Once a year, people in Japan can take a bit of time to relax in the park and have a drink – problem is – most people do it on the same day.

Luckily there is a gigantic park next to my house, so this is where we would make our merriment. Staking out a spot near some trees and some people I vaguely know (I dare you to walk though the park and not see someone you know this time of year) we proceeded on the task at hand – getting blasted!

Eventually there was darkness, and chilliness, and … drunkenness. But musicenness also! After loosing practically everyone in the dark, including my own Mother whom I was charged with keeping safe (actually she just went home it turns out), I decided to go for a walk to the shop.

By the time I got back – after making my way to the same patch of woods – there was no music, no people. Not even detritus or evidence of merriment. It was like turning up after the circus had left town – you know fun was had here, but now it’s gone.

Unfortunately so was the park-worthy mat I stupidly borrowed from my kitchen floor that day.

Waiting at arrivals in the airport is a strange experience. You are all these thousands of miles away, but yet at a selected time and place, you can meet anyone you like! All it takes is an email.

Christmas 2004 was the last time I saw my Mother. I was wondering what would be different. Funnily I got rather apprehensive to her arrival – we had already mapped out what we were going to do for these three weeks – but there’s always the chance that when people come to Japan they freak out. As a matter of fact I think it’s required. Also we would be sharing sleeping quarters for three weeks with her legendary snoring.

Plans included taking some time off work, going down to Kyoto, cherry blossom parties, walks next to the sea, staying in traditional inns, bathing in the hot spring and boozing in dingy standing bars with Japanese sallarymen under the railway bridges of Shibuya. I wanted to show her a slice of my life, and a slice of Japan.

As I stood there waiting for someone I knew to come out of the arrivals door, all these plans and more were being formulated – turns out we did them all too!

Mother arrives, all is good.

I was sad to see her go in the end, I can only hope I gave her a good enough impression of Japanese life. (she got lost a few times when I was at work, and proceeded to consume all the treats from England she bought me, as punishment I guess.)

This July, I’ve spent every weekend at the beach. Mostly to get stung to buggery by jellyfish. Zushi beach is a short one hour journey from my part of Tokyo.

In my vain attempt to get a sun tan X pump at the gym I’ve so far succeeded in only going red and torturing myself.

I have met a few interesting people though.

Was treated to a birthday dinner at my local pub. Lots of food and couples, presents etc. Didn’t go on for as long as I expected. Also, I seem to be having bad luck with the after effects of GF based birthday parties (second in a row). Next one…

I never realised it could be this cold for so long!

I moved into my apartment just over 2 years ago, at that time there was bugger all furniture, just me and a sleeping bag. Soon after my boxes arrived from the UK. Now my apartment is stuffed with junk. I remember it being seriously cold back then, and the following year. However the following year I was working from another location, so the cold didn’t really affect me. That year, I promised myself I’d buy some kind of heater, as my air conditioner is useless. Well, this year, I failed once again, and come home to the Freeze.

Actually I have a certain amount of computer things to do when I get home, but it’s just too freaking cold. I end up hibernating under the covers! Too late to buy a heater now as next month it’s gonna get comfortable again no doubt. Next year, I promise myself!

The trip was interesting, riding a rickety old tram up a mountain. Apparently it’s the second highest railway in the world, can you believe it! So the endless chatter of the robotic tour guide tape told me, so proud to be number two. Eventually I reached my destination on the side of the mountain, distant clouds of steam billowing from the hidden resorts stuffed randomly into the endless forest. Not so well hidden but majestically prominent was my hotel, clad in geisha girls and pre-war decor. That night I feasted on endless courses of Japanese food brought into my room by a kind old lady, things I’d never seen before being carefully levered into my mouth – bliss. Privately I changed into yukatta (a type of simple robe), to enter my private hot spring.

On my return from the hot spring, something was a miss. Opening the toilet door in my vast room proved difficult. It was locked. Slightly alarmed at this I used a coin to open the lock and prepared myself to confront an intruder. Slowly I tuned the coin in the locks outer screw changing the small locks colour from red to green. Opening the door swiftly to my shock there was, nothing. No-one. A mystery indeed. I franticly checked all the cupboards and windows in my room. I checked out the lock, there was no way that this lock could have simply locked it’s self & it was as tough as old nails. The damn thing was practically incapable of slipping into a locked position.

As I left I asked the old lady designated to my room about the lock. “they don’t come in here” she said mysteriously, as if wandering spirits often enter guests rooms and mischievously lock doors in Hakone.

