Weekend Adventures

Once again, been a while . . . but are you really surprised?

To pick up where I left off

After my Fuji trip I crashed for a few days before going back to work. I made my way to the boxing gym that first Monday after I returned only to realize that the burn on my hand that I had gotten while staying in the fifth station cabin was bad enough that even shadowboxing was enough to start breaking the skin open, so I made the woeful decision to put off training until it had completely healed.

On the fortunate side of things, this left my evenings empty, and I used the opportunity to hang out more with some of the couchsurfing crowd here in Nagoya. The surfers here and the surfers passing through here have, with little exception, been excellent. Through the CSers I have met I have seen quite a few pieces of "don't miss" Japanese culture, more than a few entertaining evenings, friends to visit upon return to the nippon and some more couches around the world to surf.

I don't want to rant about it, because it serves no practical function, but I have been and remain extremely disappointed in AIESEC Japan. I spent my first 4 months here working the network every way I could, and have yet to meet an AIESECer here. Enough said.

January was relatively uneventful. I spent a couple weekends in Tokyo spending some time with friends made on past adventures. Unfortunately realizing in these trips that one of my favorite things about Tokyo had been discontinued. In one of the larger parks in the city (Yoyogi park) on Sundays there are regularly performers of all shapes and sizes (jugglers, dancers, mimes, LARPers, 50's style Elvis dancers . . . etc), and along the main street on the back edge of the park there had always been a couple dozen local bands set up playing free shows. I remembered this from my trip 3 years ago and from my trip towards the end of last year, but it seems as of 2009 these live show Sundays have become a thing of the past. No one I asked knew anything about it, but I don' really know anyone in the Tokyo music scene . . . I can just hope that it is just stopped for the winter or some other temporary reason.

Of note outside of Tokyo-ing, I met up with a couch surfer and some of his friends and made my way to an evening of dancing at the monthly gay/drag night at a club here in Nagoya. I also found out later that if you go in drag you can get in for free . . . future plans? (I am certainly no stranger to dressing like a fool, especially when it saves me a $20 cover)

Month number 2 was a bit more eventful.

I started things of with must see festival number one, the Hadaka Matsuri (aka naked man festival). I can think of little more entertaining that watching 10000+ guys, hammered drunk carrying giant bundles of logs and bamboo all the way from their respective towns to a nearby (or not so nearby) temple. After getting their asses kicked by alcohol, gravity and 5-10 meter long logs, they all gather on the path leading to the temple and prepare to get doused in ice water . . . did I mention that it was about 5 degrees Celsius outside and they were all dressed only in loincloths? After getting soaked they continue standing around waiting for the "shin otoko" (at some point in history a completely naked guy running down the path, but now a memento of the temple). When it finally comes, the path turns into a 10000 man mosh pit with everyone trying to get the good luck associated with grabbing hold of the shin otoko.

Entertaining for sure.

A few days after the festival I was off to spend a couple days in Sapporo with a kid I met on Fuji. In preparation for this I bought a snowboard, bindings and boots from my beloved recycle shop. All three together cost me about $45 (the same as the cost of renting just the board for one day), so now I have an excuse to get up to appalachy more often. I flew into sapporo monday night, grabbed some food and crashed for the night. The next morning we found our buses and headed to the mountain (en route my buss stopped at the only rest stop along the way, and I discovered the most delicious pizza snack in the world)Imagine a pizza roll with a buttery sweet (almost beignet-esque) roll as the crust/bread . . . I ate about 2 kgs worth

We arrived, and after a couple hours of sliding down the mountain (both on my board and on my ass), we decided to grab some food.
Ramen just never gets old

After fooding it was back to the mountain for more falling/boarding and then another few hours on the bus back to town. Once we got back, we went to check out the giant snow sculptures (as a complete lack of shutter-buggery I have no pics). Some were really detailed and quite impressive. Then we were off to the Sapporo beer garden for some all you can eat korean bar b que style ram and all you can drink beers . . . delicious.

Next day was off to nearby Otaru for some fancy sushi. A nice little city, but I think impatience and ignorance landed us a less than perfect sushi experience. Very tasty, but a bit rushed. After swinging by a nearby sake brewery, we headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and make for the airport. Dinner at the airport was, well, dinner at the airport

The weekend after Sapporo there was a couch surfing gathering, so I was off for some good company and some $2 beers.

A couple days after I woke up to my first earthquake (something that I was assured I would have to get used to experiencing regularly before I came . . .). At first I thought I just had my sub woofer turned up too loud, later I realized it had been an earthquake. Oh well, one more thing off the list.

The next weekend I made my way back to Tokyo to grab dinner and catch up with my mentor who was in town for a few days. A long trip for a short stay, but a very tasty meal at a fancy hotel and company well worth the time. Later that week I decided to go check out a Romanian restaurant here in town. Pretty tasty and nostalgic, and it was nice to talk to the girl who ran the place about past adventures and trying to make Romanian food with Japanese ingredients. Just a shame the prices the prices aren't as Romanian as the food. This was closing in on the end of February, and I had a decision to make (though in truth it was far from difficult to do). I had spent the last 6 months training at a boxing gym here, and in that time I had been given the opportunity to hit the mitts once and get in the ring for a spar once. On the other hand at the beginning of this year I decided to check out a kick boxing gym in the same area. At the kick boxing gym I hit the mitts every time I go, I get actual active instruction from the former Japan champ and I get to work my legs (something my body has been begging me to do since I got here). Decision was boxing or kick boxing for March . . . like I said not a hard one, so I made the switch to kick boxing.

March opened with a couple of friends' band having a concert. A good show, and I'm sure the venue was happy with them (they were an opener and brought in half of the crowd that night).
One week after that was a box to be checked off the list, Journey concert
(Tried to up a video, but the internets refuse)

The Friday after that, I was on my way to meet some surfers for drinks, but the trains were shut down. The half dozen fire trucks, countless police officers and here and there of news reporters clued me in that something was not right. I found some food back at home and made my way to the bar about an hour later.
This picture was 3 days later. I was really surprised by the lack of clean up.

