From Sushi to Red Lights

We it's Sunday the 30th and I've been at work all day in fact i was at work all day yesterday as well sucks i know but it could be a lot worse, at least i get paid for it.
Been i a bit hectic today work is work but wanted to go to the gym afterward and had arranged with the German guys at work to go to a Thai restaurant we had seen the other day, so it was a bit of a mad dash to get back form work, go to the gym and meet everyone by 7.30, but i managed it surprise surprise, I'm not the most punctual person in the world as those that know me can testify.
Anyway we all met up at 7.30 me three Germans and a Polish guy, off we went it's only about 5 minuets from where i live walking which is just as well because it was freezing, not literally but it was cold.
Once again forgot to take my camera so no pictures well not until i get some emailed to me from one of the lads who had one, as you can see have got the photo now it's just took me what seems like weeks to write this.
Seems like I've been going out for meals all week, was invited out a few days ago for some food and drinks with the main site contractor, a company called Shimizu. We met up at the local Isikaya, don't known if I've spelt that right or not but basically it's a Japanese restaurant. Food was great don't know what most of it was lots of fish dishes there was even a great big fish with what seemed like even larger eyes, not for me but they went down well with everyone else.
Now the meal finished at about 11pm, I'd had a bit to drink by then everyone had been getting me to drink Sake as i was the token westerner there. Think they wanted to get me drunk on the local stuff but their plan back fired a bit, yep i was a bit merry but some of them were worse off than me.
Anyway the meal finished and everyone went his own separate way. I live on the East side of the railway station, some would say it's the wrong side of the tracks. No one was going my way so was walking home by myself and thought why not go for another drink, probably a bad idea but you have them when you've been drinking. Now the thing about the East side of the station where my apartment is it's not far from what some people refer to as the red light area of Utsunomiys, i mean there are literally hundred of small bars there, and i mean small bars. The bars all have women in them whose job it is to sit with you and get you to by them a drink now if there is anything else going on i don't know.
So being a bit drunk thought i would go in one and see what it was like, this is how it works you pay about 3,000 Yen to go in for one hour, at today's EX rate that about 20 quid. Once you're in your drinks are free for that hour, if you like to drink it's a good deal as drinks run between 3-4 quid a pop even in regular bars. The girls job is to talk to you and get you to buy her drinks and to stay longer than an hour which costs more money. Japanese guys seem love these kind of bars they must do as there are hundreds of them, you can also sing Karaoke if you want.
You might wonder how i know all this well i have to admit i have been to the odd one before mostly with Japanese guys form work i might add.
So anyway I'm walking through this red light or pink light area on my way home thinking i would check out one of these bars, I've never been in one by myself before, so was starting to think maybe not.
Then out of a doorway pop two girls/women, now one i them I've seen before when walking home and she had always tried to get me to go in to here bar but i never had. In for a penny in for a pound as they say.
Photo does not look great but they were both quite nice from what i remember, my score on the Karaoke though was twenty two a record they said. No one had ever got a score that low before, i know I can't sing but was i really that bad, guess i must have been drunker than i thought to even attempt Karaoke by myself.
They let me stay longer then an hour guess i must have been entertaining them with my singing, yep i did sing more than one song but 22 was my lowest, think i actually got up into the 60's still bad i know but good for me.
After my hour and a half or so was up and i wasn't going to stay anymore but it was quite an eye opening experience, no hassle no problem no pressure to buy drinks, anyway time was up so off home to bed, unfortunately i still had to go to work the next day.

