何で、ナーンだろう？

So, I recently made the discovery that Tokyo has declared plastic and styrofoam garbage "burnable." So much for the environment. I mean, unburnables garbage is only twice a month, and seeing how the majority of my trash is plastic, it seriously piled up. So seeing as how plastics are now "burnable," it makes my life a bit easier. But seriously, what idiot would think it's a good idea to burn styrofoam? I'm not entirely sure what that leaves for unburnables day--but, I guess that's why it's only twice a month.
We went to the Christmas Illuminations at Tokyo Midtown this past Thursday. It was a beautiful evening, and they held a party at this fantastic Indian restaurant, Nirvana, that overlooks all the lights. It was free-flowing champagne, and lots of yummy curry and naan, and desserts from all of the patissiers in Midtown. Sadly I forgot to take my camera along with me that day, so no pics--you'll just have to take my word for it.
In other news, it's almost Thanksgiving. I was trying to get a group together to go to Fujimamas, cause they do up a big meal on the day, but we couldn't get reservations *tear*  No turkey for Sarie.
I swear I had more to talk about, but as soon as I sat down my mind just went blank. Oh well.
New PV: Yuzu's new song, Shish-kebab.  Yeah...they're dorks. Get ready to smile ^_~

Let's play a game

It's called "how long can Sarah 我慢 before she gives up and turns on the heat?"
The answer, I think, is not long, cause it's getting freaking cold in my room. Sweaters and mass quantities of hot tea aren't gonna cut it much longer. {{(>_<)}} brr....
And the trains have been annoying lately, too. Yesterday morning there was some kind of a breakdown on the Meguro line, which backed up all the trains so it took me 40 minutes to get from Jiyugaoka to Shibuya (for the record, even on the local train that usually takes 15 minutes). So of course I was late for work. Not that I got in trouble for it, I mean it wasn't my fault, it was just annoying being stuck on the train for that long. And then in the evening that same day, it was super crowded again because of a 人身事故 "bodily accident" (Japanese euphemism for "we had to stop to scrape salaryman off the tracks").
But the weekend was fun. I got 2 free meals! Well, one free meal and one that was supposed to be free (but I'm a space case and forgot to get a receipt so I can't get reimbursed for it). Yeah.
The first meal was at this place in Ebisu that's having a renewal open, so they treated us to a meal! It was awesome. They're called えびす小町 Ebisu Komachi.We got a delicious tonsoku nabe (tonsoku is like pig feet--or leg maybe?).

Plus some other really yummy stuff like this cocoa-coated imo thing, and suppon and delicious charcoal-grilled chicken. Jason was with me, pretending to be press for the night. With the hours that guy works, he deserves a free meal.

Then, Sunday night I took Felicia along on my restaurant review at Yebisusan in Sangenjaya's naka-mise (which will be coming out in 766--which means I have to write it, like, tomorrow. Lol). I really like the atmosphere of the place.. casual, friendly, no pretensions. The tables were like plywood set on top of barrels, and you sat on stools. Kind of like some Korean bbq places I've been to.

It was a ホルモン料理 horumon ryori place, which basically means they specialize in....insides. Stomach, brains, heart, liver, tongue....grilled on a stick.
Mmm....hormones...

Of course, they have lots of normal food, too. Like Japanese-style fried chicken. (Japan is the only country where a pile of shredded cabbage and a blob of mayonnaise constitutes a side dish).

Enoki mushrooms wrapped in bacon.

And another yummy nabe dish.

Felicia and I weren't feeling quite up to brains, so we opted to go for some delicious grilled large intestine on a stick (with green peppers).

The peppers were really good. Intestine as it turns out, is not so bad either. It mostly tastes like the sauce, which was really yummy. My only qualm is that it's rather chewy--though not nearly so bad as some other inside-y bits can be.
Ok, with that I need to go to sleep now. More fun stuff to report on later-- we're all going to the press reception for the opening of the Christmas Illumination at Tokyo Midtown on Thursday. Yes, Christmas Illumination. See, in Japan they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, which means they get to skip straight from Halloween to Christmas. But Midtown is gorgeous and there's going to be some fantabulous Indian food, so I'm happy.
It's really funny tho, cause apparently Omotesando Hills is having their illumination reception on the same night, and the Midtown PR lady has called like 5 times already to make absolutely sure we're going to their event, and not Omotesando. ;-P

Something sweet

Anyone ever heard of the "Picasso of Pastry," Pierre Hermé?  Well, I hadn't until recently.  But apparently most Japanese people have heard of him, and he has a shop in Tokyo.

