Nothing Jolli about this one! #Japan

Thanks to Okada-san for the photo!

On one hand, I love Atsugi because there's a lot of nature here. It's a "suburb of Tokyo," after all; i.e. it's far from being a mostly-concrete jungle. Lots of trees, not so much wide roads and consequently, not so much cars. And consequently, not so much pollution. Lots of fresh air. Plenty of stars are always visible and bright when it's a clear night sky. At Downtown Atsugi (Hon-Atsugi), there's enough variety of stores and restaurants and pubs/bars and entertainment if you're missing the city life. But even there, the buildings aren't even 10 floors high.

On the other hand, there really are plenty of bugs here. You know it's summer when they start to appear. Yes, mosquitoes, cockroaches, cicadas (which they call semi here), bees, flies, ants, spiders. Bats even. Well, spiders are probably around the whole year round. But anyways. Here's a bug that is really huge; its body is about 2 inches long. And it was hanging out just outside the restroom (toilet) doors on our floor. My friend took this photo about 2 meters away with a zoom lens. Meanwhile, I just use the restroom on the next floor. Around this time, people here are encouraged not to use air-conditioning, and so instead, we leave doors and windows open for natural ventilation. I only hope it doesn't fly to our office room!

There is nothing Jolli about this one.

Found in Japan: USB Flash Drives

Can a picture say a thousand words? This we found at the souvenir shop at the observation deck of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. There's no entrance fee to go up there, by the way.

From carbonaramara.com

Ouch!

Knees are hurting from too much basketball yesterday.  Or is it too much winning?  Hehe.

Anyways, the usual Saturday today.  Lunch at the cafeteria.  Saturday seminar.  A little bit of work.  Dinner at home.

I had "curry," Japanese-style for lunch.  It is basically Tonkatsu in a Japanese-style curry sauce, which had some beef in it!  This is one curry that most Indians won't be able to eat.

Overcast day the whole day today but no rain.  Generally cool but it became as warm as 29 degrees, maybe.  Humid.

For dinner, I didn't have any cooked food anymore.  My knee needed the rest so I thought I could do with what I have at home.  I remembered I have tuna and instant noodles.  Then I looked into my freezer and I have a 12-piece siomai pack, ready to be microwaved!  And instant pizza.  And takoyaki hemispheres (they're not ball-shaped).  So I had one pizza (maybe it's 6" in diameter).  6 takoyaki balls.  12 pieces siomai.  And a partridge in a pear tree.  Err, rice.  Siomais were dipped in Kikkoman, of course.

Anyways, a world record is set today.  I've been in a foreign country the longest now.  My previous stint here in Japan was from April 15 to June 17.  This time I arrived here April 16 and well, it's June 19 now.  My stint in Singapore was only for a month...  Oh wait, I was in the US for more than two months, around Christmas and New Year's Eve of 2000!  But actually I don't count the US as a foreign country, not when I lived with relatives and ate Filipino food quite regularly.  In Singapore, I ate Filipino food almost everyday because there was a Filipino restaurant very near the office I went to.  And I always had Filipino company.

Anyways, last night, I arrived back at the office to see a bottle of Pocari Sweat waiting for me on my desk.  It was my "prize" for winning in basketball.  More like, for betting actually.  Today, one of the students raised another small betting game - and 8 of us happily obliged for 50 yen apiece.  We had to "guess" what will be the final outcome of the Holland-Japan World Cup match.  I bet 2-0 in favor of Holland.  Two of us actually did.  So if I won, I had to share the 400 yen ($4) pot with someone else.  Big money, eh?  Well, for risking 50 yen, I could buy three 110 yen drinks from the vendo by winning!  Anyways, 2-0 was the lowest "guess" for Holland.  The highest "guess" was 5-0 for Holland.  One guy bet 1-0 for Japan.  Two bet 3-0 for Holland, one bet 3-1 for Holland, and another bet 4-0 for Holland.  Guess where the guy who bet 1-0 for Japan is from.  Anyways, Holland was leading 1-0 midway through the second half and I was so hoping they score another goal.  And...  No, they didn't.  So no one won the "betting."  I guess the pot moves on to the next game.

One new discovery I made is that with installation of certain software, I can access my work PC from home or any other place where I have a computer and internet connection.  Yup, I have internet access now from home, although it is a little bit choppy because I connect only via wifi.  If you're interested to do the same thing, assuming your work network doesn't have a firewall installed, check out logmein.com.  Free and very useful.  I hope it stays free forever!

Anyways, I am so looking forward to tomorrow. :-D