tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55867232011-07-08T21:40:22.707+09:00Carla and Tyler are in Japan. They are having adventures. Let's read about Carla and Tyler's adventures!Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.comBlogger3891100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-73423171729137097012010-04-04T03:21:00.002+09:002010-04-04T03:27:03.257+09:00

It only took four months, or two and a half years, depending on how you look at it, but another one is done.And I'm going to try to have at least two more done by the end of this month.Crazy!

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-2732719332602221702009-12-25T07:46:00.003+09:002009-12-25T07:54:02.204+09:00

So I took a lot of video during our farewell tour of Japan. A lot. Most of it absolute crap. But Even crap looks less crap if you know how to edit. Which I do not.So here is some crap slapped together and set to music. This is a recap of our first day. In Miyazaki.It turned out better than I was expecting but worse than I would like.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-71455005108293078492009-11-27T06:28:00.000+09:002009-11-27T06:29:10.133+09:00

Before we left the country, we did a little tour of the apartment, so we wouldn't forget it. It was long and boring, so I shortened it. It is still boring, but so is this blog, so it all works out.I also took some video of our awesome neighbourhood, but the video wasn't near as awesome as the 'hood. Shaky and fairly crap. So I didn't do anything with that video. And you've seen some of the

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-30369182398850522582009-07-09T10:46:00.003+09:002009-07-09T11:02:47.217+09:00

One of my regrets from our stay in Japan was when I missed Kishen's birthday in Ninja town.I never did make it to that ninja town, but I did make it to another. Iga was, so they say, a ninja village. Full of ninja-y goodness. If it wasn't before, it is now. Ninja houses full of weapons and hide-y holes and such. With stage shows and a museum and other assorted goodness.Food-y goodness.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-37950106539333624362009-06-25T01:57:00.002+09:002009-06-25T02:46:59.808+09:00

It has almost been a year since we last posted. It has been a little over a year since we left the supreme awesome-ness that is Japan. We miss it so.But back to my point: it's been a year. So where the hell is the video? I had a video camera over there. I shot stuff. Lots of stuff. So where is it?Hopefully here. Hopefully soon. I post this now because it is easy. I will work my way up

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-38111492180284065572008-06-27T07:55:00.001+09:002008-06-27T07:55:39.509+09:00

Yeah.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-82524522052741738652008-06-26T00:51:00.003+09:002008-06-27T07:55:04.948+09:00

This will not be broken up into days, because this is a blog about our adventures in Japan and seeing as we are no longer in Japan this log is pretty much done but Japan is in us now. So if Japan is always in us now, then we will always be in it. Or maybe not, I didn't pay too much attention during my logic classes.But these are our thoughts as fresh off the plane re-inductees into Canadian life.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-8230761860623305452008-06-25T23:58:00.003+09:002008-08-11T07:30:44.993+09:00

This is it. The last day. And a very short day to boot. Wait. No. It was a very long day. With not enough of it spent in Japan. And most of that Japan time was spent either in or on the way to airports.We got a nice early start, because we only had e-tickets and for some reason could not check ourselves in over the web. Still got decent seats from Sapporo to Tokyo. But couldn't book our seats

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-2095735331800266242008-06-20T23:42:00.001+09:002008-06-20T23:44:28.102+09:00

Yup. Back in the Queen city. Landed and safe and decidedly non-corpsified. And playing with a pretty puppy.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-83261732875419689792008-06-18T01:58:00.003+09:002008-06-18T08:01:06.352+09:00

I had wanted to be done with the blogging before we left this country, but my words aren't working right now. Sorry.We have to catch a plane in a few hours, so I reckon we should get some sleep.The last day and a half of blogging should hopefully be up within a couple of days.And we will be landing in Regina around 10 am on Thursday.Good night.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-30850550588773114832008-06-18T01:43:00.003+09:002008-06-27T07:52:06.637+09:00

Everything today had an extra layer of crispy sadness. 'This is our last trip on a JR train.' 'This is our last soft ice cream cone.' 'This is our last sunset.' And so on.We really don't want to leave. It was kind of exciting when we left Canada lo those many years ago. Because we knew we would be back. But this is slightly less concrete.We will be back, but a lot of people will have left by then

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-22516238665681095022008-06-18T00:56:00.006+09:002008-06-18T01:29:30.584+09:00

We wanted to go to a scenic nearby town. But we got lazy and did not. Maybe tomorrow. Instead we did some more poking around Sapporo. There were a lot of parades going on today.But not big, fancy parades. Small parades, they had to stop tor traffic. But there were tonnes of them. It was odd.We wandered around the shopping district and the night life district and up and down many many

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-32102748822035441712008-06-17T12:01:00.006+09:002008-06-18T08:19:05.625+09:00

We got up nice and early this morning so that we could catch the first train to Sapporo. We didn't reserve seats, so we wanted to make sure we got some. We did. With plenty of time to spare. I used that spare time to go and get some pictures of the fish market, seeing as it's right next to the station.It wasn't as photogenic as in previous days. Not as many giant crabs twitching on scales.If

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-30706470910306525962008-06-17T11:30:00.005+09:002008-06-17T23:49:47.748+09:00

