Hey Peepz! Finally accumulated enough photos to warrant a posting! Just some of the more interesting parts of my regular life in Japan.
This is the Japanese Airlines Urayasu Dormitary. This is where I stay. Its a dorm mainly for the employees of JAL, as well as its dedicated rugby team. I stay on the fifth floor somewhere on the left end.
Every morning, I take a 15 to 20 minute hike to the train station. 15 minute by Tokyo speed, and 20 minute by Singapore leisurely walking speed. This picture is the first leg of the hike.
This is the second leg.
This is the third leg. An unlit, open corridor. Is rather cold and dark when I return at night. It gets pretty freaky when someone decides to take a stroll at night. I sees these moving shadows but don't know who they are or what they are doing.
The fourth leg. A rather scenic corridor. As I go towards the station, students in all shapes and sizes in all sorts of clothes or the lack of them, from the nearby Meikai University walk past me.
Autumn is browning the leaves rather quickly.
The fifth leg. I get to the shopping centres and just beyond them is the train station.
Took some random pictures of my room. Today, I'm featuring my toilet!
Picked up the towel hanger from the 100 yen shop. Picked up the Snoopy towel from the trash of a tenant that recently moved out. It was still packed and unused when I found it. How convenient!
My toiletries basket! From left to right: Hand soap, dish washing detergent, Bosch and Lomb saline solution, Keihls hair styling cream, Keihls moisturizer 1, Keihls moisturizer 2, Keihls toner, Oral B floss, Listerine mouth wash, Johnson and Johnson's body moisturizer, toilet paper, toilet deodorant and facial cottons.
Trying to keep moisturized! The air in Japan right now is cold and rather arid. So one tends to moisturize rather frequently. Especially the lips. Some shops sell lip moisturizers in huge sticks, or in multiples of 5s. This is pretty indicative of how much moisturizing a typical Japanese needs to maintain their rather beautiful complexions.
I could not resist buying this huge honey grapes. Compare the individual grapes with the Singapore one dollar coin... They were huge and sweet!
Another marvelous invention: the water proofer. I spray this on my shoes to guard against the rain.
Bought a pair of gloves for 15o0 yen from Uniqlo. I typically cant feel my hands or my face when I reach back the dorm after the 20 minute walk in the cold wind from the station.
Another great invention, the ear digger with spiral ends!
And lastly, dedicated coin boxes for my coin denominations. Japan uses ALOT of coins. And these boxes are made just to fit in the different coins! Very useful and handy!
Met Teddy, Benny and Paul for lunch. Ted and Ben were in Tokyo for a holiday. They were going to meet Paul. I just happened to be invited to a very nice meal at an izakaya. This is crab in a shell on a hot stove.
My first sushi!
Crispy onigiri! Yum!
Went to Michael's dorm to be a spectator his dorm's annual kibasen competition. The men have to be shirtless to play this rather rough sport of body tug-o-war. Michael warms up for the first game.
And everyone typically decorates their body with salacious or menacing words. In this case, humourous. Michael had "Free Hug" written on him, while his friend had "Sex Bomb" and when you put both of them together and read the words horizontally, you get guffaws of laughter.
The general carries the flag and rallies the residents of North Wing together.
The North Wing war cry.
"We are going to pounce on them like tigers! purrr..."
The generals of the South Wing and West Wing shake hands on top of their "horses."
The game, Kibasen goes like this. Guys in groups of 4, form a "horse" and a "rider." There are two opposing camps. Each team is divided into the attacking force and the defending force. The defending force surrounds their general and put up a fortress to protect their general. The attacking force tears down the opposing team's defending force to get to their general. The first team that forces the other's general onto the ground wins.
The attacking tactic, is to force individual horses and their rider out of their fortress by forcefully pulling them out. And the force the rider onto the grown as seen below.
As the rider tugs and pulls, the three men below, the horse, is to ensure that the rider does not fall down or gets thrown to the ground. If any one of the three men falls or touches the ground with any part of their body besides their feet, he is disqualified, leaving the rider with only two guys to form the horse. If one more guy below is disqualified, the rider is left with one guy below him to support him on his back or shoulders. If the rider is pushed to the grown, the entire team of 4 gets disqualified.
The game is rather ruthless and violent, riders engage in pulls, pulls, and resistance; while the horses below engage in their own violent, and rather clandestine punches, scratches and screeches.
In this first game, the North Wing's attacking force broke through the West Wing's fortress to get to the general.
And all at once, three teams attacked the general simultaneously and won.
At the end of the game, the two teams face each other. The losing general offers his congratulations to the winning team, while the winning general offers his thanks
And each team sings their own war cry, claps and bows.
And that was the end of the first game. There were 12 games, as there were 4 Wings. Each wing fights the other 3 wings once. It went on until at night.
It was very exciting! Alumni, friends and parents all came down to cheer on their juniors, friends and sons.
Went to Shinagawa to apply for my work permit.
Shinagawa is a major intersecting station for many train lines, as well as financial buildings.
The good thing about Japan, for travelers, is that there are a lot of directional signages that include English.
Participated in the Waseda Sports Day! Went for 2 hour introductory classes for Gymnastics and Aikido! Boy, did I learn much! Am thinking of doing Aikido after I get back home! Got a body deodorant and a Sports Centre flag for my participation. Because I participated in two classes, I got two sets!
Went to watch a Noh performance at Kagurazaka. My friend Emi was performing. But I did not manage to catch her act because I had to go back school for lessons.
I did managed to catch the comedic part of the Noh performance though. Unfortunately I did not understand a single Japanese they said.
The stage was pretty impressive though! It was a pavilion WITHIN a theatre. And with traditional Japanese motifs, no less.
The Singaporeans at the Nishi-Waseda dorm, an international students dorm not far from school, invited me to their hot pot dinner! Aik Heng bought the pot!
So Siyun, Choon Meng, Yiting and Aik Heng (in red) cooked up a storm!
It was really fun to eat with them! Thinking we might do this more often.
I went to the areas outside of Disney to do a field work homework!
Kids playing at a fountain.
Disney greets the incoming commuters and visitors.
Below are bronze statues of famous Disney cartoon characters that lined the bridge that led to Disneyland.
Mickey Mouse with wide open arms.
Minnie, thinking of her Mickey.
Donald Duck beckons!
As Daisy Duck gets surprised!
Goofy wonders what is going on!
So Pinnochio tells Jimmy T Cricket.
The White Rabbit (is that his name?) checks to make sure he has enough time.
Tinkerbell says, "Yes!" And do you know that Tinkerbell has gotten her own full length movie?
I dunno who this is, but he looks all ready to go!
So is Dumbo and his mouse friend!
And who is this?!
Pluto just sticks his tongue out at quizzical me.
The festivity of Halloween and Christmas fills the air.
Lastly, Mickey and Minnie invites the guests to stay in the luxurious Disney Resort.
I wonder if I will ever get to stay in there!
