Today I'm writing from the home of my friends Tom, Jen and Ruby in Tsukuba, north of Tokyo. It's holiday time as the company closes for 8 days between December 27 and January 4. Christmas was pretty low-key - it's not a holiday here, but it fell on a Monday which is my usual day off. On Christmas Eve we had a service and party at church pretty similar to last year's, but we had a dramatised reading of the Christmas story with songs interspersed throughout which really helped it come to life and put the words of the songs into context. My manager Risa-san came along and really enjoyed it, so that was great.

Well, this is nowhere near Tsukuba - this is Wakasawan, which I was given the opportunity to see in November by my friend Namiko's friend Kosuke-san. He was really generous in driving us and their friend Przemek up to the Japan Sea coast, an expensive trip in terms of petrol and tolls (the latter alone totalling at least 60 bucks), and he refused any offers of payment, claiming the tolls are cheap! He isn't rich, just generous. It was my first time to see the Japan Sea - it lies to the north of Japan's main island, Honshu (where I live) - between it, Russia and the Korean peninsula.

It was raining, but picturesque, despite. Here Namiko is doing what one is supposed to do from the mountain top - turn yourself upside down and take a look. And what do you see?...

Okay, not quite.

Not surprisingly you see something like this. One is supposed to see a ladder/stairway to heaven... maybe I'm a bit dull but I don't get it. Maybe the monkey does.

(Disclaimer: I lifted the monkey pic off the net ages ago and wouldn't have a clue where it came from, so I'm going to claim ignorance when it comes to copyright ...but there - at least I admit that it's not mine!)

If the Spamurai can take you to other dimensions and turn you upside down... it should be a snack to take you back in time. This is how we got up the mountain - as modelled by Przemek. He is the first native Pole I've ever met... maybe the first Pole I've met fullstop. He's from Gdansk - home of the largest brick Gothic cathedral in the world, where he attends mass and was married.

Funny sign.

A break in the rain meant time for photos.

Peace. Word to your mother.

This is now down on the beach near the start of the isthmus. (Never thought I'd be dropping that word into a sentence).

There were some very funky looking craft about.

How's the serenity?

More funky boats.

Okay, now I'm really just writing a caption for continuity.

I don't have a clue what these fruits are, but they're like little characters.

We went for some lunch in a place with a really nice view.

Chirashizushi and a simple soup. This type of sushi is made up of a bed of rice topped loosely with egg, sashimi (raw fish) and ikura (fish eggs). Delicious.

Great company! Don't you think Przemek looks a bit like Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings)?

We popped into a fish market. There were all sorts of sealife for sale, but these squid really stood out! They were about 50 bucks each. Check out the eyes!

Is this guy wanting you to approach him for a drink or just proud?

The crabs here are massive. They look so tasty, even in their shells - how does that work!? I've wondered that about Coke. When you see a vending machine and it looks like a giant red and white can, how does that make you want to drink black, bubbling liquid? My theory is that the pictures of the cans are always covered in drops of water and you buy the Coke subconsciously associating it with the water, not the Coke, because we all know that water quenches thirst far more effectively than Coke does. Perhaps this paragraph is strong evidence for the need to regulate blogs... sorry.

Okay, I think it's the colour. If you could eat the shell, I would.

Some more creatures on offer.

I'd love to see Rex Hunt try and kiss one of these suckers (or should I say biters) when still alive. Yikes.

Well, It's New Year's Eve and the end of 2006. What a blur! Last NYE I was asleep in Gifu city nursing a bad case of the runs (yes, you needed to know) with a whole range of experiences in between then and now. It's been a great year. I hope 2007 is a year of great things for you.

akemashite omedetou!

Dear (insert your name),

MERI KURISUMASU!

I'm sorry for my terrible slackness - not making the easy trek to the post office to send an actual card. And to my family especially, sorry yours will arrive in time for Easter instead. But I made this picture in thinking of you all. There's no snow here, but it's a nice idea. This winter has been pretty kind so far - kind to me anyway. Today we had a big feed after church - even turkey with cranberry! I was given a big bag of food to take home, so I will be enjoying the taste of winter Christmas for some time yet. It was great to hear a dramatised story of the birth of Jesus at church - an amazing thought that the infinite God of eternity would stoop so low as to be born as one of us into poverty, just to be near to us. I hope that that warms you as it did me today. My manager came along and enjoyed it a lot, so I'm stoked.

Anyway, God bless you... and yoi otoshi yo! (happy new year... or thereabouts)

Love, the spamurai.

IF YOU LEAVE ME, CAN I COME TOO?

The photos below document the changing of the leaves at the local Shinto shrine over the space of ten days. Of all the expensive tripping around I did in the month of November to see the Big Guy's annual autumn exhibition, some of the best and most stirring sights I saw were at this shrine along the road I walk to work 3 times a week! Only one famous temple in Kyoto had trees to top these ones (you'll see them soon)...

