Kool Stuff.

There are just so many kool things in Japan that I can't possibly write about them all. Two of my favourite things about Japan are the abundance of vending machines and the wide assortment of ever-changing junk food. So when I went to the Secret Retraining Centre in the foothills of Japan (aka. Education Centre in Sasaguri), I couldn't help myself when I saw a device that married the two: A vending machine that dispensed KitKat bars in a GLASS jar. Yup, that's right .. a GLASS JAR. Why? Who knows .. it's just one of those things.

Season of Sayonara

It's that time of the year where many of the friends I have made since coming to Japan are going back home. I don't have much to say except, "Thank you." Thanks for the unforgettable year and I wish everybody the best of luck in their post-Japan life. Take care and enjoy this life -- it won't last forever. :) さよなら。

夏休み！

Wooo~! Today was the last day of school for me! It's summer vacation for not only the students, but also us ALTs. Although last summer was a little bit slow, I think this summer will be fairly busy. Regardless, I'm thankful for the break. :)

壱岐島 / Iki Island

Today was a holiday in Japan. Marine Day to be exact. Since I hadn't traveled much in July, I decided to take the opportunity to check out a local island around Fukuoka. Iki Island to be exact. Boy, was that a mistake. Either this island has absolutely nothing worth checking out or we had no idea where to go or what to do. I suspect it is a little bit of the former, but mostly a consequence of the latter.

However, the day wasn't a complete waste. Iki Island is famous for 2 things: Uni (Sea Urchin) and Shouchu (a type of Japanese (or Korean? .. but you'll never hear a Japanese person say that) liquor). Uni is definitely an acquired taste and most people I know hate the stuff. My friend James describes it as, "... a subtle mixture of vomit and sewage," or something along those lines. Anyhow, I'm a big fan of the stuff and I thought the stuff on Iki Island was pretty delicious. うまい、よ！


We also managed to visit a shouchu distillery with some pretty unique shouchu to taste. Seeing as I'm a North American barbarian and have no taste whatsoever when it comes to drinking spirits, liquor, wine, etc., it pretty much tasted like any other type of liquor back home. Nothing inspiring there. It was good free alcohol though so, no complaints. :)

All in all, it was an interesting trip. My only real rant is that it was one heck of an expensive day! Almost 9000 yen to get to the island from Hakata Port and back; no wonder nobody really wants to go there!

Japan's Many Moons

Japan has many faces -- and I'm not talking about it figuratively. This Saturday morning Fukuoka held its famous Yamakasa Festival. This festival was definitely one of the most 'Japanese' things I have seen since coming here. Basically, men from around Fukuoka run around downtown Fukuoka/Hakata carrying a giant float. Sounds pretty normal, right? Oh yea, they also have to wear the traditional Japanese loincloth (I'm not sure what it is actually.. it looks like a cross between a thong and a diaper) while doing this.


The event starts at 4:59 am so a couple of friends and I took the last train into the city and basically stayed out all night. After finding a decent place to set up camp, we waited for the race to start. There are 7 teams that compete during the festival and it's quite an interesting event to behold.


I warned you guys.

More News..

I was forwarded this article by a friend in Miyazaki-ken. Basically, one of the biggest travel agencies in Japan (H.I.S. and its international subdivision, No. 1 Travel) has admitted to charging foreigners more for "discount" air tickets than its Japanese customers. Stuff like this happens all the the time -- albeit at various levels of severity. You can read the article HERE. Enjoy!

Wonderfully Weird.

I'm always about trying new and different foods. So, when Fukuoka Now ran a special article on this not-so-popular ramen place in Fukuoka, I had to give it a try. As you can probably tell by the photo, the soup is black. The article explains, "The soup's rich, black colour is achieved by heating the broth base until it bursts into flames, resulting in a deep, savoury soup unlike any other you've tried." And I have to say it was pretty good! If you need directions to the place (its called 五行 in Japanese), gimme a ring.. I'm pretty sure I can tell you how to get there.


Next stop on the menu (haha .. I swear I'm not this corny usually) was a seafood restaurant where, theoretically, you can catch your own meal! Unfortunately, after about 30 mins of trying to catch a fish, we gave up and just ordered from the menu. :\ It was a pretty kool restaurant with a nice atmosphere and a catchy (Strike #2) theme. The restaurant would definitely make a good place for a small party or something -- if you're into Japanese seefood (Okay, no more!) dishes that is.

More photos..

Another shot within Hiroshima Peace Park.


The tree was in my way so, I took a photo of it.


Guide stones to the fountain of youth.. perhaps?


Not necessarily a beautiful shot but I thought the three colours sitting atop one another was pretty kool.


A shot of the lighthouse at Cape Ashizurimisaki.


A photo of a leaf after a mild thunderstorm.

Oh Canada!

Happy Canada Day! July 1st is Canada Day -- even in Japan! "Fukuoka Now" (the most popular English-language magazine in Fukuoka) hosted a party at Sam & Dave's (a local club) yesterday that rivaled (and I would say even beat) some Canada Day parties back home! Every time I think about it I'm definitely looking forward to going back to Canada this Xmas break. That's Jamie (the other Canadian working in the office) and I doing the classic Japanese "Victory" pose.


A bad shot of the club. But you can sorta tell the amount of work that went into the Canada Day party. There was live music, trivia, games, etc.

P.S. Japanese people think our flag is cool. :)