Wild on Toykyo: The Branch Hits Japan!

Konnichiwa, American friends! Guest bloggers Ashley Oliver, Svea Hall, and Julia Brown are here and ready to rock this blog. Vacation here in Japan is fantastic ... we are "getting it" in Tokyo BIG TIME.

We miss ya ... but not badly because this place is pretty darn high energy, pretty exciting, and we hardly have time to think there are so many fun things to do. Here are some highlights ...

Luckily we had Julie to escort us from the Narita airport to her apartment in Tokyo. Otherwise, I am quite certain we never would have made it!! The language barrier is FOR REAL here. We were jet-lagged as heck but we managed to grab a bite to eat at aforementioned Rainbow Roll sushi our first night in town. Delic!

The next day, we got up bright and early (5:30 AM) and hit the Tjukiji fish market. This is where all that fresh sushi comes from and oh my gracious it is out of control. It's a freaking miracle that we didn't get run over by one of these crazy machines that roll the massive tuna around the market. And I mean MASSIVE. These tuna are often the size of a golden retriever and sometimes much larger. It's crazy. In addition to the tuna, you can count on the fact that that every swimming, crawling, or otherwise moving creature from the sea is also available in this market (and presumably edible which is the scary part). Julia is quoted as saying "I have seen more types of food that I can't identify in the last 30 minutes than if I sat down right here and spent 5 hours trying to think of every possible food I have ever eaten in my life". We topped off our trip to Tjukiji with the obligatory sushi breakfast. Svea wins the award for being the most adventuresome when it comes to eating unidentified foods. She's a champ! Julia on the other hand, nearly lost her sushi. Overall, it was definitely an apropriate "baptism" to the Japanese culinary scene. More on that to come ....

The subway here is AMAZING ... even though the map looks like someone dropped a plop of Sobu noodles on the page and gave them a little extra mix with their chopsticks. But these Japanese have great foresight and have actually created a system that makes life pretty easy. As long as you remember to stick to the social rules of organization and consideration IE staying on the left side when you walk ANYWHERE and not really saying a word, eating or drinking, or taking up too much space in general. As we have found, these social conformaties aren't really in our genetic make-up as Americans so it's definitely a different frame of mind.

Anywho, our first solo trip on the subway after sending Julie off to work was to Omotesando and the Meiji shrine. The shrine was pretty cool and zen ... and we saw a crew of Japanese folks receiving a blessing which was neat. But the fact of the matter is that the historical and religious landmarks here in Japan are really truly the least interesting part. The people watching, fashion, shopping, and cultural observances are really the best. So with that in mind, we hit up an infamous shopping spot where Japanese teens go in droves to get their crazy clothes, accessories, cell phone charms and etc. Takeshita-dori proved to be some of the BEST people watching so far ... as well as a favorite experience of having young girls who work in the shops scream a shrill welcome over and over and OVER and OVER again while you puruse. Personally, I felt like running out of the alley but aparently this screaming is supposed to be welcoming. After purchasing a couple of $3 necklaces, we were done with that place. So we moved on to the more posh Omotesando shopping options. Nestled in the midst of all of the Versace, Gucci, Hermes, and Jimmy Choo is a place called The Oriental Bazaar ... souvenir central! Look out Atlanta, Julia, Svea and Ashley are now kimono-clad and looking hot like wasabi!

After all of that, it was only 12:30pm and we jumped back on the subway to meet up with Julie and go grab our bullet train tickets for the next day's excursion to Kyoto. We had a delicious lunch of cold soba noodles in hot broth and then moved along to Giniza to see some Kabuki thatre and check out that neighborhood. We missed the Kabuki but got a good feel for another one of Tokyo's posh shopping districts. By the way, Tokyo-ans (or whatever you call them) are generally impossibly fashionable. All that Julie writes below is true ... there are definitely some very unexplainable trends. But for the most part, folks are effortlessly chic and lookinig truly fabulous. And we can easily understand why... there are fantastic high-end stores on every corner. And when you are a twenty-something, professional Japanese woman, still living with your parents, what else would you spend your money on besides designer handbags and shoes?

