Had a good sleep, then a shower. Amble about having breakfast then I get a call from Mike at 10am to meet up at Shinjuku to say a final goodbye to Marc. We head to the bookshop again so that Marc can get the books that he wants…including ‘Captain Underpants’ what a cool name for a book!...then we go for lunch at a tempura restaurant. We sit at the counter, behind which there are about 4 tenpura chefs working away and behind them a tank full of prawns who are scuttling about at the bottom…while we are chatting away our chef suddenly pops two very bemused looking prawns on the counter just in front of us and says something in Japanese…I didn’t hear what he said but my instinctive reaction was to wave hello to the little prawns…Marc meanwhile was in midflow of talking and sonly realised the prawns were there just as they were being whisked away…anyway they came back half a minute later having been beheaded and tenpurified…they were sooooo tasty…not the nicest way to die for the prawn…but his demise was a very tasty one…well for we anyway. We also had squid, which was very fresh…I could tell because it didn’t have the consistency and taste of old rubber…Marc at some point managed to mistake the soy sauce pot (which looks much like a tea pot) for tea and proceeded to pour rather a lot of soy sauce in to his tea cup, much to Mike’s amusement, who saw exactly what was going on but had obviously decided that it was funnier to watch than to intervene…
A delicious lunch later, we headed off to Shinjuku station to put Marc on to the Narita express to the airport…
日曜日, 11月 26, 2006
土曜日, 11月 25, 2006
25th Nov 2006
Argh! Seemed to have ignored my alarm and woken up at 7am! So I’m late! Rush out of my room to meet Marc and Mike at Shinjuku. Ends up not being soo bad as they are a bit late too… We have breakfast at the station noodle bar which is almost as cheap as the university canteen…330 yen for a bowl of udon…
Then get on a train to Kamakura. The train is packed so we have to stand most of the way…however, when we do manage to get some seats Marc falls asleep within about 2mins of sitting down…poor guy hasn’t had much sleep…Mike and Marc have been staying up all hours catching up on the past 6years in which they have not seen each other…
When we get off the train we then go find the large buddha (see http://waywayinjapan.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html) Go walk around some temples. We even get to walk into the Buddha…for a sum of 10yen..which was fun…it was and empty Buddha…with people standing inside it obviously thinking ‘I’m inside a hollow Buddha…isn’t that nice…now how do I get out?’ anyway there was one tiny staircase to get both in and out of the Buddha…and that was just wide enough for one person to happily do that and there were people trying to get in and out at the same time through this space…so that was fun.
Mike buys some incense sticks to pray to the Buddha with, and I manage to offend…well…Buddha I guess by blowing on the incense to get it burning…although in true wayway style I was rather overly efficient at this and instead of burning like incense should it caught fire properly…ooops! Yeah, anyway apparently you shouldn’t blow on the incense to make it light…bad luck or something. We wonder around the grounds for a bit…very peaceful…
On the way to the next temple we stop off to buy some yam crisps (sweet and very nice) and some yam jelly (meant to be eaten with green tea) and look into a crazy souvenir/heavy weaponry shop…although I think most of it is for ‘displaying-on-your-wall-at-home’ purposes…which includes lots of knives swords and ninja stars…nice. There’s also a special ‘plum’ shop, which sells a range of things made from plums…kind of condiment for savoury foods…
We then walked to another temple, although I think this one was actually a Shinto temple rather than Buddhist…on the account that I didn’t see a giant Buddha. It had an amazing view of the town as it was high up on the hill.
We then get on a tram to Kanagawa and have lunch at a nice little restaurant. We had Japanese omelette which is veg and some meat (if you like) or seafood fried with egg on the hot plate in front of us. We also tried the non-eggy version which was just fried veg. I kept doing every thing wrong but is was fun to play with the spatulas any how…and it was sooo tasty. Will have to do it again.
After lunch we walk around to the island, this involved lots of stairs…and a nice temple at the top…we happened to see lots of eagles flying about overhead. Eventually we reach to beach and rest for a bit before taking the boat back towards the station to save us the walk.
We get to the station and buy tickets back to Tokyo but as we have to wait an hour for a train we go sit in a bar and have root beer. The train we got wasn’t any train…it was called the ‘romance car’!!! I have no idea why. Anyway we ate the yam jelly and yam crisps.
