Christmas is Coming

Ohayo!

It has been a busy month. FUN, but busy.

We didn't have a very spectacular fall colour show, but there were some nice trees in the National Park for Nature Study, which is a 50 acre natural park, only a 10 minute walk from our place! (well, the top end is only a five minute walk, but we have to walk around to the bottom part to get in).

A few weeks ago we had OUR FIRST VISITOR! It was Kyla, from France (originally from Canada, but currently studying in France). Along with her wide-eyed wonderment and energetic curiosity, Kyla brought delicious French cheeses and wine. Unfortunately I had to go to a conference in Osaka for a few days, so I missed out on half of her visit, but Ross stepped up to the plate and played host. We had lots of fun during the time we were together. There was lots of shopping, noodle-eating, karaoke, visits to robot and automated car displays, and a failed attempt to visit the fish market at 4:30 a.m. (it was closed for the holiday Friday- AUGHHHHH!), and of course a visit to Cats LiviN.

Cats LiviN is a place where you pay 8 bucks to go into a bunch of rooms that are set up to look like a house- a house with 20 cats! The cats wander around or sleep and sometimes they deign to play with you. But in general they are extremely aloof. None of them responded to my patting. I suppose it has to be that way to avoid masses of scratched and bitten children. I took many flash photos until I noticed the "no flash photography" sign. Nobody ever said anything! Japanese people are SO polite. I love them.

After I returned from Osaka there was a nice reception at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo to celebrate "Bombardier's increased presence in Japan" due to the opening of the Bombardier Spares Depot at Narita and the continued existence of our Regional Support Office (where I work). It was a very nice function and I had good chats with many of our customers. The catering was awesome. There was a cool ice sculpture (a big block with "BOMBARDIER" carved on the INSIDE) and waiters were walking around serving ryes and cokes and Canadian wine!

The next week Ross and I went to Seoul. I took part in a visit to our customer airline there. I had to work every day, but we had an afternoon to visit my favourite part of Seoul where we enjoyed such attractions as the Seoul Museum of Chicken Art, the Owl Museum, and my favourite reflexology foot path. We had some really good Korean barbeque during our visit (I chewed very carefully). In Korea knives are not used to cut food at the table. They use scissors, which is kind of weird but seems to work well.

Ross and I also had a couple of really nice meals with the airline guys. One night we went to an amazing fish place where we had all kinds of sushi and sashimi. The highlight was octopus so freshly chopped that the tentacles were still moving! I did not know that this was a feature of the octopus, but apparently they wriggle around for some time after they are chopped up. The plate was a seething mass of tentacles. It was hard to pick the pieces up, as they would stick to the plate with their little suction cup thingies. One almost got away! I ate a few small pieces and chewed them very quickly so that none of the suckers would stick to the inside of my mouth. I really hope that octopi have small, primitive brains.






Another night we went out with a larger group to a restaurant specializing in deer meat. We had a three-course meal. First we started with "deer sashimi" (a pile of raw deer meat; it was delicious!). Next we had "deer bulgogi" which was also very nice. We finished off with "deer shabu shabu". As with all Korean food, it was claimed that deer meat is very "good for health". It seems that every Korean food is either "good for health" or "good for men's stamina". I have even heard that kimchee "cleans your blood".

After the trip to Osaka, a whirlwind few days at home, and then over a week in Korea, I am so happy to be "home" in Tokyo. I am now preparing for Christmas. While it is quite mild (highs of 11 to 14 degrees) it is easy to feel Christmassy as there are Christmas decorations everywhere and all the stores are playing (nice) Christmas music. The Christmas lights are quite spectacular. At Ebisu Garden Place (the shopping and entertainment complex next to us), the big "Christmas Illumination" display is centred on a giant Baccarat crystal chandelier. It is hanging in a glassed-in gazebo type thing and at night there are always a billion people taking photos of it. You can't really tell from the photo, but it is HUGE.

