Japan 2008: Memoires Of A Gaijin A.k.a. A Journey Through The Land Of The Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Contents Date/Information

Page

----------PROLOGUE---------Definitions ............................................................................................

9

Memoires, Gaijin

Japan 2008: Memoires of a Gaijin A.K.A. A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun .............................................................................................

10

Introduction

----------ACT ONE: SRI LANKA AND TOKYO---------08/09/08 ................................................................................................

11

Begin, Flight, Sri Lanka, Colombo, Male, Jet Lag

09/09/08 ................................................................................................

13

Japan Arrival, Tokyo, Pasmo, Akihabara, Khaosan Ninja, Vending Machine Restaurant

10/09/08 ................................................................................................

16

Music, Shinjuku, Government Building, Pachinko, Park/Shrine, Bento

11/09/08 ................................................................................................

19

Sunstroke, Electric Town, Hamburger, Jess, Restaurant, Beers, Alarm

12/09/08 ................................................................................................

22

Asakusa, Temple/Pagoda, Rain, Akasaka Mitsuke, Trevor, Phone, Class

13/09/08 ................................................................................................

25

Fruit, Mitaka, Studio Ghibli, Straw Hat Café, Dita, Spunky Head

15/09/08 ................................................................................................

28

Cosplay, Arcade, Natto Beans, Laundry, Shibuya, Ginza, Odaiba, Statue of Liberty, Fuji TV

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

16/09/08 ................................................................................................

32

Photo Booth, Roppongi, Melon Ball, Hub, Ikebukuro, Tokyu Hands, Nekobukuro, Cats

17/09/08 ................................................................................................

35

Pizza, Gifts/Cards, Capsule Hotel, Yukata, 4.30am, Tsukiji, Fish Market, Sashimi, Imperial Palace, Starbucks, Sleep, Sony, Indian

19/09/08 ................................................................................................

40

Ueno, Kebab, Lilies, Peddle Boat, Zoo

----------ACT TWO: WWOOF TOKYO---------21/09/08 ................................................................................................

42

Embassy, Jess, Yakisoba, Toilet Door, Bye Beers, Hino, WWOOF, Kazuko/Hiro/Ku-Chan, Clare Home and Garden, Vines, Tape, Restaurant

22/09/08 ................................................................................................

46

Walkies, Mountains, Tape, Bento, Chestnuts, Pasties/Stir Fry, Mosquitoes, Day Off, ¥5,000, Monsoon, Freshness Burger

23/09/08 ................................................................................................

49

Dave, Bikes, Onigiri, Three Circles

24/09/08 ................................................................................................

51

Mt. Fuji, Charity Store, Vines, ¥2,500 Bento, Gate, Chinese, Finding Nemo

25/09/08 ................................................................................................

53

Tape, Vines, Chestnuts

29/09/08 ................................................................................................

55

Confused, Scraping, Toilet Hugging, Pizza and Tabasco, Strimmer, Smell, Curry, Shopping, Beer, Render, Tree Chopping, Onsen, Bad Manners, 45oC – 16oC, Karaoke, Flea Market, Carrot Cake, Climbing Frame, Ernest Hemmingway

30/09/08 ................................................................................................

62

Monorail, Tatchikowa, Curry, Cinema, Hancock, Mr. Donut, Book Shop, Godfather, Ben Elton, Gifts

03/10/08 ................................................................................................

64

Kiln, Bread, Seth, Pasties, Sushi, Taping, Sanding, Sausage and Mash, Ancient Rice, Onsen, Sauna, Beer, Mt. Fuji, Doughnuts, Banana Bread, Indian

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

----------ACT THREE: 21 DAY RAIL PASS---------04/10/08 ................................................................................................

69

Last Day, Arris, Byes, 21 Days, Rail Pass, Bullet Train, Smoking Carriage, Nagoya, Ryoken Meiryu, Shupnc Shupnc

06/10/08 ................................................................................................

72

Japanese Breakfast, Hot Bath, Chopsticks, Oreo Cookie, Ferris Wheel, Dance Off, Castle, Lifeguard, Shupnc Shupnc, Nara, Oji, Guesthouse Yougendo, Chris, Cinnamon Melt, ¥850 Guinness, Key

08/10/08 ................................................................................................

77

Über Shower, Nara, Pagoda, Flushing Noise, Deer, Buddha, Temples/Shrines/Lamps, Mountain Climb, Sweat, Temples, Tiger, Two Baguettes, Osaka, Hotel Taiyo, Beef Hormone

09/10/08 ................................................................................................

83

Umbaro, Curry Coffee, Potato Smiles, Aquarium, Whale Sharks, Ferris Wheel

10/10/08 ................................................................................................

86

Shinkansen, Okayama, Smoking Carriage, Kurashiki, Young Inn, Art Deco Genitals, Velocity, Joyful

11/10/08 ................................................................................................

89

Okayama, Chopstick Box, Vegetable Drink, Oreo McFlurry, Castle, Boat Ride, Shaka Shaka

12/10/08 ................................................................................................

92

Nozomi, Kyushu, Fukuoka, Khaosan, Cold Udon, ¥1,000 tokens, Katakana Book, Mos Burger, Shawshank Redemption

13/10/08 ................................................................................................

95

Lawson Breakfast, Canal City, Indian, Underground Shops, Hotto Motto, South Park

14/10/08 ................................................................................................

98

Kumamoto, Hotel Route Inn, Doughnut Bites, Double Bed, Mos Burger and KFC

15/10/08 ................................................................................................

101

Aso, Mist, Volcano, Mountain Climb, Dangerous Descent

17/10/08 ................................................................................................

104

Cream Collon, Beppu, Khaosan, Beach, Bad Boys, Yufuin, Red Bean, ½ Climb, Hot Spa, James Bond

18/10/08 ................................................................................................

108

Nagasaki, Ebisu, Knitted Loo Seat, Ramen, Dresden Files, Ice-Cream

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

19/10/08 ................................................................................................

110

Western Breakfast, 26 Martyrs, Bomb Museum, Memorial Park, Hypocenter, Plum Wine

21/10/08 ................................................................................................

113

9 Hour Train Ride, Matsue, Route Inn, E.A.D., Laundry, Light House, Pasta Factory, Castle, Samurai House, E.A.D., Filaments/Damaged, Sam

23/10/08 ................................................................................................

117

Train Ride, Snacks, Yoda, Tottori, Tea/Coffee/Cake, Kazuko Call, Temple, House, Gifts, Hotel Resh, Cracked Egg, Ski Lift, Bare Feet, Desert, Dune, Dune Running, McD’s, Beer/Squid/Leaf

----------ACT FOUR: KYOTO---------25/10/08 ................................................................................................

124

Post Office, ¥3,000 Extra, Kyoto, Uzumasa, Guesthouse Bola-Bola, Dim Sum, Monopoly, Tram, Argument, Melon Musk, Mum and Daughter, Monopoly

26/10/08 ................................................................................................

128

Free Food, Tram Pass, Flea Market, Monkeys, Feeding Time, Angry Monkey, Home Cooked Food, Night Time Lanterns, Monopoly

27/10/08 ................................................................................................

131

Umbrellas, Three Circles, English Books, The Stand, Phone Home, Monopoly

28/10/08 ................................................................................................

132

No Music, K’s House, Lost, Sukiya, Kikokutei Gardens, ¥500 Internet

30/10/08 ................................................................................................

134

Broken MP3 Player, Curry Burger and Cheese, Mountain Temple, Gion, Andrews Original Eggtarts, Fushimi Inari, 10,000 Torii Gates, Night time Kyoto

----------ACT FIVE: WWOOF KYOTO---------31/10/08 ................................................................................................

138

Mega Mac Meal, WWOOF, Keisan, Seth, Yoshi, Innis, Waterproofs, Rice Fields, Setsu, Cold

02/11/08 ................................................................................................

139

Outside Breakfast, Soba, Soya Beans, Rice Pancakes, Threshers, Breakfast Duty, Tight Boots, Rice Harvesting, Crabs/Frogs/Newts, Bundles, Ai, Night Time Social

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

03/11/08 ................................................................................................

142

Threshing, Paul, Udon, Soba, Soya Harvesting, Fire

05/11/08 ................................................................................................

144

Rice Field, Yellow and Black Rice Harvesting, Mission, Bundles, Rubber Potato, Threshing, Badminton, Ikuta Kanyou and Oolong Tea

06/11/08 ................................................................................................

146

Day Off, Long Walk, Strop, Big Beers, ¥3,000 Taxi, Carving, Badminton, Country Experience, Shrines, Four for Washing Up

07/11/08 ................................................................................................

148

Threshing, Green Rice, Wheel Barrow, Told Off

08/11/08 ................................................................................................

149

Tweezers, Red and Soya Beans, Potato and Salt, Folk Music, Broken Laptop, Phone Home, Postcards

09/11/08 ................................................................................................

151

Threshing, Rice Machine, Tweezer Rice, Flour, Doughnuts, Mad Capsule Markets, File Transfer, Phone Jessie, Rain Crabs

10/11/08 ................................................................................................

153

Rice and Soba, Red Beans, Cold, Thresher, Seth Laptop

11/11/08 ................................................................................................

154

Hand Shake, Soya Beans, Badminton, More Beans, Thanks, Fire, Curry

12/11/08 ................................................................................................

155

Bye Seth, Fence Fixing, Kohei, Half Day Off, Broken Racquets, Kumi, Happy Smile, Packing

----------ACT SIX: HIROSHIMA---------13/11/08 ................................................................................................

157

Leave, Kyoto, McD’s, Mr. Powers, ¥20,000 tickets, Hiroshima, Tram, Business Ryoken Sansui, Dinner/Breakfast, Soup Tea, Jessie Call

14/11/08 ................................................................................................

160

Hot Shower, Sukiya, A-Bomb Dome, Kids, Mito Kosei, Museum, Night Dome, Peace Prayer

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

15/11/08 ................................................................................................

163

Day Pass, Ferry, Miyajima, Momiji Manju, Itsukushima-Jinja, Climb, Cave Shrine, Ice-Cream, Smoky Room, Stinky, Sukiya, Needful Things, 7% Beer

16/11/08 ................................................................................................

167

Breakfast/Lunch, International Conference Centre, Bus Ticket, Island WWOOF, Hijiyama Park, Manga Library, 1 Litre Beer, Snacks, Phone Calls

17/11/08 ................................................................................................

169

Festival, Drum and Sake, Ninja, Bikes, Castle, Internet Café, Christmas Lights, VJ and Nani

----------ACT SEVEN: WWOOF HIROSHIMA---------18/11/08 ................................................................................................

172

Oranges, Meat and Rice, Wrong Platform, Missed Train, Akitsu, Ferry, Osakikamijima, WWOOF Host, Own House, Dinner and Dishes

19/11/08 ................................................................................................

175

Bikes, Green House, Weeding, Digging and Planting, Masaki, Onsen, Croquettes, Keiko, Heater

20/11/08 ................................................................................................

176

Masaki Shower, Chicken Plucking, Weeding, Blueberry Plants and Grubs, Hot Pot, Un-Laid Eggs

21/11/08 ................................................................................................

178

Brandy Bottle, Peat Mix, Big Machine, Yours, Cooking, Stir Fry, Pasties, Carrot Cake, Wine and Beer, Car Keys

22/11/08 ................................................................................................

181

Feel Bad, Orange Picking, Ramen, Labelling, Yakitori, Translation, Samurai Sword

23/11/08 ................................................................................................

183

Usual Breakfast, One Hundred People, Tents, Frisbee Golf, Jam Stall, Early Beer, Splinter Removal, Buffet and Beer

24/11/08 ................................................................................................

186

Day Off, Farm Photos, Bento, Mount Kanomine, Shrine and Bell, Bees, Flight 2000, Hammered, Phone Home

25/11/08 ................................................................................................

189

Turd, Cleaning, Factory, Blueberries/Sugar and Boiling, Jam, Coffee and Cake, Small Dinner

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

26/11/08 ................................................................................................

191

Blueberry Plants, Cycling, Oranges, Truck Ride, Onsen, Chicken Stomach

27/11/08 ................................................................................................

192

Pancakes, Oranges, Soya Sauce Swiss Roll, Hogalaka, Batteries, Onsen, New Car, Curry, Stuffed, Top Trumps

28/11/08 ................................................................................................

193

Oranges, Keiko Climbing, Curry and Bones, Free Afternoon, Rain Walk, Oyakodon and Yuzu

29/11/08 ................................................................................................

195

Labelling, Roo’s MP3 Player, 432 Jars, Moving Wood, Beer and Coffee Reward, Frying Dinner

30/11/08 ................................................................................................

196

Last WWOOF Day, Oranges, Cart, Okonomiyaki, Lemon Delivery, Hotel Seifukan, Kiwi Jam, Fish and Bones, Phone Home

----------ACT EIGHT: TOKYO RETURN AND DEPARTURE---------01/12/08 ................................................................................................ 199 Lie-In, Pack, Jessie Gift, Ferry, Akitsu, Hiroshima, Sukiya, McD’s, Bus, Sleep, Toilet Breaks

02/12/08 ................................................................................................

201

Arrive in Tokyo, Shinjuku, Packed Train, Akihabara, Ninja, Breakfast and Rest, Lunch, Electric Town, Yodobashi, Jess, Presents, No Beers, Hub

03/12/08 ................................................................................................

204

Hino, Clare, Kazuko, Jam, Curry Lunch, Three Ladies, Hiro, Ku-Chan Walkies, Presents, Granddaughter, Kids, Sushi, Fair Well I, Beers, Beer, Dita, Schnapps, Fair Well II

01/04/09 ................................................................................................

207

Last Day, Kazuko Bread, Roppongi, Jess, Expensive Fruit, Roppongi Hills, Fair Well III, Kings Road School of English, English Dinner, Guinness, Fair Well IV, Bladdered, Hang Over, Narita, Uno, Fair Well V, Sri Lanka, Ramada Hotel, Double Bed, Arrack, England, Heathrow, End

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

----------EPILOGUE---------Actual Dates .........................................................................................

212

Actual Dates, Activity

Mother‘s Testimony ..............................................................................

215

Email, Attachment, My Father’s Sixth of August

Hostels and Accommodation ................................................................

219

Hostels/Hotels, Cost, Dates, Facilities, Location, Websites

Useful Web Sites ..................................................................................

222

Websites, Information

Japlan....................................................................................................

224

Japan, Places, Journey Route, Key

Distances ..............................................................................................

225

Journeys, Miles, Kilometres, Running Totals

Exchange Rates .....................................................................................

227

Change in Exchange Rates 2008, Graph, Dates, Yen to Pound

Stimulants .............................................................................................

228

Music, Movies, Books, People, Equipment and Luggage, Funny Japanese Names, Final Thanks

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Definitions

(Memoires) aide-memoire /aydmemwaar/ • noun (pl. aides-memoires or aides-memoire pronunc. same) 1 a note, object, or device used to aid the memory. 2 a diplomatic memorandum. — ORIGIN French.

gaijin /gijin/ • noun (pl. same) (in Japan) a foreigner. — ORIGIN Japanese, from gaikoku ‗foreign country‘ + jin ‗person‘.

From the Oxford English Dictionary definitions on http://www.askoxford.com.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Japan 2008: Memoires of a Gaijin A.K.A. A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun This is the diary that I wrote while travelling around Japan with my Brother Andrew (Roo). We spent just under three months exploring the south of the country, visiting loads of places and working on three different farms along the way. I‘ve never had a diary before so I wasn‘t really too sure what to write in it but I just about managed to write down what we did every day. Some of it is a bit repetitive and there are a few common themes running through it too, like my fascination of our daily meals there!!! The dates are the dates that I wrote the diary entries in, they are not the day that we did things. Sorry if this gets a bit confusing!! This truly was an amazing time for us and a real eye opener. I hope that you enjoy reading my story, a story of the land of the rising sun, mosquito bites, raw fish, mountains and islands, beef hormone, desert, planes, trains, buses and ferries, rice and noodles, A-bombs, music, temples and shrines, many men‘s penises, cats, a dog, praying mantis‘s and a small man called Ikuta Kanyou…

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

08/09/2008 Have you ever seen the Sun rise at 37,000 feet? A yellow/red glow spreading to a mixed rainbow hue of dark blue, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. What a horizon. Then below the plane, a carpet of pure white cotton clouds, not a break to be seen. Definitely the highlight of these flights so far. By this point I was seriously sleep deprived!! I had had zilch sleep over the past day and was bouncing over various time zones. The result of the lack of sleep, nervousness and repetitive viewing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had led me to believe that I was a poet when I looked out of the plane window. Although the view was something else!! The clouds looked like giant leviathans invading the skyline!! Pretty awesome!

10 hour flight from Heathrow to Colombo, 18 hour stop off, a one and a bit hour flight from Colombo to Male before another 9 hour flight to Narita/Tokyo! I‘m not even sure what time I‘m supposed to be feeling. Must have had 7 or less hours sleep since travelling. Been a weird ride so far. Hurt like Hell leaving everyone at Heathrow. Then sitting on plane with the twat in front in the ‗fully reclined position‘! The WHOLE journey! Bastard. Got to Colombo, Sri Lanka and had some guy at the airport suggest we get a hotel for the night. We agree and end up taking a 15 minute trip through a ghetto/slum with religious effigies boxed in various places along the way. We got to the hotel which looked like the perfect Sri Lanka was like nothing I was expecting. We actually thought that we were just gunna crash in the airport for the 18 hours, but when we got there, we were so exhausted, we needed some kind of bed!! It was about 3 in the morning in Colombo too. Before we had left, during our planning stages, we found out that Colombo Airport has had many terrorist attacks on it!!! When leaving the airport in a taxi, there were armed men everywhere, surrounded by tank traps too. TANK TRAPS!!! Who is going to drive a tank to the airport!! It was all getting a bit too much for Roo too. He was totally nervous and was not in the slightest bit happy about the whole Colombo experience!! I was too tired to care less!

place for a hostage scenario!! Got a few hours sleep before heading back to the airport. 11/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Found a bar there after a while and sat there playing Top Trumps, eating burgers and drinking coffee and tar flavoured tea. Anyway, back in the air looking out over a sea of white clouds with leviathan sized formations sitting on top. 3 ½ hours left to Tokyo and Japan.

Top Row Left to Right:  Me and Roo at Heathrow getting ready to leave everyone.  View from our hotel at Sri Lanka.  Sea of clouds over China. Bottom Row L2R:  In-flight entertainment.  First look at Japan.  Coming into land at Narita Airport.

3

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

09/09/2008 Arrived in Japan (日本) yesterday. Yesterday is also the first time I have ever suffered from total exhaustion!! Two days of no sleep caught up. We got to the airport, got through customs and found ourselves trying to work out how to get to our hostel. Asked around and were given directions to the train. Tokyo (東京) was about an hour from the airport. Purchased a Pasmo card for travelling on the trains. No discount but makes it easier. Eventually got to Akihabara (秋葉原) station, and had to work out where we were and how to get to our hostel. It was really hot, the bags were REALLY heavy and we smelt and felt like shit!!!! Found Ninja Khaosan Hostel We had just come from England where the previous summer was pretty much nonexistent! When we arrived in Tokyo, they were having a hot summer. We arrived in Akihabara and realized that we did not really know where we were going to our hostel. We managed to find our bearings and headed off and only managed to really find the place due to Roo recognizing some of the roads from Google Earth!! It turned out to be a long walk there and our bags were heavy!! Now, we hadn‟t had a wash for two days, we decided that we did not trust the shower at Sri Lanka. It must have taken about 45 minutes to get there and in the end we were just running on adrenaline. We were exhausted, both physically and mentally, lack of sleep, heat and heavy bags did not help. You can imagine what our armpits were doing!!

quite easily. Signed in to a very smiley lady on reception who kept thanking us for our long stay.

I can only imagine what we must have looked and smelt like when we arrived!! Once we got in, we committed our first Japanese faux pas!! We walked right in to the Hostel and eventually up to our room in our heavy work boots!! Like I said, we were exhausted and I don‟t think I fully knew what I was doing!! We had to pay for the room up front and Roo paid, he took the money out of a safety pouch thing wrapped round his waist that had acted like a sponge for his sweat. The money he handed over was soaking!! YUCK!!!

We apologised for our smell and dragged ourselves up to our room. A small space with a bunk bed, (Roo on top) and desk/chair spare bed and also had air con!!! Peeled off our sweaty, rank clothes and had a shower. Scrubbed like a 13/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

At the beginning air con was like magic to us!! As it turned out, they have air con everywhere in Japan. I forgot that we were not in England. Only problem would be who had control of the remote for it!!

bastard and over heated myself so felt like crap. Talking of crap, Japanese toilets are awesome!!! Heated seats, various buttons, cool. Redressed and hungry, we staggered back out to find food. Random observation, vending machines are everywhere!! Chose a restaurant, chef guy pointed to a vending machine on the wall. We had to put our money in, choose what we wanted and give the ticket to the chef who cooked it. Both had a rice dish and noodles. Good food. We were so tired, after we went back to the hostel and went to bed, plagued by jet lag and exhaustion, there wasn‘t much else that we could do. I felt like total crap!! There was the odd occasion where I would write a small bit about that morning to be included on the end of the previous days write up as we would write our diaries in the morning. This ended when we took to writing them at night. We ate in McDonald‟s at times, nearly every day for breakfast during the first week. It was fun and interesting eating the local food but sometimes you just needed to eat something the reminded you of home and familiarity.

Woke up today feeling better but still a little dizzy but better. Got scrubbed up and went for breakfast. Had a Mc Donald‘s, egg and patty McMuffin. Had no idea that they put maple syrup in the muffin!! NASTY!! Also messaged and spoke to Jessie on line today. Miss her loads.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Khaosan Ninja. See the giant silver bucket of free umbrellas at the front.  Khaosan Ninja sign.  Our ruined room!! Middle Row L2R:  Japanese toilet with control panel on the side.  Row of sinks in the communal bathroom on our floor.  Lounge area in Khaosan Ninja. Bottom Row:  Tatami flooring area where we wrote in our diaries each day. Big TV too.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

10/09/2008:

♫

!!! – The Mad Capsule Markets♫ #1

This is the first morning that I‘ve listened to my MP3 player. Gunna see how far through all my tracks I get before we leave. Start off with a particularly mental Japanese song!! Yesterday, after breakfast, we went to Shinjuku (新宿区). Part of Tokyo filled with sky scrapers. Took the tube, finding them easier to use now. The first place we headed to was the government building. We were told you can get the best views from the top, and it‘s free!! Found the building, it looks like Tokyo is bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games!! Not too sure where to go once we were in, we walked up to the help desk. With my Japanese still poor, I asked the lady ―Do you speak English?‖ Luckily she said yes and told us how to get to the 45th floor. Once up there, the view was awesome. Massive windows exposed a bird‘s eye view of the city. A mass of building everywhere you look, the odd city park dotted here and there too. They stretch out until they fade away into smog clouds. Unfortunately we could not see Mt Fuji. We took out the camera to take some photos but only managed two before the batteries ran out!! There was a shop up there too so I went to ask the lady at the counter if they sold them? I whipped out the translation book and did my best at saying: ―I don‘t speak Japanese‖ followed by ―Batteries?‖ Luckily for us she understood what we were saying. Unfortunately they did not sell them so we had to leave the building, walk 20 minutes to the shop and back again!! It was worth it as the views were amazing. While getting the batteries we had lunch, both had noodle soup. We ordered by pointing to laminated meals of what we wanted. Both had noodle soups which were massive. Also went into a Pachinko and Slot arcade which assaulted our ears!! A room filled with people (mainly old) dumping ball bearings into brightly coloured machines and getting more out at the bottom. They had the sound of these things onto MAX as it was deafening in there, and I mean, really loud!! It was really smoky too. There is no smoking ban yet in Japan. After our second trip to the government building we went to the park near it. It was an experience!! I have never been in such a noisy park in my life!! The bugs make more noise than the birds and people!! They were making a noise that 16/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

sounded like an engine starting!! The noise followed us around the place, but it came in waves, being noisy in one moment and easing off as it moved on!! There were a lot of tramps living in the park. They had their little tarpaulin homes and were washing their clothes and hanging them out, collecting cardboard, cans and crushing them, possibly to sell them off for a bit of cash. These were the smartest, most sophisticated tramps I have ever seen!! There was a temple in the park which we visited. Really nice to look upon. Wasn‘t too sure what to do there so just took pictures as we didn‘t want to insult them. This was the first temple that we visited. The design and look of it was amazing, it was something that we had only seen in pictures and films before!!! These temples are everywhere, sometimes you‟ll be walking down a business district and you‟ll just come across one! Like I said they are everywhere, so soon we got pretty bored of them. But, at this time it was amazing!!

Today Roo discovered a new Fanta drink. It comes in small cans; you have to shake it before opening as it contains jelly. A fizzy jelly drink!! Yuck!! Before we got the train back we had a look around a department store. The first few floors were clothing and toys etc. The top was a plant and pet shop. They sold cats and dogs too. Best bit was they had a cafe on the roof so we went out and had an ice cream. Back in Akihabara we had a bento box for dinner. I still have no idea what we ordered but it looked and tasted awesome!! Last thing we did that night was to walk out and find our capsule hotel. On the way back we brought some beers and went to bed. Today we got up and had a McD‘s again, minus the maple syrup this time!! Off to check out Electric Town and to meet Jessie‘s sister Jess for dinner tonight. ♫

(When the Bough Breaks) Say When – Fair to Midland♫ #14

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Awesome egg building at Shinjuku.  Government building.  Looking up at the Government building. Middle Row L2R:  City views of Tokyo taken from the top of the Government building.  Looking down on Shinjuku Park.  Two of the many, many vending machines. Bottom Row L2R:  Fanta jelly drink that Roo liked.  Cards found at the shrine.  Our first shrine we found in Shinjuku.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

11/09/2008:

♫

…And a Song for Los Angeles – She Wants Revenge♫ #15

Yesterday we got sunstroke!! Typical English guys coming from a cold wet country to a real hot one!! Well, we started off by walking over to a part of Akihabara called ―Electric Town‖. It is famous for its bright lights, electric stores, Manga and collectables. There are markets and eight story buildings that sell nothing but Manga characters, models of Godzilla, naked cartoon women, odd!! Everywhere you look is a different flashy light. I‘ve never seen so many collectables before!! I had no idea trading cards were so popular either!! I found a few things that I recognized; Final Fantasy, Ghibli, Pokémon, Godzilla, Nightmare Before Christmas, etc. Then there were a lot of things that I had never seen before ever. It is insane how many types of robots there are!! It was blisteringly hot so we decided to head back, get some lunch and chill out at the hostel. We discovered a restaurant place on a back street near where we are staying. Walked in and sat at the food bar, the lady took one look at us and said ―Hamburger?!‖ we nodded. When the food came out, it was a massive homemade burger with a massive mound of chopped lettuce and carrots, cold noodles in a tomato sauce, a fried egg and a separate bowl of rice. An awesome meal. By the time we had finished we were feeling a bit green so went back to the hostel. After using the computers for a bit, we went up to our room for a nap. Got up after a couple of hours, still feeling like crap. Made ourselves presentable and went out to meet Jess, Jessie‘s sister, for dinner. As my English mobile does not work, we had to arrange a place to meet before hand. We decided to meet at the Electric Town tube exit. Good in theory. Got there at the same time as 5,000 other Japanese people did!! After walking around trying to find her, I got a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see Jess. We said ―Hello‖ and introduced ourselves and went for dinner. She had found this Japanese restaurant on the internet and took us there. The place was awesome, exactly as I had imagined a Japanese restaurant to look. Loads of booths with different groups in, some of them with sunken tables. It looked awesome. Not knowing what to order, we left Jess in charge. First off came a sushi style rice dish with avocado and salmon roe. Decided that I‘m not a big fan of fish eggs!! Then battered chicken bits and chicken skewers. The battered chicken was nice, the skewers were different!!There were two skewers 19/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

made of chicken meat, two made from chicken skin and one made from chicken liver!! Chicken skin was rank!! Next we had edamame beans which I‘ve always wanted Roo to try, they were good. Last dish was noodles wrapped in an omelette which would have been awesome if it wasn‘t for the salad cream on top!! At the end, Jess paid for the meal, Legend!! We all then had a look round Electric Town, which, as it was night, was fully illuminated. There were lights of all colours flashing and climbing up the walls of the buildings. Totally overwhelming. We had a look in one store and found a Wii package with Wii Fitness and board for about £185. Just shows how much we get shafted in England. We got out and Jess had to go back home. We both decided to go check out a bar we found the other day. A real small place on a back street. The staff there were awesome and very accommodating. We both had a bottle of Tuborg each and then a glass of draught lager. The guy behind the bar gave us a bowl of nuts for free. Sweet. Feeling quite tired, we left after that to go back. Had a good day, apart from feeling ill again!! Also spoke to Jessie today on her sisters mobile. She is sad that I am here and I really miss her too. The bar was called Beers and is run by a guy called Masato Yamazaki. He was really cool and was always really friendly to us when we came in. He spoke very little English but we managed to communicate. The staff that worked there were always really friendly too. He played 60‟s/70‟s music and every now and again a Zeppelin song would come on, we were in heaven!! Beers bar was one of our highlights in Japan and a great discovery.

Today we woke up before our alarm and decided to get up early and use the Hostels PC‘s before it got busy. I spent the time using Facebook to put up pictures and talking to Jessie. Roo was using the PC in the downstairs lounge. After a while, a lady came down to where I was using the PC with some other guys on the other two. She asked if any of us were staying in room 2D. I asked why and she said that the alarm clock was going off and had been for the last hour. That was our room, FUCK!! Not wanting to take the blame and remembering Roo had the key, I said to her that there were a few people downstairs so I would go and ask them. I got Roo off the PC and explained to him to go up and turn it off. Ha ha, he got the blame!! The batteries are now out of the clock!! Then we went out to McD‘s again. 20/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Today we are going to Asakusa (浅草). A place near us with a temple in it and a torii gate. Also brought some mosquito bite cream as I keep getting bitten by Buying the mosquito cream involved us going into a chemist, me pointing at the red itchy bites on my arms and making a buzzing noise!! Luckily, the guy worked out my charade and gave us some cream. Ahh, bliss!!

those little bastards!! Roo brought a green grape Kit Kat. NASTY!! ♫

19 Ghosts II – Nine Inch Nails♫ #32

Top Row L2R:  View of the busy road near Akihabara, raised road like the one on the top left run through Tokyo.  Typical electrical pylons found everywhere in Japan.  Sushi dish with fish roe from our meal with Jess. Bottom Row L2R:  Akihabara at night.  Escalators on the side of a building in Akihabara.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

12/09/2008 Went to Asakusa yesterday. We looked at the map and decided to walk as it looked fairly near. It was warm outside but there was a lot of cloud cover. It turned out to be about an hour away which was made worse because it was quite hot. I had no idea what Asakusa was and had no preconceptions. I was totally blown away by what we found. It was a massive pagoda and temple with a busy market/shopping area. We had to walk through big gates guarded by different spirit statues. Past that was the busy market area. There was a massive range of food on display with either machines or people making it, on display. At the end of the market was another gate leading on to the grounds of the temple. There were many people performing various rituals. I watched people taking a roll of paper, burn the end, wave the smoke over themselves and place the rest of it in a big brazier. We then watched people perform a water ritual and decided to give it a go ourselves. There was a big trough with constant running water. Resting on it was about twelve ladles. You took a scoop of water in the ladle, pour it over one hand, pour it over the other hand and pouring the rest out into a cupped hand, swilling it in our mouths and spitting it out on the floor. After this we made our way up to the temple and both placed a candle on a candle rack. This is to remember someone. Feeling a rumble in our tummies, we decided to go hunt for food. We found a little restaurant and had beef, veg, rice and miso soup. Once done, we decided to head back. As we did, it started to rain, and rain and rain. In a short space of time we were soaked!! We took refuse in a garage before moving on once it eased up a bit. It didn‘t stay quiet for long and started to heave down again!! This time we ran into a cake shop. Dripping wet we ordered a small cake each and weird fruit thing. We ate the cake and moved on. By now the rain had stopped. On the way back we picked up an excessively large apple, peach and punnet of grapes for breakfast the next day. Try to move away from McD‘s. Once we got back we smartened ourselves up and went back out to meet a contact that we had over here called Trevor. He had a spare ‗pay as you go‘ mobile phone that we could use. We walked to the station, (this time with umbrellas). We got the train 22/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Trevor was a legend. He is the nephew of a guy we know in England. We contacted him before we left and he posted us a load of magazines and information brochures for us to look through. He has a great sense of humour and was very generous. We were lucky to have him as a contact.

to Akasaka Mitsuke (赤坂見附駅). Once we got there, we gave him a call from a phone box to come and get us. He is a top guy and first got our phone sorted out. Turns out it is a PINK flip phone. PINK!! After, he took us to his office. Here he teaches Japanese English. We sat and chatted and he made us an über cup of tea. NICE. He had a meeting so we sat and chatted to his assistants until a new PC got delivered for them. Me and Roo helped them to put it together and were rewarded with another mug of tea. Trevor said that he had a class to teach and he would take us out after. We waited for him and even helped out when one of his pupils came over and asked us some questions. Once done, he locked up and took us to a traditional Japanese restaurant. We drank 4pt pitchers of beer and ate raw tuna, edamame beans, noodles, Another Japanese faux pas from us happened when we were eating with Trevor. Roo had some food on his place that I wanted to try so he passed it to me with his chopsticks and I took it off him with mine. This is a BIG no!! It has something to do with passing bones with chopsticks of a loved one at a cremation. Whoops!!

dumplings, chicken skewers and salad. All of which was ordered through our own little computer screen. COOL. Oh yeah, we were not allowed to wear shoes. Once done, we left. Me and Roo took the train back and got off at the wrong stop!! After asking a police man how to get back, we went on our ways and off to bed.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  The markets stalls and shops at Asakusa.  Senso-Ji at Asakusa.  Japanese garden in the grounds. Middle Row L2R:  Asakusa pagoda.  Big pot of incense.  Roo lighting candles. Bottom Row:  Beer‘s, our Tokyo watering hole.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

13/09/2008:

♫

19 Ghosts III – Nine Inch Nails♫ #33

Yesterday, to make a change from the usual fatty breakfasts, we ate the fruit we brought the day before. We had an apple thing, (about the size of a cooking apple) a peach of the same size and some grapes. It turned out that the apple tasted like a pear!! The peach was harder than normal but tasted nice. The grapes were bigger than grapes back home and tasted like real strong plums. I didn‘t like them too much. After, we packed a bag with water and hat/bandanna and left for our trip to the Ghibli Studio Museum. Home to the popular anime cartoons like Spirited Away. We walked to the station and put on our head wear straight away as it was roasting. No sign of the clouds that soaked us the day before. The train journey took about 30 minutes and we got off at the Mitaka (三鷹市) station. Upon exiting the station, we came out to an awesome little town centre. Everything had been done up and looked really good. We had a small photocopied black and white map of how to get there and worked out a plan. Took us about 40 minutes to get there with a stop half way for suntan lotion. I didn‘t wanna end up looking like a tomato. The museum was in a park area of Mitaka. It was an oddly shaped building painted in subtle colours. We queued up for a few minutes before we got in. Once in it was one of those places where you didn‘t know where to look. So much going on. The first area to visit was decided by our stomachs. The Straw Hat Café. We made our way there and found an hour queue to get in!!! Nooooooooooooo! Queuing was the only option so we took our place. We spent the time moaning and complaining and eventually got in. the place was pricy for us but we thought we‘d treat ourselves. To drink, I had a homemade ginger ale. It was quite bitter but tasted ok. Roo had a grape soda which was nasty. For main, I had a battered pork sandwich which came with mayo!! Had to scrape it all off before I ate it!! Roo had pork with rice and veg, which was nice. For dessert, Roo had a crepe with summer fruits and custard and I had a massive slice of strawberry cake, yum. After we had eaten, we explored the museum. We went into a sketch room and a room filled with videos and pictures used for inspiration. There was an area on the roof with a nice small garden where you could take a picture of yourself with a 25/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

giant robot from one of their movies. We were able to go to a small cinema where we could watch a 20 minute cartoon. It was an odd thing, all in Japanese with no subtitles which made it stranger!! I couldn‘t really work out what was going on except a kid grew a planet out of a seed in a plant pot. Although I did not understand it, it looked amazing. Lastly there was a darkened room displaying various animation techniques. When everything was seen, we left to go back and took a different route back to the station that halved the walk back!! If only we knew. It was such a hot day; Roo‘s t-shirt was showing sweat marks. We took a shower when we got back to the hostel. It felt good to be clean! All scrubbed and glistening, we left for diner in a place near us that we walk past every day. We got in and as usual, were pretty clueless as to what to order!! So, I pointed to two Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures while in the Ghibli Museum itself, but were allowed to in the outside areas. Upon returning to England and doing a bit of research, I discovered that the movie we saw was called Hoshi o Katta Hi which literally means The Day [I] Harvested a Star.

dishes on the menu. When the food came out, mine was liver with spring onion and bean sprouts. I don‘t like liver!! Roo had noodles with king prawns and squid. We also decided to order spring rolls half way through. After eating the meals we asked for the bill. The ladies gave us the bill and a cup of miso soup for free too. Awesome! We went back to the bar we found the other day for few drinks before bed. We had a few glasses of Heineken each as they were cheaper than the other beers!!! We also had a shot of Dita each too. It was a lychee liquor, very nice. It was also a very big shot!! They don‘t measure their spirits like we do back home!! Sweet. With the drinks we had, and lack of sleep, we both felt quite drunk and really tired so we asked for the bill. They gave us 10% off the total which was cool. It was hard work walking back but felt good to get into bed. Today we had an extra hour in bed. Needed the sleep!! We got up and washed and dressed and headed out for breakfast. No fruit, just a McD‘s!! It‘s another hot day! Think I‘m gunna be tanned!! On the way back we stopped off at a convenience store to see what we could find. Ended up getting a juice drink each 26/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

and something called ‗Spunky Head‘. Weird black minty chewing gum. Off out later with Trevor and Jess for a spot of clubbing. Should be interesting!! ♫

20 Ghosts III – Nine Inch Nails♫ #46

Top Row L2R:  Directions to the Ghibli Museum.  Near the entrance to the museum with a full size Totoro from ‗My Neighbour Totoro‘.  Entrance to the Studio Ghibli Museum. Middle Row L2R:  Straw Hat Café menu.  Looking down on the museum.  Roo next to the Giant from ―Castle in the Sky‘ on the museum roof. Bottom Row:  A cabin window full of Soot Sprites.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

15/09/2008: 21 Ghosts III – Nine Inch Nails #47 Had an early, long and busy day yesterday and ran out of time to write in the journal so gotta make up for two days today!!! Well, two days ago after breakfast, we took a stroll down to Akihabara Electric Town to check out the Cosplay. After visiting Electric Town the first time and coming away feeling really crap, Roo vowed never to return again. This was our third time back there!

