Right, time for an update. How to summarise 2 months without looking like a shopping list ...

Christmas isn't officially celebrated over here so I ended up working with all the other SalaryMen Christmas day. However, somewhere in the past Colnol Saunders convinced 123 million Japanese people that xmas = KFC. I'm serious ... There are 30min queues outside  around xmas and if you want to impress  your GF you make a reservation at KFried. Illuminations are also big over here with most of the big railway stations, malls, Offices etc having huge lighting displays. Akane bought us both a ticket on a French dinner Cruise around Tokyo bay on the 23rd of Dec which was quite nice if a little on the posh side. Shakeys all you could eat pizza in Shibuya the next night was a contrast and a half. They sat us between two tables composed of gossiping teenage girls and a sports team of 13 year old girls high on drink bar and lols.



I managed to land work oncall over New Years but still got out to Akane's parents in warabi for a few nights. Seafood was eaten 3 meals a day and we played a lot of wii. Went to the local temple and shrine new years eve which had food stalls and some fair-like games. Choco-bananas and sausage for the win.



In the new year we headed to Nagano Happo skified(site of the 98 winter olympics) on a spur of the moment trip and it turned out to be the best boardign conditions of my life hands down. Deep base on no ice! Bonus points to Ronald for Cheeseburgers at the top of the Gondola. I'm amazed they haven't got makudonarudo on Mt Fuji yet. We stuck to the beginners course most of the time as it was Akane's 2nd or 3rd time snowboarding but you'd never know. She picked it up pretty quick so I started encouraging her to go quicker here and there. The beginners course weaves down the mountain cutting through the Olympic slalom course 3/4 times. Akane picked up a bit of speed as we were approaching the Olympic cutover point and she tried to slow down a lil bit by weaving left ... everything was going left except the board. She ended up headfirst down a black run and slide about 5metres on her tummy before somehow coming to a stop. I honestly thought she was going to keep going and wrap herself around a tree at the bottom. Made it home in one piece with a 4 hour sleep on the train home. Went up by myself the next weekend and hit some of the higher runs Love it! Going to get my own gear for next season and go every other weekend.

Laundry list:
1) Went to Disneyland for the entire day. Waited 30minutes for curry popcorn. Highlights .. illumination show insync to music. Best ride of the day was the classic revolving teacup. Screw the main attraction rollercoasters. This teacup ride had a wheel in the middle that you could pull on to spin the cup on it's centre axis. So as well as the machine spinning you around 2 ways you could control the speed of the 3rd way. Man I got us going quick. Akane got a photo mid ride on her camera which I'll have to pull out sometime.
2) Has snowed in Tokyo twice now which was a nice surprise to wake up to. Only stays a day though.
3) Heaps of Earthquakes too. One 2 days ago at 4am woke me up and went on for at least 1 minute. I'm worried about how this house I'm living in could handle a bigger one. When the people next door run down the stairs the house wobbles slightly. Good or bad ... who knows.
4) Hit local onsen with Kouji. Played some snooker and darts with a lil gamring on the side.
5) Finding motivation to train Muay Thai here is hard, even with the new gloves Akane got me for xmas. Think I need to schedule a fight to force me to train.
6) Finally found milk here that doesn't taste like pooz. Majority of milk here is nuked at 130degreesc for 2 seconds. The good stuff is 66degreesc for 30mins. Good things take time. Been overdosing on Milo and cereal since.

Heading to England this coming Friday for 2 weeks to catch up with my bro and scope the place out for potential future living. Will get some pics up after. Going back to an English speaking country is going to be a mindf*ck and a half.