Are you some kind of nappy wearing freak...

or is that just a yearly festival you're participating in?

As you can guess already, the end of last week was quite different. Which was a good thing, because, after the excitement of the shiny big city (Hiroshima), the week had been pretty so-so. It had started with a dance class on Monday where at one point I just stopped because I didn't have a clue (no one did, but I was clearly the most clueless), and it didn't help that we were dancing (or not dancing as the case may be) to some drippy Elton John ballad. Then there was an English conversation class on Tuesday where no-one turned up (but at least it meant I got to have dinner with the class' organiser and she's an interesting woman), dinner at Johanna's on Wednesday (always fun, never a chore) and a night in, tidying and cleaning on Thursday (as is becoming a frequent occurrence).

Friday is when the fun started.

Kathleen gave me a lift to Okayama city, (the capital of 'the sunshine prefecture'. It was bloody pouring. And not that fine rain that soaks you through either. It was that bloody heavy rain.) where we met Kathleen's boyfriend Mike, and Fiona. Dinner was Hokkaido curry soup, and ooh it were gorgeous. It had a flavour more akin to Indian curry than Japanese curry, and lots of chunky, chunky veg and rice. Mmm. I could eat it again now. And then we retired to Mike's to watch a video we'd rented. It was called Elephant and was possibly the slowest film I have ever seen. It lasted two hours. If you edit the unimportant bits it could have lasted maybe 14 minutes. And you'd still have time in there to add some sort of proper ending. Crapola.

Saturday was an important day. Having not many any gays since I came here, the chance came to meet up with the gay JETs group. And what situation could have been more fitting than the NAKED MAN FESTIVAL (this is a completely bizarre Japanese festival- lots of men in adult nappies/ diapers chase after a stick that will win them £500). So I met some of the group early and we went for lunch and then met the rest of the group and their friends and we all went for tea. I don't think I've been anywhere before where the waiter asks what drinks people want and someone shouts "20 gin and tonics please". Somehow I felt immediately at home. After about 2 hours, maybe 8 or 9 rounds of gin and some obscene behaviour with a lady called Catherine, we left the restaurant to meet all the other JETs going to the festival. And to buy more booze, much of which was consumed on the half hour bus ride there.

By the time we got there (9:10pm) I was completely plastered, but in an attempt to maintain the spirit of my recent life, I continued drinking, pausing only to glug some water when I thought I might vomit. This caused more problems as, having watched some men in nappies "running" (this is what they called it but they lie- the men walked) through a pool of water I decided I needed the loo. And not noticing that I was stood a metre and a half from one, I went into the night and walked for ages eventually only finding a dark car park, and then on my way back, finding a Japanese gentleman who wanted to and did give me a 40 minute lecture on the history of martial arts in Japan. In Japanese. It's probably my fault for, 10 minutes into the conversation, saying that I did Judo when I was seven. "Black belt?", he asked me. Ha ha ha haaaaaaa. If the alcohol hadn't numbed my senses I'd have been rolling on the floor. As it was I was swaying through the next 30 minutes. I wandered back to the ticketed compound to see in the distance lots of men in high waisted nappies pushing each other depite the fact that they were in a temple with many steep stairs. And I wandered around and talked to a few people and Saddam introduced me to a few people, and Rayvon swapped her pink woolly hat for a bandana with some Japanese men, and then someone said "back to the buses". It was 12pm! And it was 12:10pm when I realised I was lost and had to retrace my drunken stumblings to find people.

The bus back was a much quieter affair, and most of us went back to the hotel to try and sleep it off. And boy did I try. But given that my air con was broken and the room was an oven, when I woke at 6am after maybe 3.5 hours sleep I could not fall back to sleep. And by 9am I was extending kind greetings to the toilet bowl. Again. Checkout was at 10am so I shuffled down to the foyer, mumbled at everyone I saw (at the time it seemed like normal speech) and then ate and drank nothing when we went for breakfast. I would say I was maintaining an image of dietary discipline, but really I just felt like shite.

The afternoon was spent with a similarly ill LeeJay at Fiona's, where we stayed until it was time to go home and crash into bed. And again the week started. LeeJay came to mine for dinner on Monday, tuesday's conversation class had 4 attendees (success? a) and today Nao chan, a very-heavy-cold-ridden LeeJay and I went to tea at Pocketto (cheese in omu rice- mmm.) And everyday I've had to stop myself falling asleep at school. Whoops... I hope I sleep tonight and tomorrow. Must be ready for the Scissor Sisters in Osaka on Saturday (yes, I am showing off now). TTFN.