Another wedding party!

Yes... I am very jet lagged and updating many posts! lol.  Also cannot wait to share my good friends' happiness! Happened to be there were two weddings during my stay, both of them are my good good oregon friends. It was first time  to see her and also it was like a reunion! many faces that I haven't seen for years. Some people from SF, me from NY, it was a great party.

オレゴン時代の仲良しの友達のウェディングパーティー、懐かしい顔もたくさん、２人の幸せいっぱい（写真から伝わるでしょ～～！）充実した時間を過ごしました。本当に今回の出張と、ウェディング２つ重なって良かった、、。

It was really nice to catch up with everyone and it is kind of amazing how many people live close by in Japan! It was really like old times in Eugene.

いろいろなところから人が集合して、ユージーン再び、といった感じでした。学生時代はよくみんなでアクティビティもしていたので、懐かしい話も多かった！２０人ぐらい集まったのかな。

げんくんめいちゃんおめでとう！I am so happy for my friends :) Thanks for sharing your happiness!

Shopping in Japan

I usually don't have lot of time to shop while I am here on business trip but I always find time :) I went to LOFT (huge stationary/DIY/hardware store) and went crazy... few things I loved this time was cards for birthday and stuff. Usually it's around $3-4 in NYC but in Japan there are many cute ones and only around $1-3. I bought bunch of them!! Also some pens that Brian requested. and I bought more "magical" pens that you can erase with rubber which is attached to the pen. It is very magical... the problem is it makes me want to erase everything that I write. I love small things in Japan!

Eating in Japan

Every time I come here I find something new. This time I noticed that a lots of my friends are drinking this "Hoppy" thing at bar restaurants. This is basically retro (nostalgic) barley beverage and you drink it with Shochu. I tried it and it tastes like Guiness!

いつも東京くると、新発見ある。友達がみんな「ホッピー」飲んでたから試した。ギネスみたいな味で、なかなかおいしいじゃないか。

I was craving for ramen and went out to get one with my friend! It was good... so surprised how many ramen shops are around my hotel. At least 5-10 on 1 street!!

毎回ラーメン食べそこなうんだけど、今回はちゃんと食べた！おいしい。ラーメンや多くて驚く。

れいくん結婚式

まりこちゃんとれいくんの結婚式に駆けつけました。本当、駆け付けたってかんじ、、間に合ってよかった。２次会ですが。れいくんはオレゴン時代からの友達。考えてみればかれこれ９年の付き合いだね。２人は８年間の付き合いなので、お付き合いのはじまりから知っています。去年結婚、日本での結婚式だったのでした。おめでとう！

I stopped by Rei&Mariko's wedding after party. I know Rei since college so it's been a while! It was good to see them! Since Rei is a musician, there was a lots of music and towards the end he sang with a big band of friends.

れいくんはミュージシャンなので（Neon Gravity) パーティーは音楽盛りだくさんでした。後半は、れいくんが友達をかき集めたバンドで熱唱。れいくんらしいわ。

３次会は、オレゴン組でまったり。阿蘇のそうくん（シフォンケーキの人！）が、ギターを持ってきて、昔からの曲を披露、みんな懐かしくて盛り上がる。大学時代はよくみんなお互いの家に行ったり来たり、何かイベントがあるたびにれいくんやそうくんが曲を作ってくれたものです。私も誕生日ソングを何回か作ってもらったことがあるんだよ。みんな音楽好きです。

At the third party, So brought a guitar to the party and he sand a song when he made at college, everyone remembered and had such a good time singing. When we went to the university in Oregon, they used to make a song for every occasion and it is great that songs reminded us of the fun time in Oregon. It was great!

Empty Shibuya

Good Morning...! 4am... Totally jet lagged. I woke up to gloomy Tokyo weather. It is Tsuyu season. (Monsoon season right now) I can see sibuya from my small room but it's pretty empty! although I see a few people already walking outside... what are they doin!?

おはようございます。朝の４時に渋谷より中継（！？）ただの時差ボケです。今回はロケーションを優先したため、せまい渋谷のホテルにいますが渋谷の駅前が見渡せます。がらがらだけど、もう歩いてる人たちが早朝からいる、なんでだ～！？

Going to Tokyo

I am hanging out at JFK lounge to wait for my flight boarding time. I have been going back to Japan many times this year, I am just going for a week this time on business but going back again later July, and also I was originally planning to go to Japan in August on vacation which makes my 3rd Japan trip within 2 months! I don't think I have ever been back to Japan this often past 10 years.

