Already? Still Monday it is… Hahaha
Happened to be part of gathering tonight over BBQ in a restaurant.
Including myself, 5 colleagues… from same consulting firm got together for information exchange.

20170227 Shinbashi, Tokyo #theta360 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Lots of interesting topics covered!
Usually, I am in one project and work under that environment… focusing on project and client.
With 5 folks, lots of different insight about clients and ourselves. Very interesting!

Something I have never known… great source of information. Now I need to think what to do with it… Hahaha.

Anyway, long night with lots of talks and drinks were obviously not enough. Need exactly what we had tonight again.

Needed to make it quick lunch… turned out that MoonFlower and I lined up for udon at famous restaurant.



Inaniwa Udon and Tendon at Kaneko Hannosuke located in the Coredo Muromachi.

In the middle of afternoon, Kuroneko Yamato finally delivered the goods that I purchased at Rakuten:



Brand new suitcase! Rimowa Salsa Air blue just in.



Now am getting ready for very next business trip starting next week!

After the closing of a big project, I am quite relaxed and slept in. This is sure thing for all of you folks as well, right? I am sure that it is.
Crossed my mind about what to eat and I ended up a new place not too far from home.
It is called "Wheet and Olive."

What an interesting name for Ramen shop. It is really and it is FAMOUS. Original shop is in Ginza.
Now it opens new place in Nihonbashi. I think that it is from 22nd of February. So still quite new.



Not "Ramen" it called. Rather, "Soba."
Soba applies more Japanese noodle with buckwheat flour. Rather, Ramen is made out of ordinary (?) wheet flour.
Hahaha. Cannot explain the real difference in English… but they are different.

In Japanese, Soba-ko vs. Komugi-ko. They are different.

Well, first time for me to go into this famous noodle place. It was very different from ones I usually eat. Pretty simple but very taste.
I may try other on the menu soon!



From 2:20pm, I went in a movie theater to check this out:



Vin Diesel's TRIPLE X - Return of Xander Cage.
Very easy story to follow and fun to watch because he never gets shot at all no matter how many bullets shot aiming at him.
Is this American James Bond? Or reality of America's Avengers?



This is finally bought and here at home. Now still missing new suitcase. Be here soon??? Will see.

Started with trip to Germany around the same time last year… the project finally gets ended TODAY.
At least officially, so!
After spending 10 days at 10 different sites appointed - total 100 consulting days, final reporting was completed today at 5pm.

the Meeting started at 1pm and I had to make a longest presentation like 4 hours. All in English, of course.



My colleague was relaxed and even took picture of me while I was making important presentation!
Fortunately, everything went ver well even though there were more questions than anticipated.
80-some PowerPoint slides were good asset to use but I actually have much more… 2,000 slides that I can use as source to answer such questions.

100 days at the site give me a lots of information. Hahaha.

Then meeting was closed with applause by the participants and time for me to get relaxed after all.
Treat by my colleagues takes place in the restaurant from 7:30pm.
Fancy dinner begins!



300g steam came as the main of the dinner course at "Oak Door" located within Grand Hyatt Tokyo Hotel.
Very fancy and expensive! Hahaha.



After dinner, moved on to the bar within the same location. I almost had a chance to smoke cigar.
I really do like the smell.
Someday, I will try to see how I like smoking cigar.



At the bar, I selected Hibiki 21 years for closing the celebration. Wow, that is really good one.
Long day is now over. I feel good about it.
Now new and extended project come to start. Oh boy, expectation on return / result is much higher than before. Will see what I can do.

Client comes to annual meeting with executives of many different companies that it has business with.
More than 150 people were in the meeting took place in the hotel conference room.
I then self-invited to the meeting and sat in very last low.



Yeah, I never received an invitation. Though, I wanted to see what kind of information communicated within.
So I actually got okay from my counterpart at client to attend the meeting.
No one really got upset when seeing me in there. Hahaha.



Then showed up to the Conrad Hotel for early evening meeting with colleagues who just got in Tokyo from Europe tonight.
Okay, now it is all set for a big meeting tomorrow. Tomorrow, I have to give a presentation for final reporting of the project 2016.
Meeting is set for 4 hours. Will see how much I can last… Hahaha.

Brand new gadget just in.
It is an Epson projector. Very light and small!
Epson just released this model in January, 2017. Very expensive… more than 1K in USD. Oh boy.





Of course, I can expense it. I have to. For a long time from now on, this projector is MINE or at least under my possession. Hahaha.

