New beginnings

Closing time

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

These Lyrics for the some Closing time by the band Semisonic (yes from the best of the 90's CD) best describe my current situation. My job contract ended this month. As a result I have been thinking of allot about what this job has meant to me during the past 1.5 years. I got to the conclusion that it has affected me in a positive way personally and professionally.

Personally most of my first memories of Japan are forever linked with this job. When I began working I did not know much about Japan but many people in the office took the time to teach me about its language and culture. Some of them invited me to participate in various sporting events (volleyball, softball and golf tournaments) and work related activities (Hanami party, end of the year party etc.). In general everyone in the office was patient, understanding and accepted me the way I am (kind of laud and very straight forward). Even though sometimes we could not fully communicate or had a difference of opinion we always found a way to get our points across due to our mutual respect.

Professionally it was the first time I was able to work in the development of a vehicle from a design concept to a a working prototype in a very short period of time. This experience is truly unique in the fact that the various teams where all geographically separated. Two years ago I would have never imagined that I would be working on a vehicle that is designed in Australia, engineered in Japan and built in Thailand. Each team had a different working style which made this interaction very challenging but in the end everyone came together to complete the job. I believe that I gained allot of knowledge, in a very short period of time, that will be incredibly valuable in the future.

The last day of work I was surprised to be asked to stand up and give a speech just as I was about to leave. I was caught completely off guard by this request. Later my husband told me that this was a custom in Japan and it was pretty common around his office. A little heads up would have been nice but hey no hard feelings. So I stood up told everyone (the office translator expressed everything I said in Japanese) that it was a pleasure to have worked with them. I also stated that it was my most sincere hope that they had learned a little about me and about Puerto Rico. I think I did accomplish this because at the begging of my job one of the first things people ask you is where you from are. Every time I answered Puerto Rico they just looked at me with a blank stare. Then I would tell them that it is a little island in the Caribbean. The most common response was like the pirates? That is what happens when you let Johnny Depp represent a complete region of the world in a Disney movie. Go figure. I guess my co-workers realized that Puerto Rico was a real country when the National team played the Japan national Volleyball team. The next day everyone came over to my desk to ask if I had seen the volleyball match my response was mochiron (off course in Japanese). I did receive a few gifts that day as you can see below:

Side note: These chopsticks where the simplest but most significant gift of them all. I received these from one girl in the office who I had little interaction with due to the language barrier. She gave me these in a little bag and said "good luck". The most amazing part of it is that I could tell she was very sincere, this is coming from someone I could not even communicate with!!! Amazing!!! I guess I left a good impression.

I grabbed my gifts in one hand and waved good bye to everyone with the other as I walked out. All I was missing was a sash and a crown (which would be technically impossible to find in an office full of engineers). The next week everyone in the office organized a going away party for me. Here I am giving my thank you for everything speech in Japanese!!! I wrote the speech down so I would not forget it but I think my main points came across well.
After my speech I received more gifts!!!

As you can see from my face I was not very amused at the time but then I realized that I needed an apron and an Eco bag anyways.

I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to work while living in Japan - "some other beginning's end". Now I will concentrate on finding my "new beginning" here in Japan, whatever that may be.

What are you wearing?

This week I started to see a bunch of girls walking around the main shopping street (The Hondori) with the following attire:

Check out the view from the back (I apologize for my bad paparazzi skills):
What is it? I have never seen this before. First I thought they where some type of kimono, which look something like this:
Then I thought well maybe they are some type of yukata (summer kimono) as seen below:
Obviously I was wrong in both of my assumptions so I asked the source of all my Japanese language and culture, my good old Japanese teacher. To my surprise it's a whole different type of Japanese wardrobe!!! Lucky me, more things to learn!!! This new attire (for me) is called a Hakama.
The Hakamas are traditionally worn by men to formal occasions or martial arts events. Recently it is considered fashionable for young women to wear them. These Hakamas are worn specifically for university gradations. Since the Japanese school year ends this week it is common to see them walking around town (always in a group off course). My teacher said that since the hakamas are typically only worn once in a girl's life that most of them are rented just for the graduation ceremony. I love this girl's hair!!! Niceeeeee
These are allot more colorful and interesting than togas, don't you think? Here is an interesting video I found on you tube taken last year at a gradation ceremony:

Side note: I asked what do people normally wear for high school graduation in Japan. The answer is that they wear their school uniforms in a small ceremony at their respective schools. There is no senior prom or anything like or any big celebrations. I asked why to my almighty sensei and she said the graduates are too busy cramming for their University entrance exams and don't have time for any of that stuff. So basically if my family lived in Japan my parents would have not spend all that time and money in 3 high school graduations!!! Shhh don't tell them..

