Tokyo! Day 03 - 25/12 ~ Christmas Day!

Christmas day dawned bright but cold like all the days we spent here and Maggie and I returned to Harajuku as we had heard the Harajuku boys and girls came out on Sunday afternoons the the bridge near the station to show off their outfits. As we neared the bridge the only sight to greet us was a police van and several weary looking cops patrolling the area. The fun police had arrived before us. The of the reasons why we had come here was Steph planned to wear her lolita dress and join the others but as she rocked up to the bridge an hour or so after us the police just glared at her so the five of us moved on to join the throng in the main street. We stopped by some gothic/lolita shops for some additions to Steph's wardrobe and stopped by a cafe for some tapioca cream teas. Those things are the shiz.

Steph the daredevil dances with danger in front of the police truck.

Before the others had arrived Maggie and I spotted a giant torii shrine gate at the other side of the bridge and followed the groups of people walking towards it and found ourselves at the Meiji Jinju Shrine – another thing to do on out internal itinerary, but we just dawdled around it, after you've seen a few shrines you've seen them all. We did however buy some charms at the charm stall, bypassing the luck with study and the driving safety charms and heading for the victory charm. I felt I needed this to help me get through Skyrim so it hangs above my computer giving me more luck then any Daedra lord can give me.

It was so chilly at the shrine you could see the cold.

It was Christmas and we had made bookings to eat at a British pub called the Hobgoblin in the very upmarket Roppongi so we made our way there after a quick trip to Ikebukuro where I picked up an out of print anime figure of the teacher Itoshiki Nozomu from Goodbye, Mr. Despair hanging himself. I couldn't contain my joy but the hordes of otaku squished in around me managed to contain it due to movement restraints. 

What I don't miss from Tokyo.

The restaurant was good and it was a full house with the only Japanese people being with gaijin, although I think there was one Japanese family there looking fish out of water. The food was good though. First an entree of smoked salmon, lettuce, capers and garlic sauce (I ate mine and two others in the same time everyone else ate half of theirs – I was hungry woman) and on to the main course which was turkey and cranberry sauce, carved by a Maori guy from Wellington, roast veg, stuffing balls, and a whole bunch of other stuff. This may sound pretty average, but when you've had nothing but freakin fish, rice and noodles for four months you will cry with happiness. It was a buffet so we went back several times before finishing with a Christmas pudding. Shiawase~!

A real roast! 

We wandered around Roppongi for a while and could see Tokyo Tower in the distance so we walked towards it. A giant heart was flashing from it and the lights around it sparkled as all along the way couples stood on the sides of the road taking photos of it. Unlike the Western world, Christmas in Japan is a time not for families but for couples and when our route led us to the bottom of the tower this became more apparent as we watched the multitudes of couples milling around under the fairy lights. The presence of Tokyo Tower sparked a recollection for Steph from the anime Detroit Metal City where the main character Krauser II rapes Tokyo Tower. Steph was adamant to get a shot of her doing the same but there was a giant building in the way at the bottom of the tower. I felt her profound dismay, I too would have wanted to do that.

"Look, Tokyo Tower likes it!"

I was freakin tired after this long day so I headed back to the hotel while Janelle went back to her hostel but the others went on to Tokyo Station to look at the lights there. Unfortunately it was late and they had turned off many sections of them but they also had a selection of costumes on display used by the Takarazura – a group of all female theatre performers that are insanely famous here in Japan.

Tokyo! Day 02 - 24/12

After a nice long sleep I awoke on day two ready for a traditional western fatty breakfast still feeling the hurt that Denny's had left me, and I didn't care how long I had to travel to get it. This is how we ended up an hour long queue in front of Eggs n' Things in Harajuku. This is the Japanese branch of a popular breakfast house in Hawaii that serves pancakes, waffles and crepes. After months of half-assed Japanese cereal we were willing to join the line in the freezing cold for and hour with the intention of more than making up for this hindrance with our order. We opted for seating anywhere as we were starving and didn't really care if we were placed outside on the verandah under the braziers, but luckily when it was our turn we were shown inside to a table with two comfy couches. We checked out the other patron's meals and the six inch mountain of whipped cream that sat atop of the pancakes and waffles and the three sauce dispensers with sweet coconut, maple, and strawberry syrup that sat on every table. I ordered blueberry waffles and a plate of banana crepes to share between us while Maggie ordered blueberry pancakes and a side of bacon. We realised a flaw in our plan to make up for the long wait in food when the mountains of food were placed around us. I ate everything included some of Maggie's share and by the end I felt like I was about to vomit. But we got our waits worth and that's all that matters. You may have noticed the underlying theme of this trip is value.