Back at Shinjuku we decide to go to dinner in Koenji to a flamenco bar that a guy that Mike knows owns. It’s tiny and packed (there are 3 birthdays going on there)The great thing is that we can see the owner (john) cooking! It’s great. We drink sangria and eat tapas…everyone is tired (particularly marc) but the food is amazing. Parma ham, chorizo, olives, burdock root, cockles, mushrooms stewed, hand baked bread sticks, duck and chicken terrine, chicken liver pate (soo smooth). Had some deep fried meat balls with aubergines, peppers, fresh tomatoes and handmade mayonnaise.
Then get on a train to Kamakura. The train is packed so we have to stand most of the way…however, when we do manage to get some seats Marc falls asleep within about 2mins of sitting down…poor guy hasn’t had much sleep…Mike and Marc have been staying up all hours catching up on the past 6years in which they have not seen each other…
When we get off the train we then go find the large buddha (see http://waywayinjapan.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html) Go walk around some temples. We even get to walk into the Buddha…for a sum of 10yen..which was fun…it was and empty Buddha…with people standing inside it obviously thinking ‘I’m inside a hollow Buddha…isn’t that nice…now how do I get out?’ anyway there was one tiny staircase to get both in and out of the Buddha…and that was just wide enough for one person to happily do that and there were people trying to get in and out at the same time through this space…so that was fun.
Mike buys some incense sticks to pray to the Buddha with, and I manage to offend…well…Buddha I guess by blowing on the incense to get it burning…although in true wayway style I was rather overly efficient at this and instead of burning like incense should it caught fire properly…ooops! Yeah, anyway apparently you shouldn’t blow on the incense to make it light…bad luck or something. We wonder around the grounds for a bit…very peaceful…
On the way to the next temple we stop off to buy some yam crisps (sweet and very nice) and some yam jelly (meant to be eaten with green tea) and look into a crazy souvenir/heavy weaponry shop…although I think most of it is for ‘displaying-on-your-wall-at-home’ purposes…which includes lots of knives swords and ninja stars…nice. There’s also a special ‘plum’ shop, which sells a range of things made from plums…kind of condiment for savoury foods…
We then walked to another temple, although I think this one was actually a Shinto temple rather than Buddhist…on the account that I didn’t see a giant Buddha. It had an amazing view of the town as it was high up on the hill.
We then get on a tram to Kanagawa and have lunch at a nice little restaurant. We had Japanese omelette which is veg and some meat (if you like) or seafood fried with egg on the hot plate in front of us. We also tried the non-eggy version which was just fried veg. I kept doing every thing wrong but is was fun to play with the spatulas any how…and it was sooo tasty. Will have to do it again.
After lunch we walk around to the island, this involved lots of stairs…and a nice temple at the top…we happened to see lots of eagles flying about overhead. Eventually we reach to beach and rest for a bit before taking the boat back towards the station to save us the walk.
We get to the station and buy tickets back to Tokyo but as we have to wait an hour for a train we go sit in a bar and have root beer. The train we got wasn’t any train…it was called the ‘romance car’!!! I have no idea why. Anyway we ate the yam jelly and yam crisps.
Back at Shinjuku we decide to go to dinner in Koenji to a flamenco bar that a guy that Mike knows owns. It’s tiny and packed (there are 3 birthdays going on there)The great thing is that we can see the owner (john) cooking! It’s great. We drink sangria and eat tapas…everyone is tired (particularly marc) but the food is amazing. Parma ham, chorizo, olives, burdock root, cockles, mushrooms stewed, hand baked bread sticks, duck and chicken terrine, chicken liver pate (soo smooth). Had some deep fried meat balls with aubergines, peppers, fresh tomatoes and handmade mayonnaise.
金曜日, 11月 24, 2006
24th Nov 2006
Just after finishing my Japanese lecture I get a call from Mike…well actually it’s mark on Mike’s phone…they apparently have just gotten up and are going for breakfast in Harajuku and suggest meeting at the station at 1pm.
We walk around the back streets to find a nice little restaurant Mike knows which sells tradiational japanese porriage dish…like water rice (congi) with egg and meat and veg. very tasty. We then take a walk towards Shinjuku park, past the 1964 olympic stadium. Unfortunately, one of the gates to the park is shut so we have to walk around to the other side. Wonder in there for a bit…very peacful…and has the equivalent to Kew Botanical Gardens there too…but it’s just shutting.
After wondering through the park we then walk around Shinjuku. We head to the nearest Tokyu Hands store. Tokyu Hands is a chain store which sells nearly everything under the sun…it’s the shop chain in which I found the dog nappies and this one has 7 odd floors of stuff…buy some weird sweets which look like a bento box. We then head to a big book shop with a large english novel collection. Then a sushi place in Shinjuku. It was Very cheap, small and had a conveyor belt. We tried sea urchin (specially ordered) and practically everything else there too. Under 1000yen (a fiver) for about 10 plates each. Genius.
