The Okinawan Xmas

Ok, so first of all a belated Happy Christmas and an early Happy New Years to everyone!

The week (or last 10 days or whatever) started with me having my last day at school. I was tired and hungry at the end of the day (I work 9 til 3 with no break), but was in good spirits as it was the last day. This changed however when I found I would not be getting paid for my holiday. My money seems to be getting spent faster and faster these days, so am in need of every yen.

I assumed I would be getting paid as the other teachers were, but because I am part time my manager told me I wouldn’t get anything. Normally I would have accepted that, but Im always well touchy when Im hungry, so decided to ring the company president to complain. He apologized, then promised me a Christmas bonus, which was an awesome result.

The next day me and Ayae went to the Sakae Orchird gardens which were excessively decorated with electric lights. There was a live Jazz band playing cheesy Christmas numbers, and an exhibition of a British style Christmas. This was basically some rooms decorated in a traditional British style, complete with a fake fireplace, and a Japanese Santa Claus (who was wearing trainers).

We also went to Nagoya city to buy a Japanese-English dictionary for my Nintendo DS. Despite being really expensive everywhere, I eventually found an earlier version which was also second hand and so extra cheap.

Because we would be spending our Christmas day travelling to Okinawa, we decided to have our Xmas day on Xmas eve. This was an awesome day although I was a bit miffed to find that my Japanese English dictionary was actually rather rubbish. It’s a program designed for Japanese students to learn English so all the definitions from English to Japanese are in Kanji and so unreadable to me. O well.

The next day we set off for Okinawa!!! For those that don’t know, Okinawa is a group of tropical islands quite far south of mainland Japan. The fact that its quite far from Japan means its culturally a little different, and the climate is about the same as Hawaii.

The journey was a long one. We flew from Nagoya to Okinawa island, and then from there flew to Ishigaki island (even further south!) where we would be spending the first night. We got to the Hotel about 8pm totally exhausted. There were 4 restaurants inside the hotel, and we went for the Japanese style one.

There was no choice in the menu. The trip to Okinawa was a present from Ayaes dad to us, and included travel, hotels, and all meals. For this particular restaurant we had a ticket that entitled us to a certain meal.

This was a really awesome meal. It consisted of some delicious grilled fish, some pickles, some ginger, sashimi, rice, miso soup, some tofu, some special Okinawan Soba, some shrimp, and some obscure but delicious vegetables. Although I love pretty much all Japanese food, this one was the first meal in a long time to really stand out as absolutely delicious. Awesome.

The next day we woke at 6 and had a delicious breakfast buffet. Then it was on to the tour bus. The day was going to be a long one, as it was a `Tsua` (Tour), which consisted of visiting many different places in Okinawa, all in one day.

Even at 8 am on Christmas day, there was a warm breeze which was really lush. There were palm trees lining the streets, and a beautiful beach and ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see. I wore my shorts for the first time in a while, which was awesome.

The first thing we visited was some Chinese grave thing, which was pretty cool. After that, we went to a gorgeous beach to go on a glass bottom boat. This was nice and there were lots of colorful fish, and lush coral.

After this we went to Ishigaki port, and took a rocky boat ride to Taketomi island. We then took a bus to `Starsand beach` where there were star shaped skeletons of miniature creatures amongst the sand. Whilst all the other tourists looked for these, I soaked up the sun in this absolutely gorgeous location, and smugly thought about what the weather in the UK must be like.

We then got back onto the bus and went to look around Taketomi village, which was really nice. The building design is different in Okinawa to the rest of Japan, particularly the roofs. I climbed up a ridiculously steep stone staircase to get a view over the top of the village. This was a beautiful view, as the beach was also in the background.

Apparently on Taketomi, there are no police, and only 2 traffic lights on the whole island. In fact everyone in Okinawa seems to be really chilled out especially compared with the often ridiculously stressful rest of Japan. It has the highest life expectancy of anywhere in Japan, presumably due to this relaxed, happy go lucky attitude of the Okinawan people. Despite the hecticness of the Tsua, I often felt well chilled which was ideal after working so hard the past few weeks.

After Taketomi, we went back to the port, and got another boat to a different island, Iriomote. There, we had lunch which was a delicious bento box featuring some Okinawan specialties. Okinawan cuisine often features lots of pork, which was fine for me, but pretty tough for vegetarian Ayae (especially when she found out she had accidentally eaten pigs ear!). To be fair I didn’t know it was pigs ear either, but it was actually really delicious.