From Harajuku we took several escalators down to the very deep subway to Ryogoku. Ryogoku used to be near the centre of Edo (Tokyo) in the Edo Period but after the city expanded into the neighbouring countryside the centre shifted towards the newer areas like Shinjuku and Shibuya, so Ryogoku is seen as the historical area of Tokyo and is home to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. I had only heard about this museum from an anime that explained the different areas to Tokyo (the scenario being the subway stations of Tokyo were personified as good looking guys that kidnap girls on their otherworldly train to help them solve their problems in life by taking them around their area of Tokyo explaining things along the way. Oh Japan. Other things I learned from this episode, the raid of the 47 Ronin, soon to be a movie starring Keanu Reeves, took place here and it is the birthplace of Okita Souji of the Shinsengumi. Education +!) and I was surprised I didn't see much advertising or hype about it on the touristy websites, because it was a really good museum! It had a lot of hands on things and massive scale models of the towns of Edo. Also there were several volunteer history buffs who could speak English walking around explaining things. One of the funny things I saw here was an American dad and his young Japanese kids walking around and I overheard their conversation as the dad said “That's some amazing yoro~i (armour)” with the kids looking incredulously at their dad saying “Dad, it's not yoro~i, it's yoroi.” Damn you long vowels. All foreigners have that trouble.

(left)  A replica of the Nihonbashi, the bridge that led into Edo.
(right)  Geta (wooden clogs) for wading in rivers.

A model of Ryogoku in the Edo Period.

Mini-putt. Showa style.

Kago are tiny!!

We stayed here until closing time, picked up some rice cracker senbei as omiyage for the BoE peeps back at home and I bought a cloth printed with a procession of cats in kimono travelling with a cart and singing. We headed back to Shibuya and met up with Steph, Janelle and newcomer Emilio who was also a university friend of Maggie and Steph. We went to dinner at an American chain called T.G.I. Friday's where I had some roast chicken and veg and we all revelled in the taste of western food, if only for an hour. We wanted to do karaoke and sought out Shidax in Shibuya thinking it would be some nice cheap entertainment. Boy were we wrong! It costs over $15 an hour per person and we ended up staying several hours so it was an expensive night out but fun. And I have a new karaoke song I can rock out to.

Nice syncing to the TV ladies!

On the way back to the hotel at 11 pm we heard a ruckous at the famous Shibuya crossing (the busiest intersection in the world – an absolute biarch of a thing to cross during the evening rush hour, we had to go through it everyday and you just get pummelled). This ruckous was caused by a group of 20 or so punks and their girls dressed in Santa and reindeer costumes, some with Christmas trees attached to the backs of their bikes ripping up and down the crossing doing burnouts and tricks on their bikes and generally making a lot of noise. They got our approval and as we took pictures of them they played for the camera and yelled out greetings in English to us. The police were nowhere to be seen.

Vroooom!

The famous statue of Hachiko outside Shibuya Station,
now complete with a tambourine.

Tokyo! Day 01 - 23/12

It's been a while since I concluded my trip to Tokyo with the empathetic ear/shoulder to vomit on, Maggie, so I thought I'd update this journal of sorts before I completely forget what I did. Halfway there. So thanks to the non-alzheimered, identical memories of Maggie, my memories have been reborn and immortalised on the crap-festooned midden that is the intarwebs. So as the title suggests it's the first day of Ali & Maggie's adventures in that oh-so-wacky Tokyo.

We actually left to go to Tokyo from Kyoto the night before on the night bus, but because that night didn't resemble a normal night with sleep my mind thought I had arrived the day before. We arrived at Shinjuku Station after a nine hour ride with rest stops every few hours that would wake me from my shallow slumber with the blaring of fluorescent lights. Luckily I slept next to the window and managed to grab what z's I could – Maggie had no such luck. The entertainment for the first few hours of the journey was provided by Maggie's portable DVD player and the comedic stylings of Sheldon. The bus seats didn't go back very far and there wasn't a lot of room to stretch your feet so you had to sleep upright and hunched which is near impossible but it was cheap and that is all that really matters. So were arrived in Shinjuku far from being fresh-faced, and according to Maggie I looked like I was about to keel over. I know I'm not to be around when I'm in that state. We arrived at 7am or so and had a whole day of fun planned ahead of us. Goodie.

Getting ready for the day at Shinjuku Station.
Just thought you wanted the memory of how tired you were, Maggie.

Our first stop was the hotel in Shibuya and to get there we had to navigate the poorly planned labyrinth that is the Tokyo subway system and even worse, the stations themselves. Finding an exit out of the station was hard enough. We were chuffed to find our hotel was across the road from a Denny's, but our expectations fell flat when we saw the sundaes and pancakes we envisioned replaced by salad and shit like that. Who the hell goes to Denny's for a freakin salad. Japan you disappoint me, but it was salad for me.

On the internally stored itinerary the next stop was Ueno, home of the national zoo, museum and science museum all surrounded by parkland and linked by broad boulevards. We planed to go to the museum only as I had no wish to see animals in cramped cages as I'd heard the zoo was like. Even the museum took up until past lunchtime. The mascot of Ueno is a panda and after sighting a cafe that sold panda themed foods we rocked up only to find it was closed. That's Japan for you, either turn up exactly on time of do without. 2 pm is not considered lunchtime and afternoon tea does not exist in this country. The museum was alright. It had a lot of things I had already seen at the Japan exhibition at Te Papa a few years ago, and because Maggie had felt like she'd dragged me along she was worrying that I wasn't enjoying the endless rooms of Jomon pottery. Oh contraire! She couldn't believe how long I could spend looking at broken pots.

