porn

30th of May, 2001ce* in: diary

Found two new and very important bars in Harajuku with my friends Klaus, Osamu and Kuma. The first is a Thai style grill that has just opened so they are selling the beer for just 100 yen per jug… thats about 58 pence in real money! (this is cheaper than going to the shop, and could be the new found warm up venue)

The second bar was small and un-inhabited, we missed Kuma’s train so we had to keep him company until 5am, where better than a bar that stays open till 5am? Ah ha!
The barman turned out to be a great laugh and even showed us some pictures that were taken in his bar… of a girl… with no clothes. He had a porno shoot in his bar! Jeez. Now that is skill.

NEW!Todays Japanese skill 1.5/ 10
(10 = fluent in reading and writing.)

earth quake

ce* in: diary

Holy shit.
My first experience of an EARTHQUAKE!
Only lasted a few seconds but it was enough to shake a few things. No harm done.

2000

22nd of May, 2001ce* in: diary

Went with klaus to a Jazz bar. Got charged 2000 yen each service charge - thats about 10 quid to you and I.
Ok, another drinking hole in harajuku crossed off my list, let me see… thats 3 now, not much choice now.

NEW!Todays Japanese skill 1.1/ 10
(10 = fluent in reading and writing.)

stress relief

21st of May, 2001ce* in: diary

Myself and Klaus (my dane co-worker) got bored at work and went for some post stress drinks. Found the Irish bar down the road in Harajuku and sat in there. Sober. Its not such a great bar.
Headed off to find something Japanese to eat and drink, chill out somewhere without them gaijin’s speaking (American) all the time. Found a Jamaican Regge (sic) bar! now this is the sort of Japanese cultural excursion we were looking for! Someone came upto us as we were finishing our massive jug of beer, I dont really remember the rest but before I knew it we were 5 and a bass guitar, in a small car, drunk, bombing down one of tokyos many highways! In the end we couldnt find some guys house and the driver was pulled from the wheel by a more sensible friend. Klaus and I got a Taxi home, needless to say - its gonna be a while till we visit there again.

NEW!Todays Japanese skill 2.1/ 10
(10 = fluent in reading and writing.)

work woes

20th of May, 2001ce* in: diary

Went for after work drink with kiyo. Damn work is getting to me and its going to take a long time to get used the Japanese way of working, I tell yah!
Many things stressing me out, but I will endeavour to ride in the smooth and ride out the rough. Kiyo helps my brain, and speaking English does too. But I need to speak more Japanese!

NEW!Todays Japanese skill 0.1/ 10
(10 = fluent in reading and writing.)

Boy and Girl

19th of May, 2001ce* in: furifuri, pixelart

Two pixelised characters for the Sega game “シャカっとタンバリン” (shake tambourine), original designs by Furifuri.

ENOSHIMA

ce* in: diary

Nice place that, saw lots of temples n’ shit, my favourite pastime too. The weather is baking hot, or more.
Made my wish to a Buddha while watching people trying to get coins in his box (it was in the middle of his moat)… I took out a 5 yen coin (its lucky) and slapped it into my hand, then hitting the back of my hand made the coin fly with tremendous speed up into the air.
It landed slap in the middle of the box. I win.
There’s lots of cats in this temple complex, they seem to be guarding the shrines.

I’ll put my photos in the photos section soon but I some nice pictures of what was almost a tsunami, or was it rather large waves?

NEW!Todays Japanese skill 2.0/ 10
(10 = fluent in reading and writing.)

sagamihara ohisashiburidesu

18th of May, 2001ce* in: diary

Today I travelled out of Tokyo to a place that I cant remember the name of, I met my friend and we played darts in a bar called ‘Eric clapton’. I met an English teacher who couldnt understand my English… he was Japanese. Then I went on to get more and more drunk then stayed in my new found friends tiny apartment, watched Highlander2 in Japanese and went to sleep.

NEW!Todays Japanese skill 2.0/ 10
(10 = fluent in reading and writing.)

hairdressers

13th of May, 2001ce* in: diary

Shibuya, what a great part of Tokyo - and great people too!
In the evening I went to see a friend of a friend and party. She made small cards and large pictures out of card and paper, using a kraft knife for the shapes, coloured tissue for the backgrounds etc etc you get the picture. Anyway, many people tried their English on me, and lots of Japanese too!

I must say, the weather is getting frightfully hot!

NEW!Todays Japanese skill 0.5 / 10
(10 = fluent in reading and writing.)