Next was off to Fukuoka (the city I did my study abroad in) for the long weekend. I stayed with a couch surfer in town (as I couldn't manage any floorspace out of my friends in town). Cool guy who actually spent a decade+ in the Atl. I spent my first night wandering around, checking out all the places I knew from before and grabbing a tasty bowl of Fukuoka's special ramen. The next day I jumped on a train south to Kumamoto and then a bus into the mountains. I was on my way to see Reigando, the cave in which Miyamoto Musashi spent his last few years and where he wrote his books.The view out the cave

On the way to the cave was a collection of 500 statues spread out on a rock face. One of the more enjoyable shrine/temple type things I have seen here.


After I left the cave, I had some time to kill before the next bus back to town arrived, so I dropped in on a little cafe on the mountain nearby. The woman who lived in/ ran the cafe/house had spent some time living in Florida during high school and was one of the genuinely nicest people I have met in a long time. While we were talking she mentioned that she was pleasantly surprised to see a big warm smile greeting her (a sentiment that I well understand, as there are often very few genuine smiles to be found here), and she agreed that I should continue to use that smile regardless of the lack of smiles in return. This was one of those moments that renews my faith in the Japanese populous. That night I headed back to Fukuoka and met up with one of the kids from my study abroad, and we grabbed a beer and another amazing bowl of ramen
For those who are wondering, that is the most delicious ramen EVER . . .

Then it was back to my couch surfers home for a couple movies, some sweet tea and some conversation. The next morning I ate breakfast with my CSer and his family and headed of for the airport.

Not sure how I forgot this one, but the weekend before Fukuoka I met up with some surfers from the US and Israel as we made our way to must see festival number 2, the hounen matsuri (aka giant penis festival). A celebration of fertility, it was quite a sight to behold (and it was indeed held, by everyone age 2-100).
You call phallus and the crowds come runnin'
Come on, it's lucky I swear

Yeah, you know
The free liquor cart

That about covers it. I considered putting down observations and thoughts on Japanese people and society, but that would take more characters than the internets have space for (and a rant in type is just not the same)

Another Year Closer to the Future

I've been far from often in my updates, but I figured this is about the time to play katsup.

So what have I done . . .
A hop over to HK to visit Chuck
A long train to Kyoto
A shorter train to Kyoto
A few parties
A slight ass kicking
A venture into hanging 10 on a sofa
And a most fantastic new year's eve

Since I had some money in my pocket and a long weekend, I figured Chuck would be up for some company, so i jumped on a plane.

Surprise of surprises, Hong Kong did a brilliant job of meeting my expectations

Like it jumped right out of Rush Hour

We wandered around to find a few beers and something tasty to eat before heading on to see how long we could distract the ladies of the night before they realized we weren't buying

Why not?

Yes that is my friend mequilla,
and yes that was the most delicious bowl of cheese and pork I have ever eaten

I forgot the map-less treasure hunt that we undertook to find the hostel that we were crashing for the evening. We never left a 2 block radius, it took us about an hour to find . . . nuff said. After crashing for the evening we decided to spend the next day checking out a giant budha, a small mountain, some tasty Taiwanese treats and the fanciest Pizza Hut on the planet.

Butterfly who followed me to the top
You'd best beat the hell out of that fire
Yeah, that's the stuff

We felt we needed to class ourselves up a bit

After another not so comfy night's sleep, I was on a plane and headed back home. Fast forward a few weeks, and time for another long weekend. This time I set out for a fall in Kyoto.

The oldest major city in this island country, Kyoto has more shrines and temples than one could want to see in their entire life. Needless to say, I've had my fill. I took the 4.5-5 hour cheap ticket option to make my way there, and I have pretty mixed feelings about the trip. Not with the trains or the time its self, but rather with the scenery. As I ride out of Nagoya, I pass through mountains and small towns, and I am reminded of how much I still have left to see (and how much time I am somewhat wasting day after day in this city). But at the same time I see these places and can't help but smile just at the sight of it all . . . And so I arrive in Kyoto. I had spent the last week or so asking around and looking through google maps to figure out where I wanted to go, so upon arrival I rented a bike and set off.

First stop (after dropping my bag at the hostel) was a train ride to Biwa-ko, the largest lake in Japan.

Not the worst sunset I've come across

After that, some diner and back to the hostel to chat with the backpackers and prepare for a pre-dawn rising.

I woke around 4am ate some breakfast and around 5am headed off to my first destination, Kiyomizu-dera. I planned on catching the sunrise, but was absent minded enough to miss the fact that there is a mountain backdrop on the east side of the temple. However, early arrival granted me free entry and the scenery gave me an excellent background for a video message home for the AIESEC banquet (even if it ended up being too dark to actually see me . . .).

The view down the hill up to the entrance

I continued on to wander through a few deserted shrines
After getting my fill of shrines and temples for the day, I wandered the rest of the city
Seems the Papa decided to experiment in a new market
Later I found a very tasty "deep fry whatever the hell you want" restaurant

From there it was back to the hostel for some more chatting and preparation for an even earlier morning.

This time I left the hostel at 4am and made my way all the way to the other side of the Kyoto valley to a park/mountain called Arashi-yama. I got there while it was still dark and made my way up a small peak to watch the sunrise. I didn't take any shots of the sunrise (cause my camera doesn't take very worthwhile pictures in the dark), but here's the view after it lightened up

A bit of fog, but not too bad
Next was the Moss Temple
(They only let about 10 people per day in for this one, but I got there long before anyone arrived, snuck over the moat and had a good view for an hour or so from this tree)
On to the Suzumushi-dera
(This one's all about crickets and wishes coming true . . . very Pinocchio-esque)

And finally Kinkaku-ji
(The most famous)
The GT in me couldn't help taking this one

After that, another 5 hour train ride home. And then a few weeks later I got send on a business trip to Kyoto University to work with one of the professors there. Difference this time being that travel was on the companies tab, so I rocketed from Nagoya to Kyoto in 35min via the Nozomi Shinkansen. 5 times more expensive, but if someone else is paying the bill, a good way to travel.
A few pics from that trip
From the Uni
Complementary suicide bags from the hotel
Even more delicious than it looks

The next round of events were the Bounenkai, the end of the year/forget about the passed year parties
This was the middle of the first of 3 parties that evening
(p.s. held on a Thursday with work the next day. . .never been so hungover)

After 4 months of training, I was finally granted the opportunity for a boxing spar.