They have been calling for rain for a while now, but I don't know if it is ever going to show.Today was glorious! The cloud covered mountain from yesterday? Clear as that really gross tasting Pepsi from years ago.We took advantage of the weather and went hiking. There is a town near Hakodate called Onuma that has a couple of hiking trails. We hiked a couple of the couple. They were nice

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-20980689200090730972008-06-17T10:00:00.004+09:002008-06-18T08:10:48.182+09:00

It doesn't matter that we didn't get to eat any scallops (other than in ice cream form)yesterday, we got our fill today. Starting with breakfast. Today's breakfast viking may well be the best all you can eat breakfast we have had in this country. It had scallops, for goodness sakes! How can you have a bad day when it starts with scallops?We like scallops.Carla doesn't like boats. She is not

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-17590061593168843002008-06-17T09:44:00.009+09:002008-06-18T08:13:18.596+09:00

Before we get to the big cool floats, let me point out one other thing about Morioka that was kinda interesting.This sculpture. It was all shiny and spiny. It spins, you see, that part is hard to capture in photographs. The sculpture saw us off from the bus stand.There were no cool sculptures there to greet us at Aomori, but there was plenty of coolness to be found.Y'see Theo, Aomori is known

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-43850772332082873482008-06-17T01:18:00.008+09:002008-06-17T21:46:46.479+09:00

Foot update: still hurts.Morioka did nothing wrong, it was not a bad town or anything. It was mainly just dull.I'm having a hard time remembering what Morioka is known for.Maybe if I look at the pictures from today...This is a fire lookout tower. It was used as a lookout tower. To look for fires. It has sat unused ever since Japan discovered the cure for fire.This is their old... bank? Post

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-81761191890780149262008-06-14T22:02:00.004+09:002008-06-17T01:18:14.472+09:00

We got up nice and early this morning so that we could be on the shinkansen well before the morning rush. It is quite easy to fall asleep on the shinkansesn. The only problem with falling asleep on the shinkansesn is making sure you wake up before your stop. I am totally not mentioning this because we missed our stop. Because we totally didn't. Carla is too awesome to let that happen.Our

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-9935728396186842892008-06-14T01:38:00.004+09:002008-06-14T22:10:49.760+09:00

Man, I was silly to think that nine days would be too long to spend in Tokyo. We've barely scratched the surface and it is already time to go.We were in Harajuku yesterday. It was a toss up between that and Akihabara. We could have been in Akihabara yesterday. Japan is known worldwide for its electronics and Akihabara is often called electric town. It is where you go to shop for cameras,

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-34266194818310504932008-06-14T01:17:00.003+09:002008-06-14T21:46:06.005+09:00

Asakusa (where we spent New Year's Eve a year or two ago) has a free tour for foreigners. Being foreigners ourselves, we took the tour. Didn't learn all that much, but it got us out of our room at a decent hour and Asakusa is usually a bit of fun. Plus there was a monkey!From there we went to Harajuku. To look at the strange people all dressed up and to shop. Successful on both counts.Let me

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-26308123248289606312008-06-09T02:08:00.006+09:002008-06-11T21:15:13.619+09:00

It must be tough to be a weather person in Japan. It is such a skinny island, surrounded by all sorts of unpredictable air masses. I can totally understand why the weather today is nothing like the weather they forecasted for today yesterday. I can understand it, but I don't have to like it. The weather was not bad today, that is not what I am getting at. It was much better than had been

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-68764807182114287432008-06-09T00:47:00.004+09:002008-06-11T20:43:14.401+09:00

I thought that Carla had booked us too much time in Tokyo. I was wrong. We are scrambling to fit it all in. The fact that we have spent two days shopping with nothing to show for it hasn't helped much.Today we took a day trip out to Kamakura. The plan was to do a nice walking tour past a couple points of interest and end up at the giant Buddha. It was a great plan. The hike was though nice

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-57711726620431408982008-06-07T23:50:00.004+09:002008-06-11T20:29:54.264+09:00

Yokohama is the second biggest city in Japan. It is famous for... being the second biggest city in Japan.There ain't much to do in Yokohama. But we went there anyways.Our first stop was Chinatown. The Chinatown in Yokohama is the biggest Chinatown in all of Japan. Still not big enough to have a decent Chinese bakery. Carla hasn't had a tuna bun in over three years.Chinatown doesn't seem all

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-90910905116385986672008-06-07T22:55:00.005+09:002008-06-10T05:46:33.019+09:00

It was supposed to be rainy and cloudy and cruddy today so we decided to spend it indoors, learning about and appreciating Japan's long and storied history.Today's weather? Gorgeous.Crud.But the exhibits in the museum were nice. Our six bucks got us access to a lot of stuff. Not all the stuff. There was some big, new, limited time exhibition going on in one of the exhibition halls. There was

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-54232679216253618642008-06-07T22:12:00.001+09:002008-06-07T22:55:18.678+09:00

We went shopping today.Hardly bought anything.Crud.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-44660327328302843532008-06-07T00:19:00.003+09:002008-06-08T09:27:21.793+09:00

