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 :)