Let's Jog to the Airport!

It was brought to my attention that not enough people in the world know what a jog from Nic's Apartment of Endless Fun to the Nagasaki Airport actually looks like.  It was actually more of a sudden realization, right after I smashed my littlest toe on the corner of my bed which I do at least once a day, hard enough to bring tears to my eyes.

Keep in mind, I'm not a professional photographer so I always take photos with my phone camera, in terribly dim settings with my camera directly facing the light source.

So first of all, if you leave my house and round the corner toward the skull-train-preschool, you will take the road straight toward the ocean until it comes to a "T," where you will see this cat.  He will most likely be in this position and looking straight at you.  He is most likely a"he."

Take a right at the cat.  You will see boats.

Continue along the road.  You will have to take a corner around a warehouse.  Then the view opens up.

Keep jogging.  You're on the right path.  If you jog too far and decide you can't possibly continue, every few hundred yards (or "meters" as they call them here) there is a gap in the wall where you can freely commit yourself unto the sea.

But if you can manage to keep going, you'll hit patches of the path that look like bits o heaven.  Or at least if the lighting is right it will look like you're jogging toward heaven.

In the final moment, if you look left you will see this island.  Some day I will own a castle and it will be on this island.  I feel like the phrase "in the final moment" came from a bad translation somewhere, but it's stuck in my head right now so I had to squeeze it in somewhere.

Along the journey of life, you will face obstacles.  But there is usually a crudely made stone path off to the side to get around them.

At some point you'll look at the path ahead of you and be like "This is definitely longer than I originally thought."

Then you realize youre in The Labyrinth and you keep looking around for David Bowie. 

This is the part where I was like "That's easily the biggest pineapple I've ever seen."

Then you jog alongside Morizono Park(?) where there are a lot of attractive people watching you jog, but you don't take pictures of them because that would be weird.

At last you come to the statue called "Hey Guys, I Think We Parked Over Here."

And just beyond that, your last chance to rent a car before the airport, and the bridge that leads to the airport itself.

This bridge to the airport is pretty quiet late at night, so it's easy to dance in the middle of.

Any questions?

Whoa! A Blog Post!

Today I saw a centipede that was seriously longer in inches than my hand is from the tip of my middle finger to that little butt-shape where my hand meets my wrist, in inches!  And it was alive and scurrying, right out in front of where I work.  And since it was alive, I didn't go near enough to take a photo.

But seriously, that's not what I wanted to write about today.  I wanted to just mention a couple of things I may or may not have done over the weekend.

On Saturday after work we had a farewell party for an employee who has left the company.  We all went out to dinner and then back to Snack Boo for drinks and karaoke. Then I got home and was like "I'm not really ready to go to bed yet" so I sent my friend a message and said "I'm not really ready to go to bed yet" and he took me to this lovely bar.  Actually, that one time I ate ramen and that one time I ate horse were both at restaurants owned by the same person, who also owns this bar.  So I always have a good time when I go to any of those places, because they know me.  Well, I've only been to each place once, but I like to make myself think I'm pretty popular.  Anyway, here's a delicious snack dish we ate at the bar, and you can see from my beer that this bar is in Mexico.  I was also served a red wine and cucumber juice cocktail, which was really good--it tasted summery and light!  I think I'll make it some day.

After that, I was ready to go to bed, so I did.  But not before going back to the apartment.  But then the next day, my friend called me and said "Wanna go somewhere?"  And I was like "Yes."  And he was like "Ok, I'll pick you up." And I was like "Ok."

First we went to a place where I forgot to take any pictures, so I won't tell you about it but it was pretty cool. But hopefully you're distracted by this picture of peacocks, so I'll pretend we went there first.

First we went here to this Peacock Park!  There were a bunch of peacocks also two ponies.  And a great view of the bay from the top of an abandoned building.  And little go carts shaped like a tomato and a police car.  But did I take pictures of any of that?  No!  I kept forgetting to take pictures.  So, I apologize for that.

So what do you think happened after Peacock Park?  Well, I'll tell you.  We went to a place with a boardwalk and a row of shops near a couple of bridges.  Here is where I saw the bear claw machine from which you have the chance to catch...um...lobsters?  Or maybe gigantic shrimp.  I wasn't really sure what these were, now that I think about it.

There was another bear claw machine with live giant beetle larva, but my photo of that one didn't turn out.  But trust me, it was there. So then we went for a walk on this bridge.

 

That's my friend Sumihiro waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up ahead of me trying to leave me behind.  Under this bridge, you can see a whirlpool formed from the collision of two currents!  Unfortunately you can't see it ALL the time, and we didn't get to see it, but you could see lots of smaller swirls all around.  And the bridge has a couple of floor windows so you can look STRAIGHT down.  It's kind of terrifying.

