Category: Japan
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Japan: Take 2
The best laid plans of mice… -Slartibartfast When I left Canada nearly six weeks ago it was with the promise that I would be blogging nearly every day. I said that I was going to be traveling around the country on the week-ends, I would be taking a ton of pictures, and I would be…
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A (Mostly) Boring Trip
I really did have images of going out and having fun every night. I really planned to travel outside of Tokyo and see the country every weekend. That is not what happened. Don’t get me wrong… I have gone out for dinners, if mostly close to home. I have also been spending a lot of…
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Kyoto is to Tokyo…
I got off the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) at Kyoto Station, which was a hustling and bustling place, just like Tokyo Marunouchi Station where I had embarked. In fact while the layout was different and so were the shops, there wasn’t all that much to differentiate this building from all of the other major ports I…
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Kyoto: The Ancient Capital
The last time I was in Japan I did not leave Tokyo. This time I vowed would be different. Before I left Canada I bought several Japan Rail passes, and I was ready to explore. After consulting with my peeps over here, and with Simon’s help tracking down a room (it seems autumn is a…
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Going Away…
When I leave town for two or three days my preparation depends on two factors: How am I going (by car versus by air or train), and what will I be doing (business versus pleasure). My usual MO is to pack two bags: Clothes and sundries in one, electronics (photography and computers) in another. Depending…
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Whisky is Wonderful, but…
If you know me, you probably know that I am a whisky drinker. Had you asked me eighteen months ago I would have said I am a scotch drinker, but that changed when Michael Kulwicki joined the Rakuten End User Technology team in October of 2013. Michael is Scottish, but is living in Tokyo with…
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The Urinating Boy, and the weirdest volunteers ever…
At the north end of Platform 2 of the Hamamatsucho Station on the Yamanote line there is a statue/fountain that may be the strangest I have seen since I got to Japan. I actually have no business at this station and never would have seen it, except for that another gaijin that I met recently…
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Thank you readers and Happy Halloween!!
The calendar has turned in Tokyo. Although there are a few hours left in North America, here it is now Friday, and more importantly it is November. I got in late from a Halloween party in Shibuya… the whole city was a crazy place tonight, and I have the pictures to prove it (they come…
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A Real Trip… Happy Halloween from Japan!
Saturday night was Halloween. Okay, no it wasn’t, but obviously all of the great parties for that occasion are on the week-end. If you can imagine that in Tokyo people seem to dress up in costumes on a regular basis for no good reason, they you will believe that Halloween in Tokyo (and especially in…
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Sick…
Being sick sucks. I discovered earlier this week though that it can suck a lot less… if only there were ways of doing things more efficiently. I had been coughing and sneezing for a week, but Monday afternoon, realizing that I was short of breath after a single flight of stairs, I decided I needed…
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Big in Japan: The Week That Was…
For those of you who follow not only my blog but my Twitter as well (@MGarvis) you will likely know that I have been walking a lot since I got to Japan, and my FitBit (www.fitbit.com) has all the proof you need. You may also have noticed that Tuesday and Wednesday this week my daily…
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My Japanese Diet
With two notable and disappointing exceptions, I have eaten only Japanese food since I arrived in Tokyo. I have tried the Chinese restaurant one more time – it may taste good, but the food has not agreed with me so I will not be trying it again. Other than that, really I have stuck to…
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A Twist…
If you are a frequent reader of The World According to Mitch then you know that I very often take experiences that I have had (or observations that I have made) and apply them to the world of IT. For a change, I thought I would take this opportunity to go the other way. This…
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Back to Japan!
I got a nasty email today from a friend who is angry that I have been writing about PowerShell. Actually to be completely accurate he doesn’t care that I blog about PowerShell, he is just upset that it has been several days (a week?) since I last wrote about my travels in Japan. I am…
The World According to Mitch 