And on Monday afternoon, Hiroko and I got to go to the press reception for the unveiling of his new line of sweets, at the unbelievably fabulous New Otani Hotel.  Seriously, this place is amazing!  And it has one of the most fantastically gorgeous Japanese gardens I have ever seen. Ever.

Oh yeah, and the sweets were nothing to sneeze at either ;-P  It was basically like a big, free dessert buffet. I have no idea how much food they must have made for it. (To give you a slight idea, there was an open-to-the-public party version of the event that evening--basically the same deal, only they charged about $140 a head).
Fancy banquet room

And the parade of sweets

And finally, the man himself:

It was a really fantastic event. Hiroko and I were suffering from major sugar shock afterward (>_<)  It was also kind of weird, cause the chef was speaking in French, and then his translator put it in Japanese--so I was kind of half listening to each language  ;-P  Reminded me how sad it is that I really can't speak French anymore.   I end up saying things like "le francais ga wakarimasu."  .... yeah.
At any rate, "yum!"

Other stuff

Metropolis Issue 756

My first restaurant review! Cha-coo-la. Check it out.

Also the terebi blurb about the Pochitama press conference that I went to, though that's nothing really special.

Other good things:

I got another free CD at work today! First album by my new favorite band since yesterday: NICO Touches the Walls. Saw the cd when I was going through Dan's mail yesterday, decided to go home and look them up, listened to one song, decided I would become obsessed with them liked their music, downloaded all of their songs to date, and at work today asked Dan if I could possibly have their cd cause I'm a really big fan.

I tend to do this a lot.

But at any rate, I got the CD! Seriously, though, they do have this one song "The Bungy" that is one of the most fantastic things I have ever heard. I really want to put it up as video of the week, but there isn't a good-quality version of the PV up anywhere. The video quality of this one is pretty good (click "watch in high quality") but the audio is slightly out of sync. Still, WATCH IT and tell me it's not the best song ever. (and if it's not, then I'll know you, at least, have more of a life than me).

Also... here's the promised photo from the 252生存者あり press conference.

That's Hideaki Ito in the middle, with the kind of awful fake tan.

Cole Haan 80th Anniversary Party

Thursday night.

We got to go to...well, you see it up there in the title.  It was a really ridiculously cool party, very fashiony (read: lots of champagne, next to nothing to eat) at the Aoyama Geihinkan which is a crazy roman-style colonnaded building near my office. Apparently it gets used for weddings and stuff a lot. 

When you walked in, they gave everybody a bag full of US pennies...which was really weird until we realized that there were blackjack and baccarat tables set up and that the pennies were for betting at the games.  Sort of reminded me of Yale Casino Night, only with more expensive clothes, and celebrities.  Beni Arashiro was there, and so was Kazuhiro Nishijima, which is really funny because our arts editor Dan just interviewed him, and we're about to put him on the cover of Metropolis!  lol.  He was really popular with the press--everybody wanted to ask him about his recent engagement to former Takarazuka star Miki Maya.  0.o

Some pics from the event: 

These candles sell for upwards of $1000 in Harajuku.    

Tents full of fashionable people.   

More candles, by the pool.     

Shoes and bags display by the entrance.      

The blackjack tables.   

It was a pretty swanky party.  There was also a jazz band playing most of the night.  They were really good!  Dan said it wasa guy called Jose James--he's playing at Billboard Live Tokyo this weekend.

ugh, tired

I was at work until 8:30 tonight *cries* And I'm gonna have to try and get there right at 9:30am tomorrow morning, too.

Not all bad, but--the reason I had to stay so late tonight was cause I got behind on the listings, which have to be turned in Wed morning (hah--that's not gonna happen).

But the reason I was behind on listings is cause 1) it was a 3-day weekend so we had Monday off (yay!) and 2) I spent all morning today at a press conference (more yay!).  

