Been a while. Basically I havent posted on here for a while as I havent really been doing very much recently except for being ill. Caught what I am told is a cold, although I am convinced it is a particularly virulent strain of the Asian Bird Flu. Apart from this, I have noticed that a regular lunch that I have at the weekends, two french sandwiches and a coke, comes to exactly 666yen...the food gods trying to tell me something perhaps. Also, I did manage to find a site (finally) that lets me download Neighbours...and what's more, the Australian Neighbors, which means that I am 6 glorious weeks ahead of the UK. I havent been able to watch Neighbours for 3 years, so for me this was very important. The 20th anniversary was fantastic, moving and funny at the same time, and there is another of those rare high-budget disaster episodes coming up which Neighbours does so well. Although I have to say that since Flick left, there don't seem to be any cute girls in it anymore.

Other than watching crap soaps, I have been playing yet more Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy. What a game. Really looking forward to the PSP version which annoyingly comes out when I am back in the UK. Gonna reserve it thouh so I can pick up that cool Prince PSP case. Also really clucking for the new Locoroco game that I played the other day at a PSP stop. Roll on 2006!

The new burger at McDonalds here this month is the non-seasonal Tamago Double Mac and its Cheese Tamago Double Mac variant. It was pretty good when I had one last night, although I've started to wonder when we may get a burger that doesnt contain eggs, as the Club-Mac, Tsukimi-Burger and now the Tamago Double Mac are all egg based. Don' get me wrong, I love the egg and Burger combination, but I was hoping for something a little different this time, especially as the Tamago Double Mac is basically the same as the Tsukimi-Burger but with 2 burgers and a different sauce. Still, better than the crap we get at home. However, one thing that isn't better than at home at McDonalds, and probably in fact the only thing that isn't better than the ones back home, is that at McDonalds here, one seems to be unable to get any barbeque sauce unless you order the evil, non-burger Chicken McNuggets. Why is this? It can't be that the second richest country in the world has some sort of problem procuring this hallowed condiment. When I visited my local McDonalds yesterday, I managed to persuade the new employee to give me some barbeque sauce to go with my chips. I say persuade, I actually just asked and she, thinking nothing of what is a pretty obvious request, obliged and gave me some. She did, however, make one mistake...I clearly asked for a take-out, and she served me on a tray. I told her it was a take-out order and she apologised, but by that time she was serving someone else, so the manager came over to pack my order. When she spotted that I had been given sauce, she turned to the girl and told her, in a very stern, you're-gonna-be-in-the-shit-later voice that it was だめ/forbidden to give sauce without an order of the dreaded McNuggets. What is the reason for this draconian rationing of something which is clearly a pretty understandable request. The new employee, obviously using logic in the face of her McInexperience, didn't seem to think much of it. Very strange indeed and a little frutrating. Once you have got used to easting your fries with sauce, it's very difficult to go back to plain fries. I have offered to pay for the sauce in the past, but am still denied. I may have to start ordering the nuggets just to get the sauce, but I think that that may be a step too far. I guess I will just have to write to McDonalds in Japan or keep going to different branches in a search for young, inexperienced workers to take advantage of, which, to date, has been my only means of success. Anyway here is the new Tamago Double Mac:

UPDATE: As I havent blogged on here for ages, the beautiful, wondrous Tamago Double Mac picture has been replaced by an evil, backstabbing, Ebi Fillet-O. Interestingly, because the English name is a Fillet-o-Fish etc, the Japanese have, failing (or refusing) to understand the "of" contraction, called theirs Fillet-Os. Like Chicken Fillet O and Fish Fillet O. Very odd, took me a while to work out what they were talking about...

I finally, after three years of being here, decided to actually get off my arse and go to the wondrous Tokyo Game Show this year. Headed up there on Saturday morning, after all the press shenanigans had finished on Friday. Thanks to the upcoming releases of the Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo Revolution, this year's was meant to be the best one since the one before the release of the PS2 and I was well excited about seeing all the new machines in action. Me and my friend Raf got kinda lost on the complicated route we took to get there, but were saved my following men wearing sandals with socks, the common uniform of game-fans the world over.

