I wanted to send some attention to a couple of posts that Ian has written on his blog:

http://iamian.org/life/2009/06/free-choi/

http://iamian.org/life/2009/06/today-i-am-ashamed-to-call-myself-a-soldier/

I could share my own thoughts on both the Choi issue and Don't Ask Don't Tell in general, but Ian says what I would want to say better than I could, and he says it with the credibility reserved for soldiers who have seen its damaging effects in person. To quote:

You want to talk about moral and professional dereliction? I could pen *volumes* full of stories of shockingly immoral, unprofessional, illegal behavior I have witnessed, time and time again, in my service in the military. Somehow it’s OK to be a complete heathen as long as you’re heterosexual.

President Obama indicated a few months back that he would end Don't Ask Don't Tell, and I'm sure that fair-minded citizens all throughout the country will celebrate when it is finally abolished.

Tonight I made a tasteless joke, and now I feel like an idiot. It wasn't immoral or sexual in nature, but it was still really edgy, and it wasn't well received. I admit that I was pushing the humor envelope and tried a joke that had worked before. It was foolish of me to think that even though the previous recipient had found it funny, it wasn't in poor taste. And now I wish I could take it back and never have said it, because I feel like an idiot. All I can do is promise myself to never make the joke again, to remember how I feel right now as I'm sitting here embarrassed and ashamed, wishing I hadn't made the joke I made.

[People are mingling. Music is on in the background. The song changes.]

Someone: What is this?
Tim: Is this New Kids? NKOTB?
Someone: Yes, I think so.
Someone else: No, it's Bobby Brown!
Everyone: Oh yeah!!!

[Song continues. Everyone talks about Bobby Brown for a bit.]

Tim: We need some Whitney Houston up in here.
George: Whitney Houston?
Tim: Yeah, Whitney Houston.
George: How is she?
Tim: ............ uhhhhhhhhhhhh......... I don't know, George. [Pulls cell phone out of pocket.] Let me give her a call and find out.
George: GEEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHA [furious laughter for 2 minutes].

Tim, in his head: Gets 'em every time!

BAM!

I had an interesting week. I've been burning the candle on both ends for the past four weeks. As I've become more involved in understanding Japan's needs and issues, and as my projects have progressed, I've needed to spend more time in meetings and chats, plus sending emails, late at night. These meetings and chats generally start around 9 or 10 PM my time and go until 1 in the morning or later. I don't have an issue with the late-night meetings -- they're part of my job. The issue was with the mornings after the meetings.

I've really tried to make a sharp impression on the people in our Japan office. I want them to know how committed I am, and how available I am when they need me. As a result, I've continued to get up at my normal time, check emails, and get to the office at a reasonable time. So while I've been working more and more late at night, I haven't been compensating by sleeping in or anything. After a few weeks of this, it really hit its apex this week, and I was starting to feel exhausted from it.

I had a chat with my boss about it, and with a couple people at work, and they were all concerned that I don't get exhausted or burned out. One person, a manager in the office here that I work with every day, told me that everybody here knows that the late-night communication with Raleigh is as important to Japan's success as what I do during the day, and he encouraged to not worry about anyone in the office thinking that my work ethic isn't top-notch. They have all seen that the rate at which they've been able to find resolutions to their concerns, and progress on their projects, has drastically increased and improved since I came here, and they know that I am committed to them. As a result, I decided to start going in a bit later in the mornings after I have late calls. This will allow me to get a normal night's sleep and keep me from getting exhausted or sick or upset or burned out. I feel really good about this change.

This is how things go when you start a new process: after a bit of time, you analyze and adjust. You find your balance through trial and error. In this case, I've found that I indeed can't burn the candle at both ends for weeks on end, and I'm taking steps to adjust my schedule and discover a healthy balance.

Yoshinoya makes a great bowl of gyūdon and is the undisputed king of the beef bowl in Japan. It's easily my favorite lunch: it's quick, cheap, and tasty. I usually order a oomori (big bowl -- double rice, regular beef) tsuydaku (extra sauce) style, with a corn salad on the side with sesame dressing, but when I'm really hungry I get takumori, which has double the beef and double the rice) -- this is rare, though.

I cannot tell you, faithful readers, how delicious Yoshinoya is. Come visit me, though, and lunch is on me. :)

The onions in the beef bowl at Yoshinoya are superior to those in the Matsuya beef bowl. In addition, the meet is juicy and tastes like the marinade it's prepared in. The downside of Yoshinoya is that it's more expensive (by about 50 yen -- ~50 cents) than its competitors. It's so doggoned delicious, though!

Up next: Matsuya!

I *looooooove* me some gyūdon. It's pretty much my favorite Japanese food. Well, I mean, I love sushi for than anything, but I could eat gyūdon every day and never be the worse for it. The dish is simple: Beef, onions, white rice, sauce. Some people put pickled ginger on top; I don't. Some people crack a raw egg over the top of it; I don't. I take it with beef, onions, white rice, and sauce. Sometimes I get a tokumori (special bowl -- double rice, double meat), but only rarely. Usually I get an ōmori (double rice, regular meat) and it fills me up just fine.

When I feel like it, I order my gyūdon "tsuyadaku," which means "extra sauce." The sauce is awesome. It's made of soy and sugar and a few other things, but it's not super-strong like a teriyaki sauce.

Gyūdon is considered a "fast food" here in Japan, and the Japanese consider it "unhealthy," but it's important to notice that Americans and Japanese have quite different definitions of "unhealthy." I've lost a bunch of weight since I moved here, so it couldn't be that bad for you. Oh, man, I love the stuff.

There are three main national chains that sell gyūdon: Yoshinoya, Matsuya, and Sukiya. I've been to Yoshinoya a bunch of times, Matsuya once, and I've never been to Sukiya. This week, though, I commit to do full analyses of all three for you, my faithful readers. Stay tuned!

Cool breeze and yakitori... perfect!

It's a fine day when a man gets the Fujitas to read his blog. George is actually the person I referred to when I said that my co-worker is half-German and half-Japanese, so I call him "Axis Powers." Come to find out he and his missus are regular readers of this humble site.

It should be noted that George is a huge Ken Watanabe fan. Okay, I made that up.

I'm happy to report that I'm now the proud owner of a gently-used 50cc Suzuki scooter. I hope I can get used to driving on the left side quickly!!!

I'm committed to turning this blog into the internet's premier Ken Watanabe fan site.

Today I premiere Sunday Afternoons in Tokyo, my new web series documenting Tokyo through the lens of an HD video camera. My goal is to minimize the level by which I editorialize the content, filming plainly and avoiding narration.

The first episode covers Sunday afternoon trips I've taken to the Imperial Palace area, Shinjuku (where I've been a dozen times since), Yoyogi Park, and Harajuku. Make sure the "HD" feature is turned on in the video viewer.

http://www.vimeo.com/channels/47612

My co-worker George is half Japanese and half German. Naturally I nicknamed him "Axis Powers." It's the perfect nickname for him!

Look, everybody knows that Ken Watanabe is the greatest Japanese actor in the history of the world. There's no point even discussing it.

I paused last Saturday to take pictures of the new apartment as I was moving in. It's now mostly-furnished and has filled in nicely. I'll take more pics in a week or so when everything's done and set up.

About a month ago I went to Yoyogi Park to walk around for a while. Such a cool park. You'll recall that I wrote about the Rock-a-billy dancers near the entrance to the park. Here are some photos:

I finally have internet in my new apartment!!! FINALLY! YES! And since I have my iMac now, I will soon post photos and videos of my time here in Japan so far, including pictures of the apartment.

