Tokyo + Surfers + Dancing

This past weekend I went back to Tokyo. My first visit was right off the plane, and it was less than ideal. Jetlagged, too many lectures, generally worn down. This time was much more entertaining. The one trick was the lack of a hotel Saturday night...

All of Tokyo and its neighbors like Yokohama were completely booked up as far as 2 hours out of the city. So when we went to Kamakura, where one friend's father was born and grandparents used to live and the site of a great (but dirty at the time courtesy of a typhoon) beach, we sort of expected to find something. We didn't. What we did find were some surfers who spoke English and were willing to help. Unfortunately, nope. No hotels in Kamakura that were within our price range. We thanked them for their help and went to have a drink to think. We decided to have another drink on the beach to think. Well, it helps me think. But granted we really weren't that worried.

On the way out to the beach, we ran into the surfers again. They were having a barbecue and invited us to join. Within 5 mintues of talking with them, one girl invited us to stay at her house. We played the polite game refusing a few times, but there was a lot of sideways glances like, "Let's totally do this." So we partied with the surfers all night. Stayed up late talking to the girl who let us crash at her house with her and her boyfriend, and then tucked in for bed. Japanese style. With me all but snuggling with the girl and her boyfriend... A tad awkward in my estimation but it was still a great night.

Sunday during the day we visited the shrines in Kamakura, including the Daibutsu, A giant statue of Buddha. Lots of fun. I don't care how many of these shrines I visit, each one is different and has something new. Not unlike the mummified remains of Saints on display in Spain.

That night was a huge party at a club in Tokyo. We danced til the sun came up by the outdoor poolside DJ. This trip was much more fun that the last visit. This doesn't really seem to capture how much fun it was... oh well.

Link to more photos:
Tokyo and Kamakura Photos

Nagano Round 2

So I was able to get back to Nagano recently to meet up with some folks. Not much planned for the trip, but a lot happened. It was good fun. A little karaoke, some monkeys, some ski jumping in the middle of the summer. Fantastic.

Note to anyone that wants to go see the monkeys at the onsen outside of Nagano city, go at the end of the day, near the 5 o'clock closing time. That's when they feed them. And its crazy.

The next day we went to go see ski jumping in Hakuba where they held the event during the winter games. Apparently there is also luge here later on and they let people try it... I know I'm interested. We made some friends with some folks at the ski jumping. They were fans from the area supporting a Japanese ski jumper. He came in sixth, but the way they were partying you would have thought otherwise. I've got to say its rare that I have a beer before 11 now that I'm out of college, but these people were throwing down at 10 in the morning.

Sports Festivals

In Japan, they like sports. They like physical education. In recent years, the Japanese government has been pushing to extend class time in the most 'important' subjects, such as Japanese, Math, Science, and Physical Education. English sure isn't listed there. At any rate, the Sports Festival is like Field Day in America, except in the villages I work in, most of the village comes out to watch and support their children. Everyone from the Nursery school to the elderly have events, although the stars of the show are the kids in the elementary and middle schools.


There are all sorts of events ranging from classic runs and relays to the tug of war. My favorite event though, was a combination of steal the bacon and tug of war. The video below should give you a good idea, but basically 7 large bamboo poles are lined up in the middle of the field. The gun sounds, and two teams rush the middle in an attempt to pull as many poles as possible over to their side of the field. Pole = point. Pretty simple. Except that when you get to that last pole, It becomes a real fight. Here are some photos from the day, and a video of the "Bamboo Pull" (Rough translation).

By the way, White won.

The photo below is a link to the album of a few more photos from the day. I was really sunburned, but it was a great time. As was the barbecue enkei (drinking party) afterwards.

Sports Day