Jomon pottery figures from burial mounds.

This is our buddy M. R. Bighair from the ¥1,000 note.
Ok so his real name is Noguchi  but his hair is rather impressive.

The afternoon's entertainment was the long awaited trip to Nakano for our dorkfest. Maggie is a collector of cels from 90s animes and Nakano being the home of many of the online sellers, she locked herself up in a few shops and poured through the stacks of hand painted cels. Meanwhile I geeked out in the anime figure and DVD stores pushing through the throng and beating off the sweaty, bespectacled otakus as we all tried to navigate the narrow corridors and shop aisles, stepping over the bodies of fallen nerds in search of that elusive figure. It was chaos. The thing I found pretty funny was the fact that this entire five levelled rabbit warren of anime shops only opened from midday until midnight – prime time for socially inept otaku. Also all of the shopkeepers were expected to wear cosplay costumes to work so it wasn't unusual to see green haired girls running around with otaku leering after them. I didn’t buy anything on this particular trip to Nakano as it was just reconnaissance, but in the second trip several days later, I went nuts.

That night we met up with Maggie's friend from university, Steph and her English teacher friend Janelle for dinner at a Mexican restaurant near the hostel they were staying at. The food was great but the music kinda subtracted from the atmosphere. All night they played a CD of 'Who Let the Dogs Out' by the Baha Men with what seemed like every known remix of it. Naturally after the fifth time we'd heard it we were ready to gauge out our eardrums with a rusty salsa spoon. We then headed back to Shibuya to get our tickets for the big trip to Disney Sea from the Disney Store there and as ascended three fights of stairs trying to avoid the first floor which housed only Duffy Bear. F***ing Duffy Bear. This bear is the new mascot bear for Disney Japan. It's a generic looking teddy bear that you can buy and wears the outfits of Disney characters, in fact it's so generic it hurts to see Disney stoop that low. I hate Duff Bear. So that's why we avoided the first floor. The second and third storeys had the usual Disney merchandise and the fourth floor had the ticket booth for the Disney theme parks. We wanted to go on or before Christmas to see all the Christmas themed stuff but it was all booked out – the only tie of the year it is so we settled with going on the 27^th. Well we actually bought tickets for the 26^th as we forgot about the trip we were going on the 26^th and had to come back the day after to change the tickets for ¥200 each.

How Many Times Do I Have To Say I Hate Freakin' Christmas?

(From 16th December).

A week after the first Christmas party, another was planned, this one however was organised for by Japanese people so it lacked the usual Christmas pap that I annoys me to no end. This one organised by Keita for the volleyball club and we had it had the usual haunt – Azitos. We had to bring a gift to be put on a table and through janken (rock, paper, scissors) we would determine the order of who would go up and choose a gift. But first was the kampai and even though we paid ¥4,000 for the dinner which was already laid out on the bar, our drinks were free. There was so much good food including a chicken which one of the volleyball members reduced to shreds with his carving knife for 15 minutes as we looked on, hungry.

Like every Japanese party it was all about the delicacies and the alcohol so we had a kind of shabu-shabu with marlin meat and scallops, gourmet pizza and karaage chicken, while Maggie and I drank cassis and peach liqueur. At frist we were all lined up along the back wall of the bar sitting on barstools and being quiet but as the night wore on we got louder and louder until it was present opening time. I had packed NZ gifts into a nice bag and decorated it up nicely, but the guy who picked my present looked like a possum in the headlights as he opened it gingerly, looking like he half expected a giant weta to come crawling out of the foreign package. The present I received was two massive bags of umaibou (literally translates to 'delicious stick'), while Maggie got a takoyaki grill (which I'm jealous of). Maggie couldn't think of a present to give so I told her to wrap up a box of Pop-Tarts as she had a ton of them so she gave those with the chocolate muesli bars.

I don't remember much of the rest of the party but it was fun and I got closer to the volleyball members who usually avoided me but as usual the loud ones like Tak-chan were the best ones to talk to and aren't afraid to make jokes, not caring if it'll offend you or not. Next week is the last week of school and then it's Tokyo time!! Much to be done!

I Bleed For Free Stuff

I'm sitting in the BoE with a hole in my arm, glugging cartons of free juice and coffee admiring the bag of free rubbish bags, glad wrap, and bath salts and doing not much else. I decided to carry on my tour of the Japanese medical system and do a review of the Blood Service. Here's how it went down.

As Maggie and I walked back to the BoE after lunch at Konpira Udon, we noticed the Red Cross buses outside of city hall and Maggie started talking about how hard it was for foreigners to be accepted to give blood for no apparent reason other then they're foreigners and before we knew it I was there in the bus with a needle in my arm. We didn't plan on actually doing it as we thought we'd definitely be turned down, but I passed phase one (Can I write my own name and address? Yes, I can), phase two (Can you read your own handwriting? Yes, in actual fact I can), phase three (How is your blood? Fine, thank you and yours?) and bam! You're in the bus on your back with four others and a giant needle in your arm. Who would have known it was so easy. Maggie didn't make it past phase two after she added in a new clause with involved admitting to taking antibiotics, and not being able to read her own handwriting, so it was up to me to do my service in supplying the countrymen with blood. It just so happens I'm type O, as I found out for the first time. Nice to know next time I'm gushing blood.

