My Trip To Japan.

20/7/2004
I actually forgot to chuck the pics up from mine and Krysys farewell party , so here they are.

19/7/2004
Its been a LONG time since my last update but here are a few pics from some recent things I have been up to.

23/2/2004
Well here I am back in Aus. The year in Japan flew by but just coz that has finished doesn't mean this page has. I thought I'd upload some pics of my recent (Feb 3 - 12) trip to the Whitsundays in QLD.

28/12/2003
Another Christmas flies by.....but this was my first away from home. I missed the regular festivities and people however Lee and Beth were kind enough to have me over for dinner with Leigh and Harel. The food was great and we had all the xmas necessities: party poppers, xmas hats, bon bons (xmas crackers), turkey, gravy the works!! Also got a few pics from a lil jazz concert I went to in the TINIEST little jazz bar. Check em out here

22/12/2003
Krys had a lil farewell bash last night that was thrown by her workmates as she is heading off to Europe tomorrow. I have 3 weeks by myself now. What to do! Might head up to Matsumoto in Nagano to visit Derek and try have a crack at snowboarding....not sure yet. Also....Krys bought me an early combined xmas/bday pressie! You'll have to click here to find out what it is! Got a few other pics there too so check em out.

17/12/2003
Well here it is.....the moment you have all been waiting for! My website is working and the latest installment of my site is here! And what an update it is. We got back from our weekend in Hiroshima last week. We had a awesome time. Hiroshima is a beautiful city that reminds me of Melbourne. There are trams running all through the city, hotels, restaurants, rivers and not too many people. Click here to check out the pics. The only other piece of info I have is that I've decided not to return to Japan after I come back in January. It would cost too much money to get back here with airfare, insurance, rent and other crappy costs! So only here for another month and a bit. Woohoo!!

30/10/2003
Cars, cars, cars!! Went in to Kaihin Makuhari to Makuhari Messe where the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show was being held! It took us over 3 hours to get around the place and Im sure we still missed a lot of stuff. Be warned.....if you're on a slow dial up connection this may take a while to load as I've put up lots of pics!!

28/10/2003
Everyone got together on Sunday night for an early Halloween party here in Tsuga. Most people had trouble coming up with legitimate Halloween costumes so it ended up being more a fancy dress party really.

24/10/2003
Had a slack couple of weeks as I have been on the good end of some shift swaps. So the next month will be busy as I have to pay them all back. Krys and I went to the Craig David concert on Wednesday night. It was pretty good. He sang well and the band was really good too. Went out last night for Long's Farewell Party. He's been here just over six months and has had enough. Cya Longy! Also, Harels sister Nerissa is in Japan too! They got this caricature done a few days back.....pretty good I reckon! Took this photo of our apartment building so you can all see the ghetto in which we live!! :P Only other piece of news is that we booked flights to Hiroshima for early December so we're looking forward to going there. Til next time.

12/10/2003
Went in to Tokyo today and for the first time went exploring around Tokyo station. The one thing we wanted to see was the Imperial Palace which isnt far from the station. Krys and I were pleasantly surprised by the amount of trees that are in Tokyo. Similar to Melbourne in that respect. Also there were several old buildings in Tokyo too which was quite interesting to note. Well.......as always.....here are some pics that I took. Enjoy!

29/09/2003
Spent most of the day after the grand final recovering and doing some medial chores around the house......but went out at night for Toru's Bday. Went to Nijyu Maru for some food and drinks then out to karaoke after. Its actually becoming quite a pattern. We were gonna catch the last train home but there were some problems with the trains so the rail company paid for cabs for everyone from Chiba to wherever they were gonna catch the train to. Turned out ok but we were waiting on the stationary train for about an hour before they told us that they would pay for cabs. Grrr.

