New poll! Obviously non-scientific - please choose option that best describes you:
So here are my latest Tokyo fashion observations:
Jenn, Larry and Kenn can confirm this one - boots are hot here. Seriously, boots with anything...jeans, shorts, short skirts. Boots and short skirts are especially popular. Practically everyone woman is Tokyo is wearing that now.
One of my pet peeves - skirts/shorts and long socks/stockings with regular shoes. yuck. (some weird version of the boot look)
Hats are very hot now too.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
Guangzhou pics and my Toyko visitors
Finally Guangzhou pics:
This is a popular shopping street I visited. The glass thing on the ground was displaying a piece of actual old railroad tracks still exposed from around 960-1200s - crazy old!
The seafood restaurant I wrote about where you pic your meal out.
Poor turtle trying desperately to get out!! :(
ICK!!! Eel? Water snake? GROSS!
So my good friends Jenn and Larry were visiting last week and we had a great time (at least I did). They did quite a bit of sightseeing when I had to work and I had off Thursday (similar to Labor day here) and I took off on Friday. We sampled various restaurants, enjoyed wine and beer, went to Shinjuku for great views from skyscrapers including the Park Hyatt where Lost in Translation was filmed... Jenn doesn't like heights or weird food so Larry and I pretty much tortured the poor girl all week. One of the most amazing things that happened is that Larry lost his wallet in a cab after his first full day here. In typical Japanese fashion (the stories are true!!) the cab driver brought it to the local police station. I had the cab receipt so my front desk helped call the cab company and found out where the driver took it. Larry got his wallet back with ALL of it's contents including the cash he took out that day from the atm!! Gotta love the honesty here. That is the short version of the story. Needless to say we didn't let him live that down all week ;)
This is a popular shopping street I visited. The glass thing on the ground was displaying a piece of actual old railroad tracks still exposed from around 960-1200s - crazy old!
The seafood restaurant I wrote about where you pic your meal out.
Poor turtle trying desperately to get out!! :(
ICK!!! Eel? Water snake? GROSS!So my good friends Jenn and Larry were visiting last week and we had a great time (at least I did). They did quite a bit of sightseeing when I had to work and I had off Thursday (similar to Labor day here) and I took off on Friday. We sampled various restaurants, enjoyed wine and beer, went to Shinjuku for great views from skyscrapers including the Park Hyatt where Lost in Translation was filmed... Jenn doesn't like heights or weird food so Larry and I pretty much tortured the poor girl all week. One of the most amazing things that happened is that Larry lost his wallet in a cab after his first full day here. In typical Japanese fashion (the stories are true!!) the cab driver brought it to the local police station. I had the cab receipt so my front desk helped call the cab company and found out where the driver took it. Larry got his wallet back with ALL of it's contents including the cash he took out that day from the atm!! Gotta love the honesty here. That is the short version of the story. Needless to say we didn't let him live that down all week ;)
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Guangzhou Part 3
Friends in town has kept me too busy to complete my Guangzhou series of posts. I figure I better do it now before I entirely forget the experience.
When I first arrived in China and was going through immigration one of the guys behind me got yelled at my an immigration officer to take off his hat. That was one of my first impressions of the country, wow they are strict.
It's very crowded as expected but something that struck me was the traffic. Everyone just dashes into or across the road, in front of moving vehicles and everything. I thought taxis in NYC were crazy but taxis there were all over the place. You can help but feel a little motion sickness. It was just insanity in the streets, free for all. I was scared to cross but my coworker said you just have to do it, run right in...
I still have to get those pics up at some point. My client meeting went very well. All the people in the meeting understood English. I wonder how Guangzhou compares to other cities. I'm especially interested in visiting Beijing and Shanghai. I think I will get to visit both for work, which would be really cool. As long as I have a Chinese tour guide to take me around. It's too much of a hassle to try to get around myself with English. Also, I'm not a big fan of travelling alone. I don't mind it for business trips. But to enjoy a place, I like having a companion. I know a lot of people really enjoy or say they enjoy travelling alone but I don't at all. I think life is more fun when enjoyed with someone else. :)
When I first arrived in China and was going through immigration one of the guys behind me got yelled at my an immigration officer to take off his hat. That was one of my first impressions of the country, wow they are strict.
