Ikebana

Last Sunday afternoon, my wife and I attended an Ikebana (生け花) exhibition at the Takashimaya department store in Yokohama, about 30 minutes by train from Tokyo. Ikebana is the traditional art of Japanese flower arranging and has been practiced for more than 600 years. There are many schools of Ikebana, the more internationally [...]

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Gotemba Premium Outlet

So what do you in Tokyo? Shopping, what else! Well, last month (June 2008), we shopped at Gotemba Premium Outlets. To get there, we took the Odakyu Highway bus (1.5 hours) from Tokyo (Shinkuju station) to the town of Gotenba, then took on 10 minute shuttle bus from the bus terminal to [...]

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Japan in the News

Japan and Tokyo have been in the news recently:

Powerful quake inquires 102 in Japan – 6.8 magnitude earthquake which was felt in Tokyo, the second earthquake which has hit Japan in less than a week (that one was a 6.6 magnitude)
Tokyo woman killed in stabbing attack – A random, deadly attack in a subway bookstore [...]

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Tokyo Disney

My son and I visited Tokyo Disney earlier this summer.  Although we had light rain all day, we still had a great time as the weekend crowd was probably smaller than normal.  The Tokyo Disney Resort is conveniently located near Tokyo Bay, it only took a 45 subway and train ride, with the park just [...]

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Star Wars Celebration Japan

On Sunday, my son and I attended the Star Wars Celebration Japan convention, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Star Wars (1977) held at the Makuhari-Messe (Nippon Convention Center) in Chiba, near Tokyo, on July 19-21, 2008.

This was the very first Star Wars convention that I ever attended and it was certainly quite an [...]

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World Community Grid

The World Community Grid’s mission is to create the world’s largest public computing grid to tackle projects that benefit humanity. Donate the time your computer is turned on, but is idle, to projects that benefit humanity! The World Community Grid provides the secure software that does it all for free, and you become [...]

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Fortune: Get your company to send you abroad

A recent article in Fortune gives some advise on how to land an overseas assignment.
In the article, Jon Zion, president of Eastern U.S. operations for Robert Half International, a global staffing firm with 330 offices in 15 countries, is quoted recommending to “learn a foreign language. English and Spanish are the two most widely used [...]

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New Reality TV Show: I Survived A Japanese Game Show

There is a new reality show on ABC called I Survived A Japanese Game Show airing on Tuesday evenings. 
I just watched the first episode, it is a typical reality show, with 10 contestants trying to win $250,000, with someone being eliminated very week.  The nice thing about it is you get to see the [...]

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Cost of Living in Tokyo

According to a 2008 report by UBS found in the City Mayors website, Tokyo is the world’s 8th most expensive city, while London takes the top spot.  In the top 10, most are European cities, except Tokyo and New York (#5).  A 2007 report by Mercer, places Tokyo at #4, while a 2008 ECU International [...]

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Tokyo Police

Japan has been the center of international news recently with both the G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial Meeting held in Tokyo on June 11-13, 2008 and the upcoming G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit to be held on July 7-9, 2008.
In Tokyo, there is heightened sense of alert, with a lot of police personnel from the [...]

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