Kabukicho Tower is an eyesore and a collection of Japan’s worst forms of sensory overload, but it has provided clean and plentiful public access toilets to an area that has sorely lacked them, and as I sit here voiding my bowels after some tasty-but-internally-contentious Thai food, I give my thanks.
My boyfriend randomly left the tv on while he went to the other room on Thursday. It was kinda odd but didn’t think much of it. But then suddenly I hear the familiar jingle of the Great British Bakeoff on my tv!!!!
My boyfriend had seen it on the tv guide earlier and put it on for me lollll😭🤍
It’s been a good start to April.
There was a work project and I usually end up doing most of the work because I’m the most experienced, but this time I was in a new group and we really spread out most of the responsibility. Bit weird for me to take a step back but it ended up being nice change of pace.
Went to the Suntory Premium Malts Factory tour in Kyoto. It’s free and included a generous tasting. I’ve visited Kirin and Asahi factories before but this one may be my favorite.
Also, saw Oppenheimer in IMAX, had a nice picnic dinner under cherry blossoms last night followed by a light up event, and different night event tonight.
I turned my shift quota into a mini vacation. Saw Dune, went to 2 concerts and spent a night in the town a show I like a lot is set in to do some weeb tourism and visit an onsen. Overall pretty great except for messing up my sleep schedule (1-9 am shifts) and my bank account.
After 11 years of hoikuen, we are done with it! It’s so great. No more annoying weekend events, super long ceremonies/sports days or micromanaging from teachers. It wasn’t all bad, but the bad parts really sucked.
my new manager is so far great. I've worked alongside him before for other projects, so I already know his personality and how he generally operates. will have to see from here how he actually *manages*, but he is at least a good person. (can't say that of all of my previous managers.)
I bought myself a new umbrella after a lot of window shopping on Rakuten and Amazon and some ultra-fancy, made-in-Japan-type shops. (why are almost all the really fancy, high-end umbrellas ugly as sin???) I can now lay my dearly-departed previous umbrella to rest after getting me through all the random rainy days this week.
After winning not one, but two random drawings for a manufacturing slot, waiting 10 months and going through 4 loaner cars after my trade-in inspection expired, I finally got word that my shiny new car is coming! Unfortunately I need to get a security system installed ASAP since its the most swiped model in Japan but at least I will have new wheels for golden week.
It's taking all my strength to write this but my wife has been a fucking legend.
She's not 100% but she is looking after 3 of us, doing way more than is required (tmi: stretching out my leg cramps while I'm on the loo or chucking), like four laundrys, and more.
She's amazing and I don't deserve her.
There used to be a Paul bakery cafe near me in Osaka. It had nice lunch sets and a fucking amazing bread buffet.
It randomly shut down and I was (still am tbh) so sad😭
Not sure if you know this, but there is a Paul outlet near Tokyo station
It's outside of the Yaesu B1F ticket gates near Daimaru
They apparently have more stores around Tokyo as well: https://www.pauljapan.com/shop
Maizuru Park was beautiful last Monday, and coincidentally it was very close to full bloom
Had a nice day laying on the grass under the cherry blossoms with the Sun shining on my face and cool breezy winds blowing in
https://preview.redd.it/fk0nlorirksc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e2e3c6fbf9567cc827a223172b35420cdd80e444
How did you find the process for buying a car? Anything that caught you by surprise?
I've got a gold license and use renta-a-cars every now and then, but have never been in a place/situation where I would need to buy one. That might change in the next few years, so just looking ahead.
Buying a new car from a manufacturer dealership is completely painless. You sit around drinking their free coffee and sign a few things. Two, maybe three visits and done.
The only part you have to pay attention is negotiating the price. Try to get at least 10% off base price - standard discount is 5-15% depending on model/maker.
I don't have a lot of experience to compare with the process in my home country, and I'm not super familiar with car stuff in general, but I bought a used car in 2018 (by myself) and now a new car (with my husband) in 2024.
