The Brothers of Bob

Ok after last weeks beast of a blog Ill try to keep this (relatively) short.

After the fun and frolics of golden week, I went back to work on the Friday and the Saturday.

Saturday night was to be another leaving party, this time of Claire and Sari, 2 fellow ACC teachers who I didn’t know that well, but well enough to see them off. They would be celebrating it in Nisshio which is about an hour outside Nagoya, such is the habit of ACC to put their schools in the remotest of places.

We were going to start at an organic restaurant (which motivated Ayae to join us), and then go to a bar and some Karaoke afterwards. To get to Nisshio we managed to hitch a ride with Yumiko (one of my Saturday students who used to be taught by Claire), and we were joined in the car by my manager Yoko and Thomas who also used to teach Yumiko.

The journey was a little over an hour, and after sitting down at our reserved table, the rest of the party arrived comprising mainly of ACC teachers, and students. The restaurant, like the one near our apartment featured all you can eat fruit parfait complete with ice cream. Actually I swapped the glass they normally give you for the epic orange juice glasses they give, meaning I could get twice as much fruit and ice cream as everyone else (all credit to Alan Partridge).

After eating a ridiculous amount we went to Dojin Bar which was really awesome. The bar was big for Japan, and the décor was in an African style, complete with bongos that you could drum when you wanted the attention of a waiter. The party lost a few people when we went here but gained a few more, and so still was about 30 strong. After drinking and chatting for a bit we left and there was a mad dash to the people who had brought their cars to try to blag a lift. Altho me and Ayae left it a bit late we managed to get a lift with fellow Brit, Rob, who conveniently had a 6 seater.

After getting lost and driving round Nisshio for what seemed like hours we eventually found ourselves at the Karaoke box which really had to be seen to be believed. Although we had driven past countless Karaoke boxes, I wondered why they had chosen one so out of the way and when we got their I realized. This place was an absolute dive; the interior was about as ugly and cheap as could be, there were countless holes in the walls boarded up with MDF, and instead of subdued lighting and comfy sofas they had lighting with all the subtlety of a 24 hour supermarket, and some cushions on the floor.

Anyway we managed to get a room which could fit in the remaining 15 odd people we had left. The room, in fitting with the “style” of the rest of the bar featured a picture of a city skyline which was peeling off the wall, and of course a karaoke machine (which was in all fairness fairly up to date). Because of the ridiculous amount of people, it was at first only possible to get in about one song every 90 minutes, but after a while people started leaving. In the end there was about 5 people left, everyone else had either gone home or was sleeping so we could sing loads of songs.

Around 6 there was a train to Nagoya so me and Ayae said our goodbyes and after getting lost in Nisshio for a bit found ourselves at the train station. When we got into Nagoya we went to a bakery for some breakfast befpre heading home and getting some sleep.

The next week I worked 5 days (like a real human being!) and on the following Saturday went out to meet Bob. Our friendly neighborhood hip hop superstar Texas was going to be performing live with his “Long Castle Million Street” band mates and so this was an occasion I didn’t want to miss. I also managed to bring out a few people I hadn’t seen in a while including my friend Ian, a brummie English teacher (of course) who had been in Japan a few years.

After the drinks had been flowing (including some “Stairway to Heavens”; an absinth cocktail which is 68% proof), Ian revealed to me in secret (so don’t tell anyone, right?) that he was a “Bokshin”. I had read about these before but never thought Id meet one, or that one of my friends would actually be one. A “Bokshin” is a gaijin priest hired for weddings to give couples a western feel for their special day, except the thing is they`re not real Priests, in fact most of them aren’t even Christians. Ian gave me the low down on what it involves anyway.

Apparently you turn up to the restaurant or wherever the reception is, in your robes and dog collar (provided by the agency), spend about an hour and a half giving a sermon in Japanese and get paid about 4 times what you get for teaching English.

Anyway its another one of those bizarre Japanese cultural aspects which somehow makes me love this place even more. It was well funny when Ian rejected the offer to come to the club because he had to be up to give a sermon. He did also offer to put in a word for me to his agency if I was interested, but I figured with only 2 months more here it probably wouldn’t be worth it but still, its good to know I can be a fake priest if I want to.

After an hour or so my friend Tomomi turned up with a couple of her friends, and after a couple more drinks, we headed out. While we were outside discussing how we were going to get a taxi there with 7 people, my friend Rob Lowe (yes, that’s his real name!) spotted me. Rob is the Brit who gave us a lift to the Karaoke bar the week before. Anyway its pretty random that he happened to see me, especially since he had just lost all the mates he had been out with. With little persuasion needed, Rob agreed to join us to see Texas live.

After a bit of Taxiing and walking we somehow found ourselves in a slightly dodgy area of Sakae where there were countless shady men offering us topless bars. Eventually we found ourselves at “Loop”, where we had met Texas and Bob the first time. While we were waiting outside to gather our crew, Texas and his band (including the legendary Dimbar) came outside and said hello. Dimbar welcomed me with a massive hug and repeatedly shouting my name which was a good as welcome as any.

After a bit everyone arrived and we went inside just as Long Castle Million Street were starting their set. Whilst the last time I saw them they just had their DJ, on this occasion they were complete with a live bassist and drummer, and they totally smashed it. I always think proper live hip hop sounds well good and these guys were no different with Texas and Dimbar making the perfect frontmen. After an immense set, some DJs came on and we shared some drinks with the band.

The music was well random (as Loop always seems to be) with House, Trance, RnB and pop and even some random 80s tunes. And through the dancefloor we met loads of people including Yuji and Yuji, 2 friends who sounded and acted like a comedy duo. Anyway they were well safe and before long, me, Rob and the 2 Yujis were the only ones on the dancefloor (Bob had fallen asleep on the sofas bless him). The club closed at 3 but we had to wait around til the first train at 6 so me and Rob went to a Dennys to get a huge breakfast, mine comprising of a steak, some chips, a big salad, and a bigger bowl of rice. After dossing there for a couple of hours with the rest of the post-club people it was eventually time to go home.

