Blogs from Tokushima, Japan, Asia - page 4

２００９年６月１０日(水曜日) おめでとうありがとう。 本日、無事に２４回目の誕生日を迎えられました。 環境も場所も過ごし方も、毎年ごとに変化のある私の誕生日。今年は・・・ 数年前から脳内企画されていた、みんなで「ＫＩＳＳメイク」が、ようやく実現化されました。 普段はクールなあの子もシャイなこの子も強制参加。 時間が経つにつれ、パリパリに乾いた顔の絵の具が地面に落ちて、掃除は大変でしたがそんなことお構いなし。 笑顔。笑顔。笑顔。２４歳なりたてほやほや時間はそんなこんなで穏やかに過ぎていきました。 皆でやると楽しい！皆が楽しいが一番！そんな今年の６月１０日。 ただ、写真には写っていませんが、実はもう一人KISSメイクをした友達がいます。 撮影時にちょうど彼女と喧嘩・討論が始まった為、マンションの外に出て電話をしていた彼。 駐輪所に場所をうつして皆で大はしゃぎしながら撮影している間も話し中。えらくもめていたみたいで。 一同が部屋に戻りひとまずクールダウンした頃、ピンポーンとインターホンにうつる彼の姿。 と、その横に警察の姿。 おや！？ この時点でもうおわかりでしょうか。 彼が警察と一緒にいる理由。 つまり彼は、ここの住人の誰かに通報されてしまったのです。 「階段にピエロが座っている！」と。 ひとまず玄関先まで来た警察に事情を説明。そして和解。 帰り際にはなんと、警察の彼から 「お誕生日おめでとうございます」というお祝いメッセージをいただきました！ うん、きっといいことあるに違いない！２４歳万歳。いえい。 兎にも角にも百恵ちゃん風に・・・私のわがままに付き合ってくれて、ありがとう♪楽しい一年にします！... read more

WOOOOOOOOOkaaayyy... where oh where to begin. First off a warning, this post is huge as the day was probably the most remarkable day I've ever had here in Japan. Most of the pics of Iya itself is in the next post which I'll make tomorrow, it's getting far too late here. I guess last night would be a good start, well, the night before I left here since people probably won't read this for a few days, not exactly a lot of Internet cafe's here in the middle of nowhere. I had no luck sleeping last night... think I finally did about 2:30am. Kept playing over what I would do in the morning, the drive, the possible issues i could run into, everything. Which really messed me up for the actual day. I slept in (a ... read more

The most famous festival on Shikoku and one of the top festivals in Japan Awa odori* was on the top of my list of things I had to see while living in Japan. From August 12 to 15 people from all over Japan swarm to Tokushima to watch and/or dance at the festival. The nickname for Awa odori, the dance of fools, is derived from the chant the dancers sing. 踊る阿呆に見る阿呆同じ阿呆なら踊らな損、損 Odoru ahou ni miru ahou onaji ahou nara odorana son, son Crazy Dancers with other crazies watching them since both alike are mad you might as well dance, might as well dance. Who can argue with that logic? ^_^ According to legend Awa odori was started one night in the late 1580s during a party held to celebrate the new castle built for the lord ... read more

Some friends approached me in Grasshopper’s one night and asked me if I wanted to go camping the next weekend. I was really excited about it because I wanted to go to Oboke Koboke, but the only way to get there is by car. They picked me up outside my apartment Sunday afternoon and we began the two hour drive to the camp site with the radio playing 80s tunes and all four windows down. We drove up and down the winding mountain road in the heat talking, laughing and enjoying the sites around us. At one point one of the boys broke out the smallest cans of beer known to man for us to drink. We arrived at the camp site just before dusk and unloaded our gear and set to work setting the tents ... read more

There are two distinctive types of hikers to be found in Japan; the ridiculous and the absurd. The first type of hiker is the gear buff. They aren’t hard to spot. They are outfitted from head to toe in the latest European and American outdoor gear, their hiking boots are so fresh that they may as well have just been pumped out from the factory mold, their hats are securely attached to the collars of their high performance sports shirts, their breathable hiking pants are stowed into their super fashionable gators, and ultra small carbon-kevlar kaleidoscopic poles are firmly attached to lightweight daypacks. They are only then ready to descend from the air-conditioned interiors of their tour buses and be whisked more than halfway up the mountain on music filled gondolas before making the final push ... read more