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danieru in tokyo
Monday, February 20, 2006
 
Resolve: Pending; Intention: Stirring
quote Christopher: In Europe, 20% of the women hold 90% of the beauty. So there are 80% out there sharing the rest, and the situation isn't so favourable. In Japan, it's not so egalitarian. 5% of the women hold 90% of the beauty. When they are beautiful, it's amazing.

I saw a man today paying for dinner at a the same el-cheapo place as me. He opened his wallet, and I saw what must've been at least 500,000 Yen. Probably closer to 1M. These guys are too used to safety. Imagine walking around London with 5k STG?

If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. It is stops moving, subsidize it.

Specialisation is what is going to kill this wonderful bliss that is IT. I get paid an unreasonably large amount of money for doing absolutely nothing. The fact that they pay me at all is a challenge to understand. And yet I predict doom. 5 years ago, an SA would have to design, order, take delivery, rack up, cable, provision SAN volumes, network, jumpstart, install apps, create accounts, backup, rock and roll. Now, there are separate monkies in separate teams to do all these tasks. Which means my job is becoming that of the burger flipper at McDonalds. Succint, individual tasks, that can be exacted and mindlessly replicated. Outsourcing just became a whole lot easier.

Genius. I just saw a bicycle helmet with a rear view mirror sticking out of it.

Japanese, when they are ill, wear masks, to keep the germs to themselves. It is odd at first, and querky afterwards, but never really 'normal' to see it. I will try and get a picture. There is no way in hell i'm wearing a mask, irrelevant of what viral contagion I happen to be spewing up into society. I'm intolerant of their ways, in fact, I laugh at them. This is awful. Imagine telling all the muslims back home to go out drinking, and then have a bacon and sausage fry-up the next morning? Why are we so utterly intolerant and unwilling to accept other people?

When I say PUT, do you think verb, http or derivative? I've moved from left to write. Cheap pun, ok, but i've learnt a lot about money markets recently.

I think, since my shin healed, the endorphins have started flowing again. Life is good. I'm even considering staying out here. I've left it to a magic number, which, of course, I will only know about at the end of this contract (if the damn thing ever gets signed off). If I can't get it, no regrets.... I hope. Is that the only thing that matters? Shisser. I dont want it to be. Edson told me that the magic number is possible - in some cases. Grinning kampai.

Listening to Shawn Smith and reading Richard Dawkins. Genki des. Honto des. I think I've found her; I'm tingly. So I read a Kanji. This could be the real thing. The long haul baby.

$$$ REWARD $$$: 20,000 Yen for bringing my Cannondale over to Japan.

- posted by Daniel @ Monday, February 20, 2006 1 comments
 
Do Not Look Directly Into Laser Beam With Remaining Eye
i've waited years to meet a republican, and i was starting to doubt that any really existed. so yesterday, some demi-important looking guy (ie old guy that wasn't so chilled out) turned up in Toki, and it became clear, pretty quickly, that he wanted to bomb towel heads, in the interest of his own security. Clearly, he didn't care that there was no Bin Laden link, he didn't care about Iraqi security. This was all irrelevant. It was cool. This was the real thing. A modern day Nazi, without the stripes - at least most members of the National Socialist party had the balls to take what they believed in to the battlefield, personally. I want to know how many of these guys would do the same. The icing on the cake was when I asked him outright if he was a Republican. He refused to directly answer my question, and when I pushed him for an answer, he just said 'i vote for whatever is best for me'. I couldn't help laughing. This is a guy who is reasonably intelligent, yet convinced that killing children is a necessity for his superior life. Beautiful. He's going to make sure that there ain't enough seats left in hell for me, and there's a fighting chance i'll be upgraded. Prost Amerika.

In hindsight, this guy is probably going to get me fired. if that happens, or even if it doesn't, i'm going to print out pictures like this and leave it on his desk. Securitize this you nazi.

Left Toki, and jumped on a train to the opposite end of the city, Shibuya. By this stage my ability to recall the directions i was given was waning. Somehow, quite possibly through Matt's patience, I managed to find the place. It was cool. There was a big Russian guy who thought I spoke Russian because i could say Nasdrovia. There was a guy who was playing Soprano Sax in the the middle of the floor, which was a riot. Thank god that there was some guy (whose name i will never remember, irrelevant of how many times i meet him) with a very cool Nissan, similar to the Cube, but not quite. thank god he drove us home.

Managed to get >4 hours sleep before running back to work, on Saturday, to make a DNS change. Oh la la. And then tres bored, as I had to hang around for 8 more hours. So I ate two lunches. Was going to meet Renata & Rimiko for dinner, but got a call from Benjamin instead saying that Mulu's leaving party was on. Cancelled Renata. Went to Shibuya. Met more Germans. I know i did the right (aka selfish thing), but still feel slightly guilty. Invited her to go snowboarding this weekend, but now i've started to doubt whether i can make it...

