Post-Japan plans

I can take a ferry from Kobe that goes directly to Beijing (actually Tanggu but it doesn't matter) for about $200 (I might be able to get a student discount---thank you Brandeis for not printing expiration dates on the students IDs). I don't know the details of the ride yet, but its a much better option than the Osaka-Shanghai plan I originally had. From Shanghai, I would have had to take a train north to Beijing (a 14-hour trip) and then take the same train back south to continue on towards Vietnam. I'm jazzed.

At the moment, the plan is to travel around Japan in mid-January, then take the ferry to Beijing, see the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Mao-soleum, the old and new Summer Palaces, etc;, then head south to Nanjing, Shanghai and Sichuan, (or first head to Chengdu and Tibet), and then head through Hong Kong and Guangzhou before crossing the border into Vietnam. From Vietnam its onto Cambodia and Thailand. That's as far as I've gotten.

The no-look pass

I've been receiving texts and phone calls from some of you back home, but thanks to the assholes at Softbank I can't respond to any of them. My old service provider, Vodafone, was recently bought out by Softbank. I paid my October bill to Vodafone (I didn't know my provider officially became Softbank on the first and Vodafone sent me the October bill first, so that's the one I paid) but Softbank shut off my service because they never saw that money.

In Japan, you can pay all of your utility bills at convenience stores. I always pay my phone bill at the FamilyMart near my house, but I never keep the receipt because until now, I had never had a problem like this. So, I have to go and talk to someone at one of the now Softbank stores and see if I can get my service turned back on. I was supposed to go to Kyoto today and see some temples but without a cell phone, it would have been impossible to meet up with Yuka on Thursday, so I'm stuck in Nagoya for the day.

Basically, all telecommunications companies suck. Verizon was run by a bunch of assholes, Softbank is clearly run by assholes, and Vodafone was run by assholes. Its just how it works. I've never heard anyone say a good thing about their cell phone company. Ever.

Horyuji and Thanksgiving

Yuka and I went to Horyuji in Nara-ken for Thanksgiving. Nara is roughly a three-hour train ride from where I am. We planned ahead and only traveled at peak hours though, so no one bothered us and we were able to get to Nara and back for about six bucks. I love the train system in Japan. It's comfy, you can drink on it, it goes everywhere, its reliable, and its easy to avoid paying for it. I wish they had something like this in America. Only if you could cheat it though. I wonder how you could take planes for free..

We had plans to see these three temples outside of Nara but spent the entire day at the first one. I didn't think it was going to be so big or so interesting. There was an art museum there (taking pictures was forbidden inside... and so was sketching for some reason), and a group of lovely Korean tourists shared the space with us.

The week before we went hiking in Toyota (the company is named for the town) with some of Yuka's friends. We went to an Indian restaurant afterwards and some Nepalese guy working there struck up conversation with me. I thought Nepalese people spoke English but I guess not. I couldn't tell if he was speaking Japanese or English to me when he tried to say something. The Japanese people I was with said the same thing. Completely incomprehensible.

It was a good Thanksgiving even if it was the first one I've spent away from home. I think if I had spent it alone and without Yuka I would gotten pretty bummed out, but we stayed pretty busy and I was in the mood for curry anyway. On the ride home we got tipsy on Chuhi (the wise traveler always packs some) and ate Green Tea Kit Kits which have just become available again. On the train back to Nagoya I had to listen to these Australians having an intellectual debate. They came to the conclusion that personality is more important than looks when dating someone. Brilliant. Coincidentally, they were all ugly.

Yuka the planner

Not that I'm complaining. I've always been fine with other people deciding where I go and what I do. I mean that too. This weekend we're headed to Kyoto (my second time) to see the Kinkakuji (pictured). We both just finished reading Mishima Yukio's novel by the same name so we're in the mood. Her days off are kind of strange, in that she has Thursdays and every other Monday, so she can only spend a day with me. I'm going to head down this Wednesday and see some things by my lonesome. I'll crash in an internet cafe (probably Popeye's) and try to ignore the fact that I'll be completely alone on my birthday. By the way, my number is 090 6095 1895 and my phone's email address is bennegan@c.vodafone.ne.jp if you want to call or text me. Just throwing it out there.

