busy + workout! (MAY-17)

busy day today. again. workout. again. but compared with yesterday, i got to go to the grocery for discounted meals... :-)

class! (MAY-18)

First thing in the morning, Prof Tamura gave us an introductory class. Then, I felt tired in the afternoon, must be because of the workout. It was also sunny in the morning, and then cloudy and colder in the afternoon. Maybe that had something to do with me feeling tired. The two other PhD guys from Vietnam and India felt a little tired in the afternoon also.

Ah, starting yesterday morning, I tried a different bike route going to the school. Mas madali dumaan don kasi konti lang dadaanan kong traffic light. Tsaka, it looks like a shorter route, although I'm not so sure about that. Yesterday actually, I kind of got lost, I mean, hindi naman. Yung kaibigan kasi natin e mali ang binigay na instructions. Well, trying to help lang naman siya. Anyway, basically I did not know which direction to go, where to turn, etc., but I was following some high-rise landmarks... On my old bike route kasi, it's following a line of transmission towers. And then, just before the last traffic light towards the school, there's this big place - I think it's a golf course - and since residential area ang paligid, may matataas na mga net along its perimeter. So sinundan ko lang din yon. It felt like a shorter route. But I think, the important thing also is hindi uphill itong bago kong route. Yung dating route, pawis ako palagi pagkadating ng school, and pa-easy-easy lang pagpa-uwi. Ngayon, pareho lang ang effort halos for both ways.

I left school early to go to Sofmap in Atsugi. Basically I bought memory cards for my cameras, and also a memory card reader for the laptop. Got into quite a conversation in Japanese with one of the salespersons there. Anyway, nagkamali ako ng nabili na Compact Flash memory card - Sandisk ang brand na nabili ko so halos pareho lang ng presyo sa Pinas. Anyway, magandang brand naman ang Sandisk. Nakabili din pala ako ng extra battery para sa Canon na camera ko...

Wellp, that's all for now! 'til next!

warm + busy + workout (MAY-16)

it's the first monday, first day of my second month here in japan. it's quite warm today, it was sunny since 5:00am! how did i know? i woke up at around that time, and boy, was the sun shining. remember japan is up in the northern hemisphere, and they have like 14 hours of daylight on months around the summer. sun rise today is actually at 4:35am, and sun set is at 6:39pm. and, they do not use daylight savings time here unlike in the US.

a little busy day though i got off to a slow start. next thing i know, it was lunch time already. i had two meals for lunch. hehe. i had "pizza" for breakfast, but it didn't quite satisfy my stomach though.

at around merienda time, there was this demonstration again of some software that processes digital video images to determine the flow of air (or water) around some building or obstruction.

next thing i know, it's 5pm already. i have been preparing this "country report" on wind data from the philippines, and i actually started preparing my powerpoint presentation already.

7pm, it was workout-at-the-gym time. quite a good workout. i followed my "trainor's" instructions. hehe.

i was late for the discounted meals at the Sekichu Home Center (grocery), so i settled for 7-Eleven. they have this meal that i like a lot: it has fish, squid, and chicken, and i really like the rice with the nori (seaweed) and stuff.

well that's all for today. jaa, mata ashita!

Household Chores day (MAY-15)

Today, I got to the university almost 6pm na.  I started my laundry
last night pa actually, but anyway, I just finished today.  I made
laba (naks, how so coño naman) the dirty stuff din like mga basahan,
etc.  I did some apartment cleaning - actually I think I didn't do
any last weekend, so super dumi na ng apartment.  I really don't
know why super daming alikabok sa apartment, when its doors and windows
are closed probably 98.5% of the time.  That's why I made laba
the dirty stuff, kasi daming naipon na dumi.  By the way, dumi
is different from kalat.  The apartment's a little organized
naman.


Last Friday, it was forecasted to be a cloudy day today but the sun was
shining for the whole afternoon!  Anyway, in the morning, I was
trying to dry the newly-laundried clothes in the bathroom (there's a
heater inside).


Oh well...  Back to work now...  Have to do some planning and
thinking for the rest of my stay.


Tonight pala would be my first month here in Japan!  (I arrived
April 15, remember?)  :-)


Yey!

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"Tokyo" (MAY-14)

Almost everything went on schedule today... 10am meeting with the Professor. 2pm meeting with my friend, Mia... Got my cellphone na! Texted my brother. It seems that the Globe website (www.globehandyphone.com.ph) is not up-to-date. Supposedly, I have a local number. It doesn't seem like so. My brother texted back that it was my (Globe/Philippines) cellphone number which was displayed together with my text message.

