Obama is beautiful world...

And my randomness just seem to continue. I unexpectedly found myself with a free day and somehow convinced myself that a day trip to the heart of Japanese Obamamania was the most constructive use of my time.

Miraculously I actually woke up at 06:30, which is ridiculously early given that I usually start work around midday at the earliest. As with any adventure I had to overcome my fair share of obstacles. Firstly figuring out how to get to a small, previously unknown town that doesn't even merit inclusion in the current edition of Lonely Planet Japan.

Then of course there was the usual language barrier debacle - which platform to be on, what time to be on it, changing from one carriage to another because somehow it wasn't express (despite being the same train...). Then there was the stopover in Tsuruga and buying more tickets. Sadly there was no ticket machine which meant I had to resort to human interaction (read more broken Japanese cum English with Shona thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately my particular dialect only served to create a mini sense of pandemonium at the station, but I can safely report that there were no casualties).

Finally I reached the glorious town of Obama and was very kindly received by the lady at the visitor's information centre. She was actually very sweet, initially apologising that she could not speak English. Despite the lack of linguistic common ground I painlessly managed to ask for an English map and hire a bike. (Editor's note: Result!) She even shrieked somewhat approvingly as I circled my intended destinations for the day, which included several shrines, temples and the birthplace of a Confucian scholar.

Everything was going more or less according to my non existent plan when the weather, as it often does in coastal towns, took a rather savage turn for the worst. Believe me when I say that its not cool being on a bike in a random part of a town you don't know in the middle of downpour complete with gale force winds. Well maybe not gale force but you get the point. Thank goodness for fish market I sought temporary refuge in. (Editor's note: That will be the last time you hear me thanking fish for anything, at least I hope so).

I set off again on my tour again as the weather settled (for ten minutes or so). Some of the shrines I came across were breathtakingly dotted along the coast line with the picture perfect mountain ranges in the background topped by vast woodlands that created a sort of natural collage as the autumn leaves began to turn. I'd be lying if I said the rain didn't hinder my ability to get around the town. But it certainly didn't put a damper on my random adventure.

A few weeks ago my father asked that I visit the town of Obama, which he had spotted on the news and buy him a T-shirt. Being me, I thought I'd do one better and hunt down the man who had more or less single handled started this Obamamania, Seji Fujihara (pictured below)

After my second trip to the Hotel Sekumiya, Fujihara-san's place of formal employment, I finally met the self styled Secretary General of the "Obama for Obama" support group. Fujihara-san was a very welcoming and pleasant man, who after presenting me his business card (a rather formal process on this end of the world) showed me his Obama exhibition, including a letter from the President-elect himself. We then moved onto what I can only describe as a mini photo shoot (the receptionist who was taking the pics was surely an up and coming paparazzi camerawoman in training). To top it all off I got a campaign sticker to mark the occasion from the Secretary General. Yep that's right. Me and the Sec. Gen, tight like that.

I got my memorabilia, dad will be getting his t-shirt (along with his membership to the support group - although he doesn't know about that development yet). All in all not a bad day if I do say so myself.



p.s. If you have a moment, check out the "Obama is beautiful world" song some of the town's residents put together on YouTube. It may seem a little cringeworthy at first, but hey there's nothing wrong with being proud of where you're from:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fRB2wFhXIPs

So I'm finally working, first day yesterday went alright - actually quite enjoyable to see someone delighted to learn some new phrase or vocab. Somehow one of my clients got me to explain what a subprime mortgage is (yeah you trying that using really basic English...)

Anyway, one thing I've noticed is that no matter where you are in the city you are surrounded by sounds. From the bells of the train station around the corner, the buzz of the saws at the carpentry shop across the street to the annoying voice that loops welcome and the specials at the local supermarket. Sometimes its a little overwhelming and you wish everything would shut the hell up - one downside of having lots of sounds around is everyone tries to have a louder, more shrill or demented sound to gain the attention of the crowd.

Despite the ongoing visual and aural assaults thrown my way, the slightest sounds and smells are becoming strangely familiar. Walking out of the office for some air and seeing a giant robotic teddy bear standing next to some school girls jumping around on a Dance Revolution game at the corner of the street doesn't seem that bizzare anymore. Giggling Japanese girls, people dressed in outfits straight out of an alternative hippy heaven catalogue and the thundering sound of thousands of footsteps in train stations all feel like they should be here - if only to let me know I'm still in the City. Still so much to be seen, smelt, heard and had.

A truck drove past me advertising the debut mini-album of the band below, just an example of the randomness I see every day...



By the way, SoulFuckTry is a popular bar/club in Osaka. When you download the logo the file is actually called "rogo", Engrish 101...

Language barrier?

I'll be the first to admit, not speaking the language (or understanding it for that matter) had gotten the better of me since my arrival. I found myself shying away from eating out because I wasn't sure what to say when ordering, convinced that I would offend someone by not knowing some custom or something along those lines.



Well that may have all changed yesterday. After a long day of trekking around Kyoto, visiting shrines and ended up in the Gion district (premiere location for geisha spotting) I was pretty hungry and home was still an hour's train ride away. After resisting the initially temptation to hit McDonalds (again) and just order by number I plucked up the courage to try out a local ramen shop. Now I say courage because restuarants tend to have drapes with inscriptions over the front entrance, so you can't easily see what's going on inside. You find yourself debating whether or not they are infact open (or if they are even restaurants...). After that there's the doubts about the inscription - I mean that looks like quite a long name - what if it actually says we don't accept foreigners (trust me some don't hence my aforementioned doubts). Anyway the long and the short of it is I successfully ordered ramen and a beer and the only part of the experience I messed up was paying my bill. Now the way it seems to work over here is that you eat and drink and a receipt that is on your table of items consumed is just updated. When you're done you take the receipt to the front, pay and leave. Of course not being from here I waited...and then waited somemore. Then I started wondering why the waiter was just looking at me staring at an empty dish.

