I'm a fine thank you, and you?

Fancy dress is always a gamble. What do you do? Go all out and look like a complete imbecile, do something that most people will probably think is disgraceful or do you do something that amuses you but no-one else will find funny? I chose the latter. Eventually. We had our hallowe'en party at the weekend and it went really well. Loads of people showed up, some people had hilarious costumes and some people had slightly worrying outfits. I ended up with a bad pun that had had me chuckling away to myself al week in my apartment. Having decided against Beyonce (I had no jeans to make cut-off hotpants with) and a tampon (simple but offensive- wear white and hang a blue string off your trousers), I ended up wearing a speeding ticket on my front and a parking ticket on my head. When people asked what I'd come as, I would give the Japanese student's number one reply to the question, "how are you?"- "I'm a fine thank you and you?". At least 3 people laughed. Oh well... But lots more people danced and drank and the night went down well. In my drunken stupor I didn't notice the Police who'd apparently come along to move us on and we ended up at the Red Moon without incident. With Fiona as a witch and Saddam as the Hulk we must have scared the taxi driver who took us home. Actually Saddam's slurred, thug like repetiton of every direction I tried to give must have scared him more than anything else...

Wking up tired on Saturday morning we watched movies at Fiona's until we could be bothered doing anything and then went for lunch to Pizza Patio. We ordered 2 caesar salads to share and then realised only Fiona could eat the bacon that came on them (full rashers!) so Fiona soon had a bacon salad of her own. I then went to book my flight home. It turned out I couldn't as Korean air was closed for the weekend (!?) So I headed back to Fiona's and as I was almost asleep on my feet called Wendy and pulled out of a night of croaking at karaoke (the previous night's events had shredded my voice) and more drinking (as it would not equal success, so instead I headed to Bob's in Takebe where he, I and Rachel ate dinner and chatted till 2am. No rest for the wicked as they say, but then I must have a huge stock of wickedness to perform as I haven't been rested since I arrived in this country.

On Sunday Bob and I went to explore Takebe (or to be more precise, Fukuwatari) and looked at an old temple before heading to a fairly bizarre Japanese gardens-cum-bird zoo. One area of the place was a lovely Japanese garden filled with red leaves and neatly trimmed hedges and the other side had a fantastic collection of tropical birds in rather not-nice looking cages. Some of the birds appeared to have developed cabin fever and seemed to have gone stir crazy, incessantly flying from one end of their cage to the other. Bob and I were quite keen to liberate the birds but neither of us had remembered to bring wire cutters. So we moved along to the Flamingoes instead. These were beautiful but appeared to be standing in their own poo.

Linking the gardens and the zoo area were some very strange faux colonial buildings which appeared to be decorated in an art-deco vagabond kitsch style. It soon became clear the the Macintosh inspired glass and tiles were in fact plain with Macintosh inspired stickers on them. Gah! And the furnishings was part French Regency part Elizabeth Taylor on acid. It was a very, er, inspiring look. Across the road was a second part of the bird zoo with some more fantastic birds (crested cranes, lots of wildly colouful pheasants and some bantam hens) all lovingly situated around a resturant that wasn't sure if it was a Japanese McDonalds or a traditional Japanese food place. But the food was very cheap and tasty and we got to see some slightly crazed ducks in action while we ate. It was a great place to visit for the garden and birds and for the general oddness of the whole thing. I shall return. For the blue pigeons if nothing else...

Boorudo. Now available in liquid form. Yay! 

Marvellous news!

Bold (hereafter referred to as Boorudo) the only laundry detergent with a built in fabric softener is now available in liquid form. In Japan! So now my clothes can at least pretend to be clean by smelling nice. Damn the useless washing machines...

Yes, it is a slow week, but I've had lots of nice, bizarre compliments at school to make up for it...

Fiona, WhyVon and Amy at Kanba no Taki (Kamba waterfalls). Here you can see why it is one of the hundres most beautiful in all Japan... (who shouted no. 98?) 

These monkeys are cold, NOT scared. We were the ones who were slightly alarmed...