I managed to get about 4 hours kip but had to be up as me and Ayae had a day out planned. We went to the Nagoya-Ko (Nagoya port) area to see the aquarium they had there. When we arrived the sun had come out in force and we headed towards the aquarium building. On the way we saw this inflatable model thing which had air being rapidly blown in and out causing it to flap about at high speed like a mad man. Its difficult to describe, but anyway it was proper funny.

After making our way into the aquarium and seeing some dolphins and other exhibits we headed to the stadium to catch the dolphin show which was about to start. When the dolphins were released into the main tank, I heard some kid shout at the top of his lungs “KAWAII!” which means “cute”. I don’t think its possible to hear a more Japanese heckle.

When the show started, it was absolutely awesome, Ive never been to a dolphin show before so I don’t have much to compare it with, but the animals were proper smart and were pulling loads of awesome tricks including jumping on cue as well as doing that thing where they try to stand up in the water and move backwards.

One of the most impressive things they did was when they dived into the water at the same time as a trainer threw a Frisbee, and while the Frisbee was still in mid air, leapt out of the water and caught it in their mouth. Also at one point these contraptions on a zip line were transferred over the middle of the tanks. They then lowered a ball on a string, although it was still proper high. One of the dolphins dived under water and then leapt a good 20 feet into the air and hit the ball with its nose.

At the end of the show the dolphins swam onto an area on the side of the tank out of the water, and arched their backs. Then, simultaneously with the trainer took a bow to the cheers of the audience.

5 minutes later they had the Killer Whale show who would be accompanied by some dolphins. When the giant Orca came into the tank the crowd started salivating (not really!). Anyway the killer whale did similar things to the dolphin, albeit at a much slower pace. It even did the jumping out of the water and hitting a ball thing, although the ball was obviously lower. Still, the Killer Whale was proper impressive whenever it leapt out of the water and landed with a huge splash. In fact we had to move back from our 3rd row seats as we started getting wet every time he landed.

This show also featured the whale and 2 dolphins landing on the “shore” on the side of the tank. When the whale tried to get back into the water, it took a few seconds of it flapping its huge body about and in the process pushed one of the dolphins back into the water. They finished the show with the Killer Whale and 2 dolphins diving underwater and “waving” with their tails, which was pretty awesome.

After that epic show we got some Churros and some Takoyaki, and still being hungry went to an Italian restaurant. I had a clam chowder soup with a baked pie crust on top which was awesome. After that we went back into the aquarium and saw loads of awesome fish with awesome faces and also saw a Beluga show which was cool as it made these weird noises and caught a ball in its mouth. O yeh and we also saw some penguins which were awesome as always.

After that we headed back to Nagoya for a few bits and pieces before returning home. The next week I worked 6 days as I had been covering for my workmate Lauren who had taken a week off. The classes were all pretty good and in fact many of the students I`d taught before as I had a different schedule up until last month. The new students were mostly good and being a substitute teacher I could pretty much just mess about and play games in most of the lessons. One of the lessons was a private class with a 12 year old who was possibly the most mature 12 year old (or person for that matter) Ive met in Japan. Not in a way that he wasn’t like a kid or fun but in the way he addressed people and interacted with them. Its really difficult to describe but I was proper taken aback by his extreme confidence and friendly manner, especially since the class preceeding it was with a 15 year old girl who said about 2 words the whole lesson.

Another class I covered for Lauren on the previous Friday was also of note actually as it featured 4 year olds, one of which was a girl who spent the first 15 minutes crying and literally screaming at the top of her lungs (I guess freaked out by the fact that there was a new teacher). After giving up trying to console her (this just made her scream more) I left her to it, although myself and the other 2 students couldn’t really say or hear anything such was the volume of this girls screams. Anyway after about 15 minutes the manager of Handa (where this school was located) took pity on me and removed her from the class.

After a busy week of non stop work, I figured I deserved a night out so went out to meet Bob to celebrate his birthday. We met at our “local”, The Hub, where I also met Bobs older brother Kohe who had actually studied at Ayaes university and so spoke quite good English. Regardless of this I managed to keep the conversation mainly in Japanese. After a few drinks in the Hub we went onto the Shanari Shanari Izakaya which was run by one of Bobs high school friends.

We ate some awesome food including Sashimi, edamame, meatballs, chicken, and these awesome slices of Ray which were dipped in chili mayonnaise (really delicious!). After a while, our friends Callie and Min showed up, and after a few more minutes Bobs younger brother Tomoya. It seemed the craziness travelled in reverse age order in Bobs family, as Tomoya was nuts especially compared to Kohe who was quite reserved (Bob is a nice even mix). Tomoya, like Dimbar had great fun in shouting my name at high volumes mid conversation to get my attention. Tomoya spoke no English whatsoever, and so every joke me, Callie and Min made he demanded a translation which I usually couldn’t give.

After drinking til about midnight we left and went to Club Buddha where they were having some sort of a funky house night. It was the tenth anniversary of some record shop so the place was absolutely packed to the rafters. The music was awesome and we met loads of random people mainly due to Tomoya who tried to talk to pretty much everyone there. At one point we were outside the club chilling out and everyone who came out or came in he would shout out in English (usually about 2 inches from their face) “Hey Boy!!” or “Hey Girl!!” which did lead us to think he was going to get punched at one point.

