Tokyo Daily

Germanfest in Tokyo

I went to Germanfest 2007 held in Hibiya Park on Sunday. The festival was supposed to let the Japanese know about Germany's Oktoberfest and feel the fun of it. Why do they have to have "German" festival in "June"? I don't care─as long as I can enjoy beer and sausages!

Farewell Party

I went to a farewell party of Stephanie, my friend from France, on Friday evening. She was supposed to stay in Japan for 3 years until next March, but she got a good job offer from her office in Germany, and so she decided to go back earlier.

We got to know each other through our German friend Ulrike in 2005. Ulrike is already back in Germany, and now Stephanie is also going back there.

Stephanie and I often went to cafes or restaurants, or saw movies together on weekends. She also came to Koenji Awaodori Festival, the famous and traditional dance festival of my town, last summer. We also went to see the fireworks of Atami(the city about 2.5 hours from Tokyo, where used to be quite famous for hot springs).

Although she didn't speak Japanese(but her Japanese did improve amazingly during her stay!) and I didn't speak French nor German, we could feel that there was something in common between us. We got along with each other well. She was kind, smart, and didn't refuse to speak in English. So, in a way, she changed the impression of French people that I used to have! (Ha-ha!)

Anyway, now I'm so sad that she's leaving. But there's no point looking back the past and being sad forever. All I can do now is to dream of the day when I visit her in Germany or in France in the near future!

At the farewell party, I finally got to know that Stephanie gets scared on a plane, especially when it departs. I hope she won't get too scared on her way back Thursday morning. Have a safe trip Stephanie, and keep in touch!

Delicious weekend

I went to nomikai, or a drinking party, on Saturday night. The gathering was held at an excellent yakitori(grilled chicken) restaurant in my neighborhood. We enjoyed delicious yakitori meals with some alcohol for a while, and then decided to go to nijikai, or after-party, at a local bar. I asked the bar master to play the song called LONG SEASON by Fishmans, my favorite Japanese band.

On Sunday, I saw my friend to have lunch at a lovely cafe near my house. I had a combo of welcoming drink (I chose apple juice), entree (tomato garlic rice with bacons), dessert (non-baked cheesecake with blueberry sauce) and drink (iced tea), all for 1200 yen (about $11). My friend then came to my house and played with my cat for a while.

Then I headed for Ebisu to have another nomikai with my friends from university. It's so strange that we never get bored of talking about how to get good guys and get married. My friends and I are all in the late twenties, so it's kind of like the Tokyo-version of Sex and the City. Girls are about the same in any country of the world, I guess...

Riding through the night of Tokyo

The hot and humid weather has been taking guts and concentration off of me. So I decided to forget about working at home and go to the library near my house.

It's nice because they have seats where you can bring your laptop, plug it in and connect to the wireless LAN. You have to buy a membership of a certain internet provider to use this service, but it's less than $14/mo so it's not expensive at all. Plus, you can use the service in other places too, such as fast-food restaurants, cafes or stations.

After finishing up my journal, I didn't have any plans so I just kept riding my bike until I arrived in Shinjuku, about 6 kilometers east of where I live. It wasn't too hot in the evening, with cool gentle breeze browing. It was such a nice feeling to ride through the night of Tokyo, listening to my favorite songs on iPod. I love summer evenings in Japan.

I missed the garbage truck...

I got up around 9 a.m. Shoot, I missed the garbage truck! I was supposed to take noncombustible garbages out in front of my apartment by 9 a.m. It's been hard for me since I moved to my new apartment in April, because you're not allowed to take your garbage out during the night, before 6 or 7 a.m. to put it more precisely, in this area.

There are so many crows waiting for yummy garbages, so, if you leave your garbage outside too early, they'll come and rip the garbage bags during the night to get some goodies. By the time the garbage truck comes to pick up the bags in the morning, most of the garbages are scattered on the street!

And even if we wait until the morning to take out the garbage, there're still some chances for the crows to get their food. That's why you see a lot of yellow garbage bags (*It is said that crows don't like the color yellow) or garbage bags covered with a big net in many corners of the towns in Tokyo.