We had to cut the afternoon a little short because there was some resting up to do. Wednesday night was MADONNA!!! I mean, get excited ... the Branch hits the Toyko Dome! The Madonna concert was insanely awesome. Envision horses, men wearing bits, Madonna in a unitard, Madonna in a white leisure suit, Madonna hung on the cross, Madonna in a black leather riding outfit, the most talented backup dancers ever, the most insane pyrotechnics and lighting ever, and just general fabulousness. Interestingly, the Tokyoites were relatively tame at this concert whereas Julie, Julia, Svea, and Ashley were rocking out as much as jetlag would allow. Madonna has certainly drawn out our "confessions" ... and we LOVE it. Go Material girl!

After the concert, we headed home to nurse our jetlag, but not until running into Julia's friend Matt from high school outside of the Tokyo Dome. The world is so terribly small!

The next day, Julia, Svea and Ashley rose with the sun and headed off for an excursion to Kyoto, one of Japan's oldest cities. We took the bullet train which is fantastic ... there should absolutely be trains like this in the US. We checked into our ryokan, a traditional Japanese-style hotel (more on that later), and trecked off to check out a new Japanese city.

We spent about an hour looking for a decent place to get a noodle bowl. When we finally found it, there wasn't a lick of English anywhere on any menu or spoken from any mouth. This afforded us our first opportunity to order at one of those places that has plastic food models in the windows (they are everywhere). Yes, we had to escort our waitress out into the alley to point at the food we wanted and then she brought it with a green tea and chopsticks (standard). So as it turns out, we don't really like chicken and sobu noodles floating in fish broth. As a matter of fact, everything seems to be floating in fish broth here and it can be a little, well, disgusting. But we gulped it down and managed to feel nourished and we were on our way.

We stopped at the Kyoto Traditional Crafts Museum for a little culture and of course shopping. Ashey bought an adorable ceramic bowl. Get ready to love it at her place as soon as we get back. Fantastic.

Then we traveled on to the Ninjo Castle and Palace. Best part was the nightengale corridor, an outer corridor on the shrine that allows the shogun and his feudal lords to hear any intruders ... the floor is engineered to creek as enemies try to enter. And the whole thing was just old as hell. Very fab.

We are headed off to our last authentic sushi dinner so will have to write more later. Sayonara for now and love ya much! - Julia, Ashley, Svea and Julie :)

Friends, Family, And Super Heroes

As soon as the wheels touched down in Atlanta tears weld up in my eyes - tears out of pure joy, not frustration which filled my eyes just days earlier. Cell phone in hand, I run off the plane to the immigration line. I was so excited when the boarder guard stamped my passport and said “Welcome home.” I nearly reached over the counter and kissed him. Riding the escalator through the airport I was having one of those “do I go left or right” moments. It was so weird yet so comforting to be somewhere that order and conformity didn’t seem to matter. The next few days were sheer bliss… I was back in Atlanta, seeing and talking with friends, and my entire family was there too! The visit was fabulous, just too short. Reality hit hard when Sunday morning rolled around and I was standing outside of Hartsfield debating whether or not I should go in. The last time I stood here, I was filled with excitement of the possibilities that lie ahead. This time… well it was different.

Armed with words of wisdom, encouragement, love, and a new pair of Gucci’s, I reluctantly boarded the flight back to Tokyo. I think Claire and Monica were a bit relieved when I let them know that yes, indeed I was back in Tokyo.
We had a big week ahead of us and I decided it was in the project’s best interest to forge on. That and the fact we were going on vacation on Friday and my ticket was from Tokyo. All the “big wigs” were in town this week for a huge meeting which meant lots of team dinners and nights on the town. Tuesday night it was just that… after a lively dinner at our new favorite sushi restaurant Rainbow Roll we headed to karaoke. I have to admit the karaoke place was a bit scary (skulls all over the place and dark hallways) but once we got into our private room equipped with disco ball, multiple cordless microphones, and a phone in which you placed drink orders I was sold. Key performances included Baby Got Back by Heidi, West Virginia by Brooks, Yesterday by Dave, Dancing Girl by Monica, and Oops I Did It Again by yours truly. Claire provided some strong back up but wasn’t feeling up to really bringing down the house. Several hours later we emerged onto the streets of Roppongi proud of our karaoke prowess. Needless to say the next morning called for McDonald’s breakfast and some strong coffee (add in a little Advil and we were good to go).

Fortunately the next few days were quite productive and the meeting went off without a hitch. At precisely 12:30pm on Friday afternoon Monica, Claire, and I were vacation bound - Shanghai, Bali HERE WE COME!

