Shots #18 Osaka Pussy

So Osaka hasn’t caught up to the fact that super duper mini skirts are not in fashion anymore like Tokyo has (I told you Osaka rocks) but that doesn’t really have anything to do with this picture… It is a fun fact though :D

YEAH! Meccha Holiday!

OSAKA! It took me too long to get there.. and it is taking every ounce of my willpower to not cancel my contract and go there! Yeah I have nothing to do… yet… but I will make a plan… OK, Sanity returns…
Yeah. WOW! I have heard from many a gaijin how awesome kansai is… NONE of them have ever been to cape town.. so none of them know the half of it! Take the best of Cape Town (I am a Jozi boy so the mountain doesn’t really factor into it), merge it with the best of Japan and thats what Kansai… and in particular Osaka is. Sure Kobe looks like CT and even has a mountain and beaches (more of that in another post) but Osaka has the vibe.
We met up with Keiko and Takeyasu at the Sky Building in Umeda. Its an architectural marvel and we marveled at it.. but our tummies were like SCREW YOU, so into the basement we delved. of to the side of a hard to find passage way we found a hole in the wall okonomiyaki shop called KIJI. The master bade us welcome and as we waited for a free table he came to give us our orders… yes. He didn’t ask us what we wanted… He told us. and we said yes. He was right of course. it hit the spot and the taste was mindblowing. but yeah what an experience.



After that it was off to Shinsaibashi to find ourselves diggs for the night.
That was only the first few hours in the city that I would someday like to call home…

<I LOVE KANSAI>

Shots #17 GIANT PENIS!

A tribute to one of the greatest forces of nature on this planet!

2 Hours in Kyoto

We left Tokyo at 5:21 using the Seishun Juhachi Kippu.

8 and a half hours later we were at Kyoto Station.

Kyoto station is a modern marvel. A beautiful piece of architecture and civil engineering that as a concept needs to be expanded on in future buildings… especially in the new ‘lets be green hippie veggie eaters’ world.

 

Once you leave the station however you get transported back in time. I honestly didn't see too much but what I saw was rather spectacular. We hit up one of the many many famous sights… Kinkaku-ji.

 

The pictures don’t do it Justice… You have to go there.. You just have to!

 

It was a rather mind-blowing start to what would become one of the more awesome experiences of my life. Sadly I couldn’t see Ginkaku-ji or Kiyumizudera… but I intend to visit Kansai again soon enough so I will see it all in good time.

 

<I love Kansai>

Yeah. Why am I going back to Gunma?

Yeah. Kansai. For the WIN!


-- Blogged in the field.

Location:１丁目,Kōbe City,Japan

The big blue

Sunshine and salty air. Suma. Kobe. Japan. The ocean


-- Blogged in the field.

Location:１丁目,Kōbe City,Japan

In soviet Osaka the bacon brings home YOU!

Now if all the fine fine women speaking Kansai-ben in Osaka is not your thing, you can always go here.





-- Blogged in the field.

Location:１丁目,Ōsaka City,Japan

Because I am a "douchebag''

I am not really in Kyoto. Nooooo. I made it all up just because I don't want to play boy racer at Jeevy's go cart event. Apparently I think that highly of him.









I will post about this in full later with pics from the big camera.

-- Blogged in the field.

Location:Kyōto City,Japan

Shoyu salty balls

Curry Udon at Toyohashi Eki. Surprisingly good. But the experience was marred by the spillage of Shoyu (soy sauce) on my bag. My boxers now have brown, salty stains on them.

But damn that was a good curry udon.

-- Blogged in the field.

Location:Gamagōri City,Japan

You get what you pay for.

First change. Switched from the soft and comfy squishy reclining seats that eased us along the southern kanto coastline. Back on locals. The hard part of the journey has begun.





-- Blogged in the field.

Location:Shizuoka City,Japan

The morning after the night before

On the JR tokaido line which will carry us pretty much all the way to Kansai. Spent alot more Than I wanted to last night. Shit happens.








-- Blogged in the field.

Location:２丁目,Minato Ward,Japan

The night before the morning after

Looking for a net cafe around Tokyo station. I suppose a park bench will do too. I need a few hours kip before the long trek to Kansai.

-- Blogged in the field.

