Episode 17: There's never enough time...

Konnichiwa mina-san! (Hello Everyone!)

Yes, it has been another heck of a week for me over here in Tsu, and as promised, I'm going to deliver some new and exciting news in the life of a Canadian abroad. To any of my attentive readers, I'm sure you've noticed that today's entry is a little, well, tardy to say the least. Let me explain why:

Here in Nova, it can be difficult to get a day off. In order to alleviate this, there is a "Shift Swap" program, where you can exchange certain days off with other teachers, allowing you to "Work each other's shifts" to grant you a three day weekend, etc. Well, this week, my new roommate Jon went back to Canada, and my good friend Karen had her cousin come up from Australia. Due to conflicts, etc, I ended up working a shift for Jon, AND a shift for Karen, which happened to be both of my days off this week. Thus today was my first day off in about eight days, which when you've pulled a muscle in your neck and managed to catch the first bit of a cold in four months, can be trying at best. Anywho, it's over, and I've actually had a great week, despite all this, so I've got Sunday off, and then I work Monday & Tuesday, and then back to another two days off. That'll be sweet. (This picture is a picture of me with our Tsuminami Nova worker Kaori. Recently Ashanthi has been teaching her and our other worker Nao some great English words. They're wicked fun people.)



To get back to the 'thesis' of today's entry, I have to say that this last week has been full of ups and downs, back-flips, the like, but mostly, it has been a mad dash to a finish line. I've got mainly three things I'd like to talk about, so let me 'get at'er!'

Two of my good friends left for England this past week. Neil and Ellen, you will be sadly missed. (Yes that's them on the left.) That being said, they went out with a serious bang, and not only did those two deliver the goods, but they also 'cut the mustard' like the best of 'em. The stage was set for success, and from the beginning of the night we all knew that we were going to be going on a wicked ride until the early morning... or late morning...

The plan was a simple tri-pronged attack. First Bar, then Bowling, finally Karaoke at the one and only Shidax. Bar at 7, Bowling at 9:30, Shidax from 12:00 until 5:00am. It went as planned, and then some.


Ashanthi, Rachel and myself were working that night, so we met up with the slightly intoxicated gang at Grandbowl! (The bowling place I mentioned a couple weeks ago.) Not only did they give us a royal welcome for our approximately 40 bowlers, but they gave Neil a special ball, and told him that the festivities would begin on his 'opening pitch.' Well, the ball didn't look that special, since it was just a clear plastic ball with white inner plastic as the center. Of course, that would be merely to the mortal eye, for if a divine being, such as "Bowl-ar" (lord of bowling), placed his icy gaze upon the solid ball of majesty, he would have seen the motion sensitive LEDs implanted within its Titanium exoskeleton. After everyone had quieted down, and Neil took a microphone to announce the opening bowl, he placed the ball in his hands, and a hush fell over the audience. Surely enough, he threw that ball with all of his might, and as it hit the lacquered surface, the spinning ball of rainbow LED goodness went straight and true. STRIKE!!! Now that's an opening to a good night. There was much rejoicing, and much fun to be had.


After a riveting couple games of bowling, many of us were ready for the Karaoke to begin. I remember Ellen specifically being so excited that she grabbed a few of us and just began walking out the door, leading the train to the excitement that is Shidax! In case you didn't know about how much the Karaoke costs at Shidax, let me explain it for you. That night we opted for the "Special 12-to-4am" price, which was 3400 yen (approx $32). That is four hours of Karaoke in a beautiful private area, and all you can drink alcohol & coffee/tea/pop, etc. Not bad, eh?

The night began rather simply, with a few fan favourites, and after about the first hour or so, it became an all out brawl, with music from all facets of life. We had Billy Joel, followed by White Snake, followed by Queen, Boys 2 men, Madonna, and Billy Idol. We had single singers, duets, teams, choirs, and pretty much everyone in the room singing with, or without, mics.



One particular highlight of the night came in form of getting our friend Rachel (in the middle), who, well, let's just say 'isn't a professional singer' to sing "All By Myself." Pretty much... all by herself. It was one of the best Karaoke moments I have yet to experience, and as I'm sure you can see by the picture, I look particularly happy during the singing of the song. Kudos go out to my sister from another mister, Ashanthi who took a lot of the pictures for this night.



