The Last of the Japanalia

I promise this is the end of the Japanalia.
This is the entrance to what is known as "restaurant street". The place to go for all your restaurant and plastic sushi needs.
The whole street has a certain resauranty feel to it, as evidenced by these innovative balconies:
This is a pet shop. Well, a stuffed pet shop, but still. This was one small part of the window display.

And this is the famous Golden Turd of Asakusa. No, I don't know why either. (Although apparently it's supposed to be flame or beer foam on the top of the Asahi breweries headquarters)

Leftover Engrish

I was just doing some photo sorting and discovered a whole heap of Engrish I never posted. Obviously, by the time I left Japan, I was failing to keep up with the number of examples I was finding. Here they are. All in just a couple of enormous posts. Enjoy.

First: The Smoking Signs. It's not a "Don't Smoke" campaign. More a "Smoke Considerately" campaign. This is only a few of them that I managed to photograph, mostly from a montage that seemed to be portable-ashtray themed. There were also "where does your smoke go" type ones, and others. None of them seemed to mention health, really. I find them hilarious. Many of them are just so Zen!















And now everything else:
There was another sign for the same pub just near this one that said "Marry Jane". I tried to get a photo, but a drunk idiot saw the camera and wouldn't stop posing in front of it. Typical Japanese...

This was on a soft case I bought for my computer:
My favourite icecream!
You'd think this would be one word they could spell... This was at the airport too. It's possible the shop people were from some other part of asia, but I still think it's no excuse:

I seriously considered these glasses. Afterall, I don't want any flame around my eyes, do I?
The hotel I stayed in in Hakone provided such lovely shampoo and body soap. They made me feel like a sentimental snow crystal...





These two are from Korea. I think this one is a great idea, and we should all be as mild as we can, really. Or as this can:

I didn't eat at this restaurant. I just couldn't get past the menu on the door...

And this is a skipping rope I bought in Sydney, would you believe!

stuff

nothing about my life. it's way too madly busy to blog about...
Here's some other stuff though:

A pic that was apparently taken on australia day in Perth. Very cool. There's even a comet in the middle, though I'd need to upload a bigger image for anyone to actually see it. Nyeh. Just google it if you want a better version!

Some old Engrish I never posted:
First. A g-string for your feet?

I love Crunky...
A friend's t-shirt:
And some peanuts my japanese teacher gave me:
Beer communication is probably a good term for what goes on in an average pub...

There's a few new posts on my travel blog if you need something to read, and haven't checked it in the last few weeks. I also plan to start writing more to my professional blog now that uni has started again. And someday I'll manage to write to this more regularly, however, right now I'm up to my ears in readings and french homework, so I'd better go do them.

leaving japan!

1 min of airport internet left - better go catch my plane!
argh!
Kat

Things I've sent people

Realised I hadn't posted any photos in nearly a week! Shock! Horror! So here are a bunch of amusing things I've sent various people since I arrived here.
Except this first one. This is the mug I was provided when I arrived. It's my daily pep talk from the company...

I have no idea what the connection is between enjoying life and outdated household items.
Don't you hate when you end up alone. And when you're in the grassland, that's the worst.
I rather like cheques too...

I blog, therefore I am.

"Si vous ne bloguez pas, vous n'existez pas. Je crois qu'aujourd'hui l'identité en ligne est plus importante que la vie réelle."
(stolen from Loic Le Meur via Maitresse)

If you're nobody til you're a blogger, does that make me three somebodies?

EDIT: Just realised I should translate that: "If you don't blog, you don't exist. I think that today, online identity is more important than real life."

The Fourth Reich

It seems incredibly obvious to me, but it seems some people just don't get it. I just read this article, reprinted in the Japan Times, about how many americans want to institute some sort of identification for muslims - either by making them wear an armband, tatoo or whatever, or by printing a cresent symbol on their driver's licence or other ID. To me this just screams 'Warning Warning, we are about to slaughter millions of people for no good reason'. So how can people not realise that? Or is that what they want?
I knew things were bad in the States, but I didn't know they were quite at this level. Hopefully last month's elections will stop the slide.