NOVEMBER 12

This was a sunny day... the colours were vivid, but weren't quite going primary just yet. But the gradations are really nice.

NOVEMBER 14

This day was overcast, but some nice orange hues were showing.

NOVEMBER 15

This day was perfect. The signs below announce that it's shichigosan matsuri, or the time to bring your 3/5/7 year old child to be blessed. I explained this on the blog at the time, but I'll reiterate... most are actually 2/4/6 year olds, because in the past a newborn was described as being 1, hence a 1 year old child was said to be 2... etc.

I believe the names chiselled into the stone fence are individuals/families/businesses who have contributed to the shrine. The supermarket across the tracks from me is among the rollcall.

The torii, or gate thing, marks the entrance to a sacred precinct. Naturally, you're supposed to walk through it, not around. Kazuya says many evil spirits hang around torii. Like I said, he loves to try and spook me! The famous one on the water that you saw back in Hiroshima's Miyajima Island is so big because boats had to go through it. In the old days, the whole island was treated as sacred and commoners weren't allowed there. You had to enter the island by taking your boat through the gate, or else you would defile it.

I felt like a creep hovering around this family, taking shots of trees, waiting for the right time to ask for a photo. There was no one else around, so I was more than a little conspicuous!

Some of these little outfits are super pricey, so I'd be miffed if some stranger was able to just come and snap my kids for free after I'd shelled out all that money, let alone raised them for 2/4/6 years. But it had to be done... you can see why, right? kawaii! ... cute.

"Mummy, who's the strange man taking my picture... and ... why are you letting him?"

NOVEMBER 22

A week later... another beaut day, but with a touch of winter... no mixing colours required, just reds and yellows straight from the tube!

The exhibition ended a week or so later - the walls of the gallery are pretty bare now. Fallen ... just like his other masterpiece.

Well, I'm going to bed. There's ice forming outside my front door, but it's nowhere near as cold as last winter. No snow has fallen here yet. No complaints from me! But the first snow will be exciting. Anyway... night.

You may recall from a previous post I reported nicking off into neighbouring Arima Onsen for a cuppa with a couple of ladies one morning before work. I now provide you with photographic evidence. When I say ladies, they were a geisha and a maiko, no less! Above is the maiko, who I'm guessing would be 20 or 21, as she said she's been an apprentice for 2 years - they usually start at age 19 these days.

I stumbled upon them by complete accident. My aim in going to Arima was to see more autumn colours. From the station, the river forks into 2 as you walk uphill, so I opted for the side I hadn't yet explored, which leads you to Zuihoji Park. Once inside after a little while I came upon a long striped curtain - the side of a pavilion in which tea was being served. I popped my head over the top and saw a geisha! Needless to say I eventually paid my money and went inside to be served tea... expensive for a cup of tea and a sweet, but definitely worth it!

This just seemed to be for show. The tea I drank may well have come from an electric urn! It came from behind a screen anyway.

After I finished sipping and munching I asked for photos and the fact that I was foreign became more obvious. So, we got chatting. An old lady that was collecting the entrance fee was the intermediary - I think generally you don't converse directly to geisha/maikosan. Perhaps she was the maiko's minder - the obaasan (mother figure) of her okiya (house). Maiko become geisha when they either marry or get a sponsor - a rich patron who sets them up on their own.

I really don't know if these ladies were traditional to that degree, but the old lady was insistent that I was speaking to genuine Arima geishasan. I apologised for my ignorance and said that I thought only Kyoto had geisha. They replied that there are about 20 places in Japan that have them. The apprentice was wearing a wig, which differs from what I've read. In Kyoto they style and adorn their own hair and start using a wig only once they become geisha. They are definitely more accessible than their Old Capital counterparts, that's for sure. The old lady asked if I was single and I nodded enthusiastically "hai hai! shinguru!" I said, which is Japanese English for single. I'm pretty sure she was just teasing. Darn. I said that I'd actually met the maiko before, at Arima's summer dance festival. They were surprised I'd been to Arima before and was back again so soon, and so I fessed up that I live within walking distance (a long, hard walk, but nevertheless...), but I said yes, I really like Arima.

I said that I had to go to work and quickly made my way back down to the station, pretty stoked with myself. Perfect weather, perfect timing for the trees, perfect encounter. On days like this it makes any nasty experiences here all seem worth it.

Once inside the train I again saw a poster about which I'd previously been thinking "that looks cool, I should check that out". I then realised it was what I'd just been to. Happy with that!

Arima's history is loooonnnggg. It's Japan's oldest onsen, or hot spring town. The Emperor Jomei enjoyed a September to December bathing holiday here in the year 631! I would have enjoyed views of autumn similar to those he did.

