I was a little bit rough when I woke up this morning (to be expected).  But had to make a move as there was a busy day ahead.  I started by going for my last (usual) breakfast, and then got my bags packed (which was quite an exercise – next time I’ll just bring bubble wrap and a larger suitcase!).  I checked out at 10.00, put my suitcase in storage at the hotel, and then met up with Mikiko-san.

We went across to Shinagawa Prince food court as she wanted a hot dog.  I had a hot chocolate to join her, and we had a chat.  At 11.00 we went back to the hotel as she had to meet up with Mark and co, so I said goodbye to them all.  I had been thinking a bit more about Enplug and Datascore and mentioned my thoughts to Mark and Nanxi, as something to ponder.  I was then on my own for the day.

I went to the train station and caught a train to Roppongi Hills.  I had had some earlier emails with Neil – a contact Gary had put me on to for possibly bringing Inflatable World to Japan – and was going to meet up with him for Lunch.  So I thought I’d get there early and make sure I found the way OK.  I went to the Hilton and grabbed a seat – I was about half an hour early so just caught up on a few things.  Then Neil and I went for a sushi lunch in Roppongi Hills and I presented Inflatable World, as well as Datascore and my other ventures.  He is not the guy to make it happen, but he runs a local newspaper for expats in Japan (the last one ran by non-Japanese people) and is very well connected.  So the seed was planted.

After lunch Neil went back to work, and I wondered around Roppongi Hills.  It’s one hell of a shopping centre.  There was a bit of a Marvel Comics exhibition on, so wax figures were all over the shopping centre.  It was a very nice place, and I’m sure very expensive.

Once I was done there I was at a bit of a loss on what to do.  It was going to be another day of feeling like a gaijin.  I walked around the Roppongi area for a while and just looked around.  My bag was pretty heavy (as it had my laptop in it) so it was hard work, but nice to be outside.

I then thought it was time to head back to the hotel and get myself organised to leave.  But on the train I changed my mind (it really was toto early) and got off at Daimon (I had to change trains there anyway), and went to Zojoji temple.  I had a wonder around there – it was really nice with Tokyo Tower in the background.  Not sure if I had been there before or not.

I was then going to start going back to the hotel but decided I had enough time to walk to Tokyo Tower.  For no reason other than to walk there and hopefully get a better photo as the sun was

in the way for my earlier photos to work out.  And what should I see?  Well, we had been talking about these Mario Kart go kart’s you can drive around the city over the last couple of days.  I managed to see a couple driving around the corner of Tokyo Tower!  So it was definitely a worthwhile detour as I now know that we *have* to do it the next time we come (with Michael and Leila in September).

Now it really was time to get moving, so I made my way back to the nearest station to get me back to Shinagawa.  I was making good time, and I hadn’t had a Mos Burger yet, and I walked right past one.  So maybe there was time to squeeze that in too.  So I downed the burger quickly, and made my way back to the station, and to Shinagawa.

Kaoru had sent me a message earlier about getting her a tri-colour pen, so I went to the shop she suggested in Shinagawa and managed to get that.  And then I approached the downfall in my “cutting it fine” timing – I went to buy my ticket for the Narita Express and the line at the ticket counter was long.  Oh shit.

It took me about 20 minutes before I was able to get my ticket, for the train that leaves in 15 minutes time.  I wish I could do this from a machine!  Anyway I grabbed my ticket, and jogged across the road back to the Keikyu Hotel to grab my suitcase, and then rushed back to the train station.  I worked out where the Narita Express leaves from and rushed to the platform – I was getting quite sweaty.  But luckily I made it with a couple of minutes to spare.

I had a couple of beers (Suntory Premium, of course) in my bag which weren’t nice and cold anymore, but they were wet and beer, so I had one on the way to the airport, and addressed a couple of issues that required my laptop.  Once at the airport I checked in for my flight (very quick), returned my wifi router, had my last beer, used up my remaining credit talking to Kaoru, and boarded the plane for my flight home.