Then walk to the station have a coffee (or a special green tea + tofu soya milk). Agree to meet at 8 the next morning at Shinjuku.
We walk around the back streets to find a nice little restaurant Mike knows which sells tradiational japanese porriage dish…like water rice (congi) with egg and meat and veg. very tasty. We then take a walk towards Shinjuku park, past the 1964 olympic stadium. Unfortunately, one of the gates to the park is shut so we have to walk around to the other side. Wonder in there for a bit…very peacful…and has the equivalent to Kew Botanical Gardens there too…but it’s just shutting.
After wondering through the park we then walk around Shinjuku. We head to the nearest Tokyu Hands store. Tokyu Hands is a chain store which sells nearly everything under the sun…it’s the shop chain in which I found the dog nappies and this one has 7 odd floors of stuff…buy some weird sweets which look like a bento box. We then head to a big book shop with a large english novel collection. Then a sushi place in Shinjuku. It was Very cheap, small and had a conveyor belt. We tried sea urchin (specially ordered) and practically everything else there too. Under 1000yen (a fiver) for about 10 plates each. Genius.
Then walk to the station have a coffee (or a special green tea + tofu soya milk). Agree to meet at 8 the next morning at Shinjuku.
木曜日, 11月 23, 2006
23rd Nov 2006
Haha! Today is a National Holiday. Hurrah!
Tried to do some coursework this morning … didn’t get much done. I am mainly waiting around my room because an Imperial College friend who moved to Australia 2 years ago is happening to visit Japan on some conference and is staying on a few more days to sightsee and see friends…well there’s only two of us here but hey.
I get a call from Mike, Marc’s friend, that he was waiting for Marc to turn up from Tsukuba where he was doing his conference thing. We decide we should meet up and wait for marc around Akihabara (apparently, Akiba, for short). So, at about 5pm, I make my way to Tokyo station…well yurakucho station (As it’s on my line) then give Mike a call and he manages to find me. We take a little walk from Tokyo station to Akiba from Yurakucho station…which doesn’t take more than 20 mins. Think I’ll have to spend some time getting lost in Tokyo some time so that I get more orientated so I don’t have to take the metro every where. Anyway we get to Akiba and find a coffee shop to sit in to wait for a call from Marc. The last that Mike heard is that he was made to give an impromtu lecture at round about 1pm…but it’s 7 something and we still haven’t heard anything. We continue to wait. At quarter past 8 Mike gets a call from Marc. Which he promtly hands to me and (as he legs it off to the loo) and I speak to a very confused marc who was obviously expecting mike. I don’t think it has really helped his day… I mention that it’s me (which calms him slightly) and we work out that he’ll be where we are in about an hour…so we continue to sit in the coffee shop (which weirdly seems to shut at about 9pm…because it’s a holiday apparently) and then walk a short walk to the station…and wait patiently at the gates for him.
Marc seems to have had a bit of a traumatic day. But he did win a prize and some yen to go with it to make up for it slightly…anyway from ticket buying to getting through ticket gates everything happens to be conspiring against him slightly…
We go for dinner…at ‘sky dog’ some kind of mythical creature in japanese mythology…have a big dinner…with sushi…and meat skewers. And a few beers…Mike kindly pays for the whole night…which is very nice…then we head home…
Tried to do some coursework this morning … didn’t get much done. I am mainly waiting around my room because an Imperial College friend who moved to Australia 2 years ago is happening to visit Japan on some conference and is staying on a few more days to sightsee and see friends…well there’s only two of us here but hey.
I get a call from Mike, Marc’s friend, that he was waiting for Marc to turn up from Tsukuba where he was doing his conference thing. We decide we should meet up and wait for marc around Akihabara (apparently, Akiba, for short). So, at about 5pm, I make my way to Tokyo station…well yurakucho station (As it’s on my line) then give Mike a call and he manages to find me. We take a little walk from Tokyo station to Akiba from Yurakucho station…which doesn’t take more than 20 mins. Think I’ll have to spend some time getting lost in Tokyo some time so that I get more orientated so I don’t have to take the metro every where. Anyway we get to Akiba and find a coffee shop to sit in to wait for a call from Marc. The last that Mike heard is that he was made to give an impromtu lecture at round about 1pm…but it’s 7 something and we still haven’t heard anything. We continue to wait. At quarter past 8 Mike gets a call from Marc. Which he promtly hands to me and (as he legs it off to the loo) and I speak to a very confused marc who was obviously expecting mike. I don’t think it has really helped his day… I mention that it’s me (which calms him slightly) and we work out that he’ll be where we are in about an hour…so we continue to sit in the coffee shop (which weirdly seems to shut at about 9pm…because it’s a holiday apparently) and then walk a short walk to the station…and wait patiently at the gates for him.