From Fire Escapes To Cars

Well I've just stocked up on T-Bags, 598Yen for 40 that's about 4 quid at today's ex rate, the things you do for a little piece of home, can't imagine doing this back in the UK. The other thing I've lashed out on is some Kerosene for my little heater, it's turning a bit cold here at night now so i dug out the heater the other day which my mate Razer had lent to me.
Had to go and get the Kerosene from the local petrol station, wasn't quite sure how to go about that as the pump is a self serve thingy, quite neat really you press a few buttons put in your cash and press go. When you're finished you get a little receipt with a bar code on it go to another machine get the bar code scanned and get you change all real easy in theory. Didn't quite work like that for me after about 3 attempt of trying to get the correct combination of buttons and getting it wrong i finally went in search of someone who could help me. Found a guy in a little office at the front watching TV who helped me out and showed me what buttons to press, think i can remember the correct buttons for next time, well i hope i can.
Off i go back to the apartment with my 18Ltrs of Kerosene filled up the fuel container for the heater, wouldn't you know got it all over my jeans. Didn't realise how bad it smelt until i went to the gym, got changed put my cloths in the locker while i went in, when i got back to change and have a shower smelt like i had been washing them in neat heating oil which i guess is ok if you like that sort of thing but i don't, no wonder people were moving away from me when i first went in, ah well live and learn.
Work is getting a lot busier now and next week we have another German guy and two more Americans coming over so the office will be full to busting with six people with a lot more going on. As we're getting real busy at work now I've just booked a ticket to go to Korea for the weekend, probably would not have gone but have a bank account there that i need to sort out and this will probably be the last opportunity i get for a while, booked through Expedia on United airlines so we'll see how this turns out, will let you know when i get back.
Well I'm back for Korea now actually been back for a nearly two weeks now just could not get round to finishing the blog. By the way the flight on United was pretty good and the best thing was it only cost $297. Iwas only in Korea for a couple of days but did manage to get my bank account sorted out, decided to leave the money over there and just put it in a saving account. The exchange rate is great at the moment so i mad money on that, put it in a fixed account for 3 month at nearly 6% interest. Yeah i know it may sound risky being in a foreign country and all that and i will have to go over there to get it out when i want it but i know at some point I'll be back over there, to be honest from what i here all the in the UK have problems anyway.Got to say this trip was better that the last, was a bit disappoint the last time i was here but things seemed better this time, stayed in the Young Chon hotel again. Did not really take any photos this trip though my camera is a bit old and it's a bit bulky in the pocket so tended not to take it out with me so when i did see some ting interesting did not have the camera, it's a hard life you know

This is the only photo i took while i was in Korea and it's in the hotel room shows you the escape route if there is a fire and you can't get to the stairs. Basically it's a rope in a box, you chuck it out of the window attach it to an eye blot in the wall and abbsailing down the wall, you probably need to be in your 20's or 30's to do this though and in the SAS to boot, no knots in the rope, i was on the 5 floor and it just didn't look long enough to reach the ground to me, got to jump i guess. The other major problem was the eye bolt fixed into the wall was actually not fixed into the wall, it pulled out. Just hope there isn't a fire, it all sounds good in theory and it should work but i don't want to try it. Then again theory's always do sound good, but am sure the robe met fire regulations at some point, and it is better than nothing, isn't it? by the way check out the 60's wall paper must be making a come back.

Since i started this blog entry we have not got three Germans in the office the two Americans have gone back to the states but we are getting three Americans mores on the 2nd Dec, sound's like we've won the lottery doesn't it, anyway we'll be pretty crowded.

Its getting pretty cold her right now even cold than when i started this entry, there is snow on the mountains around us and have to say the surrounding area looks really pretty nice with all the leaves changing colour.

Oh here is a view of the front of the building as of last week, the inside still has a hell of a lot to do the the outside is not that fare away from being done at least at the front.

I've had to cheat a bit and added a photo of may favorite car over here down loaded it from the Internet, been meaning to get a photo of in in the flesh so to speak but every time i see one don't have my camera. It's a little Daihatsu Copen, only seats two and it only has a small 660cc engine

Over here ether are lots of cars of 660cc or below there must be some special tax breaks and obviously they do lots to the gallon or should i say Liter, pretty nippy too.