I say "Live from Cherry Tree Hill" because I live in Sakuragaoka. Sakura = cherry tree, ga = noun connector, oka = hill. I'm about 300 meters from Shibuya station, just to the east of the Cerulean Tower.

There's a shop across the street from the office that sells soft ice cream over granola. SO. FREAKING. GOOD. Taste, texture, temperature: all perfect!!!

Frank (my brother) sent me this. Since I haven't seen Up yet (it won't premiere in Japan for a while), this was the first I'd seen the new Pixar short, Partly Cloudy.



It's absolutely beautiful. Talk about something being "good" (in the moral way) without being cheesy. Unbelievably beautiful. People want to say that there's no good left in the world, but clearly a group of people just spent probably a year of their life making that little film. That kind of commitment takes conviction to the purpose of the project. It made me happy from the first shot, and it brought joy into my life. Kudos to the filmmakers for making this short film.

T-minus 19 hours until I have internet at my new apartment. Better yet, the building has fiber-optic built in, so I'll be able to enjoy a 100Mbit connection. Hoo-ah!

My iMac is set up, powered on, and waiting to be connected. It can't wait! I can't wait!

I moved on Saturday. The Boyntons and the Bishop helped me tote the fridge from the Reids' to my new place, plus we went and got my bags from the temporary apartment. They were so awesome help me! Soon after they dropped everything off the doorbell range and the movers brought in my shipment from the U.S... stuff like clothes, computers, electronics, etc. About two hours later the IKEA delivery showed up. I spent four hours putting together the bed, then decided to go to the movies on Saturday night to see Star Trek. On arrival, though, I learned that the latest show at the Shibuya Toei theater is at 6:45 PM. The latest show... at 6:45 PM. CRAZAZAZY! So I walked home, hooked up my TV and the DVD player I bought from the Reids (a multi-format player that can play U.S.- and Japan-region DVDs) and watched a movie.

Yesterday I went to church (my new apartment is literally 200m from the church. HOOAH!), then went to the Harris' for lunch. Great people and a great meal. Then I went home and set up the couch and relaxed for a while, then went to the Siebachs' for a Sayonara party -- there are four families moving out of the ward soon and not coming back in the summer. I had a great time sitting around and chatting with ward members. [Side note: I really love my ward. I feel like I made a great choice. Just perfect.] One guy showed a bunch of us an amazing video that I'm sure you've seen by now, but it's still awesome and deserves to be shown:



I love my new apartment. The location is perfect. Really close to church and work, plus all of the shops and restaurants in Shibuya. It's pretty much ideal. My back and legs hurt from putting together furniture this weekend, but it'll get better. Tonight the Bishop is coming over to help me put together the dining room table and chairs. His wife and family left for the U.S. today so we're going to order pizza and put together some furniture.

This morning I walked to the office. It took 20 minutes flat. Very nice. I still want to get a bike or a scooter, or maybe both, but I'm waiting to find out how much the bike/scooter parking costs at my new apartment. I think the bike parking is free. Tomorrow I'm going to go check out a bike shop that I saw last week. I want a nice "mamachari," which generally looks like this:

I took this with my cell phone on the way back from Costco this evening. The sign shows traffic around the city.

I'm moving tomorrow morning. Internet won't be set up at the new place until Thursday, so don't expect to hear much from me until I'm at work on Monday.

Can I just interrupt this string of time-wasters I've posted to simply state how grateful I am for the life I have? I indeed am. There's no way I deserve all the goodness that's been shared with me, opportunities I've been given, and experiences I've enjoyed. I am grateful to God for giving me such a wonderful life, and for opening so many doors for me.

Remember that show Shop 'til You Drop? I almost did last night. I almost shopped until I dropped. I was shopping and I stopped just before dropping. It was a close call.

O IKEA, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three-one thousand, four.

What I did at IKEA can best be classified as a "spree." I went buck-nutty, basically. I was there for three hours, and by the time I was done I was toting five carts around. I'm not even kidding. I would move a cart up 50 meters then go back for the next one, moving it up 50 meters. Slowly I inched my carts through the self-service section. I won't tell you what all I bought, mostly because you might damage your index finger from having to scroll the page down that much, but suffice it to say that I'm pretty sure I single-handedly have kept the Minami-Funabashi IKEA location in a financially-stable position for the remainder of its fiscal year.

I will say, though, that I'm hearing rumors that IKEA is interested in doing a photo shoot of my apartment for their next catalog. OK, I made that up. But remember that part in Fight Club when Edward Norton's character sees IKEA products and prices everywhere he looks? That's what my new apartment will be like. An IKEA paradise. What can I say? There's nothing better for a two-year stay than fine modular home furnishings!

I finally broke down and had fast food. Call me a sinner! Hate on me! I made it 6 weeks without fast food. Today, though, I needed food fast. LITERALLY. I was at the bank dumping a big bag of change (1 yen, 5 yen, and 10 yen pieces) into the ATM (you heard me right, brother. The ATMs here let you put change into them), when I realized that I hadn't eaten lunch and that I had a meeting I needed to get back for. Right next to my bank (Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ - Ebisu Branch) there's a Wendy's, so I decided that I could tolerate a delicious square cheeseburger. And it was good!


Note: this is not a photo of the actual location I went to. I just pulled this off of Google Images

Don't worry, friends... I won't make this fast food thing a habit. I should add, though, that I've totally lost weight since I arrived in Japan. My suit coat fit me looser on Sunday. Nice! It's all this walking.

http://wave.google.com/

This video is 80 minutes long, but you simply HAVE to watch it!

As I've mentioned a couple of times, my wallet was in a shambles and I needed a new one. I bought the old one when I was here in Tokyo last September. As you can see, it was a slim two-sided number with only a few card pockets and a space for a few bills folded in four.

 

The old wallet worked fine until I moved to Tokyo and stopped driving. I had kept a number of things inside my car, but not having a car here means that I now have to carry those things with me. And it started to break my first week here, until it reached its current state, hanging together by a few threads and bulging from having too many things stuffed into it. Here's the inventory of what I had in there:

- Japan ID card.
- American Express card, Bank of America debit card, Red Hat corporate travel card, UFJ bank card (my bank here in Tokyo: Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ).
- Suica (Tokyo metro and train card).
- Red Hat badge
- Cigna International insurance card.
- Geo Amusement Developer Hyper Media Shop card (my local video rental shop).
- Temple recommend (church-related).

Today I decided to go find a new wallet. I went to Shibuya and walked around for a while, looking in dozens of shops. I went to Loft and looked at their wide selection of wallets, but they were all too more money than I wanted to spend, and made of really nice leather. I wanted a cloth wallet, though, and one that had enough space for me to put all these things in there without having to double up any of the slots. So I kept on looking.

I needed to get home early enough tonight to finish working on the talk I'm giving at church tomorrow, plus I needed to do some grocery shopping, so I was heading back to Shibuya Station when I saw an Adidas store. I'm trying to find all of the shoe stores in the area that sell shoes in my size (and there aren't many), so I figured I'd duck in and look at their selection. No luck on the shoes, but they did have a whole floor dedicated to the Adidas Originals brand, which is more of a lifestyle family of clothing and bags than an athletic one. I really like Adidas Originals, and they had a great hat that I couldn't help but want. On the way out, I thought to ask if they maybe had any wallets, and to my surprise, they did!

