LAST WEEK IN TOKYO

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Intro

I'm a little behind on these post things. It's been about a month since I wrote last, but a lot has gone on since then. So the next four posts will be a little rapid fire, but cover a whole slew of things, prepare yourself for a bunch of random stuff.

This stuff happened between Monday, November 16, and Friday morning, November 27. Keep that in mind with the whole use of present tense and whatnot.

Culture through Confusion

I just had my coolest cultural experience yet... After work, I went and worked out at the tiny gym inside the factory. For dinner, I went up to the place I stumbled upon a few weeks back, which was also the place me and a couple of coworkers hit up to start my weekend prior.

That Friday-night venture opened my eyes to some options on the menu I wouldn't have known about, so I pulled up a seat at the bar and chowed down on some spicy pork ribs, fried chicken, and okonomiyaki-type stuff. As always, it was absolutely delicious. Just as I was about done, the older Japanese fellow next to me starts chatting me up. Now obviously I know no conversational Japanese, so it became more of a guessing game than anything.

But we covered the basics, I told him I was from America, he asked where I was from and I said Seattle to keep it easy, but he took that as San Francisco one minute, then New York the next. After a bit of time the guys friend, a younger guy, came back and essentially filled in the role as a bit of a translator, although his English was also a struggle.

Despite the difficulties, and also because of them, it was a great conversation! The guy was a bit drunk, and while we were talking would pull out a cigarette, puff twice then put it somewhere. Then, thirty seconds later go for another one, forgetting about the one he just pulled out. But he was super lively, and him and his buddy seemed quite interested and interesting altogether.

Growing up in Seattle was a big hit, because once I mentioned Kazuhiro Sasaki, the both went "oooooOOOOOOOOOO", in the typical surprised Japanese expression (which I absolutely love). Baseball came up, we talked about how "America big, Japan small", how the guy apparently drove on the wrong side of the road when he was in D.C., and how delicious Japanese food is.

Overall, an awesome experience. Of course it was a bit of a downer not being able to fully communicate with these guys, but the expressions, excitement, and energy coming from them was ecstatic. It was great to meet two random guys and it helped me see once again the true hospitality of the Japanese people. I also gave them my business card, because I think the guy was asking to see some ID of mine at some point... and who knows, maybe I'll hear from them again at some point!

I find it quite admirable that, despite the known language difficulties, people go for it anyways and try their best to communicate. I honestly know that I am not that open to try and go for it, and that's a bit of a shame. There's something to be said about not putting so much weight on being perfectly clear vs giving it a clear shot. Those two guys are awesome, and something I can definitely strive to emulate.

One Year Removed

It's weird to look back on how far I've come in about 365 days. One year ago roughly today or next week, I finally got some part time work after a 6-month long job search. I was stoked to finally have something to do and have some kind of income coming through the door. And, it turned out, I was able to do some really cool stuff at RapidMade as a CAD Contractor, working with 3-D Printing machines and 3-D Modeling software, stuff I really enjoy and loved doing in college.

I was still broke, with student loans hovering right over me, and itching to do something productive with my life. Well, I'm no longer broke (WAHOO!), I've still got student loans biting down my back (mother...), and I'm kinda doing some productive stuff in life.

Life is crazy, and time flies...

Damn Good Eats

Me and some excellent coworkers went out after work for some Genghiskhan Yakiniku. It's like the other yakinikus that I'd tried before, but this time, the grill is an iron skillet in the shape of Genghis Khan's hat. Holy shit, we had some aaaaawweeesome food, including some delicious lamb and mutton.

Of course we also had some great conversations and arguments and the whole enchilada. It's great having some people to connect with and enjoy a great evening together. And after it all I got a nice beer glass out of it, after a good amount of makoli (shoutout to Seoul). Overall a great success.

Then afterwards, I got to grab a beer at Baird Brewing with Chris and talk about life, careers, Daimler, and not being German in a highly predominantly German company. Honestly, he and I both have experienced some similar frustrations in our similar positions. Daimler being such a huge company, pretty much dominated at and above the managerial level by Germans, who traditionally are very traditional in their ways and not usually open to new ideas or ways of thinking, it gets really frustrating quite often.

But regardless, I like being able to help people and clear other people's eyes and minds, I just hope some good comes out of stuff like that. Who knows, maybe I'll be seeing Chris sometime soon in Portland. ;-)

Faux Integration

Ive been sucked into the trap, I feel like I'm almost integrated. I'm one of those that either has a book or a phone jammed into my face every time I'm on the train. I'm not sure how, but it has become automatic.

I jump on the train, try and find a spot to sit, then either whip out my book and read a bit, or start playing some time-wasting games. Reading good, time-wasting games bad.