We then chilled on a nice beachy, grassy area before taking a buffalo drawn cart. Buffalo rides are apparently something that Iriomote is known for. We used them to get across some shallow water to a different island, where there was a cool botanical garden and a butterfly garden which was awesome.

On the buffalo ride back our driver (the guy in charge of the buffalo, are they called drivers?), decided to pull out a sanshin (a traditional Okinawan instrument, a bit like a banjo) and play us a song which was cool.

The Tsua then took us along the Urauchi Gawa (basically like a miniature Amazon) on a boat, where we could see an awesome mangrove, where many of the trees had been uprooted by a massive typhoon. After a while we stopped at a famous Okinawan tree which was 400 years old and had these crazy massive roots, before heading back.

We then went to Kohama jima which is a different island, to stay at the hotel there. This hotel was awesome. Instead of regular rooms, there where chalet like buildings that look out over the beach and ours was about 4 times bigger than our apartment in Nagoya! There was however pretty much nothing else on the island which meant for tea we had to have the hotels all-you-can-eat buffet which was exceptionally expensive.

Despite this it was proper lush, and I got to try Chanpura which is a famous Okinawan pork stir fry, as well as loads of other specialties and more pigs ear! After totally filling up, we saw some Okinawan music performed live in the hotel lobby which was pretty cool but had to go to bed straight after as we had another early start the next day.

Unfortunately we overslept, so only had 5 minutes to eat breakfast, meaning we stuffed our faces at an unhealthy rate. After that we had a bus tour of the islands village which was once the setting for a famous Japanese TV show set in Okinawa. The most interesting part of this bus tour was when the guide revealed he had only left the island (which was absoloutely tiny!) twice in his life. He seemed happy enough tho, so fairplay I guess.

After that we headed back to Ishigaki to have a quick tour of a traditional Okinawan fabric makers factory, before getting on a plane back to Okinawa island and then on to cold and wet Nagoya. When we got to Nagoya airport we met a couple of Ayaes Uni friends who had just graduated and got jobs as air hostesses which was cool.

The next day Ayae went back to her parents and I stayed in Nagoya. In the evening I went out with my friend Callie for a drink. After moving from pub to pub we tried to find a famous techno club, but ended up getting completely lost. We asked a band who were busking, and ended up chatting to them for an hour, as they were really friendly. After that we kept walking, and asked some girls who were hip hop dancing nearby. This is as Ive said before a common activity in Japan, especially outside skyscrapers with reflective glass.

They were also really cool, and invited us to go to a club with them so we followed. On the way we randomly bumped into the singer from the busking band, who out of nowhere produced some traditional Japanese sweets and offered us some. After munching down some sweet beans treats, we found ourselves at a hip hop club named `The Underground`, which was ironic cos it was actually on the 4th floor.

This club was pretty cool, and had live performances from Japanese RnB singers and also a couple of rappers. After this there was a dance showcase, where our newly found friends performed their routine. There were about 5 different troupes, and it was awesome to watch them. After dancing til 5 and meeting loads of random cool people we headed to get some ramen (which is basically like the Japanese equivalent to the Kebab). Ramen are a type of Chinese noodle and usually served in a soup with meat and vegetables. This was pretty horrible, but I had the munchies so I chowed down.

Ok that’s about it. I go to Tokyo tomorrow to meet my friends for New Years Eve which is gonna be well good, so next week expect another `Tokyo special`!

Peace yo!

Jack

PS Heres the video of the Buffalo ride complete with Sanshin playing dude.

The Gig

Ok, sorry for this blog being a bit late again, but I have been busy as usual.

Nothing really happened during the week until Thursday where me and Ayae went for a meal with 2 of her friends. We went to a nearby curry restaurant where they offer all you can eat on naan bread, every Thursday. This was obviously awesome for me, as I demolished 4 naan breads. Then I went home and felt sick.

On Friday I was called in to work, to replace a sick teacher. This went ok although I timed it a bit wrong and got there with 3 minutes to prepare. Somehow, on my blagging skills I managed to get through the day but in 1 lesson, I literally didn’t know what I was meant to do. I managed to find some Christmas related flash cards to play a game with, but the rest of the lesson was just made up on the spot.

Luckily my last lesson, which was a 1 hour adult lesson cancelled and so I was able to go home early.