Mia pala is in Chiba-ken (ken = prefecture ~ province), same prefecture as the Narita International Airport. Now I'm from Atsugi-shi (shi = city) in Kanagawa-ken. Imagine that the Manila International Airport is in Bulacan and I live in Los Baños, Laguna. Haha, anyway, I will be more at peace now, because I now have a cellphone! (A Nokia 6650 by the way, for rent from Globe for P75 a day.)

I had late lunch at McDonald's there, and did some window shopping, and some hyaku-en (100 yen) shopping. Now I finally got wasabi, and I also have this sake set. Hehe.

On my way back home, I dropped by Tokyo eki (eki = train station) which I took some pictures of. It's one big and old red brick building. Since my website free space is almost nil, I'll update na lang my photos website when I get back na to the Philippines.

I also dropped by the Shinjuku area, actually just to check what's up at the GAP store (hehe). Did some tambay but nothing really was happening at Shinjuku around that time. It was around 530pm na.

I tried contacting my friend, Elaine, but she wasn't at home. I was gonna ask sana kung may gimmick pa siya.

I also tried to text my friend, Danny, on his Japan-based cellphone. He didn't reply. I don't know if he received it.

Got back quite early to my home-eki, Hon-Atsugi eki. I was there a little past 7pm na yata. Dropped by the supermarket na din for some food. Ubos na yung mga okay na meals nila, so I dropped by the 7-Eleven na din. Mej napadami yata ang binili ko, I was so full, pero naubos ko naman. Hehe. Saya! :-)

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busy on friday-the-13th :-( (MAY-13)

Busy day again today. Tomorrow morning, Saturday at 10am I have to meet with my adviser here at TPU, Prof Tamura. Have to meet also with a friend in Tokyo, Mia, who brought a cellphone for me here.

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"busy" + Photos Update (MAY-12)

still busy today... and i had to disable the "misc" and "food" photo sites to make way for the blogs...

jaa, kyo wa, kore ga imasu: (thus, for today, these exist:)

http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005apato (my apartment in atsugi)
http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005atsugi (atsugi-shi, city where i live)
http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005nikko (my visit to nikko, old japan)
http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005tokyo (pictures in tokyo - incomplete actually because of disk space)
http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005tpu (pictures at TPU where i'm doing research)
http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005yokohama (my visit to yokohama, port city about 1-hour away from tokyo or from atsugi)

enjoy!

"busy" (MAY-11)

work work work ... went home past around 930pm na. wala lang. ate instant noodles and a can of tuna for dinner. sabi kasi ng "training instructor" ko to have diet on my "Day 3" of workout, which is Wednesdays... check out the gym equipment pala at http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005tpu

"busy" (MAY-10)

work work work ... i did some workouts today at the gym! yeah!

"busy" (MAY-9)

work work work ...

International Tea Party! (MAY-8)

Slept last night actually at watashi-no tomodatchi-no apaato-ni (at my friend's apartment). We were supposed to go to Miraikan also in Odaiba, but we had to cancel. Anyway, I got back to the Hon-Atsugi station at almost 1pm na.

Whenever I ride the trains here, I feel like I'm on the Amazing Race. I always try to think of how I could get somewhere faster! Sometimes, I take trains for another destination, and change trains na lang at some station. I saved 9 minutes on my trip from Shinjuku to Hon-Atsugi today! That could have been worth a lot to get to the pit stop first!

Anyway, I did not go home straight actually, because there's an "international tea party" for foreigners in Atsugi at 2pm. Ate lunch at... McDo again. Love ko 'to! Hehe.

At the party, there was this German, a Thai, Three Vietnamese (including Giang-san), one Indian (Pillai-san), one Filipino (me), one Bengal or Pakistani i think, some Chinese, and a lot of Japanese. Anyway, I was forced to sing in front! So I sang... Leron Leron Sinta. Unfortunately I forgot the lyrics, but fortunately no one there knew! They were clapping to the song anyway. Hehe

Afterwards, dinner with Pillai-san and Giang-san at the Indian Kitchen restaurant. Had some "nan", the Indian bread, with chicken curry.

Yeah baby!

Tokyo Day 4 (MAY-7)

Walked a lot today! Went to Tokyo eki (nice building but I forgot to get my picture taken there), and then to the Imperial Palace and Garden and the (small font) museum (/small font) where admission is free. Maliit kasi. Next stop was Hibiya Park. So-so, except that there's a bust of Jose Rizal there!

Next stop was McDo for lunch, then the convention center there... Amazing architecture!