An open air art museum beckoned, where I broke my ass on a slide. I still have the mobile phone shaped bruise to remind me.

Hakone’s cable car is something to behold. You can see a truly fantastic view of mount Fuji as you pass silently over lakes of billowing sulfur from hell, dead forests and drops that equate certain death. Maybe the last view there was just my own, as all on the carriage were mostly concerned with how cold it was and reading their mobile phones.

So after a brief and somewhat bizarre boat ride back to the train station, my journey was over. A wonderful Christmas without a Christian or fucking santa in sight. I still wonder about the lock~ well we don’t have chimneys here in Japan so who knows how he delivered my presents?

sometimes Japan is, well, nuts.

I went to the bank to get a statement on my account a few days ago, only to be told by a rather squat gentleman with dangerous nosehair that they can’t give me a statement. I was told to use the internet instead. Considering citibank’s internet banking is a joke, I told them to shove the site where the sun doesn’t shine and let me talk to an account advisor. Eventually I got to floor 2 of the shibuya citibank building, sidestepping the festooning nose haired gentleman who had up until this point been blocking my way, thanks to a silent but proactive member of staff. I was handed a ticket, special access!!

On level two of citibank I took my seat and waited my turn. After a few minutes I was allowed to talk to a human being who promptly informed me that they don’t “do” statements. The human being raised her arms to form the giant X symbol of no. Recognising this symbol to mean that I should get angry and pursue my right to a statement on my account, I turned my Japanese up a dial and demanded a statement or I would close my account. The human being had now lost the power of speech, and was being controlled remotely by robot using invisible wires, they collectively decided to print me a statement. Although, the beauty of this is they still had the last laugh… I wasn’t allowed to take it with me.

Office is life is medicine for this jaded designer, who has been “on the road” for the past 2 years. With a plethora of new projects in the works, including my vision for the company homepage (something I often end up making when joining a new company!) this may well be a space to watch.

What was the catalyst for this new endeavor in any case? Actually I’m not sure. My Freelance business certainly had it’s ups and downs, but it was generally a success for a few years. I even had my own office going on, away from home. But something was missing. In all honesty there was a make or break moment at the start of 07 and again during the middle of 07, these were opportunities to expand the Hawken King brand with partners. One would presume that this in it’s self would hold enough meaning to run with and see what happens. Chances like these don’t just appear that often, however something was still missing.

The missing element?

Well, look through this website. What do you find? Literally hundreds of illustrations I made during gainful employment. It appears that I am more creative when I can go home, kick off my shoes and relax. Being a freelancer doesn’t offer you that opportunity. You are at work, your entire waking week. It’s not to say that I won’t start my own company, but that might be a few more years into the future from now, and a few million yen more in the bank with someone like minded to make it all happen. My dream is to work as an illustrator, it always has been, it just so happens I can design.

The future? I would be a fool if I said some of these opportunities and decisions were not made by my immediate environment, those influencing factors from friends and acquaintances. When forecasting, one looks one step beyond. It is paramount to realise what factors in your immediate environment are helping, and what factors are hindering. So I thank those who gave me advice these past few months. A lot of changes unsuitable for “blogging” will be left unsaid. What I can say is that forging a future in Tokyo – breaking the hand to mouth existence so many of us ex-pats fall into – is a long process. Beyond the end of ones nose is the future…

Yesterday I went to the beach. You have to travel quite far out of Tokyo to find a decent beach, so I went to a place called onjuku. I have actually been wanting to go there for a long time, and this is probably the last decent weekend, as we enter summers decline.

Surfing was kinda eerie, just a bunch of guys sitting on their boards waiting for waves. I did catch a few, managed to ride one, then retired to BBQ. I’m always amazed at the self-automation of Japanese people. I had no idea what was going on, blindly moving from the beach to a BBQ spot next to a hostel. Most relaxed atmosphere one could ever ask for.

Probably time to get a car so I can do this more often.

Oh and the pain part of this title relates to my multiple bruises whilst taking a battering in the surf.

if you are trying to get ahold of me, please try 03 3498 3085

Needless today, mt.Fuji hurt in all the right places. I took a rain free climb to the 8th outpost (80 mins from the summit) and bedded for the night, in order to catch the sunrise in the morning. The next day was just a wall of water with zero visibility. I got to the top and walked back down, due to the weather it felt fairly inconsequential to be up there. However, being able to say you’ve done it, or just thinking so, gives one a great sense of well being.