英語で'モルヒネ'をどう言うのですか

At the roof of the world

2009-07-28T08:35:00.009+08:00

Aichi summer is a good indication to us godless heathens what awaits in the next life. The heat is bad, but the humidity makes every moment outside of an air conditioner’s radius a struggle against the sweat of 120 million people.

Tsuna and I tried to get away from the sauna last weekend by traveling to Togakushi in Nagano prefecture. Togakushi is a shrine town near Nagano city, located on some small stretches of flat land 1200 meters above sea level. For over a thousand years, the mountain area has been revered as a centre for both Buddhism and Shinto. Pilgrims still come to the five shrines on the mountain to chant sutras, some hiking for eight hours from Zenkoji down below in Nagano city. However, it’s not only its religious ties that made Togakushi stand out. The area is famed as being a hideout and training area for Nishina Daisuke, a founder of the Togakure Ryu ninja school.

These days, the day-trippers, hikers and skiers outnumber the pilgrims and ninja by a vast majority. Tsuna first came to the area in her Girl Scout days to learn how to ski. Her ski instructor also runs the ‘Lamp café’ near the town centre, so visiting him (for Tsuna) and trying out his coffee (for me) were high on our list of priorities. Both were successful. Once the surprise of the reunion had passed, my wife and he spent some time reminiscing about Girl Scouts both past and present. I, on the other hand, was enjoying the coffee and chocolate cake. There’s a dairy pasture further up the mountain, so the milk and the cream in Togakushi were much fresher than the stuff we get from the supermarket.

After we said our goodbyes, we followed the map printout to our ryokan for the night. The ‘Yokokura Ryokan’ has been in business since the Meiji period (mid 19th century), but there’s been a smaller side temple on the spot since Heian times (12th /13th century). Many of the ryokans in Togakushi used to be side temples to the main shrines back in a time where pilgrimages were more common. The building itself was both in good condition and in need of renovation. The bathroom and toilets were pretty up-to-date, although there were some stains in the guest rooms that might have dated back to the Meiji as well. My main complaint with the place (and Togakushi) was the multitude of flying insects, but the town is right next to a forest and a multitude of mountain streams. I don’t imagine any of the pricier ryokans would have been any different.

On our first day in town we didn’t do too much. We checked out Chusha Shrine and ‘Lamp’ before having a good dinner at the ryokan and then heading to bed. The next morning we woke a few minutes after 6:00, had a Japanese breakfast and got ready for a half-day hike up the mountain. Only a couple of days before, a group of hikers had gotten lost and died of hypothermia on a three-day hike up in the mountains we were heading to. Of course, no one had decided to inform me of this fact until we had already gotten to Togakushi, so I was neither forewarned nor forearmed. Luckily, the weather held and we stuck to the path to survive to make another blog update.

Our first destination was Okusha and Kuzuryusha shrines at the top of the mountain. It was a three kilometer hike through along the road with some shortcuts through forest tracks. Every so often we would come across a moss-encrusted lamp or statue by the track. The bigger ones had a small plaque that explained why it was there and what it symbolized. The smaller ones further off road had no such signs, leaving it up to Tsuna and I to come up with our own explanations.

We reached the entrance to the two upper shrines near the Togakushi campsite, but we still had a lot of walking to do. It was a 1 and 1/2 kilometres walk from the entrance to the main Tori gate, followed by another 1 and 1/2 kilometres up the mountain to reach the shrine. The path was bordered by towering red cedar trees that kept the path in shade and cool for the climb up. At that time of the morning there were not that many tourists or pilgrims, so it seemed like we had the mountain to ourselves.

Tsuna and I often scream “Snake!” when we hike to see if we can get the other to jump. Since coming to Japan, the only time I’ve seen a serpent has been after it had become road kill. When we reached the final approach to the two upper shrines and the trees parted to allow some sunlight to reach the path, Tsuna didn’t yell “Snake!” We’ve both become immune to it after so many times. She just told me to not move and look down. A long brown and yellow snake had been enjoying the morning sun two steps up from us and was now slithering off into the undergrowth by the path. I wouldn’t say that I’m scared because: a) Japanese snakes are non-lethal and b) they feed us snake venom in Australia from the cradle to build up immunity. Still, I did spend the rest of the nature hike with at least one eye to the ground.

So back to the shrines!

They seemed to be partially built into the mountain, as the room inside the shrine was larger than the outside shrine itself. There are a total of 33 caves in the area, so I wouldn’t be surprised if these shrines had been built from the homes of monks who meditated up in the mountains. I can understand why they came here to meditate. The view of the mountainside was something inspiring. Peeking over the roof of Okusha shrine were the upper ridges and peaks of Mt. Togakushi and Kuzuryu. They phased in and out of view as clouds passed between the top and us. I must have taken twenty photos of the mountains from different vantage points, much to my wife’s annoyance.

We headed back down the mountain and took a detour to Kagami lake, which in the morning and evening becomes a giant water mirror. We arrived a bit too late for that, but the view was pretty enough to make the walk through bear country worth it. It was nearly midday at this point, and both Tsuna and I were getting pretty hungry for some Togakushi zaru soba. On the hike back we came across a rock with a pool in the middle of it by the cliff side. From the cliff we had an amazing view of the Northern Alps, where some of the mountains still had patches of snow near their summits. As for the rock, it is called Suzuri ishi and anyone who dips a writing instrument in the small pool will be granted a gift with words. If I had hauled my Macbook Pro along on the hike, it might have been baptized then and there.

We managed to get back into town in time for some brief souvenir shopping and rest before the bus. The trip back to Nagoya was nightmarish and one that I have no particular desire to go into here. However, I really enjoyed our time up in the roof of the world. Hopefully we will be going back there next year too.

Evangelion 2.0: You can (not) advance

2009-06-30T09:12:00.000+08:00

I saw the new Evangelion movie on Monday and I thought I could write a few words about my impressions. A caveat to all readers is that all subsequent views are from a fan boy whose Japanese skills can best be described as ‘shocking.’

The previous movie, “Evangelion 1.0: You are (not) alone” was a streamlined take on the beginning of the TV series, with much better animation and more invasive product placement. Although a few new scenes were added and parts of the story were moved around to make things make sense in the context of a movie, the story remained as canon as Shinji’s SDAT stuck on loop. The new movie throws the previously established story out the window (or into a garbage can, as is the case with the SDAT) in the first five minutes with a new Evangelion, a new pilot and a new angel in Antarctica. The time line for this movie spans from the introduction of Asuka to the highpoint of the 14th Angel fight- a lot of story and five angels to cover in two and a bit hours.

I feel the urge to treat this movie as if it were an animated fanfic, talking about who is out of character and so forth. But I will soldier on without giving a total list of all the things I thought were cool (something I’ll write once this is all done). There is a surprising amount of character moments in the movie, considering how much they have to fit in. Shinji, Asuka and Rei all have their moments in the sun, along with the supporting characters. Asuka has a lot of new scenes to herself which make her a much more sympathetic character. Even PenPen gets a fair bit of screen time.

The new character of Mari is certainly a presence in the movie and has a lot to do, although it’s mainly away from the main cast. A lot of the famous scenes from the show and manga are recycled, often involving different characters and sometimes much different outcomes.

I had some problems with the music choices in the later part of the movie, and the double whammy of the 13th and 14th Angel felt drawn out and tiring. I would also have preferred more time with the established cast rather than Mari, who while interesting enough takes up too much screen time.

As for the things they changed… by the end of the last battle, the TV show and the movies have seemingly diverged. People are dead, Evangelions are destroyed and the only thing standing in the way of Third Impact is the last thing NERV can trust. Yet there is, undoubtedly, a love story in there, too. Whether it survives a third movie reboot will have to wait for a few years for us to find out.

The Eva movies so far can be summed up as “Boy meets girl. Boy meets giant robot. Boy uses giant robot to save the girl, even if it dooms the world.” The characters are different, but in the end it’s still following the path laid down in the TV series.

Maybe I should just go ahead and start a gaming blog...

2009-05-31T16:55:00.001+08:00

My name is Blake Wilson and, it’s been half a year since I’ve played “World of Warcraft.”

If you’re reading a blog like this, you probably have played the game or at least know the basics. You level up, complete quests and raid, with bouts of farming and mind-numbing reputation grinding to support your adventures. Most MMPORGs have the unending drive to get better armor and cooler-looking weapons, as well as the social aspect of working with other players to take down raid bosses. What distinguishes WoW from games such as Everquest and Eve Online is the relative easy of entry, smooth progression, stylized presentation and the addictive qualities of popping bubble-wrap.

It’s this addictiveness that’s the rub. I can more or less guarantee that WoW players all have at least one moment of shame worth talking about- from flying into nerd rage over loot distribution, spending more time with in-game friends than living, breathing ones to putting off important dates/anniversaries/work deadlines in order to keep playing. It’s a game that ruins lives, marriages and is the cause of a number of deaths in Korea to date.

My own story takes place in Molten Core, where I got my first epic item. What seemed like a minor inconvenience at the time was that in real-life, I was amazingly hangover and playing with a bucket next to my computer in case I had to puke during the raid. I remember thinking at the time that I couldn’t back down from my commitment and that without me the raid would be down one healer. This was more important than staying in bed until I could hold down breakfast.

It’s this social aspect that drives the game at its best and makes it insufferable at its worst. It’s not hard to find a guild of like-minded people in game, and even the most boring aspects of the game are fun when joking around with friends over Ventrillo.

I first got interested in the game in 2005 or so, after seeing the box at a friend’s house and reading up about it on the web. It was not long until it had started to consume most of my available free time. I essentially gave up all other video games and TV in the first few months, and by the time I was preparing for my first trip to Japan it was biting into my reading and writing moments too.