 

I'm living the dream! I own the greatest wallet in the history of the world! Sturdy fabric, double-fold, eight pockets, clear section for my ID card, and a small area for coins. That last part is especially critical here in Japan, where the smallest bill is the equivalent of a US $10 bill. Three cheers for Adidas!

It's been raining for two days. Somehow, though, it doesn't flood. The city handles the rain well. I was bummed that it was wet this morning because I had planned to walk to work. I was at dinner at the Porters' last week and they told me about a new way to walk from my apartment to the Ebisu Garden Place in 20-25 minutes (up Meguro-dori, just past the Shirokanedai stop, through the hospital shortcut, across the street, down the hill, up the walkway to the right, across the plaza), and I walked it on Monday morning and really enjoyed it. My plan to walk it again this morning was foiled by Mother Nature. So rude.

This week I moved from the 5th floor to the 8th floor at work. I love the view from the 8th floor. It's obviously not as great as the view from my hotel room on the 30-somethingth floor of the Cerulean Tower last September, nor from the observation deck at the top of the Metropolitan Government building, but it's a great office view. I can see north through the city, with the Maronouchi and Ginza skyline (old downtown Tokyo) right through the windows. It's beautiful. When it rains the view takes on so much more depth, too -- the different buildings between Ebisu and Maronouchi take on different transparency levels. It's a beautiful sight that you just have to see for yourself.

When I had lunch with the missionaries on Monday (We went to Osho for gyoza -- five people, 78 gyoza), I asked them if they could teach some basic church words at our Japanese class last night. The whole thing was going really well and I was learning dozens of words and phrases, including the four basic steps to praying Mormon-style, when this dialog came up:

Me: What's the word for prophet?
Elder Chase: Yogensha.
Me: What's the word for missionary work?
Elder Chase: Dendo.
Me: What's the word for temple?
Elder Chase: Shinden.
Me: What's the word for family?
Elder Chase: Kazoku.
Me: What's the word for scriptures?
Elder Chase: Seiten.
Me: Satan?
Elder Chase: Seiten.
Me: Satan??
Elder Chase: Seiten. Sei-ten. Say-ten.
Me: Satan.
Elder Chase: Yes.
Me: The Japanese word for scriptures sounds exactly like the English name of Satan?
Elder Chase: Yes.
Me: ............
Elder Chase: Yeah.
Me: ......................
Elder Chase: Haha, yeah.
Me: Does your mission president know about this, Elder?
Elder Chase: What?
Me: Nothing.
Elder Chase: ..........................
Me: Satan.
Elder Chase: ..........................
Me: Unbelievable.

It's like a countdown, but it counts up instead. It's the number of days, hours, and minutes I've spent living in Tokyo without seeing Mt. Fuji. As of right now, that's 34+ days of haze, rain, fog, etc. We've had plenty of blue sky days, but even on those days it hasn't been visible. I WANT TO SEE IT! I DEMAND TO SEE IT!

Great isle of Honshu, dear Kanto region, as a legal resident of this nation, I hereby COMMAND you to give up your hazy skies, clear up your view, and give me what is rightfully mine: one glimpse. One view. One look is all I ask for. I don't want to have to take a train to Osaka just to see Mt. Fuji. I will go to Osaka, true, and to Kyoto, and perhaps even down to Fukuoka at some point. But I don't want my first time seeing the mountain to be on a train. I want to see it from my office building.

Perhaps the air will see the riDICulous number over on the right and will be overcome with guilt. Maybe then it'll do what it needs to do.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4202443

I'm one of those people who believes that completion of a prison term is akin to paying back one's "debt" to society, cliche as it sounds. Albeit with a few exceptions (like, for example, sexual misconduct), I find it unfair to require or request that a person continue to be judged by the public after their sentence has been completed.

Jeffrey Lawrence Galland, the former engineering director of JCI, a Las Vegas-based company, pleaded guilty to using a firearm during a violent crime, and conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, according to court records, the newspaper reported.

Records detailed Galland, 42, as a part of a group that smuggled drugs from Washington state to Montana, the newspaper report said. Galland and an accomplice once used a shotgun and semiautomatic rifle in an attempt at collecting a drug debt, according to the paper.

He was sentenced to 4½ years in prison and four years of probation. He was released from federal prison in 2000.

The article goes on to say that the man was working without an engineering license and had partially falsified his educational background:

Galland acknowledged... his lack of an engineering license.

Galland also falsified educational credentials he provided The Morning News, the paper said. Galland showed a résumé that said he received a bachelor's degree in physics from Eastern Washington University. The school, however, told the newspaper he completed coursework toward that degree but never graduated.

The résumé also says he has taken classes for a master's degree in structural engineering at UNLV, the report said. Records show he never attended the school, UNLV officials told the newspaper.

So what's the story here? The real story is that a man falsified his educational credentials, and that may have contributed to an accident. That's a legitimate story! That's front page material, and rightly so! But to detail this man's previous incarceration is unfair. To make it seem like drug trafficking 15 years ago had some effect on the ability for the building he engineered to stay upright is unfair.

The article should have been about how this man falsified his educational background. It could have even mentioned (briefly in passing) that the man had a prior conviction and was therefore ineligible to be licensed. But to list out all the man's crimes and convictions is a clear attempt to do nothing more than add gravitas to the situation as a means of gathering sympathy from the reader. And even worse, the article leads with that unrelated information, as if it's the cause of the building falling down.

While I believe this man needs to be punished for working without a license, this type of treatment, this article, is a step too far.

I just got done reading The Night In Question on Joel's recommendation. I love the art of the short story because it allows the author to paint simple vignettes of a wide variety of experiences, setting up a view into their moral perspective in a natural way, rather than through a more deliberate and contrived longer effort. Of course I love the novel as well, but there's just something about short stories that hooked me years ago and has kept me coming back for more.

Some of the pieces in this collection were absolutely fantastic. I echo Joel's categorization of the stories, and add that I thought that The Chain was also excellent. I also strongly appreciated the description in Two Boys and a Girl of Gilbert's actions the first day he had Rafe's Buick. I felt like it was captured my own mind as an adolescent. The Life of the Body was the heart of the collection.

I've read four books since I got here: Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's and Music for Chameleons (both short story collections), Hemingway's The Garden of Eden, and now this. I've had so much more time to read since I came to Japan -- I love it! This week I'll finish a book that I start in March, Benjamin Parzybok's Couch, and then I'll start on Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits.

I feel like Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. The book, not the movie. I mean, the movie was good, but nowhere near as disturbing as the book. I was appalled by the book when I read it a few years ago, but it was so well written that I couldn't put it down. Excellent writing about a terrible topic. Anyhow, I feel like Patrick Bateman. It's not that I'm going around slitting the eyeballs of homeless dogs, nor analyzing the music of Phil Collins or Whitney Houston. It's not that I sit around with my colleagues and compare the ink and paper quality of our business cards. It's that I seem to stop by the ATM almost every time I pass one.



Remember how he would always stop by an ATM even if he didn't need cash, just so he could have more of it? Every time he'd pass one he'd pull out a few hundred more. I don't REALLY get a couple hund-o "just to have more," but it feels like I'm at the ATM every couple of days pulling out money. Everything is so cash-based here. There are amazing technologies here that substitute for cash, but most people still just pay for everything with paper. Restaurants, convenience stores (much more relevant here than in the U.S.), train/subway passes, etc.

I still get paid into my American bank account, so there are only two options for me to withdraw cash: Citibank and Japan Post. Citibank is the only bank that handles international ATM withdrawals. There's a branch in Shibuya and one near the LDS Temple in Hiroo. Usually, though, I go to the Japan Post office in the building next to my office. The post offices here have ATMs with international withdrawal capability. It's really convenient.