One bloke had a farmers hat on and upon us subtly discussing this, Tomoya decided to repeatedly shout out “Hey Farmer!” , leading to a “He`s-not-with-us” moment. After an hour or so we left the club and tried to find a taxi. It was absolutely pouring with rain, but we managed to get a taxi. Callie went home, but me, Min, Bob and his brothers went back to Bob and Kohe`s house deep into the suburbs of Nagoya. Tomoya had gotten married a couple of months ago but Bob and Kohe were still living with their parents (common in Japan I think).

Anyway we sat around talking for a while and at one point their dad came down and saw us. Needless to say he was a bit shocked to see 2 gaijin chilling out in his living room at 4am. After a while Bob and his brothers went to sleep, and they provided me with a futon to sleep on the floor in the living room.

The next morning we got up and met Bobs mum, and then Kohe gave us a lift back as Bob was still too smashed to drive. I got a pretty good nights (or days) sleep when I got in as I woke up around 5.

Ok that’s about it for this week, unfortunately I broke my rule about keeping it short, but o well I don’t really care.

Much love.

Jack

P.S Heres a video of Long Castle Million Street`s set. Awesome.

The Golden Week - Part 2

Previously on Jacks Japan Blog…

So Ive gone to Kyushu, had an awesome first day of seeing the sights of Fukuoka, tried some awesome ramen, and met some awesome people in the bars and clubs of Fukuoka. After an insanely busy first day, I finally got to sleep in my capsule hotel around 6 am…..

2 and a half hours later my alarm went off and I had to wake up for another day of sightseeing. I skipped taking a bath for the morning as there would be plenty of water at the place I was going to.

Beppu is a mid size town on the Eastern coast of Kyushu, and is famous in Japan for being home to a ridiculous amount of onsen (natural hot springs). Anyway, being a fan of onsen meant Beppu was a big draw for me.

The bus left around half 9 and we arrived about an hour late due to traffic (bloody golden week!). I was dropped at the bus station and figured out a way to get a bus to try and see one of the Jigoku`s. Jigokus, (which translate as “Hells”) are hot springs which are so hot that its impossible to bathe in them. Because of the extreme heat of the water however, there are sometimes strange effects (such as bubbling or belching jigoku). Anyway with the late arrival of the bus I decided it would be for the best to stick to just one jigoku and had decided which to prioritize far in advance.

The “Chi-no-ike Jigoku” (Blood pond hell) was famous for having red water, caused by the clay it bubbled on dissolving under the 78C heat. Anyway after a 20 minute bus ride, I got to an area far north of the town where the Jigoku was located. Upon entering I went straight to the hell to check it out.

It looked proper awesome, the red water had loads of steam coming off it and this coupled with the nature and stuff around made it look really cool. There was loads of people there unsurprisingly, and I managed to persuade someone to take a picture of me. After about 5 minutes I figured I had done the Jigoku justice and went off to find an onsen, having not had a bath yet despite being hungover and having had practically no sleep.

I had read in my book about an onsen nearby to the jigoku so headed straight there. It was about 5 or 10 minutes walk and was called Shibaseki Onsen. I had remembered to bring a towel but due to lack of time was unable to buy any soap in advance. Luckily the onsen counter sold some so I could buy some. At most posh onsen, towels and soap are provided, but in Beppu there are loads of small cheap ones which just offer showers and baths. Anyway this one was a bit more upmarket than some and luckily had some lockers I could put my stuff in. After changing into my birthday suit I headed into the onsen main building which featured 3 showers and 2 baths.

The onsen was fairly crowded, but not unpleasantly so. After a shower I finally got into the first bath and relaxed after an unbelievably hectic first day and a half. After chilling for a bit I got out and got into the adjacent bath. Unfortunately having not yet mastered Kanji, I was unable to read that this bath was a scoldingly hot bath. According to Japanese etiquette, you are meant to enter the bath slowly and gracefully, “like a cherry blossom petal slipping into a moonlit temple pond”. Unfortunately as soon as my foot hit the bottom of this lava like substance my immediate reaction was to run into it as fast as I could (I think inspired by those people who walk on hot coals). Eventually I hit the wall the other side and finally came to my senses that I should actually probably leave the bath before my legs boiled. I tried to gracefully walk back to where I came in and when that failed, ran like a headless chicken out of there. The hardcore bathers lying in the bath like they were in a luke warm swimming pool, were not impressed.

Anyway after that I went to the outside area where there was one more onsen and a sauna hut. I got into the outside onsen and was able to relax with the hot water combining with the not so hot air. After a few minutes I went into the sauna and lasted about 2 minutes before I had to come out (as you can probably tell Im a bit rubbish at the whole withstanding heat thing). I then got back in the bath and an Oji-san (the Japanese word for Grandpa or non descript old man), said in Japanese that my 3 minute sauna experience was not impressive.

He was a very chatty Oji san and I talked to him for a good half hour. The other bathers joined in the conversation as well and on the rare occasion I could understand something I managed to add my 2 cents. I asked Oji-san where he was from and he said he was from Beppu and that he visits this onsen everyday. He said something about the bath in his house and I think he said it was too small or something. Anyway having an onsen everyday seems like a pretty good way to spend your retirement to me.

After another half an hour or so of bathing I said my goodbyes, took a shower and left the onsen. One of the main areas for Onsen and Hells, Kannawa was just down the road according to my map so I set off towards them. After walking for a while on a ludicrously narrow non-pavemented busy road I realized it was a bit further than I realized, but soldiered on anyway. By the time I got there it was around 5 and I still hadn’t had any lunch. To my surprise, unlike the rest of Japan, restaurants seemed to be few and far between. Anyway I eventually found a fairly cheap place and had some “Katsu-don” which is kind of like a fried chicken steak with egg and stuff on a bowl of rice. This was pretty tasty although just as the food was given to me the owner of the restaurant gave me a load of maps and brochures and explained in Japanese where all the best onsen and stuff were. He also said I could get a hundred yen discount if I mentioned his name which was really nice but by this stage I just wanted to eat.

