Japan 2010 Day 1

So i think its about time to write some stuff about my last trip to japan.
Booked my trip in February and was roughly 1400 euro's for the flight / hotel package. We left from Amsterdam Schiphol on 30th September. We flew with a transfer to London Heathrow and from there straight to Tokyo Narita. We arrived the next day at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Took the airport limousine bus to Shinjuku-eki from there but due to a traffic jam it took like 3 hours (gonna check out the skyliner or Narita express next time, seems to be much faster.) I was able to see the high rise Tokyo sky tree from the highway. Its really big already and not even close to completion, so i wonder how tall it will look when finished.


http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/english/ (Here you can read more about the Sky tree and how tall it is now.)


When we arrived at shinjuku memories started coming up from my last visit. I knew exactly where we got off last year and that we were lost while the hotel was perfectly visible from that point:P but because of all the signs everywhere you don't really see it unless you know where it is. Also the neon signs and lighting in the evening gave me a warm welcome again^^. So from there on i just walked us to the hotel, checked in, hooked up my laptop and internet (which was included in the room) and got a nice shower. The hotel we stayed at was the Sunroute Plaza hotel in Shinjuku. My second time already. Before we left Holland i already set a time and place to firstly meet my friend, (he is a native japanese which speaks almost perfect english who i accidentally met on chat roulette.)
So before we knew we met him and went to an izakaya in Shinjuku. Was really nice finally meeting him. I dont really know the name of the izakaya, but the food was the best. Top quality fish and yakitori (my favorite) and some really good atmosphere. Loud sallaryman and friendly staff, a really great place.
A little bit later we met a friend of his which we had a drink with at a wine bar some time in the evening. Surprisingly there was no sign of my jet-lag from last year. Which made me fall asleep at 8 and let me wake up at 6 every day:P.

Back at home before we left me friend decided to finally read the lonely planet on tokyo

At the kpn place on schiphol where you can pay for internet but you can also just don't pay and use their free power supply hehe ^^

Me watching some IT crowd.

The friendly airport limousine bus is a rather easy way to travel to shinjuku. Will try another method next time because the 3 hours in a traffic jam is 3 hours less of me hanging around in the yodobashi kamera.

I was kinda thirsty so went for some coffee

Our first glimpse of the Sky tree. By then it was already higher then the Tokyo tower.

A really nice place this was. The izakaya was very crowded but the atmosphere was awesome! Will definitely return her next year.

My good friend and me

A little appetiser and some beer before diner:D 

We didn't really knew what to order so we let our friend order. I could read some of the menu and since my other friend was from china he could read some kanji that i didn't knew quite well.

Some really nice tofu

The cucumbers were more crispy here that back in Holland. I loved them

Simple but tasty salad

Dont really remember what this was again but it was frikin' nice.

Some gyoza, and a special fried potato with cheese in it. Reminded me of home.

Off course i wanted to order some yakitori. Was surprised by the variety they had. They were all very delicious indeed^^

I have never eaten mackerel this fresh, and served on ice cubes:P that was new thing for me.

My Japanese friend who worked in an izakaya, told me about people who want the head to be fried and then eat them. So i let hem ask it for me. They did it and oh my god, I was surprised with how tasty a fish head could be when fried naturally

A little later a friend of his joined and we went for some wine place. (Was pretty tipsy already so i took some o-cha

 So that's it for day 1, will try and post day 2 tomorrow.

New working clothes

Its been a week already but saved some pictures of my brand new chefs clothes.
Before we had a very cheap top decorated with a white-blue print, a horrific black-grey striped pants, and some black 30 year old apron... they didn't fit together in any way but i guess it was a money issue. Finally its time for some new style matching our restaurants logo, and style. 
Enjoy!

This was my old jacket, had it for over 1,5 years... almost never used it since it was to small around my back. So i used one from my old sous chef which left almost 1 year ago ^^ they didn't keep track of these things then;)

So this is my brand new "short sleeved" jacket. My size is like medium, but i ordered a large, because i don't want the short back problem again. Looks unique on me though. nice and large but can still pull it off!!!

