Year in Review: By the Numbers

Through my many adventures this past year, I had the opportunity to visit 15 prefectures of Japan.  (Prefectures are kind of like states, but are smaller and there is a total of 47.)

In the image below, I lived in Aichi Prefecture (red) and visited the others in yellow.

I like to say that I spent 12 months in Japan, but I was actually doing a lot of international travel, too. 

The total is 8 weeks spent outside of Japan: 

After combining my 31 airplane trips, I spent over 180 hours in the air.

(That's 7.5 days stuck in an airplane!!)

1 week in China

1 week in Europe

1 week in India

1 week in Singapore

3 weeks in America

Miscellaneous Statistics:

Took over 6,000 pictures with my camera!
(But only 2,000 of these photos showed up on the blog...)

Purchased 6 umbrellas for immediate use in the rain

Drove 0 cars in Japan (despite my International Driving Permit)

Received 4 sensu (folding fans) as a birthday gift

Wore my yukata (summer kimono) to 3 events

Attended 19 Nihongo (Japanese language) sessions and 2 online learning courses

Watched 4 baseball games in 3 out of 12 stadiums in Japan

Experienced 1 sumo tournament

Had 4 haircuts at 2 different Japanese salons

Work Statistics:

Assigned to 3 desks in 2 different departments

Worked with 2 trainers and 2 bosses

Received Japanese help from 3 training program assistants

Saw 13 people join or leave my department

(We started with 7 people in my department, and ended with 12 people)

Had 2 medical check-ups at work

Worked 545 hours of unpaid overtime, including business travel on weekends

(That's like 68 extra working days!)

After seeing this list, it's no wonder I am tired!! 

I have a week off of work between Mitsui and Transfreight, and I may spend the majority of my time sleeping!

Last Weekend in Nagoya!

This was my last weekend in Nagoya, so I had to enjoy Japan life as much as possible.

Besides the wacky Japan costume party,

I also went to a traditional festival with "sword" dancing.

Check out these silly hats and fancy "fan" dances.

The street was lined with food booths and games for kids to play.

Kerri and her friend, Yuko. 

She is from volleyball club and took me on my first onsen (hot spring bathing) experience!

Little kid parade

Baton performances were really popular.  Not so in-sync, though, as you can see from the pic!

The kindergarten baton girls were so cute!!

Check out this video of the baton kids!!

I love the goofy English song in the background that their routine is choreographed to!

(You must go directly to the website to watch it.)

Here's one school band I could be part of...

How do you get the job where you hold the "Year of the Tiger" banner and sway back and forth?!

Yuko enjoys Japanese dessert.  It looks like a chocolate chip muffin,

but it's really made with black sugar and azuki (sweet red beans).  I passed on this treat.

Check out this video of a bunch of kids doing a Hip-Hop dance. 

One earlier routine was choreographed to an uncensored American rap song, and I'm pretty sure so one knew there was a bunch of swearing going on...  except for me, of course!

(You must go directly to the website to watch it.)

On Sunday I had last day hanging out with Tarynn in Nagoya. 

First stop was a final shopping trip to the giant 100 Yen store (like the dollar store), and then on to an art exhibit that I had free tickets for.

This "art" car is adorable, but I'd like it better if it had black spots and looked like a ladybug!!

Sweet giant pumpkin just in time for Fall!

Crazy flower with an "eye" on you!!

Tarynn & Kerri throw out a peace sign for one last Japan photo!!

I have no idea why the Nagoya TV Tower is lit up green, but it looks pretty spooky!

They should have done this for St. Patrick's Day!

For dinner we wanted to try something new, so we ended up at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, which has been recommended as "the best American food in Nagoya" by an acquaintance of ours. 

After a delicious dinner of nachos, burger, and salmon,

we decided to ride the giant ferris wheel attached to the Sunshine Sakae Building!! 

It was raining, but don't worry the capsules are completely enclosed!

KG takes in the sights!

View of a rainy Sunday evening in Nagoya.

What a fun weekend! 