It's very crowded as expected but something that struck me was the traffic. Everyone just dashes into or across the road, in front of moving vehicles and everything. I thought taxis in NYC were crazy but taxis there were all over the place. You can help but feel a little motion sickness. It was just insanity in the streets, free for all. I was scared to cross but my coworker said you just have to do it, run right in...
I still have to get those pics up at some point. My client meeting went very well. All the people in the meeting understood English. I wonder how Guangzhou compares to other cities. I'm especially interested in visiting Beijing and Shanghai. I think I will get to visit both for work, which would be really cool. As long as I have a Chinese tour guide to take me around. It's too much of a hassle to try to get around myself with English. Also, I'm not a big fan of travelling alone. I don't mind it for business trips. But to enjoy a place, I like having a companion. I know a lot of people really enjoy or say they enjoy travelling alone but I don't at all. I think life is more fun when enjoyed with someone else. :)
Friday, November 17, 2006
Guangzhou Part 2
Amazing. This really short trip for business has really got me thinking a lot about cultural differences, about my heritage, so many things. Where do I begin.
So this being my first trip to China in general, as I mentioned in the previous post there was a bit of culture shock. I still am struggling to figure out why I feel like China and Guangzhou are different than other Asian cities I've visited - even Hong Kong. Tokyo is just a completely different world of it's own so that's no comparison. Similar to Hong Kong, the buildings here are mostly old and dirty looking. Maybe there is something to be said about the familiarity of the people here. I was noticing today the facial features of some people and found it astonishing how similar their features are to my own or my family. It's like a step beyond just everyone being Asian but everyone is from the same region as my family. I wish I could explain it better. My uncle mentioned to me how when he visited, he walked into a restaurant where everyone was speaking our dialect of Cantonese, which is Toisan, also spelled Toi Shan or Taishan or Hoisan. I hardly hear the dialect outside of my own family. In fact today, I was in a taxi where the driver was listening to a radio station where they were speaking Toisan. Weird!
My coworker and I took a taxi back to our hotels and he dropped me off first. He told me today that after I got out, the taxi driver asked him where I was from. He was really curious because I didn't speak Chinese and I am really tall (comparatively), but he thought I looked like I was from the area. That really struck me as interesting. So that is a good theory on why people look at me strangely here- my height. Again, it's the beast syndrome, I look like an amazon woman to the locals. Then I was thinking maybe it's the way I dress. A lot of people here who are just walking in the streets are pretty poor. The fact that I am wearing nice clothes and carrying a big red Coach back probably looks a little odd. I later ruled that out because I changed to just jeans and a plain old shirt and still got looks.
I actually ventured out after my meeting today to a mall. My coworker left to catch his flight but he wrote the name of a local shopping mall down in Chinese for me. I was going to hide out in my hotel room but decided I should at least try and check stuff out. So I braved it and gave the cab driver the paper and went shopping. I didn't realize things were so inexpensive in China, stupid me never really gave that much thought. Too bad I wasn't really in the shopping mood. I managed to get a taxi back to the hotel after walking around a bit. It really is not that easy getting around here not speaking Chinese. And the problem is amplified for me since I look Chinese. Even worse than I get in Tokyo, Japanese at least realize at some point I am not Japanese since I don't look it at all.
Yesterday my coworker took me to this seafood place where you pick out what you want from tons of tanks. Rows of tanks filled with fish, crab, all kinds of shrimp, clams, everything you can imagine and more. There were even tanks with turtle, snake, eel! There was a tank with these nasty cockroach looking things, so gross. I have a few pics I will post later. The concept was cool though, fresh seafood. You also get to choose the veggies you want and then they cook it all up and bring it to your table. Yummy.
Ok, I have more to write about but will save it for Part 3. I have an 8am flight back to Tokyo so have to get up early. My good friends Jenn and Larry are visiting me this week!! Yay! I am meeting them at the airport tomorrow.
So this being my first trip to China in general, as I mentioned in the previous post there was a bit of culture shock. I still am struggling to figure out why I feel like China and Guangzhou are different than other Asian cities I've visited - even Hong Kong. Tokyo is just a completely different world of it's own so that's no comparison. Similar to Hong Kong, the buildings here are mostly old and dirty looking. Maybe there is something to be said about the familiarity of the people here. I was noticing today the facial features of some people and found it astonishing how similar their features are to my own or my family. It's like a step beyond just everyone being Asian but everyone is from the same region as my family. I wish I could explain it better. My uncle mentioned to me how when he visited, he walked into a restaurant where everyone was speaking our dialect of Cantonese, which is Toisan, also spelled Toi Shan or Taishan or Hoisan. I hardly hear the dialect outside of my own family. In fact today, I was in a taxi where the driver was listening to a radio station where they were speaking Toisan. Weird!
