Adventure on the (Over) Seas

So this is what a $3000 camera combined with a $1000 lens will do... make a scruffy character look like a million bucks... I mean doesn't Ryan look great in the background? This is one of my favorite photos that Alex has taken. This was New Years Eve and we were headed out to entertain ourselves.

That chick wants me... look at her face!!!
I think the cute one was the only one serious about the photo. She's got perfect pearly whites. The start of a long night!


These two ladies were really cute but sadly the only photo I have of them shows their perfectly contoured cheeks, Alex might have to be fired as the official National Geographic photographer. This was about the middle of the night, maybe 1:30 or so. We were standing the the street corner drinking convenience store beers. We reeked of class...


Happy New Year!!! First New Years I have spent in a subway station... I was with three buddies though so it was well worth it. Another story for the ages... Like the time I was in Montreal and... well, some stories are better left for Bachelor parties!


I was sooo happy to eat a real burger at T.G.I Friday that's why I am smiling. The two ladies, well they're smiling cause I may or may not have grabbed their bum!


Our ticket to the promised land... The message on these hands opened plenty of doors for us. They say "Happy New Year" which sounds much different in Japanese, and "May we take your photo please". At least that's what Alex said they meant, it doesn't explain the strange looks we got from ladies though. After seeing a pretty girl I would grab the hand and run, Ryan was not too impressed with this move and I now realize just how pathetic I must have looked, but it worked!


This was the crew we started the night with. Mama you might recognize two of them from Kyoto. They are the two guys that stopped us and asked for directions at the bus stop. What a group we were. We ended up separating before too long but it was a great way to kick off the night. A crew of guys causing a scene the way only a group of foreigners can.


I got a photo with this young lady because I liked her hat...


We saw this dude on the train at 1 PM December 31st. Poetic foreshadowing perhaps...


Another subway shot of Ryan and I. I think Alex finally figured out how to work the focus on his camera that is bigger than my lap top!


I have no idea why I am smiling. This sake was disgusting! I like sake but this stuff was vile. It didn't stop me from drinking it though cause some on who am I to let alcohol go to waste?


I forgot a story in my previous post. I have been sick for the past little while and so I have been going to the doctor almost weekly for medicine that doesn't seem to want to work. Well it seems I had a build up of liquid in my ear that was not going away despite two weeks of pills. I had been going to see the doctor by myself which make communication quite difficult seeing as he is Japanese. Well I brought along my co-worker this time to translate. It seems whatever problem I have the doctor just wants to perform surgery. When my nose was bothering me he said it was going to require surgery. Now with my ear he started with the surgery business again. I think he just wants to cut a white guy to see if my blood is red! Something to talk about with his fellow doctors on the golf course...

"Well Takakumichikomitsu-San, I finally did it, I cut whitey! You were right their blood IS red but I wanted to see for myself..."

Well I avoided the knife this time around but got something equally unpleasant. The man pulled up a metal tube about 6 inches long. I knew it was going to hurt even before Nao translated for me. He was proposing that he stick the tube up my nose and proceed to blow air out of my ear. I thought I was hearing wrong, at least I wished I was hearing wrong. Sadly I heard perfectly! I was freaked out and Nao was trying to tell me it was not serious as they do this to children and babies all the time. There was nothing comforting about that because the child in the office before he was screaming sooo loudly I wanted to cry for him.
I the end I got the tube and I gotta say, it blew! Literally... I could feel the air moving from deep inside my nasal cavity out of my ear. The strangest sensation I have ever felt in my life. It was really uncomfortable and my eyes watered like I was a big baby, which I am but this time I was trying to look a little tough, cause Nao was there and she is really cute. However the first thing she said to me after the tube was out was,

"You CRIED like a baby!" with a look of pure disgust.

My arguments that it was natural for one's eyes to water when your nose is invaded by metal tubes fell on deaf ears! I then hit her in the nose lightly to prove my point and accidentally broke it. Nope, that part is made up, again checking to ensure I have not lost any readers!
Sadly all this transpired and the doc was still waiting with the tube to clean out the other ear... T'was a long day at the office after that!