28/09/2003
"Good old Collingwood forever"....hang on........wrong team.... "LIONS.....Brisbane Lions......will kick the winning score!" Its all over for another season in the AFL and for the 3rd straight season the lions have reigned as premiers. Thanks to a couple of lovely folks from work, Chris and Ying, I was able to get the day off to watch the game at my buddy Pete's house with some mates. Although the game didnt provide as much entertainment as we would have liked, we managed to manufacture entertainment from other avenues....ie...my sherrin. Here or some pics of the day.

23/09/2003
On Saturday Krys and I felt the biggest earthquake (by far) since we have been here. Last month a scientist was predicting a BIG earthquake (magnitude of 7 or higher) on either Wed or Thurs of last week with a 4 day window either side. Check out the article here. Its actually quite interesting how he predicts earthquakes. Amazingly enough the earthquake was within his timeframe but he was off on the magnitude.....although it did measure 5.5 on the richter scale. It was strong enough to worry me. Sitting at work....on the 3rd floor of a shopping centre aint exactly the safest place to be either .An announcement came over the PA in the centre moments after the shaking had stopped telling everyone that the building is strong and safe and to keep shopping. That was the biggest news this week. Just looking forward to Saturday coz a few of us are going over to a mates place to watch the grandfinal. Should be fun. Anyways, gotta sleep...cheerio.

17/09/2003
No real news......except that the trip to the whitsundays is definate. Me, Krys, Anna & Chelsea (from planet earth) and Anna from Krys' high school. Our boat leaves on Feb 4th and Ill be getting back to Australia on January 19th. There are still a couple of places on the boat so if anyone wants to join us it'll cost $1500 total. Also......I'm 80% sure Im gonna come back to Japan for another 6 months next year too. The money here is just too good. I've already saved about $6000....and thats after buying my camera, computer, graphics card and other stuff. Well if anything else happens I'll be sure to chuck it up here. I got one cool photo of the moon the other night.....pretty cool. cya!!

25/08/2003
Finally a real update.....and for what better purpose than Krysy's bday celebration! Went out last night to Nijyu Maru at 7:30pm then out for karaoke. Everyone had a ball. Krys had a great time and got some very thoughtful presents from people including crytal glasses and a karaoke classics bag where each item represented a well known karaoke song. Special thanks go out to Toru for endless translating and ordering for everyone.

19/08/2003
Been a couple of weeks since I last added something and I still dont have any pics for ya but thought I'd chuck something on here. Been workin a bit lately. Helped a friend out and worked yesterday and gotta do some OT on Friday too. Krysy's b'day is in a couple of days and we're going out with a bunch of ppl on Sunday so will have some pics of that for ya on Monday. Only other piece of news is I took to my head with some clippers again so I look 17 again! :P Next update on the 25th (hopefully).

4/08/2003
Today was a beautiful, HOT, sunny day that marked the end of the rainy season so we headed about an hour from Tsuga to the beautiful town of Onjuku. The main attraction.....the beach! There were heaps of people and the chicks at this beach were constantly applying make-up. Although I didnt witness this for myself, ive been told by many a reliable source that some of them even wear high heeled shoes around on the beach. Managed to get hold of a boogie board too which was fun. Had a great day.

3/08/2003
Today was a first for me. I went with a friend from work, Jason, to teach some school kids for a few hours. It was a really great day.... and to top it off.......we were both paid 20,000Yen ($180) each for only 3 hours of teaching. First we taught elementary school kids, then junior high school kids, then senior high school kids. I really enjoyed it. The one bad thing was that today was over 30 degrees and the room had no air conditioning so I absolutely melted! Sweat was pouring from every pore in my body but we managed to get the job done. Afterwards, I went back to Jay's house for a few drinks, then out to an izakaya with some friends. Check out the pics.

30/07/2003
Well.....been an uneventful couple of weeks. Went out for Leigh's birthday about a week ago and bought some new speakers for the comp this week for 5000Yen. Here's a few pics for you to check out of some recent outings.

