Tonight I made a tasteless joke, and now I feel like an idiot. It wasn't immoral or sexual in nature, but it was still really edgy, and it wasn't well received. I admit that I was pushing the humor envelope and tried a joke that had worked before. It was foolish of me to think that even though the previous recipient had found it funny, it wasn't in poor taste. And now I wish I could take it back and never have said it, because I feel like an idiot. All I can do is promise myself to never make the joke again, to remember how I feel right now as I'm sitting here embarrassed and ashamed, wishing I hadn't made the joke I made.

[People are mingling. Music is on in the background. The song changes.]

Someone: What is this?
Tim: Is this New Kids? NKOTB?
Someone: Yes, I think so.
Someone else: No, it's Bobby Brown!
Everyone: Oh yeah!!!

[Song continues. Everyone talks about Bobby Brown for a bit.]

Tim: We need some Whitney Houston up in here.
George: Whitney Houston?
Tim: Yeah, Whitney Houston.
George: How is she?
Tim: ............ uhhhhhhhhhhhh......... I don't know, George. [Pulls cell phone out of pocket.] Let me give her a call and find out.
George: GEEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHA [furious laughter for 2 minutes].

Tim, in his head: Gets 'em every time!

BAM!

I had an interesting week. I've been burning the candle on both ends for the past four weeks. As I've become more involved in understanding Japan's needs and issues, and as my projects have progressed, I've needed to spend more time in meetings and chats, plus sending emails, late at night. These meetings and chats generally start around 9 or 10 PM my time and go until 1 in the morning or later. I don't have an issue with the late-night meetings -- they're part of my job. The issue was with the mornings after the meetings.

I've really tried to make a sharp impression on the people in our Japan office. I want them to know how committed I am, and how available I am when they need me. As a result, I've continued to get up at my normal time, check emails, and get to the office at a reasonable time. So while I've been working more and more late at night, I haven't been compensating by sleeping in or anything. After a few weeks of this, it really hit its apex this week, and I was starting to feel exhausted from it.

I had a chat with my boss about it, and with a couple people at work, and they were all concerned that I don't get exhausted or burned out. One person, a manager in the office here that I work with every day, told me that everybody here knows that the late-night communication with Raleigh is as important to Japan's success as what I do during the day, and he encouraged to not worry about anyone in the office thinking that my work ethic isn't top-notch. They have all seen that the rate at which they've been able to find resolutions to their concerns, and progress on their projects, has drastically increased and improved since I came here, and they know that I am committed to them. As a result, I decided to start going in a bit later in the mornings after I have late calls. This will allow me to get a normal night's sleep and keep me from getting exhausted or sick or upset or burned out. I feel really good about this change.

This is how things go when you start a new process: after a bit of time, you analyze and adjust. You find your balance through trial and error. In this case, I've found that I indeed can't burn the candle at both ends for weeks on end, and I'm taking steps to adjust my schedule and discover a healthy balance.

Yoshinoya makes a great bowl of gyūdon and is the undisputed king of the beef bowl in Japan. It's easily my favorite lunch: it's quick, cheap, and tasty. I usually order a oomori (big bowl -- double rice, regular beef) tsuydaku (extra sauce) style, with a corn salad on the side with sesame dressing, but when I'm really hungry I get takumori, which has double the beef and double the rice) -- this is rare, though.

I cannot tell you, faithful readers, how delicious Yoshinoya is. Come visit me, though, and lunch is on me. :)

The onions in the beef bowl at Yoshinoya are superior to those in the Matsuya beef bowl. In addition, the meet is juicy and tastes like the marinade it's prepared in. The downside of Yoshinoya is that it's more expensive (by about 50 yen -- ~50 cents) than its competitors. It's so doggoned delicious, though!

Up next: Matsuya!

I *looooooove* me some gyūdon. It's pretty much my favorite Japanese food. Well, I mean, I love sushi for than anything, but I could eat gyūdon every day and never be the worse for it. The dish is simple: Beef, onions, white rice, sauce. Some people put pickled ginger on top; I don't. Some people crack a raw egg over the top of it; I don't. I take it with beef, onions, white rice, and sauce. Sometimes I get a tokumori (special bowl -- double rice, double meat), but only rarely. Usually I get an ōmori (double rice, regular meat) and it fills me up just fine.