Very easy relaxing Sunday it was.
I sit deeply in sofa pretty much for all day long. No energy to do anything in particular besides net surfing for information. Hahaha.
Still looking for business bag online…

After 8pm, drove back in town. No heavy traffic at all even in the middle of Tokyo. Everything was calm in peace.
I am about to be used to the route from Chiba to new home.
Now next concern is of MoonFlower can drive such route back and forth. That can be a long way to go. Hahaha. Will see.

Not only new business bag but also something else in mind… which is:



Called luggage rack you usually see in the hotel room. Now need such for my home, too.
Though, what we found online is pretty expensive. Closely 100 bucks. Thought that it would be of 20 bucks or so.
Will see if we really do buy one for us or not.

This coming week is going to be a busy one. Will see how I can survive through.

Woke up at usual time and jumped on my car right after that.
Drove up to Chiba since MoonFlower spent last night at her sister's home.
I joined her there and continued for shopping.

After grocery shopping, stopped by an outlet shopping mall in Kisarazu.
Very nice BALLY business bag found on the shelf.
ALMOST bought it. Yeah, really close.

I saw one in navy color. This is black one but you can tell how it looks.



Almost bought it.
Made our dinner early today and opened a bottle of wine first.



Didn't drink 2nd bottle. Just one for today. Same as usual.
French wine from Bourgogne.

Early start didn't result early finish. I stayed up late… hahaha.



Extra shot for today.
I may sell it out… maybe?
Resale value of this kind of watch is not so (at all?) high. Hahaha.

Didn't plan to but turned out that it was movie night tonight.

Had a long day for work until 8pm or so. Worked with client, with peers and with young consultants.
Last job done for today was that I participated in the workshop organized for such new and young fellows.
It was interesting "academic-like" atmosphere.

Supper was at ramen noodle shop.



This was my supper and found out that MoonFlower was at much better place to eat:



It was FUGU cuisine. Fugu is blowfish… this is a large Fugu sashimi plate.
Believe me that this is VERY expensive. Very tasty, though.
How come she gets such a better treat? I come to very cheap food like ramen? Oh boy, this is such an unfair world between us.

So I had to make something happen to compete with her. I checked and decided to go to movie after ramen.



Watched Japanese movie called "Survival Family."
One family's story about surviving during the long period out of electricity.
Amazing enough to know how much we rely on such power.

Without power, things are not going to be the same at all… not only material wise but also mental wise.

Finished watching movie at quarter after 11pm. Just hit my sack straight then. Hahaha.

This is 5th movie in this year, already. Way to go!

Since Nihonbashi is the area that MoonFlower and I show up often, it is important to know this area well.
I ended up ordered a guide book about the area.



Lots of traditional as well as new restaurants introduced within.
We have to check as many places as possible as far as living not too far from the area.
Will see how many can be covered and see how long we can last in terms of spending for dine-out. Hahaha.

Now it is mid-February, things get really started. I just received signed / sealed contract from a client today.
Yes, it is official start of the project today. YEY.
I will be "engaged" in a project for next 10 months. Yeah, job for a year! Hahaha.

I put two out of three "luminous" photos on Instagram today. First two of them are just ones.



Cool and different face at night… simple gorgeous one. Different from complex chronograph face.



Another awesome one… very stylish luminous face. Long bar indices are very stylish, don't you think? I do!!!



This one does not, at least has not gone to Instagram yet. Compared to above two, things are still good but somehow mediocre. Hahaha.

Anyway, time to get back work.
Let me finish having fun with watches. Hahaha.

One last PTO or paid time-off before a new project which is coming up.
Somehow, MoonFlower also taking off today.
Meaning that we should go out for doing something.



Yes, this is must-visit restaurant for lunch. Finally… but had to line up for 20-25 minutes. Better than expected.



Another visit… we came to famous Japanese sweets after lunch.
LONGER line was there, already. Had to wait for 30-some minutes because more than 15 people were before us.



These are dinner shots. We chose ODEN for supper tonight.
Yeah, oden is old Japanese foods… for older people? Hahaha.



Man, didn't know that there was an excellent oden place not too far from where we live!!!
Cannot complain.

Big supper turned out to be expensive dinner for two!!!



Somehow, we ended up very expensive restaurant tonight. No special reasons at all… just happened to be.







Very good dishes one after another.
Wow, we have to make up some occasion for such formal dinner.
Anyhow, great to know such a lovely place and we should come back for some celebration in future. Just need a reason.

You know what I mean.

All right… Friday is over. Now going into a weekend!