This was a very different trip, not having Kaoru there.  It was very enjoyable, and I have renewed hope that I may have business in Japan in the future.  Fingers crossed.

Until next trip…..

Today was thankfully a late start. I had breakfast at the usual place after a shower and then got in to some work. I went to the stand up sushi restaurant in the station for some lunch about 1145. I knew you had to pay to go in the station even if you were just shopping, but i thought i could just go in and it would work it out on the way out, and charge my Suica. However i got the red gates that closed on me so i had to go through the manual gates. I later found that Mikiko has had the same problem in the past so it’s not even well written for Japanese people.

We all met at 12.30 and walked to the train station. It took two trains and about an hour travel time to get to Mukuhari Messe, for the Interop exhibition. We were there with Enplug so had exhibitors passes. I got to have a good look around though which was interesting. Some amazing things in digital signage. I had a beer break in the middle though to relax a bit.  At 5.00 we went to see Nanxi’s presentation on Enplug, which finally gave me a chance to see what it was all about.

After the presentation we all got in a bus which Teru had organized-and when i say all, i mean all the people he had arranged for the Enplug

stand and i think investors and people in his other business’s. So it was a full bus. That took us to a reception room where Teru spoke for a bit and then Nanxi gave her presentation again. We then got to eat and drink and be merry.

I met one of the original Konami people from when Sportskeep was initially installed in Japan.  He is no longer with Konami but still knows people in the industry so I’m hoping that turns in to a business lead.  He doesn’t speak English (just a few words) but he has a friend / colleague who is an English teacher, so hopefully she will be able to assist with making things happen.

Once we had finished we were all given some Sake in a gift box, which Mikiko later told me was very good quality sake.  Unfortunately because I brought just a small suitcase, I couldn’t fit it in to bring it back home.  I ended up giving it to Mikiko to give to a friend of hers who she thinks would appreciate it.  We then went back to the hotel and had a few drinks in the lounge at reception.  It was then time to call it a night.

I had a bit of a chat to Nathan (Mark’s son) about how Enplug could integrate with Datascore.  Something to think about…

We didn’t have to leave until 930 again so i woke up, had breakfast and then did some more work in my room. I joined the others at the cafe on the second floor, where i said “tanjoobi omedetto” to Mikiko. I already knew Mark and Jack. So was introduced to Teru who is a businessman they are here to see for another venture-Enplug. Then i met Nanxi who is the ceo of enplug in the us, and Harry (one of the workers) and Nathan (Marks son who is also involved in Enplug).

Mark, Jack, Mikiko and i went to Konami for their annual meeting. There was a much different vibe in the room. I just did a bit of work while Mark whinged at them about numbers. It certainly didn’t look like a good business relationship.

The stadium managers all came in to the room after that, and the intention was for me to do some training with them. Mark and Jack went off to an enplug press release.  However after showing them a couple of the new features i stepped back and they had a good session together where the managers discussed how they use Sportskeep and address various issues. They came across some translation issues which i rectified or took a note of. The department manager came in and all the stadium managers introduced themselves to him. Amazingly they had never done anything like this before, and it was such good value to them all. He told them that action sports is going to be their focus moving forward so all looked promising. I got about a minute with him to show some of Datascore and he enjoyed seeing the animations. There may be hope yet!

We went to a convenience store for lunch-it was a short break as the ceo was coming in. He spent about 10 minutes talking to the managers. Mark has never met him before so it all looked great. Mikiko and i introduced ourselves to the ceo but didn’t get more than a minute. We resumed for a little longer and the managers got to ask a couple of questions, but then it was time to leave. So we caught a taxi back to the hotel and dropped our things in our room.

Our next mission-i had brought a hat i had to post to ottosan. He liked my hat last time i was there so we had bought him one. Mikiko and i went to the post office and it was easy to send, however good having her there as they asked if it had to go express or courier or normal mail, and i may not have been able to answer that and would have been overcharged. We then went back to the hotel, and to TGIF again for happy hour and birthday drinks. We also ordered some salad to keep us going.