The Cosplay are a group of people who dress up as their favourite Manga characters or as Lolita girls. We walked around for about two hours and saw maybe two or three!! Dammit! While walking around, we had a look into a Japanese games arcade to see the kids playing them. We saw some guy smashing the crap out of eight buttons as their corresponding colour reached the activation line on the screen. We saw other guys on a drum and guitar game. The speed and precision was really impressive. In a different area, some kids were staging battles on a screen by moving special trading cards on a surface in front of them! For lunch we went to another vending style of noodle restaurant that was close to our hostel. We chose our dishes and sat. Roo went to get us a drink of water each. He got a couple of glasses and poured from a silver flask. The water inside was hot and it took some lady with a purple rinse to show him the machine that dispensed iced water!! Talking of purple rinses, I saw a man the other day with one. Ha. Nutter!! Anyway, food arrived. A noodle dish, a bowl of pickle a bowl of spring onion, bowl of rice and a dish covered with a plastic film and with what looked like beans in it. This last item was new to us. We peeled off the lid and pretty much gagged at what we found. They were beans but smelt like no other food I‘ve ever smelt. Rotten!! Also, they were covered in this revolting stringy gloop. When you picked them out it left behind strings of slime like mozzarella made by slugs and snails!! Unsure whether to eat it or use it as a biological weapon, I asked the chef. He came over and showed us what to do. You poured it into your rice and mixed it up. We both did this with the delusion that it would make it taste better than it looked and smelt. WRONG. Every time we took some rice it left that raw egg, slug mozzarella slime behind and tasted like a cat litter tray!! That was definitely a first and last moment!! 28/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We later found out that these beans were called Natto Beans!! They are basically fermented soya beans. Not a lot of foreigners like them, and some Japanese people don‟t too! They were without doubt, one of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten!! I can still imagine the slime in my mouth now!!

The hot weather had affected us again so we went back to the hostel. We were also both experiencing a severe lack of clean clothes so decided a quick trip to the launderette was in order. Washing our clothes was easy, drying took ages. We sat there and kept pumping in ¥100 coins for an extra 15 minutes of drying. This became a problem as we were supposed to be going out in the evening!! As it turned out, it took TOO long and by the time we had done the laundry, had a shower, met Jess and walked to Trevor‘s, he had already gone home!! Whoops. Not good. We all decided to go to Shibuya (渋谷) ourselves. By this point, I was feeling like a turd. I was tired, exhausted, hot and hungry. We got there and tried to find somewhere to eat. Roo wanted chicken so we went off in search of a chicken restaurant. After an age of looking, and with no luck, Roo buckled and we had pork at a noodle bar instead.

At this point in the trip I discovered that I was having problems with the Japanese food. Round about this time I found that eating the food was becoming an issue, even though I was hungry, I wasn‟t eating properly. I started to worry as we were only a week into our trip!! It took me a couple of meals to work out that it was the seaweed in the food that I didn‟t like. Seaweed is in a lot of Japanese food, whether it is in soup or dry on rice, the Japanese eat a lot!! As soon as I stopped eating it, I began to feel much better.

The noodle bar was busy so they had a table for us pretty much on the street!! By the time we had finished, we were all too knackered to go clubbing. We arranged to meet the next day to go to Odaiba and off to Roppongi in the evening. We got back and I felt rotten. Read a few pages of book and went to bed. The following day we went to McD‘s again, by the end of that greasy McMuffin I was pretty much fed up of them and on the way back bought doughnuts for the following day‘s breakfast. 29/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We got our new day packs sorted out and left to meet Jess at the Akihabara station. We met up and took the train to Ginza (銀座) first. Ginza is a massive shopping area with massive buildings dedicated to individual brands. They had recently had an H and M store open. The Japanese were obsessed with it and the store had a massive queue of people to get in. The queue was so big it stretched up the long road and bent round and came back down. It was being monitored by police and had shop staff giving out free bottles of water as it was so hot. All this for an H and M store!! The hunger pains were starting to kick in again so we went in search of food. Today it HAD to be chicken as Roo missed out on it the day before. After about an hour of looking, we struck gold and found a KFC. It turns out that the Colonel in Japan is Asian, Ha!! With Roo‘s chicken fix sated, we picked up a train to Odaiba (お台場), a manmade island. It was a nice ride and we saw a bit more of Tokyo. As we were coming up to Odaiba, we could see the Fuji television building. Two towers joined together with a massive sphere in the middle. Really impressive building. Once we got there, first thing we did was visit a shopping and entertainment complex. There were various shops on the bottom levels and games on the upper with an area called ―Muscle Land‖. Also in this building there was a couple of floors called ―Old Hong Kong‖. Shops and attractions decorated in that style. It looked really good. From here we also visited and area called ―Old Japan‖. Same idea, different decor. It was here we found Roo‘s favourite drink, Mountain Dew!! From here we left for another shopping centre called Venus Fort in the style of an old Italian town, again, very cool. After the shops we went and saw the Tokyo Statue of Liberty. Not sure why they have one. It was odd seeing her here in Japan!! It was the ideal place for various photos!! Next stop was the Fuji television building. We went and had a look inside. Much of it was wasted on me and Roo as we did not know the TV programmes or the big blue dog that was on all the walls and in person. Cue another photo opportunity. There were a few areas where we could see them preparing stages ready for filming. Having walked around not really knowing what we were looking at, we headed off to an area called ―Palette Town‖. In Palette Town they had the Tokyo equivalent of the London Eye. A massive big wheel, only more ferris wheel than the London Eye pods... 30/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews ♫

25 Years – Pantera♫ #59

Top Row L2R:  Nasty natto beans. Check out the strings of slime!!!  Shaped melons in Ginza, ¥15,000 for a pyramid melon!!!!  Odaiba island. Tokyo wheel on the left and Fuji TV building on the right. Second Row L2R:  Old Hong Kong.  Roo and Mountain Dew.  Tokyo‘s Statue of Liberty. Third Row L2R:  Looking up at the Fuji TV building.  Me, Jess and Roo in the Fuji TV building with a giant blue dog!!  A street inside Venus Fort. Bottom Row:  Tokyo wheel by day.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

16/09/2008 ...continuing on, we had a look at going in but were too tight and gave it a miss!! Next to it was an arcade area. We went in to have a look. Again it was filled with all unrecognizable types of gaming. Jess dragged us into a crazy picture booth. It took loads of pictures of us and added them to weird backdrops. When the photography was over, we had to move to the other side of it where we could doctor the pictures and add on writing, hats, shapes, etc. Moving round, we found giant pandas that you could ride, an actual real life fishing game and feet spas with tiny fish in that nibbled and cleaned your feet. Only in Japan!! The day was moving on so we left to go to Roppongi (六本木). On the way out, night had set in and the big wheel was all lit up!! It changed colours and performed random patterns and it looked amazing. For some reason, I never wrote in my diary about the Toyota show room that we visited in Odaiba too. Maybe because I had already written enough for the day and I was getting fed up of writing, I can‟t remember now. It was a really cool place. They had loads of proto types for new car designs that were really awesome. We went on a Grand Prix simulator, and brake and seat belt simulator. You could also have a go driving on some of their cars but the queues were too long and the wait too big.

Roppongi was busy and definitely the seedier side of Tokyo. We didn‘t know where to go for drinks or food so we just wandered round. Jess found a restaurant on the 3 rd floor of a building where we had noodles, rice, soup, usual deal. Finding a bar was a different matter. There were loads of dodgy bar reps all looking to try and get you into dodgy little bars. We somehow got persuaded to go to a bar by one of these guys. He took us off the main strip and into a back alley to a building and started to take us up the stairs. It was at this point where we all decided it was a bad idea and left him there. We were back to looking for our own place when we stumbled across a little place by one of the subway exits. The place was tiny, really tiny. It was a thin bar with about 16 – 20 bar stools and that was it. It was dark and dirty and played awesome rock music, it was perfect. We had a couple of drinks there as all drinks were ¥500 for a while. Roo decided to have an extra drink and ordered a Melon Ball for ¥800 as the deals had finished by this point, and was shocked to find he had ordered a shooter. A shot glass of drink, idiot!! 32/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We moved onto a bar called Hub after. It was an English style bar, they tried a little too hard!! Jess went to the bar to get a drink and me and Roo looked at the drinks menu to see what was the cheapest drink besides water!! Jess called me over and asked me to take a tall 2pt jug over to our table for us all, legend!! She had also ordered some potato waffle chip things for us to eat. Once we had all finished, we decided to call it a night as we were knackered and had to move hotels in the morning. We got up early so we could get packed ready for moving, I reckon that we had gained stuff!! Once packed, we moved our bags to reception and had mini doughnuts and tea for breakfast. That day we went to Ikebukuro (池袋) to the Tokyu Hands building to check out their cat petting zoo. Jess was unable to come so we went ourselves. On the way, we went to the first place we ever ate in at Akihabara for lunch, the vending machine noodle bar. Fed and watered we took a train there. We had to ask at the station information desk for a map of Ikebukuro once we got there and managed to find the Tokyu Hands building relatively fast. The cat place Nekobukuro was on the top floor. We bought tickets and got in line. After 10 minutes we were in. The place was weird!! Cats roamed around free, or in most cases, just lay there. That had some cats in their own private rooms decked out like a lounge or kitchen and there was a big cat TV for them to watch showing cat cartoons and programmes. There was one little short hair, big eyed scrotty cat that was running around playing with a toy mouse. Another cat like a kitten, lay on a pillow with an awesome grumpy look on its face. It just stayed there while people picked it up on its pillow and stroked it, never once getting up or moving from its pillow!! There were furry cats, short haired cats and really shaggy cats. People were just walking round stroking them where they lay. Not once did I see a cat go for someone. Once out, we had a quick look around the rest of the Tokyu Hands building. It was just another one of those multipurpose buildings that sold just about everything!!...

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Weird vehicle being developed by Toyota.  Me and Roo on the Toyota accident simulators.  Tokyo wheel by night. Second Row L2R:  Roo and Jess on a coin operated panda.  The tiny bar in Roppongi. (Taken by Jess)  Giant beer at Hub. Third Row L2R:  Cat building in Nekobukuro.  Inside a cat apartment.  The cat TV. Bottom Row:  More cats on display.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

17/09/2008:

♫

26 Ghosts III – Nine Inch Nails♫ #60

...continuing on from the other day. Once we left the Tokyu Hands building we headed for the train station, on the way there we stopped off in a restaurant for a tea and coffee. While sat down and drinking, we decided on grabbing a bite to eat too. Roo had a chilli burger with about 10 small potato wedges and I had a bacon pizza with a soft boiled egg on top. The food was good. We left Ikebukuro and headed back to Akihabara and the hostel. Once there, we collected all our bits and gave the guys who worked there our gifts and business cards and started the walk to Japan is a gift giving and business card culture. Before we left, we both had business cards made up with our name, date of birth, email address and „English Traveller‟ on them and with our own personal designs too. We also brought some small gifts, I got pin badges with the Union Jack on it and Roo got karabiners with the Union Jack on them too. They were only small gifts but were always well received by the people we gave them too. The business cards were small easy gifts and people loved to receive them off of us too.

the Capsule Hotel. I‘m not sure if it was because I was tired from the last week, or if my bag was actually heavier, but I found the walk difficult. The bag felt like it was going to break my back. When we eventually reached the hotel, I was exhausted!! My t-shirt was soaked with sweat!! We walked in and Roo ignored the ‗remove shoes‘ sign and started up to the reception desk when the girl told him to go back and take his shoes off!! We put them into little shoe lockers and collected our luggage locker keys from reception. We took our bags up to them and found that they were the worst designed lockers for us!! They were really thin with a wider part at the top (or bottom depending on what locker you got). Somehow we managed to cram the bags in and headed off to our rooms/capsules. They were really odd. They are about a meter high and wide and about two long. They have a TV and radio in them. Clock, alarm, mirror and light too. There is a blind at the end to pull down for privacy. Other weird thing is the pillow seems to be made out of beans!!! It is a hard pillow and as it turns out, quite comfortable. We are also given two small towels!! Two tooth brushes and a Yukata, traditional Japanese cotton robe. Once we were settled, we headed off for a beer and early

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

night as we had to be up at 4.30 so we could go to the fish market in Tsukiji (築地). Off to bed then. Sure enough, the alarm woke me up at 4.30. It was an effort to get up but we both managed it. After a shower and quick go on the PC‘s we headed off to Tsukiji and the fish market there. It was a fairly easy place to get to. As you were getting closer you just had to follow your nose!! The market was chaos!! People, fish and trucks were everywhere!! There were massive tuna‘s, both fresh and frozen. We watched men cutting the frozen ones with a massive band saw, slicing it in half, half again and then into slices. The fresh ones were being flung around on hooks and hacked at, then sliced and polished off. There were fishes of other shapes and sizes. One type was a deep red colour with massive eyes. We saw octopuses, squid, cuttle fish and the odd tentacle. Shrimp and prawns of all sizes. Big crabs and bigger crabs, turtles, eels and one guy preparing them. The whole place was a hive of activity. Everyone was rushing around everyone else. Fish were getting catalogued and priced up; people were buying it from the many, many sellers. Zipping around were guys on weird small truck things with MASSIVE steering wheels!! After a while of this, the smell, the fact we were always in someone‘s way and that we were hungry, we left all the commotion behind and went looking for a sushi restaurant for breakfast. It took us a while to find one cheap enough as they were all really expensive!! Once we found one, and built up enough guts to actually eat the raw fish for breakfast, we went in. They gave us a menu to look at and a cup of dark green stuff which I think may have been real green tea, I‘m not too sure at this point. We The green drink turned out to be something called Macha. Macha is powdered green tea. It is a thick drink and had a deep green colour. It is a very traditional drink in Japan and use it in tea ceremonies.

both picked four items; my choice was squid, spicy cod roe, sweet shrimp and slightly seared salmon. Roo had fatty tuna, shrimp, chives (wimp) and slightly seared salmon too. We sat supping our green drinks waiting for this impending meal. I find sushi difficult to eat at the best of times, let alone for breakfast. When the food arrived, it looked amazing, the presentation, as always was great. We both got a small bowl and added soya sauce and wasabi to them, and then we began to 36/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

eat. The texture is not something I‘m a big fan of so I was never on to a winner. The squid was first and was tough and bland. Next was the cod roe which was actually not too bad. The salmon was ok after I wiped off the mayo on top and the sweet shrimp was rank. There was too much wasabi crammed between the rice and the fish!! Yuck!! Once it was over we paid up and left to go get some fresh air!! Don‘t think I‘ll ever eat sushi for breakfast again ever!! By this point we were really tired. Unfortunately for us we were not allowed back to the hotel until 5pm so we headed off to the Imperial Palace. We arrived at the station we needed and walked to it. The Palace was in a big open ground with the walls to the moat still up. As it turns out, you cannot go in the Palace, only up to the bridge over the moat that leads to the palace. A bit of a con!! We left, now really tired. I suggested we go to Shibuya and to the Starbucks there so we can get a kick of caffeine and watch the people at the world‘s busiest crossing. Another train journey and we arrived. Roo fell asleep on the train so it was definitely time for a coffee!! We got to Starbucks and got a drink and cake each. We managed to get a window seat on the second floor to watch the hoards of people crossing the road every time the green man pops up. After he drank his coffee and ate his cake, Roo fell asleep. I sat and watched the people cross, stop, and cross again in my own daze! I started to fall asleep too. Eventually I decided to get up and move on. We had a look around the shops and went to McD‘s for lunch. After eating, Roo fell asleep again!! After rousing him again we headed off to Ginza and to the Sony building. I was expecting to see robots but got DVD players, cameras, bluray, TV‘s, etc. Coolest thing I saw was a little speaker set the same size as a large egg. When it was playing music, the ends opened up to reveal speakers and flap in time to the music while it danced away on two wheels round its body. Also, the PS3 has good graphics. Once done in the Sony building we decided to go the Ueno (上野) stop and walk to Akihabara as it still was not 5pm and we couldn‘t check back into the hotel yet!! Also, by going to Ueno and walking back, we could see the way for the next day. We eventually got back to the hotel just after 5 and chilled a bit before going for dinner. We went for Indian tonight as I was craving one!! When we got there 37/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Ueno is the stop down from to Akihabara and was where we were visiting the following day so it made sense to visit it to waste some time before we could get back into the hotel. For some reason the hotel would shut from 10 until 5. This was a pain in the arse as it meant that we had to find something to do all the time, even if we only had a short day. It was a major problem on the fish market day as we were both so tired!! Ha.

the food was awesome. We had a chicken curry, lamb curry, side salad, rice and the biggest naan bread that I have ever seen, each!! There was so much food, I was totally stuffed!! We both were really tired but still managed to go to Beers for a couple of drinks. Roo managed to knock down half his beer so we made that our last one and staggered back to go to bed. A REAL LONG DAY!! ♫

5 Minutes Alone – Pantera♫ #86

Top Row L2R:  Inside busy Tsukiji fish market.  Some of the fresh fish on display.  One of the fish market trucks. Middle Row L2R:  Roo‘s sushi breakfast.  My sushi breakfast.  The two of us with the typical Japanese umbrella. Bottom Row:  As close to the Imperial Palace as we could get!!

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Shibuya crossing before…  … and after.  Foyer of the capsule hotel, shoe lockers to the right of the picture. Second Row L2R:  Capsules on our floor.  Looking inside a capsule room.  TV, radio, light and alarm panel. Third Row L2R:  Looking out of the capsule room.  Me wearing the hotel provided Yukata.  Looking up at the capsule hotel. Bottom Row:  Entrance to the Capsule hotel.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

19/09/2008:

♫

6 Ghosts I – Nine Inch Nails♫ #87

Two days ago we went to Ueno. We got up in the morning and had breakfast at a coffee shop. I had a tea and Roo had an iced mocha coffee. We also had a bit of cake each too. Ueno was not far from Akihabara so we decided to walk to save some money. It takes about half an hour to get there and we have to pass loads of market stalls all set out under railway arches. By the time we got to Ueno Park, we were hungry so headed back to a kebab store we saw earlier. We had a mixed chicken and beef doner kebab, nice. We also had a fresh slice of melon from a fruit seller for afters. We finished our food and headed back to Ueno Park. We got to the first part and walking through it we saw a tramp with a pet cat. He also had a kitten who was prancing around all playful. He had it on a lead so that it could not run away. Through this part, we headed to the lake. When we got to it, we had a bit of a surprise. The whole lake was covered in giant lily plants. They were all over the lake like some weird forest. When we looked in the water we could see large fish swimming through and the odd turtle too. We headed round to the other side where there was a boating part of the lake. We wanted to go on one of the boats so we went up to the dock. It was a choice of rowing boat, pedal boat or swan pedal boat. Roo wanted to go on one of the pedal boats so we hired one. It turns out pedal boats are really hard work and after half an hour in the Tokyo heat we were both totally soaking wet with sweat!! Yuck!! From there we headed to the Ueno Zoo via a shrine which was nice. We got to the zoo and firstly headed off to the reptile area. There were loads of frogs and turtles and a massive crocodile. After that we visited okapi, giraffes, hippos and pygmy hippos, loads of different rodents and night monkeys, polar bears, seals, penguins, gorillas, lions and various birds. The zoo was good and according to Roo, well laid out. We left the zoo at closing time and headed back. Closing time at the zoo was signalled by Auld Lang Syne playing over the intercom, minus the lyrics. We found this odd and a little weird, it turns out that they play this music in most establishments too when they are closing!! Not sure why the tune has been adopted for this purpose in Japan?

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

For dinner that night we had a bowl of shredded beef and onion, very tasty. After, we headed to Beers. Best bar in Tokyo. ♫ A Farewell to Arms – Machine Head♫ #109

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A Favour House Atlantic – Coheed and Cambria♫ #110

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A Song for the Deaf – Queens of the Stone Age♫ #134

Top Row L2R:  Sea of lilies at Ueno Park.  Roo enjoying our peddle boat ride on the pond.  Boat dock with their selection of vehicles. Middle Row L2R:  Polar bear in its special enclosure.  Gorilla that came right up to us.  Sea lions sunning themselves. Bottom Row:  Roo by a totem pole at Ueno Park.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

21/09/2008:

♫

A Story at Three – AFI♫ #135

3 days ago we had our last full day in Tokyo. For breakfast we went to the coffee shop we went to the other day. I managed to write in my diary nearly every day. Sometimes, I did not manage to write in it as we were doing other things in the evening when I would usually fill it out. Roo on the other hand did well at the beginning but slipped at the end.

Tea/coffee and cake. We had no plans for the day so decided to try and find the English Embassy. It was near the Imperial Palace so we took the tube. Once at the palace we realized we had got off at the wrong stop and that it was a hefty walk to the Embassy. This was made more difficult as Roo had lost the map of Tokyo that we had brought along. After walking for a while and getting really hungry we decided we were a bit lost so decided on jumping back on the tube for quickness. After one change and one stop we got to where we needed to be. Luckily there was a map at the exit so we could work out how to get there, and across the road was a noodle bar so we could eat too. Once we had lunch we walked round to the Embassy. Was not too sure what to expect, but it was a large compound with quite a few buildings inside. We went up to the main desk and asked about extending our visas and they told us to go to the immigration offices in Tokyo instead. We were quite tired so headed back off to Akihabara instead. Fourth time in Electric Town Akihabara. This isn‟t including all the times we had to walk back through after getting off a train. Poor Roo!!

We had some time to kill so went into a game arcade where we had a go on a punching game and a Silent Hill shoot ‗em up game. We also watched a young girl playing a game where you have to hit eight coloured buttons in sequence when the corresponding colour reached the bar at the bottom of the screen. She was really good; it was like watching a robot!! We got back to the capsule hotel just before 5 and had to wait a few minutes for the guy to let us in. We used the PC‘s quick and got changed and left to meet Jess in Ueno. 42/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We met her outside the train station and went off to find a fried noodle (yakisoba) bar she knew about. It took us a while as she forgot where it was and had to ask someone but eventually we got there. We sat down and Roo shot off to the loo. They had a deal where you got noodles and a beer for ¥800, good deal!! I sat talking to Jess for a while and waited for Roo. We waited and waited and I heard the toilet door shake and what I thought was a muffled ―Mark.‖ I turned to Jess and said, ―I think Andrew might be stuck in the toilet.‖ Before she replied I heard ―I am‖ coming from inside!! Somehow he could not open the door!! After some intervention from the staff he managed to get the door open and get out!! Idiot!! After laughing at him for a while and eating our food, we decided to take Jess back to Beers for a few drinks. We sat and had a few beers and some potato wedges and edamame beans. We had brought one of our presents each and a business card for the manager there as he was always friendly, gave us a bowl of nuts for free and 10% off our bill. When we came to leave, we got Jess to call him over and translate for us. We told him, thanks for everything, for looking after us and wished him every success for the future and gave him our gifts. He was so happy and pleased and kept saying thanks. He gave us each a business card too and said that he would wait for us to come back. What a nice guy, a total legend. We walked Jess back to the station and said thanks to her too and good bye. We got back to the hotel, had a beer and went to bed. We got up early in the morning as we had to leave to go to our first host. We showered and packed our bags. We carried them down the road to McD‘s for breakfast. Once done there we headed off to the train station. It was good getting on the train and taking our bags off!! They are really heavy!! We travelled to Hino (日野市) and got off. I called the host, Kazuko, to let her know we had arrived. She came and picked us up and drove us to Claire Home and Garden. Clare Home and Garden is an old English style building built by her husband Hiro, with an over grown garden. Once we got there she took us to meet Hiro and another WWOOFer called Paul, a French speaking Vietnamese guy who was leaving the next day. She got him to take us to our house where we would be staying. The house was raised up on legs high enough to stand under. Inside were two rooms for sleeping, a small 43/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Other than travelling, we decided to go do some work in Japan too. That way we could really experience the Japanese life style and see things away from the normal tourist attractions. We decided to sign up to the WWOOF program. WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. We would work for free and the farms would provide us with food and accommodation. Apart from being an interesting experience working in another country, it was also enlightening to work for the basic requirements of life rather than money. It was a real eye opener. We chose our farms before we came over and had made contact with them all. Each one was different but the experience was always an amazing experience each time.

kitchen and toilet/shower room. There is also a guy from Hong Kong living there but he is also leaving the next day. Paul took us back to Clare for lunch; we had cheesy pasta and bread, really nice. During the meal the other guy came in, can‘t remember his name!! Our first job was to take their dog Ku-Chan for a walk. He is a one year old Labrador mix breed and very friendly but not boisterous. We walked him for half an hour and came back. Our next job was to help remove vines from the garden fence. This was a massive job but me and Roo did our best. We cleared quite a large area and made a noticeable difference. Along the way we found a really ugly, fat and black caterpillar with a big eye pattern on it, a big stag beetle, a snake skin and a praying mantis!! Never felt so far from England!! It was really hot and hard work and we were both sweating like crazy!! It started to rain so the guy from Hong Kong took us to Hiro who was in a house behind his house, that he was doing up. All the walls had been stripped and we needed to put tape around all the window frames, door frames, ceiling and skirting board so that he can render the walls and paper them. This was a long and tedious job that bored the crap out of me!! We finished work at six and Kazuko told us to get a shower as they would take us out for dinner. They took all of us, plus her niece, her niece‘s dog and Ku-Chan off to the restaurant. When we got there, me and Roo sat at a table with Hiro. We asked him a lot about the food on offer as we were totally clueless!! In the end, I had a hamburger with battered mussels and rice and Roo had battered pork and egg with rice. The drink system was help yourself to hot drinks and soft drinks like you 44/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

would get back in the States. Roo and Hiro both had a slushy drink and kept getting brain freeze drinking it!! For dessert, I had a powered green tea ice cream thing and Roo had a bean curd gelatinous thing!! Once we got back, we sorted out the beds. Paul had the small room to himself anyway, so we made beds on the floor in the Hong Kong guy‘s room. ♫

Aerials – System of a Down♫ #164

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Aerials – System of a Down♫ #165

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Age of Innocence – Iron Maiden♫ #173

Top Row L2R:  Toilet door that trapped Roo!!!  The two of us in Beer‘s with the owner Masato Yamazaki.  Clare sign. Bottom Row L2R:  Our WWOOF house.  The Clare restaurant and shop.  Ku-Chan the dog.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

22/09/2008:

♫

Aggressive Pefector – Slayer♫ #174

We got up early on our second day as the other guys needed to get their stuff packed and leave. Our first job was to walk Ku-Chan. On the way round, walking along the river, we could see in the distance, the mountain range. It looked amazing, I have never seen anything like it before. The river is called the Tamagawa. It is one of the biggest rivers in Japan and goes through the Tokyo prefecture. Roo had a fixation with throwing large „Caber‟ size pieces of wood into it!!

When we got back we had to go back to the other house and continue to tape up the windows and doors etc. Boring!! Just after mid day, Hiro came and collected us so we could go get a bento lunch. We jumped in his truck and off he drove. Firstly we had to pick up a wooden bench at a house. Once done we headed off to get food. There was plenty to choose from. The staff preparing the food all wore face masks which looked a little odd. We took the food back and ate with Hiro. After lunch we went back to finish off the house. Once we were done there we went to go see Kazuko who asked us to collect horse chestnuts from behind her house. She gave us a long pair of secateurs and a net so one of us could cut and the other one catch. We managed to get a few from there but the rest were out of reach so we went to the new house next door and tried to get some more from one of the first floor windows. We started to cut some off when we disturbed a load of hornets!! Luckily they just flew off and we managed to get a few more chestnuts. We took our small bounty back and Kazuko asked us to get some more from the trees in the garden. There were two trees by the small pond that we managed to gather more of them from. When we took this final lot back, she invited us in for a tea/coffee and cake. While we were sat there, she started asking us questions about food we could cook. She wanted us to cook for them. She let us use one of their PC‘s to get a recipe. In the end, we decided to make Cornish Pasties!! We took the recipe back to show her the ingredients. It was hard thinking of a traditional English to make them. Eventually I thought of making the Pasties. This made sense as Roo is Cornish and I have made them previously, 18 years ago!!!! Also, as it turns out, currently I have made more Pasties in Japan than I ever have in England!!

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Firstly she had no beef so we used chicken and bacon. She also had no swede so we used carrot as a replacement. The shop kitchen is really small so she told us to use a little area in the garden!! We started by making the pastry. I made it and Roo prepared the veg. Once done, I got the meat prepared.

The garden kitchen area made me freak out. There was an oven, fridge unit, gas burners, big Hobart bread maker, sink, bread proving oven (actually made out of an old wooden ice block freezer) and work surface. This was all in a three walled shelter open onto the garden. While making the food out here, we would be constantly brushing away bugs and mosquitoes (as long as the burners were on). The work surface was never sanitized properly!! When the bread mixing bowl needed to be cleaned, it was a matter of wiping round a damp cloth!! It was difficult to try and forget all the food hygiene practices that I have been taught over the years.

Luckily for us, Kazuko had lit a mosquito incense repellent or else we would have been eaten alive!! Once it had all been prepared, I started rolling the pastry out and cutting it into circles. We filled them all and I folded and crimped them all. Roo egg washed the tops and we put them in the oven to cook. We needed to cook eight but could only cook four at a time. While they were cooking, Roo took Ku-Chan for a walk and I started to make a second batch. At the end, we had a bit of meat and veg left over so we kept it to one side and made a stir fry. When the first four had been cooked we took them along with the four uncooked pasties to their house. We placed the uncooked pasties in their oven and I made the stir fry. We ate the first four with the stir fry and salad that Kazuko had prepared. They were really good, I surprised myself!! After dinner, we went back to our house and chilled out. Kazuko decided on not opening the shop today so we had a day off. We had a lazy day not doing much, although we took the dog out for a walk in the morning. Kazuko gave us a call at mid day and asked if we wanted to go over for lunch, which we did. We had Indonesian chicken with salad, curried rice and Thai rice. A good meal. She gave us ¥5,000 for us to feed ourselves for the rest of the day and day after as it was also a day off. Awesome!! Other than feeding ourselves, we managed to buy some beer, pot noodles, milk, tea, cake things and cereals. Luckily Kazuko never asked us for a receipt!!

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We went back to chill and read and at about 4 decided to go have a look round Hino town. It was raining a bit but we still went, in just t-shirts. The further we got away from our house, the harder the rain fell. By the time we got to town, the rain was coming down harder. We had a quick scout around the town and found somewhere to eat for dinner later that day and headed back. The rain was coming down hard and as we passed a flower shop, an old lady working there stopped us and gave us an umbrella, cool. We got back, undressed and dried off a bit before headed out again to get dinner. We found another umbrella at the house but the rain was so torrential, our legs and shoes were soaked!! We had decided to eat at a place called Freshness Burger for dinner and arrived there drenched!! Being the fussy one, I tried to order my burger with just lettuce and cheese, Roo had no such problems but somewhere along the way, the guy at the counter got confused and we ended up with three burgers!! We ate them all, they were really, really good. By the time we had finished and got ready to leave, the rain had eased up. This was my first monsoon experience!! We got back to the house, read for a bit, relaxed and had a beer and watched a bit of Japanese TV. ♫

All Hope in Eclipse – Cradle of Filth♫ #191

Top Row L2R:  The Tamagawa which we walked Ku-Chan along every day. Mountains in the background. Truly epic scenery.  Roo in caber tossing mode!!  The outside kitchen!!!! Bottom Row:  Our pasties. YUM!!!! (Taken by Kazuko)

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

23/09/2008:

♫

All Hope is Gone – Slipknot♫ #192

Another day off, another rainy day!! It was miserable outside when we took Ku-Chan for a walk. When we got back, we both had a bowl of cereals for breakfast. We both sat and read to pass the time. At around 11.30, there was a knock at our door, and a guy called Dave came in. We were briefly introduced to him on our first day when Kazuko drove past him after picking us up from the train station. He had been in Japan since February and is married to a Japanese woman. He

Dave was a funny guy, he just came in like he owned the place and made himself comfy on a chair in my room and picked up and acoustic guitar that was in the house and started plucking at it. He made himself a cup of tea using our tea bags we brought the other day. He was happy to eff and blind his way through his conversation which was funny. He worked at Clare for a bit when he first got over and now uses their tool shed and garden for various projects that he is doing. He also let us know a bit about Kazuko, things like how she got rid of one American guy once because she did not like him after one day, and that how she has got a really bad temper due to her being on the menopause but has got better over the last few weeks!! He was a nice guy though and did say that if we had a day off the next day, we could go see him and help him do something for a gardening exhibition that he was taking part in.

has travelled elsewhere but comes from Birmingham. It was really good to talk to another Englishman. After he left, we had a pot noodle lunch. By 14.30 it had started to clear up so we decided to go on a bike ride. We went over to our hosts‘ house and borrowed two of their bikes. Japanese bikes are all pretty much the same in design. They have one of three gears, big seat, bike stand and you can only ride them sitting upright!! We took them down to the river that we walk Ku-Chan by and then off the path and onto an unstable dirt track!! Due to the style of the bikes, it was really hard riding them along. We rode them for ages and Roo got a bit hungry so we found a Lawson‘s store and Roo went in to buy us a rice triangle (onigiri) each as we had not tried them yet and Dave had said the other day that they taste good and fill a gap well. Well they do fill a gap, they also taste nasty!! Give me a Snickers any day!! Once we got back, we dropped off the bikes and cleaned off some of the dirt off them!! 49/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Lawson shops are like 7 Eleven and Spar shops. They are small convenience stores that sell a bit of everything. They can be found everywhere and you are never too far from one of these types of stores. They came in handy for us when we brought breakfast or snacks, etc. Japanese people stand for ages in these shops reading the comics at the magazine section.

We chilled again after and later headed back out to Hino for dinner. We wandered round for a while and found a vending machine restaurant to eat in. We both had shredded pork slices with rice and miso soup, really good food!! On the way back I was getting chocolate withdrawal and we stopped off at a supermarket and found some Oreo cookies, This restaurant was an important find for us. It was part of a chain in Japan that sold bargain food. They mainly sell either shredded beef or pork over rice with the choice of salad, soup, pickles, eggs, etc if you want. We never found out the name of the restaurant only the fact that the sign has three coloured circles on it. We came to call it Three Circles. After that we discovered other similar chains of these restaurants, Yoshinoya and Sukiya. When money was tight, we would eat in one of these and leave full up.

yum!! We got back, again read, chilled, watched Japanese TV, had a beer and went to bed. Back to work tomorrow!! ♫

Alone + Easy Target – Foo Fighters♫ #209

Row L2R:  Me on a traditional Japanese bike.  A river we passed on our bike ride.  A real epic photo taken by Andrew of the path we took on our bikes.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

24/09/2008:

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Alone I Break – Korn♫ #210

We got up normal time for work today. I was eating breakfast and Roo was in the shower when I heard Kazuko call from outside, so I went outside to talk to her. She asked if we wanted to go out with her to try and see Mt. Fuji? I said yes and got Roo hurrying up. When ready we met her with Ku-Chan and she drove us away. Roo had said that he had not had breakfast yet so Kazuko said that we could get it out today. We arrived at a caged area that Kazuko could let KuChan out in, off his chain. There were a few other dogs there and he ran around and played with them. From here we could see the mountains fairly well but unfortunately it was still too hazy to see Fuji or many of the other tall mountains. Once Ku-Chan had finished playing we drove off to Starbucks for breakfast. I had a beef pastrami sandwich baguette thing and Roo had a chicken and veg one, he also had an iced coffee mocha and I had a hibiscus tea. We saved breakfast until we got back as we took a detour to a charity store that Kazuko wanted to show us around. Everything there was really cheap, cheaper than in English charity stores. Once we returned, we went back to our house to eat our food. Unfortunately for me, there was mustard mayo in my sandwich so I only ate meat and small bits of uncontaminated bread and also my drink was horrid!! First job of the day was for Roo to pick up fallen fruit from off the ground in the garden. My job was to cut off a load of caterpillar nests out of a mass of vines on the side of the Clare building. The vines were crawling in these small black and green hairy things, really made my skin crawl. After we had done that we had to carry on with the work we started on our first day, clearing away the vines and weeds from the garden. We progressed further in hacking and cutting away at the unwanted plants. Once we had finished we were asked to cycle down to the shops and get bento boxes for ourselves and Hiro. Kazuko gave us ¥5,000 and told us to spend ¥700 on each other. We cycled down and went about gathering and ordering food without not really knowing what we were doing. We went to pay for the food and it came to ¥2,500+. Whoops!! We took the food back and ate it with Hiro. After eating and a little rest, we went to Hiro to help him make a gate. Our job for the next two and a half hours involved us clearing up his work area and passing him 51/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

pieces of wood to cut into shapes!! Boring!! After he had cut all the wood, he had a guy come to see him, so we left to take Ku-Chan for a walk. When we got back, Kazuko said we would go out for dinner, so we quickly went home, showered and dressed. They took us to a Chinese restaurant. I had fried rice, noodles with veg, prawns, squid and some sort of shell fish and two dim sums. Roo had spicy tofu and minced meat dish instead of the noodles. Kazuko had also ordered some pork dumplings for us all too. Not as good as the ones back home. Missing Jessie like mad at the moment. Thinking I only wanna stay three months not five, dunno, would be nice to be back home for Christmas. Kazuko brought us over a green tea latte drink. It looked like mushy peas!! I tried it tentatively, and it actually tasted really good. YUM!! We got back and did some clothes washing round their house. While we were waiting for the washing machine, Kazuko put on Finding Nemo for us to watch, RANDOM!! We collected the washing once it had finished and went back to chill and watch random Japanese TV. ♫

Amon Amarth – Amon Amarth ♫ #232

Row L2R:  A Hino manhole cover.  Ku-Chan playing with friends at the dog park.  A praying mantis that started a fight with Ku-Chan.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

25/09/2008:

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Among Ancestors – Turisas♫ #233

We got up earlier today as we had to help Hiro with the house. We got there for nine and the first job was to remove all the tape we had put up the other day and relay it, this time leaving only a millimetre gap!! That pissed us off!! We did that till after eleven and Hiro asked us to get bento lunch again. We were glad to get away so headed over to Bento boxes are a kind of fast food in Japan. It is like a lunch box. The box has a number of sections, each one with a different type of food. They nearly all come with rice and pickles. Many places sell these pre-prepared, other shops will take your order and make it fresh and the place that we went into in Hino, we filled ourselves. They were really good and quite filling. Roo loved these too and always wanted to have bento lunches. I liked them but always fobbed off all the food I did not like on to Roo‟s bento box!!

Kazuko at the shop to get the money. When she gave it to us, she reiterated that we should only spend ¥700 each!! We took the bikes down, and this time carefully chose what we wanted and the price came in well under this time. Once eaten, we had a brief rest before heading back to the house to continue with the taping, and after that, laying down scrap wood on the floors for Hiro and another guy who he was paying to help him. Decided that we do not like working in the house as all the jobs in there are boring!! When we were done, Hiro had no other jobs at the house so he sent us to Kazuko who got us going round removing more vines and clearing the plants from the garden. We also went and collected more horse chestnuts again after we had finished. We managed to collect quite a lot this time. As usual, our last job was to take Ku-Chan for a walk. We had dinner with Kazuko and Hiro at their house. We had fish, various Japanese nibbles, rice, miso soup, some Miso soup is an important dish in Japanese meals. It is made from Miso paste, (mainly soya beans) with seaweed and tofu usually added. Japanese have this soup with any meal including breakfast. Roo loved the stuff, he nearly always tried to get a meal that came with Miso soup. I didn‟t really like it, the seaweed is enough to put me off, and I got fed up straining it through my teeth while I tried to drink it all!! Miso soup sometimes gets served with pork in it too.