Location:２丁目,Chiyoda Ward,Japan

Shibukawa Dashi Matsuri. The best festival in Gunma :D

Once every two years Shibukawa’s main towns do battle. It is all friendly rivalry but it is intense none the less.

When I first Started this blog published a post about it.

Well its 2010… and Like I said… I did indeed take part again. This time I joined the actual community that I live in and made a point of helping out with some of the prep work. Brian and I are the only ALTs in Shibs who were willing to go all out for our towns. Which is something we, and our towns will never forget.

 

I live in a little town called Shimogo. It is the 2nd town in Shibukawa city after Shibukawa itself. For some reason we have a higher percentage of badasses and generally stronger people in our town than anywhere else in Shibs. So I guess I fit right in :D

 

“It is a trial of your strength, stamina and commitment to your community…”

 

I pulled from 10H00 till 22H00 on both the Saturday and the Sunday and being a member of the team i also did all the social things too which brought me much closer to the people whose town I live in.

We worked, sweated, bled and gave 100% together to do Shimogo proud. With Shared hardship comes real friendship. I met some truly awesome people and will meet them again in the near future.

I also managed to interact with many of my students who were participating in the festival with their own towns.

This year was also the first time in 14 years (I may be wrong) that Motomachi hill was a part of the route. The last time it was done, a Dashi’s brakes failed and killed a participant. There were fatalities this year but judging by the state of my heart at the top I am surprised we didn’t have a few heart attacks. To be fair.. we did RUN up a third of the bloody thing (but like I said… Shimogo is strong)

 

The Shimogo Dashi ‘drivers’. They make Leonidas and his 300 Spartans look like little girls.

As night fell all the hard work became worth it. Seeing all the dashi lined up around the central intersection in Shibukawa with all the teams in their local outfits. Taiko drums beating and flutes singing. It takes you back to days past. 2010 is absorbed by a dream of an era long since past. Only that dream is a reality.

There was also the customary ‘Momi’ (the rope moshpit/wall of death that I described in the post 2 years ago) Unlike the last time I was both on and a direct contributor to our flawless record. not a single town in Shibukawa could stand up to the combined massive might of our town. Azumacho came close but we still won out in the end :D

 

I would like to say it was the best day of my life.. but I have had so many of those that it starts to lose it’s potency after a while. It comes down to this. If I had died during the event… or for that matter, right now as I type this.. I would die happy and content. It was one of those experiences that very few have ever had. I know for a fact that very few ALTs would ever go this far and put themselves through the kind of hardship, fatigue that the Dashi Matsuri brings.

 

It is a trial of your strength, stamina and commitment to your community and your neighbours. It brings you closer to the people you depend on, and those who depend on you.

CATS!

Looks like Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Cats" is coming to Japan. I might go just to see how they pronounce "mr mistoffelees" in Japanese :p

-- Blogged in the field.

Location:Shibukawa City,Japan

The station, The clock and the Pudding.

So in japan on amoeba blogs and .fc2 you get these random "blogged from the phone" posts. And to be fair I have done a few of those myself. But I tend to stick to the pretty photos piste from my PC type posts for the most part.

Now. I know there are quite a few of you reading this random collection of japan experiences hat I have managed to accrue over the last 2 years despite the woeful lack of comments.

I have been thinking. That in addition to the usual stuff I can make a point of filling in the blanks with these random Cellphone musings.

If you want.

Well how about it.

Let me know.

By the way. It's now 10 to 4 in the morning and I am just about finished my milk pudding.


-- Blogged in the field.

Shin Yamato Damacy ~ Episode 07 ~ First Impressions

 

Jess Needed to go out and interview
random Japanese people on film
for her JET Tokyo Orientation
Presentation...

She didn't really know how to
go about it...

Luckily... she knows us.
She gets her presentation.
We get an episode...

Music:
NoMode - Innes (Album: VACATION!)
http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/68232
HBRule999 - Coming Down
http://ccmixter.org/files/HBRule999/2...
All music used is licensed under Creative commons and is
not being used for commercial purposes.

Silvia…

My car and I have seen some rough times and some fun times.

She likes to be thrashed around, and apart from the occasional fix up she has never let me down… Also when I want to take her out she always has free time…

Which makes her officially the most reliable Japanese girl I have met.

This month I will be fixing her up for the Shaken (roadworthy test) and thereafter, its some 15 inch wheels in the back seat and boot and a trip to Akagi to ride her through the night.