Monday 30 January 2012

Nissan

Hi Everyone,


I am doing a small course here and part of it was to go to the public library and get a library card, I found the English section and pulled from the shelf a very interesting book called "Turn around, how Carlos Ghosn rescued Nissan". I had no idea that Nissan was in trouble, I have owned Nissan cars and had good service from them, but for many years Nissan has had declining sales and no profits and was days away from going to the junk yard, want to find out more, get yourself a copy of the book its a good read, you won't be disappointed.

Always - Sunset on Third Street

Hi,

I watched this on TV here and I was lucky enough for my wife to translate the whole movie to me, it is very interesting and of very intersting times in Japan. It has some comedy in it as well that is very funny especially when Norifumi Suzuki gets mad and his hair stands straight up. If you can find it in english or with subtitles watch it.

Ikebukuro

Hi Everyone,

Today we went to Ikebukuro, I wanted to visit a store there called Tokyu Hands, it is a large store that has hardware and power tools as well of many other items.

Just when you thought Japanese were healthy eaters - The Chicken fillet Double Burger is on sale at KFC, we walked past a KFC store, KFC don't do anything by halves in Tokyo, they painted the whole outside of the store for the promotion, see photo.

Ikebukuro is very busy, see attached photos, these are the kinds of photos people normally see of Tokyo.

 Ikebukuro main shopping area
 Japanese love to shop!
 So many people and its about 4 degrees

KFC Japan Style

Saturday 28 January 2012

Weather

Hi,

Its been quite cold here this winter and February is the coldest month and that is to come, they are already saying this is the coldest winter for 6 years! Trust me to come when Japan has a cold snap :)

See you
Bruce

Toyota Crown Athlete

Hi Everyone,

These cars are quite popular over here, they are Toyota's flagship, they are one nice looking car. The Lexus maybe above this car but the best car Toyota make is a Toyota Century, this car sits above the Lexus range and not many people out of Japan know about it, its power by a 5 liter V12 couple to a I think 6 speed auto and is about the same size as a Holden Commodore in New Zealand/Australia.

This Crown was parked down our street today, have no idea who owns it and by the way it is illegally parked as it is parked in the middle of the street but its not really a problem to us as we have no car and it is not blocking us.

Check out the photos





Toyota Century made since 1967 facelifted in 1997

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Man Bag update

Hi All,

Well I finally had to get one, this one is real cool as it is not the standard black/brown one most guys have this one is purple! Why I hear you say, Bruce do you have something to share with us? Of course not!! I can't loose it, I stand out, not that I don't already and it was free from air NZ. Check out the photo!

Me and my purple man bag!

Shinjuku

Hi Everyone,

Today we went to Shinjuku to take Leo and Luke to a big indoor play area. It opens from 12:30pm each day, its a multi level building with several different themes. I took some photos of a few interesting buildings. I only had my mobile with me today but you can still see the buildings.

We also stopped in at Macdonalds for an milkshake on the way home, Shinjuku has an up market Macdonalds! See the photos for your self.










Monday 23 January 2012

Photo standing on the steps of my School




Rugby World Cup 2019

Hi All,

Having been in NZ for the 2011 rugby world cup I know how big event it is, NZ really did not cope well, they just have no idea how to shift large amounts of people, Japan's big cities do it well every day. Why am I talking about rugby world cup 2019 because I saw it advertised on TV the other day!

Anyone coming here for rugby world cup be warned you better start learning your Japanese now, not many people speak English and the subway system in Tokyo is MASSIVE so if you get lost and can't speak a word of Japanese be in for a long hard time or pay a fortune for a Taxi to take you home :)

Japanese are nice people but if they don't speak English they can't help you :)

See You

Sunday 22 January 2012

Luke

Hi All,

I was asked if I could post some more photos of baby Luke so you can see how fast he has been growing, so here are a few pics from the memory card.

 Arrrreeeee
 Yeah I told you the price, you want it or not?
 It wasn't me!
Bright light, did I just take a photo?

Snow

Hi,

They are predicting 1 or 2cm of snow in Tokyo over night, will keep you posted!

About 7:55pm HUGE thunder could be heard and we have heavy rain! Could snow be on the way?