Pretty relaxing, but still full of plenty of new experiences to help me remember Nagoya.

Now for a busy last week of work and more farewell parties!!

A Costume Party Like No Other

One of my fellow gaijin (foreigner) friends threw herself a Farewell Party this weekend in Nagoya. 

She leaves Japan the day before I do and will be returning to her home in Lexington, Kentucky and her job at Toyota (TMMK). 

She asked everyone to come dressed in their favorite Japanese outfit or ridiculous fashion trend!

Everyone knows I like a party with a theme, and this one was no exception!!  It was almost as good as Halloween!

The guest of honor, Kelly, is the tall blond on the right, and she has the same problem I have--No clothes in Japan will fit her!!  Somehow, we managed to squeeze ourselves into something "super cute" any way...

As you can see, I choose a minidress with purple tights and open-toed shoes.  I also topped things off (literally) with a sparkling headband that's bendy like a giant pipe cleaner!!

I got some funny looks during my subway ride to the bar, and some teens were even pointing and laughing at me.  Geez... they wear this stuff all the time, but when a gaijin wears it somehow it's super entertaining!

Also, fur is super trendy in Japan this fall, from the fur leg warmers to go with classy heels or the "fur tails" that one of the girls in the left side of this picture is sporting!!

Guy with a top-knot hairdo plastic wig and a Ninja!

Short skirts all around in this photo of the ladies!

  

What would a Japanese party be with out some R and L confusion on the menu? 

"Sparkring" wine, anyone?!

I have never actually bought a drink in a Japan bar. 

There are two reasons for this:

1.  Nomihodai (all you can drink).  Some bars in Nagoya like to assess a flat fee to each person in the bar for a limited amount of time, usually 3 hours, and you can order whatever you would like.

2. Other bars have a entrance fee, usually around $30, and then they give you 4 drink tickets to use at your leisure. 

These are great methods for efficiency.  The bartenders don't deal with money, you can get your drinks really quickly, and no worries about the cost of ordering shots or expensive Red Bull drinks.

The downside occurs only if you prefer cheap drinks (like beer), are a lightweight drinker, or you are the DD.  Wait a minute... no one is the Designated Driver in Japan, since everyone takes trains or taxis at night!!

Regardless of how much or how little you drink, everyone pays the same price... maybe that's why there are so many darn alcoholics in this country!!

I love this guy with the eye patch.  It's really popular in Tokyo, and basically means you're a bad@$$.  People shouldn't mess with you because you are a tough guy!

This guy is "Huge in Japan" knocking over buildings on his shirt.

Hmm... where have I heard that before?  It sounds vaguely familiar...

The Japanese salaryman and his Mt. Fuji hat.  LOL!

This girl has on a flowered, one-piece capri length romper. 

They were all the rage in the summer.  She said she got a sweet deal on it because it's out of season...

and I thought things never went on sale in Japan! 

(Other than Jan 1st and July 1st, of course!)

A cool thing about this bar we were hanging out at is that they played only Michael Jackson videos non-stop for 3 hours!!  Unfortunately, other music was coming from the speakers, but it was cool to see MJ every time you looked at a TV!!

  

KG meets a J-Pop star!  (Japanese Pop music) 

LOL... he's looks amazingly realistic, but he's actually a Toyota engineer by day, also from Kentucky!!

Moving on to a Nagoya nightclub in our ridiculous outfits. 

This club needs at least 10 shiny, spinning disco balls...

Don't forget 6 chandeliers and hundreds of people.

If you thought the train cars in Japan are packed, just come dancing in this maze of people!!

The lovely ladies ending up on a stage because it provides a great view and some breathing space from the smashing crowd!

Here's a quick video of the inside of the nightclub. 

I was giving a nice commentary, but the music overpowers it!

(You must go directly to the blog to view it.)

Sweet Ride

I went on another tour of a Toyota City car factory today.  (That makes a grand total of 6 visits!)  And I realized that I never did a blog dedicated to cars in Japan!  I have just a few pictures on the subject, but hopefully interesting nonetheless.