In 1097 a "flood" struck the onsen and the spa collapsed. The source of the spring lay hidden for 95 years until a monk came and restored it, according to legend, obeying a dream he'd had...

The Japanese take their baths very seriously!

OK. I've been checking out this guy Joi Ito. He's incredible. It's not a great comparison, but he seems to be the Richard Branson of Japan. No, he's more Richard Branson than Richard Branson. He lives in a village that sounds even more rural than my place (without even city water connected), yet he moves and shakes the online world - moves and makes millions and even billions (if you're talking yen). He's right into blogging (as in he keeps a blog, but also probably owns everyone else's) and is incredibly sharp in his observations. He even remarks that Japan must accept and make itself more hospitable to foreign residents or else it will degrade to be a nation of starving old people (kind of follows on from what I was saying about Japan's population problem). He makes really perceptive comments/criticisms on lots of issues that he's actually close to and yet he's also down to earth and young enough to talk about his favourite Doraemon products (Doraemon is a cute blue robot cat that can fly - there's a version of iPod mini available) which he uses, post funny photos or just talk about how he feels - even what he's doing to lose weight. He also writes articles on his blog about points of Japanese culture in a similar vein to mine, only with far greater quality of writing and a Japanese viewpoint. He even leaves his email address and phone numbers for you to contact him and apologises if he hasn't replied! Very compelling dude... will have to read more, but I think I'm a fan. I will add a link to the Spamurai...

Very interesting article by a Japanese writer reflecting on contemporary Japan's take on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/opinion/07ito.html?ex=1281067200&en=e6b897762b09f727&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

The writer, Joi Ito, is decribed as an internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist (!?).

Anyway, just a short entry tonight...

from Ian Young, lint mogul and shopping bag baron.

Last month I realised that November is my favourite month here. Japan's Autumn is such a great time to get outside - the air has cooled after summer's onslaught, but it's not yet packing the sharp chill that winter brings. The leaves show more colours than the Spring's cherry blossom display and lasts much longer (not so elusive!). I was able to truly appreciate what an awesome place this is - having seen the scenery of better known places in Japan, I think my humble little neck of the woods has views to rival them - often on a smaller scale, but just as scenic. Last month I saw some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. This place is not quite at the top of the list, but it's getting there. You're looking at the view from a trail that goes from a place called Takedao to the afore-mentioned Takarazuka. At the moment we're still in Takedao. Some parts reminded me of the setting of that old TV show, Grizzly Adams. (Thankfully, though, the bears are way up north of Japan).

Oscar and I went straight after Japanese class and hopped on the train a couple of stops to this area. The line we took is the one that goes to Osaka. I'd long wondered what great sights there were to see beyond the train line - it's a bit of a frustrating trip through this region as you are tantalised by amazing valleys and rivers in tiny grabs as you speed between tunnels, drilling through mountain after mountain. So, when I heard someone from class talk about this walk I was determined to check it out - and quickly, seeing as it was the time of kouyou - the changing of the leaves (everything here has a name! Except foot! Same word as leg. I really can't figure that one out!)

Having said all that about wondering what lies beyond the train line, we were actually walking on another. Now disused, we were tracing the path that trains used to take along here. The new line is much more direct. Motorways and railways here do incredible things in mountainous parts - you fly elevated above a valley and then go straight through rock and out over another valley. I guess they pick an optimum height to engineer all those bridges and tunnels, bridges and tunnels, but you often seem to be quite high up. As you can see, in the old days things were more grounded. Here we are exiting the first of four tunnels.

There was a stretch of momiji, or Japanese maples, forming a canopy over us. The colours were brilliant.

Life seems very simple when you're in a place like this.

Sometimes you see things straight out of a screen painting, a woodblock print or a kimono print. It works the other way 'round doesn't it, but you know what I mean! Yesterday morning the mountains along the road to work were shrouded in mist, silhoutteing trees in different layers, and rising from valleys just like in those paintings that I always used to think were stylised. But yeah, you really do see scenes like that.

About a week or so after we went I saw this same view on TV. They were doing a short story on the walk we did.

There were some nice pockets of colour among the evergreens. There's a lot of bamboo, cedars, pines and oaks that make a backdrop of green for the more showy trees.

This tunnel was a bit longer than the one before. I've turned up the contrast a lot to see if there are any ghosts or other spooks, as we were warned! haha... thankfully, no. Funnily enough, back in Australia I have a PS2 game called Project Zero (the guy I bought my console off chucked it in for free), in which you are a Japanese girl in a haunted house. You can only feel the presence of an approaching ghost through the heartbeat-like vibration of the controller. When it gets really strong you look around through your camera, and when the viewfinder lights up you know there's a ghost in front of you. You have to capture the ghost by taking their picure. When you do they become visible for an instant and are often right in your face and really freaky. I hate that game! I've only played it about 3 times. haha

Well, back into the open, we were met by this bridge.

