The End

Well then, 久しぶり. Or long time no see!

I FINALLY remember to make this post in this blog. The final post.

There is just simply no time at all to maintain this blog as my life is very busy. Also there isnt really too much to write in it anyways now-a-days. Some stuff for sure, but not tonnes. Therefore, this is a post to say that you may stop watching for updates here.
Sorry it took so long to do this post...
If you want to contact me to ask about whatever. You can either email me or send me a message on Facebook, Orkut, or any other place you know that I'm hidden on the internet.

Well, I suppose I'll just add the one thing that is KINDA important :)
On the 19th of December (Most of your's 18th), Asako and I will be legally married. I say legally as it is not a marriage in the Catholic church and just simply a signing of papers. The Catholic ceremony will be later at the end of April in Quesnel, Canada. More details for people later as they come. However I will tell you now that both Asako and I do not want a particularily large wedding, and therefore we would prefer there to not be many people there. But we'll see what happens when the time comes.

Well, thanks for watching this page, or just throwing it in your RSS feeds and waiting ;)

Thanks, Bye.

My poor computer

Well, my computers lifeline looks pretty thin right now. About 98% of the time, it doesnt even get to the bios loading screen (The logo of the laptop maker at startup). This is very bad... And IF it does start, it usually dies in the middle of doing something.

SO now Im in a pickle. I kinda need a computer, however Asako has a computer too... though its older and has Windows on it and cant really do the things that I need to do on a computer (like programming, and using linux). SO Im looking, just looking for now, at second hand UMPCs. Ultra Mobile PCs. VERY small, usually with a touch screen and such computers. They look wonderfully useful.

BUT they cost money, as does everything. So I need to decide what to do exactly...

お久しぶり! (Long time no see!)

Well, I'm sorry for not blogging in a REALLY long time... however I've been quite busy at work... like, leave home at 8:15 come back at 10 or later some nights... However we are nearing the end of our project and will then go back to regular hours again :)

Anyways! Life is good! I've moved now to 八丁堀, Hatchoubori, which is quite close to Tokyo Station, in the middle of downtown Tokyo. However, it is quite quiet here and beside a river, 新川 (Shinkawa, New River) and so has a nice view too. I'm on the 6th floor, and living with my girlfriend now.

On bad news, my Work Visa application was rejected... which means I have two things that could happen... One is that I go back to Canada on October 28th as that is when my Working Holiday Visa runs out. The other option is that if I get married before then, I can get a Spousal Visa. I do not know which of those two outcomes will happen yet, I'm going to let time play that game for a little bit longer before deciding anything.

My computer is.... slowly dying it seems. Sometimes it doesn't start up at all, sometimes it does, sometimes it does but is really slow. It seems like its related to power somehow... maybe something short circuited slightly?... If it dies... thats terrible... as its a big hole in my wallet as I kinda need a computer...

Well, I must be off to work now, glad I could finally blog again. :)

Busy busy busy

Well, thought I'd just update on life :). No pictures... just life :)

First of all, my development team and I from work are moving to the clients (our software for for a client, not our own software) company to finish the project. It is a subsidiary of Canon Inc, you know, the big printer and such company. This company handles various inside working for Canon. And we are making something for them. Anyways, it's in Tamachi, very close to my current home! yay! No more looong ride to and from work :). It's a VERY Japanese and high quality business, so all suits, ties, etc... if you are in the meeting or manager side of things, or just nice dress shirt, etc... if regular employee.

However, I am becoming a bit more important in my job... and so I fall in to the first half of the kinds of people. Yup, today... I was in meetings the WHOLE day... First time experience for something like that for me. It was all in Japanese too, which of course, was kind of difficult, but apparently my Japanese is getting better, as I could understand most of what was being said, as goes for my huge note list......... *sigh *.

SO I've gone shopping already last weekend for business clothes and shoes, which I bought a couple of, BUT now I need to go buy more... THIS time a suit.... >.< Good bye Canadian money... :P

Big update!

