Onsen and Bar in Konbu area

The houses are huge in Hokkaido, you don't feel you're in Japan, everything packed... the gardens and the garage are 10x bigger than in Kanto area.

I miss living in a house...




After 2 days snowboard, a good onsen house where they serve famous takikomi gohan in a special pan... it takes 45min to be prepared and while they cook, I was relaxing in the massage chair...





There are many bars in Niseko, and nice places actually.
The visitors are also very interesting... very different from Tokyo, they are directors and teachers, singing very well and dancing as I never saw in Tokyo.

Nice people in Niseko! They are great, happy, enjoy the life even in a very cold winter...

Love Hokkaido! confess in the summer is preferable (^-^)v

Snowboarding in An'nupuri

The Nikko Hotel is great, big room, nice staff, wonderful ofuro, and right on the bottom of the mountain.

It's a western style hotel, of course with the Japanese details everywhere... very organized, renting snowboard,boots, was very easy and cheap...

They have everything in the hotel to make things easy to the snowboarding and skiing people.

1st tentative from up the mountain, getting out from the lift was already a challenge ^-^

Still not so bad uhhh?

Was quite ok for the 1st slide from there...



After crashing a lot, taking break some times...

Very comfortable with the snowboard, more than ski actually.

Unfortunately lessons were finished in March and I was not able to learn everything as I should... had lots of fun though!!!

Arriving in Niseko

Woke up at 4am and took the 1st train to Haneda.
When I got there, my flight was canceled...
Had to wait 30min til the next flight, I could have slept more...

At least Haneda is beautiful and comfortable.
Don't need to be crashing with luggages and people around ^-^



Arriving in Shinchitose International Airport of Hokkaido, took a bus which drove me to very beautiful places.

2h later, I was already checking in the hotel and had a quick lunch (shoyu ramen ^-^)

Rent the snowboard and boots. Quite big though... and heavy!


I tried snowboarding the 1st time 4 years ago, but only for 2h and not did much...

The weather was great, warm (actually too warm) and did some training on the board... quite difficult... even to stand and not let the board going fast...

After 2 tentives, I was able to get the balance and when down til the lift station.

Quite hard to walk up to the hotel side, but at least I was able to slide down after at the end.

Had a wonderful ofuro in the hotel, which was empty. All the ski station and hotel empty. In Hokkaido, it's an easy going life! Nobody disturbing and everybody nice and happy.

Sakura Matsuri

Today, there was a festival of sakura in my area.
Bands playing famous 80's songs, groups performing taiko (japanese drum, ...)

After 2 weeks, there are still some sakura, but the amazing thing today was to see a sakura rain as the wind was quite strong and the river's water got all light pink all over...


Nowadays, you can see families all around on Sundays. 10 years ago, usually only moms and kids were going out, but now, dads are together, usually taking pics of the kids.

Good to see that in Japan.




In Daikanyama, barbecues were taking place in the parks, with music and some strange characters all around.

Brazilian music instruments

Viva Brasil this month was mainly Caetano Veloso songs.
Japanese amateurs have a Brazilian name, such as Alexandre, Marcos, Joao...

The boom of bossa nova in Japan started with Lisa Ono which is not known in Brazil. She is a nikkei Japanese Brazilian and made all the bossa nova singers to start appreciating singing, not only listening.

New singers become professional or even semi-professional every month. Even non-professionals those participate in the Viva Brasil event, announce their own live show.

I heard from a professional, percussion and little drums are from Brazil (Sao Paulo). There's a store in Takanobaba where usually famous artists buy the instruments.

Rolling Stones 2006

Bigger Bang tour!

Saitama Super Arena is not that big and made us to see the super old rock guys very close ^-^
My seat was on the bottom, 3rd line !!

The arena got full in couple of hours and the organization was pretty good. They only could not take my camera as it was very well hidden.

When they got in scenario, everybody stands up and never sit down again!

Half of the songs were very famous, which means very old... and it was great to see Japanese people jumping and singing like a crazy..


The stage moved to the middle of the arena and I was able to record the show for couple of minutes. The last song... I couldn't even take pictures as I couldn't stop dancing!

Ohanami

Ohanami means "party" under sakura trees.

There are many beautiful places with cherry blossom trees.

One of famous places is the Meguro River which is 2 blocks from my apartment.



Every "nature" such as koyo season, sakura season... there are festivals and festivals everywhere.

At night, the view is also very beautiful, I just didn't have time and it's still very cold for me hehehe





People in Japan eat a lot... everywhere, in all the events, they eat yakisoba, sausage (a huge one as the lady already ate), chicken (yakitori), ...


And of course... here in Tokyo everybody drinks a lot. They drink under the trees and get really really drunk, almost falling...


Japanese people are nature lovers and they enjoy every single flower. From now, many flowers season festival will happen.

I'm glad to be in Japan and enjoy these moments with them... and getting drunk as them... incredible... I remember I couldn't drink even a beer when I was in Brazil...