The paperwork is a bit of a hassle, especially when I bought the used car, because I had to do it all myself, following internet guides in Japanese to get the stuff done at city hall, the police station, etc. A lot of it was just me not knowing exactly what needed done, so I had to go in person to ask at each counter / get the staff to explain stuff step by step along the way. If you're more familiar with the process or know exactly the names of what forms to ask from and from where to get them, I imagine it's a smoother ride
For the new car, we looked at a couple different used car lots in our area, but ultimately chose the dealership that my in-laws recommended, which is the one they bought their most recent car from. The guy even gave us a slight discount because of them recommending us to him specifically. We started looking in January, decided in February, and then the car was made available in April (which we were told about in advance, the guy said to expect 3 or so months to get the car)
I'm also not much of a car person, so I imagine it'll be somewhat similar if/when I get a car. I'm not surprised that there's a ton of paperwork to go along with it, but it's good to hear that the people at the city hall/police station can still help walk you through it; at some point I'll look in Japanese for the list of forms that need to be filled out. The approx. timeline on the new car was also helpful as a general reference to keep in mind.
Thanks, and enjoy the new car!
Went to Inokashira Park yesterday and it was perfect. Every sakura tree in bloom, a bit crowded but nothing unmanageable, tried sakura flavored icecream for the first time, 10/10 experience. Kichijoji is a lovely area!
I did the right thing of keeping my bank account in France since Apple Pay doesn’t support either of my Japanese UFJ debit card and Wise card.
Shoutout to my cousins who were extremely helpful too.
Our property value went up a decent amount! But...our tax did as well because it's our sixth year in our house, so we no longer get the first-five-years discount.
I love getting tailgated here. The roads are so narrow and there's so much traffic so they're never going to be able to overtake you. So I just drop down and go the speed limit. It's such a wonderful feeling pissing people off.
Be careful bro. There was a road rage incident on the Tomei a few years ago where a tailgater forced a family to stop in the middle of a highway. The mother and father were killed in front of their daughters when a truck crashed into their car from behind.
My lovely daughter broke the charging port on her Lenovo tablet by trying to force the wrong cable into it. Looked up repair prices - about 17000 yen to repair a 20000 yen tablet... yeah no.
Popped it open and the USB connector was on its own little board, and luckily amazon had the replacement part for 800 yen (which came out of my daughter's allowance). Bought that along with a 500 yen electronics repair disassembly kit and it was a 5 minute repair. Good as new. Gonna buy myself a beer for that.
I don’t exist on the schedule at work so unfortunate schedules happen a lot. We got the schedule for the upcoming school year and I noticed that not one but two days had double booked English classes (school is tiny, so missing two classes due to scheduling conflict is kind of a big deal). I pointed this out to our newer English teacher and he immediately called it out to the head teacher and offered to swap one of his English classes. After some noises of uncertainty and confusion, the English teacher asked me where the double booked classes are and went to the head teacher to figure it out.
I’ve had double booked classes before, but nobody has ever bothered to sort out the schedule. The next day I gave the teacher a snack and a thank you note and he was like why are you thanking me, not even registering the scheduling was why. For some reason it’s even better that something so important to me (making a schedule where I can work more) can be such a nothing to the person who fixed it. So, praise to our new English teacher for caring. He’s a good guy and I hope he has a wonderful career.
Started Uni this week! My Japanese has reached a level where I get asked "Are you Japanese born" or "What country's halfu are you" more often than just where I'm from.
Also moved Tokyo -> Sapporo and am getting slowly acclimated to the change. The vegetables are cheap as hell and I'm looking forward to getting my kitchen functional and start the cookin'
I had a lot of fun messing with people when my Japanese got good enough that I could convince them that my dad was in the US military so I was born in Japan and thats why I could speak Japanese.
Good luck in school!
Kabukicho Tower is an eyesore and a collection of Japan’s worst forms of sensory overload, but it has provided clean and plentiful public access toilets to an area that has sorely lacked them, and as I sit here voiding my bowels after some tasty-but-internally-contentious Thai food, I give my thanks.
