Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Scott in Japan
And then there was one...
James and Dave have packed it in 2 weeks early and left me all alone in big scary Japan. I think maybe they weren't quite ready for a month long adventure. There is a big difference between 'vacation' and 'travel'. Japan falls into the category of 'travel': no sleeping, 1 meal a day (with Pocari Sweat and vitamin supplements to keep you alive), living out of suitcase and drinking yourself to sleep every night. Wonder if this has anything to do with the cough I've had for the past 2 weeks...
Whatever, F**k it!
We should have done far more pre-planning if we were going to vacation. I also think throwing them into the Insolence music tour was probably a bit jarring. Aside from 'travel' Japan is also a job for me. I'm being paid to work all night, attend never ending after parties, and travel from city to city. I'm sure it makes it a bit more tolerable when someone else is footing the bill.
However, I'm glad they came. Ever since we all went our separate ways after school in Vancouver, it's always been good times when we get back together. JAM's drunken crowd surf during the 10-FEET set, getting lost in Fukuoka during the monsoon, the "Night of No Hotels", the first night in Ikebukuro, eating yakitori with Ichi's family in a mountain top 'cabin' and the monkey onsen in Nagano are some great new memories to add to our collection. I can't wait for our next adventure. Maybe scale it down to 2 weeks? We are getting too old and cranky for a month on the road with each other!
So what's Japan like on my own? Well I spend far less time waiting outside of 2nd hand smoke filled McDonalds and far more time eating curry. I also spent 1 day in Tokyo/Chiba where I only spoke Japanese, well mostly, probably... I dunno it felt that way. Wandered the subways shooting various parts of Tokyo, ate 1 meal at a convenience store where you can escape with a simple 'arigato', and another at a ramen shop in Chiba where Dave, JAM, and myself had eaten a couple nights before. “Seto C o kudasai”.
The next morning I trained it out to Kyoto where I spent a few hours checking out the local cherry blossoms an old castle wall, and Kyoto tower, a glorified TV/ radio antenna. After that, took the shinkansen to Osaka, hopped on the subway, and like 4 other trains before making my way to small station near Nara, called Ikoma. Ikoma is the home town of one my Japanese buddy named Uchida aka Ucchan. I met Ucchan while on tour with Insolence last summer, and he served as their tech for this tour as well. He’s a rad guy and offered to let me stay at his place for a few nights. He pretty much has a whole 2 story house his parents left him when they moved, so it’s got more than enough room. I coined his house the “Powerslave HoteRU”, because all the bands on Powerslave Records (Insolence, Zeromind, Flametal etc) seem to end up spending a few nights there while on tour in Japan. He’s got a ton of signed tour posters of all the bands that have crashed his house, including Agnostic Front. That’s pretty hardcore, no way I’d let them in my house.
I arrived pretty late so I figured we’d just crash out. Wrong. His old friend Kenji came by, along with a 6 pack of tall Asahi. Even with Dave and JAM gone I still find myself drinking every night. My poor liver.
The next morning, I took advantage of the no check out time and slept in pretty late. Ucchan knows I’m down with trying new Japanese food, so he took me to his local okonimiyaki spot. I’ve heard it described as a Japanese pizza, but it’s more a of wheat omelet/ pancake. It was mighty tasty, I chose one mixed with squid and veggies.
After that we drove over to a few famous shrines near Kyoto. Unfortunately it was a Saturday and peak sakura (cherry blossom) season so the traffic both on foot and on the road was insane. Had to bail pretty early, because we had a dinner date with my future wife Masumi-san.
Ucchan works for a local Nara television station as assistant camera and Japanese hospitality dictates that when your gaijin friend is in town, everyone wants to feed you and get you drunk. Masumi is a Nara newscaster who works with Ucchan. She graciously invited us over for a home cooked meal. Fresh sashimi, hijeki (cucumber salad), and the best wine I have ever tasted. This stuff was from Kumamoto and tasted like purple drink. I was a bit suspect at the alcohol content, but after filling every awkward language caused pause with a sip from the glass, I realized I was pretty buzzed. It was a great night, we all just chilled out, listened to music and drank alcoholic kool-aid. Masumi’s food was amazing , she's in the TV biz, she speaks a lot of English, travels and likes the movie “No Country for Old Men”, so I was totally smitten. At the end of the night she offered to take us to Todaiji Temple the next day, saying she had a friend that worked there.
