Raging Within the Machine

I wanted this blog to be solely about my Japanese exploits, and as such have avoided ramming my opinions on Labour, Immigration, Nick Griffin and the Copenhagen debacle down your collective throats. However, it was confirmed today that Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the name of" is the Christmas no.1 this year. Awesome.

A lot of people have missed the point with this campaign. Yes Rage are signed to Sony, whom Simon Cowell works for, but organised resistance is so rare these days that raging within the system with have to do for now. The songs original message of inherent racism within American police forces may have eroded slightly, but the songs raw energy lives on.

Anyway I just wanted to record this moment of grassroots rebellion and I am disappointed I won't be in Britain to hear the countdown... Still there is the free gig that Rage promised that I hope to be back in time for. Not to mention the fact that Shelter, the homeless charity, have also experienced a windfall due to Rage's affiliation, and they will donate any profit from the sales onto the charity too.

There is no other pill to take, so swallow the one, that makes you ill!

A Tale Of Two Osakas

On Saturday (12th), after weeks of planning, one Facebook group and lots of emails, I managed to organise 3 people to accompany me to Osaka to seek out the rock club from one of the first days of October. Total fail. After paying a fair wad to get in, we discovered it was a Jazz night, leaving me in a pit of misery. Still, thanks to Lilly using her "cultural assets" she managed to flirt double strength drinks from the bar staff. Fast forward to 5am and its the first train home and a McDonald's (I know, I know, I'm a capitalist swine...) breakfast. Thanks to those who did come and rescue the evening for me, but it could have been an epic night. This is what happens when Yume doesn't organise!


However, a very different tale occurred yesterday (17th) bringing my blog up to date. Again apologies with the lack of updates, I do have stuff to share just no bloody internet at home yet! Anyway, my sensei from Cardiff, Mr Kudara, was visiting Kyoto and Kobe and was based in Osaka for the week. Taking this opportunity to see us, Ducan and Mats from Kyoto and Basim and I from Kobe met in Osaka for a couple hours of nomihoudai in an izakaiye. When we met Kudara sensei, he was accompanied by two friends, a teacher and his wife.

I tried to maintain some level of decency, but the increasingly drunk Duncan (Drunkan) and Basim (Drunsim?), and lets face it me too, made it increasingly difficult. Thankfully Kudara sensei matched us in this regard. I was glad to finally say goodbye to Kudara and co., because about 5 minutes after Duncan reached the point of no return and began acting like an American in Japan stereotype.

After one single hour of karaoke, we had 2 broken ashtrays, two sodden laps, 1 bottle of wine stolen from a room full of business men, 2 cut lips, 2 sore testicles and one M.I.A. Basim. Now that's what I call a night out.

The Bounenkai

Literally meaning the "Forget the year party", a bounenkai was a good chance to see off the negative aspects of last year, of which there are only few, and see in the new year with the same promises you make to yourself every year...

Anyway, Basim's father had been in Japan for a couple of weeks and had taken me and Basim, as well as some family friends out more then once to some very upmarket restaurants whilst imparting some very useful hints and tips on Japan that I'm very grateful for. The day before he left he hired a room on the 5th floor of hotel Okura in Kobe for this bounenkai. Extremely formal, we had a six course dinner and fine wine and covered numerous topics in conversation. Basim's father also gave an Obama-like speech which summed things up nicely I thought.

The food was epic, including lobster, shark fin soup and some very nice puddings. I took a few pictures so here they are...

The Luminarie

On Tuesday night a few of us gathered in Paiyama with the intention of seeing a light-based festival of sorts dedicated to those who died in the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe. Whilst waiting in Paiyama, we were approached by a half Italian, half Japanese, English speaking drunkard. After many incorrect accusations by him about us, he noticed my friend was smoking. He grabbed it, still lit, exclaiming he hadn't had a cigarette all day. He promptly put it in his mouth, and ate it. The whole cigarette, whilst lit. After about 5 minutes of stunned silence we moved on to the lights.


After being herded through the streets of Kobe on approach to the lights, we arrived at a long main road, closed off from traffic, and flanked with magnificent illuminated arches.


At the end of the road there was a clearing where a large cathedral like structure stood with the main shrine in the middle. There were literally thousands and thousands of Japanese in attendance, so after paying our respects, we moved on.


The night then inevitabley got alot less cultural after Basim and I met up with Ducan, who is also from Cardiff but studying in nearby Kyoto, in Sannomiya. Before long it was 3am and I was talking to 3 ex-Yakuza fisherman in a Jamaican themed bar. I only had 2 beers all night so the experience whilst sober was border-line scary. The only thing that surprised me though was the fact I was surprised by the nights random events.

D-Day + 82

With only 2 weeks left of term until a 2 week Christmas break, time is flying by. Japan has changed from a total mind-screw in the bad sense to a mind-screw in the best way imaginable. My classes although limited in quantity are useful when combined with independent study, and I am beginning to notice improvements in my spoken Japanese which is exciting. I am going out alot, but it is where I do most of my Japanese practice. It appears my ability is directly linked to how much beer I have consumed.

I have begun to plan my excursions for the month of March. I`m planning to hit everything of interest west of Kobe for the whole month on my own. The opportunity to rest my liver and improve my Japanese will be worth the cost. Still, I`m very poor so for those of you who work with my parents maybe you should bug them to up my Christmas money?

I STILL do not have Internet at home, but Tony promises me he is on it... Anyway, that will do for updates for now, here are a couple more cool pictures, will get back on track with the blogging in the next few days. Much love x

Hada Sensei`s Lecture of Doom

Every Friday after Kanji class, Basim, 4 other exchange students and I are conned into being English tutors for free. We each have a small herd of Japanese to look after, and we had to make a project to promote Kobe Uni to international students.

In 5 weeks I drank some coffee flavoured milk, talked to Basim and explained the word "hypothesis", and still managed to pull it out of the hat on presentation day and come first! I handled all the questions (in English) for which the Japanese students were very grateful. Feeling satisfied I left the lecture to get ready for a evening with the teacher, the Japanese English-speaking teaching assistants/bullies and my fellow exchange students.

In a couple of days I`ll stick Basim`s promotional video (that got banned by the teacher) on here.

We were taken to a very up-market restaurant and treated to a very slap up meal and a good amount of beers. The food in Japan goes from strength to strength and everything served was immaculately presented and tasted even better. After the meal we flipped the level of classiness on its head by going next door to the border-line inter-dimensional Andy`s Imagine. We arrived in the middle of a gig for blind people, as if the bar wasn`t weird enough already.

The Karaoke Incident

Last Tuesday I returned home from Uni with every intention of continuing my studies. But alas I was distracted by skewered fried chicken and cheap beer. We soon had a large group assembled, and then Basim arrived. Everything changes when that man arrives.

And as expected, the night took an unexpected turn with a random 2 hour karaoke session. It got out of hand very very quickly. Perhaps the pictures will do the talking....