Spent most of Sunday asleep, or watching Lost. I think it's rubbish. Weak script, awful acting, overdone makeup. But everyone ranted about it so much, that I might watch a couple more episodes. Sleep is good. I realised, from last weekend, how useful it actually was. After I have sleep, concentration improves. It's magical.

Hmm. my contract expires tomorrow, or today, and I haven't heard back from them yet. It's nice to know that it doesn't matter.

Two points:

i'm going to use names in my blog more often from now on, as i'm quite convinced that 99% of the people i have met out here will evaporate as memories and I will lose touch with them, very quickly. It's nice to know that it doesn't matter.

I told Monsieur B: Stop paying tax. it's like buying leather seats for your くるま. it's expensive. and it's optional.

- posted by Daniel @ Monday, February 20, 2006 0 comments
Thursday, February 16, 2006
 
Bird Flu
The obsession with North Korea continues, I have found a new website: www.kcna.co.jp Some hilarious numbers, including talk of South Korean famine following the '97 won devaluation (without discussing the currency crisis), talk of Japanese mayors paying tribute to Kim, interesting views on the invasion of Iraq, South korean kidnappings.

Out with Jeremy yesterday, and stumbled across this cockney talking Yokohaman. Madness. He had all the slang and all the glare. He was cockney. Aparently, he was in Earl's Court for 2 weeks, where he developed a voice that he could use to sell fruit & veg with. Birds love it. Innit.

Met a co-worker of Owen's, whose name escapes me, who looked about 23. He was 30. Japanese don't seem to age. He told me about how he is interested in anthropology, and so he wrote his thesis on the history of Sake culture in Japan. Must've been a hell of a ride researching it.

Was out with Matt a couple of days back, and ate raw chicken. It looked like some variant of parma ham in the picture, so we ordered it. It was odd - very little taste, although the texture was good. Not worthwhile overall, and i'm sure it's rife with diseases. Apparently, some Japanese people do eat it. But not often. So now i think i've got bird flu.

Seven deadly sins: I fear mine is envy. But i'm not really jealous of anyone's life in entirely. Just bits of it. Maybe that's ok.

- posted by Daniel @ Thursday, February 16, 2006 2 comments
Monday, February 13, 2006
 
Hijiori

Friday: got news about some Germans that were celebrating the world cup with table football and German food. then I heard that there was nomihodai on German beer, which was the only sale needed. wandered around the vicinity of the Canadian embassy, finally stumbled upon the German cultural centre, and learned how to say prost. found a crew of people willing to make the trip down to shibuya for karaoke. Tokyo is proving itself to be a village again - ran into Rie in the metro station. said hello in some shocking way, and escaped before she could follow. time was short, so I haggled for 500 yen for 30 minutes, with the intention of getting the last train home. everyone decided to stay beyond that, and instead, we paid for another 2 hours. Unsurprisingly, given the company, 99 luft ballons and Dschinghis Khan featured heavily... Quit Karaoke, walked around the corner, and landed in some club which took the last of the spare change in my pocket for entrance and the rest was a blur. Shibuya is a far better place by leagues to Roppongi - at least there are Japanese people in the bars and clubs. Found ourselves in Mcdonalds at 5am, feeling groggy. Took the yamanote home, changed my clothes, picked up a spare T-shirt and my SLR, and headed back out, across town to Tokyo station. Got the 7.16am shinkansen to Shinjo with 60 seconds to spare. Sat in a reserved space, which i felt justified in doing, especially after paying 12,000 yen for a one-way ticket to god-knows-where, and knowing that sleep was imminent...





Woke up 300 km North of Tokyo surrounded by snow in a small town called shinjo. my thoughts were, in order: "that's beautiful. god, it's cold. damn, i smell. ah, painful pulsations in my head." jumped off the train, and met Rimiko, with her nephew. He saw me, and ran away immediately.
"he's probably never seen anyone like you before". Found Sumi, who turned out to be on the same train as me, and the four us headed out to meet Rimiko's father "chottooooo, nihongo wakari masen". Drove over to the ryokan in Hijiori. As we headed out further and further into the wilderness, despite feeling nauseous, i was in awe of the beauty. Japan has a countryside so much more beautiful than I imagined. I thought it would be all Shinjuku neon. Got to the place, ate some food, got some sleep. Wandered around outside, played in the snow, threw snowballs, rode sleds borrowed from the kindergarten, discovered an igloo. Got back home and had an amazing dinner, consisting of more than 10 different dishes, each of which was more delectable than the last, served in pottery that made me scared to eat from it. This was one of the rare times that i've actually felt fat from eating Japanese food. Wandered down to the Onsen, and enjoyed a bath in total isolation, without seeing or hearing another soul. Wore a Kimono. Played cards. Read my book. Slept.