This was all before the first expansion, and things were a lot more difficult and brutal than they are now. The grind up to the-then final level took months of repetitive game play that would have driven me away faster than real work had I not fallen in with a bunch of good people. I was also playing a Paladin at the time, which was barely useful in a raid and not even that outside of one. Most of my enjoyment of the game at that time came from talking to and playing with my friends and guildmates, who were witty, generous and wielded phat loots.

My separation from the game began in late 2006. Before this, I would never have said that I was hardcore or l33t. When a game involves spend more time looking at spreadsheets of item drops and auction values than killing things, even I can walk away. It’s the main reason I’ve never gotten into EVE Online, despite many of the crazy stories I regularly hear coming out of that game. I think a more apt phrase for me would have been “dedicated, but not particularly good.” I would regularly finish my night job, then go home and play until 8AM the next morning. After a few hours of sleep, I was ready to go to my afternoon job and continue the cycle. I didn’t get very far into the end game content before the aforementioned great bunch of people turned into a squabbling gaggle of children and the guild collapsed around me.

After this, I kind of lost heart. I was also planning to move to Japan to start work and a new life. When I did finally make it to the island chain responsible for 10% of the world’s coolest things and 50% of the most bizarre, screwed up stuff, I was unable to have a computer of my own or an internet connection for a period of seven months. In that time I began dating the girl I would one-day marry, travel the length and breadth of central Honshu, meet new people and on occasions too frequent to be good for my health, be drunk under the table by them. Yet despite this, I still hungered for my online fantasy adventure even in the midst of my real life one.

I finally got back into the game in July of 2007. The group of people I once played with had moved on, and my character was still where he had been when I was packing my bags to move. I sought a fresh start by joining a new guild with a new level one character, but the close-knit fellowship I had experienced before was gone. Some of it may have been that they were level 70 and I was starting all over again, or perhaps I had already gotten too used to concentrating time better spent on gaming on such trivial things as relationships and career. For my second run through the game, I was essentially playing a massively-online multiplayer game by myself.

Fast forward this chain of events to a year and a half later. The “Wrath of the Lich King” expansion was out, the content had never been better and I was already level 80. However, I would regularly log on and spend the next few hours riding or flying around the landscape, playing purely out of habit. The game had lost its spark for me, and it had done so a while ago. I hadn’t even peeped inside the previous game’s content, let alone the newer stuff. I checked my friends list and saw that most of the characters listed could no longer be found, either deleted or transferred somewhere most exciting than a role-playing server.

The party was over, but I was the poor sap who was still drinking in the corner by himself.

One of my favorite quotes is that “It’s easy to quit WoW; I’ve done it 20 times already!” I have had smaller breaks before, when work or real life became too persistent to ignore. I was inevitably pulled back in by nostalgia, new content or the lack of any better alternative thing to do. However, this time I’ve been clean for more than half a year and of my own free will too. I’ve boot camped my Mac in order to catch up on all the great games I’ve missed since 2005, such as the Half Life 2 series, Portal, Peggle, Left 4 Dead amongst others. But most of all, as a married man I don’t have the time or energy to stare at a computer screen until 4:40 in the morning, surrounded by half empty cups of coffee, bread crumbs and a phone that no longer rings.

This is Blake, formely Buzwell, signing off

The Unofficial Official Wedding Photo

2009-05-17T16:00:00.001+08:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Cheers Les. Your obsessive snap-shotting finally payed off :-)

The Takedas

2009-05-17T15:59:00.001+08:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

The Wilsons

2009-05-17T15:58:00.001+08:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

From left to right- Shaquille, Debbie, Tsuna, Dad, Yours Truly, Kieran, Mum, Terry, Phylis and Callum

My modestly-sized, slender Japanese wedding

2009-05-17T15:36:00.002+08:00

Greetings;

When I last left this blog, I was about to leave my house to get married. Then there was a two month break in which I didn't write anything. Never fear, I didn't resort to my backup plan and escape to Pakistan. Tsuna and I got married on the 8th of March, 2008 with only minimal screw-ups on my part.

After two months, the events of the day have blurred together into a motley of camera flashes and 'kampaiis.' I will try and put things in order as best I can.

My best man and I arrived two hours early to get prepared in our suit and wedding kimono/hakama respectively. Tsuna had gotten there much earlier for make-up and hair styling, although she had barely gotten any sleep the night previously. While the guest were getting reading downstairs in the lobby, we had our official wedding photos taken in the photo studio. They came out nicely, but Les was taking some photos at the time and I prefer his, to be honest. I'll be putting some up on the blog after this post.

The time came for Tsuna and I to make our grand entrance at the shrine. The guests were lined up long both sides, most of them taking photos. By the end of the day, I was going to get really, really sick of photography in general, but we'll get to that later. Tsuna and I entered the shrine first and took our seats in the middle. As everyone else filed in behind us, I started to sweat profusely. The pre-marriage jitters had finally begun, but by then it was too late to spray on an extra layer of deodorant.

The ceremony involved a lot of bowing, and each time I leaned forward I felt pretty faint and dehydrated. We had practiced the wedding ceremony just the day previously, so I knew what to expect. What I hadn't anticipated was that my phone can turn itself on if an alarm is active, which is what it did when we were offering fern leaves at the altar. I had left my phone (which I had turned off) with Les, but he didn't know it was mine that was ringing. Luckily, that was the biggest Snafu that occurred during the ceremony. The rings were exchanged, the sake was drunk and we were finally married. However,when the ceremony was over I felt pretty dehydrated and was surprised there wasn't a small puddle of sweat at my feet. :-)

After a brief respite, the wedding reception began. We had raided both of our music collections for the wedding soundtrack, but I figured that techno or Dragonforce would not be appropriate for the occasion. This limited my possible songlist from 2000 songs down to... well, two. I had bought a lot of songs on iTunes before the wedding, and was able to get some crypto-geek classics into the final soundtrack, such as "Still Alive" from Portal and lots of the End of Evangelion soundtrack.

The speeches went well, and my mate Susumu did a superb job of translating everything from Japanese into English and vice-versa. On my side, my best man Les, my kendo teacher and friend Mr Ishigawa and my father gave a speech. On Tsuna's side, her father, her aunt and two of her friends gave speeches too. Tsuna's aunt sang some songs for the wedding and Mr Ishigawa performed a Japanese sword dance. Tsuna's college friend Miki served as the bilingual MC, and did a very hard job well. Finally, my Japanese teacher Tomo took care of translating things for my parents.

We put a lot of effort into choosing the menu for the wedding, but we didn't have a chance to eat much of it. We spent most of our time talking to guests rather than enjoying the food or drinking. My advice for all those who are yet to get married- bring doggie bags to your wedding :-)

The reception seemed a lot quicker than the ceremony, although it was actually two hours longer. When the time came to leave, we waited out the front and handed out small gifts to all the guests (most of whom had given us some pocket money earlier). This is when we were swamped by photographers. Tsuna and I were stuck in place for a long time as flash after flash went off. By the end, my mouth was physically hurting from all the smiling. If you look at some of the later photos, no matter how happy I looked, I was dreaming of murdering the CEO of Canon, Olympus and Pentax.

All that was two months ago. Tsuna and I are now living together in Toyota, and I have to say that we're enjoying married life a lot more than the time we were dating or engaged ^_^

-Blake

W Day

2009-03-07T23:45:00.002+09:00

Well, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is the big day. My fingers are crossed that everything will come together at the ceremony and the reception.

In my next post I'll either be married or in exile in Pakistan :p

-B

Husband and Wife Rocks

2009-02-22T01:32:00.001+09:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I'm quite happy how this one turned out. The rocks are known as the "Husband and Wife" rocks because they are so close together and the smaller one seems to lean towards the bigger one. They are tied together with a really thick Shinto cord, and there is a little Torri gate on the top of the big one

A very cold day in Futami, Mie Prefecture

2009-02-22T01:29:00.001+09:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

When the clouds cleared, we could actually see Mt Fuji in-between the rocks. Swear to Cthulhu!

Trees by the river in Ise Jingu, Mie Prefecture

2009-02-16T23:49:00.001+09:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I took this in last November when Tsuna and I took a day trip to Mie. I'll be uploading the prettier ones every time I'm online

Hamburg Steak Sushi!

2009-02-16T23:45:00.001+09:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I had six of them. It was 1000 Yen well spent

日本語 Get!

2009-02-16T23:34:00.002+09:00

Well, I passed the Japanese 4th Level exam that I took last year with a score of 300 out of 400. As I wrote on Facebook, I passed through a combination of hard work, diligence and a computer error. Go ブレイク！

According to the notice I got, I have

"mastered the basic elements of grammar, knows around 100 Kanji and 800 words, and has the ability to engage in simple conversation and to read and write short, simple sentences. This level is normally reached after studying Japanese for around 150 hours and after completion of the first half of an elementary course"

So in other words, I can hold a conversation with a two year old. Which is good, because there are some smart, interesting two year olds in this country :P

Niseko

2009-02-15T22:31:00.001+09:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

This is a photo of the top of Mt Niseko Annupuri in the early morning. Most of these pictures were taken on the first day when the weather was the clearest

I've got a whole bunch of photos from last Autumn that I hadn't uploaded to my computer until just now. I'll be posting them over the course of this week, so stay tuned!

Mt Yotei from the top of Niseko

2009-02-15T22:26:00.001+09:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Mt Yotei is also known as "The Ezo (Hokkaido) Fuji" due to it's similar shape. Unlike Fuji, Yotei is still an active volcano, which means good onsens with the chance of being buried in lava.

