Kyoto Tower

If you are coming by Shinkansen (High Speed Train) to visit me, this is where you will arrive in Kyoto. Kyoto Station is a several storied building with a rooftop garden and has an awesome view over Kyoto. Also, next door is Kyoto Tower (and Hotel). A must-see spot for tourists. I still haven't been to the top of Kyoto Tower so I'll wait until my first visitor comes here =D

Looking from the rooftop garden down into the station. 12 floors high I believe, at least...

Taiko drums

Outside the Onsen in Kyushu the Onsen worshippers had a street performance on their big taiko drum. This is a short clip of them playing it. Apparently there are several different styles on how to play the drums and we were given a brief glimps into that crazy world of theirs ^_^

Swedish Meatballs

For the monthly birthday party we all have to make food. For last months I made Swedish meatballs. Unfortunately, not having all the ingredients or a recipe I'm sure they weren't as good as they should have been- However everyone was happy to try some Swedish meatballs ^^. It definitely beats Marmite on toast, damn those pesky lazy Australians =P haha

Trip to Asia Pacific University on Kyushu Island

What an amazing trip! From Friday afternoon until Monday I spoke Japanese almost all of the time, hung out with Koreans (who speak Japanese fluently) and Japanese and other exchange students and talked about how to make universities more exchange student friendly. All the discussions were in Japanese too, so I did my best to get my thoughts across. Because so much happened during this trip I think it'll be better if I list the best parts of it.

1. 12 hour overnight boat trip to get there that included lots of noise and alcohol being consumed in our sleeping quarters
2. slept in the same room as 50 other people (all from Ritsumeikan) on futons (mattresses) on the floor. There were no windows, AC and the lights got turned off at 11.
   It was compared to being either
   a) an animal transport to the butchers
   b) the way smugglers pack their boat with illegal immigrants
   
3. slept 2 hours in a full body massage chair because the room was too hot
4. arrived at Beppu city at 7am, followed by a 30 min bus ride to APU
5. talked about being a foreigner in a homogeneous society like Japan, in Japanese
6. learnt the rules to a Korean card game by just watching, this was followed by me taking part and eventually winning my money back. We played for 10 yen each time so overall I only won about 60 yen
7. slept in bunk beds with 7 other Koreans in my room
8. held a presentation in front of 80 people in Japanese about what students should do to break cultural boundaries
9. went to an onsen (hot spring bathing house) with the Koreans.
10. had a naked onsen, was walked in on by the female owner who "needed to dry the floors", got stared at by the Japanese men, had a guy do yoga (NAKED) about 1 m in front of my face
11. had my head bitten by a Japanese spirit (god) to remove my wrong doings
12. was filmed again by Japanese TV. this is the 3rd or 4th time now
    
13. ate the most amazing ramen
14. got back on the ferry to party more
15. searched for JJ for over 1 hour since she got drunk and disappeared. Luckily she was found in the bathroom on a different floor
16. slept 3 hours in the 50 person room
17. arrived at Kyoto and Ritsumeikan in time for my 10am class; which I attended

The sleeping arrangements on board the boat

Aibek and I on the ferry going under Osaka bridge

Joss and JJ after getting off the ferry at Kyushu

The view from APU

My Korean mates - sleeping in the guest dorms at APU

The god that bit my head - Their followers worship the healing properties of the onsen that I was at

Outside the Onsen with group (Koreans and Japanese)
-I was the token white guy- hahaha

The old and famous Onsen in Beppu, Kyushu that we visited

Noticeboard Fail

Came home to this written on the noticeboard. Had a little laugh and let it be. English is difficult and so is Japanese so I'm not judging anyone.

Restaurant "Surprise Donkey"

With a name like Surprise Donkey I was hoping that donkey would not be on the menu, and that the waiter would not be waiting for me to take my first bite before yelling "surprise - jokes on the foreigner". Instead the food was delicious, combining different meats and cooking it in a western style. I had some deep fried chicken and a steak with fries. I also manged to convince the 2 Japanese girls that were with us to try something less Japanese. The most interesting thing with this restaurant (besides the name and the tasty food) was the menus. Just check out the size of this bad boy!

New shoes

My old shoes that I bought in Japan last year finally gave up on me. With holes in the soles, water kept coming in whenever it rained (not that its rains much but I want dry feet for the winter months). At an outlet shop in Kobe I found these ones... so comfy! Also more Japanese like than something I'd normally wear. Usually costs over £120 but with a small defect with the colour - hardly visible at all - I got these with more than a £90 discount.

Tried new foods today

Decided to write up a short story of today before going to bed. I went to Osaka and did some touristy stuff and visited Hankyu Department store. Whilst walking around, playing dumb gaijin we managed to get some sample foods. It ranged from Brie cheese (a first for me, delicious by the way), goat cheese, 21 year old whiskey, wine and cheese cake. All very very tasty. Also I tried 2 things that I would usually not eat at all. Cow's tongue and deep fried (dried) squid. The tongue had a strange texture but was good and I had a fun conversation with the butcher. The squid on the other hand was delicious. I'm going to order that from now on. No fish taste at all and not chewy. Very good, highly recommended!

Size of Mukade

So, maybe a mukade doesn't scare you? We had a baby one in Zina's room yesterday which made everyone freak out, including me. So yeah, this one was kind of small. It easily fits inside the slipper so it shouldn't have been scary. Well, for all you neigh-sayers out there.........

