tom thinks aloud

Attack of the orificeman

2009-05-22T11:51:00.002+09:00

On the subway the other day, on me way to a client, just sitting engrossed in my book ("A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry, which is brilliant, btw), when we stopped at Ebisu station. This slightly scruffy looking man comes bounding onto the train, sports bag slung over his shoulder, and almost runs to sit next to me. Quickly gets up again, shunts his back up onto the rack above and then sits back down, in a kinda sprawling manner, legs apart, feet pointed outwards. He then proceeded to use his right index finger to literally drill into every nook and cranny on his body, starting with some deep digging of his nostrils. I thought at first he'd just spend a couple of seconds at it, but he continued for two stops! First the nose, where he'd excavate some sludge and bring it forth into daylight, give it a good examination before plunging back in, wiping any treasures off on his trousers. Next ears, which must have burst an eardrum, seeing how deep he was going. Then onto the gaps between his toes. Yup, shoes came off, and socks, and it was time for the rummage between toes game. This time, he was actually smelling his finger each time, which almost made me puke. Finally, he finished with some scratching under his armpits and then some manic rustling of his hair, before settling down into a deep sleep.
Throughout this little adventure over the contours of his body, nobody else would look at him. It left me slightly flabbergasted and feeling ill, as I hurried off the train.

Photos from recent thangs

2009-05-11T18:57:00.002+09:00

Scorching sunburns and an aborted ekiden

2009-05-11T15:02:00.002+09:00

Made my way down to Arakawa river near Akabane yesterday, for my first ekiden (running relay), with Joseph, Nami and Phil. We hadn't done any training together but were feeling quietly confident we'd put in a decent performance.
It was bloody hot - somewhere in the low 30s, and being beside the river meant there was very little cover. Still, there were at least a thousand people gathered for the event, and we wandered around the grounds enjoying the various costumes that people had come out in. We had decided on doing the race in drag, sans the make-up, so I donned one of Miyu's purple wigs, and Nami had brought along a spare skirt. Must say we looked good, damn good, and there were plenty of appreciative stares as we mingled with the crowds.
The order of running was 10km (Phil), 5km (Tom), 3km (Nami) and 5km (Joseph). Phil got off to a good start, and we expected him to reach the hand-over point at around 50 mins, giving us enough time to have a further wander around, where we came across a small taiko group (Japanese drummers), banging out some thumping tunes.
I then went over to the handover point, jostling with the other runners, looking out for our teamates to come running past with the relay band. And I waited...and waited...and waited...by the time 90 minutes had passed we knew something serious was up with Phil, but Joseph and Nami couldn't find him in any emergency tent or when they ran along the track. After 2 hours we finally gave up and went over to the emergency tent again, to find Phil lying on the floor, covered in wet towel and very confused. He had no recollection of how he got there, and the last thing he could remember was going through the half-way mark but then getting very tired and hot. Then nothing. Everything went dark, and he woke briefly vomitting, and being surrounded by medical staff, who were throwing cold water over him and spraying him with some cool sprays. He blacked out again and then found himself in the tent, wondering where we were.
Although we didn't really get any sort of explanation from the medical staff, who were pretty busy treating about another 20 or so fallen runners, they tried to make Phil as comfortable as possible. We stayed with him for the next hour, chatting and making sure he got re-hydrated, then when he was feeling a bit better, made our slow way back to the station and home.
Disappointed that we couldn't run, but very glad Phil has now made a full recovery, and is looking forward to trying again next year!
Due to all the waiting around, I got pretty badly burnt, which left me feeling very tired and I ended up just crashing out after getting home. Quite a day.

