[quote]harrypotter wrote:
[quote]Cortes wrote:
One more gratuitously narcissistic pic. [/quote]
Are you the guy with the umbrella? /ohIsay[/quote]
He’s actually not holding it. It’s an old lady behind him, and he’s pulling a biceps pose. I absolutely adore the way that shot played out, though.
[quote]spiderman739 wrote:
[quote]Cortes wrote:
[quote]harrypotter wrote:
Cotes, just a question.
Is your wife incredibly cute to have such a cutiepie for a child or did you help with the matter? Mym mum took a look and she was all over it. BAAAWWW[/quote]
Ha, thanks, HP, did you miss the pictures I posted on pages 3 and 4? There’s a pic of my wife at the bottom of page 3.
I happen to think she’s pretty hot. AND that I helped with the matter. I know I’m right about at least one of those…[/quote]
Does your mrs lift?
My wife has zero interest in lifting. but loves jogging! Crazy, I know.[/quote]
No, and I doubt I’ll ever be able to get her to start. Maybe once the kids are grown and she needs a hobby. Thank God she has those Japanese genetics.
This thread in in danger of becoming no more fun. (;_
Hadn’t read to the bottom of the page.
Thanks guys for setting our sights firmly East again.
Now, let’s enjoy precious posting time!
I hadn’t realized that train accident was in minimi urawa . Heck, I’ve probably been at that station two or three dozen times.
[quote]Gambit_Lost wrote:
I hadn’t realized that train accident was in minimi urawa . Heck, I’ve probably been at that station two or three dozen times.[/quote]
Yeah, me too. Used to ride the Musashino line every day. I remember being stranded at the Nishi-Funabashi station once for two hours because one of the electrical relays somewhere on the line had got struck by lightning and all the trains were stopped. This was when I was coming back from a very interesting trip to Korea, where I had a much better time than poor Chushin seems to have had.
Speaking of train accidents, I remember the one that caused JR and all of the Tokyo subway lines to install emergency stop buttons on all the platforms. It was at Ginza station, and an elderly lady was trying to jump onto a train as the doors were closing. She managed to get her purse through the door just as it closed, but she was still on the platform, on the wrong side of the door, with her purse caught.
Normally, if something like your hand or foot is caught in the door, it’ll open automatically. Not so this time. And normally, if someone is caught in the doors, the platform conductors or the driver will stop the train and open the doors back up. Again, not this time.
The train pulled away, dragging the hapless obaasan along with it. The other passengers inside the train and on the platform tried to free her, but to no avail. The woman was crushed against the entrance of the subway tunnel. Very bad.
The emergency buttons were installed the following week. I seem to recall that there was a pretty hefty settlement paid to the woman’s family.
As an aside, if you are ever in Japan and decide to end it all, do not jump in front of a moving train. Your problems may be over (or not, of you believe that you will be punished for it in the afterlife), but your next-of-kin’s problems will be just beginning. The subway or train company will sue your family for the cost of cleanup and repair, as well as the lost fares represented by the delay in service.
The Aokigahara suicide forest is much better, all around.
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
Yeah, me too. Used to ride the Musashino line every day. I remember being stranded at the Nishi-Funabashi station once for two hours because one of the electrical relays somewhere on the line had got struck by lightning and all the trains were stopped. This was when I was coming back from a very interesting trip to Korea, where I had a much better time than poor Chushin seems to have had.
[/quote]
Maybe Koreans just hate tall people?[/quote]
Nah, just old people.
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
Yeah, me too. Used to ride the Musashino line every day. I remember being stranded at the Nishi-Funabashi station once for two hours because one of the electrical relays somewhere on the line had got struck by lightning and all the trains were stopped. This was when I was coming back from a very interesting trip to Korea, where I had a much better time than poor Chushin seems to have had.
[/quote]
Maybe Koreans just hate tall people?[/quote]
Nah, just old people. ;)[/quote]
Well, fuck YOU very much!
LOL.[/quote]
I lolled. (^=^)
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]Gambit_Lost wrote:
I hadn’t realized that train accident was in minimi urawa . Heck, I’ve probably been at that station two or three dozen times.[/quote]
Yeah, me too. Used to ride the Musashino line every day. I remember being stranded at the Nishi-Funabashi station once for two hours because one of the electrical relays somewhere on the line had got struck by lightning and all the trains were stopped. This was when I was coming back from a very interesting trip to Korea, where I had a much better time than poor Chushin seems to have had.
Speaking of train accidents, I remember the one that caused JR and all of the Tokyo subway lines to install emergency stop buttons on all the platforms. It was at Ginza station, and an elderly lady was trying to jump onto a train as the doors were closing. She managed to get her purse through the door just as it closed, but she was still on the platform, on the wrong side of the door, with her purse caught.