53/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

sort of mince and potato dish, broccoli and potatoes. A truly grand meal. For dessert, they all had coffee jelly, but I had chocolate cake as I don‘t like coffee. Both exhausted, we went home and watched TV before going to bed. ♫

Anarchy - X – Queensrÿche♫ #238

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Ancient Queen – Emperor♫ #239

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And Sadness Will Sear – Trivium♫ #243

Top Row L2R:  Some of the many, many, many mosquito bites I received.  Kazuko and Hiro‘s house, the house we were doing up can just be seen behind the car on the right.  Part of the Clare over grown garden. Middle Row L2R:  The side of Clare with Ku-Chan and the outside kitchen on the left.  The pond in the garden.  Roo in motion walking Ku-Chan. Bottom Row:  Part of the Clare garden after we had spent days removing the vines.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

29/09/2008:

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Angel of Death – Slayer♫ #244

Had breakfast as usual and then went over to the house to see Hiro. (Two days ago). Today‘s job was to get a scraper and take off the render from the skirting board. This really is as interesting as it sounds!! This is where my diary falls apart a bit. I didn‟t write in my diary for four days for various reasons and by the time I got round to writing it up I was forgetting what I did a few days ago and mixing up what happened on each day!! It was a nightmare to try and write it all up and I confused the hell out of myself, so, this entry may not be chronologically true in all parts but I have typed it up as it was written in my diary. As I was writing it, I‟d remember other bits which is why at times, it goes off at a tangent! I‟m sorry if this gets confusing, I‟m just as confused!!!

The day before he had us removing the wall paper from the wall in the downstairs toilet. This was alright. After ripping off the paper we had to scrape the last bits off using soap water solution to make it easier. Roo took Ku-Chan for a walk when Kazuko brought him over. It took us most of the morning to do and some of the afternoon. At one point I had to lie down and hug the toilet so I could remove the paper from behind it. NASTY!! For lunch we had jacket potatoes with mutton and bean chilli, tomato and herb beans and pizza with Tabasco sauce, YUM!! It tasted so good that I could not stop eating and was totally stuffed after!! As I said, we did a bit more wall paper removal. Once we were done, Hiro sent us over to Clare to help Kazuko. She wanted us to tidy more weeds and uncover the garden path that had been over grown. We were able to use Hiro‘s There were a lot of mosquitoes in Japan. There were loads of mosquitoes in Hino!! Mosquitoes, as it turns out, bloody love me!! Every hot day that we had, I received more and more mosquito bites!! I had them all over my arms, my legs, my face and neck, one of those little bastards even bit the bottom of my feet!! Needless to say, I was in agony for most of the time there!! We went through most of the mosquito cream from Akihabara and even adopted some mosquito stuff from Kazuko. Kazuko and Hiro found it hilarious. Ha, ha, bloody ha!!

petrol driven strimmer to help us. It was awesome. The guard on the end was mostly broken so grass and plant got sent flying everywhere!! Ha. We did this until it was time to go walk Ku-Chan. 55/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

While walking him, he found a smell that he liked and started to roll around in it and came out smelling like shit!! We dropped him off, explained he smelt and went home to get ready for dinner. For dinner we had Japanese curry. It was really nice. Big bits of chicken and potato. After we had finished, Kazuko asked us if we wanted to go out food shopping with her. As we had nothing to do, we did. She took us to a department store/supermarket. When we got there she asked if we wanted an ice-cream or smoothie which was nice. Roo had a pineapple and apple smoothie. I had a honey milk and black sesame ice-cream with cornflakes, yum. We had a look around and she brought what she needed and then we headed to another store to get the rest of her food. On the way back we stopped for petrol and took the dog for a short walk while she was refuelling the car. Before we headed home she asked us if we wanted to go to a restaurant for dessert. We said that it would be cool so we popped in a Japanese restaurant. We looked at the menu and eventually decided on having a massive stein of lager instead! Ha!! It was actually the day before that we went to the shops and Kazuko took us out to dinner in a Chinese restaurant. I had a rice dish and Roo had sweet and sour prawns. For dessert it was a fruit salad with almond jelly, yuck! Roo ate the food that I and Kazuko had left, much to her amazement!! I can‘t really remember what we did during that day, that was the day of jackets and pizza, this day we had Japanese sausages, all shapes and sizes with bread and pizza again. Anyway, after the beers, the reason that we had gone out that night was for Kazuko to see her friend but she was not there, we went home, watched a little bit of TV and went to bed. It was a ten o‘clock start next morning so we could have a lie in. Next morning, Hiro had us stripping the toilet upstairs and finishing off the remaining render from the skirting boards. We got stuck into the job and before long it was 1 o‘clock so Hiro sent us to get bento for lunch. I had beef and rice, Roo had hamburger, beef and rice. It came to just over ¥2,200. We finished off

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

the work in the house and went to Kazuko who got us cutting down trees and plants by the house. We had a saw and sheers and were allowed to hack away at everything there!! Killed a lot of vines and cut down a few trees which was hard work. By the time we had finished, we were hot and sweaty and covered in dirt, leaves and the odd insect!! We had cleared everything she wanted and collected up all the equipment and then took Ku-Chan for his afternoon walk. Once we got back, we spoke to Kazuko for a bit and she asked if we wanted her to take us to an onsen (hot Japanese baths). As we had never been to one we said yes. We went to our home, got changed and went to their house for dinner. We had fish, pork chops and rice for dinner with the left over curry too. Once we had eaten we headed off. We stopped off at a convenience store on the way so we could purchase cheap tickets for the onsen. It cost us ¥800 each which Kazuko paid for. With the tickets purchased we drove to the baths. We got to the baths and the building was massive. Kazuko explained the process of putting shoes in a locker, then you give the key to the desk staff who issue us with a locker key for in the changing rooms. They also gave us a bag with a big and small towel and weird shorts and shirt thing to wear after. Odd. With our bags and keys, we headed off in a different direction from Kazuko to the male end. On the way there we got lost and ended up going upstairs to the other two floors before realizing the changing rooms were on the ground floor!! Dammit!! The changing room was just a giant room filled with lockers. There were no cubicles which was a little awkward as we knew we had to be totally naked to go into the baths!! What made it worse was the two women in there too who worked at the baths, a little odd. Also, you are not supposed to have tattoo‘s either!! Luckily Kazuko gave me her small towel so could drape it over my shoulders and back to cover them. We wrapped our big towels round our now naked bodies and headed to the baths with our other small towel also on our shoulders.

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Another Version of the Truth – Nine Inch Nails♫ #261 57/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews ♫

Answers – Hundred Reasons♫ #262

The first thing you must do before you enter the bath is to have a shower. They have a big communal shower room where you sit down on stools and wash. We sat there with towels on shoulders and big towel wrapped around us and washed sitting there. It was only after a couple of minutes of washing did we realize we were the only guys there with their big towels!! They are not supposed to be used in the bath area and are for drying off!! Shit!! With our towels totally drenched, we headed off to the baths, our big towels still around our waists. We wandered into a shallow pool with loads of spa bubbles in it. The pool was about 40oC, really hot. We sat in it and rested for a bit. From there we moved into a bigger pool in front of it and into gaps in the side of the pool you stand in and get jetted with water. The jets were so hard that we had to leave them. We tightened our towels around our waists and left. As we were walking out, a Japanese man walked up to us and said that we should not have the towels around us as it is bad manners and not allowed. So, we had to suck up all of our English prudence and start to walk around nude like all the other men there!!

This was our third Japanese faux pas!! When you use these baths, you are not allowed to take towels into the water with you. The only exception is the small towel, or modesty towel. You can use these small towels to hold over yourself while walking from bath to bath, and you can fold them up and rest them on the top of your head to soak up sweat and wipe your face. This towel should never enter the water. We must have really insulted all those Japanese men there!! Tattoos were also a problem. You are not allowed into most baths if you have tattoos. This is to prevent members of the Yakuza mafia from coming in and using the baths. I was ok because I was a westerner and clearly not a member of the Yakuza!! Even so, I tried to keep my arms covered whenever I could.

Once naked, we went into a pool that was about 45 C. It was so hot that we started to turn red!! We had to get out as it was making us light headed. There were a few regular showers in front of us so we o

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

went into them to cool down. They had one shower head on top and four more either side. Once our body temperature had dropped enough, we decided we still needed to cool down more so went into a pool which was 16 oC. This pool was so cold it was agony to get into!! We managed to submerge ourselves for a few minutes before this got too much and we had to leave!! Back to the showers to warm up again!! After we had re-heated, we headed over to the Dark Water pool. It was a small bath and the water in it looked dirty. It was a brown/purple colour made from a giant tea bag thing hanging over the side, the water also smelled of hospitals!! It was cooler than the other pools and we managed to stay in for a bit longer. We had a few minutes left before we had to go meet Kazuko so we headed back into the bubble pool and tried a section in it where you laid down and got jetted, but again, it was so hard that it hurt. When it was all over, we got out and squeezed as much water out of the towels as possible. We dried off as best as we could then got dressed into our weird night clothes. They were made of spongy material and covered in fish!! We found Kazuko quite quickly and she took us on a tour of the rest of the building. We went to the second floor and to a large entertainment hall. They usually have performers but only had people doing karaoke. They had really low tables with cushions and a few small chairs. We took a table and Kazuko brought us a stein of beer again and some edamame just like she had done the day before, except the other day, she had also ordered us battered prawns, the shells still on that we also had to eat!! We sat drinking our drinks until the hall had to close so we finished up and left. We went up to the top floor which is a quiet floor. Here there were loads of lounge chairs with people asleep on them everywhere!! There were also massage chairs and a room filled with comics to read. They also had small karaoke booths and Kazuko took us into one. We had a look through the book which was massive, (bigger than a copy of the yellow pages), and Roo picked Yesterday by the Beatles. After that he sang a Beatles medley. We had enough time for one more song so I decided to sing Creep by Radiohead. It was a really odd experience. By the time we got changed and left it was midnight so we got back and went to bed. 59/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

The next day was our day off. We got up and took Ku-Chan for his morning walk. After we got back, Kazuko asked if we wanted lunch, we said yes and waited at their house and used their computer until food was ready. We had lunch (can‘t remember what is was now) and after Kazuko asked if we wanted to go out to a flea market with her and her sister. We had no other plans so went. The flea market was in a small car park and was more like a car boot sale. We walked around for a while, while Kazuko brought different bits and pieces. We then had to pop into a supermarket for a few bits. On the way back we stopped off at a massive second hand shop to have a look around. The place was full of all sorts of things. Roo ended up buying a small metal model of Howls Moving Castle. When we got back home, Kazuko asked us if we would make carrot cake for her. We found a recipe online, got the ingredients and headed off to the Clare kitchen to make it. We made it with no problems and put it on the oven before heading back over to their house for dinner. For dinner that evening, we had steak, mine was rare, everyone else‘s medium rare. This was served with sweet and normal potatoes, stir fried peppers and bean sprouts and rice. Awesome meal. Had cream filled rolls for dessert, one vanilla and one chocolate. During the meal, the timer for the cake went off so I excused myself and headed off to it back over at Clare to find the oven had turned itself off and it was as runny as it was when I had put it in!! I had to get Kazuko to fix it!! When dinner was finished, me and Roo headed back to get the cake, which was now cooked, make and pour on the icing. When it was completed, we took it back and tried some with Kazuko and Hiro. It was really nice, a bit orangey, but moist and fine. Also tried pumpkin pie the other day which was nice, and at the flea market we had ice-cream, I had green tea in a cone and Roo had cheese with blueberry sauce in a hotdog bun!! They both tasted ok. With dinner over, we took Ku-Chan for an evening walk. As it was late, we stopped off at the local park and climbed up the big rope climbing frame there!! So much fun!! Ha!! We tied up Ku-Chan while we went up. When we looked down we saw him frantically digging and getting filthy!! The rest of the walk we spent trying to get his paws clean!! 60/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

It was late when we got back so went back to our house and read for a bit. I‘m reading ―Across the River and Into the Trees‖ by Ernest Hemmingway. It is really boring!! Dammit!! ♫

Around the Fir – Deftones ♫ #281

Top Row L2R: (Taken by Kazuko)  Roo in his onsen clothes inside the karaoke booth.  Me in my onsen clothes rocking out.  Our big beers and edamame. Second Row L2R:  Our shower at the WWOOF house.  The toilet at the other end, small room.  Roo‘s room. TV down the bottom behind the fan. Third Row:  The WWOOF kitchen. Check out the old fashioned whistling kettle on the stove. Bottom Row:  My room. The wardrobe was full of WWOOF bits like the books we found and spare clothing.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

30/09/2008:

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Around the World – Red Hot Chilli Peppers♫ #282

Another day off so we had a bit of a lie in before getting up to walk Ku-Chan. A bit of a rainy day so we did not hang around too long. We got back and had a shower and got dressed. Kazuko was going to take us out to the cinema to watch Hancock. She said that we would take the monorail that ran through Hino but would have to cycle to it. It was still raining a bit so by the time we got there we were a little wet. We got up to the monorail station just as one arrived. Also, we had our carrot cake for breakfast, it had cooled down now. Yum!! Our stop was only three stations away at Tatchikawa (立川市). It was good riding the monorail as we were high up and got some good views on the way. Once we got there we went to find somewhere to eat. Unsure of what we wanted, Kazuko took us to a department store where they have loads of restaurants on the top floor. We spent ages trying to work out which restaurant to go too. We eventually decided on a pasta restaurant but there was about a 20 minute wait and we had to get going to the cinema. It was too much of a long wait so we decided to go to the basement to get some quick food. We had a speedy look around and decided on a curry. I had beef and Roo had an omelette with tomato rice inside and curry over it. It was good food but we had to rush it. Once done we rushed to the cinema and got there just in time. The film was good. When it had finished, we had to sit and wait for all the credits to run before we could leave, a Japanese thing to do!! Kazuko had to go do other things so we had a look around the town. I was still a little hungry so we went to a Mr. Donut!! I had a honey dipped ring, Roo had a chocolate cream and we shared a green tea doughnut. My honey one was not really honey tasting!! And the green tea one was horrible!! I also had a lemon tea to drink which was also nasty!! On the way out we spotted a book shop and went in to have a look inside to see if they had any English books. We wandered round and didn‘t see any, so I asked a shop assistant and they took us over to a small English book section. We spent ages looking through trying to find something to read. Eventually I picked The Godfather and Roo The Brotherhood of the Shroud. Hopefully these will keep us sane, especially after Across the River and into the Trees!!! Also, The First Casualty by Ben Elton is a great book. We made our way back after getting the books. 62/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

There were a few books that had been left in our house by other WWOOFers. We both read The First Casualty and I read Across the River and Into the Trees. It was good as it gave us something to do in the evening. I only wish that Across the River was a good book!! At least it helped me to get to sleep!! BORING!!!

By the time we got to Hino it was raining a lot harder. We cycled to the house and dropped off the books in case they got ruined. Then we got back on our bikes and headed to the shops of Hino and brought a pot plant for Kazuko as thanks for taking us out over the last few days. We got back to the house and Roo went to take Ku-Chan for a walk but it was raining so hard it did not want to go out for a full walk!! Dinner that night was two types of fish, salmon was one, Kazuko did not know the English name of the other one, and tempura vegetables. For dessert we had apple, grapes, chocolate peanuts and brown sugar cookies. The brown sugar cookies were odd. They were shaped like Wotsits, brown crispy things. Quite sweet but tasted ok. Once done, went home and had a beer each, our last one in the fridge, and went to bed. ♫

Assassin – Muse♫ #297

Row L2R:  The monorail.  Inside the monorail station at Hino.  On the monorail. Like the tube trains, you can see all the advertisement hanging down from the ceiling.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

03/10/2008:

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Assignable – Devin Townsend♫ #298

Three days ago, we got up as usual. Headed over to Kazuko and Hiro‘s house and took Ku-Chan for a walk.

Ku-Chan was not the only animal there. They also had a cat called Louis. Louis was usually looked after by the WWOOFers living in the house. We would feed him and put water in his bowl. He always stayed outside but wanted to come in now and again. He was a loving tortoise shell. We did not see too much of him, but if we ever called when he was around, he‟d come over for some strokes and ruffling. He had a bad patch of skin on the back of his neck. The fur had come off and the skin was dry and red. It was made worse by the fact that he would always roll on his back and wriggle round scratching himself. Luckily, by the time we left, the bad patch was getting better.

Once back we went to Clare and Kazuko said we could make bread and cook it in the kiln that Hiro had made!! Firstly we had to make a fire in it. We both had fun burning wood and paper until we had a full on fire raging inside. Kazuko gave us the ingredients for it and I started measuring them all out and putting them in the bread kneader that was outside. When it was ready, we made a second batch of fruit and nut bread. We left the bread to warm and prove while we heated the kiln more. Once it was hot enough, we had to pull out all the wood and burning embers and mop the inside clean. When it was ready we portioned out the first batch of bread and put one in the kiln and the rest in a real oven. We had lunch and afterwards, Kazuko asked me to make pasties again, this time with beef. I started to get the stuff ready when she got a call from a new WWOOFer. She took Roo to go pick him up and I stayed back and made the pasties. By the time they got back, my hands were covered. The new guy is called Seth and comes from Virginia U.S.A. We all worked together to make the pasties. Roo took Seth out with Ku-Chan to show him the route when it was time for his walkies. I finished off making the pasties with Kazuko who had already sold two of them in her shop!! When they got back, we finished off the remaining pasties, went to the house, got showered and dressed and then Kazuko took the four of us out for a meal.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Seth was a legend. I was probably a bit cold to him at first as he was coming into our house and working at our WWOOF host, but I was ok in the end. Back in America, he worked at the University of Virginia archiving all the gifts and memorials sent in after the shootings there. He was a good guy and likes programmes like The Office and Monty Python which gave him brownie points with me!! He was staying in Japan for three months, purely WWOOFing before going over to Korea to WWOOF for a month, then returning to Japan for three more months and hopefully getting a job back in Korea teaching English. He was not exploring Japan like me and Roo, mainly working on WWOOF farms for two to four weeks at a time and doing a small bit of sightseeing in-between. Seth is the kind of guy that you wouldn‟t mind meeting again.

Seth likes sushi so we went out for a meal in a conveyer belt sushi restaurant. It was cool and with Kazuko‘s help we ate only cooked food and also in my case, mayo free too!! For dessert, I had a chocolate cake, a chocolate ice-cream and a cheese cake. YEAH!! When we got back, we read for a little before going to bed. The next day we got up and headed over to the new house to help Hiro. We had to do taping again, this time for the painting and it had to be flush against the wall too. We hate doing this!! After we had to start sanding the walls a little to get rid of the bumpy bits of render. This got us covered in dust and was not too good to breathe in!! For lunch we had bento. I had burger and shredded beef with rice and Roo had tempura squid and some white fish. We finished this and went back to the house, and Roo went to help in the Clare shop as they were busy. After a couple of hours, he brought over a cup of tea/coffee each. It was a welcome and nice break. Hiro also had me painting the walls too. That day Kazuko wanted me to cook dinner of sausage and mash and onion gravy. We all helped and I cooked it. The Japanese sausages are a bit like frankfurters and do not cook that well!! I made a rich onion gravy to go with it and Roo made a stir fry. We all ate it and everyone liked it and we also ate a pasty from the day before, again I was surprised at how good they tasted!! YUM!! We also had ancient rice that Kazuko cooked. It was purple!! Looked good. For dessert we just had apples. After that, we got changed quick as Kazuko took us to a different onsen. 65/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

This one was a more traditional style with two saunas, inside and outside baths. We stripped off, scrubbed up in the showers and went into the baths. The first was just a hot bath but the water was cloudy white, you could not see your hand in it, it was that thick!! Next we went into a normal hot bath. After a while we got out to get a breather. We rested and then I went into the cold one for about five minutes!! SO COLD!! I got out and we went to use the outside ones. Roo went to use the loo and I went into a single person bath. This was cool and it had a constant stream of water coming in and pumped in from the bottom too. Once Roo got back, he got in one too. From there we went into a communal pool for a bit until it got too much and we had to sit out. Once rested and cooled down, we went back inside to the saunas. The first was through a small door into a tiny room with a giant bowl of salt that you had to rub on your skin. After we went into the normal sauna which was massive, boiling and had a TV. We lasted about three minutes before we had to leave, burning our feet on the way out!! We had time to go in another pool so we went into one of the bubble ones until we felt too pounded to stay in any longer. We left, got dressed and met Kazuko and Seth in the restaurant area and she brought the two of us beer and edamame and Seth an ice-cream with kiwi sauce that he said was not that nice. We were exhausted by the time we got back, read for a bit and slept. Living like this, with none of the usual things to keep yourself entertained, like PC‟s, radio, games consoles and TV‟s made you find other ways of keeping yourself occupied. In the places that we did have TV, we never really watched it as we did not understand what was going on and it was totally shite!! We did a lot of reading which was good as I haven‟t read properly for years. We could go out for a walk if the weather was nice too. Whenever we came across a book shop, we would always look for the English book section to see what they had. Before we left England we also brought some packs of Top Trumps which kept us entertained some nights. We had a Simpson‟s pack, a horror character pack and a natural wonder pack too.

We got woken up early in the morning by Kazuko who took us to go and see Mt. Fuji again as it was quite a clear day. She took us to a spot where the view was quite good and for the first time we saw the outline of Fuji. After we took KuChan to the communal dog pen we took him to the week before. There were no other dogs in it so Seth and Roo chased him around instead. On the way back we 66/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

stopped off for breakfast. We had Mr. Donut!! I had a strawberry iced one and a chocolate cream, Roo had the same strawberry one and a strawberry cream one too. AWESOME!! When we got back, we had to continue in the house!! We were tired and this job did not help!! For lunch we had pizza and noodles. We ate in the summer house that we normally ate in. After we There was a small summer house in the garden that we would eat in most days that Kazuko provided food for us. It could fit about four to five of us. It was nice to be able to eat outside. We had to have mosquito burner to stop us from getting eaten too!!

went back to the house and then Kazuko asked if I could make banana bread. We had messaged Dad on Facebook a while ago for Mum to send us the recipe so I checked the internet and she had. I printed it out and went about making it. Roo helped for a bit too but had to return to the house to help Seth. I cooked the bread and it turned out ok, just a little flat. Kazuko let me and Roo take Ku-Chan out for one last walk. We took him for a massive hour long walk!! Once we got back, Roo and Kazuko tried the banana bread and both liked it!! For dinner, Kazuko brought in Indian curry and those massive naan breads. YUMMY!! We both ate ours and everyone else‘s leftovers!! For dessert we had banana bread but I had some little cake instead. Also had apple, pear and another pear that was the same size of a small melon, massive!! We used their internet quickly after and went back over to our house to read and eventually sleep. ♫

Bastard: Not One of my Better Days/Girl From the Blue City – Devin Townsend♫ #349

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Louis the WWOOF cat. A rare photo of his face.  The WWOOF made kiln.  Our awesome meal, sausages in gravy on the left, mash in the middle and Roo‘s stir fry on the right. Middle Row L2R:  Beef filled pasties.  Our carrot cake from the other day. Says M + R on the top.  A picture of Fuji. It is there, behind miles of Tokyo haze. Bottom Row L2R:  Mr Donut doughnut box Kazuko treated us to.  Their family shrine next to our house.  The stream flowing down the side of the WWOOF house. These were everywhere in Japan and usually had koi carp and other fish in swimming freely.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

04/10/2008:

♫

Bat Country – Avenged Sevenfold♫ #350

It was our last day at the Hino host. We got woken up early by Kazuko who had brought a new WWOOFer in. None of us had any idea there was someone else joining so we were all in bed when he arrived!! Anyway, we got up, had breakfast and started packing. The new guy was called Arris and was from California. It took us a while to get our bags sorted but eventually we were both packed and ready to go. We went over to Clare to say bye but Kazuko was out shopping so we had a walk around until she came back. We helped her into the kitchen with the bags and she asked if we wanted to stay for lunch, we said yes and she got us to cook some potatoes and sausages. Once done, we got our stuff, said good bye to Seth, Arris, Hiro and David and Kazuko drove us to the train station along with KuChan. We stopped to get out some money first and then some credit for the phone before she dropped us off. She thanked us, gave us both a hug and we went on our way. The Rail Pass was probably the most valuable item that we purchased for this trip. We paid ¥57,700 for 21 days, (there is also a 14 day and 7 day pass available). You can only purchase it from outside of Japan and it is not available for Japanese people. It allowed us to travel on nearly every train, including the bullet trains. All we had to do was show it at stations and to conductors too. We must have saved easily over £1,000 each. The Rail Pass was amazing and totally invaluable!!! Without it we would never have been able to do what we did on this trip.

We had to take a train to Shinjuku so we could exchange our Rail Pass vouchers for the real thing. Once we had worked out where to pick them up from and collected them, we had a quick stop off at Starbucks. We both had iced green tea latte, Roo had a cinnamon bun and I had a caramel doughnut, nice!! We had to take the underground to Tokyo station so we could ride a bullet train to Nagoya (名古屋市). When we got to the platform, a train pulled up. The passengers got off and a cleaning crew jumped on cleaning the carriages. Because the train would be travelling the opposite direction that it arrived in, the cleaners spun round all the chairs so they were facing the other way, cool. We waited a while for them to finish and then got on. It was only once we on did we realize we had got on a smoking carriage. SHIT! 69/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

This was the start of our nonstop twenty one day travel plan. We were going to be in twelve different cities within those twenty one days!! We knew that it would be difficult, we would spend one day travelling to a city, the next day exploring it and then moving on again the day after. Twenty one days of trains, packing, unpacking, sightseeing, etc. It was really going to push our tolerance of each other to the max!!

For the next two hours we had to breathe in a tonne of second hand smoke!! As we were heading out we could see the sun set behind the mountains which looked really cool. We eventually reached Nagoya and managed to fudge our way to the Ryoken, Ryoken Meiryu. We had a printed out confirmation from the Ryoken with direction on the bottom. As we found out, the directions were as clear as mud!! We stood at the exit from the tube stop we exited from scratching our heads when some Japanese guy came up to us and said “Ryoken Meiryu?” We said yes and he walked us there. What a legend!!

The room was quite small with tatami flooring and roll out bedding. We got ourselves settled and headed out for dinner as it was getting late. We asked the guy on the desk where was good to go to eat and he gave us directions to a place down the road. We found a place, not sure if it was the right one or not. It was called Shupnc Shupnc and was on the second floor of a building that had a music venue on the first floor. The bass vibrations made the floor shake walking up to the restaurant. The place was small with about five tables. Had a bit of a retro feel to it and would not look out of place in Brighton. Roo had fried rice with a giant tortilla basket on top filled with salad and I had pork and pasta in a creamy paprika sauce. Both meals were totally amazing. After, the girl working there gave us a small biscuit each for free. Cool. We went back to the hotel and brought a big can of beer each for ¥300, so cheap. We sat in our freshly rolled out beds, watched TV and drank the beers then went to sleep. ♫

Beat it Upright – Korn♫ #367

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Beautiful – Smashing Pumpkins♫ #368 70/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews ♫

Bitch We Got a Problem – Korn♫ #410

Top Row L2R:  Seth on the left and Arris on the right.  Roo at the top of the climbing frame.  Hiro in his outside work area. Second Row L2R:  Roo hating the tape.  Me hating the tape just as much.  Inside the house we had been doing up. Walls freshly rendered. Third Row L2R:  The awesome Kazuko and Ku-Chan.  Shinkansen (bullet) train in the front of the shot and Nozomi (super Shinkansen) in the rear.  Roo‘s fried rice and tortilla at Shupnc Shupnc. Bottom Row:  My creamy pasta at the same place.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

06/10/2008:

♫

Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve♫ #411

Got up the next morning and went downstairs to their small restaurant for breakfast. It was a traditional Japanese breakfast of rice, pickles, miso soup, fried egg and a cooked fish, head and all!! It was weird eating that food but I managed to do so, even the fish. Had green tea to wash it down with!! After we went to have a shower and use the hot bath they had. Washed and then sat in the bath until we had to get out!! Once dressed, we left to go walk to Nagoya castle. It took us a while and a couple of wrong turns before we worked out where we were on the map and headed off. Along the way we walked through a shopping centre and Roo found a pair of chopsticks he wanted and a chopstick rest too. We carried on going but our tummies got the better of us again so we found somewhere to eat. Random observation: Different areas in Japan all have different manhole cover designs. I first noticed it in Hino that had a Kingfisher on it as it is an important bird there. The manhole covers usually have designs related to the place or something to do with its history.

We picked a place that looked a bit like an American style bar and both ended up ordering pasta but not really knowing what type we were going to get. When they came out, Roo had chosen a tomato one and I had ordered a shrimp pasta. They were both really nice and after we decided to have dessert. They were quite expensive so we decided on sharing an Oreo cookie dessert. When it came out, it looked amazing. A mess of Oreo cookies, strawberries and fresh cream. It tasted so good we wished we had ordered two!! We drank iced tea and iced coffee which was included in the price. The tea was oolong which tasted nasty, but it was free so I had a second cup!! We left, picked up our tracks again and headed off to the castle. We eventually reached Nagoya city centre and walked through it. While walking through, I spotted a big wheel attached to the second floor of a department store so I dragged Roo up to it for a ride. It cost ¥500 each and we got great views of the city. It only lasted a few minutes but we managed to capture some great pictures. We carried on walking and started to follow the sound of music and someone on a microphone. 72/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We came to a big structure with a stage in a lower area that people were looking into. There was a load of people in there watching a dance off competition. The whole area was set off with a water/light effect caused by the glass ceiling which had a layer of water all over it. Very cool!! We stood and watched a couple of rounds before heading back off. We walked through small park areas, each one with things sent from different countries. Eventually we reached the castle grounds entrance, paid and went in. We walked around the grounds before we came to the castle itself. It looked so cool. So different to anything that we have back in the UK! Awesome to see. We went in going up a floor at a time seeing the historic display on each one. At the top we could see amazing views again of Nagoya. We finished walking round the castle and left to the grounds again. Walking around we saw the biggest ants I have ever seen!! Roo was getting thirsty so we brought a large can of Lifeguard. VILE!! We were quite tired by the time we left so took the Nagoya tube back. We rested for a bit before heading back out for dinner. We decided to go eat in the same place as the day before. This night, Roo had taco and I had fried rice with an omelette on top. YUM!! We gave the girl working there one of our business card and one of our small gifts each as they had looked after us and given both of us a free CD. She was so happy that we got us a drink each. SCORE!! I had a Corona and Roo had a Guinness. We went back to our room and got an early night as we were up early in the morning to go to Nara. Before we went to bed we went for a shower and bath again but went in the sauna there first. We sat in it until sweat was pouring off!! Only had a quick dip in the bath as I had over heated in the sauna. That done, we went to bed. We got up early and headed for breakfast. It was the same deal as the previous day but with a boiled egg and a different fish. Still not that nice. Plenty of green tea after!! We got packed and headed out and on the way, gave the guy who worked there, our cards and gifts. We were off to Nara (奈良市) today, to a place called Oji (王寺町) just outside of it. On the way we got hungry and had a bite to eat at Kyoto. I had rice and hamburger and Roo had fried chicken nuggets. We got to Oji and made our 73/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

way to Guesthouse Yougendo. I was totally amazed when I got there. It was an old Japanese styled building with the separate rooms walled off with paper screens. The rooms were filled with old Japanese ornaments and furniture. This is what I expected of Japan. The girl at reception showed us around and let us take some pictures. AWESOME!! We had a Western style room in a building outside, (traditional Japanese rooms were more expensive). It was a nice room and very homely. We made ourselves at home and made a mess!! We also met the owner, a guy called Chris who is from Bradford in England. He has been here nearly eleven years!! For dinner we went to the local department store, and remembering what we learnt from Kazuko, found their food floor. We decided on a place to eat by the pictures outside and once we got in were surprised to find a massive hot plate in the middle of our table. I ordered a medley of noodles, beef, shrimp, pork and oysters, Roo had omelette and noodles. When they came out they were placed on the griddle and kept warm while we ate them. It was really nice. We wanted something sweet after so we headed off to a different part of the food floor to McD‘s. Earlier in the day we had snacked on a Cinnamon Melt. It is bits of dough covered in a hot cinnamon sauce and creamy stuff too. So bloody good. It is a new thing and I‘m not sure you get it back in the UK. That time we had shared one but now we had one each. It was so good and contained enough sugar to satisfy us!! After, we went back to the guest house and used the PC and put a load of pictures on Facebook, we had not been able to since before Clare!! We finished and decided to go to the bar that was on the same grounds. It was owned by the guesthouse and when speaking to Chris, we found that they served draught Guinness. Roo was a very happy man!! It was a really small place, smaller than Beers back in Tokyo. He sold Guinness and Sapporo in pint glasses which was nice. A bit Different bars served beer in different sized glasses. There was no set rule for measurement there. Sometimes we‟d pay a lot for a small glass which was always a bit annoying!! This was one of the few places that sold beer in the full pint size!! A real beer measurement!!!

pricy though. ¥850 for Guinness and ¥750 for my lager. When talking to us, we found that his bar was one of only three in the prefecture that sold draught 74/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Guinness. He also gave Roo a Japanese Guinness head band in the style of the old Kamikaze pilots. This was so cool that we went about trying to organize him some Guinness stuff from back in England. Have to see if we can get any or not. Also discovered today that I still had the key from the Ryoken Meiryu!! Gotta post it When we booked in to the Ryoken Meiryu, the guy on the desk gave us our key. It had a massive plastic tag attached to it. I jokingly said to him that you wouldn‟t be able to lose a key like that, he agreed and said not to forget to hand it back in when we leave. How I missed that massive bit of plastic in my pocket as we left the Ryoken is beyond me!! Whoops. One mistake that I didn‟t make again!!!

back to them the next day the post office is open!! Roo was so glad that he had found draught Guinness that we stayed and had another beer each. After, we went back to our room and to bed and slept quite quickly. ♫

Blasphemy – Morbid Angel♫ #429

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Blasphemy (Remix) – Morbid Angel♫ #430

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Blind (Live) – Korn♫ #440

Row L2R:  A Nagoya manhole cover.  Our room in the Ryoken Meiryu. Rollout beds on tatami flooring.  Roo outside the Ryoken Meiryu.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Our awesome Oreo cookie dessert.  The Ferris wheel we went on, on the side of a building.  The Aqua UFO centre with the dance off competition. Second Row L2R:  Nagoya Castle.  Views of Nagoya from up the top of the castle.  An Oji manhole cover. Third Row L2R:  Inside the Guesthouse Yougendo where we had breakfast.  Myojin, the name of our room.  Inside our room with our beds already covered in our clothes!! Bottom Row:  Roo at the entrance to Guesthouse Yougendo.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

08/10/2008:

♫

Blinded in Chains – Avenged Sevenfold♫ #441

We got up and had breakfast in the guesthouse. It was included in the price. We had homemade black sesame bread with butter and jam, ham, fried eggs and pineapple. Roo had my pineapple. We also had green tea too. Once done we went for a shower. Their shower was awesome and in a small cubicle. You could have it as a normal shower head, a big shower head in the ceiling or eight small shower heads on the back. There was also a control panel for a light, fan and radio!! So much fun. Once dressed, we headed off to Nara. When we got there, we headed off to find a five storey pagoda and we found it along with a few shrines. The pagoda was massive and looked awesome. No one was allowed in so we had to settle with taking pictures from the outside. From here we headed off to find the biggest wooden building in the world. On the way we stopped off for dinner in the same restaurant chain we ate in the night before, with the griddle on the table. This time we had a dish of beef, (pork and beef for Roo) with loads of cabbage, egg, cream, onion and fish flakes (bonito), mine also had noodles. The waiter brought the meat, veg, egg over in a small pot and started to smash them together with a grill scraper. They mixed it up before upturning it all out and making a round mound on the grill. They told us to let it cook and they would look after it for us. When one side was done they turned it over and placed fish flakes on top. The heat made the fish flakes bend and twist, it looked cool!! They put the noodles on the bottom of mine. We had to wait for it to cook out before they came back and re-flipped them again. On the top they smothered Roo‘s with mayo and both of them with a thick brown soya sauce paste. Once ready we were able to slice bits off and eat it. It was quite good. After we had finished I needed to go to the toilet. When I got there, it was one of the Japanese super loos with loads of buttons. I noticed that one of them was labelled ‗flushing sounds‘! I pushed it, and true to what it said, it made a long and drawn out flushing noise!! Don‘t know why. It even had a volume control!! WTF!! We left and continued on. We got to the park with the temple and shrines in it. There were loads of deer around and they were quite tame. We bought some

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

biscuits from a local vendor and fed them. Every time we stopped, they would butt us or nibble our trousers until we relented and gave them more!! We eventually got to the building and it was massive!! It is apparently two thirds its original size!! Inside it is housed a massive bronze Buddha. It was huge!! There were other statues inside. We had a walk round and left. We carried on exploring the park and discovered a few more temples and shrines. These ones had loads of lamps outside them lining the paths. We looked round them and as it was getting late, headed back. We got back to the guest house and relaxed for a bit before heading out for dinner. We wandered round Oji for a while before heading back to the department store as we could find nowhere else to eat!! We went to a restaurant and I had some sort of curried spaghetti and Roo had noodle soup. After we went back to McD‘s and had a Cinnamon Melt to share!! YUM!! Once we got back, we did some things on the PC‘s and read for a bit before going to bed. We got up early and had breakfast. I had the same as the previous day but with scrambled egg, pear and white bread this time. Roo had tofu sandwiches with avocado, cheese and salmon flakes. After that we had another über shower and got packed. Before we headed to Osaka, we decided to climb a mountain at the station after Oji. We left our bags at the guesthouse and got the train. Once we arrived, we had to walk up a steep road. By the time we got to the top, we were exhausted and already sweating and aching!! From there we had to leave the road and head up a small path. It again was really steep and our legs ached the whole way. When we reached the top of that part we were soaking wet with sweat!! YUCK! At the top was a small town that we had to walk through to visit the shrines up the mountain. This part was not so steep so was easier to walk up!! We eventually reached the mountain path. We looked over at a different part of the mountain and saw one of the temples poking out over the trees on the side of it, it looked so cool. The path took us winding up the mountain. We passed various shrines and temples and some that worshiped a tiger figure!! The paths were lined with stone lanterns and also torii gates. Again, it was amazing to walk up. It was also really, really, really exhausting!! Somehow we managed to get to the top. The view was breath taking. 78/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We could see mountains and towns and cities all around, it was definitely worth the effort!! We found a bench and sat down. We had brought lunch from the department store back in Oji and took it with us so we could eat at the top. I had pizza, a garlic baguette and chocolate doughnut. Roo had a fried potato burger, garlic baguette too and a chocolate puff pastry thing. It turned out my pizza had tuna mayo on it so Roo had to eat it!! He

This mayo thing would become a problem. I hate mayo and as it turns out, the Japanese love it!! Some food would have mayonnaise on that I would least expect to find it, like the pizza which meant that I would not have asked for it without!! Dammit! Luckily for me, Roo loves it so I could always fob my food onto him. This time I had to eat two dry baguettes though instead. Kind of similar experience to eating concrete!! It was fantastic to be able to eat our food on top of the mountain. We were totally exhausted from the walk up and it was a big pay off with the view. Only problem was that it was a bit colder at the top and as our clothes were saturated with sweat, they became cold really fast!!

saved me most of his baguette. We ate our food and also an energy drink each and headed back down. We got back down to the bottom in no time and with a lot more ease!! We jumped on a train and went back to Oji. Back at the guesthouse, the manager said that we could have a cup of tea before heading off. We were exhausted and tired so said yes and had a little rest before leaving to go to Osaka (大阪市). Osaka was only a thirtyish minute train ride which was good. From the main station it was it was a further two stops on the underground. We got to our stop and the hotel was a minute walk away. We were only paying £7.00 a night each so the room was quite small!! Also had a faint musty smell in it!! On the up side we had a fridge and TV!! The hotel also had a hot bath and sauna, so as soon as we were unpacked, we went down to use the sauna and bath and have a shower. It was a very basic bath but did the trick. The sauna was really hot and we cooked ourselves!! 79/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We got dressed and went for dinner. There was a building near us that had a roller coaster round it but it was not open!! Dammit!! We walked round the streets near us and Osaka was not that nice a place. We While walking round Osaka, it did not look that nice a place. The buildings were dirty and old looking and not very Japanese. There were a lot of homeless people who went around together and were not like the ones that we encountered back in Tokyo. Osaka seemed to be a lot more of an industrial city too which did not appeal to us either. We were only in Osaka for two days so I can only go on what I saw as we did not really get chance to explore the city that well.

eventually picked somewhere to eat. It was another griddle restaurant!! I chose fried pork noodles with an egg, Roo chose some skewers. Osaka is famous for its skewers. He decided on chicken, potato, cheese, ribs and something called beef hormone!! The food came out and I cracked my egg on the hot plate not realizing it was not turned on so the waiter had to come over and light it for me. By this point, my egg had spread all over the place!! Also, I think that the hormone was cow penis!! Ha. We asked for the bill which confused the member of staff who consulted the chef thinking that we were trying to order food, but another guy came over and knew what we wanted!! We left to go back to the hotel and stopped off at a shop to get some snacks as the food we ate was not enough!! Back at the hotel, we read for a bit then went down to the foyer and to a vending machine and brought a big can of beer each for ¥250 each!! Still can‘t believe you can get beer from a vending machine!! We sat in our rolled out beds and, watched random Japanese TV, drank our beers and went to bed. ♫

Blood Sugar Sex Magik – Red Hot Chilli Peppers♫ #455

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  My English style breakfast at Yougendo.  Roo‘s Japanese breakfast there.  Five tier pagoda. Second Row L2R:  Okonomiyaki at Nara. Noodle pancake thing.  Nara wild deer.  Todaiji temple. Third Row L2R:  Giant Buddha inside the Todaiji temple.  Binzuru statue outside the temple.  Temple‘s courtyard. Bottom Row:  Rows of lanterns in Nara.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  A Nara manhole cover.  Alcohol vending machine. Beer and small sake on the top two rows and big cartons of sake and whiskey on the bottom.  One of the many small statues that are found around Oji. Second Row L2R:  The start of our mountain hike.  A tunnel of trees on the way up.  Rows of small idols. Third Row L2R:  A temple on the side of a mountain.  The weird tiger statue.  Views from the top. Fourth Row:  Rows of torii gates. Bottom Row:  The hill that we had to climb up at the start that nearly killed us. This was taken on the way back down.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

09/10/2008:

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Bloodbrawl – Cavalera Conspiracy♫ #456

Got up and headed out straight away to get breakfast at one of the many food outlets in Umbaro underground station, which was a few stops away from us. We got there and after much looking, decided to eat in a place called ‗Curry Coffee‘!! I had a chocolate sundae and cold milk and Roo had a melon frappe and coffee. He thought a frappe (pile of crushed ice with flavoured syrup/sauce) was a pancake and was shocked when it came out!! Neither of our meals were inspiring and we ate them as quick as we could so we were able to move on. We headed to a massive aquarium in Osaka. We arrived at the underground stop and walked to the area that it was in. The aquarium was huge. There was also a museum building too and a big shopping and restaurant complex and the world‘s biggest ferris wheel. (So they were advertising). We walked over to the aquarium and there was a sign up saying they had a lot of school parties in and there may be a hold up. With this in mind, we decided to go have lunch first. We went to the food court and decided on having fast food. Roo had an egg, bacon and cheese burger, I had a bacon and potato pizza and we both had a portion of potato smiles too. We ate the food and then left to go to the aquarium. It cost us ¥2,000 each to get in and a further ¥300 each to hire radio head sets to explain in English what was going on. The place was absolutely huge. They had many, many exhibits. We saw otters, sea otters, dolphins, rays, seals, etc, etc. The highlight was a super massive tank in the middle that housed two whale sharks, tuna fish, some big rays and various other fish including a hammer head shark. The route we took snaked around this tank on the way down. It was truly spectacular!! We spent ages watching the sea life swim around in this giant tank. On the way out we saw giant spider crabs and a display with various jelly fish in it. The last thing we went to was to another otter section and we saw them getting fed. They were really noisy!! Once we had finished with the aquarium, we left and headed over to the big ferris wheel. It was ¥700 per person to ride it. Once inside, we got some amazing views of Osaka from up the top. It went really high and we could see really far. When we had finished in this area we headed back, stopping off in Osaka centre to get 83/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

some food. We went to a Japanese curry restaurant. I had beef and Roo had chicken. It tasted ok and was cheap!!