Next day we met Masumi for lunch, then headed over to Todaiji Temple, one of the most famous and popular such sites in Japan. We walked around taking pictures and petting the local shrine deer. I made all the locals laugh by naming the deer my favorite Japanese meat dishes like ‘sashimi’ and ‘basashi’ (raw horse meat). We soon made our way to the temple entrance and Masumi jumped on the cell to call her friend. I figured someone in the ticket booth would come out and maybe let us in for free or something to that extent. To my surprise a monk comes walking up and introduces himself. After a quick translation about not shooting video inside the inner sanctum, we were escorted into a tourist free area along the flanks of the temple courtyard. I felt like I was in a historic drama, with sakura blossoms falling like snow as we walked down a long outdoor hallway.
We soon arrived at the main temple and we quickly bypassed the line of normal tourists. As we approached a set of stairs the monk gave us all green sashes, loaded with gold kanji to wear. I didn’t ask, but I assume they were sort of Buddha ‘backstage passes’, allowing us to transgress upon the inner sanctum without setting off the ancient and magical booby traps set millions of years ago by a powerful faction of shinobi monk warriors. The monk soon told me about the temple burning down not all that long ago and having to be re-built with government money. I wanted to ask how much magical traps, walls that shoot arrows, and statues that come to life cost as a security system but he spoke very little English. At this point I decided that my parents should not have let me watch Indiana Jones some much growing up.
The rest of the backstage Buddha trip was very cool and very awe inspiring. The monk toured us around detailing the height and weight of the massive bronze Buddha, as well as many other facts about the site. As we finished the tour and came to the exit, we came upon a giant incense burner and he indicated a spot to give a quick prayer before passing. He asked if I had any reservation about doing so. As a firm agnostic, I’ve always had a problem with the way most organized religions are used. However Shinto and Buddhism seem a bit more personal and spiritual to me than most of the other major religions, so out of respect and thanks for the great experience joined Ucchan, Masumi, and the monk in a quick prayer.
After leaving the temple Masumi walked us up the hill toward another temple that over looks all of Kyoto for an epic sunset. We parted ways with Masumi, guess I’ll propose on my next visit to Nara, and headed to the Ucchan’s parent house for another home cooked meal. Ucchan’s mom cooked us the last nabe of the season (usually eaten in winter), which is big stew of shrimp, chicken, beef, veggies and other tasty thingies. You drop in the ingredient and let them boil in front of you, then pluck them out with your chopsticks.
Perfect end to a great day.
But then Kenji showed with more beer. I may not survive the rest of this trip.
James and Dave have packed it in 2 weeks early and left me all alone in big scary Japan. I think maybe they weren't quite ready for a month long adventure. There is a big difference between 'vacation' and 'travel'. Japan falls into the category of 'travel': no sleeping, 1 meal a day (with Pocari Sweat and vitamin supplements to keep you alive), living out of suitcase and drinking yourself to sleep every night. Wonder if this has anything to do with the cough I've had for the past 2 weeks...
Whatever, F**k it!
We should have done far more pre-planning if we were going to vacation. I also think throwing them into the Insolence music tour was probably a bit jarring. Aside from 'travel' Japan is also a job for me. I'm being paid to work all night, attend never ending after parties, and travel from city to city. I'm sure it makes it a bit more tolerable when someone else is footing the bill.
However, I'm glad they came. Ever since we all went our separate ways after school in Vancouver, it's always been good times when we get back together. JAM's drunken crowd surf during the 10-FEET set, getting lost in Fukuoka during the monsoon, the "Night of No Hotels", the first night in Ikebukuro, eating yakitori with Ichi's family in a mountain top 'cabin' and the monkey onsen in Nagano are some great new memories to add to our collection. I can't wait for our next adventure. Maybe scale it down to 2 weeks? We are getting too old and cranky for a month on the road with each other!
So what's Japan like on my own? Well I spend far less time waiting outside of 2nd hand smoke filled McDonalds and far more time eating curry. I also spent 1 day in Tokyo/Chiba where I only spoke Japanese, well mostly, probably... I dunno it felt that way. Wandered the subways shooting various parts of Tokyo, ate 1 meal at a convenience store where you can escape with a simple 'arigato', and another at a ramen shop in Chiba where Dave, JAM, and myself had eaten a couple nights before. “Seto C o kudasai”.