And I'm actually spending less than I figured I would, but it's still a strange transition to a mostly-card-based habit to one of using cash for everything. That reminds me: my wallet is still broken. I need to get a new one.

I love rolling around on the subway here in Tokyo, but I've decided to get something for the smaller journeys that take a bit too long to walk. Just like when I want to dink around town, that kind of thing. So I'm going to either get a 50cc scooter (it's all I can drive legally without having to take the Japanese driver's license test) or a bicycle. Japanese bikes are awesome. They look like old-timey bikes from the 50s.

What do you think?

Right now I'm eating an onigiri, which is a rice ball with filling on the inside. I'm not sure what this filling is. It might be some kind of salty fish egg. It's not mentaiko, which I love. It must be some other fish egg. It's really good, but I don't know what it is. It's the one with the blue wrapper. The ones with red and white wrappers are also good.

http://www.northtemple.com/2009/05/18/innovative-internet-advertising

I enjoy North Temple, the blog of the design department at the LDS Church. Consider this my "props" for that site. Check it out regularly if you're into design.

This particular post linked to an awesome Nike commercial:



Also make sure to check out the NY Times today to see the cool Apple advertising idea.

I'm going camping today after work. My ward (Tokyo 4th Ward) is having the annual "Aaronic Priesthood Commemoration" campout, which, in my youth, was still known as "Fathers and Sons." I imagine they probably changed the name because of people like me, people in the church who are men without children or sons.

The event is being held at a U.S. Air Force-owned recreation area in Tama Hills, which is roughly 30 km west of here, but still in the middle of the "city."



Should be fun!

I love sushi. I've said for years now that my favorite food was sushi. Before I came to Japan for the first time in December 2007, American sushi was all I'd ever had. I love American sushi. I also love Japanese sushi. I don't claim to be an expert or anything more than an intermediate sushi lover, but I wanted to post about it in hopes that any of my readers who don't know much about sushi will be willing to give it a try.

First of all: Sushi tastes great. Whether it has raw or cooked ingredients, it tastes great. Not in an "I love to eat exotic non-American foods" way, either. It tastes good to an American palette. Most people I've met who've claimed to hate sushi have never actually tried it. If you are one of those people, you need to try it. You need to take my recommendation, and that of everyone else that loves it, and give it a try. It's lean, it's healthy, and the flavors are subtle and smooth and exciting. Just give it a try.

If you don't know much about sushi, start with wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashimi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sushi_and_sashimi_ingredients

American sushi is generally much more complex than its Japanese counterpart (isn't that about right, too? That seems to follow the pattern...). Whereas in Japan most sushi places largely focus on nigiri (cooked or raw fish/meat/eggs/vegetables on top of a rice ball) and sashimi (uncooked fish/meat on its own), in America you'll find that most sushi places serve nigiri and sashimi, but focus more on maki (cooked or raw fish/meat rolled inside or outside of rice and sometimes seaweed). American sushi is definitely more of the maki variety. Some places get real fancy and experimental, using sauces and funky ways of preparing the rolls. If you're in Raleigh, for example, I'd recommend you go to Sono downtown and try the Crunchy Diablo, Screaming "O", and the Lava. They're all three really great versions of American-style maki.

If you already like maki, though, and you want to take the next step toward a more authentic Japanese style, you need to start eating more sashimi. Sashimi is basically just select cuts of (usually) fish served raw, complemented with soy sauce and wasabi (note: I'm not a huge wasabi fan, but I like it in small quantities). This list from wikipedia lists some of the more common varieties:

* 鮭 Sake: Salmon
* いか Ika: Squid
* えび Ebi: Cooked Shrimp
* まぐろ Maguro: Tuna
* さば Saba: Mackerel
* あじ Aji: Horse Mackerel
* たこ Tako: Octopus
* とろ Toro: Fatty Tuna
* はまち Hamachi: Yellowtail
* ふぐ Fugu: Puffer Fish Takifugu
* ほたて貝 Hotate-gai:　Scallop

I tend to prefer Maguro, Toro, and Hamachi. Those three are my favorites.

So there you have it: sushi and sashimi. If you don't love it, you probably haven't tried it. If you have tried it and didn't like it, consider revisiting the idea. And please, all of you, lovers or haters of sushi, please comment on your feelings about sushi and sashimi.

Bad enough that I showed up late. I had to leave before they even cut the cake.

OK, readers. In a slight break from posts about Japan, tell me what you're listening to at this very moment. You may be listening to music, or the sound of the TV, or silence, or an annoying roommate, screaming child, lovely spouse, whatever. No fronting, no faking, just reply via comment and tell me what you're listening to right this moment.

I'm listening to Kanye West while I work. I'm actually bobbing my head and rocking out at my desk. The song on at this very moment is "Welcome to Heartbreak."

I got the apartment! I had been told that I would hear back on Thursday. Friday rolled around and I still hadn't heard anything, so I had Miyake-san the receptionist in the Red Hat office, call my apartment broker and talk to him. He said that I had been approved by the third-party guarantor (the group that provides insurance in case I skip town), but that the owner had been out of town through Thursday, and he was supposed to call the broker by Friday at 3 PM. Of course that fell through and I went the whole weekend wondering if I would get the place. Once I got approved by the guarantor, there was little doubt I would get the place, but it was just a matter of closing the deal.

Yesterday I had Mori-san help me construct an email to my broker, and I finally got word back that I had gotten the apartment. Today the contract is being faxed to my broker, who will fax it to Miyake-san, who will bring it up for me to sign. And then I'll be official!

Also, I bought a fridge from some people moving out of the 2nd ward. That'll save me several hundred dollars.

She rode past me on her bicycle as I walked up Meguro Street toward the subway. It was a typical Japanese bike, the kind they all ride, with a long, swooping frame, wide handlebars, and big tires. Hers had a baby seat attached to the back, and in it rode her sleeping daughter. The woman wore a light cotton top and a loose, flowing white skirt that went just past her knees. And she smiled as she went by me, weaving her way through foot traffic on the sidewalk, slaloming back and forth around the barriers that protect the sidewalk from drivers.

As she passed me she looked ahead and smiled and waved. I looked and saw a man coming our way, smiling and waving back to her. When they were close to each other she slowed to a stop, careful to not wake the sleeping toddler. She planted her feet on the ground and held the bike up with her legs, talking to him energetically, neither of them breaking their smiles. I imagine they had known each other for years, perhaps, or they were neighbors, or friends of friends. He may have been a co-worker in the past, or maybe even her lover now. After a moment, she pressed her foot to the pedal and began to move forward again. They waved goodbye and he walked in my direction. She turned left and approached the crosswalk, pedaling smoothly and confidently. As I reached the man he stopped to turn back and look at her again, smiling tenderly, then turned and continued on his path.

I looked at her as she crossed the street. She turned back to look at him once more, but he had gone on his way. Her cheeks softened as she watched him, then her smile grew big again, bigger than before, and she rode across Meguro Street and out of my view.

Today after an amazing stake conference and a fine nap, I took the Yamanote line up to Harajuku and Yoyogi Park. I'd been there in September when I went to the Meiji Shrine, but I wanted to take my time and relax today. I'm reading Hemingway's The Garden of Eden and had a goal to read 50 more pages this afternoon. I charged up the batteries in my SLR and video cameras, loaded them up in the backpack, and headed out.

