Back In Australia

Well it has been a while since I wrote anything so I will try to be more regular with my posts. I have done a bit since my last post such as leave Japan and return to Australia. It was nice to be home for Christmas. Ana had her first hot Christmas day and the whole family was basically there. Danica's boys were some much bigger than when I last saw them and Beck had a new baby as well. Ana and I spent the Christmas and New Years on the farm near Toowoomba. We have recently moved to share accomodation in Toowong in Brisbane.

It is nice to be back but frustrating looking for work. I wish I could have the job I had in America, the lifestyle I had in Japan and the weather from Brisbane. That is what the scientists should be working on. It is nice to be around all the Australian animals that I haven't seen in years. On the farm were goanna's, wallaby's, parrots and an assortment of interesting insects. It is interesting to see Ana's curiosity and enthusiasam for all the different animals, although it does varying slightly according to the particular animal. And here's a picture....

It is nice to be in Brisbane. It is a new city for Ana and I and it's not too big, not too small. It has a lot to offer and we will have a fun time exploring it. Here's to new beginnings. I promise to post more regularly and I promise to make it more interesting than this one.

Happy Birthday to me!

My birthday isn't until the 23rd but I received a package from my family early. It is officially the start of autumn here but today was still in the thirties (Celsius). So the beanie (winter hat) and neck warmer (which mum thought it was necessary to explain what it was to me) might not get used for a little while, but man that chocolate ain't gonna last long!

Shirakawago August Holiday

I am finally getting around to writing about our trip to Shirakawago during our August holiday. This place was really amazing. It is an UNESCO world heritage sight due to its many Gassho Zukuri houses. These are huge multi-storey thatched roofed houses specifically built for raising silk worms. We were able to go into many that were set up for tourist. One even had live silk worms munching away. It was only a small display but we could hear them. I expect that when the roof was full of them it would have been surprisingly loud, just my guess.

Above is the Gassho Zukuri we stayed in. It was basically the last one in town with room. Weeks before Ana had been ringing around frantically looking for somewhere in Shirakawago and this one was the only one left. It was run by an old couple and they were a little reluctant to have people stay as they are old and it's a lot of hard work.

We were lucky as the weather was mainly clear while we were there. It rained briefly one afternoon but it was over quickly and helped to drop the temperature which was quite warm. Also there were flowers everywhere, above is just an example of the flowers around the town. I imagine this little village is always beautiful. You have flowers in spring and summer, red leaves in the autumn and snow in the winter. I highly recommend this place to anyone. It is a bit touristy in that there is a shitload of them but it's worth it.

August holiday

Well August saw us with another week off. One of our goals was to see the Sea of Japan. So we headed up to Kanazawa in Ishikawa prefecture. In Kanazawa we went to one of the most famous gardens in Japan. One of the top three. Kenroku-en is near Kanazawa castle.

Ana in Kenroku-en garden

Also in Kanazawa we went to the old Geisha district. Apparently there are still some in Kanazawa but we didn't see any like we did in Kyoto. It was an interesting area and we got to go into an old tea house where Geisha would have performed for their clients.

The view from one of the tea rooms

To see the sea of Japan Ana and I took a train to Hakui, north of Kanazawa on the Noto peninsular. It is famous as the Japanese UFO capital, although we couldn't figure out if it was because UFO's have been seen there or if it is just marketing. It was a typical small beach town and we enjoyed lunch and a beer at a beach bar.

Ana at the beach bar in Hakui

This trip was the same as the last with me wearing my trusty one dollar rubber thongs. They're still going strong.

July Holiday

Ana and I were visited by Heather and Jeremy in July for one week. It was a fast and furious trip with us visiting Inuyama, Osaka, Himeji, Nara, Kyoto and Hikone. It was good to have visitors and we had a great time and saw some great sights.


Some of the highlights were us seeing all four of the castles that are designated as national treasures in Japan. We had seen one (Matsumoto castle) last time they visited us in 2005 and this trip we saw the other three (Inuyama, Himeji and Hikone). Below is Himeji Castle.

Another highlight was seeing Geisha in Kyoto. We were there on the last day of the Gion festival, the largest in Japan. The next evening the Gion district was crawling with Geisha. It seemed whenever we turned around we saw another one. They move remarkably quickly despite their complicated get-up. This was like seeing history and spotting a celebrity at the same time.

