The Big Smoke... Really

...really big and really smokey. so much smog here.

so actually i'm staying with mum's cousin... i got confused there somewhere... who has the biggest television i have ever seen in somebodys home.


today i lunched with louis, which was really nice. he has been here for 5 months i guess, and hasnt had anyone up to visit him yet, so he's really excited.

last night was really sad saying goodbye to all my japanese friends who i may never see again. i cried quite a lot on the bus here, but managed to get a fair bit of sleep. the bus is like business class on an aeroplane. all single seats that lay really far back and have great footrests and everything. free tea and coffee and a toilet on board, and double layer curtains that even go across the front of the bus so its pitch black.

so my new (3rd???) cousin is going to take me for a wander around shibuya and harajuku... do some people watching.. maybe see some crazy otaku girls and boys in their costumes..

i guess i should do some research as to what else to do tomorrow.... i apparently dont much have much hope of getting a glimpse of fuji from here becasue of the smog... bit of a pity. maybe i will make the effort to get a bit closer and have a look...

Freakin Out

no time. bus to tokyo tonight. getting pretty nervous.

How Japanese

today i went with takami to her grandfathers house and helped him and her uncle and aunt plant rice. it was kind of fun, and very relaxing - quite zen really. michael and i got into the spirit of things, and takami just took photos. but i dont blame her, it wouldnt be very exciting if you were japanese.

im sure you all know what a rice paddy looks like. well, these days they do have machines for planting the rice seedlings, but of course the rice field isnt always a perfect shape for neat litle rows of rice, so you have to go along the outside and in the corners and plant by hand.

unfortunately there wasnt any spare boots for michael and i but, it was kind of fun getting into the mud in bare feet. like being a little kid again, feeling it squish up between your toes. we only did it for an hour or so, im not sure as i didnt have a watch on all day (how nice by the way).

then it started to rain, and we went inside for lunch. which was of course delicious, a nice chicken salad, with (im sure) lettuce and radish from the garden (but not the cherry tomatoes), and a rice bowl with beef. they even had some home made umeshu umeboshi -that is plums pickled in plum liquor. strong stuff. i have eaten the umeboshi in the bottom of my umeshu before, but it was soft and sweet. these were crunchy and felt like they were literally burning my tongue with acid. of course tetsuo and takami showed off by popping them whole.... even michael couldnt do it, and he loves umeboshi.

a big thanks to tetsuo and hiromi, for being such kind hosts on two occasions for me now. they also took me snowboarding back in january. i was kind of sad to say goodbye to them today cos i know i will probably never see them again..... lovely folks.



forgot to post about my nice afternoon on thursday......drums, yoga and cake hillside.

Old School

another lovely day today hanging out with michael and takami. today we went to kurashiki, where i have been a couple of times before, but for work so didnt get the chance to sightsee at all.

there is a lovely little part of kurashiki called old town -nicknamed 'little kyoto'- and it is very quaint, the kind of thing you picture when you imagine japan. pity the whole place isnt like it.

we actually went there to see our friend mayumis art exhibition. she had some paintings and ceramic wares in a very cute gallery in old town. though i loved her stuff -especially the paintings and her miniature little boxes- my favourite thing was the dinosaur egg style ceramic containers -i especially loved the purple and yellow one.


so after we saw the exhibition, we wandered around for a little bit, there were heaps of vendors along the river making jewellery. a few stalls were selling brooches of peoples names, with a silver leaf. they looked pretty cool all lined up. then we grabbed some lunch and headed back into fukuyama.

generally a nice day. though now i have to plan my sayonara voice lesson at nova. grrr i wish i hadnt made promises of slideshows.... oh well. keep me occupied for a while.

Stubborn Arse

well, no apology. not even any acknowledgement of my presence. though i did my best to ignore him too. but really just sat in the corner feeling sorry for myself. while ben has fun socialising with everyone.

but then gerry turns up! i wasnt in the mood at all. i think he took off while i was in the toilet... oh well. i might call him when i feel better.