So Yuka has planned something for almost everday right up until I leave (I picked up my passport today and now I need to get the ball rolling on Cambodia and Vietnam), with this weekend being spent in Kyoto, the weekend of the 15th in Takayama, and New Year's in Tokyo. Her mom has friends or a boyfriend that lives in Chiba so we'll be able to crash at their/his place. The agenda for our Kanto trip is going to be Nikko (the tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu... I think), Tokyo, Yokohama (maybe... all I know about Yokohama is their Chinatown is famous. But I'll be going to China soon anyway, so who cares?), Kamakura (one of the shogunates was based there and it has a giant reclining Buddha), and Chiba (maybe).

...

I'm such a dirtbag. I have a giant pile of teabags in front of me that I just stole from the free drink area. I'm gonna fill the front pocket of my sweatshirt before I leave here tonight. What can I say? I hate spending money.

Himeji sucks

Brucie, tell you're friend that I can say with confidence, as someone who has never been there, that Himeji is the asshole of the world. I would rather mop-up at the peep shows in hell than stop there for a night. People from there are not only the ugliest and dumbest human beings I've ever met, but they have all the charm and culture of 16th-century Chinese public restroooms.

I would like to see their castle before I leave though.

I got the paperwork started today for my Chinese Visa. I couldn't even believe how easy it was. When I was planning my trip back in August the guy at No. 1 Travel told me that I had to show the Chinese officials my flight reservations as well as everything else to prove when I was entering and leaving. Totally unnecessary. I showed up dressed for success, but other than that I didn't have much to show them. I hadn't even filled out the paperwork properly (I could't quite decide on my purpose in China, was I there to: 'THOULS88DKJ' or to 'OTIYU$HIOU'?). The woman behind the counter had spoken in Chinese and Japanese before I got to the window and I was positive that I was walking into a liguistic disaster before she busted out her well-pronounced English as well. It was a snap and I can pick up my passport again in a week as long as I pay them 6000 yen. Which, thanks to the rapidly- plummeting yen, is now about $0.40 US.

I celebrated my accidental success with pancakes and coffee at McDonalds and an International Herald. I've been having logistical problems with how to get out of Pakistan (if I actually go) since I'll be fenced in by Afghanistan and Iran. The solution might be a short flight or boat-trip to the UAE before heading towards Egypt or Israel via Saudi Arabia. That sounds extra sexy to me because of the potential violence factor. I got the idea from Wu, who went there and said it was a blast, and from the newspaper today because there was an article about how the US State Department is now using the UAE as their base of operations in learning all they can about Iran. So maybe I can meet actual spies and CIA workers trying to overthrow the Iranian government while I'm there! ... I hope I see lions!

I guess thats it. I'm in a great mood so hopefully my postings in the future will have less morbid self-loathing and more humor. I noticed people admitting in emails to me that they're not reading this crap anymore. I guess details about what I ate in Hiroshima doesn't attract the interest that a funny story about climbing Mt. Fuji does. Oh well.

I failed

The Chinese embassy in Nagoya closes at noon. I failed.

I have to think of something else to do with my day. I just got lunch. That's out. Almost everyone I know is working. So hanging out is out too. It's too early to go sit in a bar. That's out. I only have an hour on this terminal so I can't download music or write emails or watch clips of the Colbert Report. Damn man. I have plans to go hiking with Yuka tomorrow so I can't really get out of the area either. I guess I can find a museum or something to sit around in...