Normally, if something like your hand or foot is caught in the door, it’ll open automatically. Not so this time. And normally, if someone is caught in the doors, the platform conductors or the driver will stop the train and open the doors back up. Again, not this time.
The train pulled away, dragging the hapless obaasan along with it. The other passengers inside the train and on the platform tried to free her, but to no avail. The woman was crushed against the entrance of the subway tunnel. Very bad.
The emergency buttons were installed the following week. I seem to recall that there was a pretty hefty settlement paid to the woman’s family.
As an aside, if you are ever in Japan and decide to end it all, do not jump in front of a moving train. Your problems may be over (or not, of you believe that you will be punished for it in the afterlife), but your next-of-kin’s problems will be just beginning. The subway or train company will sue your family for the cost of cleanup and repair, as well as the lost fares represented by the delay in service.
The Aokigahara suicide forest is much better, all around. [/quote]
That’s interesting, especially given how many do commit suicide by train. Actually, I believe that was the first Japanese euphemism that I learned.
Why are there so many “person accidents” … Oh
[quote]Cortes wrote:
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
Yeah, me too. Used to ride the Musashino line every day. I remember being stranded at the Nishi-Funabashi station once for two hours because one of the electrical relays somewhere on the line had got struck by lightning and all the trains were stopped. This was when I was coming back from a very interesting trip to Korea, where I had a much better time than poor Chushin seems to have had.
[/quote]
Maybe Koreans just hate tall people?[/quote]
Nah, just old people. ;)[/quote]
Well, fuck YOU very much!
LOL.[/quote]
I lolled. (^=^)[/quote]
x2
For those that train what does an average day of eating look like? Any bodybuilding staples? From what I have seen on TV and a few restaurants it seems calculating calories/macros can be a pain given that there are a lot of mini “buffet” type family meals.
A few more q’s.
Can a person teaching english make enough money to live comfortably? Does it depend whether they live in the city or country?
What does the average traditional type home in the countryside go for? I have always thought it would be amazing to live there.
Can foreigners with just a high school education find work other than teaching english? Any advantages to being a foreigner looking for work? Is it hard to find work in he entertainment business i.e. voice overs, commercials, etc.
edit: Is a 2 year degree worth anything? I have never seen it mentioned.
Thanks Cortes for providing a window into a world I’ve been interested in since i was a kid.
I have to go to that side of the world soon.
[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
A few more q’s.
Can a person teaching english make enough money to live comfortably? Does it depend whether they live in the city or country?
What does the average traditional type home in the countryside go for? I have always thought it would be amazing to live there.
Can foreigners with just a high school education find work other than teaching english? Any advantages to being a foreigner looking for work? Is it hard to find work in he entertainment business i.e. voice overs, commercials, etc.
[/quote]
I made eighty grand a year teaching English to private students in my house. I worked twenty-four hours a week, and my income was exempt from US Federal taxes because I was a foreign resident. Plus I deducted operating expenses (rent, electricity, advertising costs, phone bills) so I ended up paying no Japanese income taxes either. Yeah, it’s a good gig. Or at least it was while I was there. Cortes can tell you what it’s like now.
If you don’t mind living in a REALLY rustic traditional farmhouse (tatami mats, no insulation in the walls, shoji screens on the windows, lots of insects), you can live very cheaply indeed. At one point I lived in a gorgeous, massive 200-year old house on about an acre of land, with a thatched roof and huge cypress posts and beams throughout the place. It was cold as fuck in the winter, and impossible to keep clean, the thatch was home to every species of small mammal and insect in the region, AND local legend said it was haunted, but it was only about 200 bucks a month for rent.
[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
For those that train what does an average day of eating look like? Any bodybuilding staples? From what I have seen on TV and a few restaurants it seems calculating calories/macros can be a pain given that there are a lot of mini “buffet” type family meals.[/quote]
There are a lot of all you can eat yakiniku places where for about 25 bucks you can have as much meat (you cook it yourself on a gas grill at your table), vegetables, salad, pizza, sushi, noodles, rice and dessert as you can cram into your pie hole. Shakey’s Pizza also has an all-you-can eat pizza and fried potatoes lunch special, and when I worked in Tokyo I always went to an Indian curry place that had an all-you-can eat buffet during lunchtime. Look for a sign on restaurants advertising “Tabehoudai”. And if you like wine and beer, look for pubs advertising “Nomihoudai”. This means “all you can drink”. 
Cortes, I noticed you said you knew no Japanese before going, what made you decide to go to Japan? Same question for Varqanir.