Skiing in Japan

Last week one of my friends said "Japan is great because it is the only place I can think of where you could go golfing on one weekend and skiing the next". So I tried the last one on for size with a group of "experts". Everyone seamed to be very good at it or at least decent so I had a lot of catching up to do. In my defense, I grew up in a tropical island so in the winter we would go hit the Baseball stadium instead of the slopes. The first time I went it was absolutely horrible!!! I spent more time on the floor than on the skiing!!! Really no joke!!!! I barley made it down the beginners course in about 2 excruciating hours. The next day I was dead, every step was like being punished for all my sins at once!!! I don't even think I went outside. It hurts just to type about it!!!

The next weekend came around and I had a choice to make either stay home or try again. Fighting against my memories of extreme pain (It hurts just to type about it!!!) I decided on B. To my (and everyone else's) surprise I was actually on my feet (step 1 - the ground is not your friend - check) , going side to side (step 2 - control speed - check) and actually stoping when I wanted to (step 3 - reamain alive - check). I could not believe that I was actually skiing, It is a complete and absolute miracle!!! I'm truly proud of myself because I made it!!! (insert tears of joy here)

The most impressive part of the trip was one of our friends brought his little 9 year old daughter who had never stepped into skies in her life on the trip. She was skiing better than her dad in 2 hours!!! Wow kids really do learn fast, as in instantly. Check out the slope in the picture below:

Japan really has allot to offer. Now that spring is approaching I plan on continuing my search for those experiences.

Maiko (Geisha apprentice) Presentation

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a Maiko presentation at a local department store. I went to this activity last year but I only had my cell phone camera this time I was armed with my trusty mini canon. I was able to take some "real" pictures and video. Here are the Maikos performing:


According to wikipedia:
"Maiko are apprentice geisha, and this stage can last for years. Maiko learn from their senior geisha mentor and follow them around to all their engagements. The onee-san/imouto-san (junior) relationship is extremely important. Since the onee-san teaches her maiko everything about working in the hanamachi, her teaching is vital. She will teach her proper ways of serving tea, playing shamisen, and dancing, the casual talk of conversation, which is also important for a maiko to learn for future invitations to more tea houses and gatherings. The onee-san will even help pick the maiko's new professional name with kanji or symbols related to her own name."

I actually saw their onee-san during their performance. She caught my attention because she put a tape (remember those?) in the Sony player (off course) in order for the show to begin. She was basically the old school DJ of the presentation. Here is a picture of her that I took in my best paparazzi style:
The Maiko's exposed skin in the back of their neck is supposed to be "hot". You be the judge:
Unfortunately I was not able to get really close to the Maiko because there was a mob of people there to see them. The 2 ladies behind me moved because according to them I was too tall (I'm understanding allot more Japanese now). I'm only 5 foot 6 inches by the way, which translate to giant in Japan. The moral of the story don't assume the people next to you don't understand your comments just because they look different.

Matrix ping pong

I saw this on my friend' blog and decided it was soooooo hilarious that I just have to share it with everyone. Please enjoy:


PS - This is my 100th post wow time goes by really fast in the other side of the world.