Before you go further, you should take a brief moment to read the wikipedia entry on Harajuku. That will give you a bit of context. As I walked out of Harajuku Station and headed across the bridge, there wasn't that much craziness. A few people dressed up here and there, but nothing like what I'm told it can be like on some Sundays. I kept going and went into Yoyogi Park and spent about 15 minutes filming and watching the Rockabilly dancers near the entrance, then finally made my way down the main drag of the park, then off to the side on a deck hanging over a pond. I read for an hour and enjoyed the pages.

There were thousands of people in the park today, though. Dancers, guitarists, people playing frisbee, people doing aerobics, jumping rope, jogging, riding bikes, people playing with dogs, pushing strollers, sitting and smoking, drinking a beer, relaxing, sleeping, and generally enjoying the *beautiful* weather. It had rained quite a bit over the past week, so it was nice to get out and sit under a blue sky. I'm sure everyone else felt the same way.

On the way back out, the bridge to Harajuku had a few musicians playing by then. One guy had a microphone duct-taped to his guitar, and he was playing a nice-sounding tune.



Here's a clip from my cell phone:



Then this lady plopped down in the middle of the bridge and started doing some wicked-awesome dancing. It went on for several minutes, and I shot a bunch of it with my video camera. I also got this with my cell phone camera:



Overall, it was a great day. It seems like all I have here are great days anymore. I really am so happy to be here. I feel so privileged and blessed to have this opportunity.

[Side note: I can't do anything with the pics from my DSLR or my video camera until my iMac gets here later this month. But there is tons of footage to show you now. Just be patient. :) ]

I still haven't seen Mt. Fuji. Every time I'm near a window on the 8th floor at work I look west and try to see it. It's always hazy or raining, though, so I've never seen it.



As you can see, Fuji is about 60 miles west-southwest of Tokyo, but due to the weather since I've been here, I've never once seen it. When I was here in September and I went to the observation deck at the metropolitan government building in Shinjuku, I couldn't see it then, either. I want to see it!!!

Also note how expansive Tokyo is. I'm continually surprised at how big this city and its surroundings are. Like L.A., but with multi-story buildings everywhere instead of just single-floor houses. Seriously, go to this Google Maps link and tinker around the city a bit. You'll see how crazy-big this place is.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=35.586968,139.476929&spn=0.783995,1.996765&t=k&z=10

Morning meetings. Late-night meetings. Ninety minutes spent getting my bank account set up. Studying. Writing important documents. Standing in the rain. Walking in the rain. Forgetting my umbrella at work and RUNNING in the rain. Ham that tasted like a hot dog. Ordering lunch in Japanese ("Ooki gyudon... to... sarada"). Extra onions on that lunch. Saying no to Coke Zero for a couple of days. More meetings. Late meetings. Early meetings. Sleep.

I had dinner last night in a Peruvian restaurant. This city is so cosmopolitan that I can eat a different cuisine every night, and since I love other foods of the world as much as I love Japanese, that's what I'm doing! So last night I went onto bento.com and found a Peruvian restaurant not far from here, and since it was raining I took a cab there.

I walked in and the only other customers there were an Aussie and an American sitting at a table in the corner yapping it up about who knows what, a few empties spread across the table. I chose a seat roughly on the other side of the restaurant from them, got settled in, and opened my book.

I've been doing this alot lately, reading while eating. Isn't that some sort of social sin, to sit at a table and read a book over a meal? Surely I'm offending someone somewhere, but I just don't care! It's really been the only way for me to deal with eating so many meals on my own. I do lunch with the fellows at work, but after work I've had nothing else to do, really, except eat a meal by myself. I've been to the temple twice, and I'm going to start helping the Elders teach their English lessons one night a week, but dinners will probably continue to be alone time for a while. I don't mind it, necessarily -- it's just the way it is. I'm here, I have no family, and very few friends, so I eat alone. And while I eat, I read.

Right now I'm trying to finish Capote's Music For Chameleons, which has captured me hook, line, and sinker. I should be able to wrap it up this morning.

So there I was, settled into the table, book open and reading, when the waitress came over. She appeared Japanese, as did the older gentleman doing the cooking, but when she brought me the menu I notice that there was no Japanese inside of it, only Spanish. Which, of course, is fine with me. So I ordered the Papas a la Huancaina to start, and she went over to the kitchen and barked out a bunch of orders..... in SPANISH! This Japanese woman spoke pure Spanish, no accent. She was obviously Peruvian, but of Japanese descent. Same for her man (well, I assume it was her man. They were both older, the only ones there, and fluent in Spanish. I will assume they're a couple).

Now, didn't Peru used to have a Japanese-Peruvian (is that how you say it? Like a Japanese-American or an African-Canadian...) as President? I think they did. If I remember correctly, when I was on my mission, the President of Peru was of Japanese descent. And if I continue to remember correctly, I believe his administration ended in shame, or maybe it was a coup. I think it was in shame. I'd look it up on Wikipedia but I'll leave that to the curious among you.

And don't forget that the U.S. is *not* the country in the world with the most Japanese people outside of Japan. That honor belongs to Brazil. Even with all of the Hawaiians and Californians of Japanese descent, the U.S. is still the number TWO country in the world for population of people of Japanese descent outside of Japan. Go look it up and see for yourself. :) South America definitely has a history with Japan. That should surprise some of my American readers, like it surprised me when I read that fact about Brazil last year, and like it surprised me tonight when I was at the restaurant, but I suppose it makes sense.

I ate my Papas a la Huancaina, followed it up with Lomo Saltado, and drowned both down with a tall, cool Inka Cola. A delicious dinner complimented by the stunning words of Truman Capote. It was altogether a great evening, and it illustrated how cosmopolitan this city is: An American who speaks no Japanese, but fluent Castillian Spanish, goes to a Peruvian restaurant in Tokyo where the proprietors are Peruvians of Japanese descent, and orders a meal in a foreign language that both understand.

Check out this pic of me at five years old that my dad posted on his blog:

Tonight I planned to go to Jingu Stadium for a Swallows baseball game, but the rain started up and the game got canceled. Blah. I guess I'll go tomorrow instead!

I need a bigger umbrella, as the one I have is too small.

I'm surprised at how much quiet I find in this city. It's like all you have to do is get street away from a main road and it's quiet. My new apartment, for example, is really close to Shibuya Station, like two or three small blocks away, and it's really quiet. My current apartment is on a busy road, but it still strikes me as a quiet place. Very cool. It's left me contrasting Tokyo with a place like New York City, where you can be on the 30th floor of a building and still hear street noise at 2 in the morning with the windows closed.

Yesterday evening, after church in the morning and an afternoon nap, I took the Mita Line over to the Imperial Palace area, then walked around there for a while, and finally ended up sitting on a park bench off to the side and relaxing for a couple of hours. I'm reading Capote's Music For Chameleons and enjoying it.

The area around the palace is beautiful. You can't tell from this view, since it uses such a wide angle lens, but it really is pretty.


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High stone walls with a moat around it. Beautiful gates, trees everywhere. Great view of the downtown Tokyo area. It's a nice, peaceful area. Walkers, joggers, and casual bikers following a path around the moat. It made me want to buy an old-timey Asian bike and ride down there some time.

To top off the good time I had relaxing around the palace, I came home and made what was hands down the best BLT I've ever had in my life. The tomatoes were juicy, the bacon was lean but tasty, and the bread was great. An amazing BLT!

Today (Monday) is a holiday, as are tomorrow and the next day. I relaxed, watched some movies on cable, read a bit, and went shopping at Tokyu Hands. Tomorrow I'm sleeping in and going to a baseball game in the early evening. Should be fun!