On Saturday I went to work as usual, and came straight home to prepare for the party. Last week I had met this American, Raul at the Izakaya who invited me to his end of year party at the school he ran. I was going to go with Ayae, my friend Callie, and her friend Eri.

To find where the school was I checked out his website, which had pictures of previous parties. All seemed to have a heavy emphasis on the food, so I was really looking forward to it. I was not disappointed. They had a turkey, as well as loads of other dishes such as meatballs, tandoori chicken, salads, tofu dishes, oysters and pizza. There was a pretty expensive entrance fee to get into the party, but given the amount and quality of food, it was definitely worth it.

After the first and main courses they brought out the cakes which were really amazing. There was like 8 of them! There were chocolate logs, Victoria logs, strawberry tart, cream puffs, fruit tart and loads of cakes I don’t know the names of. Anyway it was proper sweet.

The party itself for me mainly consisted of me and Callie trying to speak Japanese to these guys, and trying to explain the principle of the `Big fish, little fish, cardboard box` dance. Which was pretty difficult.

Before leaving for the party, I had picked up some Chu-Hi which is kind of like a Japanese alco-pop, except it’s a lot stronger. After finishing them off, Raul came round with shots of Shochu, a Japanese liquer, which was tasty but in retrospect not a great move.

Everyone at the party was really cool, and for the most part, Japanese. I think the idea of the party is that students at Rauls school get a chance to practice their English on genuine gaijin. As a result, gaijin had a half price entry (Which was still pretty expensive mind!). I think this is a great idea as alcohol is a great social lubricant, so the students can get a lot of practice for their English skills, but still have fun.

After the party, we went our separate ways although many of the teachers and students lived quite near us. Callies friend Eri, had driven to the party and very kindly gave us a lift home, which was awesome cos the taxis are so expensive in Japan.

The next day I somehow avoided a hangover, and went shopping with Ayae in Nagoya for my Christmas present. On Monday I had gone to a jewellery store to buy hers, a pinky ring which she had carefully decided upon the week before. It was a little expensive tho so Ayae agreed to buy something of the same value for me. I had decided a while ago that I was gonna buy a Nintendo DS at some point, as they had a special Japanese teaching program that I thought would be really helpful (and also Im still a kid really and love video games!).

After buying the DS and a couple of accessories, we went to a book shop so that Ayae could do some shopping. I was getting a bit bored, so Ayae gave me a magazine with a list of the bands that would be playing Japan soon. To my surprise I saw that Rage Against The Machine were playing Osaka in February. I figured the tickets must be sold out, but upon ringing found that there were some left. After checking that it definitely was THE Rage Against The Machine, I immediately booked one, then bought one for my friend Sam as well.

Rage are one of those bands I never thought Id be able to see live (they broke up 7 years ago), and although I heard they reformed for a couple of festivals I thought they were just special occasions, as had heard no news of any dates in the UK. I have since found out they are only touring Japan and Australia so feel very privileged to have this opportunity to see them. They are probably top of my list of bands I want to see live, so I have had a spring in my step all week.

On Monday it was back to school, although this was my last Monday before Christmas which was a relief as Mondays are my hardest day.

On Tuesday I went to school again although it was just for an hour to observe one of the classes I would be taking on from next year. After work, I headed to Nagoya city to buy a game for my newly purchased DS. After much deliberation, I eventually decided on a `Bleach` game, taken from the popular anime series. After that I headed to Imaike to meet my friend Callie. She`s been wanting to find some live music for a while, and I had found out about a band called Hawaiian 6 who were gonna be playing in Nagoya, and arranged sometime ago to meet and go to the gig with her.

I had also found out that unfortunately all the advance tickets had sold out. When we got there we queued for about half an hour in a queue that turned out to be for merchandise. We eventually managed to get in just after the first support band started. It seems they wait until the bands start then if theres room let more people in (at a far more expensive price mind!).

Unfortunately, in this case there wasn’t really enough room but we were let in anyway. As we tried to push open the door to the floor area there was a huge resistance. Eventually I got my head round the corner, and found that it was so packed, people were crushed against the entrance door making it nearly impossible to open. After some heavy pushing we (and the rest of the latecomers) got in and then ourselves were crushed against the door. To make matters worse, because me and Callie had both just come from work we both had backpacks, and being as there were no cloakrooms, found ourselves in a bit of a squeeze.