As I mentioned earlier, this part of the trip was hard work and very tiring at times. We never really encountered other English people for very long, therefore the only conversation that we had was between us. There were times where we would get stroppy or be in a mood and generally be a bit sick of each other. But, somehow we managed to get to the end and both return back to England without killing each other!!

Before we left to go back to the hotel, we went into a massive department store. We had a look around and Roo bought a few note books that he could write some Kanji (one of the Japanese alphabets) in. It was a long day so we jumped on a train and headed back to the hotel. Once there, we went for a shower and bath again before buying another can of beer and watching TV and going to bed. ♫

Bruises are Back in Style – Jack of Jill♫ #532

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Bubbles – System of a Down♫ #533

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Burn Offerings – Iced Earth♫ #558

Top Row L2R:  Our room at Hotel Taiyo Osaka.  The roller coaster building across the way from us.  Hotel Taiyo entrance. Bottom Row:  Communal wash area at the hotel. It was cheap!!

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  The giant Ferris wheel we rode on.  The outside of the aquarium.  The penguins at the aquarium with a diver in the water too. Second Row L2R:  Clown fish.  A swimming dolphin.  Close up of a whale shark. Third Row L2R:  Roo next to the giant tank as a manta ray swam past.  The sign explaining about the Pacific Ocean Tank.  An otter. Fourth Row:  Views of Osaka taken from the Ferris wheel. Bottom Row:  An Osaka manhole cover.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

10/10/2008:

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Bury Your Dead – The Haunted♫ #559

We got up early and had a quick look around the area to see if there was anywhere good to have breakfast. There Hotel Taiyo was ok for what we needed it to be. We were only paying ¥3,100 a night which was the cheapest accommodation we used. The room was small, and did smell a bit but we were not in there long so it was ok. The hotel did have a hot bath and sauna which was good. They had a breakfast offer with a local café, eggs, toast and coffee for a few hundred Yen. We never went though as it looked really small and we always wanted more food than that!!

wasn‘t. So, we checked ourselves out and headed out of Osaka. We took the underground to Shin-Osaka station where we could take the Shinkansen on to Okayama (岡山市). Once we got to the station, we looked around for somewhere to have breakfast. The best place we found was McD‘s. We ended up eating the same thing we always ate. This is the last time I‘ll have one of these breakfast baps as I am fairly sick of them now!! We ate in the restaurant but the place was so smoky, it was disgusting!! We ate up quick and left. We found our platform and waited for our Japan has still not banned smoking in public places. This was a bit annoying for us as we are non smokers. Some of the restaurants had nonsmoking areas but they were so open the smoke came in from the smoking area and engulfed you!! It was also horrible being stuck in smoking carriages!! The Japanese smoke a lot too. You could even buy cigarettes from vending machines!! But unlike the alcohol vending machines, you needed an ID card to buy them!!

train to arrive. The train came, we got on, sat down and realized it was the smoking cart!! FUCK!! It was only a short journey which was lucky. We arrived at Okayama station and took our bags out. I was sorting mine out on the floor when I looked round to see Roo. He was neither by my left side or my right. I started to look around and saw that he was back on the train!! He had left a small bag on it and was on his way out when the doors started to close. He quickly pushed his hand through the door with the bag when they shut on him. He managed to throw the bag away from the door and as he did, they re-opened so that he could jump out. Idiot!! 86/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We got a further train to Kurashiki (倉敷市) where our hotel was. As we pulled up, we looked out and saw a small theme park. We checked it out later and decided it was too expensive to go to. We had no idea where the hotel was but luckily there was a tourist information point outside the station. They knew where the hotel was and told us how to get there. It was literally around the corner. By the time we arrived it was around about 1pm. We walked in and the lady on reception said that we had to check in at 4pm!! Luckily, she let us put our bags in the room. The hotel was like something out of the 70‘s. The fob we had was a big wooden coloured ball with the key attached to it with string. On the wall in our room was a fitting that it sat on so it looked like a kid‘s ball and cup game!! Also the male and female toilet doors were defined by an art deco styled male and female genetalia!! Weird! Ha. Lastly, their hot bath was big enough for one person!! We had some time to kill before we could properly check in to our room so we headed out to find lunch. We found a basement area with a load of restaurants so we went down there. We ate in an Italian styled place. I had creamy pasta with garlic bread and Roo had tomato rice wrapped in an omelette. After eating, we then took a long look around a department store nearby and Roo brought a new book, ‗Velocity‘ by Dean Koontz. Eventually four o‘clock rolled around and we went back to our hotel to crash. We read and listened to music With this hotel and many of the other hostels that we stayed in, when we were not sleeping on rolled out beds on tatami flooring, the times that we did have a bed, we had bunk beds. From the start, back in Khaosan Ninja, Roo had the top bunk. I gave it to him back then as I didn‟t wanna fall out in a jet lagged daze!! Ha. Since that point, Roo always had the top bunk.

and eventually had a shower each. Once we started to get hungry again we left looking for food. It was quite late and dark, but we headed off to a newish canal side area in the town. By the time we got there, it was nearly all closed up for the day. It looked nice, old style Japanese buildings.

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We walked out to a different part of the town and eventually found a Joyful brand restaurant. It was a family style place. We had to order by picture. I had a pizza with pepperoni and veg, Roo had two burgers with veg, rice and miso. When the food came out I saw that my pizza was covered in mayo. WHY!! Roo swapped my pizza for his burgers. After we had eaten them, we decided on having dessert too. I had a strawberry cheesecake and Roo had something that looked like it had been made using Play-Doh. It was fine strands of red bean paste on top of some orange coloured paste and chocolate with black sesame seeds on top. Tasted good though. We left and realized we did not know where we were. We made some educated guesses and managed to get back to the hotel. Once back, we did our diaries, read, listened to music and eventually went to bed. ♫

Bye Bye Beautiful – Nightwish♫ #573

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Bye Bye Beautiful – Nightwish♫ #574

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Can’t Stop – Red Hot Chilli Peppers♫ #598

Top Row L2R:  Roo in our room at Kurashiki. Check out the weird bunks they provided. One facing one way and one pointing the other!  The male toilet door at the Young Inn…  …and the female door.  Our room, number 412. Bottom Row:  Entrance to the Young Inn at Kurashiki.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

11/10/2008:

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Can’t Take my Eyes off you – Muse♫ #599

Another early morning to go collect our breakfast from our small weird restaurant at our hotel. We had pre-ordered breakfast for the two days when we checked in the day before. When we asked the lady what we got, she just showed us a blurry picture so it was kind of a surprise. We got a tray with a piece of pineapple, (Roo had mine), a small bowl of salad with some weird soy sauce dressing with a quarter slice of ham, a cold boiled egg with a soft runny centre and two buns with butter already in the middle. These were heated and one of them had raisins in it (Roo had mine too)!! I ate what I could then we went back to our room to chill before we went out. I was hooked on reading Slash‘s autobiography and pounded a few pages while Roo had a bit of a nap. Once ready we headed out of Kurashiki back to Okayama. It was a short journey and we got there in no time. We never really had a major plan for the day so we just wandered round the streets on the way to their castle. While looking round one of the side streets we looked in a shop and found a chopstick box for Roo. Hunger was getting the better of me again so we searched around for food. In an area that was sparse of restaurants we settled on McD‘s, trusty McDonald‘s!! We both ordered Big Mac Meals, mine with Coke and Roo with Grape Fanta and with me being the fussy one, I tried to explain, to the happiest McDonald‘s staff I‘ve ever Staff at Japanese McDonalds are the friendliest McDonalds staff I have ever come across!! Every time we went into one, they were always friendly and happy to be serving us. Never once did we go into one of their restaurants and find staff like you get in the English ones. They always patiently tried to understand my order variations and when possible, spoke English if they could. Japanese McDonald‟s staff are in a league of their own.

seen, that I only wanted cheese and lettuce in my burger. There was a lot of nodding and agreeing and once we had paid, we waited for the food and went downstairs to eat when it was ready. Once I opened my box, I realized that my burger had everything in it except lettuce and cheese!! DAMMIT!! I took it back upstairs and explained as best as I could to the same guy and eventually got what I wanted. It was a good burger and once we had eaten, we headed back round the 89/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

shops. We walked past a coffee shop called Doutor; outside it was a board advertising a mixed veg drink. In it was carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, pepper, sweet potato, cucumber, tomato, asparagus and pumpkin. I don‘t know why he wanted one, but Roo had to have it... and soon regretted when he started to drink it. He drank it up anyway and on the way back, we stopped off at McD‘s again and I got an Oreo McFlurry, mine was nice at least!! We eventually got to where the castle was. It was black, not white like the other had been; I liked the look of it. We did not go in as we had been into the one in Nagoya. Instead, we hired a little row boat and rowed around the river moat for a bit, taking turns doing it and then doing it together soaking ourselves in the process!! Once we had finished at the castle, we decided to head back to Kurashiki. We got back and decided to crash for an hour before heading out to a nice new little canal development in the town. It was a nice little area. From here we headed over to Joyful again for dinner. Roo had a fried chicken curry on rice and I had carbonara pasta with an egg. After You never really get hard boiled eggs in Japan. They eat a lot of raw eggs, mixed up in a small bowl with soy sauce and spices, then poured over rice. Other times they have soft boiled eggs, eggs that are cooked but still runny. I used to have these a fair bit. We both tried the raw eggs once, over our rice. Never again.

the meal, I had a strawberry cheese cake, Roo had a side salad with his meal so did not have a dessert. We headed back. As it was still light, it was easy to get back to the hotel. We crashed again, had showers and read and wrote. I got the munchies later on so we decided to go to McD‘s for a small bite. Roo had a Prawn Thousand Island dressing wrap and I had a Shaka Shaka chicken which was a giant chicken nugget that you shook with flavouring in its bag, I had chilli flavour. We ate the snacks and a Coke each before returning to the hotel. We read for a bit before going to bed. ♫

Car Chase City – Tenacious D♫ #605

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Our weird room key fob and holder.  A Kurashiki manhole cover.  Roo‘s odd purple dessert thing. Middle Row L2R:  Awesome fountain outside Okayama train station.  An Okayama manhole cover.  The nasty vegetable drink that Roo drank from Doutor. Bottom Row L2R:  Okayama‘s black castle.  Dragon bridge design at Kurashiki canal area.  Walking down the canal area shops at Kurashiki.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

12/10/2008:

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Cardiff – Stone Sour♫ #606

We had to get up early again so we could get breakfast at the hotel. It was pretty much the same except we had a banana not pineapple (another thing to pass to Roo) and inch thick toast with butter and jam. After, we packed up and headed out. Today we were going to One of the key items that we took with us was the vacuum packing bags for our clothes. These bags could be sealed and then rolled to push out all the air in the clothes that were inside them. They came in handy as we could fit all the clothes into our back packs. The downside was that on this part of our trip, we were repacking these bags every two days!! Also, the more clothes that we could pack into our backpacks meant that they were loads heavier!! Still, they were a great purchase.

Fukuoka (福岡市), in the South island of Kyushu (九州). It was going to be a longish journey but luckily just one train. Once at the station we waited in line for the Shinkansen in front of a carriage queue that was non-smoking!! This was back in Okayama after the train from Kurashiki. The first train to come a long was a super Shinkansen, the Nozomi, we are not supposed to ride on them with our rail passes, but we did anyway!! The train was packed and we had to stand up for part of it until the first stop when luckily, a load of people got off. On the way we passed through Hiroshima. The city looked just like any other. Not sure what I was expecting. Eventually we arrived in Fukuoka and headed out of the train station. For the next two days we were staying at the Khaosan Fukuoka. The same company as Ninja we stayed at in Tokyo. It was quite a long walk and a tiring one with those bags on our backs!! Once we got there we dumped off our bags, used their PC‘s quick as we had not done so for two days. Then we set out to find lunch. We headed for a department store to look around for food. We checked out all the restaurants there and decided on noodles. Roo had his favourite of breaded chicken with egg on rice and I had shredded beef and onion on rice. The meals also came with a pot of soy sauce that we had to put spring onions and ginger in. The noodles that came with it were the long thick udon noodles with shredded 92/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

seaweed on top. These came out on a plate with a wicker bottom to it. The noodles were also cold. The idea is for you to pick up the noodles, soak it in the soy dip and then eat them. It was quite frankly disgusting!! Not even Roo liked it!! Because of the seaweed, it tasted like sashimi/sushi. YUCK!! They also served cold tea instead of water. Not too good. On the way out we went to have a look round the games arcade on the same level. We found a cool looking game with over the top guns that we wanted to try. It took ¥100 coins and we only had one between us. We went over to a change machine to get some more. I put in a ¥1,000 note and pushed a button and ended up with a bucket load of tokens!! We took them over to the counter to get them changed back but they just showed me a sign in English that said they could not change them back!! We asked them to show us what games we could play. All we could do was a penny push machine, like the ones in English arcades which have a game imbedded in it to make it more fun. We managed to pump all our tokens in, in about five minutes and left annoyed. The next floor down was a book store so we looked around that for ages and Roo brought a book teaching him Katakana as we really wanted to learn. We went back to the hostel and used the PC‘s to upload a bunch of photos and videos that we had stored on our cameras. For dinner we headed back out and after much looking and debating, we went to Mos Burger. We both had chilli burgers and I had a portion of chips and Roo had salad. Once back at the hostel we were writing in our diaries when a couple asked us if we‘d want to watch the Shawshank Redemption with them. We both agreed as we love that film. We watched it and drank sake which we had bought from a convenience store earlier. This was rancid too!! Not gunna do that again!! We watched right up to the big reveal at the end of the film when it stopped. It was a pirate copy and would not play any more of the film!! NOOOOO!! Oh well. It was quite late; the sake was rank so we went to bed. Roo was really hungry so he went down to the local Lawson to get some food before he slept. ♫

Catherine Blake – My Dying Bride♫ #630

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Caught in the Middle – Dio♫ #631 93/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews ♫

Cemetery and Sundown – Cradle of Filth♫ #638

Top Row L2R:  The tray on the back of the train sheet explaining why we should never go into the third carriage.  The Khaosan at Fukuoka.  Roo with a Hotto Motto menu. Middle Row L2R:  The PC‘s just outside our room at the hostel.  Khaosan Fukuoka kitchen area.  The TV room with the low sofas. Bottom Row L2R:  A Fukuoka manhole cover.  Statue outside of the Fukuoka train station.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

13/10/2008:

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Cemetery Drive – My Chemical Romance♫ #639

We got up and to cut down on costs, headed out to the local Lawson for breakfast. I had chicken nuggets and strawberry yoghurt and Roo had mixed sandwiches (with no crusts) and a mixed fruit jelly. We took them back to the Khaosan and made ourselves tea and coffee to go with it.

Things were beginning to get tight for us. The exchange rate was doing us absolutely no favours what so ever!! When we were beginning our planning, it was ¥201 to the pound, which then went up to ¥210/¥212 in June and July. By the time we reached Fukuoka we were only getting ¥169 for our pound. We were beginning to sweat, all the money that we had saved back in England, was in theory, decreasing all the time. Each day I got an email with the daily exchange rate and it was always grim reading. We had to adjust our life style or else we would run out of money. This involved us buying breakfast from a convenience store for a bout ¥1,000 a day rather than eating out and eventually also resulting to large pot noodles that cost about ¥600 each to have for lunch. We still managed to eat dinner out in the evening. Unfortunately the exchange rate never picked its self back up, dropping to ¥148 in November and then down to ¥135 in December. (Information from www.x-rates.com).

When we were ready we headed out. We had no real plan for the day so made it up as we went. The first stop was at a place called Canal City. This is a large shopping and entertainment building near the Fukuoka River. The place was quite tall and painted in bright colours. There were quite a lot of different fountains jetting up at regular intervals. Canal City was decorated ready for Halloween, a big thing in Japan. There were various performers there too. We had a look around and checked out some of the shops. We decided on having a big lunch and had a look around the restaurants and decided on Indian. YUM!! I was getting fed up with Japanese food and wanted something that I knew. We had a set meal of chicken curry, prawn curry, rice, tandoori chicken, half a poppadom and über naan and a little bit of pickle. As always, the Indian food was awesome. Wanting something sweet after, we took a quick detour to McD‘s. We 95/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

both had McFlurries, mine was Oreo and Roo‘s was Cafe Macchiato. We took these and ate them by the river. The next place that we went to was to a small island where the river splits and rejoins further down. This place was full of bars and night clubs not yet open. I wanted to go to a robot place that was on our guide map so we went to the building indicated. We wandered round, inside and out but could not find it. I asked someone and they said that it had moved and showed me its new home on the map, it was bloody miles away!! We gave up on that idea!! Both of us were tired and exhausted and wanted to head back. On the way we stopped at a massive underground shopping centre attached to one of the underground stations. We had a look around and it was full of designer shops that held no real interest to us. But, the area was cool as the streets were modelled after European ones. As we were at an underground station we jumped on a train to get back. As it turned out the train headed the wrong way!! We had to get off, go back and then get on the correct one!! We decided on getting bento for dinner as there was a bento shop (Hotto Motto) right next to our hostel. Roo had fried chicken and rice, I had a big burger on rice with cold tomato pasta. We ate the food, had a shower and wrote our diaries. Once we had caught up, we sat in the lounge area and had a couple of cans of beer we had brought that night and watched episodes of South Park!! AWESOME!! Once done, we went to bed. ♫

Cicatriz ESP – The Mars Volta♫ #683

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Canal City entrance.  Inside the Canal City complex. They have various Halloween decorations hanging around.  Looking back in to the Canal City. See Sonic the Hedgehog on top of the pillar at the back? Middle Row L2R:  The canal at Fukuoka.  A shop that we saw.  Inside the massive underground shopping centre. Bottom Row L2R:  A weird water fall feature with statues of children climbing up it.  An English telephone box that we found in the shopping centre too.

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

14/10/2008 We got up and went down the shop for breakfast again. We had the same stuff and made ourselves tea and coffee in the kitchen area. Once done, we packed and headed on our way. It was a straight journey on a normal train to our new destination, Kumamoto (熊本市). When we had arrived, the only directions that we had was that the hotel, Hotel Route Inn, was a three minute walk from the station!! Not knowing where to go, we went to the train station help desk and asked for directions. The girl showed us a map and a few buildings down on the other side of the road was the hotel. We headed out and walked down that road. We eventually reached the end and had not found the hotel!! Not sure what to do we saw a member of staff from an office by us and asked her for directions. She did not know and took us into the office to check her computer with her colleague. While we were waiting, a guy came in and the three of them worked out where it was and were in the process of explaining where it was when the man said that he would take us. COOL!! It was a minute walk from where we were, behind another building and no obvious signs in English!! We thanked him and went in. This place was a proper hotel, not a hostel like we were used to. As we were early, the girl on the desk said that we could leave our bags there until check in time. We dumped off our bags and left. We went back to the station and to Mr. Donut for a tea and coffee and we both had a mini selection box of 6 doughnut bites. YUM!! We then had a quick look at the shops nearby before walking along the river nearby and returning to the hotel. Walking along the river we saw massive grass hoppers and dragonflies. We checked in at the right time and managed to get our key. Our room was on the 9th floor which was cool. We lugged our bags into the lift and found our room. When we got in we were surprised by the size of the room and also by the fact that they had given us a double bed!!!! We dragged our bags back downstairs and went to reception to try to explain to them the problem. The two girls on the desk could not speak any English and we could not understand what they were saying to us. Eventually they got a member of staff who managed 98/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

to explain that we had booked a double and that we would have to pay a little extra to change to a twin. We did not mind, so we paid and got our new key.

This whole process had taken us about 45 minutes to get sorted. The staff were very patient and friendly the whole time. It was also good to have a hotel room for a change. The room was massive compared to what we were used to!! One of the highlights was the en-suite bathroom. We had been using shared bathrooms up until this point in the various hostels and guesthouses so it was nice to have our own. After we had settled down in our room and unpacked, we returned to the office of the people who helped us and dropped off our gifts and business cards as thanks for their assistance earlier.

This time we were on the 10th floor and had a twin room!! The room had a great view and a massive en-suite bathroom. A total luxury!! We got ourselves settled in and after a while, went and used their hot bath. Once washed, cooked, dried and dressed, we headed out to get dinner. We chose to eat at Mos Burger. We ordered burgers and chips (Roo also had onion rings), but I forgot to ask for no mayo!! I ate the chips and Roo had the burgers. When he was done, we popped next door to KFC so that I could get a chicken burger. This time I ordered it without mayo but when it came out, it had mayo on it!! I sent it back and got a replacement and free drink too. The replacement was fine. When I had finished, we picked up a beer each from the AMPM shop (another convenience store) and headed back to the hotel. We wrote, read, drank, watched TV and went to bed. Also, during that time, we washed a load of our clothes, dried them as much as we could and had to hang them up in our room to finish drying off over night.

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Cigaro – System of a Down♫ #684

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Commiserating the Celebration (Of Life) – Cathedral♫ #737

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Kumamoto train station.  Tea, coffee and mini doughnut bites at Mr. Donut.  The Hotel Route Inn. Middle Row L2R:  A Kumamoto manhole cover.  Bridge over the Shirakawa.  River sign for the Shirakawa. Bottom Row L2R:  Desk, TV and fridge in our hotel room.  Our two luxurious TWIN beds with Yukata folded up on them to.  Our ensuite bathroom. Pure luxury.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

15/10/2008 We got up and had breakfast at the hotel. We had paid for it when we booked up. If was a buffet style breakfast. I had Japanese sausages, noodles and a slice of salmon (cooked). The food was ok, not a massive fan of Japanese sausages!! I went back and got some bread. I toasted it in a Japanese toaster and had it with blueberry and strawberry jam. The strawberry was much nicer. Once eaten and ready, we headed out to Kumamoto station, today we were going to see a volcano in a town called Aso (阿蘇市). SWEET!! We knew that it was going to be a bit of a hike so we brought lunch in the small convenience store. We both had a chicken nugget, noodle and rice bento box and brought some chocolate bread, Pringles, American cookies and Oreos too. The journey was long and we had to stop at one station for a good half hour before continuing. The weather was not so clever and there was thick and cold mist everywhere. We could just about make out where we were and our surroundings while on the train. We were in a massive caldera, volcano crater. The scenery was amazing, what we could see of it anyway. Mountains, hills, greenery everywhere. Eventually we reached Aso and with two empty bento boxes. From Aso station we had to take a bus up to the volcano. It was about a twenty minute ride but from what we saw, again the view was amazing, just really, really foggy!! At the top we arrived at a cable car dock. As it was getting on in the day we decided to take the cable car up. The carriage was quite big and the organizers totally crammed it with people. Luckily it was a short journey and we were one of the last in so were one of the first out. From there, it was only a short walk to the craters mouth. When we got there, there was no lava pit in the bottom but bright green water that puffed plumes of white steam up in the air. Great columns of steam rose up into the sky, it looked awesome. Luckily the wind was taking it away from us so we did not get gassed. We watched for a while and took some time to look around. The landscape was alien. Burnt rocks, volcanic stone, and no real greenery in the area. Black sand, red, yellow rocks, like something out of a space movie!! There were also concrete shelters dotted around just in case the volcano 101/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

erupted, not too sure what protection they would offer as they had big gaping doors in them!! We looked around and headed over to a black sandy area. We walked around it and decided to climb up a small mountain nearby. It turned out to be steeper than we had expected and was a struggle to get up. The climb was made harder by the fact that the mountain side was peppered with small loose volcanic rocks. We walked along the top and took a rest sitting over a steep crevice. We ate a load more food and decided on the best route down. The sides were steep all around, eventually we chose a route that we thought was easiest and headed down. It was not that easy but we made it. Aso was pretty impressive. I‟ve never seen an active volcano before. The mountain that we climbed was a good idea at the time, but as we got to the top, we realized that it was going to be a bit of a mission to get back down!! I was a bit worried as the sides were really steep and the small loose rocks made it more dangerous! But, we did make it down safe and sound and rather wet with sweat. This mountain climbing business was made all the harder because of the heat!!

We ended up on a dryish river bed made of the same black sand that was still wet in places, it had rocky drops as it went down the mountain. We followed it down and eventually joined the main path that led us back to the bus stop. We had to wait a little while for the bus but the journey down was much better as the fog had lifted and we could see everything. Back at Aso, we waited a while for the train and eventually headed back to the hotel. We were really tired and kept falling asleep. When we got back, Roo had a quick shower and we went out for dinner. We had the cheap rice and steak strips to cut costs down. After we had a bath and wrote, read and went to bed.

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Common Enemy – Napalm Death♫ #738

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Creeping Death – Apocalyptica♫ #776

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Crepitating Bowl Erosion – Carcass♫ #777

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Dawn of the Dead – Murderdolls♫ #837 102/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  A manhole cover at a random place we had to change trains at.  Inside a giant caldera.  Our first views of a volcanic landscape. Second Row L2R:  Inside the crater, green water and plumes of steam.  A bunker for protection if the volcano erupts.  Nakao-Dake crater across the way from us. Third Row L2R:  Awesome views of the area.  The jam packed cable cars.  Ancient lava gullies taken from up the top of the mountain we climbed. Bottom Row:  The dried river bed we followed on the way back. Bottom Row:  Back at the cable car station.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

17/10/2008:

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Dawn Patrol – Megadeth♫ #838

We had got up and had breakfast again at the hotel. It was pretty much the same as the day before except they had bacon and omelette plus some weird stew. This time I only had strawberry jam. After breakfast we packed and left for Beppu (別府市). It was a fairly When we were planning the trip, we were originally going to stay in Japan for five months. By the time we were into our second week at Clare, I was really missing home and wanted to be back home for Christmas. I had decided that I was going to go back and Roo could come if he wanted too. Eventually, and as time went on, the exchange rate kept getting lower and it made sense to go home early too. Jessie had made phone calls for us inquiring return flights. I called the airline company this morning before we left and got a return date for the 4th December. Unfortunately this was going to be another mammoth journey to get back with another stopover in Sri Lanka again!!

long journey with a change half way through. At this break we popped out the station to get some food. I brought some cheese Ritz crackers and some Cream Collon. Cream Collon were sweet crispy tubes with sweet fondant stuff through the middle, tasted much better than the name suggests. Roo also had some sandwiches. The journey to Beppu was awesome, so much country side, much nicer than the cities!! Once we arrived we were quite hungry so stopped in a small burger restaurant (Lotteria) and had two cheese burgers. I had managed to do a massive sneeze just as the girl brought them to our table!! Scared her half to death. Ha. We found our hostel easy enough. It was another Khaosan. Our room was small with a bunk bed but was nice. This Khaosan, as it was in Beppu, had a hot bath. We got ourselves sorted out and had a dip. Once done, we dressed, used the PC‘s and headed out in an effort to find food. Beppu was a beach town so we headed down to the beach first which was a five minute walk from the hostel. It was a nice clean beach and the sea water was warm. We looked at a few places to eat and decided on McD‘s in the end!! Both had Big Mac meals (mine just cheese and lettuce) and ate them fast as we were hungry again!! 104/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We were quite tired so headed back to the hostel after. Once there we retired to the communal area and The Khaosan hostels were great to stay in. The staff there were always friendly and they always had great facilities. There were always big lounge areas with a big kitchen. They provided fridges and freezers for travellers to store their food in. They would also offer free accommodation for anyone who wanted to work there as a cleaner. There were a few Khaosan in Japan, the one in Beppu, the one in Fukuoka and four in Tokyo including Ninja which we stayed at. Ninja was the newest one, it had only opened in July that year, when we booked the room it had not even opened!! There was also tonnes of information there for travellers; they had copies of Lonely Planet books and various leaflets from around the area. The room rates were always really reasonable which is why we decided to stay in them. Visit their website on: www.khaosantokyo.com/en/

decided to watch a video. We put on Bad Boys but could not get their system to work so we had to ask the guy on reception to fix it for us. He had to get another guy and between them they managed to fix it. We watched the movie, wrote in our diaries and headed to bed. The next day we decided that we were gunna climb a mountain in Yufuin. We got up slowly in the morning and headed down to AMPM to get breakfast. I had a big yum yum and strawberry yoghurt, Roo had sandwiches and mixed fruit jelly. We ate these, got ready, checked the PC‘s and eventually headed out. On the way we brought lunch, two bento boxes, two red bean patty cakes, chocolate bread, apples and cheesy tomato baguettes, also a big bottle of water each. It was another long ride there and on the way we ate the baguettes and one of the red bean patties. The red bean patty was vile and had pretty much put me off red beans!! We had eaten small cakes with a little bit of red bean paste back at Clare and really liked it. Red bean is in a lot of Japanese desserts and is very sweet. It just so happened that this cake thing was packed with red bean and it was just too much for me and I felt totally ill after!!! That was the last time that I chose to eat red bean in Japan!!! YUCK.

We got to Yufuin (湯布院町) and headed off in the direction of the mountain. We walked along a long road until about two o‘clock and we seemed to 105/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

be no nearer!! We sat on a little bit of grass and decided that we would head back as the mountain climb itself was supposed to be about five and a half hours and we were not even there yet!! We ate the bento boxes and Roo had the other red bean patty which he instantly regretted!! It was decided that we should head back as there was no chance of completing the mountain walk and getting back before it got too late. We had a brief look round the town and headed back. Beppu is known as a spa town so once we got back we headed out to an old spa. It was really old and it used natural spring water in it making it slightly cloudy. It was also really HOT!! We boiled ourselves for a while and headed back. We took a detour to the beach again and had a little dip in the water, shoes off, trousers rolled up, ha. We popped into the AMPM and brought some big noodles for dinner. These were cheap, filling and tasted good!! Tonight we decided on watching James Bond Die Another Day. ♫

Dark Souls – Nine Inch Nails♫ #859

Top Row L2R:  Inside our room at Khaosan Beppu.  A Beppu manhole cover.  Beppu Beach at dusk. Bottom Row:  The Beppu Tower.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Japanese countryside while travelling on the train.  Yufu-dake Mountain that we wanted to climb.  A bamboo forest we discovered on the way up. Second Row L2R:  Looking back at the small town.  The stream running through Yufuin.  The man who created Beppu‘s tourism industry. Third Row:  The plaque found on his plinth. Something very wrong about this! Bottom Row:  The moon over the sea from Beppu beach.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

18/10/2008:

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Dead Star – Muse♫ #860

Once we were up in the morning, we headed to AMPM to get breakfast. As we had some food left over from the day before, we only bought chicken nuggets for me and sandwiches for For some reason, I was obsessed with mentioning what we had to eat every day in my diary. I‟m not sure why that was but Roo got a bit fed up of me always asking him what he had for lunch or dinner the previous day!! Anyway, I still think it is interesting looking back over it.

Roo. packed up all our belongings and left. It was a real long journey to Nagasaki.

We

We had to change at Hakata/Fukuoka so we decided to have lunch there. We both had noodles, mine cold, Roo‘s hot. After we got on another train. It was late afternoon by the time we reached Nagasaki (長崎市). We had rough directions on how to get to our hostel, Ebisu. Somehow we managed to find it. The place was like someone‘s house!! They only had four bedroom here, quite big though. A small communal area downstairs, one shower room and a PC you could only use for fifteen minutes at a time. They had separate toilets for guys and girls. In the guys there was a urinal and a toilet with a knitted toilet seat cover!!! The seat looked awful and had yellow stains at the front and dodgy dark stains at the back; I‘m not sure when it was last cleaned!! GRIM!! We got settled in and then headed out for dinner. We found a small ramen noodle restaurant and ordered our food by pointing at the models outside. I had fried rice At the entrance to most Japanese restaurants they have a display window with models of the meals that they sell. They look like they are the real dishes but have been covered with wax. They would also have the price next to them and if you were lucky, an English translation of what it was. This was really useful for us as we could take the staff outside to show them what we wanted by pointing at the meal.

and Roo had noodle soup. The food was amazing. After we had a quick walk around the shops nearby and found a book shop with a big selection of second hand English books. Roo found a book called Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher for ¥400. Bargain!! From here, we headed over to a shopping arcade and found a 108/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

This book was a great find. It was the eighth one in a series called “The Dresden Files”. We both read it and loved it. Since returning back to England, Roo has brought all the Dresden books now and we are both reading them all. Well worth checking out!

Baskins and Robbins ice-cream parlour and treated ourselves to an ice-cream each. I had a large scoop of ‗Nuts for You‘ in a waffle cone and Roo had a scoop of ‗Strawberry and Banana‘ and ‗Ghost World‘ in a cup. When we had finished, we headed back, showered, read, wrote and went to sleep. ♫

Dear God – Avenged Sevenfold♫ #867

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Dearly Demented – Bleeding Through♫ #868

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Don’t Talk to Strangers – Dio♫ #984

Top Row L2R:  Inside our room at Ebisu Youth Hostel.  Little picture above our door.  The two of us outside the Youth Hostel. Bottom Row L2R:  Looking in to Nagasaki train station.  A Nagasaki manhole cover.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

19/10/2008:

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Don’t Wake the Baby – Jack Off Jill♫ #985

We got up and headed off for breakfast at the hostel. We had ordered a Western style breakfast the day before. When we get it, we have scrambled egg, pureed potato salad, shredded raw cabbage and tomato. We also had half a banana and orange and two slices of bread with a slice of ham and a slice of plastic cheese. Roo had my banana, potato salad and tomato. We toasted the slice of bread each in the Japanese toaster. It was pretty dry as there was no butter for it!! I ate most of it but it was so dry I couldn‘t finish it. We toasted the second slice with the ham and cheese on top. This was much better even though it only covered about sixty percent of the bread!! We also had a glass of orange juice and a cup of tea. After Roo had a shower and when dressed, we headed out. Nagasaki in world renowned for being the second city to be hit with an atomic bomb, as it turns out it was the secondary target. It was too cloudy over Kokura (primary target) that the bomber headed for Nagasaki instead. Today‘s trip took us to the Atomic Bomb Museum. It was a hefty walk there and the sun was blazing. On the way we stopped off to see the 26 Martyrs Memorial. Also, we saw another department store with a big wheel on the side. As we had been on a couple before in different cities, we gave it a miss. We eventually reached the museum. It was an underground museum with a couple of statues and water features. It only cost ¥200 to get in. It was quite horrific walking round. There were videos to watch, pictures to see, recovered artefacts, etc. Then as it moved on, it showed what Nagasaki was doing to prevent further nuclear attacks happening again. Overall it was depressing and quite emotional!! We both left feeling very moved!!

