Vrijdag 1 januari 2010, 06:05
Another year, another decade. A full year in Japan. Last time I went to Holland, it was in the Christmas of 2008, and I came back to Japan on December 29th of 2008. This means I have been in Japan all the time for one year, and it feels good!
The last quarter of 2009 has been a quarter full of changes. I started my new job in November as a PHP programmer, and I am enjoying it very much. The company is a Japanese company, led by a New Zealander. The foreigner - Japanese nationals ratio is about 50-50, so a mix of Japanese and English is being used. I am responsible for a new project, an online service system that needs to be online on April 1st, and it is going well, so far.
This is what it looks like in the late afternoon from my desk!
End of November, I went to a soccer match in the J-League, in Choufu, a suburb in Tokyo. It was the F.C. Tokyo vs Kobe match. A friend of mine had free tickets and invited me and some other friends to come along. It was great fun, watching soccer live in the stadium while talking together. After the match, we went to a local okonomiyaki restaurant for a nice meal together. Check the photo album!
December was a busy month. I decided to move to a bigger apartment which became available in the building next door. I invited some friends for a game evening on Tuesday the 22nd of December because the next day would be a holiday (天皇誕生日, the Emperor's birthday). I had translated the rules of the Lord of the Rings board game into Japanese, and we played a few games. The first game was a total failure, defeated by Sauron within 10 minutes. So we tried another round which went better. The friends enjoyed it, although it was quite hard to follow the game because of the Dutch prints, but I guess after playing the game a few times, they will get used to it.
The friends stayed overnight, and the next day they helped me with moving the stuff from the old apartment to the new one. We started at 10.30 in the morning after I picked up the keys at Sakura House office in Shinjuku early in the morning, and we were done moving the stuff at 13.00 in the afternoon. Then we went to have some lunch and they went back home. I continued the moving process: I had to clean up my old room before checking out the next day. Luckily, another friend offered me to help with cleaning up the room and we were done pretty quickly! Friends are a grateful blessing! Thank you everybody!
The checkout process went very smoothly, and there were no problems. I fixed up my new apartment the next days, and it looks very clean and slick, with the new desk standing in place too! I went to a home-center close by (JP), and bought a low table there for the coming New Year's Eve party that I was going to hold. I was planning to hold a nabe party and invite some friends, just like S. did last year. For that I needed a low table, some sitting cushions (座布団, zafuton), a gas pit, and a bowl. One of the friends I invited, offered to bring her bowl, and I bought the gas pit myself since I needed another one anyway (one gas pit is a bit too few to do any decent Dutch cooking!).
The 31st of December, we gathered at my house and ate kimchi nabe with pieces of pork meat and stuff. It was great and we had good fun. Later in the evening, 2 more people joined us, one of them is from New Zealand, and he was in Japan for holidays. We had lots of drinks and food, and did the countdown together.
At around 2 in the night, we headed for the local shrine, the Fukagawa Fudoudou (深川不動堂, JP), a branch temple near Monzen Nakachou. This tradition is called 初詣, hatsumoude, the first shrine visit of the year, and it is done on New Year's day, and mostly also on a few days after New Year's day, before work starts again.
We did our wishes at Fukagawa Fudoudou, and then we headed for the Tomioka Hachimanguu (富岡八幡宮), which holds the biggest omikoshi (portable shrine) in Japan. I watched it being carried last summer!
And now it is the start of a new decade. Year of the Tiger! May it be a fruitful year full of new adventures for all of you!
The last quarter of 2009 has been a quarter full of changes. I started my new job in November as a PHP programmer, and I am enjoying it very much. The company is a Japanese company, led by a New Zealander. The foreigner - Japanese nationals ratio is about 50-50, so a mix of Japanese and English is being used. I am responsible for a new project, an online service system that needs to be online on April 1st, and it is going well, so far.
This is what it looks like in the late afternoon from my desk!
End of November, I went to a soccer match in the J-League, in Choufu, a suburb in Tokyo. It was the F.C. Tokyo vs Kobe match. A friend of mine had free tickets and invited me and some other friends to come along. It was great fun, watching soccer live in the stadium while talking together. After the match, we went to a local okonomiyaki restaurant for a nice meal together. Check the photo album!
December was a busy month. I decided to move to a bigger apartment which became available in the building next door. I invited some friends for a game evening on Tuesday the 22nd of December because the next day would be a holiday (天皇誕生日, the Emperor's birthday). I had translated the rules of the Lord of the Rings board game into Japanese, and we played a few games. The first game was a total failure, defeated by Sauron within 10 minutes. So we tried another round which went better. The friends enjoyed it, although it was quite hard to follow the game because of the Dutch prints, but I guess after playing the game a few times, they will get used to it.
The friends stayed overnight, and the next day they helped me with moving the stuff from the old apartment to the new one. We started at 10.30 in the morning after I picked up the keys at Sakura House office in Shinjuku early in the morning, and we were done moving the stuff at 13.00 in the afternoon. Then we went to have some lunch and they went back home. I continued the moving process: I had to clean up my old room before checking out the next day. Luckily, another friend offered me to help with cleaning up the room and we were done pretty quickly! Friends are a grateful blessing! Thank you everybody!
The checkout process went very smoothly, and there were no problems. I fixed up my new apartment the next days, and it looks very clean and slick, with the new desk standing in place too! I went to a home-center close by (JP), and bought a low table there for the coming New Year's Eve party that I was going to hold. I was planning to hold a nabe party and invite some friends, just like S. did last year. For that I needed a low table, some sitting cushions (座布団, zafuton), a gas pit, and a bowl. One of the friends I invited, offered to bring her bowl, and I bought the gas pit myself since I needed another one anyway (one gas pit is a bit too few to do any decent Dutch cooking!).
The 31st of December, we gathered at my house and ate kimchi nabe with pieces of pork meat and stuff. It was great and we had good fun. Later in the evening, 2 more people joined us, one of them is from New Zealand, and he was in Japan for holidays. We had lots of drinks and food, and did the countdown together.
At around 2 in the night, we headed for the local shrine, the Fukagawa Fudoudou (深川不動堂, JP), a branch temple near Monzen Nakachou. This tradition is called 初詣, hatsumoude, the first shrine visit of the year, and it is done on New Year's day, and mostly also on a few days after New Year's day, before work starts again.
We did our wishes at Fukagawa Fudoudou, and then we headed for the Tomioka Hachimanguu (富岡八幡宮), which holds the biggest omikoshi (portable shrine) in Japan. I watched it being carried last summer!
And now it is the start of a new decade. Year of the Tiger! May it be a fruitful year full of new adventures for all of you!
Edmond: It was nice to spend that night with you and the rest! We should do this more often, not only on New Year's Eve. Thanks for coming! We will see each other again at DPHH this Friday!”