My coworker and I took a taxi back to our hotels and he dropped me off first. He told me today that after I got out, the taxi driver asked him where I was from. He was really curious because I didn't speak Chinese and I am really tall (comparatively), but he thought I looked like I was from the area. That really struck me as interesting. So that is a good theory on why people look at me strangely here- my height. Again, it's the beast syndrome, I look like an amazon woman to the locals. Then I was thinking maybe it's the way I dress. A lot of people here who are just walking in the streets are pretty poor. The fact that I am wearing nice clothes and carrying a big red Coach back probably looks a little odd. I later ruled that out because I changed to just jeans and a plain old shirt and still got looks.
I actually ventured out after my meeting today to a mall. My coworker left to catch his flight but he wrote the name of a local shopping mall down in Chinese for me. I was going to hide out in my hotel room but decided I should at least try and check stuff out. So I braved it and gave the cab driver the paper and went shopping. I didn't realize things were so inexpensive in China, stupid me never really gave that much thought. Too bad I wasn't really in the shopping mood. I managed to get a taxi back to the hotel after walking around a bit. It really is not that easy getting around here not speaking Chinese. And the problem is amplified for me since I look Chinese. Even worse than I get in Tokyo, Japanese at least realize at some point I am not Japanese since I don't look it at all.
Yesterday my coworker took me to this seafood place where you pick out what you want from tons of tanks. Rows of tanks filled with fish, crab, all kinds of shrimp, clams, everything you can imagine and more. There were even tanks with turtle, snake, eel! There was a tank with these nasty cockroach looking things, so gross. I have a few pics I will post later. The concept was cool though, fresh seafood. You also get to choose the veggies you want and then they cook it all up and bring it to your table. Yummy.
Ok, I have more to write about but will save it for Part 3. I have an 8am flight back to Tokyo so have to get up early. My good friends Jenn and Larry are visiting me this week!! Yay! I am meeting them at the airport tomorrow.
GUANGZHOU
Ok, first off I am officially an idiot for not realizing my grandparents are from Guangzhou. I have come to discover I know virtually nothing about my heritage which is pretty damn sad. It's funny though, growing up I just pictured China as a far away place that my distant relatives were from. I don't think I ever really tried to picture where exactly they were from, what life was like. That said, I have always wanted to visit so after the realization (thanks dad for posting the comment), I was pretty excited to come here. I mean, it's a big city and I'm not even sure where exactly in the city my family is from or if they are from the city at all (probably a suburb). But anyway the point is I am pretty darn close so that to me is cool. I'm sure many people reading this don't identify at all with what I am saying but it is very profound to me.
I am also happy I came here because being in Tokyo for 3 months its lost its "newness" for me a bit. If you remember from an early arrival blog post, I wrote about how eye opening it was to see the world from some place else. It's harder for me to feel that in Tokyo now but coming here made me realize again how different the world is. How different America is. I have so much to say on this topic but will leave it for another time, I am exhausted and want to hit the sack.
A few more thoughts - I definitely feel more of a culture shock here than in Tokyo. Ironic being that I am Chinese and my family is from this exact area. It's also my first time in China. Somehow it feels different to me than other Asian cities I've been to (btw, my uncle is right it's a lot of old buildings and construction). I haven't pinpointed why yet but that's another point to explore in a later post. I feel like people are looking at me strangely here. Not sure if it's because I am tall or dress differently or what. I actually wanted to take a walk near the hotel earlier and walked half a block and felt really uncomfortable for some reason and turned right around and back to my hotel room. Don't laugh, I really did that. But truthfully, I didn't have much time before meeting my coworker anyway and there was actually nothing around here to see.
Ok, more to come on the Guangzhou trip....
I am also happy I came here because being in Tokyo for 3 months its lost its "newness" for me a bit. If you remember from an early arrival blog post, I wrote about how eye opening it was to see the world from some place else. It's harder for me to feel that in Tokyo now but coming here made me realize again how different the world is. How different America is. I have so much to say on this topic but will leave it for another time, I am exhausted and want to hit the sack.
