Being RickRolled in Japan

And so I finally got around to opening some, rather aging, email from my inbox. One from a friend (I checked in advance it was legitimate as I hadn't heard from them in a while) had a link to Japan's new visa laws. This, being somewhat important, I clicked the link. And got RickRolled. I cried laughing when I saw the original date of April 1st. My bad. But it took the rest of my life to explain to my Japanese friends the concept of RickRolling. Some things translate into the common lexicon, others don't have a hope...

I've lived in a great area of Tokyo, just off the beaten path from Shibuya, for more years than I care to remember, but I'd never been to a small side street I walk past all the time. That is, until a friend was playing in a Live Bar (Live Music) which took me down said side street. His band was covering Oasis songs, he was on guitar and a Japanese guy was Liam Gallagher. And terrified. So got drunk before the show. Actually he was really good and then I realised this area was full of Live or themed bars and I'd never known it. You learn something new everyday in Tokyo.

Another piece of fun that occurred towards the end of March was the Sakura (cherry blossom) coming out. This is the time for the traditional "Hanami" party which is centered around friends sitting under the trees drinking beer and just relaxing and catching up. If you're ever in Japan around Hanami time, I recommend grabbing a beer, blanket and a friend and copy the entire country. It's a wonderful part of culture, some companies even send junior staff out early to grab the best spots in the morning before joining after work. But we were good, great weather (for a change) and we just hung out for the day with my dog and the Sakura trees.

It's been a good few weeks. An art reception, Chicken Pie in an English pub (may not sound too interesting to many but when you haven't had a chicken pie for too many years, these things appeal to you) and added to that I was invited to the baseball at the historical Jingu Stadium where Babe Ruth played in 1934 and everyone wore Boaters. And to top it off, after a freezing winter and a miserable spring, it's finally becoming just that little bit warmer...

The Snows of Spring

So, I'm enjoying the balmy first days of Spring in Tokyo, whereas two weeks ago I was sliding, knee deep in snow just two hours from here (managed to keep my feet if not my dignity). And then two days ago in central Tokyo the snow caught up with me, the temperatures having dropped to the lowest for many a moon. There was the fun of comparing snow depths around the area, a friend winning with 30cm, mine had been a more modest 18cm. And then another friend, in the throws of making a short movie in Niigata, north west Japan, extinguished all bonfires with a whopping two meters.

But as I say, we're now 24C and I may be able to switch off the yukadambo (under-floor heating) until next winter. With the extraordinary help of a good friend, my car is now re-certified (shaken) and instead of costing JPY1.4m as per the dealer, it only set me back ~JPY65k (that's roughly the difference between USD10k and USD500, if you were wondering) (and thank you, without you I'd be wondering lost around the testing station in downtown Shinagawa).

Hay fever season has kicked in in the Tokyo Metropole, although I'm lucky and don't suffer too badly, there are a lot of exploding people around me as I walk into town (I like to walk and when I say "town" I'm referring to the center of one of the largest cities on Planet Earth. Nice walk though. Flu season seems to have passed, it was mild this year but a few friends were laid low for a week or so (I acquired Swine Flu a few years back and that one knocked me sideways). And now waiting for hay-fever to subside, before the next round in May, we're coming to Hanami Season when the entire country sits under the Cherry Blossom, drinking beer and contemplating the world going by. Could be worse.

The Winding Streets of Shibuya

Shibuya is a district in central Tokyo famous for the "crazy crossing" and the statue of "Hachiko, The Dog" both stories I've covered elsewhere in TenguLife and you can look them up if you'd like to know more. It's also now home to an alleyway of a multitude of bars starting with the first one being Okinawa themed and finishing at the far end with the final chapter providing Hokkaido delicacies (you may need a map to figure out why if it's not obvious). And that's where I was last night though "delicacy" would be a little bit of a stretch but Anthony Bourdain style, try the food and meet the people.  

Life starts around 11.30am and sitting outside you're just in time to catch the sun and a slew of people carrying luggage from Shibuya Station to their hotels (this tide reverses by mid-afternoon). It used to be a pretty seedy carpark with a mud pile on the roof where the homeless slept, built in for the 1964 Olympics, over a local river. But it's now a fairly cool shopping plaza with a roof garden that breaks all regulations but no one really seems to mind.

And so last night saw me thirty minutes early, iPhone just incase my friends called and a copy of "Slaughter House 5" to keep me entertained. One of the great things about Japan is you can just sit and watch the world go by. The manager knows me though doesn't speak a word of English and my Japanese wouldn't hurt to be a little better, but we've built a friendship over the last couple of years. So if you see a westerner sitting by himself, reading a book, that's probably me. Feel free to say hello.

We didn't all come out alive

Some days go better than others. As we all know. No sleep last night and as I was dozing off at dawn I'd promised to wake my wife at 7.00 so had to stay awake. Wife up and out of the house but by now I'm wide awake and no chance of sleep again. And walking to the local store (they're everywhere in Tokyo, we have four within five minutes walk), wasn't watching what I was doing and tripped. Flat on the face. Not great.

Problem being I now have a video conference at 11.00am, running a mild fever, bumped up and banged around I managed to get through that and then I really, really wanted some sleep. But managed to do some UK admin specialised for residents of Japan. Except for time zone... And as I put my head down my FB Messenger started to ping. Of course it did. But getting up to check I received a sad message. A guy I recruited nearly thirty years ago had passed away.

He was a good man, willing to tell me when I was wrong, something rare here. He had a view and could communicate it without leaving people upset but very clear of the message. In Japan you rarely tell your boss he's wrong, but this guys had the bravery and honesty to do so. And so I respected him and we grew to be friends. And now I'm going to miss him.  

Tokyo - 25 Years Later

There's something of a golden rule in Tokyo "only ever do three things in one day". I may have mentioned this before but it runs pretty true and is a good guide to not breaking down along with the world around you. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of one that refines to how many activities are a good idea in a week, or even four. And excluding a number of other mornings, the last few weeks would really benefit from something of a guiding light. It's been an interesting interlude.

Kick off related to an old friend arriving with four others I last saw at his wedding some twenty five plus years ago. It was a genuine pleasure to see them after a beach in Hawaii in the heady days of 1996. For a couple of them it was their first trip to Tokyo, so naturally, when then end of the evening arrived, we hit the karaoke. I sing like a donkey but turns out two of the ladies had beautiful voices. We also managed to (legally!) source something for one of the guys collection (he didn't have a Japanese one). And they had a wonderful time. Especially when I told them my "looking after Tom Brady in Tokyo" story...

And the following day it was the turn of another family of friends that I probably hadn't see for another twenty years visiting from overseas. The two boys, now teenagers, who I was meeting for the first time, were great, one a dog whisperer and the other an academic. The interesting issue was with both sets of friends, we didn't reminisce on old times, we chatted, laughed and talked about the future. The only history recounted was swimming with turtles off the shores of Maui and trying to call a friend after I'd dropped his phone into a pint of beer. Seemed like a good idea at the time but apparently HR weren't too pleased...