Credo

"so i believe if you call the wrong number
you should talk for a while
you might like em more than
who you meant to dial. "

This isn't the best thing I've taken from Alix Olson's "I believe", but it sounds like fun. She says a lot of very sensible things. The full lyrics are here, and it's a poem, not a song, so you can just read it, but it's much better when she says it! Recordings (unfortunately not of "I believe" but the rest of her stuff's great too!) can be heard here.

A Day in the Life

The alarm on my mobile goes off at 8.40am on school days. And I fumble for it and peer at it to make sure it is the snooze button I'm hitting, and not the off button, and roll over and refuse to get up until it goes off again 10 minutes later, at which point I crawl backwards off my futon, via the foam tile I've put between my futon the the top of the ladder (to stop me getting bruises on my knees everyday) and crawl down from my loft.
I fall into some clothes, warm up some buttery bread stick things I keep in the freezer, pour a glass of milk coffee and leave the house. I'm always the last in the building to leave, so my bike is the last one left in the parking space, which at least makes it easy to get out. I ride to school - with my umbrella up if it's raining enough - sometimes stopping for a bottle of hot coffee from one of the several dozen vending machines I pass in my 15 minute ride to school. If I didn't have breakfast, I'll buy a kurowasan from the bakery (that's a croissant, in case you were wondering). Either way, as I pass the bakery I will check the time to see if I should speed up to avoid having to stop at the railway crossing for the 9.24 train (it's never late, of course), or slow down cos it's too late anyway.
I ride into school, saying ohio gozaimasu to the guy in the yellow jacket who looks after the bike parking, park in a spot that I have calculated is as close as possible to the classroom I am in last on most days, while still not being too far from the office where I have to login on the computer first thing every morning.
When I arrive in that office, I will say hello to either of the two teachers who work with me, if they are there. If the one I don't talk to is there, we studiously ignore each other, as usual. Once logged in, I'll do any copying for the day, if needed, or just head to the teachers room to drop off my stuff, and maybe do some last minute planning before going to the classroom 10 minutes before my class, in order to write things on the board and whatnot.
If no one turns up (I don't have many students, so it happens) I read a second-hand copy of the Japan Times, usually a few days old, or do the crossword from it. Or plan the lesson for the next day, or do my japanese homework. Or generally amuse myself somehow.
Lunch is at 12 every day, except Fridays when it's at 11.30. I sometimes sit with students or one of the other teachers (the ones I talk to) or on my own, in which case I either continue to read a bit of newspaper, or, more often, listen to a podcast or music on my phone's mp3 player. Lunch always involves miso soup and rice (or noodles, but I prefer the rice). And usually a salad that I have discovered is mostly Burdock root. It's delicious!
At 1 I have my busiest class of the day. Sometimes I have up to 8 students! It always has more energy and momentum than the classes with 2 or 3 students!
During one of my afternoon breaks I'll make myself a cup of tea - usually chai - in the teachers room, or buy another hot can of milk tea or coffee or something from a vending machine.
At 6.40, when my last class finishes, I head straight for my bike and am usually home by 7ish. If the railway crossing is closed when I approach I stop at the takeaway sushi shop next to the crossing to buy a maki roll and two inari (the sweet tofu pockets stuffed with sushi rice). Otherwise I'll make some fried rice or microwave a frozen spaghetti meal or cook an omelet or something when I get home. On Fridays, of course, and often on other days as well, Gloria and I go to the hundred yen sushi restaurant up the road. And on Wednesdays, I race to my Japanese lesson after work, so I do't get home til after 8pm.
My computer goes on the moment I get home, and I put on something to listen to while I'm cooking or doing whatever needs to be done (Triple J streamed online is good). Apart from that I'm pretty much glued to the computer for the rest of the evening, either reading stuff, writing nonsense like this, or watching dvds. At 11 or so, I might do some yoga and have a shower, then balance my computer, headphones and telephone in one hand and climb the ladder to the loft. I watch one last episode of whatever (two if my battery holds out) and then I sleep. If I can, on my futon that is about as thick as your average australian-summer doona...

