Justin-Klein.com – Life of a Traveling Programmer – Page 108

Shopping in Tokyo

Jul 102007

Shutting down my workstation at 7:00pm sharp, I bolted out of the office and pedaled as hard as I could past Nijo Castle and towards the JR station. It was Friday April 27th, and I had plans to catch the earliest possible bullet train to Tokyo. Yet again.

Less than 24 hours earlier, I’d received a call on my cellphone. It was from Felicia, a very close family friend who I knew would be stopping in Tokyo on her way to a business trip in India. “Justy! Can you come to Tokyo after work tomorrow?? I’ll cover the train ticket, just get here as early as you can!”

The timing seemed perfect – it was the first day of Golden Week, a series of consecutive holidays which would let me stay away for twice as long as any other weekend. And as this would be Felicia’s first trip to Japan, I was excited to show her around and help translate – as well as have a little reunion with Eli and JingJing, two of my buddies who I met over the New Year Vacation. Continue reading »

Let’s Learning English!

Japan, Public 6 Responses »

Jul 062007

In a company where both Japanese and English-speaking staff work closely together on large and complex software projects, miscommunications are sure to arise. To help battle this problem, my employer provides bi-weekly English lessons right here in the office (erm, but no language lessons for the Westerners 😥 ). This often inspires the more adventurous employees to attempt communications in both their native and non-native tongues, while the slightly less confident will instead use auto-translation software to add a bit of clarity to their feature requests and bug reports. Perhaps they don’t realize that the translations are anything but useful. But that’s okay. Because time after time, for the foreigners it means hilarity! Continue reading »

Hosts and Hostesses

Japan, Public 9 Responses »

Jun 262007

In my recent post on Interesting Facts about Japan, I mentioned how the Japanese “cool guy” image varies drastically from that in the US. I also mentioned how these Japanese “cool guys” can often be seen shamelessly prowling the city streets at night, hitting on every female (or pair of females) who happens to cross their paths.

Well, by total coincidence I stumbled on a fascinating documentary today that sheds quite a bit of light on the subject. I’ve heard a number of different stories about who these guys are – everything from students just looking for some female companionship to Yakuza recruiting for their newest sex clubs. But by far the most common theory I’ve heard is that these persistent young trend-setters are what’s often referred to as “Male Hosts.” Continue reading »

Salmonella

Japan, Public 6 Responses »

Jun 252007

Does Salmonella really exist? Or is it just a big conspiracy invented by the FDA to keep people buying and renewing their foods regularly? I’ve lived in Japan for nearly two years now, and over that time have eaten countless portions of raw beef, raw chicken, raw fish, raw eggs, and even raw horse. Eggs are never refrigerated, and food is often prepared long before it’s actually eaten. Yet I’ve not had a single case of the runs since coming here. So what gives? Why are we so freaked out by uncooked foods in the US, such that we’ll throw out a pack of eggs after accidentally leaving it on the counter overnight? Continue reading »

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