Right! I almost forgot! Here are a few pictures of my brand new apartment! Yes, I managed to make my first move from my old Nova apartment (which wasn't to my liking) to this newer, and better location (still Nova accommodations.) My room is now bigger, my storage space more plentiful, I have a beautiful shower, my place is in a better location AND it costs less! Can you think of a better move? I can't. My only worry is that I'll have to do a lot of work on my old place for the inspection that will occur sometime soon. Frankly, the place was in quite the disarray when I arrived, so I hope they don't ding me on anything. My old place actually got much better when I moved in. (I replaced some things, and cleaned like mad.)






Anywho, that's it for me this week. But stay tuned for next week... I try out a few new restaurants, and also, I go down to the beach with Tomo-san and light off some 2" wide Fire-crackers that we had to get a Fire-Marshall's license to ignite! Do I blow my hand off? Does Tomo-san make his mouth even wider?! WAIT AND FIND OUT!




Ja matta ne,

-benjamin


p.s. Check out these funny pics I found!

No smoking adds have never been better. "But he lives in an old movie." diss!









Ahh.. Bubble man 2, return of the beverage that tastes like sugar. Yes, I purchased one, and I can tell you this stuff gets you wired more than coffee any day of the week.





I just love this guys facial expression... he's so bitter... and sharp. Just like the beer.

Episode 16: Archery and Animals start with 'eh?'

Konnichiwa Mina-san!!!

Wow, it's been a week, and already I feel live I've been neglecting this baby. For that, I will have to post extra big, extra high definition pictures this week, so hit the refresh, make yourself some tea, and sit back down for some amazing animal adventures!!!

On my Thursday off Rachel and I made our way up to Nagoya to check out the Hagashiyama Zoo! Once you ride the Kintetsu Train into Nagoya, you hop on a Subway (The Lemon Line) and ride for about 15 minutes... after that it's a two minute walk. Overall, an easy trip, and including all travel fees, travel times and Zoo costs, we were out about 3hrs of travel time and $30 Canadian dollars. Not bad, eh? Anywho, it was raining like crazy, and so instead of going straight to the Zoo, we went to a place called "Jonathan's" for an early lunch. I ordered the above pictured BLT sandwich, which was to my liking. Rachel went for the pasta, which she was craving and assured me was good.

The weather quickly cleared up, and before long it was a hot and humid, yet beautiful day... So the 'Zo' it was. Without any further ado, here are some pictures I snapped on our Safari through Hagashiyama!


I've recently found that I enjoy Rhinos. They're pretty awesome. One of them was going nuts on an orange ball, pushing it around and playing with it. They're basically land hippos.







Check out this Camel! His teeth are better than most of my students'! Hahaha, I joke, I joke...








The Penguins were really cute. They were having a race around the circular pool, as well as just hanging out. At one time the cool-misters came on, and a few of them crowded around for a shower. I've got a video, but I can't post it here. I may put it up on www.youtube.com so if you're interested, swing by and look for videos under "Bentron." (PS if you're really bored, you could always check out the other films I've got posted.)



Giraffes are really cool too. I can really see why they're the tallest animal in the world... basically, they're just that tall. At one time I kinda thought that two of them were going to make babies, but they decided not to at the last second... probably for the best, seeing how a group of hyperactive 6yr old Japanese elementary students were hanging over the railings.




This guy here was my buddy monkey. When he saw me, he came running out of his hiding spot, and sat on the ledge and started making farting noises with his mouth. Anywho, I clapped for him and he clapped for me, and we spent the next couple minutes taking turns giving each other one clap.





Hippo Lovers.









I don't even remember what this guy was called, but he was pretty cute, so I thought I'd include him in the photo.








This guy wanted to kill me. He's beautiful, eh Laura? (She hates snakes...)








After a few hours, and a trip up the Skytower, we had to say good-bye to all the animals, and though I really enjoyed it, I couldn't help but feel bad for some of the poor guys as we disappeared from view. Their cages were much smaller than they should have been. The comparison I'd make would be that of Japanese houses to North American houses. It was really cool to look at them all and see what the world has in terms of species diversity! I think they had over 540 different species of animals at the Zo.



Also in the world of Ben, I have recently begun a new sport... Archery! Check out some mean pics of Jon, Yumi, Hiro, Hiroyuki and myself. Hiroyuki is my teacher, and he's a really nice guy. You may remember him from a previous post, where I mentioned that he took Yumi, Jon, Ashanthi and myself out to Tsu-museum, and Shinjuji Temple. Anywho, he's also an Archery master. (Hahaha, he wouldn't claim to be a master, but we all know it's true.)