The first great thing we saw once we had actually walked round to the entrance (quite a trek), was the changing rooms and the queue of people waiting to get changed. This is because one of the main appeals of the game show for some people, is to dress up as their favourite game characters and show off to other dresser-uppers. This is called Cosplay and is very popular in Japan (or at least more popular than it is in England, although I guess at Star Wars and Star Trek conventions you do get similar things). Of course this opportunity to look at these freaks was one of the main reasons we came. Anyway more on this later.

The games were all out and about in abundance...except for the extremely annoying lack of Nintendo at the show. Considering that they just released the videos and pictures of the Revolutions (remote) controllers, and that this is one of the last big shows before the Revolution is scheduled to be released next year, I was pretty pissed off that they weren't there - had been hoping to have a look at some of the graphics or something from the computer. Oh well. I briefly looked at the Xbox360 and I think that it is gonna fall by the wayside compared to the other unless they do something pretty special with the price and the online play. The PS3 was there with a massive video hall playing the trailers for all the PS3 games including the first look at the new Metal Gear Solid 4. This looks amazing, and it was interesting to see lots of the companies putting up notices saying that none of the graphics were pre-rendered and all were ingame. Metal Gear looked unbelievably good, to the point at which I am really starting to wonder if my mind will be able to work fast enough to deal with the amount of stuff going on on screen at once when I finally get the game! The Gran Turismo demo looked amazing as well, the intro being relatively similar to the one for Gran Turismo 3 (which I thought was pretty flawless), but with much improved graphics. The previously viewed Motorstorm and Killzone 2 demos were also played and looked phenomenal on a big screen. Nice to have a look at the actual machine up close - lots much nicer than I thought it would, although I still can't stand the Spiderman font they have used to write Playstation 3 on the side with:



Anway, next the freaks. The best this year were, in my opinion, the cross-dressing Cammy and the huge cross-dressing thing dressed up as someone from Final Fantasy who totally blanked me when I tried to take a photo of it. It was really interesting seeing the various Cosplayers interacting with the photographers, some of whom were obviously fulfilling long-held sexual fantasies, in seeing their favourite game characters made flesh. We saw one guy asking this girl to pose in all these weird positions, with her leg up and then crouching down and taking a picture from below looking right up at her pants. Also very funny seeing them pose like hard-street-fighters one minute and then exchanging business cards and bowing in a very polite japanese way the next. Saw one guy (in the photo below) whose hands were actully shaking as he tried to take a photo of a Chun-Li as he was so excited!

And of course finally, the other great thing about the Tokyo Game Show is the multitude of fine models walking around and handing out flyers and fans and stuff for games and allowing guys to take photos of them. At first I felt sorry for some of these models as they had a swarm of guys around them taking lurid pics, but after a while it was clear that most of them really enjoyed it and it was infact the girls who didn't have loads of blokes around them snapping away that looked far more unhappy. Still, an excellent day - games, girls and freaks, what more could you want - and has got me really stupidly excited about the release of the consoles next year! Hotties:

There's a TV show that's on at the moment over here that I am really enjoying. It's called Densha Otoko (電車男 -Train Man）and is about a Otaku. Otakus are basically what we would call geeks or nerds or something like that, but with the implication that they are unhealthly obsessed with something. It's kind of strange that the Japanese would give such negative connatations as in many ways they are a nation of Otakus, with magazine "manuals" available at every convenience store about how to achieve the desired "look" (be it goth, kogal, skater, or high-fashion), including details of what to wear, how to wear it and what music to listen to while wearing it.