I think speaking English to people who work in services is the way to go. I just saw some young kid with a Japanese girlfriend speak lightning fast to some McDonald's worker and she was frantic in trying to keep up with him. He acted cocky and slightly annoyed even after he gave her a really complicated order. "Hold this, hold this, this is ok, this is ok, and can I get some extra (something) on the side? Thanks." But even if he was being incosiderate he came out of the thing looking sort-of cool and she looked like an idiot. That's way better than when I go to McDonald's and try to order in Japanese and I can tell the worker behind the counter just wants to laugh at me. I try like crazy but they still correct my grammar in a subtle way. I hate it man. I feel like a loser. I'd rather make them feel like crap because they can't understand me than the other way around.

Japan skipped fall. It went directly from summer to winter. I remember just two weeks ago sweating in my shirt and tie on the way to work and now today I have on three layers.

I have no idea what to write about. I update this thing because I've made a commitment to it, but not since Mt. Fuji have I felt like I had something to say.

For a good time, download 'Take Five' by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. It rocks. It jazzes? No. Its jazzy. There you go.

A while back (I don't think I've mentioned this yet), Pat asked some student what his hobbies were are and the guy responded: 'I like... ham.' Ham? He was looking for 'tennis' I think. I get those confused sometimes too.

I grew some sideburns and I think I'm gonna let the rest of my hair grow out to complete this new 'I don't have a job' look. Maybe mohawk it for China, but I'll go tighter on top so it looks more distinguished.

Hey Lou, I looked at that sight you sent me a link for. Brilliant. I've included it as a link. Vice Mag. I wish this blog read like their site.

Student recommendations

I had this cool guy in a lesson the other day who recommended a Japanese punk band to me. I don't know much about punk, but one of the first (the first?) British punk bands was The Damned. They released an album called 'Machine Gun Etiquette' which made waves in Japan. The band this guy recommended, Thee Machine Gun Elephant, was named for the way one of the members pronounced The Damned's export. If you like early punk and don't mind the Japanese, then I guess I would recommend it. I like The Clash better, but its listenable.

Racially profiled

Not much to report

Three students are going to come over on Sunday for a Nabe party. Nabe is some kind of Japanese dish with like... an arrangement of meat and vegetables.... actually I have no idea what Nabe is, and I can't be bothered to look it up. But they're gonna come over and we're gonna eat it.

I heard from Starr for the first time in a few weeks and we're ironing out the details of our trip together. Nothing is set in stone yet, so expect details as we figure them out.

I have tomorrow and Thursday off so I'm gonna go to the Chinese embassy and get my Visa paperwork started.

I'm scheduled to work at 5 today so I came to Nagoya for McDonald's pancakes and a copy of The Economist. I went out front of the JR Station to read the tourist map and got stopped by a cop. He wanted to see my passport and foreign registration card and to ask me where I was headed. I was outraged. He was just a little guy, so when he started talking to me and I got the gist of what he wanted, I stood up as straight as I could to tower over him. It would have been awesome to be like, Luke's height then. He acted like he was concerned that I was lost but then threw in little comments like, 'OH, a Nova teacher' and crap like that. Yup, that's me. I only support racial profiling when its done to other people.

Pat has had that happen a few times to him　so far, but it was a first for me. I don't like it. I dont like it much at all.

Hiroshima, Mt. Mizen, and the Midterms

I finished uploading my Hiroshima pictures.

I've been telling this story backwards, but a week ago I went to Hiroshima, Miyajima and Okayama. I spent most of the 30th in Osaka, waiting for the overnight bus to Hiroshima (a 7 hour trip). I got to Osaka by 1:30pm and... wait, did I already tell this story? Ok, I just checked. Nope. I tried to see a few things in Osaka but was a horrible failure. Tennoji park was closed for some reason and when I got to the Osaka Museum of History it only had an hour left to closing time. I passed on it and just wandered around getting drunk on Chuhi. The bus was scheduled to leave at 11:50pm and it was only 5pm when all of the touristy stuff closed. So I had about 7 hours to kill and no one to hang out with. I just sat down on the side of a flower box and waved at Japanese people. Most of the people who walked by me felt it necessary to stare (despite this being the busy downtown area of Japan's second largest city... don't they have foreigners here?) so I just smiled and waved at them until they got embarassed and hurried on their way. A big group of girls were checking me out and they giggled like crazy when I waved to them but I wasn't drunk enough to follow them around and bother them. Plus my Japanese really isn't that good and I wouldn't even know where to start.

