Adventures continued

G'day again. Following up on the last post to continue with the adventures of the last 6 months. As I said previously I usually visit a temple in Kawatana once a week to catch up with Yasumichi and his family, and friend Kazushi. Below are a few pics of the temple from the outside. From the inside it's pretty impressive, and I'll have to take some pictures soon.



















A few weeks ago I brought the Aussie Rules football with me and we had a bit of a kick around the temple. It was a lot of fun introducing the greatest game (along with cricket) in the world to them! This is the most popular religion in Melbourne!


















Yasumichi drilling a drop-punt.


















Locked in a one-on-one marking contest with Kazushi.
















The one-hand fend off by Kazushi.

















Myself with Mari and Rumiko. Sister and mother respectively of Yasumichi. Very kind people.




TRIP TO KOREA, well almost!

Back in March Trev and I (along with 2 Japanese friends) planned a 3-day trip to Seoul, Korea. We caught the 7am bus up to Fukuoka Airport for our 10am flight. We arrived at the airport around 8.30am, checked our bags in and got our boarding passes. There was one more thing we had to do which was head over to the domestic terminal and buy a re-entry visa, which cost around Y3000 (A$35 approx), a 10 minute or so shuttle trip. The re-entry visa is basically a sticker that goes into my passport which re-validates my working visa once I re-enter Japan. A bit of a stupid system in my book as I already have a valid working visa until Oct. When I lived in Canada I could go in and out as many times as I wanted without jeapordising my working visa status. Anyway I had to get this sticker otherwise I wouldn't be able to work once I re-entered Japan. There are 2 options to get, a single re-entry visa (Y3000), or a multiple re-entry visa (Y6000), both take around 30-45 mins to process. In hindsight I should have bought the multiple re-entry visa back in December when I went back to Australia for a holiday in the Whitsundays. Anyway to cut a long story short, the department where the re-entry visa must be purchased was closed, and with the Australian embassy unable to provide any help after a call from T.C., we were stuck in Fukuoka, bags packed but nowhere to go. Mind you our friend who organised the trip had previously called the department to make sure that they would be open on the day of our flight. Otherwise a few weeks earlier we would have made the 4 hour+ round-trip just to buy the re-entry visa. Anyway we made a few phone calls and were able to hook up some accomodation with a friend in Fukuoka, and had a really good time. It's probably a blessing in disguise as 'Fukes' has become a bit of a favourite place for us. And yes we did buy the multiple re-entry visa the next day to save any future hassles.


















T.C. partying it up in Fukuoka. He is often surrounded by the ladies.






















I just couldn't keep up with the fashion in Fukuoka. I wish I had gotten the view from the front, let's just say I reckon this fella fell asleep in the solarium.





We have a new staff member at work, Yumi, and she is a welcome addition to the crew. We met up for coffee on our day off, after which TC and I were going for a kick of the footy. Well the girls didn't hesitate to come along, and gave the ball a decent kick with their designer high-heeled shoes.

















Yumi dishing off a hand-pass.


















Yumi, with her friend Eri in the background, launching another drop-punt.




















Above: Eri gives the ball some elevation before she sinks the boot in.








After a comment was made by a teacher (maybe me) about the girls at work not coming out much compared to staff up in Fukuoka, Miki made a stand for the Sasebo crew and promised about 6 weeks ago that she would come out every Sunday night. Well to her credit she had been there every Sunday and has even gone as far as sporting a new tattoo of the land downunder. If only I used a permanent marker!

Japanese Adventures

Welcome! This being my first post on here, I thought I'd do a quick summary of the last 6 months in Japan. The photos are randomly set out and not in chronological order. But they're a good illustration of the adventures that are taking place in Sasebo, Japan.


















We had a gyoza party on March 27, and after we had a feast we tried our hand at writing our names in kanji (Japanese script). Even though foreign names should only be written in katakana (one of the 3 Japanese writing systems), we guessed how to write our name in kanji. One of the Japanese girls made this attempt at my name, pretty difficult I reckon.


















Beautifully presented sashimi. The snapper (tai) is really tasty and the tuna (maguro) was pretty tasty as well. The prawns (ebi) are raw, and although I'm more of a fan of a cooked prawn, they weren't too bad either. Kinda sweet. There is also some raw octopus which I'm quite partial to as well.





Cocktail Party: March 5, 2006


















My roomate Trevor (T.C.) and I decided to organise a cocktail party and where better place to have it than in a bar. A friend who owns an Australian wine bar let us use it for the party as it is closed every sunday. We were able to put on a pretty good night, with good fun had by all. To cover our costs we charged a pretty reasonable Y2000 (around A$23) for nomehodai (all you can drink), and provided the guest with a bevy of tasty cocktails, and fingerfood. A little suprising was the drinking ability (or lack there of) of many of our guests on the night. The remaining alcohol has since provided us with an endless supply for numerous parties.



















Cocktail party early on. From foreground left to right:
Mike, Mihoko, her friend (sorry), Nick, Stephanie,
Miki, Junko (joonks), Heather, Motomi (mota).
Trev and me behind the bar.






















Above & Below: Miki, Jooks and Mota enjoying a beverage.





































A few of the girls from work:
From left: me, Mota, Natsuko (Natters), Joonks, T.C.


























Above: Yasumichi-san, a monk from Kawatana (about 30 mins by train from Sasebo) displaying his fine musical skills. I usually catch up with Yasumichi and his family once a week at their temple for a chat and a few drinks!



Below: Yasumichi experiencing the unfamiliar joy of a mullet.


































Above: I also join in.




















Above: The Peace Park in Nagasaki. This park is a memorial to those who died as a result of the atom-bomb being dropped on Nagasaki at 11.02am on August 9, 1945. We also visited the Atomic Bomb Museum which gave an incredibly informative and graphic display of the lead up to, and after-effects of the bombing. Very interesting place, aimed at educating people about a tragic historical event in the hope that it's never repeated.
On one of the trips I have made to the U.S, I visited an aviation museum in Washington D.C which now houses the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima a few days before the Nagasaki bombing. It has been an interesting learning experience seeing both sides of the argument.























Above: Aso-san, one of the world'd largest volcanos. The huge caldera has a circumference around 100km. This is Mt. Naka-dake within the caldera, and it continuously emits smoke. When we got there the road up to the summit of Naka-dake was closed due to the amount of sulphur being emitted, but fortunately just as we were about to head off, the road opened and Trev and I walked up to have a close-up look at the crater. We then went for a bit of a trek where few Japanese tourist were prepared to venture, across some hills made of volcanic soil, and it definitely felt like being on another planet.