Marc seems to have had a bit of a traumatic day. But he did win a prize and some yen to go with it to make up for it slightly…anyway from ticket buying to getting through ticket gates everything happens to be conspiring against him slightly…
We go for dinner…at ‘sky dog’ some kind of mythical creature in japanese mythology…have a big dinner…with sushi…and meat skewers. And a few beers…Mike kindly pays for the whole night…which is very nice…then we head home…
土曜日, 11月 18, 2006
18th Nov 2006
I thought I’d find out how many people I could fit into 20m2 of room by inviting all the people I knew in Tokyo to a party in my room. It was also an excuse to show off the rather expensive speakers that I’d bought.
So I spent most of the morning faffing about cleaning and doing my laundry…and trying to find a cash machine to extract my money from the bank.
Anyway come 8pm people started arriving and people kept coming until about midnight…it was hilarious there was a ‘barman’ who was sorting out the alcholic drinkies by my microwave and people had brought food and drink…to be honest there was soo much chatting I don’t think anyone heard the speakers…
Most people had to leave for the last train at midnight but some people, who live in my building, stayed on ‘til the morning…we ended up talking about concrete…a downside of leaving three civil engineers in a room. More worryingly, I actually found it interesting.
Anyway I should really have counted the number of people that got into my room I think about 25…but I might just have to have another party to check…
So I spent most of the morning faffing about cleaning and doing my laundry…and trying to find a cash machine to extract my money from the bank.
Anyway come 8pm people started arriving and people kept coming until about midnight…it was hilarious there was a ‘barman’ who was sorting out the alcholic drinkies by my microwave and people had brought food and drink…to be honest there was soo much chatting I don’t think anyone heard the speakers…
Most people had to leave for the last train at midnight but some people, who live in my building, stayed on ‘til the morning…we ended up talking about concrete…a downside of leaving three civil engineers in a room. More worryingly, I actually found it interesting.
Anyway I should really have counted the number of people that got into my room I think about 25…but I might just have to have another party to check…
火曜日, 11月 14, 2006
ooops
well...i managed to set up two blog accounts in google because it wouldn't let me sign in...not my fault honest...anyway i've put some photos up in http://waywayinjapan.blogspot.com if you're interested...
The majority...well all the blogs are still on myspace http://blog.myspace.com/81363346 so feel free to have a look...
not sure if i can be bothered to move everything over here...not sure if it's worth it... i shall have a little ponder...
enjoy my little pyramid of piffle...
The majority...well all the blogs are still on myspace http://blog.myspace.com/81363346 so feel free to have a look...
not sure if i can be bothered to move everything over here...not sure if it's worth it... i shall have a little ponder...
enjoy my little pyramid of piffle...
日曜日, 11月 12, 2006
12th Nov 2006
Woke up at a crazy time of 430am this morning…I knew I'd be much slower than normal this early to get ready to leave the house by 6am…Stupidly I went to bed at about 1…trying to arrange my packed lunch for the adventure ahead.
Fool.
Anyway, I set up my camelbak, pack my lunch, shoes, harness and everything I think I could need for a day trip. It's rather cold out, so I put on the 5 million layers that I bought yesterday…
Oh yeah, yesterday, I made an attempt to prepare for today and looked for some non jeansy trousers that would be good for outdoor stuff…walking and climbing…something that wouldn't weigh a ton when/if it got wet…This mission didn't go so well…mainly because I refused to go anywhere but Muji and UniQlo…which are the cheapest places I know of. So, no trousers….but I did buy some thermal leggings (1000yen – ahhhh cheapness….) from Uniqlo and then some stripy leggings from Muji for 1050yen…which sorted out my fashion and coldness issue for Yugawara…
So, I'm now wearing thermal leggings, stripy leggings, baggy shorts, my thermal skin layer, t-shirt and a hoodie…and a scarf and a woolly tea-cosy on my head (sorry, hat). And get a ridiculously early train to Tokyo station…which got me there much earlier than I needed…the train leaves at 724 and I was there at about 10 to 7. so it's all good…much better than being late! It wasn't actually as hard as it could have been to find the right platform…which was wonderful…as it actually gave me time to buy a ticket…
I get on the train and make my way to the front of the carriage where we agreed to meet everyone else…at Yokohama, Annalisa gets on and we find the french guy (greg). Who was told to look for two asian girls talking in english…that wasn't too hard…
The train ride is about 1.5 hours…I have a little nap…and wake to find that Rei has appeared! Hurrah! The group is nearly complete… unfortunately an american girl (a friend of the french dude) just missed the train by a minute…(at yokohama) and so can't make it…
We get to Yugawara and get a taxi to the nearest crag, where Bill said he'd meet us. Bill had taken the FIRST train (which left at about the time I got up) to get some routes in before we got there…
I should really explain…none of us have any gear…and Bill has kindly agreed to come out with two ropes, his quickdraws and guide books just so that we can climb! How nice is that?
