Japan - Quirky, Crazy, Kinky!

We recently went for a very short trip over to Japan and we managed to go just when they had a sumo tournament on which was a great stroke of luck. They only have a handful of tournaments each year so we were stoked to be able to go.

Here is my diary entry

22 March – I am sitting on a train from Kyoto to Osaka right now, watching Osaka’s urban sprawl zip by in a flurry of grey skies and, flashing lights and steeply pitched triangle roofs of every colour.

Yesterday was an incredible day. Our first day in Osaka. We ate cold salmon, miso soup, wasabi broccoli and cold egg parcels for breakfast (yum!) Then we set off to buy our sumo tickets which ended up being easier than expected.

We then wandered the streets eating ramen and exploring random trinkety stores and marveling at all the quirky bits of Osaka – A man in pajamas smoking on the sidewalk, posters of cartoon lettuces with bulging eyes, dried squid jerky, toilets that spray your bum and much more! It’s all those little things that make Japan so fun.

We also made the mistake (or was it?) of exploring a 6 floor Japanese porn store. Some of the stuff they had in there really haunted me. They had anime kiddy porn magazines and they had stuff on the cover that made my blood curdle. Lets just say that people in Australia would go to jail if they were found with those images on their home computer. The scenes involved toddlers and grown men. Not good. We couldn’t believe that they had this in the store!

That wasn’t all though, the 6th floor was an entire floor of what I can only describe as horror porn – It involved a lot of blood, razors, ropes and even the odd corpse. It was intense and some of the images burnt into my mind. I had to shake it off!

Matty took us to don don town (electric town) after that and I had to endure a lot of gadget shops. Then it was off to sumo and it was SO amazing. We got to watch over 20 rounds of gstring clad fatties sumo wrestle. They’d come out and do their little stomping ritual, slap their tummies and thighs, stare eachother down and then BOOM within 30 seconds one had body slammed the other out of the ring.We drank choo hai and cheered loudly all night. so fun!

The next day we went exploring the streets of Osaka looking for more noodles and then jumped on a train to Kyoto.
We saw our first cherry blossom trees on the trip there; pink and white ones blasting color into the grayness of the urban Japan. That afternoon we settled into our little traditional ryokan and then went on a fairytale like walk through ancient temples and through the back streets of Kyoto beside a meandering canal. The canal was lined with cherry trees and there were traditional old wooden houses lining the streets around us.

As the sun started to set we found a tiny pub to rest our feet in and drink Japanese beer. We ended our night by visiting the lively gion district and had a fabulous meal and got fabulously drunk before getting home right on our 11pm curfew.

Our second day in Kyoto was full of adventure. We visited a vibrant market that morning and sampled crazy food like this agadashi chewing gum dish that almost made me vomit and some strange pickled foods….not really sure what they were but yuk! Red bean pancakes and seed biscuits and more. Needless to say we felt ill by the end of it but it was an adventure. There were also antiques being sold – swords, kimono’s, traditional wooded geisha thongs, incense and Buddha statues.

Our feet were so sore from 3 days of walking so at the end of the day we decided to take a train ride into the mountains to this amazing mountain top onsen. Up we wound through valleys, chugging our way past tiny villages and green fields and autumny coloured trees .When we finally arrived at kumera we decided our feet were rested enough and we very ambitiously decided to take this apparently gorgeous hour long walk to the onsen.

To cut a long story short, we went entirely the wrong way and ended up spending an hour wandering around in the bush but eventually we came back to the station just as a bus was taking people to the onsen –hoorah! Finally we soaked our naked tired bodies for an hour and then we stuffed all of our change into the massage chairs in the foyer whilst sipping beer. ahhhhh

Rejuvenated and energetic again we made our way back to town and had another crazy night of exploration, great food and crazy sites. We got fed pork in every “vegetarian” dish we ordered, we saw a giant plastic octopus and also we saw 2 real life giesha wandering through back alleys.

