team america

feck yeah! have never even heard of this film before sunday (funny, they never sold it in a muslim country!)...for all those who havent seen it...watch it!! called Team America....

theres always one.....

theres always one who doesnt understand the sentence 'right, lets all look sexy and sultry...' nice one deccy...

thanks j for the photo

Scchhmmmmoooootthhh

a goat wearing lipstick and eyeliner (now, how many times do you get the opportunity to say that in a lifetime???)

not strictly a halloween costume, but a genuine photo of a genuine goat, taken the week before at a farm in yamagata...i think to attract tourists....just wrong

more halloween photos to come when lazy slackers can be bothered to email them...

adam and tomomi

spray on shirt and diamonte' snake skinned belt...oh, and tomomi

sounds like a kat being strangled

thanks kat for making me the 2nd worst singer in the world...

looks like a kat being strangled

and the worst smile award goes to....

"down in niigata station at midnight..."

the boys...

the girls

Saturday night.....

saturday night was halloween....due to the number of north americans here, its kind of a big deal...amongst westerners anyway. 4 bars/clubs had special all night parties on....was a great night as all my work mates, football mates and teacher mates were all out together....here are some pictures....(i apologise now..)

first..the work people... (p.s. im on the right)

Saturday morning...

this was taken on the beach 5 mins from my house during my saturday morning run. it was such a beautiful day, we seem to get so many blue sky days here, maybe because we're on the coast...i don't know...was definately a postcard moment though.

Random photo 2....

lost in translation...in KL
where do they park the horses???

Sorry, random photo

this was outside my condo in KL...spot the deliberate mistake....prosecuted, or shot in the back while running away?????

Notts 2006

and his cuter big sister, charlie girl

Nottingham summer 2006

me and the cutest boy in the world, archie cookson smith!

Japanese Businessmen

i had to go and visit a supplier this week in Nagoya, about an hours flight from niigata airport. what was hilarious was that the plane was full of clones...everyone looked like the stereotype japanese businessman, all wearing identical suits, with identical white shirts, and identical haircuts...i dunno why, but it just tickled me...i also was in identical dark suit and white shirt...and i was the only white guy on the flight..guess you had to be there, but it looked amusing. upon return, i had to go for the obligatory sake, and try and resist my japanese colleagues trying to get me as drunk as possible! i did manage to escape karaoke though

Dubai...TGI Thursdays

This was hilarious. Friday is a holiday in the UAE, kinda the first day of the weekend, hence TGI Thursday's and not TGI Friday's! (well i thought it was funny)
was the only place you could get alcohol in central Dubai...was a dodgy place however, so spent the entire week dry and sober

Dubai...mosque from hotel bedroom

very pretty....until the 5am prayers through the loudspeakers every morning!

Dubai ...July 2006

we stopped off in Dubai for a week on the way home from Malaysia..40 degrees...most arabs had actually gone to Malaysia for the cooler weather!

Dubai...July 2006

At the fabulous Wild Wadi water park next to the famous Burj-al Arab hotel

Leaving Dinner, & Horses

Last night was a guys leaving do at work, (a Japanese senior manager). We went to a restaurant nearby work for dinner, about 30 of us. Was a lovely evening….and after last weeks ‘party’ I decided to drink coke all night and drive home…much to the displeasure of everyone….its a japanese business obsession to try and get you drunk!...im not kidding, they really get offended if you can still walk by the end of the evening. It was a traditional Japanese restaurant on tatami mats, where you sit crossed legged on the floor…..all feeling in my legs disappeared after about 20 mins. (a new record for me however) Food was amazing, mainly raw fish…however, I was introduced to raw horse…..well, they made such a big thing of me trying it that I couldn’t say no…..it tastes like….chicken!….no, it actually tastes like raw tuna. Hard to believe I was a vegetarian just a few years ago! I just hope that the horse died of natural causes…yes, lets just say that it died from tripping up and falling and banging its head….but not too painfully….and in bed…sleeping….dreaming of hay…..

Weekend

Weekend was good. Friday night stayed in and downloaded muchos music onto my new baby…my new 80gig ipod….decided now that I don’t need friends as long as I have my ipod! Sunday, I went up a mountain with a few friends. It was a place about 3 hours drive north eat of niigata, called yamagata, amazing views from the top, and it was a beautifully sunny day so the visibility was perfect…if not slightly cold! Then drove for about another 30 mins to another place, to see a Buddhist temple and Japanese buildings/houses on top of a hill. Both places were crammed with Japanese tourists! Now, ive been to many places where there are Japanese tourists (outside of japan) and they can be a real scourge, all matching bright garish clothes without the ability to talk in less than 200 decibels. Strangely, they are not like that here, maybe they have to be loud when they leave the country to keep up some devious stereotype or something????....
Was a lovely day though and felt like id done something ‘japanesey’, which is good.