Monkey Magic, ooh Monkey Magic

Well, the week didn't end with me sat alone at home weeping into a pillow with the curtains closed as I'd feared. Instead I had lots of company! Yay! Amy came up on Friday night and we caught up, ate and prepared the music for the Hallowe'en party on Friday night. She stayed over and on Saturday I picked up WhyVon and Fiona from the station and we had a lovely day out and about in Katsuyama. We started with lunch at Te-a (thinkMel and Kim's "Respectable"- it's pronounced tay-a) and went on to Kanba waterfall, (where I'd taken Jessica and Madeleine the week before). Fortunately this time it was still daylight, and we were all delighted when Fiona spotted the first monkey. But we walked a further 10 paces and you couldn't miss them. Hundreds of the things. And of course, seeing as we live in the sunshine prefecture and I had visitors, it started to rain. So we took shelter under a small gazebo (I'm never quite sure what one of those is and maybe this wasn't one) only to realise monkeys were in the frame above our heads, sliding down the support poles etc. And they seemed to be all moving towards us. Making more and more noise. As soon as the rain eased we quickly edged out and headed for the waterfall where the trees were showing signs of autumnal effort. A nice smattering of read set off the suddenly blue sky and the pink chill in out cheeks beautifully. So we took pictures and headed back towards the car, but we had to go slowly as the monkeys seemed to be going a bit wild and were jumping through the trees, growling, and looking like they were going to land on us. So we scarpered and headed back for the safety of Katsuyama's old street where we went to Ken-I, the lightmaker's shop (beautiful glass lamp shades and ceramic tablewares) and then to Kano-san's shop, the lady who makes noren and kimono (and was kind enough to open her shop on her day off for Jessica and Madaleine- thanks!). From there we went for coffee and hot chocolate at Uenodan, the cafe in Katsuyama's new international plaza and finally headed to Kuse to laugh at the bad English on the bargain t-shirts in Casual Spot. When I return to England I shall start making t-shirts with similarly bad Japanese so that Japanese tourists will have something to laugh at.

Amy left in the evening, and the remaining three of us ate dinner and then headed off to karaoke with Nao-chan where Yvonne and I caused Freddy Mercury to do headspins in his grave by positively murdering "Bohemian Rhapsody" (although that song is pure evil, so murdering it is fair justice).

On Sunday Yvonne headed home while Fiona stayed to get the last bus, so we watched films, went to the legendary second hand shop in Tsuyama (which only proved that some legends are fake) and then had early tea before I took Fiona to the bus station. And then turned round again because the last bus on a weekend has now been cancelled. So, we headed to the video shop and rented Dangerous Beauty 2 (not a porno, just the Japanese name for Miss Congeniality 2) and Closer (I was quite keen to see if this was as bad as everyone said. It was.) And as I headed to schiik in Monday, Fiona headed off home. And I did nothing all day thanks to the National Sports Festival which all the school kids went to watch. Just as they did today. Thank God for weekends...

Bringing in the danjiri. This is the back end, between the lantern is a little cabin with two man sat inside banging bells and drums. 

Kenka danjiri matsuri in Katsuyama. Bang that cart!

When they bang them together the two teams push as hard as they can. The winner is the one which pushes the other team furthest.

Weirdness with a slow shutter.

My town goes boom-bang-a-bang

Boom-bang-a-bang this time of year,
boom-bang-a-bang, boom-bang-a-bang loud in my ear...
No, I haven't moved to Beirut. It's been festival week in Katsuyama and what a crazy time it's been.

I managed to avoid watching Bridget Jones again on Monday although I actually have no recollection of what I did do, so it must have been a lie. Or a blackout brought on by the shock of ACTUALLY HAVING SOMETHING TO DO AT WORK!!! Tuesday night the festival started- at 6 I was told, so I wondered round town at 6 and nothing was happening so I went home again and shuffled papers and plastic bags around the living room until it was bedtime. As you do.

On wednesday, after a comedy morning at possibly the smallest school in the prefecture (only 6 students) where I taught one lesson, told them all meat made me vomit and was taken to see a thousand year old cherry tree (very big, very nice) I went off to meet visitors who were coming to see the festival. Vicki was coming from Niimi and Tara from Kuse, so I met Vicki, showed her round the town and we bumped into Christine.Vicki quickly figured out that I taught all the children aged 5-15 in my town as pretty much everyone of them said hello at the festival.