The next morning I trained it out to Kyoto where I spent a few hours checking out the local cherry blossoms an old castle wall, and Kyoto tower, a glorified TV/ radio antenna. After that, took the shinkansen to Osaka, hopped on the subway, and like 4 other trains before making my way to small station near Nara, called Ikoma. Ikoma is the home town of one my Japanese buddy named Uchida aka Ucchan. I met Ucchan while on tour with Insolence last summer, and he served as their tech for this tour as well. He’s a rad guy and offered to let me stay at his place for a few nights. He pretty much has a whole 2 story house his parents left him when they moved, so it’s got more than enough room. I coined his house the “Powerslave HoteRU”, because all the bands on Powerslave Records (Insolence, Zeromind, Flametal etc) seem to end up spending a few nights there while on tour in Japan. He’s got a ton of signed tour posters of all the bands that have crashed his house, including Agnostic Front. That’s pretty hardcore, no way I’d let them in my house.
I arrived pretty late so I figured we’d just crash out. Wrong. His old friend Kenji came by, along with a 6 pack of tall Asahi. Even with Dave and JAM gone I still find myself drinking every night. My poor liver.
The next morning, I took advantage of the no check out time and slept in pretty late. Ucchan knows I’m down with trying new Japanese food, so he took me to his local okonimiyaki spot. I’ve heard it described as a Japanese pizza, but it’s more a of wheat omelet/ pancake. It was mighty tasty, I chose one mixed with squid and veggies.
After that we drove over to a few famous shrines near Kyoto. Unfortunately it was a Saturday and peak sakura (cherry blossom) season so the traffic both on foot and on the road was insane. Had to bail pretty early, because we had a dinner date with my future wife Masumi-san.
Ucchan works for a local Nara television station as assistant camera and Japanese hospitality dictates that when your gaijin friend is in town, everyone wants to feed you and get you drunk. Masumi is a Nara newscaster who works with Ucchan. She graciously invited us over for a home cooked meal. Fresh sashimi, hijeki (cucumber salad), and the best wine I have ever tasted. This stuff was from Kumamoto and tasted like purple drink. I was a bit suspect at the alcohol content, but after filling every awkward language caused pause with a sip from the glass, I realized I was pretty buzzed. It was a great night, we all just chilled out, listened to music and drank alcoholic kool-aid. Masumi’s food was amazing , she's in the TV biz, she speaks a lot of English, travels and likes the movie “No Country for Old Men”, so I was totally smitten. At the end of the night she offered to take us to Todaiji Temple the next day, saying she had a friend that worked there.
Next day we met Masumi for lunch, then headed over to Todaiji Temple, one of the most famous and popular such sites in Japan. We walked around taking pictures and petting the local shrine deer. I made all the locals laugh by naming the deer my favorite Japanese meat dishes like ‘sashimi’ and ‘basashi’ (raw horse meat). We soon made our way to the temple entrance and Masumi jumped on the cell to call her friend. I figured someone in the ticket booth would come out and maybe let us in for free or something to that extent. To my surprise a monk comes walking up and introduces himself. After a quick translation about not shooting video inside the inner sanctum, we were escorted into a tourist free area along the flanks of the temple courtyard. I felt like I was in a historic drama, with sakura blossoms falling like snow as we walked down a long outdoor hallway.
We soon arrived at the main temple and we quickly bypassed the line of normal tourists. As we approached a set of stairs the monk gave us all green sashes, loaded with gold kanji to wear. I didn’t ask, but I assume they were sort of Buddha ‘backstage passes’, allowing us to transgress upon the inner sanctum without setting off the ancient and magical booby traps set millions of years ago by a powerful faction of shinobi monk warriors. The monk soon told me about the temple burning down not all that long ago and having to be re-built with government money. I wanted to ask how much magical traps, walls that shoot arrows, and statues that come to life cost as a security system but he spoke very little English. At this point I decided that my parents should not have let me watch Indiana Jones some much growing up.
The rest of the backstage Buddha trip was very cool and very awe inspiring. The monk toured us around detailing the height and weight of the massive bronze Buddha, as well as many other facts about the site. As we finished the tour and came to the exit, we came upon a giant incense burner and he indicated a spot to give a quick prayer before passing. He asked if I had any reservation about doing so. As a firm agnostic, I’ve always had a problem with the way most organized religions are used. However Shinto and Buddhism seem a bit more personal and spiritual to me than most of the other major religions, so out of respect and thanks for the great experience joined Ucchan, Masumi, and the monk in a quick prayer.