Everybody knows what happened at Nagasaki. You only get a real feel for it though when you visit a place like that. Although the city has moved on, there will always be a reminder of just how bad nuclear weapons are. You can only imagine the terror and destruction and like I said, we left feeling very moved and emotional. You can only grasp the scale of what happened and how the people dealt with it if you visit Nagasaki or Hiroshima. Although the city and the world will never forget what happened, it was good to see how the city has rebuilt itself and moved on from that day.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We got out and never realized we had been in the museum for over two hours and were really hungry now. We headed back to the department store with the big wheel and to the food court there. We walked around for a while and decided on a place where I had fried rice and Roo had a small bowl of fried rice and ramen noodles. Once eaten we left and headed back and past the museum and onto the Memorial Park. Here they had a massive statue specially made to warn about nuclear weapons and promote peace. There were also various memorials donated to the park from other countries. Couldn‘t find and English one!! On the way to the park we also passed the Hypocentre which is a black pillar in a small crater that marks the point where the bomb detonated above. Next to it is also part of the wall to the cathedral that the bomb exploded over. The last stop was on the way back to the one legged torii gate. When the bomb went off, it knocked over one of the legs to a torii gate but left the other side standing but also twisted. We headed back to the hostel and on the way bought a couple of big tubs of noodles for dinner. We got back, chilled and read and went downstairs for our noodles. After, the lady who runs the place asked if we wanted to try some of her husband‘s plum wine. We said yes but first I had a shower. The wine was really nice. Very sweet and not at all winey. We were tired from a long day of walking and went to bed. ♫

Dragula – Rob Zombie♫ #1001

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  The twenty six martyrs memorial.  A water feature going down into the Nagasaki Bomb Museum.  A memorial statue in the museum grounds. Second Row L2R:  Displays made out of paper cranes.  A sign showing the effects of the bomb.  The hypocenter memorial. Third Row L2R:  The massive Nagasaki Peace Statue.  A random staircase we found leading to nowhere.  The one legged torii arch. Bottom Row:  The remaining pieces of the arch.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

21/10/2008:

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Dragula – Rob Zombie♫ #1002

We got up in the morning and had their breakfast. It was pretty much the same as the day before except we had butter for our toast!! We knew that it was going to be a longish journey and had our MP3 players both fully charged. The first train took us to Hakata. Once there we decided to have lunch. We went to the same noodle place as before. We both had noodle soup; Roo picked his with wan tons in it. From Hakata we took a train to Okayama. From Okayama we had to take another train to Matsue (松江市). By This was by far the longest journey we had taken!! I had run through almost all my MP3 player battery and Roo‟s had died during the train rides! I‟m so glad that we had them. We were near the end of the 21 days of nonstop travelling and the walk to our hotel was hard work!! It may have only been twenty minutes, but those bags felt like ten tonnes the whole way!!!

the time we got there it was 19.45. It had taken us nine and a quarter hours to reach there, bloody nightmare!! Our hotel was about a twenty minute walk away so we headed off as soon as we had arrived. We were staying at another Route Inn. It was pretty much the same as the one we stayed in back at Kumamoto except they did not have a hot bath. They did have two PC‘s though, but only one monitor!! They also had a twin room for us! We dumped off our things and headed out for something to eat. Roo had read about in our Lonely Planet book, a cool place called the Pasta The Lonely Planet book was amazing. We did a lot of our planning using it. It is a comprehensive guide to Japan covering all aspects of travelling through it. Good parts and the bad. It is full of maps and places to eat/drink/stay etc. I would never leave to go travelling in another country unless I had a copy of its particular Lonely Planet guide. This was also one of the most essential items that we brought with us. www.lonelyplanet.com

Factory where you could make your own pasta dish. It was fairly close to the hotel so we walked to find it only to find out that it had closed for the day!! We walked around a while longer and found a place called E.A.D. on the second floor of a building looking over a river. Roo had a 113/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

prosciutto pizza and I had a curry which turned out to be vegetarian. Both meals were excellent. We also had a drink there, Roo wanted a red wine and I had a beer. We decided to treat ourselves and had dessert too. I had homemade cheese cake (which was served warm) and Roo had frozen yoghurt parfait. The place was really nice, it had loads of couches and low tables and a real retro vibe to it, it reminded me of Shupnc Shupnc back in Nagoya. After we had eaten, we headed back to our hotel and did a massive load of washing as we were running close to running out of things to wear. Roo had It was round about this time that Roo began to stop writing regularly in his diary. I think that it became too much of a chore for him to keep up, he had missed a few days out and was finding it increasingly hard to catch up. In the end he gave up. I hope that he finishes it off eventually by reading my entries and writing his own.

already started to wear my t-shirts and was going back through his dirty underwear. Once it had finished and dried, we both went to bed. The next day we had a bit of a lie in and headed down for breakfast. It was the same sort of buffet as in the last Route Inn. We ate up and headed back up to our room to get changed, we did not have any real concrete plans for Matsue so just took it easy and didn‘t rush to do anything. First place that we went to was back up to the railway station and pick up a tourist map of Matsue. From there, we headed down to the massive lake that was here. There was an old light house and we went to have a look. The light house was really small. Pretty much just like a lantern!! We sat down on the rocks by the edge of the lake and relaxed in the sun for a bit before heading out to get lunch. As it was closed the night before, we decided to go have lunch at the Pasta Factory. We sat down and picked up the ‗create your own‘ pasta menu. One of the waitresses came over and said that they did not use that menu during the day and had a special lunch time menu!! We had a choice of three pastas to choose from and salad, bread and drink for about ¥800 each. The girl came over and described the pastas as best as she could and we ordered. When they came out, I had tomato pasta with mozzarella in it and Roo had shell fish, squid, etc in a garlic 114/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

sauce. Not what he had expected and his face was a picture when he saw a squid tentacle!! Ha. We ate up and left. We decided to go visit the Matsue castle as we could get in for half price with our passports. When we got there, the castle was a lot smaller than the previous ones we had seen and was the original one too, not rebuilt like most of them had been due to bombing during the war. We had to take off our shoes to go in. The interior was pretty much the same as it had always been which was nice. It was just the displays inside that were new. They had loads of samurai outfits and helmets, etc which was really cool. On the top floor we could look out at Matsue. We left the castle and headed over to an authentic samurai house that was still there. Again we could get in for half price. It was a small place but we could see how they lived and the things they owned. It was getting late so we headed back along a small moat walk in a little wooded area. Along the path we came across a turtle on the path. We stopped to have a look at him and then he shot off and down the back into the water. We got back to the hotel and had a shower before heading back out for dinner. We went back to E.A.D. and had the same food that we had the other day. We had another drink and Roo had to have white wine as they had run out of red. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped off at a cool bar called Filaments/Damaged. It was owned by a 48 year old Japanese guy called Sam. We had a couple of beers there, but at ¥600 a glass, we only had two each. We went back to the hotel and brought a couple of big cans of beer from the vending machines there and headed back out and drank them on the rocks looking out over the lake. When we got back we pretty much went straight to bed. ♫

Ensorcelled by Khaos – Emperor♫ #1080

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Enter Sandman – Apocalyptica♫ #1081

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Fall To Pieces– Velvet Revolver♫ #1163 115/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Our room in the Matsue Route Inn. Got our clothes spread around the place hoping that they will dry off after washing them.  A Matsue manhole cover.  My favourite photo. A shot of Roo walking off to the massive lake with typical Japanese trees along side it. Second Row L2R:  The Matsue lighthouse. (Small).  E.A.D. café above the green canopy on the building at the end of the bridge.  Old and original Matsue castle. Third Row L2R:  Matsue from up in the castle. Can see the small temple island too.  An old samurai house.  Matsue lighthouse at night. Bottom Row:  The entrance to the Hotel Route Inn.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

23/10/2008:

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Fall Together – Weezer♫ #1164

We got up and had our breakfast in the restaurant downstairs. Once eaten, we got packed and left the hotel. We got to the station and worked out how to get to Tottori (鳥取市), our next stop over. We got on a train and headed off. We had to make a stop so got off and changed trains. A little while longer, we had to change trains again. As it turned out it was a bit of a wait until the next train so we went to find some lunch in the small town. There was not much choice so we headed into a convenience store. Roo brought a bento box and I got a pack of yellow Pringles (turned out to be ready salted) and a pack of peanut M & M‘s. We walked over to our platform and sat down on a bench to eat and wait for the next train. As we were eating, we noticed a really old couple, really bent over and must have been well into their 80‘s. The man was dressed in a traditional Japanese priest/monk clothing and was holding a rosary. As they walked along the platform, we got up and let them have our seats. They were overwhelmed with our offer. Neither spoke much English, but the man kept thanking us. He asked for our address so we gave him our business cards. We sat on the floor and ate our food while waiting for our train to arrive. When it turned up he managed to ask if we were going to Tottori so we said yes. We all got on and sat on one of the side benches and the couple sat opposite us. At one point, I watched the old lady try to open her bottle of drink but couldn‘t so I took it off her and opened it. Once we arrived at Tottori, we got off and put on our bags and the old man motioned to us to follow him. We followed them both into the station shops below; I couldn‘t help but think that he reminded me of Yoda. They took us to a coffee shop and brought us a tea/coffee and a slice of cake each. I had lemon sponge and Roo had apple tart. He kept trying to talk to us in Japanese but neither of us could understand the other. We decided to call Kazuko at Clare so she could talk to him and translate for us. Roo called her and she was happy to help. He passed the phone over to the old man and he began talking rapidly to Kazuko for a good five minutes. Once we got the phone back, she explained that he was so happy for what we did. He wanted to take us to his temple that he used to work in and then on to his house and give us a present to say thanks!! We thanked her for her help and headed out with him. 117/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

His wife had sorted out a taxi and we all got in. The taxi took us through Tottori and to the mountain the other side of town and up it to a small temple. We got out the taxi and waited. The old man unlocked the doors and let us in. It was a small temple but really nice and not commercialized like a lot of them are. It was full of paintings and wood carvings of various sizes and the old man motioned to them to say that he had carved/painted them. We were totally shocked as they were amazing and beautiful. He gave us a little owl trinket each and a random unidentifiable yellow can of something. Once we had finished in there, he took us out and back in the taxi and then to where he lived. It was a bit like an old people‘s home. They made us green tea in bowls and gave us biscuits. He showed us a vase that he had made. While we were there, he gave us a picture that he painted as a gift. He also gave us two small boxes each in some kind of wrapping paper. He took one box and covered it in Japanese writing. During our time there he tried to communicate but it was very, very difficult. They ordered a taxi for us to go back to the hotel and he wrote a bit on the other box while we waited. When it arrived, we left and shook his hand. We also gave him one of our English gifts. He also showed us a Japanese newspaper with a picture of him carving. We all thanked each other and left to our hotel in a taxi that they paid for. AMAZING!! This was one of the most amazing things to have happened to us. I said to Roo after, we could plan everything, where we went, what we saw, but things like this you cannot plan. It was by far, one of the highlights that happened to us and it just happened. One of my biggest regrets is that we never took any photos of them!! I still kick myself!! We still have the gifts which I know we will both treasure. A truly amazing experience that encompasses the magic of travelling!!

Once we got to our hotel (Hotel Resh) we checked in and headed up to our room. It was quite similar to the Route Inn rooms. The bathroom was a bit weird, was small and pod like. Once we settled, we headed out to a supermarket, the guy on reception gave us directions to one. Roo wanted a couple of big bubble wrap envelopes so we could send our picture and his Nintendo games back home to England. We walked over and looked around and found a couple in a ¥100 section. We also decided to eat there as well. They had a small food court and we ordered food there. Roo had his favourite, fried chicken, onion and egg over a 118/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

While we were staying at the Clare host, Kazuko took us both out to another second hand store one night, I never wrote it in as a diary entry for some reason. While looking around, Roo found a bunch of five Nintendo 64 games for a few hundred Yen. We brought them and he ended carrying them for the whole 21 day journey and was getting fed up with them. We decided to post them back to England along with the Picture from the old man.

bowl of rice and noodle soup. I had fried noodles. Roo had a lot of food, my portion was tiny, so after we headed to McD‘s in a different area of the supermarket. I had a burger and Roo decided on having an ice cream cone. Once finished, we headed back, wrote in our diaries, had showers and read a little before going down and using the PC for a couple of hours and eventually going to bed.

♫

Farewell and Goodnight – Smashing Pumpkins♫ #1177

♫

Faster – Manic Street Preachers♫ #1178

Next morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. I had a western style with toast and strawberry jam, room temperature plain yoghurt, salad (with dressing), piece of apple and a tepid glass of orange juice. Roo chose the Japanese style, his had miso soup, baked fish, salad with a piece of apple, rice, raw egg and natto beans!!! My breakfast was pretty average. Roo did not realize his egg was raw and split it on the table while rolling it trying to crack the shell!! FOOL!! We ate up and Roo decided he‘d have the Western style breakfast the next day. We got changed and headed out. We went to the tourist information desk back at the train station and picked up some local information. We were going to the Tottori desert and got info on how to get there. We needed to take a bus but had a long wait for the next one so headed to Mr. Donut to waste some time. Roo had iced coffee and I had a chocolate milkshake. It was a fairly short bus ride but would have been a nightmare to walk!! As we were driving up to it we got our first glimpse of a desert. It is not a desert in the strictest sense as the temperature is not scorching but it was a fairly large 119/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

expanse of sand with one massive sand dune in it. The bus dropped us off and we took a stair lift down to it. While getting on the ski lift style seat, Roo dropped his bottle of water and the operator only just managed to get it back to us before we went over the edge. The seat was swinging for a bit which was a tad unnerving as there was no safety bar. We were only a meter from the floor of wire netting, but a fall would have hurt.

When we first got to Japan, we found that we were spending a lot of money in vending machine buying soft drinks; it usually cost ¥150 a bottle, sometimes only ¥100, but this all added up, especially as we were going through sometimes two bottles a day. We eventually decided to keep four bottles each and just refill them every day. Because we were wearing combats the whole time, we used to keep one of the bottles each in the front pocket just above the knee and the other two would be kept in our day bags, either in the two side pockets or in the main compartment. By doing this we must have saved loads of money.

At the bottom there were some lockers to put our shoes in. This way we could walk over the sand barefoot, or wear small black wellington boots if we wanted but we opted for barefoot. The sand felt amazing underfoot and was slightly difficult to walk on as it was quite soft. The desert looked amazing and we headed across to the giant dune. The dune was hard to walk up but the view at the top was amazing. We had the Japanese sea to the side of us and desert everywhere else. On the top of the dune, some people were paragliding off. We just sat down and soaked up the view. After we had got our breath back and rested a bit, we decided to go down to the sea. The dune was fairly steep on that side so we bounded down it, it was quite a rush!! We got to the sea, it was clear blue and the tide was fairly strong. Like in Beppu, we rolled up our trouser legs and went in for a paddle. The sea was not quite as warm but was much stronger. Some of the bigger waves splashed higher than our leg rolls and got us wet. Just down from where we were was a fairly large sandbank. We went over to it and played around sliding down and digging foot holes in the side to try and climb back up. After a while we were totally covered in sand, in our hair, pockets, underwear, etc!! On various occasions I found myself eating it too!! 120/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We were fairly knackered but headed along the beach to another steeper sand dune. Roo climbed up it first (on his hands and feet it was that steep) and then ran down. I tried to take a photo but missed him and made him go up again!! He was so exhausted he had to stop twice going up!! It was really hard work. Once he was down I had a go and did it again straight after. It was such hard work getting up but running down was one of the most exhilarating experiences ever!! We had to rest for a bit and gain some composure before climbing up one more time to walk over to the big dune again. We walked over to it and rested. The wind had really picked up and sand was blowing everywhere, it was really noisy too. We decided to run down this big dune because it was so much fun over at the other one. In full view of everyone we ran down together screaming!!! YEAH!!! Once at the bottom we walked round a small oasis that had nearly dried up and decided to do it one more time. It literally took all of our energy to climb up again, and our water bottles were empty too!! Somehow we managed to get up and proceeded to run down as fast as we could. So much fun. By this point it was gone half two and we were so tired, thirsty and hungry we had to leave.

The Tottori desert was an amazing place to visit and again, one of the highlights of our trip. Like I had said, it wasn‟t really a desert. It is a natural mass of sand with a naturally occurring sand dune in it too. It was good being able to walk across it barefoot, it made the whole experience feel more natural, although, walking up sand dunes and over sand barefoot began to hurt our feet after a while. Running down the sand dunes gave us both such a rush. We felt that we could run as fast as we could down them (and they were steep too) and not feel like we would fall over. It really was amazing. Doing this was totally exhausting, at the time we were running on adrenaline and it was only after we stopped did the fatigue settle in. It was at the end of our 21 days travelling and we were tired and hungry which never helped. The only down side to all of this, was the fact that I am still finding sand in places like my wallet!! And for the next few days after visiting the desert, we were picking sand out of clothing and other places!! I feel sorry for the maid who had to clean our room at the hotel too, there were small piles of sand on the floor where we took off our socks after we got back!!

We got our shoes, rode up on the chair lift and had a 30 minute wait for our bus so we crashed on a bench and had a fizzy drink each to give us energy. As soon as we got back we zombie walked our way 121/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

back to the supermarket. Roo brought a bento box and I got a Big Mac Meal and cinnamon melt to share. We took the food back to a bench near our hotel and ate. As it turned out, all the things that I didn‘t want in my burger were all there even though I asked not to have them!! Roo ate my burger and I had half his bento box and my French fries. When we got back to our hotel, we shook all our clothes out the window and took a shower. There was so much sand on us!! All we could do was mong for a while. After a while and once we gained a little bit of energy, we decided to have a quick look round where we were staying. As we ate late, we were not hungry so headed back to the hotel and used the PC for about an hour and a half. Eventually we headed out to find some food. We remembered a place we had seen earlier. It was like a bar but did food. They had no English translation anywhere so we would have to have guessed. There were also no seats inside so we stood at the bar and ordered a beer. A man next to Roo started to talk to us. He knew a little English and we chatted. He then ordered some food for us all. When it came out, it was squid, I think with some garlic paste on a giant green leaf. As it was a gift, we had to eat it. It was raw and when you ate it, it made slime in your mouth. Not good. We managed to eat it. All that was left was the leaf. I ate it and it took my breath away. The flavour was so strong, not sure what it was. We talked for a while longer, had another drink and got him one too; he later brought us one back. He left just before the bar The beer in this place was the cheapest that we had found so far. It only cost us ¥300 a glass. We never found beer this cheap in any other bar or restaurant that we used.

closed and we left a little while later. When we got back, we had given up on getting food and went straight to bed. ♫

Feeling This – Blink 182♫ #1202

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Another city, another hotel, another room trashed. Check out the two small yellow cans of tea on bedside table from the monk.  First views of the desert.  Chair lift that takes us to and from the desert. Second Row L2R:  Tottori desert big sand dune.  A shot of the desert.  Looking back from the top of the dune. Third Row L2R:  Big sand bank down by the sea.  Roo climbing up a massive dune…  … and me running down it. Check out our bare feet. Fourth Row:  A Tottori manhole cover. Bottom Row:  The bar of cheap beer, squid, leaves and drunken Japanese man.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

25/10/2008:

♫

Feiticeira – Deftones♫ #1203

As usual, we got up and went for breakfast. Today Roo had a western breakfast. I ordered mine without salad dressing too. The yoghurt was also replaced with jelly. We got our stuff packed and got ourselves sorted out. We needed to get Roo‘s games and the picture from the Japanese man posted back to England. Reception let us leave our bags behind their desk so we could go to the post office and post our items without having to lug them around too. We walked down to the post office and spent about half an hour trying to get them posted!! Ha. In the end it cost us ¥1,500 for the picture and ¥2,000 for the games. The staff there were both courteous and helpful. When we returned back to the hotel, we collected our bags and gave the staff gifts to say thanks for looking after us. When we got to the station we found out that we had an hour and a half wait for the next train to Kyoto (京都)!! Nightmare. To pass the time we headed off to the coffee shop the old man the other day took us to. We had a tea and coffee and decided to have lunch there too. They only had Japanese menus so we had to get our waitress outside and point to which dish we wanted!! Roo chose curry and rice and I had fried noodles. The food arrived fast and tasted great. We lapped it up and read for a bit to pass the time before we had to head back out to catch the train. When it arrived, we got on and made ourselves comfortable. Once the train headed off, the ticket conductor came into our carriage and asked for our ticket. We showed our JR Rail Pass and she said that we were in the reserved section and would have to move. She also said that part way through the journey, the line became a different train line and that our JR passes were not valid and we had to pay a further ¥3,000+ between us!! We paid up and began packing and collecting our belongings and staggered down the moving train to the next carriage. Luckily there were two vacant seats at the front of it so we used them. It was another longish journey and I had a small nap and Roo had a long one. Mouth wide open in places!!

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

It felt only right to sleep on the train. I‟ve always been weary of doing it on English trains but Japanese people always sleep on trains!! I‟ve never seen anything like it. Most of them get on a train, and as soon as they have sat down, regardless of how busy it is, they close their eyes and sleep!! I‟ve also never seen a Japanese person wake up in a panic as they have missed their stop! Unbelievable!! Ha. They all do it, old, young, male, female, etc. Whether you are on a crowded tube or quiet country train, there will always be at least one person sleeping!!

Kyoto main station was massive and we had to catch a local train to the area that our hostel is in. We got on one train we thought took us there but after asking it turned out it was the wrong one so we quickly got off and headed to the correct one. Our stop, Uzumasa was only a few stops away and once off Roo navigated us to the Guesthouse Bola-Bola from a hand drawn map he had made. The place was like a Ryoken a bit, with tatami flooring and roll out beds. The girl that worked there showed us around. We went to our room and unloaded our bags. It was getting fairly late and we decided to head out to get food. We wandered round the small town and eventually decided on a Chinese restaurant called Wong. They gave us an English menu and we both decided on going for a set meal. They brought over a tea pot with cold tea for us to drink. The first thing we received was a small soup with a wanton in it. Next we had a steamed dim sum and a steamed bun. We also had a small salad at the start. The next course was two halves of spring roll and a fried bread thing. The next dish to follow was a plate of chow mein. Lastly for dessert we had tea jelly. The owner had a little chat with us. Turns out he is from Hong Kong. The meal we had was awesome. We paid up, left and headed back to the guesthouse. To kill some time before bed we had a game of the guesthouses travel Monopoly. Roo won. Had a bit of a lie in the day after as we had no concrete plans for the day. Once we did get up we had a shop bought breakfast of strawberry yoghurt and chocolate cake for me and sandwiches and jelly for Roo. We showered and headed out to the main shopping area of Kyoto.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We got the local tram down. It is a cool little service that runs to a few places in the city and only costs ¥200 a time. By the time we arrived, Roo was in a foul mood. He was hungry and really stroppy. We stopped off in a cheap meal vending machine place that we call three circles; it is the same place that we ate at in Hino. I had curry and rice and Roo had shredded beef, rice and soup combo meal. We ate the food and had a bit of a barney at each other but managed to clear the air a bit. This was the accumulation of a month and a half of being together with each other for company and conversation. Although we are brothers and get on great, we were really pissing each other off in one way or another. Eventually, after twenty one days of hard travelling, constant moving, packing, early mornings, etc just broke us and we ended up pretty fed up with life. We were tired and exhausted. We were spending a week in Kyoto, a city known for its temples and we had, had enough of looking at temples and the prospect of another week of it didn‟t help either. But, we are good brothers and sorted out our differences and managed to return without maiming of hurting each other!!

We then looked around the shopping area, checking out the alleys and shops. We needed something sweet so headed to a Baskin and Robbins to have and icecream each. I had cookies and cream and Roo had melon musk, nasty. At the end of the shopping area was another temple. We decided to head back. When we got back we did a massive load of washing and hung our clothes out to dry. We made dinner (noodles from the convenience store) and sat at their low table there to eat. There was also a Mum and her daughter there too and we got talking to them while we ate. I had let the daughter use the washing machine before me earlier as she only had a small load. When we finished, we cleared up and used their PC. There was a couple staying at the guesthouse too who had two small children who we played with for a bit. The family ate their meal and when they left, they gave us some apple and pear that they had, cool!! We had another game of Monopoly after, it lasted ages but I won. ♫

Filter Happier – Radiohead♫ #1223

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Our room at Guesthouse Bola Bola. Mine was the pink bed!!  The lounge area with book collection we raided and travel Monopoly.  Patterned room dividers. Middle Row L2R:  Entrance to the Guesthouse Bola Bola. Check out the door chime.  Entrance walk down to the guesthouse.  A typical Japanese restaurant display with the meals in the window and massive bottles of sake. Bottom Row L2R:  Entrance to the main temple at Gion.  Olden style shopping street in the Gion area.  A sign up explaining about littering.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

26/10/2008:

♫

Five Hundred and One – Turisas♫ #1224

When we got up in the morning we found a bag outside our door with bacon, eggs, apples and chocolate in it. We didn‘t know who it belonged to so moved it aside and went downstairs to make breakfast. The day before we had brought some pizza toast from the supermarket and we had a slice each with our usual jelly and yoghurt. After we showered, we sat around for a while reading and writing. When we were putting on our shoes to go out, the lady who worked at the guesthouse said that the two ladies we were talking to last night had left the food for us!! COOL. They had left their luggage at the guesthouse so they could go out for the day before collecting it on their way back home. We got our gifts and business cards and the owners let us leave them on their bags for them. We were going to be doing a fair bit of travelling on the tram system today so we brought a day pass for ¥500 each. Our first stop was to go to Kitano Tenmangu temple as they had a flea market there. When we arrived, there were many stalls selling all kinds of Japanese wares. Everything from fabric, pottery to swords!! For lunch we had fried noodles from a stall there. When we had finished looking around we headed to the tram and to the other end of the tracks. The stop was at the edge of Kyoto and had amazing mountains all around. Due to the change in season the leaves had begun to change colour adding different patches on the mountain sides. There was a nice shopping area there and we stopped off for a pancake wrap each. I had some sort of brownie one and Roo had apple and custard. As we got to the base of one of the mountains, we headed up to Iwatayama Monkey Park. It was an enclosure where monkeys ran around free and we just walked through. First we had to walk up the mountain to an observation area. The monkeys ran around us while we looked over Kyoto city. It was clear and the view was awesome. There was a building there we went into where we could buy food and feed the monkeys from the inside. They would hang onto the wire covering the windows and put their hands through to take the food people were giving them. I brought a bag of sweet potato and fed some of them. Roo fed a couple and when he teased one, the monkey just grabbed the bag from my hand and ran off and ate 128/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

it!! We brought another bag of apple this time; they were only ¥100 each. We were wise enough now to keep the bag well back. We were feeding one of the bigger monkeys when he dropped a bit of apple on his leg, Roo went to pick it off him and the monkey went mad, took a swipe at Roo and screamed!! Ha. When we finished feeding them, we headed further up the hill to a grassy area. Here monkeys were lazing around either sleeping or picking fleas off each other. Small young baby monkeys played around play fighting with each other. It was really cool to watch them. We had to be careful though as we were not supposed to stare at them!! We left eventually and headed back. Once we got off at our stop, we headed into our small supermarket to get some food to add to what the ladies had left us so we could make dinner. For dinner we made eggy bread, bacon, fried tomatoes and some homemade baked beans made from a tin of plum tomatoes, a pack of beans and pulses. It was good to cook for ourselves. We also had a fried egg too. For dessert we had an apple. Once we had cleared up, we headed back out to the temple at the end of Gion the shopping district we were in the other day. It was cool to see it all lit up and with lanterns everywhere. On the way back we walked along the river and took a small detour. It was late by the time we reached the guesthouse but still managed a game of Monopoly. I won again!! ♫

For the World to Dictate Our Death – Dimmu Borgir♫ #1246

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  The temple flea market.  The area at the end of the tram tracks, amazing scenery.  Me feeding a monkey. Middle Row L2R:  A beautiful shot of Kyoto from up in the monkey park, slightly ruined by the small flying Japanese child in the bottom left hand corner.  A mother monkey and child.  The temple entrance at night. Bottom Row L2R:  Paper lanterns on display.  Close up of the lanterns.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

27/10/2008:

♫

Forced In – Muse♫ #1247

For breakfast that day we had the food left over from the women. Bacon, fried eggs and toast with the usual jelly/yoghurt combo. It was a really horrible day, dark and rainy. We had no motivation to do anything. Eventually we motivated ourselves enough to go out. We headed off to Gion again to wander around. As it was raining, we took really lame umbrellas. I had a purple one and Roo had a yellow!! By the time we arrived it was lunch so we decided to eat in Three Circles. Roo had a meat and rice combo and I had meat and rice. We spent a while looking around the shops. Eventually we discovered a book store that sold nothing but books in English!! Before we went in we finished off a small McD‘s snack we had picked up. Roo had a cheese burger and drink and I had an Oreo McFlurry. AGAIN!! We spent ages looking around this shop. I found the Akira comic books in English that I wanted but they were too expensive so I did not get them. At the end, we brought Roo ‗The Stand‘ by Stephen King. We even managed to get 20% off!! We had a fair amount of free time travelling around so we both did a lot of reading. We took a few books with us that we would both recommend. Roo brought The Overlook by Michael Connelly, A Long Way Down by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman and Slash‟s autobiography. I took Abarat and Abarat 2 by Clive Barker. We were always on the lookout for new books to keep us going and this book store was a total gem and great find.

On the way back to the tram stop, we took a longer route to waste more time. It was fairly late by the time we got back and we had our noodles we had bought on the way back. Got a phone call from home and spoke to Mum, Dad and Jessie and Aunty Lynda and Helen. Tonight we played Monopoly again, this time though; we decided to play with two players each. We were really pushing the boundaries!! At the end of a long game, I won!! All that was left was to read, write and go to bed. ♫

From Here to Eternity – Iron Maiden♫ #1278

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

28/10/2008 My MP3 player died today. That is all I want to say about it. We got up in the morning and had our breakfast of pizza toast and jelly/yoghurt. Once done, we packed our bags and left Bola-Bola. On the way out we thanked the The guesthouse owners had a dog that they kept outside by the front door all the time. It was a small thing and never came into the house. It was always chained up to its dog house and got really excited when we went over to it to give it a stroke. It was a cute dog and I‟m not sure if they ever walked it.

owners and gave them gifts. We needed to get a train back to Kyoto main station. It only cost us ¥190 each. When we arrived we had a bit of a hefty walk to our new place, K‘s House. We had rough directions and headed off. We got to where we thought the place was to find it not there. I decided to stay with the bags while Roo went off to look around the area to find it. He came back a few minutes later and took us there. The hostel was massive with two buildings and a bar/restaurant attached too. As it was too early to check in, they only let us leave our bags in the room. Also, you had to pay ¥100 for twenty minutes on their PC‘s!!! Not happy. We put our bags in the room and decided to head out for lunch. We passed a cheap rice bowl restaurant like Three Circles but better. They had a wider menu with more options. Roo had chicken and rice meal set with raw egg, salad and pork miso. I had shredded pork with three types of cheese and double spice. The meals were awesome and we left full. After we headed to Kikokutei Gardens. It was a nice garden right next door to our hostel. It cost us ¥500 each to get in but was a nice escape from all the business and traffic outside. We took our time walking round enjoying our surrounds. After we left we dropped off the big Kikokutei brochures we were given upon entry to the garden and took a walk to Gion. It took us maybe twenty to thirty minutes from where we were staying. We looked around again to pass time and eventually headed back. On the way home we brought dinner from the convenience store. Bento for Roo and noodles for me. 132/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Once back we jumped on one of the PC‘s and uploaded all the pictures so far onto Facebook. It cost us ¥500!! When we finished we ate and retired back to our room to read and write. After, we went to the bar to chill out. I had two beers and Roo had a gin and tonic and a beer. We both also shared a seven inch pizza which we doused in Tabasco sauce. All that was left was to do some reading and go to bed.

Top Row L2R:  Me and Roo with our lame umbrellas the previous day.  From inside Kikokutei Gardens.  A temple found in Kikokutei. Middle Row L2R:  A strange arch in the gardens.  A sign found on the arch. That sounds like a bad ass bee.  A bridge over a small pond there with the Kyoto Tower poking above it in the distance. Bottom Row:  Another room trashed, this time at K‘s House.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

30/10/2008 We decided to have breakfast at the hostel. It was a buffet and cost us ¥680 each!! We had toast with cheese, scrambled egg, sausages, toast and jam, cereals, juice and tea. After I had a shower and when I got back to the room I discovered my MP3 player was broken. FUCK!!

Yeah, my MP3 player decided to break. All my tracks disappeared off of the menu screen and were inaccessible (even though they were still on it). I was so pissed off and upset by it!! It was easy enough to fix, all I needed to do was plug it into my PC, erase all the tracks off it and put them back on. Fat lot of good that was being in Japan miles away from home!! Luckily, before we had left, I brought a double ear phone extension so I could, on occasions, listen to Roo‟s. What a bloody nightmare. On the subject of listening to music, I also brought over a small pair of speakers so we could use while here too. Unfortunately, Japanese plug sockets do not give enough power and we could not use them!!

We wasted the morning and eventually headed out for lunch at the same place as before. This time we both had rice, burger, curry and cheese. I also had double spice on it and Roo single spice. The meal was amazing. After that, we headed out to find a temple that hung over the side of a mountain. It was about a forty minute walk from where we were. When we got there the place was heaving. We had to pay ¥500 each to get in. We walked around and checked out the main temple and walked around the grounds. The temple looked cool supported by big wooden beams. There was also a massive amount of kids everywhere. We stopped off to have an orange juice there in a little eating area. On the way back we stopped off at a shop and brought some gifts for our friends back home. We picked up some noodles, yoghurt for me and small bento for Roo and ate them for dinner. After, we read for a bit before heading down to the bar for one drink. After that, we were a bit peckish so decided to walk to McD‘s and have a ¥120 cheese burger. When we returned back to the hostel, we read and slept. Next day when we got up, we headed to a Mini Stop convenience store for breakfast. Roo had sandwiches and jelly and I had a cake thing and yoghurt. We 134/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

spent the morning faffing again and by the time we left it was lunch again. We ate at the same place and had the same meals. YUM! When we had finished, we headed off to Gion to get some more gifts for back home. While there, Roo brought an egg tart from a place called ―Andrews Original Eggtarts‖. AWESOME!! I had a bite and it was really nice. We headed back and dropped off the gifts and went to the train station. We took the train to a place that had 10,000 torii gates!! The Fushimi Inari Torii gates are traditional Japanese gate commonly found at the entry to shrines. They are usually made of wood and sometimes stone and the wood ones are painted in red with black feet and inscriptions on them now and again. They consist of two columns with a beam on top overhanging at each end and a smaller beam between the columns underneath.

shrine. We walked in and headed off into a tunnel of big torii gates. This led on to two tunnels of smaller torii gates. We followed the path round the mountain that it was on, passing under many, many torii gates. It was late and after a while we found ourselves walking round in the dark. We spent a while getting lost and trying to find our way out. On the way we saw a ferret/stoat running behind a small shrine. Eventually we got on the right path and headed out. We stopped briefly to look at the great view of Kyoto at night.

The Fushimi Inari shrine was a cool place to visit, although it totally sickened us of torii gates!! It was on a mountain and we got another great work out walking around it. There were torii gates everywhere, single ones and then tunnels of them. Along with the torii gates were a number of shrines too. On one of them were loads of business cards stuck to it, so we left ours too. There were also great views of Kyoto and as we got there late and it was dark, we got a great night time view of the city. We did get totally lost walking round as the maps there were all in Japanese and not that clear!! It was dark and the place was not that well lit up so that never helped either!! The mountain was crawling with cats too, they were everywhere!! At one point we were lost so we asked a shop owner who was closing up for the night, how to get out, he told us and we followed his instructions and managed to get to a dead end!! Eventually, we managed to get out!! Next time we go in the day!!

On the way back we bought noodles and jelly/yoghurt for dinner. Once we had eaten we headed 135/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

down to the bar and ended up having three drinks each and a bowl of nuts. Great way to relax before bed.

Top Row L2R:  Roo outside K‘s House, the bar is through the black doors to the right.  The annex side that we were staying in.  A sunken table in the lounge area. Second Row L2R:  Me having breakfast in the lounge with the book shelf at the end where we stole The Hobbit from.  Looking across at the temple…  … and from a different angle. Third Row L2R:  Looking up at it. You can get a basic idea as to how high it is from here.  A small part of the massive, massive grave yard.  A typical Japanese grave. Bottom Row:  Andrews Original Eggtart!!

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  The first of many torii gates at Inari.  A few of the bigger gates there.  Path splits off into two routes. Second Row L2R:  Inside one of the torii arch tunnels.  Looking back the other way and you can see that there are many Japanese characters on them.  Small shrine with some small gates that you can purchase. Third Row L2R:  A view of Kyoto at dusk.  Row of lanterns lit up.  Night time view of Kyoto. Bottom Row:  The Kyoto Tower at night time.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

31/10/2008 We got up and had pretty much the same breakfast as the day before. Once eaten, we packed our bags. By the time we were done, it was gone 11 o‘clock. Today we were going to our new WWOOF host. We checked out and headed to the station. On the way we got McD‘s. Both had a Mega Mac Meal. YUM. We took it to the station with us and ate it on the train. We had to change trains once and then get a bus. Once the bus arrived, we were greeted by our new host, Keisan. He took us for a short ride to his farm. When we got there we met the other WWOOFers, there was Seth from Clare!! What are the chances!! There was another Seth. Seth Powers. Even his name was awesome!! Ha. We could not believe that we met the same WWOOFer twice. He had only been there a couple of days and would be leaving two days before we would. It was good to work with him again and get to know him a bit better. He was an awesome guy and our best Japanese friend.

guy from Japan called Yoshi and a Hong Kong woman called Innis. Keisan did some paperwork with us first. After we got changed into our WWOOF clothes and he also gave us some waterproof trousers and coat and wellingtons. Our first job was to collect some harvested rice from one field take it to another field to hang up and dry. Then we collected some rice that had already been hanging and loaded it into his car. We saw crabs living in the rice field!! After that we stopped for a short break before Keisan got us separating red beans from their shells. When we had finished for the day, we had a shower and went to help Setsu (Keisan‘s wife) to get food ready with Innis. We had miso soup, rice, battered fish and some sort of stew with potatoes. We helped to clean up after and then went to our room. Our room was in a separate building next to our host‘s house. It had three rooms, two upstairs and one down with a drying room next door. The room we were in is freezing. Our room has no heating or insulation so we had to wear tshirts and socks to bed too!! I HATE THE COLD!! Got two weeks of this too!! We read for a bit then went to sleep. 138/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

02/11/2008 We got up in the morning, freezing, two days ago. For some reason, we had to eat breakfast outside!! We had toast, rice, miso, etc. After, we spent the morning separating soba seeds from the stem and soya beans from their pods. For lunch we helped prepare this kind of sweet rice pancake, noodles and rice. We ate in the garden again. It was slightly warmer but overcast. When we started back to work, Keisan told us to take out some old machines. They were wooden and about sixty years old he said. We set them up as Keisan instructed and he then showed us how to use them. We had to take bundles of rice we collected from our first day. Then spin a barrel, with metal poking out of it, and keep pushing down on a pedal to keep it spinning and to speed it up. Then we Keisan had a strict way of working, he was very old school. When we were working in groups, he never liked anyone talking to each other. We had to work mainly in silence. If anyone was caught talking for a long period of time, he would have a word to them and move them away. It was almost like being back at school again. I didn‟t mind too much, it was good adapting to his working conditions.

placed the head of the rice bundle into it and while holding it, knock off all the rice. My first go I did not hold on hard enough and dropped it in!! The rice came out and then had to be sieved. From there, we had to put it through another machine. To work this one we had to turn one wheel while moving another bar backwards and forwards. Almost like a ‗pat your head and rub your tummy‘ movement. This machine separated the good rice, to the alright rice to the general crap. The rice bundle stalks left over had to be chopped up using and old fashioned guillotine device. We rotated jobs until it was time to clear up. At the end my back was sore in several places!! We ate dinner in their house. It was rice, tempura vegetables, etc. As always, the cold drove us to bed after. We had to get up early the next morning and make breakfast. The sun was out so we ate outside again. It was toast, rice, miso, etc. After eating we helped wash up. Our job today was working in the last rice field on his land. We had to 139/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

dress for the job. Firstly we put on super tight wellington boots. This was followed by water proof trousers that we could tighten up at the bottom. The rice field was a stodgy mess. The ground felt like really wet clay and was full of smelly water and interesting wildlife. We had to wade in and cut the rice plants from the bottom and rest them on dryish ground. We were harvesting ancient rice. We found crabs, frogs and newts along with a whole host of insects. The mud was like trying to walk through glue!! We spent the whole morning doing it and had our break snacks sat on the side of the road. When the morning was over, we took the long walk back to the house for lunch. We had herby pasta and sweet tofu and rice pancakes. Once lunch was over we walked back to the rice field. The sun was out and it felt good to be warm. When we got back we had to tie up the rice into bundles. This took ages as we had to comb out all the weeds and straw with our hands. We finished at five o‘clock and it was getting dark fast. It was our turn to help with dinner. Also, during the day we had a new female WWOOFer called Ai from Japan start. They were very old fashioned at the farm. Before we ate we all had to say “itadakimas” and once we had all finished we had to say “gochisosama deshita”. Itadakimas roughly translates as, thanks for the food, let‟s eat. Gochisosama deshita means it‟s been a feast. This is a traditional thing that gets said before most meals and it was the first time that we encountered this properly.