Today's attire and pen for work.
Brioni tie is always cool and I love it. Very fancy and perfect match to Cartier Santos100XL.
Pen is also gold today. Pelikan Souveran M450 Vermeil / Tortoise. This is no longer produced.

Pretty good match and coordination, don't you think? Too vivid?



Finally came to see this movie before too late. I took advantage of free movie ticket today.
Somehow, "The Accountant" is changed to "The Consultant" in Japan. Probably, it is much easier for all to imagine.
Well, the movie was so-so. I thought that it would be much better and fun. It was mediocre one.



Last shot for the day… over the supper in the pizza place. MoonFlower and I found very good place!
Yammy pizza it was.
Okay, let's enjoy the weekend!

5 straight nights of stay - this is a requirement for coming-up business trip to Fukuoka.
I will be there from March 1st.
Until this afternoon, that requirement was a little bit different.

Precisely, 3 nights in Kurume and 2 nights in Fukuoka. I had hotel reservation, accordingly.

Well, things got changed and I need to adjust my itinerary as well.
That is a difficult task.
5 nights straight is hardly secured with single hotel. Somehow, March 4th… Saturday night stay is tough one.

Gave up on online reservation after more than several tries.

Now calling hotels directly to see if any vacancy. Sometimes, hotel has MORE rooms than how that appears online.
Do you have such experience? I do.
Online is not as fast as manual operation! Hahaha.

At least I found two hotels which set a room on Saturday with OUTRAGEOUS price!
Well, I cannot complain since that day is booked out everywhere and everyone wants extra bucks.
Then I made a reservation with one of them.

One idea just came up…

Called concierge service which is provided by major credit card company.
Requested such condition to see if any room can be secured from major hotel including those I made calls today.
Will see how such concierge service works. Very interesting experiment, don't you think?

I should receive response from the service anytime.
Will keep you posted.

Mobile worker it is… it is me doing such today.
Decided NOT to show up to the office at all since no business meetings were planned.
Thus, I stayed in nearby Starbucks Coffee shop for my own work.



I finally came to find my schedule book for 2017.
It had been packed in the box for moving and it was sitting somewhere in the house until today.
Finally, I recovered and now can use it for my planning.





French bal located in Ningyocho.
It was great place found, finally.
Good live music came along. Perfect dining place for our family. Very relaxing place with great French!

Recommended.

Called "CHEZ ANDRE DU SACRE-COEUR."

Stayed in the client's place… very late tonight. Happened to deal with some information only available within the office.
Yeah, I cannot steal information.
Management Consultant is not of enterprise espionage! Hahaha.



My only weapon is this: Delta's Dolce Vita fountain pen



Gas slip was just in. I was quite curious that how much the gas is going to be at new place since we use gas for heat more often.
Well, compared to previous location, the charge is pretty much same… a big relief!

Next project is coming up in a while… thus, it means that I still can spare some time…
So after work, went to a movie… since Monday's price is off.
In fact, every Monday the movie ticket becomes cheaper with coupon.

Usual price is 1,800 yen -> 1,100 yen with coupon.



Picked "Doctor Strange." Yeah, Marvel's movie.
Story was rather simple; however, the motion picture was quite decent.
Cannot wait for next Avengers' movie for sure!



Lunch - 600 yen.



Supper with MoonFlower. Quick supper with limited alcohol tonight. Didn't plan to drink… much.

Okay, Monday is now finished. Next?

Went to a strawberry firm to pick up our orders!
Yeah, it is our tradition to do so in this time of year.
It was about a 30-minute drive to get this firm:



Always crowded with customers. Today is just another day. There are 5 or 6 customers were waiting in a line, already.
Spent about 20 minutes waiting and finally came to our order - 4 packs of strawberries.
This firm produces very sweet ones. So exciting!

After coming home, we went out to Ginza.
MoonFlower wanted to buy some ceramics and we missed since other customer had bought some out before us. Too bad.
Then, we continued looking around and I particularly look for business bag.



They are from the brand called Wildswans.
Very nice one… but still didn't buy one for myself yet today.
Still need to look farther. Hahaha.

Today's agenda was the cemetery visit with MoonFlower.



I put on tsumori chisato shirt along with blue-strap Frank Muller. Pretty young adult fashion for today.

Spending night at second house (?) located in Chiba and of course we take everything very easy!

Family dinner taking place tonight to celebrate the completion of 1st month in 2017!
Well done! Lots of things happened… already.
MoonFlower and I went to our usual place in Chiba. Restaurant that friend of ours running…







Too much of great stuff. No complaints whatsoever. So good.
Great dinner wrapping up the 1st month of a year.
Hope things are going okay next month and even longer.