Ya... so I suck at keeping blogs up to date... But, this time I DO have an excuse...
When you wake up at 8:21 AM, leave for work at 8:40, travel on trains until 9:45, walk until 10:00, work until 7:00 PM (or sometimes until 8 or later), walk until 7:15 (of course, this depends on how late I work), train until 8:10 usually, hang out with girlfriend until 9:40ish, train back home at about 10:15 PM, find a place to eat (usually Ramen, or some sort of Don, or curry), then go home and get home at about 11:00ish, maybe a little bit earlier... AND then repeat the next day :).... well, you don't really feel like writing a blog :D haha.

But! It's the weekend, and I'm not doing a whole bunch this weekend... so here you go.
First of all, pictures!!! Lots of em! Go look in the Tokyo folder, and you'll find many new pics of Sakura Tree's blossoming (お花見, or ohanami). Next of all, Gunma! Yes! I went to Gunma a few weeks ago with my 2 good Japanese guy friends... or rather, I met them there... since that's there home place. Then we have Chiba, two new panoramic pics from my phone there. And then I've added a folder for Kanagawa prefecture. Which is just south of Tokyo, with Yokohama (and Ichigao, my work place ), along with many other beautiful places. Two pictures were added there.

So! お花見！ ohanami. A time when millions and millions and millions of Japanese and 外国人 (gaikokujin, or foriengers) come and see the Cherry Blossoms (Sakura, 桜) bloom. It was a very nice and beautiful thing :). Everyone goes to big parks usually with their companies or friends for a 飲み会 (nomikai, which directly translates as Drinking Meeting, but really means drinking party.) Yes, you are allowed to drink in public anywhere in Japan. So that was fun :). We had some other foriegners from Holland join us. They were just visiting Japan.

In gunma, I was basically just showed around Gunma a bunch from Kohei and Kenta, my two best Japanese male friends. We went to an Onsen though! ahhhh, those are always wonderful. No pictures of the onsen.... which might be good... haha, but there are lots of pics from elsewhere. :)

My job is going very well. I am enjoying it very much and can see myself staying there and trying to advance myself a long way inside of it. I quite look forward to the future now :).

A nice big good update

It's been a while :)

Reason being I have been VERY busy.

Many things have happened :)

For example...








仕事があるよ！
Or if you can't read Japanese...
I got a job!
That's right, I am now a programmer for the company Saora Inc. I program in mostly Java, javascript, html, xml, SQL, etc... soon I'll be doing some C and C++ too though. It's way down in Yokohama, In 青葉区, or Aoba-ku, or Blue Leaves Ward, at 市ヶ尾駅, or Ichigao Station. So, for the first week that I was there... it was a 3 hour, yes, 3 HOUR trip there and back in the morning and night from Chiba. Therefore...



I moved too :)

I now live in a world famous spot, 六本木, or Roppongi. It is very cityish here. Downtown Tokyo, very busy. Rent works out to about 460 dollars a month, with everything included (cept food of course). However, this is a ゲストハウス, or Guest House. Meaning there are about 10 people living in the area of a small one or 2 person appartment! hehe. I have my own room, but it's VERY small.
Doesn't really matter... because I'm not in here that often. It still takes an hour or so to get to and from work. And I spend most of the night out and about with friends and such.
All the people in this house speak only Japanese. hehe, but thats ok, since my Japanese is getting much better now :)

I wonder how everyone's lives on the other side of the world are going...

Oh, and by the way, if this jobs stays... which it looks like it will, I can get a Working Visa in a couple months, which means I am staying in Japan for at least several years. So people will have to come and visit :)

I did it!

I did it! I uploaded ALL the pictures individually! So here is the blog post for them.

Skiing!
Yes, Asako and I hopped over to Nagano (you know, where the 1998 winter olympics were) and went skiing at a little ski hill there. She snowboards, I ski. Before that, I hadn't skiied for 4 years I think. However, I quickly releared everything... except (moagles, mogels?), which the mountain didn't have... Oh well. It tool 5-6 hours to get there from Chiba... LONG time. We took a bus. Long trip... However, the trip back was only 4-5 hours... which was still long. BUT it's fine. Not like it was boring. Always better when a friend is around than by yourself. No pictures, sorry. I didn't want my camera to get killed if I wiped out bad.

