Brush with fame

This photo is stolen directly from Lacie's blog (I like to call her Racy; much better nickname than Arexis). http://konichiwhaaaaat.blogspot.com/

After last weekend's Comedy show (see January 25th post), I was interviewed for Japanese TV. Truthfully, I wanted to tell them that I thought it was horrible but the star in me came out and I gave a compelling review of the show. This will be, in fact, the second time I will be on Japanese TV. I am such a star!

I should probably change the name of my blog

Because I am going to Ireland!

I will be working at the National University of Ireland in Galway for the Centre for Disabilities Law and Policy. I will be there from June until August. Life is crazy sometimes.

Views from around my apartment

I basically live right next to a highway. But I love it!

View from my balcony

Business Cards!

I am officially working in Japan now. I now have my very own business cards. These are the first business cards that I have ever had so it is kind of exciting for me. My title is Secretary and Research Assistant. Well, I am not really a secretary and I don't really do that much research but that is ok. It is just exciting to see my name on a card!

Out in Shibuya

Last week I swore off Tokyo clubs. This week I found myself in a club in Shibuya for the better part of a night. It was actually a lot of fun. A little dancing never hurt anyone, I suppose.

Crowd view
Lacie, Me and Jenni

Sake to me

Temple sponsored a sake lecture, saking and cultural show on Saturday night. There was a famous sake expert who told us all about sake and then we got to try some of them. Here pictures is Monique, Lacie, Jim and Me
Lacie, Vicki and Me
Jenni, Dena, Me, Jim, Mike and Lacie
Temple University!

Comedy Show!

What to do in Tokyo on a Friday night? Why go to a foreigner club and watch a Comedy show in English! A bunch of us headed to Shibuya on Friday night for what might have been the worst night of comedy that I have ever seen. The first hour was stand up comedy with all comedians whose jokes were just not that funny. In a room of mostly tourists and people new to Japan, they mixed Japanese and English (so most of the jokes flopped as the people could not understand them) or made observations about Japan that were either so obvious that they were not funny or so obscure that no one got it. The only mildly funny part was the group that came out with doll heads on the front and black gloves that they used to come "hair" so that it looked like different famous people (sort of). But it was actually fun night- good company and the "mushroom pasta" (that had bacon on it) was delicious.
Temple kiddies: Cammie, Mercedes, Lacie, Jenni, Yemi, Me, David and David

Vicki, Yemi, Matt, Sherry and Yemi

Three Weeks in

Three weeks into my time in Japan.... the excitement of sushi and rice is wearing off a little. And now I want pizza, and Dunkin Donuts coffee and a big sandwich. Tokyo is pretty good for foreign foods but, of course, nothing compare to what you actually get at home (and there is no substitution for DD coffee). And then Matthew decides to send me a link to his blog which has pictures of the most delicious looking pizza ever. Matt makes delicious pizza. I want pizza.

http://mpjapalmer.blogspot.com/

Is that sushi in your pocket or are you just happy to sashimi?

It has been a busy week. Between working, going to school, studying and keeping up with my busy social life, I find myself running around nonstop most days. But I am loving it! I am working at a small Japanese law firm that specializes in general commercial and corporate transactions for international clients in Japan. I do a lot of legal editing- basically I read over what they have written in English and edit it! I also talk to people a lot. The staff is very friendly and most of them really want to learn English so they ask me lots of questions. I am also taking four classes at Temple: International Dispute Resolution, Japanese Law, International Contract Drafting and Comparative Immigration. The classes are all interesting and I am enjoying the reading. I have also been making friends with the other students in my program. I have somehow ended up clicking with a group of people where no one really speaks much Japanese. So I have been doing a lot of translating at restaurants (because, as anyone who knows my Japanese ability knows, I may not be able to have basic conversations in Japanese some times but I am fluent in food!) which is fun. Here is a random splattering of photos taken from other people recently:

Out dancing in Roppongi. The club was so crowded that you could barely dance and forget about trying to get a drink at the bar. You couldn't even walk across the room. I won't be going back.

Out salsa dancing for Vicki's birthday (who is not even pictured here!)

At my apartment before going out.

It can be hard to find restaurants that will take over 10 people. But this sushi restaurant was nice enough to let us take over nearly the whole back part.

Sushi!

Mayumi and Paul's Wedding

My friend, Mayumi, that I met in Kanazawa recently married an American named Paul. They met briefly in Kanazawa and then started dating when Mayumi was living in Vancouver and Paul was in Oregon. They will be moving to Hawaii soon to start their lives together! Today they had a lovely wedding party- it was an "American style" Japanese reception of sorts. Lots of lovely food and drink and, of course, karaoke!

Father/daughter dance? No. Father daughter karaoke!

Mayumi singing to Paul

Poor Paul doesn't speak a word of Japanese and had to sing a song in front of the whole group (in English)

Me, Paul, Mayumi, Yukie and Yoshiko (two other friends from KZ)

Me, Yukie and Davin (another friend from Kanazawa)

Cutting the cake (with explanation about how this is traditionally done in America and then people feed the cake to each other)

They had a storyteller but truthfully I couldn't understand him. People were rolling on the floor with laughter but Davin said he was really funny. Japanese humor, I guess.

They read "vows" of some sort to each other- Mayumi in English and Paul in Japanese.

Sumo Tournament

Temple organized a trip to a sumo tournament so I went on Saturday.

Some photos:

American Cobb Salad

The "American Cobb Salad" that I ate for lunch consisted of lettuce, potatoes, corn, squash, and soy beans with an "American dressing" that tasted just like Russian dressing.

Tokyo Disneyland

Fiona and I went to Tokyo Disneyland on Saturday and had a ball!

Gyoza Stadium

After visiting the Imperial Palace, we headed over to Ikebukuro to go to Gyoza Stadium, a collection of fried dumpling vendors located inside an indoor amusement park called Sunshine City. There were rows upon rows of different kinds of fried dumpings. Fiona and I tried the sesame ones and the black miso ones.