Bangkok - Wat Po, young monks in teaching

Bangkok Wat Po - Reclining Buddha

Bangkok - Khao san road...mid tattoo!

yes..tattoo's hurt

Bangkok - Khao san road

Sleeper train

Malaysia - Bangkok sleeper train

14 hour train ride

Photos from summer

Tam just sent me about a million photos from the summer, kl, dubai and nottingham, some great ones, with some amazing memories...forgive my self indulgence to show but a few....bangkok first...

tonight i ate raw horse. horse...raw. raw horse

Gone to the chapel!

congrats also to my big bro..for managing to tie his tie correctly!

x

Going to the chapel...part 3!

congrats also to caroline, who also got married this weekend..(possibly my future sister in law..)

Going to the chapel..part 2

congrats also to one of my bestest buddies in the world, sheffield sarah on getting engaged to the lovely rob. sarah is a sheff weds fan and rob is a 'skiier'....but i still love ya both!

x

Going to the chapel...part 1

congratulations to my dear dear friend and ex room mate john...for tying to knot in kl...finally! (sorry i couldnt make it mate...must have been the wedding of the century!)

Japanese Drinking Parties

another japanese/tradition is the drinking party...it has a word..but i am yet to remember anything beyond 'hello' 'my name is...' 'good morning..'. anyway, wednesday was a welcome party for a new translator in our japanese partners company. now, the japanese are a very reserved race of people, yet, after a couple of glasses of sake.....they change... after work drinking here is not a past-time, its almost a religion. cliches of drunken japanese businessmen in karaoke bars is 100% true. man, they like to drink. turning down an invitation to a drinking party is considered extremely rude, so i had to attend. i had booked myself into the hotel where the 'do' was to take place. my aim was to stay sober and keep my dignity, as i am the customer you know! anyway, one of many many great japanese customs is that you are never allowed to pour yourself a drink. the protocol is that you visit the other tables with a bottle of beer, and pour each member of said table a drink. this gets everyone up and mixing, and is incredibly sociable, its a lovely custom. the etiquette is that you cannot refuse an offer of a drink, that is highly rude. so when someone visits you with a drink, you have to take a sip out of your current drink so that they can re-fill your glass....this is fine, unless you are a westerner, and the are trying to be extra polite to you...by extra polite, i mean, coming round and offering you a drink every bloomin 30 seconds. they see it as a way of being polite to offer you a drink, now, being newish, i didnt want to offend anyone....so i had to keep accepting....( i learned a valuable word that night.....ekki....it means 'down in one') so much against my better judgement..i ended up a little tipsy/hammered. this gets worse when the beer runs out and the saki comes out...seriously, its rude to say no to a drink.....the night started at 6.30pm...and by midnight....i was fulfilling a lifetime ambition to be singing karaoke in japan....god i am bad at karaoke...again though...it is extremely rude to say no to karaoke... i hear that i didnt hit a single note....woke up feling sooooo poorly. went to work where i had to go home at 11:00am....so so poorly....lesson learned methinks... funny thing is, there are a few japanese managers that i wasnt sure if they disliked me or not...i mean, coming into their company and telling them how to run it..but after a few beers, we were all best buddies! they hold great value on personal relationships, and these drinking parties are vitally important to the business culture here...amazingly so. things are all done here on relationships and trust...

after a couple of hectic weekends im taking it easy this weekend, i treated myself to an 80 gig ipod today, and have spent the last 3 hours putting 2 years worth of photos onto it, and all the music i have here and in malaysia onto it.....ipods are great!

planning first trip to tokyo in a couple of weeks with a few guys from work...more to follow

.....

The greatest ska-punk band in the world!