A learning experience to say the least . . . 20lbs and 4in makes a much bigger difference when I can't use my legs to close the distance . . . Anyway, if I want to give the pro test a shot before I go home, I need to at least be able to keep up with a pro 20lbs heavier than me . . .

A week or so after that I was inundated with requests from couch surfers. The first was a kid from Poland who was in the first week or so of an open ended wandering around Asia. Great guy, and made a pretty tasty goulash. A few days later I had a guy from Canada who is teaching english in Saitama and two guys from Croatia. All worth a few drinks and some conversation. Plus this adds an easy stopover in Zagreb during my planned European wanderings this summer.

Quite randomly I found this sweatshirt at the local thrift shop
I couldn't buy it (because that would show some small amount of support), but I thought it too entertaining to let go completely

With all that passed, I move on to a rather astonishing new years

I have had to go through more permission getting and convincing for this adventure than I have gone through for all past adventures combined, but after 3 months convincing my company and my parents that I wasn't going to die, I equiped up to climb a mountain
My Equipment
My Equipment.rar

And so AIESEC GT shirted and bearded up, I started the 8 hour train ride to Fujiyoshida city. Everything went as it should as I checked into the hostel around 5pm, grabbed some dinner, bought breakfast, hit the hostel's hot spring and crashed for the night.

I woke up at 02:15 to get dressed and eat breakfast before my taxi arrived at 03:00 . . . unfortunately I was a bit slow off the mark and ended up eating and finishing getting dressed at the Sengen Jinja, the starting point of my climb.

After I was fed and all was in order, I started my way down the path. The 6 mile approach has two major parts. The first (from the Sengen Jinja to Umagaeshi) is a slight incline walk in the woods that I covered at a quick pace in about 1.5 hours. The only troubling moment was when I heard what at first sounded like a chainsaw off to my right. I turned off my light for a moment to look around for another person, but saw none and continued on. A few minutes later I heard the sound again, it appeared to be following me. It was at this point that I realized something strange about the sound of this chiansaw. . . it was comming from 3 or 4 meters up in the air off to my right. As I continued to walk I wandered through possible explainations in my mind, and after discounting large cats and bears, I came to it, Oosuzumebachi, Japanese hornets.

For those not in the know let me offer a small excerpt from wikipedia
"known colloquially as the yak-killer hornet, is the world's largest hornet. . .
approximately 50.8 mm (2.0 in), with a wingspan of about 76 mm (3 in). . .
The sting of the Asian giant hornet is about 6 mm (¼ in) in length . . .
venom contains a neurotoxin called mandaratoxin^[5] which can be lethal to people who are not allergic if the dose is sufficient. Between 20 and 40 people die each year in Japan after being stung by giant hornets. . .
venom of the Asian giant hornet is more toxic than that of most other bees or wasps, giving this species one of the greatest lethal capacities per colony. . .
Japanese Hornets protect their nest and will attack humans that venture within about 10 meters. They will start to swarm and then attack en masse, sometimes emitting a loud noise. It is advisable therefore to retreat immediately from groups of Japanese Hornets, and at great haste should they start to emit a rattling noise"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzumebachi

One thing that they forgot to mention that I saw on a documentary here is that when one of these guys stings, it releases a pheramone that calls all other nearby to attack the same target

5am in the blackness around Fuji-san, at least 3 miles from the nearest living soul and I was hearing that "rattling" noise . . . this was not the ideal situation, so I put a hurry on. Luckily there was soon a road that passed over the path, and I heard nothing more after that point. The path from Umagaeshi (the "horse return" point where historically people would unmount and head on by foot), is a bit more involved. Dry and ice free from Umagaeshi to about the middle of the third station and icy beyond that, everything from Umagaeshi on is between a 45-60 degree uphill march. Far from impossible (as long as you've a pair of crampons), this piece took quite a bit more effort and put a major dent in my climbing time (Umagaeshi to the new fifth station was about 5 hours). As I didn't feel like coughing up the $500-600 for a good pair of climbing boots, I had taken the aproach of buying a pair of work boots from the local construction worker supply store. I bought the pair that had been recommended as most water proof and that had the most ankle support. The level of water proofing became both an issue and irrelevant durring the course of this climb.

Not wanting to stop too often I had worn all socks I thought neccessary for the top, from the bottom. This was not the smartest of descisions . . . as I passed the fourth station I realized that moving my toes around wasn't working anymore, and that the feeling in them wasn't comming back. This was the point where I completely abandoned my origional plan, and tried to hurry ahead to find a warm place to avoid frostbite. I remembered reading about one hut that was open year round on this trail at the fifth station, and I decided if I couldn't find that hut I would have to stop at the fifth station to break out my sleeping back and warm clothes to bring my feet back to life.

Luckily as I wandered up to the fifth station I found myself in the company of about a dozen people at the entrance to a nice warm hut. I cautiously stepped inside (not knowing if anyone would be offended by my entering), greeted some of the other climbers and grabbed a spot next to the cast iron stove in the center of the main room. After a bit one of the guys asked me if I was really that cold, and I informed him that it was just my feet. I let him know that I had been out for about 8 hours, and he suggested I take my socks off to make sure I didn't have any frostbite issues. No worries there, however, at this point we (myself included) realized that my socks (all three pairs) were completely soaked through. This is when I checked my boots and saw that they to were soaked (so much for the water proof recommendation), but there was never more than a couple inches of snow on the ground (and I was wearing crampons at the snowy times, giving an extra inch). After some thought it was figured that to many socks and over active pedal sweat glands were the problem that had nearly frozen my feet off. After warming my feet and assesing my boots with some of the more experienced climbers, it was quite clear that I would not be heading to the summit as planned. . .