Where to Start...

well, before youre left hanging, gerry went no where. i havent heard from him, maybe its because i wouldnt go with him to a hotel at 5 in the afternoon....

i had a bit of a horrible night last night. i was attacked by ben who accused me of trying to ruin his relationship with my friends ex-girlfriend. when for the past week or two i have been telling them how i actually think they are better off together, and im glad to see her happy. he threatened me with physical violence. it wasnt great. however, i know i pushed him a lot as i knew i had done nothing wrong and was trying to help him realise that, but it didnt work. i think he is just angry at me because i am the closest he can get to erik, who is now in hawaii.








anyway, i had a lovely day today. we went to the fukuyama rose festival and saw -and smelled- many many different roses. all different shapes and sizes, though here are a few goodies.

although the highlight had to be the playboy. the beautiful yellow and orange one. on the way there we went to the flea market, and i bought a little bit of nice material for joey. its a little stained but very nice....

we also went on quite a mission to find the blue rose. it was preceded by some spectacular purple carnations. we were ushered into the hotel lobby where the roses were in display in a small room. there was a roped off walkway where there was information about how the blue rose was achieved. then we had to wait as they only let in a group at a time. as we were allowed under the ribonned arches to the rose room, there were 2 staff member to open the double doors for us, then we had to walk quickly in a circle around the room to look for only a moment -no loitering- at the rose in a glass cabinet. it wasnt even a plant, it was cut flowers -and it wasnt blue, it was purple. and we werent even allowed to take photos to prove how crap it was!


so a rather strange occurence, the other night i was riding through the park next to the castle where the art museun is and there was a fox. it was quite tame, well, not so tame you could go up to it, but it let us close enough to get some pics and didnt freak out by the flash or anything!


so tonight is brads going away party. i hope all goes well. i hope i get an apology from ben. we shall see...

Pretty Good I Guess....

so, he is a nice guy. well, i guess hes still got certain things on his mind..... but we had fun today. he likes paying for everything which i could get used to.

his dad is mexcian and his mum is phillipino, and he is from guam. hes 33 and he has an 11 year old daughter, which i discovered by accident. not that i have a problem with that, im not about to fall in love.

oh, and his car is really nice.....

Woo-Hoo!!

new camera!!!!!

look at that old dinosaur... ha ha, practically a spring chicken next to dads though.... happy bithday dad, should be there soon!

Another One?

well, i got another date. his name is gerry and he's a mechanic. sounds exciting huh? well, i say mechanic, but he does custom stuff on cars to make them really flashy. i think maybe hes from guam or something. anyway, seems like a nice guy, very soft spoken. hes been here for 12 years so i guess hes maybe 30 something. hes going to take me to hiroshima with him on friday, he has to do some stuff down there, but asked me to go and take me to lunch etc etc......

might also see him tomorrow night for a drink.....

Flashbacks

before i even knew what a blog was, i started making an electronic diary on my computer to record my experiences in japan. here is my first entry from june 15 2005:

15.06.05

Where to start hey?

It’s now 12.30 am at home, making it about 30 hours since I left. The flight was of course terribly long. I met a lovely Malaysian man on the way to KL. He gave me his card and told me to call if I was ever staying in town…. Not too sure how to take that one. He did seem just a plain nice guy though.

Having other nervous travellers did help me a lot, some of whom had never been overseas before. We could all get excited together about things to come.

We had at least 2 more hours at Kansai airport before we were met by our guides and taken into Osaka, then put on our connecting Shinkansen to Fukuyama. Osaka is pretty ugly. Very brown and grey, but the odd splash of colour here and there –especially the rice paddies people have growing in their back yards. Or their washing and bedspreads hanging on every balcony of every apartment in a single block. A few bits of craziness too, the huge indoor baseball stadium, Osaka Dome. The many golf and baseball driving ranges dotted about the place. And the quaint little cemeteries, most only half an acre, square pillar after square pillar all squished in together. The first train we caught was late. Can you believe it? After everything I heard about the Japanese PT system!