Walking to Work

Today I took the train to work in the morning. I have not done this all winter because A. It's cold and B. we have a car (with about 5000 kilometer or 3107 miles in 1.75 years), might as well use it. As I was swiveling through the sea of bikes and people - teenagers walking to the all girls high school and the little kids walking to the elementary school - I stopped for a moment to think how this would all be impossible back home. I felt I should have protected the little kids until they got to school. I wanted to grab them all by the hand and deliver them safely to their classrooms. I think this would have gotten me into a heap of trouble because there is someone who already does that here. There are traffic controllers volunteers on every street corner until you reach the elementary school and they take care of the little five year olds who walk by their itty bitty self with a backpack bigger than them, see below:
I guess it really does take a village and Japan is very good example of that.
Once I finally got on the train everything was pretty normal, quiet as always. Once I got off the train something unexpected happened to me…culture shock. After being in Japan almost 2 years everything seems pretty normal now and I accept it as the way things are and I don't think about it twice. This morning was different. As the train doors opened everyone got out and the mob of people started walking toward the office building. At one point the mob of people was so slow and so similar (EVERYONE in black coats) that I could not help but think "OMG I'm an extra in a zombie movie". Seriously it was like a scene from every zombie movie you have ever seen (my personal favorite is Shawn of the dead but your entitled to your opinion). People were just stomping forward without saying one word to each other or more amazingly not even bumping into each other. It's a mob without chaos!!! Only in Japan my friends, where everyone is so polite that they won't cut in front of you in any line and they will quietly and orderly wait their turn even if it freezing cold!!! A few minutes later a car was trying to pass right threw the small alley way that the mob was walking through and guess what happened?

A. Everyone just stopped walking and formed a traffic jam
B. Everyone charged at the car and started pounding on the windows (once again I've watched too many movies)
C. Everyone just got out of it's way and waited for the car to pass

If you guessed C you are the winner!!! Sorry the only prize you get is knowing that you have read this blog so much that you are in touch with the "Japanese way". I'll report back if any of these days the zombies attach me while exiting the train…if I make it. Yes I have an active imagination, there worse things you know.

Oshiri Kajiri Mushi - Update

It's not enough to hear and see this song everywhere but now their is a new live version of the song complete with backup dancers. View at your own risk:

PS - I love this lady's hair!!!

Butt Biting Insect Song - Oshiri Kajiri Mushi

I've seen this video being played over and ove around the shops around town. I have also seen allot of murchandise for the little cute bug so I was wondering where it all came from. I will let the following video speak for itself. I just want to say that this song was a top ten hit in Japan in 2007, you be the judge:

Launch of the 2008 Mazda 6 in Japan

After 2 years, countless overtime hours and 1 move half way around the world, Orlando finally gets to see his blood, sweat and tears pay off in the showrooms of Japan. Say Konichiwa to the all new Mazda 6:

You can also check the official press release:

http://www.mazda.com/publicity/release/2008/200801/080129.html

Check out the pictures of the car in it's Australian website:

http://www.newmazda6.com.au/


The reason I'm including these links on the blog is because if I have to hear about this car every day so do you!!! Welcome to my world...

Island of Bali in Indonesia

Orlando and I had the opportunity of visiting Bali Island from 1/17/08 to 1/21/08 with some of our fellow ISE (International Assignment Employees) friends from Mexico (orange and red shirts) and Brazil (white shirt and blue dress).
We did not even plan on going to Bali until we realized that it was one of the only countries in Asia where anyone of our group (6 people from 3 different countries) did not need a visa to visit. You could actually obtain a visa on arrival (a first for me) by simply paying 10 USD at the airport and in an instant one of the immigration officers would print out a 15 day visitors visa and stick it in your passport, just like that. Caution: At the end of your trip you also have to pay 15 USD to be able to go out of the country and they only accept the money in their currency, Indonesia Rupiahs.
I really did not have high expectations fro Bali. I thought "Since I come from a tropical island why am going to one for vacation?". Boy was I wrong!!! In reality Bali had allot to offer in terms of its rich cultural, natural beauty, tourist facilities and activities.

One of the highlights of the whole trip was being able to ride an elephant for the first time.

The second "must do" activity in Bali is watching one of their tradition dances. This is called the barong (the dragon you see below) Dance.

I actually found the exact same complete dance on youtube if you want to check it out go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtxiA-YhRfw
The third must do activity while in Bali is to visit one of their many Hindu temples.


