Z Reflections

Peace,
--Zackary

Hello my Friends. How are you?

I've been relaxed today as I set up stuff in my new pad here in Tokyo and listen to the rain. When I want to take pictures the rain makes me angry but relaxing at home it is wonderful. Tomorrow I will venture out again to find the grocery, a good 100 yen stores and other important things. Tonight I am going to enjoy some more writing and then watch the latest Bond film online again.

Peace & Love,
--Zackary

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." -John Lennon

My life seems to change by the moment these days. As I was trying to drag myself to the travel agency without much luck I got a new job offer. This offer was too good to turn down so I said yes. Thus, I will be moving to Tokyo and working as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) again at one public junior high school. I am very excited about living in Tokyo again and being able to stay in Japan.

A big thank you goes out to my parents for being incredibly supportive during this process. I love them more than I can ever express. Thank you also to all of you that posted comments and wished me a good journey home.

I think maybe Nigel took this one, I'm not sure. Despite the fact I am still thin this picture makes me look properly fat! From the left: Z, Simone, Doug, Catherine. The Japanese guy was a friend of a friend and I never understood his name. The music and the other people at Shooters are noisy.

I was walking to Shooters and ran into Nigel talking on his cell. It is highly possible that I was a bit lost. Creativity I have in spades, a sense of direction not so much! Nigel had time to stop by for a drink (or two) and invited his Japanese friend.

My phone makes a variety of noises but none of them wake me up anymore. I got this retro looking alarm clock last year and liked it. The number are a nice bright blue and at night they glow. When you plug the alarm clock in it all lights up blue kind of like a night light. Sadly, one morning I must have done something to it because the pin that controls the time in the back came out. I returned it to the right position but it started losing time even more than I do! What is funny is at a local store (Bic Camera) they sell an alarm clock that is reinforced and can survive being bounced off the floor. The sales guy said they sell a ton of them to people visiting from India. He didn't know why either! Too bad it only makes the traditional alarm clock beeping sound.

A few months ago in Tokyo I stayed up most of the night taking pictures. In the wee hours I got some some sleep at an Internet Cafe but the next day I was groggy. Leaving the cafe with my 4th cup of coffee I was waking up but starving. Walking down the street I pulled out my camera, put my ear buds in, and was just turning up Miles Davis when I smelled food. Not wow I have to get some of that right away but food non the less. Setting at the table in this picture an old man brought me a steaming bowl of ramen noodles. I closed by eyes, waited for the noddles to cool and Miles to tell me more about life. Taking off my glasses I set them next to a green glass of water and chop sticks that had appeared. Leaving forward I brushed back my hair, positioned my chop sticks, and consumed the contents of the bowl. A Japanese friend told me once that drinking all the broth makes you fat. He was fat so I guess he knew what he was talking about. Getting up I found it hard to remember there had been anything but salt in that bowl. Hitting pause on my i-Pod I asked the old man how much and somehow he communicated it was 700 yen. In anger I pushed the play button while giving him two silver coins and a gold one as I started walking further into the circus they call Tokyo.

I want to say a Big Thank You to my Followers here at Z Reflections. A Big Shout Out to my 2,000 followers on Twitter (MindofZ), you guys rock big time. Speaking of my social networks, my YouTube channel is ZTubeJapan. At the moment I have 18 videos and am adding more soon.

If you have a minute please take my two polls on the left hand side of the screen. Lately I have been getting lots of comments which makes me happy. So thank you #3 goes to those that have commented here and emailed. Feel free to write me anytime at MindofZ@gmail.com

When I first came to Japan I worked for an awful company (that soon went bankrupt) and Jonathan, a nice chap from England was a co-worker. I was confused and disoriented being in a strange new country and and starting a new job. Jonathan was always helpful and kind even when I asked the same question a dozen times.

We ran into each other at bars sometimes and we lived in the same apartment building. Jonathan returned to England on the 3rd and I will miss seeing him.

Welcome back to my blog!

All of the YouTube videos under My Videos are ones that I made. You can see all my YouTube videos and subscribe at
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZTubeJapan

Unless otherwise noted all of the pictures and slide shows are mine as well. At times I do provide links to other videos and articles but believe that my fans expect and deserve original content.

Peace,

Good Morning from Nagoya!

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With pictures from various places I have confused some of my readers. I am from Chicago and currently live in Nagoya, Japan. Tokyo is a fantastic city and I visit as often as possible and take many pictures. I also travel in Japan when I can so there are pictures from various places. I take a hundred pictures and you get the one or two that I like.

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Take care and if you have questions about anything please let me know.

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Peace,

^^Z

Hello Everyone and Welcome! I am happy you took time to come and see me. Please look around and enjoy yourself. If you have any comments, suggestions or think I need more or less of something please share with me. Feedback is always appreciated and helpful.

If you enjoy this blog please click on the right hand side of the screen and Follow me. You are most welcome to Follow anonymously if you feel more comfortable.

Thanks again and I look forward to hearing from you.

