EDDIEWONG

I joined with a few girls from my ex-employers to visit Utsunmiya (Tochigi prefecture), a place that is famous for its dumplings, gyoza, and Oya stones (image: that frog is carved from Oya).

The girls basically named this trip, gyoza eating trip: go around to a few famous gyoza restaurants and just try ‘em all and see whos the best. So yeah, I thought it was just an eat-till-you-drop kinda thing. But to my surprise, they had plans to do a bit of sightseeing too which is always great since I do not venture out of Tokyo all that often, if ever.

The journey took us about 1hr 30mins (train ride). Upon arriving, the first thing I noticed was, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of people. Certainly, this place is no big city but nor is it really countryside. Anyway…

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Yesterday, I attended Geoff’s farewell party at his place along with like 25 other people, out of which, I knew only 5 people. Geoff is about to leave Tokyo and return home to France with his gf, after spending the last 2 years here.

These are the kind of times that make me realise how fast time really flies. I remember as if it was only yesterday when I interviewed Geoff for a designer position at the company I was working for. We worked together for only a year before I resigned. And even that was close to a year ago.

Anyway, Geoff’s place was pretty big and easily accommodated all 25 of us with even more-than-enough space left for dancing! And you should have seen the amount of food he and his gf prepared! They spent like 2 days preparing it all. There was just so much food, even after 25 people had been at it, there was definitely about 80% of it remaining - enough to last weeks! And that is not including the drinks and cakes.

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Isaack, a long time reader of this site, is in town for a visit and we met up today and went around shopping in Akihabara and Shinjuku for his electronic gadgets. He’s a pretty sincere and friendly guy and can be damn hilarious at times.

Funny thing is, if you’ve ever read his blog, you’d no doubt know that this guy lusts over and buys literally every gadget that comes out. Truth is, he didn’t buy a single thing today despite the seduction from all of the cool looking Japanese gadgets from every electronic store here. Actually, the guy seems a little stingey. Hahahaha…

Unfortunately, he is only here for a day or two so I probably won’t get to see him again during the rest of his stay.

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Well, right after departing from Adam and the guys, I had to make my way to another English pub in Shinjuku (forgot the name) for Andy’s farewell party (it is also some other guy’s farewell do too - double farewell). Andy is about to head off home to England for further studies in Law after spending the last 6-7 years working here in Tokyo. Man, going back to England after spending all this time in Tokyo is gonna be tough. Especially dealing with the constant grey sky! Anyway, probably the next time we meet again, he’d be Andy the Lawyer… wooooooooooooooo… snob!

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Adam is here from New York to give a speech in Keio University about his new book, Everyware. I was kindly invited to come along by Adam earlier this week and I am so glad I made it.

I met up with the guru at Ebisu station then the two of us headed off in a taxi cuz it was just too hot to take the train and walk. I mean, the last thing Adam would want is to stand in front of an audience with a massive patch of sweat on his shirt, right? Plus, the thunder kicked in and was pouring down with rain!

I felt great sense of wow to be inside the Keio University campus. Afterall, this is one of the 3 most prestigious universities in Japan (the other two being Tokyo University and Waseda University). Rumour has it, unless you’re a graduate from either one of these universities, you will never make it past a certain rank within a major Japanese corporation. I know a good few people who graduated from either Keio or Waseda, but I only know one dude who graduated from Tokyo. And all are doing exceptionally well in the corporate world.

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