Raft-o-rama!

This weekend a group of us (myself along with my friend Yuka, Michiko, who is one of my students, and her boyfriend and sister) went to Shikoku Island to go white water rafting. It was a pretty long trip to get there, we had to go over the big bridge (the longest suspension bridge in the world) to Awaji Island and then all the way across Awaji to another big bridge. This was quite an interesting one as on the way across it you can see several whirlpools in the water below.

Once we arrived on Shikoku we still had a fair way to drive so broke up the journey with a lunch stop near this bridge. As you can see it is constructed almost entirely of vines.It was extremely amusing watching women wearing high heels attempting to cross it. :D Here's me with Michiko and her sister Yukiko at one end of the bridge. We didn't bother to make the crossing ourselves, the prospect of rafting was a lot more thrilling.

After lunch we drove on, although not too much further, until we reached the Oboke river. We got geared up, wetsuits, helmets, PFDs (that's life jackets to the uninitiated) and fleeces for the wussy Japanese girls. Our guide was a fellow Aussie, Michael, and he and I got talking about our rafting experiences, I mentioned that I had done a guiding course several years ago and he immediately offered to let me take the boat on a couple of the smaller rapids, how could I refuse?

We got to the river and while the others had a safety talk in Japanese with the safety kayaker Michael grilled me to see what I could remember of my training, I must have done okay as he didn't retract his offer. And then we were off!

I am the one in the yellow helmet (my head was once again proved ridiculously small so I am easy to pick out).

Yee-ha!
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
And there was also plenty of time to play some games, jump off a big rock (I went first, not sure if that makes me the bravest or stupidest) and just relax in the water. I love rivers so it felt great to get into one again.
As promised Michael let me take us down a couple of the rapids and by stacking the boat through one I succeeded in flipping the boat, it was a very proud moment. :D

And here we are after a triumphant finish.From the left that's Yukiko, Yuka, Michiko, me, two Japanese girls who joined us, Michael and Kazu. It was a fantastic day and we'd all like to do it again, maybe in Australia next time!

Indulge Me

Well I haven't blogged in a while, as nothing much has been happening, just work and horse-riding mostly. I did go and see a movie with Yuka the other week and that was an interesting experience. The movie was in English with Japanese subtitles and I'm not sure if that was the reason I seemed to be the only person laughing out loud in some places or if it was just because I am a noisy foreigner. :P

This weekend however was something special. My colleagues and I went to Osaka to have a dessert buffet at the "Swissotel". This was paid for by AEON as we had reached a target set for us by the head office (have been doing well out of 'honbu' recently, I was named 'Teacher of the Month' for Kansai in April and so received an engraved pen, also have had my fair share of cookies for reaching other targets). Below you can see my first course...
Are you drooling yet? I most certainly was!

The presentation was also impressive, at either end of the buffet was a chocolate fountain, milk at one end...

White at the other...
Also to be seen were these impressive chocolate sculptures...



Personally I thought it was a bit of a waste of chocolate! ;)

Once back in the Kak, I had a 'cosgirl' (costume) sighting. This one was really decked out, unfortunately I couldn't get too close as I didn't want her to realise I was taking the pic, but you can get the idea.
Rainy season has well and truly arrived so I am getting wet a lot. This morning at riding I was given a free gift of a large umbrella (the other week I got a framed photo, seems to be the month for freebies), don't think I will follow the Japanese and carry it on my bike, safer to stick to a jacket, nor on my horse for that matter :)

I found Nemo

I didn't have a whole lot of time on Miyako so I just did a lot of walking. This beach has a natural rock arch and is very beautiful. As you can see the water is crystal clear and the sand was very white and soft.Here's the view from inside the arch, you can just see some of the netting that was covering the roof, I guess to prevent anything falling on the heads of visitors!

I flew back to Naha on Friday afternoon and then took a bus north to Okinawa City. This area is mostly famous for its shopping and its proximity to the American air base. I think I can safely say that I have never seen so many crew cuts in one place.

