Fruit

Affordable fruit is one thing I miss about my hometown of Herefordshire. Back there we have fruit trees in the garden, orchards down the road, English Cox’s (an apple variety) in the shops that cost a fraction of these apples pictured. Bananas are cheap but lack taste, it having been bred out of them. To […]

Running Again

I’m on the train heading back home after running 12.21km south towards Yokohama. I think it’s the furthest I’ve run since the Marathon in February, and the first time I’ve done over 10km since May. It’s extraordinary how out of shape I am. I used to have a really big barrier at 20km – that […]

Ritz-Carlton Tokyo project: Suta-to!

Today was a very good day. It started off as most Monday’s do – volunteer work at city hall. I went extra early today, in order to finish early and meet George an hour before our lunchtime appointment at the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo re. Japan Podshow – George and I deserve a break at the end […]

Jiyugaoka

To describe this photo, here’s the text from my post for Dannychoo.com uploaded earlier today: *Twinkle* and I are having a lazy day today, the fourth day of the Silver Week holiday. We’ve come out to Jiyugaoka, just a couple of stops down the line from our station, and 10 mins from Shibuya on the […]

Boat trip around Tokyo bay and Gundam’s bum

If you follow other Japan blogs you’ll be only too aware that there is a life-size Gundam in Odaiba. It’s part of a ‘Green Festival’ in a lovely little park on one of the manmade islands down there. A green park that is now packed with people – and somewhat brown. One way to see […]

Video blog: Edogawa Ekiden (relay race) and more

It’s been a looong day. In the morning I joined Tom, Nami and Phil to run the Edogawa Ekiden (relay race). Things didn’t quite work out as planned for us personally, so I thought instead of focusing on our story I’d share with you some footage of the various characters we met throughout the event. […]

Susan Boyle gives me a break

In news that I’m sure will disappoint at least one Mumbler out there, my Susan Boyle Video has given me my first big(ish) break. This evening I met with the producer of a very well-known podcast, a podcast which sees thousands of downloads every week. It’s a podcast I listen to and enjoy, and a […]

Tokyo CGM Night Volume 4

Last night saw the fourth installment of Tokyo CGM Night, a night hosted by Danny Choo and Andrew Shuttleworth to celebrate Japan’s Consumer Generated Media producers. It’s a chance for Japan’s top bloggers, YouTubers and podcasters to gather and talk about past achievements, and make plans for future collaborations. This was my second CGM, and […]

Video Exclusive: Susan Boyle sings live on a Tokyo commuter train

Having bought the most amazing computer in the whole world ever, I realised I needed to push myself beyond the confines of email and random web surfing, and into production, in order to justify the financial outlay. This happened to coincide with that gala event at the Tokyo Hilton, at which I was seated on […]

Livestreaming the Tokyo Quarter Marathon – Take Your Seats

This event is sponsored by Japan Podshow – launching shortly! LIVE STREAMING VIDEO PLAYER If I’m not streaming, the previous live-streamed video will play. (Go to http://www.qik.com/tamegoeswild to see a live-updated map of exactly where I am. There is also a comments tab – click on that and enter your comment – I will read […]

Livestreaming the Marathon hits the headlines

The folks over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog, a very popular site focusing on all things Mac, have just posted my story. There’s going to be a lot of eyes to carry on my head. Yikes.

Firing on all cylinders

My running the Tokyo quarter marathon whilst streaming live video seems to have caught people’s attention, with two major US websites now offering to promote it, and another Japan-based media organisation interested in interviewing me tomorrow. I’m raising money for Oxfam Japan. This has all come out of the blue. I think the idea was […]

Making Meguro Home

I’ve been feeling a lot of gratitude for our home this week. I briefly mentioned this at the beginning of my last post, but since then time and time again I’ve found myself stopping, looking out of the window at the park and saying, “Wow. We are so lucky.” The signing of the new two […]

Live video streaming from the iPhone (again)

Having enabled video on my iPhone, I thought it would be fun to check out the possibility of live streaming to the net – via 3G, out on the streets. I’ve done two short tests today, both of which can be seen here. (The first is below, the second one is very long, and dull, […]

