| enter, stranger |
[May. 19th, 2006|02:54 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  artistic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Autechre - 61e.CR | ] |
Notice: I have a new Flickr page, where i will post loads of cool photos. [Link]
About a month ago now some friends and I visited Kyoto. It was extremely refreshing to get out of Osaka - I always find train rides very relaxing and therapeutic, and Japan's trains are an example to the rest of the world. It was nice to get a glimpse of the Japanese countryside on the way there too. Kyoto itself has a very different feel to Osaka. It seems slower, more dignified. It's considered the cultural capital of Japan, and you come across a temple or shrine every few hundred yards. There's so many that you can't hope to see them all. It would take weeks. And it's not just the quantity, the peaceful nature of the places you visit just makes you want to wander around, lost in thought.
The first port of call wasn't really chosen by us. We looked at a map, got on a bus, and got off when we saw something cool. I can't remember the name of the temple, but you can see it on my new Flickr page .
I'll be posting loads of photos on there, it's much better than trying to post them on here. Wandering around looking at all the shrines was incredible. I would recommend checking out the photos, they'll do a much better job of describing the beauty of the place than I can. To sum up, it was just perfect, and I will be heading there again soon before long.
A few weeks ago I decided to do something about the haystack on my head. I had a look on the net for some haircut phrases but didn't manage to find anything, so i put a photo of me with short hair on my phone and went for a walk. I found a barber shop in the local area which was interestingly titled "Head", and decided to give it a try because a.) it was the first barber shop i came to, and b.) it was called "Head". I showed the picture to the barber, asked for a haircut and said "short" in Japanese, then sat down and prayed. To begin with things did not look good, he shaved the back and sides very short indeed, and i looked like an early '90s schoolboy with one of those dreadful undercut hairstyles. I closed my eyes and started thinking of how to explain this to everyone when the damage was done. When he had finished, it wasn't actually that bad, just like a much shorter version of how i usually have it done. I thanked him, feeling extremely relieved and also a little chilly at the back of my head.
We did karaoke not long ago too, as it was my first time i was just blown away by the level of service you get at Japanese karaoke establishments. The song list comes in 2 forms, a Yellow Pages sized tome, or a small touch-screen remote control which is searchable by artist, song, etc. The choice is simply immense, you could queue up things you want to sing along to all night and not get through half of them. I did some AC/DC, Blue Oyster Cult, Incubus, Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, then it all gets a bit hazy because of the all-you-can-drink policy. They also had authentic potato smiley faces, which i took full advantage of. Photos on my Flickr page.
We have a new flatmate. Staffa, a really cool guy who helped me feel very welcome in my new home, has moved downstairs to Kobe (ahem) and a chap called Stuart has moved in. There was the usual suspense before he actually came, wondering what he was going to be like and what his reason was for moving out of his old place (i.e. left or kicked out), but upon meeting him it was clear that any worries we had were way off the mark. We've been out drinking a few times and he's kept us amused with jokes and tales of his rockstar lifestyle, an all-around good bloke. Speaking of new flatmates, next door have a new flatmate too, a girl named Bronwyn (spelling?) who seems really nice. A larger-than-expected party invaded our local 280 bar (a chain where everything is 280 yen, you can get a pint for £1.40) and basically took over the upper floor to welcome her to the neighbourhood. It was lots of fun. Sadly the only photo i have of it is Kate from next door lying in a bush on the way home, but that about sums up the type of evening it was.
Yesterday a few of us went to Universal Studios Japan. It was like stepping into another world, it's so authentic i felt like i was on holiday in Florida. I hadn't been to Universal Studios for at least 10 years, probably more, but all the memories came flooding back and i had an amazing time. Everything is exactly the same, only in Japanese. Particular highlights for me were the T2 ride (which is more like a short movie really), Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, and Spider-Man, which was surprisingly good. T2 in particular is quite funny, because it's quite obvious that the actors in the live action section are Japanese actors who "become" Arnold Schwarzenegger and Edward Furlong when they ride into the cinema screen. It was interesting to hear so many classic characters with memorable voices being dubbed over in Japanese. Ernie from Sesame Street was just bizarre, imagine an Indian person speaking fluent Japanese and you're there.
Oh, and lunch was unbelievable. We went to the "Irish" pub, and i had mushroom soup followed by shepherd's pie. It sounds crazy, but when you haven't had many familiar flavours for 2 months, a perfectly made example of one of your favourite meals from home just knocks your socks off. It was one of the best meals i've ever eaten. It just made me grin from ear to ear. It was almost as good as Grandma's shepherd's pie, but not quite (few meals can get close to that legendary recipe). I know it's tacky, i know it's not the real Japan, but sometimes you just need a break, and going to one of my favourite childhood places cheered me up more than i ever imagined it could, i was on a high all day.
That brings us up to date. I'll try to write more soon, but as you've probably noticed i'm getting a bit slow with this thing. :( |
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mintsauce82's journal
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