Pretty soon things were going off. The festival started. This is the one that was cancelled because of the typhoon last year. It involves the town splitting up into it's districts (or streets as they are commonly known), building a wooden cart and then ramming them into each other. There appears to be a referee and there appears to be a winner at each duel, but it's not recorded and apparently is for personal pleasure. Well, having been told many stories of loss of digits and limbs and broken legs and hands and feet caused by said carts in previous years I strangely enough turned down an offer to push one (although watching it last night I thought it may have been fun- but not for 4.5 hours each night as is done). When it's all in full swing the atmosphere's great- on the back of each cart people are banging drums and ringing bells (and getting whiplash) and groups of girls dance behind the carts cheering their teams. It's a true spectacle, and one of only five festivals of it's kind in Japan. Fortunately one of the others is in Kuse next week, so we will see it again!

Anyway, on Wednesday night one of the ladies from our English conversation class gave us tasty sushi and invited us to watch the festival from the first floor of her house (2nd floor to Americans), so I now have 3,204,345 pictures of the festival.

On Thursday, more visitors came to see it. Jaco, the ALT from three towns away came with his parents and another Okayama ALT, Stu. They all loved it, and all my kids were shocked by how tall they both are (both are well over six feet tall). It's hard not to enjoy the atmosphere of this festival and get caught up in the cheering (that is, once you've found out who your team is- Christine was made aware half way through the night that the team she'd been told was hers actually wasn't. D'oh!). But the banging sound of the crashing carts does go right through you. Although the festival kept on till 10:30 we went to Wakaba at 9 o'clock for dinner. Great place. But having not had a drink for a while (well, maybe a week), I managed to get a little bit smashed off three beers. I am blaming tiredness and cold weather for this sorry state of affairs- Thursday was remarkable for being the coldest day of the year so far (in my opinion), so I had to wear Jeans and a long sleeve top all night. Tomorrow will be similar- 14 degrees! Gah! Now that my skin isn't constantly on fire I am more able to assess the weather. And it leaves me wishing my skin were at least toasty...

Have a good weekend!

Jessica makes friends on the tram.

Under attack! Madeleine doesn't make friends on Miyajima...

Pretty birdy! Pretty, pretty birdy!

Looking doubtful at Itsukushima jinja...

Good luck buddha statues at Daisho-in temple.

Pretty shrine. Pretty lanterns. All over prettyness. At Daisho-in.

One of many thousands of shots of Itsukushima jinja. This one comes with lantern in the foreground. Also available with tree, with signpost, with nothing or with everything. 

Kitty and Barry show off their balls.

all by myself, don't wanna be, all by myself...

*Sobs* The visitors have *sniffle* gone, and now my flat feels so *whimpers* empty...

Yes, Madeleine and Jessica (the tourists) have gone to Tokyo for the last leg of their holiday, having finished their whirlwind tour of western Japan on Saturday. They didn't make it to Kurashiki on Thursday, but they did get to spent a nice amount of time at Okayama's famous Korakuen (one of the top three gardens in Japan- position never clarified) and enjoy the shopping opportunities available to them. I drove down in Janice Mark 2 to meet them around 8pm and what fun it was doing 100 kilometres an hour, feeling like your car is going to lift off the ground any moment and do a Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang-minus-the-wings over the edge of the viaduct...

So I got to Fiona's and the two of us headed to the city to meet the tourists and we allwent for curry in the CRED building (or cledo as one of the maps called it). The evening was a quiet one as we were all rather exhausted from forgetting to go to bed most nights, but we had to be up early for another trip.

On Friday morning we all woke up at around 8am in order to get the shinkansen to Hiroshima and start our sightseeing. Proving the Japanese are a friendly people (and possibly also deluded), a woman in our queue for the train told Jessica she'd seen her at Desperado's 2 weeks ago (oh no you didn't) but was very kind and tried to give us lots of information about getting around in Hiroshima even though we knew exactly where we were going (we'd already asked at the information desk). We were going to Miyajima and having dropped our bags at the 'otel, we took the longest tram journey ever where Jessica was slept on by a boy with greasy hair and scabies and the tram at one point became a train and started running on a train track (also a chitty-chitty-bang-bang-esque transformation).

