What the hell I have been up to recently!

Hello everyone,

Time to dust the cobwebs on my blog!

So since the Danjiri Festival I have done lots of interesting things. For example I went to the Sakai Festival and saw some great stuff. A whale float with water spraying from its blow hole, lots of dancing, lots of music, guns going off, and of course some huge wooden things being dragged through the streets! See some pictures below. I also went to my first tea ceremony, very complicated! I probably shouldn't have gone in shorts! Woops!

Dedication

Very complicated, in England we just dump a teabag in! I never realised it could take
10 minutes to make a cup of tea! It tasted great though!

WHALE

This is the face you pull when you have to drag that huge thing for a while!

I went to Ayane's concert which was amazing. I haven't heard much live music since being in Japan. Nothing like a few gin and tonics listening to Schubert! We had a great time and it was very relaxing! We dressed up a bit for the occasion.

Very high brow

Wonderful evening!

I also made a visit to the Peace liberty tower. This tower is visible from my school. It is commemorate all the soldiers killed in every war since the beginning of history! The Peace Liberty organisation is actually a cult, there were many strange buildings surrounding the monument! I tried to catch the sunset but I got very very lost.

Peace out!

I went to a festival at Osaka City University with my next door neighbour! I bumped into a few people I had met in a bar near my house which was nice! All the students were selling home made food for very cheap so that they could raise money for their clubs! I went back the next day with some other ALTs but the stalls were closing by then. We watched some live music and got free beer! We aren't students but they were literally giving huge bottles of Asahi away! We met a lot of people that I have since met up with! It is nice to meet Japanese people, especially when they live so close to your house!

Nothing like rocking out Japanese style!

The magnificent golden gazelle of OCU! No one else was in costume!

I have a favourite bar near my house that sells huge beers for 300 yen! I keep going there to get free drinks of other patrons. I know the bar staff pretty well and even have their contact details now! I go there when I am bored and it always ends well! It is a chain but only for Osaka, there food is yakitori (kebabs) and it is very delicious and very cheap!

I happened to have my camera with me after the concert!
I met some people who bought me many free drinks!

My "homies" Ryosuke and Masamitsu!

I went to Koyasan last weekend. There I took a day trip just in time for the Koyo leaves to come out. This is a famous place for a special sect of Buddhism. The guy that founded it just went up to the most remote place in the mountains and set up a monastery there. Now there are over 100 temples, most of which you can stay in. I didn't have a spare 10,000 yen so I decided to just go and enjoy the main sights. This is the place to go in summer to escape the hot and polluted air of Osaka. It was very peaceful and because I live only a 1 hour train ride away I could enjoy it early in the morning mostly to myself! I highly recommend Koyasan to anyone exploring the Kansai region.

The main Temple

So colourful! I am excited to see how they compare to Kyoto's tomorrow!

The main temple complex with some lovely leaves!

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The graveyard section! Many important nobles have been
buried here. There are 100,000s of graves!

The graves were set in this pine tree wonderland.

Water flinging!

In other news I have just been getting on with work. The last week I only had 2 lessons so I have been (slowly) brushing up on my Japanese. I feel settled in now, but my god is it cold! I am enjoying my time in Japan now. I am going to Kyoto tomorrow! Every time you go somewhere you have to buy everyone in the office something they can eat! It adds a few quid onto your budget! I am very excited but I have been very tired recently from whizzing around doing stuff all the time! I hope I don't end up oversleeping in Kyoto and missing the red leaves. It is supposed to be very beautiful but this is peak season and a weekend! I booked my accommodation weeks ago!

I will do another blog when I get back from Kyoto with some pictures!

Joe

Danjiri Festival

Hello everyone,

Around this time of year the Danjiri festival is held. Giant carts in the shape of a shrine or temple are carried through the streets. After months of preparation a ceremonial display is given whereby the shrines are made to "bow" as a kind of mark of respect to the passing Danjiri. The festival I saw was a fairly local one where 5 Danjiri carts met in the street. The display was very spectacular!

