1st first post in Japan

Hello there everyone.

It started on January 31st.
Arrived at Heathrow to find I was travelling Premium Ecconomy instead of bog standard Ecconomy, thank God! Met up with Mum for an hour or two, then through security and into the Louge. After another hour it was onto the plane and into the air!
Flight was not much to write home about really - nice food, watched two films (Rush Hour 3 being one of them) and got a few hours sleep.
At the other side immigration was plain sailing - I hadn't declared myself as non-resident when I left Japan last time which is very naughty!
Got the bus to Hon-Atsugi and moved into my Hotel room.

I spent that whole weekend with Emi. I can't remember so much what we did as I had so much Jet lag, I was very tired. Tried to get a mobile phone but it turned out that SoftBank (used to be Vodafone in Japan) no longer had English phone web support, bummer. Also bought a pair of Nike Air Max 360 in a sale - £45 were £90, result!

So first week at work. Last time in Japan I was working at Nissan Techincal Centre in Isehara, this time I am based in Nissan Shatai in Hiratsuka. Initial impressions are that the people are more friendly and laid back than at NTC and although general English skill is lower I think they try harder rather then just not bother. Some chaps from NTCE working on another project are still at NS so I got a lift with Luke Burndred in his S15 Nissan Silvia. First two days I had video conferences with NTCE (Nissan Technical Centre Europe, where I work in the UK), due to the time difference with the UK my VCs didn't end until 9:30pm! Had another VC on Friday evening but it finished early and I headed straight off for some drinking!

Friday evening (8th Feb) I met up with Mark Anderson (an NTCE colleague) and Kazuya Ito (NTC Manager). Kazu was my senior engineer at NTCE for my first 3 years at the company, he has good English skill and is very good company. We started off at (the famous amougst NTCE/NTC people) Blackstones bar in Hon-Atsugi. It had newly been refurbished - you could still smell the paint! Then onto a Yakiniku resturant (meat grill) round the corner. After that Kazu went home, myself and Mark went to Gina's bar. This turned out to be a stones throw from my hotel. While there we got chatting to a Dutch chap who was a regular (Mark had met him a number fo times before) and I discovered that SoftBank still had English software!

Saturday I met with Emi for an expensive day! We are going Snowboarding twice in the next month and I wanted some Ski pants. Emi knew somewhere with a closing down sale and after 2 hours I walked out of the shop with a Snowboard Jacket and pants with some gloves and socks. After this it it was off to get my mobile phone sorted at Yodabashi Camera. I explained to the same guy we saw the week before about the Dutch guys phone but he couldn't explain it. He contacted SoftBank and they said I would have to download new brouser software. Anyway got a new contract with my old Japanese phone as it was the cheapest option. In the evening we went to an Indian resturant Luke had recommended and it was one of the best I had had, I was very impressed. When we got back to the hotel I started playing around with the phone and ended up finding the English software by accident, result! Now I can check the weather forecast and plan train journeys on the fly.

Sunday got up late as we didn't hear the alarm. Took ages to get ready and then headed into Machida. The previous weekend we had tried to find me a jacket for work but without success - all too small or I didn't like the style - so we thought to try again and again we failed. Then on to Ice skating as Emi loves it although I am not so keen. Turned up and there was a masive queue and already 987 people inside! We decided it best to grab some food and wait for things to die down. We returned 90 minutes later and it had reduced to 700 people. Emi had a great time and I was quite rubbish! Managed to do a whole lap without having to stop but after 2 hours I was exhausted. Emi went home and I returned to my hotel and started setting up this blogg!

I'm going to have infrequent interent access as I'm moving into my apartment this coming week so it might be 2 or 3 weeks before this is updated next.