Well of course it was pouring with rain by the time we'd gotten on the ferry to Miyajima, but it's such a beautiful place it doesn't matter. Madeleine's attempts to make friends with the deer that roam the island failed when 2 of them tried to eat her umbrella at the same time, and I took about 30 pictures of an egret as they seemed a lot tamer here than anywhere else in Japan. We all went photo crazy in fact with Madeleine and Jessica changing films regularly and me having to stop taking the same photos I've taken before. We all took photos of the wedding couple though. One of the comments was that they were the ugliest wedding party ever as their buck teeth seemed to take away the glamour from the traditional costume, but the fact that the bride and groom both had buck teeth made it all the more endearing. I just fear for the kids. Book the orthodontist now.

So we wandered a bit more round the island going to another series of temples (daisho-in?) and took more photos of the bhudda statues (which had been infiltrated by statues of cartoon characters such as Ampan man- the boy made of bread filled with red bean paste) before the rain got heavier. As we headed back to the ferry the tide was coming in and Miyajima's famous red gate was once again under water, and the mists blocked any view of mainland Japan, so we all have some very nice photographs.

In the evening we split up to maximise our shopping time in Hiroshima, then ate Hiroshima style okonomiyaki (Jessica much preferred it to Osaka style) and after a shattered Madeleine headed to the hotel to sleep, Jessica and I went bowling under the assumed names Kitty and Barry. Kitty won every game, although Barry did better than he ever has done before. He was proud.

Saturday was another rushed day as the tourists headed for the peace park and museum only to be waylayed by the allure of shopping, but they did make it and I left them to it (I've been there too many times) and came back to meet them for a walk around the park. After a lunch of udon we headed off to the station to get the shinkansen, and they had to change at Okayama where we said our sad goodbyes. I miss the tourists already!

So having gone to dinner with Fiona and Andrew (balinese restaurant, very nice) I set off for Kibichuo cho, right in the heart of Okayama, except I set off late and after half an hour's driving I could barely focus on the road signs, so I was quite concerned that I would miss my turning. D'oh! But all was OK, and as Rachel came to meet me I finally found out how to get the tape player in car to use my minidisc walkman correctly. Yay! So we convened at Adam's where Amy, Herbert and Bob were already enjoying themselves and chatted and joked until the small hours.

With maybe 4 and a half hours sleep under our belt we got up on Sunday ready for one of the top three festivals in the prefecture. Now a lot of foriegners in Japan love the festivals, but I find it slightly frustrating not having a clue what is going on. This one was good though, if worrying, as someone who knew Adam carted us off to eat a traditional Japanese festival lunch and did his best to get us to take part in carrying the portable shrines. They were, again, hugely friendly and warm people. So despite our tiredness we decided we would take part along with Herbert who had joined us. But as time went on it seemed like it was never going to happen, so we waited around enjoying the atmosphere and the noise and the hubbub and then had to get people back to make bus connections at three thirty, so we slyly wandered away. I feel slightly guilty, but not too much.

The journey home was fun, although I thought I was going to vomit after driving down a highway version of a spiral staircase, and having done some (more) shopping I finished the evening alone in my flat watching Bridget Jones' diary. I might watch it again tonight too. It's a good film after all. And I will be all by myself... *sobs* *wails* *whimpers*

Sake bottles at Wakaba, Katsuyama- "the best food in Japan" according to well known gourmet critiques from Sweden and Australia. And bloody right they are too...

Dressed like a freaky cult family at Kanba waterfalls, me, Jessica and madeleine promote peace to the missing monkeys.

Two of Jessica's favourite things in Japan- Lawson's and Crunky (with macadamia nuts). I must say her selections are rather fine. 

Nijo castle in Kyoto. This is the second time I've been too late to get in. Gah! 

Must sell this one to a travel brochure... Wooden fence and wooden lanterns at Yasaka jinja, Kyoto. 

Ladies at rest. Madeleine and Jessica blend in at Yasaka Jinja, Kyoto. 

Paper lanterns at Yasaka Jinja, Kyoto.  

James Bond film or futuristic tunnel at the Miho Museum in Kyoto?  

School of how to get gainful employment the easy way. Long legs, short skirts, a coy wink and a flash of knickers. I pray this is the old fashioned way... 

Waiting for the brown to make it Neapolitan. Jessica and I at the diner in Universal Studios JAPAN.

Happy in full technicolour. Madeleine and me at Universal Studios JAPAN. 

Gaijin hunt!

What do you do when you've arranged to meet visitors at your house at a certain time and they've got your house and car keys so you can't get in to wait for them?

