10/25/2010 My Birfday

So I turned 24. We went out to eat at a Shabu-shabu restaurant (my favorite), and did the all you can drink/eat special as Yuri and Johnny's treat. The restaurant is called Nagomi Neko (Calming Cat), and it had a free hot foot bath in the entrance. Hence the name.

When we got back to the apartment they gifted me with a small pumpkin pudding cup and an awesome One Piece t-shirt.

That's about all that happened. Thanks for the great birthday Johnny and Yuri!

Kanpai!
















Awesome last second coordination.
















The drinks are kicking in...

















Foot Bath.




















My pumpkin puddin cake!

New shirt + Nakama Pose

10/23/2010 Takekabu Residence

Ok, so here is the first of my catching up with a month of stuff. Sorry it's confusing because of the sequence in which I did things. Therefor I decided to put the date in the title and start with the oldest one first.

We went to visit Yuri's family the weekend before my birthday (Oct. 25th) and had a nice sukiyaki dinner together. It was my first time meeting another person in Yuri's family, and they were really great hosts to Johnny and I.

On friday we all went bowling and to a bar, both up the street from the Takekabu's residence. I wish I could have lived down the street from a bowling alley growing up! "Bar Moon Walk" is where we drank, and all the drinks were only 200 yen (about $2.50) all night! Some of Yuri's childhood friends met us there. It was her friend Naoko's birthday on the 23rd so Naoko and I were surprised with a delicious strawberry short-cake with our names on it! It was very thoughtful and I greatly enjoyed it. We stayed out pretty late, and had plans to meet Timur @ Dōtonbori in Shinsaibashi the next day.

Saturday morning Yuri's mother cooked us a great pancake breakfast: compete with egg and mini-hot dog's for sausage. It was a delight! We left at mid-day and met Timur and his russian friend Natalia. The rest of the day was spent checking in and out all the good shops in the area. The most memorable of these being Don Quijote, where we did a small photo shoot using Timur's high-tech camera and store objects. Some really great photo's were taken that day.

It was our Birthday!!!

These pictures were well worth the 5 minutes it took us to to get the light working.

New stuff and future Re-cap.

Well, a month has gone by since my last post. Sorry about that. I have been busy, but not too busy. As soon as I missed posting about one thing, it only got harder and harder to post anything at all! Finally the guilt has consumed me to get started on a month of stuff that I did. I plan to do this one post at a time, so bare with me here.

I guess I'll start with this week. On Wednesday, there was an event outside of the Moriyama train station where they lit up the trees in celebration of the holiday season. It had live entertainment, and the event was called Moriyama Hotaru (firefly) Baaru (Ball). Essentially it was city sponsored, and promoted all the different restaurants in the city. They were selling tickets for about twenty four dollars that allowed the buyer to try food at any three of the many sponsoring restaurants. Just like the Taste of Amherst/UMASS event that happens in the Mullins Center every year. It sounded nice enough, but was not something I could afford or wanted to get involved in. Johnny and I merely checked it out while out shopping for dinner.

While we were shopping Johnny got a call from Yuri and she said she was going out to diner with her co-workers. We did not know till when she arrived home later that she was actually doing the Firefly Ball thing. She said it was nice, and her boss paid for the outing. Sounds like a good time to me.

As for other stuff I've done in the past week, I've been reading a lot. I read Hawksbill Station, a 1968 Robert Silverberg novel, and now I'm about halfway done with Good Omens written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Both of them are fun and easy reading books.

As for the rest of the week, our friend Lisa is coming to visit us, and we will be visiting our friend Mizuho at the club she works at Giraffe on Saturday night. This will be my second time going there (the first being with Maija in September for Mizuho's B-day), and Timur is going to come to. I'm looking forward to it!

So that's the most recent news I can give at this time. Now on to recording everything else!

Random sunset behind my building.

Ok this is pretty awesome! Yuri Made this from elementary school to the end of highschool. These are called PuriKura a shortend form of Print Club. It is an extremely popular thing to do on outings with friends, and they are found at most entertainment complexes. I recently had the experience of sharing a booth with 15 other guys on a recent bowling excursion.

Here she took Atomu (Astro Boy) out of the newspaper and decorated the book tastefully. There are other themes, cut outs and drawings throughout the rest of the book. It was really great that she showed Johnny and I this.

