T-minus 8 days and counting

I went to Don quijote today. bought alot of thai curry. Is thai curry not one of the greatest foods in the world? tasty, spicy, sweet, hint of lemon grass, coconut milk.... heaven. Even though I'm still in the country for another several months, i feel that one of the biggest things i'm going to miss is the food. Did i mention how a few weeks back i ate raw jellyfish, raw sea snail and hippo? ok, there was no hippo thank god, but i wouldnt put it past the japanese. get this.... recently, due to unknown causes, there has been a huge influx of giant jellyfish on the coast. they have been a disacter for fishermen here, killing schools of tuna and salmon. they get caught in the nets and sting the hell out of the fishermen. so hat are the japanese doing? eating them. yum!

I've lost some weight here... enough to punch two new holes in my belt. now if i cut out maybe one beer a week, how much more could i lose? hmmm.... don't worry. i'll be gorging myself in a week and a half on good old home cooked food.

i leave in a week! rock! so close yet so far away. i have no more days off until then so it could suck.

I got my mid-contract review today. turns out I'm awesome. the staff loves me. the students love me. and i have several kids that request only my lessons. NOVA fears my departure. If i was smart and knew more about japanese business practices, i would quit and start my own kids school. heck, kiyoe has a degree in economics. hmmmm......

i like coffee.

monday night it columbo night. i just saw donald pleasance get outsmarted by the one-eyed chronic cigar smoker in the raincoat. AWESOME!

Lying in Bed

Now, i could get up, make coffee, and watch tv to see how bush is messing up the country this week. But to maintain and hold to the claim of the title.... I'm still in bed. Warm in my bed, surrounded by my 7 tatami mat ice palace with no insulation. i havent been able to do this in weeks. ahh the joys of doing nothing. But holy cow is it cold... believe it or not i believe that my family has it colder right now, predictions of snow, ice, etc. here we just have cold air, sunny but cold air. I beleieve its about 6 degrees here (celcius). Yeah!

whats on todays menu you ask? well... after i make coffee I'm planning on going to meet kiyoe for lunch in Aoyama. after that i think i'll walk down to ometesando to check out the Nerd paradise, Xbox 360 cafe. Its a cafe set up for two months to try to pull japanese nerds away from their beloved playstations (which havent been released yet). just buy a coffee and paly all afternoon. After that i'm going to head to BicCamere (think best buy) to purchase a carrying case for this monstre laptop. a might also look into a webcam and a headset, so i could possibly take to people online, but we'll see.

tonight i dont know. i might get thai curry with kiyoe, or meet a friend that MIGHT be visiting. but i havent heard from him yet. sniff sniff...

by the way... future update will include how my landlord is crazy, how i have just a week and a half before i return, and how you've been counted, meaing that this blog quite possibly isnt as bad as i thought.

see you soon.

ittekimas!

Guatemala Help

Ladies and gents... this one isn't for me, its for my friend Ryan Stimmel. This guy has toured the world, hiked the appalacian trail, the Grand Canyon, and he currently finds his path intersecting with those in Guatemala. He's doing good work, can be trusted, and needs help. If you have just a few minutes, check out his site at www.santiagorelief.com. Talk to you soon!

almost sappy. and PHOTOS are up.

Hello boys and girls... for those of you still around reading i have a little treat. this one is going to be longer. much like the posts of old. Let me start by saying that I'm doing all of this on my new computer. wireless, dell laptop. i love this thing! the real question is... why didnt i get one sooner? oh the possibilities... well, coulda woulda shoulda. no problem, i have it now.

so i have been here in the land of the rising sun since september 9, 2004. (i did go home for two weeks over the summer) i have so much to say, but As much as i would like to put it all into words, it would be completely impossible to do so. I have met so many amazing people, said goodbye to many of them, that its hard to put everything in chronological order. so... I think that I'll keep most of it to myself, but i will say this...
This country is amazing. its not a dog eating, non-potable water place. The people are generally very friendly, the water is clean, the beer is tasty.......


And i've just realized that being sentimental here is pointless. I'm going to stop now.

Dan left sunday morning in a whirlwind. we woke up over an hour an a half late. basically because of a night of crazy partying japan style. we went to a party around 7. around 2 we went to karaoke. hmmm. i know that dan sang 'daniel' by elton john, and somewhere in there was 'piano man'. i sang.... ummm..... some maroon 5 song, and many others with the group. we staggered out at about 515. went to mcdonalds and bought ... something. crashed into my bed around 6. and slept through the 8 o clock alarm. nice. i have sworn off drinking for awhile.

overall we had a great time. it was definitely a more relaxing trip. we ate pizza, made our own japanese cabbage pancakes, shopped, and walked quite a bit. we averaged over 20000 steps a day. i dont know how far that is distance wise... but it was far.

dan was also able to meet kiyoe, ben, erica, and tier at greater lengths. i'd be willing to say that he liked all of them quite a bit. And for those of you not able to come over here, kiyoe will be coming to visit during the new year holiday. and there is a rumour of dan having a nice shin dig at his house on new years eve. but dont quote me on that.

ok folks... back to work. i'll email many of you soon. and check IM. i'll be there more often.

been a great week so far

updates...today dan and i went to nikko. we woke up early took a two hour train ride andsaw the shrines. came home and went to thanksgiving dinner at the christon cafe. a restaurant/izakaya that has a church/ultragothic atmosphere. the next two days will be relaxed until the evening when the parties will occur. okonomiyaki night, karaoke and then a large oarty at my friend bens house... photos soon!

welcome to a new era

heh heh heh... scotty learned to putt... ladie and gents. welcome to the new and improved scotts weblog. why improved you ask? lets put it this way... christmas came early, i got a laptop, and now things will be uploaded , downloaded, and updated all the time. starting soon. let me sleep first though. take care. and have a good day.

too tired

its late, i walked a lot today, i'll be back soon.

EH?

So here I am... doing the first of what I originally thought would be a several time thing, but alas.. its only the first. what do i speak of you ask? Its the all nighter in an internet cafe. (i'm in Matsumoto japan, only a few kilometers away from where the olmpics were held) but here's the catch... i arrived at 10:00. at 11:00 they start the night pack which is basically half price. In true japan fashion, the teller doesnt understand that i want to stay for the night pack, and just pay the extra charge... so i must leave in about 40 minutes, check out, then check back in. so i can do things 'correctly'. Ugh. but again, why am i doing this? because hotels in the mountains run about 70 bones a person, while my cushion, free movies, free drinks and free internet access, cost me a cool 12. heh. i rule.

So this is a solo trip this weekend. pretty much the last multi day weekend i have until dan arives. so i decided to travel to the center of japan, near nagano, the japanese alps. today i was in matsumoto, checking out the largest 'original' castle in the country. it was very nice, but also very crowded. And by crowded i mean there were about six schools there. it did make it pretty interesting though, since one boy of about 10 decided to try to speak to me. he uttered something that sounded like 'harrmo', but i responded in my poor poor japanese at which point he told his friends i could speak fluently, so they all ran over. i asked him his name, then he had to leave. in a way i was glad because 'what is your name' and 'where is the bathroom' is all i know, and i think the latter would have been strange.

in the past few weeks i have also realized how ive neglected to finish the meet the fam story, as well as many others... AAARRRGGHHH!!!!!! there just isnt enough time in the day.

here it is quickly...

- Kiyoe's nieces and nephew love me. the little six year old kiho gave me a tour of the temple and tried very hard to explain things to me. when i would ask her a question is japanese, she would correct my japanese, then ask what things were called in english. great kid. when i left, they all gave me hugs.

- we went to a place, yes this is the name, called 'wanko' soba, where the waitress feeds your face until you basically beg her to stop, then you hate her. I ate 70 bowls. and i havent eaten soba since.

TIMES UP!!!! I'll return in about 10 mintues.

What in the world am I doing here?

No, this is not a desperate cry for help, and its not going to be a long rant either. It just turns out that September 9th (yes, its been awhile since I've posted) was my one year anniversary in this country. Its hard to believe that its been that long. Time has flow by like the wind in a typhoon, and I still feeel like there is more to see and do. so on that note, let's get to... drum roll... Scott's way too fast year in review (Stats).

