Monthly Archives: July 2011

Taipei

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Left Tokyo in the morning and after a short flight I arrived at the Shongshan airport in Taipei. It was 2 pm and I arrived at the hotel before 2:30 pm, only 15 minutes ride on the subway for 25 TWD (New Taiwanese Dollars – less than 0.65 EUR or 6 SEK) :-O



After checking in at the hotel I had a walk around the area. It was a hot summer day (30+ degrees Celsius) with a blue sky and only a few fluffy white clouds. The only thing that was missing was Chie.

I bought a bottle of jasmine tea and a bread kind of thing that was stuffed with meat and vegetables. Walked to the Memorial Peace Park. Had a picnic in the shades. Watched some kids feeding a couple of squirrels. And just enjoyed the time.



After a while I got hungry again and decided to head back towards the hotel to find a place to have dinner before going to the gym at the hotel. I found a local restaurant on a back street but they only spoke Chinese. Luckily another customer could speak some English and she helped me ordering dinner. I picked chicken and four different kinds of vegetables side dishes. It cost me 75 TWD, which is almost nothing.



Once I filled my tummy I headed back to the hotel. Did some chest exercises in the gym. Had a hot bath in my hotel room. Video chatted some with Chie. Watched a video on my iPad. And went happily to sleep.

50.000 JPY to Kobuchihama

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We have talked with Ishihara-san about the money we have collected, now almost 60.000 JPY remaining. After many thoughts back and forth about what would be the best usage we have decided to do a cash donation to the Kobuchihama Fishing Community. The cash will be used by the Fishing Community to rebuild their fishing industry, it’s a small help to make a small step towards becoming self-sustainable for the Kobuchihama people.

You can find more information here.

Gamarjobat at Otodama Sea Studio

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Chie and I met Non and Ryo inside the Otodama Sea Studio at Zushi beach. We were excited about another Gamarjobat show. But it took quite a while for Gamarjobat to show up. First there was a duo with one guitar that sang 3 songs.

Then there was another duo on piano and drums. Singing nothing at all. It was an interesting show they put up. The pianist looked a bit like Klas Ingesson (a Swedish soccer player) when he still had some hair. The drummer looked, or rather more behaved, like Animal the Muppet.

The music they played was Mozart on speed. No kidding. Check out Pia-no-Jac if you want to know more about them. I can just summarize their show as… CRAZY!!!

Then the main attraction was on… Gamarjobat. They both ended up taking a swim in the ocean so most of the time they were soaked wet on the scene. But funny, though not as funny as previous shows.

After the show we all went to Shinagawa to have an Indian dinner at Delhi Corner. Yummy!

I am Extended \(^_^)/

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A couple of weeks ago I went to the Immigration Office (about 15 minutes by bicycle from the office) the apply for an extension of my visa. It’s been almost 3 years that I have stayed in Tokyo this time, and I want to stay longer. So I went there, and waited… and waited… and waited some more (a total of 1.5 hours)... Until I could apply, which took about 2 minutes.

Yesterday I got a postcard telling me to come pick up the extension of my visa, or rather get an extension permit taped into my passport. So I went to the Immigration Office again. And another total of 1.5 hours waiting time, but this time I got a an extension of my visa along with a multiple re-entry permit. Both valid until July-August 2014. Though my passport needs renewal in June 2013.

I also signed another year contract with Sony Ericsson. So work wise I am good until August 2012. They were kind enough to give me a raise as well, a couple of man-yen 🙂 (see here and here for explanation) per month. Plus double that extra for the twice year bonuses.

The only thing remaining now is to contact the Naka-Meguro ward office to ask them to rewrite my alien registration card to reflect my extended visa. Maybe on Monday morning before flying to Taipei, or Friday morning when I am back from Taipei. I have to go within 2 weeks from today.

Colorful Meguro River – Green

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The Meguro river has a variety of colors. I always had a plan to make a collage of all the colors but I never have my camera available. But today I took a first picture. I call it GREEN 🙂



I wonder what the next color will be??? 😕