Entrepreneurship and life in Japan: 2012

Sunday 16 December 2012

Back in London -> Next Japan trip, meeting people, being generally busy and lots of food!

Been a while since I last updated, but my life in London just isn't quite as exciting as my trip in Japan was. Furthermore I've been extremely busy.

Basically I've reverted back to doing what I used to do, but with some slight tweaks. Just like I used to I've been going to the gym pretty hardcore again. Trying to go 6 times/week, which I finally succeeded in this past week. Ran about 50KM total and my legs are just dead right now. Very tired.

Besides the gym I've been playing poker, but not as much as I did right before Japan. I want to play more, but that's easier said than done considering I have so many other things going on. I got off to a pretty good start pokerwise for the first 2 weeks, but this past week I've lost back a little bit even though I felt like I played some great poker. Hopefully I can stay as focussed as I was last week, because then I have no doubt I'll be crushing 5/10+ in no-time.

Also I've been studying a LOT more Japanese than before. I used to have weeks where I didn't study at all and then some weeks where I studied 1-2 hours a day on average. Now I've been studying a little bit almost every single day, with a few days peaking at 6+ hours of pretty intense study. I've been focussing a lot on Kanjis(complicated chinese characters) as I feel like it'll be a great way to build a lot of vocabulaire and I really like learning Kanji. I find them interesting. I've also started writing them. I think I can probably recognize and use 400-500 Kanji in online messages and text messages. And I think I completely know about 150 Kanji, with all it's different readings aswell as being able to write them. I only started writing a little over a month ago, so this is solid progress. There's ~2000 total that are commonly used, so it'll probably take me another 2-3 years to learn them all, but it's a start!

I also sent a letter to a friend in Japan as writing practice. Obviously blacked out the address and last name in the pictures, because I'm not sure she'd appreciate those being put on the internet. The letter hasn't arrived yet, but I'm sure it will at the start of next week. I think she's even more excited about it than I am :). Furthermore I met more Japanese people living in London for Japanese speaking practice and fun. And I also went to a Japanese-English language exchange meeting.
Lastly I did the JLPT(Japanese Language Proficiency Test) on December 2nd. I'll hear the result in March somewhere, but I know 100% I passed. It was WAY too easy. There were 3 parts. The first part I know for a fact I made 0 mistakes. The 2nd part out of 33 questions, I made no mistakes except for 4-5 questions I'm only 80% sure I answered them correctly. The 3rd part(listening) I probably made a few mistakes, but still very little. This was the 5th(easiest) of 5 levels, I'm pretty sure I could've passed level 4. Hopefully in June of 2013 I can pass level 3, maybe even level 2.

I haven't watched very many movies as of late. I just have found myself studying Japanese until bedtime, only on a few occassions being too tired and watching a movie instead, but I know I'll be really happy having studied Japanese instead when I'm back in Japan, so that's what I mostly do. I've seen a total of 5 movies since getting back from Japan. 3 of which are worth mentioning:

-More Than Blue
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454545/
One of the better movies I've seen all year. Great romantic drama as only Koreans can make them!

-Audition
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235198/
Wicked, twisted Japanese movie. The most cringing torture scene I've ever seen and the movie left me wondering too!

-Noriko's Dinner Table
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468820/
Shion Sono's worst movie, but still great. And I think I'll like it even more once I understand it better. A weird/crazy/awesome finale like only Shion Sono and Tchaikovsky can come up with!

As far as food goes, I've done quite a bit of eating out as of late. To start off Gavin set up a dinner at the japanese restaurant Dinings:

Lobster Miso Soup

Sushi Roll

Special Sushi/Sashimi Mix Roll

Wasn't that pleased with the food for 2 reasons. First of all it's not authentic Japanese food. They add their own twist with a lot of sauces and fancy stuff. I generally like authenticity and simplicity best. Second and more importantly... it was my first meal back in London after having gotten back from Japan... so how could it not disappoint. The special Sushi/Sashimi Mix Roll looked great and tasted pretty good though.

For Ket's birthday we went to Quaglinos a steak house:

Nice plaice filet

Good prices for reasonable food, but very noisy and I thought the service was a bit lacking. Nonetheless great times were had on Ket's b-day, because of all the good friends :)

Next up was the newly opened Shoryu Ramen:

Hakata-style Ramen

It may be, because I've only ever eaten Ramen in Japan... and really good Ramen spots picked out by locals at that... but I was severely disappointed in this meal. I thought it was very blend compared to the Ramen I had had in Japan. My friends thought their meals were fine though.

Also checked out Hi Sushi Salsa in Camden with Martijn recently:

Forgot to take pictures until almost all the food had been eaten...

The Sea Bream was reasonable and overall decent value for money compared to other places in London, but trash compared to anything in Japan. Especially the rolls were disappointing, the Nigiri surprisingly enough was allright though.