Kuru at GAIA - Day 1

For my last full weekend, I got to join one of Tokyo's frisbee teams, Kuru, and play some frisbee, at the foot of Fuji. Easily the most beautiful setting of frisbee I've ever partaken in. So yeah, we played. It was a close first game, but we ended up losing. Then we had a HUUUUUGE bye, then we played again.

For a good number of the games, we played in our yellows. To make things fun, I threw on my banana suit and we played. Overall we ended up winning most of our games in the yellows, so maybe the banana suit was a good luck charm.

I gotta be honest though, I got a little po'ed because the skill level was a little low on our team. For a warmup for the second game, the team jumped around in a circle, and needing to warm up myself and having the experience of having some focus and intensity before a game, that peeved me a bit. But yeah, we started playing and my peeviness wore away during the game. Good thing too, because we were down a bit, but came back from 8-11 to win 12-11. It was pretty baus.

Then after the game, our team and their team played some games, namely up-down and whah, which were total hits. Games and frisbee are such great way to bring people together. Win.

At some point, one frisbee team was playing a game (not a frisbee game, but a fun game like up-down or something). Well, one guy lost or something, so the guy curled up on the ground, with a soccer ball placed right behind him as if someone was gonna kick the ball at him from point blank range. Well the guy got down, the the whole team ran away, leaving him isolated and on a stage. It was pretty funny to watch the guy curled up and shaking on the ground. Then he figured out the hijinx. Good stuff.

After the day's games, we went to an Onsen. And Onsens are badass, especially post-frisbee tournament is such a god send. In this one, they had a spot in one of the pools with a device that directed electric shocks directly out from a certain spot. The closer you get, the more intense it was, pulsating your muscles like when you get a weird twitch/spasm. To be honest, it was kinda cool, and hopefully after using it on my ankle, it helped. We'll see.

I wrote down "denkibatsu" at some point in time, but looking back, I have no idea what it means.

Overall, it was a good first day with Kuru. And that was before the party started. We were having a great time drinking and hanging out in our Ryukan. There was a Doug-off, where Doug made a guest appearance, a lot of sake and snacks and stuff, and tons of people packed into our room.

Then at some point, I got a call from my family and ended up having a surprise hangout with the them!!! How auspicious!!!!! I miss them a lot.

Kuru at GAIA - Day 2

Our second day went pretty well. I continued to wear the banana suit, and things went ok. I got a number of Ds and had a few great throws, but also a good number of throwaways and bad decisions. Such is life.

We ended up losing the final in the Chumpionship, but I'm pretty impressed at how well we played throughout. Everybody got a good amount of time on the field, and it seemed like a lot of improvement by all as well.

Overall, it was a good weekend. Always fun to play frisbee. But everytime I play it makes me miss my college team. That kind of regular play, high skill level, and just general environment is hard to match. LeadBELLAY!!! YEAH RIGHT!!!

Patience and Teaching

Also, the past weekend showed me how arrogant and impatient I am as a player with lower skilled players. It ties back into me missing my college team and the cohesiveness that comes with that, but I see what should happen on the field and expect someone to be able to do that thing but it doesn't happen and I get peeved. Not everyone has played as much as me or knows all of what's going on. But they're out here, learning and having fun. Patience Nial. And help teach people what they can improve on.

My Tolerance of Others

During the weekend, a few things about my tolerance with other people came up. It was re-emphasized to me that I don't tolerate high maintenance people very well. Jesus... Also, I'm very impatient with shitty drivers and people that have no awareness of their surroundings, route, or vehicle. Not only are you a danger to yourself, but to the people in your car and everyone else on the road. Whuh.

Last Tokyo Frisbee Pickup

I had a problem with my quad, which prevented me from really playing, but I had an absolutely great time jogging around, heckling, and having fun with everyone. It's been a short three months, but an absolute pleasure playing with all of the wonderful people I've met through ultimate here in Tokyo.

We went out for Izakaya afterwards and had some delightful fun and conversation as well as some delicious food. A mad shout-out goes to Ken for the ride home, (I've got your road-trip list on my to-do list buddy, no worries!).

When I got home, I got smacked right in the feels by a buzzfeed post shared by my sister. Number three really got to me.

Fuck German Bureauacracy and That Bullshit

At the beginning of the week, I was notified by the people that were supposedly working on my work visa for Germany, that the application couldn't be completed until I'm actually in Germany, which would leave about 4-8 weeks between when I arrive and submit the application to when I'm actually able to work. So their solution was to move me to a town close to Karlsruhe, namely Kandel, with all of 8000 residents, and have me live there for six months. Fuck. That.