Today's run

2009-04-12T21:55:00.000+09:00

Nakameguro to Yoyogi park and back

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Spring

2009-03-25T07:15:00.002+09:00

Been a heck of a long time. Call it a winter hibernation if you want, but for some reason I just didn't have the inclination to write here, but my mojo is back again, so here I am!
Recent news is that Joseph and I completed the Tokyo Marathon 10km race last weekend, with a reasonable time of around 50 mins. Not quite what we were aiming for (around 40 minutes), but the field was so packed for the first 5km that it was more like a game of dodgems! The last 5km was much more on pace, at around 20 mins, but we lost around 7 mins in the first half. Quite an experience though. Never seen so much lycra in one place before, and the comaraderie amongst all the runners was very energising. There was a bit of anfare at the beginning, with speechs from some local government officials, a male choir and some fireworks. The really clever thing was that we were given individual microchips, which we strapped onto one of our trainers. When we passed he start line, it recorded our start time, and then stopped the count when we passed the finish line. Also provided splits at 5km mark. All the info could be accessed online staright after the race by just entering our bib number.
Next on our running agenda is an ekiden (relay) next month, and I'll be doing a 5km section, so it's going to be like a sprint. for that I'm going to aim for under 20 mins.
If you'd like to watch our race, Joseph test ran his new head-iphone video, which offered live streaming running straight to your living room. Click here to re-live the experience and take in some of the sights of Tokyo. TOKYO MARATHON CAM
Work is going OK, although we were all a bit gutted to get a pay cut of 5%, with little or no notice of it being actioned. Belt tightening time here we come.
Jay is in his dangerous jumping off anything high phase. The boy has no fear, he's like a little monkey. For some reason he says "no" with a posh English accent. Very funny.
Miyu has begun tinkering away with accessories again. The new work station that we installed in the front room, a big L shaped desk, is having a positive affect on both our works. So nice to have a wide exapanse of white desk to get productive.
Will write again soon...I promise.

Christmas 2

2009-01-06T10:19:00.001+09:00

Christmas 1

2009-01-06T10:14:00.001+09:00

Happy times!

Photos from Shizuoka

2008-12-17T01:26:00.002+09:00

Buzzing

2008-12-17T01:08:00.003+09:00

Another 12 hour day slogging away at work today, and I can't sleep because of the adrenaline. Jay's remaining teeth are coming through, so he keeps waking during the night, obviously in some pain, so I've been carrying him around until he nods off to sleep again, completely knackered.
My parents arrived last week, and its been really great having them here, and for Jay to get to know them. Weather permitting, they usually go out for a long walk in the local park, and I think having them around has really accelerated his speech, as he's now chatting away in baby speak, and can now say "papa" and "bye" very clearly. He's been saying "mama" for a while now, and it makes me happy that I've now joined his lexical repertoire : )
I'm bearing witness to the rounds of redundancies that are sweeping through the foreign affiliated companies that I visit. The impact has been quite severe, leaving those that have avoided the cut feeling angry, confused and fearful. One person said she cried for two days, as many of her long-term colleagues were axed. Another described it as the saddest moment in his life. I think people here have taken it so hard because they've never experienced such swinging changes in their work lives before, and such cuts are pretty rare over here. What I'm hearing is that it's going to get worse, which is pretty devastating.
Well, I've got 4 more days to go before I finish for the year, when I can take a break for two whole weeks! It'll be my longest holiday this year, and it's going to be filled with getting my eyes done, trying to do lots of training, and visiting the various Kobayashi and Watanabe clans for New Year. All very exciting.

Photos

2008-12-03T07:48:00.002+09:00

Crisp

2008-12-03T07:34:00.002+09:00

It's a crisp morning here in Tokyo, and I'm feelin rather chipper, albeit suffering from a cold which I think I must have picked up from Jay.
Last Sunday we did our first 15km run around the palace, and in pretty good time too - 1 hr 16 minutes. That's about an average of 5 mins per km, which we need to get down to around 4 mins. A big task, yes, but we have about 4 months to do it, so I'm pretty confident.
The Yen continues to strengthen against the Pound. Last night it was 137 Yen to the Pound, which is a 13 year high. Feel sorry for my parents to be coming over in this situation, and if only we could have reversed our visit to the UK to this year, and they to last year, it would have been much better. Oh well...
There seems to be doubts over the government's economic stimulus package. The plan had been to give everybody 11,000 Yen to spend as they wished, but the Finance Minister is now saying it's unlikely to work, so it may be shelved. Personally I thought it was a bad idea, as even though it'd be nice to have the extra cash, I think most people would have just saved it, which defeats its point.
I was speaking to a Private Equity bod the other day, and he said even though the current climate is tough, it's also a great opportunity to buy distressed companies at low prices, and build them up over a period of up to 10 years. Luckily, his company has a huge amount of cash available for such action, so that they are not solely reliant on financing from banks. This makes me think it's a good time to do some canny investing of my own, but its difficult to judge when to get in, as the markets are so volatile. One option is to buy sterling now, as I imagine it will strengthen in the future, but with its continued decline, again its when to take the plunge.