Places visited: Tokyo,yokohama, iwate prefecture, kanazawa, nikko(twice), kamakura (thrice) hakone (twice), osaka, kyoto, hiroshima, miyajima, hong kong, penang malaysia, tokyo disneyland (twice)

Food: sea cucumber, chicken cartledge, cow, pig, chicken, whale (shame on me), sea urchin, whole garlic cloves, eel, octopus, 70 bowls of soba (in a row), yakitori, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, yakisoba, dog (ok,just kidding), Natto (fermented soybeans), beef tongue, liver, squid, and a lot of sweetened bean paste.

Earthquakes felt: Many
Earthquakes felt where is was actually scared: 1 1/2
Number of times my new place shakes due to passing cars: many

Number of friends from afar visited: 2
number of friends made: numerous
number of times i have visited home: 1
nomi hodais visited: no comment

amount of spoken japanese i undersatnd: 3%
Most used Japanese phrase: Toire wa doko desu ka? and Biiru o kudasai

Shinkansen rides: 3
night bus rides: 5

concerts attended: 3 (Jack Johnson, The Shins, and REM)

Average price I will pay here for a beer in US$: 3.00 (including bars and at home)

private students: 1
number of times I have received the 'konCho' from my kindergarten kids: too many
what is a KonCho? ugh, dont ask.

Train time to work: 10 minutes
Actual door to door time to work: 25
most consecutive days of work: 12
Number of jobs now:3
money saved: not enough

Stil to do: Thailand, China, skiing, kyoto again.

Regrets: 0

See you next time when we shall see a more literary review

Meeting the Fam... Part 2... Not a tease, hodges

Notes first: as I write this I listen once again to Jack Johnson's newest album 'In Between Dreams' While I'm sure I've talked to many about the genius of this album, I must say it again. Wise lyrics. Uplifting, political, romantic, foot-tapping, and sing-alongish. listen. give it a chance. listen twice. become addicted.

So where was I?

Ahh yes, meeting Kiyoe's family. My friend Brian Hodges called me out on this the other day, saying how I continue to tease people with my Blog. I don't aim to tease (to start a story and then stop before it gets really good) it's just that My internet time is scarce, but hey, it' worth the wait ne?

So Kiyoe took me to this ginormous lava flow. It was rather scary actually, the flow had several sharp edges, and one slip anywhere would serve up a healthy helping of cuts. We walked about 1.5 KM then turned back, since there literally was nothing there, except lava rock and the scattered tree. For me though, it was a nice walk.

Our next trip was a drive to the top of another volcano (once i coordinate my brain to get to the internet cafe and bring my photos, they will be posted). It took quite awhile to get there, and i fell asleep many times, but once we arrived we took a nice hike. This hike took us to the top of the ridge, where we saw sevral crater lakes. I might have said this before, but to understand the beauty here I must explain something... Tokyo itself has 15 million people, the metro area has around 25. This being said, there are some nice outdoors areas within an hour and a half train ride of tokyo, but guess what... they are always crowded. Iwate afforded me the opportunity to see nature and not people, something i hadnt done in a long time.

From this mountain we went to the first (of many) onsen. An onsen is a natural hot spring if you dont remember. This was my first summer time onsen though. Please. Someone tell me why, that in the middle of the summer, people go to hot springs? It baffles my mind. I sweat outside, then i go to an onsen, and sweat ten times more.
Idont know... but it was relaxing.

Drum roll.... then we drove to her temple.

As we drove towards her home, i asked many times how i should introduce myself (most of my contact with new japanese people was in class and informal). We practiced several times. It turns out that i not only had to bow, but kneel... yes.... KNEEL. Ive never even bowed! How in the world do i kneel and bow! AND say all this japanese that i'm not really comfortable with yet?!!! ARGGHHH!!!

practicing helped. By the time we reached her home, we had been practicing for about 30 minutes, and i thought i had it down. 'Hajimemashite. Scott desu. Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu (bow here). (this all means, nice to meet you, my name is scott, please find favor with me.

Practicing didnt help. I had worked out the words, but i forgot about intangibles. Kiyoe's father is an old, wise, bald buddhist priest. Meeting such a man, with his feet folded in a meditative way and wearing white robes, threw me for a loop.

My actual meeting went like this. we walked into her home and met her parents in their dining room. I kneeled (clumsily). Hajimamamamamashite.... uhh... scott desu... (bowed here) dozo yoroShiblahbladhuhdgegshiku oneomygosh. I looked like a dumb foreigner stooge. o well, they let me stay.

At Kiyoe's house resides, her mother, father, oldest sister, her husband, and their three kids. The three kids and our crazy exploits, is where our story continues next time.

enjoy the reading, and please come visit!

A Short Rant

The rant is over. there is no need for my frustrations to posted anymore. Enjoy the new posts (coming tomorrow!)

Meeting the fam... part 1

Where was I? Ahh yes... the post office. Through the dense fog, rain, and language barrier I hiked blind for 30 minutes to finally find the post ofice at the top of the mountain. I sent three post cards to the only three addresses i knew off the top of my head, so no one should be offended (tthey were my parents, my grandfather, and dan's family) After I got back to the shack where i last saw kiyoe, she told me that she wanted to go down... now. I wasnt in the state of mind to disagree. Here's something that many mountain hikers should already know. Going down a mountain is not fun. While going up takes 6 hours and burns the knees, the descent takes 3 hours and kills the knees, feet, hands, and the tender spots between the legs (from chaffing and accidentally doing the splits from falling). As I recall, kiyoe fell twice, and i found myself holding my groin area on numerous occasions. After two hours descending, thefirst views were offered, and believe me, i almost wanted to go back up again to view them from the top. (alas, the top was cloudy the ENTIRE time we climbed and descended, so i couldnt do that) The lakes and valleys were amazing, as well as finally seeing the slope we had climbed the night before. The best part of the new view was seeing what we had done. never, and i mean never, would i have thought we could have climbed that monster if i had seen what we were up against. Ignorance is bliss.
Now that its all over, would i do it again? umm.... maybe. yeah... maybe. That view was one of a kind, and i didnt even really see it, i wouldnt mind trying to see it again. but i feel that i've already done it, and the meteorlogical fact that the mountain rarely offers those views anyway makes it doubtful, so now to my next adventure.... meeting Kiyoe's traditional Japanese parents...

How traditional? how's this... here's a little background... New Years time in Japan is the most important time of the year, a time where families gather from all across the country to celebrate family and pray at the local temple or shrine. Last december, when everyone was making plans to leave, I asked kiyoe what her family did during the new year.

k:'We stay at home'.

s:'Yes, I know, but don't you celebrate by going to a temple or shrine?'

k:'Well... I go home'

s:'So, your family doesnt go to any temple?

k:'my home is a temple'

s:'Yes, I've heard that 'My home is my temple' before. We say it in English also!'

k:'No no... my home IS A TEMPLE. My dad is a Buddhist Rector.'

s:'Uhhh....'

Thus began a new respect and a new understanding of my then new friend. Since that day i have wanted to see this temple, and meet kiyoes family, and two weeks ago i got the chance.

Ninohe is in the far north part of the main island of Japan. Part of the second largest prefecture in the country, it was Far enough away from tokyo that my students laughed and ask why i was going there. little do they know. Ninohe was gorgeous. I arrived by night bus early thursday morning, and was picked up by CAR by kiyoe shortly thereafter. (my first time in a car that wasnt a taxi in japan)

We quickly proceeded to the huge lava flow near mount iwate...

thus endeth part 1

New Clothes

I've been called a tightwad on many occasions, and many of my friends know how stingy i am about money. My parents and old roommates can tell you about the bright yellow orange armpit stains in my undershirts. The truth was i just couldnt bring myself to throw away a shirt or socks that hadnt fallen apart yet (maybe i was also just a little lazy and didnt wnat to go out and spend money) But I don't think anyone ever told me the joy of buying some new clothes and socks. I had been wearing the same pair of socks at least twice a week, and finally, the japanese kids called me out on it. they didnt have holes yet, but they were basically just colored threads in parallel lines. SO... I went to UNI QLO (think GAP or possibly Old Navy, but not so full of itself that itfeels the need to label the front of every t-shirt with its name and logo (to tell you the truth i've never seen the UNI QLO logo on any shirt))three days ago. I left spending about 50 bucks, but bought two great shirts and 4 pairs of socks. I love them. i want stock in UNI QLO.

