173 - Farewell Party

From left to right: Me (Budapest, Hungary), Jamie (Cambridge, UK), Thomas (San Francisco, CA)

Thanks everybody for coming out tonight to say goodbye the last time with a couple of beers, tons of sashimi, crazy-ass wasabi-sake, kombini power session, nomihodai karaoke madness, ultimate dancing fever, waking me up at the club, and sprinting away from juu-man-en bill. *

So all you fine buddies and dudes and mates, thank you very much for spending your time and experiences with me, I'll never forget you:

Zaki, Zoli, Milosz, Thimo, Felix, Tomi, Yasir, Javier, Matthieu, Melissa, Barry, Jamie, Thomas (in chronological order)

Make sure you contact me whenever you are near Hungary, you are all really welcome to stay at our house (we got an extra guest room).


* And thanks in advance for the HR people for calling me back for the second round even though they read this post about all the crazy things I do when partying. ;-)

172 - Waka-Sensei Fujimoto Harutaka

Seven dan on picture (not exactly uniformly distributed though)
Just compare his stance with mine, and you will see how great the space is for development.

171 - No, We Didn't Actually Try The Restaurant...

170 - Riddle

Let's see who can find out what this weird thing is... Hints all over the site.

169 - Neko

168 - Ready To Roll Out

Part of the Toshiba Ninja Kame members ready to hit Tokyo. From left to right:
Derek (Hong Kong/Canada)
Felix (China)
Melissa & Matthieu (France)
Thomas (US)
Javier (Well guess)

Shibuya, Harajuku, Yoyogi koen, made wonderful pictures, and guess what , I won't show 'em.

Plug: Make sure you check out Felix's Picasa albums, they are AMAZING. He's a hobbyist with some huge lenses, and all sort of tricks producing postcard quality pictures. And the greatest - he licenses his photos under Creative Commons, so you can use his pictures on your blog, or whatever, just make sure you write his name and link his albums! Yeah, and you shouldn't sell them!

167 - Kamakura Beach

Nice Saturday with sunbathing, and watching surfers struggle in those teeny-tiny waves.

Sidenote: Any beach I visit in Japan is full of jarheads. Okinawa is packed with these US bases, and in Yokosuka, which is just near Kamakura, there's a US Navy base as well.

166 - Surreal Street

And I didn't even use Photoshop. My camera behaves weirdly sometimes, amplifying the light from the dark sky, making the otherwise hardly visible clouds stand out sharply..

165 - Tools

Tools we use in order to achieve Real Ultimate Power. The blue tin can is filled with concrete, and was said to be used by Fujimoto sensei to strengthen his fingertips (nukite). I have never seen this, I think he practices shuto techniques with it (edge of hand), nukite sounds way too difficult.

164 - The Reason Why I'm Always Late

...is actually not the queue you have to stand in to take the bus
, I just needed a title. I simply oversleep.

163 - Yoshinoya

Fast food in Japan doesn't necessarily mean McD's. Yoshinoya is a very popular chain selling gyuudon, and other similar ball dishes (rice and some meat). It's quite okay, and way better for your health compared to a good old Big Mac.

162 - Shodan

So this day I received my actual black belt. It has my name on it, as well as Shoubukai embroidered.

161 - D'oh! We're leaving already?!

And the next day: Toshiba ...
Note how nice the weather is now that we are leaving.

160 - Beach fo' Real

Now that's a real beach, even though you can't see the sand on the photo. We found it on Google Maps satellite map! Technology Über Alles! Few years ago you had to ask actual people for stuff like this (well we did, but they didn't know)

Zoli has some better pictures (including nice booties)

159 - Former Naval Headquarters

Okinawa was a spot of major strategic importance in WWII -- due to its location you could bomb pretty much everything important from there without too much trouble. No wonder that vicious battles have been fought here with casualties like 100 thousand Japanese people and 12.5 thousand American soldiers. The Americans methodically scorched the whole island*, so the number of civilian casualties is extremely high.

This is an underground bunker, that used to be a Japanese Navy Headquarters. Quite spooky..

* Well, not that they had much of a choice. War's tough.

158 - Nemo

... and his daddy. We have seen one family with scuba as well*, but this was taken in one of the coolest and biggest aquariums in the world. For more pictures check this link at Damn Cool Pics: Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium In Japan

* and by that I mean we've been with the scuba, not the fishes. Obviously. Pun not intented.

157 - Shimauta

Shimauta is an Okinawan style, which ingeniously mixes traditional elements with new ones. The guy is playing a shamisen. (I know, you only recognize one if it's played by a geisha...)