www.myspace.com/weeble

Driving School

So last night was japanese language lesson night (plus thursdays). more on those later. the language lessons are in a place called The Friendship Centre, its a kind of modern high tech community centre. anyway, the car park was full, so i parked in a back street. now, malaysia, you literally can abandon your car anywhere and its cool, pavements, fields, in front of hospitals...anything, its cool. japan is a different kettle of fish, put it this way, in order to buy a car, you have to prove that you have a car parking space at home. you have to submit a diagram of the parking space to the local council, with measurements, and the police come around and measure the space to make sure its ok, BEFORE they allow you to buy a car.....i kid you not. so, it was night time, in a small back street, needless to say i got a ticket...well, i think its a ticket, there was something official stuck to my windscreen, i need to get it translated at work, maybe ill be deported! so, we left (myself and 2 colleagues who also attend the classes), at the first lights, they were red, when they went to green, the car in front didnt move....so i waited....still nothing...so in true malaysian style, i gently gently beeped my horn...only to discover that the right filter was still on red...doh! embarrassed is not the word...so, out of sheer embarassment, and the fact that i didnt want to wait for the light to turn green, i decided to take the road going straight on, so, i put the car into reverse to get around the car in front.......bang! there was a stomach churning crash and thump....obviously i failed to see the car directly behind..double doh! so i turned into the side, the 3 of us having just come from a beginners japanese class had to sort out a car crash. anyway, the protocol here is that you have to report all accidents to the police and they come and produce a report etc.....the unofficial way is to just agree a cash settlement on the spot...so all 3 of us got out of the car, two young lads/guys got out of the other one, we inspected the damage, and my car was fortunately completely fine....the other car had a smashed number plate, now in england, id have been stabbed by now! but these guys were lovely, they shaked our hands, and said it was ok, we had just learned the word for sorry that night, so we just kept repeating 'sumimasen! sumimasen...!' anyway, we were all best mates after 5 mins, we shook hands again and we all left happy, they wouldnt even take any money for the number plate...... i heart japan indeed.....

tonight i had my hair cut again....3rd time in 6 weeks, i now have it really short, shortest ive had it in years and years. theres a hairdresser next door to my apartment block, called 'chevaux' (its french you know!...) anyway, i did the usual of walking in, pointing to a picture of a model in mens health and asking him to make me look like that...well, the hair anyway. the only words of english he spoke, was when we were finished, he smiled, and said, 'ah, brad pitt!'....needless to say he got a significant tip!!

went weight training with garth after hair cut, now cant lift my arms to eat me noodles! am currently slurping them like a true japanese, with my head down like a horse!

car crashes today = 0
unidentifiable food at lunch today = 3
noodles now on my living room floor = 6 and 1 unidentifiable vegetable
t-shirt stains from noodles = 1

tomorrow is my first work 'drinking party'....surely followed by karaoke.....i feel a cold coming on

sayonnara

Glen-san

Lotus

when i left malaysia, i put all my photos , music and everything on an external hard drive. when i got here, the thing didn't work, no matter what happened it didnt work..i thought i had lost 2 years worth of photos..except i tried it again 5 mins ago....and it worked!!!! so happy!!! ill chuck a few past photo's on here every now and again...starting with this one....i got to ride in one of only a handful of lotus's in the whole country. this was taken near my home in kl..

walk you lazy buggers!!! (a travelator)

note..for the sharp ones...youll notice the ball is still there...this was a practice...the actual shot looked nothing like this!

My boss on 1st tee

Stereotypes & Golf....

so...ive been here a few weeks now, which i reckon puts me in a position to dispel or confirm a few stereotypes of japan.
1. japanese are into new gadgets...true...see apartment pics
2. japanese tv is all mad game shows ala clive james...true...japanese tv is woeful, half is crazy weird and somewhat pointless game shows, the other half is dull, long and pointless japanese baseball.
3. japanese people are polite...very true, japanese are incredibly polite. last week i stopped at a pedestrian crossing to let a bunch of school kids cross..when they got to the other side, they all turned in unison and bowed to me....a small thing to them maybe, but it made my day
4. japanese are the best manufacturers in the world...false, suppliers here are awful, worse than malaysia
5. japanese are crazy about golf....true..partially. my uk boss is over for a few weeks and we were very kindly invited to play in the japan company who we are working with's annual golf tournament. i had to get up at 5am on saturday morning and drive 30 mins down the coast to the course, its a professional championship course, and is stunning. we had clear blue skies all day and is was quite hot, even for october...mid 20's i think. anyway, japan does many things well, golf being one of them. we arrived in the car so be met by a few women, who opened our boot and took our clubs...then next time we saw them was when they were in a golf buggy on the first tee! the place itself was incredible. set in the mountains near mount yahiko, on the rugged coast near niigata. i was playing with the presidents sister, and a couple of other japanese guys whom i work with (whom?? or who???...) and although one guy spoke english, the other two didnt, however, i always find it weird that even when you cant understand a word any one is saying, you can manage to have great conversations, and make and understand jokes. i won't bore you with golf talk...i personally find golf talk tediously boring, however, it was a great day. you play 9 holes, then go for lunch and a few beers (the japanese are very inistent on trying to get you drunk a lot! especially in business), then we played the back 9. now i havent played in over 2 years, so i was a little worried, however, i was just good enough to enjoy it without spending the whole day in bushes. so most of the time we drove around in our little buggy, however, there were times and places where to get from a green to the next tee, it was up a hill....now, anywhere else, youd simply walk up the hill...not here, they had 'travelators' (kinda a big conveyor belt that moves you up the hill so you dont have to walk....heaven forbid!) some of these things were about 100 metres long! pic included above. anyway, we got to the prize ceremony and apparently i had come 3rd out of the 20 participants, so i got a lovely little trophy...which i cant actually read...i presume it says '3rd place' and not something derogatory .... plus loads of other prizes for winning the 'closest to the pin' competition and stuff. my boss came 15th, and was spuriously awarded a prize for coming 15th 14th, 13th.......4th didnt get a prize mind you..just the top 3 and 15th!! methinks polical motives were at hand! especially as we are their customer....(that goes on a heck of a lot here)
ive put a few photos up of the day, although they dont really do justice to the beauty of the place.