The underground room was tiny, about the size of 2 living rooms, but there must have been more than a hundred people there. The surprising thing for me was that it wasn’t just packed with people at the front, it was like that all the way to the back (although the back was only about 10 rows back to be fair). Ive taken pictures from where I stood both in front of me and behind me to highlight this (although I should say the one of the people behind me was taken between bands and thats why everyone looks a bit bored). In the UK a place like this would be shut down as a health and safety nightmare, but everyone was really safe so it wasn’t really a problem. Dread to think what would happen if there was a fire though….

The first band was pretty good, slightly cheesy Stones-esque rock n roll that you could nod ur head to (well you couldn’t do much else given the crush). After that some bloke called Ganja came on and everyone went mental. He was like the MC of the evening and people loved him. I couldn’t really work out what he was saying, but at the end of it, the audience cheered for him to down a pint of Guiness.

After that a band called No Rebound came on, and there was a massive surge to the front. No Rebound were a really awesome punk band, and the crowd went absolutely nuts. As soon as they started, the room started moshing and there were people crowd surfing everywhere. The club seemed to actively encourage moshing, and within about 5 minutes I had sweat out my body weight. I was holding my bag by one strap, and bouncing round the whole room. Since I had run out of money earlier, I had withdrew like all my savings from my Japanese account (it’s a real chore to find an ATM for my bank and didn’t want to have to find another one again). So all my savings were in my bag, as well as my new DS game, and my suit for work. As a result I was rather concerned with losing it and so couldn’t really stash it.

After No Rebound finished, Ganja came on and downed another pint of Guiness. Then, Hawaiian 6 came on stage to Dancing Queen by Abba, which was a bit weird as they were a speed punk band. Anyway as soon as they started the place went even more crazy and everyone was crowd surfing again. On several occasions people tried to put me up there, but given my backpack situation, I figured it wasn’t a good idea. It broke my heart, but unfortunately I couldn’t join in with those crazy Japanese kids.

Despite this I had a really awesome night. Hawaiian 6 are one of those bands I wouldn’t listen to at home, but live they are amazing, and such good fun. As I left, my shirt was absolutely soaked with sweat, and covered in footprints from the numerous crowd surfers. In fact even after washing it, the stains are still there.

Unfortunately I missed the train I needed to get as the band went on about 3 minutes longer than I wanted them to, so I had to walk home. Luckily I could change into my work clothes to get home, as my T-shirt was well rank. Eventually I got home, took a shower and went to sleep.

Ok, that’s about it for this week. Next week is Christmas, and me and Ayae are jetting off to Okinawa on Christmas day. We come back on the 27th, so look out for a blog around the 29th or 30th.

Until then, Peace.

Jack

P.S The organizers of the gig made an announcement that we couldn’t take pictures shortly after I had taken a couple. As a result I don’t have many to show. Please enjoy this movie of No Rebound though, as evidence of how mental it was. Look out for the pair of vertical legs that crop up now and then!

The Izakaya

Ok despite my attempts to `make` something happen this week, it has actually been fairly uneventful.

Monday I had work which was ok, and Tuesday was spent chilling.

On Wednesday I went to an English pub to meet up with the Polish/Australian Max, as I was feeling a bit of cabin fever, and like I needed to get out of the house. When I got there he was sitting at a very international table. There were 3 people from France, 1 from Salvadore, 1 from Spain, 1 from Hawaii, 2 from Japan, and 1 from America.

Everyone was pretty safe except for the American who was like something out of The Office. Seriously, for like the 3 hours I was there, he was just making the most rubbish, sex related jokes you could ever hear. Even the Japanese weren’t laughing, and they laugh at everything. EVERYTHING!

Despite this it was a pretty fun night. The Hawaiian guy was actually an aeroplane engineer for Mitsubishi and provided a nice break from the usual English teaching anecdotes. At one point a short Japanese man in a suit came over to talk to us. I think he must have been pretty drunk, cos before asking me my name he invited me to a party on Friday. He said it was his end of year party, and as the boss of a gas company I assumed that to mean his companys end of year party. The idea of getting wasted with a bunch of drunken Japanese salarymen sounded like an awesome cultural experience so I immediately replied yes.

At the end of the night, I got a train as far as I could toward my appartment, and then had to walk 40 minutes to my apartment. Its started to get really rather cold in Japan so it was a good thing I was wearing a sufficient `beer jacket`.