So he'd been self belaying off top ropes all morning…waiting for us to get there.
It's Crazy there are sooo many people here…several classes are going on…apparently this is the busiest Bill has EVER seen it…it is the start of the season and I guess it was raining yesterday, which may have made people reschedule to today… anyway we get a few routes in…I'm really happy because I actually lead a couple of things…
We then move on to small crag further up the mountain…which is overrun by children and parents on some kind of climbing deathwish… I have lunch perched on a rock and observe some of the WORST belaying and organisation of climbing EVER. It was painful to watch…who ever was meant to be supervising the group was doing a god-aweful job…or he/she was just trying to kill all of them…
I was told that some of the other climbers had been subjected to half an hour of screaming by a boy who was stuck halfway up the wall…who refused to go either up or down. They tried to coach him down from the ground, they sent up one of the supervisiors…then finally sent up his mother… FUN! Think it was driving everyone else mad…
Anyway these crazy people had about 5 ropes (top ropes) through one chain…and all five ropes in use at the same time…with children climbing past other children whilst some were being lowered onto others heads…being belayed by other small children who had no idea what they were doing being supervised by mothers who had about as much knowledge of belaying as a snake has about tying shoelaces. There was a horrensous amount of death-defying slack invovled…
We had to leave after climbing one climb so that we wouldn't watch anyone die. Argh…they just didn't realsise how serious the whole situation was…FOOLS.
We then move on to the last crag of the day…which is nicer and quieter…but with the most painful rock ever….the limestone is very sharp. Infact my problem wasn't the smallness of the holds….they were fine…it was the intense pain involved in having all your weight on sharp pointy bits of rock which were trying their best to work their way into your blood stream…anyway it hurt…but still managed to finish which was nice…
We saunter down the mountain…it's getting dark and Bill calls a taxi to get us back to the station…which takes rather a while to arrive. Most likely due to the number of climbers who have also called it a day and are trying to make it back home… on the bright side ours gets here first and we pile in…get to the station, buy tickets…with just enough time for everyone to grab a beer or snack from the combini and leg it on to the train…which arrives on the platform just as we are getting to the platform…
So. It's beer and snacks on the way back. Unfortunately, as I'm on antibiotics, there's no beer or brandy for me! Apparently, they have a tradition of beer (and brandy and chocolates) on the train ride back…which sounds good to me! There is also a bit of pull-up action on the train hand rails…which is a little dubious because we are in the carrage RIGHT behind the driver…and apparently they have been nearly thrown off the train before for trying to boulder all the way around the carriage…
All in all, an excellent day…with only a little rain at the beginning but the sun really warmed things up…I'm tired and drag myself home to have a nice hot shower and enjoy my bed…
Even better, I get intercepted by a girl on my floor who seems to have made too much food and forces some of it on me! Great!...i was just about to make some boring instant noodles… so that sorts out my food problems! And I get to try some phillapino food…:D
Fool.
Anyway, I set up my camelbak, pack my lunch, shoes, harness and everything I think I could need for a day trip. It's rather cold out, so I put on the 5 million layers that I bought yesterday…
Oh yeah, yesterday, I made an attempt to prepare for today and looked for some non jeansy trousers that would be good for outdoor stuff…walking and climbing…something that wouldn't weigh a ton when/if it got wet…This mission didn't go so well…mainly because I refused to go anywhere but Muji and UniQlo…which are the cheapest places I know of. So, no trousers….but I did buy some thermal leggings (1000yen – ahhhh cheapness….) from Uniqlo and then some stripy leggings from Muji for 1050yen…which sorted out my fashion and coldness issue for Yugawara…
So, I'm now wearing thermal leggings, stripy leggings, baggy shorts, my thermal skin layer, t-shirt and a hoodie…and a scarf and a woolly tea-cosy on my head (sorry, hat). And get a ridiculously early train to Tokyo station…which got me there much earlier than I needed…the train leaves at 724 and I was there at about 10 to 7. so it's all good…much better than being late! It wasn't actually as hard as it could have been to find the right platform…which was wonderful…as it actually gave me time to buy a ticket…
I get on the train and make my way to the front of the carriage where we agreed to meet everyone else…at Yokohama, Annalisa gets on and we find the french guy (greg). Who was told to look for two asian girls talking in english…that wasn't too hard…
The train ride is about 1.5 hours…I have a little nap…and wake to find that Rei has appeared! Hurrah! The group is nearly complete… unfortunately an american girl (a friend of the french dude) just missed the train by a minute…(at yokohama) and so can't make it…
We get to Yugawara and get a taxi to the nearest crag, where Bill said he'd meet us. Bill had taken the FIRST train (which left at about the time I got up) to get some routes in before we got there…
I should really explain…none of us have any gear…and Bill has kindly agreed to come out with two ropes, his quickdraws and guide books just so that we can climb! How nice is that?
