March in Pictures

Some leftover snaps from the various activities and nights when various people from Britain and across Japan came to Kobe.

Team Cardiff after bowling.

A covert snap of some Geisha in Kyoto

Lovely photo of a traditional Japanese graveyard with Kyoto in the background.

A photo of me at the foot at the largest temple gate in Japan, Chuo-in - Kyoto

Details found on the gates at Inari-Taisha, where hundreds of gates line a mountain path.

Eiji, who as well as being great at Japanese and victim of my man crush... turns out he can play guitar and sing pretty damn well too.

For a whole week my apartment floor was make-shift beds

Tuomas, Tristain and Lilly in the foreground with Lilly's French friends in the back at Torikizoku

More Frenchies at HUB

A Japanese artist painting with his guitar whilst playing outside a Brazilian restaurant in Harbourland.

The Hanshin/Kobe 1996 earthquake memorial preserving some of the aftermath.

Joss, Claudia and I at the famous rock.. hole.. thing.

The worlds campest boat.

Diana, Basim, Joss and I inside a photo booth responsible for all the stupid stickers on my phone.

My Birthing Anniversary

On Friday 27th, along with Robin who is soon to return to Germany, had a few drinks with everyone for my birthday. It was good to get a large group together again before the pain of placement exams and uni starts up again. Unfortunatley the plan to head to Osaka fell through but a good night was had regardless. Many thanks too everyone who came and who sent thier wishes via Facebook/cards. And also to Duncan who treated me to a few drinks on my actual birthday, even if it ended up costing us the next day...

Obviously big thanks to my parents as well for everything, and too my bank for the financial support... Cheers Dad.

Cherry Blossoms: Nara and Kyoto Revisited

During the last 10 days or so I have been enjoying the company of various Cardiff course mates from around Japan and fresh of the plane from Blighty. Claudia, just arriving after 6 months in Italy, wanted to see some sights. Being the gentleman I am I escorted her and Eiji's (Cardiff course mate) friend Tuomas (Finnish, studying in Tokyo) to Nara and Kyoto, which I visited way back in September upon arrival myself.

Cherry blossoms are near worshiped in Japan, as it sweeps south up towards the capital and beyond, and they do indeed increase the beauty of some already inspiring locals. I suppose I should let the photos do the talking...

The entrance to a trail of hundreds if not thousands of red "Toji" leading up a mountain side, a sight I missed first time round.

A close-up of the cherry blossoms.

Claudia squeezing through a hole the size of the Bhudda's ear hole, apparently. Located inside the temple pictured below, people que to squeeze through, proving their wisdom... apparently.

The Aforementioned temple complete with friends and cherry blossom.

Bad fortunes are tied and left at the temple, often on trees. Quite what the trees did to deserve this is beyond me.

Way of the Pachinko

Pachinko is a strange gambling machine involving the collection (if your doing well) of hundreds of small metallic balls in a tray which are long-windedly exchanged for money. The halls where these machines are housed are so loud and colourful that I could barely handle it, despite this at any time of the day it will be full of young, old and the ancient smashing buttons and turning knobs. The concept is the balls will fall down the screen, like pin ball, but there is no control over where they fall. Depending on where they fall, mini-games are triggered, usually played by the bashing of a button to win a cartoon animated battle. This then only increases your chance of a positive outcome, but if that happens, you win more balls, eventually enough to begin syphoning them off into provided trays.

If that sounds complicated, converting your winnings is even stranger. As it is illegal to gamble in Japan, you exchange the balls for chips. You then must leave the building, usually to across the street to a hole in the wall, where a hand will take the chips and present the money. Sounds dodgey but these places are EVERYWHERE. Just another example of confusing Japanese practice.

My friend Joss is well seasoned in the art, and gambled 3000 yen, £20, in a couple of hours and walked away with 12,000, £90. I believe his overall total is a profit of nearly £200. This tempts me, but I think I should wait until I have money other then scholarships, loans and Dad's money to risk.

Finding Nemo... On My Plate

Obviously Sushi is rather famous worldwide, and although not an original product of Japan, no-one does it quite like the Japanese. As fish is also so plentiful (in theory), and there is plenty of competition, its one of the cheaper aspects to Japanese life. Each plate has two "sushis" on it, and each one costs around £1... not bad when you consider M&S sell a couple of tuna rolls for £4. The presentation is pretty epic and warranted a small blog and some photos... so here you go!

Salmon, Raw Onion and Red Stuff (Fish Eggs?)

Squid/ Octopus

An 800 Yen, £5, set

In a J-League of its Own

Kindly invited by Harrison Sensei, Duncan and I headed to Osaka yesterday afternoon for my first J-League football game. We were to be seated in the away end with the Gamba Osaka fans, opposing the home supporters of Curezo Osaka, so a little bit of a derby. Gamba were favourites, but with both teams losing their opening games of the season, the game was played nervously and conservatively by both sides.


I had no allegiance to either side, and would opt for Kobe Vissel if I was to adopt a Japanese team, but I was strangely drawn towards Curezo, most likely because they play in pink and their home stadium looks like the alien ships in Independence Day.




Despite a strong show by both sets of fans before kick-off, it was the away fans who sang all game. For those who play Pro Evo, the flags in the crowds in Japan are exactly like they are in the game, which likened the crowd to Italian fans, and the "ultras", who the Japanese try to imitate. Notice the huge banner claiming Curezo fans to be the real "ultras"


It was Gamba celebrating first, with a soft goal in the 2nd half which went right through the Curezo goalkeeper. Curezo, having the slight better of it, soon equalised through a brilliant rifled shot from the left of the area. The most interesting observation was the reaction of the Gamba fans at full time. Yeah they were favourites, but a derby draw away from home is not a bad result. Still, as Gamba lined up to bow, the abuse they got was worse then Charlton ever received during our (2) relegation seasons.


After the game we headed to a little bar not far from the stadium and spoke in Japanese for a good 3 hours, so a good day all round. We ended up going to a club in Kobe and meeting other friends, but after pre/during/post match beers, 1 Long Island and I was out for the count.

In summary, the game was worth a watch but was defiantly lacking in quality. However the fans and facilities are Premiership standard. I now have to go see Kobe Vissel and then decide between them and Curezo to distract me from the rubbish that is Charlton...

Bowling For Kobe

Appreciating this film title references? This post is actually literally about bowling, and not a high school massacre. Anyho, with the return of Basim from his tour of Britain and Portugal we headed with Duncan for a quick session of food and booze at our favourite haunt and, appropriately varnished we headed for the bowling alley. After securing their biggest shoe sizes we were directed to and empty 2nd floor, which just felt like straight up segregation. I would have complained but Basim and I are not the best bowlers and it was perhaps best unwitnessed. 4 games resulted in 4 wins for Duncan, with me and Basim in joint 2nd. Bowling seems to be quite popular in Japan and is reasonably cheap and a definite option for future boys nights out. We need some more women in the new crop of students arriving at the end of the month...

A Bridge Too Far

After what seemed like forever out of sync with the normal world, in that my sleeping patterns were in tune with British time, Duncan dragged me to a shopping outlet on the outskirts of Western Kobe. I needed some clothes but it was to be in vain, all the clothes were either extremely expensive, small or rubbish. Still, got a decent picture of bridge and a pair of discount Bose headphones.


This is the largest suspension bridge in the world and joins Japan's main island of Honshu with its smaller sister island of Shikoku where I visited back in November. Since this day out I have managed to get back on a reasonable schedule, and my birthday present, Rosetta Stone: Japanese level 3, is sure to give my days some purpose. Can't let this Easter break pass with no progress. So far all I have to show for it is some vocab work.