When I feel like it, I order my gyūdon "tsuyadaku," which means "extra sauce." The sauce is awesome. It's made of soy and sugar and a few other things, but it's not super-strong like a teriyaki sauce.

Gyūdon is considered a "fast food" here in Japan, and the Japanese consider it "unhealthy," but it's important to notice that Americans and Japanese have quite different definitions of "unhealthy." I've lost a bunch of weight since I moved here, so it couldn't be that bad for you. Oh, man, I love the stuff.

There are three main national chains that sell gyūdon: Yoshinoya, Matsuya, and Sukiya. I've been to Yoshinoya a bunch of times, Matsuya once, and I've never been to Sukiya. This week, though, I commit to do full analyses of all three for you, my faithful readers. Stay tuned!

Cool breeze and yakitori... perfect!

It's a fine day when a man gets the Fujitas to read his blog. George is actually the person I referred to when I said that my co-worker is half-German and half-Japanese, so I call him "Axis Powers." Come to find out he and his missus are regular readers of this humble site.

It should be noted that George is a huge Ken Watanabe fan. Okay, I made that up.

I'm happy to report that I'm now the proud owner of a gently-used 50cc Suzuki scooter. I hope I can get used to driving on the left side quickly!!!

I'm committed to turning this blog into the internet's premier Ken Watanabe fan site.

Today I premiere Sunday Afternoons in Tokyo, my new web series documenting Tokyo through the lens of an HD video camera. My goal is to minimize the level by which I editorialize the content, filming plainly and avoiding narration.

The first episode covers Sunday afternoon trips I've taken to the Imperial Palace area, Shinjuku (where I've been a dozen times since), Yoyogi Park, and Harajuku. Make sure the "HD" feature is turned on in the video viewer.

http://www.vimeo.com/channels/47612

My co-worker George is half Japanese and half German. Naturally I nicknamed him "Axis Powers." It's the perfect nickname for him!

Look, everybody knows that Ken Watanabe is the greatest Japanese actor in the history of the world. There's no point even discussing it.

I paused last Saturday to take pictures of the new apartment as I was moving in. It's now mostly-furnished and has filled in nicely. I'll take more pics in a week or so when everything's done and set up.

About a month ago I went to Yoyogi Park to walk around for a while. Such a cool park. You'll recall that I wrote about the Rock-a-billy dancers near the entrance to the park. Here are some photos:

I finally have internet in my new apartment!!! FINALLY! YES! And since I have my iMac now, I will soon post photos and videos of my time here in Japan so far, including pictures of the apartment.

I say "Live from Cherry Tree Hill" because I live in Sakuragaoka. Sakura = cherry tree, ga = noun connector, oka = hill. I'm about 300 meters from Shibuya station, just to the east of the Cerulean Tower.

There's a shop across the street from the office that sells soft ice cream over granola. SO. FREAKING. GOOD. Taste, texture, temperature: all perfect!!!

Frank (my brother) sent me this. Since I haven't seen Up yet (it won't premiere in Japan for a while), this was the first I'd seen the new Pixar short, Partly Cloudy.



It's absolutely beautiful. Talk about something being "good" (in the moral way) without being cheesy. Unbelievably beautiful. People want to say that there's no good left in the world, but clearly a group of people just spent probably a year of their life making that little film. That kind of commitment takes conviction to the purpose of the project. It made me happy from the first shot, and it brought joy into my life. Kudos to the filmmakers for making this short film.

T-minus 19 hours until I have internet at my new apartment. Better yet, the building has fiber-optic built in, so I'll be able to enjoy a 100Mbit connection. Hoo-ah!

My iMac is set up, powered on, and waiting to be connected. It can't wait! I can't wait!