Newton’s Law – For Every Action There is an Equal and Opposite Reaction (or something like that)

So if the positive action was meeting and having a conversation with Justin Timberlake (combine that with finding not 1 but 3 skirts that actually fit me here) and I was doomed for a HUGE negative reaction. And boy did I get just that! The days following talking to JT were quiet possibly the worst days in my professional career. I can say this with some certainty now that I have been working for 5 years (yikes, I’m getting old!).

There was a series of horrible meetings with my client, fights with my team, and actual tears shed. Under normal circumstances, this series of terrible events would be combated with phone calls to and visits with my “support system” aka friends and family who have been patiently listening to me complain for at least 10 years (if not more) and when all else fails, a flight home. However when you are 6,000 miles away and 13 hours time difference from your cheering section, it becomes very challenging to pick yourself up after a difficult day. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one evening in particular that I was so frustrated with everything that I left the client site (see above entry for how not a pretty picture the client site is) walked directly to the convenience store, bought 2 bottles of cheap wine and proceeded to down them (through a straw) on the train home. At one point I had tears streaming down my face. Now in many countries this would elicit at least a look of concern from bystanders but in this country void of emotion, my sobs didn’t even get a second glace. I spent the next day in my concrete-clad apartment and decided that I had exactly 8 days until I boarded a flight back to Atlanta so I could go into auto-pilot and make it through the next few days. And at this point I didn’t have a return ticket to Tokyo and I didn’t care!

Justified... Tokyo Delivers

We knew it was going to be a good concert week not only because we had tickets to Coldplay's show but also because we spent Sunday reading our new "bible" Metropolis Japan's #1 English Magazine at our favorite brunch spot Good Honest Grub. Performing this week were BlackEyed Peas, Cold Play, and Justin Timberlake.

Tuesday, July 18th - It was one of those days that started off so wrong (slept through the alarm, realized my allergies were back, put too much water in my oatmeal, dropped subway pass in a puddle - you get the idea) and lucky for me and Monica ended up so right!

Upon arrival to work (read 45 min. subway ride, schlepping computer bag in the rain and trying to balance umbrella wearing a skirt because it is so freaking hot here pants are rarely an option) at my client and waiting a solid 15 min for the elevator to the not so spectacular and smelling of cigarette smoke 20th floor I opened my laptop and began to what I knew was going to be a truly dreadful day. The only glimmer of hope was that the Coldplay concert was a mere 10 hours away. I won't bore you with the details of the day because it was like so many others I have had here - filled with miscommunication, strange realizations, and unanswered questions.

Our plan was simple leave work at 6pm, take 2 trains and arrive at the concert at 7pm... at 6:20pm after a mini-melt down, Monica snapped me out of my funk and demanded we leave work behind and head to the concert. We had a good hunch Gwyneth would be there (call it woman's intuition). After 1 wrong train ride and a desperate need for nourishment, we arrived at the concert at 8:10pm only to learn that ONLY IN JAPAN does a concert actually start on time! So we enjoyed the remaining 40 min of a truly spectacular show - the band was amazing, Chris Martin is crazy and has tons of energy and the venue, Nippon Budakon similar to a high school auditorium, was intimate and had great sound. After the concert we opted for people watching rather than fighting the crowds back to the subway since it was only 9pm. For several minutes we stood on the curb and watched as hundreds of concert goers moved along the sidewalks with their "government issued" umbrellas. Seriously, everyone has the same clear, plastic, white handled umbrellas they have to be given as a right of passage. Needing a pick me up (from the rain, work, and arriving late to the concert) and preferably a bar we lied out options for possible celebrity sightings - Park Hyatt, Four Seasons, or Grand Hyatt. We decided on the Park Hyatt for 3 reasons:
1. We knew the bar we pretty cool from our restaurant visit
2. We were already on that subway line
3. We didn't know how to get to the other 2 hotels

We sauntered up to the bar (which is really a misnomer because even the bar area has hostesses, hosts, and serves) on the 53rd floor and were informed there would be a 2000 yen cover charge (about $20). Without giving it a second thought, both Monica and I said "Ok. We'd like a table for 2." The host led us to a table 1 row away from the windows, as we were about to sit down, I noticed a VERY familiar face sitting at the table next to the windows. Monica sat facing the bar and I sat facing the windows. At this point my heart started racing and I looked over at Monica who was so calm and collected I assumed she had NO idea who was sitting 2 arm lengths away from us. I said to her, "Ok, promise you won't flip out when I tell you who is here?" Monica was now very excited and started looking around the bar. I said "Focus on me, focus on me. Now I don't want you to make any sudden movements or scream, but JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE is sitting at the table to your right."

