'erotica' is a sunglasses shop. makes very good sense doesn't it? Well last evening I went to the quirky "cafe leafcup" and worked for four hours, just chatting with people that came in and introducing newcomers to the group, trying to keep everyone involved. and they want me to come back! great! So I'll be earning some money (cash in hand of course, no paperwork for me) and keeping busy during the week. And next week I'll officially be starting to work with little Ken, the 2 year old that I have to chase around and talk to for a while each week. And next friday, I'm going to see Melt Banana play at the shibuya o-nest. Melt bananaa a a a a a jaksjda I'm drinking a 'real' americano right now. I brought Naoko some espresso beans from seattle and she has an espresso maker with caffe vita mugs to boot!!! it's so delicious compared to any coffee you can buy around here!
I've put together a nice little video to show how wet this country can seem. The amazing thing is how many umbrellas I see in one day now. I don't know what to write. I've just finished reading Hermann Hesse's "demian." Probably one of the most inspiring novels I've ever read. I definitely recommend it to anyone that is curious about their place in this world. enjoy the aesthetics. love, tyler
WHAT IS JOY TIME? Well, here I am again in front of my computer in Japan, trying to think of what to tell everyone, how to explain 'what's been going on.' But putting that aside for now, I'll tell you what WILL be going on. Naoko is at work right now (10 pm) but she'll be home soon and we'll probably have some sweets together or something. she always needs the chocolate or puffy bread or something. funnyyyyyy. anyway, she has the day off tomorrow, so we'll be able to relax together for a while anyhow. Then I guess Naoko is going to a dinner party with some old friends of hers from Ito (her hometown). Later in the evening I'll be heading into Tokyo for a party at my friend Aki's new apartment. That's exactly why he's having a party in fact, he moved into a new apartment with Noriko!!! yeyayya. Should be funn. Then on Tuesday I have a meeting with some people I don't know. I got a call earlier this evening from one Kurumi, she's a mother of a 1 year old boy that she feels should grow up being familiar with English, so I'm going for an "interview" with her kid and I might end up meeting with them a couple times during the week to read stories to her boy and play some English games with him (sounds like I'm going to teach him cricket or rugby or something). I'm very excited to meet these people and give them my best so I can possibly be a help for them. And of course I would get paid, that would be wonderful. On Thursday I'll work at the Cafe Leafcup in tokyo and hopefully they will want me back as well. I'm continuing to post ads on various websites I find and hopefully the more posts I make, the more contacts about jobs I'll recieve. It can't work any other way, now can it!??! nope... Yesterday I met up with Maki around Makuhari, Chiba near the ocean. We ended up taking a walk to the beach and had a nice time hanging out together. Kazu left and is back in Seattle now, and Naoko is usually away so we were able to fight our lonelinesses together! teamwork!!! Today, I took a hike across town and visited the great statue of 'kannon.' I guess it was built in 1934, initially, but then the war prevented a quick construction so it was not finished until 1956 or so. It is definitely big and looks amazingly serene when you get up close to it. it's just concrete!! Looks nice though. enjoy the movie!!!! love to all Oh yeah, I saw some new pictures of little Theo and he looks marvelous, what a little bundle of wonders. =tyler tyler
