GW #3: Hiroshima/Miyajima-nanyo～!

広島・宮島なんよ～
Day 3: May 3rd
Day 3 started butt-ass early as I woke up at 5:30 and left the dude? pad at about 6am. I made my way to Tamade station with the rising sun.I made my way to Shin-Osaka station and got on the first Shinkansen that came along... it was packed!
I got to Hiroshima at a little before 9 am and then headed over to the stadium for my first visit to Hiroshima Stadium! I was super excited and made my way to the line after picking up my new Carp jersey. I got in line at about 10am and waited... for a long ass time... in the baking hot sun! Needless to say, I got a horrible, horrible sunburn! I have pretty fair skin and just got scorched. I forgot my sunscreen in my other bag (the one I left in the coin locker at the station) and mornin' didn't arrive with some for me until around noon. The game was great (Carp held on for a 4-3 victory), and the stadium was great, but it was also really hard to enjoy because I was just scorched! scorched! It was really hot all day... I got some good pics, and here they are:
After the game mornin' and I headed over to the hotel, and I took a nap and then we headed out for some aloe and some of Hiroshima's most famous food; okonomiyaki! We went to a place that was in the Hiroshima magazine I had picked up a few weeks back that was pretty close to the hotel called Rei-chan (麗ちゃん). The line was pretty long, but moved fairly quickly, not quick enough for one screaming baby that ended up sitting right across from me... The shit was really good, again, hard to enjoy with my wicked burn... but, here's what it looked like:

Day 4: May 4th
The day started with the sun coming up (=early). We headed over to the department store down the street to grab some medicine and some breakfast before the big day of sightseeing around Hiroshima and Miyajima. God that medicine was great! I woke up in so much pain (by the way, really just my arms hurt. My face and neck and legs weren't too bad, but my arms...) and after taking some medicine, and smearing on some more I was ready to roll! We took a taxi over to the Carp team store to pick up a couple more things and then walked over to Tokyu Hands to get some sandals and a hat for me (I felt wrong walking around in a red Carp jersey and blue Dodgers hat...) and then took the street car over to the A-bomb dome (原爆ドーム). It was really interesting. Lots of tourists, and that's cool, but it was strange to see so many people smiling or holding up their fingers in a #1 sign when they were having their picture taken in front of that building... Here's some pics: After The dome we headed across the river to the peace park and then to the museum. It was quite a heavy feeling. It was a stark contrast between the glorious day, and the flower festival happening all around and the images that we saw inside the museum. A very interesting place, and an amazing 50 yen charge to get in. I was expecting 500, or maybe even 1000, but 50! That's great! I'm not gonna put up anything from the inside (I only took a couple of pictures of the models of the city that they had, and yes photos are ok, no flash though) because you should go see it yourself, but here's a couple of pics from the park that surrounds it: So after the peace park, and the museum mornin' and I took a short break and then weaved our way through the flower festival traffic and headed back to the street car station and headed on our way to Miyajima...