The clouds you can see around the top signals that it will rain or snow in the next few days, according to a Niseko native we talked to.

Blake and Ben, reunited at last!

2009-02-15T22:21:00.001+09:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Or is it the famous Ezo-bear? Sometimes I forget which is which.

Honeymoon Day 2 and 3

2009-02-15T21:26:00.002+09:00

Well, it turned out the Hilton hotel didn't have the Internet, or at least free Internet. I'm to miserly to pay 1500 yen for 24 hours, so I couldn't upload my first post until I got back to Anjo. Bah Humbug! So here is he condensed summary of what happened on Days 2 and 3.

We woke up early on Day 2 and were in the first group of people up the mountain when the gondolas opened. Conditions were a bit cloudier and windier that day, but the snow was still good. I started to get better at turning on a dime, which meant that I could go down the mountain faster and in more control of my movements. I didn't crash into anyone, although there were some close scrapes, some of which were not even my fault!

Tsuna did something unusual with a pair of skis that I'm forbidden to repeat in this blog (*cough cough*) I guess this is what it's like to be married or something :P

That night we went to Kutchan, the town down the road from Niseko. Like fish that swim up waterfalls to return to the lake where they were spawned, I can find a restaurant I liked in the past by closing my eyes and retracing the steps. We found the Hamako izakaya without much of a fuss, although I did sink right up to my knees in powder snow on the sidewalk with a badly placed jump. I had forgotten it was primarily a seafood restaurant, so while I enjoyed my Hokkaido potato dishes, Tsuna ate lots of fresh Hokkaido sashimi. The meal got two thumbs up from both of us, followed by a quick scramble to make the bus back to Niseko.

Day 3 began on a real bad note. The night previously it had started to snow, but by the time we woke up it had turned into rain. For those of you living in drier climes, snow + rain = real slushy snow that is a pain to ski on. This was bad, but what was worse was the complete lack of visibility due to fog. When we arrived at the top, we could only see two meters in front of us. The 20 minute average run down the mountain turned into an hour long ordeal with multiple crashes and breaks due to leg cramps. Tsuna and I got separated in the mist and wound up arriving at different ends of the mountain. By the time I made it back to the hotel at 9:20 AM, the gondolas had shut down and that was the end of our skiing vacation.

Rather than let the rest of the day go to waste, we decided to take the train to Otaru, a small port town on the Sea of Japan. I think that Otaru has a real downtown Freo vibe, just with a lot more snow and Russians. We tried another sushi place where we had salmon, tuna and hamburg steak sushi (the last being so awesome I had to take some pictures of it). Afterwards we went to a German style brewery on the canal, complete with bar-wench costumed waitresses and big German-sized meal portions. At one point, they brought out an entire pig's leg and began carving bacon off it.

We had a lot of trouble getting back though. Our train was delayed, so we missed our connecting bus back in Kutchan, which meant we got back to the hotel two hours after our reservation for our Valentine's Day meal. As such, we had to wait until 9:00 before we could get another spot. But we wound up enjoying the meal, and it didn't completely bankrupt me. So I guess that's a good thing

Overall, we had two good ski days out three, ate lots of fresh Hokkaido food and saw some beautiful natural scenery. The company wasn't too bad either... ^_^

I'll write more as the wedding plans progress

-Blake
The Fortress of Solitude, Anjo, Japan

Honeymoon Day 1

2009-02-15T21:05:00.002+09:00

Greetings one and all. I once again apologise for my long absence- since WoW isn't taking up enough of my free time, I've added Eve Online and studying kanji to fill out the minutes when I'm only half asleep. As a result, the blog fell by the way side. The good news is that I'm back on the intertubes with the urge to type. At the moment I'm blogging from my hotel room in Niseko, Hokkaido. Outside it's around -6 degrees and the snow is soft and abundant. There are also wild foxes with a taste for Aussie blood, but we'll get to that in a moment.

Tsuna and I decided to have our honeymoon early so that we can spend some time with my folks when they come over for the wedding next month. Also, February is the best time to ski in Hokkaido, which influenced our decision slightly. Tsuna and I left Nagoya by plane on Wednesday afternoon and flew to New Chitose in Hokkaido. From there, we hopped on a bus that took us to Niseko, which is about two hour away.

Niseko, Hokkaido is famous for three things- Thick powder snow fresh from Siberia, the towering cone of the Ezo Fuji, Mt Yotei and the fact that there are more Australians here than you can find anywhere else outside of Gallipoli or a raging bush fire. It's where I first learned to ski, also known as the “uncontrolled falling down a mountain” incident. A lot has changed since we I first came here- a lot of the establishments I used to frequent have been replaced by high-rise apartments or pricier dining venues. Most of the people here use English on a daily basis, so I still get the startled look when I bust out my three-year old retarded child's Japanese while buying Vegemite at Lawsons.

On our first day here, we got up pretty early (although not early enough, according to Tsuna) and went half-way up the mountain. After having skied in the relatively drier ski resorts in Gifu and Nagano, I had forgotten what skiing on real powder snow felt like. As I chased Tsuna through the trees of the Shirokaba course, it was as if I were skiing on clouds. Niseko is not just one ski resort, it's four ski resorts that are spread out over the same mountain. There's no lack of variety here and we rarely use the same course twice. It's fun and exciting, although it's easy to wander off the easier courses onto the advanced/certifiably-insane ones.

There were no major accidents, so I consider our first day here to be a success. The sky was pretty clear, so I got a lot of photos of Mt Yotei from the top of the ski resort. My camera doesn't do the subject justice, but I'm not going to be taking up professional photography just yet (it would bite into my EVE time after all :P) Just after lunch we saw a man with a tame boar walking along the road, which was freaky enough, but when we got back to the top and started to ski down, we ran into a not-so-tame fox who had decided to park himself in the middle of the course.

Evasive actions were taken, and no human or foxi were hurt.

After a good six or seven hours of skiing, our legs decided to call it a day. After handing back out gear we headed straight for the onsen, which is no doubt why I feel only a little bit in agonizing pain today.

More as it comes

~Blake
Niseko Hilton, Hokkaido.

An Announcement

2008-10-27T00:22:00.001+09:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

For someone who majored in writing, I've found myself surprisingly incapable of stringing a sentence together today.

Well, anyway, here it goes-

On the evening of October 26th, 2008, Blake Wilson asked Tsuna Takeda for her hand in marriage in the gardens of the Toyota Art Museum. She was given three choices: Yes, Yes and Maybe Yes

She choose the second one ^_^

The photo is from a nice steak restaurant in the Toyota Castle Hotel a few hours later.

FTW

2008-10-27T00:09:00.001+09:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

The difference between bad Internet English and bad Japanese English gets smaller every day

Kuro-chan with an Attendant

2008-10-27T00:08:00.001+09:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

There has been clamouring from certain sections of the readership for more dog pictures, so here is a picture of Kuro-chan, the dog that is also a sausage.

In Japan, walking is a option for most dogs, as demonstrated by this picture :-)

Japan: Not just robots and pocky

2008-09-22T00:23:00.001+08:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

This photo was taken at a small farm in Magome juku, a postal town in the Kiso river valley

Going to Edo

2008-09-22T00:21:00.001+08:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I had to pay my respects to the Shogun sooner or later :-)

Magome juku

2008-09-22T00:20:00.001+08:00

IMGP3031.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Magome was a small rest stop on the Nakasendo, the trail through the mountains from Kyoto to Edo (now Tokyo). With the completion of the Chuo Highway and train line during the early 20th century, the town fell into obscurity.

In recent years it has become popular with tourists who want to hike the old cobble-stoned road through the mountains to Tsumago juku, a similarly preserved postal town. Both towns seem to be stuck in time, a mix of modern amenities in wooden buildings that wouldn't look out of place in the 1700s

A waterfall on the Nakasendo trail

2008-09-21T23:58:00.001+08:00

IMGP3050.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Just a few centimetres out of frame on the left is a vending machine. The local Lawsons is a few centimetres out of frame on the right.

Taisho Pond

2008-09-15T23:59:00.001+08:00

IMGP2954.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Shortly after this photo, we were swarmed by ducks who wanted to beat us up and take our lunch. Unfortunately, there was no teacher or adult in sight :-(

Kappa Bridge at Kamikochi

2008-09-15T23:56:00.001+08:00

IMGP3010.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

To take this photo, I had to scramble over some moss-covered rocks and try not to fall face first into the river, which was as beautiful as it was freezing

These boots were made for something...

2008-09-15T21:12:00.002+08:00

“What have you been doing since you last posted?” I imagine you ask.

My answer: “Walking”

A week and a half ago, my bike tire decided to take early retirement and deflated on the way home from work. For someone who needs a bike for everything, my commuting time to anywhere else tripled. I had to start waking up early half an hour earlier just to get to work, which is bad for someone who wakes up half an hour late every other day. Also, it's still humid over here, so I was showing up to work every day dehydrated and plastered in sweat.

So, what should one do when they're walking everywhere? Go hiking in your spare time.

Last Monday, Tsuna and I went to Nagano Prefecture to hang out in Kamikochi up in the Northern Japanese Alps. The first thing I thought when getting out of the bus was “Wow, it's cold,” followed by “Hey, I remember what 'cold' feels like!” Kamikochi is situated in a small valley with a lake fed by a mountain stream. It is famous for the Kappa Bridge, its picturesque and decidedly Swiss scenery as well as the freshness of its food. I didn't try much of the aforementioned food as I was too busy devouring a bag of Smith's Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips that was given to us by a friend who recently visited Australia. The problem is that when you've had one chip after a potato-chip fast of two years, you can't stop until after you've had one thousand.