He looked just like he does in People magazine and was wearing jeans and a gray sweatshirt with a hood. His posse included his mother, brother, and 3 brunette females (2 of which were very attractive yet dressed very casual, the third was not so attractive). Cameron was no one in site. The posse was eating and drink a variety of things however Justin was drinking tea - most likely in preparation for Thursday's show. After 2.5 hours of sitting at the table next to him and a few moments of eye contact, I mustered up the courage, as we were leaving, to go up and talk to him. Here's how the conversation (yes, full fledge conversation!) went down:

Julie: I don't mean to interrupt your evening, it really looks like you all are enjoying yourselves but I wanted to say I'm a big fan.
Justin: Thanks, thanks a lot.
Julie: It is really nice to see westerners here and being to have a conversation in English.
Justin, Justin's Mom, Female 1: Yeah, we know what you mean.
Justin: How long have you been here?
Julie: 9 weeks.
Justin: What are you doing here?
Julie: I'm working here until October. My friend and I saw Cold Play tonight - it was a great show.
Justin: Cool, we're going to see them tomorrow night
Julie: That's great!
Justin: Where are you from?
Julie: Atlanta. Well, I better be going.
Justin: I didn't catch your name. (extending right hand)
Julie: It's Julie (extending right hand)
Justin: I'm Justin (shaking hands with Julie) so, Cameron's not here tonight, care to pull up a seat? (Just kidding he didn't say anything about Cameron or ask me to sit down but we did shake hands)
Julie: Nice to meet you. Have a good night
Justin: Bye

I was able to remain calm and gracefully round the corner to the elevators where Monica was anxiously waiting my report. As soon as she asked what happened, I started jumping up and down and fully fell on the floor due to excitement - I JUST HAD A CONVERSATION WITH JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE!! I shared the details of the convo and we hailed a taxi home. On the way I called Ellen (who put me on speaker with her office) and relayed the scene.

Needless to say Monica and I are going back to see Coldplay tonight and may even go to see Justin in concert on Thursday night. While the past few weeks of work and weather have been less than enjoyable, seeing, meeting, and chatting with Justin made it all worthwhile!

Mail Call

You can only imagine how exciting it is to get mail here! At home I get (the ever present) wedding/shower invitation however here I'm lucky if I get something I can actually understand let alone have an interest in.

Remember at summer camp when the mail would come and everyone would crowd around to see if they were lucky enough to get something? Well, that's kind of what it is like at the KSA office when the Fed-Ex man arrives. Ok, I do have to admit I never went to summer camp (unless you consider Camp Sandy Cove which doesn't really count because the camp counselors were Mom and Aunt Ann and campers included my cousins however the arts and crafts did constitute "true summer camp activities") but I think you know what I mean.

I had yet to be on the receiving end of the mail call until a week or so ago when I received not 1 but 2 packages!!! Plus one package for both Monica and me!

Package 1: from Ellen, including important mail I had received (beautiful wedding invite Freshman!), candles, and the most treasured items: PEOPLE MAGAZINES! (These are about $10 here so it is really hard to justify making the purchase just to catch up on celebrity gossip. However due to a very rough day last week I did bit the bullet and purchased Us for $8 just to feel connected to the states not via a computer!)


Package 2: from Raquel (Atlanta AA), a key item for the upcoming trip to Hong Kong - replacement shoes (see Guest Blogger Monica - Top Losses). You can bet that I will be extra careful not to lose one of these again. However if I do lose one I hope it's the left one otherwise I will have 2 left shoes - ugh!

Package 3: from Susan Lin, more People magazines, other tabloids, and Vogue. Monica nearly passed out at the sight of an English version of Vogue. Many thanks Susan!

Claire also benefited from the magazines (which are banded in China so she was super excited)
because Monica and I are nice enough to share - after we were done reading them of course :)

This is a picture of me at National grocery store in Roppongi but I thought it fit quite well with this blog.

Just in case any blog readers out there would like to make a contribution to my happiness while thousands of miles from my friends and family where I don't speak or read the language ...