I was really impressed by all the rock carvings inside the temple. This was a completely new experience for us because in Japan you can either go to Buddhist temples or Shinto shrine. It is definitely worth seeing for yourself.
The fourth activity I highly recommend is the absolute bargain shopping. As you all may already know where there are tourist there is allot of shopping!!!
You could practically buy any high end, medium end, no end brand for a few dollars thanks to the incredible conversion between the Indonesia Rupiahs and the US dollar (1 USD = 9,336 Indonesia Rupiahs). Every time I bought something I always felt like I made a killing. If you really think about it since the average person in Bali only makes around 200 USD a month if you bought something for 20 USD then they have already made 10% of their monthly salary in a few minutes!!! So at the end of the day; who really made the killing?
The last activity I would recommend is just relaxing by the pool or on the beach. To be honest I was not very impressed (neither where my friends who have experienced the Acapulco and Sao Pablo beaches) by the beach at all. I consider the beaches of Puerto Rico to be the best world wide!!!
On the other hand considering that it is actually snowing in Hiroshima while I'm writing this I would gladly "sacrifice" and go to the inferior beach right about now.

I was very surprised to see the amount of people who asked me about Bali once I got back to Hiroshima. Many of them already had booked flight and hotel reservations to Bali during their kid's February break from school. Once again I had underestimated Bali's tourist appeal. I can only hope after reading this you (the reader) don't make the same mistake.

Happy New Year - 2008

Happy 2008 Everybody!!!!

I apologize for not writing much in a while but I have not spend enough time in one place during the month of January to actually sit down and write. Now that I have settled back into our Hiroshima routine I can finally sit back and tell you about our recent adventures.
We went to our small corner of the world (after a 2 day journey from Japan-> Detroit 1 night -> PR) , Puerto Rico (http://www.gotopuertorico.com/), for the holidays this year and in hindsight it was the best decision we made the whole year!!! This year we got the opportunity to reconnect with lots of our old friends in our 10 year High school reunion. It was really nice seeing everybody again and conforting knowing that you did not have to explain to them your life story because they where actually there with you half the time, while it was happening. Most of the people in my class don't live in Mayaguez (my home town of about 100, 000 people) anymore but we still have good memories of our town which for the most part, include each other. I realized how well my old friends knew me when one of them asked me if I was starving in Japan because of my extreme pickyness with food. A person would know that after having countless meals with me and watching me pick out the food I did not like!!! I was very pleased to tell her that now I basically eat anything, but I only changed my ways when I moved to Japan a little over a year ago. Maybe that is why I used to be soooo skinny?!?!? See for yourself in our prom picture from 1997:

And now in 2007:

I realized that It's really good to remember the people and placed that in some shape or form influenzed the way you are, no matter where you are in the world.

Working yourself to death - literally

In the beginning of December there where various news articles on the Japanese news English websites about a wife who finally got her deceased husband's pension after he worked himself to death in 2002. I find this to be very disturbing but unfortunately quite true. I'm lucky to work in an office where people generally go home at 6 pm to 7 pm unless there is a big deadline the next day where no one leaves until it's finished. On the other hand, I have seen the rest of the offices full of people around 9 pm to 10 pm like if nothing where happening (like their lives passing them by). It is actually common for people to schedule meetings at 9 pm. It's so bad that they had to institute a no overtime day once a week in order to MAKE people go home. In the words of Metallica: "Sad but true".

Here is the best article I found on the subject:

Big in Japan: Man works himself to death, company compensates wife
by Matthew Firestone Dec 6th 2007 @ 10:00AM