Well today is humid again, I thought for a couple days that summer might really be through with and we could all bask in the joys of wearing a jacket, not sweating, experiencing "nice breezes," etc. But I guess I've spoken too soon, it's still hot! What day is it... today is wednesday sept 20, I'm in our little ofuna apartment and being really lazy, I should get out of this place now!!! I'll be riding the train sooner or later up to harajuku. I'm not going there to gawk at the ridiculous fashions or buy clothing and such, I'm going to visit an art gallery space that is totally free and anybody can display work of any kind there. It should be enjoyable, I looked at their website today and It seems like a quality-attracting venue. Oh yeah, yesterday I gave in to many suggestions and Naoko helped me to get a ketai (a.k.a. cellphone). It's ok, it's prepaid so I just have to use my minutes if I need to call someone, but most of the time I'll just need it to recieve calls. Other than that I can always use a pay phone, it's cheap. Well I gotta get going, hopefully my battery charger from kazu will arrive sooner than later, then I can continue photo taking and video making. That's all for now, hope all is well in the rest of the world. even though it's not really. -tyler tyler tyler
I have been on a 'trip' now in Japan. It was lots of fun and sure, the shinkansen is fast, but its not worth as much as they make you pay for it. But it did move Kazuomi and I from okayama to tokyo in about 4 hours. that's like going from Seattle, WA to San Francisco, CA in 4 hours! astounding. Upon our arrival in Kyoto we were lured by a taxi driver who wanted to take us to maybe 5 or 6 'shriney' places for a lot less than these other tour services. Anyhow we broke free from his bargaining and found the best way to see a lot of Kyoto was to simply purchase an all-day bus pass for only 500 yen! about $4.50 american. we found our way to the infamous golden temple, walked through the grounds of a huge shogun castle, and went up into the mountains to see a temple with an amazing view of all that is kyoto, and I got to ring the bell and bow!!! yeayyeaeae tourist fun!!! Later in the night we found a nice Izakaya (traditional japanese bar/cafe) and sampled many mushroom and seaweed dishes. We became soooo tired that it was time to find shelter for the evening. Before Kazu and I even left, we had the great idea of staying in a "love" hotel because they are cheaper than other hotels, and it would be really cheesy and funny too!!! BUT, the conservative Japanese idealogy took over and prevented us from renting a room! I was shocked that this old lady told us, "we can't allow to men to stay together." Later we found out that 2 girls would be just fine, but not guys. ridiculous! So we went to the nearest business hotel and shared a room for a little more money. At least we got a good night sleep and a place to take a shower. -------- The next morning we were on the train again to see the island of Shikoku and the region of Kagawa, Japan. This is were Kazu grew to know the world... and eat Udon. Udon is delicious. It is the pasta of japan and I think much much tastier. Born in Kagawa, Udon is just noodles made from flour, water, and sea salt, but the texture and taste are amazing!!! I had the honor of meeting Kazu's family and they were wonderfully amusing. Then one day we went to a temple way way way wya up on a hill that had 1300 or more steps to get there. it was quite a workout!! enjoy the pictures, the movie, and take care of yourselves. love love love, tyler
today = = = up really early to meet kazuomi at the tokyo station, then we ride the infamous japanese 'bullet train' to the beautiful city of Kyoto. I'm going to eat a vegetable that originates in kyoto called kyo-yasai. CRAZY!!!!! from Kyoto, Kazu will take me into the island of shikoku, where he was farmed! It will be great to see his hometown and meet his family. I should be going, here is a video of my day with naoko yesterday, she had a day off!!!!! yeah! =tyler tyler tyelr yelt
yesterday I travelled to Odaiba, a man-made island in the harbor of tokyo, with friends maki and kazu. we "chilled" on the beach and walked around the gigantic futuristic blocks for a spell and then headed to Mino's place of work for some coffee. Then today, Naoko had a day off from work1!!! We went to yokohama's chinatown and had very expensive coffee nearby. coffee in japan, not a good idea. YEHA!Here's a short film I put together about it!!!!!!!!!! Keep it up everyone! -tyler tyler tyler tyler
this is the dutch style coffee maker I drank from yesterday. I realized this morning I didn't even post a photo of it really. so check it out?! ever seen one of these things before?!