Julie Donaldson
Kurt Salmon Associates
Akasaka Nakagawa Building
3-11-3 Akasaka
Minato-ku Tokyo Japan 1070052

Monica Reports Again

Hi everyone, I'm back for another stint as the guest blogger. I've been assigned to report on "Japanese Massage Parlors: A Study in Contrasts."

B. Gardens Spa, Tokyo
Friday, June 23, 10:30 p.m.

Julie and I had just left a Spanish tapas bar, where the KSA office had thrown a going away party for Shinya. David was walking us to the subway station and along the way we passed a spa called B. Gardens. "How great would a massage be right now?" we wondered, noticing they were open til 5am (how random is that?). David, who is bilingual, dispelled any fears that this was one of "those" kinds of massage places. We decided to partake in aromatherapy massages so David communicated to the Japanese receptionist what we wanted. There was some fear that as a twisted joke he had asked them in Japanese to set Julie and me up for a couples massage, but this was not the case and the experience turned out to be nothing less than sublime. We each had hour long massages that were undeniably the best we'd ever had, better than the best massage in the states. Lavender scented hot towels, fuzzy robes, flickering candles, buckwheat eye masks-- we got the whole nine yards. Floating on air, we were escorted into the waiting area and given glasses of fresh squeezed yuzu juice as we dealt with our denial about having to return to the real world. The massage therapists didn't speak much English, but I think they understood through our ear-to-ear grins and jello-like posture that we were very happy. We asked them their names for our next visit, and as we left the spa they followed us halfway down the block bowing and waving. This was a definite win.


No name massage parlor, 4th floor, random building in Tokyo
Friday, July 30, 11:30 p.m.
"Claire... omigod, you have to come to this spa with us next time. We got the most amazing massages-- we're dying to go back!" This was part of the conversation Julie, Claire and I had over dinner at Fish Bank. Three flights of wine later, we've paid our bill and have decided to go by B. Gardens for massages...after all, it's only 11:00 pm and they're open all night. We were met with complete and total and utter disappointment at B. Gardens when they told us they were booked for the next 2 hours. Well surely there had to be something similar down the street, right? We must have passed countless sandwich boards and signs for massages along the way.

Call it impaired judgment, call it stupidity, whatever... but we ended up at some random massage place on the 4th floor of a nameless building. They could accommodate the 3 of us at the same time, and within 10 minutes. Sold! Were we concerned that the waiting area smelled like smoke, the sofa was covered in clear plastic (like at your grandmother's house), that a TV was blaring a Japanese game show? Not so much. Were we concerned that the massage area was a mere 5 feet away and we could see a man's arms and legs being maneuvered to and fro by the masseuse? Not so much. Were we concerned when 10 minutes later said man came out from behind a curtain zipping his fly? Maybe a little bit. Ok, so obviously you're all asking, "Why the hell didn't you guys leave?" Unfortunately, I do not have a good answer to this question.

Moving on...the three of us are escorted to the back, where we're shown three beds side by side by side, with hospital curtains pulled open so that it's one big room. "Ummm...not so much," Julie said and drew the curtains back together so each bed was closed off. We put on the flannel pajamas that were provided, and thus began the nightmare. The "massage" consisted of a series of moves that nobody in their right mind would subject themselves to. They dug their fingers and knuckles into random parts of our backs and as the pain became unbearable and we pulled away, they would push harder. They hooked a towel under our chins and jerked it back. They stuck their fingers in our ears and wiggled (yes, WTF?). They yanked our arms out of the sockets. They stacked towels on our backs and butts and actually climbed onto the bed and JUMPED on us. In my head, I was actually rehearsing a conversation with Jerry, the MD of the North America practice, explaining to him why we had to attend the upcoming steering committee meeting in traction and in neck braces. Each of us was having our own personal preview of hell-- separately yet simultaneously. After the torture session ended and they stopped violating us, the three of us quickly got dressed, paid, and got into the elevator without talking or making eye contact. At that point, I burst into tears. Definitely not a happy ending, at least not for us.

Top 10 - with contributions from Monica and Claire

Just in case a rosy picture has been painted about my experiences to date...

10 innocuous, everyday things we do that apparently offend the Japanese:

1. Eating/drinking while walking and going about your daily business.
Commuting to work, running errands, etc. Imagine just one day in your week when you couldn't carry your Starbucks around with you. That's us EVERYday. Starbucks here has to-go cups, but we can't figure out why, since it's considered rude to drink and walk. Nobody on the subway, walking down the street, or sitting in an office has a Starbucks cup. It's a total mystery.