After leaving the temple Masumi walked us up the hill toward another temple that over looks all of Kyoto for an epic sunset. We parted ways with Masumi, guess I’ll propose on my next visit to Nara, and headed to the Ucchan’s parent house for another home cooked meal. Ucchan’s mom cooked us the last nabe of the season (usually eaten in winter), which is big stew of shrimp, chicken, beef, veggies and other tasty thingies. You drop in the ingredient and let them boil in front of you, then pluck them out with your chopsticks.
Perfect end to a great day.
But then Kenji showed with more beer. I may not survive the rest of this trip.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Monkey Onsen...
So the morning after that terrible aforementioned night at the bar. We all headed out to Yamanouchi, an hour outside Nagano. We arrive in this town made popular for it's abundance of onsen or hot springs. While spending a leisurely day soaking in a boiling natural spring sounded great after a long night leaning over the toilet. I found myself soon hiking up a muddy snowy mountain path, fully loaded with all my camera gear. Awesome...
As we come around a bend in the path, a small river side village, cut straight from the side of the mountain becomes visible, with steam rising from countless vents and cracks in the all wooden buildings. Rope bridges criss crossing the raging river below. This place looked like something out of fantasy film. I started internally humming the theme to Willow in my head, but I'm a huge nerd like that. Anyways...
Soon, we spot something moving amongst the the fantasy village. Small, fury... not human. Sweet jebus we found a village inhabited my Japanese snow monkeys! As I wiped the tears of joy away from my eyes, which still smelled of gin btw, and was about to throw my passport into the river, renounce my nationality and join this advanced snow monkey utopia forever I see something else. It's a human, and hes fat, and hes naked...
Bah, other humans have found this place before. Becoming leader of the snow monkey village may be tougher than I originally planned. It turns out this place was made by humans, and that other humans come here to get naked and soak in the steaming natural hot springs. However, monkeys also like to be naked, they also enjoy a nice warm bath during the cold mountain winter. So they wander in from the forest, and set up shop. Whether chilling in the onsen, wrastling, or just trying to steal your keys those monkeys were pretty cool to hang with. I recommend it to anyone visiting Japan.
This is Moogie aka Moogenstein aka MR. Moojangles. He's a snow monkey.
Don't do it Moogie...
He's also a thief.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Gaijin Bars
Gaijin = foreigner. Gaijin bar = place where foreigners hang out. They are usually pretty easy to spot. Bunch of international flags in the window. Some sort of non-Japanese beer advertisements like Budweiser or Guinness to attract a passing gaijin's attention. Let's not forget the ubiquitous, shitty wall of signed foreign currency. Bunch of American and Canadian bills stapled to the wall with great quotes like "JEFF WAS HERE! Bumville, Texas 1998".
While I'm a fan of the authentic Japanese experience and all that jive, I'm also a fan of cute Australian girls. I'm also a fan of Japanese girls who go to gaijin bars to meet mysterious hairy foreigners like myself. So I've been to my share of of these bars.
Last night JAM, Dave, and I headed out to a gaijin bar in Nagano called Liberty. America f**k yeah! Pretty cool spot, played some darts, met some local ex-patriots from the UK, Dave ate some tasty spaghetti. Now I'm not quite sure where the night went all wrong for me. Could have been the copious amounts of beer, but I spent the last 2 weeks on tour with a band, so my tolerance for beer is godly at this point. Might have been my desision not to eat my dinner due to excessive onion action. Maybe when I started buying girls drinks on our BBC America expense account, which resulted in someone giving us all gin and tonics. However, I'm fairly certain the problem arouse when JAM spotted a bottle of Kahula on the bar. JAM being totally gay for The Big Lebowski, suggested we all start drinking white russians...
Empty stomach + lots of beer + gin and tonics + multiple thick and creamy white russians = stinky hotel room. I awoke this morning to find a disaster area inside my bathroom. I have no recollection of leaving the bar, the taxi ride back, entering the hotel room, the un godly horror that occurred inside my bathroom or getting into bed. Lucky for me, my best friends EVER documented the whole process with a digi camera! I'm sure JAM will post them in a few.
Edited by JAM:
First off let me ease the minds out there and clear up some confusion by those that were obviously hammered last night. Dave is the one who spotted the bottle of Kahula, and if my memory serves me correctly (which it is always on) it was Scott who suggested we start drinking the Caucasians. I give Scott a little credit on the distorted history, at that point of the evening he was probably 10 or so beers deep. So I can understand the foggy recollection.
