A Week in Tokyo 58
I feel like I'm in some sort of time tunnel. So much has been going on that I loose track of what day of the week it is. Just finished 6 days of filming for Culture Japan. When I got home yesterday it felt like a Friday but this morning I thought it was Sunday ^^;
As usual I'm late with this weeks A Week in Tokyo which covers what went on in the past few weeks. The first photo was taken yesterday at an international high school in Tokyo - we were there filming the Cultural Festivities [文化祭] which take place once a year - you've seen it in 2D anime like Haruhi and K-ON! and now you get to see it in 3D ^^;
This young lady is Arisa-chan who is one of my guides for the day. Being half Filipino and half Japanese, she joins the 40% of the school population as a Japanese mix, foreigner or a student who has spent a lot of time overseas. Will give you more info on international schools in Japan in a later post.
Filming at a Matsuri with one of my co hosts. You will most most certainly like her. Shes a cutie ^^; Wifey likes her too ^^;
Was our first time to join in on the shenanigans at the Meguro Sanma Festival.
Tis the Summer festival season where lanterns line the streets and folks gather together with complete strangers to enjoy each others company.
One of the many Omikoshi being carried around the streets of Japan - more photos in the Omikoshi post.
Heading towards Harajuku through Shibuya.
And this is how I was getting to Harajuku - by Rollerblades ^^; I think it was my first time travelling so far by blades and was completely knackered by the time I got there ^^;
Shinshu Ueda [信州上田] is where the anime movie Summer Wars was based - if you go there you can pay pilgrimage to the locations that you saw in the movie.
Lunch with Bandai and Hobby Japan after visiting their offices.
Located around concentrated office areas, one can find vans parked here n there serving up bento boxes of lunch. Most of them have a permit to do so - you can easily tell apart the ones with no permit - shifty eyes constantly looking about for police ^^;
If you are visiting Japan, try to plan your lunchtime for about 11:30 before everybody else comes out for lunch. Any earlier and you will find that most restaurants have not opened for lunch yet - any later and you'll be lining up to eat like these folks.
Eco Station 21 provides bicycle parks around Japan to encourage more usage of two wheelers.
Sanae is tempted by the om nom nommys surrounding her - limited edition Mr Donuts.
A load of meetings n wheelings n dealings over the past few weeks which means a lot of train usage.
Near Hobby Search on the day I infiltrated their offices.
With folks from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) who came over to the office. I start to work with the government this November.
Out on a gorgeous sunny day for a drive.
Infiltration of the Bushi Road offices. Mirai and Haruka trading cards around the corner?
Stopping off at McDee's for a break before shooting off to the next appointment.
iPhone 4 mounted on the bike to find my next meeting location.
Snapped outside Toritsu Daigaku station.
One of the ways I try to save time - mix dinner with meetings. At an Izakaya (pub) in Toritsu Daigaku.
Filling the tyres with some 0 yen air.
Culture Japan production meeting - yep there's only a handful of us making the program ^^;
Spent a lot of time in Akihabara filming this month.
Milky Holmes anime airs on the same channel as Culture Japan - Tokyo MX TV. The seiyuu for the anime will also be in the studio for Culture Japan.
Name all these characters and win cookies.
Out recently in Japan. Watched this a lot when I was a wee lad back in the UK.
The OP for the retro A-Team brought back a load of nostalgia.
Kotobukiya brings over some noms to nibble on while talking about the next project.
Kyoka wants some Custard Creams.
The third collaboration effort with Kotobukiya was released recently - OTACOOL 3.
One stop before Good Smiles Matsudo is Kanamachi - am here to meet Obitsu.
Tai Yaki looks good.
At the Obitsu factory to learn how about a load of plastic manufacturing techniques. Will post photos when I get a chance and you will also see a tour of the factory on Culture Japan. On a side note, you will also get to see the Good Smile Company China factory tour on Culture Japan too ^o^
Donuts keep me going in the afternoon.
The K-ON mouse pads don't seem to be durable enough to be used as a mouse pad...
FaceTime on the iPhone is rather handy indeed for conference calls. Ken spots some om nom nom.
Wifey done a great job growing cucumbers this Summer. Alas the cucumber plant is no more.
Nanoha goes to our garden to fetch a cucumber.
I'm a sucker for TV ads and go to get me some ShoShu Plug to get rid of the fart smells in the office. What do you do when in class or the office and need to let one off?
Just plug in the wall and leave on auto pilot.
Ad below staring cutie Kusakari Mayu.
Wifey makes some Singaporean style Laksa for dindins.
Laksa magic provided by this DIY kit - t'was our last pack. Noooooooooo!
A hotel room for cockroaches which they check into - but don't check out. Its like a death chamber.
Our local station is going to be transformed into a shopping center in a few days - here are some folks looking at the list of shops before it opens.
There is a Tullys in the station which you can wait at while I come to fetch you.
Out n about our local town. I've been living in this area for 6 years now and never get board of looking or taking photos of it. But I never felt the same in London or Seattle.
More of our local area.
The area outside our station used to have train tracks running through it. The area surrounding our station has been developing rapidly since they built the underground train tunnels and got rid of the train tracks over ground. The value of the land we own has gone up too.
"To Those Who Were Removed Bicycles or Motorcycles"
How well do you know Tokyo? Where is this?
Driving through Shibuya on the way to somewhere or other.
Out n about in Nishikoyama. A lady is selling pickles in the black containers.
After Heroes, I haven't had any chance to watch anymore American dramas of late. These ones you see here are some of the popular ones in Japan. What American shows are you watching and recommend?
Spent some time in the East of Tokyo - more photos of Ameyoko lives here.
Just in case you was wondering - I didn't eat my only employee Chris ^^; Chris lives a few hours away from the office and it didn't make sense to ask him to come in every day. We worked out a workflow with some help of Skype and Google Docs to enable him to work remotely. Its been a few months since I seen him in the flesh ^^;
Ever since becoming a people manager at Amazon, its always been my priority to look after the interests of my staff and ensure that they are provided with a working environment to help them grow and one of the essential things that I need to do is set priorities and avoid overtime. I should to apply these rules to myself though ^^; But hey - I can rest as much as I like when I'm dead ^^;
After dindins walkies with wifey is always great but lately we've been exploring further by bicycle. Here we have stopped off at Gotanda for a bit. The dummy workman you see on the left actually waves his little red lightsaber to warn traffic of the roadworks.
Japan in the Summer time is alive with traditional festivities.
At about 3 or 4PM I'm in needy of some PG Tips and biccy's or donuts to keep me going.
When using the trains in Japan, if you don't know how much to pay, just get the cheapest fare and pay the rest at the other end.
I remember trying this in the UK and got fined 10 pounds...
Dindins with AmiAmi who are another sponsor for Culture Japan. The guy who found a full time job with them through dannychoo.com will be presenting the AmiAmi ranking with me next week.
Nanoha says hello.
Nanoha asks "Can I haz Donutz?"
A closer look at the anime voice actress who I kidnapped the other day - snapped on her mobile.
Filming an underground bicycle facility in Shinagawa - we got to attach a camera to the bike to show you whats its like down there.
Two days in Nikko filming for Culture Japan. I thought we'd get to relax a bit but ended up filming all the time apart from when we were sleeping or having a poo.
Ninja Training at Edo Wonderland in Nikko. More soon.
Managed to get away for a day to Izu - photos in the Dogashima and Koganezaki posts.
Nitroplus office infiltration report lives here.
Filming at another Japanese high school to cover the archery after school activities.
Filming 12 hours straight in Akihabara - will write up each location soon.