2. Talking on your cell phone in a public place.
Walking through the subway station or walking down the street. In the U.S., everybody talks on their cell phone pretty much anywhere they can get reception. Here, the subway stations are packed to the gills with commuters yet everyone is silent.

3. De-ricing sushi.
Rice is sacred here. To eat only half the bundle of rice under the maguro is a sin. Servers are not very happy with they clear your plates and one is stacked high with rice piles.

4. Lack of elevator edict - talking while in the elevator is not allowed. This is quite frustrate when you are in mid-conversation and have to postpone until you have reached your floor. There is a greeting that is muttered upon entering and exiting the elevator that does not solicit nor require a response/acknowledgement however it is required - go figure.

5. Not wearing hosiery and going barelegged. Wearing stockings with open-toe shoes, or better yet, wearing knee-high stockings (sometimes black) with a skirt AND open-toe shoes.

6. Showing emotion (aka smiling, laughing, etc) - apparently these are not activities that are embraced by the Japanese culture

7. Expressing an opinion - as a woman having an option is not recommended or encouraged

8. Amount of food we consume - the amount of food required to fuel our normal sized bodies is offensive because the majority of the women here make Nicole Richie look obese (think Kristie Alley pre-Jenny Craig)

9. Walking into a restaurant without a male companion - the women are not expected to eat without the presence of a male; this is our presumption because we have yet to see a woman dining at out night.

10. Using the "loo" without pressing the fake flush noise button. Every woman (not sure about the men) here uses this function to mask her natural #1 noises

Top 10 things that make us go "WTF"

1. Wearing stockings with open-toe shoes, or better yet, wearing knee-high stockings (sometimes black) with a skirt AND open-toe shoes.

2. Mouth noises. Apparently smacking and slurping are just a normal part of the dining experience.

3. The morning commute. Subway stations are so densely crowded with commuters that every day is like playing Frogger. You arrive at the office exhausted from your near-brushes with death.

4. All the shit that hangs off people's cell phones, even men's. Grown men and women have Beanie Babies, bells, Hello Kelly trinkets and assorted tchotkes hanging off their phone, sometimes doubling or tripling the size of the phone. WTF.

5. No towels or air drying facility is provided in the bathrooms. Individuals will carry pieces of terry towel (often of designer provenance btw did you know Chole does mini wash clothes) to repeatedly dry their hands with or mop their sweat up with - how can this be hygienic?

6. The quantity of make up worn by individual women (although no guilty parties in KSA Japan). In some cases this is almost mask-like in its thickness and doll-like in its perfection. There are some women who apply so much mascara they can barley blink.

7. The intensity level of MAX STRENGTH exercise classes - are we missing something? There was some shaking of the limbs and heavy breathing (mind you the whole class was in Japanese and we only understood the "right" and "left" commands). The only reason we broke a sweat was from laughing and/or lack of AC (see #8 below)

8. No AC provision to save energy is surely counteracted by electricity required to power fans and decreased productivity levels

9. Excessive multiple packaging - they are militant about saving energy and recycling however each time you make a purchase it gets wrapped in 3 layers of plastic plus a bag.

10. Recycling - it's insane here. We are of at least average intelligent people (although some may disagree) and we still have a difficult time figuring it out. There is a place for combustibles, non-combustibles, bottles, and cans (the reason why we don't have a place for cans in our work area is because we are not allowed to have non-lid items in our work area - more to come on that point).

Top 10 Things We Like About Japan

1. It is not illegal to drink alcohol on public transportation (i.e. no open container law) however see point #1 in "10 innocuous, everyday things we do that apparently offend the Japanese" This does come in quite handy when you have had a really bad day - more to come on that too (and you thought we were all fun & games here!)

2. Internet access 24/7 anywhere in Tokyo via the smart card that now hangs outside of our laptop

3. Subway station signs that tell you how many minutes til the next train arrives.

4. The "hundred yen" menu at McDonald's... mini chocolate milkshakes for under a buck.

The rest are still TBD... the challenge will be getting to 10 by the end of the project.

Today's entry is provided by guest blogger, Monica

Julie's a little bit tied up at the moment, so I've been asked to guest-write a spot on the blog. It's a lot of pressure, but since Julie is doing all the heavy lifting on our project work, I guess it's only fair that I pitch in here.