I ate a whole bunch of weird Osaka food in an effort to kill time. I got some takoyaki (octopus balls), which most of the other teachers can't stand. I think its awesome but as I didn't let it cool it was a little too doughy. I went to the bus station in Nanba when everything else got boring. There's this group of entertainers in Japan called SMAP, which I would compare to the Backstreet Boys or N'Sync or something, and they all sing together and release albums and whatever, but they also have TV shows and a bunch of other projects. Probably a clothing line. So I was watching their cooking show (they break into two teams and they also host it) and falling asleep in my chair waiting on the bus. It finally showed up and it was just me, a few Japanese people, and a whole Indian family. I think they were Indian but only the youngest son spoke any English which confused me. I thought everyone in India spoke English...

I woke up probably once an hour when the bus took a turn or when I heard a horn or something, but was able to sleep for most of the trip. I got off the bus at Hiroshima station and got breakfast at Mastuya before sunrise. I checked my guide and found a park that I could walk around before everything else opened up. On my way I found a little Shinto shrine so I prayed and then hiked up the side of this big hill to the park. The Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art is housed in the park, but as it was still only 7am or something I had to settle with peaking in the windows.

I started towards the A-Bomb Dome and got there right before it opened at 8am. I checked out all of the museums and walked around the park that was created out of the rubble near ground zero. I took the same pictures that every tourist takes of the Dome and you can see them all on Flickr.

I hate traveling alone though. I don't get to be in any of these pictures unless I want to set my camera down on something and look like a complete idiot standing in front of it waiting for it to go off. I also don't like making stupid faces or taking weird pictures alone. It's only fun and spontaneous with someone else. Alone its just lame.

So I saw the museums and they're great. Lots of information, lots of media (videos, pictures, models of the city, blah blah blah), and its gripping. I would recommend to any and everyone to see the museum here because unfortunately I'm not going to do it justice with my poor writing and lack of visuals. Pictures of the city where people's shadows are burned into the concrete, a gigantic searchable database of all the surviors' stories (with great English translations), and an honest retelling of the causes behind World War II and the reasons for dropping the bomb.

Also, everytime a new bomb is tested somewhere in the world the mayor of Hiroshima writes a letter pleading for an end to atomic weapons and invites the politicans of whatever country to visit the museum and see what this is leading us all towards. Copies of all the letters that have been written since 1960 are on display. Attention USA, attention Soviet Union, attention France, attention India, etc;

After the museum I went to Miyajima. There's this famous red torii gate there which is the most photographed spot in Japan. I got my obligatory shots as well. I also took these videos climbing and descending the mountain there. Climbing up Mt. Mizen and taking the ropeway back down the mountain. I thought I would only use one of these and delete the other one, but wound up keeping them both. So I wished you all a Happy Halloween twice.

Trip was good. Shit I'm about to run out of time at this cafe. I don't even have time to go back and check my grammar... Hopefully that doesn't sound too dumb...

Okayama and waking up at 5am

For me, who likes to travel and doesn't like to spend money, sleeping in internet cafes is the way to go. It cost me about 15 bucks to sleep for 6 hours in a private booth with a bed. That was enough rest for me once it was combined with some coffee from McDonald's. I would like to thank McDonald's by the way for opening at 6am in Okayama, exactly when I needed them to. I would also like to thank their staff for keeping the bathroom meticulously clean so that I could brush my teeth and wash my face and make a giant mess in the process without feeling too much like a homeless person.

