Happy Halloween and Good-bye Kataoka-kun 片岡くん、さよなら

Most of Monday was spent still trying to recover from the last saturday nights lash only to find out that I had to go to a farewell party for Kataoka, one of the guys from my BOE who had pretty much been told to piss off out of the BOE without hardly any notice and they moved him to Kahoku town to work in the health and welfare (or something like that office). I wasnt really in the condition to be drinking but after a couple of beers and japanese sake that everyone kept making me drink i was feeling quite festive. Chatted away with a bunch of people before going to the after party for another beer or two with my BOE head before heading home.



But good-bye Kataoka and good luck man! ファイト！！

ROVE, WHAT THE.......?!?!?

Look closely for the meat and two veg. This is some funny shit! Found this while driving into Kochi City in Nankoku on route 55 on top of a vet surgery. Unlike Australia, no old lady has called to complain about it, and when u ask the Japanese if they think its strange, they say, "NO". What the.....?!?

飲みすぎてる, the weekend and the Infamous ひろめいちば Halloween Party

Well, where shoud i begin from with regards to the weekend? No idea, coz im still trying to recover from it and piece it together! I think it all started after i finished work on friday. It's slowly becoming a tradition of mine to go to the local bar to chat and get pissed with the locals! anyways, went in, got the usual カルピ (fried meat) and a big mug of beer 大ジョッキ!!! after awhile my BOE joined in on the drinks and much drunken chatter was had. in particular there are always two old ladies who are always blind drunk by about 7pm and then go to lose the rest of their pension on the pachinko machines. They claimed that i was to be their new boyfriend. Managed to squirm my way out of that going any further, then went to the local karaoke bar(quite toasted), with one of my students cousins whos about my age and once again out-drank the bastard. Sang some classic tunes with my local postie before crashing at god knows when.

Woke up the next morning with a nice headache and the knowledge that i had to back it up again in Kochi City for the Halloween party at Hirome Ichiba. If i had known what i was getting myself in for i probably would not have gone out the night before, but hey, im getting back in training.
Got the call from Flinty around 2 to go pick him and Jess up to take them into the city. Got there and went and watched the Halloween Genki musical (classic, i think Kelly almost popped out of her top). we then met up with Dan and had a cheeky beverage before going to his and getting sorted out for the night! Me and the Longstaff both came without not much of a costume, so after finding random things at Dans apartment, The Longstaff was a santa suit wearing reindeer and i was a VB Hat wearing old guy with a beard and judo suit top. was later named the leprachaun by somebody! tho i just called myself CONFUSED 混乱（こんらん） to all the Japs and foreigners that asked. Best costume of the night out of Dan, the longstaff, flinty and myself, went without a doubt to Dan, the Chicken/Elephant man. Flinty was a good second, being some jap pilgrim (later turning into a disappearing/bike stealing/break and enterer...hehe). after a few beverages at Dans, we headed into town and went to some yakiniku place and started on the all-you-can-drink （飲み放題 nomihoudai)　course. After much banter and beverages and having all looked at that hot chick near the entrance, we were already quite merry so we headed to the BIG ECHO for more nomihoudai karaoke with Jess and Angela, and i felt sorry for them when they saw the state we were already in! Dan wasted no time in belting out with the tune Back in the USSR. from there it became blurry, but i know there were many drinks had, i think i had an arse outage at some stage and there was some halfnakedness towards the end. Oh and the traditional ACDC's Back in Black.