We lay on comfy beds, as Nishihara-san stood beside me translating the after care sheet and highlighting the most relevant points for me after I admitted during the questioning process I wasn't sure if I was a gay male. The blood giving part was long as expected by it was over pretty painlessly and fast and before I knew it, I had a goodie bag in my hand and gallons of juice and coffee to replenish my now lowered fluid levels.

The options of blood donation were only 200ml and 400ml which I suppose makes sense for such a small people. I gave 400ml which shocked the women at the kindergarten when I told them as women are only supposed to give 200ml compared to NZ women who can give 600ml apparently. I could've given them two bags and looked like a freakin hero. It just wasn't to be.

All in all the blood donor service gets an A from me for ease of use and free stuff. Actually Kawahara-san went in before me for the third or so time and walked out with keyrings and all kinds of better free stuff so I'll have to go back in May when they come around again.

It's Kinda My Party and I'll Kinda Cry If I Want To

Ok this was from back in October and somehow didn't get put in the post bin, so here's my first real enkai (formal work party). Gripping stuff.

Yet another enkai was held in my gracious honour on October 21^st. This one, compared to the low key affair I had with the naughty kids table at the Chinese restaurant was a very stately affair, or so I felt when I walked in the door as kimono-clad women guided Maggie and I past a beautiful little courtyard garden, up many flights of stairs, past many rooms, their paper-screened doors glowing from within and doing nothing to counter the raucousness emanating from within and finally to the biggest room situated on the top floor. As we stepped through the shoji doors all fifty or so assembled BOE members were seated on their knees in their black suits, a tray of delicacies placed before them. It was indeed a few steps up from the usual watering hole, despite the regulars also present, albeit looking unusually sombre.

OK in actual fact, this enkai was not just for the likes of me. It was more like a “Oh, let's have Ali's enkai because we're already throwing one for the big, big boss who's leaving” enkai. So that was the case. It still meant that I had to sit at the head of the room with all the big guys and that I had to make a speech, an honour that Maggie didn't have to go through at her welcome enkai, and in comparison to the big boss and his pride inducing speech, I was like the handicapped cousin. And after the previous two extra extended editions, everyone was eyeing their food tray in front of them looking impatiently at me as I stood so it only seemed right that I not take too long as not to deprive my fellow hard working workmates their food.

After an hour or so my visions of this upmarket affair were soon shattered as the guise of prim and properness could not be held for long under the influence of alcohol and slipped to reveal the Naughty Kids at the Min Min minus the old food stained man with the cigarette butt hanging out one side of his mouth. Which was good. I don't know how long I could have kept up sitting seiza with my legs folded beneath me, or how long I could keep up the polite conversation with the new woman head of the BoE seated beside me at the head of the room. After it was established I was a sake drinker, not a beer drinker (the only alcohol in the room at the time), sake was called for and it was then party time.

[OK I'm sitting in the waiting room at Yura Station and there's a cat that looks just like Laaa lying down outside the door. She even acts like Laaa!! Gooey moment for ten minutes*... and back.]

For some reason empty sake bottles kept piling up around me, more than what I had drunken. I think this was because I started a new craze and sake was all of a sudden 'in' and with me being the only person in the room with it, I had it stolen. In order to convert the non-believers, I ordered several more bottles and took it upon myself to visit everyone in the room and pour them a cup of sake. This didn't work out as expected. I had started off with my favourites, the Rowdy Duo and moved on to the old big, big boss sitting with big boss and the head of the library when my plan hit a snag. In order to social with sake after the person has drunken from their cup, they give it to the pourer and pour for them. Needless to say after visiting five people I couldn't go on.

Round one as this enkai at this place shall henceforth be named, finished with some more speeches made by the oblivious Ozeki-san who at this stage couldn't control the muscles of his mouth enough to form actual words. As a final sending off the BoE members formed two lines and linked hands above their heads to make a tunnel of which old big, big boss went under. In my current state I just saw something I could take part in and also went under the retirement bridge. At this stage most of the group said their goodbyes and headed home including Maggie, but the hardcore partyers moved on to round two of three rounds – a karaoke bar in the old cobbled backstreets of Miyazu. I on Ozeki-san's bicycle. I then realised why drunk bicycling is illegal in Japan.

Round two was a lot of fun. We were the only ones in the bar so we didn't have to put up with drunks chiming in with our fabulous 70s, 80s and enka hits. Nishihara-san was a fan of Lady Gaga, or Gaga-sama as she calls her, so the pair of us warbled our way through Poker Face. At some point Ozeki-san decided in his drunken stupor to go across the road to his old haunt to see if his old drinking buddies were there and with nothing much to do with boundless confidence and obliviousness, we followed him. So started round three. I don't remember much of round three, but I do remember the free food, probably for the best. After this we rejoined the group who were still at the round two stage, sung some more songs then crab walked home.