10pm and I had a look outside and Tokyo has a blanket of snow over it :) Off to bed now, going to be a cold day tomorrow.

Photos from this morning, it snowed and now it is frozen rock hard! 24/1/12





See You
Bruce

Saturday 21 January 2012

Tea

Hi Everyone,

Since I have been here in the last couple weeks I have got into drinking tea, my friend Alan the English man I used to have morning tea with was a great tea drinker. My father always liked a good cup of tea, I am near 40 years old and now I can appreciate a good cup of tea, its the time you sit to drink it, you don't rush it, when you make it the water hits the tea bag boiling, you let the goodness of the bag leech into the water before you top it off with cold milk, I now know how to enjoy a cup of tea, when I am back in New Zealand I am going to go see my friend Alan and have a cup of tea from his well used little brown tea pot. ;)


This is my girly tea cup, I use this cup because it was a gift from my mum to my mother in-law
See You

Thursday 19 January 2012

It's Snowing in Tokyo

Hi,

I was sitting in the lounge with the heatpunp on nice and warm, my father in-law came and told us it that it just started snowing, I poked the camera out the window and took a photo, you can just see the snow flakes.

Looking out the window across the road

Tokyo Sky Tree Visit

Hi Everyone,

Today we took Leo to see Skytree, he loves it! You just have no idea of its size until you stand near it, its so high that when you look at it with your head right back that it looks to curve! Its one impressive structure, its going to make a whole tourist industry around it!

We had lunch at Macdonalds. Macdonalds has a promotion on at the moment called "Big America" and every month they have  a new Big America burger, this month is the Grand Canyon, I had to try one!! I think Japanese Macdonalds is better than NZ. Its not somewhere we go often but was very good today. A combo meal was 700 yen about $11.50NZ, you will laugh at this but Macdonalds seem to be a bit more up market than NZ, very nice service, very tidy and clean, counters are flash, presentation is very nicely done, A+ to Macdonalds Japan!

Its been cold and dry here, so dry static electricity is a problem, my hands are dry, its not normally like this, they are telling people to be aware of touching PC parts and around flammable liquids and the static build up is quite a lot!

On the news tonight they are predicting rain, they said it could snow, will have to wait and see, could be in for a some more of the white stuff! Up north it has been -26 degrees, not normally that cold, bananas are so hard they can use them to hit nails into wood, if you pull your boiling hot noodles out of the pop they freeze in bunch of noodles, if you blow bubbles they are frozen before they hit the ground.
There is more of it just could not fit it in the photo
This is at the bottom of it, you can just see Leo, look for the blue/black jacket
Leo in the gift shop with a Tokyo Tower light



Next Las Vegas then Broadway and Beverly Hills

Saturday 14 January 2012

Heat Pump

Hi All,

On Saturday the heat pump install guys arrived with the new Daikin heat pump, really it would not be interesting but what amazed me was this, the guys arrived at 10:20am, moved everything out the way for the install, one guy hung the indoor unit and other did the out door unit, we were heading out and it just clocked over to 11:20am when we left, the guys were just checking everything over to power it up. I think that was a pretty fast install, does anyone know how long a back to back install takes in NZ?

See You
Bruce

Thursday 12 January 2012

The Dave kite post

Hi Everyone,

Why did I call this the Dave kite post, simple, my friend  Dave in NZ is a kite nut, he would leave kites flying all night in NZ, so he will get the chuckle out of this, enjoy Dave!

Today was quite windy so Leo and I decided to go to the big park across the river and fly the kite! It went great, let the string out all the way and just let it go and it whizzed straight up in the sky, it did flips and loops and was good to watch. Leo wanted to play on the equipment so I tied the kite to the tree where it performed its tricks, while in the park I met a JAL pilot, he spoke very good English, he was back home for a few days before flying out, he was in the park with his daughter. She liked the kite and I asked her if she wanted to fly it, she said yes, so we walked over and untied the kite, she was having fun and then Leo asked if he could have it back, she went to hand the kite back to her dad but she let the string go before he could get it, well the fun began we chased it and just about got it, people on the path were trying to jump on the string but we all missed it. The kite string went into the river, the kite was still flying ok. Then somewhere in Tokyo the string got stuck and the kite shot back up in the sky miles away from us, LOL LOL we all just laughed and thought oh well that was a lot of fun for a 100yen! I just wonder what people thought when they saw a kite flying no where near a park. :)

See You

Wednesday 11 January 2012

New Years Show at Jildolkan

Hi,

This afternoon Jildolkan had a new years show of Japanese drums for the new year! The big drum hits real hard, I really like it how it goes right into you, you wouldn't think it could be so loud, hard and sharp! Amazing.


