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

Golden Week in Kyushu - Part 2:

As I was saying, this theme park "Huis Ten Bosch" seems to be having a bit of an identity crisis. It started as a recreation of a Dutch village -- which seems odd enough unless you know that the Dutch were at one point in time the only foreigners allowed in Japan, and had small port communities set up for trading; however they didn't hold equal status with (the xenophobic)Japanese people, and were isolated to their small port communities -- featuring traditional crafts and architecture, but after going bankrupt seems to have tried to modernize with an array of museums, mirror mazes, and 3D movies with vague connections to MC Escher. Above, Tara and I pose with Tuli-chan, the tulipish mascott of the park.

Tired of all those flashy, high-class frozen foods? Sick of putting on a black tie and jacket every time you open your freezer??? Don't worry folks, I have just the thing for you! Try our new CASUAL FROZEN FOODS, available 24 hours a day from this vending machine outisde the train station. Yes you can now enjoy all the glam of frozen foods, without the usually associated expectations and social pressures. Fast, easy, non-commital frozen foods at the touch of a button, try them today!


A memorial for war victims decorated with thousands upon thousands of paper cranes. Each colourful paper streamer is composed of tiny folded paper cranes.
Nagasaki has emerged from a checkered past with inspiringly bright hopes for the future. Throughout the city, and particularly in the Peace Park, are various memorials to victims of war, apologies for atrocities of war, and sculptures from countries around the world dedicated to a peaceful future.

Fat Man's ground zero from August 9th, 1945. The atomic bomb exploded approximately 550m above the point of this pilar.

Japanese business hotels. Not great only for their low room rates which often includes your choice of Western or Japanese style breakfast, but also because they always give you a nice little house coat which you are free to use to found a small cult.

However the best place we stayed was a traditional Japanese inn in a small village embedded in the mountains. Up in the volcanic hillside we were able to enjoy private natural hot spring baths for as long as we pleased. The private baths were set by peaceful Japanese gardens, and were open from early morning to around 1am. I recommend midnight hot spring bathing by moonlight to everyone.
As if this wasn't enough to satisfy, the inn was stocked with virtually anything else you might need to relax or enjoy your vacation: pool tables, karaoke rooms, a small private movie theatre (with a selection of recent films), a bar, massage chairs, and best of all events where we won multiple prizes (BINGO and rock-scissors-paper contests). A highlight for me: coming in second place in the karaoke contest!

Hiking in the mountain the following days Tara and I demonstrate our complete lack of competence with posing for pictures.



Frustrated with the weak telephone connections I've been getting over here. Hope everyone is doing well.
- Ian

Golden Week in Kyushu

A couple days after Ali flew out of Japan at the end of April, Tara and I caught the bullet train down to Kyushu (3rd largest of the 4 main islands) where we spent our golden week holiday.

The first stop was Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch theme park with a bizarre array of attractions. I later learned from my students that the park actually went bankrupt a few years ago... this perhaps explains the odd contrast of traditional dutch architecture, arts and crafts, etc. with newer looking 3D movie theatres, mirror mazes, and other intriguingly interactive galleries.

Why Huis Ten Bosch has a teddy bear museum was never clearly explained, but Tara seemed to have fun with these guys regardless of their mysterious origins.

The following pictures are of us posing in front of wall murals. Don't worry, there's little real danger involved!

The colour matching here was sheer coincidence!

Alice? What have you eaten now?


Sooo....there's really not much to say about Huis Ten Bosch, it was just a strange but entertaining place. I'll try to post more details of our trip soon, so please check in again later this week.