I was feeling a bit craptastic the next day from all the pork and sugary drinks plus I got some crazy asian flu and my period all on the same day….uuuuughhh. I wasn’t all sparkles and joy that day let me tell you. While I wallowed in my crapulence matty got us all packed up and we made our way to Tokyo. We were planning to have a longer trip away but business drama meant we had to come home early and head to tokyo.

The bullet train there was super super fast and the views were great. After finding a hotel we hit the streets of shibuya in downtown Tokyo just before dusk. I still felt yuk but the flashy neon, crazy eccentrics, loud music and strange smells drew me in like a moth to a flame. So much to see, taste and touch! It’s sensory overload. I loved it but after an hour or 2 it was bed time for me.

While I ate udon noodle room service and got an in room massage at the hotel matty drank and shopped and drank some more. He came home at 1am with presents for me drunk as a skunk. He bought me socks with cartoon peanuts on them. They are the best socks ever! I love them! He also bought me a crazy doll with a Mohawk - the ones you put on your mobile (well thats what japanese do)

Our last day was spent sampling every bizarre food we could get our hands on and then shopping at takeshita street (yes that is the street name!!) checking out the crazy goth and Lolita outfits and buying trinkets and chocolates for our familes.

Short but sweet holiday but you’d be surprised how much pork a vegetarian can eat in such a short space of time!!

Reflections on Summer

I have to say, there is no doubt in my mind that this summer 06/07 was the BEST summer of my life. Sydney always comes alive in summer and it is so exciting. All the amazing festivals and parties. The beach days, the long lunches in restaurants by the water, the bbqs and picnics…..ohhh it is just divine! Every summer is fun but this one was IT!

We went to Byron for a week over new years which really stands out in my mind as one of the biggest highlights of the summer. There were over 20 of my great friends in 2 houses right near wategoes beach and it was just the most fabulous party and reunion of old friends.

I also managed a week away with my 2 best buds from school, Katie and Kathmo. We went to Fraser Island in a completely unsuitable vehicle and completely unprepared so it turned into quite the ummmm, adventure.

For some reason I thought fraser island was sort of a big touristy island with lots of bars and restaurants. He he he, I suuuuure was wrong. Within about 130 seconds of being on the island we had the car bogged and a bus load of tourists helping us get out.

Within an hour of being on the island we had totally bogged the car (for the 3rd time) on a sand track and were digging it out with twigs while march flies bit our bums!

We were in good spirits though and we got rescued again by a jeep full of men and decided we had to stay on the hard sand beaches and set up camp. We had such an amazing week of catching up in our quiet campsite, eating lots of great food and going on little adventures.

Our trip was finished up with a crazy day at the gold coast good vibration festival. It had been a while since we’d all danced together and we had a bloody great time. There was a bushfire raging right beside fence and smoke covered the entire festival and made us all really dirty and smelly but we danced on and on and on. God I love those girls! So fun!

I also got more involved with the charity ‘Just Enough Faith’ over the summer and ended up being on the board that runs the charity (there are 5 of us). It is such an honor to do this work and I feel more fulfilled and happy and purposeful than ever before in my life.

We look after homeless people in Sydney and make sure they have a healthy meal every night. However, our objective is much more than just giving them a meal. It’s about giving them hope and helping them regain respect. It’s about helping them get back on their feet. We have loads of other services. Everything from meditation classes and job training to warm blankets and clothes for winter

I am so excited about what we might be able to do this year with the charity. We want to expand our services and help more people this year. We are about to open a free dental clinic for them and we have plans to also open a free legal centre as well.

check us out at www.justenoughfaith.org

I have also just started a program called ‘knitting for the needy’. We are organizing groups of knitters in nursing homes and elderly hostels to knit scarves beanies and blankets for the homeless for winter. It gives the oldies something they can contribute to society and gives them a sense of purpose. It’s a lovely program. I hope to get it Australia wide over the coming years.

Matty has become totally addicted to surfing and is getting really good. Every time he comes out of the water his eyes are sparkly and he has a spring in his step. I believe they call it the stoke!
I went out a lot on my body board and caught some good waves. I’ll have to learn surfing early next summer.

If it’s as fun as snowboarding it’s worth the learning curve just to feel the rush.