After a satisfying dinner I headed up toward the hells and discovered they had all closed by now which I expected. Not wanting to make the trip to Kannawa a total waste I decided to visit the “Beppu Sex Museum”. Beppu is often referred to as the Las Vegas of Japan with a penchant for the sleazy and the tacky. Anyway it looked quite funny from the outside so I decided to go in. The ticket lady was a 70 year old woman who had about 10 cats in her ticket booth. The cats were jumping up to the screen and the old woman had this big, slightly crazed smile on her face, making the situation all the more bizarre.

When I got in the entire museum was bathed in a red light. The exhibits started off as a variety of wooden phallouses and proceeded into models of couples in various sexual positions. There was one section which I think featured Buddha (well he was gold and a bit chubby) replicating some of the more bizarre positions from the Kama Sutra. In fact some of them looked more like wrestling submission moves than erotic poses.

Anyway after that there was a section of mannequins made up to look like famous Hollywood sex symbols, including Raquel Welch, and after that there was a movie theatre showing some 70s Japanese erotica (which was as funny as it sounds). The next section was about animals having sex and there was an awesome picture of 2 Giraffes doing it which proper cracked me up despite being on my own.

After having had my fill of Giraffe sex for the day I figured I should try and get another bath in. There was an onsen near Beppu station which I had read about so I decided to head there immediately. On the way there night crept in and suddenly there was loads of hostess bars, brothels and sex shops which made the likeness to Las Vegas suddenly all the more clearer.

I headed to Takegawara Onsen which I had decided upon because they do sand baths. Never having tried this before motivated me to go for it, and after a short walk I found the place. I tried to negotiate one sand bath and one regular onsen ticket which proved harder than expected. Anyway after a while I ended up in the changing room. The changing room had one other bather in it showering himself after his sand bath. I asked him if I should shower first and he said no but that I should wear the Yukata (gown thingy) provided. I put this on and headed into the sand area. This was like 2 huge sand pits, and there were 4 old women working there. Shocked at the way I had tied my Yukata, one of them untied it and put it back together on me. I was then told I was ready for my sand bath.

In the sand pit there were 2 people already in the sand, and empty “baths” for 4 more, although they looked less like baths and more like shallow graves. I was invited to lie down in one of the graves and did so. One of the old women then took a spade and shoveled hot sand on top of me. After a few minutes I was covered up to the neck and all of my bukkake fears suddenly surfaced.

The sand was hot, thick and dark and the idea was that you relaxed under the weight and the heat. The sand initially felt quite comfy, like a natural heated duvet, and I was able to sort of relax. After a while though I just felt a bit weird and wasn’t sure if I was relaxed or not. I stuck with it tho, until I had sweat dripping all over my face, and then requested to be let out. They told me I just had to stand up, which I made the most of doing in true zombie-rising-from-the-grave fashion.

After that I was covered in sand and so took a long shower. Afterwards I felt there was still some on me so I got into the bath as well. This onsen was a bit of a disappointment after the last one as it was a bit too hot, and the décor was nowhere near as nice. Anyway after about 10 minutes of chilling I left, satisfied in having achieved my goal of trying a sand bath. Whilst I would recommend it to those wanting to try something different, personally it wasn’t for me although maybe that’s just because I was doing it on my own and so had no one to chat to whilst lying there. I dunno, maybe then itd be more fun.

I still had half an hour or so before my bus so explored the streets of Beppu a bit. I bought some Onigiri from a stall which was pretty tasty and before long was back on the bus, and back in my capsule hotel.

I still felt a bit too sandy so decided to indulge in one final luxury hotel bath. As well as the baths, the hotel also had 2 saunas. One of them was called the Royal Sauna and featured a pool of warm water on the floor, and a TV on the wall. This felt proper cool and I enjoyed relaxing here. After this I headed to the rooftop bath outside which was made all the more awesome by the fact it was raining, giving a sensation of hot mixed with cool. After chilling a bit more I decided I should try and get a decent nights sleep for once (in the last 72 hours I had had a total of about 5 hours sleep, and had been ridiculously active during that time).

When I got into my capsule I suddenly didn’t feel that tired so watched a bit of TV (my capsule was complete with TV and a radio, how cool is that?). After seeing that there was some Dragons Gate wrestling on TV I watched an awesome match before deciding I really should get some sleep (I had to be up in another 5 hours).

At 7 the next morning I woke up and had yet another shower/bath/sauna to wake me up. I followed that with a decent enough breakfast from the hotel restaurant and then went to the bus station to get a bus to my next destination.

Hiroshima was a place that everyone had recommended as a place I just had to go, and all the guide books and websites rated it as an absolute must see. The bus took about 4 hours from Fukuoka and I was dropped in the city centre. Fortunately this was near the first sight on my list so I could walk to it.

“The A-Bomb Dome” is a building formerly known as the Industrial Promotional Hall, until the bomb dropped in 1945. Hiroshima was decimated but because the bomb exploded just above the dome, it was left in a ruined state but still standing. The city of Hiroshima decided to preserve it the way it was left as a reminder of the tragedy.

Anyway seeing it was pretty amazing, and gave a good indication of how the rest of the peace park would go. The Hiroshima Peace Park is also dedicated to the memory of those who lost their lives to the bomb as well as having a really strong anti-nuke message. The “Flame of Peace” is a flame burning in the middle of a pond which will keep burning and will only be extinguished when every nuclear bomb in the world has been dismantled.

Anyway this was framed by an arch through which you could also see the A Bomb Dome in the background, and the cenotaph in which all the known victims of the bomb have their names written, in the foreground.

The Peace Park also had a childrens memorial dedicated to all the children who lost their lives to the bomb. The main draw of the park however is the Peace Memorial Museum. This is a museum all about the day the bomb dropped in Hiroshima and nuclear war in general. The museum left nothing to subtlety and was extremely moving, with accounts from survivors and pictures of the city before and after the bomb.

