They flooded the local allotments about a week ago (which previously had been growing cabbages of different sorts, and some other odds and sods) in preparation for rice planting, left them a few days and then got the rice shrubs? weeds? cuttings? bulbs? stuck in a few days ago. You should hear the sound of the frogs at night, croaking away like nobody's business - they give the semis a good run for their money (actually, now the fields are flooded, the cicadas are much quieter!). I guess the rice planting is timed to coincide with the rainy season...?

Its rainy season here - though it hasn't rained for a couple of days, until last night, when it bucketed down again. But rainy season is good - without it June would be unbearably hot for a northern European bloke. Some pictures of rain from last week. These don't give a great impression of just how heavy the rain was...

Nothing to do with Japan, but Ben Powis has just released "Where Grows The Bitter Herb". Go look!

Some final shots of our fishing trip to the dock-side. Some things turn men into wee boys again, I think - cars, sports and fishing. We (we?, they...) actually caught that thar fried fish, and a whole bunch of wee-uns which got deep fried too. Yum yum.

The third Wakayama post, with us heading to the seaside. Well, a kind of rocky shore. As you see from the photos, there is an awful lot of landscape engineering in Japan - you've got to go a long way before you find rivers which aren't embanked by concrete, shores which don't have sea-walls and hilsides which don't have concrete pinning on the slopes. That's Yoshi braving the water (I joined him after a bit) and Yasu sitting on the wall.

Those around my age, or with a penchant for euro-trashy-pop might remember a song about the Mongol Emperor sung by (I think) a Geman group in the 70s called DSCHINGHIS KHAN.

For a odd reason I can't fathom teen girl group Berryz Koubou, an offshoot of Hello Project have resurrected this catchy number... Look out for happy dance at 2.17!

After the winding stairway, we took a drive into the mountains to have a look at a fantastic waterfall and a quick stop for tea/beer and some local sushi wrapped in spinach, whose name I didn't catch. All before lunch! Next time another scary food post.

Got back last night from the trip to Wakayama ken with Naopei, Yasu and Yoshi to see Sayaka and Okamo, and much fun it was too (mostly). Although we started the trip at 3am (Yoshi had to finish work, and I guess we were making the most of the time available) the trip proper started when the sun came up behind us on the coastal road to Shingu. The journey was about 3 hours, along winding mountain roads which made any sleep impossible (though somehow, in true Japanese fashion, Naopei was able to curl up and fall instantly asleep) but Sayaka gave us an excellent breakfast before we headed out immediately to see some of the sights. In today's post you see the visit to the Kamikura Jinja shrine, up the most precipitous (and amazing) stairway hewn from the living rock...(sort of). Too much of Wakayama to post in one shot, so expect more soon!

Not been posting much recently - need to get that sorted out, but I'm popping away to Wakayama for a couple of days on a boy's trip to the seaside. Wow, that sounds really Enid Blighton, what? Lashings of ginger beer!

Popped into Mandrake in Americamura last week, a big manga/anime chain, and was amazed at the masses of total junk they had there (I think its called getting old...). I am an ex anime/manga fanboy, and its a sad day when you don't see anything you want to buy on three floors (plus a cosplay floor which I looked at and fled from in shame) of pop-culture goodness. IMO it was really badly laid out, lots of looming bookshelves like a library, cramped, not very user friendly. Ahh well. There's one in Umeda too, I think, so I'l have a look there and see if north Osaka is any better than the south. I've already been to Animate in Tennoji, which was much much smaller, but made much better use of their space, had more artbooks and was friendlier.

Missed a mountain trip again this week - Noriko went silent for a few days, and the weather was a bit rubbish so its no great loss. I'm sure I'll get there soon and have a fine old time. Thats all for now folks! Back in a few days.

Cheero!

Because I haven't been up to much of interest lately - trip to Koya San with Noriko and Kikue cancelled at the weekend, sadly - here is some of the inevitable quirky english which you get all over the place...

Which would you choose? The green tea ice cream or the Chef's Hat Premium stew? Yeah, me too, but I HAD TO TRY THE PREMIUM STEW!!!

I know, I know, nothing good ever comes out of a packet and pot, but I saw it on the shelf and had to try it. I like pot noodles - I know they're a load of old cack, but I like them, so this seemed like a fun variation. It wasn't inedible, but premium isn't how I'd describe a cup full of gravy, a stingy selection of veg and one chunk of beef...

another couple of comic pages, folks...

I'll grow up someday, but until then time for some j-pop happy-cheese :)

;) ;P :D

Copyright Perfume and Tokuma Japan

EDIT: They took it down, so if you want the vid, its Polyrhythm, by perfume. Here is a live full dance version instead...

I love Tako-Yaki!!! Moreover, at the pub they have a tako-yaki griddle in which you can make your own and play with your food:)

They are kind of dough/pancake balls with octopus/ginger/spring onion inside. When describing them to a friend as 'Octopus balls' a while ago she was aghast that we'd be eating the reproductive organs of octopi, but I think she was converted when she realised the truth. On the molten food scale, the tako-yaki are up there with cheese and tomato toasties as the hottest food you can eat. I made these!!