Today I'll post these photos for viewing pleasure! I had a most amazing experience today traveling one station over to kamakura. I basically got to see a part of japan stuck in the 70's full of sweeeet coffee shops (kissaten). This one was called Jean Clielle or some French name, the lady in the picture spoke the english she learned in high school to me, we had a nice conversation. The coffee maker is "dutch" style. "I don't know why it 's dutch style!," she said. Wonderful day.Tomorrow I have a "job" with Mino being a server person at a wedding party he is organizing. Should be good! =tyler
Good evening morning, something good. I just got up about 30 min. ago and in japan it's 9 am in the morning. Yesterday I had an extremely casual "interview" if you can even call it that. I think of it more as an informative talk I had with Steve, the manager type at this english cafe called "leafcup." However, good did come of it, for I am headed back there next week for a day of actually trying out the chatting host role. Should be very exciting! yeahhahahhahaha TALKING IS SOOOO EXCITING!!?!?!? I must say it was nice to speak my native tongue at a normal speed and not worry about my word choice while I am conversing with someone as I normally do these days. Anyway, this place seems great and I hope to make some money from it. PEACEEEEEEEE video!?!?!!?
I met up with mino in shibuya yesterday!!! It was really nice to hang out with him for a while and we both had our haircut by his friend Yone! Anyways, good news from mino, I can work with him when he organizes these parties at Las Chicas (a restaurant he works at) and make about 70 or 80 dollars on the weekends, schedule permitting of course. But that will be nice to have an infrequent money making scheme!!!!! Also, I'm heading into Iidabashi today intending to speak with someone in a cafe there about working for them. So enjoy the video if you can, I've never posted video on the internet before, let me know how it goes. Oh yes, This camera only shoots .avi files, I'm curious about possible ways of compressing the size! it would be better for everybody! love, tylerrrrr V I D E O P
it's tuesday here. getting hot again, I spoke too soon when I thought the weather was much cooler than last year. But it's not so bad, I'll just get used to it again. Yesterday morning naoko gave me a nice haircut and it feels really good!!!! Everyone should get their haircut with thinning scissors. We met with Touji a couple days ago and dined at a fabulous okonomiyaki restaurant in yokohama. it was tasty! Yesterday, Monday, was quite interesting as Naoko and I jumped into the electronic city of Akihabara. It was nuts! so many tiny random accessories and wires and lights and cameras and everything you could imagine there. Some parts of the town had really tiny hallways between stores with tiny tiny booths selling their wholesale transformers, "x-ray" cameras, security systems, illegal stuff, etc. some places were so nerdy it was awesome! anyway, I found a canon that I liked and was much cheaper than in the states. With a charger I bought a canon a530 for 175 dollars. Mom, isn't that the camera you have now? I'm not sure but I know it's very similar. After the tiring shopping, we met aki in shinjuku with his friends kenji and kaori. We talked a lot about where I should look for work and they just thought I should be a model. I also recieved a business card from some dude who overheard me talking with them about modelling and such so he said, check these people out they might be able to help you. So I'm so far just getting some information about who I can talk to and where I can go. But today I'm soooooo tired!!!! jet lag haS LONG term effects apparently, and I feel like going to sleep at 11 am. anyway, I'm going to meet mino tonight and talk with he and his boss at "las chicas" the international restaurant that he works at. should be interesting! byelakelaulewuit
here I am alive and well in kamakura, japan. about 45 min south of tokyo in the oceanside kanagawa prefecture. Kazu and I had an extremely tiring adventure last night. It involved leaving the airpot after meeting maki there, then going to her apartment so kazu could drop off some stuff, then we took an interesting route and finally met naoko in shinagawa, then she and I headed here on the train. too much train for one day!!!!! especially after sitting on the plane for 9 hours, but I'm happy to be here finally so I suppose I shan't complain any longer! Touji is over here right now and it's nice to see him and have broken conversations. Naoko is a genius and helped me acclimate my laptop in order to connect to the internet here at her apartment, so as soon as I can find the right digital camera I'll be posting plenty of photos along with these rambles. today we actually just took a look around at some cameras and they seem to be quite affordable and great! The only problem is that I need to find a mastercard-friendly international ATM so I can withdraw some yen from my bank account. but I have just been informed that maybe the camera shop will take my card as a credit card, anyways, before long I'll take photos non-stop possibly. thanks