Sunday: Woke up in time for breakfast, ate too much, went back to sleep. Woke up again for lunch, ate too much, packed our stuff, and got a lift back to Shinjo with Rimiko's brother in law. This guy used to be a racing driver, and despite the fact that he was now in control of a diesel minibus, in extreme snow, saw no reason to display caution. I'm sure he was cautious, in his own way. Shinjo had a snow festival going:

I wandered around and tried to take pictures, but unfortunately the snow was too heavy. there were guys with chainsaws who were shaping tree stumps into animals. huge cartoon characters like the ones in the picture. then a stage, where the power rangers, or their predecessors, appeared on stage for some live show with lots of sound effects and fighting. it was too cold, so we decided to leave for the station. bought a banana covered in chocolate and walked to the station with it. saw a convoy of humvees with japanese peace force dudes inside. i stood at the side of the road, with the chocolate banana high up in one hand, smiling at the sight of the ridiculously oversized vehicle that is the humvee. The soldier caught sight of me, turned his head, and saluted. What was going through his mind as he saluted a grinning gaijin with a chocolate banana held up high?




- posted by Daniel @ Monday, February 13, 2006 0 comments
Thursday, February 09, 2006
 
quick things
I met a young Japanese guy today who was complaining about the alignment with the USA. A few thing he said which I cannot verify, and only some of which I have tried to verify:

I met an Alaskan who came up with an excellent line: "America is beautiful in it's sacred hypocrisy."

I had lunch at Asterisk again today. A 2000 Yen lunch, and worth every single yen.

- posted by Daniel @ Thursday, February 09, 2006 0 comments
Saturday, February 04, 2006
 
Fox News
is fantastic as it unequivocally shows you that Rumsfeld really did say that...

Quote Donnie R.: "He's a person (Chavez) who was elected legally — just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally"

Last weeks troubles... Monday: Ran. A mere 5km, but it hurt.
Tuesday: Drunk with Gerald, Josh, Jaimie, Rimiko. Nomihodi deals are now what I look for. It would never work back home. Beer monsters would come in and destroy the place. The Japanese can drink, but somehow this deal remains. I dont get it.
Wednesday: Tried to run, ankle destroyed from Monday
Thursday: Go see Fat Tony. Demand more money. Get an email the next morning, with my number on it. Meet Ricky. Go home, call Matt, and drink more.
Friday: Feeling poor all day due to excesses of previous night. A few earthquakes during the day, and the building was shaking. Not a lot, but just enough to make me wonder if it was an earthquake or the shakes in me. Evening: Diana's leaving drinks. Vitaly makes us consume 3 bottles of Vodka. Overnight in Roppongi, in some dire club full of investment bankers. 4am morning breakfast in Tsukiji with Gerald:


On Saturday I ate at a Philippino restaurant. I avoided the dog (because there wasn't any) and i ate the stomach lining of some animal instead. When I found out what it was, i was disgusted, and actually felt ill. This doesn't happen often with me. The texture was horrible and the taste was simply vacant. Quite how hungry i'd have to be to eat it again, i can't say.

Sunday was chillout. Avoided going to some Onsen in favour of resting. Leg still aching like it was being chewed by hungry animal.

And then the week begins. The advantage of working out of Akasaka is that i can no longer be late for work. i guess thisis a good thing - i it's time i got into gear. i'm still hopeless depressed, and not sureexactly why. i'm the golden boy at work (everyone is asking me about VCS, or beritasu curusata). social life is good, i had dinner with a fascinating guy yesterday, in harajuku. had a burger too - which was my first decent burger in tokyo. he's a seriously wealthy guy, and he doesn't own a single piece of land. it's all in securities. in my opinion, you haveto be incredibly rich to wave goodbye to the notion of owning anything tangible. I'd love to be able to be there. japanese beef in the burger this time, i'm told. mostly it's australian. harajuku is a cool place, and a part of tokyo that i wished i had made the effort to visit earlier. Gwen Stefani sung about the kids of harajuku. something i am going to miss about japan - i was walking yesterday, and spotted a gaijin, who nodded and smiled, and i returned (although i felt a little uncomfortable doing it, and quickly put my head back down).

i think i've torn something inside my leg. it's been killing me for a week, and now that the bruising has reduced, i can feel the tendons shifting up and down in a rusty twisted movement as i move my foot.

Currently: Reading a book about North Korea. Watching the last series of Sopranos. Listening to Aimee Mann - soundrack to Magnolia. Feeling utterly and absolutely miserable, violent, angry and depressed.

Things I'm thinking about in Japan:

- posted by Daniel @ Saturday, February 04, 2006 0 comments

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