Monday was Coming of Age day (a national holiday for those paying attention) and it was coincidentally also the Ome Daruma Market. To add pomp and circumstance to my 2026 resolution, after some cat-sitting, I ventured all the way to Ome, and in exchange for cash and a few words of broken Japanese, returned triumphant with a Daruma the size of a voluptuous pineapple.
Unfortunately I woke up the next day with a throat so sore that eating hurt. This was not a great start to the week, and between working from home and staying (mostly) indoors most of my escapades involved housework.
But: One of my chores involved contacting some law firms. Most wrote back. One, with an address in one of Tokyo’s “nicest” business districts, emailed me a quote with so many zeroes that my head is still spinning.
Back in Japanese class for this term, and it’s certainly a difficulty notch higher. I can rattle off the self introductions fairly unprompted now.
After some wrangling, we re-did the branding for my department for an all-hands presentation. I’m sticking hard to the comms plan I bundled my strategy into, and was pleased to see the chat go “3 Es!” as I was presenting my slides.
I felt OK on Friday, but a rare total shut-down of both of my train-lines (also the two busiest lines in Tokyo: Yamanote and Chou) kept me stuck at home.
Friday night I ventured to Mizonokochi for a very good shinnenkai followed by nijikai at what turned out to be a branch of the same gyoza place we went to in Shibuya. Very good end to the week, and start of the year. I discovered “Plum wine in hot water” and it’s a dangerous combination.
At the weekend I went to GMO Sonic. I thought last year’s line-up was better, but I’ve always wanted to check out Tiësto and I saw some DJs I know in another city were going, so I went. It was pretty good! And I had never seen Dom Dolla before, but his set was fantastic and I’ll definitely look out for him in future posters. Highlights reel here.
