I Think He Needs A Hug...

Joe-san and Timmy-chan Conquer Japan, Part 2

After spending all of saturday in bed, we decided that sunday should be spent doing something more productive. In the end we plumped for a visit to Takamatsu, during which I decided I would try to capture Timmy's escence through my new zoom lens...











The results, I think, are quite successful. By 5pm we will still taking it easy in Takamatsu, and our only options for the evening seemed to be a nice meal and a few drinks, or Tim and Joe heading off to Kyoto. Thankfully we chose mystery option C, and charged off to Kobe, arriving at 10pm before checking into a capsule hotel and racing out in search of fun! We found many bars, parks to drink in, and a club which meant we avoided karaoke for one evening (probably a good thing). Around 6 we crawled back to our capsules, and then woke up 4 hours later for our journeys onward- I spent a wonderful hour in the onsen before heading off on the local trains back to Okayama, and Tim and Joe took the bullet train to Kyoto. Finally, here is a sunset seen from a train heading back to my apartment.

Joe-san and Timmy-chan Conquer Japan, Part 1

A formidable pair, as you can see. For the last week amigos Tim and Joe have been treated to the best Japan has to offer- fantastic food, karaoke-tastic times, and- of course- the famous nomihodie. After introducing them to such things last weekend in Osaka, we spent this weekend continuing the education in Okayama and Kobe. On Friday we went to Wabisuke in Okayama and had a 9-course dinner. We met many new friends and sang much karaoke! I sang a couple of Japanese numbers （六個卸、これが私の生きる道), which led some of our new friends to declare that I have the "samurai spirit". Hurrah!

Best of all was the repeated singing of my new favourite song, Rokko Oroshi, the "fight" song of the Hanshin Tigers. Listen to it here! http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zm2m-okmt/rokko.wav.

Drinking till 6am did mean that we failed in our plan to clumb Fuji though...

Sayonara Abe, Come Back Junichiro!

Now that Shinzo Abe's disastrous tenure as Japanese PM is over, let's all campaign to bring back Junichiro "The Lionheart" Koizumi!

I was going to write a vaguely political post, but - feeling rather lazy - let's just focus on the Elvis loving legend that is...

He's so cool!

Hisashiburi!

Hello!

Its been a while since I last updated The Blog, not least because my internet at home is dying a slow and painful death. Fear not though, a new high speed connection is on its way! For now, let me introduce my newest object of affection, a wonderful zoom-lens for my digitial camera. The Nikkor AF-S DX VR Zoom 55-200mm f/4-5.6 lens can take crystal clear pictures of things from 10 miles away, and looks very shiny. Here are some test pictures…















The “Miwa’s Not Impressed” Test














The Cat Test














The “Random Person On Bicycle” Test – (note, the zoom on this lens means you can take pictures of people without them knowing anything about it. Which isn’t dodgy at all. Honest.)






The “Is It The Seventh Level of Hell or is it Mizushima at Night” Test.

Anyway, enough of all that jazz. In other news I’m back in the music business after a long absence (The Subterraneans, a university venture, never really got of the ground, not least because I could never spell subterranean). Me, enigmatic bassist Yuta and our wacky drummer Murakami will be playing two songs at the Shonan school festival in November. We’re auditioning for a singer next Saturday at the unseemly hour of 10am, and will be covering Nirvana and either Oasis or Green Day. I offered my self-penned efforts, “Oh Nishina” and “Hey Look It’s A Gaijin On A Bike!”, but they weren't well received. We’re looking to create a new take on the classic “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by replacing Kurt Cobain with a 15-year old Japanese girl.

Finally, I’ll be welcoming more friends to these shores in a weeks time. Tim and Joe, aka Dusty Bottoms and Ned Needelander, will be arriving for 2 ½ weeks of…you guessed it…karaoke and nomihodie! Let the fun commence..

