Ever seen Mr. Baseball? The scene where he's hitting baseballs at a golf driving Range?

So since moving to Tokyo, I've been dying to play some golf and heard of the crazy prices they charge in Tokyo so I decided to check it out.  It was a lazy Sunday afternoon when my buddy asked me if I'd like to hit ball with him.  It was a short 15 minute walk from the Omotesando station and located at Meiji jingu gaien where they have the Jingu baseball satdium, Golf driving range, Ice Skating Rink, Tennis courts, and much more.  What an amazing complex!  When we first got there, we noticed that there were two driving ranges, one the furthest you could hit before going into a net was 65 yards, and the second about a 100 yards further at 160 yards.  It was actually a converted baseball stadium so when we got there the 160 yard was not ready yet as there was still a baseball game going on.  So we decided to wait until the game was over so we could hit the ball a little further.

So we waited for about an hour and the driving range was amazing, beautiful mats, three levels, individual seats, fans......... and the best part about it you got to hit out into a baseball field.  Tokyo being Tokyo, everything was advanced from where you inserted your money card to the balls automatically coming up to electronically controlled tee heights.  The one downside, it was extremely pricey for a driving range.  So here is the price breakdown  As you can see in this picture, the card was 3,000 JPY to hit 92 golf balls.  Converting 3,000 JPY to USD you come out with $37.50 for 92 balls.  That's more than $0.40 per ball to hit only 160 yards.  Anyway, it was a good time and I'm sure I'll head back there again to fulfill my golfing needs.  For those of you looking to hit balls here it is walking distance from Aoyama Itchome station.

I cooked for the first time in Japan....

Hi my loyal followers.  So, Japan is well known for it's combinis or convenience stores like they call them in the states.  They have them everywhere, and what's great about them is that you can do so many things there (which I will cover in another blog post) along with buying fairly tasty food for a decent price.  As a result, I often find myself grabbing something quick to eat when i don't go out to eat or eat at work. 

This convenience has made it very difficult to get motivated to cook.  However, for the first time I busted out my pan to cook my first meal in Japan.  As you can see, I stuck to the basics -- spam, eggs and rice.  Yes, I am from hawaii and I love my spam.  Here is a picture of the before, eggs, instant rice from korea, a bag of spinach that I  bought from a combini around the corner from my house, two eggs which I bought from a combini as well and 3 slices of spam.  Food here, especially ones of great quality like this meal right here can often run pretty expensive.  So I'm glad I was able to make it for myself.

  Here is the after picture, pretty good right? 

So i promised I'd provide some helpful hints about traveling to Tokyo....so here goes!

Tokyo Airport Limousine from the Grand Hyatt at Roppongi Hills to Narita International Airport

Hi All, This post is not so much about food nor things to do in Japan.  However, the information that I'm about to provide might come in handy to all those that want to travel to Tokyo.  In the US, getting picked up by friends, taxis, family members, etc... is usually the way to go when you land at the airport.  However, in Asia, it's much different.  The most common mode of transportation to/from the airports are these "Limousine Buses."  For Narita, the major international airport for Tokyo, it often takes 60-90 minutes to get to the Airport.  So how do you get there in an affordable fashion?  It's the Tokyo Airport Limousine Bus.  From any major hotel/train station in Tokyo, an Airport Limousine Bus can pick you up and transport you to Narita in a convenient, timely, and comfortable manner.  Schedule to/from Narita or Haneda can be found here. 

Tsukiji Tsushi :)

Tsukiji fish market is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world.  At any time of the day or night, you can find locals and tourists enjoying fresh seafood.  Since moving to Japan, people always ask what do you eat there? Are you eating Sushi and Ramen all the time?  NO -- I'm not.  Japan has much more to offer than just Sushi and Ramen, but damn the Sushi at Tsukiji is amazing and if I could be here everyday I would be eating Sushi all the time :)

Surprisingly, while most things in Japan are more expensive here than in the US, high quality sushi is much cheaper here than any sushi bar or japanese restaurant that I've eaten in the states.  This Nigiri set includes Toro, Meguro, Hamachi, Uni, Ikura, Uni, Ebi, Surf Clam, Tamago, and some other pieces for around $30 US.  Great deal right?  And look at those beautiful pieces of sushi, the combination of rice, wasabi, and fresh seafood is an amazing combination.  Stay tuned for more food pics and thank you for following. 

Until next time, Sayonara!

Basketball is Universal.....

My long-time blog followers and loyal fans :) sorry I have not been posting recently.  I have been traveling around from San Francisco to Beijing, Beijing to Seoul, Seoul to Tokyo, Tokyo to Beijing, Beijing to Tokyo, Tokyo to New York City, and last weekend was my first weekend back in Japan since the beginning of August.  Crazy huh?  So how did I spend my first weekend back?  Well, I played in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the city of Matsumoto in the Nagano prefecture.

It took about 3 hours to get here on train from the Shinjuku station in Tokyo and a group of about 20 of us (3 teams entered in the 3 on 3 tournament) traveled together.  It was a great time traveling with a bunch of people I haven't met before and all of them were very welcoming.  Most of them, like me, moved out to Tokyo to work and a common interest -- basketball -- has brought them all together.  Here is a group picture of all of us.  



As we arrived into Matsumoto to play in the basketball tournament, it was quite the gathering of locals.  There were 64 teams total.  Saturday was group play where you had to be the top two teams of your group of 4 to make it into the tournament.  There were 16 groups and 4 courts.  Luckily, Taco Bell A made it out also known as Batman.  We named all our teams Taco Bell A, B, and C because a guy known as Tako organized the tournament for us.  We were the only ones that traveled from outside of Nagano to play and it was fun to be amongst so many local japanese folks.

Below are pictures of Taco Bell A (Batman), Taco Bell B (Superman), and Taco Bell C (Popeye).

Two of the three teams made it into the second day with our team easily getting out of Round 1.  Unfotunately, we met some tough competition late in the second day and came short of the championship. 

Below are more photos for your enjoyment, much more posts to come (next one will probably be about the Onsen in Matsumoto)

Take care my loyal followers.