Up on the roof...

You think of Japan in summer and what images come into your mind? (1) Kimono-wearing ladies with painted faces and paper umbrellas walking over small wooden bridges in landscaped gardens? (2) 20-somethings utilising the latest technology to keep cool while they maintain their exciting pace of life? (3) Sweaty foreigners looking increasingly tired and sweat-soaked? Only one of these is actually true. Yes, I am a painted-faced lady. Only on Wednesdays though (goes down a storm at school). The rest of the time I am in fact number 3. Given my highly developed sense of style and perfection of male grooming methods (who laughed?) I am sure you will find it hard to believe I spend most of summer looking like a cat that's been in the washing machine. And it's presently getting worse. Without the rainy season, the air is increasingly heavy and humid. If only there was something to do or somewhere to go to have fun in this weather...

Ding ding! It's beer garden time! A not-so-well-known tradition in Japan is that of the beer garden, a time limited experience where, in summer only, and for a set fee you can drink all you like and eat all you like for (usually) 2 hours. And very often they are in strange places. This weekend we went to a beer garden to celebrate Mike Fischer's birthday. Mike is a really good guy, and really popular. Both he and his girlfriend Kat will be missed greatly when they leave, so there was a good turn out to one of the last opportunities to celebrate. The beer garden was on top of Okayama's most luxurious department store (we walked in having just come out of Batman Begins at the cinema and it really felt surreal- the bossa nova muzak playing, the perfectly made-up staff, the suspicious looks of the customers... Carolyn, Phil and I were almost pinching each other). The beer garden wasn't cheap- for ladies it was 3000 yen (around 15 pounds) and for men 3500 yen (around 17 pounds and 50 pee), but you realise pretty soon that you will get your money's worth- it's open air, though they have erected cover sheets to protect from rain and inside these are lights that are also blasting out heat. So you get really hot. And you drink. They had beer and chu-hai, and given my sudden liking of beer, I had a few of each. And a few plates of food. And took numerous pictures. Betsy tried her newly-learned self-defense moves on me, and I practiced my old nursing breakaway techniques (which included me insisting she try to strangle me and then me pulling her to the floor. Oops) And then we all had to leave because it was 9:30pm, so Phil, Carolyn, Jez and I headed to Fudge Bar (where I'd been the previous weekend with Joanna and Fiona) and then on to UltraBlue where everyone else had gone. I only stopped there for two more drinks as I had an opportunity to go and see the gays in their natural environment. There was an AIDS benefit on at Club Jam, and I was going come hell or high water.

It was a great night. They had drag queens from Osaka who put on a couple of shows (which were hilarious despite the language barrier) and a very mixed crowd. I made friends with a lady who teaches French at the University and scared most other people off with my crazy western style dancing. Apart from the drag queens who didn't seem to flustered by it.

The night finished at 4:30 after a rousing chorus of Kylie and I spent the next few hours wondering how to get home- my organised place to stay had gone a bit wrong at the last minute, so I spent the next 3 and a half hours wandering the city, playing with the cash machines in 7-11 and going to Starbucks at 7:10am. Getting back to Katsuyama at 10:30 I found myself entirely unable to sleep, but able to gorge myself at Johanna's burrito party with Phil, Carolyn, Abby and Josh, and then do more crazy dancing at karaoke.

Guess who woke up at 9:30 on Monday morning and was nearly 2 hours late for work? Still I paid for it last night with a punishing trip to dance class. And now? Yes, once again, I look like a cat that's been in the washing machine. And it's only going to get worse.