One week later and I was walking from Magome, a small town in Gifu to Tsumago, a slightly less smaller town in Nagano. The trail was part of the Nakasendo, the old mountain trail from Kyoto to Edo (now Tokyo). Although for some parts of the route we had to walk along a highway, for the most part the trail consisted of a cobblestoned path through the woods. Along the way we saw waterfalls, trees that had been clawed either by a bear or Wolverine from the X-Men, enough small dogs to start a handbag pet store and an old man who was giving away free tomatoes (which in my opinion is a fair price).

All in all, on-top of my regular "Going to the store to get sushi" strolls, I walked an additional 20 kms this week. That's not bad for someone who likes to sit down at a computer for 8 hours to play Warcraft. Anywho, I finally had the time to get my bike repaired today, so my “walking like a filthy pleb” days are over. But it was interesting to walk a few miles in another man's shoes, although the other man happened to also be me

-Blake

Question of the Month

2008-09-04T23:27:00.001+08:00

Person who will remain nameless: I have a question Blake-sensei. Where is South Africa?

Blake-sensei: (*Blinks*)

The whole Gujo group

2008-08-16T13:35:00.001+08:00

IMGP2865.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

An assortment of English teachers in yukatas, English teachers not in yukatas and two very, very kind students who acted as guides and cultural advisors

Gujo-Hachiman, on the Nagara River

2008-08-16T13:32:00.001+08:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

An old alley, somewhere in Gujo-Hachiman

2008-08-16T13:30:00.002+08:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

It was just like Kyoto, but with less people

Dance Dance Dance!

2008-08-16T13:26:00.001+08:00

IMGP2895.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Considering I went all the way into the wilds of Gifu for an all night festival dance, the fact that I only took one photo of the actual dancing is inexcusable. But in my defence, this was one of the brief moments in-between thunderstorms

I know some of the people I went with were taking videos, so I'll link them when they turn up online

かき氷

2008-08-11T18:13:00.001+08:00

IMGP2817.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Blake is hot and annoyed! Only the restorative powers of strawberry-flavoured shaved ice (450-590 bonus to Hp, 5 minute cooldown) can bring a grin to his face!

The moon and the castle in the darkness

2008-08-11T18:06:00.002+08:00

IMGP2829.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

The night ablaze

2008-08-11T17:23:00.005+08:00

I think I'm all Hanabied out.

Yesterday I caught a train from my Japanese lesson in Toyohashi all the way across Aichi prefecture to Inuyama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuyama) for the Inuyama fireworks festival. For those who have never been to Inuyama, it's a rather nice, medium-sized town right on the border of Aichi/Gifu. It is home to Inuyama castle, which was built in the early 16th century and is the oldest castle in Japan. The castle itself is perched on a hill overlooking the extremely picturesque Kiso river, and is probably one of my most favourite places outside Kyoto.

After meeting up with some coworkers and friends/students of coworkers, we headed across the river into Gifu to find a good place to watch the fireworks. Some people in our group had camped out early and gotten a spot right on the riverbank, a few hundred metres across the river from the castle. As such, when the fireworks did start going off it was like being on the receiving end of a pretty artillery bombardment

During the course of the evening, I thought I was being bitten by mosquitos. Strangely, they seemed to swarm right after the bigger fireworks detonated. It wasn't until half way through the show that we realised we were exactly downwind of the explosions, and close enough to the fireworks barrage to be pelted by tiny, hot rocket fragments.

I made a good choice when sitting next to Adam, whose larger frame shielded me from the worst of the barrage. I think I owe him a coke or something :p

As I'm now on summer vacation, I have a few more (non-hanabi) events in the works for this week. Please stay tuned!

-Blake

Something relevant from Megatokyo (of all places)

2008-08-07T21:21:00.004+08:00

I've pretty much washed my hands of Megatokyo at this point. A rambling, romantic 'comedy' storyline I can handle, but a few weeks worth of missed updates I can not. As such, I nearly missed this post from Dom, who has recently visited Nagoya for the world cosplay championships

Welcome to the Tropics:
http://www.megatokyo.com/strip/1147#rant927

His thoughts on Nagoya are pretty accurate. But as for his hell? Well sonny-jim, that's been my life for the PAST THREE MONTHS

The Hellion Eye

2008-08-05T23:30:00.004+08:00

Now, it doesn't take much to amuse me. An old Super Nintendo game incased in a sheet of bubble wrap will keep me entertained for hours (days, if aforementioned game is a rpg). As such, my only recent discovery of Google Map's Street Views looks like it will keep me in its digital grasp or a while to come

I remember being surprised when I could make out my old house in Australia from Google maps. Now I can see a picture from essentially the curb-side of every single house in my old neighborhood.

The Street View service hasn't been rolled out into Japan yet (I shudder to think of the nightmare that would be photographing all of Japan's urban areas), so until then I'm going to keep myself amused with what I normally do while searching Japan- see if I can find the Emperor's secret outdoor hot tub at the Imperial Palace

(*Goes back to Google Maps*)

-Blake

Anjo Tanabata Festival 2008 (during the day)

2008-08-04T13:19:00.001+08:00

IMGP2799.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

This is from the other end of main street. It was pretty, but ridiculously hot. I went through several bottles just walking through the streets.

Tsuna fared a little better though- she had the forethought to at least bring a hat.

The view from my room

2008-08-04T13:16:00.001+08:00

IMGP2803.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Try teaching English while several thousand people are outside your window and all you can hear is Jpop from the speakers around the station and the drums of nearby marching bands

Anjo Tanabata Festival 2008

2008-08-04T13:14:00.001+08:00

IMGP2809.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

This is a picture of main street taken from Anjo Station. For those of you who have traveled around these parts, the old Nova building is on the left out of frame and the local UFJ is on the left.

Burning Sky

2008-08-04T13:09:00.001+08:00

IMGP2773.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I took this photo behind a shed at the Komoro Shrine in Toyota during the annual Oiden Festival. I was behind a shed because that was the only place in town that night that didn't have more than four people packed into 1 square metre.

This was the fireworks finale. It sounded like the end of the world, and it lit up the sky like it was late evening, not 9:00 at night

Tanabatagate

2008-08-02T21:23:00.003+08:00

Reuters (Nagoya)

Recent reports from Anjo, Japan have described an unhealthy increase in the amount of community fellowship followed by an upswing in the number of people who have flocked to Anjo like lemmings to a sharp drop.

Leading Japanologists are baffled, but some point to the shiny decorations hanging from bamboo poles that sprouted up in a single night last Thursday as the source of the phenomena.

"It's something that we can't really guard against," said Dr. Watanabe of the Watanabe Institute for Watanabe studies. "No one knows how to resist the siren call of shiny pieces of paper and 500 yen karage."

A brief glance of Asahi-machi on Saturday morning revealed many people stumbling through the streets, clasping overpriced festival food and sweltering in the morning humidity. However, some are trying to put a bright face in the face of tragedy

"Yeah, it's not too bad," said one extremely handsome foreign resident, "I've had yakitori and beer for breakfast, lunch and dinner"

Rainy Season

2008-06-02T20:01:00.003+08:00

Hi folks. It's the second day of summer.

It's raining.

It'll be raining all damn month

I hate it.

Some notable things that have occurred this month have been my post-Golden Week infection that resulted in two weeks of medication (7 types, two times a day). That wasn't so fun. On the upside, I've taken up Kendo! My teacher can't understand English and I can't understand Japanese, so I'm just watching him and trying to copy. My left arm is killing me and I'm walking a bit bow-legged. But it was fun, and I'm going to go back next weekend.

Right now I'm catching up on Battlestar Galatica. I only started watching it at the beginning of the month, and it's been really engrossing. I'm now at the end of the Season 2 and watching another mini movie before going onto Season 3. I'm hoping it will keep me going through this dark, rainy month

Peace All

-Blake

Amongst the Foxi

2008-05-06T22:54:00.002+08:00

IMGP2516.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Rion: I has no red bib? LOL

Fox: In time, little one. In time...

Blake @ Byodo-in

2008-05-06T22:53:00.002+08:00

IMGP2548.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

The temple behind me is on the 10 Yen coin. I asked the people at the ticket counter to give me 10 Yen so I could show you the contrast, but all I got was two 5's...

Fushimi Inari

2008-05-06T22:51:00.001+08:00

IMGP2579.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

There are lots of Torris. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of Torris

Maid on board

2008-05-06T22:48:00.001+08:00

IMGP2635.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

... introducing the all new Toyota 2008 model, aka "The Maidpocalypse!" It runs on a combination of petrol, hydrogen and delicious cake.

Earth

2008-05-06T22:43:00.001+08:00

IMGP2653.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

In a Larry Niven story I read a long time ago, there was a replica map of the globe being updated in real time by satellite imagery. The story was set 500 years in the future

I took this photo on Monday in Miraikan, the "Future Museum" in Odaiba, Tokyo. I thought the museum's name was quite appropriate, to be honest

As seen on a 10 yen coin!

2008-05-04T19:22:00.001+08:00

Greetings folks. This is my second blog this week on the Shinkansen. We've just passed the cloud-covered area where Mt Fuji is supposed to be, but today she (are mountains masculine or feminine?) graced us with a glimpse of her snow-capped summit from the side. It also made me wrench my neck, so a visit to the chiropracter is due in the near future.

Kyoto was pure edutainment. Les and I went to a small town on the outskirts of Kyoto called Uji. If all the signs, tourist information and plaques are to be believed, the town features quite prominently in “The Tale of Genji.” It's also famous for its green tea, but more on that later. After taking some photos of famous bridges, we headed over to Byodo-in, a famous temple that is on the 10 Yen coin. It was really crowded and full of vicious photographers who would push, bite and kick anyone in their way to get the perfect shot. After we surveyed the temple grounds and recovered from the photographer's beatings, we headed to an Japanese tea shop to sample some good quality mochi. I find drinking strong green tea to be relaxing, but I still can't get over the bitter taste. One of these days I'm going to try and put sugar and milk into it, but I'm afraid I might lose my visa.