Punks and Fuji

Attention... Due to the number of bullsnot smap (sorry, i've been here too long, SPAM) i am getting on this site (is no place sacred?) you must now log in and create a profile to post a comment (its free and realy causes no pain), although i dont think it will matter, the losers will still find a way to post crap.

On to bigger and better. Last week I had the opportunity to climb the tallest mountain in the country. The trek was actually delayed a week due to the fact that we couldnt get bus tickets out to the fifth station. But we could a week ago.

The we is Kiyoe and I. strange how we seem to be doing so many things together ne? We boarded the bus at 750 pm and slept most of the way on the 2 and a half hour drive. With on the bus were mostly foreigners, sleeping and talking about the adventure to come. One guy was actually drinking tall boys of asahi super dry beer. What the heck? Now I'm no expert, but i know that alcohol and high altitude as well as any strenuous exercise don't mix. i dont know if he ever made it to the top. Hehe... it gets better.

(second time to write this part) Fuji is not for everyone. The distance between the fifth station and the summit is over 1400 meters vertical distance. At 3776 meters fuji has caused thousands of altitude sickness cases. The weather patterns are fierce and its not uncommon to have snow while hiking. This being the case, many fail at their attempts. Even so, between 200,000 and 400,000 people climb the mountain each year (yes, depending on the web site, the number changes quite a bit. I have a feeling that this number comes more from sales of walking sticks and food purchases than reaching the top, since we witnesed many failed attempts and no one really counting people)

We reached the 5th staton at 1020, bought our stamped fuji sticks and started our journey around 1030. We started out in the thin wooded area and quickly moved above the timber line. Before we knew it we were almost at the 6th station. The view from these areas were amazing. even though it was dark, the lights of the cities and towns far below gave us the best views of the climb. we trudged on quite a ways, and soon the clouds rolled in. From here on our visibility was literally around ten feet.

Scott's rules for climbing Fuji:
1. Be determined. dont become a wuss halfway and turn around (going down of the ascending trail is not only rude, but very dangerous)
2. Drink water, not beer.
3. Take your time for goodness sake! the mountain will be there all day, pushing yourself too hard will cause altitude sickness and force you to quit
4. Eat food. chocolate. snickers, yum.
5. dont't smoke. sounds like an easy one right? huh, just wait.
6. Make small goals and then congratulate yourself with food. (honestly this is how we made it.

That being said we could often see the large floodlights through the haze, and made it our goal to eat a snack or take a ten minute break when we arrived. Thus we never said 'Its too far to the top', we said 'It's only another 100 meters to the next station!' Climbing in this way had us not even uttering a complaint the entire climb. At the eighth station (actually the 6th eighth station) we stopped for about half an hour to eat a warm bowl of ramen. It was here that we probably came closest to thinking about the possibility of waiting for more than 30 minutes before continuing. Two lareg tour groups both decided to quit. after 4 hours of hiking and only 300 meters vertical distance to go... they gave up because of the weather. chumps.

We march on.

It was cold. And it was windy. and seriously from here on there were bodies strewn along the trail, victims of the altitude and not being smart hikers. Every 10 meters there was someone else moaning or vomiting or sucking down bottled oxygen. I'm sorry folks, but what the hell? like i said, it all came down to common sense.

about an hour and a half later, we reqached the highest point in Japan, the summit of Mt. Fuji. From here we waited (in vain) for the sunrise, drank hot fluids, and i hiked to the post office. yes there is a post office at the top...

Sorry guys, gotta go to work!
To Be continued...

A Wise man to climb, A fool To Climb Twice

In approximately 12 hours i will be starting my accent of mount fuji, the tallest in Japan. Its not going to be fun but i feel that its something i must do. Most japanese people have not done this test of endurance and strength, so when its all over, and i still can't speak the language, at least i can state with my head up high that i saw the sun rise in the 'Land where the day begins'. Photos to follow. Ganbatte Ne!

Over a month ago...

Like i said last week, very big posts are on the way. Needed to be included in the mix are my trips to Penang, Malaysia and my trips home, as well as my epic journey slated for this weekend (lets just say that if all goes well i will be the highest man in Japan around 4 in the morning, and one of the first to see the sun in the land of the rising sun) Let me also direct everyones attention to the photo section. OOdles of photos have been added, from malaysia, to nikko, to home, and BBQ by the river. Ch-Ch-Ch-Check it out.

It's tough to even remember the exact date anymore, since so much has happened since then, but around June 26th or so I traveled to Penang, Malaysia (the pearl of the Orient) with my old roommate Ben, his girlfriend erica, and two other residents of Bell Wistaria, Jill and Tier.

As I said previously, this whole trip with airfare and accomodation in a five star hotel was less than 400 bucks! And it rocked! We started the first day by traveling the grueling two and a half hours to the airport. (let it be known that i hate having the airport so darn far away) We boarded our boeing 777 malaysia airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur and were off! I will take this second to plug malaysia airlines... Nothing but professonal service, great food, and get this... on demand TV, movies, and an audio jukebox. awesome.

We arrived in KL, changed planes and reached penang around 7 at night. It was pretty smokey outside, but we later found out that it was due to several brushfires in indonesia. During the 70 minute drive to our hotel we listened intently to our japanese tour guide, nodding in approval and understanding even though we couldnt really get a thing he said. When we reached the hotel we knew that the full day of travel had been worth it: An open lobby direct from the street to the beach, palm trees, about 5 pools, tiki torches, and malaysia women serving us drinks as we sat down. yum (once again, check out the hotel Shangri-La golden sands penang). After throwing our things in the room we made the first of many trips to the hawkers food market across the street. Get ready for weight gain and asian food bliss...

A hawker food market is a large collection of stalls that serve a variety of asian dishes. since penang is very close to China, indonesia, vietnam, and thailand, all of these foods are popular. Think the state fair serving up local texas dishes, but now make the food healthier, less greasy, better tasting, and cheaper (at the end of the night i was stuffed to the brim with food, and had boutght a round of drinks for all five of us for less than about 9 bucks total) we ate there every night. hehe he heh.

The next day brought what we weere there for... relaxation. I sunbathed, had a massage, drank, sunbathed again and walked along the beach among the calls of 'hey buddy! do you want to get high? We can get you high parasailing!' before i continue please realize that drug trafficing in malaysia is punishable by death.

On tuesday we ventured out of the resort area to see the largest buddhist temple in malaysia, Kek Lok Si. Its amazing! In the photos look for the tall white pagoda. We were there for almost an hour and i didnt see half of that place! huge, intricate and gorgeous. I recommend to you. After the temple we took a train ride to the highest point in penang, penang hill. We didnt have much time there, but once again, the views from the top were breathtaking. You could see the whole island, and the lush jungle that makes the whole place deep green. On our way back to the hotel I also spied several wild monkeys swinging and walking on the powerlines, AWESOME!!!

Dinner was at the hawker place... again. We also stopped by and bought countless trinkets and goods from the many vendors. I won't say what exactly i bought, but again, it was cheap, and now ive seen several movies that are yet to be mentioned in japan.


Our last day was more of the previous two, we relaxed, ate, shopped, got sunburned. We then left penang and malaysia that night. A great trip, and way cheap. for the three days spent in malaysia i spent less than 200 bucks, food, beer, transport, 2 massages, souvenirs and sightseeing included. I wish i could go back, but i have other asian places to discover.

Thtas it for today. i hope you enjoyed the update. Next time is will talk about my move, and my trip home... Be sure to check out the photos!

