Booze, bums and karaoke...

It could be suggested that I fell off the other wagon as well last week and if I did it was truly by accident and indeed I feel like I am in some way clinging to bumper of this one. There was the previously reported "strong heavy drunker" meeting last wednesday and then on Thursday Jaco came to Katsuyama for a farewell dinner with me, Christine and Jeremy. Only I turned up at the restaurant first to see possibly the most unfriendly (but rather handsome) man from my apartment block sat rather sloshed at the counter with a colleague. And for the first time he was friendly (booze can be a wonderful thing) so I started with a couple of glasses of sake and practiced some Japanese, and when the rest of the group arrived we sat down and Jaco ordered drinks for a big kanpai. Except he then kept ordering drinks. And as Jeremy was driving and Christine doesn't drink too much, I unwittingly stepped in. D'oh! Move ahead two hours and Jaco and I are in karaoke in rather a state drinking more and forgetting that we both have work in the morning... Well I managed about 3 hours sleep and fortunately was sober when I woke up. Not sure about Jaco though, but he made it to school on time.

Friday was largely unremarkable but for the fact that my voice seemed to disappeared somewhere. It had been protesting before we arrived at karoake, and by Friday it was on strike. Wondering when the industrial action would end I croaked my way through classes and through to Saturday morning when despite feeling slightly manky I decided I would make it to the Naked Man festival (Hadaka Matsuri). I attended last year but having gotten horrendously trolleyed I wandered out of the compound and spend an hour staggering around the streets and listening to a man talk about Japanese martial arts. In Japanese. Thank God for gestures... So I drove to the city, and fortunately a blend of high speeds, Rachel Stevens and M&Ms brought my voice back in time for me and Amy to scream instructions at about 140 gathered ALTs. Our AJET committee (or more specifically, Claire on our committee) had organised the event and we had 180 ALTs coming from around Japan to attend. And it was great fun. I have never been in charge of a bus load of people before, and have certainly never had to entertain 48 others in such a situation but I had a great crowd.

The festival itself was bizarre and funny. We wandered round for ages trying to find the standing area for which we had tickets and then when we got in it was just like being at an outdoor party. We looked at all the men in nappies (fundoshi) running through the pool of icy water wandering if we would see any of our friends, taking lots of pictures and catching up with people we hadn't seen since last year. The main event kicked off at midnight: all the nappy wearing men gather in the temple (or try to, there are so many of them). The lights go out and 6 sticks get thrown into the heaving mass of bodies. Only one of the six sticks will get the winner the big cash dollar bling bling prize while the other 5 bring disappointment and possibly despair given the battering the individual will have taken to get them out of the temple. Well, Bob and Adam and Jaco and Neil were among the people in the morass and they seemed to escape with minor cuts and bruises and unfortunately no stick. Gah!

So it was back on the bus and back into the city, passing time with possibly inappropriate jokes about pregnancy, ladies' clinics and knitting needles. And once in town I headed off with the LGB group to an hilarious bar called CoverBoyz. Our first choice had been full, but Coverboyz turned out to be rather, er, special with very welcoming customers and a more-drunk-and-beyond-friendly bar owner who spent much of the evening apparently groping two of our group. And then we all did karaoke and I finally met someone who appreciates Girls Aloud, Vanessa Paradis and Rachel Stevens.

With just over 2 hours sleep (thanks to Julia for the accommodation) Sunday was a bit of an asleep-at-the-wheels mess, and the kotatsu and a hot bath were about all that could help. Especially given the bizarre events Monday was to bring. But that's a story for another day...