Here's the tree lighting.

This is the live performance. She was singing English songs.

This is the sun reflected off a car through my kitchen window.

Ibuki-yama

Well we hiked the mountain, and it was glorious. The top was definitely worth all the pain and lack of sleep that we incurred from hiking throughout the previous night. Apparently Ibuki is the tallest mountain in my prefecture, Shiga.

As mentioned in the last post, we went hiking with a local troop of Boy Scouts. It was really great of their troop leader/ Yuri's co-worker Yamamoto-san to invite us along. Johnny is also an eagle scout so it was really enjoyable for him to be partaking in scout activities. I'm sure that the scouts felt likewise.

In total there were about 20 something people who went. We were warned of the temperatures at the top of the mountain as being like winter, so we packed accordingly. I was really grateful of this warning, because the summit was almost too unbearable. It was incredibly windy and early morning the entire time we were up there. There was a Buddhist hut that people could take refuge from the cold in, and tiny shops littered the summit as well.

We had cup ramen for breakfast, and were constantly at odds with the environment. The summit was more like a big field with buildings, paths, and monuments, and I ran around in the cold taking pictures the whole time.

The mountains were rolling and beautiful, and there was a nice view of Biwa-ko's most northern point. It was an experience like none I've had before, and something that pushed all of us to the limit.

The Troops.

Rolling.

Morning Thunder.

Triumph!

Tokyo Trip

So last weekend I made it out to Tokyo with Johnny & Yuri. The city was not quite how I expected it to be considering it being one of the more densely populated places of this planet. The city was not as claustrophobic or devoid of plant life as I had imagined either. Parks, shrines, and full sized trees are scattered throughout the city and provide a nice break from the concrete jungle of modern architecture. I honestly was expecting something closer to NYC but encountered something like Kyoto and Osaka mixed and added together. These were just my first impressions though. I can't truly say what this city is actually like based on my weekend of tourism, all I can convey is last weekend's vision of Tokyo as seen through my eyes.

So I did take the night bus on Thursday night. I went to Kyoto early before leaving, and wound up seeing 'Resident Evil 4' in 3D to kill some time. I honestly enjoyed it. The opening scene took place in biggest crosswalk of Tokyo, and subsequently the entire city was destroyed by a self destruct mechanism activated in the base underneath the crosswalk. This is the first scene of the movie on the eve of my visiting the city for the first time.

As for the night buss, it was actually a great time. I had an assigned seat in the bus, and apparently whoever made the list decided to pair the only two foreigners together. Upon realizing this I introduced myself in English to someone I completely assumed spoke English. My assumption was correct, but it was clearly not his first language. His name is Timur, and we talked for awhile getting to know each other. He is from Azerbaijan, he is half Russian, and speaks collectively five languages. He is a really great guy, is an actual architect/graphic artist, and is studying Japanese in Kyoto. Timur wound up travelling with us Friday night and all of Saturday till he returned to Kansai. We actually accommodated him in our lodgings at the Tokyo Cozy House in Ichikawa. On Friday I spent the hours of 7:30AM to 4:30PM seeing the sights around Tokyo station on foot. It was peaceful and fun. I even managed to squeeze in an hour of pool at a billiards hall. (People only say Billiards here. Pool makes no sense.) Then at four I was off to check in.

The Cozy House was legitimately as cozy as the name entails. It was an old apartment building turned into a house for foreigners. Two of those foreigners were actually some fellow UMASS students, Gavin and Bumi (Burumi). I was surprised to find out that Johnny and I had actually been assigned the room next to theirs, since I was under the impression that Gavin was living somewhere else. It was a pleasant surprise, and made perfect sense. Gavin did suggest our lodgings after all. We got a great deal from Shichi-san the landlord. and stayed two nights. It was the perfect place for us to stay given our budget.

So, Gavin, Bumi, Yuri, Johnny, Timur and myself spent the better part of the weekend together. We went out to an izakaya and wound up missing the final train of the night. We were faced with hours of waiting, so we did Karaoke till 5AM and spent the time wisely. Mind you, Timur and I had been awake nearing 24hours at this point, but somehow I managed to make it through to the first train at 6:30AM on which I then passed out in the squatting position that is so very popular in this country.