On Thursday I went to the bank, as it turned out my cash card would be ready before I initially thought. Thankfully I got it (although I went there on my own this time so got really lost again!), so I am now not so skint.

Friday, and I was really looking forward to hanging with some salarymen. I had agreed with Kawai-san (the short Japanese guy in a suit) to meet with him outside a central subway station. The plan was to then go to an izakaya (a Japanese pub). Never having been to an izakaya added to my expectations of the night. Since they were salarymen I decided I better dress appropriately, which obviously means wearing a suit. Everywhere u go in Japan 90% of people are wearing a suit so I figured itd be rude to turn up in a hoody and jeans.

When I got to the subway station I discovered that not only was no one wearing a suit, but none of the people were salarymen. They were all filthy gaijin like me!

It turns out that Kawai-san organizes international get-togethers once every couple of months or so. There was about 30 people outside the subway station and as usual they were from all over the place. Everyone was friendly, although I got lots of weird looks followed by `Why are you wearing a suit?`. I pretended that I had come straight from work, and most seemed to believe me except for one guy who took me aside and said `Don’t worry man I like to wear suits out sometimes, you know?`. Which was a bit weird.

The place we had met was outside Fushimi station which is where all the hip hop dancers hang out. There`s a big skyscraper with reflective walls, so they can see themselves as tho they were in a dance studio. They all had boomboxes and were doing their thing with no reservations or shyness, despite the numerous gaijin staring at them.

After everyone had arrived we headed to the izakaya. This was underneath another of Fushimis numerous towers. An Izakaya is, as I said like a Japanese pub although it’s a little different. There are lots of private rooms which groups can book (as we did), or they can be used by many small groups.

You sit on the floor, and whereas English pubs put the emphasis on drinking, in Izakaya drinking AND eating are the main activities. You order from a selection of small dishes, most of which are based around chicken (which goes really well with beer!). The idea at this particular party was that everyone ordered whatever they wanted and then the bill would be split at the end. Since I am a big eater, I stood to profit from this arrangement.

The food I had was really awesome. There was lots of Tonkatsu (Pork cutlet in breadcrumbs), sashimi, chicken legs, Nabes (kind of like a hotpot with chicken balls in), chips, and salad. There were also these slices of fried chicken skin which Im sure were terrible for my health, but which tasted awesome.

Despite not being a big beer drinker, I decided as it was the drink most commonly associated with Izakaya, I should partake in some. There were several pitchers constantly being bought to our table, so my glass never went empty. I also drank a lot of Sake which Im starting to really get the hang of now.

The people there were all really cool and I got lots of phone numbers as the night went on. I was however the youngest there (or at least the youngest gaijin male - there were lots Japanese girls about my age who I guess like hanging out with older foreign men. Fairplay.) Actually Im making it out to be far more sleazy than it was, the guys there were actually really cool and nice, and nothing like the drunk American I met on Wednesday night. The girls themselves were all really cool as well and it gave me a good chance to hone my Japanese skills.

I even met one Brit who had been there about 6 years. I proudly told him how I had discovered cider in Nagoya. “That’s nothing” he said. “A few weeks ago I discovered a Real Ale pub. In Nagoya”. Im not a big real ale man myself but im sure some of you will be interested in that fact.

Anyway, the night was a great laugh and despite being disappointed at the lack of drunken Japanese salarymen acting like fools, I had a great night and got to see lots of drunk gaijin English teachers acting like fools.

Yes, as expected they were nearly all English teachers, although most were now teaching in high schools or junior high schools which is apparently a slight step up from Eikeiwa (private schools). Actually there was also one German guy who was a computer programmer, but I think apart from that they were all teachers.

After everyone was full of fried food and alcohol we went to a nearby English pub. This was one I hadn’t been to before, but was quite similar to the other one except they had darts. The plan was to drink there for a few hours and then go to a 24 hour karaoke bar. That sounded great to me, except for the fact that I had work the next day. After a quick (but pricey) drink I sprinted to the subway to get the last train home before making the 40 minute walk back to my apartment. I had to be up early the next day which was not pretty, but I eventually got thru the day, and spent the majority of the afternoon/evening Christmas shopping. When I got home I went straight to sleep, knackered.