Day 4: May 4th cont.
After a transfer in Nishi-Hiroshima （西広島〉we made it down to Miyajima-guchi　（宮島口） sometime around 2pm and headed straight to an Anago-don restaurant to try Hiroshima's 3rd most famous food (#2 is Kaki （カキ）(oysters))　conger eel（アナゴ）. It was really tasty! Here it is!:After lunch, mornin' and I boarded a ship and headed over to the island of Miyajima. It's a very short boat ride but pretty cool, you can get a good view of the island's most famous feature, the Torii （鳥居）in the water, on the way in. The island is pretty cool, after you get off the boat, you take a walk through the shopping streets and then you can enter the shrine for a price... don't remember how much it was exactly, but I think it was 300 yen. The shrine was pretty cool, like others, I guess most similar to Heianjingu in Kyoto, except that it's on the water. The only problem (besides the millions of people that were there) was that we didn't get to the place until the afternoon, so it was low tide and the water wasn't actually surrounding the shrine, and not even up to the famous gate (Torii). As the afternoon went on, the tide did begin to come in, but I recommend going in the early morning so that the tide is in, because the place closes at 6pm, before it's really back in again. Next time... Another cool thing about the island is all the deer that are just roaming freely around, and for the most part are cool with the folks. There are some signs up warning people of the deer, but no one seemed to pay much attention to them and I saw many people f'n with them a bit too much. I was hoping for the deer to start a revolution and kick some ass, but on that day, they didn't :( On the backside of the temple is a street leading deeper into the island and you can find bus that will take you to the ropeway leading to the mountain in the center of the island. At the top of the ropeway is a monkey sanctuary! There are also a bunch of other sight spots up there and you can hike up to the top of the mountain, but I wanted to see some monkeys! Didn't happen... We debated for a bit whether or not we'd have enough time to do it and at last we decided to give it a shot. It's only a short ride up, and we thought about just taking it up and back, but when we arrived at the base of the ropeway there were soooo many people waiting! Of course there would also have been tons of people waiting at the top so we bagged it, and got our money back (I think it's about 800-1000 yen for the trip) and decided that something that can be saved for next time! We walked back through the streets and grabbed some Hiroshima sweets called Momiji-manju （もみじ饅頭）. The fried one was actually really good! We ordered 2 cream ones and I accidentally got a An (sweet bean paste) and normally I can't stand the stuff but it was actually good, but mornin' and I switched and I ended up with the cream baby! Tasty! We also got some cold ones with some kind of yogurt stuff in them that I didn't care too much for, but oh well. After that we just walked around, took a few more pictures and then got back on the boat and headed for the mainland, then back to the station to get our bags and jump on the Shinkansen headed to Osaka swollen red arms and all!

Hiroshima was rad, except for the wicked terrible sunburn!

I think I'll put out a bonus Hiroshima/Miyajima picture post, with smaller pictures, after I finish the whole trip update. I got tons of pictures from that part of the trip!

GW #2: Osaka-yanen～!

大阪やねん～！
Day 1: May 1st
March 1st came, and I went... to Osaka! I left Tokyo around 8:30am and arrived in Osaka just before 11. I ended up meeting dude? in Namba at around 11:30 or so and we stopped by to pick up a couple of games (look forward to a review in the next show) and then went over to Kua'aina in Namba Parks for some sweet hamburgers and big ass beers. Afterwards we headed back to dude?'s for some gaming, drinking and then prepared to go over to Koshien stadium for the night's game. We rolled into the stadium around 4 or 5, don't really recall, doesn't really matter. Game was alright, lost. Can't really remember the score, but had a good time.
Here's a couple of pics from the game:
Day 2: May 2nd
The day began surprisingly early and the weather reports were not good. The forecast for rain was about 50% and we were supposed to go on the "Osaka Loop Line" ride... so, after some discussion, dude? and I decided that we would bag it for this trip and just take a short ride down to the Namba area again for lunch, and to look for a stupid shirt for me. No luck with the shirt, but, oh well. The most surprising thing on the short ride that day was going through an area of town called "Nishi-Nari" (I think). This place was shocking. It started with a dead cat and a guy sleeping in a parking lot, and ended with the distinct smell of urine, and scattered with loads of drunk, unemployed old guys along the way... it was like a different country. I've never seen that level of poverty here in Japan. I've certainly seen it back home in the U.S., but never here... shocking...
Here's some pics from that part of the day:
We made it back to dude?'s and rocked some video games and some beers and then later headed out for dinner (yakiniku) with Mrs. dude? and her parents. Good times, they are really good people, and it was some good eats. After dinner we headed back to the dude? pad and prepared to head out for an evening bike ride to cover 3 bridges around town. It was a really cool ride. Pretty short, came in around 2-3 hours, and had some spectacular views of the city along the way, and also some sweet corkscrew offramps that we flew down! Good times in Osaka!

GW #1: Golden Week '08 = baseball, beer, and (crying) babies!