Above is a picture of Hakketei Ryokan (Japanese guesthouse) in Hikone. Hakketei is a three hundred year old building that used to be the entertainment facilities of the lord of the castle. Around it is a famous Japanese garden. It was unusual to be sitting in our room looking out on the garden and seeing visitors looking in. Fortunately the garden closes around five so we didn't have to worry about privacy at night. The room came with dinner and breakfast. The dinner was an eleven course affair. It was some of the best Japanese food I have ever eaten. One thing that I was worried about eating was funazushi, which is fermented carp. It turned out to be rather good. It tasted like a strong aged cheese and was served with crusty garlic bread.

The weather on the trip was hot, very hot, stinking hot. Above are the shoes I wore for the entire trip. Quite a mean feat for a pair of one dollar rubber thongs. Wish I was wearing a pedometer to see how much ground these little guys covered because we did a lot of walking.

p.s. Chad I hope you appreciate the pictures ya nagging whinger.

Takayama

This last weekend Bec and Tone came to visit us in Japan. They spent two nights in Nagoya before coming to Kani for a night on Friday. Saturday we headed up to Takayama. We spent one night in a guest house. The guest house was an old building that was relocated to the center of town. It included a nice Japanese dinner and breakfast.

Takayama is also known as little Kyoto due to it's old downtown area. The weather wasn't that great, it rained almost constantly while we were there. The old area was interesting and it was good to see Bec and Tone after so long. We got there by train which was relaxing and the views were beautiful, despite the rain. In fact the rain made it all misty on the trip back. Takayama is up in the hills with steep verdant green valleys all around.

Bec and Tone left to go back to China on the Monday so it was a short but sweet weekend. We are now waiting for friends from the US to come visit in a few weeks. I hope everyone is well. Check out the pics on my flickr sight if you wish.

Come for the Tortoise, stay for the food.

It's not every cafe you walk into and step on tortoise shit, but that is what happened to us last weekend. Ana and I went to Gifu-city for the day. We walked all the way up to Gifu castle and the surrounding area. Nearby, we spotted a little cafe called Natural Cafe. It looked like an interesting place so we decided to have lunch there. The cafe is on the second floor of a century old building. The first floor is a little shop, slash, gallery. This is where the tortoise was, running loose around the ground floor and veranda. It was quite strange but very interesting. It does bring up the thought though, that this is a generational pet. The food by the way was great. We had nice Thai green curry, a standard for Japanese hippy cafes.

Gifu castle was interesting even if it is a reconstruction. It was bombed during the war. It was a significant castle in its day, and we could see why. The view from the top was extensive. We could make out Nagoya on the horizon and the views in all directions were astounding. Wish it was a little clearer, summer here is a bit hazy.

Gifu city had more of the feel Ana and I are used to. It reminded us more of where we were before, with the exception of having a lot more older buildings. I have posted some pictures so please go look, that means you Chad!

Have a good time doing whatever it is you are doing.

Taking pics

Hey everyone! I have uploaded some pictures from two weeks ago. Ana and I went back to HanaFesta to look at the roses again. I wasn't inspired to take any pictures of the flowers but I did take some pictures (hopefully interesting) on the walk back home.

One picture I would have liked to have gotten was the giant hornet we saw while we were at the park. Apparently Japan has the worlds biggest hornet. It can be over three inches long and spits flesh eating acid, no shit. We were walking on one of the many paths around the hills in the park when Ana spotted this thing that looked like a bird, no shit. These things are bigger than a humming bird, no shit. Apparently these things go into the hives of honey bees and kill them all, eat the honey and steal the baby bees to feed to their young. Did I mention that around forty people each year are killed by these things, no shit. Admittedly, you need to be allergic but still, forty people. One other thing is that the larvae of these things are considered a delicacy by some, no shit. That's probably the people who get killed, I don't think I want to be trying to steal these things babies.

Anyway, check out the pics if you wish. Have fun, be good and STAND UP BIG!

In search of observation.

Running through fields of cheese, drenched in carrots, while battleships cruise the skies blasting holes in the indifference.
Looking into the distance to see what is in front of your past, trying to comprehend the here and now.
Contemplating the similarities in the mountains while the dessert screams for your attention, crying to be painted black.
Random frogs trying to sell you Internet services and nameless salesman talking up the low down.
Looking for meaning in the frog filled paddies as blind spectators heckle your goo, ignorant of their hypocrisies.
Google your image and listen to the gravy fill your consciousness rendering your bladder apathetic.
Dancing to the alphabet while random ferrets fight to see the Romanesque prestidigitator pull tragic sequels from it's arse.
All I need is one more chance to see the green that sets me free from the tyranny of red, while the blue oranges laugh at yellow gnomes.
Raw ambition and unbridled ambition is no substitute for Garam Marsala, try it!