Continuing with the travelogue, our next stop was Fushimi Inari, a place renowned for its many red torri gates. When Les and I read Lonely Planet about a “Holy Mountain,” we fixated on the wrong part of the phrase. While it was certainly “holy,” it was also a mountain. A small one, but still nothing I wanted to carry a laptop bag full of pamphlets and food up. At times the climb up Fushimi Inari was crowded, at other times quite and restful. Some of the torris were brand new, while others were covered with cobwebs and about to rot away. When we began to approach the top there were more and more graves guarded by fox statues (the aforementioned “Foxi”). The top of the mountain was indistingushable from any of the other graves and shrines, but there were a lot of stray cats up there for some reason. I had to restrain Les from using them as furry soccer balls. Both Les and I went a bit camera crazy. He took over a hundred photos there alone, I nearly half as many. It's going to require more effort to go through the lot of them and prune the ones I don't want to keep than it was to take them all.

The next day saw a return to Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavillion. While I have been there numerous times and still enjoy it despite the crowds, this was Les' first time. He was suitably impressed, although the crowded bus we took there left him in a whiny mood for the rest of the day.The higlight of my day was asking a passerby to take a photo of us using my best Japanese. It turned out she was Korean. After that particular debacle, we visited Gion to look at some tea and sweet shops that had been recommended by my students.

We called our second day in Kyoto to a premature halt in order to return to Anjo. I hope to chronicle it a bit later in the future

Until then, peace and out

-Blake

A little Shinkanesen called Hikari/You are (not) alone

2008-05-01T20:16:00.002+08:00

A little Shinkanesen called Hikari/You are (not) alone

Hello everyone. In case you were wondering, Les hasn't killed me yet. But the trip is still young!

I'm enjoying my Golden Week holiday immensely. It feels like an actual vacation, not time spent working in other places. For the first few days I took some time off and just relaxed around the house. It gave me the time to do some much-needed cleaning as well as some Warcraft Battleground bouts. I went on a picnic with my girlfriend as well as to a neighbourhood barbeque in the suburbs of Nagoya. All in all, some peaceful time spent away from the classroom :-)

On Tuesday night, my “friend” Les (aka Rion aka Danathon aka The Woodbridge Strangeler) arrived in Nagoya for a week of travel and R&R. Having lived in Japan for over a year and a half now, I decided to take him out to see some of the less touristy things about Japan, like yakitori bars and the fine art of Lawson's-shopping. Afterwards, weighed down by ice cream snacks, large bottles of coke and our troubles we returned to my hole-in-the-wall to watch the first half of the Eva remake (Les's verdict: Good, but what the hell are they saying? Also, where is Asuka?)

The next day we woke up early to go to my local kissaten for breakfast and coffee. Les met some of my friends who are regulars there and managed not to make anyone lose face. Afterwards, we travelled out to Toyokawa to visit Toyokawa Inari, one of the largest shrines in Japan. Les was particuarily taken by Ghost Fox Hill, a secluded grove covered with hundreds of small fox statues wearing red bibs. Les dubbed them “The Foxi” and sought to gain their favour by acting... well, fox-like (Pictures coming at 11!)

It was only afterwards that we realised the Daystar had been trying to burn us with its' hateful wrath, so we stocked up on sunscreen and caught another train to Naka Okazaki to see Okazaki castle, birthplace of Ice T(okugawa). There were a lot of school children on the castle grounds, painting watercolours. Some of them waved to us, which I thought was cute but Les thought agravating. I would like to have stayed longer and chill in the garden shade, but unfortuanately we had an apointment at Anjo High School to meet.

We had been invited to attend to and participate in Anjo Gauken's Kendo Club training. After managing to find some gear big enough for Les to use, he went out onto the floor to represent himself and Australia. I don't think they took him seriously at first, but in the first bout he managed to knock the kendo-sensei over. They treated him a lot more seriously after that :P Judging by the comments of the spectators, I think he now has some highschool girl admirers. I did my part by attacking a dummy in Kendo armour that couldn't fight back.

At night, we watched the final half of the Eva remake. The second half is where all the major changes take place. By this point, we had decided to rename all the characters as delicious deserts. As such, whereas I enjoyed the interaction beween Blueberry Puff and Vanilla Dream, Les wanted more than the 2 seconds of Strawberry Swirl that were on offer.

Well, there's always next movie.

We're about to arrive at Kyoto station, so all in all this worked out very well for me. I'll try this again on the Shink back home and the one to Tokyo on Sunday. I hope you're enjoying your Golden Week, even if you're in a country that does not celebrate it

-Blake
Kyoto e ikanakereba narimasen!

and at night...

2008-04-08T22:48:00.001+08:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Even more pretty :-)

Iwakura during the day

2008-04-08T22:47:00.001+08:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I had a Cherry Blossom party on the river bank last Sunday. It was amazingly beautiful to say the least

Blake & Tsuna @ Tsurumai Park, Nagoya

2008-04-05T21:35:00.001+08:00

IMGP2430.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Cherry Blossom time!

Easter Bounty from the Southern Lands

2008-03-18T23:32:00.001+09:00

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

This is going to keep me going for a few months...

Mashed Potato Pizza: A Review

2008-03-05T00:50:00.002+09:00

Last Sunday I went to Toyokawa to have dinner with my mate Susumu and his family. It was a good evening, but I wish to talk about the highlight of the evening... nah, the highlight of existence.

Mashed. Potato. Pizza.

As the name says, it's pizza which uses mashed potatoes as a topping. The sauce itself was a combination of cheese and curry

Up until last Sunday, my life had no purpose. Now it does

That purpose is to eat more Mashed Potato Pizza

-Blake

Canadian Iguana

2008-03-01T02:44:00.001+09:00

IMGP2423.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Unicorns are great with a mushroom-herb sauce when barbecued. The not-so-humble Manticore is better left aged for a few days and then eaten raw, with or without the rows of teeth. However, everyone knows that the greatest culinary treat the world has to offer is the Canadian Iguana. Her Britannic Majesty has offered a handsome reward for anyone who can find a specimen of the rare (if it exists at all) creature. Legend has it that the Iguana goes well as an appetizer when stuffed with cranberries.

There is nothing that Her Britannic Majesty loves more than cranberries.

Our story begins in the frozen wastes of Canada, where a younger if not wiser Amelia came across a Canadian Iguana basking on top of her Honda Gemini's radiator. To spare its life, the Iguana told her that it would grant her three wishes if they were in its power. Amelia pondered this for a minute before agreeing.

Her first wish was that they form the greatest 90's hip hop duo the world had ever seen. The Iguana granted her wish, despite it being 2006. Her next wish was for a device that would allow her to play Mp3s wherever she went. The Iguana told her that she was crazy, and that no such thing had or ever would exist. For her final wish, she asked for some Pocky. The Iguana told her that he could grant that wish, but first he would have to go to the store to get some. Amelia nodded patiently, picked up the Iguana and placed it on her head.

And so began their travels across the world, in search of a store that sold Pocky. There was none to be found in the court of the Great Khan. Nor could it be found in the Marianas trench or Byzantium. Macchu Picchu was devoid of even the more plebeian chocolates. In Meroe they came across some who had heard of Pocky, in Shangra-la some who had even tasted it. But it was of no use. And so their journey continues, even up to this day.

The picture was taken on February 24th in a prison-themed izakaya in Shin-Sakae.

Blake goes to Prison

2008-03-01T02:43:00.001+09:00

IMGP2425.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Pennies Arcade!

2008-02-27T01:21:00.001+09:00

IMGP2350.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Taken at Tokyo Disneyland, of all places

Captain Mum

2008-02-27T01:19:00.001+09:00

IMGP2369.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Hectic technocratic skylines and the serene countryside aside, this is my favourite photo from my trip

Tsuna @ Mt Ontake

2008-02-27T01:15:00.001+09:00

IMGP2407.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I have always had trouble of finding her when we ski, white jacket in white snow and all.

The Minnie-Mouse beanie from Disneyland breaks her camouflage, makings it easier for me to track her. That way, when I fall down the mountainside, I at least know in what direction I should be screaming for help.

Out of therapy and back on the blog-a-motron!

2008-02-27T01:10:00.000+09:00

Greetings all! It feels good to be back writing for the blog. The last month and a half has been crazy, crazy busy. I've had my apartment invaded by the Wilson clan, been snowed in, fallen down a few mountains while improving my gliding, cut back on my drinking and started back at the gym. I also got a new job!

The major news (which by now should not be news at all) is my family vacation. Mum, Deb, Mousie and CJ came to Japan back in January for a week. I took them to Harajuku, Shibuya, Ginza, Akihabara and the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Everyone seemed to enjoy the Imperial Palace grounds and Ginza, while I enjoyed getting ripped off in Akihabara. I bought a second-hand Super Nintendo from a small gameshop which turned out to be defective when I got home. For our final day in Kanto we went to Tokyo Disneyland, which was kind of... okay. Of all the roller coasters there, I got more of a kick out of “It's a Small World” river ride (as made famous by Duff Gardens) than the more adult rides. On a ride-by-ride basis, Adventure World back home is much more exciting than Disneyland.