My reason for visiting Okinawa city was so that I could go scuba diving with an English speaking company. The reefs around the outer islands are reputedly far more beautiful than the one near Okinawa city but as I had never tried scuba before I wanted the reassurance of knowing that I would have no communication difficulties with my instructor. My instructor, Hanako, was Japanese but she had spent many years in England. She was very competent and reassuring. We did some preparatory work in the shallows where she showed me how to recapture the mouthpiece if I should drop it, clear the mask if it filled with water and so on. Then it was time to explore the (unfortunately somewhat murky) depths. I never realised how much there is to remember when scuba diving, breathing, keeping your pressure equalised, body position (it's necessary to keep it flat), taking pictures! It was certainly pretty full on. We saw loads of fish and interesting corals but the highlight had to be seeing some clown fish (as made famous by the movie 'Finding Nemo') like the ones below.After the dive Hanako congratulated me on my breathing and body position, I guess all those years of snorkelling at Somers really paid off.

She dropped me off at the American Village. An area of shops and movie theatres and so forth, which is designed to look like it's in America, hence the name :P. To me it felt more like what Japanese people think America is like but it was interesting to have a wander around. I particularly enjoyed looking through the enormous army surplus store. I guess their proximity to the base gives them access to more equipment than your average shop. You could even buy a parachute, stetcher or a wide range of gas masks! Lots of the toys were very tempting but probably not legal in Australia so I just bought a cloth badge and left it at that.

My final day I spent back in Naha, getting some souvenirs and omiyage (presents for co-workers). This river is right near Kokusai street and was decorated with carp banners in honour of 'Children's Day'.
Something you don't see to often in Japan...
Got one final laugh on my way out of Okinawa. This sign was posted at the entrance of the Naha airport. I was particularly bemused by the second item at number 1...
What have puddings ever done to you!?!

Take me to Taketomi

On Thursday I took another ferry, this time to Taketomi Island. This was probably my favourite, mostly because the other islands were all so big that they lost the 'island' feel somewhat. Taketomi was small enough that you could walk around it and see coastline in several directions at once. One of the things it's famous for is the 'star sand' beach where some of the sand grains are like tiny stars. I had a very pleasant surprise as I was walking along, I heard my name and when I turned around I found Yoshie, who I had gone canoeing with the day before. So we went and ate Okinawa Soba together and then went sightseeing. This house had a great example of a Shisa (lion dogs who act as guardian gods of houses and villages) on the roof. Unfortunately I have no zoom but you can get the idea. Here's a street scape, good place for cycling so Yoshie and I did so, only we just had one bike between the two of us... Lucky I've got horserider's legs!
Once we got back to Ishigaki, a slightly more major island, Yoshie hired a car and we went exploring. This bay is famous for its black pearls and its beauty, you can see why.
Heading back towards the airport (as I was flying to Miyako Island that evening) we passed this shop. Inside were many pairs of Shisa, most of which looked like they'd been designed by the folks at Mambo! It was certainly colourful.

I couldn't resist ;)

Tarzette, Queen of the jungle

My third day I made my way to Iriomote Island. Iriomote had a much more island feel to it. This may have been because I had to take a ferry to get there but I am sure that the lack of tall buildings helped too. The youth hostel was up on a hill overlooking the sea so the view was really beautiful. It was nice to see some nature too, a fruit bat and some glow worms and fireflies. No sign of the elusive Iriomote lynx though.

I took a trip by riverboat (which was strangely reminiscent of the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland) to see the waterfall you can just about see pictured below.Once back at the landing area I did some canoeing. The guide took us all around the mangroves and explained about the different species (I was given a special card in English) and also showed us some wildlife such as this crab...
And its mother...
Then we headed even further into the wilds to see an area where there was once a coal mine. It looked like nothing so much as a piece of scenery from an Indiana Jones movie. In this area we also saw some tiny lizards and large butterflies.

Oki Ok

Last week in Japan was 'Golden Week', when just about the entire country gets a week of holidays. Naturally this means that all prices rise, accommodations are full and tourist areas are heaving, makes perfect sense... Anyway, not one to let that deter me from further exploration I decided to visit the Okinawa Islands.

My first two days I spent on Okinawa-Honto (the main island). This garden was right near my hostel. The day was quite overcast as you can see, but it was very humid.

After visiting the garden I made my way to Kokusai-Dori, the main street of Naha city. This was a great place to be as it is closed to traffic on a Sunday afternoon and there are many street performances. I watched this drum troop for a while, and being a former percussionist started hankering after one of their drums... well maybe just a small one...
Just off Kokusai-Dori is a couple of market streets so I wandered down them to get to the Tsyboya pottery district. This actually just looked like a lot of shops, so not quite as atmospheric as I had been hoping. But the market lanes were a bit better and felt more 'typically Asian' than much of Japan.