last night i went out with gareth, a new guy from work who has just moved out, we went to a place called immigrants cafe, which is kinda the main ex pat bar in town. i had my first bottle of sake, which is quite inoffensive in taste. i was too tired for a big night out, so we got the last train home at 11.30. unfortunately, he doesnt know many places yet, and i unfortunately fell asleep on the train.. to be woken up by gareth some time later, asking me if this was our station...bleerily i looked out of the window and decided it was, so we hoped off, just as the doors were closing...only to discover that it was not indeed out station....it was 2 before ours, which is about an hours walk home...needless to say we got a taxi home at great expense...

in other news...after a bit of bad news/stuff late friday night, i decided to cheer myself up and treat myself to a new trumpet. it had been a bit of a waynes world thing for a while, where id seen this trumpet in a shop weeks ago, and id been going in to the shop just to ogle it ever since ('she will be mine..oh yes, she will be mine'). anyway, i decided to treat myself. i got her/it on saturday, and she is beautiful, a yamaha 800s custom to those (if any) are interested..and it/she's silver...she is a very good model and is a a professional instrument, she is very expensive, but i got her second hand...ill not say how much in case my mom is reading this and will probably kill me!! but she is lovely. gareth is a guitar player, and we have talked about forming a little acoustic band here, and also with a teacher friend of mine deccy....we'll see....well, it gives me something to do in the evenings now at least.

today we had a football match on the practice pitch/park of the big swan 2002 world cup stadium, i played my newly acuired position of left back, and happily we beat a japanese team 4-3.

now, i think its bedtime. next weekend needs to be a relaxing one...im shattered!

oyasuminasai (goodnight)
Glen-san

p.s.

p.s. slight typo...golf is expensive here...not gold....although i guess gold is also expensive i guess......

The weekend

quite a hectic week this week, we've had a big audit so that meant 3 incredibly difficult days with all our work being scrutinised to the 'nth' degree, which means that you have to bite your tongue a lot and has been quite a stressful week. ive spent the past 5 years auditing other companies, so its hard to be on the wrong end for once. so am looking forward to the weekend. plans include friday night, going round to a friends house to chill out and watch episodes of House or a film of some kind. saturday is the japanese company who we have a joint venture with's annual golf tournament. apparently its at a championship course..its costing £90 for the round! gold here is very expensive, and i had to buy all new clubs and stuff as mine are in the uk. i literally havent played for over 2 years. my big boss from the uk is over this week and he is playing also. we went to the driving range last night, and needless to say, saturday might be a very long day indeed! also considering ill have to be up at 5 to play! apparently im playing with the presidents sister...which could be politically tricky... they have also made me favourite to win..based on what when i dont know! and there is apparently a big cash prize for winning...god only knows what the etiquette is if i win...

saturday night a few engrish guys from work are going into town for a few beers, nothing big just a few, there are a few bars where all the expats go, mainly teachers so we'll probably go to the usual.

sunday, we have a football match next to the big swan football stadium (where england played denmark in the 2002 world cup). sunday afternoon and evening...is free...so may get to rest..

oh, and what is going on with the england football team? 2-0???? havent seen any of it as football doesnt happen on tv here...whats going on???

Train timetable home...

Coffee that kinda misses the point...

(a drink that actually tastes as it is described...)

Mount thingy-ma-jig...

