Week 4
This week my team lead, Akira, put it upon himself to take me and our team to several different lunch places other than the work cafeteria. The first place went was MOS BURGER which packs a lot of flavor into their cute little burgers. The burgers themselves are also fairly reasonably priced and for about $5 I got a teriyaki chicken burger and a shrimp cutlet which consisted of several shrimp were stuffed into a patty and fried. It was very good. On another day, we went out for tempura and tsukemen (dipping noodles) at restaurant known for its tempura. The tempura was incredible and the tsukemen was interesting to eat. Essentially you have these noodles on a plate and some flavorful broth in a small bowl. You then pick up the noodles, dip them in the broth, then eat them.
On Thursday, I decided to take a different route home to explore my area a bit more. I found a graveyard with carefully crafted grave stones and tall wooden boards with writing on them. I don't know what they said but the area looked both peaceful and respectful.
Coming home after the graveyard, I found a bunch of fliers (as I do everyday) but I also found what I think are coupons for some Onsens (hot springs) so they are now held on my fridge by the free advertising magnets I have been collecting. I also received a phone book in the mail. Although I am probably the least likely person to use it, I did find it useful to practice the little Japanese reading that I know.
On Friday, I made some really healthy ramen with some carrots, peppers, spinach, and shrimp. I was very happy with it but seeing as the ramen available in the cafeteria at Sony is exceptional already, I realize I have a long way to go before I can level up my cooking skill to that level.
Something you may notice about my kitchen is that it doesn't have an oven. This small detail means that I can't buy and any pre-made frozen things (eg pizza) without first buying a microwave oven. Although stores nearby are bound to have microwave ovens, this was still disappointing.
After eating on Friday, I did some laundry and cleaned the house a bit. This also meant, cleaning my butt-warming-bidet/toilet/sink. Although this thing has other buttons which probably do something, the area which is most interesting are the buttons which clearly indicate whether one would like a little, a medium, or a surprising jetful of water sprayed at them. The buttons right below the cartoonish butt buttons are scales of pressure and heat. I only know this because I chose the wrong setting and frantically switched through every other setting.
To minimize travel time, I have been using a Suica card for transit instead of a buying tickets. A Suica card is like a prepaid debit card which you tap when you enter a station. Upon leaving a station, you tap once more at the gate and the balance is deducted from the card. This way the math of finding how much money one needs to pay to get off at a station is done by the system itself.
On Saturday, using the Suica card, I headed to the Shibuya station in Tokyo to find the FabCafe. The FabCafe is a coffee shop which also has some laser scanners, laser cutters, 3d printers, and many classes on making different things. I found it but it was very crowded and all of the machines were busy. Perhaps I will go another time when I need to print something.
From there, I walked back along the main road of Shibuya and saw a bunch of cool stores including a karaoke place and a Krispy Kreme.
While walking I found a mall overlooking the area and climbed up to get a great view of the setting sun which was exposing the the distant mountains as a silhouette on the horizon. The area I was in was also a theater which would soon be presenting Westside Story. I don't know how much the tickets are but from the view and the decor I'd guess they'd be expensive.
After the sun set, I went back to the street level and found an arcade/casino. I tried one game where I got into a big game pod with a giant 180 degree screen and tried to control a giant robot in a video game. I died after playing two levels but would have quit then anyway because the frame rate was making me nauseous. To fix my nausea, I went to the worst place possible: a nearby McDonalds. At least they had free wifi.
Today, I followed the water way by my house to try and find a good jogging route. After 30 min of jogging (aka walking with short bursts lol) I followed the water way to a little park by the ocean. There was a little splash park and many families having picnics. It was a happy sight to see on a Sunday.
After the jog back home, I crashed for an hour then, seeing that I was out of food I went grocery shopping. I bought some stuff for taco salad and spaghetti but I also found the one of the best things I like about Japan so far. Surprisingly, its their peanut butter. Yea, I was confused too. Its light and creamy and although that isn't what I normally like in a peanut butter, it was fantastically delicious. As the summer progresses, I look forward to encountering more of these less heard of treats in Japan.