Just about to start


A short clip of the drums, you just need to be there to feel it! Amazing!


Tuesday 10 January 2012

First day at School

Hi All,

Tuesday is my first day at Japanese school, I am a student not a teacher, the class was 4 Chinese, 1 Korean and a kiwi, the Kiwi understood the least Japanese, the other students have been studying Japanese for a long time. One of the Chinese students in China was a University Teacher of Engineering and in Japan he is a cleaner. I think this is also not uncommon in NZ with immigrants, could be where I end up as well. Its for 2 hours every Tuesday and the cost for the course is $16.50NZ. Its not a full on Japanese language course, more retired teachers helping immigrants to learn Japanese at their own pace.

See You

Monday 9 January 2012

Coming of age

Hi All,

In Japan the coming of age is 20, OMG you should see the amazing beautiful traditional clothes the girls wear!! If you are 20 before such a date then you go to the local city hall where they hold a celabration for all the 20 year olds, the mayor attends and they have some sort of speeches and presentations. I have to wait 16 years before Leo is 20 to find out whats its exactly all about, but I can assure you the girls look amazing!



In NZ the coming of age is 21 and is celebrated with drinking a yard glass, its a drinking vessel shaped like a hour glass, it holds several jugs of beer, this yard glass is then consumed until you vomit everywhere and generally over yourself and anyone else standing to close, you feel sick for the rest of the night and your throat is sore from so much vomiting. You wake up the next day and generally have no idea what you did or really happened, looking at it seems an odd way to welcome someone to the coming of age. The Japanese seem to have a far more sensible and memorable occasion than what we do in NZ

Subdivision in Chiba

Hi Everyone,

Today we decided to have a look at a new subdivison in Chiba. Chiba is the next big prefecture to the north west of Tokyo. It took us 1.5 hours on the train to get there, you just got no idea how big this place is until you start to do some travel! We went across the river and were in Chiba, what changed from Tokyo? Nothing!

The further you go the more country side it becomes, we arrived at a we train station in the middle of no where, there was a bus stop and a few other small shops around that were all closed (public holiday here today) we caught the bus and with in 10minutes we were in a new forming town (like pegaus town in Christchurch, but on a much bigger scale)

It was nice, all nicely laid out, you needed a car to get around there thats for sure, it was more like Christchurch. I am not sure how big they want it to be, there was a lake, a large hill in the park, cafes, electrical stores, clothes, shoes etc etc there, everything was there you needed, so you would never have to leave the area unless you worked out of town. I was a bit slack with the camera and didn't get that many photos or any good photos.

 Nice wide roads
Modern looking building colours
 Big fairest wheel
 Maybe apartments in the background

 As of late February 2011, the city has an estimated population of 88,652 and a population density of 716 persons/square kilometer. The total area was 128.80 km².

Inzai is located in the important area of northern Chiba Prefecture connecting Tokyo and Narita. Besides Tone River that flows in the north, Teganuma Lake that lies in the north-west, Imba Lake that lies in the south-east of the city, the city is also surrounded by natural environment such as natural forest.

Thursday 5 January 2012

Trip to the small fun park

Hi All,

Today we went to a small fun park, it was a 15min bike ride away, it was on the way to K's denki. It was 200 yen to get in each $3.20NZD and each a ride was 100 yen per child and 200 yen per adult. See photos pictures tell a 1000 words.

You could never have anything like this in an NZ city, the fun police would see to that, to loud, to many people, to much visual pollution, kids would have fun and that wouldn't be right in NZ.






 Sky tree
 Sky tree middle


 Luke being baby Luke
 We train ride





 Time for a grape drink
 When I sat on it I killed it :(
Water squirting game, Leo loved it!
 Spot the kiwi
 There he is again
 And again
 Oh no not more kiwi


 Be afraid of the weird guy






Check out the fish