And this is the logo of our hotel restaurant. The name was made up after the address of the place.

Some nice, black, long, wide, LARGE, pair of pants. They fit perfectly with some stretch located around the waist.

And finally a white apron to finish of the black and white look. Will post some pictures of me wearing it later. It was rather busy today even for a quick photo.

Scooter is back!

It actually got it back by yesterday, but since it was kinda busy at work i couldn't post anything. Its been busy like hell these couple of days. I had some banqueting groups from desserts only to starters only... everything went well though. But anyway, the trouble i had with the rear fender was all caused by the chain of my chain lock. A yamaha tzr-50 is a scooter built on a Yamaha R-6 frame, which is a super sport frame. Unfortunately they don't have room for a helmet or any sort of lock. So instead you have some tiny space under the seat where you can actually fit a 1 meter long chain in. Its difficult closing it sometimes and you really have to use force with popping the seat back. This "force" caused my fender (which is located directly under my seat) to break off of its support screws. Also since the mayor power cable for my tail light etc is located under the seat. The connector got loose and caused an overload on the minor power cables. So that explained why it would only lit up when breaking.
Also they changed my spark plugs (still don't know what there for... probably for ignition or something), oiled up my key locks, adjusted my breaks, changed the oil in my gear box, and made a kind note not to place my chain under the seat again XD. So one the driving part she's still the same only the breaks are a bit less reactive. I only needed to squeeze it a little, and now i really have to pull it:P. But i'm already used to it ^^
The damage this time was minor i think. Only 117 euro's. I think if the ripped suspension of the fender would be a problem the bill would be slightly higher.. 
Anyway took some shots from the inside to show where the problem started.
Enjoy!

The bottom of my seat. The thick studs you see partially rest on the frame and on the fender.

Its really funny to think that a 1 meter long chain actually fits in there... you can see in the middle, bottom of the picture that rubber protecting the lighting cables was caught up between the support and the studs. Maybe that caused the disconnection? ^^

Anyway its fixed and as seen in these photo's the tail light and fender fit perfectly back in the body work.

I'll say it again... got to clean it...

Gundam 00: A wakening of the Trailblazer

So. as the name implies were talking about the already in cinema's released movie: gundam 00: A wakening of the Trailblazer. During my last visit to japan, i thought that it was an unique chance and also a nice experience of seeing an anime that i love with all my heart on a theatre screen. It was gonna be my first time not only in an Japanese cinema but also seeing an anime in all its glory. 
So i asked my Japanese friend if he can look for some cinema's in the area. I stayed at the Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku, (a 3 minute walk to Shinjuku-station) so there were enough places in the area. He told me to go to piccadilly Shinjuku. which actually is located in kabukichoo but no worries. So we went there early in the morning to get tickets for the movie at 14:40. When we came there around 12 o'clock we saw that the tickets for that time were already sold out. but tickets for 19:20 were still available. So we decided to go for it. I was really amazed by how fast the tickets were sold, here in Holland one can easily walk in and buy a ticket for any movie still in its first week. I was also pretty amazed by the prize, 1800 Yen... that's about 17 euro's. but i had to see it! after walking around in shinjuku some more we returned to the cinema and got to the theatre room C,10. 
When we entered the room i got myself a limited edition card with a scene from the movie displayed. really funny and a good reminder to the great movie i was going to see. we got to our seats first so made a picture of the still empty room:P within 2 minutes everybody was in and seated. some of the trailers started, and eventually the movie itself. I will not go into details about the movie because it might be a spoiler for some;). But i can tell you this. If you are a Gundam 00 fan or any gundam fan at all, then you will love this. The movie was filled with some epic battle's. which were in every detail perfect. And even i (who's japanese language skills is still not at the "normal" level) could make a story out of it. During the credits at the end, the song Qualia from UVERworld made a deep impression on me. The song is very gentle and quiet, so you could hear that the whole room was silent with people sharing that impression. As with all anime after the credits there is always a last word or any scene about the movie. So instead of walking out there everybody just watched the credits as if everybody knew:P. My friend wanted to stand up and walk out but i said just wait. So the final scene came after the credits, and the lights turned on again. everybody was silent. I have never been to a cinema or theatre where something like that happend. People just sat there staring at te screen, thinking about the impact. So after leaving the room, there was a poster which was signed by all the major voice actors. Really awesome. It took me a while to return to the world of the living because of the impact the movie had on me. I can't wait for the dvd! 

