It was nice cool weather, so we took a nice walk in a park. And went to IKEA to buy a side table. Didn’t find any, but found a nice stool that fits perfectly as a side table.
We had found a really nice house to rent. Single floor detached house with a small garden in a quiet neighborhood close to the station. We were one of four couples that applied within the first 2 days, and sadly for us the owner chose the one without kids. Well, しょうがない
Came back from a trip to the US. Immigration and COVID check process are much smoother than before. As long as you do everything required by the SOS app (COVID test prior to leaving, upload vax info, etc.), there are no issues. Walked through immigration and customs and took a train home. Good to be back.
On Sunday we did the “moving companies quotes” Battle Royale recommended by some people from the sub. It was for a 3rd floor 2DK, from adachi to chiba.
・Last man standing was Ark, with 7万4
・Sakai can go fuck itself with 14万. He said we needed two trucks, which smelled like BS since the 3 other companies said one was enough.
・ If your quote is 3万 more expensive, i won’t chose you even if you brought me 750g bag of rice or a box of masks. The cheapest quote came from the company who didn’t bring an omiyage, maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe not.
Went to mt. daimonji in Kyoto at night. The night view of Kyoto is just beautiful from up there.
The next day went to this Chinese gyoza restaurant in kawaramachi and ordered spicy ramen, had me by the balls. Making it spicier ≠ putting in more chilly sauces, dumbass people.
Saturday was mostly a lazy day, but me and the missus got dressed up in yukata and visited the local beach for hanabi. Was alright, though the beach food wasn’t great, and the beach was playing loud eurojank techno.
Sunday we visited Nakano in the afternoon for bon odori, and met a bunch of friends of my wife, all of them also Brazilian. Bon odori is fun, but I don’t feel comfortable dancing, so it was just nothing special, and I was already tired as shit from the previous days, so it was kind of grating overall. And walking around with a bunch of foreigners that speak your language is the antithesis of what I came to this place for, hahaha.
Hoping to do absolutely fuck all today.
Went to Granberry Park mall, it’s easy for people who only stick to the big cities to miss how big mall culture is outside of those cities. It even has the requisite “people buy that shit?” type stores like a store that specializes in horse meat dog food
Ate Panda Express.
I think that’s the most appropriate use of a weekend I can think of.
Spent Saturday going scorched Earth on my holiday plans for this week, basically the rain in Tohoku and the forecast this week made anything I wanted to do near-on impossible. However, managed to get something equally as good in Shimane and Osaka. To be able to book that near Obon is a mystery to me, but a good one at that. Everything that needed a refund was sorted too, so bonus.
Sunday went to the spa, then gym, no energy now. Final work day today.
Keep seeing more and more (adult) American people with caps on backwards. It doesn’t seem ironic. Is this genuinely a fashion thing there and not something people would laugh at like the rest of the world?
Went looking to make a road bike purchase. I’m only 184cm, but literally nothing in my size in stock (which I expected), but I couldn’t even make any orders for one in my size. The best anyone could do would be to make an order for next year in April. Anyone know anything I don’t, or do I really need to make an order 8 months in advance?
Left house at 7:15AM on Saturday for the high school son’s soccer game. Unfortunately, the coach experimented with a new formation in the 2nd half and they got their butts kicked. Son played well though & all 90 minutes. Haven’t been to his school more than a handful of times due to Covid, interesting to see the huge campus with all the rugby, baseball teams practicing intensely despite the humidity.
I got my Japanese Driver’s License after going to a 2-week driving camp! ^^_
Spent a few hours at the beach next to our home yesterday. A lot of people around, but it was nice and relaxing to float around on an inflatable tube in the shallows. Got to see a heavy rain squall form out at sea, slowly move right towards the beach, then dissipate just minutes before it would have drenched us.
New license recently Times Car Night Driving through shibuya and Shinjuku Sunday went to Minatomirai dinosaur world .. was expecting something else though.
Traveled to the city and it was really fun. But mannnn I don’t want to be *that* guy but it was kinda shocking to see a new influx of a lot of foreigners out and about in large groups. Of course they’re unmasked and loud af comparatively.