We are having a little Christmas party next weekend (you are all invited) and after that we will be looking forward to receiving Ross's sister and her husband as our guests over Christmas! I have booked Christmas dinner at a nice French restaurant in Shibuya. We know the piano player there. Hopefully (for our sake, not hers) the 25th will be her night to work.

In the meantime, Mike the singer/simulator instructor is in town and we are looking forward to some more good times with him!

The First Month and a Bit

Ohayooo everyone!

It seems that I gave most people the impression that I would be making blog entries weekly (probably from titling the first entry “The First Week”). I was thinking it would be more of a monthly thing.

Things have been busy over the past month. In mid-October I went on a little business trip with my colleagues Anthony and Bertram to visit some of our operators here.

We went to Nagasaki, Kagoshima and Okinawa. On this trip, I:

• was charmed by our small, island-hopping operators who are proud to be flying our planes.


• inadvertently ate whale (INADVERTENTLY! I was told before I ate it that it was “some kind of fish”).


• choked (for real!) on a piece of steak at a Teppanyaki restaurant, obliging Bertram to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre on me (for real!)
  

After that I was very excited to head back to Toronto to see everyone and to retrieve some more of our personal effects. It was a bit of a whirlwind visit but I managed to see ALMOST everybody and to stock up on the few things that are difficult to find in Tokyo (Mitchum deodorant, clothes that fit me, etc.).

I returned to Tokyo to find things in good order. Ross had achieved some significant technological advancements in the apartment, and had become an expert on the offerings of the food hall level of our Mitsukoshi department store (prepared salads and pasta, “Kono Pizza”, which makes pizza in the form of a cone, discount sushi at the end of the day, “Tokyo Soup Stock”, with its many varieties of delicious soups, etc.)

WORK

Work is good. My visit to Toronto helped me to connect with my new “team” and gave me a better sense of direction. It was a bit strange staying at the Holiday Inn at Yorkdale Mall for two weeks, but it proved to be an excellent location for hobnobbing, as all the customers (most of whom were in town for the same event I was) were there.

During my second week in Toronto I was pleased to get in quite a bit of flying, ranging from production testing to flying our corporate shuttle to (and from) Montreal. It will be quite strange to not be flying regularly, as my new position is pretty much a “desk job”. Hopefully I can sneak into the simulator now and then, or maybe I can find a realistic flight simulator in an entertainment arcade somewhere. Ross can play that bongo drum game while I keep my chops up.

HOME

Thanks to Ross’s diligence and ingenuity, our home Internet service has been upgraded to proper Tokyo standards. Now the VOIP phone is working quite well, so you are able to call us at our old Toronto number (but please keep the time difference in mind!). Other than the discovery that occasionally the delivered breakfast buns are pre-injected with a pat of butter, there is not much else new on the home front.

ENTERTAINMENT


We have been THOROUGHLY enjoying the local restaurants. We went to an awesome little Mexican place that makes great (but small and expensive) margaritas and fish tacos etc. It is on the third floor of a small and irregularly shaped building that somehow houses five restaurants/bars. The Mexican restaurant apparently also has “tepee seating” on the roof top terrace. We were able to glimpse the tepee from a nearby building, but it remains a bit mysterious. We’ll check it out next time.

A major discovery is a nice “Californian” restaurant nearby that serves weekend brunch, including Eggs Benedict. The coffee is at the usual Tokyo coffee prices- 5 bucks for a cup! (the same as the wine!) I don’t know why coffee is so expensive here, but I am adjusting my consumption habits accordingly.

On weekends we continue to explore different areas of the city. On one of our recent excursions we went to Asakasa, an area evocative of “Old Tokyo” with a big temple, Senso-ji, and lots of old fashioned shops.

Nearby is Kappabashi, the area with many restaurant supply stores. We resisted buying any plastic display food, opting instead for a proper chef’s knife (not that we are proper chefs, but whatever). Another happy discovery was a Mister Donut, which unfortunately doesn’t seem to be as common in Tokyo as in other parts of Japan. Our favourite is the “pon de ring”, a pleasingly knobby ring of moist, chewy deliciousness.