From this bridge you can also see that bridge over there.

Apparently lots of people plunge to their death from that bridge every year, which could be why the walkway on the (newer) bridge I'm taking this picture from is fenced in on all sides.

Here is a beautiful flower garden by the shops that are by the boardwalk by the bridge over the bay.

From this flower garden you can see a view of...

...my friend Sumihiro trying to leave me behind again!  I don't know why he's always trying to ditch me.  You can also see the bridge over the bay.

Finally, having become exhausted from all of the bridges and delicious food eating (oh yeah, did I mention the delicious food we ate?), we left Sasebo (that's the city we went to) to head back to Omura (that's the city we live in), following at least part of the way this cute hippo bus.

See? When I Take a Break I Have a Lot More Pictures

At some point in your life, if you're like me, you stop and look around yourself and think "How did I get here?"  Then you start a blog and give it the same title and hope that someday your blog answers the question for you.  Today is not that day.

Last week I took a short business trip to a little place called "Orlando, Florida."  I stayed in a lavish hotel directly across the street from Sea World!  I did not step foot in Sea World, nor did I visit the Magic Kingdom or Apricot Center, but I did go to a place called "Orange County Convention Center" where there were lots of free ball-point pens and overpriced hot dogs.  However, one day they DID serve free Häagen-Dazs, and that was as magical as any Disney Princess.

There were also businesses with lots of great products; most notably:

A customary practice between Japanese is businesses is if your businesses have some sort of relationship that is mutually beneficial, the companies take turns treating each other to dinners and whatnot.  So there is a Japanese company that does business with our company and they also had a booth at this show, and they took my associate and me out for dinner.  After dinner, we went out for drinks.  But not just any drinks; we went out for the coldest drinks in the world.

This bar is called Ice Bar.  As far as I can tell, the only reason it's called that is because everything is made of ice.  Real ice.  Everything, that is, except the stuffed penguins and the customers.  But seriously, the bar is made of ice, the walls are made of ice, the trash can itself isn't made of ice but it's encased in ice with a hole cut in the top to put your trash in.  When you pay (the exorbitant price) to get in, you receive a coat and gloves.  If you pay a little extra you can get a fancy fur coat.  Apparently the company taking us out didn't think that we were worth the fur coats, only the $11 a piece to get in, on top of drinks.

This table is also made of ice.

So are these walls, chairs, and animals.

So is this glass.

Needless to say, it was cold but worth every penny that I didn't pay.  And at the end, I warmed up the bottom of my glass with my hand and stuck it to the table.  I bet they HATE that.  That probably makes me a bad person.  But I HAD to see if it would work, even though I could use the science part of my brain to deduce that it would indeed work.

After Florida, I got to spend about half a day in Bloomington with the kids.  It was great to see them and they loved their giant pile of presents.  I got a lot of great pictures on my Japanese cell phone.  

On the way back to Japan, I remembered that I forgot my Japanese cell phone back in Bloomington.  So those pictures will have to wait for another day.  But I made it back in one piece.  With the time changes and the International Date Line and all that added together, I was technically in transit from Bloomington for 42 hours.  Even if you account for the time changes, I was in transit for nearly 29 hours.  It was a long long long long trip.  Since I had my American cell phone with me on the way back, I was able to nab this picture of a Pokemon Jet:

In closing, I would like to share what I plan on doing with all of my non-blogging free time.  I know there are a lot of people crying and wailing and gnashing teeth because I don't blog every day anymore.  

It turns out my schedule in Japan MIGHT be changing.  I don't know for sure.  It's all up in the air.  But since it is, I have decided to seize every opportunity I can while I'm here.  For example, I have suddenly started watching Japanese television every day.  Also, I think I'm going to go to a Japanese conversation club once a week.  Also, I've got to brush up on my cooking because I promised a good friend I would teach him how to cook.  Plus, I picked up a tourist guide to Omura.  Actually, I went to the city building and picked up this guide book.  The Japanese version was right next to it.  The cover was exactly the same except for a) it was all in Japanese except the text at the very tip top, and b) the text at the very top said "Romantic Guide Book".  So now I'm left wondering if the stuff in the English version is as romantic as the stuff in the Japanese version.  I guess I'll never know, because I'm never going back there until probably next week when the free conversation club is.  

At any rate, I didn't have this guide yet when I went out after work yesterday, but I did revisit this place, that was shown to me by a friend:

I Don't Normally Blog At This Hour

I'm in beautiful, sunny Florida right now.  It's beautiful and sunny.  Well it WOULD be sunny, if it were on Japan-time like my body and brain are.  But NO, it's got to be on late-night-east-coast-time which inconveniently makes it dark while I'm awake.  

