

Lunch buffet at one of the countless restaurants within the park...

Can I pick a flower... or two?

Venice in Chiba... very odd.

Jules Verne's Nautilus, perfectly replicated.

What's a visit to Disney without a merry-go-round ride?

I wonder if my water bottle will float, if I threw it in...

End of the day.

Yokohama

This past saturday we took a proper trip down to Yokohama, having been there before by train, we managed only to see Chinatown, this time with a car, we could take a closer look at the place.

This was also our first time travelling on the Shuto (Japanese expressway), what I found odd was while the speed limit on the Shuto was clearly indicated at 60kph, every car was travelling at 110kph, even in the slow lane. So I managed to give the R32 a nice workout all the way down to Yokohama.

The 33km trip to less then half an hour... I won't tell you how much less.

Unfortunately, it was a rather dreary day, with rain showers and a mean, overcast sky. We drove around the city and finally ended up at the Yokohama Bay area, Minato Mirai and had lunch in a mall... it's name escapes me. Next to the mall was an amusement park with a massive ferris wheel, we got on and had a great bird's eye view of the city.





Despite the rain we managed to have a decent time at the amusement park, even if someone refused to go on the roller coaster...

Even though Yokohama is only 30+ km away from central Tokyo (which is considered really close), it certainly has a more suburban, laid-back feel. The streets feel less congested, wider boulevards, buildings don't feel like they're on top of you. Even in the mall, while crowded, it didn't feel manic, people actually strolled around as opposed to speed-walking. And things are cheaper here, you could actually get a HOUSE here, with a small garden and a wonderful view of the bay. I could see myself living here at some point, even with a 45 minute daily commute.

Anyhoo, as the rain refused to stop, we decided to head back to Tokyo, the drive back was a breeze, I must say the R32 is a wonderful road cruiser, the 3.2 litre engine just gobbles up the road with little effort and has enough of a kick to overtake with ease.

All-in-all a decent day, had a nice look at Yokohama and gave the car a good run... and we all know which was more fun.

Big 'shrooms, small melons

Apple size watermelon, a bargin at US$17...

Portobello caps, the size of a bug's face...

and some don't stop here... you figure out which ones.

Will be back in Singapore on the 16th of June

Finally, I'm going home! If only for a week, but unfortuantely without Mei and Nicole. Nicole's summer holidays won't start till end June so they will make the trip back sometime in July. I'm coming back for David and Sherine's wedding (gee, I hope they're APPRECIATIVE...).

For at least a week I can be a Singaporean again, I can eat bak chor mee at a hawker centre, wear my bermudas and crocs, park the car without worrying how much it will cost, drive on familiar roads (without crazy neon lights that blind you), see friends and family, speak singlish (well at least use a 'lah' or two), watch TV in english, eat jasmine rice and sweat like a dog.

Funny how one looks forward to the little things in life...

Happy belated 70th Grand-dad!!

Slightly late birthday wishes to grand-dad from Nicole! Blame her father for his absent-mindedness... Anyhoo, happy big 70th Daddy-O, hope you had a great evening. I will make sure the family is back for the Big Eight-O!!

I'm not sure why she signed her name on the top...

Another blustery day in Tokyo

It was blowing out there today with a heavy rain, not the best way to start the morning.

With all the buildings in Tokyo packed together side by side, it must create a bunch of wind funnels. You can walk down a street and there's hardly any wind, turn the corner and it's Hurricane Katrina. After fetching Nicole to school today, I saw these poor schlobs struggling to walk through the gale.

Make sure you got that umbrella pointed in the right direction...

The worst part is... it's not the rainy/hurricane season yet, that's in June.

Slow week for news...

It's been a slow week for news here on Planet Japan, on the other hand, it's been really busy at work. Having to spend time across the agency's two biggest accounts is starting to take it's toll. Gee, I had to work till past 11 a couple of nights back, the audacity!

One piece of advice to other newbies coming here, keep you International Driver's license as long as possible! It certainly came in handy this weekend, when I got pulled over (again) for making an illegal U-turn. This time the policeman decided to ask for my gaijin card and dutifully took down the details. When I handed over my AA International license, which is in english, he had trouble figuring it out. 20 minutes later he told me to (well, at least I think he did) bugger off and don't do illegal U-turns again. Anything in english really, really flusters them... and again I got off scott-free!

Remember, if you're unfortunate enough to get pulled over (and trust me in this place, the cops are everywhere), don't get upset, look really apologetic and rattle off in english about how sorry you are and how you will never do that again... and finish the cop off with your International Driver's license.

Like I said, it's a slow week for any news.