Finding true friends in Tokyo

This blog is tribute to my good Filipino, Thai, Japanese and American friends whom I met in Tokyo but now moved to another countries or move back to their home countries

When I arrived in Tokyo my family was so happy to fetch me in Narita Airport well I am the only one living in the Philippines with some relatives while my family (Japanese mixed) are living in Japan almost all of their lives. I know I would miss my home country that I had lived and loved for 22 years till I decided to finally reunite with my family in Japan.

From the moment I got out from Narita and went to Ibaraki, I knew it would be cold planet for me and a silent boring life different from Cebu, Philippines. Indeed it was but when I started working as an Engineer in Tokyo where I saw the different side of Japan my view changed dramatically.
Tokyo is very convenient to live; the trains are very accessible, the groceries, the church, amusement places are everywhere. But believe it or not, it’s not on the place but how you enjoy the place with someone. Human as we are, we cannot be an island. It would be tragic and depressive if you are all alone in a beautiful country like Japan. So I decided to meet new friends and I met good ones in the same multi-cultural engineering company that I am working for.

I have heard bad stories about Filipinos in Japan especially those who are working in clubs but actually it’s up to you to choose your friends and you have the right to choose people whom you can trust. I just happened to have found the good ones. My advice to all is you can find good friends at any Christian organizations in your churches and you can’t find good friends from disco’s because those people are hesitant to trust you too.

The Filipino friends that I met are Christians and gather every Friday for novena and goes to church on Sundays. We also have good, decent fun on occasions and wacky ones at the bars. They know how to balance work and play using decent fun and they can be trusted different from the bad stories I heard.

The Thai Friends I met where really nice and very accomodating to teach me their culture and some of their words "sawadee"!

The American friends I met were mature ones, well it would be fun to be with same age but I am hesitant because those young ones spend too much money on socializing. I just think. Those Americans friends we had balances our nature, they are very good life advicers and I learned a lot from them and pretty much they also learned a lot from our culture.

To all of the friends that I met in Tokyo, hope to see you again one day, Mabuhay kayong lahat. Chun Kin Tun Kun and I miss you all!!

Mata ne!

Yukata Festival Cruise in Tokyo Bay

Yukata Cruise in Tokyo Bay

I have few months left in Nihon so I wanted to experience those things that I have not take in the past 3 years of living here. Constantly, I am just comfortable in my pad inside my turf. I know I am having fun with my friends doing the usual stuff, Friday night's gatherings after a good novena prayer, Sunday is church day and all week day is work day. Yes, I do believe in the saying that it's not the place that matters but how you cherish the place and how you enjoy the people you meet but experiencing new stuff is adding more zest to life.

So last night September 12 at Takeshiba Pier near Odaiba I had a wonderful time in my Yukata. The weather didn't agree with our fun really well but I think it added more joy and blessing to the night coz if it didn't rain participants could have been wilder and drunker than it was. I would take a short cut route of my story, my friend Fe and I just did well in making our knotting, fixing and wearing of our Yukatas without any supervision from the local. Actually we did quite well but it wasn't about the formal way of wearing them as other people in the Yukata festival just had their own ways of wearing it which is absolutely fun to look at. I'll tell you more about that later.

We didn't have a good quality camera on hand that time but I saw one video in the internet that is similar to what we experienced (additional with the rain)

Yukata Cruise in Tokyo Bay from Philip Cotsford on Vimeo.

We took the Monorail to Takeshiba Pier and ended in a meeting place with almost 200 people wearing in Yukatas in various colors and kinds, from then on it was a little awkward at first coz obviously we were the only Pinoys and we were surrounded with bunch of foreigners from different nations. My friend Fe was a little conscious at first so we tried to open up to each other first how to fit in and we did it perfectly. People were so accepting and were so glad to have us as companies. We took and paid for the registration and went immediately to the cruise ship.

It was really amusing being in a place packed with great people who are wearing Yukatas in their own ways; indeed, very creative! They added definitions like wearing rubber shoes with it, adding hats, wearing together with the usual walking shoes and sandals. I thought at first it was disrespectful but when I talked to a Japanese girl who's amazingly mixed with my genes (Filipino), she said it's fine and the locals wouldn't mind at all. The Yukatas are just like fashion and it's no longer a strict implementation. But they have certain time and occassion of the year that they still observe to wear Kimono's like when children turn 3,5,7 years old. They said it's a good celebration and a formal one so they have to observe a well defined wearing of Kimono.

The whole time of the cruise were enjoying chatting with my friend and meeting new friends and just walking around enjoying the party that I would know wont happen again.
We went to the upper deck were there's a little stage to see shows from Japanese people wearing Yukata and a whole platform of different people dancing and having fun.
Fe and I decided to change our Yukatas because it was wet with the rain and continued having fun. We met more people maybe it's because we let out the real us? It was a funny thought.

I love activities like those; it was fun definitely worth of all cents and time. I don't wanna count my last days in Japan I want my days count.

It only happens in Japan

It's 8:40 am of Wednesday, just a usual morning for me, too late from my usual time of waking up and going to the office which is only 15 minutes away from my pad by bicycle. Obviously, I was 10 minutes late and to my surprise, I was one of the few people who arrived at the office. I wondered why. I usually arrive the latest in my department well next to my boss who maybe drunk the other day, again. So I thought maybe people are just really scared of the second flu outbreak. Flu is really scary in Japan by the way; citizens always cram and anxious everytime they hear of outbreaks like the recent H1N1 virus. Merely because millions of people are on the streets attending to their busy lives (work, school, businesses) and a huge risk of getting the disease just anywhere is a threat to their usual routine, pretty scary since in Japan - Bawal ang magkasakit (Diseases not allowed). This is one of the places on earth that you cannot survive without money so people has to work.
Anyways, I just heard from another officemate who arrived 2 hours late after our usual time in. He said there was an accident in the Tozai Line, a cart bumped to another maintennance cart which rarely happen to Japan since they are very careful observers of safety.

That photo you see is forwarded by a friend to me, as you see a group of men united to push back a train after an accident occur at the start of day operation. The train is Tozai Line; a Tokyo Metro Train that runs from Nakano to Nishi-Funabashi and some trips to Toyo-Katsutadai (a change to Keisei train to go to Narita Airport). It runs to 15-20 train stops and this sudden stop in operation can cause delay not only to the Tokyo Metro Train but the entire train system of Kanto area, this may include the JR Line and other privately owned trains like Toei trains and Keisei trains like a domino effect causing millions of yen in losses.

I know Japan is concern about the loss and anger from people who maybe late from their appointments at their works or schools but what inspired me from this event, people still have the passion to help get through it peacefully. Which I think only happens in Japan where people are prone to bottling up their emotions just for the sake of unity, order and peace. They seek action and at these time words of blames and regrets do not help.
For me this is a rare accident in Japan after living here for almost 4 years now. But it made me appreciate more that I am here in this country where I can develop myself into a better person. I can't help but compare from my beloved homeland. I hope one day, in my country people stop blaming and just give a hand and just do it and say yes to improvement.