As the new guy, I had a lot to learn in my first experience with 'proper' archery. After a little bit of a learning curve, and once all the smoke had cleared, I could shoot pretty consistently at a target from 30 metres away. I even came within a couple centimeters of the bull's eye. I'm impressed with myself, and I didn't expect anything that close for my first try.





Okay, and so though I'm tired and want to go to bed, I also want to let everyone know that I have moved! Yay!1! I'll be posting new pictures of my apartment very soon, so stay tuned for next post! Until then,

Mattane!

-benjamin out.

Episode 15: Keep the Bowl rollin'...

Konnichiwa Mina-san!!!

Another week flies by, and thus, so doth my keystrokes. Welcome to yet another posting to mark some of the newest experiences in my beautiful trip accross the land and into a the world of the East. This week's entry involves some new developments in housing, a new hobby, and new friendships.

First off, let me speak about the beautiful world of Bowling. Yes, I have finally had a chance to embark on that long polished wooden trail, down the laneways, and smack dab into the pins of life. I'm talking about Bowling, and in Japan, it is no less than a phenomenon. Last Sunday Ashanthi, Kaori, Nao and myself pioneered "GrandBowl," and we achieved only success. (Unless you count score that is.)

Please allow me to introduce you to the Auto-Shoeser. Yes, this mammoth vessel of unholy greatness is a behemoth in its own right, capable of distributing different sized shoes to over twenty different sized people simultaneously.... What is that you say? But it would take the dedicated efforts of over twenty people to accomplish that feat? Why yes, that is true young grasshopper, and thus, the Auto-Shoeser is one of the greatest inventions of all time. And look a that beautiful name.

Of course, one short-coming is that we have different sizing in our North American shoes than they do over here, and Mr. Auto-shoeser doesn't let you try on a pair to see if... well... 'the shoe fits.' In any case, I managed to snag the perfect size based solely on the fact that Ashanthi has feet that are similar in size to mine. She bought hers first. :)

The bowling lanes shut down once an hour for a few minutes to reveal what could only be described in North American terms as "COSMIC BOWL." Though the pictures are of terrible quality, I am sure that you can catch the gist of the moments inscribed upon a digital format for all time. (Check out that Halloween decore!)

By the end of the night, Kaori had lost her thumb nail in a bowling ball (ouch!) Ashanthi had mastered her ball spinning technique, Nao couldn't use her right hand (but somehow managed to get a strike with her left) and I had got some practice for Neil's going away party on May 20th. Things were great that night, and afterwards we hit up 'Shidax' for Karaoke.



After that delicious start to my week, I began a new step in my adventure here in Japan... I started packing for my move to a new apartment. I'm going to have two new flat mates, a nice shower, more space, pay less, and be in a more convienient location. Win-Win-Win-Win baby!!!

My official move date will be May 16th, and so post then, please contact me for my contact information. Tristan will be picking up my mail for now, but he may not stay here that long anyway, so please make sure to get that information. You can also contact my parents, they'll have the address & postal code.



Finally, to finish off this post, I'd like to say that I'm beginning to learn about some nook & cranny places here in Tsu. This is mainly due to a couple trips with my new friend, Matthew, who has been here for about three years now. He happens to know a little too much about this place, so we had a great time the other day looking around at new places, eating some real Indian Curry (!) and also doing some shopping. Check it out guys, I'm holding 8 Litres of Whiskey for less than $49 Canadian! Now, if only I liked Whiskey...



until next week,

-benjamin


Ahhh... "Oh MyReade" Probably the best toilet paper the world has ever birthed from her birth canal. Love the name.

Episode 14: See no Ninja, Hear no Ninja, Speak no...

... Ninja.

That's what it's about ladies and gents... ninja. Lots and lots of Ninja.

For all of you who don't know, Iga is the site where the best ninja of all time came into power. They were capable, powerful, stealthy and though most people think they used to dress in black, they actually traditionally wore dark navy blue. I managed to snag a ride with my buddy Tomo-san out to Iga on Thursday, and we surely didn't see any ninja. "Why not?" You ask? Geeze... as if guys... think about it. They're NINJA! You could never see ninja, otherwise they're just be a ninja poser. Think about before you ask another silly question, savy?