Dissapointed that I would not get to see the top, I opted to stay at the hut for the night and enjoy a warm bed and some festivities. This was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Diner was a multi course feast of sashimi, nabe, noodles, pork flavored rice and more that I know I am forgetting. There was also more drink that you could ever want. As one of the younger Japanese guys said "On new years, the alcohol never runs out". I ate my fill and had a few drinks, but the best part of the whole evening was the company.

In all there were around 30 people in this little hut for the night, and aside from some entertaining Canadians and one other very interesting American, there were a smathering of world famous climbers in the house. Most of the crowd was in the 60+ range, and many of them come out every year to party and then watch the sunrise (one guy had been there for 53 consecutive years). There were a few guys who had spent the 60's 70's and 80's setting first ascents on mountains all over the world, and a few more who were photographers just as well traveled. The climb from the fifth station to the summit takes most good experienced climbers 4+ hours, but there was one Japanese Ojii-san who does the fifth station summit and back in 2 hours. Good food, good drink and great people at 2300m. . .an amazing night and a hell of a lot better than being in a sleeping bag at -25C.

As conversation and people dropped I finally decided to call it a night (not sure what time it was, but I figured some sleep would be neccessary). The room that the beds were in was neither insulated nor heated, but the blankets were toasty. . . a cold room and a warm bed, doesn't get much better.

5am rolled around and the lot of us were off to the 6th station to get above the treeline for the sunrise. I got one snap just a bit before the sun peaked up over the horizon, and then just stared off trying to soak up every moment.
After that, many pictures were taken, a drink was passed around (though a few of the old guys were still drunk from the night before) and then everyone headed back down to warm up, eat some breakfast and start the party going again.

From there it was more great company and conversation until Jeff (the most experienced of the Canadians, who has been up every year for the last 10 and in Japan for 14) returned from the summit. This was about the time I was outside shoving my hand into the snow (because I had just burned the shit out of it on the cabin's cast iron stove). I saw him coming down around the bend in the trail, and he asked me to come help him out with something in the bathroom. Never one to turn down a friend in need (even in the most unusual of situations), I headed over to the bathroom building. Once inside, he told me that he had been messing around coming around the last corner (just 20m away) and had fallen and dislocated his shoulder. Jeff, Adrien and myself then tried to slip it back into place . . . to no avail. Jeff didn't want to go inside, because everyone knew him well and he didn't want to make a big deal of it. Luckily the mountain police (who had also stayed the night in the cabin) were at that moment loading up to take a couple people down the mountian, so after a few "I don't want to have to go to the hospitals", Jeff climbed into the polices' truck and was on his way down (with equipment in tow so that he could climb back up after his shoulder was reset).

Shortly after there was a delicious lunch of hand made gyoza and curry. I had planned to climb down just after lunch, but decided instead to hang around, enjoy for a while longer and wait for Jeff to return before heading down. After a nap and fair amount of stove-side sitting Adrien and I were ready for a walk and decided to make our way up to the 7th station.

I borrowed one of the other climber's boots for this trip (and the "dainty" crampons that came with them). We made our way up as high as it seemed safe given the equipment and grabbed a seat to try and catch a bit of sunset. Unfortunatly since we were on the east side of the mountain, there was little of a sunset to see. So we started the way down before it got dark, and I switched on my headlamp from the 6th station down. Upon return I packed up, said goodbye and headed down the mountain.

Headlamp and fresh battery equiped the first piece from the fifth station down to the middle of the third was a breeze. It was at that point where the 50/50 mix of dry and icy ground told me I should keep my crampons on for a bit longer . . . Unfortunately a lose rock in one of those dry spots found its way under one of my crampon teeth and I rolled my ankle pretty hard. I slowed my pace and found a place to sit and remove my crampons. After getting them off and packed up I headed on, and about 10 steps out sliped on some ice over a step and rolled that same ankle hard, again. After a quick stream of explitives, I moved on. And after about 15 min I was stepping down a big step and realized that I didn't have my axe to brace myself . . . I have left it when I took off my crampons. I moved back up quick as I could hoping it was indeed where I thought it was. It was, and once grabbing it I started back down again. The rest of the climb down was rather uneventful. I saw some guys camped out in their car at Umagaeshi, and i managed to roll that ankle 3 more times before I got back to the Jinja (luckily no flying chainsaws to contend with this time).

I entered the Sengen Jinja around 22:30, and I met with some very currious looks from people making new year's trips to the shrine. After a quick rinse of my hands, a drink of water and a thank you to the mountain for a good journey, I made my way for the front enterance and my way home. When I got to the parking lot at the front enterance I asked a couple college aged guys which direction it was to the nearest station. They gave me directions, and as I was repeating them back offered to give me a ride. As we headed for the nearest station we started talking, and I told them I had just come from Fuji-san (they were astonished). I told them a bit about my climb and some of the conditions on the mountain. They asked me where I was headed from the station, and I told them the name station near my hotel (the next station over). They then offered to take me all the way there, saying that there likely were not any busses running at that time. I accepted their offer, thanked them graciously for saving me and continued to chat with them until we arrived. I may not be as classy or ladylike as Blanche Dubois, but I to have a tendancy to "rely on the kindness of strangers". Anyway, thanks to the ride I got to my hotel about 5 minutes before curfiew. I then grabbed some tea, a good hot bath and crashed for the night.

The next morning I checked out, walked around a bit taking one more look at what I had done
And got on my train home.

AIESEC US is in a kind of overdrive that defies thermodynamic law, and that leaves me the duty of maintaining that same drive. I still haven't figured out just how, but I will change this world for the better. With an idea like AIESEC behind me and a world full of AIESECers around me, I can't do anything less. Go big and shake it hard, or stay the hell behind in 2008. The future is only there for those that would make something of it

Kickball and a Very Tasty Weekend

Not much went down this week, save for a truly fantastic meal. I went wandering and found my way to the local Yamada Electronics (the Japanese version of Wal-Mart). That was interesting, and now I understand why it gets so much grief from the media (and the general public). They even have a full range of Belgian beers (at $4-$6 per bottle).