Good People Networking Event

I’ve just woken up from a pretty surreal night of dreams about social networking and web 2.0 technologies. It was fuelled by the experience last night of spending a few hours at a networking event held in Ebisu, where I was able to meet some really interesting folks (about 134% of whom were iPhone users) […]

Volunteering, earthquakes and my dream house

As I mentioned on Twitter, *Twinkle’s* come down with a nasty itchy rash covering her whole body. It’s pretty spectacular. What’s equally spectacular is how quickly it appeared, and how much it’s faded following a night of rest. She’s still not 100% though, so is taking the day off, and is as snug as an […]

Epic B&W Tokyo Sunset

I’ve decided to re-post the black and white shot of yesterday’s sunset over Tokyo, and also upload a much bigger version should people want to try and find their houses 🙂 View / download the Big Picture here. I particularly like the way the new skyscraper in Naka Meguro stands out, with its two little […]

Sunset over Tokyo

Note Mount Fuji rising above the Kanto horizon These were taken from the roof of the 53-storey Mori Tower, Roppongi Hills. The skydeck reminded me of a ship. Big sky, and a huge sea of buildings. Admittedly you don’t tend to get many buildings in the sea, but nonetheless… You can just see Mount Fuji […]

Gaijin Bubble – Being a good husband – Taking action

Sunset from our front door The intense feeling of ‘being a foreigner’ is starting to fade. These past few weeks there have been several occasions when I’ve been out and about, and completely forgotten that I’m a member of the 2%(ish) minority population of non-Japanese residents in Japan. Upon arrival back in Japan last September […]

A walk to work

The other day I decided to get off the subway one stop early and walk the last bit to the office. I took a few photos along the way as I circumnavigated the north-west corner of the grounds of the Imperial Palace. Clever map thing courtesy of the iPhone & Everytrail (click to open walk […]

Think I’ll take the next one

(part two) What amazes me is how most of the time everyone does actually fit in when the doors close. Having said that this morning there was a whole leg sticking out of the next, which made the carriage look like some kind of hybrid centipede…

Laser eyes, the work, the friends and the MCs

You find me sitting in the waiting room at the Shinagawa Laser Eye Clinic in central Tokyo. …feeling queasy. *Twinkle* has just been taken up to the 15th floor to have her eyes done, leaving me in the big waiting room on the floor below, stuck in front of a TV showing an instructional video […]

Pace picking up

I’m starting to get pretty busy now, with increasing numbers of private students contacting me through www.findateacher.net and www.nativesensei.com. In addition to that, the Shibuya school is throwing a lot more work my way – I have another full day of 1-on-1 tomorrow (thanks to Shari I’ll be better prepared this time!) Today I was […]

Do you recognise this man?

I can’t be the only one who is being stalked by this man – I’ve seen him several times since I got back, and I remember him from 2006/ 2007 too. Does anyone know anything about him? Is he a local celebrity like Hello Kitty Scooter Gran in Niseko? (Apologies for poor photo – iPhone […]

The Streets where we live

Here’s the stables I was twittering about yesterday, just along the road from our house. Am amazed by Google’s coverage of Tokyo. View Larger Map

Himonya Matsuri

Seems that the mini-procession yesterday was just a warm-up for today’s festival. The chap with his back to us is hitting two sticks together to keep the team in time I like the contrast in this one Check out the little kiddies hitting the big drum More photos on Flickr

Hello from Tokyo

hello hello, brief update from amongst the piles of *stuff*. It’s so good to be back with *Twinkle*. Things are better than ever. Interesting how marriage has changed the relationship (in a good way). We moved into our new apartment. It’s small, and suffers from damp, although that should improve once the heat passes. Good […]

Beware the Jubjub bird

Seven pretty strong earthquakes 100 miles from Tokyo today. I tend to worry when that happens. makes me wonder if *twinkle* is OK, as her parents’ house is pretty old. If she’s OK, it’s likely my other friends are too (and she’s fine, texted me news updates as they struck!) (although of course if it […]