Raed in the Middle

Raed in the Middle
Quite an interesting blog I stumbled across..

The Corner of Happiness

The Corner of Happiness

language

Soya or the Japanese term "tonyu". Seems I can't win. I go into Starbucks and ask for a "tonyu, ekusutora hotto latte" and get "soya, ekusutora hotto latte" called out in the back. Tonyu is the word for soya in Japanese, so why don't they use it? Seems that it is much more trendier to say Soya than Tonyu in Starbucks. Whether it depends on the staff that is on, but it still confuses me. Especially when I ask for a soy extra hot latte and then I get returned with a tonyu as a reply. Anyway, that was today's quirk that I came across today.

I have also figured out that the company purposely turns the air conditioners down (making them colder) just after lunch till around 3 and then they put the temperature back up again around 5. I am wondering if this is a ploy to stop making us workers feel sleepy after lunch and then making us feel very comfortable and warm, not willing us easily to leave work. One good thing about the summer is that the workers have a good excuse to leave the office after 7 as the company turns off the air conditioners, making the air very stifling and hot and unbearable. I remember staying in the company till around 8.30 in the middle of summer and was surprised that my brain cells were still able to function! It was that hot and could hardly concentrate on my work. I wonder how the other workers productivity are? Some still stay till late at night - seems that the air conditioners have no effect on them. (Or they are doing the "suffering" thing that they love to endure).

I met up with T for lunch today, one of my older friends in Tokyo. Quite a funny story really, as M and I were lost one day in Shibuya (having wanted to NOT catch the train for a couple of stations), and ended up getting very lost. We bumped into T who was billingual in English! He happened to be walking the same way as we were! Have stayed in touch ever since. Bow been around 5 years!

Mother is over here till June, the best month of the year is May, so it's great that she is over here to experience this wonderful time of the year. Already eating all the food that she has missed since last year. Natto, umeboshi, Seaweed, Daifuku (rice cakes with sweet bean filling), green tea (macha as well), udon, soba noodles, beautiful French pastries, Italian... the list goes on. Tokyo really has the best of all the world bounded into one city! The food selection is amazing! Will be going to check out a traditional tea ceremony at some posh hotel (once I find one). Will let you know how that goes..so stay tuned!

A thing of beauty is joy forever.
John Keats

What a World

What a World

security

Security at the company where I work is rather weird. I have been employed for 6 years and on my second contract (3 years), however, to enter my floor where I have my desk, it is manatory that I check in at the reception desk each time and acquire a card that entitles me to enter the building. (One of the nice things are, the receptionist now knows the number to my department and has called up before I even reach the receptionist desk! How is that for VIP treatment. Even get a very nice greeting from the security guy too.) What it doesn't do is let me in on my actual working floor. Therefore, I have to get someone from my department to meet me at the elevator each time I want to enter my floor. I can't even go down and buy a latte from the decent coffee shop downstairs within the building. However, I am allowed to sneak in behind someone if they are to enter my floor or the coffee shop. Kind of ironic when they try and make the security so strict in the first place. Can't complain though as I do have freedom within the strange set of security rules. As long as you can find that, then every other illogical rule can be passed by.

This week was a week full of NZer's in Tokyo. It must have something to do with the weather (West coast weather I think?!). Had a friend up from Te Anau and then another Kiwi friend from Vietnam and then my mother arrives on Sunday night! Talk about when it rains it pours, just like the West Coast!

Now enjoying a special treat since it's Friday, after all.. My usual (or unusual) favourite latte from one of the chain cafes. (I wonder which??!)


When we feel love and kindness toward others,
it not only makes others feel loved and cared for,
but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.

HH the Dalai Lama

sore throats and fever

Been a while since I last blogged in, as I have been kept busy with trying to recover from a spring cold, which started off with a sore throat one day and recovered the next, only to find I got another sore throat and ended up with a fever that night! Talk about a weird cold that is for sure. Back on the track to being better - thank goodness and at last I think we are heading (finally!!) into real Spring weather. Today being very Spring like with a temperature around 19 degrees. Even ate lunch outside in the near-by park looking over the last of the cherry blossoms, that are soon to disappear completely.

Had my first official "driving in Tokyo" on Sunday. One of my good friends decided that I could drive their car (fortunately or unfortuantely), I jumped at the idea and into the drivers seat and set off to Jiyugaoka (from my place around 20mins, if no traffic jams). Was just like riding a bike. Car spaces over here are a premium, around 400-500NZ dollars a month where I am living, so I guess I will just stick with rental cars for now.

Mother is arriving on Sunday to Tokyo. She is going to challenge herself and take the highway express bus to get here and then will just go to the hotel and pick her up in a taxi. A great convenient service and one of the cheaper ways to get from Narita airport to my place. Will be weird living with a parent again. Will have to make sure I am on my best behaviour! Hee hee.

Good friend M arrived from NZ on Tuesday and we met up. M has become quite Kiwi-fied and seems to have assimilated into the Kiwi culture with an accent. Me, well, she was astonished at how "Japanese-like" I have become in my arrangement of things and thinking! Obviously, still haven't got the look of a Japanese.. One thing about being foreigner in Japan, as no matter how well you speak Japanese or have culturally-attuned to the culture, you will always be referred to as a foreigner. Obviously, this has it's advantages and disadvantages, but usually carrying advantages in my perspective.

There is nothing like a dream to create the future.
Victor Hugo

the "official hanami season" is over

Chidorigafuchi. The one of the most famous places to view the famous Japanese cherry blossoms. I must say that they were extremely beautiful and seeing so many of them in a row in full bloom was quite impressive. Can understand why the Japanese have "ohanami" parties. The soft delicate pink of the flowers against the dull, grey concrete buildings are a definitley a sight for sore eyes. What one doesn't see are the masses of people, all trying to get a view of the cherry blossoms. It really was crowded, a bit like the Shinjuku station. All very calm and organised, but still, rather tiring trying to dodger people and go the pace of a snail..



Have decided to paste up photos rather than trying to explain the hanami...


What I would like to know is why is this statue looking down.. Another sign of women feeling depressed in this city or waiting for her man. Men paying more attention to the cherry blossoms than a girl? Hmm... that is a theory that I could understand about the typical Japanese male. Maybe she has decided to give up on him and would rather spend her time by the palace? Anyway, why is she there in the first place and why is she looking so melacholic? Does anyone know the history of this statue?



This one is the classic "all-rounder" Japanese photo (I will call it this), since it has the Yasukuni Shrine Gate in the far background, the Japanese flag flying, a crow soaring high in the air, the cherry blossoms and finally the "Nissen Cup Noodle". Just wish I could've got a sumo wrestler in the photo too! Either that or a Geisha would have come in handy..



Finally, where would we be without the "yaki-imo"
(roasted sweet potato). 　There were a number of these small trucks selling the potaotes around Chidorigafuchi. What always surprises me is how they can have a truck with gasoline in it and have a fire going on the deck of the truck roasting the potatoes? The ironic thing is, we have to turn off the motor when we fill up gas since it could be "dangerous"! If this "yaki-imo" situation isn't considered dangerous as a potential explosion waiting to happen, then help me! (It used to be in the olden days, an oldish guy would pull around a cart with the roasted sweet potato...) So much for safety regulations being updated and followed..

And with that, I think the official hanami photo season is over for yet another year.

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
An eternity in an hour.
William Blake