I don't like Roponggi

Rogponggi has the name of party town, meat market. In fact, it is the only area in Tokyo, when you are in it, you don't feel like you are in Japan. You would probably feel that you are in the sleezy dodgy corner of New York, San Francisco or London, but with a lot of hot Japanese chicks. English is heard everywhere, the Nigerians are working very hard for their club to drag men into their pubs, they alleged it is filled with beautiful ladies (hey, I am not being a racist, it is just quite a few time these African men talk to me when I was half drunk trying to find my way home, we chatted a bit, 9 out of 10 they are from Nigeria).

Beautiful ladies are another story, it seems like it is a meat market for men, on the surface. It is also a meat market for woman to hunt for one night stand. But men are too sturbbon to believe they are actually being hunted by those looking innocent and cute Japanese ladies. Let's let them continue believing that.

One of my consultant friends said that anything can happen in Roponggi, I do believe him. That's the charm for them. However, I never like this area. Clubing and dancing is not really listed in my dictionary of fun definition (jogging and working out maybe, ha). The drink they serve is not premium type of alcohol, most people are just there to get a quick buzz. The music is so loud that you have to text message your friend sitting next to you so that two of you can communicate (no wonder everyone is reading his/her mobile phone). This is actually very stressful, where is the fun? I want to sit in a cozy nice bar with good Jazz music and premium single malt. That's not in Roponggi.

Being Fair and Square

After being Japan for a while, you sort of getting used to the way Japanese think. They prefer to be fair. A bottled water sells for 90 yen in the city, but sells for 400 yen in the top of Mount Fuji. People understand the difficulty and trouble to get goods transport to the top of Mount Fuji, deal. Raman is about 800 yen mark, anything costs less probably does not taste as good as 800 yen ones (of course, there are exceptions, but rarely). You rarely are in the situation feeling that you are being cheated, I guess it is because in Tokyo, the population is 13 millions (Taipei 6 million and Hong Kong 6 million), you have to be really really lucky to cheat and survive on the same time. There are so many other alternatives in terms of food and drinks. If you are not running your business in the honourable way, chances are you are going to be put out of business fairly soon.

Dealing with Japanese in every day life, you can also feel this "fair and squre" principle in every aspect. They would never want you to buy them a free beer, although you offer. They would somehow remember it and pay you back with something else later on. I think this is to release themselves from the burden of owing anyone anything.

The only exception is probably the telecom industry, so many political and legacy reasons, I think it is hard to break.

Coming back to Hong Kong (3)

Rollerblading on the street? Not possible in Hong Kong.
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The only thing I am not used to is the crampiness of the living space. There are people, cars, skype scrapers everywhere. This is a place that you find no room to breath. Comparing to Hong Kong, Tokyo is much more relax. Even in the Wall street equivalent area in Tokyo, there are spacious corridors, pedestrain walk, and open space. There are more parks and trees. You only have air pollution in Hong Kong. And also, bicycling is not allowed on the street.

I cannot go out running during my whole stay, I can only run in the tiny gym in the hotel, which is also suffocating.

Nevertheless, this is an amazing island, such a small space with so much energy. But living in Hong Kong would really be a challenge.

Coming back to Hong Kong (2)

I made a mistake by using the shampoo provided by the hotel, my hair looked dry like straws sticking out. I really wonder if those shampoo were meant to be used as detergent. When I stopped by the shops during lunch break to look for the solution, the sales woman look at me and comments you really need to use some good shampoo. I know, that's why I am here.

I worked in IFC, which is the most prestigious location in Central. Most people around are dressed in the designer suits, I think it is probably time for me to get some shopping done... Oh well, I guess I will be soon forgetting about it as soon as I see foods. However, my feelings about Hong Kong is that it is more international than Tokyo. After all, English used to be the official language and I guess, expats are feeling more at home.

I walked around the hotel area. In the mid summer nights, there are a lot of ghost people (that's how Hong Kong people address westerners, Chinese are real human and those with golden hair and tall nose bridge are ghost) hanging around in the pub with open windows to the street, sticky, humid and hot winds blew around, not really cooling anything. Only this shows you the true Hong Kong, a small island in the sub tropical weather. If there hasn't been so much business activities in this financial hub, this could very well be another Puket island.

My Cantonese is really rustic, but enough to order food and get my way around. I think Hong Kong people are now more used to Chinese not speaking perfect Cantonese due to a large influx of Mainland Chinese immigrants. 20 years back, I used to be so concious speaking Mandarin in public when visiting Hong Kong. Mandarin speaking is usually associated with low class or poverty. Things are so different now, Mainlanders are the rich ones going spending spree while Cantonese are the stingy ones.

IOP

With my running regime, I am eating like there is no tomorrow. Yakiniku, yummy.
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Getting my health check results, I was told there might be a chance that my optic discs are enlarged. This could be caused by intraocular pressure. A further examination is recommended. I went on internet searching everything I can to understand what this means, oh my god, IOP and enlarged optic disc are the possible cause of glaucoma.

I made appointment with English speaking ophthalmologist, but damn it, all of the English speaking doctors are not available until next week (is there a optic medical conference in some tropical island or something?). I can do nothing but wait. All kind of horrific thoughts came to me, what if the nerves are really going through some irreversible damage, what if I am really going to go blind slowly, what if there is no cure? Should I quit my job and spend the rest of my eyesight surfing? Or I should stay put making as much money as possible for I can see nothing? Would I have enough money to support myself if I am going to be disable?

Work pressure is not getting lighter, I was still working like crazy (amazingly if I am focusing on work, I don't remember the stress about my eyes). Only on my way home from work, I got really stressed about the whole business.

2 weeks later I finally got to see the eye doctor. First of all, my IOP is normal. Secondly, my optic disc ratio is larger than average, but the thickness of the nerves appear normal. I probably was born with the larger than normal discs. Though I will need to have regular eye check up because I am seriously nearsighted.