Karaoke with work!

This is the second time I've been to Karaoke with work. The first time was a nice department welcome by my manager, and that was quite an experience. The second time round, we had more people and out-of-town guests, the lovely internal auditors as well as finance folks from the business side. It's amazing what a couple of beers, sake, and a sound system can inspire in Japanese people.Picture of Shinjuku, the bright lights and the really wide cross walks.




There's me, singing James Blunt's "You're Beautiful"...

The videos are a little bit more hilarious and there one that is a must see!



I've included the photo album to check out from the night!

20061110 Karaoke with Work

Photos of Yokohama and Shinjuku

I promised to bring pictures so here they are!

Yokohama is very well known for the largest Chinatown in Japan. I visited an old friend from Beijing CET 2002 who was teaching down there. She actually just moved there not too long ago so we were both exploring the city together. The city is supposed to have great shopping, host the tallest building in Japan (Landmark Towers, #36 in the world), and great Dim Sum! We went to an all-you-can-eat Dim Sum in the late evening this past Friday and it was good (although not as good as HK, but it'll hold me over till I go back). Funny how I'm in Japan yet I still see my "family" everywhere.

We went out afterwards to drink in Yokohama and go to these bar/snack restaurants which are very popular in Japan. After missing our last train, we decided to take a break in the ever popular 24-hour Manga shops which give you all the access to Internet, video games, movies, and of course, the entire collection of Manga you want. For those who don't know what Manga is, it's basically Japanese anime comic books. We camped there for about 3 hours, and then I took the morning train back to Tokyo. It's actually really neat cause you get your own chair, computer, blanket, free drinks (non-alcoholic), and just lounge. I paid about $9 for about 3 hours which was cheaper than taking the taxi to our friend's home.

This Monday, I've asked a friend from work to help me look for some common items to supplement my home like a Mahjong set, tatamei tiles (Japanese floor tiles), and various other items. We went to Shinjuku which is one of the most crowded places in Tokyo. I love being in Shinjuku as it truly is the symbol of Tokyo. The mixed color lights, tall buildings, and lemming-like crossroads is unique and cannot be found anywhere else. Some of you might say HK, which I'm tempted to agree, but the specific colors and wide streets are like none other. While we were shopping for various items, we ran into a little food shopping area in which we got to try a lot of neat foods! What I'm eating now in the picture below was the raw wasabi octopus. (quite delicious actually). We went to Korea-town after our 3 hour shopping. Kubuki-cho (where Koreantown is located) is known for it's mafia and prostitution ring. Despite such, we still found amazing Korean food!

















More pictures are posted online: Visit in Yokohama, and Shopping in Shinjuku