February 2000

Monday 7th February 2000

Last week I got my first photograph published. Okay, so it was a picture for a Mad Mulligan's ad, but it's still a milestone for me! Coincidentally, the half-page ad appeared just above one for two of my other favourite bars, especially my long time haunt, Geronimo's.

I was recommended a trip to Kanda to buy the ski stuff I'd failed to get the previous weekend. Having had a good look around Kanda, I took a train to the district where the ski shops actually were! This area, Ochanomizu, is crammed full with shops that, at least at this time of year, are all competing for your skiing yen. Having bought my first ever set of skis and the rest of the stuff that goes to make skiing so expensive, I was ready to go (that is, after I'd exchanged the boots for ones that fit)!

On Friday night it was time to set off for Hakuba! Hakuba is a ski resort. One of the venues for the Nagano Winter Olympics a few years ago. About fifty of us met up in Mad Mulligan's. At about eight o'clock, well stocked with beer (inside and out), we set off in our chartered bus. A couple of guys narrowly avoided getting arrested for relieving themselves on government property before we'd even left Tokyo!

We arrived at about one in the morning to find masses of beautiful white snow! Time to get some sleep ready for those exciting days ahead.

Saturday morning straight after breakfast we hit the slopes. Fantastic, the sun was shining and everything was great! To my relief, I could still ski (this was only my third ski trip). Once I'd got back into the swing of things I was having a blast steaming down the the mountain side as quick as I could manage. I had been lead to expect Japanese ski resorts to be very overcrowded, but although it was busy, I'd seen the same in Andorra a few years back. One huge difference though, was the number of slowboarders, sorry should that read "snowboarders"? No, I think I was right first time, about half of the people (including Yuki) were trying to make their descents on these slimline ironing boards. Occasionally somebody would actually get something exciting happening on a slowboard, but most of the time they were sitting down creating great slalom courses for us skiers!

At the end of the first day's skiing I decided to go for something a bit more challenging. Big mistake, I was way out of practise for the route I was doing. It really was not a fun way to round of my day on the mountain. With my nerves shattered I struggled to the bottom of the course and the relative safety of the bar!

For dinner we all piled into a Korean all-you-can-eat barbecue. The food was very, very good. It consists of an array of raw meat and fish, and some veggies, salad and rice. You take what you want and cook it on a hotplate set into the middle of the table. After dinner we visited a club for a few more drinks, before slipping and sliding our way back to the hotel.

Whereas Saturday had been a beautiful sunny day, on Sunday it was snowing. This made it a little colder, but at least it it was confirmation that I wasn't going to risk my life again! Instead, I concentrated on honing my technique. I've only just got the hang of turning right - a good thing really, because there aren't many anticlockwise ski runs!

After a very enjoyable two days in Hakuba, we made the return journey to Tokyo by train (a nice pink and white bullet train) to save time in the congestion of the roads.

Friday 11th February 2000

Yesterday at work was spent packing everything into boxes. It's okay though, I'm not being sent home for having enjoyed myself too much, we're just moving offices. I'm relocating from Roppongi to nearby Akasaka. This is a little more difficult to get to from home, requiring a change on the subway. It isn't however, much further away, so it's time to ride my bicycle a bit more often, or to get that motorbike I've been thinking about.

Today's a bank holiday. It's 1:25 pm and we're just deciding where to go for breakfast!

Talking of banks, which I really don't want to, the banks in Japan are one of the institutions which really needs sorting out. I tried to send some money home last week to top up the bank account, from which my mortgage is paid. After seven days I was informed that the two day transfer had been returned. This was due to an error of mine in the account number. I received a telephone call from the bank to give me the news. When asked what the error was, they could not tell me (or should I say my secretary, as my Japanese is far short of bank negotiation standard). I had to visit the bank. I discovered the reason they needed me at the bank. They could not simply correct the number and resubmit the transfer, charging me as necessary. Oh no, I had to fill in about a thousand more forms, reprove my identity and balance a jug of water on the end of my nose! This all took about forty minutes. Ridiculous. I know I'm in Japan, but in such a money oriented society, I'm surprised this austere bureaucratic system still exists.

Saturday 19th February

This week started with Valentine's Day. In Japan the score is a little different. The girl gives her man (and sometimes even her male workmates to be polite) chocolates on Valentine's Day. The man, however, waits until the 14th March to return the favour by giving white chocolate on "White Day"! Being English, I thought I'd play it safe by cooking dinner on Valentine's Day. A dinner which would have been much better if she'd arrived on time! I now know how women must feel when their bloke is late back from the pub at Sunday lunchtime!!! Sad eh?

I spent most of the rest of this week out of the office visiting Japanese technology companies.

On Tuesday evening a few of my colleagues and I were treated to dinner by our business hosts. We went to an expensive restaurant in a hotel. It was a traditional Japanese restaurant, serving mainly raw fish. One of my workmates is not to keen on eating raw octopus, and this was quite obvious from the way he picked at this treat. Being very polite our host asked if he would like something else. Sarcastically he replied "What, another fish?" The Japanese businessman explained that there were other restaurants in the Hotel and they could bring a steak or something to him. Brian, also being a polite chap, declined - he would be okay with what he had. Shortly afterwards, Brian went to the rest room. On his return I could not stop myself from laughing (not overtly, of course), because while he was away our host had ordered the "another fish" for him. He clearly thought that that was what Brian wanted, but Brian, just as clearly, could not have wanted anything less! The moral of this story is: If you're going to be a sarcastic b@$£@rd, do it where there are no more fish!

Thursday 24th February

This week I've been busy building the web site for Mad Mulligan's. We're going to launch it on the public soon! This has had a good effect in terms of keeping me away from the bars of Roppongi, spending my hard earned, but on the other hand, it's given me very good reason to make regular trips to Mad Mulligan's!

Please don't misunderstand me, I haven't abandoned Rick's Restaurant. How could I? Me and Yuki still go their regularly for a late dinner after we've been studying English together. No, I don't need to learn English, it's Yuki. I'm the teacher! God help her!!!

Finally this week I succumbed to the constant sales pitches of the many personal investment consultants preying on..., I mean serving, the ex-pat's in Tokyo. I gave him time to persuade me I should go into offshore investing. I'm afraid I'm not convinced. I've decided instead to have a gamble on the London stock market. High risk, high gain and big disappointment probably! I'll let you know if I become a millionaire. It's not that difficult to do that in Japan by the way, with about 175 yen to the pound right now. I'm sure my consultant will be disappointed with this news, but as I'm only a lowly engineer, I'm sure he'll find a bigger fish from the multitude of "real money" people in Tokyo.