An end (almost) t a busy week

2008-11-28T22:13:00.002+09:00

My, it certainly has been a busy week for me. Even though we had a public holiday on the Monday, I packed in my usual schedule, work wise, into the remaining 5 days, so it's been quite exhausting.
I was able to fit in a couple of runs during this time, not including the usual Sunday morning scamper around the palace, but was unable to get to the gym. This'll be rectified tomorrow, where I'm hoping to fit in a long 2 hour session.
A really great exercise out of the gym has been pull ups, which I've been doing in the little park next to our mansion. Three variations, of overhand, underhand and parallelhand gives my upper body a really good workout. This I combine with press-ups, squats and sit ups, which can all be done on the little multi-slide, climbing structure for kids. As it's usually early in the morning, I'm not taking up any space that the kids would want to be on, so it's ideal.
Also, for some hamstring work, I do some high kicks to the front, whilst walking forward, which is good for stretching and flexibility, as well as coordination.
This Sunday, we're going to try for a 15km run around the palace, and Joseph has a new app for his iphone, which will hopefully more accurately monitor our progress, and give us some much needed feedback on how we're doing (previous attempts have been disrupted by what I can only guess as my frequency disruptors, which I emit around electronic devices!)

A new year in life

2008-11-21T08:36:00.002+09:00

Well, I've now passed into the final year of my 30s, with little fanfare but with renwed hope and a desire to do more. Yesterday itself was fairly stressful, as I hate interviews, so I was feeling very nervous before hand. As it turned out, it wasn't bad at all, and I even question why they bothered. I was in a room with an old, urbane Japanese man, who spoke flawless, Oxford inflected English, and a rather pretty young woman who would act as my mock trainee. It lasted 30 minutes, and for that time I spent about 10 minutes doing a trial lesson on Introductions and small talk, and the remaining 20 minutes was mostly taken up with the old man seeming to luxuriate in the fact that he could speak jolly nicely, and so will do so, thank you very much! I mean, surely it would have been more cost effective to invite all of the potential trainers for some sort of seminar type affair, rather than spreading it over the whole day, and tying up not only the old don and his colleague, but also one of our Account Executives in the next room, who's job was to come down stairs and collect us from reception, then bring us to the interview room and then go sit in the room next door (he was completely bored out if his head, he said). Mind you, I think this kind of thing goes on a lot in Japanese corporations. The process is far more important than whether or not it's the most efficient or effective way of doing things.
Anyway, that was my birthday. In the evening, Miyu had cooked me a yummy leg of pork, and had bought me Jamie Oliver's new cookbook, which I'm really looking forward to trying out.

Exhausted

2008-11-19T00:18:00.002+09:00

It's been an exhausting day. 12 hours of work, plus various bits of editing work afterwards. I've also had to prepare for the upcoming interview with the major Japanese trader on Thursday, where now they're demanding we be completely familiar with 136 pages of training materials so that we can randomly demonstrate any part of it on the day. We were given the materials yesterday, so I've been trying to memorize as much as possible, but will probably have to wing it on the day. I think it's pretty unreasonable to expect us to be fully prepared with this, and it seems there must be a gap between what the Account Executives from our company are promising (the earth), and what can be reasonably delivered by us in such a short time frame. Our CEO yesterday said just so much yesterday, but that economic circumstances means we are in a weaker position, so must try and fit to what clients demand.
With all this work, I'm trying to figure out a way to also fit in the necessary training for the 10km next year. I've tried getting up a bit earlier, but it's been a struggle, truth be told, although the Sunday runs are much easier with the added obligation of working as a team. I'm also finding it difficult to fit in any gym time, which is something I'm really missing. Ideally, it would be great to have a home gym, but at present there's not enough space : (
Phew, I'm knacked. Off to bed!

