Random pics

The weather is nice in Tokyo now, nice time for riding a bike.

Nicole is getting taller, either that or Japanese cars are getting smaller.

Simon Chong, this is what a REAL GPS looks like, not that 1980s Namco racing game 'thing' you have...

It was good to be home

Seeing my friends, seeing the old haunts, sweating profusely and of course no trip back home to Singapore would be complete without a trip (or several) to good ol' Ghim Moh market. Every local dish or speciality you could wish for could be found in Ghim Moh. But, there was only one thing I was dying to eat... Bak Chor mee.

...and there it was. $3.00 of pure culinary delight! I take my hat off to these noodle sellers, they have the skill and have perfected the right mix of oil, vinegar, soya sauce and chilli. Having tried several times to replicate it here in Japan has only made me more desperate to get a bowl from the experts.

10 minutes later, I was a happy man... walking out of Ghim Moh with a spring in my step and a tummy full of happiness.

The Wedding

I can't belive my week in Singapore is over, suddenly I'm back in Toyko looking forward to another holiday. The main reason for going back was to serve as best man for David at his wedding. As usual a wedding attended by the boys is a wedding worth going to... what a party! It's been years since I'd seen so many drunkards in one room.

The dapper groom, way before the 'graveyard' hit

The gorgeous bride, didn't run off at the last moment...

It was a party to remember, problem with so much drink is I can't recall much. I have flashes of David being finished off by a 'graveyard', Leonard Loke, Peter, Bryden, Lyndsey, Adrian and myself bombed by a 'graveyard' each, while three men of lesser intestinal fortitude didn't touch the stuff, Leonard Chuah, Simon and Clarence.

I can still taste the sambuca in my mouth... yuck.

Pulled over... again.

Greater Tokyo has a population of 35 million.

Japan has 79 million motor cars.

Japan has 258,000 policemen nationwide.

Tokyo has 42,000 policemen.

Tokyo has 1,100 police cars.

Tokyo has 951 police motorcyclists.

In a country of 79 million cars and a city of 35 million people with only 951 motorcycle traffic policemen to cover all the roads in Tokyo. How on earth does one of them always manage to be there when ONE Singaporean decides to bend the rules?

I must remember, do not overtake on a single yellow line, do not overtake on a single yellow line, do not overtake on a single yellow line...

A regular Japanese lunch meeting

I thought I would snap a couple of pictures at a typical Japanese agency lunch meet, in this case a gathering of the operating team on our largest client, Philip Morris and because we're discussing 'sensitive' stuff, we can't go to a restaurant.

The key thing here is to get lots of coffee, because if it's a lunch meeting, it means one thing... it's gonna be long. Inevitably the most boring and monotonous person will be doing the bulk of the presentation. The highlight of the meeting is a toilet break.


The most important person here in the picture is the translator, without her, I fall asleep within seconds.

Another staple at lunch meetings is the bento box lunch. My question is, what is wrong with a sandwich or hamburgers or char siew fan (yeah right!)? These darn bento boxes look attractive but the food is always cold and I can't tell what half the stuff is... I have a simple rule here, if I don't know what it is, I'm not eating it. The problem for me with Japanese food is, even if I knew, I'd wish I didn't...


Anyway this particular meeting took 2 and a half hours. I think I went to the toilet 5 times...

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.