Today was probably the nicest day we've had in a few days. it was warm and sunny, but not too hot. I went for a drive to the nearby mountains, they have a name, but as usual, my memory fails me, i know it began with a 'Y', but then again, most things do here. the drive itself was gorgeous, bascially its a 30 minute drive down the coast from my place, then a long windy road to the top of the mountain. the views from the top are amazing, on one side, there is the sea (at the foot of the mountain), and the other side is the plains (completely flat) where i live.

i have been told that everytime nature does something exciting here, it becomes an organised event. the cherry blossom is supposed to be spectacular..but it gets compartmentalised as does when the leaves change colour, you almost have to queue to see it! anyway, its kind of similar on the mountain, i mean, its beautiful, but they have tried to make it so touristy, that it kind spoils the illusion. they even have a huge steel lift tower right in front of the viewing platform so that people can get a better view from the top of the lift....i think they miss the irony. never the less, it was a good day, amazing views and a great drive.

my flat is still looking like a show home, and is a bit sterile, so i went to Tokyo Interiors today (big home furnishing shop near where i live). i bought a few odds and ends, then bought a whopping big book shelf, again, this causes issues in that i had no idea how to buy the bloomin thing. in the end i stole the bar code from the display one and took it to the check out. a few more 'sorry..im an idiot who doesn't speak your language, i wish to buy this bookshelf please' and pointing and looking pleadingly into their eyes to just let me buy it without looking too stupid...while a huge queue formed behind me, and a guy brought a big box out of stores and took it to my car. anyway, 2 hours later and a few swear words later, and its up. one thought i had today was that you know you have hit 30 when you buy scatter cushions!...i bought 3, it almost felt like a right of passage..buying scatter cushions, all those of you under 30 just wouldn't understand. anyway, today was a bank holiday. tomorrow back to work...

Mount thingy-ma-jig

Nagano Tournament - pitch

Comfort Zone?? What Comfort Zone?

So, its a bank holidayweekend this weekend. yesterday (saturday) was one of those days where you kinda want to have someone to look after you. i had a few jobs to do. firstly..hair cut. i had my hair cut from my long hair the day before i moved here, but it was still a bit long, so i decided to have it cut...now, i hate having my haircut in the uk, i just dislike the whole experience, the inane talking/idle chit chat etc...however, imagine going for a haircut where you have no way of communicating with the big bloke with the sharp scissors....i was not lookig forward to it. i bought a copy of mens health last week (from the only bookstore..shop, sorry bookshop...too many americans in niigata!) and managed to find a picure that i liked the blokes hair. so in i trudged, with my copy of mens health. and as predicted, i couldnt speak a word of japanese, and he couldnt speak a word of english...so after much pointing, and talkig in english, and much talking in japanese i sat down in trepadation...this wasnt just a trim, i wanted it pretty short. i think i closed my eyes for most of it, but eventually he finished...we had a small debate about the length of the sides...well, i said something in english, and he answered in japanese and we agreed on something...well, its done now. and to bes honest..ive had worst cuts in the uk!

next up was a shop called Hard Off....(insert gag here). its a great place, full of second hand stuff, electronics, musical instruments etc....anyway, i bought a sony mp3 player there a few weeks ago, unfortunately the software doesnt work, its a known sony issue (never ever buy anything sony...ever!) so i decided to take it back. now consider this, try going into a shop and explaining to a shop assistant that you are returning an mp3 player as the software was released unchecked and its a known sony issue and the download doesnt work....who doesnt speak english.....this i wasnt looking forward to. i said CD to the guy which he understood, but when he found the cd in the box, he thought that hadnt found it, so i made the gesture of not working, i.e. pulling your hand across your neck....ewll, i have since found out that means 'get fired' in japanese....so, after i threatened this poor guy with getting the sack, we continued...all i could say was the word Sony, and cd....wel, after 10 mins i think this guy lost the will to live, and just gave me my money back....glen 2 japan 0

next was trying the local gym. this was not quite as difficult, but still...it was one of those days where nothing is easy...even trying to order lunch. my sandwich and chips came with mayonnaise..well, it was actually yogurt...which i didnt find out until after 6 chips!!...note to self...chips and yogurt...not good.

some days its ok, but some days like saturday, nothing is easy, even the simplest things that you can take for granted is such hard work. you have to go into these things with a smile on your face and definately leave your ego at home. your comfort zone is non existant most of the time, which can be hard, but as long as you go into situations with the mentality that you are probably going to make a complete fool of yourself....then you should be ok!

last night i went to a house party with the group of teachers that i know...including a couple of the football team. stayed in at a friends house all day and watched films (not movies!) with a couple of friends....proper sunday! plus it was raining all day, great day to be inside.

tomorrow its supposed to be sunny, am planning a hike in the mountains nearby...

sayonnara

Team Niigata!

Nagano accomodation