Autumnal day

2008-11-17T22:57:00.002+09:00

A really lovely day today, with the leaves cascading down from the trees lining the Meguro river providing a splendid backdrop for my mid-afternoon run.
For one reason or another, we couldn't make it to the Lasik clinic yesterday, so will have to wait for another opportunity to go have my eyes tested to see if they're suitable for the operation. Actually, it gave me an opportunity to check out some others on-line, and I may go to another one I've located in Shinjuku, as it's cheaper. anyway, we'll see.
The economic downturn hasn't as yet bitten into my workload, thankfully, and I'm currently very busy. Must go see a major Japanese trader on Thursday for an interview and demo, to see whether they will give our company a big contract. It seems we're competing against a much smaller operation, who have been bad mouthing us at every opportunity. Hopefully, they'll see the quality we can bring to their training needs, and go with us.
My parents are going to be arriving in Japan in less than a month, and will be here for the Christmas and New Year festivities. Had planned to go to Hakone for some onsen action, but it seems all the major hotels are already booked up for Christmas week. For some reason Miyu doesn't want to stay in a Japanese style inn, preferring something more Western. I'm not too bothered either way, so the search continues.
Did I say I got into the Tokyo Marathon? Pretty impressive, as it was hugely over subscribed, with only a 1:17 chance of getting a place. I reckon it was because I put down I was British, as I know 3 Japanese who didn't get a place. Anyway, it gives Jopesh and I a real focus now, and a training plan is taking root.

Lasik

2008-11-14T23:33:00.002+09:00

Having worn glasses for the best part of my life, it is with some trpidation that I go soon to have my eyes lasered, and hopefully corrected. It's all rather exciting, and I can't quite imagine what it'll be like. For anybody that knows me, I'm half blind - extremely short sighted, and whenever anybody with good eye sight tries on my glasses they feel dizzy and soon get a headache - I kid you not! I reckon it'll be the little things that I notice most, like waking up in the morning and not having to flap around looking for my glasses, or actually being able to see clearly when I'm having a shower or bath. And going to an onsen is going to be so cool, as I'll be able to fully appreciate the beauty around me, and not be in some blurred world of my own. I wonder if it'll change me in any way, as far as my character is concerned? Will it affect my stature nd my confidence?
Well, the test is on Sunday to establish whether or not I can actually have the operation, so I'll wait until then to really start wondering how it's going to affect me.

Beautiful day

2008-11-13T10:04:00.002+09:00

It's a gorgeous day out, and Fuji san is in full splendor with its peak snow capped for just that photo perfect effect.
Jay's come down with a rather nasty cold, which has him coughing like an old man. He's a bit cranky, but still manages to smile away and sit in his little push cart playing with our old mobile phones. Recently, he's been experimenting with walking with his eyes closed, which is a bit scary to look at, especially as he a approaches obstacles, but it's a positive sign that he's developing his spatial awareness. He also manages now to walk backwards and has really got into getting us to read to him, often the same book over and over again!
I was really saddened and disgusted about the news regarding baby P, the 18 month baby who was brutally murdered in London. Seems like a systemic failure on the part of the care system and the various hospitals that saw him. A broken back, 8 broken ribs and multiple contusions and bruising which makes you wonder how anybody could have missed seeing the abuse he was subjected to. However, the blame of course lies squarely with the mother and two men who were convicted of this appalling crime. They deserve to be put away for the rest of their lives. How anybody could inflict such pain and suffering on an innocent child is completely beyond me, and leaves me with a hollow feeling inside. When I first heard the news, I was repulsed and was racked with nausea, anger and tears. Why, why why?

The long weekend

2008-11-02T07:01:00.002+09:00

Yay! It's a long weekend for us Nipponese and I'm just getting ready for my early morning run with Joseph in Komazawa Park. After doing a few kms, I'm off to the gym with Tomo, our neighbour, for a work out. After that, I'll probably be so exhausted I'll need a nap!