We got a message from Mark saying dinner was booked for the ninja restaurant in Asakusa. Kaoru and i had been there before, and most of the guys had on a previous trip. But we weren’t leaving until 930 so ordered a bit more food and drinks. We called Jack and invited him to join us as Mark had said he was back at the hotel. He eventually came along, but then Mark, Angie and Teru came and grabbed him for a meeting.

Mikiko and i went back to our rooms and i got some work done (and had another beer to keep me going). Finally it was time to meet for dinner. 3 taxis took us to the restaurant where we were taken through the secret passages to our table.

The meal was nice and of course the drinks were flowing. I had a chat to Angie as i hadn’t seen her for a few years. I was back at my seat for the ninja magic which was enjoyable and very impressive. Jack, Mikiko and i shared our meals so we got some variety which was good as it was hard to pick just one dish! After dinner we caught taxis back to the hotel and called it a night.

The business side begins.

I had an alarm set for this morning.  But my watch was on Melbourne time, and I had forgotten about this when I set it last night.  So the alarm went off an hour early.  I realised this pretty quickly after it went off, so I re-set it for another hours time.  I had breakfast at Segafredo (surprise) and got some work done.  Mikiko knocked on my door a bit before 9.30, so we went downstairs, and caught a taxi to Konami.

It was a completely different experience to my last time at Konami.  We were in a room (instead of on a table out in the reception area) and the 7 new computers were all set up and ready for me to start with (including Internet access!).  After the formalities were complete, I installed Sportskeep and updated the databases on all 7 computer.  In general it was very smooth.  There was an issue getting data off the USB stick they had (most likely due to the local protection policy), but Oishi-san was able to email the databases to me.  I had arranged the customer.rec’s yesterday (despite being pretty tired) so was well prepared, and the database updates were very smooth.

We went for lunch at the Hummer Cafe (across the road) which was good for a laugh.  The “garage door” (which was just behind me) opened halfway through, which Mikiko saw and smiled at.  After a nice meal we went back and I showed Oishi-san and Takanawa-san the new version of Sportskeep.  They had arranged for a couple of people from the web team to come in and see how results.sportskeepglobal.com works (the things we wanted to demonstrate to them 5.5 years ago, on my first trip here, but it didn’t work).  So in general, everything was going really well, with very positive vibes from them.  It seemed like the same situation we have seen in New Zealand – the people love Brett and I, because we make things happen and provide support, but hate dealing with Mark (Cini in New Zealand, and Davis in Japan) because they hinder things.  Really difficult when you can see how the Japanese make things so hard to achieve things, but also how the person “selling” the product does a crap job because they really don’t understand the business.

We left on a very good note, and Mikiko and I caught a taxi back to the hotel.  We went to TGIF and had a drink.  By complete coincidence we were there for happy hour – 50% off.  Can’t complain with that.  We went back to our rooms and I caught up with emails and had a chat with Kaoru, while Mikiko got ready.  We then went out.

We caught the train to Kawasaki (the same train for Fujisawa) and met Ochi-san at the station.  I hadn’t seen him for 4 years, so it was awesome to have a night out with him.  He had since been married (she didn’t come along unfortunately) and looked really good.  There was another person (forgotten their name) who Mikiko went to Uni with, but is also a writer who has done a lot with the blind soccer in Japan so Ochi knew him already.  In fact Ochi made the comment that “he always gets lost”, while we were making our way to the restaurant.  He had us wait for a minute while he went for a walk and tried to work out where we were going.  I told Ochi that “you’re right – he’s lost!” which had us all laugh.  At the same time Ochi told me the name of the restaurant, I typed it in to Google Maps, and told them all where to go.  I ended up leading the way!

Dinner was the usual enjoyable affair.  Although Ochi didn’t have his harem of girls with him.  He was on a non-drinking time, but “special occasion” so we got in to it.  I was able to practice my Japanese while he practiced his English.  During the meal Mark called Mikiko to say they had arrived, and apparently was quite rude to her.  So when he called again 20 minutes later I answered the phone as I didn’t want her to be upset and stressed out.  We had a great meal, and great drinks, and all too soon it was time to leave.