After leaving karaoke and hiding the picture of beer we had in the karaoke booth behind a black see-through scarf and then Dan's chicken suit, we headed to Hirome in quite the festive spirit. We met up with many other Kochi JETs who were in some classic costumes like Dom "the Dominator" Bonnet and Yarun in drag (sporting some nice fake titties). The longstaff and I couldnt get over some of the fit Japanese women that were there.....anyways. Anyways, the night went on and there was much drinking and dancing. After awhile i noticed that i hadnt seen Flinty for awhile and realised that he had climaxed early and somehow got home only to realise that i had the key to Dans apartment so he broke in through his window and looks like he passed out. Anyways, the remainder of us lasted till the doors shut and then did the trip to Mos Burger for a feed before catching a cab home. Got home and thankfully saw that Flinty had gotten home okay so then proceeded to abuse him with the traffic cone he stole during a past night out. Filled in the blanks on how he got home then we all pretty much passed out only to suffer the next morning for the night of nomihoudai drinking and dancing in stupid looking costumes. Checked out Flintys camera and found a classic movie he took of us all doing the YMCA at karaoke....classic. Then went back to the scene of the crime at hirome for lunch with Jess and Emily before driving home to chill out. Being Australian, we dont really celebrate halloween too much but id have to say that it was a classic night out and it should become a monthly tradition! hehe

the hat Dan is proudly wearing is what i wore out. But check out the chicken suit, classic! he managed to keep the suit on for most of the night...hehe

This is the beard i wore on some random Japanese bird. Actually i think i got nearly everyone i met to try the thing on. I think i mustve comsumed heaps of hairs from that beard. The white beard people, the white santa beard.

Mount Whitehair 白髪山

At the summit of Mt Whitehair (Shiragayama白髪山)
completely freezin in my australian winter clothes. The weather was quite shitty so there was thick fog and no view

Woke up on time thankfully on saturday morning to some pretty ordinary weather. Looked overcast as. Met up with my BOE and some parents and their kids, then trekked off in the bus up the narrow roads to the mountain we were supposed to climb. got there and it was pissing down rain, so we cancelled the trek and headed back. thank god tho coz this little kid puked in the bus on the way up and the smell of it.......ANYWAYS. got back down to where we met in the morning and most people headed home. some of the yakuba people still wanted to climb a mountain so a few people from the yakuba, my BOE head and my mate Kawada (the police officer i drank with the night before) and i went to Mt. Whitehair. Doesnt look at all like what its called. so we drove up a fair way in our cars, parked, then climbed the rest of the mountain for about an hour, then reached the summit of about just over 1700m. Had our packed lunches up the top before climbing back down to our cars. then went home to rest, only to have to drive into the city for soccer practice. Went to Hirome for dinner, where i didnt have a drink, then took flinty, jess, karen and emily back to noichi before going home. So i had a fairly cruisy weekend. Just slept in on sunday morning and went for a drive here and there.

the inaka is nice and safe.........i think!

Friday night i couldnt be arsed cooking so went to the local bar to grab a feed and have a couple of beers. chatted with the locals and have now befriended my local policeman, Kawada. hes a legend. still cant understand all of what he says but hes a legend nonetheless. sorry, couldnt take a photo with him. found out a few disturbing things tho. firstly that after 5pm there are no policemen on duty. if u r in danger or have an emergency of some kind, then, and only then do they come to help. But Kawada usually goes to the local bar afterwork and on this night was quite toasted. i then proceeded to ask him, "so what happens when theres an emergency of some kind during the night? how do u go to respond to it? u cant really drive can u? " he said, "yeah, its ok tho, i will run there!" i pissed myself laughing at hearing this! can u imagine some drunk policeman stagger running to the scene of the crime and either passing out half way or once he arrives? or him shooting some suspicious looking tree? or a policeman getting done for drink driving on duty? we are not as safe as we think we are........hehe

Flinty's PARTY

Well, its official! I am now starting to freeze my balls off in japan! The warm Gold Coast blood is starting to fade away and i am left to brave an actual winter! still havent sent any of my winter clothes i left in australia here yet but am sure that it wont really matter!

The weeks work was fairly uneventful due to the fact that there were mid term tests, so in between classes i just did the usual JET thing, surf the net, study a bit of Jap and try to look as if i was really busy.......hehe. On Thursday night, Flinty invited me down to his for a party with some JETs and some of his local soccer team he practises with. It was an awesome night. Dan had also come east to Tano to partake in the festivities.