New Address

before I say much, know that there is a huge post coming very very soon. Until then, here is my new addy:

c/o Dowling House
Scott Hernalsteen
Daita 5-18-4 B
Setagaya-Ku
Tokyo 155-0033
Japan

I'm looking forward to some postcards

i'm batman

i finally saw a movie within three days of its american release, and for a cheap price too. for 13 bones i saw batman begins. worth every penny. seeit. i "recommend to you". did i ever mention that i also saw jack johnson and g love and special sauce in concert a few weeks ago. quite simply i could consider it the quintessential concert. here's a guy (johnson) that has released three albums, yet he is small enough to ask his friend g love to open for him a nd play several songs with him. he was able to play 75 percent of his releaqsed songs and some special unreleased. great. great. sugoii! it was amazing. i leave for malaysia in three days and i'm home in two weeks. ha ha hah!

Hello hello. welcome to scott's 12 days to glory. I am currently on day two of a twelve day work stint that will end with the glorious beaches of penang malaysia. I am fairly sure that the adrenaline alone will carry me through, but i do have a lot to do.... let's see...

I need to pack. i need to 'move out'. actually this is just a ploy. i will be around for a bit longer but i have told nova that i am leaving so i won't have to pay rent. my goods will be stored in various locations around tokyo until july 24th when they will reach my new pad in shimo kitazawa. man that's going to be great. i think i'll save about eighty bucks a month on travel alone. due to the great area.

I know that i had previously mentioned a private student and i am happy to say that our lessons are still going well. As much as i hated english class in school, i kindof enjoy doing this. It's also funny that i have learned more about past perfect progressives, gerunds, and phrasal verbs then i ever did in mrs. chapmans diagramming hell. (and now i'm getting paid for it, heh) What a concept!!! pay me, and i'll study english.

ATTENTION: Pay me and I will study anything. for a little extra i might even pretend to enjoy it.

I also had a job interview today. it was with a kindergarten in tsunashima (where i currently live) that would pay me a prettyy penny to teach kids for three hours every two weeks. This country is full of jobs like this, i just need the connections to get them. (thanks matt) I'll let everyone know the outcome of the interview.

rainy season has started... which means my clothes won't dry... ever. gross.

I will be home three weeks from tomorrow.

japanese tv is really really odd. and it all has to do with food. if you can find the worst apartment in japan, you win food; if you take a photo of a charging warthog, you win food; if you can play pachinko better than another celebrity, you win food; if you wear a bo peep outfit and allow asexual japanese men to photograph you, you win food; if you can find a show on tv that doesn't suck... then it was probably made in another country.
sidenote: the asexual japanese man comment is in no way meant to be demeaning. it really is a big problem. Even though most of this country views mild nudity on tv, looks at animated porno on the train (all blotched out mind you), and has countless hostess bars and love hotels, the birthrate is decreasing at an alarming rate. literally exponetially. It seems as though the 'keep to yourself' culture has effected the males ability to woo women.

btw, i officially have lost weight while being here, but when i get back i can assume that i will put it all back on. i can't wait for all you can eat pizza and BEEF!!!


i'm going to bed now. go pistons.

short but sweet

check this out... Five days in Penang Malaysia, airfare, hotel, and transportation. 45,000 yen. converted that's less than 420 dollars. I'm there. I booked my trip this morning. I leave june 26th. I will be traveling with the flatmates and friends that reside in the building. party on.

new photos posted!

many things have been going on. i didnt go to sumo, i went to nikko, i went to the shrine dedicated to the war dead (which shows an interesting view of history). i am not writing much today. sorry folks. Enjoy the photos. there are many many more, but they are pretty random. i might post them later.

News

Boy o boy do i have so many things to talk about. In the past few weeks i have acquired a private student, bought my ticket home and traveled once again to the wonderful world of nikko.

To start... a few weeks back one of my students approached me and asked if i could be his his private teacher. first off, this isnt legal within the network of my company, i am not supposed to consort with students about even casual matters, so stealing them away is a big no no. but, the money is good, both for me and the student. he saves a truckload and i work an extra hour after my normal shift. ot a bad deal.

I also bought my tickt home. I depart tokyo on july 7th at 1230 and arrive at 930. 3 hours earlier. so i gain a few hours. go figure. Its always ice to land in your own country, three hours before you acyually leave. hmmm. My plan for the time in the states is as folows... I will spend a few days will my family, leaving the ights available to my friends. If the ave has her second birthday paqrty then i will attend on either friday or saturday. but sunday... i depart on a wekk long cruise with the fam. i get back sunday night, and will leave again for tokyo on wednesday. I truly hope that i can see most of you in the few days that i have, if not then its daijyobu.

and finally... i travelled back to nikko last weekend. i somehow secured fridays and saturdays off, which gives me the benefit of traveling with kiyoe and my flatmates more often. so kiyoe and i went. she had never been there, even though she is japanese. i was able to see the famous bridge that had been under construction for the last 8 years, and jut reopened two weeks ago. i didnt see it back in november. We also saw a beautiful waterfall, ate at a great yakitori place, and hiked a bit.

the next adventure will be sumo on friday and the famous sanja festivl on saturday. pictures from nikko and sumo will soon follow.

take care all, and look forward to july.

I will return.

I am moving

Blah blah blah avsirhjqwerieiwjnrfvljanef i had too many nomi hodais tonight. one of my favorite coworkers, paul is leaving in three days. he is a kiwi, likes good music and is an all around good guy. so now i am slightly inebriated. we did a two hour nomi hodai at an izakaya then went to karaoke for a beter deal of 2 hours all you can sing and drink for 1500. you do the math.

in three months i wil be moving. i will give addres details later but for now you can see a photo of my apartment on www.rentintokyo.com my new house is the shimokitazawa house. the area is rockin and i am excited. ok time for bed. the two week sumo tourney started this week so look for possible photo updates.

And to ease all of your minds I am fine and i havent drank in over a week. I am also not eating fast foood this month, since its convenience and close proximity to my office make it veery attractive and easy.

I have noticed

It has come to my attention that almost every blog i go to nowadays is becoming a 'ghost blog'. much like the dot com bust in the nineties, blogs seem to be going the same way. dont believe me? look around. many of my friends blogs have at least one(mine included) post stating 'I know I havent posted in awhile'. My brother posted that something big was coming... and that was three months ago. dan states it as well, but his is a pretty good site, with loads of pics. jeff's isn't actually anything. Hodges posted on his several weeks back. george is going strong though. good job man, and thanks for having me listed on your site. i shed a tear. speaking of tears... i heard a rhett miller song the other night while eating the all you can eat pizza. he doesnt get airtime in the states but on the other side of the planet, yes.

one more quick thing.
ok i forgot the quick thing.
poop

announcements

If you folks at home haven't figured it out already then I will let you know, I have decided to stay another year. My return to the States (for good) will be the beginning of April of 2006. I will be back July 7th or 8th for a family vacation but I will try to have one night to say hi. stay tuned for the exact date and time.

In other announcements... I was nowhere near the train accident that as of this posting killed 106 people. it was very tragic and has been the only big news story for the past 4 days.

I am currently in the market for a new place. my plaqce isnt terrible, but I just dont like the idea of having my employer benefit every month from my use of the apartment. It turns out that people renting the same apartment pay 33 percent less a month, as long as they dont work for my company. So I am looking for a place in an area named Shimokitazawa. The place is really cool, much like an austin. it has many great theatres, bars, and artists everywhere and is a stones throw from shibuya, the great place with the huge video screen. we shall see if things work out.

the last few days I havent done much of anything. I really enjoy walking though. my past three days off I have spent walking around downtown tokyo. I found Honda corperate headquarters last week, where i got to check out the new honda airwave. a nice car, The roof is one complete window and it looks neat, but i cant help but wonder if it would ever be sold in texas. the hail factor is my concern. one big stone could smash the entire concept. I also found the sony video game building. Inside there are about 20 games that are available for play. Needless to say i was there for about 45 minutes.

speaking of hail. i heard the first crack of thunder since i have been here the other day.

I had my first all you can eat pizza in 8 months last night. glorious. the price was not. about 14 dollars. but believe you me, well worth every yen.

I also bought what i now believe to be a ripped copy of Shuan of the dead. a good movie, its a romantic comedy... with zombies. but i can't help but feel bad that it isn't a real copy. of course in this country everything comes out years late. top gun isn't even here yet. kidding. i will be enjoying the next star wars in august, while evryone else is seeing it in the next month.

i am rambling. there really isnt much this week.

i did feel an earthquake about a week and a half ago. by far the biggest ive felt in my apartment. I was really in a weird state. it was after a hanami party at maybe 7:20 in the morning. i couldnt tell if i had too much the night before or if the room was really shaking. it was shaking. all of my clothes were swaying in the closet, and the light was reaching about a 45 degree angle. a lot of fun.

i'm tired and my legs are chaffed from walking much of the day. have a good week.