It's been one week since our return to Tokyo from Hawaii. Every day is a challenge, best summed up as a series of events that are classified as either wins or "loses."

Top wins:

1) Every morning, breakfast is a lot like Russian Roulette. Enter the local convenience store and head back toward the refrigerated section where they have an overwhelming array of packaged foods. Some packaging resembles things we have back at home, like yogurt and juice boxes, other items have only Japanese writing on them or an English phrase such as "Calorie Mate" and nothing that indicates what type of dietary situation the product would be appropriate for. Yesterday's game of Japanese Food Roulette was a "lose": Julie went in for what she thought was a fruit salad, but actually ended up with something that resembled canned fruit cocktail suspended in clear gelatin. Yum. However, this morning we had a WIN: Not hating our Japanese Roulette selections of the day: some type of chocolate flavored balance bar thing and cantaloupe yogurt.

2) After a very long day at work and a workout at Gold's Gym, we were both very excited to try a restaurant called Rainbow Roll Sushi, purported to serve "Western" style sushi: California rolls, Dragon Rolls, Spicy Tuna Rolls, etc. After studying the subway map and making a few poor navigational decisions, we finally found Rainbow Roll Sushi only to discover it was closed for renovation. Frustrated, we set out to find somewhere else to eat and stumbled upon Food Magazine, Tokyo's answer to Whole Foods, where we sat outside and had a decent meal of mini pesto pizzas, green salad, and screw-top Shiraz. [A quick aside... the grocery store didn't have plastic cups for the wine, so we resorted to emptying out our water bottles and drinking wine from them. Julie commented "Brooks would DIE if he saw us right now, guzzling $13 screw-top wine from water bottles." And my response was "No, Brooks would be proud-- he would understand that you gotta do what you gotta do."] Dreading our 7 block schelp back to the subway station (each of us carrying two bags containing: laptop, power cord, notebook, work files, umbrella, iPod, cell, assorted cosmetics/toiletries, gym clothes and sneakers), we debated whether we should take a $30 taxi ride home or suck it up. We then realized that the shopping carts here do not have anti-theft devices on them (crime is practically non-existent here), so we decided that the perfect solution would be to "borrow" the shopping cart and use it to push all of our stuff to the subway station. We had a minor setback when Julie overturned the cart crossing the street and dumped the entire contents onto the sidewalk. No worries, we ignored all the strange looks and glares and quickly scooped everything up and continued to the subway. WIN: Not getting arrested for borrowing the cart and safely depositing it at the entrance of the Roppongi Hills subway station.







3) We rode the coolest roller coaster last night...Tokyo Dome's Thunder Dolphin. It goes 80 mph and does a 80 degree vertical drop (yes 80 degrees, as in... almost 90), then it whizzes you through the center of a hubless ferris wheel and through a hole cut out in the side of the building. WIN: Not dying on Thunder Dolphin.









Top "loses":

1) While in San Francisco last weekend, Julie purchased a cool new pair of kicks from Cole Haan and wore them to work on Monday. After work Monday, we went to Gold's Gym near our client site for our first proper workout in Japan. You have probably heard that the Japanese are pretty persnickety about wearing street shoes indoors, so many establishments require you to remove your shoes before coming inside. Gold's Gym is one of those types of places, requiring shoe changes that would give Mr. Rogers a migraine: remove street shoes, put on "locker slippers," remove locker slippers and put on bathroom slippers (if you have to visit the loo), remove bathroom slippers and put locker slippers back on, remove locker slippers and put on running shoes...finally you are ready to work out. It's certainly no wonder that our friend Julie might have lost track of her Cole Haan shoes. At home on Tuesday morning she discovers that the left shoe is missing and decides that it is either: a) at Gold's Gym or b) on the sidewalk near Roppongi Hills (see shopping cart story above). Sherlock Donaldson-Holmes takes a digital photo of the right shoe and hopes to use it to identify the left shoe with the non-English speaking Gold's Gym staff. Tuesdsay afternoon we returned to the gym with Kawaguchi San, our project principal and translator. After much un-decipherable back-and-forth in Japanese, it was "regretfully offered" that it would be "difficult" to recover the shoe. LOSE: the new shoe.






