Today I'll take you from a scary cave (my apartment) to Kobe, Takarazuka, Namaze and Osaka before arriving back at mine. I thought I'd give you some relief after that bonanza of photos of me in Halloween attire and just show you my shirt without me in it. I liked the way the light was shining through it. Oh man, is that sunlight outside? Nuts, I have to go to work.

These are Cabbage Patch children being spawned out of the ground. The man above is looking for the next one to pop its head up. A long time ago I mentioned an excursion of school children coming to see the vege patch out the front of my place. There were several more in September as the season was right for sweet potatoes. Kids love to dig them up, wrap them in foil and then stick them under burning leaves/ash until they are roasted. The fussy kids I teach that I thought only want to eat individually wrapped things somehow don't seem to mind grabbing dirty chunks of sweet potato and shoving them in their gobs. One of my most dangerous students, Asuka, very sweetly brought one to class for us to share. She is most dangerous when she comes to class still wearing her karate outfit, although it was another girl that recently punched me in the jatz crackers... aka balls. I can't believe I came here thinking Japanese children would be a cinch. Poor poor fool. Only now do you understand. You have paid the price for your lack of vision (i.e. that sick feeling just below my belly button).

(note the little girl second from left digging for gold).

Wave to the train! I snuck these photos from the little window of my sleeping loft... yes, I was still in bed. Okay, let's start our journey...

We're actually on a bus here, not a train. I discovered I could catch a bus to Sannomiya (Kobe) that gives a very new perspective of my locale. If you follow that valley around to the right you'll eventually hit my place! We've gone across the massive overpass, Arinogosha Bridge, that cuts across the sky behind my train station, through a mountain and out the other side. When I excitedly told Kazuya of my trip across it he immediately thought to tell me of the suicide jumpers that have chosen it as their last view. Man, what is it with this guy? He loves to tell me stuff like that - I now know a lot of unsavoury things about my immediate neighbourhood. Uh, thanks, Kazuya! Anyway... This view gave me a new appreciation of what a unique place Japan is and what an amazing place it is I'm living in. That dome thing is part of the love hotel near me, called "Snowman's"... with the catchy by-line "What's a snowman's?". Good question.

Getting further from home now, the valley has zigzagged back to the left. I'd never seen this neighbourhood before. Never knew it was there!

Now we've arrived in Kobe. Check out the triple-decker traffic. The amazing Hanshin Expressway connects from west of Kobe though Osaka to Kyoto. Parts of it toppled over in the big earthquake of 1995. You can see anti-tremor devices here in how the spans are attached to the pillars. This is close to the harbour.

We've walked up into Kitano Kobe - the hills where the well-to-do live. Many are ex-pats - Kobe is known as a very international city. Over the roof of this shrine and off beyond the city is the ocean.

I could imagine this photo being from somewhere like Cuba.

The flavour elsewhere is more European. There are old houses you can take a walking tour to see where Europeans in days gone by have set up a home away from home. Kinda steep, isn't it?

Well if USJ isn't your style, maybe you'd like to come here to don some Dutch gear and pose on the artificial lawn in front of a very small windmill.

What's wrong with this picture? It's Oklahoma, but all the players you see are women. This production is by the famed Takarazuka Revue. Takarazuka should be famous principally as the birthplace of Tezuka Osamu, the brilliant creator of Astroboy, or Testuwan Atomu. But alas, it's famous for it's unique form of garish theatre in which all roles are played by women. I guess that's fair, considering traditional kabuki theatre is, just like Elizabethan theatre was, only performed by men (and I guess that is just as weird). In fact, Takarazuka Revue is more than within its rights to exist - kabuki was started by a woman and was originally an all-female line-up until it was outlawed and then nabbed by the fellas (the fact that the touring actors were also often drawing other income from providing other, ahem, services and causing civil disturbances might explain the outlawing part)... so yeah, Takarazuka is the girls getting their own back...

But, there's no accounting for good taste! The actors are supposedly highly trained and only the very best make it to be leading ladies. Once upon the pedestal, the actresses are literally treated like royalty by crazed fans - well-heeled women who club together to make sure their lieges are always in the absolute best of everything. They are worshipped. Wacky ne?

I said that it's unique - there is another theatre in Tokyo, but it also bears the Takarazuka name. The real Takarazuka is about a 30 minute train ride from where I live.

Did I say train ride? This would be the train Darth Vader would catch to his evil work. I haven't been on this, but I WANT to. It's the Nankai Rapi:t. Funky name, funky face. Is there a reason why it should look this cool? Well, no. Is there any reason why trains shouldn't look this cool? Not at all! This was my first time to see one of these up close. Can you imagine Cityrail having ladies with white gloves as train guards!?

I took these shots near Kansai airport. Nankai run a line from the south of Osaka to the airport and further south to I-don't-know-where.

Talk about teasing. Another one pulled up on my platform. I could just pop inside and have a seat if they weren't all reserved. The design reminds me a lot of the original batmobile from 60-odd years ago. Very retro-future. I love it.

While we're talking Osaka here's me commiserating with Aaron, another teacher from the company, and others below, after the Hanshin Tigers game we had tickets to was rained-out. Wah!!! I have been wanting to get to a game for a long time. The fans are something else. At Koshien Stadium they chant, thump, scream and whatever else to egg their heroes on. Each player has their own theme song that the crowd will sing as they come to bat! So after we got the bad news, we, along with half of Osaka, went upstairs from the station to the Tigers shop. I think they made more money being rained-out than they would have had they played! People dressed from head to toe in Tigers gear (literally) were buying even more stuff. Mugs, hats, stickers, clothes, bags, covers for your Frisk mints, ears, puppets, calendars, slippers, inflatable bats, loudhailers... you get the idea. The nutty fans look like they're in pyjamas. I got the 1960-design jersey, back when they were just the Osaka Tigers. Teams here bear their owner's name, like the Yakult Swallows and ...(chortle), this year's national champions, the Nippon Ham Fighters!

Miki on the right knows all the songs for each player.

Moving right along... from Osaka towards home (actually right back near Takarazuka)...

My friend Masashi was keen for me to see a danjiri festival. This is in nearby Namaze, where they live. This is the float I mentioned a while back - worth 70 million yen. Each area has their own rig - the pride of their neighbourhood. This one was being rocked up and down to the sound of raucous music being played as heaps of young people jumped around in front of it. Very rock! You probably can't make them out, but there are guys on the roof that agitate everyone and ride up there as the floats are run through the streets at a fair speed. There many injuries from this 'sport' and occasionally deaths, as they take corners too fast and topple over. If that isn't dangerous enough, in some places when floats from different neighbourhoods meet, they are rammed together in danjiri fights. A few years ago Masashi was in the prized position of being on the roof. Ah, no thanks!

The lower panel was an amazing carving in unpainted wood. The lights flashed on and off to the sound of the drums and cymbals being frenetically hit. Sadly I could only stay for a short time - I hope I get to see one again. If you're interested there are some good shots on this website:

http://www.photokyo.com/gallery2.asp?category=danjiri

Trying very hard to be fresh and dope, here we are on the night Masashi got baptised.

Just after having taken the plunge. You've seen Masashi's family, Eriko and Ryo, before. These guys are great.

This is just outside my place. We had dinner together at Sushihachi, the place behind my apartment that my friend Kazuya runs. I wanted them to meet each other.

Well, we're back home now. What's on telly? If you want to see one of favourite ads here...

http://www.hanakoala.com/main/cm.html click on the bottom tab, marked TVCM.