I want to watch Bambi so bad right now

I know its been a while but I have been swamped with work.   THey really don:t want me bored so they are loading on the work.  The other day I was up at 5 oclock to make it to work on time and I didnt make it back untill 11.  Today is saturday and I am in Nara.  I am to help out on the live studio news program.  Probably just helping set up chairs or something but I did get to go check out the temples in Nara so that is a plus.  But get this, we went to nara park where they have live deer running around.  Remember how I talked about the……..

sorry about that but I had to go work and now it is like two hours later.  I got pulled away and boy have I been busy.  I had to go step up the stage.  And I dont mean chairs I mean the actual set that they will be using.  Then we grabed some really good lunch of ramen and chinese dumplings.  After I meet the cast and they were all really friendly.  The weather lady is kinda crazy but she speaks great english.  The main news caster is an american.  His wife went to high school in Brentwood.  When I was introduced to him he started to speak english with me and shocked the hell out of his makeup department.  Aparently in the 38 years he has worked there he hasnt spoken english at all.  So I got to hang out with the main news team.   Anyway back to what I was saying before…

remember when I saw those wild monkies, well this was like 10 times cooler.  It was like a giant petting zoo.  The deer where all over the town.  People would play soccer in between a group of deer.  They were like big dogs really.  You could pet them and you could feed them.  That was the coolest part because there is a special way to do it.  You bought a deer cracker and then the suckers just flock to you.  But you cant just toss it at them.  When the walk up to you you hold the cracker over your head, say something in japanese that I think translates into `respect for your god` and then you are supposed to bow to the deer.  Here is the kicker  THE DEER BOW BACK.  It is so cool.  I wouldnt believe it unless I did it and caught it on tape.  The deer bow.  How cool is that.  It is so funny to see.  Its not even like a kinda thing with some of them.  All the deer bow if you do this.  They told me that the deer god from the mountain taught them to do this so that is why you are supposed to show respect to the deer god when you feed them.  Anyway,  after walking around and seeing a butt load of temples with deer hoping around them we went to see the daibutsu.  That is the giant buddha statue that they have in Nara.  It is the biggest in Japan.  Then I had a melon soda float at the top of a temple on the top of a hill that overlooked everything. 

That has been my day so far and it is not yet finished.  I Will let you know how it goes tommorrow as well as tell you about what happened when me and my old roommate meet up the other day.

later

Adventure on Monkey Mountain

Sorry I thought I published this last week.  I guess I don’t know how to use the internet. 

Well, I can now scratch off one more thing from my list of “Things to do in Japan”.  Today I tagged along on a class field trip to go hiking in the mountains near Kyoto.  I had to skip one of my classes but it was absolutely worth it.  We the walk to the mountain is a tourist dream with stores everywhere.  There were a few restaurants that were overlooking a creek in the forest.  I wanted to stop to eat there so badly but then I saw the menu and realized that some of the best things in life are not free.  As we continue up we pass by many small temples along the path which just radiate history and beauty.  And in the background some of the trees have started to change for fall.  All around green mixes with vibrant reds, yellows, oranges, and all the shades inbetween.  It is one of the most amazing, spine-tingling sights I have beheld here in Japan.  Well enough about the beauty, it’s time for the interesting part of the trip.

So on our way to the top of the mountain we run across a group of mountain monkeys.  When I say a group I mean a legion.  There were monkeys jumping down from everywhere.  The best part was they weren’t even afraid of humans.  They would just walk up to us and just look at us.  One stared at me for a while. I think that one might have been thinking “Hey look at this stupid guy with red hair.  What a weirdo.”  Well, you know what monkey, your butt is red so shut up, you damn monkey.  I know I shouldn’t pick a fight with the monkeys but in my defence they started it.  As we were walking past one of them walked up to my friend Matt and started attacking him.  None of us had any idea why either, it just started jumping up and swiping at him.  Then we found out why.  Matt had bought a thing of chicken before we left and the monkey had smelled it.  So after about two seconds the monkey rips apart Matts bag and runs off with his chicken.  We all sit back and laugh as the monkey tries to get the the chicken out of the saran wrap.  The second he does monkeys start coming out of the woodworks to get a piece.  If any of you doubt me I have video proof.  Hopefully I will have that up soon.  Of course I have said that about every piece of video I have but please be patient.  Also I have updated my photos on the .mac account so give them a look.

My weekend In Kyoto

One of the students from Webster has been dying to see a Geisha show in Kyoto for the longest time.  So last weekend a trip was planed to go to Gion, the Giesha district of Kyoto.  The plan was to go see a performance somewhere.  This is what it turned into.  First, we arrive in Gion and have a little look around the area.  Gion still has many houses from the earlier part of this century.  We wandered around until we ran across this big building with a rather remarkable line leading up to it.  Being the daring adventurers that we are we decided to take a quick look.  The one important fact I should mention is that this line was filled with old Japanese people wearing fancy, old Japanese clothing.  A group of ten, foreign college students wearing clothes that hadn’t been washed in months was a little out of place.  It turned out to be a special invitation only event that only the elite of Japan were invited to.  So as we were leaving a little old lady came running up to us and said “No, its okay.  You can all come in as my guests.”  BAM.  We were in.  It was amazing.  The whole thing was a showcase of award winning clothing, art, fashion, and food.  In the first room we meet a very famous Japanese artist/actor.  I don’t know who he is but he was famous to them.  The whole thing was breath taking.  I felt very humble to be able to take part in a once in lifetime event.  At the end of the exhibit, the award winning chefs were giving out samples of their food.  We tasted Japanese sweets, green tea, and a Japanese type of noodle called soba.  It was all delecious.  The weird thing was the guy taking photos of us the whole time we ate.  It was a little creepy just for the reasong that he only took the photos when we were about to put food in our mouths.  Every shot was of us, mouths full extended, preparing to shovel food into our faces.  And then as we were leaving a very pretty lady was walking in wearing a beautiful kimono.  Everyone seemed excited to see her.  So we asked if we could take a few pictures with her.  Later on after she left it turned out she was the Queen of Kimonos.  The Japanese equivelent to Miss Universe.