Yup. We're in the biggest city this small island nation has to offer. Tokyo.And to start the Tokyo leg of our journey with a bang, we started off our first full day in town with a tour to the Ghibli Museum. Studio Ghibli is a world famous animation studio. It has won an Academy Award or two. What I like about Ghibli films, other than the fact that they are gorgeous, is that they don't focus

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-39345619497841738792008-06-06T22:49:00.006+09:002008-06-17T11:11:49.921+09:00

It is amazing what a difference sunshine makes. We woke up earlier than yesterday, with less sleep, but with much more energy. We got out of the room in near record time.We hit most of the same stuff as yesterday, but it all seemed so much better today. Brighter. Happier. We had breakfast in a place that has been around for nearly one hundred years. Had lunch there too (I had a reuben). In

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-57513762385216035972008-06-05T22:58:00.006+09:002008-06-06T07:33:54.983+09:00

Today's weather was not very good at all. Grey and rainy.Our original plan had been to go on a three hour hike. I had really been looking forward to this three hour hike. The hike started in one quaint little town, seemingly untouched by time, wandered through a picturesque valley full of greenery and flowers and the occasional waterfall, and ended up in another quaint little town.We've seen

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-81290468117615460492008-06-03T22:31:00.004+09:002008-06-05T09:17:16.614+09:00

The first part of this post should really go at the end of the last post but there was such a difference between Nagoya and Takayama that I thought it best to separate their respective posts.We arrived in Takayama in the evening and almost immediately set out exploring our surrounds. We were surrounded by good stuff. There was a statue of a golfer.This view might not be safe for work.Don't mind

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-9509968296540127712008-06-03T16:29:00.002+09:002008-06-03T22:42:36.339+09:00

Even though we'll be home in a matter of days and we'll be able to eat Whoppers whenever we please, we find ourselves in a Burger King; possibly the only one in Japan.We ordered black pepper Whoppers with cheese and bacon. Do you guys have those back in Canada? What about coffee jelly as part of the "meal set"? Do you get a 20% discount if you show a health club membership? Classy jazz music

Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-60163933805275401622008-06-02T18:48:00.004+09:002008-06-03T22:31:17.041+09:00

Not a lot to say about Nagoya. We slept in Nagoya last night and the night before. Well, Carla slept.Yup.We've been using it as a base, you see, just a place to keep our stuff as we went on day trips to more interesting places to do more interesting things.It is just one of those big cities that a lot of foreigners live in but seems to us (foreigners just passing through) to be fairly

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-53718813474434002132008-06-01T00:40:00.006+09:002008-06-02T18:34:14.020+09:00

Meiji Mura is a collection of buildings and structures from the Meiji time period.The Meiji era was a very interesting time for Japan. The country had finally opened its borders to the world and was trying to play catch-up. It was a time of rampant rapid modernization. An interesting, interesting time. Fairly boring buildings. They look like English buildings. Which I have seen before.There

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-78726930521280024782008-05-31T00:36:00.007+09:002008-06-01T07:56:28.903+09:00

Any day that doesn't start before six is a good day. Days that start with you waking up at eight after 12 hours of sleep are brilliant. Not that I plan on making a habit of it. In addition to the spacious room and gracious host, our hotel also has a nifty breakfast. And cheerful music. It ain't muzak if real instruments are used. Yes, a music box is a real instrument. It made everything

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-46981441354694399032008-05-29T02:22:00.009+09:002008-06-01T07:59:34.222+09:00

The days, as I have mentioned, are all blurring together. I guess it's not so much the days. I can remember most of what we have done so far on this trip. Maybe I might screw up the order, and there's no way I'd be able to tell all the names of all the cities and towns we've been to. Or how we got to and from them. But I could compile a fairly complete list of deeds done.It's the nights and

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-25566807729509976812008-05-26T08:58:00.005+09:002008-05-29T08:18:52.067+09:00

It rained quite a bit last night, but today was sunny and nice. Which is lucky because the plan was to walk around a garden and see another castle while we were in Okayama.We took a little detour on our way to the garden and found a statue of Momotaro. Momotaro is a very strong little boy who was born when an old man (soon to be his adopted grandfather) tried to cut open a giant peach he had

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-56624484179750440702008-05-24T23:21:00.006+09:002008-05-29T08:26:57.264+09:00

We did two things today. Both required a couple different modes of transport to get to, both really could have used some better, more informative signage to help travellers actually find what they're looking for, and both were totally worth all the aggravated wanderings it took to find them.Let's start with Setoda. On the island of Ikuchijima (for those of you playing along at home: Yes. Jima

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-38699541516107934332008-05-24T14:18:00.001+09:002008-05-24T14:18:54.472+09:00

Right now we're on a boat watching a demonstration of traditional Japanese tai fishing, and I just won a bottle of liquor! Lucky! Plus the free candy they gave us when we boarded the boat is really tasty.What a great day we're having, eh Tyler?

Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-81086266383364823162008-05-23T23:32:00.004+09:002008-05-24T23:21:05.216+09:00

You may recall that we have been to Hiroshima before. Back when Nate and Trev and Kim were visiting. We went to the Peace museum. And Miyajima. Except Carla had to work, so she didn't make it to Miyajima. We righted that wrong today.Today was another beautiful, sunny day. We have the grotesquely pink skin to prove it. But still hazy.We went mainly to take pictures of Itsukushima Shrine

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-65551576464653221362008-05-23T23:25:00.004+09:002008-05-25T07:16:16.117+09:00

Tsuwano is basically known for one thing: fish. Tsuwano has a lot of fish. More fish than people. Not counting the tourists. Which we never do.The fish aren't in an aquarium or anything like that. Oh no, they are quasi free range fish. They live in the water filled gutters of the town. It's not as dirty as it sounds. The gutters are there specifically for the fish. They are all nice and

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-45595272769625860422008-05-23T22:03:00.007+09:002008-05-25T07:19:41.638+09:00

We went to a couple different towns today...(Ninja Edit: I left this stuff in so that future generations may bask in my incompetence)Man! I can't remember the names of anything!Carla did all the planning, my job is the blogging. But I can't blog if I don't recall the names of the places. And Carla is asleep so I can't ask her for her notes. And there is no way I am digging through her stuff

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-61608201353194289562008-05-23T00:22:00.004+09:002008-05-23T01:26:32.946+09:00

It sure is nice getting off the beaten path. We have seen more green in the past week than in the last three years in Osaka. I like green. It is, according to some, the colour.There was a fair bit of green to be seen in Matsue. There was also a castle. A very nice castle. With some nice castle grounds to go with it. We were told that this castle is one of the top three castles in Japan.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-6967937195916130872008-05-22T00:45:00.002+09:002008-05-22T00:51:45.026+09:00

The purpose of overnight buses is to get on, go to sleep and then get of the bus in your target city. You'd think, to facilitate the sleeping, that these buses would be comfortable. You would be wrong. I had a seat that reclined, sure, but there was no leg room. None. I was in the middle aisle so people would bump me on both sides. We were sitting up front so we got a great view of the road

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-55468838926333603552008-05-21T23:39:00.004+09:002008-05-22T20:59:35.596+09:00

I'm blogging this after a few days have passed. This shows me just how far gone my memory is. I should really start taking notes.Oh! Carla took notes! Yay!The day began with us checking out of our hotel and ditching most of our stuff in a locker so we could spend the day unencumbered at:SPACEWORLD!!!!Don't understand all that crazy moon language on their web page? Space World is an amusement

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-77133760472041117642008-05-20T10:37:00.003+09:002008-05-20T10:52:06.944+09:00

I wonder how long the titles to these posts are going to be in a month's time. The mind boggles. Well, my mind does at least. It does that a lot. Boggles. Makes it hard to get stuff done.You know what else makes stuff-doing harder? Rain.RAIN!!!! *shakes fist*But I'll get to all that when I am typing at my own computer.Right now I am typing on some strange computer in some stange internet

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-84911975043506398372008-05-18T21:02:00.008+09:002010-04-26T09:41:08.850+09:00

We got to sleep in a little bit this morning. That was nice.This hotel comes with a comes with a complimentary breakfast. It was nice.We got to leave our big bulky bags at the hotel. That was awesome!This is the train that we caught to Nagasaki.This is a close up of the train. As you can tell by the name, the fare was cheap, the whiskey was cheaper and there was a good chance that you'd get

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-62422856140372685702008-05-18T20:57:00.002+09:002008-05-18T21:02:43.890+09:00

We came down a little hard on Fukuoka yesterday. I can see how this would be a nice city. A nice city to visit. A nice city to live in. It's all about knowing where to go. We didn't know. Still don't. But the soup was good. Pork bone soup. Nate would love it.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-70641394571404694552008-05-17T22:46:00.002+09:002008-05-17T23:00:42.930+09:00

Fukuoka is the largest city of this southern island of Japan. And, as logic would dictate, we found it to be the least foreigner friendly of the cities we have visited. Their tourist maps and magazines and such don't always agree on where the sites they describe are located.We spent a couple hours using our complimentary maps trying to find a few points of interest that we thought would be

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-40225676791466974572008-05-17T10:49:00.002+09:002008-05-17T13:22:46.123+09:00

Right now we're on a bus to Fukuoka. About 30 seconds after we left the terminal, the guy in front of us started clipping his nails. His nails! On a long-distance bus! What the hell?! Is it okay to do that in Japan, the land where you can't blow your nose in public? I think not! Or maybe he figures that if girls can put on make-up on the trains and in cafes, then he can cut his nails on the bus.

Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-24959540761288593852008-05-16T22:11:00.000+09:002008-05-16T22:12:23.559+09:00

Yup: pictures. There are some now where there weren't before.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-82838485832320913502008-05-16T21:05:00.002+09:002008-05-16T21:39:45.218+09:00

It would have been a glorious six hours of sleep if not for the waking up at 2:30 for no reason. Maybe my body was freaking out, it didn't know what to do with all that rest. Woke up early, ate our complimentary breakfast and stumbled to the train station. Caught the Shinkansen to Kumamoto. Well, almost all the way to Kumamoto. The Shinkansen tracks haven't all been built yet, so we had to

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-36921120076877383402008-05-15T23:38:00.004+09:002008-05-16T20:15:04.258+09:00

Someday, we will add pictures to these posts.Not that they are needed. My wordsmithery conjures up far better landscapes than mere man-made devices can capture.Yeah, I'm tired.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-68113276511990213072008-05-15T22:24:00.004+09:002008-05-16T21:56:51.071+09:00

Well, I slept like crap. But we got up and out of the hotel just after seven in the morning, without even partaking of the free coffee.We lugged our stuff over to the train station and caught the train from Miyazaki to Kagoshima. It was a two hour ride. I slept for about one hour and forty-five minutes of it. But the sleep was goggle-like in its efficacy. I had on some cranky pants. But

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-31184125213866070682008-05-15T01:42:00.004+09:002008-05-16T22:10:55.180+09:00

Last night was a late one. There was a bit of a Sayonara party for us at K-108, the bar where K-106 plays every week. They played last night. I danced like a goon whilst Carla was all social and said our goodbyes to plenty of awesome folks. A few of those awesome folks stayed around and closed the place down with us. We then hung out some more. Carla and I caught a little over an hour's

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-37388078089008230812008-05-15T01:41:00.001+09:002008-05-16T19:49:11.399+09:00

You have to keep this in mind: we are really tired. We have been crazy busy trying to close up shop and plan our final tour of Japan. And the last week especially has been a blur. I am sitting on a bed in a hotel room in Miyazaki (Hayao!!!) with wrestling on the teevee and trying to explain about the last while. And over the course of the last four days, we have slept less than eight hours.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-17067683180289020612008-04-23T14:25:00.003+09:002008-04-23T16:03:26.463+09:00

Now that I'm done work, I have all this time to blog and to do interesting things to blog about. I've been doing the things but not doing the blogging. I'm just sitting here, waiting for the fridge to defrost so let us get to it.Let's do a bit of catching up, shall we? My last week of work was...Our apartment was filled with flowers by the end of it. I have boxes of gifts. I have several

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-86691323404061919002008-04-17T01:00:00.000+09:002008-04-17T01:05:40.090+09:00

We just had a little earthquake. First one I've noticed in quite a while. Woo hoo!

Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-34568144982664386592008-02-28T20:45:00.002+09:002008-02-28T20:51:15.869+09:00

This is the week where Keiko is telling all my students, who I have been teaching for the last three years, that I am going back to Canada. Will you think less of me if I tell you that I tear up a little bit each time she does? I don't cry, that comes in a couple weeks, but I blink a lot. Moist blinks. You do! You do think less of me! Well then, forget about your gifts! No, actually...What

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-61973546451178314462008-02-26T12:18:00.002+09:002008-02-26T12:23:16.839+09:00

I just now got a haircut. As I was sitting there, in the barber shop, with a nice old straight razor holding lady lathering my forehead, I heard a jingle on the radio. That is not odd, not at all. Their jingles sound a lot like our radio jingles: faux-happy and harmonized. They are usually in English, too. But I'm pretty sure I've never heard a jingle for "Funky Cool Black Music" on Z99.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-12338237291616181992008-02-09T09:57:00.000+09:002008-02-09T12:54:20.436+09:00

Holy crap! It's snowing! In Osaka! That almost never happens!

Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-35761466651023842192008-01-22T20:57:00.000+09:002008-01-22T21:40:12.486+09:00

Last night was one of Jon's last nights in Japan. It was also his last gig in Japan. It was also his first gig in Japan. I didn't even know the dude was in a band.But he was. In a band. We saw said band last night. Georgie Boys they were called. It was an interesting show. Jon was the only white guy in the band. They sang mainly cover songs, there was one original song in their set, but

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-29770798146050888712008-01-22T12:03:00.000+09:002008-01-22T13:31:32.284+09:00

Our hotel had a free breakfast. It consisted of many different rice balls and a bowl of soup. Afterwards, I felt full and hungry at the same time. We did a little more poking around and then caught the tram to the train.We then rode the train (multiple trains on multiple train lines to be more exact) for over eight hours. Then we were home.The end.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-69316528542489086912008-01-16T10:08:00.000+09:002008-01-21T11:14:48.287+09:00

I did not sleep well. I slept a cat-filled sleep. So wrong.So I was not in the best frame of mind when we woke up. And mornings are never my time to shine. Plus we just wanted to get out of that hostel. I'm just making up excuses now. I cut the tip of my finger off. Just the fleshy bit. I was blindly grabbing through my toiletry bag, trying to find the travel case for my toothbrush.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-15664379037589653412008-01-05T00:22:00.000+09:002008-01-15T23:12:58.367+09:00

Our hostel has very hard beds. There are no fitted sheets for the beds, nor are there pillow cases. Just loose sheets to wrap around whatever needs wrapping. And the showers. You have to push a button to make the water flow. The water flows for less than 20 seconds. It takes longer than 20 seconds for the water to warm up.We might be too old for hostels.The area of town we are staying in is

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-46839860101492545602008-01-04T22:55:00.001+09:002008-01-11T10:20:40.209+09:00

That was sort of the view from our hotel room. Best part of our stay there. It weren't the breakfast.After breakfast we walked a couple blocks over to the sex museum. I think the sex museum broke Carla's fragile little mind. She can't look at Japanese art anymore without seeing something filthy. There were a lot of filthy pictures. And carvings. And etchings. And it was everywhere: on the

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-59919640340900454502008-01-02T22:13:00.000+09:002008-01-02T22:16:46.553+09:00

Just a quick note to let you all know that the updates might be a bit more sparse from now on. We are staying in a youth hostel. So no more internet in our room. No more bathroom in our room either. And our TV doesn't work. And where the hell are all the youth?