But first, here's a plant update for all of your Toyota-lovers out there! 

I wish I could take pictures in these factories... not of the parts, process, or production line, but of all of the goofy Japanese signs. 

For example, they have cartoon posters of what looks like Wii characters playing outside with their Toyotas.  There is one for every season.  In winter they are going skiing, in fall they are going camping and fishing, in summer they are doing some sightseeing on a car ferry, and in spring they are going for a drive through cherry blossom trees!  Everything is so "cute" and just as you would expect in Japan!

The plant I went to today makes luxury vehicles sold in Japan, like Estima, MarkX, and Crown, and therefore, demand for these cars is really low right now.  They have 4,500 employees making 80,000 vehicles per year!  That's less than 300 vehicles per day.  The takt time was incredibly high (and the line was moving really slowly). 

In comparison, roughly the same number of employees used to crank out the big Tundra, Sequoia, & Sienna on two different lines at over 1,500 trucks per day back when I was working on-site at Toyota Indiana!!

It might be time for this Toyota plant to think about cutting back to only 1 shift!  Of course, that would cause a major uproar with the Japanese government if layoffs were to occur, so I'm guessing the slow production line will continue instead.

I am also amazed at the vehicle colors I see on the production line.  During the tour Toyota always stresses how they can make many colors on the same line, but I only ever see 3 colors: white, silver, and black.  Tag says it's because middle-aged people prefer those colors, and that's who is buying these luxury cars.  But I'm not convinced.  It seems almost every car owner in Japan has one of these three colors. 

Surprisingly, I did see one navy blue car on the line today!

Alright, now to the photos!!

The only "real" pick up truck I've ever seen in Japan!  It's an imported (driver on the left) Tundra (and black), and way too big to park pretty much any where in Nagoya!

No need for parking lots.  These cars (black and silver) can just park right in front of the door!

Go ahead and park that (white car) any where!

This is supposed to be a (silver) minivan, but it's more like the size of a shoebox.  You can use the bicycle as a size reference, but I really should have been standing next to it, so you could have real perspective...

A mini (black) pick-up truck in Japan.  Again, this thing is so tiny, but hard to tell in the pic. It's like seeing a matchbox car rolling around the streets.

Toyota has Plug-in Prius stations all around Toyota City, and I think this car might be light blue, rather than the ubiquitous silver!!

This Toyota is actual mini-van sized, and I love that it's called "NOAH". 

And it's the dark blue color I see very rarely!

Meitetsu Girl

Year in review of Meitetsu Girl, the giant mannequin outside of the Meitetsu Department Store. 

Her official name is "Nan-chan Doll" and is a popular meeting spot for locals (and KG, too). 

I walk by her every day on the way to and from work, so I got to see every outfit change (unless I was on a business trip, I suppose)!

Christmas bulbs for the holiday season

 

The only repeat outfit I saw all year:

worn on Jan 1st and July 1st to advertise the two "sale" periods in Japan!

Nurse Appreciation Week?!

Not sure what this one is advertising...

Sailor girl

Cinco de Mayo?!  LOL... I really have no clue!

Chunichi Dragons uniform: Baseball season begins :)

Summer sundress and the Asahi rooftop beer garden.

Beach time!

One day I caught them in the middle of changing her!

Summer trend in Japan!

Yukata = Summer kimono

Back of yukata

Another trendy outfit

I really wish I could read these sashes she wears, so I know what she's advertising!

Summer wedding season?!

Check out her giant bling-bling ring!

A little puzzled by this one, too, but wearing the traditional Japanese jackets and using a handheld fan...

This one is for a new blend of Georgia canned coffee. 

It even plays an audio commentary if you press a button on the wall!

Japanese warrior in celebration of Nagoya's 400th Anniversary!

Latest and greatest outfit this week. 

I'm guessing it has to do with "Cosplay", which is short for "costume play" and often based on Japanese animated characters.  Maybe there is some kind of Cosplay event going on in or around Nagoya?!