I'm sure many of you have now heard "The Big News", but for those who don't read their emails or change them without telling anyone, this announcement goes out for you......Aki and I are engaged!! After being together for almost one and a half years, we have decided to go all the way. I'm sure we'll make a great team - she loves to cook delicious food and I love to eat delicious food. It's a win-win situation! Our wedding date is likely to be March 29...sound familiar? yea, it's my birthday, but it's purely coincidental, that's the best date for Aki's family because it will take place in New Zealand. So, we have a lot of long distance planning to do between then and now. If you are one of my friends that read this blog, it would be great if you could email me your address so I can start sorting out invitations. Well, that's the Big News, so we'll see you all in March!
Hey people, how ya doin? Summer has well and truely arrived this month and what better way to spend it than a bit of rugby and a festival. Last Saturday I headed to Chichibunomiya, in Tokyo, to take in the Classic All Blacks (featuring the likes of Jonah Lomu, Jeff Wilson, Carlos Spencer and more!) as they played Japan. The first game (last Wednesday in Kobe) saw the CABs scrape home in the last few minutes, so anticipation was high for a good close game. But it wasn't to be as the old fellas poured on a great display of skill and experience to smash Japan by 36-6. Carlos was my MVP with his classy runs, banana kicks and slick passing skills reminiscent of his heyday. The (almost) highlight of the day was a 40 metre gallop by big Jonah, but he got mowed down 5 metres short of the chalk, then took about 20 minutes to recover! It was an awesome day and kind of emotional thinking that I'll never see these legends play again. After the game we wound up in Roppongi for a few drinks then headed home to see the Blues and Crusaders crumble in the semis. The following day we headed into Tokyo again, this time Shibuya, to check out the Thai Festival. You might remember I went to this last year and it was pretty much the same, except the weather was nicer and the crowd was bigger....but it was worth it for that Thai food! I'm looking forward to a great summer, so keep an eye out for the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, Steve and Roshannas trip to the Orient and a vacation in Okinawa.....oh yea, if you havn't heard the big news....well...check my blog in the next couple of days and you will ;-)
The Classic All Blacks dominating; Faces of the XBox...guess who's winning?
Summer has come early this year with the mercury reaching 20+ degrees regularly this last week. Along with the warm weather, the cherry blossoms have started blooming so it's time for Hanami once again. This year I'm fortunate enough to have a park across the road with cherry blossoms blooming so this was the place to go. I had a meal with Aki and her friends and then enjoyed playing in the park with Anthony and Liam. Here's a couple of clips from Hanami 2007.......
Hows it ya'll? Aki and I went for a little weekend trip up to Ota in Gunma prefecture (about 2 1/2 hours from Yokohama) to visit Brad and Colleen (who will henceforth be known as Stan). Brad and Stan were quick to find jobs and have settled in to their school-provided accommodation nicely. We arrived in Ota at 8:30 on Sat night and I was stunned by the quietness as soon as we got out of the station. Ota is about the size of Hamilton so it has a real small town feel compared to Yokohama/Tokyo. We arrived at their place to see that Stan had the BBQ fired up, so Brad got to cooking some delicious marinated ribs and chicken kebabs, while Stan prepared an equally delicious salad. After the meal we got into some drinking and a heated game of Yahtzee. At about 2am we were all a goner so we hit the sack......morning came, hangovers came harder, but we still managed to get up and have a bowl (Brad, Stan...you'll have to pick up your games for the rematch), followed by a stroll to the local shopping mall, then a relaxed arvo of Rugby and Friends on the box. All in all, it was a nice quiet weekend away from the big smoke and hopefully we'll give that Weber a few more workouts this coming year.
Yahtzee, beer and peanuts = recipe for a good time!
Got Meat??......That freezer is a thing of beauty
Meanwhile, a big congrats to Glenn and Lisa who are tying the knot this coming weekend. I'd love to be there but I'll be thinking of you guys instead. Hope the day goes well!