Fun till last moment!

I know how to have fun myself haaaa...?
At night, wonderful swimming in the beach, hot swimming pool, like onsen and cold water pool...
After all day in activity what's better than a haagen dazs...?

Thanks my life.



Right before flying back to tokyo, swimming in the beach, in the pool, more jetski and more haagen dazs aaaa
aaaa
yokattaaaa, Guam, foi otimo! adorei mesmo.
o pessoal foi muito bacana, a praia maravilhosa, o tempo lindissimo, as atividades inesqueciveis, tudo tudo foi otimo, nao tem nada q nao tenha gostado!

Para-Sailing

Usually 2 people go to para-sail because of the weight... but do you think I would go with someone there? I like doing myself !! argh, everything myself!!
And I went about 35m up, more than others hehehehe
The view was wonderful as the weather was good and the higher I was going the sensation was of more and more freedom.



The water's dark blue from the top was a new color ... the view of the mountains were unique and the boat was becoming small and small...







I got addicted to the jetski, canoeing and snorkeling... the jetski was really fun, the faster better! 110km/h in the 1st try... the next I have no idea as I couldn't even check the meter hohoho

Tumon

In Tumon, downtown, there's the longest aquarium in the world. Some of the fishes I saw the first time, like this very blue fish, with nemos...






and very pink ones, as they had been colored...








As it was probably close to 22:00, the sea-horses were already sleeping... they use well their tails...

What a wonderful life...

Look at this... the beach waiting for me ^-^

I walked all around inside the water as it is not deep at all... I could see people walking from the Alupat Island to the hotel.

Many Japanese though... as expected. And locals can speak quite good japanese.


What a beautiful sunset on the 1st day already huuuuuoooooo
and all for me from my room !!

30C and cool wind, my cough stopped completely... I might have allergy to everything in winter...

It was great to feel perfect and full of energy to run around the beach and get color on my skin...

And of course, as Brazilian, I had to eat the huge 10oz special steak... which was ok, not better than Brazilian churrasco but still fine... I can say I didn't leave anything on the plate heheh

Amazing as I can eat like this... I'm so small and thin... but probably it's because I spend lot's of energy... usually I eat a lot more after the exercises... which makes my weight not changing much the lots of exercises... but I forgive myself as I still can keep my body fine... most of my friends on the same age cannot wear the bikini I can still use... I'm doing my best to keep like this at least till my 40s :D

Going to Guam

Leaving Japan to Guam... from the airplane, a wonderful view of the Mount Fuji!

After 3h... Guam from the airplane. When I took the above picture, I didn't know my hotel was exactly there... and the small island in the middle is where I went snorkeling ^_^

The hotel room was huge comparing with the rooms in Japan ;-)
The bed was comfortable, the room service very good, hotel staff very nice, and the view from the room....
... the small island I saw from the airplane. It's Alupat Island in Agana Bay.

Viva Brasil!

Todo segundo sabado do mes tem um show ao vivo de musica brasileira aqui pertinho de casa, Rakuya, eh um restaurante/bar com musica ao vivo.
Esse evento, chamado de Viva Brasil, qquer pessoa pode participar. E' so levar um violao e botar a boca no mundo.
Eu ja participei mas foi eh no samba. Toda vez q tocam um bom sambinha da' aquela vontade de pular e dancar e a gente se diverte pacas!

http://vivabr.hp.infoseek.co.jp/

Olha, sao so japoneses cantando, tentando esse portugues q e' dificil pacas pra eles. E' incrivel como tem gente cantando bossa nova, samba, MPB... muitos profissionais inclusive tocam so musicas brasileiras.

Hamarikyuonshiteien

Yeah, this is the name of the park...浜離宮恩賜庭園
Close to Tsukiji, the famous fish market place...

The park used to be the place where the emperor praticed eagle training things.

Huge park in the middle of the huge buildings, such as Shiodome...

First warm day this year!

Friday

Great lunch time with the team at Kikkon in Sankei Bldg.
They have huge rooms and we had great time.
I got some flowers from the team, which was really lovely.

I'm always lucky working in teams with nice people. HSBC, Reuters, Mizuho. All nice people and I'm glad to have great friends in all the companies I have worked.

Meeting celebrities at "Que Sera"

The handsome guy in the middle is a famous actor in Japan, Sano san. Saturday was his live show, as his hobby is to play guitars and do music live around Tokyo.
The musics were quite old but the performance was really good.
The place's "Que sera!" and it seems famous people are usually there...









I met Kaneko san, who went to Brazil to a report about the Fat Family. He's really nice in person, smiling all the time and his voice is exactly like on the TV... like a happy guy ^-^

Update on Brazil in Tokyo

Every month there's an event presenting the Brazilian news in music, CD and DVD.
Promotted by Mr. Kepel, it was great to hear samba (those themes were famous when I was in Brazil) and new singer like Shirle de Moreira.