Like no hate but it’ll definitely get some getting used to again, esp since most of my time here was during COVID times.
Kinda shocked with the amount of people with no masks walking about, despite record cases.
Gonna stay home and avoid trains for a while.
Drove up to Oarai to have a look around. The outlet mall seems to be doing worse than when I visited 2 years ago. But the Garupan Gallery seems to have gotten bigger, which is good.
Sigh.
Summer fireworks festival on Saturday was fun… Did some shopping and watched the sunset from a high building on Sunday.
I had the ‘vid from a friend over the weekend. He said he wasn’t feeling sick when we hung out but when he got home it hit him, and he apologized in advance if I got sick. It wasn’t too bad. It was just a fever one day and a sore throat the next. Now it’s just waking up with some boogies to spit and blow out. I would still prefer if it didn’t happen. I guess I’ll just be staying home and playing Apex some more until I come back negative.
finally checked nebuta matsuri off my bucket list. was worth it. the floats lit up at night were beautiful. was a very cool experience.
Danced bon odori at the Nakano Central Park bon odori festival Saturday and Sunday
Found a new apartment.
Saw Japanese YouTuber プロタンさん in the train in Tokyo. Wasn’t trying to be an ass and bother them during their private time though. Was a pretty neat experience.
Went to Tokyo, had a kaiseki Friday. Top guy, booked out the place, but business been tough lately due to covid. Saturday was a night out with some old friends, horrible Sunday as didn’t sleep until almost noon
Went to Nakano bonodori with my friends. I did kitsuke for about 8 people so by the time I got there it has just ended haha At least I had fun
Went to Tenjin (Fukuoka) for the first time in few months. We saw a huge line just around lunchtime and were wondering what kind of restaurant it was.
Turned out to be a PCR testing center.
It was really surreal but also fitting at the same time.
I went to film a music festival deep in the forest for work, only to discover it was actually a rave. At first I was surprised and delighted to discover that Japan has rave culture, but after 12 hours of all-night high-tempo extremely loud techno beats, I ended up a bit too irritable and exhausted to properly enjoy it.
Next time I’ll wear bright neon in order to blend in better.
Okinawa is dope af
Tanabata festival this weekend. It was packed. Sure hope I don’t get covid. 😐 We didn’t take public transit, washed hands each time a hand wash station showed up and never took our masks off, so hopefully we will be okay.
Came back from summer vacation in Kyushu/Okinawa. Was expecting to feel refreshed, but the time off just seems to have highlighted how much I prefer NOT working to working…
Rafting down the Niyodogawa in Kochi with family. My 5 year daughter loved it, 3 year old son hated it and screamed the whole way down, so we’re even.
The water upstream of the Niyodogawa is so clear, it would have been great if it hadn’t rained on and off.
3-4 hour drive down from Kansai, then the.ferry back to avoid Awaji bridge hell.
Did weeb stuff this weekend again and made my way out to Toyosato for a holy pilgrimage to their [former elementary school](https://i.imgur.com/j6Pmw92.jpg), which is the reference for the high school in K-On. There’s nothing out there, but there’s something really nice about the trek there, just watching fields pass by in the train window. Got some really great academic ideas on the train there too (why does that always happen on train rides?). I kind of just want to spend at least one day of the weekend just hopping on the train and not caring where I step off.
Also went to see the One Piece Film Red. Not the most polished writing out there, but honestly it was really fun. Any One Piece fans should definitely give it a watch.
EDIT: Also, 10 yen Vegemite from Kaldi hahaha.
Went to a shopping mall with an arcade in the basement, or basically a floor dedicated to UFO catchers and gacha.
Ourselves, we played the spherical machines where you push the button to pick up objects, then drop them on a platform which pushes the prizes off the edge. It was nice to see something that allowed for easy wins while also being cheap. It was denshi money only, so you could pay 50 yen for five tries. We ended up leaving with 20+ pieces of chocolate, 10+ toy cars, and 10+ rubber duckies. All for under 200 yen.