Kanamara

Ok everyone, its has been about a week, but now i have more photos. WARNING: they are not for all eyes... If you are easily offended by large phaluses then dont bother looking.

The photos are of the Kanamara festival. this festival is actually a serious festival held once a year to pray for "fertility". um i dont know about that. it seems that the whole thing is about worshipping the penis. When we arrived there were people evrywhere. people were buying candy penises, praying to huge statues, and carving large 'members' out of daikons (japanese radishes about a foot and a half long). it was quite a site. now throw in beer, yakitori, and my roommate dressed in a kimono weilding a samurai sword, and you have a real party. (the bald guy in the photos is my new roommate ben.)

You know what... this is so difficult to explain...

Things I did include:

-watching people bow to three large phalusus- They started at the smallest, a stone one about a foot tall. then they moved to the larger one, a large black stone about three feet tall. at each stone they bowed, chanted, and placed flowers on the... thing. finally they moved to the large pink organ. This was by far the biggest, but it wasnt made out of stone, it was a hard foam.

-watched my roommate and a few friends dress up in kimonos, a carry swords. tell me this... why would you give swords to seven foreigners drinking beer? dont worry, no one was hurt, but i think that one of the riding phalusus was circumsized... again. ouch.

-marched through the street with all three of the previously mentioned reproductive organs, chanting 'big penis... big penis... big penis...'

what a day!

i 'recommend to you' experiencing it all for yourself. enjoy the photos!

Photo news

I have finally figured out the way to display many of my photos without a lot of difficulty. i will post them in my yahoo area. here is the address:
http://photos.yahoo.com/kernlhernl

go there and enjoy many random photos. the ones with better resolution are from my new phone. FEEL the difference! HA HA HA!

i did nothing today, and it was everything i thought it could be.

Two days in a row?

hard to believe... its almost like this thing is broken, but as i said, my roommate ben got an internet connection recently so whenevr i get a chance i will try to write.

Lets start with Hanami. First off, its still going on. Which means that my liver will need quick recovery for the next few days as i have parties lined up the next three nights. See, here in japan, people actually have a great love for nature. When holidays come, people flock to the peace and tranquility of the mountains, natural hot springs, and the forests. but during one special brief time of the year, people skip work, get their junior officers to scout around and claim, for the use of the hanami party, the perfect drinking area.

I guess it really signifies the beginning of spring. the cherry blossoms, of which countless stories and photos have been recorded, open towards the end of march and last for about one week. Once the flowers on the trees open, they start to blow off. some as early as one day, and if it rains, its all over. The japanese have a brilliant tradition of celebrating this beautiful and delicate time by finding a prime spot under a cherry tree (they actually bear no cherries), and drinking, eating and drinking. then they drink more. and vomit. and lie in their vomit in the park. and they give drinks away to unarticulate foreigners trying desperately to speak japanese. (heh) "Biiru o ute kudasai" that one line netted kiyoe and me a can of beer, a bottle of shochu (think vodka at 25%) and a large bottle of green tea. Thats enough alcohol to kill an ox.

Drinking aside... the cherry blossoms are beautiful. I have already attended about 4 hanami parties, met many crazy japanese, and the flowers just officially opened FULLY yesterday. Beautiful. Photos will follow.

About the Kanamara festival... It will take too long to put into words, but disclaimers will be abundant.

take care all. I will write again soon.

Im alive!

wow. i have some good stories... but not today. l
just to wet your whistle though, this time of year is hanami, or 'the cherry clossom viewing season'. the next exciting this is that i skipped work last sunday to attend the kanamara festival. for those of you that dont know, the kanamara festival is a fertility festival held at a small shrine in kawasaki. photos for those over the age of 18 will be here shortly. heh heh heh.

AND i got a new phone... wow, really exciting. ok, time for bed. i'll give you the details soon!

Protection from that pesky SARS thing 

Hakkone... Ahhhh.... and Fuji in the back 

The Rare but famous Geisha (there are only 80 in all of Kyoto) 

Kinkaku Ji temple (The Golden Pavillion) 

Scott, Dan and Tom at Nijo Castle garden 

Postcard View of Me in at Kiyomizu Dera temple 

The four hour internet extravaganza!

Hello everyone! Its once again been awhile BUT I am still here. My roommate Ben will get internet access on sunday so MAYBE i can give him some money and use his comp to blog a lot more, we'll see. Either way, my choice internet cafe now has a FOUR hour mid week special for only 680 yen, and while thats a good deal, i dont always have four hours to spare.

I hope that all enjoy the photos from HK. And as a double bonus i hope you 'enjoy' the photos from Dan and Tom's visit. In a word: Exhausting. If they dont say the same thing, they are liars. There are so many stories and photos, that i could sit here all day writing, but I'll boil it all down for you. Sunday march 6th. Tom gets here, he's jetlagged but i drag him to an izakaya where a four fingered man is yelling many many obscenities at the frightened staff. they basically say whatever he wants to here but he continues to yell. scary. and tom now realizes that he likes gyoza. Monday: I work. tom goes to kamakura. at night we go to an izakaya where nothing is in english. good times. we actually got somegood food by some unknown means. Tuesday: i work again. tom tours tokyo and meets dan. i meet up with them later and head straight to the bar (nomi hodai) ha ha ha. dan was so intoxicated and tired at the end he rolled on the floor of my apartment. wait... that might have been me (Hey, I was excited that someone finally came over okay?!).

Wednesday: Asakusa, Ueno park, akihabara and THE LOCKUP!!!!! Im going to let most pics do the talking, but we toured Sensoji temple, the oldest in japan. Then went to Ueno park where we saw a 97 YEAR OLD WOMAN!!!! SELLING CRACK!!!! heh. I wish i could tell this story for everyone at home to get the most out of it, but lets just say this: Tom, Dan and I met a (drunk? schitzo? lonely?) japanese man who asked us if we knew of jay leno and if he could tell us this hilarous joke: 'So there is this 97 year old woman selling crack... Where are the parents!'..... Um.... Wha.... Yeah.... Huh? we stand there in silence for about 10 seconds "Yes sir, do you know where the pond is?" 'Yes, the pond is that way, with many lillies, and a 97 year old woman selling crack'. "OK thank you sir".

Fast forward 25 minutes, somehow the man spots us from across the road, and yells "Did you see a 97 year old woman down there?!" I dont get it at all. we actually saw the man AGAIN later at the train station who told us anothwer joke that redeemed him. but o that first one.
Dinner was at the LOCKUP, a theme izakaya where at part of the meal, people dressed in costumes run in and try to scare to. i think they hit tom with a hammer. scary.

Thursday and Friday: We took the shinkansen to Kyoto for two full days of temples, geisha, and rain. again, the photos will say it all here. we had a great time, and for dinner thurs we ate a a traditional teppanyaki restaurant in the heart of the geisha district. Friday we traveled hpome and ate at the all you can eat Yakiniku and nomihodai place. too much food and beer.

Saturday we traveled to hakone. again, beautiful. but this time, windy and very cold. we went to the open air museum, the volcano, got some good photos of fuji. so we ended the day with a traditional onsen bath. (by the way, Tom and Dan, The traditional way to do on onsen is completely naked in front of dozens of nude japanese men) HA!!! credit is given to those two. they tried all the things i asked them to, even the nude bathing with old men. but hey... when in rome...

Sunday, Tom left. Sniff. Thanks tom for coming out!　It was great seeing you!
Dan and I went to the oriental bazaar to watch dan go shopping crazy. wow that guy can shop.

monday, early, we went to tsukiji. stinky fish everywhere, then dan left. sniff sniff.
It was a great trip guys. come back anytime. for everyone else. YOU ARE STILL INVITED!