For dinner we had rice, soup, fish, left over tempura and salad. Once done, we all headed back to our WWOOF house and went into one of the other rooms and all sat around chatting and looking at each other‘s photos on Seth‘s laptop. It was a great way to spend the evening talking and joking with other WWOOFers from around the world. After we all went to bed. Also, discovered that I do not get any phone coverage from our house!!!

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  One of the few WWOOF sheets at Setsukian farm.  Ai on the night we all bundled into one room.  The super shy Yoshi. Middle Row L2R:  Innes from Hong Kong.  A group picture, Seth in the middle. (Taken by Innes)  The rice sifter. Bottom Row L2R:  The rice thresher, don‘t want to get your hands stick in this when it is going.  My rolled out bed and Roo‘s mess.  Me, Roo and Seth sat in our ditch at break time. Sitting in the ditch was my idea. (Taken by Innes)

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

03/11/2008 We had a small lie in, in the morning as it was not our turn to make breakfast. It was the usual rice and bits when it came. For the morning half of the day we had to do the threshing of yellow rice. We got out all the machines, two threshers and two sorters. As it turns out, one of the threshers was broken, so while one person used the machine, the rest had to remove the rice by hand. Yellow rice is easy to remove luckily. Half way through, a new WWOOFer arrived. Innis and Yoshi had left in the morning. The new WWOOFer was a French guy called Paul. As soon as he was signed up he joined in with us. For lunch we had udon noodles. Last time we had them they were cold but these were really nice. This was served with the sweet rice pancakes from the other day. Paul is a strict vegetarian and could not eat his noodles as they were cooked in fish stock. More food for us then!! Our working day was quite structured. We were split up into two groups, me and Roo in one and then whoever was left in the other. One group would have to get up early to make breakfast with Setsu and the other group would have to make lunch and then the first group would have to come back to help make dinner. These roles would be reversed the following day. We also had two five minute breaks during the day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We would have a few snacks to eat and a bottle of water each.

After eating we went back to the rice and I did a stint of picking soba. We had our afternoon break and me and Roo had to go down to the rice field from the other day. When we got there, Roo had to help Ai tie up the rice bundles and Keisan took me to a field a bit further down and had me collecting soya bean plants. I had to cut the plant from its root, pull out the bamboo pole it was attached to, untie it, re-tie the tie to either the plant or the pole and then move onto the next one. I managed to get this whole crop done before it was time to finish. Lastly I had to pick up all the plants and put them into sacks and put all the bamboo sticks into a pile.

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

For dinner we had tempura veg and rice. The veg was quite nice. While we were waiting for the food to be cooked, we helped Keisan make a small fire outside the house.

Top Row L2R:  Big pile of threshed rice stems waiting to be cut up.  Bundles of rice in the fields drying off.  Inside the hosts house. Home craft show room at the front and our dining room at the back. Bottom Row L2R:  Our room. Can see the condensation on the window and top right is one of our travel towels drying off.  The WWOOF house. The shower and bathroom part is at the front. You can see the small boiler on the floor with the big pipe coming out of it that Keisan used to heat his bath water in the old days.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

05/11/2008 Two days ago we spent the day in the rice field. It was our day in the kitchen for breakfast so we were up at seven. When we started work, we had to walk to the far rice field. Our first job was to cut down all of the remaining crop. It was a mix of yellow and black rice. Today, luckily there were five of us doing it. Paul, Seth and Ai were already at the rice field when me and Roo turned up. They had begun the easy-to-get to rice on solid ground which left the crap stuff for us two. As soon as I got there I went off on one and started cutting like a man possessed!! We all worked really hard and we managed to cut the entire crop before our first break. I was pretty exhausted by the end but felt better after resting. While travelling around Japan, we noticed that most of the really old people were doubled over, hunched up. We found out that this was due to years of work in rice fields. Working at Setsukian farm I began to see what they had to go through. At this point my back was screaming at me!! I was always bent over doing something and I was having issues. Roo has a bad back in general and he was suffering as well. I have a lot more respect for the old people who had to work in these fields everyday!!

When we got back, I sorted everyone out to collect the rice left in bundles out in the field and got it moved to better/dryer ground. After it was all moved we began to tie it all up. We tied and tied and tied and after lunch we tied for the rest of the day!! It was getting dark when we finished at five. We had all worked really hard. Once we had got back to the house, Ai got out a badminton set and Frisbee which we all played with in the dark until dinner was ready. That night we had tempura vegetables and rice. It was really nice. The next day, after breakfast we headed off to the rice field again. Ai stayed back at the house but Keisan helped us to tie the rice. There was a massive amount to tie. Keisan told us that we had to have it all done by lunch!! We all tied as fast as we could. We finished tying and hanging it all by about 12.10. Also, it was Seth‘s day off so we were a man down! By the end of it my hands were raw and bleeding a bit. 144/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We had lunch that included this rubber potato stuff that I hate!! For the This food is called Konnyaku. It comes from a plant and is made into this grey, speckled rubber/jelly stuff. It has absolutely no distinguishing taste and is mainly eaten for its texture. Gross!!

afternoon, we had to thresh the rice, sort it out and cut up the stalks. Again, we all worked really hard and managed to get all the rice sorted and most of the straw cut. We ended up by finishing just gone five o‘clock. We had another game of badminton before dinner. For dinner the day before, we had this luxury bento box that Keisan had got from his temple and shared it between us. The best part was a slither of ham that me and Roo shared. For dinner the next night we had curry and rice. YUM!! It was Japanese curry and was really good. After, I showed Keisan and Ai the box and can that the monk from Tottori gave us. They managed to translate some of it for us. We found out that he was 84 years old. Hi name is Ikuta Kanyou. His brother was a famous potter who died in his 60‘s and the sake cups were made by one of his apprentices. COOL!! The can of drink turned out to be a can of Oolong tea. After, we went to our room and to bed. Lights off by ten o‘clock as usual. It is so cold, that is all we can do here!!!

Row L2R:  The rice we worked so hard to cut down drying on the racks.  The rest of the field.  Another picture of the field, you can see where it is really wet, this was the worst part to work in!

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

06/11/2008 Yesterday was our only day off at this farm. Sucks or what!! We had four days off at Clare and are only allowed one here!! Anyway, we got up and helped with breakfast as it was our turn. Once eaten and cleared up, we decided to head for the nearest shop as I needed a new diary as this one is at the end. Keisan said it should take about an hour and a half to walk to, which meant if we left then, we would be back for lunch at twelve. We left and said bye to everyone and started walking. It was a really nice day and the sun was warm when we were not in the shade, when we were in the shade it was a lot colder. The road we were told to walk along took us miles, through small towns and over hills. The hour and a half walk took us just over two hours!! I was a bit tired and a little bit annoyed and Roo was in a strop. The place was a small supermarket and not really much to see!! I found a diary and we also brought a chocolate bar to eat then, some Pringles type crisps, pack of chocolate chip cookies and two big 1,000ml cans of beer. SWEET!! They were about ¥500 each and massive!! As it was late and we were a bit pissed off, we decided to get a taxi back. We asked the girl at the check out to call one for us. Once we had paid for our shopping, we sat outside and ate our chocolate and waited for our taxi. It arrived and took us back and ended up costing ¥3,000!! Bloody expensive!! We got back in time for lunch and had noodles with left over curry sauce. After lunch, I decided to have a go wood carving and asked Keisan for some tools. For the rest of the day, me and Roo carved wood and played badminton with a crap set of racquets‘ that the shuttlecock kept getting stuck in!! Ai left just after lunch. We had three women come to stay for the farms ‗Country Experience‘. People pay to come and stay and learn country crafts and eat with the hosts. The women were all in their 50‘s, real city women and smoked like chimneys!! Ass holes!! At about half four, we both had a quick walk around the wood at the back of the farm. It was a nice area and we found a little shrine thing there too. When we

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

got back, Roo made another fire and I had a shower. The women smoked in their room which made the smell come up to ours and Seth‘s and Paul‘s room!!

The shower there was something else. It was in an outhouse area next to a small wash room and a toilet next to that. The shower water was heated from a boiler run off gas. The temperature permanently fluctuated between freezing cold to skin peeling hot!! It was a shower where you had to sit on a stool to wash, which meant that you could not get away quickly when the temperature went either really hot or really cold!! Nightmare. Also, when you got out, because of the general temperature of where we were, as soon as you got out you froze!! On the plus side, the toilet was cool. It was one of those funky space age loo‟s with all the buttons. The Pièce de résistance though was a button that turned on a warm fan to dry yourself after you used the bidet function. This came in handy warming yourself up whenever you needed to go to the loo. Every small source of heat was gladly used and welcomed!!

Everyone sat around for dinner. The three women talked to Keisan and Setsu and pretty much ignored us. When dinner was over, they made all four of us WWOOFers wash up!! We shared one of the big cans of beer between us as we worked though!! After we headed to bed to read and write and sleep. There was no sign of fireworks night anywhere!!

Top Row L2R:  In the nearby forest looking back upon Setsukian farm.  Inside the forest in their back garden.  The small shrine/travellers rest building in the forest. Bottom Row:  Back on the farm, the badminton set that Keisan gave to us.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

07/11/2008 Had a lie in as it was not our turn for breakfast. When we started work, me and Roo had to set up the blue canvas and threshing equipment. We then spent the morning threshing rice. It was green rice and really difficult to separate so we had to remove some of it by hand which was not good as it left small pin prick splinters in our hands!! OUCH!! For lunch we had fried rice which was awesome!! We then went back to work; Paul and Seth joined us and helped with the threshing as Keisan needed it all doing as it was going to be wet and rainy for a few days!! For the rest of the day we all worked hard to get it all sorted and then a batch of yellow rice too. Near the end, Keisan took me away and got me to collect some hanging rice with a wheel barrow that was barely holding together! After he showed me a green house that he was growing plants in. He was growing carrots, potatoes, garlic, Japanese radish and peanuts. Japanese radish is called Daikon. It is not small and red like the radish we get in England, it is long and white!! The Japanese use it grated and added to soy sauce. It is not as bitter as the English variety.

Once finished and packed away, we all went for showers. Me and Roo got told off for having the extra beer there. Keisan said we were only allowed to drink alcohol for dinner, so he bought the big cans back off us so we could have it to share at dinner!!! Once dinner was over, another early night for us!!! We had beer every night with dinner that Keisan provided us with. It was a normal size can of Asahi or something like that. We assumed that it would be ok for us to drink our beer too but he did not want us too. He was ok with it and understood that there was just a little misunderstanding.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

08/11/2008 All days‘ kind of roll into one here!! On breakfast duty in the morning, early start. As it was raining in the morning, we had to do indoor work. Roo and Paul had to pick out the bad grains of rice with a pair of tweezers!! Seth had to sort out red beans like we had to on our first day. Keisan took me to the garage and taught me how to use a machine that took the rice out of their husks. It was a modern automatic machine and only needed me to push it on or off and to clear any blockages. After that I had to put red beans and then soya beans through the blowy handle machine we use to clear grass and straw out of rice. Once that was done, I sat down with Keisan and removed soya beans from pods. The ends were quite sharp on them and I got a few pin prick cuts on my hands. For breakfast that day we had boiled potatoes that we had to dip in salt and eat. This was one of the most disgusting things ever!! For lunch we had cold noodles, yuck again!! Once back at work, I had to spend the rest of the day picking soba in the garage listening to Japanese folk music that Keisan had put on for me. I really wish my MP3 player was working!! After dinner I went to use their laptop and found that the space bar button was not working. Wrote Jessie an email using full stops to separate the words!! Later that night, me and Roo took a 10 minute walk down the really dark road, so we could get a little bit of signal on our phone and called Mum and Dad back home. It was good to chat to them again. Also, during the day Keisan gave us two postcards with our pictures on the front for us to send home which we wrote and also a thank you letter to the monk back at Tottori. Keisan also paid for the postage too.

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  A manhole cover from the area.  Looking down the road at Setsukian, not many neighbours.  Steam rising off the rice fields in the morning. Middle Row L2R:  Part of the mountain nearby. You can see that some of the trees have fallen down, can be dangerous sometimes.  Views that we worked with every day.  Keisan and Setsu at breakfast, eaten outside. Bottom Row L2R:  A hole found outside the farm. When asked as to what it was, it turned out to be an old freezer hole used in the old days.  Me posing. You can see that I‘m wearing the borrowed blue jump suit top and also grey pullover!! So very cold!

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

09/11/2008 Only on lunch duty today so got a lie in. Once work started I had to go out to the garage and thresh rice and sieve it inside the garage. There was not too much room but I managed to get all the bundles threshed. The next job of the day was to make flour and sort out grains of rice. Keisan got me to use the rice machine to prepare green rice for us to turn into flour. While doing this, the waste bag had filled up and started spitting rice husks everywhere!! I quickly fixed this and finished off the rice. Once back in their house, me Roo and Seth took turns in sorting black rice, green rice (both with tweezers) and making flour. To make the flour, we had to use two fat stone wheels. They were stacked on top of each other and the top one had a hole in it that we had to put a small amount of rice in and a handle we used to turn it in an anti-clockwise direction to produce the flour. For our break that day, we had homemade doughnuts from Setsu, they tasted amazing!! YUM!!! After lunch, I had to go do the threshing in the garage again. As I was there by myself I listened to my Mad Capsule Markets CD that I brought back in Hino. I got a funny look This is another thing that I forgot to write about during our time at Hino. Kazuko took us both out one night to a shop that sold loads of CD‟s, DVD‟s, etc. I was looking around and found the Mad Capsule Markets 010 CD for a good price. I wanted to get more Japanese CD‟s but because of the money situation, I didn‟t. The Japanese have it cool, the Western releases in Japan all have at least one extra bonus track on them that we do not get!! What is with that!! So deprived back here in England!!

off of Setsu when she came round! Roo spent the afternoon with Keisan trying to transfer all of his important files from his lap top onto CD‘s as he was going to be getting a new one. I helped for a bit too and after, we both went to the garage to clear up. That night I took a walk down the road again and called Jessie as I could get a signal down there. YAY!!! Then went back to our room. Roo had walked down to meet me too. Our lights were off by ten o‘clock. 151/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Noticed a cool thing here, when it rains, they get crabs coming out, like we have slugs and snails back home. Crabs are so much cooler though!

Top Row L2R:  All of us around the dinner table. Paul is in the middle.  Our meal. We have ancient rice, tempura veg and pickled veg, glass of Asahi beer and bowl of miso soup above that. The fox was Roo‘s favourite chopstick stand.  Keisan and Paul going through a copy of Pauls Lonely Planet book. Bottom Row L2R:  A piece of Country Experience art.  The stream by our house where we would stand in and clean our boots after a day in the rice field.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

10/11/2008 Breakfast duty, early start!! Roo spent the whole morning moving and copying files on Keisan‘s laptop. Me and Seth (it was Paul‘s day off) went to the garage and finished off the rest of the rice from the previous day. After that, I had to continue doing soba for the rest of the morning until it was all gone. Setsu came over to help for a bit and we managed to finish it all before lunch. Once lunch was over, I had to help Seth removing red beans from their shells. This was one of the most boring days, made worse by the fact that it was really cold!! When Roo had finished his computer stuff on Keisan‘s laptop, he went on to picking the bad rice with the tweezers. For dinner we had tempura vegetables. Not my favourite but it was ok tonight. After dinner we went on Seths laptop (he had connected it to Keisan‘s internet) and did a few things on it before we all headed off to bed. At night all there is to do here is go to sleep early as it is so cold!!

It was good working on this farm and we both enjoyed it and got on really well with Keisan and Setsu. The only problem is that the work at times was very, very repetitive and boring. Spending upwards of three hours removing the shells from many, many soya beans can really become annoying. It was also really cold there too. Unbelievably cold at that. We were up in the mountains and we could feel the difference. It was a nightmare doing the boring when we were freezing. At night, there really was not anything else we could do except go to sleep. We were practically in the middle of nowhere and the nights were bloody Arctic! We had the traditional Japanese roll out beds that had three duvets on top plus thick blankets too. We had no idea that it was going to be so cold at this farm. All we had brought was out t-shirts!! Luckily, Keisan had a set of drawers in one of the WWOOF rooms with clothes in which we could borrow. I ended up wearing a blue sports cardigan underneath a thermal jumper that was about five sizes too small for me!! Oh well, at least I was warm!!!

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

11/11/2008 Lie in as it was Seths and Pauls turn to help Setsu make the breakfast. After we had all eaten breakfast, Paul left the farm to go onto Kyoto. We all said goodbye, and me and Seth received a massive, long handshake off of him. ODD!! As it was so cold at the farm, I couldn‟t stand being in the bathroom so therefore I hadn‟t shaved in over two weeks!! I had also given up on sorting out my bed hair in the morning so spent most of the second half of our time there looking like a tramp!!!

When we started back, Roo helped Keisan with computer bits and I started de-shelling soya beans with Seth. It was cold and a bit of a nightmare doing it as it was really boring. Once Roo had finished with Keisan, he came over and helped us too. After we ate lunch, me and Roo played badminton for a bit in our little bit of free time and even walked a little bit down the road to play with the dog in the next house down for a short while. After we went back to work, it started to rain a bit and we had to run around and get in all the rice/beans (soya and red) and soba back in from drying. After the rush, me and Roo had to thresh rice, sort it and shell more soya beans. Seth was taken by Keisan to so do something else. We did this for the rest of the afternoon. Keisan let Seth finish early as it was his last day and when he was gone, Keisan said to us that we would only have to work half a day the next day as we had really worked hard and he was very happy with us. COOL!!! When me and Roo had finished for the day, we had another play with the badminton set and after I had a shower and Roo made another little fire. For dinner that night, we had curry again. YUM!!! We gave Seth a hand to do the dishes as he was by himself now and went on his laptop for a bit as Keisan‘s still was not working properly and he had not got a replacement. Then, bed to write, read and sleep by ten o‘clock.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

12/11/2008 Breakfast, so early start. We decided on having the afternoon shift off so were going to work in the morning. After breakfast, we had to say good bye to Seth who was leaving to go to Kyoto too. I was quite sad as we had the most time with him here in Japan. We gave him a business card each and gift too. As soon as he left, we got changed ready for work. During the night, deers had knocked over a load of fencing in an area behind our house. Keisan had us strengthening the poles between the netting with bamboo. We spent the whole morning doing it. At times it was really hard as some of the poles were on a steep part of the land. We would have to try and get ourselves stable and swing massive wooden mallets to knock the bamboo into the ground. Bloody deers!!

Before lunch, a new WWOOFer turned up. His name was Kohei and he came from Japan. He has spent two years in New Zealand so his English was good which meant we could use him as a translator when talking to Keisan and Setsu. After lunch we had our free time Keisan had given to us. We spent most of it playing badminton. We had played so much of it and their racquet set was cheap, we managed to break the racquets!!! After Roo had finished off his carving, we took a walk down the road to play with the dog for a bit and then took a walk up in the mountains. Roo had carved his name in Japanese using the Katakana alphabet that he had been learning and was pretty proficient in it now. He had also carved a small map of Japan on the same bit of wood too. I had carved a big eye with lightning bolts coming out of it. This was our first attempt at carving wood and I think that we did alright!!

Along the way we found a really dark and creepy cave. When we eventually got back, another new WWOOFer had arrived. She was called Kumi and was also from Japan. Roo made another fire and I had a shower. After dinner that night, Keisan got us to play a couple of traditional Japanese games. The first was called ‗Happy Smile‘. You had to blindfold yourself and another person would hand you bits of a face and you had to place it on a blank 155/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

face. Once you put all the parts in place, you take off the blindfold to see what a mess of the face you made!!! Another game was a simple dice and board game where you had to get from Tokyo to Kyoto. Roo won and I came second. After we had finished, we were able to check the computer quick but as it was playing up, could not reply to anything. The last thing to do for the day was to write, read and sleep. We had got most of our packing done earlier in the day but were on breakfast duty in the morning and still had to finish off our packing so it was gunna be an earlier start the next day!!

Top Row L2R:  Roo lighting a fire.  The WWOOF made kiln. Different to the one in Hino.  Roo with a traditional broom. Middle Row L2R:  Me using that broom the wrong way!  Two very large mallets.  Name tags by our door. Me and Roo were WWOOFers 209 and 210. Bottom Row:  Me, Roo and Setsu.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

13/11/2008 We set our alarm for 6.45am and managed to get up by 7 o‘clock. Well, I did anyway!! I had just enough time to get most of my bag packed before heading down to breakfast. Once we had finished, we shot up to our room to collect our bags and head down to Keisan‘s car. We said a rushed good bye to the new WWOOFers and Setsu, and Keisan drove us to the bus stop. We had to wait about two minutes for it to turn up and we said thanks and good bye to Keisan and got on. The bus took us to a train station and the Kyoto train was waiting there when we arrived. We had to change once on the way back. When we got to Kyoto, I really wanted a McD‘s. We walked up to the same one that we had lunch in before we headed to the farm two weeks ago. We wanted Mega Macs but it was still in the breakfast serving time. We decided on a small coke each and a Shaka Shaka. Mine was a chilli one and Roo had cheese. We ate, drank and read until it was after their change over time and then I went up to order the burgers. We both had the Mega Mac meals, mine with coke again and Roo‘s with Ginger Ale. Once we were sated, we collected all our things and headed out. Once outside, a guy waiting at some traffic lights caught my eye. I thought I recognised him and went over. It was Seth Powers!!! Oh my God!!! What were

I still can‟t believe that we bumped into Seth Powers again. It was unbelievable!! I would love to know the odds for something like that to happen. Of all the people in the entire world… Ha. It really is a small world!! It was great to be back in Kyoto. For the first time in two weeks, we felt the heat and it was beautiful. I had forgotten what it was like to be warm. A great feeling!! Put a massive smile on my face!!

the chances and odds!!! We spoke for a bit and said good bye again and headed off to the train station. It was a hot clear day in Kyoto and I loved it!!! We brought the tickets for the train ride to Hiroshima (広島市) and it came to about ¥20,000 for us both. FUCK!!! That was bloody expensive. Oh well!! 157/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

The train turned out to be the super Shinkansen, Nozomi. Once we were on it, it took about two hours to get to Hiroshima. When we got out of Hiroshima station it was really warm and sunny!! There was a tram system there that cost ¥150 to ride on to get to nearly every stop, cool. We jumped on the number two and off to our Ryoken. We got off at the KoamiCho stop. The only directions that we had was that it was a minute walk from the stop!! We put our bags down We had directions to all of our accommodation sent to us on the confirmation email. Some of them were good and got us to the door. Others were really vague and literally told us what stop to get off at and either how long or how far a walk it was!! No direction. Somehow we always managed to find these places!!

and scouted around the area for a bit. Eventually I asked a lady who told us the way. A minute later and we were there. We were greeted at the Business Ryoken Sansui by a guy who spoke no English!!! He took us to our room and gave us our key. The room was a tatami floor, roll out bed job. Free TV too!! We chilled out for a few hours and read. After a while, we decided to head out and get our noodle dinner, back to budget eating again!!! While we were relaxing in our room, we got a knock at the door. We opened it to find the lady owner of the Ryoken. She greeted us and spoke a little more English than the guy who met us there!! She was pleasant and made us feel welcome there.

There were a few convenience stores near us and we got our noodles and token jelly and yoghurt and a bento of random surprises. We took them back to the Ryoken and ate them. We chilled again before heading back out again to buy breakfast for the next day. When we got to the shop, Roo brought his mixed sandwiches and jelly and I had a chocolate cake thing and strawberry yoghurt. When we got back to the Ryoken, we made a cup of tea from the set in our room which tasted like soup!! Jessie called me earlier too. She tried my phone on a whim and managed to get through to me. It was cool to talk to her on a decent line.  We read for a bit when we had got back from the shops and went to bed. 158/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Our Room at the Ryoken Sansui. Another rolled out bed format on the typical tatami flooring.  A big mess again. The bag on the floor under the TV was filled with leaflets, brochures, maps, receipts, etc, that we carried around with us the entire trip.  The communal dining area in the Ryoken. Bottom Row L2R:  Loads of photos of residents at the Ryoken.  The outside of the building. The garage part on the left had bikes for rental in them.  The entrance to the Ryoken Sansui.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

14/11/2008 We got up and ate the breakfast that we had brought the day before. We then had a shower. The shower was amazing as it kept its temperature, not like the shower back on the farm. I sat in it with two shower heads spraying on me!! I also had my first shave in over two weeks!! It took quite a while to remove all the hair on my face!!! By the time we had both washed, it was nearly eleven o‘clock so we jumped on a tram and took it to a stop near to a Sukiya restaurant that I saw the day before on the tram. Sukiya was the brand of restaurants that we ate at all the time at K‘s House in Kyoto. Stick with what you know. We both had the rice, curry, burger and cheese bowls, mine double spicy and Roo‘s with salad. Once we had eaten we headed down the road to the A-Bomb Memorial area. The first thing we came across was the A-Bomb Dome. It is a building partially blown up by the bomb that still had its dome on top. It is in many photos and looking at its blackened skeletal remains was quite moving. When we were finished there we began to move on and were stopped by some Japanese school kids who asked us to write a peace message in their book. We did that for them and gave them a business card each too. We walked on a bit further and Roo was stopped by another kid. As he sat writing in their book, a free tour guide came over and started to chat to me. It turns out that he is the youngest bomb survivor. His mum was four months pregnant with him at the time the bomb went off. He now does free tours around the bomb area. His name is Mito Kosei. Firstly he took us to where a Buddha statue, which got caught in the blast, was still standing. You could still see the burns that it received. A little further on is a grave yard with some original head stones still standing. These too had black shadows on them. Lastly he took us to the hypocenter which is now a hospital. He spoke to us the whole time and showed us pictures that he carried around with him too. We thanked him, exchanged business cards and headed off again.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

On the 7th March 2009, I received an email from Mito. In it he had attached a copy of his mother‟s testament of the day of the bomb. It is a haunting read. If you want to read it too, it can be found at the end of my diary.

We went in the direction of the museum. On the way we passed the eternal flame and a load of paper cranes and also the monumental bell in memory of the children who were killed. Entry to the museum was only ¥50 each. It was fairly similar to the museum back at Nagasaki but more aimed at peace and the history of Hiroshima before the bomb. Most of it was pretty grim. They had a nasty life size diorama of kids walking around in the wake of the bomb with their skin hanging off. They had pieces of people‘s scar tissue and some guys tongue!!! There was also the large selection of things fused together and damaged tiles/bricks etc. Like with the Nagasaki museum, we spent ages walking round and it was getting dark when we left. We wandered round the park for a while and took some more pictures of the dome at dusk. We headed back to the Ryoken and brought noodle soups for dinner with jelly and yoghurt too. After eating we read for a bit and headed back out to buy breakfast for the next day. We also walked back to the dome to take some night time pictures of it. 6th August 1945, 08.15, wow!!! We took a walk down the Peace Boulevard and then back to the Ryoken. After reading and writing we went to sleep. Also, while walking around the peace garden earlier in the day, two women stopped us and asked if they could say a peace prayer for us. We said ok and they got us to close our eyes while they held one of their hands up and prayed in silence. It seemed to last about a minute and we both felt a little uncomfortable. We thanked them after.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  The tram stop at the Atomic Bomb Dome.  Roo walking past the dome.  A close up of the ruined dome. Second Row L2R:  Roo getting mobbed by children.  The everlasting flame with the museum at the back.  Looking back through the arch which centres on the flame and then the dome. Third Row L2R:  The hypocenter of the bomb, now a hospital.  A mound where the first victims were cremated.  The children‘s memorial. Bottom Row:  The Atomic Bomb Dome at night.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

15/11/2008 We managed to get ourselves up early and had our breakfast. After we got changed and packed a backpack we headed out. We were going to the island Miyajima (宮島町). We got on the tram and bought a one day pass giving us unlimited access on the trams and the Miyajima ferry. It took about twenty five minutes to get to the end of the line and to the ferry port. We were hungry and went into the shop there and brought a pack of Chip Star cheese and onion Pringle style crisps. We ate them on the ferry which took about ten minutes to reach the island. We arrived in the small town and looked around the shops and eventually found a place to eat. Roo had his favourite, chicken on rice with onion and egg and I had shredded beef on rice. Both meals were served with miso soup. After we tried some Momiji manju which are maple leaf shaped sponge cakes. We had one with chocolate filling and one with custard. They were both really nice. Eventually we reached Itsukushima-Jinja, the massive floating torii gate. It looked impressive out in the water; we took a few photos and walked off again. The island is a bit like Nara and had deer walking around. We came to the island to do a hike and we headed off up one of the mountains. The climb up was steep and hard going. We were both exhausted and had to stop and rest for five Another book that we took with us was the Lonely Planet: Hiking in Japan. We would have liked to do a few more hikes around the country but as travelling was expensive, we decided not to. We used the book for this hike. This was apparently an easy one but we were exhausted the whole way up!! We were so unfit!! Ha. We had also planned to do a massive 21+ day hike around the 88 temples on the island of Shikoku. Although it would have been amazing, we were no way fit enough and did not have the relevant hiking experience to do it. Maybe another time…

minutes at a few intervals. While walking up, we climbed up on a rocky granite out crop and rested with some nice views around. 163/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Further up from there we went into a small shrine inside a small, low roofed cave. It was dark in there but really cool. To get to the eventual peak, we had to use some ropes to pull ourselves up onto more granite outcrops. The view from the top was amazing and breathtaking. We could see Hiroshima, the port, floating torii and on the other side, the sea, islands and more mountains. We made our way off the top and headed off to the next mountain peak of Mt. Misen. It was a small walk down and more steps up!!! It was more hard graft but at last we reached the top. There were rocky outcrops everywhere and a shop too where we brought two ice-creams for ¥200 each. Probably one of the best things I had ever brought in Japan!!! Jessie phoned earlier. She is ill again which makes me sad. I wish I could have been at home to look after her. She has another kidney infection, I hope she can clear it quickly and get better. Get well soon Baby. XX After we rested, we started the trek back down. On the way down we stopped off at a small shrine building to see a giant pot that has had a flame under it burning for over 1200 years. The room was small and black and was so smoky it was hard to breath while inside. The rest of the walk down was fairly easy and eventually we reached the bottom coming out into a small park. We walked in the river bed for a bit as there was only a small stream running through it. Then we headed back through the town, passing the world‘s biggest rice scoop again, impressive. We also had two more Momiji Manju cakes, this time, cream cheese and peach jam. We were

Momiji Manju cakes are small sponge cakes in the shape of maple leaves. They are usually filled with the red bean paste but we found a variety of other fillings. The shops that sell these usually have the cake machines on display so the customers can watch them being made. The first time that we saw these was in Asakusa. On Miyajima, there were many, many maple trees. I had never seen maple trees before. At that time of year, the leaves were beginning to change colour. The trees were filled with green, red, yellow leaves. It was amazing to see, such a nice plant.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

totally exhausted and stinky by the time we got on the ferry. When we got back to our Ryoken we decided that we did not want noodles and went out to Sukiya for dinner. I had cheesy curry with soft boiled egg and Roo had shredded beef with mustard greens and salmon roe mayonnaise!! Yuck!! He also had a side salad and miso soup. We walked back as when we tried to get a tram to take us there, the driver stopped and then pulled away without letting us on, asshole!!! We had to get the next one that came along!! Once back, and after buying breakfast for the next day, blueberry yoghurt and sugared bread thing for me and jelly and banana, chocolate, custard éclair for Roo, we went up to our room to write, read (Roo is now reading Needful Things by Stephen King that we brought from a second hand English book store and internet cafe the day before) and also drink a can of 7% Japanese lager each too. It was only ¥197 a can, was a bit sweet but ok to drink. Eventually lights out and sleep.

Row L2R:  The ferry and port at Hiroshima.  Miyajima town with the giant torii gate in front.  The world‘s biggest rice scoop.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  The giant torii arch surrounded by the sea.  A view of Mount Mizen that we would eventually climb up.  A floating temple, we did not go inside it. Second Row L2R:  Steps on a steep climb up.  Looking back at Hiroshima. Can see the oyster catchers in the sea on the left.  The temple in a cave. Third Row L2R:  Can see how low the ceiling was by how far I‘m bent over walking out.  At the top looking out over the sea and other island.  Inside the room with the flame that had been burning for years. Smokier than it looks. Fourth Row:  An amazing range of colours from the maple leaves. Bottom Row:  The torii gate now the tide has gone out.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

16/11/2008 Had a bit of a lazy morning, ate our breakfast and took our time doing it. Eventually when we left, it was lunch so we headed off to our usual place. This time I had cheesy curry with a soft boiled egg and Roo had rice taco with miso and an extra bowl of rice. Once we had finished, I had a craving for something sweet so we took the back streets and came across a McD‘s and brought an Oreo McFlurry to share. We made our way back to the Peace Park and to the International Exchange Lounge in the International Conference Centre. It was a multi media place and had free internet access. We got there and were allowed thirty minutes each. During my time, I managed to email Jess my credit card details as she was going to book our night bus tickets to get back from Hiroshima to Tokyo. What a legend she is!!! I also got confirmation from our next host. It turns out they are on an island called Osakikamijima!!! WOAH! Really not sure what to expect now. Hopefully it will be cool.

Money was beginning to become a worry because of the exchange rate. The price of the train from Kyoto to Hiroshima was expensive; it would have been even worse getting it back to Tokyo. We remembered Seth saying that he got a night bus when he went from Tokyo to Kyoto so we decided to look into it. I emailed Jess who came back and said that it would cost ¥7,500 each, a lot cheaper than getting the train. I gave her my card details and she got it booked and emailed translated travelling details back to me. We were so lucky to have her do that as we would never have been able to do it ourselves!!!

From there we took a walk down the Peace Boulevard (Heiwa Odori) heading to Hijiyama Park. It was quite a long walk but they were setting up loads of Christmas lights down there. Some of them were massive and looked really cool. Eventually we reached the park which turned out to be crap. It was a hilly park area with only roads going through it!! We decided to check out the Hiroshima City Manga Library which is situated in the park. We got in and spent about five minutes inside before we left. It was busy with loads of people sat around reading and other people with shopping baskets full of comics. All comics were in Japanese! 167/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

From there we headed back but took a detour through a shopping area called Nagaregama and Yagenbori. It was undercover and filled with loads of bars and shops. We stopped off to have a look around a liquor store and ended up buying two one litre cans of Asahi beer for ¥525 each. SWEET!!! We made another stop off on the way back to a supermarket and brought breakfast and dinner. I got soup noodles and strawberry yoghurt for dinner and strawberry sponge cake for breakfast along with a strawberry yoghurt again. Roo picked up some nasty fishy udon noodles (unknown at the time) and fruit in syrup (turns out to be jelly bits, also unknown at the time) for dinner and pizza and normal jelly for breakfast. At the Ryoken, we ate our dinner and the lady who runs the place gave us two oranges each too. We read and wrote for a bit and Roo went out to get some snacks to go with our beer. He came back with butter peanuts (tasted mildly salted), salted Star crisps and salted sweet potato sticks, (not my cup of tea but Roo liked them). We opened our über cans of beer and drank them while reading and eating snacks. Spoke to Mum and Dad during the night which was cool. Also spoke to Jessie who is still ill and had nearly lost her voice!!! I hope she gets better soon. The cans were enough to make us feel a bit tipsy. Eventually we turned off the lights and went to sleep. Also, during the day, we stopped off at the Tokyu Hands store there and spent about an hour looking around it.

Row L2R:  A Hiroshima manhole cover.  The shopping area we visited.  Me, Roo and our massive looking beers, both looking a little worse for wear!!