This past week my Toronto colleagues Ben and Manny were in town. It was exciting to have the number of people we know in Tokyo temporarily increase by 50%! We had a DELICIOUS Teppanyaki meal. I chewed very carefully. This weekend it is a bit rainy, so I think our pursuits will be indoors. There is a vast and architecturally significant entertainment and shopping complex called Roppongi Hills that I have been meaning to get to. I think we'll check it out.

The First Week

Ohayoo Everybody!


So far, so good. Ross and I have been here for a week now and are settling in nicely.


Home:

We are VERY HAPPY with the apato. The closet space is AMAZING. We have two bedrooms, and a "powder room" in addition to the main bath room. There is the usual fancy Japanese toilet that will wash you if you like and it has a HEATED SEAT (the toilet in the powder room is just a regular one).


Included with the apartment is a weekday "breakfast service" where a "continental breakfast" (consisting of two buns- very nice and soft) is left hanging on the door knob along with a pot of coffee! This service arrives after I leave for work, unfortunately, but Ross has been enjoying it.


We really love the area. Within a 3-minute walk are a hip and cosy cafe/bar, a Malaysian/Thai restaurant, a Hawaiian restaurant, and a western-style place that serves brunch.


Within a 5-minute walk is a shopping and entertainment complex called "Ebisu Garden Place" which contains:

Sapporo Beer Musem
Sapporo Beer Station ("beer restaurant")
a department store with a supermarket; it contains a bakery that bakes fresh baguettes FOUR TIMES A DAY
a wine and food store called "Party and Wine"
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
McDonalds
L'Occitane
an office tower with a number of "view restaurants" on the 37th and 38th floors
a movie theatre
AND MUCH MUCH MORE!


Work:

To get to work, I walk 10 minutes to the Ebisu train station (mostly along moving sidewalks- very "Jetsons"), take the Japan Rail Yamanote line (like an above-ground subway) for 16 minutes, then switch to the monorail to Haneda Airport, and take that for around 15 minutes. I get off a few stops before the airport terminal, in an area where there are airline offices and maintenance hangars and simulator training facilities.


There are four of us in the office, ranging in age from 30 to 36. It is a hoot! The office is nice and new and has been decorated very tastefully. The ladies' bathroom down the hall has devices in each stall that play the sound of loud rushing water, for sonic modesty. Today we found the ANA cafeteria in the building next door (we had to get special passes to enter the building). There we can get curry beef and rice for LESS THAN THREE BUCKS!


Friday night we attended a "drinking party" with some people from ANA. It was a bit strange but quite fun- they want to do it every other week!


Entertainment:

Ross and I have been busy shopping for home comforts and necessities (the apartment came with only 8 hangers, despite the multiple giant closets). We have also been busy exploring and eating.

We had the best grocery shopping experience. We went to a supermarket with many foreign products, filled up the cart and then went to the check-out. FOUR (4!) women descended on us and scanned and bagged our groceries. We filled out a form with our address and left the store empty-handed for a leisurely stroll home. A few hours later our groceries were DELIVERED to our apartment door! I think we might get a bit spoiled here.

Today while I was at work Ross went out and bought a folding bicycle. It looks like a pretty cool bike. He is looking forward to his wheeled excursions. There is no reason to worry about traffic- bicycles here just careen along the sidewalks. As a pedestrian, it is a bit alarming.

The food here is amazing. So far we have had: fresh take-out sushi from our department store, Hawaiian food, Korean food, Italian food, Malaysian food, shrimp burgers at McDonald's, a traditional Canadian Thanksgiving dinner (at a restaurant called "Good Honest Grub") and of course many Japanese meals. There are tons of bakeries allover the place with lovely European-style cakes and pastries and breads. You really can get everything (except, as my colleague Bertram pointed out, West Indian food- but you can buy jerk seasoning at the grocery store).

Next week we might go visit some operators (i.e. airlines that are flying our planes here). After that I'll be in Toronto for a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and retrieving some more of my stuff!