below are some pictures i took;) enjoy

Some nice snacks to go with your movie ticket;)

Standing in line for the tickets, its really funny that when buying the tickets you can choose your own seats by pressing them on a touch screen at the counter.

While waiting we were entertained by quite a long intro of the movie and some parts about previous gundam anime

NOT FOR SALE. I wonder how much this will increase in value;) just kidding.

Dvd to be released 25-10-2010 in Japan.

Review: Zaku II Char ver. 2.0

I think it is about time that i post my first review online.
My first review i ever made is about char's Zaku II ver. 2.0
Because i wanted to photograph the internal frame, and some nice detail, i decided to paint the frame. Which is also a first for me. Even painted the pilot with it ^^.

The boxart was one of the things that attracted me when i baught it in tokyo last year

Lots of decal's and stickers.

Runner A

Runner B

Runner C

Runner D

Runner E

A small char figure included as with all master grades.

Runner F

Runner G

Runner H

Runner I

Runner J

Runner K

Runner L

PC-200

All the frame parts for the body. Applied some silver paint here and there. Came to look nice

All those years of painting warhammer finally paid off. I think this tiny figure of Char Aznable looks pretty much like the real thing. Took me quite some time though...

Backpack part. Dont really know what the red and silver parts are. But i thought it looked nice.

The finished body frame. Interesting is the cockpit switching gimmick. By adjusting a lever on the back the cockpit can be swayed left or right.

Parts for the backpack. Painted the inside of the thrusters red. Its these small details i think all over the zaku's body that makes it really stand out. Watch for the finished result.

Parts for the head. The mono eye turns when the head looks left or right. Very clever indeed ^^. I saw this before on my MG. Sinanju ver. Ka. but for some reason it doesn't work anymore

Painting the arm wasn't a real challenge. Some nice parts for you to paint in your own manner. Except for the gold parts the rest cannot be seen when the armour is attached. So i wasn't really afraid of overdoing it.

The foot mechanism is really stern and steady. Though basic, it has a real nostalgic feeling to it.

The sole. The only bad thing about gundam markers, is when painting large area's it leaves some stripes even after it dry's.

Parts for the feet.

Finished legs. The grey parts of the frame didn't turn out the way i wanted. But it isn't that bad after all.

Frame parts for the legs.

A finished inner frame. Looked really cool i think. I'm not per se a real Zeon mobile suit fanboy. but seeing the finished frame really made me fall in love with the Zaku II model.

While the legs are thick and heavy, the arms look rather thin and weak.

Keeping the feet on the ground while posing is something i find important. Not only does it looks cool, it makes the model more steady and not easy to fall over.

The Flexibility of the frame is pretty good

The ankle's are even tough enough to let it stand in this position for a long time.

I even painted the inside of the gun mag. you won't see this in any way but i think its a nice unique detail.

Simple but elegant design of the zaku machine gun. Old principle and a 30 year old design but has some good touch to it.

The leg with the painted thrusters. Looks awesome with the colour scheme of the body.

And finally the fully finished model. complete with decals and stickers.

Love this pose... but never seen char do it in the anime ^^

So i hoped you enjoyed my first review.
If you got any hints or tips, whatever... just let me know.
See you next post