Birds and the Bee's, and water mammals

Well the mystery of the river mammal has been solved. If you have read Ana's Blog you will know it was a Nutria. It is a large South American rodent. It's considered a bit of a pest. So it wasn't really as interesting as I'd have hoped. We went from thinking it was a rare Japanese mammal to an introduced pest.

On other animal news we went to Hanafesta Flower Park in Kani. This time of year the roses are out. The park is huge and has one of the largest collections of roses in the world. It has many other things as well but the focus was on the roses at this time of year. One of the things we found interesting, which wasn't part of the park really, was the amount of insects and such. On a small path that you just used to go from one area to another we saw masses of caterpillars and a few lizards. I think the Japanese thought we were crazy looking at the bugs instead of the flowers.

We also saw a Mamushi (Japans most poisonous snake). Actually, we heard it is not that dangerous. It was in an area with a small water feature and there were plenty of people around. This was ironic because before when we were coming off a path that had a sign warning people that they were in that area we heard a couple decide not to go because of that. And here you have one swimming around near to people picnicking and playing with their kids.

Another animal encounter was the with swallows. A couple had started building a nest on our exhaust fan outlet but gave up. On the floor below us there is a nest we see everyday. At Hanafesta on a covered walkway there were numerous nests and birds and they didn't seem to concerned by the people. You could get to within reaching distance as they sat on the railing. You could easily touch the nests as they were a little bit above head height. It's nice to see so many animals around. I have posted pictures on my photosite. Unfortunately we didn't get one of the snake.

Mysterious Water Mammal

Well we have been going on little walks lately for exercise. On one recent jaunt around dusk we were wondering along the river near our house. We had seen a fair amount of wildlife in the area so we kept an eye on the river when we saw what seemed to be a large mammal swimming in the water. We guessed that it might be a river otter but it stayed low in the water and it was getting dark so it was hard to identify. We went home and found on the Internet that the Japanese river otter was pretty much thought extinct. It hasn't been spotted in the wild since the late seventies and in an area that is no where near us. Not to mention that we saw this mammal nearly smack bang in the middle of Kani city right outside of the supermarket next to the train line. Not really a pristine, secluded environment.

We have seen plenty of birds, some turtles and fish in the river but this was the first mammal. We went back the next afternoon and tried to spot it again. And right on sunset the little fellow was out swimming again. Like last time he was hard to identify and we lost sight of it pretty quickly. Ana did get one photo but it is pretty hard to make out. The body looks to be about half a meter long, so it isn't that small.

It is interesting that there is so much wildlife around here. I still don't really have an image of wildlife in Japan. Before coming here, if pressed, I might have thought of those monkeys that sit in natural hot springs with snow on their heads. Other than that my image of Japan has always been big cities or mountainous landscapes devoid of animals. We have seen a number of birds down by the river and elsewhere and it is nice to think that the Japanese haven't over engineered every part of the country leaving no room for animals. We have heard that there are monkeys in the hills nearby so that might be our next David Attenborough moment. I'll keep you posted on the river mammal mystery. I have to question my students to find out more info.

Let's see if I remember how to do this...

Well it has been a while since I wrote anything on here. I can't say much hasn't happened. In that time I got a promotion at work, I went to Australia for a holiday, I got a new neice, went to New York, Washington D.C. and Kentucky, sold a house, moved into my mother-in-laws basement, quit my job and moved back to Japan.

So Ana and I find ourselves back in Japan. We got here on the 15th of March and are both working at a small school with only a couple of branches. Since being here we have noticed that it is a little different ot where we lived before in Japan. It's a little more small town but admittiedly there seems to be a lot around to see and do. Unlike the Shonan area where we lived before not everthing around here was flattened in the Second World War.

We have been to a number of small little towns already and seen some interesting things. You can see picutres on my photo site. Stay tuned for more in depth explorations of the places we visit, but not too indepth. I don't want to bore anyone.

I would like to leave you with this one recent observation. WATERFALLS ROCK!!!

Blogs are the new SUV's

I write this after a recent experience on another persons blog. I made a comment that apparently the individual didn't quite agree with. After no provocation I was met with insults and condescension. I don't really know the individual all that well (although I know them better now) and their response I think was born from the fact that they didn't know who I was. I was faceless and unknown to them and didn't agree with them. I had to question what the individual wanted from me. He had called for others opinions about how they felt about the Colts winning the Super Bowl. My comments weren't overly aggressive and definitely not personal. The response from himself and his friends was over the top and personal, petty name calling like adolescents.