On January 7, Aki and myself moved into our new place. The move from her old place was aided by Aki's friend who had a truck, his friend, Anthony, Brad and Colleen (who had just arrived in Japan the day before). We were finished in about 3 hours then Brad and I went to watch a rugby game down the road (Anthony's old team were playing). As for our new home, it is fantastic! We are very conveniently located just 10 minutes walk from Yokohama Station and for Aki it is 3 minutes walk to her work. We have a great park across the road where I can kick around the rugby ball. It is one of the very few parks I've seen in Japan that actually has grass!!! Most of them are just dirt. As for the inside, it has been recently refurbished so it looks very new. Aki's Mum was very generous in buying us many new things, while we bought a few things ourselves. The new furnishings include a massive fridge, Queen size bed, curtains, kitchen table, XBox and a 32" Widescreen HDTV.....and I bought myself a cool new cellphone. Lounge and Kitchen
Kitchen and Bathroom
Bedroom and Lounge
Map showing where my new place is.... (the big red thing is Yokohama Station so you can see how central we are!) ....and Liam gets a taste of the rugby ball
....and a little (cellphone) vid of Liam on the train, off to watch a rugby game in Tokyo
After a busy couple of weeks to start the New Year, I can happily say that things have settled down and I can now relax a bit. So, as promised, here's a recap of my New Year celebration and vacation...... Countdown to 2007 Unlike last year, I had half a plan for the big night ahead. Mark joined me early in the afternoon and we began drinking, played a bit of ball and drank some more (2 player Kings Crown is nasty!!!). We cruised into Shibuya at about 10.30pm and met up with Miyuki, then headed into a massive club called "Womb". This place was huge (capacity: 1000 party-heads). The headlined DJ (I forget his name) played a nice set for the crowd. Basically we danced and drank til we couldn't go any more then called it a night. The worst part of the night was the one hour wait for the train in the freezing cold. Overall, it was a pretty cool night but the hangover was just beginning..... Mark "Hunt" smashes some dude on the train; Miyuki, M-Do and Me Inside Womb
Yamanashi I spent the 1st in bed, feeling like crap but I had to get up the next morning at 5am to hit the road to Yamanashi. Aki's family were nice enough to invite me to join their vacation in Yamanashi, near Mount Fuji. We spent the first day at the ski field where I tried skiing for the first time. I was still feeling suspect from the party night so skiing wasn't so fun as it took too much stamina which I did not have. Instead, I found my comfort zone with the kids on the toboggan where I could just sit down, slide and not fall off....much more relaxing than skiing!!! We then drove to Lake Yamanaka where our accommodation awaited. Aki's Mum works for Shiseido and the company has a beautiful place, like a Bed and Breakfast, for employees and families. This place had a Karaoke room, table tennis, pool table, awesome cooked breakfast and dinner, and a view of Mt. Fuji! The next day we went hiking in the nearby hills. A very light snow was falling and the dirt track was very icy. It sure felt good to get into nature even if it was freezing cold! When we got back we were all pretty tired so we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. The final day was a beautiful clear day, so Mt. Fuji was most impressive. We left in the morning and went to Gotemba where there is a big outlet shopping centre. The ladies had a great time shopping, while I was more content just relaxing and people watching. We drove back to Yokohama in the evening and I went straight to bed after a fun but tiring sojourn.
Me and Hajime (Aki's Bro) before skiing; Frozen lake in the mountains
Happy New Year to everyone out there!!! I hope you all enjoyed the festivities and didn't get too hungover! I'm really busy at the moment having just got back from a few days away and I'm moving house this weekend and Brad (yeah, the Brad that slept in our lounge in Hamz for about a year) will arrive in Japan tomorrow and we've only got a few days to catch up before he heads to Osaka and...ok thats all, but anyway, because I'm moving house I won't have any internet for a while (maybe 1-3 weeks?) so if you want to contact me for anything I suggest you do so in the next day or two. When I get settled in with the internet cranking I will give you the full report on my New Years holiday and stuff, but in the meantime, enjoy this video clip of the countdown in "Womb", the huge niteclub where we partied away with 1000 people. This video clip is brought to you coutesy of MSD Entertainment (all rights reserved)