He was right on one point though, Dave and I being the upright citizens that we are did happen to document the high points for the evening as shown by the photos below. Feel free to browse through and see just how an ending of destruction is started. And for the kids reading out there, expelling your stomach content the way it came in is never good, so don't ever drink. Unless the drinks are Caucasians, in which case enjoy and don't pull a Scott…
While I'm a fan of the authentic Japanese experience and all that jive, I'm also a fan of cute Australian girls. I'm also a fan of Japanese girls who go to gaijin bars to meet mysterious hairy foreigners like myself. So I've been to my share of of these bars.
Last night JAM, Dave, and I headed out to a gaijin bar in Nagano called Liberty. America f**k yeah! Pretty cool spot, played some darts, met some local ex-patriots from the UK, Dave ate some tasty spaghetti. Now I'm not quite sure where the night went all wrong for me. Could have been the copious amounts of beer, but I spent the last 2 weeks on tour with a band, so my tolerance for beer is godly at this point. Might have been my desision not to eat my dinner due to excessive onion action. Maybe when I started buying girls drinks on our BBC America expense account, which resulted in someone giving us all gin and tonics. However, I'm fairly certain the problem arouse when JAM spotted a bottle of Kahula on the bar. JAM being totally gay for The Big Lebowski, suggested we all start drinking white russians...
Empty stomach + lots of beer + gin and tonics + multiple thick and creamy white russians = stinky hotel room. I awoke this morning to find a disaster area inside my bathroom. I have no recollection of leaving the bar, the taxi ride back, entering the hotel room, the un godly horror that occurred inside my bathroom or getting into bed. Lucky for me, my best friends EVER documented the whole process with a digi camera! I'm sure JAM will post them in a few.
Edited by JAM:
First off let me ease the minds out there and clear up some confusion by those that were obviously hammered last night. Dave is the one who spotted the bottle of Kahula, and if my memory serves me correctly (which it is always on) it was Scott who suggested we start drinking the Caucasians. I give Scott a little credit on the distorted history, at that point of the evening he was probably 10 or so beers deep. So I can understand the foggy recollection.
He was right on one point though, Dave and I being the upright citizens that we are did happen to document the high points for the evening as shown by the photos below. Feel free to browse through and see just how an ending of destruction is started. And for the kids reading out there, expelling your stomach content the way it came in is never good, so don't ever drink. Unless the drinks are Caucasians, in which case enjoy and don't pull a Scott…
Friday, March 28, 2008
The Night of No Reservations
I've been a little behind on the "blogosphere" - damn what a lame term - but here I am with all new material for all 4 of you reading this. (5 if you count Wookie) Our adventure so far has been grand, spectacular, amazing and stupendous. All words that Jam will need me to explain to him later. Get the coloring pencils Jam and I'll draw really big pictures and you can color them in after, Scott can hold the paper down for you!
The main reason I've fallen behind on this is solely due to the fact that, well, I'm lazy and I don't really have all that many people reading this, and the ones who are, I've already updated them on most things. So, why am I writing now? Well, I think last nights experience was truly one of a kind. Here's how it all went down.
After arriving in Fukuoka we headed toward the Toyoko-Inn, the hotel chain that has been very kind to us these past few weeks. To my surprise they were completely booked. Jam and I were both shocked, since we've been easily able to stroll right into any Toyoko-Inn and find rooms. Scott of course, in his charming way replies, "I knew this would happen". Thanks Scott. I think he mumbled something else like, "This wouldn't happen with MY hotel if you IDIOTS would just follow me like the sheep that you are". Or maybe that was just my imagination.
So onward we journeyed into the unknown. Following our self proclaimed, "Team Leader" as we taxied to another hotel. Jam and I could see it all in slow-motion, Scott strutting up to the counter, politely asking in broken Japanese "3 rooms please?". Then we saw the sky crash down and the world began to slowly stop spinning..."Fully Booked". Duh Duh Duh. Oh no, not that, anything but THAT! Panic began to set in. "How could this happen?", Scott asked himself, "I'm NEVER wrong!". Scott fingered through his "Japan Bible" - which by the way is hitting 1 for 10, $25 well spent - Jam was frantically making phone calls to hotels found on the back of a local map. All 15 hotels were booked solid, no joke. I did a lap around the block for local hotels but with no luck.