On my last day of vacation before work, we went out to Nagano prefecture to see Matsumoto Castle. I had been to Tokyo numerous time in the course of my travels, but this was my first trip into the Nagano Highlands. In effect, this was my own personal vacation in the middle of my family holiday. The train line from Nagoya runs north across the Mikawa plains and then up into Gifu and Nagano, threading its way inbetween increasingly larger mountains until it reaches Matsumoto. The views from the train were worth the trip alone. It was a really beautiful town, and the castle itself was amazing- it is rightly considered one of the three greatest castles in Japan. It was snowing a little, but not enough to build up on the ground for the postcard-perfect photo I was hoping for. I'm afraid my enjoyment was probably solitary, though. My family, who are better-suited to warmer climes, nearly froze to death.

I've gone skiing four times since I last wrote on this blog. Much to my (and my girlfriend's amazement), I've managed to pick up the ability to glide while skiing. I'm now tackling slopes that would have sent me screaming back to the chair lift last year. There have been some nasty spills, but nothing broken yet. I've become really fond of the “Ciao” ski resort in Nagano, although getting up at 4:00 AM in order to get there is not my idea of fun.

Proving that I fail to learn from experience, I went out and bought another Super Nintendo a few weeks ago from my local second-hand recycle shop. This one came with a 1-month warrantee, and actually worked as soon as I hooked everything up. I've been spending more time trying to master the original Street Fighter II on the Snes than playing World of Warcraft or Super Mario Galaxy. I invited some friends over to Anjo a few weekends ago for a Street Fighter tournament followed by beer and yakitori. In my mind, the machine has already payed for itself in terms of entertainment value.

In my final point of note, I've started working part time for my company's corporate division. Every third Monday I go out to a company HQ to teach English to the workers. My new students are a pretty nice bunch, and the extra money will be put towards one of my nefarious designs (more on that will be revealed later)

Late February resolution: To blog more! Even if it's only photos

-Blake

(*Next time: I go to prison....themed-izakayas)

Maid in Japan

2008-01-04T19:06:00.001+09:00

IMGP2266.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

The girl in this picture passed me a note in Japanese. The translation reads as thus:

"Hello. My name is Ayko. Some men from a game company abducted me from my high school, forced me to change into this outfit and chained me to this desk in Akihabara. Please call the police!"

Hear no evil, see no evil, do no evil

2008-01-04T19:03:00.001+09:00

IMGP2294.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Unless you're me that is :-)

Some thoughts about the Association of Overseas Training Scholarships

2008-01-04T18:31:00.000+09:00

G'day folks! (or 'konichiwa' as people say over here). In between my World of Warcraft addiction and the busy work schedule these past few months, my free time on the computer is limited. If you are not satisfied with this excuse, I'm sure I could come up with one that involves ninjas, a telepathic cat and the Queen from 'Aliens.'**

I have spent the past few days on trains in between Nagoya, Tokyo and Nikko. I've managed to go through two books and oodles of podcasts while riding the rails. There's not much to say about my vacation that I haven't already written about in previous installments. This year was just another variation on the theme of 'Blake goes somewhere, drinks a lot and doesn't get hit by a truck.' New Years Eve in Roppongi was pretty crazy though- I haven't seen so many Westerners in one place since I went back to Fremantle in August.

I heard it got to 44 degrees back home during the Christmas break, which my students or American friends wouldn't believe. Right now in Aichi it's cold, but not cold enough to snow. I would have liked to have a had a White Christmas, but I'm glad I won't have to pay the heating bill that would entail.

Anyway, I'm currently at a hotel in Toyota City, waiting for my
girlfriend to finish her shift so we can go eat some Sukiyaki. The
hotel is partly owned by the Ministry of International Trade, and
Industry, so it doesn't cater to regular tourists. Instead, it is a
place for people who are in Japan on a mid-term basis to work and
learn Japanese. As Aichi is the manufacturing heart of the Japanese
Industrial Apparatus, the place can get busy at times with many people
from China, India and developing nations mixed together in one hotel.

The building is a concrete monolith, but the interior is actually
quite pleasant. The rooms are large and well furnished. There are many
conference rooms, a fully equipped gym, karaoke bar, and a small
library too (They had a big copy of the Koran in Japanese-Arabic. I
tried to read it, but unfortunately it was illegible to me in both
languages). Today was a slow day, as many of the residents went to
Nagoya on a sightseeing tour. As such, I only saw Tsuna and her
coworkers, the Umis (Ikumi and Mayumi). I hadn't met Mayumi before,
and hadn't seen Ikumi for many months, so it was good to talk to them
while I was waiting for Tsuna to finish her shift. Also, Ikumi makes
good coffee :-)

My New Years resolution is to write and blog more, so I will try and
keep notes about all the weird and crazy Japanese things that nowadays
seem normal to me. My family will be coming to visit me next week, so
I should have a lot to complain about :-)

Until next we meet!

-Blake

(**Note: Dear 20th Century Fox- Please email me for the details about
my script treatment)

The Boys

2007-11-08T01:35:00.001+09:00

IMGP2161.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

This is a picture of John, Malcom and I outside the Osaka aquarium a few days ago. Our thanks to the anonymous lady who made this picture possible

This picture sums up Japan

2007-11-08T01:32:00.001+09:00

IMGP2213.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I took this picture outside of a large department store in Osaka. Believably or not, it's an advertisement for a clothing store

The image proves the old adage that the more things change, the more things stay the same

Some fish in Osaka aquarium

2007-11-07T23:05:00.001+09:00

IMGP2174.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

There must be a plasma TV at the top of their tank I guess

Kansai 3: Kuidaore Harder

2007-11-05T22:18:00.000+09:00

Greetings folks. For the past three days I've been doing more than just my regular weekend routine, which normally consists of WoW, drinking and oversleeping. Instead I have been making use of my long weekend and John's last month in Japan to have some adventures down into the heart of Kansai.

On Saturday, I packed my backpack and headed to Nagoya to meet up with Malcolm and John. We caught the three-hour Kintetsu express to Osaka,
spinning our usual extravagant tales while playing Mario DS. We
arrived in Osaka at sunset, wandered around for 1 hour trying to look
for John's hostel (poorly staffed and not signposted). Afterwards we
headed into Shinsaibashi for dinner and over to America Mura. We found
a great bar called Mercyshire Mojo's bar, which had a great crowd of
crazy people and a wide selections of beer.

Later that night we went to a House club with some okay music, but it
wasn't as enjoyable as I hoped. We let when I got into a situation
that involved John having to take a bullet for me (metaphorically) :-(

As Malcolm and I had no place to stay, we went looking for a capsule
hotel. I was pleasantly surprised- the capsule was quite comfortable
and it had a sento, which was quite relaxing after a hard night's
drinking. If I had to do it again I would, but next time I want to
make sure I have a hostel or business hotel booked.

The next day we went to the Osaka Aquarium, a five-story tank which
houses a whale-shark and several other hundred fish. The highlight for
me was the absolutely freakish crabs found in the Seto sea and the
anime version of Jack Sparrow (photo forthcoming). Later that day we
went to Kobe, where I stayed at a hostel out in the suburbs. The place
was built as part of a car dealership, but otherwise it was a good
place with really nice people. That night we splurged at the Shin-Kobe
Oriental Hotel with a $100 Kobe-beef meal which was delicious (and for
$100 I would expect no less).

Finally, today we tried to go to the Kobe earthquake museum, which
John thought was in Osaka. Unfortunately for us, he was in charge of
the directions so we went to Osaka. Ending on a high note, we went to
the Umeda Sky Building, one of Japan's most interesting buildings. The
view from the top was great, even though Osaka was pretty smoggy
today. We did manage to gaze out to the bay as well as have a view of
Osaka Castle in the distance.

It's been too long since I last went to Kansai. It was a great trip
which I hope to be repeating again in the near future. I will post
some pictures in the next few days.

-Blake

(I now pronounce you Man and Horror. You may now kiss the giant-mechano crab!)

W00t Dragons!

2007-11-01T23:35:00.000+09:00

Now. I'm not what you might call a fan of 'the baseballs,' let alone any other sport. But tonight the Chunichi Dragons, the prefectural baseball team won the Japanese championship for the first time in over 50 years, so it might be what is considered 'a big thing' over here.

I was clued into this fact when the owner of the yakitori bar I frequent pulled me off my bike on the way home tonight with the cry "Blake-sensei! Free beer!" The man was true to his word, so good times were had by all, especially my wallet :-)

Komoro Shrine Festival

2007-10-27T19:38:00.001+08:00

IMGP2071.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Pretty, neh?

Things that were saturated with coffee in my bag this week

2007-10-12T23:11:00.001+08:00

1 x copy of "Gaijin" by James Clavell
1 x lunchbox
1 x Japanese notebook
1 x Notebook with over a year's worth writing
1 x bloody visa bloody application

One year in Japan!

2007-10-09T09:55:00.000+08:00

It's typhoon season, and it's raining pretty heavily outside. I woke up early today to go to the gym, but I don't think I'll be able to make it with four bags and a bike with no bike chain :-(

I have now been in Japan for more than one year. So, what do I think of these collection of islands of the coast of Asia? I'm still having a tremendous amount of fun. It doesn't seem like a year, only a few months at most. There are still a lot of things to do in my home prefecture- only this weekend I found a new beautiful temple as well as a Catholic monestary in Tajimi.

Anywho, these are some of my higlights for the past year:

The first time I evert seriously did karaoke after my first week training.
Wathcing fireworks at Nagoya Port for Christmas Eve
Going skiing in Hakuba, Nagano
My all night party with my mates in Osaka
A trip out into the mountains for a relaxing stay at the YuYa Onsen
Traveling to Miyajima and Hiroshima with Ben and Emma
My triumphant return to the Inter tubes.
Returning to Australia (however briefly) for a week
My birthday at the Outback Steakhouse
My anniversary dinner with Tsuna at Midland Sqaure

One year down, so here's to another good one :-)

-Blake

Blake's 10 second Japanese lesson!