So he'd been self belaying off top ropes all morning…waiting for us to get there.
It's Crazy there are sooo many people here…several classes are going on…apparently this is the busiest Bill has EVER seen it…it is the start of the season and I guess it was raining yesterday, which may have made people reschedule to today… anyway we get a few routes in…I'm really happy because I actually lead a couple of things…
We then move on to small crag further up the mountain…which is overrun by children and parents on some kind of climbing deathwish… I have lunch perched on a rock and observe some of the WORST belaying and organisation of climbing EVER. It was painful to watch…who ever was meant to be supervising the group was doing a god-aweful job…or he/she was just trying to kill all of them…
I was told that some of the other climbers had been subjected to half an hour of screaming by a boy who was stuck halfway up the wall…who refused to go either up or down. They tried to coach him down from the ground, they sent up one of the supervisiors…then finally sent up his mother… FUN! Think it was driving everyone else mad…
Anyway these crazy people had about 5 ropes (top ropes) through one chain…and all five ropes in use at the same time…with children climbing past other children whilst some were being lowered onto others heads…being belayed by other small children who had no idea what they were doing being supervised by mothers who had about as much knowledge of belaying as a snake has about tying shoelaces. There was a horrensous amount of death-defying slack invovled…
We had to leave after climbing one climb so that we wouldn't watch anyone die. Argh…they just didn't realsise how serious the whole situation was…FOOLS.
We then move on to the last crag of the day…which is nicer and quieter…but with the most painful rock ever….the limestone is very sharp. Infact my problem wasn't the smallness of the holds….they were fine…it was the intense pain involved in having all your weight on sharp pointy bits of rock which were trying their best to work their way into your blood stream…anyway it hurt…but still managed to finish which was nice…
We saunter down the mountain…it's getting dark and Bill calls a taxi to get us back to the station…which takes rather a while to arrive. Most likely due to the number of climbers who have also called it a day and are trying to make it back home… on the bright side ours gets here first and we pile in…get to the station, buy tickets…with just enough time for everyone to grab a beer or snack from the combini and leg it on to the train…which arrives on the platform just as we are getting to the platform…
So. It's beer and snacks on the way back. Unfortunately, as I'm on antibiotics, there's no beer or brandy for me! Apparently, they have a tradition of beer (and brandy and chocolates) on the train ride back…which sounds good to me! There is also a bit of pull-up action on the train hand rails…which is a little dubious because we are in the carrage RIGHT behind the driver…and apparently they have been nearly thrown off the train before for trying to boulder all the way around the carriage…
All in all, an excellent day…with only a little rain at the beginning but the sun really warmed things up…I'm tired and drag myself home to have a nice hot shower and enjoy my bed…
Even better, I get intercepted by a girl on my floor who seems to have made too much food and forces some of it on me! Great!...i was just about to make some boring instant noodles… so that sorts out my food problems! And I get to try some phillapino food…:D
土曜日, 11月 11, 2006
11th Nov 2006
I couldn't cope much longer…I gave in and made a roast…this turned a little in to a kitchen specatcle where other people on my floor watched in amusement at my attempts to cook. Anyway, didn't find any joints but I did finally manage to find lamb…they only seem to have pork, beef and chicken here (and weird fish – which I don't know how to cook…I'm going to have to interrogate some of the people who have lived here a little longer to find out…
Anyway, full on roast potatoes, yams, carrot, aubergine, courgette, peppers and lamb…was great…for me anyway…
So with the vast quantities of left over stuff I made a roast veg sandwich for lunch…mmmmm….
Anyway, full on roast potatoes, yams, carrot, aubergine, courgette, peppers and lamb…was great…for me anyway…
So with the vast quantities of left over stuff I made a roast veg sandwich for lunch…mmmmm….