Tochigi pics!
Remember when I went to Yunishigawa Onsen? http://nipponcanadian.blogspot.com/2008/01/onsen.html. Well, pics are up for it now. 25 of them. Check em out here.

Birthday and Christmas pics, along with the LONG PROMISED pics of Asako's Family, or my homestay family for the first few months I was here. Check out the Chiba album again. :)

Ok, the day after skiing, one of our Japanese friends here had a go-away party (going to Canada) in Tokyo. We went on to a boat for dinner. Like, a boat in the style that you might see in movies about the Chinese or something... We made our own dinners, with the instructions of the staff on the boat. It was lots of fun. We also had 3 Aussies tag along with us. They were just visiting for a few weeks in Japan... And one of our Japanese friends (Miyako) invited them along (She works at the hotel that they were staying at). After that... which was 2 hours, we walked over to Ginza... to go do some karaoke! So now I've finally done Japanese karaoke (COMPLETELY different than anywhere else in the world btw). The Japanese have entire skyscrapers dedicated to karaoke. Very popular. Pics are in the Tokyo album.

I'm still looking for work, and now another place to live, as the contract for my current place finishes next month on the 15th. I have an interview with an English teaching company on the 4th of March though (30-50 bucks an hour, part time).

Just this recent weekend, on Saturday, Asako and her family and I drove down to the bottom of Chiba (remember Tateyama? My 26 or whatever km walk?) We drove along the coast the whole way. It was a nice day. Very windy though...

Anyways, there you guys go :) Pics for you to enjoy! Have fun :)

A quicky

I've been meaning to blog for a while... I have several things to blog about. However... Picasa (my photo album software) isn't being nice and not connecting to picasa web albums for me... Which means I can't upload my pictures to the internet. I have LOTS to upload :) This time with people in them! And since the images tell the story... no stories yet... Just letting you know I'm still here... Just waiting for things to work...

Woken Up This Morning...

Ya, this morning... at 9:37 AM, I was awoken by a new thing...




An earthquake! Magnitude 2-3.
My first earthquake :).
At first, since I was like, sleeping... I thought I was shaking (like, my muscles were moving)... but I soon figured thats not right...

Now, mag 2-3 isn't much. But this is how it felt...
It felt like someone was at the end of my bed moving it back and forth lightly at a rate of maybe 2 shakes per second. Apparently, thats very fast. This earthquake actually originated waaay down off the south coast of Chiba... as a mag 5 earthquake. Glad I wasn't there :). For your info... that is over 100 kilometers away... and we could (and Tokyo too) still feel it easily :). It's AMAZING to think that over 200 kilometers north, south, west, and east of that quake, ALL the ground plus kilometers below the ground, plus ALL the water in the ocean there, is shaking and moving all at once. MANY MANY quadrillions of tonnes of stuff moving... it's kinda rediculous...

Also, to continue with the unnatural natural events of today :)... I could see Mt Fuji VERY VERY clearly from my house today... Thats like... 140 kilometers away... even more crazy, and I've never even seen this from TOKYO, is that you could see the stretch of land that shoots out from Japan south-east of Mt. Fuji. Those mountains are even further away... All this, and it was at Sundown :) I'm kinda annoyed I didn't look earlier in the day when I REALLY could have seen everything.

Update on Life

Well, nothing interesting to comment on in terms of travel, but I thought I'd update the blog for the people that watch it :)

So, lately, I've been uh... not busy :) Looking for jobs, however, I've applied to ALL of them... When new ones come out, I apply to them too... so I'm just being patient and waiting to hear back from any of them. It's unfortunate, because Nova, Japan's used to be largest English teacher supplier went bottoms up the week that I arrived in Japan. This means there are litteraly about 5000 teachers looking for English teaching jobs right now :) They all have experience too... which makes it harder.

Therefore! I've also been applying to long-term, career focused computer jobs in programming (my thing) and the occational junior server administrator (my 2nd want to be thing). However, BY FAR most of them require fluency in Japanese and English, and I don't have fluency in Japanese yet :) (Sometimes I wonder about English too...)