21/07/2003
A few weeks ago Krysy and Aiden ventured into Odaiba, which is a man made island in Tokyo Bay, to see the cars at the 'Toyota Mega Web'. Its basically a big Toyota museum where the cars are stored like chips in a vending machine. You press the button for the car you like and it is brought down for you to get a closer look at. You can also test drive any of the 10+ cars available however you are required to have an international drivers license which meant Aiden and Krys were unable to go for a spin. There are also many shopping malls including the popular Venus Fort Mall which has an European theme. The ceiling is lit up like the sky and sets every two hours as they believe people buy more at night.

15/07/2003
Hey its Krys again! Thought I'd fill you in with the last day of adventure before Aiden leaves for Singapore. Today we went to Disneyland.and boy did it bring back memories! There is so much to see and do at Disneyland that one day is simply not enough. We managed to cover the entire themepark in 8 hours by following a map upon which we had marked down the main attractions we wanted to visit. We went to Adventureland, Westernland, Critter Country , Fantasyland, Toontown and Tomorrowland. All of the main attractions at Tokyo Disneyland are still the same as America's Disneyland and Disneyworld that I visited 12 years ago. However, the parades have changed as new Disney characters have been introduced over the years. I must say that out of all the rides we went on, we still voted Space Mountain the number 1 attraction and managed to ride on it twice. For those of you not familiar with Space Mountain, its a high speed jet coaster ride in complete darkness, which adds to the excitement of the ride as you have no idea where you are going! We were so tired from all the fun and thrills by the evening that we both ended up sleeping during the train ride home!

14/07/2003
Headed 50km South West of Tokyo to the famous town of Kamakura yesterday. Kamakura is home to Japan's 2nd largest Buddha. The Daibutsu (as it is commonly referred to) in Kamakura is only outsized by the 14.85m tall Daibutsu in Todaiji Temple, Nara. There are also many temples and shrines to visit in Kamakura. We were lucky too coz Krysys private students drove us around all day. Our offers to pay for various entry fees fell on deaf ears, as did our offers to pay for lunch and dinner. It was one of the best touristy type days we have had.

08/07/2003
Took our first long sightseeing trek on Sunday(6th) to Hakone. We had to catch the train to Shinjuku (45mins), then the express train to Hakone which took an hour and a half. Got in there and all seemed ok. That was until we jumped another train up the mountain and we started noticing thickening fog. As the pictures show......it certainly dampened our trip. But I managed to get a few nice pics....this one came out especially well.

30/06/2003
Hey everyone this is Krystelle! Since I havent contributed to this website I thought it was about time I did. Today 2 of my private students, Tommy and Aoki, took Aiden and I to Asakusa. Asakusa is home to Tokyo's largest temple, Sensoji, and is about 1 1/2 hours from our place in Tsuga. Whilst there we also saw Pagoda and the Kaminarimon gate. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

29/06/2003
Went out with Krys and Aiden to Harajuku in Tokyo today. We went to Yoyogi park where we visited the iris garden and the shrine. Got some really good pics, so here they are. I took 2 nice photos that Im thinking about using as wallpaper. One was an Iris and the other was a water lily. Check em out if you want. Today was also "Canada Day". A makeshift celebratory day which is nothing more than an excuse for those damn Canadians to run amok. So we headed down to a riverside grassy field in Myoden to join the celebrations after spending most of the day in Harajuku. Had a few beers and set off some fire works with the 50 or so other people down there before the police came and told us to leave. And by police I mean, 3 or 4 on motorcycles, a couple in the Japanese equivalent of a divvy van and another couple in a regular patrol car. An unnecessary amount whichever way you look at it. They wandered around us saying nothing and seemingly doing nothing for about 20 mins before they finally said we had to get going. Having said that, they all left and assumed we would follow their orders. People were kinda leaving, but it took 30mins for Krys and I to finally get going and the others probably never did. Anyways...it was an intersting insight into the baffling world of Japanese law enforcement.