Ever hear the joke about the Japanese man who worked himself to death?
Guess what? It's not a joke...
According to the Associated Press (AP), last week a court in Japan ordered the Toyota Motor Corporation to pay compensation to a woman who argued that her husband died from overwork.
According to woman's lawyer, Kenichi Uchino (the departed) had been working overtime as a middle manager at a Toyota factory when he suddenly collapsed and died in February of 2002.
He as just 30 years old.
Before dying, Mr. Uchino had logged 80 hours of overtime a month for a sustained period of six months, and had logged 114 extra hours the month he died.
Sadly, Mr. Uchino is anything but an isolated case. In fact, the Japanese even have a word for punching the clock until you drop.
Working yourself to death is known in Japanese as karōshi (過労死), which directly translates to "death from overwork."
Known in medical circles as occupational sudden death, the major medical causes of karōshi are believed to be stress-induced heart attack and stroke.
Depressed yet? Keep reading as the story gets worse.
Sources indicate that the first recorded case of karōshi was in 1969 following the death by stroke of a 29-year-old man in the shipping department of Japan's largest newspaper company.
However, karōshi was not officially recognized until 1987 when a large number of business executives started dropping like flies during the glory days of the famous "Bubble Economy."
Following an intense media campaign, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor began to publish annual statistics on karōshi.
Out of morbid curiosity, would you like to hear the statistics for 2006?
Of course you do!
Last year, an estimated 355 workers fell severely ill or died from overwork. This is the highest recorded figure on record, and is sadly a 7.6 percent increase from 2005.
In 147 of these reported cases, individuals died of either strokes or heart attacks.
It gets worse.
A separate 819 workers reported suffering work-induced mental illness. In 176 of these reported cases, workers killed themselves or attempted to do so.
And now back to the original story...
Not surprisingly, karōshi lawsuits are on the rise throughout Japan, and relatives of the deceased have been increasingly awarded compensation payments.
In fact, the protocol has even been streamlined!
Before compensation can be awarded, a specially designated inspection office must acknowledge that the death was work-related. However, this can take several years, and a precedent has been set for court cases to bounce around various judicial systems.
Here is the clincher:
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour also reports that the leading cause of karōshi is the practice of voluntary undocumented unpaid overtime, which is known as sabisu-zangyo. Just to clarify, that means that Japanese workers are choosing to work longer hours without documenting their time or seeking compensation.

Source: http://www.gadling.com/2007/12/06/big-in-japan-man-works-himself-to-death-company-compensates-wi/

Japanese Treadmill Run TV Show

You have to check this out.
Everyday you can see one of these wacky TV shows. Theres is no possible way of avoiding them, they are on every day at all times!!!

Bowing

I apologize for not writing in a while but there has been too much going on and I really have not had the time. If you would like to keep up with everything please join facebook and invite me to be your friend (all the cool people are doing it). Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post.
I was surprised to see the following article online:
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/news/20071012p2g00m0dm018000c.html
Basically it's a whole article about how the little princess of Japan does not bow. The public seems to be offended by this horrible act. In terms of the magnitude of this unspeakable offense it would be the equivalent of not shaking some one's hands but multiplied by 1000 in Japan. In this particular case it would be multiplied by 10,000 since it's the Royalty of Japan. Oh did I mention the little princess is only 5 years old!!!! I could barley tie my shoes at this age never the less keep my balance long enough to bow at random people who are always coming over to say hi for no specific reason. This got me thinking about how much bowing I do during the day. I determined that it is A_L_L_O_T. When I come into the office I bow, when I leave the office I bow, if I meet anyone outside of work I bow and it goes on and on. My favorite is if a lady at a store bows, I bow and then we keep bowing and bowing until one person (usually me) gives up and just walks away...usually while bowing. In reality I don't even notice bowing any more, it's part of my normal day.
According to reliable sources: "Bowing is the act of lowering the torso and head as a social gesture in direction to another person or symbol. Different cultures have placed varying degrees of importance on bowing, and have used bowing in a variety of ways. To show the highest degree of politeness, you bend your head and waist about 45 degrees. Common courtesy to most people is shown by bending your head and waist about 15 degrees. In a very casual meeting with a person about your age, nodding your head would be enough. People often bow while shaking hands with one or both hands." I have found this explanation to be 100% true. You have to adjust your bowing angle according to the person that it is directed to. Usually I forget to do this but hey at least I'm not as bad as the 5-year old princess.