Basically the character is 22 years old and has never had a girlfriend, but is obsessive about anime and video games. He is on the train one night when he sees a really cute girl being accosted by a drunken salaryman (not as rare an occurence as one might have thought or hoped), and, unable to control himself, comes to her rescue with a grandstand stuttering performance. She is so happy that she asks for his address and sends him some Hermes cups as a thank-you-present. He is then torn as to whether to call her up and ask her for a date, so he goes to one of the many internet forums that he frequents and asks them for advice. They all become interested in his story and follow it, passing the details on to other wellwishers offering advice and willing him on, until the happy ending. 

I really like that this is all (supposedly) true. The story, or rather, event, first gained popularity on the Channel 2 BBS internet site about a year or so ago and was followed by thousands of internet users over here. It was then published in book form from the site, and now is the TV show. I think it's really nice to think that things like this still go on in Japan. It gains some serious kudos as it features a huge band of strange internet users, my personal favourite being the guy with the majestic unibrow and you can't really go wrong with a program that includes a guy with a majestic unibrow.

This weekend was the Matsuri (summer festival) in my new town of Kichijoji. In my old town the Matsuri was down on different days in different area of the town which meant that I only ever went to one of two festivals and (luckily) participated in carrying only one or two of the omikoshis. The omikoshi is a miniature shrine that is carried by about 30 victims around the streets of the area. I believe it is supposed to contain the God of the local area, and carrying him round is akin to taking him of a tour of his hood. But I could be wrong. In fact, of course, it is just an excuse for the people of the area to just meet up and get drunk together. The locals take this all very seriously and really push the virtues or their areas and so it was funny seeing the area-head of the red light district of Kichijoji being thanked for the hard work and community service that his area provides by the local Chief of Police at the awards ceremony...he and his men are probably the recipients of a lot of this hard work and community service.

Anyway, in Kichijoji, there were 8 seperate areas festivals all taking place on the same day, with the Omikoshis being taken round their respective areas and then meeting in the centre for a competition thing. On the way to the centre many of these run into eachother and the participants have a bounce off where they try to jump up and down while carrying this omiskoshi (which, incidentally, weighs more than a VW golf), more than the other area's. It was pretty cool seeing these jump offs and seeing the festival in a more urban setting...quite a change from my old little town and jumping up and down by an onion field.

I also spent some time in the internet cafe this weekend (as the internet at my house is still yet to be connected) and found that my moving apartmets and general cost of living in August has put me 2500 quid in debt on my VISA card. Pretty scary and now I am seriously considering getting a second job at night to help me quickly pay it off. Properly shite but it will allow a lot more money to be sent home each month, but the idea of working 14 hour days for 3 months fills be with dread...

Greetings from the typhoon-swept reaches of Tokyo, or rather Chiba, where I am now sitting in my new school, Ichikawa Dai 6 Chu Gakkou. We are in the middle of a typhoon at the moment - number 14 of the year, and I am not looking forward to my 15 minute walk to the station or the 1 hour train ride home when I shall no doubt be soaking wet. I have now officially started my new school. Last Thursday I had my first day at school. I had to give two speeches to the assembled teachers first, all in my broken elementary-school-child-level Japanese and then one to all the students in my broken elementary-school-child-level English. I hate doing these but I guess they went as well as can be expected. The kids here all seem really good...kind of a shock to the system after my last school. I think I am suffering from a school-version of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder where I keep expecting the calm to be shattered with a frenzied attack of kids trying to insert their fingers in my arse or throwing chairs around, but it doesn't seem to occur. The school is also much bigger then my last school, with 600+ students. They even have a full symphony orchestra that won the all-Japan middle school championships a few years back! One thing I particularly like at this school is the amusing uniforms - in winter they go with the kind of sailor girl look. Most of all I like the pictures they have at the entrance to the staffrooms, to illustrate to the students the correct uniform and how to wear it. The look on the faces of the two students they picked to model the uniforms really hints at the beatings that they both fear they will receive from their peers for doing anything as lame as modelling correct dress code!

