In 5 years of searching for the cheapest, most edible all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ, I have suffered more than one bout of diarrhea. I have over-paid and I have under-eaten.

But when I have visited Gut’s Soul, I have not been disappointed.

For 1,460 yen (1,260 if you are happy with only pork) you get 2 hours of carnage.  Use the convenient remote control to avoid human contact while ordering, thus improving the efficiency of your consumption. Throw in another 1,000 yen, adding all-you-can-drink to mix, and suddenly the food tastes good.

Not that it tastes bad. But it’s certainly not gourmet. Think clumsily chopped blocks of B-grade beef, pork and chicken. Thinly sliced onions and cabbage with brown spots. Watery kim-chi and microwavable fries. Oddly available flour tortillas.

Think you getting more meat for less money!

Next time you are in Nakano, throw down your not-so-hard-earned cash, order as much as you can, and crawl out a happy customer.

Gut’s Soul…because the gut knows better than the brain.

I’m sure I don’t have to convince anyone of the nightmare that is the Tokyo train commute. These days I’m only occasionally exposed to its full horror. Five minutes of staring at someone’s rash covered neck from 20cm away is enough to remind me that it’s worth it living in the center of the city, close enough to go pretty much anywhere by bicycle.

But avoiding the trains isn’t the only reason to cruise the streets on a bike. Here are five more:

1 – It’s safe. Tokyo drivers are extremely courteous because if they hit you, they are in big trouble. They don’t honk, they don’t run you off the road, and they don’t drive too fast.

2 – It’s refreshing. Thanks to strict pollution standards, car exhaust is at a minimum so even if you take the busiest roads like Meiji Dori you won’t end up with a black collar.

3 – It’s fast. I can make it from home in Ikebukuro to work in Takadonbaba in about 10 minutes. If I took the train, 10 minutes would barely get me to the first platform.

4 – It’s interesting. If you stick to the back roads, you inevitably get lost in the maze. This is obviously a problem if you’re on the way to work, but if it’s Sunday afternoon you may stumble across something like a hidden bonsai garden where you can sit on the bench and watch K1 fighters training through the open window of a gym across the road.

5 – It makes you money! If I average the transportation expense paid into my salary to 5000 yen/month and multiply it by the 5 years I’ve lived here, it comes to 300,000 yen. Damn!

Living in a guesthouse could be so interesting especially when you have roommates who can cook. One of my roommates wanted to have a tempura party for the longest time but we just couldn’t get the timing right for everyone to gather. Finally, we decided that it would be this Saturday night so he bought all the ingredients and collected 500yen from each of us. I have never eaten such delicious and fresh tempura in my life and it’s just for a small cost but the memory of it with my roommates will stay with me for a long time.

Today, I wanted to talk about my work.

I started working at GABA last Sunday at the Kitasenju location. First, let me tell you that I live at Nakamurabashi (a station after Nerima if you know where that is). It takes about 1 hour to get to my work, and my teikiken is about 14000 yen every month! ><

So at first, I was a little dissatisfied that I had to travel so far and so long every day.. but the moment I walked in to my learning studio (or LS as they call it) I fell in love!

First of all the studio was absolutely beautiful! It was brand new, and spotlessly clean. My booth also looked very new, shelves stuffed with useful books, brand new computer, comfortable chairs, and a big window. The staff room was equipped with 2 microwaves, 2 fridges, dishes and cups, magazines and books. That’s not all. I was most impressed by the lobby (this is where the clients wait for their lessons to start). It honestly looked like a lobby from a fancy hotel… wow… @__@

Secondly, the people were absolutely amazing. My co-workers are all (well, at least the ones that I’ve met) very nice, talkative, and personable. I had a lot of problems on the first day (from nervousness) and they really did a great job calming me down and giving me useful tips and advises.

Third, Kitasenju is in such a convenient location!! There are about 100 + Izakaya right outside of my studio!!! I have to talk about the Tokyo Izakaya soon.. love it! Love it!!

In my opinion, I think there are 2 main things that Japan has to offer to the rest of the world (amongst many other things). One is technology, and another is “service”.

So today, I want to talk a little bit about the service industry in Japan. As you know, and as I’ve written many times already, I came from Canada, a country whose service is entirely incentive based, through this little annoying thing called “tip”. Don’t get me wrong, I think people should be rewarded for a good service, but not with money. It’s just that… anytime I received a good service I Canada, I felt like they did it entirely for the purpose of the money (which is not far from the truth).  This could also mean that if the service provider sensed that you were a lousy tipper, you were going to receive a B or even C grade service. Having the appearance of an Asian woman, I’ve often been stereotyped as the “10%” and often been denied of good service.

So how is the service in Japan? I don’t know where to begin! Is it just me, or does everyone feel like the most important person whenever they walk into a restaurant, a supermarket, convenient store, or even McDonalds? Every worker that passes by you in the store will say “いらっしゃいませ” (welcome) and bow their head to the floor for you!  I was so embarrassed of this at first, but it’s kind of nice once you get used to it. Whether or not their actions and words are sincere, at least it’s not motivated by money. I think the rest of the world could learn a little from this.

However, one thing that I need to comment on (no wonder I’m told I’m cynical all the time), is that Japanese apologies a little too much. From the perspective of the North American culture, “I’m sorry” and “Thank you” are two completely separate phrases. However, I often feel that the Japanese use them interchangeably. I understand that this is their way of showing respect, but as a foreigner unaccustomed to the Japanese culture in the beginning, I always felt like I did something wrong whenever someone said “すみません” to me, but now I realize that they were just trying to show their appreciation…?

