The results of my recent medical exams were out, and aside from the now usual “bad” cholesterol numbers, one particular number caught my attention, CA 19-9, an item under a section called “Tumor Markers.” Oh! The clinic marked it as “D1”, which essentially means I was in deep sh1t, and treatment was required. The doctor…
Stranded in Paradise
A couple of Mondays ago, we were stranded in Paradise. We spent the weekend over at beautiful Izu, and were on our way back to Tokyo. Our Tokyo-bound train was supposed to leave Izukyu-Shimoda at 3PM, but a typhoon had just made landfall, and the trains had been cancelled. We tried renting a car hoping…
Breath of Fresh Air
The other day, I spent a good couple of hours removing our old living room ceiling fan, and replacing it with this new one. This is the WF060 ceiling fan from a Japanese company called Odelic. After installing it and turning it on for the first time, we realized immediately it is a million times…
Sumida Fireworks 2016
You know it’s summer in Japan when there are fireworks almost every weekend. Last week it was the Adachi Fireworks, and this week, it’s the Sumida Fireworks. The good thing about Sumida is the fireworks are very close to the Tokyo Sky Tree. Here are some pics.
Tokyo’s Bicycle
I first heard about Tokyobike from a Japanese TV show where a group of British tourists were talking about Tokyobike and how popular it is in London. My first thought was how ironic that Tokyoites were buying London Brompton Bikes, while Londoners were buying Tokyobikes. I’ve been staying here in Tokyo for about ten years now,…
Birthplace of Tennis in Japan
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to play tennis at Yamate Park in Yokohama. The Meetup organizer named the event “Playing tennis at the first place of tennis in Japan,” so it was more than enough to attract my attention, and make me take that 1.5 hour train ride from where I live, just…
Earning Zero Mileage Points
Last month, my wife and I took a short trip to Europe flying Qatar Airways. Being a long flight halfway around the world, I was a little curious as to how many mileage points I would get. I later checked my JAL Mileage Bank report (JAL and Qatar Airways are both members of OneWorld), and was a bit…
Joanna of Vienna
We Filipinos are very good in recognizing other Filipinos wherever we are in the world. We know it immediately even without saying or hearing a word. We can tell by the way we smile, or the way we make eye contact. We just know. And once we make a positive identification, a simple “kumusta po?”…
Sold my iMac for 29K yen
I’ve had my iMac for more than 6 years now, and after discussions with my wife, we decided it’s time to get a new one. Now the question is, what to do with the old iMac. Send it home The first thing to come to mind is to send it back to the Philippines. For…
Philippine Elections 2016 on Google Trends
I did a quick search on Google Trends with regard to our five presidential candidates and the result I got is interesting, but not at all surprising. If the Philippine Elections were a contest on who generates the most online buzz, i.e. “trending”, there seems to be one clear winner — Rodrigo Duterte. It’s not even close. Of…
Azaleas of Minami-Senju
Not known to many people, but Minami-Senju is kind of a hidden gem, known among the locals and hobbyist photographers for azalea spring viewing. The blooms usually start after the sakura cherry blossoms season (mid-April), and last a couple of weeks until around the Japanese golden week (early-May). During this period, the sidewalks and the center…
Tennis in Tokyo via Meetup
Recently, I found an easy and relatively cheap way to play tennis in Tokyo.
Enrico in Tokyo 