Shanghai, China

Orlando and I went to Shanghai, China this weekend to check out the Formula 1 race there. This is our second race in back to back weekends. In all honesty, I figured that we are only in Japan once and should take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves because you don't know what will happen (in my mother's words: "la luz delante es la que alumbra"). We took a flight from Hiroshima to Shanghai and we where there in a measly 2 hours. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would ever visit China but apparently I was wrong. Once we got there everything seemed pretty normal, the airport was nice, shiny and new. We had booked a package with our travel agent (he is not exclusive but is one of the few ones that speak English around here) that included the flight, the airport transfer and the hotel.
Our adventure began the split second we got into the bus from the airport to our hotel. The Shanghai airport is about 1 hour away from downtown and it was the longest hour of my life. Apparently there are no driving rules in China. The white lines on the road are merely a "suggestion". You don't have to actually stay in your lane because if you do the other guy in the lane next to you will never let you pass, so you drive somewhere in the middle of the "imaginary lanes" on the road. Hence there was a lot of cutting in front of another car and missing their front bumped by 2 inches (in Spanish we call it "corte de pastelillo"). Speed limit? What speed limit? The faster you can get to a place the better, even if you don't know where you are going and have to cross through 4 lanes of traffic to get to your exit. Also traffic lights are just there for decorative purposes only. Did I mention there where no seat belts on the back seat of any of the cars we where in? Safety first always... I was shocked at seeing the basis for the Crazy Taxi video game in front of my eyes every time I got into a motor vehicle so I decided to do some research. It turns out that (according to wikipedia and if it's on wikipedia it must be true off course): "The Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China is a law which was passed by the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on October 28, 2003, and took effect on May 1, 2004 on all parts of mainland China. It is the People's Republic of China's first-ever law on road traffic safety, and was intended to address an alarmingly high traffic fatality rate, which is four or five times greater than other nations." Ahh this explains it. I was visiting a country which has a traffic law that took effect only 3 years ago!!! Hello I have T-shirts that are older than that!!! It's a miracle we did not get into any accidents.
Once we arrived downtown we took a taxi to the race track to see the qualifying session. We where able to see the cars up close and they where loud!!! Here is Orlando with a big smile the dya of the race. I bet this is the first Colegio (our university's nickname) hat to have made it all the way to China, who knows maybe it was made there and it was just a homecoming for it.
At night we took a tour of the city which took us on a river cruise around the Huangpu River. The crazy thing was that one side of the river you had all the old English settlement buildings and on the other side all the modern skyscrapers. Old school buildings:
Star Trek inspired new school buildings:
After the cruise we vivisted Nanjing Road which is one of the world's busiest shopping streets. I really think you could buy ANYTHING there, no joke. Check out all the Pepsi signs, globalization at it's finest.
The last day we where in Chin we visited Yuyuan Garden which is located in the center of the city and is considered one of the four finest Chinese gardens in the world.

Everything was going well until a little old typhoon named Korsa decided to pay a little visit to China while we where there as you can see here:
As a result of the typhoon our flight back to Hiroshima was canceled at the last minute. We where actually on the plane ready to go when the pilot made the announcement. Personally I was glad the flight was canceled since I did not take it as a good sign that the plain was rocking back and fourth just sitting on the runway!!! So we where officially stuck in China with a group of Japanese tourist. Lucky us. So now we had 2 problems:

1. Stuck in a foreign country with a 1 entry only visa. I seriously thought we where going to be stuck in the airport like Tom Hanks in the movie "The Terminal" but without Catherine Zeta-Jones talking to us while we waited. In the end our exit date was canceled in our visa and we where able to go to a hotel where absolutely no one spoke English (paid for by the airline off course) and come back to the airport the next morning.

2. Our only source of information was our Japanese companions. Who needs to take a Japanese language proficiency test in December when you can count on real life to test you for free??? I am seriously proud of Orlando and I because together we where able to make a semi-competent intermediate Japanese speaker and more or less figure out what was happening. If we could take a "cooperative language test" then all our problems would be solved!!!

The next day we went to the airport and got a flight back home in the morning but by then we where so beat from all the chaos in the last 24 hours that we simply stayed home.

Now look where the typhoon is headed...straight for us. Why are we sooooo lucky?

Formula 1 Race in Fuji Speedway

This past weekend (9/30/07) Orlando and I had the opportunity to go to the Japan Formula 1 Grand Prix in Fuji Speedway. I say opportunity because we needed allot of help to get the tickets at face value and to plan the trip from Hiroshima all the way to the outskirts of Mount Fuji where the race track was located. We went with our Japanese friends Yoshi (like the Nintendo character) and Yoko (every girl around here is named either Yoko or Ryoko or Keiko or anything that ends with ko) who basically arranged the whole trip, we basically just tagged along. Sincerely without their help we would have never made it to the race unless we paid a whole lot of money for a tour. Just imagine having to take a plane from Hiroshima to Tokyo, staying one night in Yokohama (a suburb of Tokyo), the next day tacking a train for 1.5 hours, driving 1 hour and then taking a bus to the race track that took another hour!!! We got to the race 20 minutes before it started!!! Lesson learned: Mt. Fuji is really, really far away!!!! And to top it all off it was raining all day non stop!!!! This was our sexy look for the day:
The actual race was pretty cool because the cars kept spinning out and crashing into each other.