On Sunday I went to the center of Nagoya to pick up a couple more presents, before heading to Issha, a nearby district to get my haircut. Ayae had found an uber cheap barbers which given my current financial situation was much needed. My pay came a couple of days later than expected, and the Christmas shopping had wiped me out. I spent my last 1000 yen on my haircut and then I had officially had no funds. Luckily I would get paid Monday so it wasn’t a massive deal, but it was a staunch reminder of how much this country eats up your money. I am planning to go travelling at the end of my year here, but saving the money to do that may very well be harder than expected, especially with my trip to Okinawa for Christmas AND my trip to Tokyo for New years.

Anyway that’s about it for this week, next week I should be going to Raul`s (a guy I met on Friday) party at his school in Issha (he owns his own English school) which should hopefully be interesting.

Until then guys, take it easy and as always thanks for reading.

Jack

The Koyo

This week started with me going to get a Japanese bank account on Tuesday. My school has decided to stop paying me by cash for whatever reason, so they`ve told me I have to get a bank account. After ringing round just about every bank in Nisshin we eventually found one who would accept me as a customer. To get a bank account, you need an `inkan` which is kind of like a stamp with your name in Kanji (a single Chinese character). Since my name (obviously) has no Kanji I have had one (very generously by Ayaes mum) made in the shape of a `J`.

Because it’s a home made one, lots of banks wont accept it, but eventually we found one that would although it was on the other side of town. After taking about 4 buses (most of them going the wrong way) we eventually got there. To create the bank account I had to fill in lots of forms, which took ages as Ive never really written Kanji before, so I had to have Ayae draw each one first so I could copy it.

On the way home, I realized Id missed out 2 lines of address on the forms so they wouldn’t be able to send the cash card to me. After a few phone calls it got kind of sorted out , although Im now gonna have to wait a month to access my cash which leaves me a little skint.

Anyway Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty uneventful, but Friday we had a Takoyaki party at our apartment, with a couple of Ayaes friends. Takoyaki are basically golf ball sized fried balls of batter (made of flour, eggs, vegetables, and fish shavings things) with chunks of Octopus in the middle. They are then covered with Soosu (a brown, slightly sweet sauce), mayonnaise, seaweed, and bonito flakes. These are available as street food at most festivals and downtown city areas, and I have them quite regularly as they are well tasty.

One of Ayaes friends had a Takoyaki machine which is kind of a hotplate with circle shapes on it. You pour the batter into the holes, then put some Octopus onto the batter, then when one side is done flip it over using cocktail sticks and put a bit more batter in to make it a bit bigger.
Despite finding it difficult at first, after a couple I was a Takoyaki master. They tasted awesome and were well satisfying to make. When you buy them at street stores, you normally get a box of 8, but the fact that we wanted to use all the mixture meant we had an average of 30 each, although Im sure my number was higher than the others so Im guessing I had about 40 Takoyaki. Which is ridiculous.

On Saturday I went to work, although stopped off in Sakae to see if anything was happening. There was a big model pirate ship with some Spanish guitar style band playing, and a huge model treasure chest. Weird.

On Sunday we woke up at 4 to get a bus to Kyoto to see the Koyo. Koyo is what the Japanese call leaf viewing in the autumn. Certain areas are really great for Koyo, and Kyoto is one of the best. We booked onto a tour bus which would take us to 2 places in Kyoto which are famous for their leaves.

The first we got to was a temple called Tofokuji. Tofokuji is where zen priests used to go to achieve enlightenment although that would be almost impossible now given the immense quantity of people. As soon as we got there we could see a sea of people that stretched out ahead of us as far as the eye could see. After queuing for a while however we eventually got to a bridge over a chasm valley type thing.

This was absolutely gorgeous and unlike anything Ive ever seen before. The sheer amount of leaves was really overwhelming, and despite the huge amounts of people, all vying for the best spot to get a picture on their digital cameras, it was really beautiful.

The temple buildings themselves were also really nice and were surrounded by awesome zen gardens. It was a pretty huge site and there was loads of trees to see. The ground was often entirely red in places and was just like something out of a Zhang Yimou kung fu flick.

After looking round for about an hour and a half we got back onto the bus to go to Ginkakuji. Ginkakuji was a temple Id wanted to see for a long time but never got round to seeing. Whilst Kinkakuji (which I visited last month) is known as the Golden temple, Ginkakuji is the silver temple.

The road to the temple was next to a small river, and there was plenty of red trees and bushes along the path which was well pretty.