Did I Mention I Hate Christmas?

December means Christmas and in case you didn't read the last post, I hate Christmas. The summons to Christmas parties began spilling out a month ago and after Jo's Christmas frolics, I was over it. I couldn't ignore the fact it was a party and that I had to come along to give my secret Santa present, so I grudgingly came along, present not in hand (I had forgotten it). Simon's house is next door to Alex's where we had Thanksgiving lunch and was built from the same plans, so the party became a repeat of the previous party plus added Christmas shenanigans.

Rob, Maggie and I were the first to arrive so we helped Simon decorate the house with the decorations his predecessor who was a Christmas fanatic, had left him. After strapping plastic poinsettias to his collection of small plastic animals I found a piece of Christmassy fabric in the box and couldn't work out what it was. Simon who's English decided it must be a cape, I thought it was a bonnet and Rob whose also English ascertained it was a skirt apron. It was Maggie the only American in the room that knew what it actually was – a skirt to hide the supports at the bottom of a fake tree and this was affirmed by the Americans who arrived as we put up the tree. I thought it was such a dumb usage for such a mysterious piece of fabric so I continued wearing it as a cape all night.

It's a cape, dammit!

Because the party was a little late in the evening we didn't have dinner but Yuki the baker bought in her famous Christmas cookies and Yukari bought the biscuits she, her small daughter Nat-chan and Sammi made and decorated for us, some more awesome than others.

I see Mrs. Potatohead!

Sammi had planned some games for us to do including a present wrapping game. In this game we teamed up into pairs and were given an empty cardboard box, a roll of wrapping paper, a roll of tape, ribbon and a bow. We had to wrap the box and decorate as a pair and the best decorated box would win. The thing was, there was a time constraint and each person could only use one hand, which led to disaster. I was so focussed on getting everything neat and lined up we ran out of time to properly tie the ribbon let alone put the bow on it. And the winner was Meredith an her husband Matt. It wasn't as cool as Maggie's even in it's uncompleted form, in fact that just gave it more charm in a simplistic, less is more kind of way.

OM NOM NOM!!

Another game we played was one where we would write any sentence we wished on the top of a sheet of A4, then hand it on to the person beside us while accepting the paper from the person before me and draw a picture of the sentence already written. We would then fold back the first picture drawn then pass it on the person in front of us and they would write a sentence describing the picture and continue doing that in a circle until at least three pictures and three sentences had been written per page. I thought I was doing everything properly but after Jo who sat in the circle after me exclaimed “The sentences started getting weird after they passed through Ali,” so apparently what I would call an accurate description of what I see is too twisted. Kinda doesn't surprise me this far in life.

We partied into the night while I cringed through the usual Christmas classics and just before midnight I had had enough and asked for Jenni to take me home or at least to a warm place with no traces of Christmas. At least until the next Christmas party.

Back to the Torture Chamber

I had to go to Kyoto on the 5-6^th December. JET likes to torture us with these little trips away by holding them in the middle of the week so we have work the day before and the day after the seminar thereby ruling out any days left for sightseeing and shopping. We still manage to fit in dinners out and some things on the last night before leaving but apart from that it's strictly business. On this pointless jaunt we had to prepare lesson plans and activities and share them with others in our teaching level and on the final day give examples of activities to all of the assembled JETs and JTEs (Japanese teachers of English). For those who were exclusively primary school, they didn't need to bring a JTE and there was only seven of us, three being on an programme run by a different organisation. The boredom was stemmed by the fact that our group leader was the ever lax Ben from Australia was a welcome change from the uptight Americans usually running the show. Apart from the lesson plan exchanges we had guest speakers from the education sector and even a lecture and demonstration of Japanese sado (tea ceremony).

On the first night of the seminars Most of the group went to the Chijafa, the yakiniku BBQ we had at the Kyoto Orientation, which I found a little too loud, so Maggie, Jenni and I broke away from the group and tried out the Ninja Restaurant, this time for the full a la carte menu not the lunch buffet we tried last time. In the restaurant we were led to our table by a ninja through a labyrinth and could only enter after saying the ninja password 'nin nin!'. The restaurant was really dark with every table separated by high walls, I didn't dare leave my seat as I knew it would be impossible to find the table again if I wandered off. As a free entree they gave us a bush of black shuriken shaped crackers which were pretty yum. 

Shuriken om nom nom!

We ordered sukiyaki and instead of adding plain sugar to the broth, the ninja who served us placed a huge bowl of candy floss in front of us saying we could take some before he poured the broth over it. Jenni ordered a salad but they didn't realise it was just for her and gave us a bowl full big enough for three people. We had a champagne cocktail to wash it down with and finally after our ninja told us to wait for the finale, the master ninja came out do do his ninja magic for the three of us. This guy was awesome and he spoke good English as he did his slight of hand tricks and got us to join in. For the ever cynical Jenni, she found it a little boring but for me, the slightest thing impresses me here in Japan so I was suitably entertained.

