General notice board.

 望見　- Adventures

Due to difficulty in finding hotels, have decided not to attend the two festivals up north and instead save the money for when a certain tanuki and a certain aunt come to visit early next year. ^_^ Looking forward to the adventures ahead.


 Adventure to the Handa Planetarium to see a presentation connected to 銀河鉄道999(Galaxy Express 999). After a short presentation about the stars visible in the night sky in Japan, the film began, projected onto the massive dome.


The story had the famous Galaxy Express train plunging into the heart of the dying supernova Betelgeuse after being effected by a massive solar flare. It was educational with regards to the process of star death, though seemed to neglect some vital laws of physics. Overall it was entertaining. 

Went on a short adventure to the adjacent library following this to read kids books, though the clip was by far the highlight of the day along with teaching children to swim that morning.



 Went for an adventure into Nagoya today after thinking the charger for my Bose headphones had been lost. Went in to order a new one, however after having a better search of my room it was found. My beloved headphones are my favorite travel companion. They will not let the noise of the busy trains and streets keep me from wonderful journeys into my memory and imagination.

 Speaking of adventures, tomorrow I shall do omairi (going to pray at a temple) with Mum, Dad and Nanako then we are going out for dinner. ^_^

新しい - new (and recovered)

First of all is my new reindeer hat which was purchased on a trip to Osu Kannon. Can't wait to wear it for my trip to Hokkaido and trip to the snow once back in Canberra. Only someone as strange and quirky as myself can pull off looks like this.

Will have 21 new friends from around the globe come September. Was chatting with Yoshida-san about all the wonderful new people who will be coming next semester and what countries they are coming from.

New contact lenses. They are 14.5 mm circle lenses in Vouge Violet and shall be worn daily from now on so as to become my new eye colour. I still retain the red and blue ones for special occasions.

 Finally returned home to collect my things
- hair brush
- favorite tooth brush
-  iPhone/iPad double charger
- extra manga
- shower cap and shower scrubby thing (what are they called?)
- hand towels

祝い - Celebration

Last night was Laura's birthday and we went for nomihoudai (all you can drink) in Fujigaoka. There was food in the deal also though it was a set menu of nibblies. After eating little the whole day, the alcohol took me almost instantly. My favorite drinks for the night were the maccha milk cocktail and the kashisu and grapefruit cocktail and after trying them my friends also agreed that they were the bst drinks on the menu (apparently possess the ability to know the taste of drinks never tried)  

お母さんと見た花火

The, most, amazing, fireworks!!!!!
2 hour fireworks display in Toyoda-shi, the prefecture made very rich and famous by Toyota.
Mum received special tickets through connections, for reserved seats right before the fireworks. We ate the delicious makizushi that mum made, sitting in our seat which provided an excellent view.

2 HOURS!!! OF FIREWORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<-
狸様

本当にすげい～花火だった。

渚 ビーチ

Last week Laura let me tag along on a beach trip with herself and some awesome Japanese friends!

Quick extra: Chatted with students from Aichi Shukutoku heading to Canberra University in October the day before (exciting stuff though I shall still be in Japan) heading to the beach. They seemed very excited for their trip and I'm wishing them all the best and hoping to catch up again with them before and of course after to hear of their adventures.

Laura and myself headed to Kanayama early and were picked up and driven the remainder of the way to the beach. Met two new friends during the drive and was thankful for the air-conditioned car ride. We caught a boat to the island and were pleasantly surprised by the island paradise feel. ^_^

Everyone went swimming in the relatively warm waters and took turns jumping off a platform in the ocean. After our brief swim we all returned for the BBQ which was so very delicious and included clams, large prawns and sausages along with a variety of tasty vegetables. Everyone took turns BBQing, though my advanced BBQing skills meant I was often in-front of the BBQ. Drank kashisu pine drinks ^_^

After some more swimming it was time for スイカ割り (breaking of the watermelon) which involved people being blindfolded one by one and given a stick then being verbally guided to the watermelon before attempting to smash it in half with a long stick. Ended up completely missing on my turn, though it was awesome fun. When the watermelon was fianlly broken some of it got in the sand so we gave those pieces a wash. Was a very tasty watermelon. 

