April (a.k.a yon-gatsu) is beautiful in Japan!

Hello my loyal followers, how are you all! I hope this post finds everyone doing well as April draws to a close.

I have had many adventures in the past few week, so here's a rundown:

- 1st Karaoke experience in Japan
- Attended a "Nomitai" (Japanese match-making/drinking party)
- Have found a sweet apartment, signing the paper-work Monday
- Traveled to Daiba for a business conference & networking event
- Am making steady progress with speaking Japanese!
- And have eaten some... questionable foods... (also plenty of fruits Mom!)

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll save my fingers some typing and share some shots from around the city with you now.

An umbrella stand with free locks for peace of mind at the conference I went to for work all day on Friday (inside a hotel in Daiba, near the Tokyo bay)

If you look closely you'll see a sphereical shaped building -- this it the Fugi Television station! (not a great picture, but from the front it looks really spacey/futuristic)

A colorful Ferris wheel in Daiba park at dusk (maybe one day I'll take a picture from the top!)

On another day, I took a walk around Kudanshita and found this excellent juxtaposition of city and nature.

A big gate in front of (what I think is) a shrine. I'm not sure, all of a sudden drums started beating and these giant doors to this area were being closed, so I made a quick exit.

This is an "Izakaya," basically a place where salary men gather for cheap food and drink (the beer was only 50 yen a piece, or about 60 cents per!) Came here with some people in my company from "Corporate Planning" (sounds pretty ominous, so I figure it's best to make friends with them =p)

An awesome shot of the sky and... starbucks... (but mostly the sky!)

My office at Square Enix is right next to the Bunka Women's Fashion University. Here are some examples of their latest dresses (click to enlarge -- people honestly wear stuff like this in Tokyo!)

These friendly folks were on the main street off of my apartment block, not sure what they wanted but there was a crowd and everyone was having fun watching. Note the Saxamaphone! Another classic illustration of ancient Japanese tradition.

(For Mom) Yes, I'm eating plenty of fruit every day, and there are strawberries in the fridge, promise! (this is an Apple core, apologies for the poor lighting)

At a "Nomitai" on Friday night, the red sushi is... wait for it... Horse! Yes, raw horse. I was forced to try it...

...and here is a frame-by-frame analysis of me eating said meat.

Chives & Eggs from my Japanese cookbook which I cooked the next day (*much* better)






That's all for this week people! Would love to hear your comments, and suggestions for stuff you'd like to see me do (or eat....)