I submitted it to Engrish.com. Let's see if they respond.

I had to go back near the office last night on my way back from the temple, and I stopped by a Spanish tapas place in the area for a bite to eat. They gave me an English menu and I found this little gem in the "coca" section (a coca is like a mini Spanish pizza, but different). LOLOLOLOLOL! I had to snap a photo with my mobile for you all to enjoy.



Should I submit it to Engrish.com?

*NOTE: I tried to post this earlier this evening but had some technical difficulties. My apologies.*

I just got back from my apartment broker's office, and while I was there we submitted my offer on the apartment I mentioned yesterday. Since Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are national holidays ("Golden Week"), I will know if they have accepted my offer on Thursday or Friday. Since it's apparently a renter's market, I decided to low-ball the already-discounted price on the place. Why not, right? What's the worst they'll do, say no? If they do that, I'll just pay the already-discounted price that they're advertising. Either way, I'm excited to have found this place. Kudos to my apartment broker (Fujita-san is his name, in case you care).

With the holidays next week, I'll have plenty of time during the day to do stuff while still working with the Raleigh office in the evenings. Some things I have on tap are a furniture-shopping trip to IKEA, a visit to the area around the Imperial Palace, a Swallows game, and another trip to Yodobashi, this time in Shinjuku. I also need to go to Tokyu Hands while I'm in that area so I can get a new cheap wallet. It should be a nice holiday.

I got an email from my moving company indicating that my stuff is on a train heading for Los Angeles, where it will be loaded onto a boat and transported across the Pacific. Thank heavens my stuff is traveling through pirate-free waters!!!

The Tokyo Temple has English sessions on Friday nights, so I'm going tonight. I went last Saturday and had to wear a headset... that's fine, I guess, but I prefer English sessions.

Check out this cd from Andrew Dost, formerly of Anathallo and now of Fun. I love the concept, and some of the tracks are cool. Like Anathallo-meets-Broadway.

Well, I found an apartment. Without swooning too much, let me just say that it's EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR! It's like my personal dream Tokyo apartment. Fine, that's an overstatement, but's a great place. Within 5 minutes of a station (Shibuya), quiet area, newer building, high floor, nice view, a good amount of space, two bedrooms + an office/den. It's perfect! And it's within my budget! I'm turning in the application tomorrow. Here it is on Google Maps:


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It's up on the 10th floor of that building. I know that it looks like it only has 9 floors, but it actually has 12... the top few are set back a bit and have roof balconies. Go north up that side street and turn the view around, and you can see how the top floors are set back and have balconies. Very nice.

I had a delicious katsu curry for lunch, so I decided to go non-Japanese for dinner. There's a Jamaican Jerk place not far from the office, so I walked there and ate, then walked about a mile back to the apartment. Very good meal, very nice walk.

Now I'm going to relax and watch TV for an hour before I have to get on a midnight conference call.

Today was a national holiday in Japan, celebrating the birth of 昭和天皇 (Emperor Showa). He was the father of the current emperor, Akihito, and reigned over Japan from 1926 until his death in 1989. Think of that... 63 years in power. He was only 25 when his father died, and he led Japan through times of empire, war, surrender, and democratization. Think of how much Japan changed during his rule. Definitely a man worth celebrating.

With it being a holiday, I didn't have to work! With that in mind, I stayed in until the afternoon, read emails, watched "The Hunt For Red October" on cable, watched a soccer game, and generally relaxed. In the early evening, as the sun was setting [side note: the sun rises here before 6 and goes down at around 5 or 5:30. I'm definitely not used to that yet), I took the subway across town to Akihabara for a little electronics shopping. I'd been there in September and remembered that I could find everything remotely related to electronics, electrical appliances, and gadgets.

I went in search of a very specific item: a refill "tank" for the cleaning system inside my electric razor's dock. Since it holds a specific type of liquid (I threw it out when I moved here, just so it wouldn't spill all over everything in my luggage), and my shaver is made by Braun (in other words: not Japanese), I wasn't sure if I would be able to find the cartridge thing, but I figured that if any place would have it, Akihabara would be that place. So I subwayed over there and picked a random shop (there are dozens of them, all of which appear to have the same products at the same prices), and found the first attendant I could see.

Now here's another lesson in communicating in Japan for foreigners: sometimes it's best to use your primitive language skills or facial expressions; other times, though, your best bet is to go the Charades route. I tried that one today. Rather than ask him to point me to the floor with the SHAY-vah or RAY-zah, I just put my hand to my face like I was shaving and made the sound of the electric motor: jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj. The guy IMMEDIATELY knew what I was talking about, and he said SHAY-vah? "Hai!," I replied. "Fiss fror" was his response. So I went up to the 5th floor, found the shavers, found an attendant, and pointed to the part of the docking station where the "tank" guys. He ran off to the back and brought me back a 2-pack.

I'm happy to report that my shaver is now being cleaned, even as I write this. Another day, another success. BAM. DONE. MARK IT DOWN! CARVE IT IN STONE! I RULE THIS CITY!!!!

I know I already posted once today, but hey, content is content, right? You publish it when you've got it. And I've got it!!!

You know how when you were younger and you were first learning Spanish, or before you started even trying to learn it (hasn't everyone taken at least one Spanish class?), you were under the crazy impression that in Spanish you could just take normal English words and add an "o" to the end, and somehow Spanish words would result? Or that if you just said English words with a Spanish accent, Hispanics would understand you?

As of today I've been here for a week, and I'd been to Japan twice on business trips. I've been studying Japanese for a few months (sometimes moreso than at other times), and tonight at dinner* I was thinking about Japanese, and it dawned on me that it's in some ways the same as my adolescent take on Spanish. If you don't know a word in Japanese, just say the English word with a Japanese accent! As I've blogged before, there are thousands of English words in Japanese. Tonight, though, I wanted a sparkling water, and rather than use Japa-Tim (that's a language... It's my language. As a friend told me, it's made of basic English, rudimentary Japanese, and mostly-unfamiliar facial expressions), I decided to just ask for (get this) spa-koo-ring-wah-tah. "Hai, hai!," the server replied, and I had a San Pellegrino on my table within 30 seconds! I've known about all of these English words in Japanese, but it didn't dawn on me until tonight that there may be thousands more, and that I should just try the English word rather than throw out the Japa-Tim speak.

Oh, and on the way to dinner we passed by a Denny's. In Tokyo. You heard me right, brother: a Denny's in Midtown Tokyo. I find the idea both horrifying (stay away from me, stupid Americans!) and exciting (can't wait to get me a Grand Slam!). How long do you think I can hold out before I go?

One final thought from today: I went to lunch with a few guys from the office today -- the "sushi lunch" mentioned in a prior post. After we were done, Tsunogai-san and Miyahara-san held back downstairs for a smoke, and Mori-san and I were walking back into the office. I was wearing some sunglasses, and I asked him if he ever wears sunglasses on days like today. He responded that "yellow people have dark eyes." It's seriously a good thing that I wasn't drinking a Diet Coke at the time, because I would've spit it everywhere. "You can't say that, dude," was my response, and he asked me in reply: "What are you?" "I'm white. But you can say white. And you can say black. But you can't say yellow." "What do you call us, then?" "Asians." "What?" "Asians." "Oh, okay. Asians have dark eyes."

* My birthday dinner was staggeringly boring. I left the office at 8:30 PM, took a taxi to Nogizaka, and had pizza at a restaurant called 1830. Really good Neopolitan-style pizza. And since I'm new here and I have no friends, I ate by myself. It's surprisingly refreshing to sit and think while you eat. I mean, I prefer being social, but it's nice occasionally to just eat quietly. Not every night, though, of course... I NEED SOME FRIENDS, STAT!