You go to your Japanese friend's workplace, drink tea, laugh that you can't really get lost in such a small town and then have your Japanese friend decide to take decisive action- GAIJIN HUNT!

So for maybe 10 minutes Nao chan and I drove around Katsuyama at a snail's pace looking through all the shop windows for an obviously Swedish girl and a tall Australian with strawberry blonde hair. They weren't in the souvenir shops and they weren't at the castle ruins. They weren't in the light shop and the weren't in the brewery. They weren't enjoying the view on the bridges. For the 8th time I tried calling home and suddenly an answer. They'd just arrived back. So Nao chan and I headed back there, the visitors and I discussed plans, and together with Nao chan we headed to Kanba waterfalls, although by the time we got there dusk was almost over so we couldn't see much. We decided to take photos anyway and then headed off to Kuse's YouMe town (big supermarket with other smaller shops) where Jessica and Madeleine further demonstrated their Olympian shoping skills, and then on to Shot Casual Outlet (a clothes shop that sells lots of t-shirts with funny English on). And then back to Wakaba where we ate a similar feast the night before and I surprised nao chan by eating lots of salmon skin (crispy and yum). After a trip to Lawson's we headed home, heppy because it wasn't yet 10 pm, but at 1:15 I was suddenly heading for bed and Jessica and Madeleine were still sorting and tidying.

I wonder if they'll make it to Kurashiki today...

Going wild in the aisles...

Well from the off it seemed like it was going to be an exciting trip and it lived up to its promise. Rushing to do a couple of errands before getting on the bus for a couple of hours rest before the crazy sightseeing weekend began I felt much cheerier than I had all week, and upon seeing Jessica for the first time in 5 years and meeting Madeleine for the first time outside Osaka's Hep 5 shopping mall I perked up even more. I've never met two people who like to photograph things as much as I do, and we frequently stopped to take a quick snap of something or other as we looked for a place to eat .

Thursday night began with dinner in a small restaurant in the dining area behind the Hankyu Umeda station where the waitress impressed us all with a) her English and b) the food and I impressed no-one with my lack of local knowledge. Although I did know where the shops were...

Friday was when the delirium started to kick in for all of us, so much so that while sat on the train taking stupid pictures of ourselves and marvelling at the fact that we had all selected neon colours to wear without planning, we missed our stop. And it wasn't even me that noticed it. Tour guide loses 1 point. So we changed and got back on track wondering how we'd know which train would take us to Universal Studios. Oh, it'll be that one. The one with Universal Studios written all over it in massive lettering. Universal Studios was chosen as our first trip because it was Madeleine's birthday and we felt the need to do something silly and fun to mark it. So we screamed on the Spiderman ride, ducked and weaved in our seats on the Back To The Future ride, got bored in Backdraft, laughed at our boat's captain at Jaws as she slid down the steering wheel in mock terror, got soaked on Jurassic Park and laughed at the shop dummies in the ET ride. And between every ride we looked around the shops, Madeleine and Jessica crazily planning what souvenirs to buy. Me? I bought a Hello Kitty mug and a wind up Jaws that "eats" it's victim. Lunch was spent in an authentic 50's diner (with authentically bad food and authentically high theme park prices) and after we finished ET with 45 minutes to go till the park shut we went shopping crazy. Except the park didn't shut after half an hour. The shops closed their doors to new customers an hour and a quarter later and eventually the whole thing shut at eight. So we planned to make our way back, but instead managed to trawl the shops outside the park before heading back to the hotel via a lovely izakaya where Jessica ate the first of many diakon salads.

As rainy weather had been forecast, Saturday was planned as a day of culture so we headed off to the Miho museum in Kyoto via a small town (Ishiyama) where we took photos of cartoon telephone operators exposing their knickers on a shop front. The museum itself was beautiful, the grounds and buildings designed by I.M. Pei, a Chinese gentleman who is apparently a very famous architect. He also designed the pyramids at the Louvre. The consensus was that the building was far more stunning than the artefacts within, although the cafe was superb. The whole thing is tied in with a not very well known religion called Shinji Shumeikai and the museum was commissioned on behalf of the religion. From the giant windows inside you can see the main centre of worship for the religion and a bell tower also designed by I. M. Pei. We decided, as you would, that this was a cult and a very rich one, although as they make such lovely bread they couldn't be sinister in any way.