I will post some photos now, but for those of you that want to see alot more, see dans site: www.danielalansmith.com I dont know if he has posted them yet, but he will soon.

thats it for today. this next month is the month of the decision, so give me slack on my posts. I need to decide on staying another year (the latest i will be back permanently is next April, hands down) or going home. It is up in the air right now. But this blog and this entire journey has been based on the theory of no regrets. If I go back now, will I regret it, much like I did returning from New York? I dont want to make that same mistake, and i dont want to look back in twenty years, or two for that matter, and feel bad that i didnt stay longer, because once im back, its for good. Give me a month.

Take care folks, and enjoy the photos.

Scotto

Ps. aTm lost to St. Joes in the NIT quarter finals. good work this year guys.

The Infamous 'We are not eating here' restaurant. Notice the Jugs of beer. they were only 2 dollars. 

One more of the Hong Kong night sky. Breathtaking. 

And now... the first glimpse for most of Kiyoe, and the Hong Kong night skyline 

Hong Kong as Promised, walk this way and follow me. 

HOLY SSHHIIIZZZNNNIIITTTEEEE!!! WE WON!!!!

quickee to say wow. cheers to the aggie mens bball team to win in the second round of the NIT. i canmt believe it! after all those years we finaly did something good. ill be listening live on thursday morn! and a BIG blog will be in effect that dsay as well. sorry for the miss spellings. i just spent 3 hours in a nomi hodai gay bar for one of my coworkers goodbye party. interesting to say the least. heh. talk to you soon!

Hong Kong Part Two

Let me start by saying that i really dont want to be here (the internet cafe) right now. the place reaks of smoke, and my head hurts. But alas... my fans are waiting for the next installment and the continuation of the story of Hong kong. When we last saw the dynamic duo they were in the midst of the dangerous temple of FALLING ASH!

We both made it out unscathed. We then ventured towards the area of the night market (closed because it was only noon). on the way i saw many shops that contained Chinese jackets (silk and reversable!) i went into one shop and the store owner started playing an instrument and singing right away, to create a pleasant atmosphere i guess? well, then kiyoe walked in. the owner began talking to kiyoe, and kiyoe translated: 'She says it looks very good on you'. 'she says that this is reversible and she can get a larger size if you need it', 'She says you look better in the gold and black but if you really want she can find the blue and gold for you'. Thank you Kiyoe! wow, this was great, i had an interpreter, and i walked out of the shop with a nice silk chinese jacket, for the low price of 25 american dollars! wow!

As we leave the store i turn to kiyoe: 'You know Kiyoe, I can't speak Japanese, but I know darn well that that wasnt it. And I also know that you cant speak chinese'. She turned to me and said 'Yes, but she didnt know that'. Heh. Kiyoe is awesome. Which brings me to the best of both worlds: Kiyoe can understand some chinese kanji characters, BUT I can understand more of the broken english that is spoken in hong kong, so together, we did just fine.

After a long walk we arrived at the street that was in the bond movie 'The Man with the Golden Gun'. Although we looked for almost a half an hour on the city block where it was suppossed to be, we couldnt find it, but the street lookked exactly as it did in the movie.

Since we had been walking all day, we decided to get massages, mine a foot, and kiyoe a pedicure. A word on chinese foot reflexology... OOOAGHSAGSYTWRTWDWWWWAAAHHHH!!!!!!!
i paid 15 dollars for what seemed like an eternity of foot torture. see, reflexology finds the weak points in your body,every point on the foot coressponds to a part of the body and where there is pain, that area of the body needs checking. it was SLIGHTLY relaxing, but that went away quickly. Just in case anyone is wondering, my main 'areas' with problems were my back and my gonads. hmmm.

after the torture I bought some crutches and retreated back to Hong Kong island. Once there we went up the fantastic peak tram. where there.. wasnt ... any.. view of ...anything. The clouds canceled the biggest tourist attraction in the city for us but no matter! We were ready to shop!!!

Back to Kowloon. Night market. "Lady lady, here here look! Real jade, see, (hit a green stone lion with a metal coin here) real jade! see! Cheap for YOU!" thats very nice sir but im not rea..."CHEAP FOR YOU!!! real jade, see! (coin clank again) real jade! look, one two three four five! Cheap for YOU!"

so now i own a most likely fake jade chinese lion.

I was also offered LV bags, Gucci junk, and Rolex watches ("dont worry man! they are cheap! because they are fake!") what a great sales strategy, dont lie, just come out and say that everything is crap.

toward s the end of the market both kiyoe and i were getting hungry. we needed to find something cheap. amazingly enough, at the end of the next block a man was clapping his hands pointing us to a table. 'this is in the middle of the market! how can we eat here?' to the side lay trays and tray of many kinds of live seafood (shrimp, prawn, snails, sea cucumbers, clams, oysters, and other brown things that coulndt be identified.) ready to be chosen for a quick death. looked good to me! but kiyoe wanted no part of it. 'i dont think its healthy, its in the middle of the street!' well, yes, but many people are sitting there, and the food portions lookk good! we walked away. darn.

somehow i got her to turn back...
and according to her, it was her favorite part of the trip, very spontaneous, good tasting, and truly Hong Kong. it was definitely a good way to say goodbye to the area.

All together it was a great trip, and as we boarded the plane the next morning i realized something... Hong Kong is probably the first place i have ever been to in my life that there is a very good chance that i will never return to. Europe, yes. Alaska, Yes. Texas? Ugh, but yes. Strange feeling ne?

thasts it folks. i must prepare for the texas invasion as tom and dan will be coming sunday and tuesday respectively. obviously tales of the shenanigans will follow.

Sayonara!
Scotto

Hong Kong part one and Two birds with one stone

Lets shake the dust off folks, im back. Its almost been a month i know and most of that can be attributed to the fact that i want to eat after my 45 minute commute from work, and half of those days thats around 10. ugh. but, lets get to the meat of this right now... drum roll.....

Hong Kong.
Wow. what a city. mix the most up to date technology with a culture that is very asian and traditional. there were 60 story skyscrapewrs right next to 10 story sliver apartments with loads upon loads of laundry hanging out the windows. Posh shopping for gucci and bulgari right down the street from the peddler selling dried lizard skins, quarter chunks of swine, and live chickens. awesome. hang on...

Day one... Kiyoe and I arrived at about 330 in the afternoon on tuesday after a 5 hour flight on my second ever 747. WooHoo! the mountain backdrop to the airport is something ive only dreamed of, lush jungle with literally dozens of skyrise apartments dotting the mountain sides. It was foggy. we took a bus into kowloon and under the bay to hong kong island. I beleive that you can look this up as fact, but take my word for it, HK has one of the largest concentrations of skyscrapers in the world as well as THE HIGHEST concentration of people in the world (some places have over 10,000 per square kilometer). The buildings are towering. huge, and beautiful. not square boring buildings like you see in texas. these had amazing angles, elevator shafts on the edges of the buildings that lit up, lights evrywhere, and overall great design. (of course most of the buildings older than 20 years old are very rectangular and look old, i mean really old)

the hotel was fine for our needs (the City Garden view if anyone cares), so we threw our stuff down and went out on the town. My first view of the streets was almost as i had envisioned, neon signs, people, dirt, people, old cars, people and people. We first saw a market, with live chickens to be killed when the next customer requests, huge slabs of beef ribs (think rocky) and meat products that have yet to be identified (my photos have been sent off for analysis). We then decided to go to the harbor pier to 'enjoy' the night harbor cruise. if you ever go to hong kong do this, it was beautiful. At 8 everynight the city puts on a firework show from the tops of the buildings. amazing. i have photos that will be posted in the next week. think tall bright lit up buildings with fireballs shooting out of the top.