Its difficult to do the museum justice just by writing about it, but if you ever get the chance to go I strongly recommend it. The museum also strongly pushes for world nuclear disarmament and after seeing the effects through the exhibits, its difficult to disagree.

Thinking the museum would only take an hour, I had another excursion planned for the day, but even through skipping some of the parts of the museum it still took me 2 hours (partly due to the Golden Week factor). When I got outside the museum, the somber tone was disjointed slightly by the fact that there was a huge festival going on. There were about 4 stages around the peace park and each one had some dancers or musicians on, and the whole place was absolutely packed.

I was in a major rush now though so had to leg it to a tram stop, and on the way bought some Ikayaki (barbequed squid on a skewer). Luckily as I arrived at the stop a tram arrived. Hiroshima unlike most major cities in Japan has a tram network instead of a subway system which made it all the more quaint. I had bought a day pass for the trams as I figured Id be using them quite a lot.

My destination was Itsukushima-jinja which is a famous shrine on an island just off the coast of Hiroshima. To get there I had to take an hours tram followed by a ferry, followed by a bit of a walk. The shrine closed at 6 and not wanting to miss this famous sight meant that I needed all the luck I could get.

When the tram pulled up in the port for the ferry a ferry was just leaving, so I was actually able to get to the island by half 4. The islands name was Miyajima and the port town was pretty much dedicated to tourists with loads of Yatai with some really weird looking food. I had seen Hashimaki in Fukuoka but had not got round to trying it so I thought I`d give it a go.

Hashimaki is basically like a pancake thing filled with cheese that is wrapped round a pair of disposable chopsticks, then covered in sauce and ginger and stuff. This was well tasty and much needed after my pitiful lunch of just Ikayaki.

Throughout the port area and town there were loads of wild deer trying to hassle people for food. Unlike Nara these weren’t so immaculately groomed, but were still pretty cute. Having said that, on the ferry ride over there was a warning on the loud speaker that you shouldn’t feed them because they were dangerous. Anyway luckily they stayed away from me and my hashimaki.

After looking in a few shops I eventually found myself at the shrine. Itsukushima is one of the most photographed tourist attractions in Japan and is classified as one of Japans “three best views”. The shrine and Torii (gate) are built on the seabed of the island which, when the tide is high, gives the impression that they are floating.

Before going to a shrine you have to purify yourself by going through a gate, but in ancient times the island itself was considered a God so people were not allowed to set foot on it. This is why the Torii was built on the bay, so that people could approach by boat, and still purify themselves before they worshipped.

Because of my strict schedule I was unfortunately unable to see them “floating”, but it still looked awesome. Anyway the low tide meant I could go out and get a close up of the gate which was really cool as it was absolutely massive.

After taking a stupid amount of pictures I found that I had a bit of time left so went to explore the rest of the island. I saw another cool temple, and a 5 storied pagoda which also looked awesome and also managed to try some more Yatai food, this time an eel filled fried rice cake type thing (not a literal translation) . After that I decided I should head back to Hiroshima.

After a long journey I eventually found myself at Hiroshima station and finally had a chance to put my bag and all my stuff in a locker (I had been carrying it around all day). After that I took a tram back into the city centre to check out some shops. After some window shopping I decided it was about time I tried the food which Hiroshima is famous for.

Hiroshima-yaki is a version of the popular Osaka dish Okonomiyaki. I had heard that this was different to traditional Okonomiyaki and set out to check it out. Thinking in the same vein as in Hakata I decided to go to “Okonomi mura” which, like Ramen stadium was a theme park dedicated to the local cuisine. The building in was in central Hiroshima and was 3 floors comprising of 25 Okonomiyaki restaurants!

I walked through all the floors and checked them all out before eventually settling on one which was not too empty and not too full. The restaurants were all counter based with a huge hotplate stretching out on which the Okonomiyaki was cooked and served.

I took my seat and didn’t really know what or how to order so just said “Hiroshima- yaki” to the chef who laughed and said something I didn’t understand. The 4 people to the left of me didn’t have any Okonomi in front of them when I sat down, but shortly afterwards the chef came and put a flower and water based mixture in 5 pools in front of me and the rest of the diners.

With regular Okonomiyaki, the mixture features egg and cabbage already in it (well that’s how I make it), but this was Hiroshima-yaki so it was all a bit different. After the mixture had cooked for a bit the chef put some shredded cabbage onto the bases and then some green things which looked a bit like grass. After that he put some chopped leek on and this was followed with some squid on some and some shrimp on others. I realized the one on front of me had none, so I asked for some shrimp. The chef then put some bacon on and pushed the mixture down so that it became flatter, before flipping it over so the base was now on top. His assistant then put out some soba noodles in front of each mixture, and the chef fried these turning them into yakisoba.

After these were fried he then lifted the mixture and placed it on top of the yakisoba. While that was frying, he cracked an egg in front of each mixture, and spread it out to make it the same surface area as the mixtures. After a short moment he then picked the mixture and placed it on top of the fried egg before flipping the whole thing over and covering it in “Soosu” which is the traditional sauce for okonomiyaki, takoyaki and anything else yaki.

He then pushed the okonomis toward us and gave us instructions on how to eat them. We were given a minature shovel like implement and we were supposed to use that to cut them into small pieces and eat. Thankfully everyone else at the counter was having their first try (presumably they were all tourists like me), so I didn’t feel too nervous.

I wasn’t really sure if I was doing it the exact way I was meant to, but it seemed to be working, and unsurprisingly it was well lush. The addition of the yakisoba and fried egg was well good, and I was thoroughly impressed with this innovative way of cooking. After that it was about half 9 but I had to wait until 12 when I would take another nightbus, this time home to Nagoya.