Everyone is curious why I am going back there so often and I understand.. My main job is to do my industry's research in U.S. (financial technology is my field) and share the information with Japan. Usually this industry is far advanced in Europe and U.S. and Japanese people are always starving for information in the industry such as other companies' case studies, cutting edge industry practices, new regulations, new IT vendor solutions, new trends etc....

So what I do here is go to conferences, conduct many interviews with industry people and analyze situation and give presentations in Japan. When I am in Japan I do many presentations to executives at financial institutions and also internal executives as well. Sometimes I think it is crazy to think that this young lady is presenting stuff to old executives in Japan about what is going on in industry front. I enjoy it but at the same time it is very nervous to give such presentations to experts.I have to make sure that I know details, I sound confident and reliable.

Usually if I have good information, people don't really care how old I am or how impolite I could be considering Japanese business standard. One thing really makes me nervous is I sometime don't know the right "respect" language use for elderly in Japan. 

Also I am doing this big branding project for my company, they haven't done branding outside of Japan so I am trying to initiate the project, this is pretty fun but a lots of work to coordinate, especially it is hard to persuade Japanese executive how things should be done outside of Japan just because they are not exposed to different cultures before.

Anyway. This is why I am going back to Japan very often, now you know!

出張続きます

さて、忙しいです。出張前はいつも忙しいんですけど今回はどたばたして、金曜日に日本へたちますが、今回はスケジュールが変更しつづけ。当初は２週間いる予定でしたが、１週間に変更してまた７月の3週目ぐらいに舞い戻ることになりそう。あげくの果てには８月頭にも休暇で日本へ戻る予定だっつうの。（東京にはいないけど。。）日本に帰れるのは嬉しいですが、遠いので、２ヶ月で3回は行き過ぎだと思います。死亡しないように栄養剤でも飲まねば！！

NJ Birthday Party

Last weekend was friend's birthday party in New Jersey! Everyone brought some food and it was amazing BBQ. Ate so much, nice weather, beautiful building!

ニュージャージーの友達の家で、誕生日会をしました。NJは、NYから電車ですぐだけど、住宅地で新しいビルもいっぱい。なので、マンションみたいなのが多いんだけど、アメニティが充実していて、こういうバーベキューエリアとか、テニスコート、プールなどもあるのです。優雅ですね〜。

Birthday Cakes! It was windy but we were able to light it for a few seconds..

My friend got this amazing socks. One says Bacon, another says Beer! Nice gift.

Church turned into cute shops! 教会→クラブ→ブティック

I got cupcake coupon from online and I was going to buy a dozen of cupcakes from this place. I didn't know where it was and Brian and I were walking down the street and realized that the church on 6 Ave turned into this boutique market place. I didn't know at all. I heard it used to be a famous night club. Interesting... We only saw a little bit of inside but it was bright and gorgeous interior with bunch of boutique food shops. Fun place to stop by.

昔は教会で、その後有名なクラブになったあと、今度はブティックのそろうマーケットになったらしい。友達の誕生日にカップケーキ持って行くのに、お店に行ったらたまたまそこがlimelight marketだったのでした。とてもユニークですが中はガッツ改装されて、とてもおしゃれ。日本人に超うけそう。有名なお菓子屋さんとかが中にはいっぱいそろってる。ちょっと観光ついでにぐらいなら来るけど、別にしょっちゅうは来そうな場所ではないなー。

I bought a dozen of cupcakes here: Cupcake Stop. Their cupcakes were moist and delicious! Icing tasted not bad, I usually don't eat icing but this one was ok.

誕生日に持っていったCupcake Stopのカップケーキはまあまあおいしかったよ。でも、半額の割引券あったからいいけど、普段は１個$3もする、、そんなの買わないな〜。NYカー、本当にカップケーキ大好きです。カップケーキブームは普通に続いている。

summer

Really hot in nyc.... since I ran out of my favorite sun screen from Japan, I am not putting anything and getting tanner everyday when I walk Nico.

日本から買って来た日焼け止めがきれて、無精して何も塗っていないため、日に日に黒くなってきました。

Oh above the photo. Look closely to the right side that water is splashing. I always see this water plane landing in morning when I walk along the water.

いつも朝歩くと、飛行機が丁度水上に着陸するタイミング、右端にちいさく見えているやつです。

Strong sunshine, it stays light until 9pm or so! great beer weather.

9時頃まで日が落ちません。ビールを外で飲む季節です！

I found a butterfly... 

ちょうちょ、こんな季節に？