Thursday 27 September 2007

Tales of Hiroshima

I got back from Hiroshima this morning. I will put some photos up soon, accompanied by tales of temples, samurai, okonami and 12 hour bus trips...

Tune back in to Jimmy's Japan Adeventure soon

Saturday 22 September 2007

Sumo





















There is a big sumo tournament on in Tokyo at the moment. It is a Grand Tournament. There are 6 Grand Tournaments held each year, three of which are in Tokyo. They are held in an area of Tokyo called Ryoogoku and the stadium is called Kokugikan.

I had been twice before during my previous visits to Japan but i still find it interesting. After observing a few bouts, you realise that there is technique involved, and it's not just a case of the bigger guy always winning... and these guys are big... You can see that they have alot of muscle under that fat too (have a look at my pic with the two sumo wrestlers- they are only from lower divisions but are still huge).

Another aspect of sumo i find intriguing is the ammount of foreigners that are now competing. In the top two divisions alone, there are 19 foreign wrestlers (out of a total of 70 wrestlers). They come from places such as Hawaii, Mongolia, Russia, Bulgaria, and some other Eastern European countries. One of the most popular wrestlers is from Bulgaria and goes by the sumo name Kotooshu Katsunori- Koto is a name shared from all wrestlers originating from his stable and oshu means Europe. He's very tall (6'8) and leaner and fitter looking than most of the other wrestlers. He fights in the top division (makuuchi) and has the ranking of ozeki or 'champion', which is the second highest level in the sumo ranking system. He is also sponsored by a yoghurt company.

My personal favourite is Japanese wrestler Takamisakari. He is renouned for getting very fired up before each bout and puts on a bit of a show, slapping his face and beating his chest... the crowd love it though. This is far from normal for sumo as most wrestlers seem very placid and controlled... the usualn Japanese way of hiding all emotion.

Well, enjoy the pics...

Tuesday 11 September 2007

Surfing Pictures

Drove down to Taito, Chiba Sunday night. Arrived about 1am, slept till 4:30am (sunrise) and then went surfing. We had two surfs. The first was at Taito in the morning. The swell was a decent size but the wave shape wasn't great and by 9am, it was ridiculously crowded. The wind was turning onshore too so we decided to head North. We drove two hours to a place called Hisaki. The wind was strong here but the wind was offshore. Had another surf but the strong windwas making conditions difficult and it was also very crowded.

I got some fun waves but i didn't have a wetsuit with me. I made the desicision Sunday night to leave it at my apartment. Big mistake. The water was freezing (much colder than a few weeks ago). Because of this, i only lasted about an hour each surf, and the whole time i was shivering, cramping up and generally surfing like crap. I could hardly paddle i was so cold (the strong cold wind didn't help matters).This aspect was disapointing so i am definately taking my wetsuit from now on.

Below are some pics of the day. The surfing pics are Taito. The pics of the car on the beach and the wind turbine electricity generator thingies are of Hisaki.

Cheers

Hypothermic James















Saturday 8 September 2007

1 year ago...

On another note, today is exactly one year since i left Japan on my last visit. I had just had an awesome trip to Kyoto and when my plane was taking off the ground in Tokyo, headed back to Australia, i swore i would return to live here... and here i am!!

I know what our thinking. Geez he must be bored if he's putting out random stats like that...

Also, the typhoon has passed. My area didn't suffer any major damage, but areas further north apparently sustained suibstantial damage (according to my housemate who just arrived home from work about three minutes ago).

The plan is to go surfing tomorrow afternoon with my Israeli mate Gus. I think we might stay down there sunday night and also surf Monday morning. Fingers crossed we get some nice glassy swell.
For f@#ks sake. I don't know why the F%*king videos never work. God dammit. F$#k.

I can't be bothered trying to fix it now will fiddle around with it another day.

Karaoke and farewell

One of my mates over here, Ross, is returning home to Wales on Tuesday. We decided to hit karaoke for one last time to celebrate (although we are going clubbing tonight to celebrate too). Below are two videos. The first is me and Brendan (a fellow Australian- Tasmania) doing a rendition of Bon Jovi's 'Have a Nice Day', and the second is Ross singing a song i don't know... Sorry about the quality, they were recorded with my keitei (mobile phone).

For the record, the last song of the nght was sung by Ross- 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls.

Farewell Ross. All the best for the future mate.


Saturday 1 September 2007

Tokyo by car


Tokyo Tower by night

So i've been working lots of overtime still so next paycheck should be good... If we get paid, because there is lots of concern over NOVA's financial situation. There are rumours of a takeover.

I've been dining at izakaya and going out to bars for casual beers but havn't had a big night since Shibuya a few weeks ago. That's about to change... tomorrow me and some of the lads are meeting up with some locals who are going to take us to some clubs in Shibuya that don't let gaijin in (Can you imagine a club in Australia that refuses entry to Asian people... There would be lawsuits galore... thats Japan for you). Apparently the one way to enter these clubs is to go with Japanese girls.

Last night i met with a friend called Reiko. She has a car and took me for a drive through Tokyo. It was awesome to see Shibuya, Roppongi etc. from a car. Quite surreal really. As the passenger, you can relax and take it all in... different to walking or riding the train.

Next week i have a three day weekend so i'm deciding whether to climb Mt Fuji. The climbing season ends soon so ut may be my last chance. Typhoon number 9 is also approaching Japan, so we may get some big surf next week. If thats the case, i will probably give Fuji San a miss and go surfing instead...