There's nothing like pork on your candy floss drizzled with  pork stock.

The desserts looked a little expensive so we went to a ice cream parlour for some fancy parfaits. There were over 100 different parfaits to choose from and I chose one with a cute bear head on the top. We were lucky this place was open at 10.30pm when we walked in because most of Japan, even the big cities like Kyoto, close at 9pm. For Miyazu it's 8pm, and for ATMs and banks it's 4pm.

The last saw all the Tango JETs meet in Kawaramachi for some shopping and a meal at a curry restaurant that had been recommended to us by our fellow Kyoto City AETs. First I had to pick up a gift for the secret Santa at Simon's Christmas party the coming weekend, then we met up for one of the best curries I had ever eaten – as good as the ones in Maizuru – and more giant naan. The Indian waiter was pretty good at English and told us about his home, giving us brochures of the fancy hotel restaurants he'd worked at previously. Then it was back home to Miyazu on the late night train with work in the morning.

The Touristy Thing With The Jenns

The day after carolling in Mineyama, Jen in Ine invited English JET Jenni and I to her place for FMA (Fullmetal Alchemist), Indian flat bread and whiskey night. Well the whiskey turned into umeshu but we more or less stuck to our plans. Jen picked me up and we drove the 40 minutes to Ine after stocking up on food at Otokoyama (Man Mountain, which seems to have more old women than anything) to meet up with Jenni. It was a good old fashioned girls night with the conversation constantly slipping towards politics and society both of which I know next to nothing but my own, but they found it interesting to hear what race relations were like in NZ (for some weird reason). Then it was anime watching well into the night before collapsing into bed in a umeshued heap while ushering gejigeji outside.

The next day dawned bright and sunny so we headed to the one thing we hadn't done that the area was famous for – viewing Amanohashidate from the mountains. As we left her house I looked up to the mountains around the town and noticed a waterfall descending off of the face of the hill. This waterfall only appears after a heavy rain and there was even a viewing point a little down the road which gave the best view of it.

The cloud never disappears from the hills. Ever.

The famous Ass station at Ine. It was an ugly morning...

... But cleared up as we hit Hioki.

We drove to Kasamatsu a place I pass nearly everyday to work, where I always see tourists but have never bothered to stop, and climbed the narrow streets past the small souvenir shops to the cable car that would take us to the top. There is a chairlift that also goes up and it's an extreme chairlift – no safety bars – but that was unfortunately out of order that day. The cables cars ride the same track but at a point in the middle the track diverges into two and the cars pass each other.

It's coming straight for us!

At the top we did the touristy thing with the photo of the head between the knees (this is the way to view the land bridge so it looks like it's namesake, Amanohashidate – bridge to the Heavens, and it does kind of look like it's ascending to the clouds when viewed upside down), and throwing things through the hoop that stands on the side of the hill for good luck. We met many families here and a group of old men going on an excursion, and tasted the famous dango of the area which tasted like it was soaked in beer flavoured caramel.

Take that Hashidate!

The autumn leaves were on full display and as there were periods of showers a full semi-circle rainbow appeared.

Rainbow!

We wanted to finish off our day with some ramen so we headed for the ramen place Jen and I pass to go to work but on that particular night we walked in and found a group of people surrounding a little platform with a guitarist and drummer jamming. There would be no ramen that night but we were invited to stay and listen which we politely refused and went in search for ramen in Miyazu. We found a tiny little place in the old cobbled area of Miyazu owned by an old man who made us some curry ramen which was good but the noodles needed to have had more time to soften in the water before making it great. Jenni left us at some stage before our food was ready as she needed to be home but this day struck one more thing off of the Miyazu tourist circuit we had yet to do.

And So The Damn Stupid Season Begins

I'm not a fan of Christmas. In fact I'd go so far as to say I loathe it. The last time I was in Japan I managed to avoid it almost completely as it's not widely celebrated and I had school that day so I was able to miss out on most of it. This year however, being surrounded by a lot more foreigners than last time, I was unable to hide from the garish abundance of red and green completely. The first onslaught came when Welsh JET Jo decided to organise a carolling outing for us around Mineyama. We assembled at her house on Friday 2^nd December in our gay apparel, some gayer than others, and chowed down on mince pies and biscuits as we practised our singing with mouths full. We had a list of places that had requested we sing there but we knew we couldn't fulfil all of them in one night together so we split into two groups, the town group and the temple group and piled into the cars. Our first stop was Mineyama Station where all of us sung and Jo handed out little printed books of the programme for us and the innocent bystanders subject to our attempts at singing. Song number one was the Twelve Days of Christmas. We didn't actually take into account how long this song actually is when you go through all of the days, and so the people who had invited us to sing at the station waited patiently for us to move onto the next song, but the young delinquents who had stumbled upon our show of goodwill thought it was the perfect excuse to practise their truly wretched singing. 

At Mineyama Station. After the 7th day of Christmas, as expected,
the locals were getting sore feet.