Me and another Aussie, Jess

After various introductions, and many beers, the drinking games started (i still dont know how to play any of them) and the tambourines came out! somehow i managed to put a tambourine around my neck and wore it for most of the night i was drunk. even went to the karaoke bar with it on. matt didnt last too long as he didnt make it out to the karaoke mission. disappointed matt, very disappointed! hehe. Although, you didnt miss out on much as the bar was quite shit so after a few drinks and songs, we retired back to matts and try to arrange where we'd all sleep. i shotgunned my usual spot and passed out. woke up the next morning hungover and glad that i took the morning off work. met up with flinty who had just started work, wished him well then dan bummed a lift off me to noichi where a maccas feed was had before i had to leave so i could get back to work. had no classes at work but felt like crap nonetheless.

Back to Kobe

Yo wassup my wiggas?!? anyways, finally went to Kobe this weekend to see the girlfriend, Mika! Took half a day off work on Friday and rode the highway bus for four hours to get to Kobe. Got there and realised i forgot my belt so walked around the city looking for belts! finally got one then went back to rest and so on......hehe. anyways, next day went into Osaka. the weather was pretty shitty so didnt get to go see much so instead went to Yodobashi Camera in Umeda (a bloody huge electronic goods department store) and bought myself a new stereo. I got it for about $100 cheaper than in Kochi!! BARGAIN!! it has a 5CD changer, an MD player and a tape deck. It also has another part where if u buy a SD Memory card (tiny little memory), u put it into the stereo and u can record songs onto it so u wont need to use ur CD's or MD's if u record ur favourite songs and albums onto this memory card. Still havent bought the card yet but if u pay about $100 or so, u can get a 1GB memory card which u can store about 500 songs onto....pretty cool huh?

anyways, got back to Mikas, got changed and headed out to one of her friends birthday party! awesome night. ate and drank a shit load, practised my Jap, and drank even more. After the restaurant we went to, we all jumped in whoever could drive their cars car and headed for the inevitable karaoke mission! all i can say here is that it is so much cheaper to go to Karaoke here in Kobe than in Kochi! After singing with everyone for four hours till about 3am, it only cost me 1000yen in total! BARGAIN!! the next morning just bummed around Mika's place till i had to jump back on the bus back to Kochi. It was good seeing her again, and she'll be coming to Kochi soon!

HAPPY RAFTING!!!

This is simiar to what we were riding in. This was the most difficult part of the river where most people get stuck.

The crew!!

Heading down stream!

The view we had at lunchtime looking back upstream!

I was supposed to go to Kobe for the HPE long weekend to see the gf, but instead made a promise with the other JETs to go rafting at Yoshino River, on the border between Kochi and Tokushima Prefecture. Saturday, picked up Dom from Noichi and we went into Kochi City to Aeon to pick up some shit for camping after we went rafting. Luckily my predecessor left his tent here so i didnt have to buy one. Found a classic sleeping bag called the "Mummy Schlaff 600" for 900yen (10 bucks), so i bought it. Come on, i had to!! Drove back to mine for a few cheeky beverages and then crashed as we had an early start driving the next morning. Picked up Erinn on the way and headed for the Happy Rafting Base. Got there and had to wait awhile for those who were lost. Then we had to put on a tight fitting wetsuit and coat then headed for the rafts! divided ourselves into teams of 7 or so then headed on down the river. needless to say the water was pretty cold but we eventually got used to it! At the halfway mark we stopped for a cheeky bagle and some hot tea to cool oursleves down before heading back down the river. Somewhere along the way, everyone was rock diving and there were a few classic backwacks and asswacks!! i still can imagine the pain Jay wouldve gone thru....ouch!! After the 12km we drove back to the base and then proceeded with the BBQ and drinks!! a few of us stayed us to drink while others (who had no money left) crashed. Had some interesting conversations on whos country's better then eventually after all the Japanese sake that was being passed around was drunk, we decided it was time to crash ourselves. found my way to my tent, probably woke everyone up, and snuggled up into the Mummy Schlaff 600. Woke up the next morning on Monday (again probably waking everone up again....sorry) and then after most of us had packed our tents, i drove back home to watch a couple of vids and chill out. I definitely want to go rafting again next year!!!