Anyway, once on the Shinkansen, things move very fast indeed. I couldn’t give you exact speeds, but we (Michael and I) travelled over 200 km in 80 minutes, making 3 stops along the way. Once out of Osaka we headed through some hills. If that’s what you call them, they probably have a special name for us foreigners to use. Small pointy hillocks with bamboo that grows out at a direct right angle (not straight up) so they look like they have afros. In amongst these lush green hills, lie rice paddies and lots of them. Sounds ancient and marvellous yeah? Well, in amongst the rice paddies are freeways and car manufacturing plants and all things incongruous.

Stepping off the train in Fukuyama, our guide was immediately noticeable –sleeveless t-shirt, wrap around sunnies, and distinctly Gaijin. Of course he’s an Aussie, and I mean an Oz-zie. Brad from Tassie. Farm boy, ex-military and so happy to see some other Aussies who will understand him –literally. Not just slang and sense of humour, but actual speech. Apparently the Americans aren’t so good at understanding non-Americans.

Unfortunately, Brad thought it was his duty to tell us all the bad stuff first…. “Welcome to whoop whoop, forget everything you’ve been told about friendly Japanese and get used to being ignored or outright avoided.” There were lots of “forget about….” and “if you were thinking of … -don’t.” etc etc. all very disheartening. We went to visit the NOVA office, and contrary to all I was told, rocking up in our very informal wear was not a problem. I met my new house mate whose first words were –“no you're not in this office, you have to travel to Mihara. It’s about half an hour away on the train.” Bugger.

This is a small town, as soon as we left the station we ran into 2 other teachers -Louis and Erik from America. I subsequently ran into Erik two more times that day. Our first mission (after KFC and my first Japanese squat toilet) was to Michael’s place, which we had been warned was brand spanking new and the envy of all the teachers. And boy was it new. Brand new appliances, fully electric toilet (you know, automatic lid and seat lifting and flushing and buttons for bum washing -naturally!) AC in all rooms, but very, very cosy. Brad was so impressed with the size and quality, I just kept thinking ‘shit shit shit, this isn’t encouraging’. Upon leaving, we ran into Michaels land lord who was understandably nervous about his very first Gaijin tenant, and asked Brad to help him translate with Michael as he had no English and Michael no Japanese. Brad incidentally has learned Japanese at university diploma level, and still has problems communicating.

It was at this point that I was left with another teacher Cuong, to wait downstairs for Brad, and then to my apartment. This was where we ran into Erik again, and had an offer of a couple of bikes he has had spare on his balcony for the past year.

Score.

One of them had flat tyres, but I managed to bag myself the other (one of those little fold up ones), but returned to Michaels to find Brad gone and Cuong having no idea how to get to my apartment.

At this point I had been walking the streets of Fukuyama for about 2 hours with my backpack and laptop, un-showered for 30 hours in the Japanese summer sun. All I wanted was to put my shit down, wash and sleep.

Half an hour later, we confirmed at NOVA that I could get a taxi and be reimbursed (ryoshusho). I also ran into Brad, who had thought I was going to meet him elsewhere and had waited for me for 15 minutes, and offered to be my tour guide for the next day. So was sent on my merry way with a taxi driver who didn’t speak English and didn’t know where I was going, but we found it…. Sort of.

She dropped me at the building next to mine, but I was saved from trying to get into the wrong apartment by the physical lack of an apartment 204 (201, 202, 203, 205, 206). You can imagine my confusion and frustration….

I twigged eventually and when finally inside my apartment, I sat and cried.

I don’t know any Japanese. My apartment is so tiny, it seems so far away from where I have to go. I have to catch the train for half an hour to get to work in a town even smaller than this one. I have met these great people, who I won’t really get to hang with because I won’t be knocking off work with them. It’s so hot. I don’t think I like my housemate. I wish I wasn’t sick. I still feel nauseous. I'm so tired. Why the fuck am I here. Why didn’t I ask to go to a town that was used to Gaijin, and people speak English?

Shower.

Need to ring mum. No time for a sleep now, want to get to shops to try and buy a towel or find an internet café.

Thanks mum. Saying all the right things. Still very hard though. Her last words as my credit ran out were: be brave. I tried to cheer up, but then sitting at the train station waiting for Michael for 45 minutes doesn’t help that bravery. Japanese people will stare at you, not in a nice way. Younger kids will say ‘hi’ or ‘bai bai’, not in a nice way either.