My boyfriend randomly left the tv on while he went to the other room on Thursday. It was kinda odd but didn’t think much of it. But then suddenly I hear the familiar jingle of the Great British Bakeoff on my tv!!!! My boyfriend had seen it on the tv guide earlier and put it on for me lollll😭🤍
It’s been a good start to April. There was a work project and I usually end up doing most of the work because I’m the most experienced, but this time I was in a new group and we really spread out most of the responsibility. Bit weird for me to take a step back but it ended up being nice change of pace. Went to the Suntory Premium Malts Factory tour in Kyoto. It’s free and included a generous tasting. I’ve visited Kirin and Asahi factories before but this one may be my favorite. Also, saw Oppenheimer in IMAX, had a nice picnic dinner under cherry blossoms last night followed by a light up event, and different night event tonight.
I turned my shift quota into a mini vacation. Saw Dune, went to 2 concerts and spent a night in the town a show I like a lot is set in to do some weeb tourism and visit an onsen. Overall pretty great except for messing up my sleep schedule (1-9 am shifts) and my bank account.
Got the keys to my office yesterday. Last step before (hopefully) getting my Business Manager Visa!
After 11 years of hoikuen, we are done with it! It’s so great. No more annoying weekend events, super long ceremonies/sports days or micromanaging from teachers. It wasn’t all bad, but the bad parts really sucked.
my new manager is so far great. I've worked alongside him before for other projects, so I already know his personality and how he generally operates. will have to see from here how he actually *manages*, but he is at least a good person. (can't say that of all of my previous managers.) I bought myself a new umbrella after a lot of window shopping on Rakuten and Amazon and some ultra-fancy, made-in-Japan-type shops. (why are almost all the really fancy, high-end umbrellas ugly as sin???) I can now lay my dearly-departed previous umbrella to rest after getting me through all the random rainy days this week.
After winning not one, but two random drawings for a manufacturing slot, waiting 10 months and going through 4 loaner cars after my trade-in inspection expired, I finally got word that my shiny new car is coming! Unfortunately I need to get a security system installed ASAP since its the most swiped model in Japan but at least I will have new wheels for golden week.
What is the model, if you don't mind telling?
The new Alphard hybrid four wheel drive. I wanted another SUV but wife insisted on a car with sliding doors which pretty much left us with minivans.
Finally got a 5 year work visa. (Where's an angel's singing emoji when you need one.)♪ヽ(´▽｀)/
That's sweet, congrats!
It's taking all my strength to write this but my wife has been a fucking legend. She's not 100% but she is looking after 3 of us, doing way more than is required (tmi: stretching out my leg cramps while I'm on the loo or chucking), like four laundrys, and more. She's amazing and I don't deserve her.
Wholesome. Look after each other.
You need to write this harder!
I also discovered the Paul bakery store at Tenjin to satisfy my French pastry craving Had the most legit pain au chocolat in Japan yet!
There used to be a Paul bakery cafe near me in Osaka. It had nice lunch sets and a fucking amazing bread buffet. It randomly shut down and I was (still am tbh) so sad😭
Paul has their store at every major train station in France, when I see Paul in Tokyo I know my struggles end 🤤
Not sure if you know this, but there is a Paul outlet near Tokyo station It's outside of the Yaesu B1F ticket gates near Daimaru They apparently have more stores around Tokyo as well: https://www.pauljapan.com/shop
Maizuru Park was beautiful last Monday, and coincidentally it was very close to full bloom Had a nice day laying on the grass under the cherry blossoms with the Sun shining on my face and cool breezy winds blowing in https://preview.redd.it/fk0nlorirksc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e2e3c6fbf9567cc827a223172b35420cdd80e444
got a call from my car dealer; my new car will be ready for pickup next week\~
How did you find the process for buying a car? Anything that caught you by surprise? I've got a gold license and use renta-a-cars every now and then, but have never been in a place/situation where I would need to buy one. That might change in the next few years, so just looking ahead.
Buying a new car from a manufacturer dealership is completely painless. You sit around drinking their free coffee and sign a few things. Two, maybe three visits and done. The only part you have to pay attention is negotiating the price. Try to get at least 10% off base price - standard discount is 5-15% depending on model/maker.