A few more thoughts - I definitely feel more of a culture shock here than in Tokyo. Ironic being that I am Chinese and my family is from this exact area. It's also my first time in China. Somehow it feels different to me than other Asian cities I've been to (btw, my uncle is right it's a lot of old buildings and construction). I haven't pinpointed why yet but that's another point to explore in a later post. I feel like people are looking at me strangely here. Not sure if it's because I am tall or dress differently or what. I actually wanted to take a walk near the hotel earlier and walked half a block and felt really uncomfortable for some reason and turned right around and back to my hotel room. Don't laugh, I really did that. But truthfully, I didn't have much time before meeting my coworker anyway and there was actually nothing around here to see.
Ok, more to come on the Guangzhou trip....
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
This post is for Livia
It's an ode to Livia post! I don't know why I have been so stumped for post ideas lately. After being back home and having Kenn here and being busy with work, life in Tokyo just seems so boring to write about.
So Livia, another person that will enjoy your comment is my uncle Ging. Sorry I haven't been keeping up but how is Michigan doing these days, I take it well judging by the excitement of your comment? Here's a stupid question - what's a^2? Ann Arbor?
You will love this, I have been on a serious Grey's Anatomy marathon. I've almost completed all of Season 2 in like 2 days. I really love that show.
Btw, haven't seen you on Google Talk lately, what's up with that?
Ok fine, I won't turn this blog post into an email...Let me add a pic to draw people back in (it's me and Livia - really old pic from a Buffalo Bills game):
So here is a link to pics Kenn took while in Tokyo. There are tons and they load kinda slow on my computer but I think he's gonna decrease the file sizes. Check it out anyway if you want: http://www.inthedesign.com/tokyo06/index.htm
So I am definitely going to Guangzhou China on Thursday and Friday. Timing of the trip kinda sucks because it was last minute so couldn't schedule multiple meetings and at least get a chance to check stuff out. Oh well. My first time in China, should be interesting.
So Livia, another person that will enjoy your comment is my uncle Ging. Sorry I haven't been keeping up but how is Michigan doing these days, I take it well judging by the excitement of your comment? Here's a stupid question - what's a^2? Ann Arbor?
You will love this, I have been on a serious Grey's Anatomy marathon. I've almost completed all of Season 2 in like 2 days. I really love that show.
Btw, haven't seen you on Google Talk lately, what's up with that?
Ok fine, I won't turn this blog post into an email...Let me add a pic to draw people back in (it's me and Livia - really old pic from a Buffalo Bills game):
So here is a link to pics Kenn took while in Tokyo. There are tons and they load kinda slow on my computer but I think he's gonna decrease the file sizes. Check it out anyway if you want: http://www.inthedesign.com/tokyo06/index.htm
So I am definitely going to Guangzhou China on Thursday and Friday. Timing of the trip kinda sucks because it was last minute so couldn't schedule multiple meetings and at least get a chance to check stuff out. Oh well. My first time in China, should be interesting.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
No title
Stumped for a title today. But wow, it's been busy. I had 10 client meetings this past week. Kenn left for home yesterday. He had fun here I think and we had a great time together. It's too bad I couldn't take off more time. Having had him here makes it even harder being in Tokyo now. I'm thinking of coming back to NY for Christmas. Work gives be one more flight home and I plan to take a 2 week vacation next spring so I'm thinking I might as well use the flight to come home for Christmas and New Year's. Would kind of suck spending the holidays alone here.
Guess I will keep myself busy for the next month and a half though. I'm glad I'm having visitors next week. I may have to take a day trip to China (Guangzhou) for a client this week. I will also be going to Taiwan for a few days in December. I suppose Christmas will be here before I know it.
Tokyo has been nice weather. Mostly really sunny and still pretty warm. Winters here are supposed to be pretty mild and I hear pretty sunny most of the time, that should be nice. Looking forward to some snowboarding too, there are plenty of places an hour away and for weekend trips.
The client meetings this week were 'interesting'. They were all in Japanese so of course frustrating for me to just sit there and listen to the same presentation in Japanese 10 times. Then clients ask questions and if my colleagues can't answer them they translate the question for me. A real hoot. And a whole lot of bowing. But in the end we are still making a lot of progresss so things are going well. I'm also noticing I can start to pick up bits of conversation. With limited vocabulary and just trying to make sense in the context of the discussion, you'd be surprised how much you can pick up sometimes.