Then off to... Odaiba! Spent practically the whole afternoon there. Saw the Rainbow Bridge, went to the "beach"... There was this nice looking mall that had a on-a-cruise feel to it. Went to Fuji TV headquarters - amazing architecture again! Some Nissan cars on display... Then off to the Toyota something there. Lots of cars on display! Very interesting exhibits. We probably took a long time there... We also rode an automatic car there, for 200 yen per person and 45 minutes wait. As in, it drives on its own! Accelerates, breaks, turns, turns on the turn signal, automatic talaga! Kaso, top speed: 15 kph. Small car lang.

Anyway, dinner at McDo again!

Check out the pictures sana, kaso wala nang space sa website ko!

"busy" (MAY-6)

Today is a "busy" day. My usual "work": downloading some references, and editing my "country report." Chatted with some friends in Manila, one of them will be coming here on a work trip next week. Exchanged some e-mails.

Cold day with some "showers" by the way! Yesterday and the past few days have been clear skies and sunny days!

Yokohama! (MAY-5)

I went to Yokohama today, although I also planned to go to Kamakura. Anyway, one day may not be enough to go around Yokohama really. Although, perhaps because I took some time at Motomachi - I dropped by the GAP store, and went to the Catholic Church, which is perhaps the nearest one to Atsugi.

Well, there is a lot to be said... Anyway, on the train trip between Atsugi and Yokohama, I saw a different kind of Japan; not very much like Atsugi, or Yokohama, or Tokyo. It's much like seeing a part of Oakland when travelling from Berkeley to San Francisco by the BART (train).

I saw the World Police (Band) Concert 2005 but I didn't watch the whole of it...

And lastly, I like Yokohama a lot, but maybe because it's a smaller city than Tokyo, and there are a lot more open spaces, and part of Yokohama's features really is the big body of water (that's why Yokohama is called the port city). I like what they've done with the Yamashita Park and all the other sea-side (or bay-side) attractions. There are maps and guides maybe almost every 500 meters or every kilometer which are also in Roma-ji or English as well as in Kanji/Hiragana/Katakana, of course. Perhaps, aside from being a port city, Motomachi explains why this is so. In Motomachi you could find plenty of European-style houses and buildings. It is also there where I found the Sacred Heart Cathedral. There are at least two other Christianity-based churches there.

Checkout the pictures: http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005yokohama
I've also updated: http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005atsugi and http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005food
The new photo site and the updated sites will be effective on Saturday, May 7, 2005 in the morning, Tokyo & Manila time.

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English Show Time! (MAY-4)

Today, like I've previously mentioned is still technically a holiday, but anyway I'm here at the university. I want to finish the things I need to finish so that I could come clean come Friday, the first truly working day after this long holiday.

Anyway, today also marks the first time I am able to see an English show for a change. Wala lang. Saya!

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== Photos Update ==

The following photo sites are new or have been updated:

http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005tokyo (new)
http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005misc (updated)
http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005atsugi (new/updated)
http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005food (updated)

The following photo sites are still up:

http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005nikko
http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005tpu
http://ronjie.tripod.com/nihon2005apato

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Holiday Work (MAY-3)

It is a legal holiday today in Japan; it's Constitution Day. Technically I
could go out and not go to the university.

Anyway, waking up, I still felt a bit tired from the long weekend. I was
planning on going to Yokohama today but, well that was one reason why I
didn't go. A second reason is that it was cloudy when I woke up, until
around mid-day.

At mid-day, it was all so shiny and clear! Truly, the weather here changes
quite drastically in a matter of minutes!

So I went to the university... Worked up some e-mails, downloaded some
reference materials, chatted with some friends from home, coordinated with
my brother for my roaming phone rental...

I wanted to stay there until I was finished with all the
reference-gathering, but I thought, I'll just go home early, get some
discounted food at Sekichu Home Center (the grocery), sleep early, and go
back early to the university the next day. Technically it's not a holiday
tomorrow, May 4, but because it is sandwiched by the May 3 and May 5
holidays, it is declared as a holiday. Thus starting from the April 29
holiday (Greenery day) upto May 5 (Children's day), it is called "the
Golden Week," which a lot of Japanese take as one long holiday. Some
companies however, mostly those based in Tokyo, and some researchers also,
do not take these holidays or all of them off. I guess, the same is true
for some people back home.

Anyway, it was 7:45 already when I left the university, and Sekichu closes
at 8pm! So I rode the bicycle as fast as I can, and I got there probably 2
minutes before closing time. That was a 13-minute bicycle ride; it was
actually one of my best record times (I think I previously made it in
12-minutes from the apartment to the school).

So I got my usual discounted meals. Oh, I had just instant noodles and a
small can of tuna for lunch so I ate a lot for dinner: 3 ulams and 3
rice! I didn't have any room for the strawberries I bought. Oh well, I am
very satisfied, now I really feel like sleeping early. So off to sleep I
go now! 'Til next!