木曜日, 11月 09, 2006
39.1 degrees
39.1º. Apparently, that was my temperature when I went to see the doctor…something tells me I might have a fever…I thought I was just feeling a little warm... oops! Anyway I'm not feeling too good, last night I was shivering and my whole body ached with some extra garnish of pain in my left kidney type area…not so good…hot shower helped a bit. Went to bed then this morning woke up in a sweat…tried going in to college, which was a bit of a mission. Walking very slowly because everything hurt – ignoring the pain yesterday was easier. Today not so easy to ignore. So went into college…was going to try and go to the health centre before Japanese class, but it doesn't open until 10am then shuts from 12 – 1330 for lunch…so sat in my Japanese class for the first hour then gave up and found Seda and we went to the health centre together…had some interesting language issues, had no idea what they wanted…they took some details gave me a card and took my temperature…which was a bit on the high side…saw the doctor, who's English wasn't too bad. Anyway after some poking he prescribed me antibiotics and pain killers because despite the painkillers ability to mask actual illness my temp was soo high and the amount of discomfort I was in, he said I should take them anyway…dragged myself back here to have lunch and take the medicine slept…the fever went down but now it seems to be back up… I don't think that this is a good thing…might have to go in tomorrow to see the doctor again if it's still like this…hmmmm, fun!
水曜日, 11月 08, 2006
8th Nov 2006
Was stopped by a police man on my way to the metro platform this morning…asking me something I couldn't understand!!! Apparently this isn't normal…well that was what I was told by the Japanese…still have no idea what the police man wanted…anyway I showed him my college ID, he said to me 'shimu san?' I went 'hai' and he said (well pointed) that I could continue… I have no idea why he stopped me…odd…anyway the speaker system that I bought is arriving today…so that's exciting…went into my early (830) lecture then Japanese class then went home to wait for the delivery…and waited, and waited. It was 1630 and I was getting fidgety…so went downstairs to check that it hadn't already been dropped off in one of the parcel boxes…Nope. Nothing there but junk mail…so just as I'm about to leave to flat to go to climbing. The door bell rings! Hurrah! I now have I hifi system…I couldn't possibly leave the box with all the speakers trapped inside so I open the box and liberate the contents…and set about setting the stuff up. I guess I could have left so that I would have gotten to the gym at 6pm…but I'm kinda aching so I don't think my climbing will be all that good today anyway…So I hurriedly assemble the stuff…plug things in…and make an effort to guess which plugs go where. Progress is slightly impeded by everything being in Japanese which is a challenge…but all good fun!
Dinner after climbing was good, food tasted a bit too salty which was weird but we had some interesting conversations about panda porn and whether we could apply the same idea to tuna so that we still have more tuna to eat…could be interesting…
anyway i can't write anymore, my painkillers seem to be wearing off...better have another sleep...apologies for the sporadic posting!
Dinner after climbing was good, food tasted a bit too salty which was weird but we had some interesting conversations about panda porn and whether we could apply the same idea to tuna so that we still have more tuna to eat…could be interesting…
anyway i can't write anymore, my painkillers seem to be wearing off...better have another sleep...apologies for the sporadic posting!
月曜日, 11月 06, 2006
6th Nov 2006
Monday 6th November
If in doubt, add an O on the end of a word and the japanese are more likely to understand you… this only really applies to words which end with a consonant which isn't M or N. I discovered this whilst trying to buy a large piece of dowel which I wanted to have cut in half.
Why was I buying dowel?
Well I decided that my speakers needed speaker stands (the ones at the back any way) and I couldn't find any to buy so I thought I'd make them…found some pre-cut circles of wood and some thinner hexagonal along with 4 pole ends…the screws which came with them were a little too long for the hexagons so I bought some smaller screws too…then the getting the connecting pole was interesting because the ones by the pole ends that I bought were all too heavy…walking around I eventually found some wooden dowel (slightly wrong diameter…but that's ok). I went to the desk to get it cut…much to the confusion of the staff…it only costs 30yen for a cut! Anyway trying to explain I wanted the thing cut in half was interesting…but 'cutto ban' seemed to work because I came back and there were the two halves of wood waiting for me.
So I get the stuff back home and make my stands…but I needed to wedge the pole in because they were 2mm thinner than the holders..so used some left over felt…seemed to work. But I don't think it will be very safe in an earthquake…definitely just topple over with the speaker on…oh well. I'm sure it will cope.