The building next to our office is under construction, and all around it is this vinyl sheeting, I suppose to cover the unsightly appearance of scaffolding. Today while I waited for a meeting with the Distributor Sales team, though, I saw two ravens perched on top of the covering, no doubt chatting with each other about what a beautiful day it was.

Then I had sushi for lunch. I love sushi in America, and I love sushi here in Japan.

Today I turned 30. That sucks. 30. Say it again, Tim: you're 30. 30. 30. 30. I hate it.

I just went and looked at the apartment that I found yesterday. Meh. But I did then find two more places. Since tomorrow's a national holiday, I'll go see them on Thursday. While today's apartment was close to the church, the two I'll see on Thursday are in a great location a few stops away, and conveniently located next to the station and Yoyogi Park, and just a few blocks away from the Jingu Stadium, home of the Yakult Swallows baseball team.

I'm somewhat dreading this. At least, though, I know what parts of town I'd be willing to live in: Shibuya, Harajuku, Yoyogi, Ebisu, Hiroo, and maybe around where my temp apartment is: Shirokanedai. I'll post an update later today.

*EDIT* Well, that was easy. There are apartment rental "shops" in every neighborhood. They're basically like real estate agents, but they have ground-floor locations with store-front windows, and up on the windows are advertisements for apartments. I started in Ebisu, real close to the office, and checked out a few store-front windows. Upon further introspection, though, I decided that I don't want to live in Ebisu. I'd like to be far enough away from the office that I don't feel boxed into a small area. I want to travel to the office each day, just not that far.

So after going back to the office for a while longer, I went and found a rental office in Shibuya. I really that part of the city. I had walked around the area quite a bit when I was here in September (my hotel was right there), and I knew that while Shibuya Crossing is frenetic and bright and loud and crazy, just a few blocks from there it's rather quiet. Plus the church building is right there.

So I spoke in primitive English to the rental office guy, and he showed me a bunch of places in the area. There was one about two blocks from the church! Very nice! I have an appointment tomorrow at 4 to go see it with him. We'll see how that goes. I also want to check out some places up more toward Shinjuku (but still in Shibuya). With holidays here next week, I'm giving myself all this week to make a decision.

I love what the Japanese have done with baseball. They've taken something that was ours and they've made their own version that, while true to its roots, isn't unoriginal. The game itself is pretty much the same, but the culture is way different, especially at the ballpark. The crowd gets really involved, chants, claps, makes noise, etc. They really have a unique way that's different than how Americans are at games. And it's awesome!

Tonight I went to the Tokyo Dome to see the Yomiuri Giants (from here in Tokyo) play the Chunichi Dragons (from Nagoya). I had decided before I moved here that I would try to support the Yakult Swallows, the other Tokyo team, because I'm a Dodgers fan and Dodgers fans can't cheer for anything called "Giants," even half-way around the world. Tonight the Swallows were playing the Yokohama BayStars, but it's been raining all day, and I figured that game would be canceled, so I went to the Giants/Dragons game instead. I paid about $10 for the cheapest ticket available -- a "standing" ticket for the second deck. It was great! I plan on being a regular baseball game attender here.

One other noteworthy point from tonight's game: Edgardo Alfonzo is playing for the Giants now. It was pretty cool to see him playing here.

Not figuratively, but quite literally. The wallet that I paid 700 yen (~$7) for back in September is breaking at the seams on one side. I purchased it at the Tokyu Hands department store in Shinjuku when I was here the last time, and now I think it's time to go buy another one. It's the perfect wallet, really -- three card slots and a cash slot -- it just isn't handling the pressure.

Figuratively, though, my wallet is doing fine. Things are more expensive here, but I also don't seem to be spending as much as I thought I would. That's a good thing!

I'm officially official. "Oh, you registered with the city government today, Tim?" Yes, that too. More importantly, though, I am now officially a card-carrying member of my local video rental store, Geo Amusement Developer Hyper Media Shop.


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Not a bad selection of titles, and only 240 yen (around $2.50) for a week's rental.

But yes, I did also become an officially registered alien today. That was the last step in my immigration process. I went down to Minato City Hall [Side note: Tokyo is itself not a city, but a prefecture, which is akin to a state. What Americans know as "Tokyo" is actually a set of 23 "special wards," each a small city within the bigger prefecture of Tokyo. The special ward I live in is called Minato Ward or Minato City. The Red Hat office is in Ebisu, a district of Shibuya Ward. It's all Tokyo, though, really... I just figured I'd bore my readers with minutiae.] and registered as an alien resident. My visa allows me to be here for three years (even though the plan is for two years), and my alien registration reflects the dates on my visa. I'll receive the official card in a month -- today I received a temporary registration as well as a government-authorized certification of my address. This will allow me to procure a bank account.

It feels goooooooooood to be an official resident of Japan!

In honor of my new life here in Japan, I'm adding the letter J to the front of everything from now on. All of the projects that I sponsor at work will have a J in front of them -- for example, today I wrote a business case for a project called "Japan Renewal Form Generator," which I'm codenaming "JForm." I'm going to a J-League soccer match next weekend. I love the letter J.

Try getting a bank account when first arriving in Japan, though, and you'll find yourself in the middle of a JCatch-22. In order to get a bank account, you need to have your Alien Registration Card, a name stamp, and a name card (business card). I already ordered my name stamp (a simple "ティム") and my name cards will be ordered once I get my cell phone in a couple of days, but the Alien Registration Card is the difficult thing.

The Alien Registration Card is the legal document that allows me to be in Japan throughout the length of the visa period (three years). I can register for it at the city office, but in theory I shouldn't do it until I've moved into my permanent apartment a month from now. The problem, though, is that without the Alien Registration Card, I can't get a bank account, and without a bank account, I can't get an apartment. Without an apartment, I can't get an Alien Registration Card.

This, of course, is based on my assumption that whatever landlord I rent from won't let me pay with a foreign bank transfer. If that's the case, my JCatch-22 will remain a problem. If not, I have nothing to worry about.

When I got to my temporary apartment, there was a complimentary basket of food waiting for me. Basic stuff, really: tea packets, sugar packets, peanuts, Oreos, corn flakes, strawberry jam, and bread. The bread, though, was in a square package: eight pieces of white bread, each a perfect square; when all are stacked together, the whole thing makes a perfect cube. I thought to myself, "what a cute little mini-pack of bread!"

Last night, though, I went to the grocery store, only to discover that this is how a loaf of bread is here. There are all kinds of specialty breads, buns, and rolls, but the basic loaf of sandwich bread comes in an 8-slice cube. Very interesting. And the bread inside is quite good. Very dense. It makes for good sandwiches... which brings up another good topic: Japanese sandwiches, preferably of the "convenience store" varietal.

Japanese convenience store sandwiches are the bomb. They're cut into triangles or small squares, and there are always two or three types to choose from within the package. Yesterday, for example, I got a sandwich that had three triangles in it: egg salad, katsu, and ham & cheese. I could've chosen one that was tuna, egg salad, and ham & cheese. I suppose the concept isn't that much different than sandwiches that you buy in convenience stores elsewhere in the world, but here they actually taste good and appear to be made with some semblance of quality.

I saw at the grocery store that they had "sandwich bread," which was different than the cube loaf previously references. It had the crust cut off and the slices were thinner. I'll definitely have to give that a try.