My new apartment is still very nice...although my landlady has complained to me that I am not throwing away my rubbish in the correct way. I have poured over the crap-English instructions, and hopefully am now doing it correctly, although I think that she is probably just blaming the foreigner when it is actually of the other people in the building that is screwing up. Haven't got a clue how she would know which set of rubbish is mine when they are all grouped together by the entrance on trash day. Anyhow, here are a few photos of the new pad and my nice area of Tokyo, Kichijoji. The photos are, in order, me looking odd in my flat, my street, the entrance to the very pleasant Inogashira Park, The nice posh restaurant overlooking Inogashira Park and a nice Japanese Barbeque Restaurant near my house.

 Then last weekend, thanks to Jean Snow,  I went to a live stencil graffitti event in Roppongi. Jean failed to mention on his website that it was a private party, but the people on the door were perfectly happy to let me in. Unfortunately I could stay very long as I had to get back to my area for the England match, and anyhow, my camera batteries were dying fast, but I managed to get a few pics of the artists setting up and some of the other works on the walls. It was pretty impressive stuff. I would have loved to have stayed a bit longer to see the artists in action, but hey, footie comes first! Then, I popped over to have a look at the Takeshi Murakami installation at Roppongi Hills. Very nice, but rather ruined by people with their children. I hate kids...

Well, I have moved house, started a new job and pretty much exhausted myself with drinking, commuting, carrying large things in hot weather, and generally not having a summer break. But I can say that decorating my new apartment is about 90% completed, although I dread to think what my credit card bill is going to be like. It's much nicer than my old place, in a great location and has an air conditioner that actually works...well...which is useful when the weather is about 35 degrees with 70% humidity. I will post some photos up of the area when I have some time, but I haven't yet got the internet at home (which, incidentally, is killing me) and so it's a little hard at the moment.

The new job is also fine. I am currently working as an assistant language teacher in Ichikawa city in Chiba prefecture (Ichikawa is basically the first place you get to in the prefecture to the east of Tokyo, about a 1 hour commute from my house). Of course it's still the summer holiday for the kids here, so there is nothing for all the teachers to do (as we have to work holidays), so all the other ALTs and I are just sitting around in a small room, playing video games, watching movies and shooting the shit. Not bad to be paid for this, but kind of boring after a while, especially when commuting everyday to do it. Oh well, at least at the new job I finish at 4.30 so I can be home early, and in term time we finish at 4 which means that I will be home at the same time I was when working at my last school, which was only a few streets from the house.

I had to do all my passport stuff this week, getting my working visa sorted out for the following year, which, considering it was all done for me previously, was a lot harder this time. Nice to go and see the various examples of humanity in the waiting room at the imigration office though - lots of American servicemen with their Philipino brides and the like, although it was difficult to wait there for around 3 hours in the stench of cheap and overused perfume and hairspray...

Anyway now I am in an internet cafe up the road from my flat. This is a pretty swanky place. I get free coffee, coke, a flat seat (which basically means that the floor is padded - a bit like a cell in an insane asylum), and a PS2. Great. Kind of cool that the company have obviously realised that many people here use the internet cafes as a cheaper alternative to getting a hotel, and you can stay all night for about 5 quid, in much nicer surroundings that the equivalent hotel. There's a good selection of movies that you can borrow for free to watch, comics to read, and, this being Japan, a lot of porn to read. All in all, a pretty nice place to spend a few hours to download the latest TV shows that I am missing back home.

Anyway, onto the important news. There is another new burger that is available for a limited time at McDonalds here - The Club House Mac. Available until the 1st of September (when presumbably the Tsukimi Burger is back again). This one looks pretty damn special and I am looking forward to chowing down on it a bit later tonight. Why they don't have this kind of monthly special in the UK I will never understand (unless of course they now do and I just don't know about it, which, considering I have now been out of the country for 3 years is not too unlikely a possibility). Anyway, here it is in all its unhealthy glory...and due to McDonalds being a bunch of assholes and me not having my computer here to fix the picture in photoshop, it will now be displayed in 12 smaller pictures giving it a nice arty look...

Fantastic...but I will fix the picture later!