Japan, Bugs, Biscuits and no Tea Bags

Don't know if I'm any good at this blogging thing or if I've even got any better since i first started writing a blog. Also don't know really know why anyone would want to read it apart from the people that i know and that's to see what's going on, but to be honest i quite like doing it even though it takes me what seems like forever to write one so i guess I'll keep doing it.
Wish i was i bit more prolific though at writing and could find a few more interesting things to waffle on about but there again we all wish for lots of different things. Although I'd like to be more prolific etc it's not exactly at the top of my wish list think the Ferrari and the Lear Jet come a lot higher up and even they're not at the top, in fact don't really know what is at the top, the top of the list changes from day to day depending on how I'm feeling.
Guess deciding what is at the top of the list is like picking your favorite movie or food something like that, i always think to say something is your favorite means it's your best or the one you like most and there are so many good things out there it's always hard just to pick one, but there again that's my opinion and as I've said before everyone has one, an opinion that is. The problem with opinions is that as well as everyone having one which is not a problem some people think there's is the only one worth anything and that can be a problem, but i digress back to the blog.
I've been in Japan about 5 months now with probably as many to go, just going to rant on about Japan for a while now, well not rant on exactly as to rant is to harangue or attack something at least that's what the dictionary says.
Just going to talk a bit about my observations and such about Japan since I've been here, I'm actually here working but have not spoke much about it and i don't really intend to in this blog but i am going to add a couple of photos of the site, what it looked like when i got here in June and what it looked like a few months later so you know i am doing something. The one on the left was taken on the 13th June and the one on the right was taken on the 12th September from exactly the same place, you can see what difference three months makes, will probably do this again in another month or so.
Got to say Japanese workers are good and fast, they like to dissect everything put it on a drawing so that there is not chance of a surprise and all the problems ironed out before work starts, this normally leads to a million question and can be frustrating but when i Japan and all that. Think this is why they're so good at things, mass producing cars and electronics etc everything is well thought through well drawn up with nothing to chance. The other reason they're good at this sort of thing and probably why we don't have a car industry anymore is pride in there work.
On a construction site though there are things you just don't know and won't until you get further down the line, not the best way here but that's the way it is, it's sort of hard explaining this especially as most of the things we design and build are one offs and the next one is usually slightly different always changing. All in all the Japanese work ethic is great and everyone wants to do a good Job and on time, safety and honesty is also high here doesn't' seem to be any problems on either front.
There's also a big difference in thinking over here for instance we were in the train station a few weeks ago, think it was when Ben and Tristan were here. like i say we were in the train station and either B or T had dropped one Yen (a penny) we were in a rush going to Roponggi for a night out so we left it in fact in the UK you probably not bend down to pick it up not worth the effort, it's only a Penny or a Yen in this case, Japanese guy saw one of them drop it called them back they were going to walk on but he pointed to it picked it up and gave it to them, took us longer to go back and pick it up than it was worth, in the UK everyone would just have left it, if it was 50p or so some one would have picked it up but probably not shouted you back for it, talk about thinking differently.
I also like the way you can pay bills over here as well, since I've had the apartment have had gas, telephone and electric bills all i do is walk to the 7/11 on the corner or the street at any time of day or night and pay them there you don't need to go near a bank or anything like that. At the 7/11 you don't have to know any Japanese just show the bill they scan the bar code you give them the money job done, everything has a bar code on it here so am sure you can pay a lot more at the 7/11 talk about convenience store.
There are lots of things that are good about Japan same as England, err did i really say that about sunny old England.

There are quite a few frustrating things here as well though but won't go into them too much now but one of them is the way rules are enforced in everything with no lee way no gray fudgy areas that we all love, even the smallest of little things here if there's a rule associated with it that's the way you need to do it, all in all though everything is going OK.

Another thing that frustrates me a bit well a lot to be honest driving here reminds me of Mississippi in the US, the roads aren't as big here but just the same people drive in both lanes doing the same speed and you just can't get past, it's a pet hate really but it frustrates the hell out of me.