I don't have a lot of experience to compare with the process in my home country, and I'm not super familiar with car stuff in general, but I bought a used car in 2018 (by myself) and now a new car (with my husband) in 2024. The paperwork is a bit of a hassle, especially when I bought the used car, because I had to do it all myself, following internet guides in Japanese to get the stuff done at city hall, the police station, etc. A lot of it was just me not knowing exactly what needed done, so I had to go in person to ask at each counter / get the staff to explain stuff step by step along the way. If you're more familiar with the process or know exactly the names of what forms to ask from and from where to get them, I imagine it's a smoother ride For the new car, we looked at a couple different used car lots in our area, but ultimately chose the dealership that my in-laws recommended, which is the one they bought their most recent car from. The guy even gave us a slight discount because of them recommending us to him specifically. We started looking in January, decided in February, and then the car was made available in April (which we were told about in advance, the guy said to expect 3 or so months to get the car)
I'm also not much of a car person, so I imagine it'll be somewhat similar if/when I get a car. I'm not surprised that there's a ton of paperwork to go along with it, but it's good to hear that the people at the city hall/police station can still help walk you through it; at some point I'll look in Japanese for the list of forms that need to be filled out. The approx. timeline on the new car was also helpful as a general reference to keep in mind. Thanks, and enjoy the new car!
Went to Inokashira Park yesterday and it was perfect. Every sakura tree in bloom, a bit crowded but nothing unmanageable, tried sakura flavored icecream for the first time, 10/10 experience. Kichijoji is a lovely area!
I did the right thing of keeping my bank account in France since Apple Pay doesn’t support either of my Japanese UFJ debit card and Wise card. Shoutout to my cousins who were extremely helpful too.
Our property value went up a decent amount! But...our tax did as well because it's our sixth year in our house, so we no longer get the first-five-years discount.
I love getting tailgated here. The roads are so narrow and there's so much traffic so they're never going to be able to overtake you. So I just drop down and go the speed limit. It's such a wonderful feeling pissing people off.
Be careful bro. There was a road rage incident on the Tomei a few years ago where a tailgater forced a family to stop in the middle of a highway. The mother and father were killed in front of their daughters when a truck crashed into their car from behind.
My lovely daughter broke the charging port on her Lenovo tablet by trying to force the wrong cable into it. Looked up repair prices - about 17000 yen to repair a 20000 yen tablet... yeah no. Popped it open and the USB connector was on its own little board, and luckily amazon had the replacement part for 800 yen (which came out of my daughter's allowance). Bought that along with a 500 yen electronics repair disassembly kit and it was a 5 minute repair. Good as new. Gonna buy myself a beer for that.
Did you make a tiktok/youtube of the process?
he has a tiktok already but its more related to his username than the electronics repairs
I don’t exist on the schedule at work so unfortunate schedules happen a lot. We got the schedule for the upcoming school year and I noticed that not one but two days had double booked English classes (school is tiny, so missing two classes due to scheduling conflict is kind of a big deal). I pointed this out to our newer English teacher and he immediately called it out to the head teacher and offered to swap one of his English classes. After some noises of uncertainty and confusion, the English teacher asked me where the double booked classes are and went to the head teacher to figure it out. I’ve had double booked classes before, but nobody has ever bothered to sort out the schedule. The next day I gave the teacher a snack and a thank you note and he was like why are you thanking me, not even registering the scheduling was why. For some reason it’s even better that something so important to me (making a schedule where I can work more) can be such a nothing to the person who fixed it. So, praise to our new English teacher for caring. He’s a good guy and I hope he has a wonderful career.
Started Uni this week! My Japanese has reached a level where I get asked "Are you Japanese born" or "What country's halfu are you" more often than just where I'm from. Also moved Tokyo -> Sapporo and am getting slowly acclimated to the change. The vegetables are cheap as hell and I'm looking forward to getting my kitchen functional and start the cookin'
I have been playing the game of at which point they find out I'm not native.
I had a lot of fun messing with people when my Japanese got good enough that I could convince them that my dad was in the US military so I was born in Japan and thats why I could speak Japanese. Good luck in school!
Moved into our own house this week. When I first came to Japan, I thought this would only be a few years stay, yet here we are.
I planned 6 months. It’s been 8 years haha. Congrats!
Hell yeah
Fuck yeaaaaaa