Wow! I'm back. Got back into Tokyo at about 11:30 last night and got home around midnight after an intense 5 days that can be put into 3 words: baseball, beer and (crying) babies. So, I'm gonna do at least 3 more posts today, separated into the 3 cities visited, with lots of pictures. The trip was awesome! It was my first big trip in a long time. First time I've ever been to Hiroshima and Kobe and both were great. It was also a rough trip for me, starting with a toothache, and continuing with a wicked sunburn and all on little sleep, but it was very worth it! I had a great time! One thing that I don't like about vacationing is that other people do it too. There were so many people everywhere we went (especially because it was Golden Week) and those people often have babies... babies that cry! Ahhhhhh!
Here's a quick list of places I remember hearing babies ballin':
Shinkansen from Osaka to Hiroshima, and from Kobe to Tokyo.
Miyajima Island.
Anago restaurant in Miyajima.
Okonomiyaki place in Hiroshima.
The Peace Museum in Hiroshima.
Kobe Beef Restaurant in Kobe.
There ya go, there were probably more, but that's all I can remember for now.

This girl wasn't crying, but she was playing with her spit on the train platform in Miyajima... gross!
This boy didn't cry (at least that I know of) but he was rockin' the sweetest Buffaloes gear in the stadium!
This boy didn't cry once! And he knew ever word to every Carp cheer in the book!

I'll be back with more!

and they're off! (BTW, post #150! rock!)

In about 7 hours I'll be on my way to OSAKA（大阪）! My train leaves Shinagawa station　（品川駅） at 8:25am with a scheduled arrival of 10:56. Psyched! Many festivities are planned and will be carried out over the course of the next 5 days...

On a sadder note, yesterday might have been the last time I'll see deuce and A.O.S. for a long time as they are leaving next Tuesday for an adventure across Asia and Europe before heading home. We met up at my place and had some dinner and some intense Wii action! It was great! I might be able to see deuce this summer when/if I go home for a visit, but it's hard to tell when the next time I can meet Mr. A.O.S. is just yet. I wanna wish them the best of luck, and I hope they keep on rockin' in the free world! I'll miss you guys a freakin' ton! Here's to my boys! カンパイ！

vol. 21! Guest!

*This show is only for the strong of ear!*
Breaking New Ground! Today's show sounds like crap(at least dude?s half)! But I have my first guest ever! Guess who? Should I really use a ? there? Probably not, because it's not a question is it? I guess if I said, "do you know who?" it would be better... Kapow! We talked about Golden Week plans, such as: Tigers' Game, Osaka Loop Line Challenge, Wii games, Hiroshima, some whirlpool museum, and Orix Buffaloes. Also you can get some shocking info about Emperor Showa on his B-day! And probably a song from dude? ripped off himself, and NoFx!

Dre-Day!

Happy birthday to my big-sis! The D.R.E.! On this day (well, U.S. day (April 27th)) in 1976 she came charging into this world, and the world was not ready! But the world was for the better, and especially her little brother, who would arrive 3 and a half years later, was for the better (she saved me many times from the bullies!). Love you A! Gotta go call her now...

epitome of epicness!

Dateline: Saturday, April 26th
Place: Harajuku, Tokyo
Event: The Final Installment of The Harajuku Cocktail Experience
Result: ROCK!

On Saturday I went over to the A.O.S. house for probably the last time for the final installment of the "Harajuku Cocktail Experience". It is always epic. This is probably my 5th one, maybe, I'm not sure, but they've all been great and I think this was about the 3rd time the police have made an appearance. After work I headed over from Shinjuku and arrived at the house arond 4:30 or so. Hung out with Ant and his wife and their baby along with Mr. and Mrs. A.O.S. for awhile before the festivities began. It was nice, just chill, some chips, some dip and some veggies. Around 5:30-6 is when people started to show up. Deuce was the first. Shortly thereafter the Ants took off because the little one was ready for bed, so Myself, Deuce and the A.O.S.s placed a bet to see who would be the next one to arrive... Deuce nailed it, choosing Kangaroo Jimmy and therefore got himself a sweet 300 yen! The party was similar to all the other Cocktail Experiences, epic! Lot's of people where there, lots of talking, and chit-chatting, it was good times.
Later in the evening, after the cops showed up a couple of times to shoo everyone back inside or away, we headed over to Shibuya for some epic karaoke battleness! It was a ton of fun, and I got ridiculously drunk. I ended up getting home around 6am after missing my train stop twice on the way home. Once I woke up (with the help of the train staff) at the end of the line in Kamata, and the other time I woke up about 2 stations passed mine going the other way. Finally I made it home, and slept! Good times man, good times. Gonna miss it!