Now I'm pretty thick skinned but I was somewhat offended. It scares me how people can act this way. As more and more people descend into their own ever more personal worlds we face the problem of losing our society because people don't know how to interact with each other. Blogs are the new SUV's. There are studies that show the reasons that people by large four-wheeled-drives is because they are insecure and need to feel better about themselves. We are now seeing this in blog sites. There is security in not having to deal with people directly. Individuals abuse, swear and degrade others because they don't have to deal with them face to face. I believe I wouldn't have received this treatment if I had met them face to face. I feel it was the result of anonymity that empowered the individual to act that way.

I don't know if the individual was hoping that some day he would get the chance to go toe to toe with someone on his blog site and show people how witty and knowledgeable he was, and just jumped at the chance when I disagreed with him. I'm not sure if he is just plain arrogant (like I said I don't know them that well). I don't know but I don't approve. I think the Internet and blog sites are a real opportunity for people to express their opinions and enter into discussions. But there is a real danger of people sequestering themselves from the rest of society. Barricading themselves in their blog fortresses with their scant allies and battling the rest of the world.

I leave you with a quote, "Hey, hey, hey, it's Fat Albert". Has nothing to do with what I'm talking about I just like to say it.

The spirit of Christmas

This year I am focusing of the real meaning of Christmas. You know before it became commercialised. I am going back to before it was all about money and marketing. Back before it was hijacked by Christianity and even back to before it was a pagan ritual. I'm going all the way back to when it was just another day of the year. No lead up celebrations, no movie marathons, no cheesy TV specials, no annoying holiday music, no over eating, no fake kindness, no being nice only once a year, no fat men in big red suits, no plum pudding....oh wait a minute. I think Christmas should get rid of everything but the desserts. I can do with out trees being tarted up, I can do without the presents, I can do without the Maria Carey Christmas album and I can do without the thought of freaky little elves crawling around the north pole. So in all I have nothing to say on the matter. HAPPY STAND UP BIG DAY!!!!

a little man with a little brain

I read last Friday that John Howard is still refusing to remove Australian troops from Iraq. This is despite the fact that the majority of Australians want it. And despite the fact that now the majority of Americans want it. And even despite the fact that the Iraq study group is now recommending it. It is obvious that Johnny 'mandate' Howard is not taking into account the wishes of the Australian citizens and is instead sitting down, patiently waiting to see what George Bush will do. He is a pathetic little man with no brain or spine. He hopelessly follows the Americans where ever they go, obediently doing as they ask. You can be sure that the majority of Americans don't know or even care that Australia has joined their war in Iraq. All John Howard has done in supporting this war is to endanger Australia and waste millions of dollars. I suspected this before moving here but America is a piss poor role model for any country to try and emulate. It is time Australia had a long hard look at itself and started making decisions based on our values and ideals. Security my arse. Iraq is a mess and its best we extricate ourselves from it as soon as possible.

jumped the gun a little

Well I might have been somewhat hasty in claiming autumn was over. The leaves had fallen but the temperature hadn't dropped. Well now it has. This last weekend saw the start of some really cold weather. Ana and myself drove up to Chicago so Ana could take the Japanese language Proficiency test. We stayed with our friends up there and spent the weekend playing tourist. Now this was the coldest weather I have ever been in. It was around 13 degrees Fahrenheit which for the rest of the world who have moved on to the metric system is around -11 degrees Celsius. Now the most annoying thing about some of the winter days here is that you look outside and it is sunny with blue skies and you think 'Oh what a nice day!' Then you walk outside and its like someone comes out of nowhere and slaps you so hard you don't know what day of the week it is. Now at least it wasn't windy, apparently wind chill can drop an already cold temperature to testicle imploding temperatures. We did have fun though. We went to a nice Japanese restaurant and a great Korean BBQ restaurant that really reminded us of Japan. After we got back from Chicago the weather here got cold too. It's a little disconcerting when the weather man refers to arctic fronts in his weather report. Well have fun people and keep warm.

the end of Autumn

Well people Autumn has come and gone it seems. I have to say that for the short time it was here is was interesting and beautiful. Coming from good ol'Oz I never really got to experience the changing of the leaves and I must say it is pretty. All the more because of the short lived nature of it all. I first got to see large tracts of trees changing colour in Japan and was really impressed. Coming to Indy I got that chance again. As you drive about you see here and there fine specimens of bright red, orange and yellow trees that almost glow they are that brilliant with colour. That's the upside. The downside is dry weather and the knowledge that it's only going to get colder.

