January 2000

Thursday 13th January 2000

Well here I am back in Tokyo. I survived the millennium bug, which after many millions being spent on computers, only turned out to be flu!

I have to start by making a very important announcement: On New Year's Day at just gone midnight, Yuki and I got engaged to be married! Wow! Big news eh? We had a great time in the UK, spending time in Saint Albans, Wales and of course, one of the world's greatest cities, London. It was so good to see so many of my friends and family, and everyone thought Yuki was such a lovely girl. Seems like I made a good choice!

I had my first day back in the office yesterday when it actually snowed in Tokyo. I'm still suffering a bit from jet-lag, which is obviously affecting my brain quite badly. You see I wasn't due back at work until today! I took today as holiday instead and slept until five in the afternoon!

Tuesday 25th January 2000

Things have been pretty quiet since arriving back in Japan. Or maybe things which were events are now becoming run-of-the-mill. Yuki had her birthday on the 14th, which we celebrated at Mad Mulligan's. The Japanese, I have discovered, don't really celebrate birthdays much beyond childhood. It quite usual for family members to not even send a card! Since the Japanese also don't make such a big deal of Christmas, it makes me wonder when they do celebrate! I guess there is either a time I don't know about or they just don't feel the need. I did however go to a karaoke/dinner party for one of my colleague's birthday's last week. Afterwards we went to a new British pub called "The Hub", one of a chain. This one is quite good (and very cheap for the area), located next door to McDonalds in Roppongi. One thing that does differentiate it from a real British pub, is the pair of electronic dart boards. We did have a game anyway and it highlighted the fact that you can be pathetic at darts in England and still look good in Japan - this would explain Gary Lineker's spell at "Nagoya Grampus Eight".

Talking of football, I watched the second half of the Arsenal versus (World Club Championship flops) Man United game live from six in the morning today. Unfortunately The Gunners lost their one nil lead, but were at least good enough to withstand the late Man U revival.

I'm currently on a train to Kyoto. Out of the window I can see the first snow I've seen settled at ground level in Japan. Yuki and I will be seeing a lot more snow at the beginning of next month because we're going skiing! It's a weekend trip organised by my football club.

Monday 31st January 2000

On Friday night I went for a drink, well more like a "few drinks"! I don't do this half as much as I did when I first arrived in Tokyo, so it does make a pleasant change. It seems I'll be hard pushed to visit all the bars in Tokyo, even with at least two years to do it. This particular night I discovered an underground bar called the Milwaukee Bar, one of the few with a pool table (full size US style).

On Saturday evening I played in my second game of football for The Crusaders. It was an enjoyable run out and with a very scratch side we managed to finish second!

With a curry later on Saturday night and a Sunday roast yesterday, this weekend was one filled with culinary delights!

Yesterday morning I went to Ameyoko, next to Ueno JR railway station. This is an area of stalls and shops tucked into the arches underneath a railway viaduct. I went to buy some ski gear for next weekend. Although it was very cheap, my unfortunate western size feet could not be catered for.