I moved on Saturday. The Boyntons and the Bishop helped me tote the fridge from the Reids' to my new place, plus we went and got my bags from the temporary apartment. They were so awesome help me! Soon after they dropped everything off the doorbell range and the movers brought in my shipment from the U.S... stuff like clothes, computers, electronics, etc. About two hours later the IKEA delivery showed up. I spent four hours putting together the bed, then decided to go to the movies on Saturday night to see Star Trek. On arrival, though, I learned that the latest show at the Shibuya Toei theater is at 6:45 PM. The latest show... at 6:45 PM. CRAZAZAZY! So I walked home, hooked up my TV and the DVD player I bought from the Reids (a multi-format player that can play U.S.- and Japan-region DVDs) and watched a movie.

Yesterday I went to church (my new apartment is literally 200m from the church. HOOAH!), then went to the Harris' for lunch. Great people and a great meal. Then I went home and set up the couch and relaxed for a while, then went to the Siebachs' for a Sayonara party -- there are four families moving out of the ward soon and not coming back in the summer. I had a great time sitting around and chatting with ward members. [Side note: I really love my ward. I feel like I made a great choice. Just perfect.] One guy showed a bunch of us an amazing video that I'm sure you've seen by now, but it's still awesome and deserves to be shown:



I love my new apartment. The location is perfect. Really close to church and work, plus all of the shops and restaurants in Shibuya. It's pretty much ideal. My back and legs hurt from putting together furniture this weekend, but it'll get better. Tonight the Bishop is coming over to help me put together the dining room table and chairs. His wife and family left for the U.S. today so we're going to order pizza and put together some furniture.

This morning I walked to the office. It took 20 minutes flat. Very nice. I still want to get a bike or a scooter, or maybe both, but I'm waiting to find out how much the bike/scooter parking costs at my new apartment. I think the bike parking is free. Tomorrow I'm going to go check out a bike shop that I saw last week. I want a nice "mamachari," which generally looks like this:

I took this with my cell phone on the way back from Costco this evening. The sign shows traffic around the city.

I'm moving tomorrow morning. Internet won't be set up at the new place until Thursday, so don't expect to hear much from me until I'm at work on Monday.

Can I just interrupt this string of time-wasters I've posted to simply state how grateful I am for the life I have? I indeed am. There's no way I deserve all the goodness that's been shared with me, opportunities I've been given, and experiences I've enjoyed. I am grateful to God for giving me such a wonderful life, and for opening so many doors for me.

Remember that show Shop 'til You Drop? I almost did last night. I almost shopped until I dropped. I was shopping and I stopped just before dropping. It was a close call.

O IKEA, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three-one thousand, four.

What I did at IKEA can best be classified as a "spree." I went buck-nutty, basically. I was there for three hours, and by the time I was done I was toting five carts around. I'm not even kidding. I would move a cart up 50 meters then go back for the next one, moving it up 50 meters. Slowly I inched my carts through the self-service section. I won't tell you what all I bought, mostly because you might damage your index finger from having to scroll the page down that much, but suffice it to say that I'm pretty sure I single-handedly have kept the Minami-Funabashi IKEA location in a financially-stable position for the remainder of its fiscal year.

I will say, though, that I'm hearing rumors that IKEA is interested in doing a photo shoot of my apartment for their next catalog. OK, I made that up. But remember that part in Fight Club when Edward Norton's character sees IKEA products and prices everywhere he looks? That's what my new apartment will be like. An IKEA paradise. What can I say? There's nothing better for a two-year stay than fine modular home furnishings!

I finally broke down and had fast food. Call me a sinner! Hate on me! I made it 6 weeks without fast food. Today, though, I needed food fast. LITERALLY. I was at the bank dumping a big bag of change (1 yen, 5 yen, and 10 yen pieces) into the ATM (you heard me right, brother. The ATMs here let you put change into them), when I realized that I hadn't eaten lunch and that I had a meeting I needed to get back for. Right next to my bank (Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ - Ebisu Branch) there's a Wendy's, so I decided that I could tolerate a delicious square cheeseburger. And it was good!


Note: this is not a photo of the actual location I went to. I just pulled this off of Google Images

Don't worry, friends... I won't make this fast food thing a habit. I should add, though, that I've totally lost weight since I arrived in Japan. My suit coat fit me looser on Sunday. Nice! It's all this walking.