Michael and I ran into Erik again and he took us to a place for dinner, where my dwindling appetite was being very fussy. I settled on a tofu salad. Why they call it a salad I don’t know. It was raw silken tofu, with a peanut dipping sauce and a garnish of lettuce (the yucky red one) and tomato, and leek? Not sure exactly, some member of the onion family. I ate some. Felt nauseated by the amount of food I watched the boys wolf down. Then realised my blocked sinuses were not going to appreciate an evening in a smoky pub nor would my stomach handle any biiru and quite frankly my body needed serious sleep.

A brief stop at Erik’s for some candy. Literally candy, you know -lollies. Not, as I immediately assumed, drugs. (Well when someone says to you: ‘we could stop off at my place. I have some candy, do you like candy?’ what would you assume? Ok, maybe not…)

Then to nova to meet up with the rest of the gang. I stayed at the pub for maybe a half hour, confirmed my meeting time and place for the next day with Brad, and headed home on my bike.

At home, Andrea was of course lovely. She is 28, has been in Japan for a year and only moved to Fukuyama a few weeks ago. She actually works outside of Fukuyama as well, but has been doing some overtime in the Fukuyama branch. We chatted while I set up my futon (I am missing the foam mattress that goes underneath), and she fixed my AC (well, got it to work, it wasn’t broken, the remote is in Kanji).

I then settled in to start writing, however by this time it was 11.30pm (12.30 at home) and my eyes just couldn’t stay open. I switched off my computer, cleaned my teeth, and hopped into bed for a very restless nights sleep. I slept on my futon base and doona, which I had to fold I half during the night as my hips and shoulder were getting bruised. I didn’t get any decent sleep until about 6 am, after resigning myself to enquiring at NOVA the next day about going home, and then was up at 8.30 with hopes of finding breakfast somewhere before meeting up with Brad.

Hitched Wihout a Hitch

so the wedding has finally come and gone, and it went very well. i arrived at the hair salon at about 10.30 to help takami get into her dress. she had a whole team of hairdressers and photographers and makeup artists there. one girl was simply holding the can of hairspray and passing it to the hairdresser as required.

then on to the venue, where there was a drive by pick up of the bouquet from another 'team' on the side of the road on the way there. it was so good to have the old crew together, erik louis and peter. the ceremony was very cute, i think it was a little held up because takami was crying, her and michael both cried and made me wanna cry. she read him a poem, and of course tried her best but she was crying a little and couldnt focus on her language skills, but she still did a brilliant job.

the ceremony was very short, they didnt have a celebrant or anything, they had an MC, and they didnt exchange rings, just read their vows to each other and then kissed. after that they signed the certificate and had it witnessed. all done!

after the ceremony, they had photos and then takami had her hairstyle changed, and some more photos, then they started the reception. there were speeches and a champagne tower and i read a poem that made michael and many of the other english speakers cry (i was fighting the tears myself!). it was an apache wedding prayer:

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other.
Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other.

Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two persons, but there are three lives before you. His life , her life, and the life you make together.
May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all the years,
May happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long upon the earth.

Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together.
Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your love deserves.
When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship - as they threaten all relationships at one time or another - remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong.
In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives - remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is always there.
And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.

michael said he was looking at me, but he had to stare at my watch, not my face or he was going to lose it. bless him.

i got to dance with takamis gorgeous brother, koji. so yummy, he has the same pouty lips that takami has that just look sooo kissable. and then at the party that night i sat next to him. so gorgeous, and he tries so hard with his english, i hope i get to hang out with him again (he has a girlfriend, so no go there -but maybe cute friends???).

on another note, patricias latest friend she had to visit, shelly, was awesome. we got along really well (shes canadian not american...), so i cant wait to see her again. she just left this morning. we had an excellent night of extreme karaoke last night, my throat is soo sore today, i belted out evanescence -going under, and i totally rocked, but today i am paying for it, i also got in there with some rage against the machine, which was the nail in the coffin i think. and we did some great piri-kura (the crazy photo booths) love it, and so cheap, i will have to do more more more before i leave.

anyway, today is a leisurely day of recovering from a biiig week....