Peace,
-Z

After spending four hours talking with the police about my stolen items I was dazed. At least the girl that finally translated and wrote the report was cute. They stressed that I needed a report number to follow up and for insurance purposes. The only insurance I had was on the phone but it doesn't get me a new phone. When I got my special number it was #8. n my semi-conscious state I thought it was pretty funny. I expected it to be like 1q59439204HYT or something. As the girl was sweet and I had no urge to offend the police I kept my amusement to myself.

A half block from the station was the Love sculpture that is a few posts below. Wondering around as my fingers started to tingle from the cold there weren't many streets lights I decided to give my overly enthusiastic flash some time to shine. Trying to take the trees with the flash was somewhat boring at this particular area. For some reason I am fascinated with getting the trees and the buildings together. Maybe this is because I took some pictures that way in Nagoya and thought they were cool. Everyday taking pictures I am looking for something cool. Given the number of pictures I take most people could get a good classic shot. I want more. Always more. So if you ever run into me taking pictures the chances are good I will be muttering to myself and spinning my camera. Probably singing too but hopefully you won't have to hear that! Can someone please get Elton John singing about Daniel out of my head please?

Anyway, I was singing about Daniel and leaning my head all the way back into a bush as I took pictures of this building through the tree. I took a great deal of these types of pictures and most of them were crap. It was not a big surprise that my little flash did not light up a skyscraper. For my purposes I was happy that it lighted up the tree enough that you could still see some of the building. Yes, I did have to cheat a bit and touch up the lighting a bit. That is why you get that annoying green tint. So I won't win any contests with this picture. I like it and I wanted to share it with you my loyal followers. And no, I don't want to spin it around! My neck paid the price for me to get this picture exactly the way I wanted it.

After this picture I realized having my hair deep in the bushes while my fingers were freezing was not the best idea. So I found a pleasant Internet cafe with free DVD's and watched a movie.

Peace to all,
--Z

Welcome back!

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As I mentioned in my post "A Sad Story," my camera was stolen. My parents like everyone else thought this was terrible. They insisted on buying me a new camera so I went out and did that. When I am awake again I will write about the experience of replacing my camera as it makes for a fun story. Just thought everyone would like to know I am able to continue my primary mission here in Tokyo to take lots of pictures.

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When I get home I will run my videos through my magic processor and put new stuff to YouTube so look for that.

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Please feel free to comment on any of my pictures even if you don't like them. I am happy to accept things like, "Zack what were you thinking?!" Or "That picture doesn't work at all." Any suggestions are welcome to like, "Hey Zack, that almost works but next time try a so and so angle." Or even, "Now that is a good picture."

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Peace,

--Z

Welcome back my Loyal Readers!

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For the last month I've looked forward to visiting Tokyo. My plan was to take a few thousand pictures over five days. I came to Tokyo via the overnight JR bus which takes about seven hours. I slept good on the bus and caught up on my email and the news of the day.

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My first full day in Tokyo was great for me because Tokyo is a city, a real city. Big cities convince me there is hope for the world in the same way that other people find comfort in nature. There is so much life and excitement in Tokyo. I was getting some great pictures. My dad got me a new high speed chip for Christmas and I was looking forward to using it for videos.

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Before I continue this story let me tell you that Tokyo is the safest big city in the world. Japan in general is very safe. If you drop your wallet or cash or just about anything a Japanese person will pick it up and hand it to you. They are honest and helpful that way and made living in Japan a comfortable place. People feel so safe that they leave their bags, cell phones, wallets, etc., on their tables at a cafe and go to get coffee. Being from Chicago I find the Japanese mindset to be refreshing.

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Before going into a restaurant I had put all my stuff into my bag including my camera, cell phone and even some money. Before I could enter the Chinese place this big black guy ran into me and stole my bag. He was good, even got my wallet although he dropped it after getting my money. I talked to the police but they weren't very interested. It was one gijin (foreigners) stealing from another giji. This issue of being bias toward foreigners is a big one and I will devote another blog to it. For now just let me say that many Japanese people love foreigners.

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You should in no way be afraid or hesitate to visit Japan and especially Tokyo. Your chances of being robbed are much higher in Chicago, New York, Paris, London, Moscow, etc. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I sound calm now trust me at the time I was sad and angry to a level I find difficult to describe.

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To put things in perspective one of my followers on Twitter shared this link which has pictures of the fighting in Gaza.

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Life is hard and sometimes bad things happens. It sucks for lack of a better word. And it hurts a lot and makes you feel hopeless. Not feelings I like but hardly unfamiliar ones. I could have been hurt physically or had no money left at all. As bad as it is for me a the moment, it could have been a lot worse. So I choose to be compassionate and especially nice to people because life is hard for everyone. I will answer this robbery by being a nice guy.

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Telling this story to Japanese people they are horrified. In the 16 months I have been here I don't know anyone that had their phone taken.

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I wish all of you the best in the New Year.

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Peace,

^^Z