Once back in Osaka, spurred on by my new found confidence I went bar hopping, starting off at a place called Bar Whack and then headed closer to home to the Black Room. In both places I was either the only customer or one of a handful and in both I discovered, people in bars like to chat (a lot). Eight or so rum and cokes later I found that I had met and chatted with a bunch of people, translated R&B song lyrics, been hit on by a bartender (apparently I told her she had a big nose when I was trying to repay the compliment) and all this was done with no common language base - just a notepad, a phrasebook and some good old Dutch courage.

Henceforth I've decided that I shall improve by Japanese by combining learning with a more enjoyable past time - drinking. The Japanese love to drink and they seem to love chatting so I should be fluent in like a week or so...

Japanese efficiency

Today's main mission was a trip to the regional immigration office to sort out a multiple re-entry visa for the year. After having slept in I set off to Cosmosquare (seriously that's the area's name), fully prepared to deal with the same level of bureaucracy as it takes to just get a bank statement here. Surprisingly I was in and out in about 20 mins, visa, passport and all. That takes the total time I have spent in Japanese government buildings to just under and hour, which isn't bad considering I had to get a certificate of eligibility, entry visa, alien registration card, certificate of registered matters and the re-entry permit.

I suppose a better way of putting the level of efficiency into context would be to use my South African ID as an example. Being a citizen of SA one might expect getting a new ID would be a fairly painless process. However I've been waiting for this document since late 2005 and had to make multiple trips to the home affairs office to hear that it wasn't ready yet. I wouldn't usually be to peeved about multiple trips for an ID but when the trip involves flying from London to Johannesburg it does start to get on your nerves.

Anyhoo enough ranting and raving, back to Japan. As I begin to understand how things work around here, it seems to make more sense (trust me, it totally didn't a few weeks ago, some things still don't). Convenience stores are actually convenient, in terms of location, operating hours, facilities (ATMs, ready made meals, photocopiers). The Osaka subway system actually runs on time so you can actually plan your day around the train schedule. And obviously there's the jewel in the crown, the Shinkansen (bullet train) whose timetable only slips by 36 seconds over the course of a year.

For all the shortcoming I'm sure I will encounter in Japan over the coming months, the efficiency is a welcome comfort...a sprawling metropolis without structure, now that would freak me out

African renaissance revisited

Tonight I met, among others, an Austrian guy. He's done his fair share of travel and left a footprint on each continent. We got to talking about Africa. How its perceived from European and African standpoints, recurring issues and themes, the inexpicable suffering and its seemingy limitless potential.

It made me think how its up to our generation, the so called apathetic ones to make the difference. To forge a way through ethnic fractionalisation, stop blaming former colonial powers for all our current problems and start moving towards that potential. Granted I've watered down the arguments significantly, much can be said in either direction.

But we need to start seeing ourselves as the leaders of tomorrow. Put Africa first and make our mark. Who knows, one day I might just change the world...

The toilet seats are heated!

There aren't many times I can think of in my life when I've been intimidated by lavatory facilities but it seemed to have become a daily exercise in Japan. I mean seriously you walk into the bathroom and are greeted by a space age toilet complete with on-board processor and computerised side panel. What happened to the good old days of do your business and pull a chain, or just a hole in the ground for that matter.

To make things worse all the labels are in kanji (hectic Japanese alphabet). So I kept finding myself wanting to push all the buttons with child like enthusiasm but held back for fear that I might activate a nuclear warhead or teleport myself into a parallel universe.

But that all changed today. With confidence, last seen when I was five and tried to escape the confines of the house by driving my mom's car, I faced my fear and pressed something. What exactly it was I may never know but before I knew it the seat was hot enough to fry an egg on! (just a figure of speech, I didn't actually fry an egg, but I digress).

I am now anxiously anticipating my next button press. I secretly hoping the button with a woman's face will transform the shower into Halle Berry. That probably won't happen and I'll end up with Roseanne Barr but I'll keep you posted.

New country, new home...new life?

So I've finally reached Japan, Nihon-go, the land of the rasin bun. It's been an interesting ride so far - starting off with the mother of all excess baggage bills and probably the slowest moving security checkpoint at Heathrow (which is really saying something).

The flight (via Dubai) was just about as sterotypical as it could get. The only identifiable Englishman appeared to be drunk before take off. There was the really pissed off Arabic guy and his family (I'm speculating that he enjoyed the hospitality of airport security even less than I did). The plane was a mish mash of contradictions in itself. The seatcovers could, in my opinion, have induced a violent flashback from a bad acid trip but the in flight entertainment was pretty awesome. Another plus was you could phone passengers in other seats, actually that wasn't much of a plus - I didn't know anyone on the flight.

I've been here a for exactly two weeks now and time really has flown by. By that I mean I've successfully managed to do nothing meaningful in that time besides argue with my bank or work (which I still haven't started yet...). For all my failings I did manage to head over to Osaka aquarium and see the world's largest giant ferris wheel.

Despite my early temptation to go for a spin I quickly came to my senses and realised I'd be stuck on that thing for more than 20 mins looking at more or less the same view.

Also purchased myself a bike, again that might me a stretch but it does have wheels, a handlebar and gears so I've put up a couple of pics of night time in Osaka - recurring them is neon lights powered by enough electricity to keep a small third world country running (I'll put the pics up on Facebook, less hassle). As this is my first blog I have no idea where the pictures will fall but hopefully it looks vaguely decent.

I'm sure I'll be back with many a story of my new neighbourhood (affectionately called the Ghetto, complete with homeless drifters and that unmissable sense of depravity...). Until then ja mata.