The carts are extremely heavy. The older members of the group are at the back turning and the younger members of the group at the front pulling. They were exhausted after the festival. The cart is kept in the temple for most of the year and has intricate and delicate carvings all over it. In the day there are celebrations too. For example, in one part of Osaka there is the famous Kishiwada Danjiri festival where they run at breakneck speed through the streets. I didn't see this but there was a lot of running in the day apparently. They have been known to cause some damage!

The whole evening lasted a couple of hours, but for the past few weeks there have been practices all over Osaka. You can hear people screaming the Japanese for "heave-ho!" everywhere.

Here are some pictures and a video.

Up close before the events began

Making last minute preparations

Drumming away in the cart

The amazing display

Feeling the burn

Why not use your mobile when you are bored up there?

They used ropes to steady themselves as the cart is dragged through the street

Getting tipped side to side! Notice the neon lights

Sunglasses, neon lights and of course purple devil horns!

Playing the flute

Didn't realise at the time but this poor boy was crying from drumming too hard

Microphones and bright lights! I like the lanterns on them!

What I have been doing in my spare time..........

Hello again!


Now for my final post of the day: what I have been doing in my spare time.

Food

Seem to be eating out a lot. Sushi, Ramen, Bentos, Okinomiayaki pretty much everything that is shoved infront of me. Some things I've had I haven't liked (squid tenticle stuck in my throat or "Octopus balls") but the food is so good here! Not too pricy either. The 100 yen Lawson shop near my house has been a Mecca for cheap food too.

Drinking

I keep going to bars and people keep buying me drinks! I met up with quite a few people and these people will not take no for an answer. I met a group of students who were in a choir in a bar near my house. They sang a very old Japanese song for me. There are many bars and resturants near my house! Including a very loud train. There is also a dog cafe on my street:

Cafe ground floor, hairdresser first!

Often you can buy all you can eat and drink for a few hours for maybe £30! The ALTs and I will go out after a meal or get a few beers and watch a film. We went out to Dotombori which is the second biggest nightlife district in Japan. The place was packed with bars and made looking people. Japanese people love being sick in the street!

A group of ALTs, teachers and Japanese friends

Need to order something? Well do it on this touch screen!

My neighbour on the left with a couple of ALTs and Ayane

The longest Keiten (conveyor belt) Sushi in the world

I can't stop eating Sushi, so cheap! Maybe £1 a plate!

Tennoji Nightlife District

All you can eat and drink! Count the beers!

Karaoke only after a few drinks!

Sumiyoshi Shrine

There is a popular and famous shrine about 10 mins cycle from my house. I got to see a wedding when I was there. This place is so beautiful and very old.

The famous old bridge

Gate

The wedding taking place

Inside one of the old buildings

A rabbit shaped fountain where you clense yourself on entry.

The after wedding photo "cheezu"

Grace and Danny on the bridge

The square

Taekwondo

I met a guy in a bar who ran his own Taekwondo classes. I thought I should try a martial art (even though it's Korean). Here is a picture of me in action:

I like this picture, but I don't think its my kind of thing!

Nara

A group of us went to Nara for the day. It was only 40 mins from Osaka by train. We saw the biggest wooden building in the world, killer deer amongst many other things. I really liked the place! The weather was perfect!

Oh-deer!

So big, not busy, great weather!

The reason I came to Japan!

The biggest wooden building in the world.......

....housing one of the biggest Buddhas in the world. The head is a different colour because
of the many earthquakes and wars that chopped it off!

Climbing through the nostril sized snose to gain enlightenment.

Here deery deery deery.

Another one of Nara's epic buildings!

The group. Enjoying a nice day at Nara

Angela: deer whisperer

Kevin-Sensei getting mauled. Deer biscuits for very cheap!

Rows of stone lanterns