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-76789301938716726782008-01-01T21:30:00.000+09:002008-01-02T07:24:32.289+09:00

We woke up tired. With mouths that belonged to dead people. Happy New Year.We somehow made it onto the train and set off for Uwajima. I crashed pretty hard, but Carla snapped some good shots of the loveliness we sped through.That is a gorgeous looking day I slept through.I woke up to this:I woke up to a gorgeous day. Just a little snowier. Seriously - what a lovely day to start of the year

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-16062274611776585402008-01-01T20:48:00.000+09:002008-01-02T07:18:31.667+09:00

After The Anpanman stuff, we bussed over to the Ryugado caves.Caves are caves. I, myself, happen to like caves. I like getting into the earth and looking around, seeing all the weird stuff that happens underground. I like the fact that it takes one hundred years for things to grow by a centimeter.But it ain't all that easy to take pictures in that environment. They're all dark and blurry and

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-61277499404616108292008-01-01T15:55:00.000+09:002008-01-01T08:05:47.852+09:00

Today was kind of a free day, no real plans had we. Maybe go to a cave. Maybe go to the Anpanman museum.Let us talk for a moment about Anpanman. Anpanman is an institution in Japan. You think Pokemon is popular? Pokemon can't even dream of grabbing Anpanman's cape in Japan.An Pan Man. "An" means sweet bean paste. "Pan" means bread. "Man" means man. Sweet bean paste man. Anpanman has a

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-33686440509062951452007-12-31T00:50:00.000+09:002007-12-31T08:18:08.440+09:00

Every Sunday in this here town they have a Sunday market. You know what you need when going to market? Money. We woke up early and went around to all the banks Carla found last night and tried to take out some money. No luck. Feeling discouraged, we went back to the hotel to call a support line to figure out what was up. As it turns out, Carla's card only starts working in these particular

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-7912030266732161512007-12-30T07:44:00.001+09:002007-12-30T08:18:08.482+09:00

Alternate title: Golden, Pepsi, The Word Is GoldenKochi seems pretty all right. There seems to be a lot more going on here than in Takamatsu. A lot more young people about being loud and boisterous. Just like in Takamatsu, our hotel is right next to a shopping arcade and, just like Takamatsu, most of the shops in the arcade close at 7 (we got into town at around 6:30). But at the end of this

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-65201875048996877772007-12-29T20:50:00.001+09:002007-12-30T07:40:37.640+09:00

Tyler's sleeping, so I guess it falls to me to do the blogging tonight.Today's flavour of fun: riding trains.First we rode the "One Man Densha", which apparently means "one car train". Because that's all it was. One car. With a toilet in the back. Kinda like a cross between a long-haul bus and a streetcar. The One Man Densha went as far as Tokushima, where we got off and had some lunch. So far so

Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-10552794868391046272007-12-29T07:56:00.000+09:002007-12-29T07:59:03.743+09:00

First of all, I hope I didn't give the impression that we disliked the mist. Far from it! The mist was awesome. So atmospheric. Seeing shapes emerge from the fog never got old.Why does everything I type sound sarcastic?Also: happy anniversary mom and dad and mom and dad!

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-77934056108180626842007-12-28T21:12:00.000+09:002007-12-29T08:07:30.294+09:00

We've had great weather so far on this trip, but it was only a matter of time until we got rained on (maybe even eventually snowed on). We purposely didn't pack umbrellas to save space and weight. This being Japan, we figured we could easily buy some cheap ones from a convenience store if the time ever came that we needed them. Well, we sure wouldn't have minded having some umbrellas today, but

Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-81985404983206720962007-12-28T20:47:00.000+09:002007-12-28T22:58:23.500+09:00

Where the heck did we go today? They had it on signs all over the freaking place, but now I can't remember it. Wait... we were in Kotohira, but the signs all had "Kompira" on them. Yeah. This place never makes any sense to me either. Kotohira is famous for having a lot of stairs.Seriously.And we climbed all of them.In the rain.You know what we had for dinner last night? Udon noodle soup.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-81266734315227792792007-12-27T20:14:00.000+09:002007-12-28T04:25:57.674+09:00

Today was to be one of our few laid-back, relaxing kind of days on this holiday trip, so what happens? I wake up at seven and can't fall back asleep. Figures.Today we went to Shikoku-mura. It's a park that contains recondtructions of traditional buildings from all over Shikoku and surrounds. I'll guide you through some of the highlights.The first thing we encountered was a vine bridge. These