vol. 20! short!

Yeah! Listen to me struggle with Yahoo widgets! boooya! Also a live performance of a new (currently untitled song) that sucks, but might be re-recorded this weekend!

guess what?

No show this week! Well... maybe there will be one :) I was pretty busy today so I didn't have time to do a show today, but I'm thinking about putting one out tomorrow because I might not do one next week. Well, actually I might do 2 next week, not sure yet. I have Tuesday off because of a national holiday (昭和の日), that's right! I can now write in Japanese! Why you ask? Well, I re-installed windows and it rocks! I tried several time (many, many!) to get my computer to write in Japanese before, but no matter what I did, I could never get it working and truly I have no idea why... but that's all in the past! I got a great deal on a copy of windows XP so I went ahead and tried to start all over again. I really needed to do it too because I had so many problems with my old OS. Now I've got a ton of settings to change... and a ton of copying and moving around to do, especially because I also got a new external hard drive. A sweet 500Gb beast named "Jesus". So now I have 500, 250, and 150 GB hard drives, plus my PC, and it's really probably too much so I'm gonna take one of them to dude? when I got to Osaka next week. The little one of course! I'm so psyched for my trip, NO RAIN! 4 days of work left, tomorrow, Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday, and that's it! PSYCHED! Before I got off track, I was saying that I might do 2 shows next week, one on Tuesday, and 1 while I'm in Osaka with dude? I'll see what he thinks. We might do something else, like record a song, or do another T.O.C. or a Loop Line challenge or something, we shall see!

パイナップルが大好き俺は昨日仕事で眉毛を剃ったぞ～!

the sweet smell of victory!

On Sunday mornin and I headed over to Jingu Stadium for our 3rd game of the season, 2nd T-gres game of the season, and 1st victory! We arrived at the stadium at about 3:45 and proceeded to head to the end of the line... keep in mind, the game did not start until 6:20... we walked, and walked, and walked... finally, we got in line about a half a mile from the stadium! Ridiculous!In this picture you can't even see the stadium, you can see a large fence in the background which is the back side of a driving range, and the stadium is on the other side of the range... and the line winds... ridiculous! So, no more unreserved seats for Tigers games unless the reserved seats are all sold out...

So, on the way in to the stadium, I saw a bunch of flags that said "New Jingu, New Swallows". "New Swallows" I understood because they lost several players in the off-season, but I didn't know that Jingu was "new'. Jingu is my favorite stadium in the Tokyo area because it's small, it's old, and it's a great place to see a game, very nice sight lines, great atmosphere, so what's new? Well, 1st, and most important, they replaced the astro turf with brand new field turf! That is very good news! About time! Why they didn't go for grass, I'm not sure, it would have been the better choice, since it's an outdoor stadium, but of course, it's more expensive, so the field turf is OK I guess. What else is new? Well, let me tell you! Not much. They also added new video screens in center field (it seems), and behind home. I think the one in center is new, I could be wrong, but it seems a bunch clearer and bigger than it used to be. The screen behind home is for sure new because now it shows what is on the big board in center instead of just displaying the score. Aside from those changes, the only other thing that seems to be different is that there are some new concourse shops. I'll give the renovation an B. I think the field change was great, they kept the basic feel of the stadium the same, with some minor improvements, the only thing that could have been better would be grass!