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

17/11/2008 Another lazy day with no concrete plans so we got up late and took our time with breakfast and showers. We also received two oranges each from the lady who runs the Ryoken. While we were finishing off breakfast, she came into the dining room and took us outside. There was a small festival going along the street. At the front of the festival there were three boys banging a large drum on wheels, behind them was two ladies and two girls pouring out small dishes of sake for people to drink, then behind them was a circle of people and kids all holding a bit of ribbon tied to a gourd type thing and banging it on the floor. By them were two guys holding large leaved sticks. They all came up the street and eventually stopped outside the Ryoken. They let me and Roo have a bang on the drum with their fat drum sticks. Then the two ladies poured out a small dish of sake for me and Roo. I‘m not a big fan of sake, especially for breakfast!!! When it was all over, we finished our breakfast, washed and dressed in time for lunch. We took a brisk walk to Sukiya. Roo had the same as the day before and I had burger, cheese, curry with a soft boiled egg, this time triple spicy!!! Super YUM! After we walked back via the shopping centre and to the free internet back at Peace Park. I got confirmation from Jess about the night bus, cool. Also, booked back at Ninja in Akihabara in Tokyo. Because of the exchange rate, rooms have gone from £30 a night for us both to £44!! SHIT!! When we got back to the Ryoken, we both hired a bike from them. It should have cost ¥600 but she only charged us ¥400! We took a ride to a small park nearby and then on to where Hiroshima castle has been rebuilt. We cycled around it for a bit, then headed to the Peace Park and onto the Peace Boulevard and rode down it and back. They were putting up more and more Christmas lights. On the way back we stopped off at a supermarket to get dinner and breakfast. We brought noodles each for dinner with strawberry for me and aloe yoghurts for Roo. For breakfast I got a five pack of ring doughnuts and Roo got a sandwich and we got two slices of chocolate marble cake for after dinner, although we ate one slice between us before cycling back. Tasted like Gramsies chocolate cake. YUM!!! We cycled back and ate. 169/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

After dinner, we took the bikes back out and cycled to an internet cafe as I needed to clear our cameras memory card. When we got there, we were only Most of the places that we stayed at had internet access. This Ryoken did not and the computer at the International Conference Center could not have anything plugged into it. In the end, we bit the bullet and paid to use the computer at the café. I had to pay for an hour up front and become a member just to use it!! It literally took all my time there to get the pictures put on!! If I had gone over that hour, I would have been charged more!! The café was full of people playing roll play games and it was really smoky too, yuck!

allowed one person at the computer so Roo decided to go for a cycle. I logged on and started uploading photos. He came back half an hour later but I was still going, so he went again. After about ten minutes he came back but I was still not ready. Again, after fifteen minutes, along he came but I still was not done. Off he went again. A little bit later and I had finished, so I waited outside for him to get back. When he got back to the cafe, we collected my bike, he had ridden his back and walked back to the internet cafe, and headed off to the Ryoken. On the way, Jessie called me and Roo walked back while I spoke to her and caught up on my bike after. She was feeling much better and just had a bad cough. It was a long call and when I caught up with Roo he was heading back to me!!! When we both got back to the Ryoken, Roo picked his bike back up and we headed down to the Peace Boulevard to check out the Christmas lights at night time. The only ones that were turned on was the giant Christmas tree and a few lights either side. It looked amazing and I wish I could have seen all of them. The cycle back took us through the Peace Park again. Once back at the Ryoken we met and Indian Australian couple called VJ and Nani and ended up talking to them for a while. Once we had finished, we went to our room and did the usual writing, reading and sleeping as we were up early in the morning to leave.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Me and Roo banging the drums at the parade.  Children smashing that weird thing on the floor with the rope.  Little girl pouring us small dishes of sake. The lady on the right was the awesome owner of the Ryoken. Middle Row L2R:  An interesting fountain in a park in Hiroshima.  Hiroshima‘s newly built castle.  The giant Christmas tree on the Peace Boulevard. Bottom Row:  Our photo on the wall at the Ryoken. We managed to get two pictures!!

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

18/11/2008 We were up early in the morning as we had to leave and move onto our new WWOOF host. We ate our breakfast and the owner gave us another two oranges and also a pot of yoghurt each, she is a legend!!! Once washed and She gave us loads of oranges while we were staying there, don‟t know why. They were really nice and always sweet and juicy. She also had taken a picture of us both and put it up on her wall along with pictures of loads of other guests. She also gave us a copy and a few other pictures she had taken too as a gift, she was really friendly.

packed, we said goodbye to her and gave her our gifts. She gave us a special rice scoop as a gift in return. Like I said, LEGEND!!! We walked to the tram stop and jumped on the next one that came. Once we reached the train station we stopped off in a meat and rice bowl restaurant for lunch. I had pork and cheese and Roo had beef and cheese with miso soup. The food was pretty average but cheap. When we got to our platform, we found out that we were on the wrong one and needed a different one and had to wait fifty minutes for the next train!! We sat, read and waited and ate a pack of mini Oreo cookies. Along the way, we had to change at a stop called Hiro. At that stop, we got off and went to a train conductor to ask what train we needed to get on and he pointed to the one that was pulling away from the station!!! SHIT!! We had to wait forty minutes for the next one!! Eventually we reached Akitsu station. We made our way to the ferry terminal and brought our tickets for ¥390 each. We then found out that we had a wait of thirty minutes for the next ferry!!! Roo went off for a walk and I sat in the waiting room and read. He returned ten minutes later with a box of fifteen cookies which we ate before getting on the ferry. The ferry was pretty much like the one we took to Miyajima. We looked out the windows watching the various islands go past as we headed to Onishi port on Osakikamijima (大崎上島町). The ride only took thirty minutes. Once we arrived, our new host was already waiting, (can‘t remember his name)!! 172/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

He drove us five minutes to his home. Once we arrived he took us into a house and gave us a brief introduction and then left us until dinner. It turns out; we have our own house, just to ourselves. Our bedroom even has a small Buddha shrine in it!! There is also a room filled with various Manga comics and a computer for our own use. SWEET!!

It was so cool to have our own house. It was much better than the one at Clare and Setsukian. This was a real house!! We had a nice size kitchen, bathroom and separate toilet, a living room with TV, the computer and Manga room and bedroom. There was also another bedroom that we did not go into. The house used to belong to their parents and was fully furnished with furniture and pictures/ornaments!! We also had a washing machine too so we could do our washing without having to disturb the hosts. Felt like a home. The only down side was that it was freezing there because of the big glass doors leading outside from our room. They did provide us with a small gas heater and we also found another heater too which we always used!!

We messed around on the PC and read Manga, (I say read, I mean look at the pictures). We went to dinner at six o‘clock and met his wife, (name also escapes me). Our dinner was tofu with chive, orange juice and soya dip, also with fish roe too. We had this with rice and a potato dish with mushrooms and peas!!! Noooooooooo. We had a can of beer each and warm sake too which actually tasted nice. After we drank green tea and had a white chocolate and black sesame sweet. We had to do the dishes and after, went back to our house. We went on the PC again and then retired to our room to write and read. Jessie called me and she is much better. YAY!!! She only had a cough now and was feeling much better than she had been. We got an early night as we had to be up at 6.45 to start work.

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  On the ferry to Osakikamijima. Oyster catchers floating in the sea.  Looking at the sun while on the boat.  Looking out at the rear of the boat. Bottom Row L2R:  Some of the many islands that make up Japan.  The Manga comic collection in our very own PC room.  The other side of the PC room.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

19/11/2008 We managed to get up by 6.55 and made our way in for breakfast. We had bread with various jams and oranges and persimmons (kaki in Japanese) too. Our first job of the day was to follow our host, (who is called Masaki, found out today) on bikes to his green houses. It was an up and down hilly ride and by the time we arrived there we were both exhausted!!! Our job there was to go down each isle of potted blueberry plants removing all the weeds from the canvas ground and under and in the pots. We spent the whole morning on our hands and knees weeding this place. Did I say it was massive? We had to cycle back, Japanese bikes are crap and these ones did not work properly!! For lunch we had toast and jam and also tea with milk, which is only a lunch time thing here. After, we had some time to do some clothes washing and chillin‘ before starting back. In the afternoon, we started off by riding in the open back of Masaki‘s van, along with some potted trees, to an orange orchard. We had to dig holes and plant the trees. Pretty exhausting work. After, he drove us back and we had to cycle to the green house and continue with the weeding. Oh yeah, we don‘t get a break here at any part of the day. Sucks!!! At half four we packed up and headed back. Masaki said he would take us to an onsen after work, (which is a little weird. It‘s kind of like; ―Hi, my name is Masaki, I am your host and boss. Please look at my penis!‖). We quickly got changed and got in his car. The onsen was smallish. They had a normal bath and a Jacuzzi. The water was really hot and by the time we got out we were dizzy and overheated!!! Once we got back, dinner was ready for us. We had tofu and dip again and croquettes with brown sauce. They were amazing and we both over ate and felt ill afterwards!!! Keiko, (female host, learnt that tonight too) is a great cook. After doing dishes, we headed to our house and as the temperature drops massively here at night, put a gas heater on. NICE ONE!!!

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

20/11/2008 Not getting used to these mornings!!! Also, as it turns out, Masaki comes into our house at about five o‘clock, and has a shower. This is made worse as he bangs the front door and turns the lights on in our house that shine through our screen walls!!! Oh well!!! Had jam and bread for breakfast. First job of the day was to pluck chickens!!! Our hosts were given five chickens by one of their neighbours. Masaki had slit their throats and we were left to pluck them with Keiko. Most of the feathers were easy to get out; some had to be removed with tweezers or pliers!!! At one point, Masaki took Roo away to do some things, but brought him back later. After we had to go back to the green house to finish off the weeding. We had to cycle there and back!!! When we had finished working there, we cycled back to the house and Keiko told us to put old rice straw round the base of a load of blueberry plants on the side of a hill. By the time we had finished that job, it was lunch. Lunch consisted of bread and jam (fig, lemon, strawberry, blueberry and raspberry [all homemade]) and milk tea. Had some time to rest after. The afternoon job was back at the green house!!! We had to go along, remove all the dead blueberry plants, dig around in the soil of the pots to try and find root eating grubs and replant new ones. We spent ages doing this, in fact, all afternoon. By four o‘clock, it gets cold, so for the last thirty to forty-five minutes of the day, it was horrible, hard work!!! Masaki told us when it was time to finish and we made our way back home. For dinner, we had a big hot pot of boiling chives, tofu, Japanese fish cakes and chicken (bone and muscle meat only). We had to pick bits out and dip them in Japanese fish cakes are nothing like the fish cakes that we get back home. They are called kamaboko and are made using pureed white fish with red colouring as decoration. They sometimes are in half moon shapes with a red ring round the outside. Others are circular with a red spiral in the middle. Kamaboko have a rubbery texture and are found in most soup dishes and sometimes in bento boxes.

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

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a sauce made from Japanese radish (daikon), orange juice, soya sauce, Japanese spice and pepper. We also drank Japanese whisky with hot water and sour oranges squeezed into it too. During the meal, Keiko added the giblets of the five chickens plucked earlier including the un-laid eggs found inside one of them. They were white and veiny and turned a little yellow when cooked. It turns out that they are just like balls of yolk. She also added lettuce and strips of pork. By the time I had finished, I was stuffed and had a burnt tongue as we couldn‘t handle the heat!!! After dinner we went to bed. Managed to get extra duvets. Our gas heater ran out but we found a small electric one to take its place.

Top Row L2R:  Some of the many green houses on the island.  Inside the blueberry green house.  Looking down one of the rows of plants. Bottom Row L2R:  Digging up one of the pots looking some grubs.  A bowl of grubs collected.  Some of the chickens on their neighbour‘s farm. May have plucked some of their family!!

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

21/11/2008 Not too sure that I like these early mornings but I suppose I‘d better get used to them for when I get back to England!! Got up and made ourselves breakfast in their kitchen. While we were in there, I was looking in a box, by their heater that I was standing next to, that had bottles of spirits in. There were a couple of bottles made from ceramic in the shape of books. I told Roo who did not believe me. He came over and looked in too. He saw that I was right and decided to pick one up to have a look. It turned out to be brandy. Roo put it back in and went to pick up the other one when it slipped out of his hand and the top cracked. TIT!! Could only happen to Roo!!! He went off to explain to Keiko what had happened and I got changed ready for work. While travelling around together and with each other as a main source of conversation, we inevitably had our own little sayings and repeated words/sentences that we would say to each other. Our devolved English and incessant ramblings would often include the following: “Ganderous manderous”, “fneug”, “like a glove”, “oh my God, how can my day get any worse”, “that is insane, insane in the membrane”, “secret soy pepper pot”, “this is not soup”, “subtle” and “cock much?”.

Once we were both ready, Masaki took us to a small warehouse near some farm shops on the island. He moved a pallet of peat compost and one of fertilizer into the warehouse on a fork lift truck. Inside there was a massive machine that he got Roo to climb up on top of. On the top there was a few fat bars used for stranding on and under them, inside the machine, was two sets of spinning blade bars!!! Masaki lifted the pallet of peat moss up to Roo who had to pull two off, cut them open and pour inside. Next, he lifted up the small bags of fertilizer pellets and Roo did the same to twenty of them. Once Roo had finished, he made his way off and Masaki turned the machine on. The blades rotated round mixing up all the stuff inside. We then had to fill up many, many plant pots with this peat mix using a small sliding door on the bottom. Once most of the mix was out we did another batch of it. Two peat bags and twenty pellets and filled up more pots. We stopped half way through and Masaki brought us each a can of hot drink from a vending machine. Roo and Masaki both had coffee and I had a hot chocolate, yum. 178/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Eventually we finished, swept up and left. In the morning, Masaki had bandanas to wear as face masks as the job was really, really dusty. After, he drove us back to the green house to continue planting trees until lunch. After our toast, jam and milk tea lunch, Keiko took us to a supermarket called ‗Yours‘ to pick up ingredients for dinner that night as we were cooking for us four and three of their friends!!! Me any Roo had decided on making stir fry for starters (Roo‘s speciality), Cornish Pasties for main and carrot cake to finish. We had gotten recipes off the net earlier, the same on for pasties that we used at Clare and a new one for the carrot cake. Keiko spent over ¥7,000 on getting the ingredients that we needed!! Once we got back, we started straight away. First off we made the cake and got it cooking and then made the icing, which was a cream cheese icing this time round. After, we made the pastry for the pasties and then the filling and eventually made them and got them cooking too. Lastly, Roo made his stir fry veg and I made a chilli and soya dip like the one Jessie makes back home. Our timing was perfect, the guests had arrived and Roo was serving up his stir fry by six thirty. He even The guests were a couple that had moved to the island from the mainland and were still fairly new and a woman who worked in a bakery on the island, no pressure then!! The guests were due to arrive at about six and the food served soon after, the baker lady was going to be running late and would not get there until about seven thirtyish. We prepared all the food in Masaki and Keiko‟s house and ran it over to our house where we were eating in the kitchen. Roo made his stir fry in our kitchen.

managed to serve up seconds to everyone before we had to run off and take the pasties out of the oven. The first course was really tasty, good job Roo. We brought over the pasties, served them up and gave a small talk about their history before eating. We made them eat with their hands too!!! During the meal, we were drinking red and white wine and also beer. We were fairly drunk by the time we finished the pasties. The pasties tasted awesome!!! We cleared away the dishes and took out the cake, served it and ate it. The cake was amazing too, much better than the one we made back at Clare. After, 179/231

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

everyone sat around and chatted while me and Roo got slowly more drunk. Eventually they all left and me and Roo did some bits on the PC and crashed in our room. After a while we went to sleep once we had finished reading and stuff. Found out during the day that most people don‘t lock their car doors on the island. Some of them even leave their keys in the ignition too. WTF!!!

Top Row L2R:  Roo making his famous stir fry.  One of my awesome pasties.  The last slice of the most amazing carrot cake! Bottom Row L2R:  Keiko and Masaki‘s house.  The WWOOF house. See the solar panels on the roof.  The windows to our room with the washing line outside.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

22/11/2008 For some reason, not sure if it was because we were mixing wine and beer, but we both woke up at two in the morning feeling quite shite!! We talked for a bit and drank some water and eventually went back off to sleep. When we woke up for breakfast, we were a tiny bit hung over but not too much. After breakfast, (no breakages today) we got changed and headed out with Masaki. He took us out to his orange orchard and got us harvesting some of the trees. We had to carry a bucket to put them into once we had cut the oranges off with about two centimetres of stem and then remove it completely as close to the orange without breaking the peal anywhere. After a while it started to rain. Masaki told us to pack up and we headed back to the houses. He told us to take a break once we reached there. We used the PC‘s and then sat in our room. Roo tried to sleep off his hang over and I read a big slice of The Stand. For lunch, Masaki took us out for ramen noodles. Keiko stayed at home as she was not feeling very well. We had sweetened tofu and rice things to start and then a big bowl of ramen. After we drove around the island with Masaki to deliver some of their jam to various shops. Once we got back, we had ten cases of blueberry jam that we had to stick labels on. They let us do it in the kitchen in our house and we did it listening to The Mad Capsule Markets CD that I brought in Hino and System of a Down debut album, (Japanese version with two extra tracks!!!) on a CD player in our house. Firstly we had to stamp stickers that went around the jar with a ―use by date‖ of eighteen months from production date. Then we wrapped it around and then placed another sticker on the lid. We did this for the first five and then had to change to a different set of stickers for the remaining five as they were being sold in a shop in Tokyo and needed different labelling. After finishing all ten cases of twenty-four jars, Keiko gave us another five cases of the Tokyo jam to label too!!! We were finished in good time and had free time until dinner at six. Dinner was the usual tofu and dip and also yakitori, or chicken skewers. It came from the

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

chickens we plucked the other day. There were three types, liver, leg meat and breast. (Just had to change pens as my original one is completely drained)!! After dinner, we showed Masaki and Keiko the sake cups we got from Ikuta Kanyou in Tottori and Keiko translated them for us. After that, Masaki took us back to our house and showed us a six hundred year old samurai sword heir loom that he has. It is in a wooded scabbard and is still really sharp!! He takes it out now and again to clean and oil it. He gave it to us to hold and feel. It was quite heavy but felt good. After he put it away and left us to PC, read, write and try to get an early night.

Top Row L2R:  Me walking among some of the orange trees.  Close up of the oranges, soon to be picked.  More of the orange groves. Bottom Row L2R:  Masaki‘s ancient samurai sword in its scabbard.  Roo holding the sword.  My turn in having a go.

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

23/11/2008 Usual breakfast ensued. Jam, toast and tea/coffee. Today we were not working on the farm but helping out with an event going on that day. One hundred people were coming on to the island to learn new skills, etc. Our job was to go to a field and set up for their lunch. We got to the field early and helped to set up tents, etc and chairs ready for their arrival at eleven o‘clock. We also set up a Frisbee golf course too. We played with them for a bit and Roo managed to launch his to the moon, almost!!! Our job for the day was to sell fig and blueberry jam and lemons on our stall. We did this for the whole morning and had two beers in that time, not a good thing for ten thirty in the morning!!! All the people left at two to go elsewhere and we were left to clear up. As we hadn‘t eaten since breakfast, they gave us fried rice and miso soup and wild boar meat to eat. Once we had cleared up and Masaki had tried to remove a splinter with a pair of pliers, we went back to the farm. After a brief rest, we helped Masaki pick more oranges. Once work was finished, we had to get changed quickly and head out again. We went for a meal with all the people involved earlier in the day. It was buffet food (Japanese style) that we ate with chop sticks. We also drank loads of beer and sake that was poured out for us!!! By the time we got home, we read, wrote and slept!!!

This is my shortest diary entry and for a very good reason. Remember that I write my diary entries a day after at night time, so this entry was for the 22nd but written at night on the 23rd. A night where we were both totally and completely battered!!! But you‟ll read about that later on. So, therefore, my diary entry for the 23rd was scribbled in my diary in barely legible writing and short of a few details, I‟ll try to recap here in a little more detail.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

So, we got up early in the morning and had to head to this field to set up for these visitors. The event was for one hundred people to come over from the main land to see what island life was like and to learn new skills like cooking at the bakery, farming, etc. It was arranged by the businesses on the island and had happened every year. Masaki and Keiko were part of a group called Shinpoen who made jam from organically grown fruit along with a few other farms on the island. They were one of the main people there. That is why we were able to sell the jam and fruit at the event. We had to set up these tent/gazebo things and put out table and chairs for them all before they arrived. We were also getting fed cups of beer from the guy running the small bar area, this was not what I expected first thing in the morning and probably caused Masaki to fall asleep later on in the day!!! We also set up the Frisbee golf and had a quick throw around. On his first throw, Roo threw the Frisbee really high and in a totally random direction, fool!! They gave us these weird blue shirts, with Japanese writing on, them to wear as part of our uniform for the day. Went really well with our rock t-shirts!! Once they came, they had the chance to look around all the local business stalls and then they were fed bento boxes supplied by someone on the island; these were really good bento boxes. The organizers then took turns speaking to them on a megaphone, Masaki went first and made me and Roo stand up while he talked to them about WWOOFing!! Embarrassing! After eating, they organised a big game of Frisbee golf for all the families and the rest continued to shop and talk to the business owners. We spoke to a few who came round and could speak English. We managed to shift a few jars of jam and a couple of lemons. Not sure why we were selling lemons!! The people eventually went off to a different part of their trip and left us to clear up. We got all the stuff packed away and Masaki tried to remove a splinter that was imbedded in my finger with a pair of pliers that were there!!! I‟ll stick to the tweezers thanks!! When it was all away, Keiko took us to this community hall that owned the tables and chairs and helped them to put them all away. While there, we saw a totally massive and hairy spider. Nice!! We moved all the tables and chairs off of Masaki‟s truck and left to go back.

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Once back, we rested and helped to cut down more oranges. This was a bit mad at times as we really had to climb up into these trees and hang out of them to reach the high oranges!! Managed to get a few scratches from some of the random sticks poking out!! For dinner, we went back to the community hall for a small gathering/party thing with all the organizers. Like I said, it was buffet food, and nuts and crisps. The people there kept giving me and Roo beer too and also sake. Every time we had finished, they‟d come along and fill up our glasses. At one point, Roo had to go up in front of everyone and draw a map of England on a white board to show them where we came from. Ha!!! Some of the people there took the time to come over and talk to us which was cool. They really made us feel welcome. After we finished there, we went back to our house. As usual, we read for a bit, I wrote and eventually we both went to sleep. That was a better version of that day, a little bit more information for what was quite a good day for us.

Top Row L2R:  The tents set up for the mainlanders visit.  Our stall (on the right) selling lemons, fig and blueberry jam.  Looking down the eating tents with everyone playing Frisbee at the end. Bottom Row L2R:  The beer tent.  Me and Roo in our uniform!!  Roo wandered off to the beach nearby and took this photo looking out.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

24/11/2008 Today was our day off. We had a bit of a lie in and got up at seven thirty for breakfast. We were both pretty tired after the party the night before and monged out for a couple of hours after eating. The weather was nice so we took our camera out and took some photos of the farm and orange groves. The island we are on has a big mountain on it and we decided that we wanted to climb up it. Keiko drove us to the supermarket and bought bento boxes for us for lunch so we could eat it up the mountain. After, she drove us to the base and we started walking. We had to walk on road for the first part before we came to a parking lot and the beginning of the mountain trail. The trail was made of dodgy wooden steps. It was steep and hard work, especially as we had been drinking the night before. Our good idea of climbing up the mountain was turning out to be bloody hard work!!! Mount Kanomine. We had to make a few stops as we were exhausted, but eventually made it to the top. There was a shrine at the summit and a big bell outside for people to ring. Also, there was a raised look-out platform on the top which gave us amazing views of the island and surrounding ones. Well worth the climb up. We ate our bento boxes and Roo ate the bits of mine that I did not like. After resting and taking photos, we headed back down. Also, we had to walk back to the farm too!!! The walk down was obviously a lot easier and we had to mostly walk along roads getting back to the farm. When we arrived back we were both petty tired so crashed out for a while. We also went to see our host‘s bee hive. It was only small but really cool to see all these tiny bees flying in and out. They all made quite a lot of noise too. I sat fairly close to it and the bees just flew around us. In the evening we went out with Masaki and Keiko to an entertainment night in what looked like the islands community hall. They had a band playing called Flight 2000. They had a fairly large stage set up and quite a few musicians. There was a bassist, guitarist, drummer, keyboard player, percussionist, male and female singers and two Malaysian dancers. 186/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We watched them perform all night. We also drank a lot and by the time we left I was battered!!! There was also food there, much like the food served at our small party the previous night. When we got back we were wasted. We called Mum and Dad and also spoke to Jessie and Yvonne and Robert who were all staying down for the weekend. It was a great end to a cool day. Somehow managed to write some diary, really badly!! Also, read about two pages of book too!!! Had a pretty shit night‘s sleep after as well!!!

Top Row L2R:  The steep walk up the mountain.  Looking out over Osakikamijima.  Amazing views that made the hard hike up really worth it. Bottom Row L2R:  Inside the shrine at the top.  The giant bell that we both had a go at ringing.  An Osakikamijima manhole cover.

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Flight 2000, one of the ladies receives a bouquet of flowers.  Flight 2000 performing.  This time with a different singer. Middle Row L2R:  One of the ladies that we cooked for the other day and Keiko (on the right).  The ladies husband who also came round to eat.  The two other people on our table too. Bottom Row L2R:  The buffet selection and Roo with his stack of empty beer cups.  Night over and Flight 2000 get a standing ovation.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

25/11/2008 Woke up feeling like a turd. A big steaming one at that too. We managed to get up and make our way over for breakfast. Roo was in a better condition than me. I managed to eat one slice of toast and drink a cup of tea. Because it was raining, they gave us the morning to clean our house. We got back after breakfast and I could not move for a good half an hour. Eventually I took a shower and made a start. Roo tidied our room and kitchen and I vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom. After, we crashed again until lunch. For lunch we had noodle soup which I just about managed to eat!! Once we had finished lunch, we had to head straight out to their jam factory. We were going to make blueberry jam. When we arrived, we put on our aprons, Croc style shoes and hair nets, my first job was to weigh out 2.4 kilograms of blueberries (frozen and kept sticking to my fingers) and Roo had to weigh 900 grams of sugar. These were put into pots on gas burners. There were about twelve of these. As they heated up and bubbled they had to be stirred on a regular basis. Once their weight had dropped down to 3.05 kilograms, they were taken off and jarred. Once one had been taken off, they would all have to be moved down a place so the hottest were at one end and the new ones down the other. Keiko and a part time worker put the jam into all the jars. I also washed up all the pots. All the way through this I felt like crap and my stomach ached!! Stupid hangover!!! We also looked like idiots in our aprons and hair nets!! Ha. I think that in the end we made about four hundred and fifty jars of jam that sell for ¥600 each!!! Once we had finished, Masaki drove us home but stopped off at a coffee shop. He and Roo had coffee with thick, sweet whipped cream on the side to put in and I had a cup of milky tea. He also brought me and Roo a small custard cream choux bun.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

When we got back to the houses, we had a little bit of free time before dinner. For dinner we had a big bowl of boiled potatoes, chicken, eggs, radish, fish cakes and a bowl of rice. We picked out the food we wanted from the bowl. I only managed to eat a small bit and drank a small cup of sake!! Once dinner was over and all dishes were washed up, we It was our job each night to do the dishes and also our breakfast ones too. Sometimes Keiko would let us off and do it herself like the day that we cooked. Once we washed the dishes, we had to put them into a machine that blow dried them!! Awesome!! This was totally different than washing the dishes back in Kyoto. As they lived a real back to basics life style, when we had to wash up there, we had to use cold water only and only use soap for really greasy dishes. The soap was this dodgy looking, half used, slimy bar we could wipe the washing cloth on. Yuck!! Washing on the island we had the machine to dry and also hot water!!! It made such a difference!!

went back

to our house, wrote, read and slept. I was ruined!!!

Top Row L2R:  A yuzu tree on the farm.  The lounge area in our house.  Our kitchen that we had the meal in. Bottom Row L2R:  Our small garden area outside our bedroom door.  Some of the décor in our bedroom.  Roo in his rolled out floor bed reading and listening to music.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

26/11/2008 Felt a million times better when I woke up in the morning. Had breakfast and ate it all. First job of the day was to go down to the green houses and continue removing old and dead blueberry plants and planting new ones after sifting through the soil to get those nasty worm things out!! Although I was feeling loads better, the bike ride tired me out!! We were down there all morning doing this job. It was alright as the sun was out so it was much warmer. We cycled back for lunch which was a small selection of things from Hogalaka, a local bakery who our host are friends with a girl who works there. After lunch, we had a small break and then cycled back down to the green houses to finish off the Hogalaka is the bakery that the lady who we cooked for worked. It is situated within a supermarket on the island. They employ a few disabled people to help out. Masaki and Keiko were good friends with the manager, who sold their jam in the bakery section too. She would also bring food round for us all. Sometimes bread and sometimes cakes and sweets. Yum!!

planting. When we were done, Masaki came to meet us and we cycled back and spent the rest of the day cutting oranges. As the groves are on a hill, it is hard work getting to them because the floor is really slippery and crumbles easily. Some of the trees needed one of us to climb up into so we could reach the oranges up high. This was made difficult due to the bending branches and smaller branches always getting in the way!! When it was time to finish, Masaki drove us back; we sat in the back of his truck, always a scary experience!! Once he dropped us off, he said that we were going to the onsen, so get ready and meet him outside. We went to the same one as before. It was good to be able to wash all the tree crap out of my hair. For dinner we had salad and rice and chicken stomach which I did not really like but Roo did a little. Managed to drink a few cups of warm sake too. We washed up and headed back to our house for the usual night time bits. !!!

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

For breakfast we had pancakes that Keiko made for us as we had no bread left. She is a little legend. Our first job of the day was to go pick oranges. Again we walked off to the groves and spent the whole morning crouching on the floor or hanging out of the trees to reach the oranges. I managed to get snagged on a branch and rip a hole in the back of the wind break I was borrowing off our hosts. We finished for lunch and had some more awesome savouries from Hogalaka, plus a slice of Swiss roll looking stuff with soya sauce in the cream in the middle. It actually tasted really nice!! Could not taste the soya sauce. Masaki was the only person not too fussed by the taste. We needed to go to a shop to buy batteries for our camera, so Masaki drove us there straight after lunch. First off he drove us to Hogalaka to buy a loaf of bread. He went 80kph in a 40 zone. Also, got no seat belts in the back of his car!!! From there he took us to a different place where he left us in the car and popped briefly inside, then onto the shop to get the batteries. While we were there we also brought some toothpaste for ¥98 as we were running low. Once back at the farm, we were off to the orange trees again!! For the rest of the day we cut them down. At five o‘clock we finished and Masaki took us both to the onsen again. The day before when we went, he took us in a new car that he had bought with only 18km on the clock. We took the same one today. This car had seat belts in the back but nothing to plug them into!! The onsen was pretty much the same, hot water and naked men. Masaki had a meal out after so it was just me, Roo and Keiko for dinner. She made us curry served with pickles and boiled egg. I also had my chilli dip on it and Roo had Tabasco sauce. The curry was amazing. We both had three helpings each. After I was so stuffed I could hardly move. Once we washed up we went back to our house. To make a change to the usual proceedings, we played some Top Trumps to help us pass the night away. !!!

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Got up and had our breakfast. Toast and jam. First job was picking oranges, so, again, we spent the first half of the day crouching under and hanging out of trees, getting twigs and branches invading different parts of our bodies and sometimes cutting oranges too!!! Keiko helped out too and it is awesome to watch her climbing into trees with her wellington boots on at her age. I still like cutting oranges but I think that Roo is getting I quite liked cutting and harvesting the oranges. I found it really relaxing, especially when the sun was out. We also got some great views from up in those trees too. I think that Roo was getting fed up of doing it all the time. We did seem to be doing it a lot but it was just that harvest time of year. Still, it beats taping windows!!

bored of it all now. For lunch we had left over curry which was just as amazing the following day as it was the night before. The only down side was the big bits of bones that we managed to miss the last time!!! Keiko and Masaki both had meetings in the afternoon so they had to go out and said that we could have the afternoon off. By that point it had started to rain so we wasted most of the afternoon in the house either reading or messing around on the PC. I eventually had a shower and shaved off my ever increasing facial hair!!! After a while we decided to take a walk down to the local supermarket (Yours). Usually five minutes in the car. It was raining hard so we took umbrellas. They did not really help. Shoes and the bottom of our legs were soaked by the time we had walked for twenty minutes to the shop and then the same back. We did not buy anything there but it was nice to get out of the house and breathe some fresh air. Me and Roo ate by ourselves that night as Masaki was at another meeting and Keiko wanted to wait for him. We had oyakodon, Roo‘s favourite. Chicken, onion and egg on rice. We also had salted vegetables and a piece of Japanese radish topped with yuzu paste, not that good. After eating and back at our house, we played some Top Trumps to break the night up.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Oyakodon translates literally as “parent and child rice bowl”. It is called this as you have bits of chicken and egg on top of it. This was one of the first meals that Roo ever had in Japan and it became one of his favourites. It was quite a common dish in various restaurants. Yuzu are small lime coloured and shaped fruits. They are quite bitter and taste a little like grapefruit and mandarins. The Japanese do not eat yuzu as a fruit but use it in cooking and as on this farm, used the juice a lot in the food. They also grew them here.

Top Row L2R:  The family shrine in our bedroom.  The sword rack also in our room. AWESOME!!  The bee hives owed by the farm. Bottom Row L2R:  The guard on the front stops hornets from getting in and killing all the bees.  Our hosts, Masaki and Keiko.  Our bathroom in our house. Note the typical onsen style stool.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

29/11/2008 It was a pretty crappy day when we had got up. After toast and jam breakfast we went back to our house and spent the whole morning labelling jars of jam and blueberry sauce. Roo got his MP3 player out and we used the double headphone socket so we could both listen to music and work at the same time. It was great to be able to listen to music again. I really miss my MP3 player!!! By the end of the morning, we had managed to label four hundred and thirty two jars!!! We also finished labelling just in time for lunch too. SWEET!!! As it was raining after our toast and jam lunch, Masaki said that we could have the afternoon off!! Cool. We managed to do nothing for the whole afternoon!!! Before we had that break though, we had to go collect loads of wood from a friend of theirs and drive it on the Masaki drove his truck to the woman‟s house and me and Roo had to ride our bikes there. These bikes really were crap. The ride was fairly hilly and he drove quite fast which wouldn‟t have been a problem if my bike‟s gears were not broken and stuck on first gear!! I had to peddle like a maniac to follow them!! Going uphill was ok but not going down. I could only peddle so fast and I ended up watching Roo and Masaki disappear round corners and reappearing again when we went uphill again!! Suffice to say, I was spent by the time we got there!!! I told Masaki who laughed and on the way back, put my bike in the back of the truck and drove me back while Roo had to cycle!! Ha.

truck to Masaki‘s rice field and throw it into it. It took about six trips. Taking me and Roo alternatively to dump it out while the other waited to reload again. The friend gave us some beer and coffee cans for helping out, so half way through the job we stopped for a can of beer!! SWEET!!! We had an hour of free time once we had finished and Masaki took us to the onsen again after that. Once we had finished boiling ourselves, we went back for dinner. Keiko had a big pan in the middle of the table constantly frying food. There was potato, wild boar, green peppers, onion, leek, mushrooms, lettuce and was served with rice. We kept picking at the food in the pan and Keiko kept cooking more. We both left totally stuffed. Again, after eating, we played some cards before going to bed. 195/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

30/11/2008 Last day on the farm and last WWOOFing day of our Japanese trip. As usual, got up and had our toast and jam breakfast. Also, their own honey is awesome!!! First job for the morning was cutting oranges, again!!! This time we were taken to a different grove, we had to cycle as it was a bit further than the previous one and Masaki wouldn‘t be allowed to have us riding in the back of his truck. The hill that they were on was steep. Masaki had this engine driven cart that ran on a track all the way up, around and down the hill. He loaded it with crates, sat on it and drove up, leaving us to climb up after!!! We spent the whole morning cutting from these trees, gaining a few more scratches in the process! After a while, Keiko joined us too. We stopped for lunch and cycled back to their house. For lunch they took us out to an okonomiyaki restaurant. It was a short drive away. When we arrived there, we found that the restaurant was really small. There was seating space for about ten, maybe fourteen at a push. We had to wait a while for a table to become available. Eventually we sat down at a small table. Masaki ordered the food for us. I had soba noodles and Roo wanted udon. Masaki and Keiko shared one between them. We had to wait about fifteen to twenty minutes for the lady to bring them over to our hot plate. Me and Roo cut off a quarter each to swap with each other. The okonomiyaki was quite like the one we had back in Nara. This one though had prawns, scallops, squid/octopus and bacon in it along with the noodles, cabbage, bean sprouts, onion and egg. The food was awesome and a very big portion that left us both stuffed!!! It was raining when we left so we could not do any more oranges. Keiko said that we could help her with making kiwi jam. That was after she made a delivery of lemons to a hotel. We said we wanted to go too so she drove us to the other side of the island and to the only hotel there, It was a big hotel, half way up a mountain with fantastic views of the sea and surrounding islands!!

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

This hotel is called Hotel Seifukan. As I said, it is the only hotel on the island. They have an onsen there for public use and tennis courts too. The foyer was massive and had a souvenir shop that sold Masaki and Keiko‟s jam. Keiko said that this is the hotel that they came to on their honeymoon.

On the way back we stopped at the supermarket to buy some fish for dinner and a loaf of bread and small cakes from Hogalaka there. Back at the farm, we put on our aprons and hats and got ready to make jam. They had a small jam making factory at the back of their house with about six burners in it. To make this jam we first had to peel a load of kiwis. Then chop them up into half moons. The ratio for Kiwi jam is two kilograms of fruit and one kilogram of sugar. Once done we had to boil it down to 80% of its original weight. After that, Keiko blended it and put into jars. It took us a short while to do this and after we had more free time. We showered and chilled until dinner. Dinner was the fish we brought earlier with rice, weird potatoes topped with yuzu and Japanese pickled (salted) greens. The fish was gutted and cooked but that was it so we had to fight our way through to get the bones out before eating. But, we could never get ALL the bones out!!! Especially when using chopsticks!! After the main meal we had the custard buns we bought earlier from Hogalaka. When we had finished eating, we went back to our house and chilled for a bit before Roo wanted to pop back and get the jam recipes off Keiko. We also called Mum and Dad to see how they were doing and also to check up on Gizmo who was ill. Also, spoke to Jessie who was hung over after a work Christmas party the night before!! When we returned back to our house, we played a massive game of Top Trumps and enjoyed a can of beer each before reading, writing and eventually going to sleep.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Roo in his jam making clothing.  Me in the same outfit.  Roo stirring the jam with the rows of burners beyond him. Middle Row L2R:  Close up of the kiwi jam.  The door to the mini jam making factory.  Views of Osakikamijima when driving to the hotel. Bottom Row L2R:  This was such a beautiful place, really amazing views of the sea and islands.  The changing of the seasons, leaves on the trees beginning to turn.  More views of the sea as we drove back to the houses.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

01/12/2008 It was our last morning at the Shinpoen farm so we allowed ourselves a little fifteen minute lie-in!! When we got up, we went across and had our toast and jam breakfast. We also had some of As we were going to be visiting a few people back at Tokyo, we decided to buy some blueberry jam off of Keiko so we could give it as gifts. Keiko also gave us an information leaflet about the business and jams and a photo copy of a newspaper article about the farm. We had one for each of the jars.

the kiwi jam we made the previous day. It was really nice!! After we went back to our house and chilled for a bit, reading and playing around on the PC before going for showers and getting the house tidied and cleaned. We went back over to their house for lunch and more jam and toast and savoury bread things from Hogalaka. We did the washing up again for the last time and headed back to our house to finish off cleaning and packing. Once done, we got our bits together and made ready to leave.

We were beginning to worry about our baggage allowance for the journey back to England. We obviously had more things with us which made the bags heavier. We asked Keiko is we could leave some clothes at the farm. We both left a pair of trousers along with a few work shirts as we would no longer need them for WWOOFing in Japan. We said that she could keep them either for the next WWOOFers or just to throw them away. We also left a few books here for the next WWOOFers too. A few pairs of old socks got thrown away too!! This made a bit of a difference to our bags which was good.

