Sushi in our stomachs and sand between our toes

The heat of the Japanese summer has finally gotten to me and I decided I wanted to swim in something besides my own sweat. I never thought I'd go to the beach in Japan. I mean, Australia has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world but I barely ever go to the beach back home. But I made it my mission this weekend.

So Nat and I met up in the city and I helped her get her phone. She was glad to finally get it. She's never gone so long without a phone before.

Then I decided that since I hadn't had sushi since arriving in Japan (sacriledge, I know) we simply had to find a sushi place. We managed to find a Keitan sushi which is a sushi-go-round like the sushi trains back home. THey aren't actually as common over here as you'd expect. But it was really nice. The plates started from $1.50 and went up to $10. You could pick up plates from the train or you could order it fresh. Nat and I had some tofu bags and ordered some hand rolls fresh. Man, it was so fresh and yummy. The seaweed was crispy and the rice was just perfect. Yum yum. We didn't spend much at all there. It only cost $7.50 for the both of us. But I can see how you can really rack up quite a bill at those places. It would have been interesting to see what was on the $10 plates but they didn't have any out while we were there.

Then we headed on down to Utsumi beach which is about an hour out of the city by train. We got there around 5.30pm which was perfect timing because the day had cooled down enough that we weren't scorching and the beach was pretty deserted. I'd heard that it was a really popular beach so I was expecting it to be packed. It was absolutely beautiful. I dove right into the water and it was warm... Ahhhh the glory. So we swam around in the gorgeous water and watched the sunset. At one point the as the sun let out it's final burst of light the clouds above us opened up and we had a glorious summer shower. It was so serene to watch the droplets hit the water. Then a rainbow came up. Because it's in a bay the waves were so tame. I'm so used to being battered by the waves at the beach at home. The ones over here barely gave us lazy nudges.

I love water. There is simply nothing quite like the feeling of floating in its silky warmth and letting all your worries wash away.

Photo credits: Natalie Borda

A heady mix of festivals and fireworks

Monday was a public holiday over here (not that it mattered to me since I have Mondays off anyway). I don't know the reason for the holiday but there was a festival on at Nagoya Port with fireworks and the whole shebang. So I decided to head on down that way for the day.

Pat and I got there late afternoonish and walked around. It was lovely. The aquarium is there and it's huge. Apparently Nagoya Port is THE place to bring a girl on a first date. You get major points for doing so.

When I told Mads about my going to a festival she asked me about the music that was going to be there. I had to explain that it wasn't a MUISC festival it was just a festival. It wasn't until I got to the festival that I realised that basically all of the festivals in Melbourne are orientated around live music (sigh...I miss good live music). But this festival was just a celebration of summer. Which is as good a reason as any.

There was the usual festival stalls lining the street. Except it was probably 15 times the size of the Queenscliffe stall markets. Most of the stalls were selling food. There was the usual festival food: cotton candy, french fries, shaven ice, toffee apples, sausages on a stick, baked potatoes. Then there was the more Japanese stuff: grilled squid on a stick, mini watermelons, takoyaki (octupus balls), okonomiyaki (vegetable pancake thingy), ramen (noodles), Doraemon shaped donut things, choc-dipped bananas, rice crackers. There were also the usual array of masks, lighty flashy things, and stuffed animals for sale. There were also a couple stall selling live mini goldfish and hermit crabs. Random.

I have never seen so many yukatas (summer kimono) in the one place. Men, women and children of all ages were wearing them. They are apparently THE thing to wear to summer festivals. They were so pretty. And I'm sure the photos I took won't do any justice to them.

There was also a crazy parade. I don't know exactly what it was for but some overzealous crowd controllers shoved us back as carts with drums and traditional Japanese harp players rolled by. They also had street walkers accompanying the carts. There was a huge drum attached to the back of each cart and a person would run behind the cart bashing at this drum with all their might (in rhythm). The street walkers would clap sticks, wave fans and yell accordingly. There was also an inordinate number of skinny hal-naked men running around trying to excite the crowds further. I still find it funny that the Japanese have very different views when it comes to nudity in public (for men anyway). They even have naked men festivals. Ha.

I also met a whole load of new people. So I met up with Nat (my girl from training), her co-worker Joel, and his friends Judy and Dwight. They in turn introduced me to Eric (a Taiwanese/American) very funny guy. Jean, a nice Torontonian girl. Joseph a ginger guy from Adelaide: he was so smashed it was funny. He asked me four times how long I'd been in Japan. Then told me that he had a problem with my being from Melbourne (what is it about Melbourne that makes everyone out of Melbourne hate us so much), but it was okay because I seemes like a cool chick. Ha...Hiro was a Japanese teacher that actually lives near me. And also a guy called Derek English. So his name and his job description are the same: English sensei (English teacher). hehehehe.