I put my foot down, and tried to figure out who I could contact at the Karlsruhe Foreigner Office (they told me to look online), why they refused to do the process right now (excuse was refugee crisis, but I feel like this might be an inside Daimler job/reason as well), and that I will in no way accept living in that tiny speck for 6 months. Not gonna happen.

So right now I'm in the process of trying to get in contact with the Karlsruhe foreigner office to see why they stopped my visa/work permit preparation and if they can go ahead and start that back up again. Hopefully they will, then I don't have to live in that tiny place with little to no life there. If not, I'll have to live in the tiny village for at least a month until I get my resident permit (~2 days) and then my resident card (~3 weeks). After that, I could then move back to some place where civilization exists.

Regardless, I'm super peeved that this came up. I kinda feel like HRD (the department in Stuttgart working on my visa) are just trying to push me out of Karlsruhe to save their money, but the whole refugee crisis is clearly a big problem over there if its pushing over into these kinds of visa applications.

Normally I'm a pretty flexible human being, but on something that will essentially remove all social interaction and extracurricular activities from my day, this doesn't sit well with me. Granted, I may have to stomach the move. Yes, it's only a month, and it won't be the end of the world. I was just really looking forward to living in Karlsruhe and the stuff I'd get to see and do there.

Last Week at Work

Overall, I had a busy but productive last week at work. Despite the shitty news and confrontation with the bullshit called German bureaucracy to start, I gave my final presentation, which apparently was well received, was supposed to give it again to a project-specific meeting, but everyone else talked too long so I got skipped. Got some feedback from my manager (I'm structured, organized, independent, self-motivated, and really impatient) about my last three months, and gave him a few pointers as well.

On my last day, me and my small group of coworkers went out to eat and had some ramen and black vinegar pork, which was absolutely delicious, and the perfect order for a cold (now) winter day here in Tokyo. A couple of meetings and a farewell 'speech' later, and I was officially done and out of there. Man, three months just fly right on by without warning.

Thanksgiving in Tokyo

That night, I met up with a handful of Frisbee friends at TY Harbor Brewery. They had a specialty offering to celebrate Thanksgiving. And HOT DAYUM did they deliver.

Delicious beer (some TY Amber and the Ushitora Coffee Stout), a HUGE helping of delicious turkey and gravy with stuffing, and to top it off, a nice little pumpkin pie. MMMMMMM baby, it hit the spot. Great food, great friends, and a ton of things to be thankful for on my last night in Tokyo with everyone.

After the feast at TY, some of us moved off to Craft Hands near my place for a relaxing beer to finish off the night. Another great piece of the puzzle to wrap it all up.

Tsukiji Fish Market

No visit to Tokyo as a tourist is really complete with out a visit to Tsukiji fish market. So, it being my last real morning there, me, Taishi, Ken, and Ken's friend Amber decided to be tourists for the morning. We tried to get into the tuna auction, but immediately got turned away, arriving 5 minutes after the spots were filled up.

Having failed there, we got in line for a sushi restaurant that is apparently all the rage. Why? Well, it's delicious. I was a bit bummed we didn't make it into the auction, but we were able to sneak into the market before it opened and check it out, which was probably even cooler than getting into the auction. There was so much fish and seafood being wheeled and dealed there, it was mind blowing. Apparently, Tsukiji has the highest volume and cost of the goods that go through it compared to all similar markets throughout the world. And, while walking through, we even saw the tuna auction from afar.

Back in line at the sushi restaurant, and after an overall wait of 2.5 hours, we got into Sushidai for some amazing, absolutely phenomenal sushi. All of it came directly from the market that morning. I was absolutely blown away.

Tsukiji was impressive to check out and admire. So much traffic, so much action everywhere you look. The sheer quantity of goods too is absolutely astonishing. Plus the fact that chunks of tuna cost more money than I owe in student loans. Absolutely nuts.

Random Tidbits

• Nondeminaito wakaranai - you don't know until you try (drink) it
• Kinoko - chocolate mushrooms. These little candy things were delicious. It's a shame I only found out about them on my last week there.
• But this ice cream sandwich that tasted more like an ice cream cake, was my kryptonite for after-lunch snacks. Holy shit was it gooooooood. Chocolate brownie pieces on top and bottom, chocolate ice cream in the middle, and chocolate fudge inside the chocolate ice cream, all of it just combined for pure bliss in an ice cream sandwich.



• The Japanese naming convention is pretty crazy. During the party in our Ryukan, I found out about what options Japanese parents have for naming their kids. They have access to multiple alphabets, which can be used to mix and match to 'optimize' you child's name. Ex. Okuchan had a name in mind for his daughter. He checked the kanji, but there was an unlucky/inauspicious number of strokes in the name, so he changed the official name to hiragana spelling. Crazy that you can do that!!!

Original Publish Date: December 13th, 2015