We walked back to the train station and watched Ochi-san go downstairs to his train.  It’s so scary because he does stairs so quickly – you just hear this “tap tap tap” of his stick. Mikiko, her friend and i went back to Shinagawa and had a drink before calling it a night. We contemplated going to gonpacchi and joining the others but it was already about 11 so decided against it.

Yep. ..that was hard. Not quite feeling 100% this morning. I woke around 730 and was able to get back to sleep. By 10.00 i was hungry so had a shower and made my way to segafredo. It was really warm -a combination of the weather, being hung over, and probably getting some sun yesterday. So i didn’t stay too long.

I skyped Kaoru when i got back, and then laid down for a bit – being vertical was too hard! I popped in to see Mikiko and then packed for the days outing. I caught the train to Shibuya and then had to change to go to Yoga. Kenichi phoned me soon after and i hopped in his car with Minami.

It was about a 20 minute drive to his friends house.  As expected, they treated me well.  I was given the seat at the head of table, and the lady of the house kept putting food on my plate.  The difference between it, and Mio’s bar, was just that I didn’t have 3 full glasses of different drinks in front of me.  But in reality I was still hungover so that was probably a good thing!  Some really lovely people though.  They had a 4 and a 7 year old, and the other friends who were there also had a 4 and a 7 year old.  The kids had all been learning English so they were made to introduce themselves to me, which is always fun.

Several beers later (so my hangover had turned in to drunkenness again :)) the other friends had left, and it was time for Kenichi and I to leave as he had to take Minami to a dance class.  So he dropped me off at a train station, and we exchanged gifts that our wives had given us to pass on to each other (big responsibility for us guys!).  I caught the next train to Shibuya, and went to Bic Camera (this time with my passport!) and picked my duty free alcohol to bring back to Australia (plus a 6-pack of the large Suntory Premium cans to keep me going for the rest of the week).  I picked a bottle that I thought Kaoru might like, plus a couple of whiskies (a given!).  Then I felt an obligation to go back to the craft brewery I had been at yesterday as I had received feedback from both Damon and Michael, about what beers to try.  So the fight between being tired, drunk and hungry was on.  Hungry won, and I found a chinese restaurant to eat dinner at, where I was able to order a set (predefined selection) of rolls, being a steamed but, plus 3 of those small ones I can never remember the name of but taste awesome, plus some salad and dessert, plus a beer of course.

I left the restaurant and had a bit of a walk around Shibuya.  But my backpack was heavy and walking was hard.  So whilst the alleys looked like they would be fun to stop in for a drink, I swallowed my pride and headed back to Shinagawa.  Back at the hotel I had a bath (because that’s what you do in Japan) and called it a (very enjoyable) day.

I woke up quite early… i could have easily gotten up at 730 (which is really 830 body clock time) but thought i should sleep a bit more as it was a late,  long day yesterday and today was going to be a long one.

So i got up around 9, had a shower and went for breakfast. For the true nostalgic experience i went to segafredo for breakfast. There was somebody already having a beer! As tempting as it was to join him i decided against starting this early.

After doing my teeth i came up with a basic plan. Is hard to know what to do when you’ve already done so much! I started by trying to buy a Suica. After waiting in line for 20 minutes and only moving halfway i gave up on that idea and just bought a ticket to Harajuku. There they had the black ticket machines which all Suica cards so that job was complete in about 90 second.

A slow walk down takeshita street to take in the sites, and also see if i could buy a cheap hat as i had left mine back in Melbourne. A south African tried to tell me his hats were cheap so i told him “takai desune” and walked off. After a couple of deep fried cheese sticks i went to togu shrine and saw people getting married in the room we were married in. So that was a bit of a treat.

After praying there i made the customary trip to meiji shrine. There was still a lot of work going on but i prayed there as well. I then thought it would be fun to look at Shibuya and decided to walk there. I had to go through yogi stadium grounds where there were food stalls (i had some takoyaki) and lots of other tents with various things. They seemed to be green energy related. Eventually i reached an area that looked familiar but i was quite warm. ..beer oclock!