As I mentioned we also has a chance to checkout Yokohama which was actually a pretty cool and very modern city. We went to its Chinatown (this proves you can find one anywhere):



We found this super funny Panda store with every panda product you can imagine:
Here is Orlando goofing around with Yoshi.
We actually staying in Yoshi's parents house after the race and his mom and dad where soooooooo nice to us I can't even begin to describe it. Once we arrived at their house around 9 pm his mom had huge dinner ready for us!!! Hello for total strangers!!! Once again we got to sleep in a tatami room on some futons, which is always an adventure by itself.

You never know what you will find in Japan just take a look at what we found in the airport on the way back to Hiroshima:
Yes people this is an actual Pokemon airplane!!! , you have to have your camera ready to go at all times!!! There is never a dull moment around here.

More interesting car names

A few weeks ago we went to a BBQ with some friends. Instead of taking pictures of the actual BBQ I went around the parking lot taking pictures of more interesting car names in Japan. Here is what I found:
What are you waiting for? Let's...

Why don't you get a..

Let's go (Vamos) and quickly.
And the number #1 most interesting car name:

Enough said...this country has officially lost it.

How to Eat sushi correctly

Humorous etiquette guide on how to properly order and consume Sushi created by Japanese comedy duo the Rahmens.

2008 Mazda 6

As you all know the main reason why Orlando and I are in Japan is in order for him to work on the development of the 2008 Mazda 6. Finally pictures of the car have been released to the media. Go to this link in order to check them out:

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/09/06/2008-mazda6-breaks-early

Nuria's going away Party

On 8/30/07 we had a going away party for my very good friend Nuria. She will be returning to Cataluña in Spain to begin her career as a teacher. Her husband David will be returning at the end of the month, so we still have time to bother him for a while. We all got together in one of our most frequented restaurant (they have normal food and an English menu!!!) to say see you later (I don't like good byes) to Nuria. I made a little album with a bunch of pictures of our adventures together. In the process I realized that most of our memories of Japan will always be tied to the people that where with us during any given adventure. So 20 years from now when I find an album of Japan while doing some spring cleaning at home, I will look at it and wonder "How is Nuria doing?".
I gave a speech (is anyone shocked?) at the end of the meal and let her know how lucky we all where to have spend the last year or so hanging out around Japan together and how much we would miss her excessive use of the letter Z. It actually took me a while (and vice-versa) to get used to her thick Spanish accent but in the end we both got used to it and I taught each other some slang works (for example: hangeo from hanging around and Vale for OK). Unfortunately my Spanish did not get more proper (like every good Puerto Rican I skip the last syllable of almost every word and Z's sound like S's) in any way.
Here is our diverse group of friends (Filipino, American, Japanese, Catalan and anyone else who shows up is fine too):

Where do you go after dinner in Japan? To sing Karaoke off course!!! Was there ever any doubt? Every time we go (which is allot) it's a ton of fun. At first I had no interest in it but now I already know which songs I'm going to sing and with who, in case of a duet. Orlando and I always sing any song from Oasis, Erin and I always sing "Baby got back" by Sir Mix Allot (great song, don't knock it) and Nuria and I sing anything in Spanish.
In this particular picture I think we did "Camisa Negra" by Juanes. This song works well because even the people who don't understand a words of Spanish get really into it and even sings along (all you have to do is read).
This is my second really good friend (hard to find true friends in any country) that goes back to their home country while I have been in Japan. I realized that one fact about these international assignments is that you know it's for a specific amount of time, but when the time comes to go back to normal life everyone I have met so far does not want it to end. I wonder if the same will happen to us? I guess only time will tell.