TIRED! (MAY-2)

I still feel tired. This morning, I did some laundry and some apartment cleaning. Went by bicycle to the grocery. Was going home by bicycle, but it turned out that it cannot carry my weight as well as the groceries. So I parked the bicycle somewhere near the grocery, brought the groceries home, and got back to the bicycle, and then went to the university to type-up my write-ups for April 29 to today for my blog. I still feel so very tired. I think I'll go home and I'll have a heavy dinner. I plan to go to Yokohama within the next three days.

Until may energy na ulit ako! :-)

Tokyo Day 3 (MAY-1)

Breakfast at Danny's, and at around 10am, off to Korakuen beside the Tokyo
Dome. It's a big Japanese-style garden (park).

Then we had an American lunch at Becker's (Burger, salad, and Cora, or
Coca-Cola for me).

Then off to Roponggi Hills we went for the Tokyo City View... And the Mori
Art Museum, and the Museum for the Future of Urban Infrastructure?

Last stop was Harajuku. Then I parted ways with Danny and his son Dalan at
Shinjuku station where they still had to get some more of Dalan's school
things. Got back to Hon-Atsugi at around 7pm na.

I was so very tired. I passed by the University pa to check lang for
e-mails. Then Pillai-san and Giang-san invited me for dinner and drinks at
their apartment. Pillai-san prepared some Indian food (I liked it a lot)
but it was vegetarian (but I still liked it a lot!). I only had a couple
of glasses of drinks, and got home na to the apartment at a little past
10pm na, very tired (rode the bicycle pa kasi). Then, ayun...

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Tokyo Day 2 (APR-30)

Got up for breakfast with Danny's family, and then Danny went to his lab
for the day, Silahis and Dalan (his wife and little boy) went out for
shopping for Dalan's day-care-center stuff, and I went to Ueno station to
meet with a friend.

I met with Elaine at around 1130am already. We were supposed to meet at
9am, but, as usual, I was lost. (Tanga na ba masyado? =)

Actually, my friend Rad who has helped me so much to prepare for my trip
here introduced me "electronically" to Elaine. Elaine and I communicated
lang by e-mail and actually it was the first time we actually met in person.

Anyway, I really thank her very much because she was patient enough to wait
almost three hours! Finally, she found me wondering around in front of the
public payphones and vending machines.

Well our first stop was the Ueno Ameyoko Market where basically window
shopping lang ang ginawa namin. Meron doon na parang "1000 Yen Chocolates"
na basically, the sales people will sell a bag of chocolates for 1000 Yen,
and if you are not satisfied, you can try to ask them to add more
chocolates in the bag! Anyway, they were selling western (mostly American)
chocolates so I did not get nor do I plan to get in the future. Shempre,
andito lang din ako, Japanese chocolates na lang ang kukunin ko! =)

Then we ate at this place which sells a 10-piece-Gyoza meal (with rice and
soup and some side dish) for only 700 Yen. Quite cheap! But don't try to
convert that to PhP, mahal pa din ang dating. =)

After the Gyoza meal, we went to Ueno zoo. First time I think I saw a
Panda! Lots of fascinating animals... Check out the pictures na lang. :-)

Then we commuted again to Asakusa. First we passed by a bridge overlooking
I think the Asahi Breweries Building and the Azumabashi Building. Check
out the picture. The weird gold shape - which I thought was a flame - is
supposed to be a cloud (on the Azumabashi bldg). The other building is
supposed to be like a mug full of beer (the Asahi bldg).

Then we went to the Sensoji Temple. Just before the temple, there are lots
of shops, where, as usual, I went window shopping. Then, the Sensoji
Temple. Check out the pictures!

Oh, at Asakusa, I had a taste of a Japanese soda (similar to Sprite or
Mountain Dew) inside a traditional softdrink bottle. There's a ball inside
the bottle that supposedly if you turn the bottle incorrectly, the ball
will block the flow of the drink. Well, it didn't work, but the soda, at
200 Yen if I remember correctly was quite refreshing nonetheless.

Last stop for the night was Akihabara, the "Electronic City." Lots of
shops selling all kinds of electronics, new and second-hand. Well, I
didn't really have budget yet for electronics so... Anyway, I saw this
second-hand Canon digital camera (2 MegaPixel) for just below Y9000...

We had dinner at Yoshinoya in Akihabara. It's just unfortunate that I
haven't tried Yoshinoya in the Philippines before! But Elaine said that
it's better in Japan! hehe.

I went back to Danny's apartment na din. But... I forgot Danny's
apartment number! I was trying to call him on his cellphone but I didn't
understand a word the operator was saying in the payphone! Luckily, my
visual memory brought me to his unit without committing the mistake of
knocking on someone else's door.

So, until next day again!

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