Me and some of the boys who stayed up and enjoyed the night outdoors!

........dont ask!

i think this is called the white man's high five

The Japanese Philharmony comes to my small hick-ass town...hehe

fact!! Four members of the 日本フィル (Japanese Philharmony) came to my school to put on a performance for both my primary and junior high school! they also taught the kids about the various instruments and shit in order for them to show some interest in maybe learning how to play. There was an awesome violinist (fucking brilliant is another word for this guy, a pianist (a beautiful Japanese woman), a guy on trombone and another on percussions. u wouldnt think that four people could get away with playing classical music but they did and it was brilliant! even got a few of the female teachers and parents watery in the eyes.
I found out later that once a year they split up and get sent to different prefectures throughout Japan and go to 4 or 5 different schools, and it just so happened that this year was Monobe-son's turn. Pretty lucky, ay?!?

still getting to know the locals and how to play soccer

this weekend was quite eventful! after finishing work on friday, i invited my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English), Tamura sensei to come have a few drinks after she finished up. but as per usual shes a workaholic and rings me up while im at the bar chatting to the locals waiting for her, that she cant make it. IT WAS 8:30 ON A FRIDAY NIGHT AND SHE WAS STILL WORKING!! what the....?!? anyways...... didnt let it get me down so continued chatting to the locals. had some drunk old lady ask me a bunch of stupid questions about where im from and then once the bar closed (at 10), she dragged me to the local pachinko parlour where i quickly escaped to the local karaoke bar, Nobara. There i met some people from the yakuba where many drinks were had. later, the local hanshin tigers fan club came in to celebrate the tigers winning the SE League championship. being the big hashin tigers fan i am, i joined in with them and we drank and drank and sang the club theme song to death many times! some old guy, who id only met maybe once, gave me his hanshin tigers whackers (umm....the best way to describe them is that they look like tenpins and at the games u whack them together when u support ur team, sorta like clapping but it makes a bigger noise). they are now hanging up proudly in my room. anyways got back from that late at night, quite pissed and staggered home and passed out!

The next morning got up and called Erinn to see what she was doing during the day before she came up to mine to knock back a few. She wasnt doin anythin so we went to the Ryugado Caves and for a drive around. Got back in the evening, had a few drinks and waited for Yarun and Julianna to come. Watched some TV, then headed to EMU (no not the bird), ate various food off the menu, had some beers and cockktails then once we had warmed up into it, headed to Nobara for some karaoke! had a classic time! It was Erinns first time to karaoke so i think shes now well on her way to being a karaoke legend! At some stage someone tied a rubber band to the middle of my frindge of my hair and called me a samurai, then next thing u know there was another few guys with the middle part of their hair tied up, singing along with us. i think it has been a long time since my village has had four people in it but they were very nice to us, they even sang along and danced with us as well. This all went on till about 3am coz i had to get some sleep because i had to wake up and leave at about 7 for the soccer tournament in kochi city and pick up Dom from Noichi on the way.

Woke up right on 7, did a quick change to get ready, then left. got about 15 mins away from where i left when i noticed i had forgotten my shoes, drove back and hooned to pick up Dom and go in to the city! got to where we were told to go, only to realise that they had given us the wrong directions. so some of the other Jets and i drove around for ages trying to find this place......anyways finally got there......late as, changed and tried my best to play, hungover as anything! i almost died playing but wasnt the only player on my team to be hungover thankfully. surpisingly enough we won the tournament and went on to a BBQ before driving home and chilling out at home.