しかし！ (shikashi: but!)
Today I was emailed about a job that I did not expect to get a call back from... Saora, looking for programmers and a couple other things, in the Linux department (PERFECT!). I have an interview with them waaaay over in Yokohama, 2 hours away from here.... on Wednesday (it's Monday night now) at 6 o clock. How nice :D

If I get a job like that... I would not be going back to Canada to live... (just visits) and Japan would be my new home for at LEAST a couple of years. But I don't mind :) I like Japan.

We (Chiba) also had snow!!! 5 inches of it!!! Maybe 8 inches fell... but it was melting at the same time as falling so it never looked like more than 5 inches. That happened yesterday... I have a picture... Which I'll upload soon... Look for it in the Chiba area. It should be there when you guys read this.

Onsen!

So last weekend I went to Yunishikawa Onsen (湯西川温泉) in Tochigi Prefecture (栃木県) which is about 160 or so kilometers north (北) of Tokyo. I went with 6 other people, all Japanese, (all are people that went to Canada in the past. I know them through Asako)

Onsen's (hot springs) are WONDERFULLY AMAZING! I think I'm in love. It was extremely fun. This time (as opposed to previous hang-outs with these people), I was able to understand and converse with the other people MUCH more (due to my Japanese skill being much better) and therefore I had a tonne of fun. It went down to -12 or so I think at night... so that made it even better in the outside Onsens. There's nothing like bathing naked outside in the open air under the starry night sky when it's -12 outside haha (oh ya, in Japan, in an Onsen, you do not wear clothes).

Most certainly a new experience. It takes 4 and a bit hours to get from my house to where we went. There was snow, a good deal of it (yay!), so I was quite satisfied. The Ryokan (Traditional Japanese Inn, a must-do for people visiting Japan) that we stayed in... was neat first of all... The dinner and breakfast provided by them was wonderful as well... but a really neat thing is that some of the wood that makes up the building is 800 YEARS OLD. Crazy...

Real Onsen like that one are much better than Hot Tubs... MUCH better... they smell a bit... (due to various minerals in the water, such as sulfer) but you get used to that quickly. They say the BEST Onsen can heal anything except love sickness. I believe them... My back, which had a NASTY knot in it for the past few days, was extrememly sore... However, the INSTANT (no joke) I went in the water, my back felt just fine... Very interesting in deed...

A quick update

Hello everyone again. Just thought I'd update on whats going on here... which currently isn't too much.

However, I did have a job interview as a part time English Teacher at a Childrens school. I had that interview today. However, I have declined the offer as the details of the job did not suit my needs... *sigh * So my search continues for a job.

Next weekend, I and 6 other friends will be heading south from Tokyo on a 2 day relaxation trip... So I'll have a blog for that when that happens as well.

Well that's all really... Not much to talk about when you're job searching...

New Years!

Well, New Years has come and gone, and it was fun here.
First off, I've uploaded more pictures on to my site in the Chiba section, and one in the Tokyo section.

The Chiba pictures that are new are of the first sunrise of the year. We stayed up on the 31st of December until 2AM of course... and then went to sleep... and then woke up at 5AM to go out to see the first sunrise of the year on top of a mountain in Chiba. It was very crowded there... several hundred people. It's apparently very popular for people here to do this. So the pictures were taken from my phone... as I forgot my good camera... So the ground which looks like it's black in those pictures was actually lit... It was cityscape and farm land, with the ocean in the background.

After that, we went back home, and had one of the most wonderful breakfasts ever with Asako's family (Grandpa included this time). It is their tradition to have a special breakfast on New Years.

Later in the day... we went off to Mitaka to spend the night there (Asako's Grandpa's house in case you forgot). The next day, we had a party with Asako's family and cousin/uncle/aunt. That was lots of fun. Had a wonderfully large lunch and drank a decent amount. Lots of fun.

Later Asako and I headed off to a temple in Harajuku. A very large one.... It was RIDICULOUSLY busy. It was busy because it is also tradition to head off to a temple in the New Year to pray for best wishes for the upcoming year, and pray for your family, etc... Even people with no religion do this.

Once the holidays are officially over (the 7th/8th), then I'll be starting a job search extravaganza.

I hope everybody's New Years was good as well and lots of fun!