Keiko came over and gave me a small potpourri gift for Jessie. SWEET!! We said good bye to her, put our bags in Masaki‘s car and got in. Masaki said good bye to us at the port and we got our tickets and were the last ones to get on the waiting ferry. It was sad leaving Osakikamijima, we both had a good time there and enjoyed the farm. The ferry docked at Akitsu and we made our way to the rail station there. The train arrived and we took it back to Hiroshima station, changing at Hiro again along the way. 199/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Once we got back to Hiroshima, we decided on taking a walk down to Sukiya. It took a good half an hour made worse by the fact we had to carry our bags too!! We got there pretty knackered and with our hunger built up. I ordered a large burger, cheese curry with triple spice. YUM, also a soft boiled egg too. Roo had the cheesy, burger curry meal set with the miso soup and salad. There was loads of food and it tasted amazing. After eating, we decided to walk down to see the Peace Boulevard Christmas illuminations but half way through the Peace Park we decided that our bags were too heavy, so we headed to the nearest tram stop and took it back to the train station. Once we arrived we took a walk to see where we had to get the night bus from, then walked back to McD‘s and had a McFlurry each, Oreo for me and strawberry sponge cake for Roo. We then chilled there, reading to pass the time before we had to leave to get our bus. When the time came we headed off. We found a bus with Tokyo on it (東京) and showed the guys a print out of the email Jess sent and they confirmed our seats on the bus. We dumped our bags in the cargo hold and got on. The seats had foot and heal rests that were retractable and an awning thing we could pull down over our heads for a bit more privacy!! We got ourselves sorted out and the bus pulled away at eight o‘clock. Spent most of the time reading and the bus made a few stops to pick up more people. It made another stop later on in the night and we could get off for a toilet break and to go to buy more water and a few snacks. When we were off again they started to lower the lights and everyone settled down to sleep. It was fairly comfortable and with the blanket provided, quite warm. We slept most of the night, only waking up really when the bus made one of the toilet break stops and then they would put all the lights up and the driver made a loud announcement!!!

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

02/12/2008 The bus pulled up eventually in Shinjuku at around eight o‘clock. We managed to sleep a small bit and felt ok. It was fairly cold back in Tokyo so we had to put our coats on. We had not been to Shinjuku since our second day in Japan but thought that we knew the way back to the station still. We didn‘t!!! We slogged our bags around and managed to walk in a circle until we decided on checking one of the street maps. Eventually we got to the subway station just in time as a train was pulling up. The train was packed. Really, really, really packed!!! We pushed our way on and had another fifty people pile in behind us!! It was like being in the pit at a really busy concert. We got pushed all over the place each time the train stopped and people changed over. Once the train arrived at Akihabara, the carriage was quieter and we were able to easily move our bags out. It was another twenty five to thirty minute walk to our Hostel. Khaosan Ninja. It was cool as we remembered visiting the places before that we passed along the way. Once we arrived at Ninja, we checked in, paid and had a really warm welcome from the staff that recognised us from back in September. We could not really check into our room until two o‘clock but they let us put our bags in it ready. We were quite hungry so walked down the road to the convenience store to get breakfast. I had a pastry sugary thing and blueberry yoghurt and Roo had sandwiches and fruit jelly. We took this back to Ninja and made tea and coffee in their lounge downstairs and relaxed on the sofas. We were quite tired, so after eating, Roo had a small nap and I watched CNN on the TV. We managed to eventually get ourselves up and motivated by twelve o‘clock and headed out to get some lunch. We decided to go and eat in the same place we ate at the first time we ate in Japan, the little vending machine restaurant. Roo had his favourite of chicken and egg over rice with curry too and I had beef ramen noodles also with an egg. Once we had eaten, we had a look around Electric Town/Akihabara. The place had not changed much at all!! We looked around the shops and Roo brought 201/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

At least the fifth time back in Akihabara after Roo insisted he never wanted to go back!! Ha. Don‟t think either of us minded going back, it was good for a bit of nostalgia.

a rather unsavoury comic as a present for one of his friends back home!!! We spent a couple of hours browsing and also went to see if Beers was still here, it was. YAY!!! Back at the hotel, we were able to get in our room and have a shower at last and do our teeth!! We spent the afternoon chilling in the basement lounge, reading and Roo practicing his Japanese. Later we headed back out as we were meeting up with Jess again. Half way to the station, she called to say she was running late, so we popped into McD‘s and had a small burger each as we were really hungry!!! We passed a bit more time looking through the big Yodobashi department store. Once we met her, we gave her a jar of jam as a gift and then we went to dinner. We chose a restaurant and I had chilli chicken with rice and soup and also a boiled egg and a soft boiled egg and also a portion of fried rice!! Roo had battered chicken portions with rice and soup. We also had some dumplings to share. Me and Roo ordered a beer for us both too. The food was really nice and once eaten we were totally stuffed!!! We had a wander round the shops of Akihabara and then on to Ueno and Jess brought loads of food for us and our parents as a present. Awesome. We headed back to Beers for a drink but there was a sign outside saying they were closed for the night! Noooo!! Instead we headed to an English Hub bar in Ueno. We ordered a litre tube of beer for the three of us to drink and a portion of fried potatoes. Me and Roo were so tired that after the beer and potatoes, we had to go back. We said bye to Jess and headed back to Ninja and straight to bed!!!

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Back again, the three of us reunited in Tokyo.  Roo savouring a massive Hub beer.  My turn to worship the huge beer. Bottom Row:  A nice group shot in Hub, the traditional English pub chain. You can see the small bucket that the fried potato things get served in.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

03/12/2008 No rest this morning. We got up fairly early and went straight for breakfast. I had a blueberry yoghurt, marble cake and some slice of nut loaf or something like that. Roo had sandwiches, some tiramisu/crème caramel thing and a melon custard pastry. After, we showered and headed out. Today we were going to catch up with Kazuko and Hiro back at Clare in Hino. We walked to the train station, got on the train and forty minutes later ended up in Hino. We walked to Clare, remembering our way and checking out all the areas we remembered. Once we arrived, we walked into the Clare shop. It was really busy, they had some craft fair going on and the place was rammed!! We could not see Kazuko so we asked one of the women working there who took us to her. Kazuko recognised us straight away and gave us a big smile. We gave her the jam we brought back from Hiroshima farm and she was very pleased to have it. She also said that she wanted to stock more of it in the future to sell in the shop and was going to call them. Cool. She liked the idea of WWOOF hosts helping each other out. She asked us if we wanted any food as it was lunch and eventually got us a space on a big table with three ladies. We ate curry and rice and had cake after, chocolate for me and apple for Roo. We also had coffee/tea and petit fours. YUM!! The ladies on the table were really interested in our travels and we spent the whole lunch and after talking to them. We also gave each of them one of our business cards too. They were really happy with them. Once they left, Kazuko asked if we wanted to go and walk Ku-Chan, which we did. Also, Hiro came over while we were having lunch and we caught up with him too. Hiro is so cool! We took Ku-Chan for a mammoth walk down to the river and through the park. He really enjoyed it and remembered us too!!! We got back eventually and were tired after running around with him!!! Once we got back we put Ku-Chan back at their house and returned to Clare and spoke with Hiro for ages. 204/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Eventually we went and had a look around the shop and brought some things for everyone back home. We also noticed that Kazuko was wearing my pin badge and that they were using Roo‘s buckle to keep keys on, sweet!!! When we were finished buying bits (Kazuko also gave us something for Mum and Dad and even gave us a ¥300 discount), Kazuko took us to collect her granddaughter (can‘t remember her name) from her day crèche. The place was full of kids who were excited to see us and kept saying ―Hello‖ and also telling us their names. Some of them were interested in my piercings too! Kazuko‘s granddaughter was sweet. She is two years old with thick framed and lensed glasses and a real cute voice!! We drove back to their house, picked up Hiro and they took us out to dinner at a sushi restaurant. It was different from the one they took us to last time with Seth. We ate some fish, (Roo also had a fish miso soup), some omelette things and a duck thing with onion. For dessert I had a chocolate cake and Roo had a fruit jelly thing. After we left, we headed back, said good bye to Kazuko and Hiro drove us to the station where we said bye to him and headed back to Akihabara. Once we arrive back, we decided to see if Beers was open. We got there and found that it was. COOL!! We went in and Masato recognised us straight away. He asked us why we had come back earlier than February and we explained about visas and stuff. We had a glass of Heineken each first and he gave us a bowl of nuts. COOL!! After, we had a bottle of Corona followed by a Dita on the rocks. We decided to finish with a glass of Löwenbräu lager. As we were drinking up, Masato came over with a shot of apple schnapps and grapefruit schnapps over ice for free. Legend!!! He was still wearing my badge and had a bottle opener attached to Roo‘s buckle! That is so cool. The It was awesome to see our gifts being used by the various people that we had met. I still wonder how many other people are using theirs. It made it totally worth while giving them out and shows just how appreciative the Japanese are.

drinks turned out to be really refreshing too. 205/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Once we had finished our drinks, we said good bye to him and headed back to the hostel. Once we got back, we checked the PC‘s and crashed pretty much straight away.

Top Row L2R:  Back to the Tamagawa in Hino, the scenery had changed dramatically.  Hino was not so bright on our return.  Our final farewell walk with Ku-Chan. Bottom Row L2R:  Ku-Chan finds a friend.  Back at Clare, no more leaves on the trees.  The two of us in Beers, saying our goodbyes was never fun.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

01/04/2009 Our last full day in Tokyo. Yep, that date is no April fool‟s joke. I never got around to writing up my final day in my diary, so after 117 days after leaving Japan, here I am, trying to remember what we did, ha.

Once we had managed to get ourselves up in the morning, we went down to the local convenience store. The previous day, Kazuko had given us a small loaf of homemade bread as a gift and we decided on buying some butter and jam to eat with it. We brought some strawberry and blueberry jam and when we got back to Ninja, we cut up the loaf and ate it. The jam was a massive step down from the homemade jam that we were eating in Osakikamijima!!! The loaf was a fruit bread, so after picking out most of the dried fruit, I was able to eat it!! Once eaten, we played around on the PC‘s and chilled for about an hour before heading out to Roppongi to meet Jess again. We were supposed to be meeting her at half twelve but she was running late so we grabbed noodle lunch at our favourite vending machine restaurant in Akihabara. When eaten we took the tube and reached there and waited for Jess outside a shop once we got there. She eventually cycled up to us on her bike and met us. First off we went looking round a shop and she brought some more presents of food for Mum and Dad and also for Jessie. By the end, we had loads of things from Jess to take back, it was amazing. After we had a look around a shopping centre and to a fruit shop there that sold water melons for ¥10,000 and other over priced fruit!! After that, we headed over to a nice area called Roppongi Hills. We had a brief look around; the penthouse aquarium that we wanted to see was no longer there so we ended up leaving. Jess had to go back to work, so we all said our good byes and went our separate ways. We took the tube back to Akihabara and walked back to Ninja. We had some down time and packed a little before heading back out. We were off to see Trevor and return the phone.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We took the tube there, this occasion with plenty of time!! We arrived at Akasaka Mitsuke and Roo navigated us back to King‘s Road School of English that Trevor owned. We went up to his teaching rooms and met him in there. After a cuppa and catch up, he took us out to dinner. We decided on going to get some English food from a bar near there!! Trevor ended up taking us to an Irish bar. It was about a fifteen minute walk from his school. When we got in there we met another guy who worked in the School too. We decided on drinking Guinness, luckily Trevor was paying as it was about ¥900 a pint. Yeah, this place served pints!! For dinner, I had a shepherd‘s pie and Roo chose fish and chips, Trevor had a pizza that he ended up sharing with us. We also had some devil potatoes which were crisps that were insanely hot!! These were by far the hottest things that we ate in Japan!!! The food was really nice, really good quality. Along the course of the evening, we met other friends of Trevor‘s. We also had another pizza to share too. The bar was in an office building along with a few shops and did not have a toilet. If we needed to go we had to leave the bar and go and use the office building public toilets, weird!! Six pints and one shot later, all paid for by Trevor, another legend, we decided to call it a night. We said bye to the new people that we met and Trevor walked us out. He pointed us in the direction of the train station as he headed the other way. We said good bye to him too and thanked him for letting us use the phone. We got to the train station and made the trip back to Akihabara. We were absolutely bladdered and decided to take loads of photos of each other gurning at the camera and of all the things nostalgic that we came across!! By the time we got back to Ninja, we managed a little bit of PC stuff and then had to go to bed, we were steaming!!! Not too sure if I slept that much that night. I kept waking up and by the time our alarm went off round about half fiveish, I probably only had a few hours sleep!! We were both massively hung over and managed to shower and pack and eventually leave. 208/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

We slung our bags on for one last time, with much effort that morning, and headed off to the tube station. We got the train and took the hour and a bit journey back to Narita (成田市) Airport. When we arrived, we checked in ourselves and luggage and headed off to the food court, and to McD‘s in particular, for breakfast. We did not want their breakfast meals but a Mega Mac, so had to wait for the breakfast service to end before getting a meal. When we had eaten and were feeling slightly better, we looked around duty free to try and get Dad a bottle of Japanese whisky. As we had to transfer during the flight, they did not allow us to purchase any!!! Sucks!! We did buy a pack of Uno to play while we waited for our flight. Once on the plane, we watched The Rocker a few times, Ghost Town and Me, Myself and Irene a few times too. At the stopover in Sri Lanka we had a hotel arranged for us as part of the return flight (don‘t know why they couldn‘t do that for us on the way over). We had to go to the transfer counter to get this sorted out. It was about one in the morning local time and we were knackered and wanted to get to bed and were gutted when we saw a massive queue at the counter!! We had to wait about an hour to get to the counter and get our taxi to the Ramada Hotel. The taxi ride was shorter than the previous one and not as scary. The hotel was a lot nicer and we got ourselves checked in. By the time we got to our room, we were both exhausted and on our last legs! We got into our room to find they had given us a double bed!!! Being in no fit state to talk to anyone and while practically falling asleep on our feet, we just bit the bullet, divided the bed and fell asleep. We got up in the morning and had breakfast in the hotel. It was a Sri Lankan cooked breakfast with toast and jam, sausages, eggs and bean stuff served with tea and coffee. It was free so tasted ok. We got showered and left the hotel to head back to Colombo Airport. Once there, we brought Dad some Arrack as we could not get any Japanese whisky. We headed back to the café we went to on the way over and had a burger each and soft drink while playing cards. Eventually we boarded the plane, for the last time, and headed back to Heathrow.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

It was a simple enough journey and I couldn‘t wait to get back to see everyone! As we reached England, it was night time and we could see all the streets lit up. Coming over London was also awesome as we could make out football stadiums and all the lights seemed to be brighter, maybe it was because of all the Christmas lights, I don‘t know. Eventually the plane landed, we departed, collected our luggage and finally ended our Japanese adventure…

Top Row L2R:  An awesome chandelier we found in Roppongi Hills.  About as close as we got to the Tokyo Tower!!  A Tokyo manhole cover. Bottom Row:  The sign to Trevor‘s school in Tokyo.  Out in the Irish bar with Trevor (bald guy in the middle) and his friends.  Night time shot of the traffic at Akihabara.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Top Row L2R:  Back at Narita airport, really quite hungover.  The driverless train things that take you to the terminals.  Our double bed at Sri Lanka. Bottom Row L2R:  A random cartoon that we were watching in our room while waiting for the cab to come collect us.  Looking out at Colombo from our hotel. Colombo was not as nice as it appears here.  Part of the hotel, still a deceiving picture.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Actual Dates

Here is the actual dates and what we did on each day as my diary entries are always dated the day they were written and sometimes cover two or three days at a time. You can use this as a reference for the correct time line:

06/09/08 – Leave England

22/09/08 – Dave visit

07/09/08 – Leave Sri Lanka

23/09/08 – Vine clearing

08/09/08 – Arrive in Japan

24/09/08 – Taping

09/09/08 – Shinjuku

25/09/08 – Wallpaper removal

10/09/08 – Electric Town

26/09/08 – Strim garden

11/09/08 – Asakusa

27/09/08 – Cutting plants and trees

12/09/08 – Ghibli Museum

28/09/08 – Flea market

13/09/08 – Shibuya

29/09/08 – Cinema

14/09/08 – Odaiba

30/09/08 – Seth arrives

15/09/08 – Ikebukuro

01/20/08 – Sausage and mash

16/09/08 – Tsukiji

02/10/08 – Banana bread

17/09/08 – Ueno

03/10/08 – Leave for Nagoya

18/09/09 – English Embassy

04/10/08 – Nagoya Castle

19/09/08 – Travel to first host

05/10/08 – Leave for Nara

20/09/08 – Cornish Pasties

06/10/08 – Nara temples

21/09/08 – Day off

07/10/08 – Leave for Osaka 212/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

08/10/08 – Aquarium

31/10/08 – Threshing

09/10/08 – Leave for Okayama

01/11/08 – Rice field

10/10/08 – Okayama Castle

02/11/08 – Paul arrives

11/10/08 – Leave for Fukuoka

03/11/08 – Rice field

12/10/08 – Canal City

04/11/08 – Rice tying

13/10/08 – Leave for Kumamoto

05/11/08 – Day off

14/10/08 – Mount Aso

06/11/08 – Green rice work

15/10/08 – Leave for Beppu

07/11/08 – Rice machine

16/10/08 – Yufuin

08/11/08 – Making flour

17/10/08 – Leave for Nagasaki

09/11/08 – Soba and red beans

18/10/08 – Bomb Museum

10/11/08 – Paul left

19/10/08 – Leave for Matsue

11/11/08 – Seth left

20/10/08 – Matsue Castle

12/11/08 – Leave for Hiroshima

21/10/08 – Travel to Tottori

13/11/08 – A Bomb Museum

22/10/08 – Tottori Desert

14/11/08 – Miyajima

23/10/08 – Leave for Kyoto

15/11/08 – Peace Boulevard

24/10/08 – Kyoto shops

16/11/08 – Festival

25/10/08 – Monkey Park

17/11/08 – Travel to final hosts

26/10/08 – English book store

18/11/08 – Green house

27/10/08 – Change hostels

19/11/08 – Pluck chickens

28/10/08 – Overhanging temple

20/11/08 – Make peat

29/10/08 – 10,000 torii gates

21/11/08 – Harvest Oranges

30/10/08 – Travel to second host

22/11/08 – Main land visitors 213/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

23/11/08 – Day off 24/11/08 – Make blueberry jam 25/11/08 – Green house and oranges 26/11/08 – Harvest Oranges 27/11/08 – Half day off 28/11/08 – Moving wood 29/11/08 – Making kiwi jam 30/11/08 – Leave for Hiroshima 01/12/08 – Arrive in Tokyo 02/12/08 – Return to Clare 03/12/08 – Jess and Trevor 04/12/08 – Leave Japan 05/12/08 – Arrive in England

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Mother’s Testimony

Here is the email and attachment from the email that I received from Kosei Mito on the 7th March 2009. I have added it to my diary as I believe that it is an important document to read and I hope that this will never be repeated again.

Email 三登 [email protected] Hello! How have you been? I have been a free guide for two years and half, and guided 32000 visitors including 7600 foreign visitors from 95 countries. I was given an award by Hiroshima International Cultural Foundation last month. Let me send you my mother's testimony. Please read it and remember Hiroshima. The testimony is sent in two ways. MITO Kosei

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Attachment My Father‘s Sixth of August Tomie Mito

That day, fifty-eight years ago, is something I still can‘t forget. It is also something I certainly don‘t want to remember or talk about. Even if I do talk about it, no one can feel what it really means. I don‘t want to think about it. It makes my heart ache. However, if I don‘t want it to ever happen again, it seems wise that I should write it down somewhere. The roar from the B-29 on that day was unlike the regular ones - it was deep and strong, as if it shook my gut. It was just as I came out of my house, I saw a huge black aircraft disappearing towards the west, barely above Mt. Gosaso. There was a tremendous explosion and the ceiling in my house and the soot fell to the ground, scattering ash everywhere. The paper sliding doors and mesh windows have not been straight since then. I only discovered this long afterwards. Some time passed, and we received information that there was a fire in the middle of Hiroshima city, but I still didn‘t believe what I had heard. ―It couldn‘t happen,‖ I told myself but at the same time, my heart was beating fast since I knew that because we were in the middle of a war, it really could happen. This might have been how my neighbours felt, I guess, as they all walked up to a nearby mountain. No one spoke a word, we just quickly made our way up. The mountain was where we went with packs of food on the 3 rd of April every year for Hanami, to see cherry blossom. From the very top, we could enjoy a view of all of Hiroshima city. What we saw on this day, however, was literally a sea of fire over the entire city. Every one of us looked numb, our feet were rooted to the spot, shaking without even a word or noise. This could not be happening. Just could not. Some time later, people came back to their senses, and started to feel anxious about their husbands who had left for work this morning. We started to walk back home. Still in silence. 216/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Soon the news about the victims spread to each of us in our quiet village. We gradually discovered who had been injured or burned. None of us knew what to do or how to be of any help. While we were too overwhelmed to help, people who were injured started to be sent on trucks to schools and temples. I did not eat. No, as a matter of fact, I did not remember to eat. All I could think of was how my father and my husband were. I realized it was becoming dark already. No one in my family said, ―They might have been burned to death,‖ though that was going round and round in each of our hearts. We just walked here and there, in and out. We had lights outside but they were only dim. At around nine at night, in the dim light, there was a voice saying, ―I‘m home.‖ I rushed to the entrance to find it was my father. ―Ghost‖ – is how people might express what I saw. He was covered with black on his face, or his head, I couldn‘t tell which. What seemed to be his clothes were torn apart and fell to the ground. It seemed as if he were covered by wrinkled wakame, dried seaweed. Even his trousers were like that, and I could see through the holes in them that his skin was also covered with something black. Even so, he was alive and was now safely home, so I was relieved. My husband, however, did not come home that night. Not knowing how to look for him, time just passed and I worried all night long. He did not come home on the following day either. Two days later, he finally came home. He was a teacher and was safe as he was at the bottom of a school stairwell when it happened. He told us that he couldn‘t come home as he had to help his students. My father was in Dobashi, on his way to work, when the city was bombed, and he was buried alive. His memory about time was not clear, but when he finally managed to push his head above the ground, some students who were in the town because of Gakutodouin*, pulled him out. He then walked, avoiding the fire, and a woman he didn‘t know offered him her umbrella, saying, ―Please take this. It‘s too hot out here.‖ Taking the umbrella, he walked for half a day to come back home. He was so glad that he survived, and told our family and neighbors that it was a narrow escape. We counted his injuries though, and found nineteen. He also had some pain on his body, so he went to see a doctor. About ten days later, small red 217/231

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

spots – each of them was the size of a chestnut – appeared over his entire body. The chief doctor at National Hataka clinic said that it was the effect of the poisonous gas from the atomic bomb, and unfortunately he did not have any medicine. Still, the doctor suggested that blood exchange might help, and we tried several times with his son‘s blood. His body got weaker and weaker, however. Something, like guts from a fish, came out when he vomited and in his diarrhoea. It filled several washing bowls. When this happened, it seemed as if all the guts in his body had been forced out. What came out gave off a horrible smell, which filled the air for a very long time. Day after day, he became weaker, too weak to move or eat. We heard that grilled worms from chestnut trees would be good for his throat. So we actually cut the trees and grilled the white worms we found, which he still could not eat. That was all we could do, as in those days there was not much medicine available to ordinary people like us. At last he lost his voice. After that we tried to communicate using a pen, but he was too weak to hold it. He became weaker. Three days before he died he told us to fetch a parcel wrapped in a purple cloth from the second drawer in his bookshelf, which we did and showed to him. Inside was money he had withdrawn from his own bank account. Then he told us to separate it and give it to our relatives and his close friends who had meant so much to him. On the morning of the 3rd of September, he wanted us to help with changing his pyjamas as he wanted to hear the seven o‘clock news. We changed his underwear and put the futon higher on his back so that he could sit straight up. He was listening to the radio with both hands on his lap and his eyes closed, looking so beautiful. The news was about the Instrument of Surrender which had been signed on the USS Missouri only the previous day. The broadcast finished at twenty-five past seven. At the very same time, my father‘s heart stopped. It was such a beautiful last moment of his life, so apt, so suitable for my father‘s meticulous character. *Gakutodouin To compensate for the lack of workers, students aged more than fifteen years either volunteered, or were forced, to work for the war effort, mainly in factories. 218/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Hostels and Accommodation

Khaosan Tokyo Ninja ¥3,000 per person/night th st th 8 September – 14 September & 1 December – 4 December Tokyo – Akihabara Computer Access http://www.hostelworld.com/ & http://www.khaosan-tokyo.com/en/ninja/ th

Capsule Inn Akihabara 15 September – 19th September Tokyo – Akihabara http://www.capsuleinn.com/

¥4,000 per person/night

Ryokan Meiryu 3 October – 4th October Nagoya http://www.hostelworld.com/

¥4,200 per person/night Breakfast Included Computer Access Hot Bath/Onsen

Guesthouse Yougendo 5 October – 6th October Oji – Nara http://www.hostelworld.com/ & http://www.yougendo.com/

¥5,500 per person/night Breakfast Included Computer Access

Hotel Taiyo 7 October – 8th October Osaka http://www.hostelworld.com/ & http://www.hotel-taiyo.com/en/index_e.html

¥1,550 per person/night

th

Computer Access Hot Bath/Onsen

rd

th

th

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Young Inn 9 October – 10th October Kurashiki – Okayama http://www.hostelworld.com/ & http://www.kurashiki.jp/english.htm

¥4,200 per person/night Breakfast Included

International Hotel Khaosan 11 October – 12th October Fukuoka http://www.hostelworld.com/ & http://www.khaosan-fukuoka.com/

¥2,600 per person/night

Hotel Route Inn Ekimae 13 October – 14th October Kumamoto http://www.jamapican.com/ & http://www.route-inn.co.jp/english/pref/kumamoto.html

¥4,095 per person/night Breakfast Included Computer Access Hot Bath/Onsen

Hostel Khaosan Beppu 15 October – 16th October Beppu http://www.hostelworld.com/ & http://www.khaosan-beppu.com/

¥2,800 per person/night

Ebisu Youth Hostel 17 October – 18th October Nagasaki http://www.hostelworld.com/

¥3,100 per person/night Breakfast Included Computer Access

th

th

Computer Access

th

th

Computer Access Hot Bath/Onsen

th

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

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Hotel Route Inn Matsue 19 October – 20th October Matsue http://www.japanican.com/ & http://route-inn.co.jp/english/pref/shimane.html

¥5,985 per person/night Breakfast Included Computer Access

Hotel Resh Tottori Ekimae 21 October – 22nd October Tottori http://www.japanican.com/ & http://www.resh.jp/information/index.html

¥5,355 per person/night Breakfast Included Computer Access

Guest House Bola-Bola 23 October – 26th October Uzumasa – Kyoto http://www.hostelworld.com/ & http://www.bola-bola.jp/top_english.htm

¥2,500 per person/night

Backpackers Hostel K’s House Kyoto 27 October – 29th October Kyoto http://www.hostelworld.com/ & http://kshouse.jp/index_e.html

¥2,900 per person/night

Business Ryokan Sansui 12 November – 16th November Hiroshima http://www.hostelworld.com/

¥3,750 per person/night

th

st

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Computer Access

th

Computer Access

th

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Useful Websites

Here is a list of various websites that we found useful when planning our trip. We found a wealth of information on the net and these are just a select few that we used on a regular basis and the ones that came in most useful:

http://www.facebook.com – So we could keep in contact with many friends and family and upload our 2,800+ photos and 10 videos. http://www.jtatravel.co.uk/ – The website we booked our flights through. http://www.wwoofjapan.com – Our Japanese WWOOF page with host information and membership. http://www.winwood-outdoor.co.uk/ – Got an amazing deal on our backpacks here. http://www.gapyeartravelstore.com – A great website full of travelling needs, can find a few ideas for things you may need too. http://www.amazon.co.uk – Great for finding cheap books and maps to do with travelling. http://www.papernation.co.uk – Where we brought our awesome journals from. http://www.hostelworld.com – Where we booked up most of our accommodation through. http://www.japanican.com accommodation.

–

Where

we

booked

the

rest

of

our

http://www.japanrailpass.net – Information on the Japanese rail passes.

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06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

http://www.mybus.co.uk/apply – Where we brought our tickets for the Rail Pass and Studio Ghibli. http://www.xe.com – A currency website we used to keep track of our money during the trip. http://www.wikitravel.org – An immense amount of information on cities and towns. http://www.lonelyplanet.com – The best source of travelling information and a place to purchase their literature. http://www.clicksouvenirs.com – This is where we brought our small gifts from. http://www.cardsmadeeasy.com – Where we brought our business cards from. http://www.ruralcottage.net – The website for Clare Home and Garden back in Hino. *Needs translating. http://www.shinpoen.com – The website for the farm on Osakikamijima making jam. *Needs translating. http://www.greenchronicle.com/connies_cornish_kitchen/cornish_pasty.htm – The best Cornish Pasty recipe that we used in Japan. http://www.uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/528351 – The better of the two carrot cake recipes that we made. http://www.explosm.net/comics – Daily humour that would always pick us up. http://www.pbfcomics.com – More cartoons that made us laugh, cheers Seth for letting us know about this.

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Japlan

Here is a map of Japan with our trip planned out on it, hence ‗Japlan‘. Start from Tokyo and work your way down southern Honshu and to Kyushu before returning back up on the West coast, bouncing over to Hiroshima and eventually returning back to Tokyo. The main route is in black with the journeys to hosts in green and day trips in purple. Although we managed to cram in quite a few places in those three months, you can see that there was still so much more of Japan to explore. We never went further north than Tokyo so missed all of Northern Honshu and Hokkaido. Also Shikoku and its 88 Temple hike and then there are the 6852 smaller island that make up the Japanese archipelago. Maybe next time…

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Distances

We covered a fairly large amount of ground while in Japan; here is a brief and rough calculation of how many miles (kilometres) we travelled. Running total is to the right. Narita – Tokyo

42.8 (68.8)

42.8 (68.8)

Tokyo – Hino

25.6 (41.2)

68.4 (110.0)

Hino – Tokyo

25.6 (41.2)

94.0 (151.2)

Tokyo – Nagoya

220.0 (357.2)

314.0 (508.4)

Nagoya – Oji

95.5 (153.6)

409.5 (662.0)

Oji – Nara

14.8 (23.8)

424.2 (685.8)

Nara – Oji

14.8 (23.8)

439.1 (709.6)

Oji – Osaka

18.5 (29.8)

457.6 (739.4)

Osaka – Kurashiki

119.9 (192.9)

577.5 (932.3)

Kurashiki – Okayama

15.6 (25.1)

593.1 (957.4)

Okayama – Kurashiki

15.6 (25.1)

608.7 (982.5)

Kurashiki – Fukuoka

263.6 (424.2)

872.3 (1406.7)

Fukuoka – Kumamoto

67.9 (109.2)

940.2 (1515.9)

Kumamoto – Aso

28.5 (45.9)

968.7 (1561.8)

Aso – Kumamoto

28.5 (45.9)

997.2 (1607.7)

Kumamoto – Beppu

82.0 (132.0)

1079.2 (1739.7)

Beppu – Yufuin

14.5 (23.4)

1093.7 (1763.1)

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Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Yufuin – Beppu

14.5 (23.4)

1108.2 (1786.5)

Beppu – Nagasaki

150.5 (242.2)

1258.7 (2028.7)

Nagasaki – Matsue

363.5 (585.0)

1622.2 (2613.7)

Matsue – Tottori

77.4 (124.6)

1699.6 (2738.3)

Tottori – Kyoto

140.6 (226.3)

1840.2 (2964.6)

Kyoto – Sazae

18.6 (30.0)

1858.8 (2994.6)

Sazae – Kyoto

18.6 (30.0)

1877.4 (3024.6)

Kyoto – Hiroshima

231.4 (372.4)

2108.8 (3397.0)

Hiroshima – Miyajima

21.9 (35.2)

2130.7 (3432.2)

Miyajima – Hiroshima

21.9 (35.2)

2152.6 (3467.4)

Hiroshima – Osakikamijima

30.7 (49.5)

2183.3 (3516.9)

Osakikamijima – Hiroshima

30.7 (49.5)

2214.0 (3566.4)

Hiroshima – Tokyo

533.2 (858.0)

2747.2 (4424.4)

Tokyo – Narita

42.8 (68.8)

2790.0 (4493.2)

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Exchange Rates

As mentioned in the diary, the stock market did us no favours. When the problems hit, the Pound dropped dramatically against the Yen losing us a fair amount of money. Here is a graph showing how the rate dropped over the three months. Also, you can see how high it was when we began planning back in February of 2008.

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Stimulants

This Japanese trip wouldn‘t have been the same without the following stimulants; they are what made the trip…

People This is my Academy winning speech to thank different people. Firstly to thank the people back home: Mum, Dad for taking care of Jessie and being cool. Jessie for being patient and waiting and for calling nearly every day. Gizmo and Taz my cats for not really caring when we got home. All my friends who kept in touch and Neil who came to see me off at the airport too and to all my family I spoke to on the phone at various times. Then, the people who we met while travelling: Michiyo and Eri at Ninja, Masato Yamazaki at Beers, Trevor Joseph who gave us the phone and got us hammered on our last day, Jess Lim who looked after us and helped on various occasions, Kazuko and Hiro our first WWOOF hosts, Paul, Hong Kong guy, Arris, Yoshi, Inness, Ai, Paul, Kohei and Kumi, other WWOOFers that we met and a special thanks to Seth Powers who we could not get rid of, Keisan and Setsu our second hosts, Masaki and Keiko our final hosts, Mito Kosei who showed us around the Peace Park in Hiroshima and massive thanks to Ikuta Kanyou who made for an unforgettable day. Also to everyone else that me met who‘s name I can‘t remember!! THANKS!!!

Equipment and Luggage Here are some of the things that we took with us to Japan: Gelert JetSet 80 +15 Litre Rucksack, Hi-Tec boots, Camping pillows, Travelling towels (quick drying), Top Trumps (Wonders of the World, Horror and The Simpsons Classic Collection 2), Twin Headphone Socket, Philips MP3 Player (yeah, thanks 228/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

for breaking on me!!) and Philips mini speakers (couldn‘t use them), Primark for cheap clothes (great trousers and socks), Compression bags (an essential for all the clothing), World Wide Travel Journal (in black of course) and Bic pens, Waterproof playing cards, Vans shoes for comfortable wear and also lightweight, Digital camera and memory cards (our memory cards didn‘t work, dammit), hat and bandanas and the Lonely Planet books, seriously, don‘t leave home without them!!!

Music …And You Will Know us By the Trail of the Dead, 3 Inches of Blood, A, Adema, AFI, Akercocke, Alkaline Trio, Amon Amarth, Andrew WK, Angels and Airwaves, Apocalyptica, At The Drive-In, Audioslave, Avenged Sevenfold, Bad Religion, Bal-Sagoth, Biffy Clyro, Biomechanical, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Bleeding Through, Blink 182, Breed 77, Burzum, Carcass, Cathedral, Cavalera Conspiracy, Children of Bodom, Coheed and Cambria, The Cooper Temple Cause, Crackout, Cradle of Filth, Danny Elfman, Danzig, The Darkness, Darkthrone, Deftones, Devin Townsend, Dimmu Borgir, Dio, Dir en Grey, Dragonforce, Dream Theater, Emperor, Faith no More, Fear Factory, Fenix TX, Finntroll, Foo Fighters, Funeral for a Friend, Gojira, Greenday, Gun N‘ Roses, The Haunted, Hell is for Heroes, The Hives, Hundred Reasons, I Am Ghost, Iced Earth, Iron Maiden, Jack Of Jill, Jane‘s Addiction, JJ72, Judas Priest, Khoma, Killing Joke, King Diamond, King‘s X, Kittie, Korn, Kyuss, Lacuna Coil, Led Zeppelin, Linkin Park, Lostprophets, Machine Head, Mad Capsule Markets, Manic Street Preachers, Marilyn Manson, The Mars Volta, Mastodon, Mayhem, Megadeth, Ministry, Monster Magnet, Morbid Angel, Mudvayne, Murderdolls, Muse, My Chemical Romance, My Dying Bride, My Ruin, Napalm Death, Nickelback, Nightwish, Nile, Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt, Octavia Sperati, OK Go, Opeth, P.O.D., Pantera, Papa Roach, Paradise Lost, Pearl Jam, A Perfect Circle, Pixies, Placebo, Probot, Queens of the Stone Age, Queensrÿche, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Razor Blade Kisses, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Rob Zombie, Rush, Scarling, Scars on Broadway, Send More Paramedics, Sepultura, Serj Tankian, She Wants Revenge, Slayer, Slipknot, The Smashing Pumpkins, Soil, Stone Sour, Strapping Young Lad, System of a Down, Tenacious D, Therapy?, 229/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Tool, Travis, Trivium, Turisas, Type O Negative, Velvet Revolver, The Verve, Voivoid, Weezer, Wheatus, The White Stripes, The Wildhearts and Wolfmother.

Movies Japanese movies watched before and owned by me before deciding to go to Japan: Ichi The Killer, Spirited Away and Urotsukidoji: Legend Of The Overfiend. Movies suggested by Lonely Planet to watch: Akira and Lost in Translation. Movies watched in Japan: Finding Nemo, Hancock, Shawshank Redemption, Bad Boys and James Bond Die Another Day.

Books Books that we read before leaving: Lonely Planet: Japan, Lonely Planet: Hiking In Japan and Japanese (Lonely Planet Phrasebook). Books that we took over with us: Abarat, Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War, Slash: The Autobiography, The Overlook and Long Way Down. Books that we read and brought while in Japan: The First Casualty, Across the River and Into the Trees, The Godfather, The Brotherhood of the Shroud, Easy Katakana, Velocity, Proven Guilty, Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, Nuclear Islam: and Other Stories, The Hobbit, The Stand and Needful Things.

Funny Japanese Names While travelling round Japan, we found many odd and weird English names and translation errors that we took photos of and put into a file on face book. Our trip would never have been complete without them: Kissho – Chinese restaurant, Swallow – name on a truck, Grope – building company, Calpis – popular soft drink, U.F.O. Colon – toy and crane amusement game, Carifornia Love – Engrish, KKK – name of a building, Ice Cream Burger – sign on a food stall, Cut House Frank – name of a barbers, Spunky Heads – chewing gum, Cycle, Motorcycle, No Standing!! – on a no cycling sign, Duck! – name on a truck, Tokyo Teleport Station – subway sign, A.T.O.M. Attack Team Of 230/231

Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun

06/09/08 – 05/12/08

Diary of Mark Mathews

Market!! – name of a business, Swedish Foot – name of a shop, Fiddler – name of a shop, I.B.S. since 1953 – name of business and date it opened, Cat Shit One – a comic, Menz Hole Lotion – written on the side of a building, Cream Collon – a sweet snack, Frisk – mints, Cat Smack – cat food, Cock Dole – restaurant, Labatory – Engrish, Tendon – name of a restaurant, Kids Love Inc. – name of a business, Meal Hair – name of a business, Lube – name of a club, Smokin’ Clean – name of a business, Please deposit your valuables at the Front Desk. Otherwise the Management will not be responsible for any lass – Engrish, Eye’s – name of a convenience store, Let’s have a enjoy drinking! – on a bar sign, Knt! – name of a shop, Wanko’s Party Cake – on a poster, Mїnїbum Black – on a photo album, Mr. Chin’s mushipan – name of a cake, Mr Quick – name of a tent and finally, This is an extraordinary bus stop – written on a bus stop.

Final Thanks Final thanks has got to be with the one person I spent the most time with during the trip. The person with the longest curly hair in Japan, Roo. Cheers dude for making this happen, I hope that you had as much fun and the great time that I did and thanks for being my brother, I wouldn‘t want anyone else as one!!!

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Japan 2008:

Memoires of a Gaijin. A.K.A A Journey Through the Land of the Rising Sun