2) Lunch time at the client cafeteria is interesting to say the least. It's a typical cafeteria-style setup, where you grab a tray and peruse a selection of hot food and some pre-made sandwiches. But most of the hot food is traditional Japanese-- ramen or soba noodles, tempura, pickled vegetables, grilled meat, etc. On our inaugural visit to the Aeon cafeteria, we were pretty happy to see that there was a spaghetti bar-- your choice of meat sauce or pink tomato cream sauce. I opted for the tomato cream sauce and for a second wondered why they garnished the spaghetti with shredded, dried seaweed. Well, it should have tipped me off that this was not your ordinary "penne a la vodka." They actually take a bunch of orange colored fish eggs (tobiko) and mix it in to the pink sauce, giving the spaghetti a really weird fishy, oceany taste. LOSE: my lunch.

It's been fun being the guest blogger, but I promise that you'll have Julie back next time (I think she is super busy right now planning her August vacation to Bali).

Back in Tokyo

I'm back from my whirlwind travels of Hawaii and San Francisco... More on those places later. I awoke Sunday morning at the time of 4:30am and begin with the same few questions I have started asking myself:
1. What country am I in? Answer: Japan
2. What city am I in? Answer: Tokyo
3. What time zone am I in and what day is it? Answer: way too early; Sunday (Happy Father's Day, but oh wait it's still Saturday in the states so calling now would be too early)

After settling the basics I started the day with a battle between me and the washer/dryer. Have I mentioned that the washer/dryer is literally ONE machine - you put the clothes in and they are washed and dried without human intervention. Since I like to dry some clothes for just a few minutes and others all the way, I selected the wash only cycle and would follow up with the dry only cycle. The wash only went fine (clothes seemed clean). The dry only cycle started fine however when I wanted to pull some of the my clothes out the machine would not open. Mind you the instructions/buttons are in Japanese so they make no sense and the "cheat sheet" that the apartment gave me doesn't help that much either so I'm flying blind. I started hitting random buttons, closing and opening lids and finally success! Score: Julie =1, Tempermental Washer/Dryer = 0

I had found a yoga studio online and decided that would be my adventure outside the apartment for the. Monica and I decided to stop by the Starbucks for a pick-me-up before we headed down to the subway. I ordered a frappacino and a banana, which was right on the counter near the register, so I went to pick one up when all of a sudden the Starbucks employee slapped my hand! I'm not kidding; I was astonished and completely taken a back by the reaction (Monica was in utter shock). He informed me (in Japanese) that I should wait by the drink counter for my banana and coffee. I mean I love service as much as the next person but I think I am capable of choosing my own banana!

Yoga was a huge win - 75 minutes with an instructor from America made me forget I was in Tokyo. We asked one of the ladies where we could grab brunch around the studio and she suggested this great place as well as a proper grocery store with American brands and magazines!! Monica and I were sold! We spent the afternoon pursuing the streets near Roppongi Hills. The grocery store was awesome - I never thought I'd be so excited to see Tide, Skippy peanut butter, and People magazine in English. However victory was spoiled when we learned how much the maganizes were - $10-20 yikes! We had to make some smart selections and ensure the biggest bang for the buck.

After Roppongi Hills we headed to the Grand Hyatt to check out where Lost in Translation (btw - I have a new found respect for that movie!) was filmed. Realizing we were very under-dressed for the restaurant/bar we opted for the street level cafe. I ordered a diet coke (whatelse) and was pleasantly surprised when a very large glass appeared however was unpleasantly surprised to learn this large glass of dc was going to cost me $8. For an $8 dc and Monica's $8 tea we decided to make camp for a while and enjoy our newly purchased magazines!

Dinner was another adventure... we met David (head of the KSA Japan office and basically a native) at a subway stop near Roppongi Hills (our new favorite place in Tokyo). We went to a very authentic place where we did have to take off our shoes (note to self - must remember to take socks when going out!) The floor was covered in bamboo type rugs so it felt nice. We had a variety of food for dinner - ceaser salad, crab cakes, some sausage thing, sashimi, etc all were good. After dinner Monica and I were ready to head home when we saw the streets where filled with people all wearing Japan's world cup jerseys. The game started at 10:30pm and folks were beginning the celebrations at 8pm - crazy.



One more thing... it's rainy season here which means it is 85 degrees and drizzles all day long. So you are hot and sticky not to mention damp all day however no one else seems to look as disheveled as I do - must be something you just get used to; wonder how long that will take??