Kobe Matsuri

Well...no point banging on about it, but it has been AGES since I used this thing. So long that I cringe to think about things I wrote before as a fresh faced gaijin, and a bit of a (frustrated, sad, confused) dick at times. But whatever, here I am in 2011, happy and with technology and time to blooogggggg.

Check these pics out, I took them last Sunday at Kobe Matsuri, meaning Kobe festival. The theme was Brazil apparently, but it seemed like an excuse for every kurabbu in town to get involved. Floats ranged from boring soccer teams shambling down the street, through to the Japanese airport customs band.

Amazing costume.

Unicycle Association!!!

It seems like every kid in Japan learns to ride one of these things.

A crash, lol.

Everyone waiting to get back on track...

They do these amazing turns linking arms, looks awesome.

Brazillian Dancer.

Vibrant.

Part of the same group as the orange lady.

He looks like a statue!!!

CUTE

Next came the transvestites.

Lady Gaga.

Note how everyone is looking the other way.

Madonna, who kept giving me the evils.

The end.

Japan - Day One

So...here I am in Japan! Arrived on Sunday night, airport was a crazy experience. Colours, people waving at me come this way, go that way etc. It has been pretty hard so far - it's really crazy not understanding what people are saying to you, or not being able to read signs, or food labels. The culture shock makes me feel like an alien; and in fact I am just that. Got my registration yesterday, and the guy didn't speak English. I went to a supermarket yesterday and could have spent hours in there just looking at everything. I also went to a bookshop and saw that the number one J Pop group of the week is "Lonely Town". Sounds emo.

Started the morning off with a cup of tea - Janat; the flavour of Sicily, the taste of Paris. It's classy; my cat feels the same.

When you flush the toilet at my uncles place, this tap automatically goes over the cistern. I don't know how to feel about it...

Heard a strange noise as I went outside to the small garden - it was a crow!! The first I've ever seen. They are beautiful looking, quite large and scary. This photo doesn't do the size of the bird justice.

Oh yeah - my uncle lives right by a graveyard. The crows hang out there and are constantly swooping over it...

The biggest spider I've ever seen in my life. I want to go back to New Zealand now.

Another one eating a butterfly.

A view of a street in the Rokko neighbourhood, where I live.

The first night I got there, my uncle said that we would be taking the rubbish out, but to watch for wild pigs. Apparently Kobe is known for them, and my uncle lives up a hill nearer to the mountains. If you see one, you're supposed to freeze as they can attack. I had a nightmare about this that very night.

Arrived home after a long day feeling tired and crap, only to be greeted by FIVE identical black cats hanging out together. These are two - the others were spaced out evenly atop of this wall. They wouldn't come to me.