Went back to the best Japanese restaurant in London twice in 1 week. Of course I'm talking about Sakana Tei:

My order

Tom's low calories order xD

Chris' order

David's order

The sushi was the first time, disappointing to say the least. The 2nd time it was allright actually. A lot fresher it seemed like. Maybe the first time we went on a day that London's fish market is closed? The other dishes and service were great as usual! Also managed to eat a couple of more things from the special Japanese menu there.

The best meal I've had so far in London was last week at The Balcon at the Sofitel Hotel:

Don't know what it was, but it left me wanting more!

Great steak and fries!

I'm generally not a fan of French food, but this place was excellent! The restaurant looks fantastic. One of the nicest looking restaurants I've been all year. Actually I'm pretty sure it was the nicest. The service was great, the food was fantastic and best of all... the prices! We ate royally for only 40 pounds. We all agreed they could charge at least double and people would still keep coming back. I wouldn't mind going back here sometime before leaving London. Great meal!

Last but not least I went to a couple of places where I didn't take pictures aswell as to Atariya Swiss Cottage today with Martijn:

Likely the best value sushi in London, but besides a few exceptions a bit blend compared to Japanese sushi. The Squid, Mackerel and Salmon were good though. And the Sea Urchin was actually one of the best I've ever had. Possibly top 3(even compared to Sea Urchin in Japan!!!). The Urchin was served very cold with nice warm rice and warm nori. And the amount of Urchin was perfect too! No bad aftertaste from an Urchin overdose! Very impressive!

Yesterday I met up with a couchsurfer in London. Carmen, a girl from Venezuala who studies in Cardiff, was in London for 1 day before returning back home to Venezuala for christmas and newyear. She sent me a message asking if I'd like to meet up. Since I had worked so hard all week I decided to meet for some lunch and do a little bit of sightseeing afterwards. We opted to eat at a nearby Wagamama, because our first 2 choices were closed and had a long waiting line respectively. Afterwards we walked to the London Eye and since the waiting line wasn't too bad I went on there for the first time ever.

Japanese style picture!

Kinda glad I was able to cross that off of my list before possibly leaving London for good in February. Yes that's right, I booked my next trip to Japan!!! \(>_<)/

I terminated the lease on my appartment in February, I'll leave London on February 5th for Holland, and leave from Holland for Japan via Paris on the 13th. This time I'll be flying JAL(Japan Airlines) so I'll get to hopefully speak some Japanese on the airplane and get sweeet Japanese food, snacks and drinks :D Once I get to Japan I'll be spending a little over a week in Tokyo to find an appartment to stay in from mid-March until mid-June. Then I'll travel to Nagoya->Kyoto->Osaka for 1-2 weeks and then I'll go from Osaka to Seoul for 2 weeks to do sightseeing aswell as play poker at the APPT Seoul(Poker tournaments). Once I get back from Seoul I'll be staying in Tokyo until mid-June, fly back and decide wether I want to live in London or Japan. I absolutely cannot wait to leave, but I will also try to enjoy my time in London while I still can. I'm gonna seriously miss my friends here. They're all great, sincere, intelligent, enjoyable guys and I love hanging out with them and eating at various restaurants with them. But I'm afraid they won't be enough to stop me from moving to Japan. It's too early to tell for certain though. We'll see.

Lastly I tried to do a bit of shopping around Oxford Circus today, but ended up being just too busy, so me and Martijn went back home pretty quickly. Promised a friend to upload some pictures of London's shopping district though. So I'll leave you with those:

Sunday 11 November 2012

Last part of Japan trip report - Osaka(大阪), overall thoughts about Japan and back in London

I finished my last blog relaxing in my hotel in Osaka for 2 days. The next day I checked out from my hotel and went exploring around Osaka Station. To be honest I was getting a bit bored of sightseeing, especially on my own, but I managed to kill the time until I met my hosts at 7:30PM. I ate sushi, walked around a lot and went to the Rooftop Garden.

Top 3 sushi I've ever eaten. Maybe #2.

Sick Nissan Skyline GTR

In the evening I met up with my hosts Ruri and Haruka. We went to a cool restaurant and talked a lot about various things. 100% in Japanese, so I got some good practice =)

The next day Ruri and Haruka had to go to work, so I met up with someone I had practiced speaking English and Japanese with on Skype before coming to Japan. He's a real 'Otaku'. Knows every single anime and is very much into video games. I was very impressed by the fact that he was CEO of his own computer company. Together we went to Osaka's version of Akihabara. Walked around a lot, went to some arcades.

Video game... 'forever with you'... so true and so sad...

In the evening I went back to meet up with Ruri and Haruka. We played a card game together, talked a lot more and they made me the most delicious Okonomiyaki I've ever had!!! 美味しかったーー！！！

SUPER SUPER delicious Okonomiyaki!!!

The next day I met up with my last host. Lan Fan. A chinese girl who's lived in Japan since she was 5 and thus speaks fluent Japanese. We went on a day-trip to Nara together.

