Year of the Ox

No pictures this update, I'm afraid, but many were taken in Hokkaido and so the Hokkaido post will be chockablock with them.

Making a quick recovery after the Christmas banter, partying started soon after with the Hokkaido volunteers arriving on the 26th and Craig, last year's Hokkaido volunteer, getting to Japan afew days later. It was tons of fun to see the Hokkaido volunteers again, especially since I get to see very few people that I actually met/knew in the UK before I came out here, even though I'd only met them both briefly.

Chronological order is going out of the window at this point because although I can remember everything that happened, my memory isn't so good as most of the people reading this probably know. Well, sometime after they arrived in Tokyo the four of us headed over to Harajuku to check out the area and Meiji shrine in particular. I'd already been to Meiji shrine but this time it was ten times better because there was no rennovation going on. The first time when we went with Lynsey and Tom (check a previous entry) a few really good photo opportunities were ruined due to scaffolding etc, and this time they were ruined by a lack of camera.

So after a bit of tourism we headed off to Shinjuku where we were meeting Aiko, one of the girls who showed the four of us around in our first week, and a few of her friends. Following a meal, purikura and lots of karaoke, I left everyone to head off to Leon and Saori's house where I was going to kip for the night. They live quite close to Narita airport so it was the perfect place to stay since I was picking Craig up from the airport the next day. And what a pickup from the airport that turned out to be. I didnt have Craig's number, he didn't have my number, and all I knew was what time his flight was arriving so it took us nearly an hour and lots of phone calls from the two of us to a mutual friend to sort things out. It did all get sorted and Craig turned out to be sound as owt.

During their time here; me, Craig and the Hokkaido volunteers headed to Akihabara for some arcade games, shopping and a trip to a maid cafe. Wait, what? A maid cafe? Yes, its a cafe... where the waitresses are dressed like maids. When I'd heard of them before coming to Japan I kind of assumed that they were a place for lonely old men to go to cheer themselves up, but after actually visiting one the truth isn't so creepy. Essentially, they're just an ultra-cute place for anyone who wants to relax in an ultra-cute place. And when I say ultra-cute, I mean it. Pink walls, high-pitched up-beat J-pop music playing in the background and waitresses cosplaying maids. In England, the only clientele they'd get would be teenage girls and, probably, creepy old men. However, in Japan it seems that anyone and everyone with a slight appreciation for cuteness (that being every Japanese person) is a potential customer. Don't get me wrong it was a really fun place to go and I'd recommend it to anyone to be honest, this might just be because we were being served drinks by maids while playing on the Wii, but who knows? You probably really have to be in the mood to appreciate the cuteness though, otherwise it's a little too sickly-sweet for it's own good.

So, after some drunken nights and lots of arcade Tekken, New Years finally rolled around and the 5 of us, plus Leon and Saori, partied it up in Vera Heights (our flat) seeing in the Year of the Ox in style. A damn good week to make up for the previous one, it has to be said.

Christmas in Japan

Its been a long time in the coming, but finally I'm getting around to updating this blog with Mike's winter adventures in the land of the rising sun. Since I dont think I did much after the Hong Kong students trip until Christmas, I'll just get started with Christmas time itself. The only problem is, since I've left updating this for an entire month after the birth of Christ, my memory has diminished ever so slightly and I doubt I'll be able to remember everything that went on during the festive period but maybe I can distract you with... hey look, pretty pictures!

So, Christmas eve. That joyful occasion that I can't remember much of. Not suprised really, because I don't think I actually did anything at all. Probably just stayed in the flat all day. One thing I did do, though, was to open all of the Christmas presents/cards that people sent. I'm not one to get soppy and sentimental at all but I did come close when I was opening the presents and cards. All of the encouraging and really nice messages that people sent, the thoughtful presents, and that card from my sister that had a woman in a bikini with a chimps head calling me a bumface, really made homesickness kick in and I realised how painful Christmas was going to be without my family - and knowing that I'd still have to wait another 8 and a half months before seeing everyone again didn't really soften the blow.

Needless to say, I battled on and made my way through work on Christmas day. That's right, work on Christmas day. Work that, months before, I was told I needed to attend but work that, on the day, I was told wasn't necessary. Not funny Junten. Not funny at all. It turns out that I didn't actually need to go to the End of Year ceremonies, and no one missed me when I stayed in the ELC instead. So with my new found time I mished off to Ueno to find something to do that wasn't just sitting in work or in the flat before the teachers' Bonenkai (end of year party) on the evening that I actually had to attend.

Now when someone mentions the words "Christmas dinner", it conjures up an image of me eating a mouth-watering meal of ham, chicken, vegetables, yorkshires, etc, until I'm stuffed and refuse to eat anymore in case I collapse due to not being able to support my own bodyweight. That is until they bring out the chocolate cake, in which case I give up all my inhibitions and take the risk of killing myself by eating more. I mean, if we take the words "Christmas dinner" down to their latin roots they more or less mean "best meal of the year". This year I had a kebab. On my own. In Ueno.

The bonenkai wasn't so interesting so here's a quick overview: alcohol available, us not drinking, teachers drunk, us not drunk, teachers acting like idiots due to alcohol intake, us not drunk, Mike gives a godawful speech in Japanese, us not drunk.
So yeah, a little bit of a depressing post, but that's because Christmas was indeed depressing but New Years and the rest of the winter holidays completely made up for it. More on that in the next post.

Also, my favourite video of the festive period (a little late for it now but I still love it): http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=lmCrIZeob4w