It took a while to find somewhere to drink because i was looking for something a little different. And finally i found a craft brewery with 20 taps! And to make things even better they had a tasting paddle so i didn’t have to pick just one. The ocha pale ale was my favorite. I called Kaoru and had a chat for a bit. I was close to leaving when a girl came in and i overheard her ask the girl behind the bar what she recommends (osusume). so i told her juuichi ban wa oishi desu – which she then ordered so I must have said the right thing! I’m enjoying being able to communicate, even if it is just a little.

Just after i left Mikiko called. She had just arrived and wanted to say thank you for the flowers we put in her room. We arranged to meet up at 4. So i made my way back to Shinagawa. I arrived about 3 and was a little hungry so i went to a stand up sushi restaurant in the station. After a few various eats i went back to the room.

Mikiko came about 4 and we went downstairs for a drink and a catch up. She had to leave about 5 to meet her friend and i wanted to leave about then too so we walked to the station and went opposite directions on the yamanote line. I made my way to omote-sando and looked for a good spot to stop for a drink. I managed to find a place called Commune 246 which was a selection of beer stands. I thought it looked a good place to meet up so i sent Gary an email letting him know where i was. I ordered a beer and found a seat next to a couple of Americans who live here so enjoyed hearing their stories (and a couple more drinks) until Gary and his girlfriend Rikuko arrived.

I had never met Gary before in person. He attends Igarashi sensei’s class and i thought he seemed like a fun guy. So i managed to get in touch with him and here we were. I finished my beer and they took me to the first place-a bar called 2 Rooms. It had a beautiful view of Tokyo,  especially with the sun setting, and a nice breeze blowing.

After a nice beer we made our way to a restaurant Gary had booked. It is one they go to regularly and there were some great dishes. I also learnt (but have since forgotten the phrase-just the concept remains) about asking for the sake the venue recommends. So we enjoyed beer, sake and food, and got to know each other.

Rikuko was doing a hike in the mountains tomorrow so she had to go home and get some sleep. Gary and i stayed a bit longer for another drink and then hit town. We caught a train and then taxi to Roppongi Hills, where Gary took me to a bar he regularly drinks at. There was a friend of his there so we said g’day and then proceeded to drink and chat.

We went to a few bars. The black people were constantly trying to take us to their places but we weren’t up for that. The interesting one was Coyote Ugly which was actually quite dead but a good laugh. Something to tick off the bucket list. I lost count of places we visited, as well as time, and by the time i got a taxi home and in bed it was 4.00. Tomorrow was going to be a hard morning. …..

Footnote: for fun, post things like this on Facebook!  Great responses from Aunty Lynette and Andrea who look and immediately think strip club / pole dancing venue, as opposed to what it really is :).  Kaoru just laughed when I told her about it!

I woke up in time to say goodbye and thank you to Yoichi, before he went off to work.  Mio took Arisa to school.  Once we were all ready, Kaoru, Mio and I went to the shopping centre.  It didn’t open until 10, but Mio wanted the good parking spot so we had to get there early.  We went inside and straight downstairs to the food area.  Each stand had a staff member standing next to it, and as we walked past they all bowed and welcomed us.  I guess during the day they are always busy, but this was “the calm before the storm” so they had to greet us all.

We then went upstairs to buy some coffee capsules for Okasan and Ottosan – Kaoru had drank a bit when we were there.  We also made a few other purchases of some food to bring back.  Hope our baggage isn’t over weight!  We showed Kaoru the wine tasting as that was still going from yesterday (but we didn’t sample anything) and then we went in to the “VIP Lounge” which Mio has access to.  We had a tea there, and then Kaoru and I went off for lunch while Mio relaxed before picking up Arisa.

For lunch we went to the sushi train that we had missed yesterday.  Even at 11.15 we had to wait 5 minutes to get a table!  Now this was a different style of sushi train.  The conveyerbelt was going round, but only the ads for what you can get were on it.  You had to place your order through an iPad.

