Cellphone pics are the new Polaroids

On Friday went out for lunch with Glenn to an all-you-can-eat meat restaurant. It's Brazilian, and the waiters come around with meat on huge skewers and shave off bits onto a place. They annoyingly say to everyone "it's elephant" or "it's alligator" when they cut the meat onto your plate - yeah, yeah, yeah just give me the meat.(We didn't laugh). All cuts of beef, chicken and pig were included. Steaks too, plus a buffet of salad, rice and stew. All for the equivalent of $9 (if you class 1000 yen as $10. Literal NZ dollars it's a bit more). Anyhow, it's enough meat to make you turn vegetarian. I think I got a headache from all the meat. But I gotta say, I've felt amazing ever since I went there. This vegetarian diet I've been keeping has been a cost saving exercise and I like it; but nothing makes you feel as good as a nice cut of meat.

It was a beautiful day, so after lunch we went to walk off the meat and have a look around Sannomiya.

Took this at a hyakuen - 100 yen shop.
The sleepy owl that I bought Emily was there!!! I love them!!



Alice in Wonderland: is the chair big, or is Glenn small...?



The tiniest Christmas tree I've ever seen...



A tree...dressed like Santa.



I just couldn't resist this shot. The sky was stunning, so blue and clear. Kobe is truly beautiful.



This owl is REAL.



Look at how amazing this bird is. You can see where those ornaments come from.
It's actually pretty sad. He was for sale in a shop similar to the Warehouse. Hardware, bulk food, cheap clothes and shoes and pets in really small, hot enclosures.



A huge beetle. There were also snakes and massive tuatara-esque lizards for sale. Plus fish, rabbits, chinchillas, dogs etc. The snakes were in tiny little plastic boxes about the size of that beetles box, and they were pressed up against the lids - so I decided against taking a pic out of fear.



And this guy wanted to take my picture, and then I wanted to take his so we got one of those shots where we're BOTH taking a photo of each other!! Hilarious!!

Included this because Sarah and I hung out on Saturday night and did Karaoke. We realised we both have a very similar musical vein, and we did an excellent rendition of this song - she was Billy I was the female back up. Other songs and groups included Faith No More - Epic, Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored, Madonna - La Isla Bonita, LOADS of Cranberries for Irish's sake, token U2 although neither of our hearts were in it, Who - My Generation, Damned - New Rose, Ramones, Smiths, Notorius B.I.G and more. The rap bit at the end of Eyes Without a Face was fun. I love the guitar riff at the end. We decided that Billy Idol is underrated.

Japan - Day Nineteen

An amazing sculpture I've seen in Sannomiya/Kobe a couple of times, but could never remember where I saw it. I love this mind-bending sort of art.

Also, I got a call from Aim today (one of the companies I've been accepted with) to say that I have a contract working on Saturdays with them, teaching a range of people from BABIES with their mothers, young kids, and a pair of brothers. Start this Saturday, have no idea what to expect...

What am I going to teach babies?

Japan - Day Eleven

Awesomely and unexpectedly, I went to China Town yesterday with Azusa. We originally met for a coffee in Sannomiya, and then went around some shops. She took me to a department store called Daimaru where I was able to see what was in fashion in Japan. Fake fur, real fur, animal toys to hang off your bag (that look real), boots, animal print oh and "chouchou" - which are scrunchies. This season, I'll be mostly wearing Chouchou - Jessies Fashions; The Fast Show. One more thing - Daimaru has a floor dedicated to Kimono, it was amazing. I wanted to buy so much from this place.

After we finished mall trawling, Azusa mentioned China Town was nearby and we ended up having dinner there. Took some pics on my cellphone like a good tourist.

Apparently China Town is much more busy on weekends, packed with people. As you can see it was pretty sparse.

Me with some China Town kids.

Dumplings were everywhere, and in front of many of the restaurants were maniacal looking pigs slobbering over them.

Dumplings were cooked at all of the street food stalls - the black ones are squid-ink flavoured. Yum.

Bruce Lee I think, in front of a ninja shop. Get a load of those muscles.

More dumplings!!! I want them!! This is why I'm in Japan.

Azusa eating the dumplings. We got told off for taking this pic.

Azusa eating real dinner. Don't ask me what she has.

And I'm eating pork with sweet and sour sauce, karage (chicken, large bits of meat), salad, corn soup broth stuff, rice. Behind me are strings of Chinese 100 notes. I wouldn't go back to this place.

This shop sold Panda EVERYTHING, Panda Tshirts, Cups, Pens, Cellphone holders, Chouchou - you name it, they've panda'd it.

Azusa kindly took this of me outside of China Town - the old people next to me suddenly realised they were in a pic and were uncomfortable. They didn't know whether to pose with me, or get out - too late. Thanks for ruining everything.

More reasons why I'm in Japan. Sign outside of an optometrist place - the black pupils are constantly moving around. Crazy eyes.

And this sign was mega huge, in Sannomiya mall. How do they come up with this stuff? Azusa said "is this funny in NZ?" I said "a little bit".