A Sojourn To Kyushu

Just 4 days after putting my backpack away from Thailand, I shouldered it once more for a whirlwind trip to Kyushu. While there, I managed to tick of lot of things of the "must do in Japan" list- I made it to my 3rd of Japan's 4 main islands, I ate potentially lethal food (fugu), I stayed in a capsule hotel and I went to an onsen.

I got the shink to Shimonoseki on thursday night, and stayed in a particularly militant YHA hostel where lights were turned off at 11pm and you were forced out of bed at 9am. Luckily all of the people I met there were really friendly- a salaryman who I got fairly drunk with, one of the girls who worked there who'd spent 2 years studying in Germany, and an amazing 16-year old lad from Yokohama, who was cycling all the way to the southern tip of Kyushu for his summer holidays! I was pleased that I could talk with people in Japanese without too much trouble, especially as they spoke no English. The next day I set out to explore Shimonoseki. Before leaving the hostel, the manager explained fugu to me entirely in Japanese, interspersed only with the English word "die". Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately for comedy purposes) I understood the Japanese too. And so I didn't die. Fugu made good sushi and pretty standard fried fish- see photo of my tasty and cheap fish market lunch. As well as trying fugu I visited a big red temple and the Treaty of Shimonoseki Museum. It was baking hot, so after that I retreated to an airconditioned train carriage for the journey to Kyushu's biggest city, Fukuoka.

Fukuoka is a really nice city- light on traditional sightseeing, but with a really nice vibe, lots of energy and a plethora of modern attractions. There I met up with ii tomodachi Georgina to sample some of Fukuoka's specialities- tonkotsu ramen (made with pork bones, honto ni oishii!), roadside yakitori and oden (although I avoided the oden because its not very nice), and lots of drinking. We ended up karaoke-ing the night away, and thus the next day was fairly laid back. I did managed to get to the Fukuoka Art Museum though for an interesting exhibition of Asian art, and the big shopping centre "Canal City" where we saw a giant pikachu!

The final stop on my lightning tour was two days in Nagasaki. I'd been searching for a decent hostel but there don't seem to be any in Nagasaki without curfew's, so I ended up staying in a cheap capsule hotel/onsen/sauna place that my friend Nicola found. Capsule 207 was a very good capsule (although I suspect they are all remarkably similar), but the highlight of the stay was the onsen. Although I'd been skeptical, the onsen experience turned out to be fantastic- i was happily hopping between the sauna, jacuzzi, hot bath, cold bath and steam room, after which I could change from my provided pajamas into a provided dressing gown and relax in the comfort room with a choice of 12 giant TV screens to watch. And all for 3000 yen! I'll definately be staying in those sort of places again. The capule itself was slightly strange- not recommended for those who are claustrophobic- but fine for a couple of nights, with a control panel of dreams that could accomplish almost anything I wanted it to.

Anyway, in between all my long soaks in the bath I had a bit of time to explore Nagasaki. On saturday night I went out with Nicola (fellow Brummie) and her friends, and on sunday I toured the main sights of the city- the Peace Memorial and bomb museum (a nice memorial, but not so thorough as the museum in Hiroshima), some more templey temples, and the exciting Glover Garden, a collection of European houses perched on a hill. Back in the days of Japan's self-imposed isolation, Dutch traders were only allowed to trade at Nagasaki, and even then they had to do so via the small settlement of Dejima, an offshore island. The result of Chinese and European trade in Nagasaki is an apparent "international flavour", with the local speciality of champon (Chinese style ramen), and the European buildings which were lovely in the late afternoon sun and had a great view across Nagasaki.

On Monday morning, after one last soak in the onsen, I started back on my long journey home to Okayama.

Thai'm Going To Avoid The Puns This Time

For the last two weeks I’ve been on holiday in sunny Thailand, soaking up the sun on the beaches of Kho Phi Phi and Railay, and eating very tasty fishy feasts all over the place (the best was in Bangkok’s Chinatown). For now there are many photos, but few words. A fuller revamp of the blog for the brand new Second Year in Japan will be forthcoming.