I left Miyajima island (close to Hiroshima) around 5pm on the 31st, with the intention of going as far as possible before the trains stopped running. I paid 180 yen just to get on the train and as, thankfully, no one asked to see my ticket, I didn't spend a ton of money like I would have if I was a more honest person. I got as far as Okayama before 9pm and decided I didn't want to get stranded in Himeji or somewhere where I might have difficulty in finding a hotel or an internet cafe. I kept an eye on the stations we passed through so that I could lie convincingly at Okayama about where I had got on. As long as the station looked closed down or I couldn't see a ticket agent, then I had a good reason why I was getting off the train without a ticket to prove where I came from. It cost me 1110 yen to get off the train over 3 hours after I got on. Its dishonest but it rocks.

I got some curry from CoCoIchibanya (think the McDonald's of curry), and then wandered up and down the center of the city looking for inspiration. I started just asking random people where an internet cafe was and got three cute middle-aged women to tell me where I could find one. I crashed (after updating this blog briefly) and then woke up the next day at 5am. I was a minute or two late in checking out of the cafe so they charged me an extra 84 yen. Bastards.

I walked down to the castle and the city's impressive garden, Korakuen, but both were closed until 8am. I walked back towards the cafe hoping to find somewhere warm and quiet where I could read and kill some time. I got all the way back to the train station just as McDonald's was opening. I got coffee and their pancake breakfast thing. I know everyone has had it once but probably not for years, right? I've had a jones for it before but I never seem to make it on time. Anyway, I ate and had some coffee and read the book I brought. I left just before 8 and watched everyone waking up and heading off to work. That sucks. I was all smelly and unshaven and homeless looking, but that's so much better than getting up at that hour and heading off to work. I got to the garden and was one of the only people there when it opened. I took a ton of pictures but don't have my camera on me right now. I'll upload them when I get around to it, alright? I passed on the castle as its one of the ferro-concrete ones and probably incredibly boring inside. I mean, all the castles I've seen so far are pretty boring but at least I can pretend to be really interested in the architecture and history if the castle is an original. I got some curry at Matsuya (a Japanese chain restaurant that is found on every corner in every city in Japan) and then hopped on the train again.

I had much worse luck on the train ride home but it was because I made the rookie mistake of traveling in the afternoon after rush hour ended. I got asked not once, but twice for my ticket. Son of a bitch! I was able to lie convincingly both times so the damage wasn't as bad as it should have been, but I still had to cough up 30 bucks to the train conductors.

I got home yesterday at 5 or 6, and just spent the rest of the day eating junk food and reading. Today was more of the same and I'm gonna meet Yuka tonight for dinner and maybe a movie.

La la la...

Books

Tried, unsuccessfully, to get through Catch-22 for a second time. It's not difficult or boring to read through, it just isn't good enough to finish. I said it.

I picked up Yukio Mishima's 'Kinkakuji' and 'The Poetical Works of Milton.' While traveling in western Japan I read through the first 200 pages of 'Swann's Way' so I'll finish that before starting anything new.

No one cares.

Jaden's First Halloween

Isn't he adorable? My sister has only sent me this photo so I don't know how my nephew's first halloween went. I think he was a chicken. I doubt he had any say in the affair as he can't speak yet.

On a related note, Britney Spears is having another kid and according to my source is planning to name this one Jaden. And my source has never been wrong about anything before in her entire life. And makes awesome birthday cakes. And eats entirely too many strawberries.

Hiroshima and Miyajima

This post has nothing to do wtih either of those places. I went to Osaka, Hiroshima, and Miyajima this weekend and now I'm in an internet cafe in Okayama City. I paid an extra three bucks and instead of a chair, I'm writing this from a bed. Sweet cakes. I have 6 hours to sleep a little bit and then I'm off again to see this city's fancy-pants garden and maybe its castle. I hope to be back home by tomorrow night so I can get some real sleep, shave, and take a shower.

