MONKEY BUSINESS!!!!

Going back to work after nearly a month of normalness (or about as near as you can get to normal in Japan), was much much harder than I thought it would be. I had expected to be feeling revitalised, fresh, and energetic, but it felt more as if I had come crashing down to earth from a great hight, trudged through a salt mine, and was about to enter the first circle of hell.

All it took was MONKEYS to make me feel a little bit better about things.

I headed to Katsuyama for a night of nabe, hot chocolate, exercise, thwarted karaoke, take me back to the 80's music, and talking, all the while waiting eagerly for what the morrow would bring....MONKEYS.

After a quick game of steam roller (I'm not going to explain that one) we were off to see the MONKEYS and it was great. The park they reside in reminded me of home, with lots of forest, ferns, moss, and a plastic bag free stream. There was lots of MONKEY business going on, mainly of the forraging and grooming kind, but the young MONKEYS were bouncing on branches and chasing each other around. Oh and there was a waterfall too called Kanba which was very scenic.

MONKEYS!!!

Poetry and Cards?

Personally I never would have put the two together, but this is what happened today at N JHS. There is a game called Hyakunin Isshu which is traditionally played by courtesans at New Years. These days it is played by families and at schools it seems. Basically, someone reads out a famous poem, and the last bit of the poem is written on a card, and you must search for the card and grab it, the person or team with the most cards once all poems are read wins.

Surprisingly, some of the students were very adept at this game, and knew the bit of the poem they were looking for before it had even been read out. What also came as a shock was that students were having difficulty reading the poems, even though they were written in hiragana. The Japanese teacher was on hand to help with correct pronunciation. I gave up after a while...

For more information on this game, see here: http://etext.virginia.edu/japanese/hyakunin/

Update!

Just wanted to say I've put some of my holiday photos up on my Bebo site http://Illusia77.bebo.com

Same Same but Different

I've been to Hiroshima before, so this time I spent less time sight seeing, and more time drinking.

There's a place called Macks up some dodgy looking stairs in the back streets of the drinking precinct. It's a strange little hole in the wall with a huge CD collection, the most brilliantly diverse range of music I've heard in ages, and wood panel walls you can write on.

When we arrived we were the only foreigners there, and when we left, there were no Japanese left!

Ode to the Fugu

If you go here
And take one of these
They get turned into this
And this

Osaka

Osaka rulez, ok? 'Nuff said.
Just avoid Universal Studios like you would the plague.

Ask Kazuhide

My new favorite Japanese man probably isn't Japanese at all.

For the frustrated gaijin in need of advice, there's no better agony aunt than Kazuhide-san.

Here is an excerpt from a Japanzine I picked up in Osaka:

Dear Kazuhide,
Recently, I got bored dating cute but shallow Japanese girls. So, I tried to get into a Filipina hostess bar. I could see they had pretty Filipina girls in there. Filipina girls are fun and they speak better English than most Japanese girls who have studied English for 12 years. But this big ugly Japanese yakuza-type guy at the door would not let me in the bar. He got angry and yelled, "Japanese only!". Why can only Japanese men go in a bar that has only foreign hostesses? Thanks,
Matty B.

Dearest Matty,
So Sorry. Only Japanese can be gentlemen in the naked dancing Filipina club. We are respectful to see the flesh blossom of young women. Anyway, are you sure to wanting to dating these kind of girl? Be careful of jealous with knife! I experience that!

For more, go here: http://www.japan-zine.com

Kyoto

Early January is probably the worst time to visit Kyoto, so it’s no surprise then that I arrived in Kyoto on January 2nd.

Post autumn and pre-snow, the extensive gardens surrounding the temples looked, well, awful. The trees were skeletal and the only colour to be seen was a dingy grey-brown. Altogether not the kind of backdrop that could do justice to the magnificent temples or move one to worship.

Another issue with this time of year is the crouds. Both foreign and Japanese visitors swarmed around the temples, shrines, and shopping areas, making it virtually impossible to get a good photo of anything. Catching a bus became a mission, what with 30 minute queues and standing room only on the popular routes.

And of course not a geisha or maiko in sight.

I did however, manage to catch the sunset almost postcard perfect.

Happy O-Shogatsu

And that's about as traditional as my New Years got.

I was well on my way before I even went anywhere. After counting down in Ebisu, the party moved to Roppongi. All of Tokyo had the same bright idea. It wasn't that bright come to think of it. Between the perilous sidewalk where one had to dodge aggressive crouds of foreigners, puke, and Japanese girls who can't handle their alcohol, and a clubs packed as tight as sardine can with a male to female ratio of 90:10 where one cannot get her hands down to waste level to ward off the gropers, AND the inability to reach the bar to get a drink, I'm not sure where my good time went.

Needless to say, Mos Burger came to the rescue at just the right time.

Unfortunately, I have no photos safe for public consumption of this evening.

The planned trip to Meiji Jingu on New Years Day never occurred. I was sleeping it off.

For an idea of traditional New Years foods, decorations, customs, and activities, look here:http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2064.html