25/06/2003
Ok........1st piece of news........ WOPSANG is here!!! He arrived on Monday 23rd so krys has a few days off to hang out and stuff. Hes stayin for about 3 weeks so we gotta come up with some places to take him. Aiden brought krys heaps of clothes from home and also some more goodies from here and there. Got a few pics from the other night too.....some people may find them a little gross....so be warned. cya!

16/06/2003
Where do I begin?! Several weeks ago I was critical of the Hawks after their disappointing loss to Richmond....but today I am more proud than I was disappointed! After last weeks surprise win we followed it up with a emphatic win over last years runners up, Collingwood. The whole team lifted.....from Dutchys 7 mark 3rd quarter to Barker's first senior game in 10 months it was one hell of a game. I was quick to criticize but I am the first to give credit. So to the Hawks I say......Two good games dont make a season, but the attitude and mentality with which the last two games were approached DOES make a season. Keep it up, good luck, keep workin hard, work towards the finals and most importantly, do yourselves and your supporters proud!!!!! GO THE HAWKAS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah....I went out tonight.....proudly sporting the hawks jumper... for Dereks Bday. Here are some photos.

08/06/2003
Decided to take the 10min train ride to hon-Chiba station today and finally check out Chiba Castle. They've turned it into a lil museum and it only cost 60yen for entry so we went in. Pretty ordinary museum but got some nice photos from our lil trek anyways. Enjoy.

05/06/2003
Had my first day at Naganuma school today. Its such a small school compared to Chiba where I usually work. On Saturdays Chiba has 24 teachers on at one time. Naganuma usually has 1 teacher on during the day and 2 at night. I am working there Wednesday and Friday this month. Its good there. More relaxed and the guy I met today Brad, from Hawaii, seems like a champ. Anyways, got some more pics for ya. They are from a few different occasions so yeah.....check em out. PEACE OUT!!

29/05/2003
Unfortunately no exciting news but I havent added anything here in a while so I figured I had better. Only real news was the earthquake... that I didnt even feel. I felt about 3 or 4 small earthquakes in the last 2 weeks but didnt feel the big one that hit up north. Just hope that we dont get a big one here in chiba......*touch wood*.....although it wouldnt surprise me if we did. I already know where Im running to if it happens when Im at home and if at work Im heading straight for the stairs. Probably not good news that my building is one of the oldest buildings in chiba.....which means I had better run extra fast down the stairs! Dale and Sokhan got back from England 2 days ago which is good. They brought us back some 'Extra' gum and I also some more deoderant as I was running low and Japanese deoderant doesnt work. Anyways, no news but my longest update....... go figure!! aufwiederzehn!

21/05/2003
Went in to Akihabara 2 days ago and bought a new graphics card for my comp. I got an Nvidia GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB. Cost me 16,000yen. Works well and i havent been far from the comp since. Aiden is coming to visit on the 22nd of June and my friend Mark from uni is coming to work for Nova on the 25th June so I got a couple more things to look forward to. No other news really. Ciao!

12/05/2003
Crashed the comp the other day playing around with the partitions. I was trying to resize them and change the logical drive to the primary drive and vice versa....so lost a lot of stuff.....inc pics. Luckily I got the good ones on this website. :) Went out last night in Chiba with Leigh and Harel for karaoke. A couple of people were leaving NOVA and there were quite a few new ppl to welcome so it was kinda a huge going away / welcome bash. Had a great night even though it was expensive.....3000yen ($40).... but it was unlimited drinks til 5am so it wasnt too bad.

07/05/2003
Today was 26 degrees and the humidity is finally starting to kick in. Its 3:20am and im in a singlet and shorts with the window wide open. Only seems like yesterday it was snowing here in Tsuga. Went to play some squash with Derek again today.....take 2.....and did my hammy. 3 months of laziness certainly takes its toll! Gimme a couple of weeks and ill be back!!! Went to my neighbour Dale's place on Monday night for some drinks as it is his bday soon and he is going to England this sunday. He got a little too drunk! It was a good nite...even managed to piss off some of the neighbours as we got a little letter from our landlord the next morning reminding us to keep the noise down after 10pm. Here are a couple of pics of Dales bash and also of our other neighbours kittens. They are very cute!