Check out the video to get the a feeling. Sorry for the crappy quality.

156 - Open Water Diver

155 - Stocking Up

The first moment Ohno san (right) seemed utterly happy during the trip.

154 - Okinawa Golden Plage

This was the best beach in Naha, capital of Okinawa. Well yes, it's a port town, but the hotels near nice beaches were quite expensive.

Fortunately we found a nice beach using the satellite view in Google Maps, which was 16 km from the hotel, so we could go there by some rental bikes on other days. And the fun part is that the bike rental was for free, thanks to some new policy in Naha City, they created several bicycle rental spots, offering bikes for free between stations. I'm looking forward to the day they do this in Budapest.

About the beach...Well, at least we didn't get sunburned while swimming in the shadow of the highway. How bizarre...

153 - Tokyo Bay

So this morning we took off from Haneda Airport heading to Okinawa. Sayonara sunshine...

152 - Condomania

The romance between two condoms, Emily and George.* How moving.

You can find these shops in many places in Tokyo, you can buy all sorts of weird condoms, and other funny things like penis shaped lollipops and key chains. Not bad for a nation being notorious for having sex only once in a month or so...

* No, I'm not making this shit up, the names are actually written in the bubbles. Yeah, those wacky Japanese. Who the hell is coming up with these ideas? 2 condoms in love promoting safe sex? What the heck do they use for that? Surely not an other condom, that is called a threesome and even less safe. And why is safe sex important for condoms anyway? And why Emily and George? Why not Hitomi and Takeshi? Why gaijin condoms? There's no such thing as a Japanese condom, or what?

Hell, this world can be so complicated sometimes.

121-151 Missing

Since I accidentally deleted a bunch of photos I took during the first two weeks of May, and I ran a bit low on motivation anyway, I decided to go on a short "sabbatical".

I took the following photo (number 152) on the 1st of June.

Sorry for the delay, and thank you guys for checking back regularly! It feels good to make stuff I like, and even better, when other people like it as well.

So... The Project goes on!!

120 - Sunset @ Yoyogi Koen

119 - Harajuku Girl

Gwen Stefani sang a song recently about Harajuku Girls, praising their wicked style. Well sure, it is pretty wicked.

You can find them every day at Harajuku station, near the entrance of Yoyogi park, and Meiji Jingu shrine, but you might want to go on Sunday, when they are out in crowd. You should also check out Takeshita dori, a small street near the station full of shops selling these weird designer stuff. Usually this street is so full of people like the first row of a rock concert, and it's pretty funny.

118 - Engrish

I sort of decided not to post funny Engrish text, actually they are not that funny. And anyway, you can see so many around here, you could post one every day.

I just didn't have any better photo. Sorry. May's going to be missing too, since I accidentally deleted lots of nice photos, and ran out of motivation anyway, so I needed a little break. I will continue to post on June 1st, which was like a week ago. Hopefully in real time.

117 - Rooftop

116 - Jungle Speed

A great game featuring the Totem and some cards with mind-numbingly similar figures. You show your cards in turns, and in case you have the same card as someone else, you fight, and the first one to get the Totem gives his card to the loser.

On the picture Matthieu is trying to bend the rules referring to the manual, which is in French, so he thinks he can get away with it. Ha! He will never underestimate my language skills again.

115 - Taxi Jumble

Thousands of taxis waiting outside Yokohama station.

114 - Retrokonomiyaki

That's right, food again. We are fixing some okonomiyaki, which can be translated as "I was lazy, so you fry it". Okay, so it is some sort of dough bit like pancakes, you mix it with meat, weird stuff people find in sea known as seafood, and some even weirder stuff called vegetables, which is apparently something animals eat, I mean the species not smart enough to figure out during thousands of billions whatever years that eating other animals makes you stronger, since you get their soul.

So usually you get everything separately, so you can fry it yourself, it's supposed to be fun. Fun, yeah, sure. Perhaps for people without computers. Anyway, the fun part was when we finished eating, so that we had a biiig flat hot surface, some ice cubes from the drinks, and a bunch of chopsticks, which means: ice hockey madness!

BTW you all know that ice hockey, originally invented by the Brits, was meant to be played like this, on a huge field of white-hot metal, and ice cubes strapped to the players feet, but when adopted by the Americans, they made it "safer", and obviously less fun. (You pussies). Same with the rugby: if your grunts in Iraq would wear the same amount of kevlar as an american-football player you'd have far less casualties for crying out loud! What is it with the football anyway, there's one kind of football, and it's soccer.

What I wanted to say: that's how you make okonomiyaki.


