Chineese Dinner at ロンアール

National holidays are great! Today we could relax all day long. I went to the gym in the morning while Chie went to a beauty salon in the Shinjuku area. In the afternoon we met in Shinjuku area and did some window shopping, mixed with some actual shopping.

At 5:30 pm we had moved to the Hongo-san-chome area to meet with Mina-sensei and Tomo-san for dinner. This time we went to a Chineese restaurant named ロンアール (Ronahru). We had a several of the dishes you can find on this web page. Even some of the red colored dishes that were so spicy that my toungue went numb and started to tinkle. But still it was tasty.

Welcome Party

Sony Ericsson had a Welcome and Farwell party tonight. Around 40 people went to a Chinese restaurant not far from the office. It was welcome for 8 new people, including me, and farewell for 3 people. Some going back to India and some continue to work at other places.

I ahd a good time and got to know a few people a whole lot better. Mainly I talked with the people at the table, Hirota-san from Nigata, Sateai-san from Hokaido, and Nakane-san who is married to a Chinese woman.

Around 10 pm me and Martin, a Swedish guy from Sony Ericsson Lund, went back to Meguro together. He lives about 500 meters from me and Chie.

Club Leo at Hare Ginza

It’s Friday again. And Chie and I met with Club Leo at the Hare Ginza for dinner. This time Kumi-san arrived first, then Non-san, and finally a 10 kilo lighter Ryo-san came. Chie and I had already arrived and order a beer and a ginger ale before Kumi-san arrived.

Ryo-san and Non-san    Kumi-san

We had so many things to eat like liver katsu (fried liver), pickled veghetables, go-to-hell shrimps (gutsu-gutsu ebi), three different types of curry. Kumi-san really wanted to have a green curry. When she saw it on the menu she kept saying “GURIIIIIN DA YO” the rest of the evening. And the rest of us were laughing until our stomachs hurt. She looked and sounded so funny. And whenever we saw somethig green we pointed and said “GURIIIIIN DA YO”… And laughed. For dessert we had Coco-wan, kind of a pudding made of Coconuts.

GURIIIIIN DA YO

“No Overwork” Day

Today was the usual “No Overwork” day at the office. Just before 5 they call out through the loudspeakers that this is a “no overwork day so please leave your desk before 7 pm”. But in Japanese.

An old friend from my last time here, Uwe, works for NTT as a postdoc and they have the same rule as Sony Ericsson on Wednesdays. The government started this “tradition” and now many companies have taken after it to try to make people work a little bit less.

Usually I am an untypical Japanese so I leave the office around 5:30 pm or sometimes 6 pm. But today I was meeting Uwe in Shinagawa station for dinner. And he quit work at 6 pm but it takes him 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to Shinagawa. So I worked until just before 7 pm.

Uwe arrived at 7:40 pm and we met just outside of the Keikyu entrance. From there it was a short walk to TGI Friday’s where we had something to drinnk and eat. And caught up on what had happened since we last met. It was great fun to see Uwe again. And after an hour or so Chie joined us.

By 10:30 pm it was time to return home. Uwe took the Keikyu line and Chie and I the Yamanote line. It was still hot and humid outside. But that does not matter much when you just have had a good time with friends.

Mina-sensei

After work today I met Chie at the Seibu department store in Ginza. We walked to the Mitsukoshi department store to buy some bread and then we went to the Tinun Thai restaruant in Ginza 5. We were meating Mina-sensei there for dinner. But Chie and I were early so we started with some cold dishes and something to drink. We had finished 3 dishes when Mina-sensei arrived. And we continued eating for a few hours and finally finished with a coconuts ice cream.