After the cruise we ventured to the main night spot in the city, Lan Kwai Fong. we were lucky enough to find a cheap chinese place that was Totemo oishii kata desu! For about 25 dollars we ate more food than i had eaten in the past five months. think about how u feel after a meal at 'on the border'. and we threw some away!

we strolled the area, had a few drinks then cashed in the chips for the night.

next day... we woke up early (still full from the night before so we skipped breakfast) and traveled to kowloon. we went to the womens market, which was closed until 5, so we went to a gyoza place. gyoza are the chinese dumplings in the states. ugh. the food was so good. again, very cheap. then we went across the street to a temple. temples in china are different from those in japan. they are more into banging gongs, decorating with bright colors and lighting incense. as we walked in we noticed huge two feet long lanterns hanging from the ceiling, again in bright pinks and yellows. there were huge statues of some gods which kiyoe doesnt believe to be budha. as we walked further it became apparent that photos were not allowed and so i couldnt get a good shot. o yeah, then we noticed the sign on the wall that said 'beware of falling ash' What? what ash? the bright lanterns were actually huge 10 day burning incense coils and the ash from them was falling randomly onto people. hmmm. dangerous. That was the most dangerous part of the trip. but it smelled great!

End of part one Hong Kong... stay tuned for the next post which will include: Best of both worlds, 'we are not eating here!', 'I thought that this was supposed to feel gOoD OOOWWWHHWW!!!!', man with the golden gun, and 'cheap for YOU!'

until then one more story...

My new roommate ben is really cool. we both complain about the filth in our apartment and look forward to cleaning soon, but until then we still have a huge double mattress in our living room, a remaining piece of the bed from an old tennant which we dont use. 'why dont you throw it out?' good question. Japan charges poepl tyo throw things out, and this lovely piece of crap would cost about 25 bucks to dispose of. as a matter of principle i will not pay to dispose of other poeples crap. (but i will take out the trash all the time for the current one). so i took out steves trash last nite and what was on the corner? A huge mattress and dresser.... with stamps affixed and ready for legal disposal. i got an idea. i ran back inside and knocked on bens door. 'Ben, if we take the perfectly good dresser, remove the stamps, and stick them to the mattress... we can.. "LETS DO IT!" i didnt get a chance to finish, he was onboard. So now we have a large wooden dresser as a welcoming gift for the new guy that comes in wednesday, as well a lot more free space in the living room. thanks ben for being on the same page. operation mattress removal complete!
p.s. the charge to remove a dresser is 1500 yen, and a mattress 2500. do the math. whoops. hey, its bettre than just throwing it in the river, which was also suggested.

thats it for now folks, i hope you enjoyed, and ill get back to fininsh HK in a few days.

Scotto san

This thing dont work!

konnichi wa fools!

for some reason or another my skymail posts dont register here anymore, so about 10 emails have not reached their destination. sorry. i do have a few things to talk about this week.

first off: whale. did i mention that i ate whale a few weeks ago? i did. and i felt really bad about it. i dont really know if it was that good, because after knowing what it was the taste seemed to fade in comparison to my guilt. i did order it on purpose though. now i can say i did it. and scold anyone else who does. heh.

Sarin:
i worked overtime the other day at another branch. Ochanomizu, which means tea water. the interesting thing is that on the way to the branch i had to transfer at the station that was the site of the famous 'tokyo subway gassing' from several years back that scared my friends and family, and led them to believe that tokyo is in the third world. it loks like a normal station. yeah.

Tamakin: Kiyoe and i saw oceans 12 the other nite and afterwards went to a yakitori place named tamakin. the food was great! bacon wrapped asparagus, bacon wrapped tomato, and plenty of beer. good times and relatively cheap. so why is this so exciting you ask? tamakin is a slang word for penis in japanese.

Bike: I bought a bike a week and a half ago. cost me about 90 bucks for the bike, registration, lock, bell, and nite light. of course it looks like a grandma shopping bike, and its already fitted for a child seat when i am rady for one, but it gets me around. have yet to rid it on my day off as ive been working OT and picking up shifts, but i shall soon.

wednesday is the chinese new year. i shall travel down to yokohama and ENJOY all the wonderful chinese traditions. i dont know what they are... but i will enjoy them.

next tuesday i leave for Hong Kong. I cant wait! pictures will follow. PROMISE!!!

my roommate is a good guy. ben moved in on the 27th and has made himself at home. hes from tasmania, short, bald, and a good guy. not a mess as of yet. the three new ladies that moved into the building are nice as well. one american, one aussie, and one canadian. the canadian drives the others crazy, and the american burned her brand new futon after 5 days. i have a great photo. crazy drunk americans.

steve officailly moves out on the 28th. lets see if i can keep it clean after he goes.

anyone here seen cube 2? dont. it was terrible but i felt obligated to watch as it wa in english. talk about low budget. good grief.

attended my first live show here in tokyo. the shins. great show. they only played for an hour and twenty minutes but i thouroghly enjoyed it. 'I recommend to you go see the shins!'

kiyoe is cooking me dinner tonight, so i gotta go, but i'll kep you posted on the weeks activities.

scotto

SMO not suuumo

Been awhile i know, sorry. turns out that not every post that i send from my phone gets to the blog for some reason. hmmm. i dont get it. so if three quick "message from skymails" pop up, you know why. they were actually typed several days ago.

so this week. Smo. yes, its true. if you call it sumo here you get strange looks from people, so you better pronounce it correctly. well i went with my friends chrissy and audrey to the new years sumo grand tournament. sumo is only held three times a year in tokyo and three other times around the country and each for two weeks, so i needed to see it now. the next time it will be around is at the end of may.

.....short break.... Thanks to laura for sending me a kick ars care package! full of chocolate, DEODORANT, and a rolling stone magazine (that thing is gold by the way) it was such a nice treat to read things in english and eat real candy. you rule! thanks also to rhiannon for stopping in. welcome to the party and i hope you stop in and post more often.

ok back to smo. we got there at 1130, it started at 9 but runs all day until 6, so we saw plenty (and too much of some, ekk!). turns out that if you buy the general admission ticket you can sit anywhere in the arena until you get kicked out. i sat in the front row for about an hour, then retreated back about 6 rows after almost getting steamrolled by a near naked 400 pound japanese man. gross. but honestly it was awesome! of all the traditional japanese things i have done up to this point, it has ben the best. loud cheering in japanese, a lot of beer, many manmy many bouts between smo wrestlers and friends. each bout really only lasts about 3-20 seconds, but its amazing to watch, and interesting to see the routine that must be followed before the match. i also got my picture taken with one of the wrestlers. wow. fat.
Photos will follow soon.

i found out last night that my messy slob of a roommate is moving out, which means i will be the head resident in about a month. maybe then the place willl stay clean. we shall see.

i also traveled to kamakura again last week. i love that place. this time i rented a bike for 15 bucks all day. i toured many of the temples that i had not seen, most of which were so so, but still very beautiful. i also visited the daibutsu again, the big budha. but this time i dug down deep in my pockets and paid the 20 yen to go inside. unimpressive, but worth the 20 cents. i also visited a bamboo forest in the area.

speaking of bikes, i think that friday is the day. i work on both of my days off this week due to shift swaps, but i have friday to 'enjoy' the area.

"Enjoy". i have not yet mentioned this but that word is overused here. it is one english word that ALL japanese understand, so they use it all the time. 'enjoy japan'. 'will you enjoy your trip?' 'do you enjoy?' 'i want to enjoy vacation in okinawa' UURRGGHHH!!!! stop using the word! as a joke, my cooworkers and i use it to fill out our requests for time off. "I want to enjoy time off when my friend comes to visit from america" heh. they dont get it.

did i mention that japanese people cant pronounce the TH sound either? I said 'theory' in a class today and i got three different spellings: silly, sheery, and shiori. hmmm. no. these were high level students also.

my hong kong adventure with my friend kiyoe will be february 15-17. airfare and 2 nights hotel: 400 bones. not bad. and i cant wait!

i dont know what else to say, im definitely settled in now. i eat the food, spend my hard earned cash at an alarming rate, travel all the time, miss homebut enjoy this place so much, which brings me to a harsh reality: The next time I see my family could very well be the last time i see my friends here. its different from my days in new york. those were in the states, and the workers traveled throughout the country constantly. but now its different. crap. we'll see how it goes.

take care

scotto

Short Snippets

I'm not really in the mood to post today, and i have very little money so i dont want to do my usual day off three hour internet time. I have also noticed that due to the latitude of Japan, the winter days are very short. by the time i woke up today (11:00) i only had about 5 or 6 hours of daylight left, so... i didnt want to spend them all here in the cafe.