As we got closer to the temple there was more and more shops selling traditional Kyoto goods such as kimonos and fans, as well as lots of souvenir shops. There was also lots of snack stalls selling Macha (green tea) related goods. We had some macha ice cream, and some other Japanese style sweet things. They also sold macha cream puffs, although I didn’t partake in any of them.

When we got to the temple it was, as predicted really really gorgeous although the pictures here show it a lot better than I can describe. Some shogunate in like the 1500s spent his whole life building it as a place to live, and so the garden was really really lush, although once again it was swarming with people.

After looking round the temple and the surrounding area for a while, we found a nice little restaurant, selling Macha flavoured Soba (noodles). This restaurant had an Edo style interior and recreated the feel of a very old restaurant really well.

After lots more wondering round we eventually got back on the bus to Nagoya although it stopped off at a famous Kyoto Pickle shop first. Whilst I do enjoy Japanese pickles from time to time Im not mad keen on them so we didn’t buy anything.

We got home around 10 pm totally knackered and went straight to bed.

K, that’s about all for this week, unfortunately Im a bit low on time so I wont say any more. Next week I pretty much have a free week so Ill try and make something happen. This blog sometimes feels like an albatross as I have to do something otherwise Ill have nothing to write about. However, I think its beneficial really as it makes me more adventurous and gives me extra motivation to not sit in my apartment watching Japanese TV all day (although that’s always a temptation lol).

So until next week, stay classy UK.

Jack

The Pub

Ok this week hasn’t been anything like last week, but its still been pretty sweet.

After getting back from Tokyo last week, I had a huge cold, and going to work on Monday with relatively no sleep was not nice. After just about getting over it on Tuesday, I went to work on Wednesday. One of the teachers here has gone back to Canada so while we wait for a new teacher I was filling in. The classes were ones Id taken before (since the same teacher had taken a week off last month and I had filled in). So I knew what to expect.

The first 2 classes were young bratty kids that always started fights and cried and didn’t pay attention, so that was a bit of a chore. In one of the classes, one of the students objected so much to me (being a newish teacher and a break from the norm) that he refused to come into the classroom. Eventually he did, but only on the condition that he could be cuddled at all times by one of the female Japanese teachers. Im sure she had other things to do but she stayed for nearly the whole class, bless her.

On several occasions the kid fell asleep in her arms which was pretty funny. He was awake and on his own for the last 5 minutes tho so I suppose at least there was a bit of a lesson. Felt a bit sorry for the other 3 students tho.

On Thursday I had a similar day of teaching except the kids were all pretty well behaved this time. I also had an adult class this day which was quite good fun as they all had quite a high level of English.

On Friday I had a much needed day off. Ayae was going to her parents for the weekend so I went to the station to see her off. After that I went to a bookstore and bought another book on learning Japanese (I must have about 10 now!). I spent most of that day reading and trying to get better. Ironically since Ive been here I think my Japanese has probably gotten worse. When I was in the UK I was a dedicated student, studying for hours every day and now that Im here, I never seem to find the time. I justify it to myself that as Im here I should be subconsciously getting better, but Im not really talking to people in Japanese enough so theres no way that can happen. Occasionally me and Ayae do talk in Japanese, but I don’t push it enough. Since going to Tokyo last week where I was chatting Japanese I have decided to really try harder, so hopefully my new book and new attitude will help me get better. We will see!

On Saturday I had work, and afterwards I did my usual thing of checking out Sakae although there was not as much on as usual (there was a couple of bands playing in the park and on the street but they were pretty awful). I did however come across a new department store which featured a Tower Records with some awesome discounts, and also a new live music venue. It seemed to play to some pretty big acts in the past (such as Stereophonics) so Im thinking it was a good discovery for the future.

I also went to an `English pub` called The Hub, to check if they would be showing the live Tottenham - West Ham game Sunday. I was told `Tabun-ne` which basically translates as `I think so`. I decided I would definitely go anyway as even if they weren’t showing it, it seemed like a cool place worth checking out.

Sunday was a big day for me. I had been wanting to see some live football ever since I got here, but the 9 hour time difference means unless it starts around 12 or 1 its not really possible. There are bars open late, but the last train is around midnight, so I have to go then anyway (unless Im staying out all night!).

The game would start at half 10 but I decided to go into the city early as I had nothing else to do. First I explored a park which I hadn’t been to before in Fushimi, near Sakae. There were a couple of cool sculptures, as well as lots of nice trees which had changed color because of Autumn so that was cool.