On the way home we stopped for icecream ^_^. Managed not to get too sunburned and declined an offer of a trip to an onsen and festival as my swimmers were my only clothes and it would have been nice to change into clean clothes after the onsen.

その日はとても楽しかったので、その友達とまだ遊びたい！

Future plans, further into and fanciful wanderings.

For the next week there is not too much happening though here is my schedule. ( Next 3 weeks)
25th Tomorrow: Helping to conduct swimming lessons at Mum's school. Science museum. Curry pan. 
26th Friday: Returning to dorm. Meeting with students traveling to Canberra University.Hana Syoubu.
27th Saturday: Beach with Laura. (should be awesome fun)
28th Sunday: Something with senpai and Remi.
29th Monday: Free
30th Tuesday: Laura leaves T_T
31st Wednesday: Free
1st Thursday: Free
2nd Friday:World Cosplay Summit (Osu Kannon)
3rd Saturday: World Cosplay Summit (Stage 21)
4th Sunday: Free
5th Monday: Travel by shinkansen to Akita for Kanto Festival
6th Tuesday: Kanto Festival
7th Wednesday: Travel by JR to Aomori and see Nenbuta Festival by night
8th Thursday:Nenbuta Fesitval by day, fireworks by night
9th Friday: Return to Nagoya. Mum's piano presentation.

Damn my life is interesting. So many adventures so please stay tuned!

(Bonus sections)
Music I have been loving recently includes Jesse Mount , Crowded House and Gackt. Please have a listen to Jesse's cover of Big Girls Cry - Sia and Young and Beautiful - Lana Del Ray.  

Thanks to my mother from Australia who patiently interacted with Centerlink who admitted that they thought my studies had finished and shall commence paying me from now with backpay for the past 2 months :D Just in time for my matsuri run.

Sunburn on my back is peeling though has stopped hurting. ^_^ Wish Nuki were here to aloe it up for me, though just glad it's healing.





Eggplant. Today breakfast was eggplant and rice, lunch was salad and eggplant, afternoon tea was eggplant and rice again and dinner was eggplant with miso and mabo tofu eggplant. Here is an image of a typical dinner. Lots of delicious vegetables and rice. ^_^ I love it.
 




Walks have become a daily occurance as Fran-chan (the dog) always loves to go on adventures in the Japanese countryside with me. Every time we go for a walk there are beautiful things that deserve taking photos of, though always I forget my camera. Today I remembered so please enjoy some photos and there shall be more to come.

So in love with the Japanese countryside with its fresh spring blossoms in gardens and hillsides where generations have blossomed before them.
 There is a sense of time similtaniously stopping yet flowing, slowly, inevitably continuing.

海の日のみなと祭り

Final blog post for my big three blog posts. Well done on making it to the final blog post for this section of summer. The title is Minato (Port) Festival on Marine Day. 



After waking up late still tired from returning from Okinawa late the night before (literally caught the last train home) Mum helped me change into my yukata and provided me with pretty hair decorations previously used by Nanako and Mioko.

Mum is very good at tying yukata and made mine look perfect and the hair decoration I found matched my obi fantastically.

This yukata was given to my by the Sakata family back in 2009 and is much loved and treasured as it suits me so well.




Was to meet with Laura at 5pm at the Crystal Fountain in Sakae, though when I arrived only Garrett was there.Checked the net and found that Emily said she would arrive at 6, then when she arrived we learned that Laura would not be there until 6:20. >.<
Had some sushi from a near by restaurant for dinner.

Here are Garrett, Emily and myself (left) and a full shot of Emily and myself in our yukata (below). 





 Trains were mega super uber packed though we made it to Nagoya-ko (port) with time to spare.

Laura and Emily looked absolutely stunning!




You have all seen my fairy floss so shall not post it here, though it was the first thing I sought out thanks to its sweet connection with someone special.

 Though as is the way with fireworks, it was near impossible to get a decent shot.

