Surfing & Buddha

What do they have in common? Well...not a whole lot! lol Last weekend I went down to Kanagawa prefecture with Kuniko (a friend of the receptionist at my school) to try my hand at surfing. NOT EASY!! Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pics of the beach or while trying...but I got some of the big Buddha statue in Kamakura that we visited afterwards.

This thing was cast in 1252, believe it or not. Now that's OLD!!!! I snapped some other various pics from around the area.
Watching over the crowd.

Close-up.
Close close-up.
Incense burner.
Details.
Me...Zenning out.
Small stone statue with cape.

Sign leading to the big Buddha.

How it appears on Kuniko's GPS Navigation.
Hmmm...I'm not quite sure.

Kamakura monorail.
Elvis sighting??!!
Have a nice day.....Dog Lover!

Mio's farewell B-B-Q

One of my students, Mio, has gone off to Germany...no no Greenland...wait, no I think it's Finland...anyway, she went there to study for an MA in Education and chose Finland as, get this, education is FREE there!!! I checked it out on the net and it's true....anyone willing to travel to Europe? Before she left, she had a farewell B-B-Q at her house. It was a perfect day and I brought along my cooler, bottle of Jack and a liter of coke....needless to say I was shitfaced by the end of the day.....but everone else was too!! :D

Here are a couple of vids of people trying to smash open a watermelon while blindfolded...the Japanese equivelant to the pinata I guess.

New Apartment

I recently moved out of my old apartment and in to a new. The old one wasn't bad....but it was just too damn small. I got lucky and scored Chris' old apartment as I arranged it with his landlady before he left. Now, I'm living large in and nice-sized place with 2 rooms, a nice kitchen and a view of lake Suwa and beautiful Mt. Fuji (on a clear day) from my window. I'll take some pics or a vid with a walkthrough soon. Be patient.

Suwa Firework Festival

August 15th is the date of the second largest (at least that's what I was told) firework festival in Japan and it's held in Suwa, Japan which is the next city from where I live. Something like 40,000-50,000 fireworks are shot off on that night. I met up with a few students to hang out around the lake, drink, chat, and of course watch the firework show.

One thing that's pretty cool is the variety of different types of fireworks here. There are ones that explode diagonally, ones that form hearts or smiley faces, and others that explode like 4-5 times as they rise then one huge time at top. Enjoy the vids.

Matsumoto Bon-Bon

Me and a couple of co-workers (Scott and Michael) went over to Matsumoto City last month for the O-bon festival. There were lots of dancers, music, kimonos and of course...BEER!! lol It was crazy crowded and lots of walking, but everyone had a good time. Check out the videos I took with my phone...not to shabby. I especially like the one with Hard-Gay!! :P

Welcoming Party

A few students at our branch in Chino City were kind enough to throw me a welcome party last month. We had a great time at a small izakaya near Chino station with good food, good conversation, and all-u-can-drink alcohol!!!

From left to right: Tomomi, Me, Mie, Hirohiko, Mineko, Sayuri and Masakazu.

Thanks guys...I really appreciated it and had a super time. :D

August: Festival time in Japan

Yes, it's been a while but I have a lot to update. August is the month of summer festivals in Japan as well as the time when the O-bon holiday occurs. I was pretty busy having parties with students, going to festivals, watching fireworks, moving into my new apartment, B-B-Q's, etc. last month and put off updating until now. I will, however, be putting up a lot of videos (sorry for those with slow internet connections...Chelle) for all to enjoy as well as a few pics. All of them were taken on my phone so the quality isn't great, but pretty impressive considering. I'll be putting some things up after work tonight (hopefully) and tomorrow morning.

D