From here we went to our assigned places and because I was in the temple group we travelled outside of town and a little into the hills to a large temple where a old priest and his daughter's family lived and here they got the Condensed Twelve Days of Christmas where they have to do without the presents for a while but on the 12^th day they are given an onslaught of presents and they scarcely know what do with this ridiculous number of birds, little boys, girls off the farm and finicky lords. Other fabulous hits included Rocking and/or Rolling Around The Christmas Tree and Walking In a Slushy Winter Wonderland.

Temple Group decked out in their gay apparel.

We were supposed to meet up with the others at this stage at Yukari's house but Diana thought the photos she took of us with the candles looked cool so we spent the next half an hour taking pictures of each other holding candles and looking lovingly into each others eyes, and when we could no longer feel our toes we moved on to Yukari's house. The other group had arrived back well before us and so a party was in full swing as we stumbled in through the door of Yukari's home and English school and had a glass of wine poured for us and more snacks prepared. We stayed here drinking until the wee small hours with a trip to McDonald's for chips at some stage. As we walked back to Jo's house one of the boys who had sung along with us at the station drove up beside us on his bike and wanted to practise his English with us, he wasn't the delinquent he came across as before without his friends so he accompanied us back, then it was home after a loooong evening.

Cue The Epic Lord of the Rings Mountain Climbing Music

On Sunday 27^th November I got up early to be picked up by Keita for a trip into the mountains around Yura to see the autumn leaves. Maggie and I jumped into the car which had Rob in it already and headed to the rendezvous point outside of McDonald’s to pick up another girl who was joining us, Yuki from volleyball. We drove for half an hour past my school up into the hills to the end of the mountain road where a hostel stood. I'm pretty good at mountains especially really steep climbs and was out in front by 50 metres or so for most of the way, stopping at major points (like the 3/6s point) to wait for the others.

At the 3/6th point. Just a little bit further til the halfway point.

Halfway into the trek I hit a cordoned off area where a landslip had occurred. I was not happy. I did not go all that way to be told I couldn't go further so I slipped past the barrier and carried on. Towards the top the others started to catch up to me as I was losing energy rapidly and couldn't eat my onigiri until I made it to the top so I slowed right down to an almost stop near the top. The Eventually I did make it and even did a Rocky victory scene at the top which the Japanese people who were eating their lunch already on the top, found hilarious. From here the views were pretty awesome, but what was more awesome was the fact I got to eat, and even my meagre rice balls tasted amazing.

The beach at Yura from the top of the mountain.

I should have taken into account that the steep and slippery slope I climbed to get up to the top was going to be just that going down, and worse. We pretty much slid back down the clay areas with the others slipping over several times, but of course it took half the time. We then headed to Keita's friend's cake shop in Yura in Kunda. These cakes were the ones we tried at the sake distillery tour we did with the NZ Association several months back, but because I was in futile delusional diet mode I had water, like a true born again for the umpteenth time dieter. The cakes looked good though.

Thanks For Giving.

(From 23rd November).

I had never experienced a Thanksgiving in my life before this year, something that the Americans of the area found hard of believe. One of the Yosano JETs, Alex Zindel organised a Thanksgiving for all of us at her small place. The others had prepared stews, chicken, turkey, salads, cakes and biscuits, but the best Maggie and I could come up with was fruit salad. But it was an epic fruit salad so it was up with the best of the dessert foods. Maggie, Rob and I took the train to Iwataki and with the premise that we were going to be picked up. Yeah, when told you're going to be picked up by friends your age who are foreigners, it's likely you're not going to be high on the list of their priorities, especially when hair is involved, so we waited for about an hour in the warm station before being picked up by our friend Simon (with impeccable hair, mind you). We were some of the first to arrived so Maggie and I got started on turning all the fruit we had bought into an epic fruit salad, which actually took a lot of time. Others who had arrived were working on preparing their meals and in the portable oven we borrowed from Yukari was a big turkey that I believe had to have been bought online.

The bird is the word.

By this stage people were wandering in through the door, which was starting to set of Alex. In the facebook invite she sent out to us it specifically stated we were to be there by 1pm and seated ready for dinner at 1.30pm. This is the kind of person Alex and if she organises it, that's the way it must go. We were an hour late and after working in the kitchen it was heading towards 1.30pm. Alex wasn't happy at the many latecomers. Just to elaborate on her analness, the day after the lunch she sent out an email to everyone asking if anyone had left implements and crockery behind. Attached was a photo of all the left over dishes and cutlery, lined up straight in order of height with a corresponding number on every piece. 

All the forks are all lined up. I give you all that you own.
Take the cloth and peel it back. Now, doesn't it make it look better?

So people wandering in at 1.20pm naturally set her off a bit. We were all seated by about 2pm, and so began our feast. First we had to go around the circle saying something we were thankful for, with the most popular being friends (ghey) and we even had thankfulness to the world with tears. Me, I said what I was genuinely thankful for which brought everyone to a stunned silence. I said I was thankful for the tsunami and ensuing nuclear catastrophe because in a way it guaranteed my being in Japan at that moment as so many people who were accepted in the JET programme in NZ pulled out letting those like me on the reserve list get in. Yeah, saying you're thankful for horrendous calamities is not what any normal person wants to hear, I found out.