It was a Japanese movie conference this time, for a film that comes out this December, called 252 生存者あり (Survivors Found!).  It's basically your average disaster flick, about a ginormous typhoon destroying Tokyo. And the 252 thing is apparently the "code" in rescue-squad language, meaning that you've found survivors, like in a collapsed building or something. Anyway, it looks kind of cool, and has some actors that I like in it--like Hideaki Ito, who it turns out in real life is the most ridiculous space case ever.  He was sooo not paying attention during the conference and kept having to ask the MC to repeat the question.  Seriously, he did it like 3 times.  (>_<)

Anyway, I got to take some pictures yet again, and it's eventually gonna be a Movie News--not anytime soon tho, cause the film doesn't open until 12/6, so we'll probably run the article closer to then. 

PV update--we're going old school!

This song was pretty much the theme song for my HIF class, resulting in many failed attempts to sing it at karaoke.

懐かしい～！  \^o^/

free lunch (and dinner, and another dinner...)

i really need to start doing more of the whole one quick post every night thing, or something.  cause if i don't, then it gets to like now, where I have a million things to write about, but no energy to do it.  >_<

oh well.

most important news first--I finally got my work visa!  and yes, i know you're going "but hasn't she been working for over a month already?"  to which I say: sshhhhh!

got to go to a couple more restaurant openings this past week (three, to be exact.  god i love my job).  really, there's nothing that tops a delicious free dinner.  especially when you're living on my budget.

Sunday night was dinner at Console, a restaurant/wime bar in Roppongi.  had a really good recommendation from the sommelier, a Chilean red called Montes Alpha that I liked a lot.  

Monday night I went to the opening party for a new restaurant near Yokohama station.  This one was more of a press thing, so it was crazy crowded and really hot, but the food was pretty good. 

Tuesday I got to go to a press conference for this TV Tokyo show called Pochitama, all about pets or something.  Anyway, I'm kind of a fan of one of the hosts of the show--and am currently subbing one of his dramas (hehe)--so I finagled my way into going.  I mean whatever, I turned it into a terebi blurb, so it's not like it was completely pointless.

Wednesday night was yum!  Went with the rest of the eds to the opening of a new macrobiotic restaurant in Ark Hills, called Chaya.  Apparently there's one in LA or something?  Anyway, it was incredibly good food, I was stuffed.  Plus there were several Japanese celebs that came, which was kind of cool.  None of my personal favorites, sadly, but several people I reconized, one of whom was Fujiwara Norika, a crazy famous actress/model/former Miss Japan.  I swear, I see her on at least 3 billboards/TV commercials a day.  

Thursday I got to go to a restaurant for lunch, to do a review!  ^_^  Haven't quite finished writing the review yet, but it's scheduled to go in 756, which pubs in like, 2 weeks or so.

Speaking of reviews, some of you already know this, but check out the Metropolis site cause this week I have TWO articles in--my bar review of Gala Dear, and the Star Struck piece about Jodie Foster (look under Faces & Places).

Field trip!

Today the other eds and I took a trip over to Tokyo station. We're going to be doing an article in a few weeks on 駅弁 ekiben. They're seriously a craze. There are a million different kinds, and if you search online there are tons of websites devoted to ranking and cataloging all the different kinds of ekiben.
We decided to just focus on Tokyo station, so the four of us went over there this afternoon and each bought one ekiben (except for Steve who got 2), took them back to the office, where Koji-san photographed them, and then we ate them for lunch!
It was pretty fun. I won't talk much about them now, so keep your eye out for the article in issue 756 (a month or so away). Oh yes, and might I add that the excursion also culminated in one of the eds going on a beer run.
Yes, we drink at the office.
At 2pm.
On a Thursday.

Also! Be sure to check out the Movie News section in this week's Metropolis, to see my Emily Deschanel piece (and photo that I took).
Or, on second thought, maybe not. It's there, but not terribly pretty on the website (and there's no photo). Scroll down (keep scrolling....) and it's in the left sidebar, under the "eiga" section.
Maybe you should just check out my Koizora blurb in terebi instead.
( Cause Squishy's hair is lol >_< )

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Also, there's a PV again. Very very strange group called "Ego Wrappin." They've got a really quirky sound, but I kinda like it.