Saturday we got up about 2pm, and it had been raining all day. It later rained very hard. We all hit up Akihabara (Akiba) and spent a while shopping around and visiting various establishments including a couple of erotic shops. For dinner we wound up going to a Maid Cafe, all of us first timers. It was interesting because we had to sing at our food with the maid before eating it, and periodically there would be cafe wide singing between the maids. Personal photos of the maids inside the cafe is strictly prohibited, but getting a picture with a maid was possible if included with your set meal. Timur had to catch a bus at Tokyo station while we were there so we all said farewell.

Sunday we went to Ueno and walked about a famous park that was littered with shrines, vendors, a zoo, and Japan's highest concentration of homeless in the country. It was beautiful. There was a street performer with a large crowd that everyone got caught up in watching. Johnny and I decided to split a Mango ice cream from a spectating vendor, and by the time we had finished that off, Gavin and I were volunteers for 'The Human Art Museum'. We apparently were depicting Picasso's Guerninca. I was the horse. It was a fun and interesting experience for all of us.

We then checked out the Ameyoko shopping arcade of Ueno that had some of the best shops I've ever seen in Japan. I definitely want to go here again someday. After some curry lunch we headed off to Harajuku, famous for it's shocking fashion scene. We split up, took it all in, and then headed to Tokyo dome area to ride the 'Thunder Dolphin' roller coaster. When we arrived at the area there were more than a hundred people cosplaying in the area around its beautiful fountain doing photo shoots. This was quite the stereotypical scene to be witnessing in Japan. We rode the coaster and it blew all of our minds! Seriously, an experience/feeling I will never forget. This roller coaster is like a giant middle finger directed explicitly at human basic instinct. What a triumph (there is a picture of it below). This was essentially the last great stop of for our trip. Yuri caught the shinkansen home thanks to her business travel expenses, and after dining with Gavin an Bumi at Akihabara, Johnny and I parted from them to face the long Journey home on the night bus. Though not before we each chugged a tall and strong chu-hi to mellow out enough for the bus.

The ride was smooth, we made it to the apartment by 7:30 am, and visited an Onsen later that day. The rest of this week I mostly spent recovering from our intense traveling and working on my Halloween mask. I plan to paint it soon, and there is an up to date picture of it at the bottom of this post. Also I managed to score an abandoned bike from the sports park in town. Apparently it's been sitting dilapidated there for a while, so I have a bike to fix up as a new project. Yay!

Anyway, Yuri, Johnny, and I ate at this burger restaurant called #23 JB cafe last night. Very American style. Apparently the 23 is for Michael Jordan. I ordered the special burger, and it was a bit bigger than my two fists. It had double patties with an over-easy egg and ham slapped into the middle. It was a 'really good burger'.

Today (sat. the 16th) JB and I attempted to get a court to play tennis on at the same sports park in town, but apparently a reservation is needed in order to play. So we essentially failed. Tonight though we will be hiking along with a boy scout troop led by one of Yuri's co-workers to Ibukiyama. We start hiking at night (around 11 or 12) so as to watch the stars and sunrise. I am relatively excited for this, and I'm sure Johnny is even more stoked since he is an Eagle Scout. Ok, thats is mostly what's been going on in my life this past week and a half, and I'm of to pack for our outing with the scouts. BAI. BAI.

Thunder Dolphin going through the Ferris wheel

A true justification at the Jump Shop for my personal recreation of this mask.

An awesome display at Harajuku.

Did not enter here. Just needed a memento of Harajuku.

The Human Art museum.

My favorite photo that I took on this trip at a Memorial for Peace and protest to atomic warfare in a shrine at Ueno park.

Shrine with lotus all around it at Ueno.

This is myself and Timur in Akihabara.

DIY Moe.

Shinjuku.

War museum entrance (it was free).

The controversial Yasukuni-jinja.

Yasukuni.

Outside moat of Japan's Imperial palace. (They were freaking closed on Fridays did not get to got in)

Current progress on my mask.

Finally going to Tokyo.