I'm here for a trade show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.  The trade show is  ICE USA, which I think is where Mickey and Minnie and Donald do a musical number while ice-skating, but I'm not totally sure.  This is Orlando, and the Magic Kingdom is ubiquitous here.  

Actually, in this circumstance, ICE stands for "liquId water undergoing phase transition to solid via reduCtion in temperaturE, which is apropos because part of my job involves rolling large amounts of thin plastic from one roll to another.  So I will be here until Friday.  After this trade show, I will begin Phase II of my training at our sister company, located conveniently right behind our company.

Before I get into that, let me show you another awesome picture of Orlando!

There's also this building which is crooked:

And this is what the hotel I'm staying in looks like in the lobby:

And here's my gigantic room.  It's seriously pretty big.  Actually, it's altogether probably considerably bigger than my apartment back in Omura.  In fact, I'm thinking of moving in here.  

You might be thinking "Is that a bong on he shelf under the TV?  What kind of hotel IS this?"  Or, if you're normal, you might be thinking "Is that a drum case in the middle of the living room?  Is Brazil on the road again?  Where can I catch a show?"  To which I would of course reply "Duh, I'm in ORLANDO.  Already said it once."

So clearly, there are lots of things happening in the world.  I missed a blogging day because I was in transit for literally more than 24 hours to get from Nagasaki to Orlando.  And that brings me to my next point:

I think I may be blogging less in the near future.

Now now, everyone just calm down.  Not a LOT less.  But I have realized that I want to REALLY take advantage of the time I have left in Japan, because my days are numbered.  So I'm going to get out there and go to more parks, take some Japanese language lessons, hang out with friends more, watch more Japanese television, eat more raw animals, and take more pictures.  This should be mutually beneficial because you only really like my blog when there are pictures, and I can't come up with enough to say when I don't have pictures.  Plus, I can say that I plan on doing all this WITH CONFIDENCE because frankly, the weather's gotten nicer.  

Sometimes You Just Have To Try It

Last night I went here for dinner.  This is a Japanese-style pub called Izakaya Taiko, like the Taiko drums.  Standing out front of this restaurant is this giant tanuki.  I like this tanuki even better than the one I bought, partially because he doesn't appear to have an old man mustache and partly because he's nearly as tall as me.  If I could bring him home, I certainly would.

My closest friend here in Omura happens to be the cousin of the owner of this business.  However, neither of them resemble a tanuki in any way that I am aware of, except for that my friend sometimes wears a hat.

If you ever have a chance to visit Omura, I would highly recommend drinking and dining at this particular establishment.  The food was incredible and the staff and owner were all very nice, and I got the opportunity to try several things that I have never tried before.

For example, I ate this horse.

So majestic, so magical, so delicious.

Oh yeah, did I mention it was raw horse?  I probably should have given a warning before showing the picture.  But if you've never thought about eating horse before, you should start thinking about it.

Also, I ate this "takowasa," which is raw octopus mixed with spicy wasabi.  Also, delicious.

And we dined on fine "sashimi" which is commonly (mistakenly) referred to as "sushi" in the states.  Sushi, you see, usually has rice and or dried seaweed attached in some manner.  Sashimi is just raw fish, delicately sliced.

And yes, that's potato salad in the eye-shaped bowl on the right.

After all of that plus much more, we rolled ourselves to Snack Albatross, which had a significantly different atmosphere from Snack Rinka, Snack Boo, and Snack Funny.  We hung out there until the wee hours of the morning, and then I walked back to my apartment.  What a night!  I would totally do that again.

Now on a final note, I hope to see you all in Orlando this coming week.  Yes, THE Orlando, in THE Florida.  That's where I'm headed bright and early tomorrow morning.  When I'll return, nobody knows.  Except the itinerary says I have a flight book for the following Saturday morning.

Snack Boo

Last night I went to a snack bar called Boo.  Actually, I went out for dinner with a friend, and we went to a sumiyaki restaurant (not to be confused with sukiyaki).  At this restaurant, each table has it's own charcoal grill--it's a clay pot full of piping hot embers with a little metal grate over the top.  Then you order raw meats and vegetables and roast them yourself.  As the business increases over the course of the evening, the smoke in the restaurant increases and the good smell of charred animal flesh infuses itself into your clothes.  It's really great!

Anyway, as I was saying, after dinner we went to Boo.  Actually, one thing I didn't mention about Snack Funny and Snack Rinka and Snack Boo is that they're all literally right next door to each other.  I mean they are actually different doors in the same building.