We admitted defeat at that point and decided that we might have better luck in a different city seeing that Fukuoka was obviously not being kind to weary travelers. On the way to the train station we came upon a Mister Donuts shop, were they have all sorts of magical morsels to fill your empty tummy. And ours were empty. So we decided to take a detour and fill the gas tank. So while Jam and I are eating our tasty treats, Scott being outside of course plotting his next "I told you so" line, Jam and I decided that the situation was FUBAR, and there was no point in crying over spilled milk. Instead we decided to have some fun. We decided to continue on toward Osaka which was about 2hrs away, but get completely hammered on the way! I'm talking shit-faced with no coming back. Thats how we were gonna roll with it, American style. So we told Scott about it and he agreed, its better to just drown the concerns with suds, or in Jams case, Sake. We loaded up on booze and hopped onto the train headed toward Osaka.
The train ride was great, Jam and I watched "Robot Jox", one of the WORST 80's sci-fi movies ever made. We all drank every last drop of booze that boarded the train with us and shortly later arrived in Osaka! Ready to find a hotel to lay our drunken heads. Toyoko-Inn seemed like a safe bet, close to the train, easy to walk to, plus we could see it from the station, which makes us feel secure. So we headed off in that direction, noticing a 24hr Internet gaming cafe on the way. We arrived at the hotel, eyes wide, ready for our nice soft bed and shower to go with. Jam walks in, 10 seconds later walks right back out and says the dreaded words that had been haunting us all night, "Fully Booked". The reason, Baseball. There's apparently lots of baseball going on in Osaka this time of year. DAMN!
Battered and beaten, disheveled and disarrayed we moved on. We were a bit tipsy at this point and not looking forward to striking out in search of another Fully Booked hotel. So we did what any other drunks in Japan would do, KARAOKE! This was great! Right across the street was a bar that was cheap, had rooms to rest in and beer to drink. We payed a small fee and went for it. I'll spare you the dirty details but imagine Karaoke, then us, drunk....Yup, thats how it was. Enough of that. We got booted out around 3am, I think, and remembered the 24hr Internet gaming cafe right down the street. Hmmm....maybe we could crash there for the night, get up when the trains start moving and just sleep on the trains for hours! BRILLIANT! And that's exactly what we did. We made the system work in our favor. Got comfy cubicles smaller that most bathrooms, but it was a place to kick our feet up and get some much needed shuteye.
Lessons learned:
Don't ever make hotel reservations since its way more fun improvising.
Edited by JAM:
Dave put it perfectly there. Nothing else I can add but pictures. You can see through the progression of the pictures the frustration turning into motivation to drink. Then at the Karaoke club and finally our ending destination of the 24 hour internet café. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.
The main reason I've fallen behind on this is solely due to the fact that, well, I'm lazy and I don't really have all that many people reading this, and the ones who are, I've already updated them on most things. So, why am I writing now? Well, I think last nights experience was truly one of a kind. Here's how it all went down.
After arriving in Fukuoka we headed toward the Toyoko-Inn, the hotel chain that has been very kind to us these past few weeks. To my surprise they were completely booked. Jam and I were both shocked, since we've been easily able to stroll right into any Toyoko-Inn and find rooms. Scott of course, in his charming way replies, "I knew this would happen". Thanks Scott. I think he mumbled something else like, "This wouldn't happen with MY hotel if you IDIOTS would just follow me like the sheep that you are". Or maybe that was just my imagination.
So onward we journeyed into the unknown. Following our self proclaimed, "Team Leader" as we taxied to another hotel. Jam and I could see it all in slow-motion, Scott strutting up to the counter, politely asking in broken Japanese "3 rooms please?". Then we saw the sky crash down and the world began to slowly stop spinning..."Fully Booked". Duh Duh Duh. Oh no, not that, anything but THAT! Panic began to set in. "How could this happen?", Scott asked himself, "I'm NEVER wrong!". Scott fingered through his "Japan Bible" - which by the way is hitting 1 for 10, $25 well spent - Jam was frantically making phone calls to hotels found on the back of a local map. All 15 hotels were booked solid, no joke. I did a lap around the block for local hotels but with no luck.