There are no words to sufficiently describe fireworks in Japan, though I shall say that they usually happen in a number of vibrant and brilliant flourishes.

Well worth the packed trains and streets to have been able to see this.

No matsuri would be complete without floats. There was taiko drumming and shamisen playing though relatively few floats.




Walking home the long way avoiding the main subway lines, Laura and Emily bought small watermelons to nom. There was so much food at the festival with many varieties of meat on a stick, frozen and sugar or chocolate covered fruit as well as takoyaki and crepes.

Straight after the parade there were people sweeping the streets and tidying up just as you have all seen at the world cup. Japan really is an amazing country like that and I bet it was all cleaned up (including all the stalls) within an hour or so.

Looking forward to future festivals.

沖縄 O-ki-nawa.

Overjoyed to have had the opportunity to travel to Okinawa, Japan for the Summer holidays. The flight of 2 hours was spent reading " 魔法使いの猫 - The Magician's Cat" and the landing was 7/10 (upgraded from 6.5 the moment rain was evident on the wing). Dinner of lobster and check-in to hostel Kerema were graciously paid for by Emily after realizing the Post Offices closed hours ago.


 
Kooky best describes Okinawan style which is reflected everywhere on the islands, though nowhere more so than the Shisa displayed at most shop front. 座間味島 Zamami , a smaller island which we visit on the second day, had such a large collection of such Shisa in this style lining the fences. After purchasing a set (you need the set) and Laura and Jeeon collecting their free snorkels and flippers from the shop of a friends dad (helps to have connections) we headed to the beach called Furuzamami.

Incredibly beautiful and colourful were the fish of the reef and the view from the shore across paradise. Spent the remainder of the second day floating above the underwater wonderland with my hired snorkel and managed to see many fish that were previously only viewable at aquariums. Lunch was Okinawa's famous Soki Soba and Tako-rice and dessert was kaki-zenzai and Blue Seal Benimo and Mango ice-cream. Unfortunatly the day was tainted by sunburn. Mine on my back and Chloe's so much that she collapsed on the pier from heat stroke, twice!.

 
 Inter-National influences are clearly evident in Okinawas culture with the American occupation continuing still (for better or worse (probably more worse. GTFO America)). The evening of the second and most of the third day were spent perusing Kokusai Douri, the street where markets were held to encourage the exchange of goods between countries and cultures. There were many souvanere shops where omiaga (gifts) were purchased and it was here at a shop called Wargo that my Okinawa exclusive, complete with makers mark Oroborous flower ring was purchased. Breakfast was Blue Seal strawberry cheesecake crepe and the Okinawan doughnut sata andagi.
 
 
 
Adventurous was the mood of the evening of the third night as Emily, Lisa, Cloe and myself wandered down to the beach after purchasing some fireworks.We had initially intended to walk to a Chinese garden, though after becoming a little lost and not arriving until after close, we settled for fireworks on the beach. Lighting them was tricky, though once they sparked we all marveled for those brief moments as were enveloped in that free and vibrant moment.




Warmhearted Okinawans, friends and staff at Kerema helped in the panic of losing my phone only hours before departure on the final day. That morning we had headed to the Museum of Okinawa to view the Museum and Art Museum which exposed me to some local artists as well as key themes that shaped Okinawan culture and society. Despite being almost too uncomfortable to view one portrait detailing animosity during the war, the artwork "A south seas tale" by Koya Ochiro really took my fancy as it depicts unique local cultural and ritual practices. 

(Phone found after being handed in by the restaurant we had lunch at. There were tears. So many thanks to Emily for standing by me in this ordeal)

Abundant are the memories from these precious days. The places, the people, the food. Arriving back in Nagoya with a landing score of 7, we have all come to realize that there truly is no other place on earth like Okinawa. We all hope of course to visit again (Possibly will when Nuki-sama comes to visit in January). Chloe, Lisa, Emily, Laura and Jeeon thank-you for being part of my wonderful experience of Okinawa and though you will all be heading home to your respectful countries, the memories that we made together will always remain special to me and will be visited often through the many pictures from my camera and on Facebook.

Thus concludes the post about OKINAWA.