2007-09-26T23:16:00.001+08:00

IMGP1962.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Nijo ga Taki:

Ni = 2
Jo = Unit of mesurement
Ga = linking article which I can't explain
Taki = Waterfall

That will be $20 please!

Tsuna at Nijo ga Taki

2007-09-26T23:13:00.001+08:00

IMGP1963.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Despite what you might think of me, I didn't push her into the rapids and then over the waterfall. I guess acting resposible is a sign of my old age and incipent demise

On robots and bakas...

2007-09-11T21:53:00.000+08:00

This is not a real review. I don't think I could properly review
something in a language I don't completely understand. You could
consider this a recitation of cool stuff I liked.

"Evangelion 1:0- You Are (Not) Alone" is about hands. Whether it is
Shinji reaching out to grasp Misato's hand in Central Dogma, Rei
reaching out to Shinji in her shattered Entry Plug or
Hideki Anno recieving the massive product placement cheque from UCC
coffee and Pizza Hut, the main theme of the movie is (gasp!) the
title- people realising that they're are not alone and reaching out to
the people around them.

I didn't know what I was going to get when I went into the movie-
I've been staying out of speculation threads on anime forums and my
participation in the fanfic community had dwindled down to nothing.
All I knew was that it was going to be a pretty rehash of the first 6
episodes, and that I wasn't going to understand more than three words
of it in Japanese.

The movie kicks off with quick shots from the end of the series- the
Sea of LCL and a chalk outline of a Eva surrounded by shattered
skyscrapers. Flash back several months to Episode 1, where Shinji has
arrived in the deserted Tokyo III at the same time as the 3rd Angel .
The first half of the movie recaps the events of the first four
episodes- the Angel fights are better animated but there's no little
new material, beyond the creepy Eva simulator which they dug out of
the Eva Graveyard or Unit 01's useless chain gun (I hope the guy who's
car was crushed by the bullet casings had insurance. Heck, I hope
everyone in Tokyo III has insurance)

The second half concerns Shinji and Rei and the 5th Angel battle,
which has been 'reimagined' from the the original series. What was a
boring floating diamond now only _seems_ to be a boring floating
diamond. But when it is under attack... well, any more would be mad
spoilers. The battle itself is where we get some extra character
development as to what makes Shinji and Rei fight, even after the
first sniper blast goes astray.

Fangirl favourite Kaworu is introduced in the last 30 seconds of the
movie. His scene is more foreshadowing than anything else- it's a long
walk from the moon to Tokyo III.

Was I happy with the movie? The answer is (obviously) yes. There were
several scenes that were worth the price of admission alone. Where
there things that I wish they had differently? Once again, yes. The
movie is by no means perfect, but overall it accomplished what it set
out to do- restart the Eva franchise on the bigscreen without
diverting to far from the source material.

As for the Evangelion 2.0... after the credits there was a short 'next episode' trailer for the
sequel, where Anno seems to be chucking out the canon with the
bathwater. We'll be getting new characters, new angels plus Das
Redhead- so the road ahead is murky and dark

Eitherway, if I could preorder my ticket for the second movie now, I probably would :-)

-Blake

"Blake has Problems" Episode 12

2007-09-03T21:16:00.001+08:00

IMGP1922.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

The new Evangelion movie is out in Japan! To celebrate, I put all the Eva merchandise I have collected this year on my desk and took some group photos

I guess my problem could be diagnosed as "Blue Fever"...

Oliver

2007-09-03T21:13:00.001+08:00

IMGP1888.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

My dog, Oliver.

He is to Shitszus what royalty is to base peasantary

It's drinking the water!!!

2007-09-03T21:10:00.001+08:00

IMGP1880.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Even stone kangaroos get thirsty in the scorching Australian winter sun :-)

Birthday party @ Outback Steakhouse, Sakae

2007-09-03T21:08:00.001+08:00

IMGP1909.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

A very, very good night. The steak I ate kept me full for the next three days

25th Birthday

2007-08-16T21:11:00.001+08:00

1/4 of a century down, 3/4 to go :-)

Some thoughts on Australia, home of Vegemite and Bogans

2007-08-12T17:31:00.000+08:00

Greetings all;

I've been back home for a week, and it's been a relaxing change of
pace. Normally when I go on holiday I'm always running off to do
something every single moment of the day. This is the first time I've
been on a holiday where I am just relaxing. Luckily I haven't been
bored to tears :-)

The flight to Perth was okay, although they ran out of Scotch before I
had a chance to ask for it. I finished Harry Potter and The Deathly
Hallows as well as got through half of the fifth volume of Rise and
Fall of the Roman Empire before we landed in Perth. It was a clear day
when I landed, and I was struck by how small everything was compared
to Japan. What I thought was a small freight shed from the air turned
out to be the International Airport. There were four planes at the
terminal, which was less than one of the terminal wings at Central
Air. There was only one store in the departure area, and it was a
small one at that.

My family was waiting for me at the arrivals gate. In the past 10
months, both my little brother and sister have grown straight up. The
term 'little' is now a misnomer, actually. When we got home my dogs
went crazy when they saw me walk through the door. I was afraid that
they would have forgotten about me, but it was like I had only been
gone for a day. That was the night I had the joy of eating my mother's
cooking for the first time in 10 months. I normally don't ask for
seconds, but this time I asked for thirds and then fourths. Then I ate
the welcome cake that my sister baked for me. Afterwards, I lied down
and was unable to move for two hours. But after a 10 month fast, I
think I can be excused for glutzing myself :-)

The next day I went to Fremantle and drank some coffee on the
cappuccino strip (the verdict- 500 times better than Japanese coffee).
That night I went over to Ben's house for a few glasses of wine and
some fine conversation with him and his folks.

Over the course of the next two days I saw a lot of movies- The
Simpsons, Transformers, An American Werewolf in London, Beerfest, Hot
Fuzz and Crank. My favourite of the lot was Hot Fuzz, closely followed
by Werewolf and Transformers.

On Friday night my friend and guildmate Les flew in from Brisbane. He
had come to Perth for business before, but this was his first holiday
over west. That night I took him out on the town. Northbridge has
quietened down a lot since I first started partying there- a lot of
our usual haunts were near deserted. The violence on the streets has
driven a lot of people away to other parts of town, like Fremantle or
Subiaco (its nice to learn these things _after_ you go out). We did
have a lot of fun at the Rise though, which isn't a place I frequented
back when I lived here.

On Saturday morning I went to Margaret River with Ben, Emma and Les.
It had been raining on and off, but for the most part the sun was
shining and everything was really pretty. We stayed at a nice little
apartment/motel complex that Emma booked through her work (I could fit
five Japanese apartments in there!) After settling in to our new
abode, we headed to Xanadu (Winery)! As Emma stayed behind in the
apartment while Ben and Les don't drink, it was up to me to consume as
much as possible. I wound up buying three wines (two reds and a
white), which I'm probably going to send home via Australia Post. That
night we went out to dinner at the Goodfellas Cafe, which ranks as one
of my favourite restaurants in the world. If I lived in Margaret River
I would probably eat there everyday for dinner. After that, we went
back to the apartment and watched Kung Fu Hustle and 28 Days Later.
All in all, it was a good trip

Well, that's all for now. Coming up in the next post- My birthday
party and omiyage splurge!

My no-doubt cliched Thai experience

2007-08-07T22:56:00.000+08:00

On my trip back home, I decided to spend a night in Bangkok rather than sleeping in the airport. I never had any intention to go to Thailand, let alone Bangkok. As such, I hadn't done any research about the place, nor had I studied even the basics of the language. Basically, I had no plans apart from getting a good night's sleep.

I got of the plane at Bangkok Airport at 3:30 and was stuck in the airport for two hours looking for my luggage and crawling through customs. I grabbed a taxi to my hotel (luckily I had the address written in Thai). The Asia Bangkok Hotel is a very large, old hotel, but the rooms were nice and big. Plus, there was cable TV! Sleeping there was actually the first time I had slept in a made bed for the past 10 months.

Bangkok is a mix of the well-off and the not-so-well off. There are tin-shed shanties at the base of office buildings and skyscrapers. There are lush gardens, lots of temples but really bad air pollution everywhere. They are fanatically devoted to their King- there are pictures and monuments of him everywhere. I went sight seeing in a district near the hotel, and the number of prostitutes hanging outside bars offering 'massages' and more surprised me (which in retrospect, it really shouldn't have).

As I had to wake up the next day at 4:30 in the morning, I couldn't do a 'night-out' on the town. I'm pretty sure that Bangkok is not the type of place I would _want_ to do an all-nighter. However, my hotel had a pretty famous cabaret show, so I bought tickets for the 8:30 session. There were a lot of people who went and saw the show, and I have to say it was a mixed crowd- Japanese tourists, American families, Chinese businessmen, German couples and well of Thais. To cut a long story short (I will try and put some photos up later), the show was pretty long and worth the money, and the dance routines were very good. The amount of practice and coreography they would have had to do amazed me.

On the way out, I glibbly figured that at least half of them were transexuals (this being Thailand and all). When I got to Australia, I got the Thai “Lonely Planet” out from the library and checked the hotel as well as what it had to say about the cabaret act. As it turns out, I was wrong by 50% on the transexual estimate...

-Blake

I HAVE RETURNED

2007-08-05T22:18:00.001+08:00

All of Australia will tremble as they gaze upon my munificence!

