DearScotty

You may remember last summer’s soda sensation Pepsi Ice Cucumber, well, this year Japan has moved away from the chilled pickles and have brought us Blue Hawaii.

Blue Hawaii would seem like an awesome fruity drink, but sadly, it leaves a lot to be desired.  But, it smells great!   As you twist the lid off, the fizz turns into the sound of your local ice cream trunk coming around the corner.  You sense that this will taste similar to a snow cone.  How wrong your senses are.  It tastes a bit like a balloon with a little kick of fruity wax.  All you end up having is a blue tongue.
Bummer.

PS
I just got to watch an English teacher attempting to record a listening quiz by speaking directly into the stereo speaker.

I’m no longer wearing sweaters or jackets but the downside to that is having to iron clothes. I used to be able to hide my wrinkled clothing under a nice sweater or jacket but not any longer. It’s just the price one has to pay for nice weather. A couple weeks back Theresa and I took a little trip to a really nice town with a famous reclining buddha. It really was a gorgeous area and it happened to only be a 5 minute train ride from my house.

After we enjoyed the sites of this spiritual village we went into the city for the annual Dontaku Festival. The parade basically consisted of old ladies in traditional wear dancing in the street along to blaring music vibrating out of tin can like speakers. For one of the biggest events in Fukuoka it was quite dull as evidenced by this father/son bonding.

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March 31, 2008 marks a special date in Fukuoka history. I was going to post our Okinawa trip report but that’ll have to wait as there are more important things to share. Today, Fukuoka welcomed a new American food chain to their downtown. Prior to this date, the only foreign fast food options around town were McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and KFC. But things are a changing! Now we have a Subway! Theresa and I decided to partake in the grand opening and made our way to the city this evening for some fresh yummy sandwiches. The only other times we’ve had Subway in Japan were when we visited Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo. Now, Fukuoka is almost like a real city!

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Over the past year and half I haven’t been able to get into Japanese pop music. Sure there are many avenues for me to find out about J-pop but I’d really like to steer clear of those dark alleys:

1.) I could talk to my students about who’s hot or not, but they’re just kids and would probably just recommend who’s ever doing the newest McDonald’s ads.
2.) There’s also the occasional Karaoke night out with all the local foreigners where undoubtedly there will be a few who rock at Japanese. Here they must show off their skills by singing some J-pop hits. Those songs usually sound exactly the same, and when drinking is involved, those songs will poof out of existence from my musical memory.
3.) I could always turn on the TV to catch a musical variety show but that would mean having to put up with bizarre commercials that either end unexpectedly or finish with a cheesy jingle that would even make Uncle Jesse cringe.

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Besides catching up on a decades worth of TV shows that I’ve failed to ever watch, to kill some time I like to jam on the guitar. I’ve never formally introduced her so, here goes. I bought James for a few hundred bucks when I first arrived in Japan. I don’t know who James is, but he makes good guitars. Playing in between episodes of The Daily Show and Colbert Report can get quite boring so I’ve decided to get a band together. My friend Shou is an amazing guitar player, who makes my guitar skills look like a five year old playing a squeaky recorder. That said, I have demoted myself to bassist. The only joy in this is getting to buy myself a new bass. My previous basses have been beginner basses, except one that was a step up from beginner. So, this time around I decided to go all out and get me a manly yet beautiful bass.

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After enduring a three hour delay, putting up with screaming kids on the plane, and having a piece of luggage lost, Theresa and I are back in Japan. Thankfully we transitioned nicely since we were welcomed home with a beautiful clear day. Now that school has begun, the skies have been re-tuned to TV gray and are waiting to piss on us. Oh Southern California, how I miss your blue skies and your cool crisp December afternoons.

Christmas recap: Presents were purchased and received. Families and Friends were seen and neglected. Food was eaten and forgotten.

New Years and Vegas recap: Alcohol was consumed and spilled. Balderdash delighted and pained. Money won and lost, but mostly won. Bubble baths were fun and messy. Buffets were conquered and deeply missed. Carnegie Deli sandwiches amazed and perplexed.

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On my way home from school I spotted this gem:

Maybe this explains why the Japanese don’t trust foreigners. They think we turn into werewolves no matter the time of day or moon cycle. We also have amazing body shrinking skills.

Instead of trying to piece together another Thanksgiving holiday in Japan, Theresa and I abandoned the kitchen and took a night bus to Tokyo. For that taste of home we decided to spend the weekend at Tokyo Disney. Unfortunately for us, our bus arrived in Tokyo around 10am on Friday. We would do Disneyland first since Friday would be our shortest day, but we didn’t expect that it would sell out! We arrived at Disneyland just after 11am and were welcomed with apologies from the overhead announcements informing us that Disneyland had stopped all ticket sales until 5pm that night.

There wasn’t anything we could do but hang out in their version of Downtown Disney which they call Ikspiari. We ate a decent burger and fries meal at Planet Hollywood and enjoyed some coffees at a cute bakery. We went into every shop trying to kill as much time as possible but later decided to wait near the gates until they reopened the ticket booths.

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As I rode my bike to school today I was passed by this car:

I wasn’t able to tell if the driver was in fact a whore.

This guy’s taking LOL-cats to a new level! Bloody brilliant!

strangely familiar…

Last one, I promise!