I'll send a link to pics Kenn took while exploring Tokyo soon. Hope you enjoy(ed) your weekend.
Guess I will keep myself busy for the next month and a half though. I'm glad I'm having visitors next week. I may have to take a day trip to China (Guangzhou) for a client this week. I will also be going to Taiwan for a few days in December. I suppose Christmas will be here before I know it.
Tokyo has been nice weather. Mostly really sunny and still pretty warm. Winters here are supposed to be pretty mild and I hear pretty sunny most of the time, that should be nice. Looking forward to some snowboarding too, there are plenty of places an hour away and for weekend trips.
The client meetings this week were 'interesting'. They were all in Japanese so of course frustrating for me to just sit there and listen to the same presentation in Japanese 10 times. Then clients ask questions and if my colleagues can't answer them they translate the question for me. A real hoot. And a whole lot of bowing. But in the end we are still making a lot of progresss so things are going well. I'm also noticing I can start to pick up bits of conversation. With limited vocabulary and just trying to make sense in the context of the discussion, you'd be surprised how much you can pick up sometimes.
I'll send a link to pics Kenn took while exploring Tokyo soon. Hope you enjoy(ed) your weekend.
Monday, November 06, 2006
This blog is not dead
Ok, very sorry for the long delay in posting to my blog. I was in fact back in NY for a short trip. Sorry to those of you I did not get to see when I was back :(
Kenn returned to Tokyo with me for a 2 week visit so I have been pretty busy since I've been back. We've been having a blast so far, it's so nice having him here. It's so much more fun exploring with someone else. I unfortunately have to work which sucks. It was tough getting motivated to come back to work. I have to admit that sometimes work is pretty boring. Of course there are exciting aspects to it but I think I am just in "play-mode". I had off last Friday so we took a day trip to Kamakura. It's an area about an hour away by train with a lot of temples and shrines and the Great Buddha (a really tall Buddha statue). I'll be posting a ton of pics soon.
Kenn has been otherwise exploring the city on his own during the day. He's getting around pretty well so far and getting used to the train and the language barrier. He loves the food here too. We have been brave enough to try out some restaurants using the pointing to pictures method. :) We went to Yoyogi Park yesterday, it was beautiful autumn weather. Still warm here actually - I think it was around 70. I mentioned in previous posts that there are usually a bunch of bands playing on the street beside the park. We stumbled upon a dj booth. We bought some Chu-hi which are these delicious flavored alcohol drinks. Kinda like wine coolers but sooo much better. The sell those as well as beer in the park. Japan is strange like that, they would would never do that in NY. We went back to the dj booth and it was a jumpin rave-like party. It was really fun and different. Also something that would never occur in NY anymore.
Ok- more updates to come. I'm getting back on track.
Kenn returned to Tokyo with me for a 2 week visit so I have been pretty busy since I've been back. We've been having a blast so far, it's so nice having him here. It's so much more fun exploring with someone else. I unfortunately have to work which sucks. It was tough getting motivated to come back to work. I have to admit that sometimes work is pretty boring. Of course there are exciting aspects to it but I think I am just in "play-mode". I had off last Friday so we took a day trip to Kamakura. It's an area about an hour away by train with a lot of temples and shrines and the Great Buddha (a really tall Buddha statue). I'll be posting a ton of pics soon.
Kenn has been otherwise exploring the city on his own during the day. He's getting around pretty well so far and getting used to the train and the language barrier. He loves the food here too. We have been brave enough to try out some restaurants using the pointing to pictures method. :) We went to Yoyogi Park yesterday, it was beautiful autumn weather. Still warm here actually - I think it was around 70. I mentioned in previous posts that there are usually a bunch of bands playing on the street beside the park. We stumbled upon a dj booth. We bought some Chu-hi which are these delicious flavored alcohol drinks. Kinda like wine coolers but sooo much better. The sell those as well as beer in the park. Japan is strange like that, they would would never do that in NY. We went back to the dj booth and it was a jumpin rave-like party. It was really fun and different. Also something that would never occur in NY anymore.
Ok- more updates to come. I'm getting back on track.
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