Boy, what a silly post. Funny how you can make über-düper shitty pictures almost okay by screwing around with contrast and colors. Actually I sort of like this picture.

113 - Mos Burger - WYSIWYG

Mos Burger is a quite nice burger place in Japan, they make these quality burgers, they look exactly the same IRL as on the picture, so you can say you are note duped or anything.

Only one minor problem: they actually taste pretty frickin' lousy. Oh yeah, and also quite expensive.

McDo is great here. With some discount coupons you can get a BicMac menu for 350 yen (550 HUF/less than 3 bucks). I guess I'm gonna export some, selling at 850 HUF it's still way cheaper than in Hungary. Anyone interested?

112 - Uncluttered

Well sorta. I bought this wrapping paper to wrap my kendo shinai, which is not mine, but Milosz's, or at least used to be. Anyway, it's mine now. My parents took it home on the plane, that's why I needed to wrap it in the first place. Sorry buddy.

So I figured I could use the rest of the wrapping paper to cover my desk, which I did, and is cool, as you all can see.

111 - You Guys Are Frickin' MONUMENTAL

Today is April 22. * Earth Day. Critical Mass Day. 50,000 cyclers. 2.5 per cent of total population of Budapest. One out of forty residents cycling round downtown. Monumental.

*So you know how lazy I was recently. Actually, I'm afraid all May is gonna be missing due to some funny accident. Funny in the sense when you accidentally blow up 2 weeks work, that kind of funny. Ironic funny. Unfuckingfunny.

110 - Hattori Hanzo

Boy, what a stupid gaijin cliché.
I know I'm supposed to get extremely excited, but I don't. I grew up... (?) How sad.

109 - Esukareetaa

People waiting in a queue for the left side, which is the standing line. The other side is empty, practically nobody walks up the escalator. Oh, those lazy Japanese. How often d'you hear that?

108 - Obi Van Kenobi

While the road's under construction, the traffic is controlled by these weird Jedi knights, with lightsabers too short even to kill an Ewok. (Not that anybody would like to do that, of course. Well maybe except for Chewbacca, since the "Return of the Jedi" nobody buys his action figures, 'cause these new Ewok-thingies are being sooo damned super-cute.)

In this paragraph I'm going to try to avoid a cheap joke about how sizes of other things are proportional between Japanese and Gaijin Jedi knights as well. Oh crap, almost. I'm so weak.

107 - 2/1

Floor numbers. Okay, this one is boring for anyone but me. Move on.

106 - Matthieu

The new guy from France. Don't panic, he's okay. :-)
Check his blog: Yellow Lemon Trip - Matthieu en Japonie

105 - Yokohama Sta.

104 - Tunnel Vision

Your brain is pumped with adrenaline, you perceive the world in slow motion, processing every single piece of detail that might be relevant for you to survive, and rejecting everything that's not. Tunnel vision.

Your body acts on its own accord: the result of decades of tedious training with nothing but blood, sweat and tears, during which the techniques burn into your muscles' memory. Subconsciousness.

103 - The Most Glorious Human Invention

My friend Bridget described mail as the most glorious human invention. Indeed, it is.

So I got this package from my girlfriend, Rita. She made me an amazing tee-shirt, (of which I have to remind myself to take a picture) and sent it accompanied by some goodies (yes, Hungarian sweets) and a letter!

Boy, I can hardly believe it: 2 days passed since my family left, my heart is still pounding in my throat, I still could not digest this awesome experience, and now this! A package for me, with the work of her little hands, filled with all the love she has! I'm being LOVED! How awesome is that.

Thank you. Thank you for visiting me, and thank you for sending me stuff. Am I getting sentimental? I'm getting sentimental. Hell, thanks, anyway. ;-)


BTW, check Brieggy's blog: Nő Experience (pun intended) She's teaching English and German in Gyula, a small town in Hungary. Her journal about continuous waves of cultural shock and crazy Hungarians is hilarious.

102 - Yokohama By Night

I wish I had a better camera. Or at least to be able to fly.

101 - Train, again

But this time they're leaving. Well, these few days were wonderful.

100 - Documenting Shinjuku

Editing those 3 hours of footage will be quite tough.

99 - Sakura Mom

98 - Blinded ByThe Lights

97 - Bright Days Ahead

96 - Shin-hinomoto

A great izakaya in Central Tokyo.

95 - Late

Hell, not again...

94 - Getting Bored Of All The Temples & Shrines

I planned quite a busy schedule, so at this point nobody was truly enthusiastic about temple no. 563.

93 - Squirrels Are Ninjas