Tokyo, Japan!!!! well....Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan to be exact. the downtown of the 27 districts. or was it 23??? meh i dont remember right now lol. anyway i've been here for about a week now even though i never told any of you. got family stuff to deal with around here with angry in-laws and other stuff. i mean i still gotta get some R&R. a vacation is a vacation imo. no matter how much business there is, theres always time for some type of pleasure. speaking of which, i saw my wife and Aya-chan for the first time in like 4 months which made my day. man the time difference has taken a toll on my body. 14 hours is a big jumpso i find myself napping in the afternoon and chomping on Pocky all night through the morning streaming anime or reading manga. my eyes are tricking my brain. the eyes say, "Hey its nighttime! Let's get some frickin sleep," but the brain says, "What are you stupid? Its 2 in the afternoon!!! Why the hell do i need to sleep?" Funny huh???

Anyway i hadnt been to Tokyo....well Japan in general in about 4 years and its nice to see some of my old friends. I had met them when they had first entered university so 4 years later, they're seniors about to graduate and it was nice of them to take time off and get together to meet up with me. its funny but their little group is kinda funny in the sense that they resemble the Honey and Clover group. NOTE: This is the anime portion so non-anime people skip ahead to the next paragraph immediately! So like i was saying they're just like the Hachimistu group in that you have one who does art design work for a company....and will go on to work there after he graduates for the sake of a woman that is in charge of the company (Mayama). then you havethegirlwho chases that same guy despite the fact that the guy told her that he will never look in her direction (Ayu). then theres the infamous love triangle of Hagu, Takemoto and to a lesser extent, a guy who is kinda KINDA like Morita. i stress kinda because no one can be like Morita. this Morita has money and talent and jokes around a lot but its just not the same. this Takemoto fits the real Takemoto perfectly in that he doesnt know what he wants to do in life and must continue to work to find himself. from what i'm told, he actually took a trip to discover himself in his junior year and thus had to repeat it like what anime Takemoto did in his senior year before the presentation of his thesis. ANYWAY quite the cast of characters that i choose to associate myself with on this side of the water lol. Its just a real shame that we dont have a sensei for our group.....

Travelling around Tokyo is fun. the major streets havent changed much but the real fun lies in the back alley streets where the small shops take residence. there were a few ramen shops and bars that 4 years ago (about 8 of them) i had hoped would still be open when i returned. out of those few i think 5 still remain which is still a decent success ratio i guess. economic development right??? ANYWAY to the main purpose of this blog....as i said, i've taken on the tourist role here in Japan even though i feel more like a native as much hasnt changed so i wont be around as much as usual due to partying, dancing, drinking, eating and any other assorted Nica like activities. posting will drop and communication will drop to a near stand still so dont get too angry if i dont respond to PMs or other forms of communication. Sore ja!!!!