Right changing the subject check out the size of the bug or what ever it is that we found the other day lodged in the door to our office, by the way that's not my hand did not know what the hell it was, for all i know it could have bit, stung or poisoned you, what a whimp I've turned out to be so just pointed it out, before i knew what was happening someone had picked it up, they did tell me the name but it was Japanese and I've slept since then.

That's pretty much it for now looks like I'm working again this weekend, if i get chance I'll try and and do something.

Just made a cup of tea and discovered a disaster in waiting, it was the last T-bag i had in my little glass tea bag pot, went to the cupboard to get some more only to find it bare, I'd just used the last T-bag I'd borough from the UK, will have to scourer the shops tomorrow, I'm told they have PG tips somewhere in Utsunomiya.

On the plus side today i bought these biscuits, or should i say Cookies and they're good, don't normally buy biscuits but may have to get some more of these.

The First Meal

So anyway I've got my gas cooker guess it's time to cook something on it or at least see if i can still cook. My first attempt needed to be something simple which sounded like a stew to me, for those that want it to sound a bit more up market a casserole, although i guess that's technically done in an oven and i don't have one so stew it is.

Having decided what to cook off i go down to the supermarket to buy some stuff to put in it, felt like i was on "Ready Steady Cook" buying a budget bag of ingredients for the red kitchen ready to show the chef and see what the hell he could do with it all, problem was there was no chef only me.

So I'm at my favorite supermarket to get the stuff have never really done much shopping other that buying stuff for sandwiches and things that i could zap the hell out of in the micro wave.

First thing i bought was some meat, got to say it looked good and probably cheaper than i could get it for in England, which sort of surprised me. Vegetables next, some stuff was pretty cheap but what made me look twice was the spuds, or should i say potatoes. You buy them individually nothing wrong with that you might think and there wasn't, probably would not of noticed but as the price was in Yen and not pence it made me think how much they would cost. Getting old you see and the brain doesn't work as fast as it used to, spud's were pretty small but again this is the land of rice and Sake and i needed some potatoes for a change.

So got through the shopping for food experience and off back to the apartment with my little bag of goodies to see what i could do with it all. I'm back in the apartment and guess what I've forgot, only the next most important thing to the gas burner. Yep something to put and cook the stew in, told you i was getting old got a gas hob now but no pots and pans so off i go again to get something, i was starting to think that I'd never start cooking or maybe get so hungry I'd have to go to McDonald's or something for some real food.

Finally get back to the apartment with my new pots and pans, this first meal is sure turning out to be an expensive one, almost getting to the stage where it would be cheaper to fly to the UK for a meal.

This was my thinking and what made me go for a stew in the first place anyway, basically peal everything bung it all in a pan boil it for a couple of hours, add some Oxo and Bisto and a stew was born.

Yeah i know you don't put everything in at the same time the meat takes longer etc, etc, but the the basic idea was sound. By the way the Oxo and Bisto i brought for England when i first came here just in case you couldn't get anything like it over here, i know from living in Korea or at least when i was there you couldn't get it there, plus it was about time i started to use it.

So that was it everything was in the pan boiling and doing it's thing, was also doing some mashed potatoes to round it all off.

Check out the photos, everything turned out pretty well for my first attempt and it was not bad at all even though i say so myself, so all in all money on the gas burner was well worth it and I'm sure I'll be using it a lot more. Next time will try something a bit more adventurous, can't do anything like roast beef and YP though as i don't have an oven.

So I'm over a big hurdle now have actually cooked my first meal in my apartment, did not burn the place down and the food tasted not bad at all. It may not sound like much to you but I've been looking for a gas burner for months and wondering if it all would be worth it. To be honest it's probably as cheap to go out and buy something to eat for one as it is to cook it and it's a damm sight easier trust me but you don't want to be eating out all the time now do you, or do you?

The only down side at the moment id the kitchen units above the sink and where the burner are are built for someone about 5 inches shorter than me so to say I've banged my head a few times is not really telling the whole story, guess i need to work on getting someone to cook for me.