After that I decided to go to Osu to do a bit more exploring. On the way I came across a really beautiful shrine although it was right next to a busy main road. I also found a temple which was really nice.

When I got to Osu I was bombarded with ridiculously bright lights everywhere. The first thing I saw was some fire eating dude surrounded by a wall of Christmas lights and topped up with a huge cat statue thing that is everywhere in Japan. Awesome.

Next I wondered through the indoor market thing which again had Christmas lights everywhere. On the ceiling, on the trees, and even on the archway thing. Nagoya is well and truly ready for Christmas.

After this I headed to Sakae which again was decorated to the hilt. I decided to explore Sakae again as this time I had lots of time (it was still about 3 hours til kick off). After walking up as many streets as I could, I discovered Sakae was actually about 3 times bigger than I thought it was; it just didn’t stop!

As the light faded, the seedier side of the city exposed itself. Whilst there wasn’t a red light district per say, the streets seemed to go : Shop, shop, restaurant, shop, brothel, shop, restaurant, brothel and so on. Women on the street started offering me massages and as it got later they were everywhere (even on a Sunday!). As I tried to get away I somehow managed to double back on myself and had to walk past them again! I eventually found refuge in `The Hub` and sat down with a refreshing pint of Guinness.

The crowd in the hub was about 50-50 gaijin and Japanese, and most were aged mid to late 20s. Though it was on one of Sakaes busiest roads, the interior replicated an English pub very well although the emphasis on the fact they sold fish and chips was a bit much. As I perused the menu I noticed they sold Strongbow. I have been looking for Cider in Japan for a very long time, and so to finally find some was a huge victory for me. It was ludicrously overpriced of course, but I have come to expect that about drinking in Japan.

After sitting on my own for the best part of an hour, I decided to make a bit of an effort, and got talking to this Australian/Polish bloke called Max. He was sitting at a table with an English girl and a Japanese guy and girl so I chatted to them for a bit. Max and the English girl were both English teachers so there was a sense of camaraderie there. After a while the football started and I warned them that I could get a bit anti-social watching football. They laughed a bit and carried on talking. I managed to fire off a few words of terrible Japanese to the guy and girl, which was just about understood and so a great step forward in my language learning.

After a few minutes I happened to notice in the corner of my eye Tottenham scoring. I jumped off my seat and screamed `Fucking Come on! Yes!!!!`. As I did this I noticed that no one else was actually paying attention to the game. They were however staring dead at me and most were laughing. To make matters worse, the goal was ruled offside so it didn’t actually count. I took to my seat again and proceeded to act like nothing happened. The other guys at the table thought it was really funny tho and were very curious as to how a game could mean so much to someone.

After drinking and chatting for another hour or so, it was midnight and although the game had another 15 minutes to go, the bar was closing so I left. Although I hadn’t missed the last train home Max insisted I had and that his mum would give me a lift home. Max was about my age and had lived in Japan for around 2 years, after moving here from Australia with his Polish mum. The lift home was pretty surreal being as I was drunk and Max`s mum tho very friendly had what she called a `lead foot`. Im sure we were close to careering off the road many times but eventually we got to the station. Because I didn’t really know where I lived I asked to be dropped at the nearest train station (although this wasn’t actually at all near to where I lived).

From there I got in a taxi and asked to be dropped at the nearest landmark I knew- which was Ayaes University. The driver (a nice middle aged women with about 5 very bad teeth. Come to think of it the taxi driver in my first blog had no teeth….. Hmmmmm…….Maybe theres some sort of weird sadistic initiation ritual involved in getting a Taxi license here……..I wonder…..) must have taken from this that I spoke fluent Japanese and proceeded to talk at me the whole way home. I nodded and smiled through the whole thing and I think she was none the wiser although for all I know she could have just spent 10 minutes badmouthing me.

After she dropped me off, I got into my apartment and fell straight to sleep. I had work the next day so was not too pleased to notice I had a hangover. Luckily my shift didn’t start til the afternoon so I caught up on plenty of sleep. Although it was a pretty stressful day (I don’t like Mondays), my last 2 adult classes cancelled, so I got to go home 2 hours early which was awesome. All in all it was a very strange but very cool and worthwile night out.

Next week me and Ayae are off to Kyoto again to see the changing leaves so Im thinking that should be pretty awesome; expect a gratuitous amount of pictures!

Anyways, thanks for reading, and hopefully Ill catch you next week.

Peace out

Jack