行ってきますね

Well, it`s finally all happening. As many of you know the big travel plans have been delayed by one week, but now with our Chinese visas secured there`s nothing left to do but get on the slow boat to China tomorrow morning. How slow is a slow boat to China, you ask? Well, it takes approximately 50 hours！　　

Last night in Japan
Two tired travellers get off the subway somewhere near Osaka port. They wander towards the area map hoping to find HOTEL A BEST marked there. Before the map can even be read a man comes up to offer help. He calls the hotel for them, he asks the station staff for directions, and he guides them to the correct street where he hails a taxi for them. Helpful beyond comparison right to the very end. Thank you people of Japan.
かならずやさしい日本人ですね。

And now from the clean comfort of Hotel A Best there`s nothing to do but wait for our ship to come in. 　By the way, the last supper ended up being... a bento on the bullet train. Classic!

Ian



A message to everyone who has contributed to my life in Japan:

日本に住んでる間にみんなさん信じられないぐらい心からもてなしてくれました。
生徒さんやその家族も友達に心からお礼を述べたいです。
私はいつでも日本のできごとを思い出すことができるでしょう。
ここがまるで私たちのホームであるかのようにみんあが作ってくれました。
本当に本当にどうもありがとうございました。

イアンより

A la Mode

When Tara was approached in a bar by a group of fashion students one night, and invited to be a model in their school show she was excited at the opportunity, but had no idea what she had really agreed to. What initially sounded like an amature fun project turned out to be a fairly MAJOR event, as advertised on the website below (and all over Nagoya).

http://www.mode.ac.jp/nagoya/campuslife/2008festival.html

Upon entering the performance area it became obvious that this was no small time school show. In fact the venue was the same gymnasium where the national sumo tournament is held. A variety of design-related displays were scattered around the arena, and a small stage was brightly light in the middle.
We explored the booths for awhile before finding our seats for the show.

Tara appears!
She was easy to spot, being the only foreigner in the group of 6 models. The models circled the stage before chairs were brought on stage and they were seated to have their hair and make-up done.
Since this was a student group it was part of their project to perform under pressure.

They only had a few minutes to complete their work on the models - so this portion looked like the fashion show equivalent of an F1 pit stop.

This is Tara's patented "Yes, I'm aware that I look good, thank you."-look. Look out Zoolander!

The crew exited the stage, and the newly decorated models strutted their stuff.

"Good thing they gave me this fan, 'cause I'm damn hot!"

The crew rejoins the models on stage for a round of cheers and bows.

Off-stage a few lucky girls got their pictures taken with Tara before she was whisked off to the shower room.

Later we went home.
And that's the story of how I picked up a model at a fashion show.

Hello!!

Ok - I know I have been lazy lately with the blog, but its partly due to how busy we have been and partly due to my frustration with bloggers inability to actually POST anything I make. So here's hoping this one works!

We are down to only 2 months left in Japan, and this means Sayonara Parties, packing, good-byes, and last minute adventures we haven't gotten around to yet. In other word - Unimaginatively BUSY. So here are some of the recent goings on:

We have officially booked a hotel in Beijing, and found a friend to stay with in Shanghai. We have also booked out BOAT from Osaka to Shanghai, meaning that other than trains, the entire China portion of our trip is set! Yatta!!

We have cancelled out Hiroshima trip in mid-August but still have Mt. Fuji and a trip to Tokyo. The trip to Tokyo wasn't a plan until this weekend, when after buying my NEW CAMERA!!!!....I WON 2 tickets to Tokyo Disney...haha. So to Tokyo we will go!

At the end of August I am going to be in a Fashion Show (!!!!) in Nagoya, which is turning out to be a pretty big affair. With practices every weekend and a TV broadcast of the show I am thinking its a bigger deal than they originally led me to believe..!! I must say, the costuming is pretty wicked though!!! There will be video and pictures of this for sure!!

Anyways we will continue to keep everyone updated of our last months in Japan and I PROMISE there will be more pics then you can handle!! I was itching to try out my new camera so Ian and I went to the park today to experiment. Enjoy!!

Love Tara!

Golden Week in Kyushu Part 3: Hell and Burial

Here are a few more pictures from waaaaaay back on Spring Vacation, when we travelled to Kyushu. You last saw us hiking in the volcanic mountains after which we proceeded to Beppu, a town famous for its "hells" - natural hot springs that are too hot to swim in!