We admitted defeat at that point and decided that we might have better luck in a different city seeing that Fukuoka was obviously not being kind to weary travelers. On the way to the train station we came upon a Mister Donuts shop, were they have all sorts of magical morsels to fill your empty tummy. And ours were empty. So we decided to take a detour and fill the gas tank. So while Jam and I are eating our tasty treats, Scott being outside of course plotting his next "I told you so" line, Jam and I decided that the situation was FUBAR, and there was no point in crying over spilled milk. Instead we decided to have some fun. We decided to continue on toward Osaka which was about 2hrs away, but get completely hammered on the way! I'm talking shit-faced with no coming back. Thats how we were gonna roll with it, American style. So we told Scott about it and he agreed, its better to just drown the concerns with suds, or in Jams case, Sake. We loaded up on booze and hopped onto the train headed toward Osaka.
The train ride was great, Jam and I watched "Robot Jox", one of the WORST 80's sci-fi movies ever made. We all drank every last drop of booze that boarded the train with us and shortly later arrived in Osaka! Ready to find a hotel to lay our drunken heads. Toyoko-Inn seemed like a safe bet, close to the train, easy to walk to, plus we could see it from the station, which makes us feel secure. So we headed off in that direction, noticing a 24hr Internet gaming cafe on the way. We arrived at the hotel, eyes wide, ready for our nice soft bed and shower to go with. Jam walks in, 10 seconds later walks right back out and says the dreaded words that had been haunting us all night, "Fully Booked". The reason, Baseball. There's apparently lots of baseball going on in Osaka this time of year. DAMN!
Battered and beaten, disheveled and disarrayed we moved on. We were a bit tipsy at this point and not looking forward to striking out in search of another Fully Booked hotel. So we did what any other drunks in Japan would do, KARAOKE! This was great! Right across the street was a bar that was cheap, had rooms to rest in and beer to drink. We payed a small fee and went for it. I'll spare you the dirty details but imagine Karaoke, then us, drunk....Yup, thats how it was. Enough of that. We got booted out around 3am, I think, and remembered the 24hr Internet gaming cafe right down the street. Hmmm....maybe we could crash there for the night, get up when the trains start moving and just sleep on the trains for hours! BRILLIANT! And that's exactly what we did. We made the system work in our favor. Got comfy cubicles smaller that most bathrooms, but it was a place to kick our feet up and get some much needed shuteye.
Lessons learned:
Don't ever make hotel reservations since its way more fun improvising.
Edited by JAM:
Dave put it perfectly there. Nothing else I can add but pictures. You can see through the progression of the pictures the frustration turning into motivation to drink. Then at the Karaoke club and finally our ending destination of the 24 hour internet café. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sakurajima volcano
Today was a great day. We started somewhat early and headed down to the JR train on our way to Sakurajima. This happens to be an active volcano that you can only reach by ferry located just off of the Kagoshima coast. As we approached the ferry terminal, the view was astounding. This volcano is still active and from the shore you could still see small plumes of smoke rising from one of the three peaks. The trip over was great, nice calm and relaxing; no way we could see what lay on the table ahead of us. (see below)
We start the venture to the island like any other tourist, wide-eyed and mouth in awe over the lagoon and beautiful coast line. (see below)
It started when we tried to negotiate the map sitting next to the train station. Followed closely by us trying to use our horrible language skills to ask a cab driver to take us to an observation deck. We arrived at a lookout that was great, showed us a view of where we docked and not to mention where we wanted to go. (see below)
We decided to take this opportunity of adventure by slowly making our way up the winding road to what could only be described as a , well I can’t really describe it actually. It looked as if parts of the volcano had just slide down the side during a giant eruption. This as we read did happen back in the 50’s. (see below)
Dave and I decided to venture up the rockslide to see how far up we could go. It was a long and daunting task that ended only because, well because Dave and I are fat and out of shape that’s why. (see below)
Even though we did stop a bit short, we got some amazing photos. All in all a great trip up the volcano. On the walk (that’s right walk back down, which I might add, put our fat asses back in shape after 8 Kilometers) back down we saw a small box on the side of the road. In that box were pairs of oranges picked from the local volcanic orchards. Next to the box was a smaller one that said something we couldn’t read, but what we could make out was 1 bag for 100 yen. So we tempted fate and purchased some oranges. These were probably the worst oranges or any fruit for that matter that we have ever tasted. Horrible before, during and after taste not to mention the feeling of burning and ripping that you felt soon after ingestion. The day ended with us climbing off of the trolley back to the hotel. I (Jam) was paying for both Dave and Scott with a 500 yen piece for a toll that was 480 yen. We were in a rush to get out of the way so I just tossed the coin in and thought nothing of it. To all of our surprise we find the trolley operator chasing after us with my change. Just goes to show how great the Japanese people are. Very thoughtful, very considerate and extremely polite. Like I said, all in all a great day.
