December 1999

Friday 10th December 1999

It's been a while since my last entry. Things got very busy at work preparing for an exhibition in Europe. Also in combination with this trip I had a short visit to my office in the UK. I hadn't written about this in advance because I wanted to surprise a few people when I turned up on their doorstep!

Both the exhibition and the little surprises went well and I am now looking forward to my holiday in Britain over Christmas and the New Year. Incidentally, I booked a rental car over the internet for my holiday and paid about sixty percent of the standard telephone price.

One of the more significant things to have occurred since I went to Europe is the opening of a new bar very close to my apartment. The area was in need of a regular western style bar. It doesn't have the intimacy of "Rick's", but is proving very popular with both the ex-pat community and the local people. Mad Mulligan's is it's name, but it does not attempt to be a particularly Irish pub. It is open from 11:00 am daily except Sunday, which is good as it is the only bar in the local area that is open on Saturday. Closing time is whenever the customers have gone home!

I have a small vested interest in Mad Mulligan's. In my spare time I am compiling a web site for them. This is far removed from my profession, but pays a healthy dividend (paid in Guinness)! Oh, by the way, the bar has it's own free internet terminal in the corner, one very good reason to try the place.

The only other thing I've been up to since I returned to Japan is the top of the Tokyo Tower (again)! The last lift went down while I was in the loo! fortunately another "last" lift was laid on so that Yuki and I wouldn't have to walk down the 333 metre tall tower! This was also the first time I'd needed to wear a jacket since I moved to Tokyo, even though the Japanese have been wrapping up for weeks!

Tuesday 14th December 1999

I met up with a bunch of ex-pat's living in Tokyo on Saturday - The Crusaders Football Club. I hadn't played football for about a year or more, but I really do need to do something before I become a permanent slouch. Anyway we had a game against a Japanese side. The game was about an hour away in the Yokohama area. After a slow start we eventually won 7 - 3. It was a good win, despite the twenty minutes when the opposition put a girl in goal! As a result of this win, and as it was the last game of the season, The Crusaders became division champions. So in the space of one game, in theory, I too had become a champion! Magic! Of course after the game we had the two hour, five train journey back to Tokyo for a few beers at Mad Mulligan's, who by chance happens to be the new team sponsor! Two hours? It only took one hour to get to the match? For that we have to thank one of our number who obviously needs to brush up on his navigational skills!

On Sunday we went to the Newcastle United Fan Club's Christmas do in a British pub. It was an all-you-can-drink thing, but after Saturday night, and with the next day being Monday, I only just broke into profit!

One of the guys at the party was the former World Flyweight Boxing Champion. He had been undefeated champion for seven years! After a couple of beers I thought it would be nice to have our picture taken with him. I asked and he pleasantly obliged. Afterwards Yuki asked him about his boxing career. Oops! I'd picked the wrong guy!!! How embarrassing! Anyway, best not to dwell on such mistakes. I grabbed the right guy, who in retrospect looked much more like a boxer, and we had our picture taken again. I of course blamed the beer, but I'd actually not had much. Maybe I could blame it on a language problem?

Monday 20th December 1999

Well it's getting very near to Christmas now. I'm quite surprised how big an event it is here in Japan. It's purely a commercial thing, but you could quite easily think Japan was a Christian country. There are decorations and Christmas trees in all the big shops and most parts of the city have also made some effort. The toy shops are packed with people, many of them westerners stocking up with "Pocket Monsters" to take home to eagerly waiting children. Pocket Monsters are still very popular here in Japan, but the initial frenzy which is now taking place in the west has now died down.

Last Thursday evening was the company Christmas party. A fairly big event held in one of Tokyo's biggest hotels. We had a system where if you put a present under the tree, you can later take a present for yourself. I pity the person who had to spend the rest of his evening carrying my gift around. I'd gone to the hundred yen shop and managed to get quite a lot for the recommended one thousand yen - including a hammer and a crowbar!