Oscar's a Londoner. We met at Japanese class and have become good mates. His last name should be Wild. He's hard to keep up with and there's usually a point where I see it's not a good idea to try! haha. Despicable but very likeable. Him, that is... not me. Well, ok... I'm very likeable too.

See what I mean? As if he knew at that moment what I would type onto the internet a month later, Oscar gives me the one finger salute as we exit the longest and darkest tunnel. We were tripping over rocks and sleepers at one point. It has a bend so it was pitch black in the middle and after a while we pulled out our phones for some light! I'm guessing from my street directory that it's about 300m long. I got a bit spooked for about a minute - the wall of the tunnel felt a bit wrong.

Nice outcrop ne?

Whoops - this is a little too red, but I can't be bothered tweaking it. It was a bit more orange. This was the peacock of the lot, sitting there yelling for some attention. It got it.

Well, we decided not to walk all the way to Takarazuka, as the rest of the path would be in "civilisation" anyway. This is a good example of what I was talking about before. To get an idea of the scale of these overpasses, look at the rooftops around the columns. The scale of public works here is nuts - I've heard things like these roads are often the result of cushy deals between politicians and construction companies - the company gives money to a party campaign, the guy gets elected, he then sees to it that they win the tender for some massive government funded scheme that services very few people. I wonder who will maintain all this infrastructure as the population keeps getting older and the younger people keep getting fewer through low birth and tragically high suicide rates.

Okay, I'm creeping into territory that I really don't know about, so...

g'night!

Haha I just checked my email and had a message from Buster McThunderstick! Nobody spams the Spamurai! Except maybe about 15 people/robots a day. Here's Buster...

with his nutty friend, Peanut McButterpants. I'm not sure what was going on here - they were visiting a school, that's all I know... but I thought worth a photo.

On a complete tangent, with nothing at all to do with Buster McThunderstick, these are some sights I snapped just wandering aimlessly around Kobe.

I saw Tommy Lee Jones. He is featured on some vending machines in frames from TV commercials (or CMs as they're called here - promounced shee e-moo) for Boss Coffee, my favourite. Why would you have someone lame like Meg Ryan pretending she's just woken up in her log cabin (which are popular here, by the way) drinking Nescafe when you can have Tommy just looking sour and beaten by the world!? I love it. There's another brand here with a variety called Deeppresso! I tried to explain to Kazuya my mirth - what a great name for a pick-me-up! More like a weigh-me-down.

Some banks of vending machines are like a 24 hour outdoor minimarket. They also are handy for lighting the street.

Finally, here's a little experiment I didn't mean to conduct in the "crisper" of my fridge. I think Carrot McCarrot has seen crisper days. I think I have finally, truly earned my bachelor of fine art.

"Nice to meet you. Say...'aven't we met before?"

(Alvina, do you remember this fella? I can't believe I didn't get a picture of us! Sorry!)

Well, that's drinks, how about food:

---{ TODAY'S SPECIALS }---

Spam a la leftouvres

I'm digging up Takarazuka again. Today on the train I sat opposite one of those disturbing individuals I described last time: a devotee of the Takarazuka Revue. She rifled through her bag of goodies, having just come from the shrine - the Takarazuka Grand Theatre. One by one she pulled out a brochure of different productions, then finally pulled out a highly-produced, glossy mook devoted to one of the actresses. She was of course dressed and groomed conservatively and very properly but proudly nailing her freak colours to the mast.

---{ 400 yen }---

Spam en l'hiver

No, I'm not really cultured, just googled "french for winter"! As Mr Lebowski says in the Young Ones... "I'm not really foreign you know... I just pretend to be to seem more sophisticaaatid". I came home yesterday with ears aching from the cold. This morning I walked past patches of white frost. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (not the one I know, tho! No water fights in the backyard this time 'round!). I tried my new gloves for feet type socks - with individual toes. Feels mighty weird - not sure I'm a fan.

---{ 200 yen }---

Spam a la coupure de coeur

Again, googled "heartbreak". We are currently conducting tests at school istead of running lessons. Towards the end of one a little girl very dear to me looked up at me with nervous, helpless eyes... then stared blankly at the paper in front of her... then burst into tears. For at least 20 minutes. I say at least because when her dad carried her out of school she was still going. I felt like utter crap. I know it's not really my fault - she never does her homework or listens much in class and it wasn't the wisest choice by her folks to get her to sit the optional test... but I still felt so bad for her. I nearly cried too... after work I once again met the bear called beer. Hmmm...

---{ I'll give you yen to take that one off me }---

Well, chef's gone crazy and called it a day. No more spam in the larder... but unlucky you... there's a another batch due in soon...

...'til then

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.