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It was nice cool weather, so we took a nice walk in a park. And went to IKEA to buy a side table. Didn’t find any, but found a nice stool that fits perfectly as a side table.
We had found a really nice house to rent. Single floor detached house with a small garden in a quiet neighborhood close to the station. We were one of four couples that applied within the first 2 days, and sadly for us the owner chose the one without kids. Well, しょうがない
Came back from a trip to the US. Immigration and COVID check process are much smoother than before. As long as you do everything required by the SOS app (COVID test prior to leaving, upload vax info, etc.), there are no issues. Walked through immigration and customs and took a train home. Good to be back.
On Sunday we did the “moving companies quotes” Battle Royale recommended by some people from the sub.
It was for a 3rd floor 2DK, from adachi to chiba.
・Last man standing was Ark, with 7万4
・Sakai can go fuck itself with 14万. He said we needed two trucks, which smelled like BS since the 3 other companies said one was enough.
・ If your quote is 3万 more expensive, i won’t chose you even if you brought me 750g bag of rice or a box of masks. The cheapest quote came from the company who didn’t bring an omiyage, maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe not.
Went to mt. daimonji in Kyoto at night. The night view of Kyoto is just beautiful from up there.
The next day went to this Chinese gyoza restaurant in kawaramachi and ordered spicy ramen, had me by the balls. Making it spicier ≠ putting in more chilly sauces, dumbass people.
Saturday was mostly a lazy day, but me and the missus got dressed up in yukata and visited the local beach for hanabi. Was alright, though the beach food wasn’t great, and the beach was playing loud eurojank techno.
Sunday we visited Nakano in the afternoon for bon odori, and met a bunch of friends of my wife, all of them also Brazilian. Bon odori is fun, but I don’t feel comfortable dancing, so it was just nothing special, and I was already tired as shit from the previous days, so it was kind of grating overall. And walking around with a bunch of foreigners that speak your language is the antithesis of what I came to this place for, hahaha.
Hoping to do absolutely fuck all today.
Went to Granberry Park mall, it’s easy for people who only stick to the big cities to miss how big mall culture is outside of those cities. It even has the requisite “people buy that shit?” type stores like a store that specializes in horse meat dog food
Ate Panda Express.
I think that’s the most appropriate use of a weekend I can think of.
Spent Saturday going scorched Earth on my holiday plans for this week, basically the rain in Tohoku and the forecast this week made anything I wanted to do near-on impossible. However, managed to get something equally as good in Shimane and Osaka. To be able to book that near Obon is a mystery to me, but a good one at that. Everything that needed a refund was sorted too, so bonus.
Sunday went to the spa, then gym, no energy now. Final work day today.
Keep seeing more and more (adult) American people with caps on backwards. It doesn’t seem ironic. Is this genuinely a fashion thing there and not something people would laugh at like the rest of the world?
Went looking to make a road bike purchase. I’m only 184cm, but literally nothing in my size in stock (which I expected), but I couldn’t even make any orders for one in my size. The best anyone could do would be to make an order for next year in April. Anyone know anything I don’t, or do I really need to make an order 8 months in advance?
Left house at 7:15AM on Saturday for the high school son’s soccer game. Unfortunately, the coach experimented with a new formation in the 2nd half and they got their butts kicked. Son played well though & all 90 minutes. Haven’t been to his school more than a handful of times due to Covid, interesting to see the huge campus with all the rugby, baseball teams practicing intensely despite the humidity.
I got my Japanese Driver’s License after going to a 2-week driving camp! ^^_
Spent a few hours at the beach next to our home yesterday. A lot of people around, but it was nice and relaxing to float around on an inflatable tube in the shallows. Got to see a heavy rain squall form out at sea, slowly move right towards the beach, then dissipate just minutes before it would have drenched us.
New license recently
Times Car
Night Driving through shibuya and Shinjuku
Sunday went to Minatomirai dinosaur world .. was expecting something else though.
Traveled to the city and it was really fun. But mannnn I don’t want to be *that* guy but it was kinda shocking to see a new influx of a lot of foreigners out and about in large groups. Of course they’re unmasked and loud af comparatively.