Well, a mild tremor really. Took the train to Tennoji today (after a change at Shin-Imamia), on a photo-ref shoot of trains/stations/innercity and a trip to Animate, the anime fan-boy shop, Nakanishi Gazai, an art shop (turns out its closed now), and popped into a ladies underwear shop too (Because loverly Mia works there, not because I'm some kinda cross-dressing queen - besides, no ladies size in Japan would fit me). Anyway, standing on an overpass, and the overpass starts bouncing, lamposts start swaying as if there was a strong wind. Imagine standing on tip-toes, and then bouncing lightly up and down on the balls of your feet - thats what it was like. Might have been interesting if my first thought hadn't been "Cack! I would be standing on a bridge when the big one comes!"

Fortunately this wasn't the big one. Not even a minnow. I doubt there was any damage, and nobody else seemed to bat an eye-lid - only the jittery furriner.

Yum yum, coffee time!

I'm sure you can get similar stuff in the UK, but my three one-cup filter coffee tries so far are today's topic of discussion. Going head to head are Mon Cafe, UCC and IFC.

In the Scotland mug we have IFC, with a rather complex but nifty support system for the filter. Sadly for a big cup fan IFC sits a bit low in the mug (Maybe the solution is to get a bigger mug?!?!?!) making efficient filtering of the brew a touch tricky.

In the England mug is UCC, with a very stable filtration and liquid delivery system. Unfortunately on a second cup (because any self respecting Scot of Yorkshire descent would try to get a second cup...) the grounds quickly form into something like cement making the second cup a very slow and tedious process.

Lastly, in neutral colours, is Mon Cafe, the brew which started me on today's mundanity. Delivery system on a par with England, second cup as strong as Scotland. However it is a tad more expensive than the other 2.

So, which is best? Scotland's poor delivery but good second cup taste? England's excellent delivery but frustrating second cup? Or neutral's expensive delivery system and decent second cup? Only one way to find out...

FIIIIGGGGGHHHTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will tone them at some point, but only when I know how they'll end up. Can't tone and shrink them, or I'll get a moire effect...

From the balcony I can see some Boy's Festival Streamers, and the wind was blowing about the other day, so I got some decent snaps of them. The 2 orangey streamers are carp, the blue one is a watery representation. Boy's festival is tomorrow (the 5th) but they hang out the streamers from homes with boys for about ten days surrounding the date. We're in the middle of Golden Week here too, the national holiday.

Ack! Not posted again for a few days. Sorry! Today might be a mega multi-post, for your sins.

Anyway, first of all are shots from Isakaya Yuki in Kawachi Nagano, a short drive/train ride from here. Junko (the photo with her boy, Rintaro) dragged me out in an impromptu night out to see Kikue at her local haunt. It was fun being out with just a couple of folk - my Japanese isn't good enough to understand conversations between lots of folk, so its easier and less frustrating in small numbers, although I do seem to spend as much time with any kids present as with the adults. Rintaro is very keen to tell me all about Ultraman and his various incarnations (Although I gather the original Ultraman is still the best).

Clearly my reputation preceded me - the locals and Mama-san Yukiko herself had been well informed by Kikue, but at least I'm practiced at answering the usual questions. Keep it simple, Stupid! Talk of divorce, lovers in a context I don't quite understand, and what a husband/wife relationship is like in the UK (Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking - why would I be qualified to answer that?).

Last night (no pictures of last night) I went out to To-Sama's but it was later and there was a large-ish crowd already when I arrived, so the conversation was already in full flow when I turned up. Lots of sukebe talk...

At most wee bars/pubs they hang wee curtains outside to let you know they're open. Must try and shoot a bunch and get them in a gallery of sorts.

Popped into Namba yesterday after a morning's work. It wasn't entirely a jaunt - needed new paper (Kent make some beautifully smooth drawing paper with a surface like Bristol Board. Canny get it in the UK though) and wanted to have a good look in Bic-Camera at Wacom Cintiq and Intuos Tablets. I have to get the Nankai Koya line from Kongo Station to Nankai Namba station, and both the art shop Kawachi and Bic Camera are within walking distance from Namba station. So is Junkudo, the bookshop which I popped into, shamelessly looking for books I might have been published in. My ego hasn't gotten any bigger though - there were none!

Was disappointed by the Cintiq screen-tablet models, both the small 12x and the larger 21x. hey're nice, but even at cheaper eastern prices they aren't THAT good. There are a great many things I'd spend 260,000yen (£1300) on before going for either. So a very nice A4 Intuos caught my eye instead:)

Also had a wander along ebisubashi and into Dotonbori, where the other shots are from.

Sayaka and Okamo are back in Sayama for a couple of days, so met up with them and a batch of others at Joe Zucker's. Enjoy the snaps and the Bic-Camera vids;)