To continue on…….We showed up to the theater to watch the Performance.  We had bought our tickets as a group to save money.  Thats why I thought we would be sitting together.  Instead we get to the far back row and I find that my seat is not with the group.  A few other people had the same problem.  So we went to the lady in charge of finding seats and asked her.  She was very helpful in leading us to our seats.  No wonder we couldn’t find them.  They were box seats.  That’s right. BOX SEATS.  We were right next to the stage in the only box in the whole theater.  I don’t know how that even happened.  It was complete luck.  So we were able to watch the performance in style and comfort.  That was my weekend.  Next week we are going to back to pick a fight with the mountain monkeys they have wandering freely.

THE CARDS WIN IT

If any of you in America are wondering: Yes, I did watch the world series, or at least the last two games.  I was in Tokyo or too busy to watch the first three.  But thankfully the dorm here has a station that picked up the games.  Only the games started at like 9:00 in the morning for us.  But that did not stop any of the St. Louis students.  Many of us skipped our classes and clubs to watch the games.  It was more important.  We had to show our cardinal pride.  The interesting thing is that japanese people love So Taguchi.  Every time something happened they went to a reaction shot of Taguchi.  And when Taguchi got the double of his bunt and then scored in Game 4, the japanese news just ate it up.  It was everywhere.    Those were some fine games to watch.  Weaver pitched a great game in Game 5.  Too bad Duncan can`t catch for crap.  I don`t care if he is the pitching coaches son, droping the ball was inexcusible.  Anyway, to end my little tale, as soon as the game was over all of the St. Louis guys got together and had a beer to celebrate.  It didn`t even matter if you hated drinking or that it was only 1:00 in the afternoon.  We all raised our glasses to the Cardinals.  BECAUSE THEY HAD TO WIN THE ONE YEAR I AM OUT OF THE COUNTRY.  I have lived close to St. Louis for 20 years and the three months that I am gone the cards decide to win.  Every Student from Webster is in a perment state of rage and joy right now.  We are just so full of emotion right now.

 Oh yeah, and Hopefully in the next day or two I will post about my trip to Tokyo with Rebecca.

Flyer Anyone?

The other day a couple of people decide to go get some coffee after class.  We are walking down one of the main roads when a friend of someone stops us.  She had just started working at some new cafe on the second level of some building.  To help her look good to her bosses we agree to go in.  We are shoved/escorted up the stairs because we might get lost going up the two flights of stairs.  We sit down and try to figure out the prices of the drinks while having the entire cafe staring at us.  We finally ask the waitress how much the drinks are only to find out that there are free for just today.  Three hours later we are still there and watching some poor employee try to hand out flyers to a group of less than friendly walk-byers.  So the guy finally gives up and comes over to talk to us.  One of the guys in the group says jokingly that he will hand some flyers out for the poor guy.  The guy excitedly asks,  ”really!”  He is quickly answered with a, ”No”.  And thats when I steped in.  I grabed the flyers, walked down the steps, and went to town.  Nothing is crazier than handing out flyers during rush hour.  Especially in Japan.  I was joined later by other people in the group.  It was a fun time trying to persuade people to go to the cafe with the little japanese that we knew.  I had a blast chashing down people and telling them, “onegai shimasu”.  The group of us handed out more flyers in 20 minutes than that guy ever could in 2 hours.  We like to think that it was our way of  paying back the cafe for the 20 cups of coffee we had.  And since that day we have never gone back. 

Himeji is the Bomb

This sunday some friends and I went to see Himeji castle.  It is about an hour away by train…after taking a train for ten minutes to get to the second train station.  Anyway, as luck would have it, it rained.  I don’t know why Japanese wheather likes to rain on me but it does.  Important note: always have an umbrella every where you go.  So we get there and it is absolutely beautiful.  One of the last historic castles left in Japan.  We happened to luck into the last English speaking tour guide.  Cool guy.  THe other tour guides were wearing suits and stuff and ours was wearing a polo shirt.  So we spent about 3 hours learning everything about the castl  We and exploring every inch of it.  The best part was at the very top.  You could see out into the city and it was simply breathtaking.  We stopped by a local eatery and got some lunch.  I had takoyaki.   Thats squidballs to those who don’t know.  Not bad but the fries were even better.  First ones I have had since I left.  Moving on,  we get on the train to go back home and there is a large, sweaty Japanese man yelling into his cellphone directly behind us.  I thought it was very annoying.  The next stop we get to, a policeman comes on the train and starts talking to him.  I thought, “Good they are kicking him off the train for being so loud.”  Turns out he was calling in a bomb threat.  Someone left an “Item” wrapped in a trashbag on the train.  So a about 3 or 4 cops come on the train and they are all wearing bullet proof vests.  One of them picks the package up ever so gingerly and carefully walks off the train.  Now please understand that this was happening right behind me.  So when the guy picked the package up and turned to take it off the train, he was waving the thing right in my face.  That is when you start praying that its not a bomb or at least the guy has a steady hand.  They get it off the train, thank the man, and we are moving in less than a minute.  I still think it was a picture frame and a mixing bowl. 

Making out with your food