We all sat around the park and watched the fireworks. These fireworks were absolutely brilliant. They were the most amazing fireworks I've ever seen. They were so complicated and colourful. There were technicolour fishes, stars, supernovas, watermelons and mushrooms flying through the sky that night. It was beautiful and they lasted for ages. We were reminiscing about fireworks and all the happy memories they brought. Most of the Americans said it reminded them of the 4th of July (American Indepence Day). Judy (the Brit) and I were just buh?

But the fireworks made me think of that night we were up at the lake and we wandered out to the point in the dark and we sang songs under the gorgeous stars and satellites. Oh the good times.

The trains to get out of the festival were crazy packed. There were lines leading down the street just to get into the subway. So we all just walked to the next subway stop. When we got down there it was so packed we had to wait for the next train. This was hardly a hardship since the next one was maybe a two minute wait. But we all had to pile in. Forget sardines. We were a bag of jellybeans left out in the sun for too long then packed into a tiny tin to melt into each other.

I became intimately acquainted with more than my fair share of armpits on that ride. It's a good thing that Japanese people really don't seem to sweat or smell. I did get stepped on. Of course the girl who stepped on me was wearing her traditional heavy wooden sandals so she well and truly clomped my toe. Oh well, it was an experience. But at least it's not something I have to deal with on a daily basis as I would if I was in Tokyo.

Photo credits: Natalie Borda

Stupidity haunts me across the continents

Here's the section you've all no doubt been expecting but I have thus far neglected to include. The stupid things Isa has done section: Yep moving half way across the world has not in anyway improved my coordination or grace.

I'm still constantly walking into walls and tables and chairs and dropping things, much to the amusement of those around me. Everything's so small and cramped in Japan it's almost impossible to not walk into things. I also managed to pour boiling hot water over myself while making a tea with my old-school whistle kettle. Thank God I'd seen one at the Brown house otherwise I would have spent ages trying to figure out where the cord for the kettle was.

Then I shredded myself with a can opener that I was convinced didn't work. I went to the dollar store to buy myself a new one today but they only sold the exact same one and I was determined not to buy another self-mutilating tool. I'm not a sadist.

Then I turned it around and it had pictured instructions on how to use it and I realised I'd been doing it wrong. I now know how to use a can opener! High five! I knew Japan would be a growing experience for me.

I'm still a little perplexed by how much the old men in Japan like me. I keep getting the winky-winks and the gleeful smiles from them. But I've been reassured that all old Japanese men are perverts so there's nothing to worry about. And here I was thinking my pheromones were set to ancient. I bought an old-school Japanese fold up fan since it's so hot. I love it. But I belatedly wondered if there was any fan ettiquette. Like if I wave it a certain way it means I'm free and easy. Fans were the tools of the geisha after all. Needless to say the old men really like me and my fan as I meander the streets of Nagoya.

I've been reduced to stalking strangers

Today I met Nat's co-worker and some of his friends. Nat was supposed to come too but she bailed at the last minute. So I had to pick Joel out of the crowd and introduce myself.

It went a little like this: When I spotted him (Nat had sent me pictures previously so I knew what he looked like), I had to do a bit of covert stalking to check he was actually the person I was looking for. Then I went up to him just as he and his friends started moving away so I had to do some not so covert stalking until I finally walked up to him and said, 'I know this is random but are you, Joel?'
The look he gave me spoke volumes: 'Yes, I'm Joel but who the hell are you and how the hell do you know my name and where's the nearest exit?'

But when I explained the situation he was all friendly. So Joel is from Memphis, Tennessee so he's got the cute Southern drawl going for him. His friend Dwight is from somewhere in America though I can't recall where. Dammit why are there so many places in America. And Judy was from Manchester. They were all really cool so we spent the afternoon doing a bit of exploring and chatting.

It was hilarious. We went into a comic book store because Judy's a crazy fan. This store was so funny. The first floor had all the most popular anime. Level 2 was a ladies only floor. We were wondering what was there so we took a gander. It turned out to be the level with all the guy on guy comics (which apparently is uber popular with the ladies over here).

The 3rd level was the over 18 floor and the used comics section. So it was the J porn section and of course a lot of the used comics where porn comics. Needless to say I didn't want to touch any of them.
One of the funniest comics we saw was one called Painal Fantasy (Final Fantasy). It was an S&M comic. Oh, and there was also one called Combat Butler. We all decided we wanted a personal Combat Butler, who'd go around saving the day and come back in time to make us a cup of tea. A lot of the guys that were shopping in the over 18 section kept getting freaked out whenever they saw me and Judy perusing. I guess they're just not used to seeing real live girls.

It's a sumo world after all

I have been sumofied!

I went to a sumo tournament yesterday. It was actually really interesting. We went from around 1pm. It was meant to finish at 5pm and I hadn't expected to stay for the entire thing because frankly I didn't think I'd be that interested. We ended up staying for the entire thing which ended at 6pm.

It was a sweltering hot day and when we got to the Aichi Prefectural Gym, Ryan got Takoyaki (octupus balls) so I scored some from him. But they were too hot to eat on such a bone-melting day.