Because I had a spare couple of hours I decided to explore the “entertainment” district, and found that there were absolutely loads of bars, pachinko parlors and video game arcades. Despite the melancholy tone of the Peace Park, Hiroshima still has an awesome party side, which I think is really cool. Anyway I decided to go to a bar that was recommended in my LP book and found a music bar called Mac which sounded right up my street.

It took me a while to find as it was on the side of a building where there wasn’t much else except for a car park, but when I got inside it was really cool. The bar was bigger than the average Japanese bar and had a ridiculous collection of CDs. They were playing Jazz when I went in and there were a few others who had come to the bar alone who were sitting at the bar smoking and drinking and generally looking very cool.

I sat down next to them, ordered a drink and after a while got chatting to the owner, and a couple of the customers who had gone there by themselves. The owner was a woman who was very passionate about music, and throughout the night put on some awesome tunes by Earth, Wind and Fire and also some Marvin Gaye. Everyone was really cool, and I got to speak some good Japanese which was different to the usual chit chat which I have pretty much memorized how to say by now.

After I had finished my drink and talked for a while I had to leave to get the last tram. I arrived back at Hiroshima station around half 11, and waited around for my nightbus to arrive which was about 10 minutes late. I got on the bus and tried to get some sleep for the journey back to Nagoya. On the way I reflected on all the things Id done and all the people Id met, and despite the shocking amount of money Id spent (lets just say I could have spent 3 days in Korea with the same amount), I felt very fulfilled although very much in need of a decent nights sleep.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully next weeks wont be so ludicrously long!

Peace out

Jack

The Golden Week - Part 1

Ok after writing a 16 page, 8000 word epic blog about my Golden week escapades I decided no one would want to read all that in one go and as a result have split this blog into 2 parts. Part 2 will be released a week from today so please check that out when its up. Ok, here we go…

This week was awesome as I set off on my first proper epic trip completely on my own. On Friday night I went to Nagoya station to begin my adventure, although I first stopped off at The Hub in Sakae to meet some friends for a quick drink.

When I got tho the station I looked around for the bus going to Fukuoka, Kyushu (my first destination) and eventually found a guy with a sign for the time my bus was leaving. After introducing myself I was instructed to wait a second. A few seconds later a Japanese couple introduced themselves to him, and he gave them instructions on how to find the bus, before asking them if they could guide me as well.

The bus was round the corner and on the way I made chitchat with the couple about their lives and why they were going to Kyushu etc. When we found the bus I got on and was seated next to another fellow gaijin named Thomas who was a German student studying Japanese language and regional science. The bus was going to be a 12 hour journey, travelling through the night to get to Fukuoka, so it was good to have someone to chat to, and Thomas was a pretty interesting guy.

The journey was ok although I found it impossible to sleep, and due to traffic we arrived an hour later than planned. When we got to Fukuoka it was about 9am on a beautiful sunny day, and I first found a restaurant to have some breakfast in. Before long I was chowing down on some lush Udon tempura and after that I went to find my hotel to check in.

Because Golden Week is a ridiculously busy time, finding accommodation in Fukuoka was next to impossible but eventually Ayae had found me a Capsule Hotel that had some availability. I had never stayed in a Capsule Hotel before so was looking forward to an original experience. The idea behind a Capsule Hotel is that each person sleeps in a space a bit bigger than a coffin, and because of this economic use of space you can sometimes get a hundred or so people in each room.

After checking in (which had to be done entirely in Japanese), I was given a key to a locker to put all my stuff in. After putting my stuff away, I headed upstairs to take a shower. The Capsule Hotel I had been booked into was somewhat of a luxury hotel (except for the fact that everyone sleeps in matchboxes) and had services like massages, restaurants and various health thingys. Anyway there was 11 floors, and the top one was for the showers and baths (completely public of course).

After a shower, I decided to have a relax in the baths to get myself ready for a hectic day of sightseeing. The baths were well lush with loads of varieties. There was one which had these balls in the ceiling that sprayed warm water on you while you soaked. Also there was one called “Blue Silk” and which had really cloudy blue water. Another one had underwater chairs which you could sit on while a fountain sprayed water up from underneath you, and as well as these there was a variety of baths at different temperatures, some of them ludicrously hot.

After getting suitably relaxed, I got dressed into some shorts and T shirt and set off to explore Fukuoka.

Fukuoka is the capital of Kyushu and actually used to be 2 cities, one called Hakata, and the other called Fukuoka. Anyway after deciding I wanted to visit Kyushu I decided to go to Fukuoka as had read that it was a cool cheap city with good nightlife.

Using the Lonely Planet Japan book as my guide, I started with Tocho-ji which boasted the largest wooden Buddha statue in Japan. This was a well lush temple and the statue was proper epic. I was told that I wasn’t allowed to take photos although luckily this was after I had already taken one.

I saw a tunnel under the statue which was marked entrance in Kanji, so decided to head towards it. Inside there was a dark gallery of paintings of Buddhist hell which were lit up. After seeing those I continued through the tunnel and the lighting suddenly finished. I wondered if I should turn back as I thought I might be going into the monks private quarters or something. Anyway I continued a bit into this pitch black, then turned around only to find that the route behind me was completely dark and I could literally not see anything.

I decided that I had to keep going although I was a bit scared that I would walk into a wall or something. I outstretched my hand and eventually found a wall. This curved round and round so I had no idea if I was going towards or away from the Hell gallery. Anyway after about 30 seconds of walking I got a bit nervous as it was still completely pitch black, I literally couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. I figured I had no choice and so continued. After a while I saw a faint light a few feet in front of me and so walked towards it. The tunnel curved round and there was a lit up painting of Buddha with loads of light around him.

I continued into the tunnel and eventually it curved round back into the temple area. This seemed well bright after the perpetual darkness I had just experienced, but was slightly relieving.