-I have a prediction. in about five years the people of japan are going to self destruct. either that or the suicide rate will skyrocket (its already one of the highest in the world). my reasoning is that very few people ever reveal their true emotions. maybe they are very good at getting over things here, but i just dont see it, no one smiles OR talks on the trains in the morning or evening and if you do, you get many angry stares. a good example: the other day on the train a business man was reading the paper. at one of the stops he stood up, walked to the boy two seats down at asked him to turn down his radio (which was playing in his earphones) even though i was just a few more feet away, i couldnt hear the music. the business man then sat beack down. At the next stop the man stood up again, this time GRABBING THE BOY BY THE NECK, and yelled at him to turn his music down (once again, inaudible just a few more feet away). Turns out the boys player was turned off. IT WAS THE GIRL RIGHT NEXT TO THE BUSINESSMAN! her hair was long enough that you couldnt see the headphones. The man then yelled at her, sat back down and read his paper. He got off at the next stop. In the states this could have been a rumble, but for now, here in japan, it was just a small confrontation. just watch. in five years this could change.

-I am planning a trip to hong kong in february, for about three days.

-Dan is coming March 8-14. Why isnt anyone else coming.

-I once again have no money

- I am seriously considering buying a bike when i get paid next. It would help me explore more of the country then i have been able to see as of yet. should cost me about 90 bucks.

-i walked WEST this week. after two hours i arrived at Yokohama international stadium, the home of the 2002 FIFA world Cup. it was cold, so then i turned around and walked home. total walking time: 4 hours. if i had a bike i could have gone much much further.

-On jan 27th i will be getting another roommate, this time from australia. welcome to the dump pal.

-My bachelor pad status should be over in about two days.

i finally signed up for a Tsutaya card (blockbuster). I rented the newest harry potter movie, and to get my moneys worth i have already watched it three times.

-thats it for today. im tired, and i need to watch harry potter again.

scott

Hiatus

its been awhile, but nothing exciting has happened in the last two weeks. japan is terrible, im bored, and i want mommy.

sniff sniff.

HA! the truth is that so many things have happened in the last two weeks, i'm most likely to forget half of them, but i'll give it a shot:

In this edition:
1.Christmas
2.Osaka
3.New Years Eve
4.Japanese TV
5.Hiroshima
6.Miyajima
7.Etc.

Christmas. Honestly, the one time ive been 'homesick' since I've been here. This christmas eve was the first time i have ever been away from my family and i cant tell you how much i missed the food, the pine smells and the homemade pumpkin pie. So to counter my feelings of homesickness I decided to cook up a feast at my vacant apartment for some friends(if you recall, i have the place to myself for at least another week). on the menu: a whole roast chicken (cold because i dont have an oven or microwave), garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry salad, edamame(boiled soybeans in the pod which are sprikled with salt and eaten much like a pistacio or peanut. YUM!), broccoli, cheese and crackers, coconut rind dessert, and, drum roll, nachos.
all together it was a very filling meal, and all present, my japanese friend Kiyoe, my bostonian friend Niamh (pronounced like Kiev), and myself were bloated by the end of it. Gifts were given, and i gave out the 100 yen christmas pack that included rice cakes, chips, a small piece of chocolate and a model tank! no kidding. it wasnt home, but it really made me appreciate what i have and my family.

Osaka: on december 30 i traveled via Shinkansen (bullet train) to the third largest city in japan, osaka to tour the west and to visit fellow nova employee kristy. sidenote: the bullet train was fast, but way too expensive. a nice experience but i probably wont do it again. osaka is considered the boston to tokyo's newyork. Its actually much like a smaller tokyo but with a lot of foreigners. the company i work for, nova, was established in osaka. So truth be told, there isnt a huge amount to see. there are some cities close by(nara, kyoto,kobe) , which i didnt go to, that can make it a good base for travelers. The sites that i did see included osaka castle (a nice castle in the middle of town, destroyed and rebuilt many times, so now its made of ferro concrete), the minami shopping area (if you have some crazy neon views of japan,this area is one of them), the osaka aquarium (which houses a real whale shark, AWESOME!)and the most prominent shrine in osaka Sumiyoshi Taisha. for more info, go here: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2157.html

osaka is also famous for takoyaki, those octopus balls, which were great!

When in rome do as the romans do. when in japan on new years eve, do as the japanese do, which is go to a shrine and pray. Somehow, even though there was a large party with about 30 people going on, i convinced about 20 of them to go to the shrine with me (mainly because i didnt know how to get there). So onward we traveled to the sumiyoshi taisha shrine, and met with thousands of japanese. it was fun. at midnight all the people throw coins to the temple, so since we were in the middle of the crowd, we were pelted by dozens of 1 yen pieces (very light, so i'm ok). afterward we all got lost, my friend kristy dropped her phone in a toilet, so no one could contact her, i walked around for two hours with becky(kristy's flatmate) looking for the exit playing carnival type games along the way, talked to many japanese people and ate. alot. (maybe i drank some too, sake flowed freely) A good new years experience, one i surely wont forget.

Phew, only halfway done. sorry everyone, these stories only include about 15% of the story, i just cant type a novel in this short internet cafe time.

Japanese TV. this one will be short, but hopefully you can visualize, which will be funnier than a full explanation. new years day everything is closed, so japanese people sit at home, eat, relax and watch tv. Tv snipets (not a show, just about a 5-20 minute clip highlighting weird ars stuff) included: large breasted women in a contest to see who could fit the most UNDERNEATH their boobs (items included cans of beer, hotdogs and apples), a man who was forced to eat seaweed for two weeks and taunted frequently by his friends, kids driving their parents cars while the parents sat in the passenger seat hancuffed so they couldnt steer, little kids from nigeria nd northern canada (think eskimo) training to compete against each other in sumo competition, and countless others. this kind of crap is on all the time, ill tape it sometime and send it home.

hiroshima: humbling. after the new year kristy and i traveled to hiroshima (now a thriving city with over a million people)i couldnt beleieve that i was standing just a few meters from where the first atomic bomb was dropped. i didnt know how to feel, because less than 60 years before this place was literally on fire, killing over 150,000 in a few seconds. despite the massive destruction and loss of human life, the actual range of the destruction was much less than i had envisioned. hiroshima was chosen in part because the entire city center was within a 3 km area, the bomb hit almost in the middle of this area (exploding 600 meters above the ground) yet SOME people just 850 meters away survived (they did have radiation sickness but they lived for a while after the bombing). I cant really describe it. only a few (literally like 3)buildings in the city area survived, one of them is the a-bomb dome which is a shell(no one inside survived as it was just a few meters from the nomocenter). overall, while humbling and horrific, hiroshima is a good destination to see the efects of war. (two sidenotes: the people of hiroshima are now known throughout the country as some of the most peaceful in the world, writing countless letters every year to countries that have nuclear weapons to dismantle them. and two, while the devestation in hiroshima was terrible, today's bombs are over 100 times more powerful. think about it.

Miyajima: i cant write enough to give this small island about 30 minutes from hiroshima the credit it is due. Its beautiful (voted as one of the three most beautiful places in japan), sacred, quiet, and great for a long day trip. The island has mountains, monkeys, tame deer (which reach into pockets and eat things. where the heck did my map go?), and an awesome shrine. see: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3401.html

the Itsukushima shrine is built over the water, so when the tide comes in it looks like its floating. the Torii gate is also several meters off the shore, making it an amazing site. we spent the day on the island, shopped, went to the top of the mountain which offered panoramic views of the area, and fled the killer deer.

Etc...
-Is it a fashion faux pas to wear a faux leopard fur hat while wearing a faux zebra skin jacket? do the hat and jacket ever fight?
-sumo starts in a few days. YES!
-work is ok, but i havent worked much in the last week and a half.
-the youth 18 pass in japan is awesome! for 11500 yen you get 5 tickets, each worth one full day of unlimited rides on a JR line. the catch: you can only buy them three times a year
-im broke again
-no weird foods this week.
-i bought bull durham last week, ive now watched it 4 times. good considering that ive only been home two days since i bought it.
-why bull durham? it was better than the postman.
-i actually dont mind naato.
-it is the year of the cock by the chinese calendar
-im tired

take care.
scotto san