Big Stuff in Japan

There was this strip mall in Shinsaibashi in which I realised I had taken several photos of big things - signage, billboards and that type of thing.

Happy light man.

Octopus - tako!

Crab.

Fugu.

Your Dad.

You.

Japan - Day Fifteen

Had the Halloween Party with Aim on Saturday night. It was ok - I didn't fully realise it was an opportunity to meet with potential students to tutor, I thought it was a shindig for students, teachers and staff. I ended up chatting to someone called Jun Sakata. I resisted the urge to tell her that Sakata is the brand of my fave rice crackers. Anyhow, to my surprise during our conversation she said she would like to learn English from me! The next time I see her, I'll tell her about the rice crackers.

OK so now I need to vent. Met a few westerners, current and new tutors from all over the world at the party. Man, foreigners in Japan are weird. If they're not ignoring you completely because you're not Japanese (I guess I can semi understand that) then they're talking to you like you're learning English yourself - because they've "lost their English". One couple - a Japanese girl and an American guy - when they found out I was from New Zealand they were like "oh, we are jealous! We were just talking about New Zealand. We are jealous!" I was like "why?". They used big smiles and hand gestures all the way through.

Moved on from them, met an ok American guy called Roger who said he worked in film before coming to Japan. I asked him what he did exactly in film (he didn't expect to be asked that) he said just whatever he could get; but he's working on some feature length screen plays. I laughed on the inside. But he was nice enough, he's into breakdancing, he's done it for a year.

There was another guy from Leeds - he seemed a dimwit. He was pretty annoying. I had a nametag on with a number behind it which was a raffle number. He asked me what number I was: "I'm 27". To which he said "how old are you?" "25" "You said you were 27!" Good one. Then we played Bingo. I said "I love Bingo!" He said "Who is he?"
I quickly moved away from him.

Then there was a group conversation. There was the typical loud mouth American hassling everybodys country of origin. Poms, Crims, Sheepshaggers etc. I think it's the done thing when you're overseas. People complain that Christchurchians always ask what school you go to. Well this is kinda the same thing.

This American guy, he asked me where I was from? I said I'm a New Zealander. He was like "a Kiwi". That annoyed me for some reason. He asked my name, and I said "Darlene". He said I was the first Darlene he'd met, apart from Darlene in Roseanne. I responded with my typical answer, "yeah, it's kind of an American white trash name". BUT THEN...he said "well actually, Roseanne's family wasn't white trash; they had a house." Wow. I stand corrected!!!

I met two Australian girls too. I got talking to one of them, then the other rushed over and made sure I knew that I was talking to "her" friend. It was nice doing the whole "wow, we're in Japan, how's your experience?" thing, because one thing that I've missed is sharing my experience (real time) with a friend. Talking to westerners is like missing cheese or foods you can't get here - you miss it more because it's not available directly. Eventually I realised they were drama theatrical types (not in a good Braydon way, in an "I'm the lead in Romeo and Juliet high school production because I'm the most popular girl in school" kind of way). We ended up exchanging numbers, then walked to the train station. As we said goodbye I said "I'll probably end up messaging you guys because I'm DESPERATE for friends!".

As I walked away I thought to myself - a) I'm not that desperate for friends, and b) that was a really inappropriate thing to say. I deleted their numbers from my phone.

It has started to rain, and get windy. The sky got scarily dark, quite early on today.

Glenn took me around Sannomiya and Port Rokko, or Port Kobe, not sure what it's called. It was rainy and grim, but still cool. That's a ferris wheel - there are several scattered around Kobe. I hope when Peter comes to Japan we can go on a ferry ride around the port.

This sign cracks me up everytime I use the toilets at Rokko station. It reminds me of something Jenna would draw. It's the eye and the arrow which does it for me.

Japan - Day Twelve

Went for another walk around the neighbourhood yesterday, to get some groceries and actually get out of the house. Not working is actually becoming a drag! Never thought I'd say that. Someone slap me.

The sky here on a clear day, is a lighter blue, and kinda hazy. I can't work out whether it's pollution or the existence of an ozone layer. I've gotten so brown and not burned one bit being out in the sun, so whatever it is, I like it.

An aim of my walk was to document some of the signage I've seen around the place. Signs addressed to the public more often than not feature cute cartoon characters with faces to match whatever they want you to do.

I feel very accused by this dog. I want to think of something I can write in there.
"If you don't take my sh*t, I'm gonna hurt you. Yeah. You'll be in this bag next, and I ain't gonna clean it either."

Ad ad on the back of a bus.

It was after school time and there were heaps of cute kids around in uniform chatting away. I really wanted to get a pic of these three, but felt like I might have frightened them or something. So I tried to get a pap shot.

More kids at Rokko Cable car, they all have these extreme uniforms!!

Street View.

On the way back to Glenns place, there is this temple, or pagoda, not really sure. It's quite desolate, creepy, tranquil all at once. It has an abandoned feeling about it. I like being there, but there are bugs literally everywhere, and I feel I will walk into a huge spider web with one of those massive spiders at any minute.

This pillar has a beehive inside of it. There are bees constantly coming and going, entering through that split in the bottom piece of the pillar.

Tried to get a shot of the whole temple, but need a different lens. There are trees everywhere with spider webs between them.