If in doubt, add an O on the end of a word and the japanese are more likely to understand you… this only really applies to words which end with a consonant which isn't M or N. I discovered this whilst trying to buy a large piece of dowel which I wanted to have cut in half.
Why was I buying dowel?
Well I decided that my speakers needed speaker stands (the ones at the back any way) and I couldn't find any to buy so I thought I'd make them…found some pre-cut circles of wood and some thinner hexagonal along with 4 pole ends…the screws which came with them were a little too long for the hexagons so I bought some smaller screws too…then the getting the connecting pole was interesting because the ones by the pole ends that I bought were all too heavy…walking around I eventually found some wooden dowel (slightly wrong diameter…but that's ok). I went to the desk to get it cut…much to the confusion of the staff…it only costs 30yen for a cut! Anyway trying to explain I wanted the thing cut in half was interesting…but 'cutto ban' seemed to work because I came back and there were the two halves of wood waiting for me.
So I get the stuff back home and make my stands…but I needed to wedge the pole in because they were 2mm thinner than the holders..so used some left over felt…seemed to work. But I don't think it will be very safe in an earthquake…definitely just topple over with the speaker on…oh well. I'm sure it will cope.
日曜日, 11月 05, 2006
5th Nov 2006
Whilst on my way to buying junk at the 100yen shop saw some Japanese (?) dancing on the promenade outside the shopping centre. There were ladies dressed in what looked like Japanese style dressing gowns (I'm sure they weren't dressing gowns but they weren't kimonos…) with some sort of maracas…a wooden clapping device they move in time to the music with…there was also a very impressive martial arts type dance routine made up of girls wearing very skimpy crop tops hot pants and boy mainly topless (even the younger ones) wearing black trousers and some black waistband-cummerbund thing…which did just make them look like they'd pulled their trousers up to their nipples. Anyway large age range…OOooOoooh and there were two larger guys at the back waving the largest flags you have EVER seen… with Japanese on them. It looked like a lot of effort to get the kind of whooshing affect they were achieving… one of them had two mega flags attached to him. They looked ridiculously heavy… felt quite sorry for him actually…looked rather weighed down by it…anyway the whole troupe were running about doing some weird moves with nun-chucks and other things, generally kicking about and thrusting fists…etc.. a good show me thinks…
土曜日, 11月 04, 2006
4th Nov 2006
ahhh...bought a 5.1 dolby surround thingy...impulse buy...could have bought something far cheaper...but it looked sooo pretty!
金曜日, 11月 03, 2006
3rd Nov 2006
Met an American girl at a party and she invited me to the cinema in maihama…which isn't too far from where I live…but despite this I was still late…and the cinema was at the entrance to Disney land here…anyway we had some really nice dinner…I had a chicken and pineapple burger with actual chips! Was amazing to taste something that wasn't oriental for a change…think that was the first time in a month! Craziness. It's very tacky where we went, probably because it's owned by Disney and they try to make everything 'nice' we ate at a restaurant on a fake outdoor street…with neon signs lining up everywhere and a painted ceiling…it was weird…
The movie was cool, although I'm sure we all looked like idiots sitting there with out 3D glasses on. A fetching green. Obviously not designed for fashion purposes. The glasses clearly stated that they wouldn't protect against UV radiation…just in case you felt the urge to wear them outside the confines of the cinema as part of some crazy fashion statement…god knows.
The movie we saw was 'the nightmare before christmas' there is a crazy amount of marketing over there…sooo many things you can buy, also have a lot of pirates of the Caribbean things…lots of small jack sparrows to adorn you phone or key chain…
Today I have also seen a lot of young girls dressed up in kimonos…apparently, the culture day (the holiday that we just had) is some sort of coming of age day for kids…7-8 yrs for girls and a bit younger for boys…think the boys get dressed up too. But think they just looked like they were training for some kind of fight…with a head band…
The movie was cool, although I'm sure we all looked like idiots sitting there with out 3D glasses on. A fetching green. Obviously not designed for fashion purposes. The glasses clearly stated that they wouldn't protect against UV radiation…just in case you felt the urge to wear them outside the confines of the cinema as part of some crazy fashion statement…god knows.
The movie we saw was 'the nightmare before christmas' there is a crazy amount of marketing over there…sooo many things you can buy, also have a lot of pirates of the Caribbean things…lots of small jack sparrows to adorn you phone or key chain…
Today I have also seen a lot of young girls dressed up in kimonos…apparently, the culture day (the holiday that we just had) is some sort of coming of age day for kids…7-8 yrs for girls and a bit younger for boys…think the boys get dressed up too. But think they just looked like they were training for some kind of fight…with a head band…
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