Hey everybody, I'm heading off to Tokyo tonight, so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and see a lot of sights. Yuri is going to be there for work so Johnny and I are tagging along. Were all taking different transportation there, so I have to catch the Night buss from Kyoto tonight @ 10:30 pm and get to Tokyo @ 7AM. YIKES!
Despite this, I am fairly excited since I will be meeting up with Gavin Galloway from HBHS and UMASS in Tokyo, he even recommended this place where I'll be stating for Friday night. If I post these links a lot I will hopefully get a good discount on my room on Friday night.

• http://www.tokyocozyhouse.com/
• http://www.cozyhouse.net/
• http://www.lang-friend.com/
• http://www.kabugoldeneye.com/
• http://www.freesianet.co.jp/
  

On saturday I hopefully want to make it to the Ghibli museum and just be a tourist. That night We will be staying in a 24hour spa park that is cheaper to do than a hotel, so we'll see how things work out in the end.

Maija's Stay

Maija's came and went, hence my absence. We did a lot more than I anticipated and I did post most of the photos on to facebook, but that was about all I had the will to do. I'll try to get them uploaded through the blog at some point soon. We spent the first weekend touring some of the ancient Kyoto sights together. Our first stop was Shōsei-en, a garden built in the late ninth century by a Heian Prince. The place had a really old feel to it, despite the buildings on site being re-built in 1865-1912 since the originals were destroyed by fire. (can you tell I read the info pamphlet?) Right after that, we hit up Kiyomizu-dera and arrived just in time for the last Dragon Performance of the year.
The next day we returned to meet up at a British style pub called the 'Pig and Whistle' with some of Johnny's English teaching buddies. After many gin on the rocks and Maija's gracious gift of tequila shots, we wound up at a club since the last train had long since gone. We all celebrated a bit too hard, and spent all Sunday recovering. Quite the welcome weekend for Maija.
Other things we did include: visiting the Botanical Garden on lake Biwa, ate at a Shabu-Shabu restaurant called the golden pig in japanese, went to Osaka's den-den town, went bowling in town, saw monkeys at Arashi-yama, visited our friend Mizuho's club "Giraffe" for her birthday party there, had nabe at Yuri +Johnny's apartment, and just relaxed in between all these events. It was really great to see Maija again since she operates in a completely different part of the globe, and we had a lot of fun. I think that she had a pretty good holiday.
Since Maija left on thursday, I've mostly been recovering from sharing her travels. Johnny, Yuri, and I went to climb a mountain yesterday in Omihachiman, it was called Hachimanyama. There were the remains of an old castle at the top, and it was beautiful weather. We went shopping afterwards, had delicious home made Gyu-don (thin meat cooked with onion and mushrooms put over rice with a raw egg cracked into the bowl and mixed around) with gyoza on the side, and watched "The Life Aquatic". It was a great dinner and a great movie. I still cant get over Bill Murray in that movie, watch it if you've never seen it.

I'm back!

Hello, It's been a busy two year gap.

I finally graduated from UMASS, and have subsequently come back to Japan with hopes of finding some work. I have three months to do so and it is illegal to work while on my tourist visa, so I am kind of on a job search holiday.

Today is my fifth day here in Moriyama City, Shiga Prefecture! A city that shares its border

with lake Biwa (Biwa-ko is what they say here) the largest lake in Japan. I am living together with Yuri and Johnny in their apartment, and I am so grateful for their hospitality! They both

work full-time here, so i'll be doing a lot of traveling alone. Maija is coming to stay with us for two weeks on Friday though, so we'll most likely travel together for that time. It will be a true Japan room-mate reunion! It's crazy how the timing of all this worked out.

Anyway, I'll hopefully update more often than my last stay here since I have no obligations other than my own so far. This time around I want to try to use more photos than text, to keep my posting shorter and eye candy sweeter.

Here are the highlights thus far:

JB and CG's Japan Reunion.

Awesome BBQ hosted by Yuri's Co-worker's family. It was all you could drink and eat!

I really like this picture, kudos to Yuri.

This is Kyoto Station, It is massive! I was in shock and awe. Can't believe I never went here before.

Something seriously wrong is happening in this picture, other than the apparent hemorrhaging happening to these children.

This was even more demented than the other mutilated children. A scarecrow so scary, that it makes you want to call the police!

Here we have the "BP OIL SPILLERS CLUB" seriously that's what I thought it said at first glance. They will never live that down.