As a simple ending to the night, Scott and I took off to find a bar that we noticed in his touristy book. The bar wasn’t half bad, this one actually had sports on T.V. Granted it was Soccer, but it was a sport. Best part was probably the darts. Now I don’t claim to be a great dart player, but I can hold my own. Tonight it seems that not only does luck but booze make Scott a better darts thrower and the game ended with his win over me with a total of 245-32. Not my best outing, but next time the game will be mine. You can see below Scott’s face of victory, and my face of utter defeat.
We start the venture to the island like any other tourist, wide-eyed and mouth in awe over the lagoon and beautiful coast line. (see below)
It started when we tried to negotiate the map sitting next to the train station. Followed closely by us trying to use our horrible language skills to ask a cab driver to take us to an observation deck. We arrived at a lookout that was great, showed us a view of where we docked and not to mention where we wanted to go. (see below)
We decided to take this opportunity of adventure by slowly making our way up the winding road to what could only be described as a , well I can’t really describe it actually. It looked as if parts of the volcano had just slide down the side during a giant eruption. This as we read did happen back in the 50’s. (see below)
Dave and I decided to venture up the rockslide to see how far up we could go. It was a long and daunting task that ended only because, well because Dave and I are fat and out of shape that’s why. (see below)
Even though we did stop a bit short, we got some amazing photos. All in all a great trip up the volcano. On the walk (that’s right walk back down, which I might add, put our fat asses back in shape after 8 Kilometers) back down we saw a small box on the side of the road. In that box were pairs of oranges picked from the local volcanic orchards. Next to the box was a smaller one that said something we couldn’t read, but what we could make out was 1 bag for 100 yen. So we tempted fate and purchased some oranges. These were probably the worst oranges or any fruit for that matter that we have ever tasted. Horrible before, during and after taste not to mention the feeling of burning and ripping that you felt soon after ingestion. The day ended with us climbing off of the trolley back to the hotel. I (Jam) was paying for both Dave and Scott with a 500 yen piece for a toll that was 480 yen. We were in a rush to get out of the way so I just tossed the coin in and thought nothing of it. To all of our surprise we find the trolley operator chasing after us with my change. Just goes to show how great the Japanese people are. Very thoughtful, very considerate and extremely polite. Like I said, all in all a great day.
As a simple ending to the night, Scott and I took off to find a bar that we noticed in his touristy book. The bar wasn’t half bad, this one actually had sports on T.V. Granted it was Soccer, but it was a sport. Best part was probably the darts. Now I don’t claim to be a great dart player, but I can hold my own. Tonight it seems that not only does luck but booze make Scott a better darts thrower and the game ended with his win over me with a total of 245-32. Not my best outing, but next time the game will be mine. You can see below Scott’s face of victory, and my face of utter defeat.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Day of a Million Trains
After a day of doing nothing but train hopping, we have reached our final destination for the night named Kagoshima. Tomorrow we will be heading to a volcano via ferry. Pictures and blog will be much better, but as you can see from the pictures, we are all very tired and need sleep. Enjoy.
EDITED BY SCOTT:
Finally got around to uploading some still images. Being hired to shoot video, usually means I don't get to snap many photos. Here's a few:
Drunken salary men kicking each other in Ikebukuro.
JAM, insecure in his masculinity is upset by water shooting up his bum. Once you you use a Japanese toilet... you'll have to take a shower back home just to feel so fresh again.
Not sure why JAM always posts pics of our ugly mugs when we are seeing scenery like this everyday. Nagasaki, the San Francisco of Japan at sunset.
EDITED BY SCOTT:
Finally got around to uploading some still images. Being hired to shoot video, usually means I don't get to snap many photos. Here's a few:
Drunken salary men kicking each other in Ikebukuro.
JAM, insecure in his masculinity is upset by water shooting up his bum. Once you you use a Japanese toilet... you'll have to take a shower back home just to feel so fresh again.
Not sure why JAM always posts pics of our ugly mugs when we are seeing scenery like this everyday. Nagasaki, the San Francisco of Japan at sunset.
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