So quick overview of food:

1st: I gave the raw egg and rice a try. Not bad, but not my favorite

2nd: My first shot at fried rice. Turned out pretty well (though the tofu I used needs to be prepared some way other than just heating)

3rd: I couldn't resist any longer, so I stopped in at Mr. Donut. Not even in the same league as hot Krispy Kreme, but gives Dunkin a run for their money

4th (and without question most important): After a couple hours at the boxing gym on Saturday, I wanted some food, so I decided to check out a Tonkatsu (fried pork) place that I've passed many times. The decision was largely made due to the fact that almost every time I pass by there is a line out side of people waiting for a seat. And indeed, now I know why. I know that I am quite fond of mocking vegetarians or those who don't eat certain meats, but what I am about to say is different from "Why? . . . because bacon is delicious!" or a roast badger wrapped, stuffed and basted in pork. A roast pork chop that is then deep fried and topped with a slightly sweet tonkatsu style sauce . . . This was without a question the most delicious animal I have ever eaten. This is the second time I have had a piece of pork that made me truly sorry for all those who choose to (or are "forced" to) not dine on swine (the first was also in Japan and was swimming in a bowl of Fukuoka's Tonkotsu Ramen). After I finished my plate, I told the chef that what he had prepared was too delicious, and I headed on my way. I subsequently spent the next hour in utter disbelief at what I had just consumed. This is the first time in recent memory (maybe ever) that I paid $10 for a meal and felt like I won the exchange.
Before
After

Needless to say, anyone who feels like paying me a visit will definitely be taking a trip to that heavenly pork diner.

I also in my wanderings came across what looked like crew practice
And a dimensional rift through which I found myself back in the A-Town

Hong Kong this weekend, much debauchery expected

The Legend of the Fearsome Doala

This past Saturday I took a trip to the Nagoya Dome to catch the next to last home game of the season for Nagoya's baseball team the Chunichi Dragons.

I had received a request from my brother to get a ball from a Japanese game, so I arrived early at the dome to watch practice (and with some luck get a ball).

I stood out in left field for a while, and eventually a batting practice home run fell into my hands. Mission accomplished . . . but not quite. Apparently the protocol for the Dragons is that all balls (foul, home run etc) that leave the field during practice MUST BE THROWN BACK. Even after a skillfully butchered "ni-hongo wakarimasen" (I don't understand japanese) and maintaining said farce by explaining in broken englishified japanese that the ball was for my little brother back in the US . . . the whistle toting foul ball nazis made me throw the ball back. So close and yet so far. I also hung around until they killed the lights in the dome to maybe catch someone post game to grab a ball, but no luck. Maybe next season.

Anyway, after that business I walked over to the backstop immediately behind home plate to finish watching practice. As the game started, I stayed in that seat (2nd row immediately behind home), and figured I'd hang around until someone made me leave. That never happened, so my $15 nose bleed ticket plus an early arrival got me the best seat in the house.

Action Shot

The crowd for the game was awesome. It was more like a college ball game than a major league game. Each team had a fan club (each equipped with giant flags and a band), and the entire stadium joined in when they would start a cheer (subsequently they had a cheer for every single player). This meant that whenever the Dragons were at bat, the entire stadium was chanting non-stop.

Visitor's Fan Club

Dragons' Fan Club

On top of all that, it was actually a really good game. Both teams scored 4 runs in the first couple innings, and it ended up coming down to a bottom of the ninth, two outs, bases loaded full count. The guy fouled off about a half a dozen pitches before he got walked (not quite a winning home run, but a close game and a lot of fun).

A piece of the last at bat

As for the Doala . . . the team is the Dragons, and as such they have two big puffy dragons (pink - faolong and blue - shaolong) as sub-mascots. However the main mascot of the team is a blue koala with a blue baseball tail. Apparently he is half dragon half koala (hence Doala). He did some entertaining tumbling (flash kicks and a reverse full), made especially impressive by the fact that his giant mascot head went almost as high as his extended arms . . .

A shot of Doala (shamelessly pulled from the internets)

I think I forgot to mention the cheer squad

On an unrelated note, I finally got a rice cooker
(now I don't have to eat noodles every day)

Tokyo and Then Some

So last weekend was a bit too busy for me write, so this week I'll catch up.
(Lots of pictures, so I'm gonna center this one)

I was finaly able on the 10th to go get my alien registration card and with it a mobile, a bank account and the certainty of internet in my future. In a combined effort to play to Nathan's request for more food pics and to display the rediculousness of japanese technology, here are a couple pictures and a short video I took of my new mobile (the cheapest I could find at $90) functioning as a TV (a free service). All I was looking for was a phone, but somehow the cheapest phone ended up also being a TV, a camera with internal and external lenses, an mp3 player and has touch screen and facial recognition capabilities . . . like I said, rediculous

This past Monday was a day to celebrate old people (a national holiday), so last weekend was a long weekend. I decided to take this opportunity to pay a visit to Tokyo. I left at 07:30 on Saturday morning for my 5 hour bus ride to the metropolis. A relatively uneventful trip, but I did grab a couple snaps when we stopped.

A bit of scenery at the first stop

A tasty pork bun (half finished because I remembered I was hungry before I remembered to take a picture)

And some various juices that reminded me of Frost and his mild obsession

Arrival in Shinjuku

I found a famous statue

From there I headed to my hostel . . . I was a bit put off by the fact that I couldn't get in contact with any AIESECers in Tokyo (the MC and about 8 LCs are in or near the city) for a place to stay and some people to hang out with, but the hostel ended up being a good chice in the end . . . I arrived at the relatively new "Tokyo Ninja",

checked in and headed up to my "room".