I'm sitting in the Raleigh airport waiting for my flight. Leg 1:
Houston. Leg 2: Tokyo. I arrive there Tuesday afternoon and will start
at the office on Wednesday.

Goodbye to all of my friends in Raleigh. I will miss you!

--
Sent from my mobile device

Found this painted on a wall in the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona, a couple blocks west of the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona. After researching it, I found that it's a poem by the German playwright Bertol Brecht. I haven't been able to figure out when it was written or painted on this wall, but Brecht died in 1958, and it's written in Spanish (rather than Catalan), so I can imagine it being from his lifetime. I'm hoping to find more information about it.



My translation:

WAYS TO KILL
There are many ways to kill
They can drive a knife into your belly
Take your bread
Not cure your sickness
Put you in a bad house
Torture you until you die of working
Take you off to work, etc.
Only a few of these things are
prohibited in our city

The Barcelona Metro feels differently on a Friday night than at any other part of the week. The men have gone home and showered, the women are wearing their expensive perfume. Everyone carries a smile -- doors are opened, mistakes are excused, delays are tolerated. Most get off at Catalunya, where they'll most surely meet up with old friends, find their favorite tapas bar, and stay up far too late drinking and laughing, discussing last week's game, their new job, and that no good Zapatero/Bush/Obama/whoever.

I, however, am on my way to El Rey de la Gamba. I'll eat jamon serrano, pa amb tomaquet, and a salty paella, then stumble back to the subway, back to Urquinaona, and then to Espanya, where my hotel's bed will await me.

I always find it interesting to hear some of the things that people say about the Oscars. In preparation for this week's ceremony, I'm reminded of how many times I've heard people say that the Oscars are irrelevant, they don't award the right films, they have an agenda, etc. Perhaps that's true. Really, though, I think many people judge the Oscars based on their own expectations, rather than the standard that the Academy sets forth.

The main complaint by many seems to be that the Oscars don't award the most popular films with the awards. I remember a number of complaints that Transformers (yes, Transformers) wasn't nominated for Best Picture, since it was clearly the biggest blockbuster of 2007. In many peoples' view, popularity parallels quality. There's certainly nothing wrong or even worth questioning in regard to that view -- we are all different, and we value things differently.

The Academy, though, is not concerned with popularity. It's the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It's not the Academy of Motion Picture Entertainment. The Oscars are awarded for theatrical (producing, acting, and directing) and technical (cinematography, effects, animation) prowess. The focus is on the art and science of film. In otherwords, the art of film and the science of film. Entertainment value is not generally included in the equation.

Now, I understand that "storytelling" is indeed an art, and that all films can't be judged based on technical and theatrical prowess alone. Entertainment is not necessarily tied, though, to the art of good storytelling.

In summary, it's important to know that popularity doesn't, and shouldn't, fit into the Academy Awards. They are awarded for excellence in artistic performance and technical prowess in film, not for how many people went to see the films. The heavy box office totals are reward enough for the people who make blockbusters.

Rather, why did I let the water I used for my herbal tea get so hot? What was I thinking? Why didn't I put an ice cube in the water first? Why didn't I put a spritz of tap water into the mix? Why did I use that new hot water machine thing that they just installed last week in the second floor snack area? That thing is a lawsuit waiting to happen!

And why did I get this thermal Red Hat mug? Now I have to sit here and wait for 30 minutes before it becomes even remotely drinkable. I can barely even touch the mug!

What was I thinking?

I've long stated that my deepest fears are: 1) Breaking my front teeth, and 2) Dying alone. Allow me to elaborate on the first of the two.

For as long as I can remember, I've been afraid of breaking my front teeth. I don't know what it is. In panic situations, my mind goes first to the thought of breaking my front teeth. There are a number of awful scenarios I'm imagining for myself here:

* I'm walking down stairs, it's wet outside, my shoes don't grip, I fall down the stairs and smack my teeth, knocking the front two out (or severely breaking them).

* I'm in a car accident and my airbag doesn't deploy, so my face slams into the steering wheel and breaks my two front teeth. Even worse: the airbag does deploy, but still breaks my teeth.

* Terrorists are torturing me. They put my front teeth in vise-grips and break them off. That would be horrendous. Or maybe they tell me that if I don't give them the information they want, they'll rip out my front teeth. To be honest, I give them the friggin' information at that point. (Side note: It's probably good that I didn't get an interview with the NSA when I applied my senior year. I'd be lousy at protecting government secrets under duress. Not to mention the fact that I wasn't "built" for the government sector.)

* I'm riding a bike. My pantleg gets caught in the chain and the bike comes to a stop. I go flying and hit a mailbox... you guessed it, right on the front teeth, damaging them badly.

So now can you start to see why breaking my front teeth is of deeper concern to me than dying alone? It makes sense to me!

Do you say "visa" as "VEE-suh" or "VEE-zuh?" I say it like "VEE-suh." But I'm sure there are tons of English speakers that say it like "VEE-zuh." I had a co-worker once that said "salsa" as "SAL-zuh." Drove me nuts. And my dad used to say our family friend Leslie's name as "LEZ-lee." Also drove me nuts.

I'm working on obtaining my Japanese visa. This will allow me to live in Japan as a foreigner over the two years I'm there. While those of you who know me are already aware of my tendency to favor immigration and oppose immigration reform initiatives, even being just two steps into this process makes me more sympathetic toward the people who try to obtain permission to live within the United States. The process in Japan appears to be relatively simple. I can't imagine what it would be like if I were from a country that wasn't a world superpower. Probably what it's like for most people trying to come live and work within the U.S.

Luckily, though, Red Hat has hired a firm to handle my visa, and our HR department in Japan is working with them. I only really have to provide some passport photos, a copy of my passport photo page, my resume, and a Certificate of Employment. Although, this stuff is just to get a "Certificate of Eligibility" from the Japanese government. With that in hand, we'll then get the visa. I'm sure that will have its own set of files/papers/documents/photos/scans/copies/etc.

One interesting piece of information that I have to provide in order to be officially recognized by the Japanese government is my name written in Japanese characters. Satomi-san, one of my associates at Red Hat KK, suggested a few potential ways of spelling my name using Katakana, a Japanese syllabary that's most commonly used to transcribe foreign (western, really) words. Here are the options:

ティモシー・ボイスヴァート
TE-i-mo-shii . BO-i-su-VAA-to

ティモシー・ボイスヴェルト
TE-i-mo-shii . BO-i-su-VE-ru-to

I've decided to go with the first one, the "BO-i-su-VAA-to" one. What do you think?

I just realized that I haven't blogged yet about moving to Japan. I'm moving to Japan in April. Red Hat is transferring me to our Tokyo office for two years to do IT Business Analysis for all of our Asia Pacific region. It's a huge opportunity for me and for the company. So here are some details that will hopefully answer many of the questions I've been asked:

- Our office is in the Ebisu neighborhood, which is on the west side of the city, just below Shibuya. I'm hoping to live somewhere just outside the JR Yamanote line, west of Ebisu or Shibuya. I'm trying to find an apartment agent right now.

- I'm planning on getting a 2-bedroom apartment or small house, with a guest room. Start thinking now about visiting.

- There are multiple LDS stakes in Tokyo, one of which is English-language, the Tokyo South Stake. If I live in the west side of the city, I'll be in the 2nd or 4th ward.

- I'm planning on using weekends and holidays to travel. There's so much I want to see.

- I'm selling most of my stuff. Let the fire sale begin!

- I'll be able to come back to the U.S. at least once per year. Not sure where/when