A Troy in Tokyo

A fourth blog in as many days, you are spoilt! Because I am taking so many photos during my adventures, some of them don't necessarily fit in with the theme of whatever the particular blog I'm writing is. So I think I will make a series of themeless posts that will serve purely to showcase the odd bits and pieces I come across in my time here, as they are no less deserving of being shown off! Japanese game developer: 'how do we market a mobile game about hunting monsters?' Japanese advertising agency: 'we make an ad campaign about a rambling old Japanese man with a monster erection' The Main Avenue at Tokyo University Sculpture The main building of Tokyo University - regarded as the 'money shot' location by many I went to Hongo campus a week ago and there was a number of artists doing watercolours of the buildings; I particularly like what this woman was doing Law school at Tokyo University - a little less grand than at Vic...

Well whaddya know? More blogs! Speaks to how much went on in the last weekend! After the heroics of the fire/earthquake drill, I went to Harajuku, that part of Tokyo famous for edgy Japanese youths who dress up in all manner of funky and cosplay type clothes. I was going to meet an old classmate of mine, Ginga, who I last saw in early 2012. Ginga in foreground - and hot damn my skin was flawless As people do, Ginga had changed slightly since I last saw him, and I did a double take when he came up to me, for I did not recognise him in the slightest! Taken later in the day, but demonstrative of me not recognising him at first We went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch, catching up over the last 5 years. For all that had changed, Ginga was still as dorky as ever (love you man), and I was laughing a lot as I told him he was exactly as I remember; something that was reassuring in a manner of speaking. After lunch we went for a meander around Harajuku, which is basically a cou...

Hi again all, said I'd have another blog post up within a day, reckon there's even one more in the works! And today I've been at a cool park at the opposite end of my train line to Shibuya, so I reckon there's some more material in that too, it never ends! So on Saturday morning when I woke up, I had no idea that I'd be asked to operate a fire extinguisher, run through a smoke filled room, or help give CPR. Before you start thinking what a hero I am, I must confess that it was as part of a fire and earthquake drill that we had. At 9.50 the intercom rang out saying that there was to be a fire drill, and we were to stay in our rooms. At first I thought this somewhat odd, as surely the idea is to get out of the building in a fire, but at 10.00 the intercom rang out again saying the drill had started and we were to make our way down the stairs to the carpark at the front of the lodge. This was the first fire drill I'd experienced where no alarms or klaxons sounde...

Hi all! Been a full on weekend, we were lucky enough to have a three day weekend, all thanks to November 3 being 'Culture Day'. This gave foreign students such as ourselves free entry to a lot of museums and the ability to participate in all manner of cultural events. David, Victor and I had agreed we would leave the lodge at 10 in the morning so we could make our way to Ueno in good time; as the day was a public holiday we anticipated it would be quite busy, and having extra time to accommodate this would be ideal. With typical weekend mornings being like they are, we were off at 10.30, all of us in varying states of readiness (I won't say who was the most ready and on time -cough- me -cough-), but shortly after leaving the lodge it was decided a food break was needed - so really we were on our way closer to 11! This was the start of much heckling between us as to our lateness and who would bear the brunt of our collective responsibility. The museum was the one I went...