Like no hate but it’ll definitely get some getting used to again, esp since most of my time here was during COVID times.
Kinda shocked with the amount of people with no masks walking about, despite record cases.
Gonna stay home and avoid trains for a while.
Drove up to Oarai to have a look around. The outlet mall seems to be doing worse than when I visited 2 years ago. But the Garupan Gallery seems to have gotten bigger, which is good.
Sigh.
Summer fireworks festival on Saturday was fun…
Did some shopping and watched the sunset from a high building on Sunday.
I had the ‘vid from a friend over the weekend. He said he wasn’t feeling sick when we hung out but when he got home it hit him, and he apologized in advance if I got sick. It wasn’t too bad. It was just a fever one day and a sore throat the next. Now it’s just waking up with some boogies to spit and blow out. I would still prefer if it didn’t happen. I guess I’ll just be staying home and playing Apex some more until I come back negative.
finally checked nebuta matsuri off my bucket list. was worth it. the floats lit up at night were beautiful. was a very cool experience.
Danced bon odori at the Nakano Central Park bon odori festival Saturday and Sunday
Found a new apartment.
Saw Japanese YouTuber プロタンさん in the train in Tokyo. Wasn’t trying to be an ass and bother them during their private time though. Was a pretty neat experience.
Went to Tokyo, had a kaiseki Friday. Top guy, booked out the place, but business been tough lately due to covid. Saturday was a night out with some old friends, horrible Sunday as didn’t sleep until almost noon
Went to Nakano bonodori with my friends. I did kitsuke for about 8 people so by the time I got there it has just ended haha
At least I had fun
Went to Tenjin (Fukuoka) for the first time in few months. We saw a huge line just around lunchtime and were wondering what kind of restaurant it was.
Turned out to be a PCR testing center.
It was really surreal but also fitting at the same time.
I went to film a music festival deep in the forest for work, only to discover it was actually a rave. At first I was surprised and delighted to discover that Japan has rave culture, but after 12 hours of all-night high-tempo extremely loud techno beats, I ended up a bit too irritable and exhausted to properly enjoy it.
Next time I’ll wear bright neon in order to blend in better.
Okinawa is dope af
Tanabata festival this weekend. It was packed. Sure hope I don’t get covid. 😐 We didn’t take public transit, washed hands each time a hand wash station showed up and never took our masks off, so hopefully we will be okay.
Came back from summer vacation in Kyushu/Okinawa. Was expecting to feel refreshed, but the time off just seems to have highlighted how much I prefer NOT working to working…
Rafting down the Niyodogawa in Kochi with family. My 5 year daughter loved it, 3 year old son hated it and screamed the whole way down, so we’re even.
The water upstream of the Niyodogawa is so clear, it would have been great if it hadn’t rained on and off.
3-4 hour drive down from Kansai, then the.ferry back to avoid Awaji bridge hell.
Did weeb stuff this weekend again and made my way out to Toyosato for a holy pilgrimage to their [former elementary school](https://i.imgur.com/j6Pmw92.jpg), which is the reference for the high school in K-On. There’s nothing out there, but there’s something really nice about the trek there, just watching fields pass by in the train window. Got some really great academic ideas on the train there too (why does that always happen on train rides?). I kind of just want to spend at least one day of the weekend just hopping on the train and not caring where I step off.
Also went to see the One Piece Film Red. Not the most polished writing out there, but honestly it was really fun. Any One Piece fans should definitely give it a watch.
EDIT: Also, 10 yen Vegemite from Kaldi hahaha.
Went to a shopping mall with an arcade in the basement, or basically a floor dedicated to UFO catchers and gacha.
Ourselves, we played the spherical machines where you push the button to pick up objects, then drop them on a platform which pushes the prizes off the edge. It was nice to see something that allowed for easy wins while also being cheap. It was denshi money only, so you could pay 50 yen for five tries. We ended up leaving with 20+ pieces of chocolate, 10+ toy cars, and 10+ rubber duckies. All for under 200 yen.