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-59974070776243400322007-12-27T07:47:00.000+09:002007-12-28T04:32:26.505+09:00

We got up at 6:30 today, December 26th, and not even for crazy good deals on electronics. Nosir, today we got up early for art. There is an island near here, name of Naoshima, that has been all artified. So we got ourselves on a ferry and got ourselves over to that there island. And Carla didn't get sick. Yay!We disembarked (saw a sign that read "Thank you for the embarkation of today") and

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-55896805384504021922007-12-26T20:16:00.000+09:002007-12-28T07:29:04.565+09:00

Today was the day for the island of art. Which is to say, Benesse Art Site Naoshima. About an hour's ferry ride from Takamatsu, it consists of a couple art museums, a series of art hotels and a number of special art installations. It's pretty expensive to stay in the hotels, but in retrospect I think we should have done it. Not just because it would have really enhanced the Art Site Experience (

Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-88832796282212139042007-12-25T23:11:00.000+09:002007-12-26T06:37:41.220+09:00

On this day of Christmas, Carla and I woke up early and got ourselves on a train. We're taking in some new sights. Down Shikoku way.We didn't take the Shinkansen this time. There are these crazy cheap tickets you can get, but you have to take local trains. Which takes longer, and you have to transfer a lot more often, but it ain't so bad. Here's a brief word from our Carla:We're off to see

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-65715023501584298812007-12-25T00:20:00.000+09:002007-12-25T00:23:32.841+09:00

Two posts within one week? This might possibly the greatest Christmas gift ever! Just a quick post wishing you all of the best and none of the worst.Happy happy and Merry merry everyone.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-30607957314434556302007-12-13T11:43:00.000+09:002007-12-17T13:00:54.601+09:00

Stupid jerk video game! Not that it's really a game. Not that it's not.But that's not what I'm here to talk about. Today.Nosir, I'm here to cram nearly a month's worth of happenstance into one haphazard post. Let's see if we can hit all the hallmarks. First, the apology for the lack of updates: sorry 'bout that.Let's do this reverse chronological style!Just last night Carla and I found

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-12755729297591046252007-11-05T08:16:00.000+09:002007-11-22T02:12:33.793+09:00

Catch up timeThere was once an anime called Gatchaman. In English speaking countries it was known as either G Force or Battle of the Planets. Ben was a big fan of that show. Ben is, by trade, a costume maker so he whipped us up some costumes for Halloween. But we didn't dress up as the heroes from Gatchaman, no we dressed up as the evil forces of Spectra.Nobody else knew who we were

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-51066314307743031522007-10-22T00:03:00.000+09:002007-10-22T00:16:32.652+09:00

That's Japanese for long time no see. Don't know if I've mentioned that before.Stuff has happened in the month that we haven't written. There was another beer festival. Saw some live shows. Just this weekend we stayed out at a cabin. It was fun. It's all been fun.And will be fun for a few more months. Around half a year, maybe. Then we will stop having fun in Japan. And start having fun

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-22604857122354565982007-09-17T21:37:00.000+09:002007-09-17T23:18:46.656+09:00

This weekend turned out to be a bit busier than we thought it would be. We had planned on cleaning up the apartment and maybe taking in a showing of Death Proof. We did neither. Instead we saw Sukiyaki Western.Wow.Here's a trailer. It starts off slow, and there is a lot of Japanese text, but it is totally worth it.They're totally speaking English! You may not believe me, but it is true. And

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-1862284533359170502007-09-05T23:41:00.000+09:002007-09-06T00:41:39.987+09:00

This weekend just past was gastronomical.Jacki's father (Jeff?, Geoff?, Gioph?) was in from Australia. Paul's friend Eric was also in town, and this was the last weekend in Japan for the both of them. So: Beer Garden!!Jacki's dad has been to Japan several times, so he knew the drill. Eric, however, was thrown into the deep end. And when we, being kind and compassionate fellow Canadians, saw

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-84079269654272865802007-08-27T20:27:00.000+09:002007-08-29T00:06:04.667+09:00

Thanks for the calls and emails and actual mail mails wishing us a happy anniversary.We did have a happy anniversary. The first anniversary, as everyone knows, is the paper anniversary. What better way to celebrate the paper anniversary than by going to a comic book convention? That's a trick question, there is no better way. It's science.Comiket (short for Comic Market) is a comic book

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-36151309845860149532007-08-15T09:51:00.000+09:002007-08-15T11:42:31.184+09:00

I was going to try and be cute and work the word suck into the title, like Summer Suck-ick or Summer Suck it. But those seem a little lewd and Summer Sonic didn't really suck. At least not the day I went to.But it weren't a patch on the one from two years ago. For starters, I missed about half of the show due to work. Thems the breaks. Also, I didn't really take a lot of pictures. And none

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-39143279605608135442007-08-10T12:59:00.000+09:002007-08-10T13:26:53.994+09:00

This weekend is Summer Sonic. Next week is my week off. Next weekend is some kind of anniversary or another, and we are also going to Comic Ket in Tokyo. This past weekend was the Yodogawa fireworks. So that is were we went.We grabbed the train to a station somewhere near the fireworks site. This is what greeted us there. That's a whole lot of people waiting to leave the station. We