Kepel's online shop has many news about Brazilian musics where I got some CDs last year, those I was looking for a long time...
http://www003.upp.so-net.ne.jp/mpb/

He's also has a tour event every year to Brazil and I saw some pictures of him at Milton Nascimento's huge house. woooo

Farewell

One more farewell... Great Dmytro, from Ukrania, is leaving the company and we had a dinner with lots of drink... lots and lots...
We will all miss our "Santa Claus" always laughing and very very patient with everybody. He never got upset with anything... maybe after figuring out his in my blog :O huahuahauaha







And this is the big boss of one of the departments. Not my big boss, but great boss in a party. He's very happy person, very social and drink a lot.
Thank him, I restarted my drinking days. kyaaaaaaaaaa

Which girl doesn't like flowers?

Pink tulip and roses from my colleagues are the only beautiful part of my desk, even in a temp vase ^-^

It doesn't really match with the oracle manual but matches with my pink little pig from Moma (NY).

These flowers I got a time ago, I just didn't have time to upload it here, however beautiful things I have to keep in this blog. Just imaging how long this blog will exist...

Flowers make me feel as beautiful as them. Sometimes more than them. hahahhaaha

8:30

Free band session, bar and very "genki" people in Nishiazabu:
http://www.0830.org/index2.html

Owner's family and friends all very drunk (except the 11 years boy) after 1am in Tokyo was quite unique and fun!

The vocal last night is professional, Kuni, joined the session after his own live show in Ebisu. dasoudesu.

Um dia de cao

Ensolarado dia, temperatura agradavel, dia de passeio em Daikanyama.
Bairro chique, muitas lojas lindas, jeans que custam pelo menos 30,000 yen (quase 300 USD) e passarela para os cachorrinhos ...





Dialogo de cao:
- Ola, seu cachorro. Quanto tempo!
- Oi sua cadela. Ta atrasada hoje.
- Seu rabo ta careca.
- O seu, precisa passar um pente q ta saltando tudo.
- Seu casaco eh muito gay.
- Vai pastar sua vaca!

Homenagens a musicos brasileiros

Aqui no Japao, os musicos brasileiros sao muito queridos e respeitados. Muitas vezes mais do que no proprio Brasil.

Hoje foi a vez que Luizao Maia que esta na contra-capa de muitos CDs (e LPs) tais como Elis Regina,

Tem um grupo muito dedicado aqui em Tokyo, para divulgar e homenagear os musicos e a musica brasileira.


Luizao era casado com uma japonesa, a Yoko, que fala fluentemente portugues. Ela esteve em Curitiba e conversou comigo como se fosse uma brasileira. Na foto, ela esta la no cantinho, assistindo a tudo com um ar muito simples e modesta.

Muitos individuos importantes desse meio artistico tiveram presente. Musicos, produtos de radio e de discos.



Passaram videos que eu nunca tinha visto... de passeios no Rio em iate, shows com a Elis, banda do Luiz, que sempre foi um baixista muito dedicado e tocou ate mesmo depois do derrame.

As ultimas palavras da Yoko no show de homenagem ao marido que se foi... "o bom baixista nunca aparece..."

O tempo eh lindo pelo menos!!

O inverno no Japao, pelo menos em Tokyo, eh muito lindo.
Se chove, vira neve... mas a maioria dos dias eh assim...
se nao for o dia todo, as manhas sao lindissimas.

Os predios aih (chamados torres gemeas de Tokyo) sao o espaco mais caro do Japao. E eh onde fica a minha empresa, ocupando alguns andares, e por falta de espaco, a gente, da area de tecnologia foi parar ha duas quadras, do lado do palacio imperial.

Como as salas de reuniao e as equipes de suporte estao nas torres gemeas, andamos muito durante o dia entre os dois lugares... uma boa forma de se fazer exercicios! e tomar um solzinho, que eh otimo nesse friozao!

Depois do ataque terrorista em Nova York, a seguranca nas torres gemeas virou uma coisa de louco. Tem seguranca em tudo que eh parte e se um dia vc esquecer o cracha ou perde-la, ... olha, ta com um problema serio. So pode entrar uma vez com um cartao temporario e nao pode sair... hahah

Os elevadores nos predios novos de Tokyo falam. Desses predios entao, alem de falarem, vc pode cancelar o botao (reset) apertando 2x bem rapidinho... as laterais sao de metal dourado, que eh pra refletir as pessoas de fora, tem camera muuuito pequenina, tem um sensor super sensivel pra abrir a porta... capaz de abrir com um espirro, hiuahua

Mas o que vale mesmo eh estar do lado de fora, tomando esse solzinho maravilhoso, caminhar ate o palacio imperial e o maru biru (marunouchi building, um dos shoppings mais caros do mundo). Almocei hoje la.. as 3 da tarde, porque estava muito corrido e nao deu pra sair antes...
as vezes almoco la no parque e tiro uma sonequinha debaixo do sol, deitada no carpete verde e no meio de sakuras e arvores centenarias. Adoro o sol!!