After seeing the rest of the temple I continued toward central Fukuoka and after walking for a few minutes came across Canal City. This is an epic shopping mall that was built next to one of the many canals of Fukuoka. The mall was basically about 5 shopping malls together that were joined by balconys. In fact the shop fronts were all on lush balconys that overlooked the canal. Anyway there was a good 5 floors to Canal City which meant it was like a city unto itself (thus the name presumably).

After doing a spot of clothes shopping, I continued round Canal city and found a Sega Land arcade on the top floor where I indulged in some video gaming action. After that I decided it was about time I found some lunch and had decided a long time ago where to have my lunch. Throughout Japan, Fukuoka/Hakata is famous for Ramen noodles and more specifically Tonkotsu Ramen which is where the soup is made from pork bones. Everyone I had told that I was going to Fukuoka had said that I had to try some Hakata ramen and I had found out about a place in Canal City called “Raumen Stadium” (they had spelt it wrong!) which sounded very appropriate.

Ramen Stadium was basically a floor of Canal city that had about 15 Ramen restaurants all next to each other, as well as Ramen based gift shops and displays. In the middle there were TV screens showing a documentary about Ramen. In this theme park like atmosphere, I decided I had made a wise decision on where to try Hakata ramen.

The “Stadium” was packed with people, presumably mainly tourists on their Golden Week vacation. After finding the restaurant with the smallest queue outside, I ordered some Tonkotsu ramen from the vending machine and collected my ticket. When I got inside I handed my ticket to a waitress and she asked me something in Japanese which I didn’t understand. After several attempts I eventually heard her say the word “Katai” meaning “hard”, and put 2 and 2 together. She was asking me how I wanted my noodles, hard or soft. I ordered them nice and al dente and sat down at the packed counter to wait.

After a few minutes my ramen came, and Im not sure if it was the Ramen infused atmosphere or just the intense build up of expectation, but this ramen was the nicest I had ever tasted. Its difficult to describe how nice, but basically it was delicious.

After leaving the restaurant I checked out the rest of Canal city and found some awesome escalators that had no stairs (instead they were like the walkway things in airports, but at an angle so that you got up to the next floor), as well as finding some really cool things going on on the ground floor. There were clowns, Shamisen (3 stringed Okinawa guitar thingys) players, as well as some awesome statues of animals made from like plants and stuff. In addition to this the Canal itself had loads of awesome fountains that performed at regular intervals.

When I left Canal City I headed to find central Fukuoka. On the way the streets were absolutely packed with people, some of them groups of dancers wearing matching costumes. I had actually arrived on the day of the Hakata Dontaku Matsuri (festival) which was a parade thing which traditionally featured dancers banging rice paddles together accompanied by some Shamisen players.

After walking for a while I took a right into “Tenjin chuo Koen”, a massive park featuring the ACROS Fukuoka building. This was some sort of international cultural centre, and looked awesome. There was this massive central dome within an artificial hill like structure. The sides featured a “Step Garden” which was flight after flight of steps to the top featuring a variety of different plants and trees.

To get to the ACROS building I had to walk across the central green of the park which was packed with people including loads of dance groups practicing, including some capoeira dancers and some absolutely awesome breakdancers. I also checked out some of the “Yatai” (food stalls) which is another thing Fukuoka is famous for. Following the Yatai, I ended up on one of the main high streets where the parade itself was going on.

The streets were packed with people watching the parade of various floats and dance troupes go by. At one point this huge lion thing came by with a guy standing on top of it screaming stuff in Japanese. The “lion” routinely breathed out steam as well which was awesome. There was also some rice paddle bangers doing their thing which was pretty cool.

After watching for a while I headed to find some more shops and found a good English language bookstore where I bought a book, and a sunglasses stall where I bought some new shades. After that I headed back to the ACROS building and decided to make an attempt at climbing this thing. After what seemed like forever I eventually made it to the top and got some awesome views of the city. I could see the dancers practicing in the park, the parade going by on the main road, and another stage where some other random thing was going on.

After taking a breather, I went back down the other side and admired some of the plants on the way. When I got to the bottom, I bought an ice cream and sat on the main green to relax for a bit. There was one more thing I wanted to see although it was already getting late and I had a strict timetable to stick to that evening.

Hawks Town was kind of like Canal City although it was on the sea instead. It got its name from the Fukuoka Sea Hawks baseball team, whose stadium was located there. There was also a resort called the Sea Hawk Hotel which was a really tall building that apparently gave awesome views of the city. I travelled there by subway and after about a 20 minute walk managed to locate the stadium and the hotel. I headed into the ridiculously posh hotel, and a smartly dressed doormen opened the door for me, not so smartly dressed in shorts and a T shirt and sweating profusely.

I took the glass lift up which was awesome although it did make me feel a bit sick. On the top floor all the windows looking out seemed to be in restaurants, and as I couldn’t possibly afford even a starter at these kinds of places, I turned down all the door people offering me a table. Eventually I found a restaurant with an unmanned door, and subtly crept in to take a few pictures before slipping out. The view was awesome and I got a great view of the baseball stadium where a Sea Hawks game had just finished, meaning there was also an awesome view of the crowds.

After I left it took me a while to get to the subway as there was huge crowds of people. Many of these were taking the subway which meant it was well cramped when I eventually got on a train. After a few stops I realized I was on the wrong line. Nagoyas subway system is something I deal with every day but even so I consider it the best I have ever used, better even than Tokyo. Fukuokas however is properly confusing with a really bizarre color coding system (not really a system, more like a random color for each station regardless of which line it is), and in addition to this the trains aren’t that regular. Anyway after a while I managed to get back to my capsule at about 730pm.