Id like to see you let one of those buggers live when they can get this SIZE!!!! Yeah, thats right. Kill it, kill it, kill it now!

Kurama Fire Festival

The annual Kurama Fire Festival was held in the mountains north of Kyoto. Dating from 940 AD, it was until recently a rite of passage for the villagers of remote Kurama.

The pushing begins once getting off the crowded train

I was greeted by this mask after getting off the train. I now own a smaller version that hangs on my wall in my room

The main shrine, viewed from the main road.The festival begins with this The bonfires, known as kagaribi are lit in front of most of the houses in the village.Villagers parade up and down the main street holding taimatsu (pine torches).The villages wear traditional clothing
Later, massive pine torches are carried along the same street.

Festival of the Ages

A parade in downtown Kyoto with the participants being dressed up in clothes from the different periods of Japan. This was held on the same day as kurama fire festival. Both these festivals are held each year.

Name Fail

"Happy Time"
Body Moisturiser/lotion by Nivea that gives a "feel good sensation" - Epic Name Fail

Weird Stuff In Japan part 2

A: I want to make some meat sauce for my spaghetti. Its too expensive to buy tomatoes fresh and the canned stuff isn't that nice. What ever shall I do now?!

B: It simplez. Buy some sauce in a bag, dunk it in boiling water for 5 minutes, pour onto desired dish and stir. Voila, instant Delicious sauce.

A: But isn't it weird to heat stuff in their bags, in boiling water? It seems strange to me...

B: Eh, well, whatever. It tastes good. You can worry about it later.

A: Ah, right. Oki doki.*

*Note - Any references to real people is a fluke. Converstaion and persons A + B are fictional characters.

Not for the kids, or those without a sense of humour!

Got this video from a mate of mine. Its definitely worth a watch

Watch to the end ^_~ haha

駐輪場で自転車を駐車した！

Having only had the privilege of parking my bike outside 7/11 s and at uni where the bike parking place (駐輪場) is just a big covered yard I got to park my bike at a more specialised place when going to town. It had the bike racks where you store the bikes and can hoist them to the roof. A very in genius idea and saves a lot of space too. Its only been something I've seen on TV so it was interesting to finally use one myself. Nothing special, but still something that has to be done while in Japan.

Kyoto got cold! And Boss Coffee

The weather here in Kyoto changed overnight! From being a tempered 20C during the day and 18C or so during the night it suddenly dropped 15C during the day and 3-5 at night. I'm used to the cold but this sudden change even caught me off guard and this morning my fingers got so cold while biking to Uni that I couldn't bend them. I'm glad that I had a sweatshirt though, otherwise my ride home from Uni and the store would have chilled me to the bone and probably caused hypothermia like symptoms =(

Its still OK to wear a t-shirt in direct sunlight during lunchtime, but as soon as the sun goes down (around 5pm) there is no way that a t-shirt would be enough. Most people are now wearing jackets and scarfs to school, but most girls are still insisting on wearing short skirts. I wont complain about that, but it does seem that its too cold for that kind of attire.

To warm me during my rides home I buy my favourite warm drink in Japan. Boss "Rainbow" coffee. It's really milky and sweet so its not real coffee that I'm used to, but its so nice and it comes out of the vending machine heated to a really good temperature. Perfect for those cold fingers to grasp ^_________^

Weird Stuff In Japan part 1

I saw these in the store the other day. They were in the sweets/snacks section of the supermarket. So, whats strange about ice creams being in that part of the store you may ask yourselves? Well, Ill tell you. They weren't kept cold, these "ice creams" are just there on the shelf. I assume they are freeze dried or are made of something else. One of these days I plan to buy one and eat it. Ill post a review later.

Something that I won't be wasting my money on is the following so called "snack". Dried octopus/squid tentacles anyone? Yeah, didn't think so. Having said that, if someone were to buy them for me or serve them at a party I'd give them ago.... ... ... (I think =P)

I've been lazy - And Interviewed for Japanese TV

Yeah, I know. I haven't done a lot of uploads lately. Basically its a mix of me having too much to do and then when I get free time I don't want to sit in front of the computer but tonight Ill try and catch up as much as possible. Expect new entries for the next few days.

A pair of famous comedians came to Ritsumeikan the other day and they wanted to interview some foreigners ~oh yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhh~

Watch the first 10 secs of this and you will see that one of them is the serious one and the other is an idiot character. His "Oh yeaaaah" was repeated several times during our interviews. Hilarious!


Duncan was interviewed by the 2 of them while he was eating lunch. He made some comments about liking whatever he was eating at the time and all 3 of them were having a good laugh. At the same time lots of Japanese were onlookers, probably quite jealous that they couldn't take part in the interviews.Later a couple of people including myself were asked to go to a private room where they could interview us in a group. We told a few jokes, said what we liked to eat and strange things that Japanese people do. If we don't get edited out (thanks Paul for saying something inappropriate for NHK -Japanese Public funded TV- ) then I might be on TV and known as the Swede who loves Japanese curry. They were impressed that I could make it too. Also, with regardi to strange things Japanese people do; I mentioned that I was astonished that I had seen people riding bikes in the rain, carrying an umbrella in one hand and texting on their phone. All at the same time!!!