Maybe :P

-Blake

Blake and Saki at Tanabata

2007-08-03T22:59:00.001+08:00

IMGP1757.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I was cruising around town on my bike before work when I ran into one of my students along with her family. They took a photo of us, and I thought it turned out okay

The bag hanging from my handlebars is omiyage

Anjo Tanabata Festival

2007-08-03T22:54:00.001+08:00

IMGP1753.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

For three days out of three hundred and sixty five, my town actually looks like a nice place to live. Here's a photo of the main street, with a deficit of cars and a surplus of people

Summer Vacation

2007-08-03T22:14:00.001+08:00

As of now, I'm offically on vacation. Tomorrow night I will be in Bangkok, and the night after that I will be back home in Australia

More to follow!

You are (not) alone

2007-08-01T00:54:00.001+08:00

IMGP1744.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

The poster for the new Evangelion movie. This was the best shot my camera could get of it, although in retrospect I should have just leached it from the official website

Evangelion Rebuild

2007-08-01T00:34:00.000+08:00

There are times when there are benifits to living in this crazy place. For example, a new Evangelion movie is coming out in Septmber.

And I'm going to be able to see it on opening day!

I have not been keeping up with developments in the anime scene since coming to this country, so to say I was startled when I came across a poster for ther new movie when I went to see Ratoullie is an understatement. I'm intending to

There seem to be a few changes in the plot in this reboot of the series. The most interesting for me is that Kaworu will be introduced much, much earlier than he was in the TV series. How this will affect the cast dynamics is open to debate, but I for one can't wait. The RTouji/kaworu sexual tension should be palatable :P

It is also interesting to note that they are keeping Asuka in reserve for the second movie. While my hatred for the whiny bitch is a matter or public record, she is a fan favourite. It will be interesting to see how the fanbase reacts as well as if the movie will rise above being a simple rehash of what has come before it

-Blake

So... how about McDonalds after this?

2007-07-24T23:27:00.001+08:00

sumo 049
Originally uploaded by maktheknife.

There is a special set of titles for each rank of sumo wrestler. Being ignorant of them, I classify sumo wrestlers like olden day sailing ships

In this picture we see 15 Ships of the Line, with a few Frigates to make up numbers

Typhoon survival tips!

2007-07-16T21:40:00.000+08:00

I lived through my first typhoon last Saturday night, so I thought I would pass on some helpful tips that I have learnt

THINGS NOT TO DO:

1.) Go outside
2.) Go outside wearing a business suit
3.) Go outside wearing a business suit, a top-hat and twirling a cane in order to do a dapper song and dance number

I really should have stayed inside and played WOW. Seriously....

-Blake

Going down the mountain

2007-07-11T00:48:00.001+08:00

IMGP1645.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

This is the top, as seen from 150 metres down. It looked a lot different when there was sunlight and no mist :-)

Sunrise over the Crater

2007-07-11T00:45:00.001+08:00

IMGP1631.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Chilling at 3 Kilometres

2007-07-11T00:44:00.001+08:00

IMGP1604.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I am wearing a flashlight headset, not a jeweled crown that can shoot mindbeams at those who displease me

King of the Mountain

2007-07-11T00:40:00.000+08:00

Greetings;

Last weekend I assaulted Mt Fuji. I'm currently blogging from jail,
pending charges. "What," I hear you ask, "would make you risk such a
ridiculous undertaking?" My response to that would be "Because I'm too
stupid to know fear!" So sit back, have a good drink and prepare for
my step-by step report of my Fuji hike.

Sunday, July the 8th 2007

12:00 PM

I met my co-worker Sarah at JR Anjo. We caught the express to
Toyohashi, then transferred again at Hamamatsu, then Okitsu, then
Fuji, then Fujinomiya. The total travel time came to 4 hours.

Mood: Optimistic

4:00 PM

We arrive at the station only to find that we have missed the last bus
for the day. We wound up taking a cab up to the 5th station. The
cabbie spoke no English, so we had to negotiate as best we could with
hand gestures and mangled Japanese. He was a pretty cool guy. On the
way up the mountain he saw a deer by the roadside, so he braked
suddenly so that we could have a look at it. I nearly went through the
windshield

Mood: Cautiously optimistic

5:00 PM

We are half-way up the mountain and we haven't started walking yet.
The 5th Station of Mt Fuji has a restaurant, a gift store and a rancid
changeroom/toliet combo. We stayed there for a few hours, looking
around at the view (non-existent due to fog) and drinking the coffee
that would keep us awake for the rest of the night

Mood: Excited

6:40 PM

We began to hike up the mountain. We made it to the 6th station in
only 20 minutes, which proved to be a bit of a tease compared to the
rest of the mountain stations. We rested for a while and spent some
time talking with Shoko, a part-timer from Fukoka who is working there
as her summer vacation. We also scared a old Japanese man by yelling
out "Konban wa" before he could see us through the fog. He no doubt
thought the mountain spirits had turned into gaijin and were going to
eat him

Mood: Cheerful

9:24 PM

It's dark now, so I have my torch out and Sarah is wearing a pretty
cool headlamp. It's hard to breathe at this altitude (just under 3km).
I can't talk and walk at the same time. I'm staggering like a drunk
man and for a change I'm not drunk.

Mood: Challenged

10:00 PM

We reached the 7th Station. There is no one else here. Since the 6th
station, we haven't seen anyone. The volcanic rocks glow white in the
moonlight. It's beautiful, yet the loneliness is scary. For the first
time in Japan, there is silence.

Mood: Awed

11:30 PM

We reached the 8th Station, and thought we could not go any further.
There was a barricade across the path that said the route was closed
due to snow blocking the path further up the mountain.We though we
were going to have to stay there for the rest of the night, but the
guy who was in charge of the First Aid/200 Yen toilet rest stop told
us that the snow was only ankle-deep. So we decided to continue
onwards

Mood: Determined

Monday, July 9th 2007

1:10 AM

We reached the 9.5th station, the last one before the top. Sarah
wanted to sleep until sunrise, even though we had no sleeping bags,
tents or medieval cloaks. So we curled up onto the ground and tried to
get some sleep

Mood: Tired

1;50 AM

I woke up from a dream in which I was a envoy from Tokugawa Iesyu to
the noble Yeti people of Yeti mountain. Once woken, I was unable to
feel my legs or stop shaking. I was so cold that I thought I was going
to die of hypothermia. Over the ledge, the mist had finally cleared
and we could see all the way down the mountain over Shizuoka. After 20
star jumps I was able to feel my legs and continue onwards.

Mood: Freezing and delirious

3:13 PM

We reached the top! The crater was huge, and there was still a lot of
snow. We hiked up the last twenty metres to the weather station on the
summit. Apart from some late night stoners in American Mura, Osaka, I
am the highest man in Japan

Mood: Tired but happy

3:40 AM

I was shuffling around the summit like a zombie to stay awake and
warm. The sun is beginning to rise, and I want to sleep

Mood: Tired. Brainnsssssss.....

4:20 AM

The sun rose. It was very beautiful in a way that cameras can't catch.
The climb was worthwhile. On the other side of the mountain, we saw
some camera flashes. There were other people, but we didn't see them

Mood: Awed

6:00 AM

It took a long time to go up, but going down was a lot faster. Now
that the sun has risen, we can actually see the mountain for the first
time. The whole mountain is made of reddish-maroon rock, except for
parts that are covered in snow. The sky is very blue and life is good.
However, I was close to running out of water and my feet were getting
really tired. Because of the way my shoes were designed, when I went
downhill a lot of pressure was placed on my two big toes

Mood: Sleepy

7:30 AM

I was very tired, and my toes were killing me. I just wanted to go
home and never walk again

Mood: SLEEPY

8;14 AM

We have reached the 6th station. Shoko had opened up the store and
gave us some free green tea while we rested and chatted. The end is
nearly was nearly in sight.

Mood: Even more sleepy

9:00 AM

The bottom of the 5th station. The climb was over. Then we had to
wait for another three hours for the bus, but we kept ourselves busy
shopping and eating breakfast

So, to cut a long story short, I survived. Will I try to climb the
mountain again? Maybe next year, when I've forgotten about the whole
experience and am stupid enough to try again :-)

Next week: Sumo!

~Blake

Priorities

2007-06-30T19:40:00.000+08:00

I'm a bit short up for cash at this moment, so I thought a breakdown of today's trip to the supermarket might be enlightening in regards to my priorities

FOOD
1 x Packet of Miso Soup (Mikawa Red)
Total= 300 Yen
DRINKS
1 x Can of Sapporo Sharp and Bitter
1 x Bottle of Johnnie Walker (Black)
Total= 2500 Yen
EXPLOSIVES
1x Hanabi Great Action Firework Pack
Total= 2000 Yen

-Blake

Love Shack

2007-06-25T21:01:00.001+08:00

563959019_3da12e37ff.jpg
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Amelia took this photo two weeks ago when we were at karaoke, and I've decided to lift it for my own purposes.

In case you're wondering, I"m holding a glowstick

Damn Harajuku Girls!

2007-06-25T20:56:00.001+08:00

IMGP1486.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

They're driving down the market value of Hugs!

Rei Cofee

2007-06-25T20:55:00.001+08:00

IMGP1570.JPG
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

What's that baby? You want me to drink you?

Going away for sometime

2007-06-22T00:09:00.000+08:00

As I type, I'm 1/4 of the way through downloading The Burning Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft. It's only been one day, but so far I'm really enjoying my Macbook Pro (tm).

As I have been away from the game so long, I need to make a few changes to my lifestyle in order to level efficently

As of today, I'm cutting out the following from my schedule:

Sleeping
Eating
Working
Drinking anything non-alcoholic
Charitable acts
Uncharitable acts
Really uncharitable acts
All friends whose names begin with the letter "F"

I"m sorry for any inconvenience

-Blake