Om nom rawrrr!

For the entire day we ate. Some then went out for a walk, then returned to eat more. One of the Omiya JETs, Jay, brought his girlfriend who owns a bakery and baked us tons cakes, biscuits and slices. 'S gooood. We ate into the night and the huge quantity of food miraculously didn't seem like it was depleting in any way, and after missing the last train back to Miyazu, Maggie, Rob and I were forced to stay longer as our ride wanted to stay on. It wasn't a day of much happenings, but it was nice to experience something we don't have in NZ even if it was an American thing made with limited Japanese resources. 

Charming, guys.

We're Not Here To Win. We're Just Here For The Free Tea.

Here at the Miyazu BoE we're a special lot of people, at least my people, the Waruiko-chan (Naughty Children) Team of the left side of the room. Our days are filled with the simple pleasures of life, making fun of the Iiko-chan (Goody Two-shoes) Team of the right side of the room, drinking parties, lunches at Konpira Udon, drinking tea, trips away together and generally being a disturbance. We don't aspire to great heights, so when the City Hall announced an inter department volleyball match, we the Waruiko-chan Team put our hands up to represent the best of the Miyazu BoE.

We showed up at the city gym on Wednesday, 16^th November at 6pm, with our team of mostly women headed by our fearless male leader, Kawahara-san. Kawahara-san automatically assumed naming rights and so we were thoughtfully named Otokomae (The Handsome Men). We turned up a litlle early to practice and to make a whole lot of necessary noise while the organisers made there usual sportsmanship speeches to the crowd assembled. Then it was time to show our foolhardy mettle. Nobody else in our team had played volleyball as a proper team sport so it was every person for themselves which annoyed me at first but then I realised we were the Waruiko-chan Team and weren't there to win, but there as entertainment for everyone, but mostly ourselves so our huge loss was our huge victory. And it was well worth it – we got free tea.

We finished off the night with a party in WK Team fashion at Sankaiya, the izakaya in Mipple, which involved the usual WK Team shenanigans and a giant 1 metre long tube of beer propped up on the table. It's good to be naughty.

Guide To Fitting In, In Japan: Take Your Freakin Shoes Off.

I was kind of thinking of skipping it, but in the end I went along with the others into the mountains of Mineyama to get in touch with our roots with a bottle of bourbon and a packet of marshmallows. Maggie, Rob and I took the train (which we almost missed, as usual), and headed to Mineyama Station to meet up with the others for a shopping excursion around Mine to stockpile for the coming night. We then wound our way past the back blocks of Mineyama, up into the hills through the red and orange trees to a pretty little wooden cabin. The others started arriving after us and as they settled in, Jen and I started making preparations for dinner – salad, and meat to be fried on the traditional grill and cooking pot that sat in the floor of the main room. As darkness began to fall, all twenty or so of us was assembled in the tiny cabin and engaging in lively conversation with drinks, including Yukari and her family, who had organised all of this. Yukari had studied at an Australian university and her English and pronunciation was excellent. Basically we drank the night away with Maggie, another Japanese woman Yuko and I playing Monopoly with Yukari's youngest daughter Nat-chan, while the others played a version of spotlight outside. I joined them for a time but became very disheartened when I was sent to seek Matt and Mario and I happened to be standing right beside them, looking straight at them while not seeing them and moving on. Much shit was tossed my way afterwards. After this we flopped down, around the cooking pit, unable to function properly playing that time honoured drunk-time tradition of truth or dare. For several hours of drunk dirty dances, annoyed neighbours, articles of clothing lost and people's darkest pasts and desires forced out of them, we wrapped up the game with the best dare of the night, given to Yukari after discussing what would be the most un-Japanese thing we could put her though. The conclusion we came up with – the dreaded walking on the tatami with shoes on!! Even we gaijin cringe with the thought of it but for a Japanese person, putting their dirty unclean paws on that soft fibrous flooring can drive one to madness, Yukari demonstrated. A few steps turned into a frenzied stomping ritual amid her maniacal laughter.

I being the last one to haul out a futon and cover from the futon cupboard that filled on side of the room, could only find a place to sleep in the main room on one side of the cooking pit, while the others slept on in the living room, which was fine, it was at least quiet where I was by myself and not at all cold. The next morning as everyone stumbled around, hungover and bleary eyed trying to collect their belongings from all over the cabin as a bewildered old Japanese man and his wife stared at us gaijin unable to say anything but clearly hinting that he was waiting to move into the cabin. We ignored him, more concerned with our own troubles, and carried on slow and argumentative division of the leftover food and drink, while making tea and discussing everyone’s plans for the rest of the day. (The old man is getting really frustrated at this point but is still unable to speak to the gaijin, who everyone knows can't speak a word of Japanese because it was been decreed Japanese is the most difficult language in the world).Half of the group went to see the festival that was taking place in the same park where the cabin was, while the rest of us went home. Jen was feeling miserable so Sammi, Maggie and I took her for a breakfast of pizza after stopping to let her out and vomit, before going homeward bound.