Roppongi

Ok, i've still not caught up on those 25 days but heres a bit of new stuff. Roppongi is basically the sleaziest part of Tokyo where foreigners come to party all night. Most of the area looks like a slightly downtrodden version of Shibuya or Shinjuku but there's a new development called Roppongi hills where a lot of these stupidly rich foreigners live.
Nice architecture, boutiques, coffee shops, sculptures, a cinema and a art gallery make it a bit more of a desirable place to visit. Had a look around, took some pics, then spent a few hours in the gallery where there was an exhibition by Bill Viola - some sort of video artist. Bit wierd to be honest, found the techniques he used more interesting than the subject of his work. Bit of a one trick pony too - i.e. if you slow something down a lot you can see a lot more happening and it becomes more interesting. Still a few good pieces though. Then dinner and drinks afterwards.
http://s214.photobucket.com/albums/cc250/davingtonsmythe/Roppongi/

A few 'Engrish' signs

Japan has quite a few strange signs, many of them with badly translated english phrases and instructions. Some of them are just written too literally, others have a complete disregard for English grammar, and the final category reflect the fact that Japanese culture is very different to that which we're used to in the West.

Christmas Lapse

Twenty five days since I last posted an entry eh!? pheeeeew, lots to catch up on then, I'll split it into sections so you're not overwhelmed!

Christmas Party in Tanashi
I don't actually work in Tanashi, but I've done a few cover shifts there and know a few of the teachers, as well as the receptionist and manager there as a result. I finished work on Saturday 16th and despite having a stinking cold got ready in record time and caught the train down there. Only planned to have a few drinks because of the aforementioned sniffles, but as with most nights the unplanned ones are usually the best. I briefly went to the school to find everyone was already well on their way, especially the school manager who doesn't really drink, then we were led down the street to a karaoke bar.
Fourteen of us crammed into one room and started singing and taking advantage of the 'Nomihodi' on offer (not sure of the spelling here but its basically paying a set amount and drinking as much as you want for a period of time, in this case we paid about £14 each and got karaoke and as many drinks as you want for 2 hours). After this 2 hours was up we got another 2 hours, then went to an Izakaya (basically a traditional type restaurant - ie. shoes off, small dishes and various drinks). Eventually headed home at about 5:30am, not in the most sober state but certainly not as bad as most people there!
I stupidly decided to get a couple of hours sleep before I went to work (never do this...ever...people had warned me against it but I thought 1.5 hours would revive me). What actually happened was I fell into a deep gin induced sleep and the 6 alarms that I set on my phone around 5 minutes apart from each other failed to wake me. I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing and as I answered noticed it was 10:05am.....five minutes after the start of my first scheduled lesson and an hour and five minutes after I was supposed to be in work!! Raced down to work in record time looking fairly haggard. Luckily as I'm such a nice guy and a good teacher (modest too eh!) another teacher had taken my first lesson for me and the receptionist hadn't followed the procedure of phoning head office. Consequently there were no kickbacks from the event. Only thing I had to do was apologise profusely to the secretary, thank the the other teacher, then struggle through 4 hours of teaching.

Team Dave

Busy weekend. Met a friend on Thursday for a few drinks and got invited to a club on Friday night, not the best idea as I work on Saturdays but as i've been here for 2 months and not had a big night out yet I threw caution to the wind.

Worked Friday until 9pm, got a train home and was in my apartment at about 10pm, by 10:20 I was catching the train again on my way out. Few drinks in Shibuya then went onto Daikanyama to a club called Unit for a night of dancing to Tech House. Stayed there until 6am, walked back to Shibuya and caught one of the first trains home, got in at about 7:30. Had about 45 minutes to have a shower, get changed and gather my stuff then was back onto the train on my way into work. Was absolutely knackered on the train but perked up a lot after my first hour in work. Didnt drink much in the night as I knew I had a fairly busy day with kids lessons etc so was more lack of sleep and dancing. Think I somehow went beyond being tired and came out the other side as I got through the day, then went straight from work to a Christmas Party!

Party was for one of my schools (Kichijoji) and was mainly students. Each teacher was allocated a team of students (hence the team Dave title) and we had a few games to play such as identifying pictures of famous people with beards drawn on them, a modified version of blankety blank etc. Free food and drinks but only lasted 2 hours and most of that involved me sorting the students out so not that exciting. Managed to catch the bus home this time and got in at 11pm....went to bed at 12, 39 hours in all...wont be doing that every week!

Kickboxing

Had a week of kickboxing as I was out galavanting last Wednesday forgetting the Thursday was a national holiday. Back to it this week though so took a few pictures. Not sure if
I'm a lot unfitter, I'm always tired, or its because i'm not eating as well but training seems to be a lot harder here!

Managed to go on consequtive days a few times though so must be getting a little easier. Normally go to a class on Thursday and just drop in if I go on a Wednesday and either train alone or get paired up with someone there. Trained with a 40 year old bloke this week, built like a brick sh*t house and has been kickboxing since he was 18. Luckily we were punching and kicking the bag, not each other!

Didn't go back today as my thighs were still aching! In fact I slept until 3:30pm. Nice waste of my day off eh? dark when I went to sleep and dark when I got up again. Did get out of the house at least, went and had a few drinks with a teacher I work with on Sundays called Kerryn. Missed the last bus again and had a 30 minute walk when I got to Ogikubo.

1st Christmas party on Saturday in Kichijoji and may be out on the town tomorrow night. Then two six day working weeks approaching...pheeeeewwwww, busy busy.

http://s214.photobucket.com/albums/cc250/davingtonsmythe/Kickboxing/