Things that have caught my interest lately.

• These documentaries about tolerance. One of them may have given me an idea for A Project when I get back to Brisbane.
• These great pictures of the earth. Thanks to my aunt for sending the link!
• Free Yoga! In the privacy of your own home! I'm yet to try it, of course, but it sounds good. I'm so bored with my one yoga dvd.
• Flickr, the photo website. Should I create an account and upload all the photos that aren't interesting enough to make this blog or the travel blog? But then, if they aren't interesting enough, maybe no one needs to see them!
• MP3 downloads on Triple J. Now I can take the mp3 of Hack or Dr Karl to school on my phone mp3 player, to listen to during boring moments, instead of having to stream them direct here at home.
• Waterproof MP3 players. Maybe this one. I love that my camera is water and shock proof, and I'm thinking it's a good idea for everything. Would also make swimming a lot less boring. Oh, and the ebay listing that I've linked to is well worth a look. Have a look at the caption under the big picture (the one with the goggles).

Last lot

Here are the end of the amusing photos of last weekend. The pretty photos are on my travel blog, and I'm still thinking of uploading the rest to flickr, which would mean starting a flickr account, but, given my current photographic bent, that might be a good idea. I took 200 photos in my two days in Hakone! Ridiculous really. But some of them came out really nicely, and the rest, well, here they are...

My cruising boots are my favourites...

I don't know if I want "potatochips" or "Pumpkin" burended into my icecream. Or "tiny rice crackers and peanuts". No, not "Soybean flour" either. Thanks anyway.

The panda appears to be a form of transport. I didn't ask why.

And this next photo is ghastly quality because I was many metres away on a moving ship (ok, not moving much, but still...). It's still legible though. Either they want to rent out the back deck, or you don't really want to go out there...

I'm Googleable!

I've just been browsing my statcounter (yes! I know Who is reading my blog When and from Where!) and have discovered that TWO people lately have found my blog through google! Try searching for "driving map sagamihara city hakone". I'm near the top on the first page! (no idea why, but the "driving" is important. Have I *ever* talked about driving here?) AND, if you search for "sagamihara hakone map" my travel blog is the first hit! At least, it's the sub-hit of the first hit! (click the link to see what I mean).
The other search terms that put me on the first page is "arabian rock shinjuku".
Why, I feel almost famous.

EDIT: and now, of course, I am *the* top of the list for these search terms. If anyone is actually looking for these things for real, I bet it pisses them off! (Sorry if that's how you arrived here!)

Black Eggs (Weekend pics, part 3)

Owakudani is famous for black eggs that are cooked in the boiling hot sulfuric spring water here. But apparently they don't always have them available. At least, that's what I think they're saying here.
The sulfuric gases that fuel the tourist industry here are apparently not all that healthy for you. I decided I didn't have a dedicate bronchus and went on regardless!

The gases and spring water here might not be so good for you, but the eggs they cook in them are apparently very healthy for you.

And this one, I just can't work out. Ok, point 1 refers to the fact that you can only buy 6 eggs at a time, I understand that. And point 4 is obvious. And 2 might just mean that you have to eat the eggs within 2 days. But point 3 really gets me. Can anyone read the japanese and provide a better translation? Or anyone, any suggestions as to what it might mean? Prizes for the most creative responses...

more from last weekend

More from my weekend in the Hakone region!
This isn't some google earth image, but a shot from the cable car over the valley at Owakudani. I don't know what they were doing, but it was something they were doing with the sulfuric gases and steam that shoots out of the ground all over this volcanic region. If anyone has any idea what exactly they are doing, do let me know!
And at Gora station, you can eat hot sands!

And at Chokoku mori station, you put your rubbish in a "dust port". It sounds so high-tech. Like something you would find in a spaceship.
The cable car that took us to Owakudani was keen for us not to open the door of the capsule and tumble to our deaths hundreds of metres below: "A door is automatic and opens and closes it. Please do not hit a handle here"