I'll post all of my pictures in the next few days.

I found a bookstore with a great English section in Osaka while I was waiting for my bus to leave. I picked up Pascal's Pensees only because its mentioned in this other book I'm reading and I found a quote that has been bothering me ever since (I'm paraphrasing): 'Curiosity is vanity. We only do things so that we'll be to talk about them later and if we didn't have friends to tell about our adventures we would never cross the sea.'

Ouch man, ouch. Especially since I have this blog that I like to use to just ramble on about what I'm up to. I suddenly feel so lame about everything I've done in the past 9 months. Maybe about everything I've ever done.

Fucked up Pictures

Yuka and I went to Hikone in Shiga Prefecture on October 19th and she just emailed me all of her pictures (I forgot my camera)............

your love it feels so good AND THAT WHAT TAKES ME HIGH

HIGHER THAN A (something something)

AND YOUR LOVE IT KEEPS ME ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

... sorry but the music in this internet cafe is BUMPIN'


Some of Yuka's pictures got all fucked up for some reason...

Hikone has a castle and some good restaurants but thats it. When we got out of the train station and looked at a map provided for tourists, it showed us how to get from the station to the castle and everything else was just erased off the map. I like the honesty. Dont waste your time guys: just see our castle and go home.

On our walk to the casle we passed a shoe store selling cheap bags of potatoes.

I've now seen two of Japan's four national treasure castles, so I guess I'll see the other two and check that off my to do list. We went to the castle's museum, got tea in the garden, and then saw the Donjon. We got dinner near the castle and went home. I guess that sounds boring, but we're both incredibly interesting and funny so it was a blast.

We stopped in a gift shop and they had a display of these good luck bears (I dont know what kind of animal its supposed to be, and Yuka didn't know the English word for what it is) that I've seen a million times but for some reason I had never noticed before how large the balls of the statues are. Its a smiling bear with one of those Vietnamese farmer hats on, but its got a huge cock and enormous balls. Its sack is larger than it's feet and maybe that's why its supposed to bring good luck...

So North Korea successfully tested its bomb. Congratulations, Korea. Talk has already started in this country about getting a bomb, but I dont think its serious yet. In addition to the bomb question, Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, made changing the constitution's language a cornerstone of his platform. The 9th Amendment prevents Japan from using its military for anything other than self-defense. The constitutional debate was recently renewed when the US told Japan that it would play an important role in its own efforts in Iraq, despite Japan's constitutional restrictions. So Japan's role in Iraq was the first time that Japanese troops have been deployed outside of Japan since World War II (so says SOMETHING I read), and now with North Korea in possession of a nuke and throwing missles towards Japan, China growing as fast and aggressively as it is (see oil drilling in the Sea of Japan), and Japan now playing a leadership role in international politics (Japanese polticians wrote the language adopted by the UN in response to North Korea's nuke test) I guess things may be changing in Japan as well as the rest of Asia. None of this means anything to me because on a day-to-day basis nothing has changed. I still have to go to my boring job and I still drink Chuhi on the weekends.

Miss you all.

More boring information

Going to Taiwan around New Year's is going to cost $1,000. I'm astounded. Its like flying to Florida from Boston or something. That grand includes hotels but still.

I looked into traveling around Vietnam after I leave Japan and I got intimidated. There were 3 to 4 pages in the Vietnamese Lonely Planet on diseases to be careful of, it advised travelers to not drink any water or use any ice, it said that scams and robberies are on the rise, and the underage sex industry is BOOMING. Apparently something like a third of all sex trade workers are under 16-years-old too, which makes the whole thing that much more appealing.

I want to travel but man. This sounds hard.