On Monday I just about killed myself riding a very old bike up a very steep hill to Shuri-jo (it was also much hotter that day). This castle is unfortunately a reconstruction as the original was burnt down during WW2. However it was very different to the mainland castle style so I was glad that I made the effort to get there. As you can see there is a very obvious Chinese influence as is true of a lot of things found in the islands.In the courtyard of the castle this woman was demonstrating some traditional dance. She moved incredibly slowly and gracefully and had no facial expression. It was fascinating to watch. Although I have to admit that I didn't stick it out for long ;)

From the castle I made my way (somewhat roundaboutly as the Japanese don't seem to believe in street signs) to the Shikanaen Royal Garden. I had hoped to eat my lunch here but there was no food or drink allowed! So I ate outside the gate and then went in to look around. It was quite beautiful but I actually felt that the smaller garden I visited on Sunday was nicer.
Finally I rode along the river to look at the Manko Mangrove, which was disappointingly polluted, although I did see a couple of birds, and to get to the Underground Naval Headquarters. Now as most of you know I am a bit of a military history buff so I was a little disappointed here too as there wasn't a whole lot of information available and not really a lot to see, aside from this example of what sort of damage a hand grenade can do in a small concrete room.

Also the officers room was set up with a table and you could see some writing on the walls, but mostly it just felt like a cellar.

After that I decided to reward all my hard cycling efforts (did I mention that the Naval HQ was also up a steep hill?) with a steak dinner. I had hoped to try Ishigaki (another island I was going to on Tuesday) beef, but I think I actually ended up with Tasmanian! :P Was pleasantly surprised to learn that when the menu offered an accompaniment of soup, salad, rice or bread it actually meant soup and salad and rice or bread. :)

Kyushu Capering

This weekend I took a day off so that I could go a little further afield. I went to Nagasaki at the very end of the main body of Japan. It is a very pleasant city on the water and has a nice tram system that you can take for just 100Y per ride. First I took it to the to the peace park. This fountain symbolises the dove of peace and in the background you can see the peace statue. The peace park was much smaller than the one in Hiroshima but I actually liked it a bit more.
After walking around the park I went to the Atomic Bomb Museum, again it was smaller than the one in Hiroshima, but very well done.

Then I went to the Suwa-Jinja, Nagasaki's major shrine. In the garden there are a pair of 'stop lions' you tie a piece of string around one of their legs if you want to quit doing something. Being perfect, I didn't need to bother...
From the shrine I walked along the river to the Megane-Bashi (spectacles bridge so named for the reflection it makes in the water), Japan's oldest stone bridge. It was a pleasant walk along the river with lots of spring flowers in bloom.
I visited the interesting old Chinese Zen temple, Sofuku-ji and then headed on to Fukuoka. This is another nice city, although I preferred Nagasaki. This is its most famous building, ACROS, which, as you can see, has a terraced garden built of the side of it.
Walking through a mall there I found this interesting parade float. It was absolutely huge.

Ate some ramen at a shop recommended by my co-worker Jason and then headed back to the Kak.

Fast Cars and Fertility

This weekend I went to visit a fellow AEONite in Nagoya. Before meeting up with her I visited the Toyota Museum of Industry and Technology and had a lovely time. There are loads of displays of engine and their components, complete with push buttons so you can set them all running. Possibly even more fun were the industrial robots and large machinery, also controlled by push buttons, so I had a wonderful time making lots of noise.
After the museum I met up with Joanne and we went up the brand new Midland Square building with its superfast double-decker elevators. Then in the evening we went for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (before anyone comments, I have been in Japan EIGHT months, Japanese food has definitely lost its novelty factor, a blt on the other hand...) where I demolished this delicious brownie sundae.On the Monday we went to visit Joanne's local shrine in Komaki, which just happens to be a fertility shrine. Naturally much pointing and giggling ensued but I was very careful not to touch anything, just in case. :p
The other interesting thing that is happening right now in Japan is that the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom. Going to viewing parties is something of a national pastime. So I have seen many groups picnicking under the trees.