Countryside photos

2008-10-13T13:51:00.002+09:00

Communing with nature

2008-10-13T13:30:00.002+09:00

An extremely active day was had yesterday, which saw me at the crack of dawn to go meet Joseph for our regular Sunday morning trot around the Imperial Palace, followed by a 3 hour hike through the mountains Tenkaku and Ootaka.
The hike wasn't really planned, but seeing as I was at home alone and what with my thinking recently regarding the importance of nature to the human body, it was a good opportunity to follow up on it. The trip out to the mountains took just over an hour, on the Seibu Ikebukuro line, which was spent reading a translated manga called "Death Note". It's a pretty good read, and questions human morality and the battle between good and bad. I got off the train at Higashi Agano, a wee little station nestled in a valley, surrounded by tree covered mountains. The first thing I noticed was how quiet it was, and how sweet the air was. The smell of freshly cut wood hung in the air, as there was a logging company just 5 minutes walk from the station, with about a hundred trees stacked on top of one another. I found the path which began the trail quite easily, and almost immediately was engulfed in forest, birdsong and a few stray butterflies that crossed my path. An involuntary smile creased my face, and with a deep breath I set off.
The hike was described as Moderate in the guide book I was using, although some of the steep inclines left me quite winded, and I was soon working up a good sweat. It wasn't until I reached the peak of Mt. Tenkaku that I met some people. As is usual when hiking in Japan, the party I met were made up of 10 or so retired men and women. They had come the opposite way to me, so that they were almost finished, having started out a lot earlier in the day (about the same time I was huffing around the palace). We bid farewell, and it wasn't until I was descending from Mt. Ootaka that I met another party, a couple in their 30s, also going in the opposite direction to me.
By the end I was pretty exhausted, but could only stand on the train back to Tokyo, as it was full of other hikers, the majority old, who were resting their weary feet. When I did eventually get a seat, I promptly fell asleep, and may even have snored a bit before jerking awake when we pulled into Shibuya. Walking home, surrounded by concrete and steel, I couldn't help muse about the stark contrast of surroundings I had experienced in one day, leaving me feeling stimulated but also tired enough to fall into a deep slumber soon after getting through my front door.

Jay the model

2008-10-11T01:07:00.001+09:00

The man sees colours for numbers

2008-10-10T22:30:00.002+09:00

I met an accountant recently, who told me that whenever he thinks of numbers or he sees numbers, each number is a colour or a combination of colours. I'd heard about this in a documentary I watched about the world record holder of reciting pi to about 30,000 digits. Fascinating. Also, he said that about 50% of the accountants that work in his company are ambi-dextrous, which was unexpected.

Starnge video but great song

2008-10-08T16:59:00.003+09:00

Very strange but brill video and song by Devendra Banhart.

Lazy day and music exploration

2008-10-08T16:35:00.002+09:00

Having a bit of a lazy day today, due to some client cancellations. I was going to be really active and go to the gym, but I think I overdid it a bit yesterday, so decided to take it easy.
Listening to Emiliana Torrini, who has such a beautiful voice, quite similar to Bjork, and Vampire Weekend, who are very cool.
Also began reading The Return of Merlin by Deepak Chopra, which although is about the whole Arthur, Camelot story, is very philosophical and questions the state of the world and society today. Here's a quote from the introduction:

"What society thinks of as reality today is the hypnosis of social conditioning, an induced fiction in which we are all participating. It is the melodrama of a humdrum existence, filled with trite obsessions and trivial pursuits, wherein our only fate is to born, grow old and die.
If we could only realize it, the keys to the miracle of life lie in our own consciousness.
Life will bestow miracles on us when we begin to see it as an expression of the miraculous. Life itself is a miracle. We are here and now - that is a miracle."

Never a truer word be spoken, and yet it's true, we seem to forget that this life we live in is pure miracle, and just about the most amazing thing to ever happen. I'm constantly weighed down by mundane thoughts and actions which in the grand scheme of things mean little, but seem to take on more significance than they deserve. Just free association here, but does this have anything to do with living in a city? Because a city is a human construct, artificial and unnatural. Does being within such a construct extinguish our inner flame and awareness of the miracle of life? Would living more in nature, near the sea, next to open ground and trees lead to a second awakening of our consciousness? Are we destroying what is beautiful and miraculous in order to satisfy "trite obsessions and trivial pursuits"?

Farewell Emi

2008-10-07T21:09:00.003+09:00

We saw off Emi today, as she embarks on her big adventure in the land of the Kiwi and sheep. It's all very exciting, and both Miyu and I were wishing we were going too. Maybe we'll go visit her at some point over the next year - that'll be nice.
Miyu, Jay and Watanabe mum also returned to Fuskushima to go visit friends who have just this week given birth to a baby boy and girl. So, I'm in Tokyo by my self, and without any familial obligation I treated myself to a two hour session at the gym. A full round of weights, followed by 40 minutes aerobic workout. Felt fantastic! Think I'll finish the day off with a movie and then get an early night.