Tokyo Christmas

It was an interesting Christmas day in Tokyo. It was the first working day of the week because the Emperor's birthday was on Sunday and therefore moved to Monday. Tuesday was a working day, except that for the expats it's Christmas, so you really don't want to be working. And for the Japanese, it's the start of the last week of the year.

I was invited to Christmas lunch at the boss's house, so after spending the morning in the office, I left to catch the subway. At the other end I ran into a couple of other people on their way to the same lunch, so we shared a taxi to the house.

Lunch turned out to be the full monty - an enormous turkey, baked honey ham, brussel sprouts (which I gave a miss of course), stuffing, potato, etc. Desert was apple pie, pumpkin pie, and Christmas pudding. Not bad!

Finished at around 4:30, at which point I headed back to the office to pick up my bag. Then a small dinner with a couple of New Zealanders that I knew from Wellington and who now live in Wilmslow (UK) but are in Tokyo. Dinner was at a restaurant set up by Francis Ford Coppola - the guy who made the Godfather trilogy of movies, along with many others.

Tokyo Festive Season

Well the festive feeling has touched Tokyo. This afternoon it seemed that all of the residents of Tokyo (and possibly the surrounding prefectures as well) had decided that it was time they went shopping. Only made worse by the wonderful sunny day, which they needed to enjoy by walking sooooo slowly. The sun was down by 5 (maybe a little earlier?) and the streets were getting colder so it was time to head home.

I got the news that Paul finally found someone... the pressure is now on, Jonathan.

Tokyo

Things are creeping slowly towards Christmas next week, although for the locals it is more about New Year. Apparently the city empties out a bit from 31st through until Monday 7th. Getting colder now - not sure what the temperature actually is, but it's very chilly in the morning on the way to work.

Nothing new to tell - parcels of Christmas presents are safely in NZ with one exception - Paul - which we missed sending because we thought he would still be in PNG. Then we find out that he's just arrived in Auckland. Oops!

What a difference...

...one day makes, 24 small hours... (look it up).

Back in Hong Kong for the weekend, arriving around 1:00pm today. Amazing how bad the pollution is. As we walked through the shops in Central, you could see the fuzziness of the air (?) across the space of maybe 50 metres. Probably worse for me having grown used to Tokyo's relatively unpolluted environment. As I sit writing this, I can look out the window towards the west where I should be able to see the sun setting. Alas, the pollution is so bad that you can hardly see the boats passing (M&D remember how big the ships are and how close they pass?)!

As soon as I got here today, we were off to the tailors to collect a suit that I'd got made. It fits really nicely, and they've done a great job quality-wise. Apart from a couple of chalk marks left on the jacket, that is. Three-button blue/gray with thin pinstripe. And four white shirts. This is the second suit I've had made in HK by the same crowd. They were recommended by a guy at the office who was impressed with their work.

Previously I'd got a couple of suits made in Bangkok by one of the tailors that most of Prudential seem to favour. The suits are good, but the quality is not up to the same standard as the HK guys. The Bangkok tailor is an Indian guy who was borne in Bangkok but spent a lot of time in the UK. Then moved back to Bangkok and married a local lady (if I recall correctly). Apparently he spends much of his day trading stocks in between consulting with clients!

I am now faced with a bit of a problem - I've lost just over 10kg and some of the suits are looking decidedly baggy. I think it will be back to the tailor to get some of them altered.

Tonight it's off to our favourite restaurant (Harlan's) for dinner. We've been there a few times and they know us well. To the point that desert is usually complimentary. However we do actually want to sample things off the desert menu, so we have strategised how we will jump in and ask for the menu before they bring out the desert.

Christmas presents are all either in NZ by now or on their way, with the exception of Paul and Jonathan because they are (1) troublesome to find something for, and (2) in countries where we cannot easily get the presents sent (Philippines and PNG). Now I just have to find a present for Sonia!

And dropping even further

I saw the forecast for Monday - down to 5 degrees at 6pm tomorrow night! Ouch.

This afternoon I took a ride with some friends - a lady from work and her husband. We hired motorbikes and rode out to a beach - about 250 km round trip.

I'd forgotten how cold it gets on a bike, especially once the sun goes down. I hired a Honda CBR600RR - a very nice ride. Red and black, nice and powerful. See it here.

We rode out to a beach and stopped for coffee at a local cafe (not an NZ-style cafe), where there were a bunch of guys on customised bikes. It's difficult to see on the pictures, but these are large two-stroke bikes (maybe 400 cc?) that have all sorts of cosmetic changes including back supports for the passengers - a la "whale tails" on cars. As well as cosmetic changes, they've changed the mufflers (or removed them?). You can just make out a police car at the far end of the carpark (in the last spot). This police car follows the bike gang around to make sure they don't cause too much trouble. When the bikers decided it was time to go, the policy car starts up and follows them out with lights flashing - but doesn't stop them.


The next picture is of the second set of bikes to arrive - these were larger four-stroke bikes, therefore being much more serious. Apart from using the length of the carpark to do wheelies when they arrived.


After warming up with koohi (coffee), we rode up the beach to a lighthouse. The views were great but the pictures I took didn't work so I've not posted them.

Then back towards Narita (the international airport) and back into town.

Click here to see the points of interest on Google Maps. When it opens up, click the "Satellite" button to see actual pictures.

By the time we got back around 7pm, it was positively freezing. But I do remember what I enjoyed about riding.

11 degrees

That's the daily high temperature at the moment, but most of the time it's down around 8. And I assume colder at night, although I must admit that I don't stay up to find out!

Getting colder, but still lovely clear blue skies...