04/05/2003
Today was a nice warm day so seeing it was my day off I decided to got to Chiba Zoo with Lisa and Sokhan as Krysy was working overtime. There were lots of animals including gorillas, giraffes, kangaroos, elephants and even penguins. I was a bit ticked off coz I was looking forward to seeing some lions and tigers, but they didnt have any cats there at all. But other than that it was a good day.

02/05/2003
I finally decided to get off my ass (after nearly 3 months) and start getting some exercise! I joined the gym yesterday and went to play squash with a buddy from upstairs, Derek. I gotta pay 6300Yen/month, which is about $85, and I can only go between 9pm and 12:30am. Expensive I know, but I gotta stay fit. Took about 10 minutes of squash before my legs and ass felt like I had done 100 squats. Today, I am in pain and im sure tomorrow will be worse....but it will be sweet in no time! Also, added some old pics of our day in Sakura to the Pictures page. Anyways, thats news to the minute. Adios!

29/04/2003
Its planning time. Ive been thinking about venturing back to the whitsundays. This time on a bigger and better cruiser. I havent decided whether to go for the Suncrest 1350 or the Perry 44.5p. Both sleep a MAX of 10 (but they recommend 8) and have all the extras including aircon. Krys and I are both keen to go again.....and so are Dale and Sokhan, some friends we have made in Japan which leaves room for at least another 4 people. Email me if u are interested in coming. We are looking at going in early/mid Feb 2004 so it gives u plenty of time to save. Will cost about $1200 - $1500 including airfares, charter fees, fuel, food etc. Check out the Cumberland Charter Yachts website if you like.

26/04/2003
Ok, well...nothing to do with japan.....but Id just like to express my IMMENSE disappointment in the hawthorn football team. After kicking 8 goals to 2 in the first quarter against richmond they managed to only kick another 6 for the entire game and let richmond kick 14 goals in a row. To squander a 51 point lead is simply inexcusable. They put themselves into the record books as richmonds biggest comeback since joining the league in 1908. So to the hawks I say lift ya game.....quick smart!

21/04/2003
Went into Kaihim Makuhari today (about 45 mins from my place) to a shop called Carrefour. Its like a HUGE department store. Sells everything from groceries to computers, furniture to luggage. Krys and I went to help out our friends....Leigh and Harel, who are also from Melbourne, to buy a computer. Managed to get a good one for em. Anyways, saw something quite odd in the store, yet still cool. They were playing rock/paper/scissors to auction off HUGE chunks of tuna. It was pretty cool. They came over drinking tonite with a few others and im bout to go to bed but I thought the fish auction was worth a mention.

19/04/2003
Ok got the ball rolling. The pictures button on the left is working and I have uploaded some pics of the Narita Drum Festival. Check em out and there will be more updates soon.

18/04/2003
Hey hey! Decided to turn this site into a little bit of a pic-fest. Ill be using it to inform everyone of what Ive been up to and post pics for everyone to see. Its late now...2:40am and we just got back from playing darts with our first Japanese friend, Masato. Hes a pretty cool guy. We were gonna take him out drinking but he works at the local pool place on Sunday night, which is when we usually go out, so we might have to wait a little while b4 he is free on a night that we go out. Anyways....the pictures link is down, but it will be up soon and ill post some pics. cya!

11/01/2003
Happy New Year all. Had a pretty quiet one this year. Just paid the money for the admin fee, which was $500 and got my car in the trading post for $9900. Been in there for 2 days now and no calls! :( Might have to lower the price next week. We gotta go to an orientation thing for Japan on Feb 1st which should be helpful in showing us what its gonna be like over there. But until then, we just wait until Nova sends our info to Japan and once they get it, we can start applying for our Visas! Thats news to the minute! ciao!




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