On returning to Osaka we headed back to the hotel for a rest as the previous night had been a late one and we were starting to tire. So after a shower and a lie down we got back up and headed down to Shinsaibashi and met Saddam in a fast food place which we quickly left to find somewhere more suitable for dinner. And we ended up in a Korean cafe which was lovely, and was also cheap. Keiran came and joined us (he and Sarah and others were in town to go clubbing) and soon we were traipsing the streets to meet others and find a bar to drink at. But when we found a bar, Jessica, Madeleine and I decided that actually we'd rather have a look round on our own and head back to the hotel. So we started wandering around the backstreets of Shinsaibashi, coming across various love hotels, strange bits of architecture and eventually a sake bar we liked the look of. So we went in and, much to the owner's amusement, ordered sake. The sake was very good and made us laugh more and more, and by the time we left we were all feeling a bit tipsy. So we stumbled through America mura (America village) into a Lawson's to buy choclit and then walked back to the hotel which was longer than I remembered, but we were three sheets to the wind anyway so it didn't matter...

Sunday was traditional Kyoto day. Doing the usual tour we headed to Kiyomizu dera (always beautiful no matter how many times you've seen it) where we took our time taking photos and then headed off round the back streets to take in many of the products at the souvenir shops. This led us to the Yasaka pagoda where we saw two Geisha who weren't happy to have their photograph taken (I had asked them politely) and then wandered off to the Yasaka shrine for more photos and ended up watching a man juggling what looked like skittles on fire (as in bowling pins, not "taste the rainbow of fruit flavours" Skittles- that would surely have led to burns and a trip to the hospital). After a quick bite to eat we headed onwards stopping at Chionin temple (but only going up the steps) before we decided we would go to Nijo castle (well, I really wanted to go and Madeleine and Jessica were kind enough to humour me) so we got on a bus at maybe 3:40 and after passing maybe 5 blocks at a pace of 3 miles an hour we got off the bus only to find last entry to the castle was at 4 and it was now 4:30. D'oh! But the length of the bus journey caused Madeleine and I to become a bit impaired and we started laughing at random things, dropping things, squinting at things outside, and at one point turned around to ask the woman behind us what the design was on a kimono standing outside a shop. It was a cat. And then this woman started laughing and we realised she'd been laughing for maybe 20 minutes before at our high levels of impairment.

Returning to Osaka via Lawson's, the Post Office, and an anime display in Kyoto station, we headed to the shops for a carefully co-ordinated 2 hour shopping trip before going for food in another healthy restaurant. All this fresh wholesome food is dangerous. It's making my clothes go pop. By the time we made it to the restaurant we were all extremely tired, particularly Jessica who still hadn't had a good night's sleep, so we ate and left when they closed, and despite our best efforts we got back to the hotel at around 11:45, and with emails and sorting stuff out it was 12:30 before we were in bed.

On Monday I left the girls to their plans (museum and shopping) and prepared to head back to Katsuyama. I made the obligatory trip to Starbucks and was very pleased that I did so as the very handsome member of staff was also very friendly, so we swapped numbers and will hang out sometime (although this being Japan he probably wants to talk about baseball or something equally useless...) Also, I furthered my looking-young-by-dressing-young scheme and bought yellow and blue trainers, although I am worried that this will soon mutate into a looking-retarded-by-dressing-retarded scheme (why do people with special needs always have carers with no fashion sense?) I shall have to be careful.

And after a much better day at Junior High yesterday I went home to finish tidying up and at 8:30 picked up Jessica and Madeleine from the station, whisked them back to my luxury apartment in Janice mark 2 and then we went to local restaurant Wakaba which Madeleine declared had "the best food she'd tasted in Japan". I agree. Everyone should come to Wakaba at least once. And visit me while you're at it...

Living for the weekend...

Once again it seems the weekend is set to save my sanity. The last three days have been rather busy (after school) thanks to Janice Mark 2 and my newfound ability to zip about the place and the fact that I had been desperately tidying, washing and cleaning before friends arrive from overseas (the launderette is my new number 1 hangout). School has been slightly odd- 2 hellishly boring days at junior high and 2 crazy days at elementary school where screaming kids have almost caused my ears to bleed. But I love 'em. Really. I do!