Strange Conversations

I saw a student on the train the other day, this cute girl that I don't frequently speak with but who I recognized easily. She seemed absolutely astonished to see me outside of Nova and actually let her mouth fall open when I sat down next to her. Off to a good start. The first thing out of her mouth when I sat down was 'What are you doing?' That kind of a statement doesn't surprise me anymore as she just isn't sure how to be polite or start a conversation in English. The second and fourth questions however were both 'where do you live?' I thought that sort of question could be answered once but I guess there were some details she wasn't clear on.

Her: What are you doing?
Me: Heading into Obu for dinner, you?
Her: Was with friends. Where do you live?
Me: In Kyowa.
Her: Oh KYOWA. Where are you going?
Me: I'm not sure, maybe this izakaya near the station.
Her: Ooh. Where do you live?
Me: In... ... In Kyowa? (Pointing back to where the train had just come from)
Her: Oh. I heard you have a girlfriend.
Me: ... who the hell did you hear that from?
Her: I'm not sure.

She clearly understood what I said the first time because she repeated it. I swear she repeated it. And since I haven't told anyone about having a girlfriend here (other than you all), how the hell did this student know about that as well? Man. The students must all talk to each other because I didn't tell her shit.

The other night I got dinner with Yuka and she told me a little bit about what her job is like. Since she speaks Japanese all day and we're in different parts of the building, I have no idea what goes on between the staff and the students. The students are a lot more strange than I was led to believe. I guess students telling the staff that they have feelings for teachers happens all the time and we just never hear about it. I knew that this high school Sophomore had a crush on a 26 or 27-year-old teacher at my branch. What I didn't know is that she had competition for him and the two of them even spoke about it. The second girl requested that the Sophomore inform her when she planned on talking to him, so she could be present and not miss anything.

Also, apparently some student who left to work in Canada admitted to something simliar about me. I can't remember who this girl was and I didn't ask for details, but where was she when I was lonely and looking for a girlfriend? She should have spoken up man. She could have gotten her ass ticked with a feather and her taint massaged with mayonnaise as one of my good friends from back home recently offered to do for me. You know who you are.

My name

So a long time ago I wrote that my name means poop in Japanes. That was sort of inaccurate. It can mean poop but only when combined with other syllables. One of the kanji with the 'ben' sound means something like poop, but not until you say 'benpi' or something like that does anyone find my name funny.

So I asked Yuka to write my name out in kanji a while back and she came up with 'Crown Snake People' for Benjamin and 'Food Rock' for Egan.

Tonight I asked her if 'Egan' was a word in Japanese. The sounds in my name have equivalent sounds in Japanese, so I figured there might be a word 'I-GA-N' and surprise, surprise, there is. It means stomach cancer.

Shit stomach cancer. Thats my name. Or Crown Snake People Food Rock. Whichever is funnier.

The future

I'm heading to Hikone-jo with Yuka tomorrow. Its about an hour and a half from Nagoya towards Osaka. Its one of the four national treasure castles and it should be alright. The castle itself doesn't really interest me but spending the afternoon with her should be a lot of fun.

I'm going to a Japanese wedding next week. Well, not an actual wedding but the after-party. This staff member, Aiko, has been dating the same guy for 12 years and they're finally gonna tie the knot (by the way, she's only like 25 or 26. She must have met this guy when she was about 14, and they've been together since... damn).

I'll have four days off in a row at the end of the month thanks to shift-swaps so I'm gonna head south. I can get to Osaka again pretty cheap (about $4 if I just lie about where I got on) and from there take a bus either to Hiroshima or even further to somewhere in Kyushu. I don't know what I'm gonna do in Kyushu but leaving the main island for the first time since I arrived has a certain appeal.

With Daniela's new job it looks like she's not going to be able to visit me around Christmas time. If that's the case, then I think I'm going to head to Taiwan with Yuka. We talked about it as a possibility tonight and she seemed really excited about the idea. We'll be able to discuss it tomorrow because she said she's gonna do her research tonight.