And the terrible thing is, I caught myself the other day saying “すみません” (I’m Sorry) when I should have been saying “ありがとうございます” (Thank you). The Japanese culture.. it really gets to you.  

I’ve been in Japan for a little over 2 weeks now, and already I’ve began to feel really homesick.

This didn’t happen when I left for college, or when I went on an extended vacation in the U.S…so why Japan? (I seem to be always asking myself this question lately)

Well to draw few differences between Canada and Japan,

1.       First of all, to state the obvious, “space”.  I really do miss my personal space. Although I am getting used to being cluster phobic, I still try to avoid the JR Yamanote line 8 in the morning.

2.      Secondly, the nature. I really do miss seeing the squirrels and the geese everywhere… not to mention the forests and the beautiful national parks.

3.      Lastly and most importantly, people in Canada smiled… and I could hit up a conversation with any random stranger…

And to draw few similarities between Canada and Japan,

1.       Well, I guess the weather.

No wonder I got homesick so easily.      

Just a side not here tho, I’m not putting down Japan in anyway. I love this country, it’s just really really different from Canada and I have fully adjusted to it.

So how do you deal with homesickness? Here are some good tips:

1.     Plan a trip doing something you know you’ll enjoy. Eg) going to the Onsen etc. I’m actually going to Okinawa soon!

2.     If you start to feel homesick, do something about it. It can be as simple as fining someone to talk to, taking a bath, reading a book, watching TV, etc. anything that will make you feel better. This way. The feeling will pass quickly.

3.     Eat and sleep as well as possible. When you’re tired and hungry, things can seem a whole lot worse.

4.     Find a Japanese boyfriend.

So I arrived in Japan exactly 2 weeks ago from Canada.

What am I doing here? to teach English.Why Japan? Well, to fly those flying cars of course… Having lived in Canada for most of my life, I have been raised to believe (by the ignorance of North American culture) that Japan has colonized the moon, that there is a large group of genetically modified super Japanese who live on the moon and of course, that they’re soon going to wage war on the Japanese who are still living on earth. If you don’t believe me, this picture is from google image Canada.

…But what I actually found when I came to Japan… was highly motivated business man keen on learning English to strive in this world that is moving rapidly towards internationalization.  This is where I come in.I am a full time GABA instructor, and part time private instructor. In the 2 weeks that I’ve lived in Tokyo, I’ve managed to find few clients who were interested in taking private English lessons with me.

And today, I had my first lesson. The first client (ever) was H san. To make the matters complicated, H san currently resides in US, and he wanted to have the lesson over skype. I didn’t know what to say or how to act at first, but the conversation flowed very smoothly. Maybe it was the fact that H san was very talkative and I didn’t have to do much to keep the conversation going. I actually really enjoyed the lesson, and we planned to have more lessons together over skype. So far so good.

The second client was O san. Here’s where it went wrong. The lesson was fine, the flow of the conversation was fine, O san was fine, but the environment was not.  By environment I mean with O san, we planned to meet at a café near Shibuya station. However, the café we initially planned on meeting at was packed.. so we randomly walked into a different café that looked nice from the outside and that seemed pretty quiet. Well, this café was a borderline maid café. Enough said.  

The last client of the day was K san. I had a great time with K san. With K san, I felt like I was talking to a friend rather than a client. We talked about drinking, partying, clubbing, music, movies, favorite childhood memories etc. I never knew teaching English would be so fun. So that was my first day of teaching experience.

If anyone is interested in teaching English, I had a lot of luck with these sites:

www.senseibank.com

www.findstudents.net

www.my-sensei.com

cheers (:

Izu Islands – Oshima, Niijima, Kozu shima, Shikine jima,and Hachijo jima are all beautiful islands off the coast of Tokyo.  I went to Kozu Island right after Golden Week and had such a relaxing time away from Tokyo yet still near enough to get back in couple of hours.

The best part of visiting and especially diving in these islands is that you end up meeting some of the most friendly people near Tokyo. In their tiny little islands away from all the air pollution, stress of living in the big city, they lead a very simple and healthy life and welcome you with a big smile.  The dive shop owner let me stay at his dive/inn for a very reasonable price including dinner. Even the boat ride out to the islands is tranqulizing if you bring a sleeping bag along and set it on top of the night ship that departs from the pier near Hamamatsucho station around 10pm and gets to Kozu Island around 6am. While you are staring at the stars and a cool breeze pass by, a deep sleep sets in only to wake you up to ship captains loud horn from the speaker above your head to wake up passengers with the first stop at Oshima Island with a rainbow going over it at about 4am. It’s such a sight that you may think that you’re still dreaming in your warm sleeping bag. By the time you wash your face and come out of the dream world, you find yourself in a island that looks like one of the movie settings in Jurassic park with lush jungles and wonder if a dinosour would pop up from the corner of the mountain which almost all izu islands have. Once you dive into the ocean the dream continues and you are surrounded by gorgeous island fish and corals. Followed by a delicious and healthy island dinner with fish, rice and cold beer.

Enjoy Izu Islands!!!!

Went to Blam! in Tokorozawa to shoot my friends with air-powered BB-guns. I wanted the AK-47 but ended up with some cheap Russian Kalashnikov.

It’s surprising how much fun it is to run around a barricade-filled warehouse wielding a replica machine gun. The fact that it actually hurts when you get hit definitely adds to the experience. I was so into it, ducking behind particle-board barriers and dodging plastic pellets shot at up to 95m/s, my quads needed ice the next day.

It’s surprisingly reasonable too. 3500yen is more than enough for the whole day – includes entrance, gun and mask rental, and enough BB’s to kill an army of prairie dogs.

Here’s the site:

http://www.blam.jp/