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-5275684439599342902007-07-30T11:40:00.000+09:002007-07-30T11:42:01.877+09:00

Seriously. That was one spicy burger.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-69635583461580588592007-07-30T00:47:00.000+09:002007-07-30T00:50:44.421+09:00

We should go to the beach more often. We went today. It was nice.We went to the beach because there was a mall near the beach and in the parking lot of this mall near the beach, K-106 played a couple gigs. They played their hearts out in the hot sun, took an hour break and then did it again.After that, we ate some burgers. One of the few (countable on one hand with fingers to spare) where

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-60864652228189122182007-07-23T09:17:00.000+09:002007-07-23T09:26:08.617+09:00

The rainy season is done. The forecast forecasts that the temperature isn't going to dip below 27 during this week. That's right, the overnight low is in the upper twenties. With no end in sight. And no rain. And for once, I believe the forecasters. Cuz nature agrees. The Cicadas are out. They're way more reliable than any satellite forecast or whatever. When they come out, it means

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-48411819587467262572007-07-17T12:46:00.000+09:002007-07-17T12:47:52.332+09:00

Just a couple quick notes: thanks for all the birthday well wishes.And neither the typhoon or the earthquake did any damage near us. We're all fine over here.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-43132625134025716672007-07-02T21:33:00.000+09:002007-07-02T21:53:11.317+09:00

During our time back in Canada, we were often asked when we were coming back for good. We said we hoped to be back by next summer. I think there's a very good chance for that. We were in no way ready to come back to Japan.When we stepped off the plane in Osaka, it was like being smacked around by a steamed salmon. It stank, and was so hot and wet. 26 degrees and 72 percent humidity. And it

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-55169483027041442332007-06-17T08:27:00.000+09:002007-06-17T08:50:18.077+09:00

So we're going to be in Regina in just a few scant hours and I figured I should post something.I haven't really talked about Sev's visit, and that is a damn shame cuz we did stuff.Kishen had a birthday.Ben, Sev, Darren, Sue and I went to Kobe to see K-106. They rocked, funkily. After the gig, as we were enjoying the soup, all the members of the band came over and talked to all of us. When they

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-2837139185288687362007-06-06T22:53:00.000+09:002007-06-06T23:06:20.180+09:00

Darren and Sue stopped by a bit ago, Sev left not too long ago, but we had one other house guest that I keep forgetting to mention. Well, that ends... now!This little fellow snuck in whilst I was bringing in the laundry. I was a bit surprised when I turned around and saw him there. I managed to herd him back out fairly easily. But as soon as it was gone I felt lonely. He was a cute little

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-57488450017968307492007-06-06T22:25:00.000+09:002007-06-06T22:36:46.785+09:00

I was sitting there on the train, listening to my ipod and looking over my class schedule/list of student names (you try to keep Saya, Saaya, Sae and Sarai straight). When I hear someone ask, loudly, "What are you studying?"It took a few seconds for my brain to process that someone near me had spoken (loudly) in English. Eventually, I looked around and saw that the Japanese fellow opposite me

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-72565456685005750182007-06-06T22:07:00.000+09:002007-06-06T22:09:06.518+09:00

Took a bit of an extended blog break there. Sorry bout that. Just means more work for me now. Stupid backlog of life experience!The first thing I done did was upload some New Year's Eve pics. Go and have a gander.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-52229611471028402552007-04-24T14:46:00.000+09:002007-04-24T15:38:30.934+09:00

You know what's great about guests? They get you off your butt to do the things you've always meant to do but never quite got around to. In our case, all-you-can-deep-fry-stuff-on-a-stick, or kushikatsu. And yes, it's as awesome as it sounds.What you do is fill your plate with whatever foods you fancy, just like a regular buffet, except everything comes skewered on a stick. You take your

Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-63543380960060793172007-04-19T17:19:00.001+09:002007-04-19T17:19:16.030+09:00

I was just off work for about a week and a half. It's been a while since I had to walk in high-heeled shoes. My feet hurt.

Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-8155413725165156242007-04-19T16:36:00.001+09:002007-04-19T16:36:16.321+09:00

My brother Darren and his lovely new bride Sue are honeymooning in Japan. On our floor. Romantic! Almost as romantic as going back to work the day after your wedding, eh Tyler?So anyway, me & Darren & Sue went out poking around yesterday and ended up trying out massage chairs. My, but technology has come a long way since I last sat in one of those! It pushed and prodded and squeezed and shook

Carlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301482977577360252noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586723.post-9331198924787042322007-04-17T00:52:00.000+09:002007-04-17T00:55:22.156+09:00

We are back again in sunny Osaka. Except it's not sunny. Kinda grey and damp.Once again, we didn't die en route. But this time Air Canada enthusiastically lived up (down?) to our low, low expectations.After we landed we went out for a goodbye dinner for David. We just got home from that, I work tomorrow and Darren and Sue (the newlyweds) are arriving tomorrow night. Time for sleep.

Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265361723454779303noreply@blogger.com0