fuchsia fragments

Hanami parties or picnics (literally to mean: 'flower viewing') is a really big thing here. Like, seriously mega where companies will send out their most junior employee sometime in the morning to go and reserve an area for evening festivities which involves eating and drinking under the Sakura Trees (essentially, the employee will wait by their reserved area for anything between 3 and 8 hours!). As the weather is only just warming up, it usually can still be very cold in the outdoors but this does not deter people from having these parties. They take them very seriously and with lots of enthusiasm. Likely, they are such a big things because it gives employees and friends an open space to relax and enjoy each other's company, it allows them to drink and with so many people's homes in such small confined spaces, the only other option is to be able to have these parties in parks or other such designated areas.

I was so happy to have organised one for work people and with almost a 100% attendance rate. We had lunch under the cherry trees by the Imperial Palace and we were lucky enough to get a spot to sit for an hour or so and just enjoy it. The weather wasn't the best - it was cloudy and it was a little bit cold but luckily, there was no rain! We had a nice time and it was great just to get together as a group since it doesn't happen so often (people love to keep to themselves here).

On the weekend, I visited Shinjuku Gardens and it was a pretty cold and gloomy day. Despite this, it seemed half of Tokyo was out to enjoy hanami!!! It was so crazy inside the garden even with an admission fee and no alcohol! Hats off to all the people who were there sitting in the cold (absolutely no sun!) and cool breeze and socialising. I had a short walk around, took a few photos and decided I was better off going home!

Probably one of the quietest quarter-ends I've experienced and it seemed we were done by around 7 PM which is really early...

And as it was so quiet, Ken and I actually went for sushi, sake and bowling the day before the last day of the quarter for some mid-week entertainment. We both played really poorly that we didn't even reach 100 points. Ken should have probably won but he somehow managed to get only 1 of the 2 pins lefts standing on his last bowl when the two pins were directly in line... no idea how he missed the second one! A tie was definitely not what we expected...

Spent some time testing the oven out this weekend. After realising how expensive butter is (if you can find it at all btw as there is a huge shortage of butter in Japan...), I was determined to make some cookies for our hanami picnic. And success! I could only bake around 12 mini cookies at a time so I had to make around 7 batches but they worked and they were yummy according to my colleagues. :-)

 Next up, trying to make a cake!

The strangest thing has happened this week... there have been TWO resignations in the Tokyo office. After getting the impression that no one resigns, it's very strange! And now I know (or know of) 4 people who've resigned from the Tokyo office. We haven't even had that many resignations within my wider team in Sydney.

Pretty ordinary week this week. Work, run, home. Rain. Windchill. Language class. This weekend I went to Kisarazu Outlet Park. It was very cold and whilst it was a big outlet centre, it let me down. The sales weren't as awesome as Hawaii or Vegas (that's my benchmark) but I still managed to come home with a few items. Most importantly my mountaineering gear and some new Kate Spade! Also had a chai latte that was sheeeeet expensive and a let down at one of the coffee chains. I think I am slowly growing accustomed to crap coffee and an outrageous price is something of the norm here. Boo.

I also had dinner with my new friend (a friend of Janice's) Natsumi. We had sukiyaki (which is Japanese style hot pot with sliced beef) and it was so yummy although the broth was a bit sweet for me. Washed down with beers, it was perfect on Friday night because it was so cold. You dip the boiled meats and vegetable in raw egg before you eat it - and I think this is where the hot pot (steamboat) custom comes from. I personally don't really like to dip my stuff in slimy sauce and would prefer to eat it straight from the pot.

Today, I walked from Shinjuku to Shibuya (roughly 2.5 km) and visited a few shops to find some baking stuff. Not as much as I remembered and also just not... right. Everything is in tiny sizes... even the flaked almonds, almond meal is sold in packets of like... 50 g!

This past week, I've been reviewing quotes! I've been asked questions... and and and I'm going to get my own accounts instead of feeling like a 'consultant'. WOOHOOO!!! Albeit, the reason behind this is because there has been a resignation. But it's not for another 6 weeks so there will be (hypothetically) plenty of time for a handover.

Got my first taste of late nightlife in Tokyo. We had a few drinks with some colleagues and then a colleague and I went on to another bar for one more drink. And it really was one more drink! Tried to get the boss to come along but not this time. Anyway, we were hanging around Roppongi and there were not-so-welcome touts on every corner on the streets in Roppongi. So not cool and I would personally never venture to that part of town in the evening on my own. Anyways, we went to a Brazilian bar which did all these different types of Capirinhas - all looked really good! It wasn't all that busy for a Wednesday night so we had a bar table to ourselves and had a good chat. Good thing I remember things cause it will help me with working with the team later on!

Thursday's language class was a bit boring this week. All the students were different except one girl which was strange to me. Maybe a lot of people rotate days... I think I'll just keep going on Thursday evenings until work commitments get in the way.

It is sale time in a lot of the shops! I got a massive haul at H&M on Saturday evening... wasn't a lot of items but the majority were less than half price. I need to build my wardrobe here so it was a GREAT start! Think I should also plan my weekends so I see more. I was in Ueno today (absolutely hated it) and then Ginza (much more refined). I didn't realise until reading up on it that Ueno is one of the most run-down areas of Central Tokyo and I could feel it. It was just crowded and dirty and not exactly pleasant. A bit like China or HK maybe?

I also started using my smoothie machine. It's so awesome!!! Except now my fridge feels overstocked cause of all the fresh fruit and veg I have in there for my week's supply of juice. I have a tiny tiny fridge... and also I made pasta so I have midweek meals. Speaking of housework, I have designated Sunday evening to be ironing night. I HATE IRONING. And the dryer makes your clothes extra wrinkly. NOT COOL. It would be wise to buy clothes that don't require ironing...