Due to naturally occuring minerals in the water these steaming hot ponds come in a really cool range of colours - vibrant blue, turquoise, milky white, or blood red. It's a very touristy place though and a lot of the 'hells' have been done up with cheesy and sometimes morally questionable side attractions (particularly one featuring a variety of animals in miserably insufficient habitats). But the 'hells' themselves are an interesting site to see.

To get around to all of the hells we joined a full-on Japanese tour group! We didn't understand much at all of the information but at least the guide took our (and all other members's) picture next to this sign which says "Sea Hell" - so named for its blue colour.

Of course every tourist town needs a mascott, and when your biggest attraction is "hell" the natural mascott choice is a giant red devil with a spiked club. This guy really isn't cute enough to impress the Japanese girls but I made friends with him handily.

Now there's a cute little devil!

I packed light for this trip, so it's a good thing this walk-in steam cleaner was available. It cleans your clothing as you pass by! Is there anything Japan can't do more efficiently than everyone else???

Then Tara got lost in the steam.
Actually I lied it doesn't clean your clothes, but the sign in the top left claims benefits for your throat. A popular local food is hell-steamed eggs. There are so many uses for steam!

BLOOD HELL!!!
Hands down the most wickedly misleading name of anywhere I've visited. Come on, who imagines a peaceful Japanese garden when they hear the name "BLOOD HELL!!!"

Hmm....let me guess... they've started growin people in an attempt to solve Japan's population problem?

Nope, they've just buried Ian. In hot sands! (Yes everything in this part of Japan is hot and spews steam from every crevice). This was a bit expensive I think (around $10 for 15 minutes), considering that you're paying to be buried in dirt, but I did it anyway for the sake of a unique experience.
After changing into another too-short-housecoat I laid down in the sand and was fully covered. The sensation is almost like being anesthetized as your body feels imobilized and you sense warmth pulse through you. It feels quite relaxing for about 8 minutes, and then you begin to sweat, it soon becomes unbearably hot.

Humorous anecdote: You had to take a number and wait your turn to be buried in this giant sandbox. After waiting for a good while and hearing numbers all around mine being called I went to the front desk to check if there had been a mistake. There had, and I caught them just in time because they had just begun the final burial of the day. Of course there were many apologies and I was rushed into an empty sandbox all by myself, which is why I appear in this picture as the most prominent pharaoh with my many disciples behind me for support in the next world... (BLOOD HELL???).

Anyway, that more or less wraps up our Spring vacation. After returning from that Meaghan joined our party for a few weeks, and I believe there are some entertaining pictures from our misadventures that I shall post on here soon.

Recently we've been making a lot of preparations for THE BIG TRIP which will commence OCTOBER 3RD when we depart from Japan. Other than that we've been doing a lot of sweating since it is hot as Blood Hell here right now.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

-ian

Go Team!

UNLUCKY STRIKE!

(back, from left): Yoshiyasu, Mitsu, Ian, Kris, Yuuta, (front) Jarrad, Asakura, Miwa, Kouji, Balmore, Tara.

I may have mentioned that I started playing soccer (actually a mini version of soccer) earlier this year. We have been playing fairly regularly, and now have our own team uniforms!
Last weekend we rented the field for another practice session and fortunately it was NOT rained out (the previous week the field was flooded). Tara came out to show us up with her years of childhood soccer training. The un-uniformed guys just came out to practice with us, but our regular tournament squad is in red (Yoshiyasu is our goal keeper in blue).

Right... not much else to say here, just look at the picture and tell us how cool we look please.
Also, I have tried to add the remaining pictures from our spring vacation, but haven't been able to upload the pictures.

I hope everyone is well!
-ian


MORE Unlucky Strikes!


More football this past (very humid) Sunday night. We rented the field and practiced for next weekend's tournament. Unfortunately one of our star players, Kris, is going to be climbing Fuji-san next weekend. I hope Eriko can score a few goals for us!

(back) Oba, Miwa (front) Koji, Eriko, Ian

(back) Eriko, Mitsu, Piers, Kris, Ian, Miwa
(front) Koji, Asakura, Oba