Tim’s Ramblings

Well, it’s past 10pm on X-mas day and I have to say, Christmas in a country that’s not…well….let’s be honest…the US is predominantly Christian…so in a country that’s not really Christian is…different.

Literally it’s just like any other day. No different than any other. Sure, there’s X-mas music playing everywhere and on TV they say “Merry Christmas!” but other than that, it’s truly just another day. Dad went off to work as per usual. No shops were closed. There’s not lights really anywhere in the town. And it’s not like we have a Christmas tree here either. So yeah…pretty underwhelming.

I suppose though, for anyone from Japan, they would be taken aback but how lightly we treat New Years Day. Typically you get drunk on the Eve, then the day after is off due to hangovers, tiredness, laziness, and football. Here in Japan, the 31st is nothing special but come the 1st, the country shuts down until the end of the 3rd.

So…for Christmas 2006, we got up relatively early but mom, my sister, and I ended up loafing around all morning. Around 10:45 I got another phone call from the Japanese partner. Getting kinda tired of this frankly…. They wanted a conference call on Wednesday morning but I had to put my foot down. I already had plans to show Tokyo to my sister. I’m already losing a day on Thursday due to them since I’m going to go into the office while I leave my sister with my mom. The other day…I guess it was Friday night/Saturday morning, I had to inconvenience my entire family since I was working all night and on the phone all night so all 3 of them had to sleep in the other room….and it’s not big. It’s cramped. They were literaly side by side in a tiny room due to me and my work.

So yeah…not this time. I’ll give them Thursday but that’s it. Enough is enough I say…. Not that I won’t keep doing work…but still. This is truly testing me. This is a special case though…..and they’re working their butts off too…but still. If I were truly immature, I would call them on January 1st and demand that they round up the people I need to have a conference call with NOW!!! It’s the same as them asking us in the US on X-mas Eve and on X-mas. If I were immature that is. And I try not to be. Really.

So what did I do….yes yes….so after I take the call, we headed out to see if we could find a DVD/VCR combo for mom and dad. Sister’s thinking we should get them either a DVD recorder so they can burn TV shows onto DVD’s or a DVR…but frankly I don’t think they’ll be able to figure it out….we’ll see. The thing is, I’m not sure if a normal VCR can record HDTV images….will have to ask about that…

But alas, we didn’t find one. We had lunch, played some games at the arcade, and walked back home. Loafed around some more and then my sister and I took off to meet dad at a train station near his office for dinner. We ended up at an unagi restaurant. That would be “eel” in English. It’s soooo goooood. They fillet the eel and then cook it over charcoal sloooowly while dipping it into a soy based sauce repeadedly. It’s then served along with the sweet soy based sauce over rice. Called unaju and it’s typically very popular in the summertime, especially in the hottest part of the summer, as eels are thought to give stamina and energy. But hell…it’s good any time of the year.

I suppose in western terms, it was a Christmas Eel…or something….

Other than that, we stopped by some bookstores. I picked up another comic book (I now need about 4 more volumes that I’m missing) I was looking for and I picked up a Gundam parody comic book. Funny stuff.

Tomorrow, as I wrote, I’m off to Tokyo (Kawasaki actually but close enough) with my sister. We got a room at a hotel so it’ll be easier to get around. Unfortunately with only tomorrow afternoon and all day Wednesday and Thursday now shot, we only have a day and a half. Bummer. So much to do too…or at least alot of potential. It depends on how tough my sister is or if she’ll end up dying from the hard schedule. We’ll see :) We have temples to go to and palaces to see…shopping to do…sightseeing and of course eating. Ooooh boy we got some good places planned out. Korean BBQ place, sukiyaku, shabu shabu, ramen, yakitori, sushi, okonomiyaki…the list goes on and on. Not enough time to eat it all though…bummer that….

For now I’m going to take it easy and probably go to bed early. I’m really sleepy all of a sudden.

So yeah…a pretty underwhelming X-mas. But it’s ok…New Years is going to be INSANE.

Hope you all have a wonderful wonderful X-mas…and even if you don’t celebrate it…then hell, have a wonderful day anyway!

(^_^)