After setting down my pack and updating the drivers on my dad's laptop, something that hasn't been done in years, so that I could actually transfer pictures from my camera to the laptop, I headed out to get the lay of the land and see if I could find some AIESECers. Internet wanderings combined with my new best friend google maps got me maps and directions to all the places I wanted to find. Wandering point the first: AIESEC Japan office. I headed here first in the hopes of catching some people before the end of the day (this was around 15:00). As seems to be becoming a trend, no one was around (no window for a ghostly pic this time). On my way back towards the hostel (in Asakusa) I made a quick pass through the electronics Mecca that is Akihabara.

While I can quite easily amuse myself wandering through this place for quiite some time (as I did the last time I was in Tokyo), I was a bit sickened by it this time around. While I have no issues with the geekiest of geeks (I go to school with them), I can not stand the fact that the mainstay of USAliens that come to Japan are unhealthy socially inept otaku who want to sit alone reading comics and cartoon porn playing video games, find a Japanese bride or some combination of the two. I grow weary of the poor perceptions brought about by these people traveling, and there is an overwhelming glut of them in Akihabara . . . but I digress . . . I spent about 30 minutes there before giving up and heading to my next stop, Ochanomizu. A place famous for guitars and all things thereof, quite entertaining. I spent the next few hours here mentally recouping from my previous stop. As I meandered through this piece of the city I sat by and watched numerous bands performing at corners and subway/railstations. I also looked through some guitar shops and bought some strings for my guitar. From Ochanomizu I went back to the hostel to check some directions and plan my evening.


I wanted an entertaining evening and to grab a piece of video, so I made for Shibuya. Making a hopefully soon to be followed first step, I made a short video of me walking through the well known intersection in front of Shibuya station for the OGX video.

Interesting fact: that's the busiest Starbucks in the world.

I paced through the alleys around Shibuya, saw a small parade,

listined to a bossa nova/conga band concert,

found the all important vagabond staple, a doner kebab stand,

and got asked by some marines on shore leave where they could find a drinkin good time. Definitely met the qualifier of entertaining, and it only cost me the subway ticket over and back (about 8 miles from my hostel, so I felt it was worth the two 190yen tickets). En route back to the Ninja I grabbed a few 8% ciders, in hopes of finding some kids in the hostel commons to drink and chat with.

Upon return I headed up to my "room" and took a much needed shower. I was in a 16 person room, and several had returned from their day's activities. I sat down and talked with a couple kids from Taiwan, they had done the Tokyo Disney thing and had exorbitant amounts of Disney crap. Some fun kids on a five day holiday from school . . . Now I've got a place to stay and a couple tour guides in Taiwan. There was also a guy from the UK, Matt, that I talked to for a while who was at the front end of a 16 month long "my life in accounting doesn't seem like enough anymore, so I shall wander the earth" kind of trip. Quite an interesting guy, nice to have an intelligent conversation. After the roommates gave up for the night, I to my cider and made for the commons in the basement. As luck would have it there was a group six or seven Britts hanging around some beers and some tables, so I grabbed a seat and joined in. One of the guys was on something of an extended stay, staying at the hostel at no charge in exchange for acting as cleaning staff, likely on his way to China at the end of the month. Three of the kids, Damien, Emily and Zoe, were the larger part of the ramblings and would become my travel mates in the comming days. After the others all knocked off for the night, Zoe and I stayed up for a while chatting about Japanese studies and the efficacy (or lack there of) of the current higher educational system in a world based not on what but who you know.

Sunday morning I once again checked the MC office as well as the Japan Alpinist Society . . . both were vacant (quite bothersome always traveling on weekends). I heard from UK Matt the previous night that on Sunday's in Yoyogi Park every week there were a miriad of local bands that would come out to play on the street, so I decided it would be a fair way to waste some time. First I stopped at a ramen shop that had a line of people waitng outside, and I got some tsukemen

Pretty good, but not even close to the tonkotsu ramen in Fukuoka

It was a nice park, quite big, and a nice contrast to the city around it.
I walked through the park not seeing any bands, but I eventually heard music off in the distance and followed it. There were indeed a multitude of bands allong the street on the outside edge of the park.

Kind of funny, the first misician I saw was a girl playing keyboard and singing that I had seen a week or two before outside the train station near my boxing gym in Nagoya. Most of the bands were lacking at best, but a couple were quite good, and I sat down to listen to their sets. After a while I remebered one of the kids saying that there was to be a Wii bowling bash at the hostel that night. Always ready to demonstrate my mastery of the Wii bowling, I decided to head back.

Unfortunately I arrived just too late and missed out on name tags and team selection. I gussled a bit of nihonshu and matcha and downed some snacks while watching the competition throw their Wii balls.

Half way into the follow up Wii tennis tourney I sat down to converse with Damien, Emily and Zoe. After I tried to convince Damien that I had defeated Super Ghouls and Ghosts, he started downloading it so that he could convey the game's insurmountable frustrations to the girls. Chatting and drinking continued amongst the crowd and a tasty Chinese style potato dish was prepared by the resident Britt, Luke. At some point or another plans were created and the decision was made that I would head to watch Sumo with Damien, Emily and Zoe in the morning.

Sumo was quite fun, and I recommend it if you get the chance

Damien left early on to wander for a bit, and upon his return Zoe decided to head home. Damien, Emily and I opted to hang around for a bit, and ended up staying until the end. I'm glad I did, as it afforded me the opportunity to see the two Yokozuna in action. The three of us stopped at a convinience store on the way back and grabbed some beer and, for me, some food. When we got back to the hostel, we sat for a while, chatted for a while and drank our beers. Fun was had, Super Ghouls and Ghosts was played, frustrations were understood and I headed off to catch my night bus home.

From here, my bus left Shinjuku at 23:00. My bus arrived at Nagoya station at 07:00. My train left from Nagoya station and arrived at my station, Shibata station, at 07:30. I dropped my pack off as I passed my appartment, and I started work at 08:00 . . .

