robertliu.com

Oh lookie at what I’ve got:

Brand spanking new Sony DSC-T90, a sleek and stylish touch screen operated camera at 15mm thin. Packed with 12.1MP sensor, 4x optical zoom, HD video and all sorts of smart technology. I’ve been way impressed with it so far. Far exceeds my previous Canon camera on all but one function I can think of. I don’t think this Sony supports long shutter speeds for nice night shots but I can still experiment. Another gadget to add to my collection

So I’ve got just under a month left in Japan now and last week I started calling around to cancel my subscriptions etc.  Even though the Japanese themselves don’t pay the TV licence fees, I was caught out one day when I was expecting the postman but answered the door for a NHK representative who was collecting the licence fees. Apparently, you’re required by law to pay it (like in the UK with the BBC) but there aren’t any penalties for it. I didn’t know this at the time and thought it was the same as the UK system so duly signed up to it to pay about 2000 Yen a month. I am a law abiding citizen after all. Mustn’t forget about my latest farewell gift from Japan – a “Residents tax” bill which comes to an eye-watering 6 figure number

Anyway, if you’re in a similar situation and need to cancel your NHK subscription to the licence fee, just call the number on the bill. I simply said “do you speak English” and just hung on for a few minutes until they found someone that could. When they did, I was greeted by a cheerful “Hi”. Some girl that sounded very junior but knew some English. I explained my situation and she understood and said she would send me a form to fill in. Fairly nice of them to support in English without any complaints (I’ve had pretty bad experiences with Yahoo! technical support in Japan who insist on only speaking Japanese.) But I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the letter a few days later and found that the NHK people had added instructions in English to help me. I hope the “buck” here doesn’t mean a dollar tip!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and cards from everyone. Now one quarter of a century years old. To be honest, being 25 doesn’t feel much different.

This rare, 2000 Yen bank note finally circulated into my hands at yesterday’s BBQ.  It’s readily available at most Japanese banks but it doesn’t seem to be used at all. In fact, this was the first time I saw it in the 14 months I’ve been in this country and I’ve handled more than a few million Yen in that time (not that I’m rich but because it’s a cash society here and I don’t have a Japanese credit card).

You may note the Shureimon gate in Okinawa is the same one depicted on the 2000 Yen note. Here is us posing in front of it in Okinawa:

It was a lovely day yesterday to have a nice BBQ by the beach down in Kanazawa at Umi no Koen, 30 minutes from Yokohama. Nice way to relax with friends on this long Japanese holiday. BBQing in Japan is very organised. You reserve your spot and equipment. All you need to supply is your food. We had spot 19 and 20:

Thanks to Hanako and Hiromi (two girls on the right picture) for organising the whole thing.

I also got this pretty nice shot of Ken drinking Asahi beer with a hawk(?) in the sky. Good enough to be used as a commercial I think.

Another one of my nightshots. Hakkeijima, which has an amusement park, reflected in the sea.

More photos on flickr: BBQ @ Umi no Koen

This swine flu thing seems to be quite serious. I just got sent a huge document about infectious diseases contingency plan from my Japanese employer and 4 (albeit the same) emails from the British Embassy in Japan! Good to know there is a “plan”.

The forms for my free 12,000 Yen arrived. Now I just have to figure out how to fill it in and hope they transfer the money to me before I leave the country!

I’ve taken a day off work today (if you hadn’t noticed by the surge in blog posts), just to use up some of my annual leave allowance before the end of my contract. So I eventually got round to calling my local ward office to send me an application to receive 12,000 Yen! Yes, FREE MONEY. It’s part of the Japanese government’s initiative to boost the economy with fixed sum benefit scheme (teigaku kyufukin). I hope I can receive it before I leave the country.

Just before Sooz went back home, I took her to Tokyo Dome City Attractions, the home of the Giants baseball team and an amusement park. Why? Well, we visited Tokyo Disneysea the day before where the rides were fun though a little tamed. So I remembered this place where there was a giant rollercoaster that even I was scared of (I say as if I normally have no fear).
So here is my ticket to get on the Thunder Dolphin ride. 1000 Yen is quite a lot but it was definitely the real thing. Took about half an hour to queue for it and one girl chickened out just as she got to the front of the queue!

I’m afraid there’s no picture of us actually on the ride but this was a shot after we got off. Probably a full 90 seconds at full speed. This first drop was the biggest one as I could remember my heart being left behind.

Here’s a video I took of the ride going round. It’s hard to appreciate it from the ground. You do get an amazing view of Tokyo city up on the roller coaster, that is, just before the thing starts travelling at over 130km/h. It’s the 5th largest in the world and it goes through a whole in a building as well as a ferris wheel! There’s also no upper body restraint so it feels like you’re not really strapped in!

Last Saturday, Sooz and I went to see horseback archery in Asakusa. Here’s a video of one archer hitting the wooden targets

Was hard to get some decent photos, especially with the crowd but here’s a few. We sat just in front of the target so I only got rear end shots when they were aiming.

One guy dropped his arrow but I can’t remember if it was this guy.

Check out the crowds!

More photos on Flickr: Asakusa Yabusame