In the evening we went to Namba, which is the busiest district in Osaka and quite possibly the biggest district in all of Japan. We went there on a Monday evening and it was busy as hell. Remind me to never ever go here on a Friday or Saturday night.

Apparently 'Randstad'(big dutch company) is popular in Japan too!

Takoyaki

I LOVE this cartoon!!!

Shin Chan!!

The next day I left fairly early to go to Tokyo. It took a little over 4 hours to get to my hotel in Tokyo. I spent the evening at my hotel.

The next day, was my 2nd to last day in Japan. I went to eat lunch in Marunouchi and afterwards did some exploring in Shibuya and went to see Yoyogi park properly. Last time it was dark and I didn't get to see much of it. Afterwards I had an appointment with a lawyer to discuss the options of living in Japan. More on what he told me later on in this blog. For dinner I met up with Robert again. The Dutch guy living in Tokyo and working at JP Morgan. This time he brought a colleague, James. We ate some good quality sushi and talked about a variety of topics.

Hakata Ramen in Tokyo

James' delicious looking Sashimi

Me and Robert just ordered the most expensive set on the menu. Good choice!

My last day in Japan was a busy one! First of all I went to Shibuya to do some shopping. I wanted to buy an eye mask so it'd be easier to sleep on the plane. I brought one with me, but ended up forgetting it at my host in Fukuoka, Maya's house.

After buying a new eye mask I met up for drinks with Emi, whom I had met at one of the international parties. We talked for 2 hours before I had to leave for my next appointment.

At 4PM I met up with Shunsuke, whom I had also met at one of the international parties. First we went to a maid cafe, which was the first time for both of us. Unfortunately enough we were not allowed to take pictures inside. Overall it was not what I had expected at all. Maid cafes are actually very similar to regular cafes. You go in, order a drink and/or food and that's it. The difference is that, there's girls dressed up as maids walking around, they do some weird interesting dance with you when they make your drink for you and you can talk to the maids if you ask them to come over. It also looked like you could play very childish games with them and take a picture with them, but I think you had to pay extra for that and we weren't really into it. Overall a fun experience and slightly more entertaining than a regular cafe, but pretty similar and also slightly more expensive, so not a place I'll go too often. But a fun place to show to people who've never been.

Afterwards me and Shunsuke went to some arcades to play music games before meeting up with Toru for dinner. Toru is the friend of someone I had met at an international party. A month before I had eaten Ramen with him and his friend. This time we went for Tenpura, which was quite うまい!

After dinner we met up with Satomi, whom I had also met at an international party and had been to Tokyo Tower with. We all went to Karaoke together, which was a blast. They were all sick badasses at Karaoke, especially Shunsuke I wouldn't be surprised if he could get a record deal. That guy has skillz!!!

After Karaoke I got my bags from my hotel and was driven to the airport by Emi, because the trains weren't running anymore. Again thank you so much for driving me, Emi!!!

Driving over the Rainbow Bridge

The ride back on the airplane was both good and bad. The good was I slept for 5 hours and then another 3. The bad was that inbetween my naps, I passed out for the 2nd time in my life and got supernauseous for an hour. Fortunately enough British Airways is a very good airline company and the crew took great care of me!

After landing in London I met up with my friends, ate some much needed lunch after 26 hours of no food and hung out with Marty, whom I'm letting stay at my place till x-mas while he has an internship in London.

Today I met up with Aimi, a Japanese girl who's travelling in London for 1 month. So I finally got to talk some Japanese again. I was really starting to miss speaking Japanese, so I'm happy I got to talk to her today!

Overall Japan was EPIC!!! And I want to go back supersuper badly, for the following reasons:

1) Japanese people are superduper friendly!

2) The food in Japan is SO MUCH better and cheaper than in London!

3) Talking and learning Japanese is LOTS of fun and I want to speak Japanese every day!

4) Japanese culture is awesome!

5) Tokyo is EPIC. London's a great place to live, but it doesn't even compare to how awesome Tokyo is.

Basically I'm back in London and every time I go out on the street, I'm sad I'm not in Japan... That's why I would very much like to live there, which is why I went to a lawyer in Tokyo to see what my options are. He said I most likely have 2 options. A work visa will be hard since I have no college degree.

1) Student Visa. I don't want to go to university, but apparently you can also get a student visa if you go to Japanese language school. I by far prefer studying on my own, but as long as I don't have to go too many hours per week, this could be a decent option.

2) Investor Visa. I'd need 5 million yen(50kEUR, little under 40kGBP) and 1 full time employee living in Japan. This'd probably be ideal as it potentially costs the least time or potentially is something very fun and profitable. But it's also harder and more complicated to set up.

Either way, I'll most likely be back in Japan very soon. I'm guessing I'll go back somewhere inbetween mid-January and the start of April and then stay for a few months. Mostly just in Tokyo with a few small trips to probably Nagoya and maybe a city I haven't been to yet.

I'll be back!!

I'll finish this blog with a picture of the Yukata I bought in Nagoya!