Shibuya crossing

Recently I've had a couple of visitors from Singapore. All of them being my closest friends in my life, I felt obliged to bring them around. As such, I've been so busy lately, there was hardly any time for myself.

So just an update on my life so far: I'm working on electron transport of coupled quantum dots, in lay-man's term.. wait there's no lay-man's term... hmmm... basically its something that has to do with quantum computing, which is the future of computers 10-20 years from now. I'm still single and looking for a pretty Japanese girlfriend, albeit not very successful thus far. Jap friends reading this should recommend me some Jap girls... hehe. Japanese language is improving, not as fast as I would like it to be, but ordering food and basic daily conversation is no more a problem. Finance still going strong, as long as I don't keep shopping. And, there're still many things I wanna accomplish before I head back for my final year.

Okie, enough crapping, here are a few pictures I took from Starbucks overlooking the infamous Shibuya crossing which appeared in Tokyo Drift. Click here to Wiki Shibuya. Supposedly 3 million people cross this junction daily. Many many...





Slack.

Sumo wrestling

Sumo is a big thing in Japan. Its supposed to be spiritual, and its definitely rich in history. Seeing 2 colossus bodies come together make you think why would people invent such brutal sports without any finesse? You have to go see for yourself. Its better than watching soccer or baseball... seriously.

A view of the ring and the crowd. Notice the roof on top of the ring. Long time ago in the Edo era, sumo was fought in a pavillion for the samurai lords to see. Now, with the stadium seats, you can't do that, so the elevate the roof.



Announcers like this one sings out the names of the competitors in the coming match. Yes, sing.



The sumos from the premier league of Makuuchi gets to make a grand entrance into the ring wearing this heavy piece of silk cloth. Notice he isn't Japanese, many sumos are not Japanese, including the current Yokosuna (Best fighter) is Mongolian.



Sprinkling salt to purify the ring.



"Yoisho", the crowd shouts as the sumo lifts his leg off the ground simulating the noise you'd make lifting a heavy object. The higher the sumo's leg goes, the louder the crowd shouts with glee.



Ready, set....



Off they go!!



Caught this sumo in mid-flight as he lurched at his opponent, hoping to throw him off-balance!



Out of the ring he goes. 2 ways to lose. Step out of the ring, or have any of your body other than you feet touch the ground. Its really a balancing act. Not easy at all.



Slack.

Bento!

In Japan, no one eats proper lunch. Okie, maybe some do, but the most of us don't because the restaurants here are all TINY. Biggest one you can find is a 30-seater, maybe. With so many students and workers all going to have lunch, there's always long queues. And, with the nice weather, its common, to buy a bento (take-out), sit on the lawn and bask in the sun.

Typical bento contains 1-2 meat dishes, 2 salads, rice and 2 sides.


Sitting under Sakura trees.


Eating with friends on the lawn.


Slack.

Reminiscence of ol' days

As the smell of spring feels the air and the temperature gets warmer, it brings back memories from 2 years ago. Work and travel in Morey's Piers, New Jersey. The smell of the air while walking to the supermarket for groceries, going to atlantic city for stomach-exploding Chinese buffet, having lunch with friends at the games stalls, going down the water slides at the theme park, going to bars to drink ourselves silly, jogging on the boardwalk with friends and friendship.

This morning I did myself some egg and bacon. The smell that blended with the smell of spring reminded me of the small little kitchen where Ying Kiat, Marc, Gwen, Shuling and me would cook our meals. Why bacon? Coz that's the cheapest meat you can find in US other than ham.



Those days of reckless living and all-out fun will always remain in my memories. Cheers to all my Work and Travel friends!

The girls had huge luggages. Picture of us lugging it to our apartments.


This was the tiny kitchen where many of us squeezed to prepare meals. Nostalgic.


The food that our girls cooked! Nice.


Jogging to the end of the boardwalk.


The place where worked.


My Colleagues and friends!


More colleagues from my pier. Mostly Taiwanese in this picture.


My super friendly Boss Sash.


Before we did a free-falling stint.


Drinking ourselves silly!


Celerating Shuling's birthday with a American style BBQ.


Picture of us on Atlantic City's boardwalk


Going to Delaware for a helluva shopping experience during off-days


The goods we bought.


On another off-day, we went to Six Flags NJ. Highly recommended! The rides were fantastic, in this picture, my lousy map got the team lost somewhere in... dunno where...


This one we went to neighbouring Philadelphia.




On this super long trip we went up to Niagara falls and Boston. fun fun Fun!!!



This was Cape May! Beach outing. Glorious sun!




Another of our off-days where we had fun in our theme park.


Slack.

Drinking culture

I thought it was in the European blood to drink alot, but Asians drink alot too. Maybe not so in Singapore (except for my block in hall), but its very obvious in Japan. Ever since the samurai days when Japanese drank Sake, they've invented all types of alcohol. Not the 96% alcohol that you find in Europe, but nice drinks with alcoholic content of around 25%.

Occasions when they drink? Anytime, EVERYDAY. Be it BBQ, izakaya (little hut where working adults drop by for a drink after work and for men to hide from their wives and families), bars, clubs, restaurants, and Mac? That one I'm not too sure but I won't be surprised.

Izakayas are relatively cheap places you can get your daily dose of Asahi (beer), mixes, whisky and Sochiu / Nihon shiu (Japanese wine).



This vase is used to serve warm sake. My friend says the sake tastes like banana. I don't like it too but it gets you nice and woozy.



If you decide to drink at home (much cheaper), its only 20 bucks for 4 liters! Nice. Too bad I don't drink. Drinks anyone?


Slack.

Additional battery pack

Your handphone runs out of battery coz you forgot to charge it, but you need to leave home now, possibly without your handphone. However, in Japan, there's always a handphone charger that operates on 2 AA-sized batteries for you to charge your handphone on-the-go. Nice!



Slack.

BBQ by the river

Yesterday was a national holiday, so I went out to meet some friends. This is where we went for a BBQ. Apparently its the only place in Tokyo where you can legally bbq, and Japanese love bbq man... Nice meat, nice big fishes (tunas, salmon), scallops, clams, vegetables and Yakisoba (Japanese fried noodles). The thing I felt that was missing was hotdogs, coz the pit next to ours had nice big brockwurst. =(





The pit we set up using rocks lying around.



Doing pork on the grills. Nice and fatty.



My friends actually brought down a DJ set and some DJ they knew spun some vinyls while we were having the bbq. Awesome! Beats lousy radio big time, except that the generator we had to bring along was erm... heavy. Very heavy.



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Seeing my future... I hope

Went down to Roppongi today with my room mate and our homestay host. First time I'm actually there in the day. So there wasn't really anybody in the queue for the viewing gallery on the 58th story of Mori's Tower. So we went up, at the top you get nice views of Central Tokyo.





These 2 towers are the famous Mori Towers of Roppongi Hills, built by Mori-san. It is the most expensive apartments available for rent in Tokyo at a price of ¥3,000,000/month (S$38,000). My dream apartment.



Next, we went back to Ebisu where I had my most expensive meal ever. It cost ¥16,800 (S$213) for the 3 of us. Nevertheless, the Yakiniku was fantastic. Besides, as its on the 38th story, the view here is awesome as well. best thing is, I didn't have to pay for it. =)





Slack