Last week I had a series of national holidays, known collectively in Japan as
Golden Week. I used the time to chill and relax by Mount Fuji, and have a karaoke-tastic time in Tokyo! Tokyo was wonderful, and I definately want to move there at some point, even if its just for a few months. I have far too many photos to share, and was accompanied at various points during the week by a series of amigos- Phil Ford from Notts Uni, Dan "Better Than Nothing" Luton, Georgina and Claire from South Africa, and a Mr. Stephen Harris who is currently on a world tour.
First I feel I should introduce my primary companion to the blog.
Dan, Dan the Sunshine Man has been a good friend for many many years, and over said years has collected such catchphrases as "Better Than Nothing", "If Only It Wasn't True", and most recently the slogan "He Says It Best When He Says Nothing At All". He is a true hero, who helped me greatly during the week, particularly when I injured my foot in a "karaoke incident" and couldn't walk for the next few days (more of which later). Both the
highs and lows of the week revolve around several karaoke incidents- the proudest of which was me belting out the Japanese classic "
Kore ga watashi no ikiru michi" with newfound Japanese friends (all in Japanese).
Tokyo TreatsThere were many exciting places to visit in Tokyo, and so I visited many of them. They included a pub showing live football called
The Footnik, in Ebisu. I managed to see Man Utd virutally clinch the title with a magnificent 4-2 victory over Everton- its been a while since I've supported United in a game! I also saw the impressive
Senso-Ji in Asakusa, which was incredibly busy, packed with Golden Week crowds. Ueno Park was another nice spot, as was
Ginza- shiny upmarket department stores, and very tasty (and expensive) sushi. My favourite areas in Tokyo are in the west though; Shibuya and Shinjuku. I had two good nights out in
Shinjuku, one all-nighter celebrating the Blues' promotion
with Georgina, Claire and Dan. It started with a return to the
Park Hyatt, where me and Pete in Hokkaido were sipping (or downing) expensive gin and tonics in August 2006. From there it progressed to more bars before karaoke, where we were eventually chucked out at 5am (we would have stayed longer otherwise). Afer that me and Dan fell asleep on the Yamanote line, spending far too long then having to find our way back to our accomodation and beds. The other night out in Shinjuku also included karaoke, and an obligatory drunken walk home.
Shibuya was the scene of my third big Tokyo night out, with Pip Ford and Dan. We went for the good-old two hour
nomihodie to "warm up" for more drinking in cheap stand-up bars. We also crashed a karaoke room where we made new Japanese friends and I sang (yet again)
Puffy and
Bob Dylan. I also managed to seriously injure my foot, which meant I needed to go to the hospital the next day and get an expensive X-ray. It also meant Dan was lumbered with my big backpack, but I feel I helped keep moral up in a difficult situation.
Other exciting places in Tokyo included
Harajuku, home of Tokyo's dress-up kids and some really chilled out shopping areas, restaurants and bars. It also had
Meiji Jingu, which to be honest was slightly disappointing.
Roppongi was briefly visited at night but was too seedy for myself and Daniel. During the day we explored the huge shopping/eating/living areas of
Roppongi Hills and
Tokyo Mid Town. Of final note in this whistle-stop tour of my time in Tokyo is
Yasakuni shrine, the controversial
war shrine which causes diplomatic incidents every time a Japanese PM visits it. Outside sat the right-wing "sound trucks" with their nationalist slogans. The atmosphere was very strange, but it was a fascinating place to visit. Even more interesting was the war museum, a well-funded and excellantly presented overview of modern Japanese history. Its "take" on certain incidents was certainly interesting, if slightly wrong. I would have loved to have a good argument with someone over certain points; the
Nanking Incident was totally glossed over, the creation of
Manchukuo was presented as a natural evolution of Manchurian history, whilst at several points exhibits presented Japan's wartime quest as inherently linked with third-world efforts for self-determination- all rather bizarre. If the tone and content of the museum was decidedly right-wing, I doubt there is a better (or more interesting) museum covering modern Japanese history in Japan. I'd have loved to have been able to read the Japanese in the comment books at the museum. After spending time at the Shrine I went to the
Imperial Palace Gardens, to get a
glimpse at the Imperial Palace (the museum also presented the 1868 Restoration as a true restoration to direct Imperial Rule, which is clearly incorrect).
Fantabulous FujiFuji-san has been revered for hundreds if not thousands of years as a spiritual symbol for Japan, and it's easy to see why. Its incredibly beautiful, and our time on the lake-side at
Kawaguchi-ko was a nice respite from the madness and mayhem of Tokyo. We headed there with an injured foot and terrible hangovers, but left full of local udon and souvenir postcards.
Back To Kyoto AgainSeveral things went wrong on our way to Kyoto from Fuji, but we eventually arrived at 10pm where we luckily managed to run into Steve Harris at the station. After catching up over drinks we headed back to our ryokan, where we posed in our free kimonos for a photo which as yet is not on the blog...probably for the best to be honest.
I've been on the move for the last five days. First me and Miwa went to Tottori, a city due north of Okayama-ken on the coast of the Sea of Japan, for the weekend. Then from monday to wednesday I was in Kobe for the JET Recontracting Conference, a good excuse to get pissed every day and pick up the odd scrap of useful information from the masses of boredom that await in the lectures and seminars.
hours to drive from the Inland Sea to the Sea of Japan, and by mid afternoon we were eating raw fish and drinking beer by the beach. Tottori is famous for the "Tottori sakyuu", sand dunes that stretch out for several kilmetres by the sea. They come complete with "desert costumes" and camels, but despite our best efforts we couldn't locate the elusive camels (maybe they'd taken nenkyuu! :) ). The food was absolutely fantastic; fresh sashimi for lunch on saturday, then barbequed whole fish in the evening; "tai", "aji" and a local fish as well as squid, scallops, clams and 
prawns. Then on our last day we went down to the fish market at Tottori harbour, which had fresh and amazingly cheap crap meat.
was happy to make sarcastic comments to while away the several hours of boredom each day. The predominantly American-habit of cheering, clapping and volunteering just doesn't seem to sit well with us Brits (or maybe its just me), who prefer to quietly mock and scorn that which they don't like (ok it is just me). In truth it wasn't all that bad, and I did make it to all but one seminar, which is pretty good going I reckon (I didn't make it to breakfast any of the days though). Anyway, the Conference was fun because of the evenings, when we got to "explore" Kobe in true 
JET style. The highlight has to be the last night, when I went out with a big group of Brits in Sannomiya. Trust the english to find the biggest public space (a concrete area just outside the main station), sit in it and drink cans of beer! I met some fun people, refreshing my list of contacts in various places all around Japan, as well as getting to know some of the other Okayama JETs better. On the last day we all went out for lunch as it was my New Orleansean friend's birthday. Hope you had a good day Reed!