Something I find both anoying and amusing about this trip: I left my small towel/rag in the hostel in Asakusa (annoying part), and it was a towel/rag that I had gotten from a hostel in Asakusa durring my previous stay in Tokyo 3 years ago (amusing part). Born from Asakusa hostel and so it shall return.

At work this week I started on the preliminary experiments for my actual project, so that's somewhat exciting (in an "I'm an engineer and I get exited about polymers" kind of way). . .

Yeah that's my uniform (I know you're jealous)

And look, it's like a layered shot (only if you drink this one your insides will polymerize)

I sent out an email to AIESEC at Nagoya City University for possible future endeavours, but no reply yet. I also chatted up sir Chuck, and I'm looking to go hang out with him in Honk Kong for a few days in October.

My mission for this weekend was to find a used book store, and I succeeded. This means a few things. Thing one is that I can now get cildren's books to read and help build my Japanese literacy muscles. Things two and three are a bit more in the range of general nerdery. I can now get cheap comic books, and I can look through stockpiles of old video games (consequently I found a copy of the Japanese version of my favorite game for $10 and couldn't help myself).
For those who can't read Japanese (or small print on globes), the name of this game is "Super Chinese World" . . . I know nothing of this game (other than its hillarious title)

I also bought a male-male audio cable while I was in Akihabara, so now I can play my iPod through my laptop's speakers (which is preferable to always wearing headphones). That means I now have: music (very important), boxing gym to workout in (very important #2), 1 liter of milk a day, 1 liter of orange juice a day (found some at the 100yen store) and books to read . . . save for some people to hang out with on nights and weekends, I'm pretty well settled in.

Monday (22nd) is a day off, and my fellow UFOers (my department) and I are going to play some tennis and do some barbiqueing . . . sweet
My fellow UFOers found me a dark beer
In case you are wondering . . . all delicious
Some ohhh so tasty purple sweet potatoes
Mmmmm Japanese Bitch Beer
And the obligatory peace sign photo

And after burning all the left over food, every single beer can, paper plate and cigarette butt was picked up and carried away (cleanest post party I've ever seen)

Indeed it was sweet

One More Sport Down in the Land of the Rising Sun

Things to note . . . found a bike, tokyo next weekend, AIESEC in Nagoya, boxing and yet another broken piece of me

I managed to make it to train two times this week. Not really anything too exciting thus far in the land of boxing: I have to learn a completely new way of throwing a hook and upper, but my straight is good. But it feels good to be training again. Something I find entertaining: pre-workout weight 76 kg, post-workout weight 72 kg . . . that's 10 lbs worth of sweat. As for the new broken piece of me . . . I managed (likely though going to hard while shadow boxing) to pull my right pectoral muscle on Friday, and it is right up at the top of the list of most painfull and most annoying muscles to injure. Just take a minute to think about how difficult it is to not use your chest muscles (ie not using, not stretching and not putting any pressure on) . . . makes sleeping a bit difficult. I guess I'll have to take a few days off. I also noticed that I have been exceptionally sore, and it's soreness that doesn't seem to pass. Then I thought about it, and I get pretty much zero potassium in my diet here (my usual liter of OJ per day at home is no longer cost effecient), so I figured I'd grab some bananas. The issue there is that I usually get my weeks grocery shopping done at the value drug store, and they don't sell bananas. I have to go to the super market (an even farther walk) in order to get bananas, and I refuse to do my regular shopping there (everything costs 50-100 yen more there). Pain in the ass as it may be, I guess I'll just have to make a banana trip once or twice a week . . . Also after my workout on Friday I stayed for a bit outside the train station to watch some of the bands who were playing (there are always musicians outside this particular station). One of them was good enough for me to drop a few duckets on their cd. Mostly for some entertaining music but also because the band's name was Capsule Wagon Squeegee.

So having the foresight to know a bike would be extremely useful (and knowing how absurdly expensive they are . . . even at the recycle shop a crappy one was about $100), since I arrived I have been watching a few abandoned bikes to see how abandoned they really were. Good possibility number one sits right outside my front steps. It has two flat tires, a rusted chain and has not moved an inch since I arrived (two and a half weeks). Knowing that some people around here ride on flats, and that some people are simply so anal that they will park in the exact same spot every day, I conducted a small experiement. I moved said bike from its usual spot one week ago, and concequently it continued to be immobile. Possibility number two similarly had two flats and a rusted chain, but also had two more prevailent signs of immobility. The bike had been sitting in this one spot long enough that ivy type vines had grown, wrapped themselves around the wheels and spokes and been arouond long enough to die (while still connected to the ground). This pretty clearly tells me that the bike hasn't been moved in what is logically at least a year. There was also a massive and intricate spider web between the bike and its surroundings (detailing no motion at all for at least a few days, or weeks). Well, option number two had a derailuer and option one didn't, so I went for number two. This is where I decided to take a trip.

Durring the week I had located AIESEC at the Nagoya City University, and it is conveniently located in the vicinity of my boxing gym. So I headed that way. En route I stopped at one of the cycle shops I had found the last time I walked to the gym. I thought enough ahead to check the size of the tires on what was to be my new bike. Knowing the nature of the beast I wanted to buy a couple tubes for the future (also not forgoing the possibility that both tubes were already busted). After a bit of searching the shop owner came to the conclusion that he didn't have tubes of the right size (the bike has moutain tires on it rather than road tires which are the norm). He did however say that if he could find some they would run me 2000 yen each (twice the price of a "normal" tube). I gave up on that idea for the moment, and asked if he had a pump. He did, and I bought it for 1000 yen (need my own pump because no one else in my appartment building, save for the ghost bike, rides a bike . . . they all drive or walk). Onward I walked, and about fifteen minutes after helping another cyclist find the shop I had just come from, I came to another cycle shop. I asked the grandma shop owner if she had any mountain bike tubes, and with some luck she did. They were $15 a piece . . . not great but not the worst it could be. . . I also grabbed a bike lock (it too was $15, but she gave me the lot for $40). So, with supplies in tow, I continued on. After the 4-5 mile walk to my gym, I headed east towards the university. Along the way I stopped at another recycle shop, but this was not the wonderful thift store that the other one was. This was more of an old things are trendy shop where you can buy an old pair of addidas or origional air jordans for a few hundred dollars. I arrived at the uni and headed towards the student center (where the internet had told me AIESEC was located at this uni) . . . alas it was not to be found. I then asked about a dozen different people if they knew about AIESEC. Interestingly enough everyone I asked knew about AIESEC, but no one knew where their office was. One guy knew one of the AIESECers, but when he tried to call there was no answer. It was hot out so I grabbed some water from a water fountain nearby, and I doused my head and carried on. I walked through the touristy part of the city for about 3 minutes, and, after having my fill, hopped on a train home. Next I took a trip to the bath house to wash off the day's heat and filth, cooked up some dinner and passed out (oh yeah, I also grabbed my abandoned bike).