Not sure if I like it this way.  You can view how much you’ve had which is useful, and a running total, but sometimes you want to see the food go past and pick one of them.  With this interface you have to navigate menus to find the food, as there isn’t even a large, laminated picture of their selection.  But we enjoyed some sushi and sake for our last lunch in Japan.

We went to the bus stop to see if we could pre-purchase our ticket to the airport.  It was too late to book it by phone, and you have to sign up to do it online, so we thought this would be easier.  But unfortunately we couldn’t – we just need to be there early enough.  We also found a Lego City display.  Must be a school holiday activity.  So I had a bit of a look at that, and then Kaoru and I caught the train 2 stops, and walked back to Mio’s.

We finished our packing and weighed our suitcases – 60kg, give or take.  Fingers crossed we won’t have any problems at check in.  Kaoru tried to book a taxi to take us to the bus stop but there weren’t going to be any available – and this was for in 1 hours time!  Mio, Yoichi and Arisa were going out to see Yukari and Minami’s dance concert, but Mio thought she would have time to run us down there – it just would have been easier if she didn’t have to.  So we waited around the house for a little longer, until Yoichi came home (I passed the time with a last taste of the Ichiro!) as he rushed off to see us before we left.  But basically as he walked in the door, we said Hello, and then put our bags in the car and left.

The traffic was quite bad.  We have plenty of time, but hopefully Mio gets back in time to get ready for their plans tonight.  We waited for the bus and had no problem getting on.  Traffic was slow getting to the airport but we were in no rush so we had a bit of a sleep and passed the time.  Once at the airport we went to the Business Class check in counter, which had no queue.  Unfortunately the plane is fully booked so I don’t have an upgrade for either of us.  However the girl there still checked us in, which was great, and as we were talking I didn’t see her look at the weight of the suitcases combined, so we took it as a win.  It’s possible we get an upgrade at the gate (if somebody doesn’t show) but not likely.

We were a bit hungry, and I found a great place, called “Beer and Takoyaki”.  By coincidence, I wanted a beer, and we hadn’t had takoyaki yet on this trip, so perfect!  We enjoyed some food and a sit down, and then decided to go through customs and do our last bit of shopping –  we still had a few gifts to get for people.  Once that was done we walked to our gate, stopping at a lounge area for a hot chocolate.

We walked to the gate after a last toilet stop, and heard them make a last call.  We never heard a first call!  The plane was already over half full and it was only just after the scheduled boarding time!  We got on (weren’t the last people) and did the flight to Brisbane for Nanna’s 90th.  But that’s a new adventure…

An early alarm (530) to start an exciting trip. My first trip to Japan where i won’t see Kaoru.

I drove to the airport and had a fantastic run in. Checked in, bought a pair of sunglasses and passed the time before boarding. We were late out of melbourne but eventually took off. I watched a few movies on the flight and finally made it to Narita.

I organized a portable wifi and recharged my Japanese mobile. And then caught the bus to the hotel. I had wanted to buy a Nex/Suica card but they don’t do them as a package anymore. And the bus dropped me at the hotel rather than having to walk from the station so a bit more convenient.

I had some food while waiting for the bus and a beer on the trip. I spoke to Kaoru on Skype for a while. It was quite humid. But eventually we arrived and I checked in.

After a long day i needed to go out for a drink. I decide to cross the train tracks at Shinagawa and see what i could find. I ended up at an izakaya and ordered a beer (Suntory premium, of course! ) and some sashima. I also had a “cover” (some vegetables to eat while drinking) and then they bought me some free food (wedges and sauce). So can’t complain.

So i was happy, well fed and had enjoyed some great beer when i decided to go to the hotel and call it a day. However i decided to take a scenic route back to the hotel, via Shinagawa prince. And i couldn’t help but stop in at the 7-11 (which was as busy as ever) to buy a beer for the room to finish the night off.

How do I make this appear in the right order?