Jawaad Mahmood in Tokyo

Just me in the Fukutoshin-line from Fujimino to Ikebukuro. It’s the height of convenience, but it might take 45 minutes to get to Shibuya (not to mention the time spent waiting for that particular train).

It was a fascinating experience. As someone who doesn’t spend much time in a boardroom, having the opportunity to sit down and talk to people involved in business was an experience well worth it.

I was surprised by the frank honesty expressed by the people there. I started talking to a businessman who I discussed the GM/Ford/Chrysler situation with. He told me (and I agreed with him) that GM has been producing substandard products for a long time, and until recently wouldn’t even change the steering orientation in their cars. This, more than the taxes involved, made establishing an American automotive presence in Japan an impossibility. Still, I gave him pause when I told him that the only major manufacturing that would be left in the US would be military stuff – Boeing/Northhop/etc.. The arsenal of freedom reduced to nothing…

I also had a nice chat with some of the foreign businessmen there; there were people from Canada, Germany, the UK, Australia, Japan and the US represented. A lot are dreading the boom now that Lehman Brothers is gone. I can’t say I blame them.

A few months back I was desperately looking for housing (and never managed to find anything). There wasn’t a single apartment that cost less than 90 man (about 1100$ at today’s rates) within 30 minutes from Tokyo. For anyone who is trapped in a house share or a gaijin house, here’s a few places to check.

http://www.kimiwillbe.com/aptrec.htm – These guys have a lot of apartments – nearly found something in Kita Senju (but wound up going with my current places). You can find something at nearly any price range, so don’t fret if you only can pay 5 man a month.

http://www.t-hal.com/indexEE.html – Found my current apartment here, a 3LDK in the boonies. These guys advertise on Metropolis, but it’s easy to miss them. Their apartments are up past Ikebukuro. The ones in Kami-Itabashi are like 15 minutes away on the Tojo line.

http://www.greencourttokyo.com/ – This is run by a bunch of gaikokujin, so you shouldn’t have any trouble working things through with them. Their website is totally outdated though.

Some of you are going to want to try to do things the Japanese way (like I tried). It is possible, but make sure you have information about 2 guarantors set up. Also make sure they aren’t assholes who will call you one day and tell you “Oh I can’t be your guarantor” for whatever stupid reason. Further, keep in mind that in Japan, 2+2 = 6. That is to say, 2 months of shiki-kin and 2 months of rei-kin are not all you pay; you also pay 1 month to the real estate agent and 1 month rent. It makes a huge difference – make sure you are mentally prepared. The best site I found to search was http://realestate.yahoo.co.jp, but expect that the “too good to be true” deals (50+ m^2 in Tokyo for less than 100,000 ) are tricks to lure you into the real estate office. The 0/0 thing is a trick too, because most places that charge no reikin charge a “cleaning fee” that is magically the same as one month’s rent.

Some of this stuff is at Metropolis, other at Tokyo Notice Board. I have, over the past few months, given a call to nearly every real estate person who advertises in both (not to mention some that advertise no where that I heard of through word of mouth). Almost all of them were exceptionally courteous and professional. However, if you are like me and don’t want to spend a thousand bucks a month on a 10 mat apartment, do yourself a favour and look around. You don’t need to be living with assholes if you don’t want to.

I had a blast at a party at the Butler’s Cafe in Shibuya. I had a chance to meet a lot of interesting people, and interact with 30 or 40 people in a social situation – a fucking rarity for me.

I also had a great opportunity to observe how Japanese people get their mack on. Examine this guy’s “cell phone profile” that he sent me.

NOTE:?? 45~47 ?? 61.5~63 ?? 71~74 ?? ??48~50 ??? 27~30 ? 18~23

Basically he was giving his sizes so any prospective girlfriend would be able to assert whether or not he was desirable as a potential mate.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/12/12/minneapolis.somalis/index.html

Can you imagine the horror of that poor mother?

I wish I could find the beard that convinced him to do it, so I could make a beheading video of my own.