I had decided that I really wanted to experience the Fukuoka nightlife but first required some sleep having not had any on the way from Nagoya. I got inside my capsule and slept for a couple of hours before my alarm went off. I then had a shower, got dressed and went out.

The main nightlife district was called Tenjin, and there was a series of bars that I had read about in my LP book that sounded pretty good. Before that though I wanted to get some food and decided to go where there were supposed to be a load of food stalls. On the way I saw a man dressed like a frog surrounded by loads of guys dressed like tadpoles and one woman. Which was weird.

After getting lost a few times I eventually stumbled upon a few Yatai, and sat at one where there was a space. As I said before, Fukuoka is famous for Yatai, and a student of mine recommended it as a highlight of visiting as the owners were so friendly. Whilst most of the usual Takoyaki, Fried chicken and other fried foods stalls were there I decided to stick with the tradition and go to a ramen Yatai, where they had a proper counter and chairs.

I sat down and ordered some Kim Chi Ramen and relaxed. Whilst he was cooking, the owner was talking to all the diners and eventually I managed to engage in the conversation. There was a couple next to me named Nobu and Kumiko and when I asked where they were from, I was surprised to hear them say Nagoya. In fact they live in a suburb a few miles from Nisshin where I live. After talking for a few minutes my food arrived and it was pretty tasty although after I had finished I was still a little hungry. I had overhead some other customers order some Gyoza (Chinese dumplings) and so ordered some of those as well.

Whilst I waited Nobu and Kumiko asked me how you say certain Japanese words in English and I suddenly got a flashback to the first time I came to Japan, when me and some friends hassled a Japanese barman on how to say certain English words in Japanese. I felt a minor sense of accomplishment in how far my Japanese skills had come as I had crossed to the other side of the fence of being better at Japanese than the average Japanese is at English.

Whilst I was relishing my achievement my Gyoza arrived and I proceeded to cover them in a ridiculous amount of hot sauce which Nobu kindly suggested might make them taste horrible. After a load of soy sauce was added into the mix, I was good to go though and thoroughly enjoyed them.

After talking for a few minutes more I figured I should start drinking and after getting a picture with Nobu and Kumiko I got up to leave. I was about 20 metres down the road when I heard someone shouting. I turned round and walked back to the Yatai. The woman who also worked there alongside the male chef said something to me in Japanese which I didn’t understand. She bowed though, so I bowed back said thank you and left. She continued to talk though, and eventually someone walking by came up to me and said in English “You haven’t paid yet”. After all the ego building of the previous hour of Japanese conversation, and feeling like my skills were awesome, it all suddenly came crashing down as masses of embarrassment washed over me. I paid the bill and left, tail firmly between my legs.

After a few minutes of convincing myself to appreciate my successes rather than my failures, I found myself outside a bar that I had read about in my book. There were a few others that sounded cooler but upon visiting them found that they were either closed, had an entrance fee, or were impossible to find.

The bar I eventually settled on was a rock bar called The Dark Room and was on the 8th floor of a building on Oyafuko-dori which is the road with all the bars and clubs on it. When I got in I ordered a cocktail and sat down at the bar. The drink was considerably cheaper than drinks usually are in Japan , and in fact another thing Kyushu in general is popular for is being cheaper than the other islands.

I made chit chat with the bar staff for a while before striking up a conversation with a German guy who had only been in Fukuoka a week or so himself. When asked what he did I expected to hear either “English teacher” or “Student”, so I was a bit surprised when he said he worked for the Circus. He was a scenery director and had been working for Canadian company Cirque de Soleil for the past 2 years, which had taken him all round Japan. I met some of his friends who also worked for the circus and after talking for a while they left, and I started talking to another random. This guy was an American called Moses who it turned out, was the owner.

I talked to him about what its like to own a bar in Japan, and he was really safe although he was proper wasted, and went off on a tangent about a story about REM which I didn’t really understand. Anyway, what I didn’t know is that the Dark Room is often frequented by rockstars when they do tours of Japan. There was a few screens on the walls which Moses directed my attention to, and they had a slideshow of pictures playing. On occasion a picture would pop up of Moses with The Offspring, or Slash, or Sum 41, and even Keanu Reeves.

Anyway after a few minutes, Moses disappeared (probably to part the red sea or something; Sorry!, Couldn’t resist), and I started talking to an American called Tyler. Tyler had originally come to Fukuoka with the Navy a few years ago and was now studying Japanese here. Anyway he was a nice enough bloke until I asked him which clubs he recommended and he said this club called Infinity “used to be good but now its full of Blacks”. After that I made my excuses and left.
After walking down Oyafuko-dori for a while I came across a club called “Sam and Daves” which was a chain of nightclubs that ran all over Japan. I had visited 2 of these establishments in Osaka and had had maybe the best night out of my life in one of them, so I figured the Fukuoka branch would be a good bet. I was still on my own at this stage despite having set out at the start of the night to make some “friends for the night”. Anyway, undeterred I headed into Sam and Daves and started drinking. The club was absolutely packed with both Japanese and gaijin and the music was vaguely hip hoppy.

After chatting with a few gaijin, I eventually happened on a group featuring some English and Australian people, and found that they were actually really safe. I drunk, chatted and danced with these guys for a while and decided I had found my “friends for the night”. As the night wore on I spent a silly amount of money, but the night was proper awesome. We left the club around 5 and after saying my goodbyes I headed back to my Capsule Hotel. This was a fair distance, and the trains still hadn’t started, so I had to walk for about 30 minutes. Eventually I ended up in my capsule around 6, and tried to get some much needed sleep.

Ok thats the end of day one. Next week Ill go into what happened on days 2 and 3 of my Golden week excursion. Til then yo!!!

Peace out

Jack

P.S Heres a couple of videos, one of Ramen stadium, and one of the dancers and parade and general mayhem of Fukuoka from the top of the ACROS building.