Grateful for visiting friends...

The heavens have been really kind to me lately.

Probably aware of the fact that I've been missing my friends and aware of the challenge of finding real friends in the city, the gods have been very kind to make sure that friends from Manila, Singapore, and elsewhere come to Tokyo either for vacation or a business trip recently. Yay!

A few weeks ago, the ex's best friend was in town. Last week, Makii and Paul were in town. This week, Lionel is in town.

Really grateful for friends who come to Tokyo whether it's for vacation or for business.

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu...

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!

Good first day of the year!

The day started with breakkie in Ebisu. From Ebisu, I walked to Shibuya where I met up with I-van and Moi. It's Moi's first visit to Japan. His timing was very good.

After taking the mandatory photos with Hachiko, we walked to Harajuku area. Thankfully, the crowd at Meiji Shrine was bearable soooo we actually got to do hatsumode, or the first shrine visit for the New Year. I guess it's one of the parallelisms between Catholicism and Shintoism - going to the church/shrine to pray for the New Year.

From there, we walked around Omotesando and Aoyama. However, most of the shops were closed since it was January 1.

We went to Kyu Shiba Rikyu so Moi can see a Japanese garden but it was also closed. Hehe! Instead, we headed to Tokyo Tower and passed by Zōjō-ji along the way.

Our final stop was Shibuya where we met up with Frances. We had dinner at a semi-izakaya place. I made the guys try various kinds of kushiyage which they liked. Yahoo!

Nice first day of 2018!

Friday in Yanaka...

Today is a holiday - Mountain Day

It's a new holiday. It started last year and it's meant to celebrate all things mountain-related in Japan.

I decided to work in another learning studio. Initially, I had three lessons but I guess the students decided to go on a holiday instead. Lol. So, I was down to just one lesson today. It was okay. After my one lesson, I headed to a nearby cafe to work on my semi-sideline job.

After that, I headed home to take a nap.

At 3:45, I left the house and took the train to Nippori to meet up with housemate Shuto. It was his birthday last week and I told I'd buy him dinner. Before going to dinner, I told him I'd like to check out Yanaka.

The place was actually interesting. There was a street called Yanaka Ginza, which was lined with many interesting shops. There were a million cafes. I definitely want to go back and check out the place again.

On top of the cafes, there were a number of cultural places. However, I didn't take any photos because the sky was gloomy. The photos wouldn't look nice. Haha!

From Yanaka, we walked to Ueno and headed to a tonkatsu restaurant. It's the restau where Dean brought me a year ago. I should take more of my visiting friends to that place. The only downside is that you smell like oil when you step out of the restau. Haha! We also went to an izakaya where we had a couple of drinks and had some kushiage. Nice nice!

No work tomorrow...

Hooray, there's no work tomorrow!

While I was finishing my last lesson earlier, the thought came to mind and I have to say that I'm relieved I don't have to wake up at 530 tomorrow morning.

As you may have read in the news, this morning was quite interesting.

Usually, I take either the 550AM train or the 559AM train. Earlier, I noticed that the 559 train was delayed. It finally arrived at 6AM. I got on the train and I wondered why it took so long before the train doors closed.

At the same time, it felt that the train was being gently rocked. I thought it was nothing special.

The train driver made an announcement but I couldn't understand it. The only word I caught was jishin, which was the Japanese word for earthquake.

It was only when I reached the office that my suspicion was confirmed. It was indeed an earthquake.

The whole time, my concern was "I cannot be late for work!" Lol!

Oh, I was so touched by the thoughtfulness of my friends. When I checked my phone after my morning lessons, there were loads of messages from Manila, Singapore, and the US asking if I was okay. Thank you for these friends!

Chillax Wednesday...

Today was much more relaxed.

For starters, I woke up early but I didn't go out of the house until 10AM. I spent a few hours putting some order into the room and making it more personalised. I managed to unwrap some of the items I brought from Singapore and placed them near the window. I also sorted out the tons of paper that I printed.

Whereas before I didn't think about waste segregation, now I have to sort my rubbish. It shouldn't be daunting I guess. I've learned the local words for burnable/combustible, unburnable/noncombustible, recyclables, and of course, can, PET bottles.

I just need to write the schedule of waste collection for each type of garbage and pin the cheat sheet on the wall or something.

The other things I did in the morning were to head to the grocery to buy some stuff - bread, jam, coffee, laundry soap, fabric conditioner, Febreeze, and so on. Hehe!

When I got back home, I prepared the things that I needed for tomorrow. I also had a video call with Tipz as he was working at home. He showed the sakura tree near his place and I showed him the Tokyo Skytree. Haha!

In the afternoon, I had some time to kill and so I decided to be a bit tourist-y. I went to the Tokyo Skytree but I didn't bother to go up. I'll do that when one of my friends come visit. I just walked around and when I got tired, I took the train and headed to Kita Senju for a late lunch/early dinner.

I'm still reliant on Google Maps for train schedules but I'm becoming more familiar with which lines to take.

Heading back, I decided to alight at Horikiri Station so I could go for the walk. It's not that far actually. I think it's just a kilometer. I don't mind the walk as it is some form of workout. Haha!

Also, that route was the cheapest way to get back home. I think I only paid about ¥180 instead of ¥310 had I taken a different line. Haha!

Tomorrow, the semi-hols is over and it's time to work. Let's do this!

Busy busy Tuesday...

Tuesday was a lot busier.

The day started really early. There were several things on my list that needed to be done today. I managed to finish everything but one.

My day started by going to the Katsushika Ward office. I needed to register my Japan address, register for a social security number and the health insurance. As expected, it was quite fast and efficient.

Afterwards, I needed to get a Japanese number and open a bank account.

I was only able to do the former. For the latter, I was told that I might need a hanko. It's a seal used for official business documents. So, from the ward office, I headed to the hanko shop I researched about. However, it was closed. For what reason? I couldn't tell because I couldn't read the characters. Hehe!

Good thing I had a backup and I went to the other one. The man at the shop didn't speak English. Thankfully, there was a lady who helped translate for me! She is indeed an angel. May she be blessed. I didn't expect the hanko to be really expensive but sigh, what to do? I needed it.

By the time the hanko was done, I went to a mobile phone shop. I researched about a shop in Ikebukuro where there was an English service. The guy was able to explain things to me quite clear and I was able to get my sim fast.

I did not have enough time for the bank account as it was almost 4PM when I finished at the mobile phone shop.

The last agenda for the day was dinner with my friend Makoto and his two kids. I went over to his neighbourhood and we had dinner at one of the izakayas in the area.

Tomorrow morning, that's the first thing on my list. After that, I'm free for the rest of the day. I'm also free on the day after... That means two days of being a tourist.

Not really, because I've been attending to all these errands/documents, I haven't had time to fix the room I'm renting. I need to buy some stuff for the room as they're not provided. I kinda miss my old landlord. Haha!

Oh well, that's Tuesday.