Now of course, as I was waiting for Tomo-san, in a brand new shirt that I had bought the day before, it turned out that Tomo was going to arrive late. That in itself didn't bother me, as I had my Ipod out, it was a nice sunny day, and I was feeling great. I spent about three minutes looking around for things that Ninja would climb, and I noticed that they're everywhere! Check out this totally climbable telephone pole! Anywho, after pretending to be a ninja for a bit, I took out my celly, flipped it open to give Tomo a message and then it hits me... BIRD CRAP! Yay! I was crapped on by a bird in my new shirt, and all over my phone. I would have been more upset were it not for the amazingly great shot the bird took, and the fact that in Japan, it is considered to be great luck to be crapped on... by a bird. A few minutes of cleaning up, and a quick photo later, Tomo picked me up and we were on route to a 'lucky' day in Iga.




On the way there, Tomo-san and I decided to get some grub. He took me to this Sushi place called "Kappa Sushi." To make a long story short... I was blown away. It was decent sushi at a ridiculously great price, and their buffet special is even cheaper. 90 yen, (or 90 Canadian cents) per plate of two pieces of sushi, all delivered on an abnormally large sized conveyor belt. Not only that, but they had fun dishes too, like these Hello Kitty golden rice cake things, as well as deserts, but that's not even the best part... they've got a Shinkansen! (Bullet Train!) That's right, you can order food as well, and if you do, then it arrives on a little plastic Shinkansen that has spots for orders built into it. Can you imagine how cool that is, 'cause I can tell you now, it's kinda difficult. It definitely reminds me of an old television show I used to watch with a little train that would go from room to room delivering food or drinks to people.


Anywho, after our fill of Sushi, desert, soup, tea, etc, for less than $10 Canadian each, we drove to Iga.


All I can say is ninjas are awesome, and so was Iga. We parked and then made our way into the park.

Check out these mini Ninja kids!!! They have costumes that you can wear for the whole day for only 300yen/person. They fit almost any size (including most Gaijin) and come in a rainbow of colours. Of course despite Tomo-san's strong feelings of apathy to the situation, I was stoked to get a costume on... Red ninja here I come!!! ... *sigh*... we got there late and due to the fact that we were checking out the Ninja house demonstration and the show, I wouldn't have had time to do the costume thing... ahh well, next time!


Speaking of the Ninja house, check out this picture on the left here. Basically, the ninja used an elaborate system of revolving doors, secret rooms, and hidden weaponry in floorboards, etc, to pull of their near magical execution of intrigue, mystery and assassination. The kunoichi (female ninja) on the left here is demonstrating how to draw a sword from beneath a floorboard, and man... she was quick. Like lickidy split. She could have cut me in half in the time I could take to cover my mouth for a cough. Honto.


We also checked out a Ninja show! It was pretty sweet, and totally full of Ninja action. They demonstrated a lot of weapons, in some comedic ways, including Bo, Sai, Thrown Kama, Shuriken, Chain & Weight Kama, Katana, Rope, and Tai-jutsu (hand to hand fighting.) They were great performers and quite funny, as most people in Japan seem to be. The demonstration with Shuriken was my favourite, as they had a guy at about 30 feet away throw one, two and even three shuriken at one time, each with quite good accuracy into a wooden plank. Borat would say... "It is nice."


(Real Ninja weapons.)








Ninja Odour. Funny? No. Deadly? Yes. For a ninja, life was study, dedication and hard rigourous work, and therefore so was their diet. I mean, what ninja in their right mind would train for twenty years straight only to have their first (and last) ninja mission ruined by the bean curd they ate yesterday night? Not I, that's for sure. Bowel control was important, because an untimely tute, fart, stinker, air busicuit, bronx cheer, trouser cough, or even the dreaded S.B.D. (cousin only to the Silent but Violent variety), could give away even the greatest hiding spot. This is covered in most ninja manuals.


After the ninja house, and ninja show, I posed outside of the ninja temple for a picture. Sadly, Ueno castle was closed for the day, due to Golden Week. I vow I will return here once to uncover further Ninja secrets. (Check out the kid in the ninja pose in the background of this pic.)




matta raishu, (until next week)

-benjamin


p.s. I found this poster in a department store. It's the poster for Snakes on Plane here in Japan. Of course, the movie title is called "Snake Flight" and the slogan is "Snake on a plane." ... Hahaha... somehow it lost something in the translation.