Saigon Stories – Today’s Adventure

Today was actually not so adventuresome. However, today the Buddhist funeral infront of my house ended. The old lady who spoke to me in French not 6 months before and told me to “Firmez le porte doucemont” passed away. They then erected a shrine and had chants, prayers and visitors for three days. It was…… Continue reading Saigon Stories – Today’s Adventure

Controversy for the Whole Family

Controversy for the whole family! By tok_matthew January 19th, 2005 @ 1:19 PM Uncategorized I just had a chat with someone we shall refer to as “the patriot,” which got me thinking about this subject. Most of us hard core ex-pats who truly try to integrate with the host culture often find ourselves in a complex situation.…… Continue reading Controversy for the Whole Family

Tokyo – Racism in Japan

Racism in Japan By tok_matthew January 4th, 2005 @ 5:06 PM Law & Order, Racism In today’s Japan times there is an article on page 13 entitled “Racism is bad business.” It addresses the issue of foreigners being barred entry to certain Japanese establishments and how this hurts international business in Japan. Over my 3 years in Japan…… Continue reading Tokyo – Racism in Japan

Tokyo – Back in Tokyo

Back in Tokyo By tok_matthew January 1st, 2005 @ 12:00 PM Entertainment I’m back in Tokyo for one week and it feels like a homecoming. I really missed this place and it’s good to be back. There wasn’t much culture shock like going to America and my first experience was interesting. I sat and chatted with a…… Continue reading Tokyo – Back in Tokyo

Tokyo – Nightlife in Tokyo

However, I’ve found that most of the best places are not advertised in the foreigner media and are only discovered by word of mouth. Everytime I look at Metropolis I see a million ads for small dirty bars which while posessing their own small campus bar charm are not up to par for a city like Tokyo. When I first arrived and asked the Japanese where to go

Saigon Stories – Vacationing in Saigon

Vacationing in Saigon By tok_matthew December 4th, 2004 @ 2:10 AM Entertainment As most of you know I’m no longer geographically in Tokyo but now living in HCMC, Vietnam. I must say I get homesick for Tokyo and the order in that society. Here there is no order and is complete chaos everday. I read your entries…… Continue reading Saigon Stories – Vacationing in Saigon