Autumn is the time of year for a couple of holidays, very American holidays I haven't really experienced before. I had my first Halloween and I must say I quite enjoyed it. I had a few pre-conceived notions from It's a great pumpkin Charlie Brown and was delighted to see a lot of them come true. Most of them came true except for the great pumpkin rising out of the pumpkin patch. You can rightly assume from that last sentence that I did go to a pumpkin patch. Ana, her parents and myself drove just out of town to a farm and along with a number of people wandered out into the patch and chose our pumpkins to carve. Don't worry we paid for the privilege, in fact the farmer must turn a pretty profit for growing an extra large variety of inedible pumpkin. After buying our pumpkins we went back to Ana's mums place and carved them. I'll post pictures on my photo-site.

After carving your pumpkin, which can take a little time, you stick a candle in it and leave it on the porch to rot; hoping no one will smash it. As you probably well know another tradition of Halloween is Trick or Treating. Now I unfortunately was unable to be at home for Trick or Treat so I missed the ten year old that came to our door and when asked what he was dressed as replied "A pimp!" Our neighbourhood has a lot of dumb. There are dumb shits, dumb arses, dumb bums...you get the idea.

I think one of the reasons I liked Halloween was that it's unlike most holidays. It's commercial but you don't buy expensive toys, you buy cheap, nasty chocolate to give to kids. It's not religious so you don't have all the happy clappers out there trying to make you feel guilty for some dead guys birthday, or the day he laid an egg or something. And it's not taken that seriously so there's no real obligations to anyone or anything.

Now the next holiday coming up is Thanksgiving. This is the day Americans celebrate what they are thankful for. I'm assuming they're thankful that the Native Americans had no resistance to smallpox, had no potent weapons of any kind and were somewhat trusting of new comers.

Sorry if this is coming over a little cynical but I been reading what would be best described as hippy, new age, vegan propaganda. Now I have to admit to having hugged a few trees in my time but I'm no fanatic. the thing is I have been reading a book that has pissed me off and scared me a little. Go to Ana's blog she has explained it a little and is of the same opinion as me. Have fun and I'll tell you all about Thanksgiving next week. Remember hold your head above water and hold your water in public. PEE FREE, PEE FREE.

first of many...

Like I stated in my little welcome part of the reason I started this was to spout off about things that annoy, interest and perplex me. The issue most recently that has caught my attention is the big to-do about Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali. The Mufti that compared women without head dress to uncovered meat. I didn't see a whole lot about this, only what I could read online. I don't know if anyone has mentioned what I'm about to but I sure hope so.

Now I fully understand how people have been so upset. This comparison offends me also. It is degrading to women and dangerous to promote these rather backward chauvinistic views. I though am also offend as a male. This statement says a lot about Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali's opinion of Islamic men and men as a whole.

If we break down what he says it's just plain ridiculous. Women are referred to as meat. From this I can only deduce that women are there to be devoured and nothing more. And what of the cats in the example. This can only be men. I think it's interesting that an animal that survives by instinct and has a limited ability to learn is used to represent men.

Now I'll be the first to admit that men are animals. We are responsible for much of what is wrong with the world, but I hold out hope that we can be better. It is obviously the view of Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali is that men can't get any better, and he is using religion to legitimise their ignorance and arrogance. Blowing a whole lot of wind up their arses at the same time.

I don't think this comparison is meant to really comment on men, but I think it says a lot more about men than we would like to admit. Islamic men who buy into this kind of rhetoric are obvious non-thinkers, because if you look at it its offensive. It implies men are incapable of change. That we can't be expected to control ourselves. Some men may want this justification of their desires. They may want the responsibility to lay elsewhere. They may want to be animals.

I like to think that we all have the ability to better ourselves. That we can be more than just mere animals. The decision is ours to make.

hello and welcome!

Hello everyone, welcome to my blog. I know that blog has become a dirty word, just like bum before it, but they are so much easier. I know they are just as impersonal as mass e-mails but at least you don't have them clogging up your in-box. This also gives me the opportunity to spout crap about whatever subject I like. I'm going to be just like all those other self important wankers, forcing their uneducated opinions on the world. So sit back and get ready for me to vent what's been annoying me lately, as well as the fun stuff I've been doing. Feel free to comment, but keep the language clean ya dickheads. I'm talking to you Fitzy. Have fun, be good, and STAND UP BIG!