Boo was pretty quiet but Mama and the lady bartenders were all very friendly, and Mama invited me to go watch a sumo match with her later in April.  And here's what happens every time I go to a snack bar with a friend, including last night at Boo: MY friend and I arrive to find we're the only ones there, and we sit at the center of the bar.  We strike up charming conversation with the ladies, then a loner arrives, sits at one far end of the bar and gives Mama some sort of edible gift, like leftovers from a restaurant or something.  The loner talks to Mama a lot and also makes a lot of phone calls that make you think his friends are going to meet him there, but no on ever shows up.  Eventually another loner shows up and sits at the opposite end and talks on and off to the youngest and/or prettiest bartender on and off, chain smoking all the while.  This loner may or may not have brought his own alcohol.  This loner will also occasionally pipe in on our conversation.  The when it's time for me to leave, the first loner says nothing but the second, quieter loner stands up and shakes my hand and says how great it was to meet me, and he looks forward to seeing me again sometime.

I kid you not, this has happened at all 3 places and more than once at Snack Funny.

Anyway, I don't have any more stories.  But I was thinking that a lot of people I know have never seen a Japanese- or Asian-style public toilet.  In case you haven't heard, they're sometimes referred to as "squatters."  Here's why:

Are All Snack Bars Run by Someone Called "Mama"?

So, I went a little crazy at the 100-yen-shoppe on the way home today.  I've got kids, and friends, and friends with kids, and words with friends®, and I will be in Florida in just a few days from where I plan on shipping something(s).  But the things I got are really cool, mostly because they are Japanese and have Japanese words on them.  If you ever have a spare 100 yen, send it to me and I'l pick you up something cool at the shoppe.

Many of my friends have figured out by now that I went out to dinner with the president last night.  He's only in town about once a month, as I think I've mentioned before, and he almost always takes me and at leas one other person to Jigemonya, a little pub/tavern that serves giant sea snails, whole octopi, and whale.  So imagine my surprise when he suggested a different place!  Go on, jst take a moment to imagine it.  If you don't know me well, just picture yourself surprised at something, but with my face photoshopped onto the front of your head.

So we went to ToriKatsu, which is a whole nother little pub/tavern where the man running it stands behind a bar in the middle of the room and has one teeny tiny charcoal grill upon which he cooks everything for everyone in the whole restaurant.  It looks just like the man in this picture, in fact, because it IS the man in this picture, and this is the restaurant.  I tried to make this photo really huge so you could see that he's grilling four or five whole squid, but you still can't tell.  Oh well.  To the left is a giant wall of Japanese booze bottles, and each one has a name written on it.  You see, when you buy a bottle at this tavern, you pay for the whole bottle up front.  But the next time you come, if there's any left in our bottle, you don't have to re-buy it.  And this liquor tastes like potato brandy with sand and ash, so there's always bound to be some left in your bottle!

After ToriKatsu, we went to the president's favorite snack bar, Snack Funny.  He loves going there, and I'm not sure why.  It's a quaint little place, but kind of lonesome.  Lonesome as in all the bartenders are flirtatious ladies and (almost) all the clientele are single men on the verge of passing out from the place they were drinking previously, and they love to sing karaoke to the lady bartenders.  Also, when you sing karaoke at Snack Funny, the karaoke machine gives you a score based on how well you sang.  Also, as it tabulates your score, as your score goes up more and more area on a picture of a naked lady is revealed on the tv screen.  But don't worry everyone, no one EVER scores above the mid-80's, so the picture never actually gets that risqué.  But the single old men hunched over their whiskies are always so proud of "how close they got" with that last song, which really was pretty terrible.

However, one thing the ladies at Snack Funny DO offer that many places don't is a little piece of southern country.  Did you know they had stuff like this anywhere but the midwest and northernmost edges of the south?  Me either.  But they do, right here in Japan.  Right on the back of the toilet in the back of the bar with the nudie karaoke and the lady bartenders who will literally talk about ANY topic--no limits--as long as you will stay and keep drinking.

Speaking of signs in the bathroom, Snack Funny also has this sign hanging near the toilet, which I really like and hope to get for my own  home some day.

It says simply, "Control, more than speed."

I had a couple of even funnier stories, but I realized they might not be appropriate for public forum, so you'll have to ask me in private.

One last thing: have you ever heard of a Tanuki?  If you have played Super Mario Brothers 3, you might remember that next to the frog suit, it was probably the cutest outfit Mario had.  But if you haven't ever played that, then you might be tempted to look up a definition or translation, where you'll most likely find something like "Japanese raccoon-dog" which means absolutely nothing to you.  But I have wanted a household tanuki (not a live animal, but rather a statue of one that is common in Japan) because they supposedly bring good fortune.  But more than that, I've always wanted one because they look like this:

And now you can clearly see I have one.