Shinnenkai 新年会

In Japan just after new years, most people have what is called a shinnennkai (New Years Gathering) Today I participated in one of many to come. Basically its a time to ask for everyone's cooperation for the coming year, and great excuse to grub and drink.

Shinnenkai 新年会

Went out for dinner and drinks with a guy I work with here in Tokyo. We always go grab something grubbin to eat, and then its off to finish it off with Single Malt Scotch Whisky.

Karaoke

Check out the lyrics, "Don't you want me baby" Ha haaa, I wounder who Dumz is signing that to

Went out to sing at a Karaoke-room in Shinbashi. Had already a fair intake of alcohol for the evening, but decided to meet up with everyone for another round. Was soo faded, I don't remember half the evening, but it was fun just getting stupid with everyone.

Dave and Busters

Went to Dave and Busters today. Its been almost 3 years since I've been there, so thought it would be good to go have a few drinks and play those lame games that they have there. What sucked was most of the games were out of order, or broken. Guess the place has gotten run down over the years. On top of that we went there with a few people from Japan, and they wouldn't accept a passport as a form of ID, so they were allowed drinks. Geez...

Yard House

Went to the Yard House for grubbin and drinkin. This place has a HUGE selection of beers on tap. Guess is a beer drinkers paradise. The food aint bad either.

Golf at Mesa Verde

Had a double header weekend of golf at Mesa Verde and Shady Canyon! California weather is the greatest!

Devi Fusion

I went to have lunch with some people from Elpida today at a restaurant in Roppongi that I haven't been to in a while. Devi Fusion (I have no idea why its called that). Its a indian curry restaurant that doesn't have any fusion in it. Its probably as authentic as your gonna get without going to India. Guess the only part thats fusion about it, is that it doesn't have any cheezy Indian decorations and stuff that try and make it up to look like an Indina restaurant. Its just all about the food. I had the 2 curry lunch with Tandori chicken today. Sooo grubbin. Just so happens that a friend owns this restaurant so he hooked us up with a bunch of appetizers. Strange guy, he is a semiconductor broker by day, and runs an Indian restaurant as a hobby. His exact quote," hey Jeff, Japanese people are crazy about curry, I never thought this place would do so well." Lucky guy. He installs a few plasma TVs in the place, and during soccer season there was enough people to come and eat and drink to pay off the TVs in 1 season.

All the ingredients other than vegetables and meats are pretty much brought in from India. All the chefs are from India. He said he provide housing for them in Japan and they come to work for 1 year at a time from India. They make enoug money to live wealthy back in India after 1 year of work, so they are happy, and he's happy cuz he gets authentic chefs cheaper than hiring in Japan. If your ever in the area try them out. It right up the street from the IBM building in Roppongi.

Kazu and Moris

My friend from Hawaii was in town for this sisters wedding so we all hung out at a Izakaya near Moris' house. Then cruised over to a billards bar in Akasaka for a few drinks and to shoot pool. I didn't realize how drunk I was until I noticed that I couldn't focus on the ball anymore, ha haa.

Udon Kurosawa くろさわ

A delicacy that is often enjoyed in Japan is Udon noodles. Traditionally its a thick noodle in hot broth soup made from shaved bonita and konbu. I went to a restaurant called Kurosawa in Azabujyuban tonight. I usually don't do noodles at night, but I went with my friend Eric and his pregnant wife, so I couldn't do my usual grub and drink thing with them. So noodles it was. I ordered the Kurobuta Curry Nanban Udon (careful, need to wear a splash guard cuz it gets messy) after a beer and some Oden (assorted vegetables and fish cake in broth, yumm). The noodles were great! Felt as if my body was being nursed by the complex flavors of the broth and the perfectly boiled noobles being what Japanese would consider Al dente. Along with that the warmth of the broth, acting like a blanket on a cold winter night. Haven't felt this way about noodles in a while, but serious this place was grubbin!

Tokyo Tower

There are a couple of attractions in Japan that have been around for a while but seldom think of. One of them is Tokyo tower. I'd say less than 50% of the people in Tokyo have ever been to Tokyo tower, and about half of those that have been there haven't been up to the observation deck (I'm one of them, ha haa) But its been a symbol of Tokyo for almost 50 years now. Because of the expansion of digital broadcasting(Japan is going 100% digital in 2011) they are going to build a new one which is supposed to be built sometime around 2008. The other thing that the Tokyo tower symbolizes is midnight. In general the lights that light up the tower go out at 12 midnight so its kinda a sign to tell everyone (well most people) its late enough to head home.

Another Day of Golf

People in Japan are nuts! They make golf reservations to play way way way in advance. Months in advance at times. So when it comes to the day of playing, they are all excited about going. Doesn't matter what the weather is.... Geeez.... So when your playing with customers that are crazy about going, you can't cancel, even if its frickin 9 degrees and raining....So frickin cold. For an ex-Californian its almost unthinkable to play in such weather.