Updates

Now that I'm back in Kyowa and sober I'll fill everyone in about the trip that Tom and I took to Osaka. We basically just drank the entire time we were there with the Human Rights Museum and the Shin Umeda building used to waste daylight. I've posted all the pictures I took along with four videos. Osaka is a great city to wander around in and get drunk but I'm not sure how much else there is to do. Not really a sightseeing city in my opinion. There are two busy areas: the Northern (Kita in Japanese) area, and the Southern (Minami) part of the city. The northern part consists of Osaka Station and Umeda and the southern part is centered around Dotonbori and Nanba. We arrived at Osaka Station and after seeing the Human Rights Museum, spent the night in Dotonbori. We drank our weight in Chuhi for about $1.80 a can at convenience stores. I would compare Chuhi to things that I would be too embarassed to drink back home like Smirnoff Ice or Mike's Hard Lemonade. If you get the chance, drink the Freeze Orange variety. Kirin Lemon tastes like windshield washer fluid. We went to Amerika-mura and hung around with the cool kids in Triangle Park. We met this Indian guy named Umesh who works in a factory because he won't cut his hair to get a better job. His Japanese buddy had a tattoo of La Petit Prince on his forearm but seemed much cooler than that sounds. These girls who were also hanging around were too cool to talk to me. I was also pretty drunk and not as charming as I usually am.

We stopped in a lot of random places to piss and drink so we saw quite a bit of the nightlife but I remember only bits and pieces of it. I was vehement about going to this sushi place near the Dotobori Hotel where I stayed during my first night in Japan. After that we met some breakdancers on the sidewalk so I gave them some cookies I was eating and tried to speak Japanese to them. One of them spoke pretty good English so he helped us to find an internet cafe to sleep in. I updated this blog from that cafe (see the previous post) and the next day we headed back towards Osaka Station. Tom wanted to get out of Osaka as quickly as possible because he didn't really get any sleep and he was exhausted. I said that we should stop at the Shin Umeda Tower on the way out just to see one more thing and he thought it was a good idea. It turns out the Floating Observatory didn't open until 11 and we got there just after 8:30 or 9. We weren't going to wait so I got some shots from the 39th floor but nothing higher. The trip back was spent sleeping and smelling.

For two videos from an arcade, one from the sushi shop I love, and one from outsie of the internet cafe, click on the following links:

Arcade Video One
Arcade Video Two
No more sushi
Sawing Logs? Ha?

From Osaka... again

Ok I'm in Osaka and I'm really drunk. Tom and I were deciding between staying in a capsule hotel and paying for internet access so we can sleep in the chairs. Since I'm in an internet cafe, I guess we're sleeping in the chairs. This is more Tom's decision than mine, but its not the worst thing that could have happened. He also proposed sleeping in the train station. This guy is seriously trying to limit his expenses. I hope to pass out but I have a lot of shit to do, so we'll see.

We left for Osaka today at around 10:40am but didn't get here until 1:30. These internet booths have TV as well as　netto and there's like, the pole-dancing championships on so I don't think I'll be turning off the TV.

We saw a lot of random shit here but we also went to the place where I got my first sushi roll in japan. The place was across the street from the Dotonbori Hotel where Nova put me up and it was incredible all over again. The staff took our picture and posted it on the wall so i guess anyone who comes through Osaka will see me and Tom if they look hard enough.

We got lunch, drank a shitload of chuhi, hung out at the arcades, went to the human rights museum, and saw amerika-mura (American town).

...

Wow, ok, the plan was to sleep in this intenet cafe and I thought that was just about the worst idea ever... BUT, I just woke up and I must have slept for the past 5 hours. Hmmm. I just woke up to see this screen in front of me with its terrible grammar, most of which I just went back and corrected.

I wrote the 'human rights museum' sentence at midnight and the 'wow, ok' sentence at 5:47am.

Yeah, so Tom and I saw quite a bit today. And I found the internet cafe's porn stash on my way to the bathroom, so there's that too.