Then straight onto the action. In exchange for our ticket we got a 'cute' little sumo key ring thing. It was funny. Since we got the cheapest tickets we were actually right at the back of the arena in the hard blue bucket seats. But because we got there 'early' (usually people don't come until the last hour or so when the champions come out) we went down to the boxes. So we were sitting on little pillows right up close to the ring. Those tickets cost $100 at least. It was great for photo taking.

Okay, so when one mentions sumo one immediately thinks of fat men wrestling. But the event is really more of a ritualistic art form. For one thing, the sumos aren't actually as obese as I expected. They are actually quite muscular for most part with a big tummy. And for fat men they are pretty damn flexible. As they prepare for their bout they have to do a few ritualistic moves. The lifting of each leg. They looked like cranes...industrial cranes that moved majestically but shake the earth beneath you.They throw salt into the ring for purification purposes but a lot of them threw that salt like they had a personal vendetta against the ground. Then they squat and knuckle the ground. They'll stand up again and scrub their faces with a towel and a glare. Take a sip of water for purification (or sake as we suspected), then head back to the center for some more squatting, glaring and knuckling. Then boom! they charge at each other.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh wasn't actually as squishy as I'd been expecting. It actually sounded more like to giant bags of rice hitting each other. Then the object of the bout is to get your opponent to touch any other body part (besides the bottom of his feet) to the ground or throw him out of the ring. So if a sumo falls and his hand touches the ground he's out. Or if he gets thrown out of the ring, he's also out. Each match lasts for a maximum of 30 seconds so it's really fast paced. We saw a lot of sumo.

My favourite ones were the ones that didn't end straight away but they got into a battle of the bear hugs and stood there hugging each other trying to psych each other out, gripping each others nappies and giving each other wedgies. It made me cackle with glee.

At one point a, sumo got thrown out of the tiny ring and actually landed on a little old lady sitting ringside. She was petrified and moved immediately. Funnily enough those ring side seats cost the most. They can fetch up to $400.

They also have sumo groupies with handmade signs and squealing...hehehe... The nappies were also a surprise. They are so intrically tied and yet so secure. I didn't see any butt crack or wedding tackle at all. Another major surprise was the sumos themselves. When we walked past the big sweaty sumos to get to our seats, I realised they smelled like big babies. It was as if they'd been rolling around in baby powder.

Exploring the abyss of weird

Pat (my neighbour and fellow teacher) went exploring in our area today. Since there really isn't anything interesting in our part of town we decided to head somewhere else.

We ended up in Ozone which is just one stop away. It's the site for the Nagoya Dome (a baseball stadium – baseball is huge here). The local team are the Dragons but for some reason their mascot seems to be a tan koala. I think I might have missed something there.

There's also a mega mall. And this mall was pretty huge. It was probably bigger than Chadstone but a lot less crowded and with a lot less people. It was pretty deserted actually. It was your average shopping centre with average stores but there were a few highlights.

There was a arcade called Romantic Street full of those skill testers where you use the claw to pick up and win stuff. But these were filled with mega-huge plush toys (the Japanese people here seem obsessed with Stitch from Lilo and Stitch), Dragon ball z figurines, Hello Kitty biscuits, Pooh Bear kitchen ware, Snacks, A sausage jerky thing, and in one of them you could win a box of ritz crackers. Um…people you can buy that stuff in convenience stores.

There was also a HMV and the cds weren't actually too expensive. In the HMV was a weird store called Village Vanguards that was full of weird kitsch things. There were star/heart shaped frying pans, so all the ladies can cook up a heart shaped omelette for their husband's bento lunch (gag). A kettle shaped like a giraffe and my personal favourite was the cocktail sausage cutters. They cut cocktail sausages into fun shapes like crabs and penguins to encourage kids to eat them (sigh).

Then Pat and I wandered downstairs where there was a travel agency offering trips to space. Seriously? There are men and women who study and train for years, undergoing extensive training programs to become astronauts and now they're just offering the priviledge up to anyone with enough money. Uh…I think I'll pass.

Then we hit the Jackpot of Japanese weirdness. There was a mega pet store. They had the usual mini-dog section with accompanying dog clothing range. But beyond the dogs was a crazy range of animals. There were the usual fish plus walls and walls of tropical fish: clown fish, puffer fish, albino walking fish and others I don't know the name of. There were the usual love birds and cockatiels, then some quails too. Lizards, toads, frogs, turtles, tortoises, snails, crabs, beetles all ranging from miniscule to massive. Then there was a badger, a fox, a sheep, ferrets, a 20kg rabbit, chinchillas, possums, and snakes. I went nuts. It was awful to see these animals kept in teeny tiny boxes but the fact they were being sold as pets drove me insane. I felt like there was going to be a dolphin around the next corner I turned. It was something I would never have believed if I hadn't seen it but I was pretty glad to get out of there.

I think I will continue to be surprised by Japan for a long while.