隅田川花火大会

Dave made a comment about Vancouver's fireworks being a pile of shit. This is true. Let me give you a little background information on how it goes down in Tokyo.

The Sumida River Fireworks Festival takes place on the last Saturday of July. Young men and women would don their most fashionable yakuta and take to the streets. I thought the yakutas were great as it gives the young Japanese women an excuse NOT to dress like sluts. This year, over 900,000 people converged in Asakusa to view the hour-long display. They gathered on rooftops and camped out on the street. On the closed roads, families would tape off a section of the pavement to reserve their spot and then later set up their picnic. Of course, some lucky folks (such as myself) had the privilege of enjoying the view from the rooftop of an apartment building. As you can tell by the video, there wasn't just one display of fireworks, but two going on at once! Yes, dueling fireworks. I think the MAIN difference with this one and Vancouver's was the fact that their was no litter on the street or random brawl.

Plan Z

Dejected, but not ousted

Well it all went down. I feared the 'worst' and it happened. I sat down with a lady from the accounting dept, the art director with a major serious look on his face, and the English-speaking copywriter whom I was to be replacing. She talked about the position and showed me the company's portfolio. Then the art director had some questions-IN JAPANESE. Alas, it turned out that my Japanese level was too low to be able to communicate with the rest of the staff.

Here's the thing though: my portfolio blew them out of the water. Impressed the SHIT out of them. To be honest, it looked better than their own portfolio and they knew it. The girl who was doing the hiring said that she would have worked with me hands down (if she was staying), and would have hired me on the spot. I had the writing skills, design skills, personally, poise, attitude, enthusiasm, etc. They all knew I was perfect for the job as other applicants brought in stacks of paper for their writing samples. STACKS OF PAPER!?!?! Are you fucking kidding me? And I was such a perfect fit for the position that I could tell that they were struggling with the notion of rejecting me because they knew that if they let me go, they'd be back to square one. They were willing to try me even though I definitely did not have the Japanese skills to talk to them about anything. In the end, I told them that even though I couldn't speak enough Japanese, I was up for the huge challenge. I got the impression that they weren't entirely ready to tell me 'good luck with your future endeavours.' But I'm moving on regardless because I don't have time to wait.

It's been too hot to post

Chris, it's all about building up suspense. I'm probably going to post the best post yet...now. Oh and the portfolio's done by the way, Chris. Interview is tomorrow. I'll send you the pics.

Ok, so I filmed my bike ride today. I figured some of you may be interested in what some of the streets are like in Tokyo. It's an 18-part video and I suggest you watch them in order. Please note that this was all filmed ON a bicycle, with no walking whatsoever (except for stupid part 12 which you will see). So enjoy the bumpy ride!
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

Part 16

Part 17

Part 18

where amazing happens

Who's up for some 21?

Nothing but coiled steel

Rim out much?

In the not-too-distant future, Basketball will no longer exist. But there will be Coilball.

Part 3 - "West Shinjuku Skyscraper District"

I had Burger King today

As you may be aware, I'm quite the loner out here (or "lone wolf" as I'd like to call it). It comes with the territory of being a foreigner, no big deal to me. And Purgatory is full of loners. So to coincide with this notion and in conglomeration with all my free time, I've decided to become a "cafe guy." This is basically anyone who hangs out in a Starbucks or similar establishment for more than 30 minutes. People tend to read, do homework, or just rock out on their laptop. I've never really been into this because a) I don't drink coffee; and b) I'd have stuff to do. But things are different in Japan. Therefore I have started drawing again. Inspired by the works of Chris, I'm now doodling in the inside cover of my agenda as the hours fly by. It works on the train and in restaurants too. And just to let you know, parkour and breaking have taken a back seat to drawing due to the sudden burst in this month's temperature and humidity. We're in the 30's here, with relative humidity sitting at a sticky 80% or more.

Speaking of restaurants, I eat alone most of the time here in Tokyo. It's cool. Everybody does it. I'm into Indian food and I sometimes pass this one Indian restaurant on my alternate route to and from the train station. I've been there a couple of times and there are never any other people eating there. I feel sorry for the guy as he's got a staff of at least 5 on hand making and serving my meal. When I do pass by, I always see him and his wife sitting at the back booth, waiting for patrons (ala "Two Guys from Kabul"). I don't know how these types of places stay in business. Tokyo seems to be festering with small businesses on the brink of going belly-up but I have yet to see it happen. I sure hope this guy otherwise stays in business otherwise I'll have to go all the way to Koenji for my Indian craving.

Speaking of Purgatory...

How appropriate was it to cap off my day at the National Museum of Nature and Science with a nice little lightning storm. I was snapping away like a beatnik on jazz night, but still couldn't get that million-dollar upskirt shot. So here are the best photos of these so-called "Anvil Crawlers":






And for those of you who appreciate video more:

6.43 fortnights later...

It's been exactly (almost) 3 months since I left Vancouver for Japanesier pastures. I will say that I am officially one month behind schedule, in terms of having a full-time job and living on my own. I feel like I'm in purgatory: I've made the trip, but can't really get that final boost to get me into "heaven" (or..."hell"). I've been in the same position for the last two months. Of course, April wasn't the most opportune time to start looking for work in Japan, as March and August are the big recruitment months for the respective April and September semesters. Nonetheless, if I did indeed arrive a month late, then maybe I'm just 5 months early for the Fall semester.

I must say that my emotions have not been toyed with as much as they have been here in Tokyo. No, not even by Amanda (Hi, Pants ;))! There have been many ups and many downs. As of this writing, I do not want to go back home. But it was only a short time prior when I was contemplating my return to Vancouver, maybe in time for the Jazz Fest. Life's like that I suppose. The only real thing keeping me here is the prospect of good things to come. These don't happen often, but this time it's landing an interview for a Copywriter position with a design firm. That's right. Just like the English Narrator position from last month, I'm preparing one basket to carry my multiple eggs. But I've only ever had one basket here so it's no big deal.