That was Saturday . . . Sunday I did some shopping (got some bananas), and in the afternoon/evening I played on the company baseball team. That was entertaining. The team's name is the Idlers, and we played a double-header. Strange thing about baseball in Japan is that there are two types of basball: koushiki (hardball) and nanshiki (softball). The hardball version is the standard baseball that we all know. The softball version has the same rules (minus most of the safety equipment), but the ball is more like a tennis ball than a baseball (solid rubber like a bouncy ball, but only a bit heavier than a tennis ball). The lack of weight (and the fact that I haven't played baseball in over a decade) lead to me throwing out my elbow. Our team had enough people on it to have two complete teams, so we had a total swich of players between the first and second games. The other team was not so large. I played in the second game, and lucky me for the second game they brough in the kid who pitches on his university team. To add to it he's a submarine style pitcher, and they also brought in a good catcher. We were up one to nothing in the first game, but they managed a 2 run "sayonara homerun" in the bottom of the last inning. The second game we didn't fair so well. Our starting pitcher was a first time pitcher (he walked 10 in one and a half innings). The rest of the game went about the same way. I walked my first time up and stole second (but got called out stealing third), struck out my second time up and got hit by a pitch and stranded my third. We would alternate having one person from the batting team being the home plate (and only) ump, and one inning in the first game the guy for our side that was umping got hit square in the jaw by a foul . . . but since we were playing with rubber balls he was fine. I thought it was interesting that here they only play soft baseball up until high school, and even then both soft and hard options are available.

This comming weekend is a long weekend for me, so I've decided to take a trip to Tokyo. I'm planning on swinging by the AIESEC Japan office and probably to LC at Tokyo University. I did most of the sightseeing bits last time I came to Tokyo, so this time I'm just gonna do some AIESECing and some wandering. I remember Masato mentioned Ochanomizu for music stuff, so I think I'll swing by there too. If anyone's got any other ideas, send em my way before Friday.

Congrats to my brother and sister on their 21st on Sunday

Civilization and Pugilism . . . Check

Another week comes to an end. Started experimenting this past week, nothing too exciting there. Friday was entertaining enough. This Friday was a combination of my welcome party and my department's monthly recreational outing. The evening began with a trip to the local bowling center (Friday night and only six lanes out of fifty were being used, and we were using three . . . but at $5 a game not a huge wonder). We threw two games, I threw 173 and 138, and I pulled out the win in both (though only by 2 pins in the second). Everyone seemed very impressed and got a kick out of the way I spun the ball. Next stop was a restaurant not far away. Awaiting us there was a pretty tasty five course meal and a bit of all you can drink . . . I enjoyed the meal, but soundly made up for my bowling victory by getting entirely too drunk (tough to avoid when everyone around you wants to fill your glass and just keeps ordering more an more alcohol). I made it home, likely without incedent, but I don't remember anything past leaving the table. Not the first time I've gotten hammered in the land of the rising sun and likely not the last . . .

Mmmm Breakfast

Saturday I got up and found myself some breakfast, watched a bit of tv and prepaired for my next task. Big thanks go out to Masato for helping me hunt down a boxing gym. It's about 5 miles away from my appartment (about half a block from the hotel I stayed in my first night). That was my target, and so I started walking. En route I found a few places to remember. A $10 barber, a book store, a park to work out in and a couple bicycle repair shops. One more thing that I found along the way was people. The weather was terrible (Thursday was actually the worst rain in almost a decade), but even so the part of the city around the gym was full of people. I got to the gym and hung around there for about 4 hours. I watched a bunch of the guys work out, saw what the instruction was like and chatted with the gym owner. I didn't get to see any sparring, but I did get to see Japan's number 2 bantam weight. I'll start training on Monday, and I'll find out then if it's going to be as expensive as the internet tells me it is. Afterwards I was too hungry to bother walking home, so I jumped on the train. I grabbed some meat on a stick at a restaurant near the station and headed home. Once I got home I decided it would be a good chance to check out the onsen (hot springs/bath house) near my appartment. It was good, a small mom-n-pop operation, but something I missed about Japan.

Sunday I went to check out the park that I passed on the way to the boxing gym. A nice little park with lots of green, a couple lakes and streams, many pieces of playground equipment to workout on and a two mile loop to run around on. While on my way walking through the park I passed by a few older gents sitting on some benches. As I passed one of them called out "Hallo", and I turned and answered back "konnichiwa". They then asked where I was from and invited me to join them for a sit. I joined them and accepted a beer when offered. Two out of the three were a bit on the drunk side of sober, plus the sober one and one other both spoke with extremely thick accents. They all spoke really fast and informally. Did I mention that one of them also spoke with a stutter . . . A hell of a challenge for my ever so lacking language skills, but I managed to answer their questions and infer enough to mostly follow the conversation. After another beer, a hotdog and a little while I took my leave and headed on. I think I now know exactly what it is like for a non native english speaker the first time they meet Frost.

More pictures likely to come . . . weather was pretty poor, so I didn't bother just yet. I'm really looking forward to Monday and starting my boxing career. I think next weekend I will venture out to the possible AIESEC universities I have found, and see if I can find something going on there. One more time, thanks Masato