Tonight I'll piss off to Osaka to meet Jessica (a friend from Sweden) and Madeleine (Jessica's friend from Australia). We will eat and drink and sightsee and then we'll go to Kyoto and eat drink and sightsee and we may go to Universal Studios and a posh museum and do some shopping and such or we may not. As long as it doesn't involve pretending to be a teacher and having to explain vegetarianism I couldn't really care what we do.

Have fun y'all (as some crazy Americans might say. Or not. Again.)

Janice Mark 2. My new wheels. Tearing up Katsuyama etc... 

Quiet night? Not likely...

This weekend past I had planned to rest and take it easy and recover from the previous two weekend's exertion. From the off it was not to be, although Papa-san's birthday turned out to be a less exhausting event than I thought it would be. Nao-chan's parties usually end up with everyone smashed and hungover the next day. This party was the first I've been to where I was the only foriegner but it was, as usual, hilarious with different guests to before and a lot of laughter from everyone. So being in bed by midnight was a surprise, but a pleasant one. Set me up nicely for Saturday.

On Saturday I got the bus down to Okayama (having first witnessed a preying mantis with it's innards whipping about on the doorstep of my apartment). I met Fiona and we hopped on a train to Aeon in Kurashiki where we planned to watch Charlie and the chocolate factory. The showing we wanted was full so we went for the next one and reorganised dinner plans. A spot of Christmas shopping later (may as well get it done now) and we were enjoying the film (which was amaxing). We made it back to Okayama for 7:30 to meet Andrew and Saddam and we went to the red-light district for a lovely curry and a good catch up. Then it was onto the Red Moon which was empty at first and as we drank more and more it slowly began to fill up. With other JETs. Yay! So the night really got going and pretty soon there was much dancing to be done. Saddam headed off early as she was busy on the Sunday and Fiona headed off home around 1 am, but we just kept on dancing. Julia and I were at one point dancing on furniture in the bar (it's been a long time since I've had the chance to do that) and pretty soon the group was deciding where to move onto, so off we headed to Desperadoes.

When a club's called Desperadoes you can only think one thing, and I've heard many people say that one thing about it, but I really, really enjoyed myself. Although all night long we seemed to see a lot of Russians who probably had disreputable careers, the music was great and lord we were dancing. But the bar closed at three and it was time for decisions. Julia and Dylan headed off home, Wendy and Andrew and Kana wanted to keep on dancing and Adam (with a two hour bike ride home ahead of him) decided it was best to get off. I too left and headed back to Fiona's thinking that getting in at 4am wasn't quite what I'd had planned.

It wasn't quite what happened either. A minute after I started walking down a back alley towards Fiona's I heard a massive bang from the main road which couldn't have been anything else but a car crash. So I ran round to see what had happened and a car had smashed head first into a tree, there was smoke everywhere, the driver's head lolling to one side out of the window and no-one else around. So I try and phone the Police, I tell them what's happened, exactly where we are and tell them we need an ambulance. All in Japanese. And the guy starts asking me where I am. So I tell him again. And he starts asking me questions I don't understand when suddenly I spy a man unloading a lorry in the supermarket next door (which had been there the whole time). I ask him for help and he walks off. And more smoke is coming out of the engine. So, while shouting at the Police again where we are and that we need an ambulance I go to the man in the car and tell him we need to get him out. Fortunately he wasn't trapped or really badly injured so he opened the door and, still talking on the phone I help him out of the car to the pavement. I start trying to flag down cars most of which would rather run me down than stop. By now, probably more because of my screaming and shouting than anything else, a woman has come out of her house and I ask her to talk to the Police and she is very helpful and kind and does so and pretty soon a patrolling car is on the scene and an ambulance has arrived and then soon after the fire brigade turn up. Fortunately the car stopped smoking and nothing more happened. The guy must have shocking whiplash as he banged his head really hard on impact (he had blood all over his face). I hope he was alright otherwise. I had to give a statement to the Police and they were concerned that it may have been a drink driving incident. I ended up getting in at 4:40 and Fiona and I then talked till just gone 5am.

So I got back yesterday at 5:30, feeling strangely not too tired, but rather pleased with the dancing on Saturday night and at least satisfied that I'd been able to help that man in the car (especially as few others seemed willing to get involved). There's never a dull moment in Okayama. Apart from weekday nights...