Holidays.

あけまして　おめでとう　ございます！
akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!
Happy New Year!

Well that certainly was one of THE best Christmas's and New Year's that I've ever had!

And if you're wondering, Yes I did end up cleaning the house. It was just getting too messy, I couldn't stand it!

Anyways. New Years was much more eventful than Christmas, what with the guys Skinny Dipping in Lake Toya on New years Eve at 1am. And let me remind you that it is the middle of winter and there is about 1.5m of snow! Not the wisest of Ideas but funny none the less. I didn't take part. I was an innocent bystander looking out for people walking past so that the guys didn't get arrested!

That was all fun and games. The 2nd of Jan was spent cleaning and recovering. Konrad drank half a bottle of Vodka and a few glasses of wine, but funnily enough, he was fine and he didn't skinny dip the night before. But he did fall asleep while we were watching Blade. But anyways.

The 3rd should have been a day spent travelling, but it wasn't. There was too much snow, so our train to take us to the ferry terminal was delayed. We had to get the one at 23:45, which was a royal pain in the arse.

The next day, after a few ups and downs, we finally arrived at our destination, TOKYO!! I met up with my very very good friend, Yoshihiro Takahashi. And he took me about all the places in Tokyo. It was so so good! Exept Harajuku and Akihabara. There is just one word for those parts of Tokyo. Ugly. Pure and Simply Ugly. Harajuku does have a few nice places like the Meiji-Jingu Shrine. But that's it. Takeshita Street is a mess. Takeshita street, if you didn't know is supposed to be the Height of Fashion. Fair enough it has loads of shops for all different tastes, but there are only two shops there that I would buy from. And get this. There is even a shop that sells glasses. Yea well, so does Vision express, but what's different with this one is that the glasses aren't perscription, just for show. How can people be that Vain?! Harajuku is also where you go if you're into Cos-Play. It's cool in some respects if you see some really good Cos-Play like Cloud, Yuna or any FF character. Or random things that look really good. But when you see a grown woman dressed up as a kids TV character, you get kinda depressed. Especially when you see her having a cigarette! Imagine the impact that would have had on a child who adores that TV programme! the kid at 7 years old starting to smoke because he saw his hero do it. The all his friends would start, and then who knows what? Anarchy for all I know! All of this because of one tiny place in one huge Metropolis. Harajuku.

Akihabara isn't much better. No it doesn't have grown men and women dressing up as Cartoon characters. But it's so full of nerds! And it's so so dirty! Shops are thrown up anywhere and everywhere. You can find anything you want there. But you have to know where to look, and to know where to look you have to spend time there. Spend time searching through all of those shops looking at what they have to offer. Fair enough, if you're into computers and what makes them tick and all the latest computer gadjets, processors, RAM, ROM, Webcams, Anything, it's the place for you. But you have to spend time looking. And I couldn't spend anylonger than 15mins in that place. It is not nice. And that's that.

I also visited Shibuya, Ueno and Otsuka. Not much to write about. It's everything the guidebooks say aout them. But if you are ever going to go to Tokyo. You have to visit Shibuya. I love it there. I only spent at most 8 hours there. But it was 8 hours that i will not forget. Yes it's huge, unorganised and very busy. But I was in awe there. There's just something about it. Just sitting in the Starbucks across from Shibuya Station, looking down at the very famous crossing. Seeing all of those people waiting to cross, then the lights changing and the people crossing, the lights changing again, the people stopping, more people arriving to wait for the lights to change and when they change, it happens again. So many people crossing to each side just to meet in the middle and for a brief moment the mass of people reaches a peak and then dwindles down to nothing, only a few stragglers rushing at the last minute. It's almost like waves crashing down on a beach. The crest just about to crash down, just waiting for the light to change and when it happens, Chaos. Bubbles, water and sand all mixed into one. Then it all slows down. It relaxes and the water receeds. The light change and another wave waits to cross and start the Chaos. It's a constant. And the most peaceful thing in the world. Sitting on the seaside watching the waves hit the sand. Only realising that you're sitting in a Cafe in the busiest City in the world watching the waves of people hitting the sand.

Don't ask me where that came from. It'll probably not happen again for a while. But it's because of Japan. That's a fact. You have to think about these things. There's something wrong with you if you don't.

I spent a few of my days of my Holiday in Izu too. with Yoshi. It was really really cool. We stayed at his grandfathers house. A really nice house. But cold like most houses in Japan. But it had a nice warmth to it. Namely because Yoshi's grandfather is a very nice man. He doesn't speak english, but his gestures made me feel at home. He made the most delicious meals, some Japanese ones too. Although I did feel odd at eating pasta in the morning.

I also went to a beautiful Onsen with Yoshi. I keep forgetting the name of it, but I'm sure I'll be reminded if and when Yoshi reads this... Hint hint. Anyways, the scenery from that room was so nice. Looking down on the slightly snowy bay, which sharply rose into Hills and forest. Like much of the rest of Japan outside the Major Cities.

I travelled back up to Hokkaido by myself. It was very refreshing. And I met a really nice girl too. I forgot her name though. I am crap with this whole name business. especially in Japan. They are so complicated. But it's cool if they Have nicknames like Yoshi. Anyways. I got back to Hokkaido and was in awe once more. Not because of the people. But because of the amount of snow! There was so so much! Still is. One downside is shovelling it away. You have to incase it crushed your windows. That's how much there is here. In other places there is about 3m of the stuff! And it's killed a fair amount of people because it settles on the roofs and makes them cave in! But it's not that bad up here, yet!!

I had my first ski lesson here too. That was a hell of alot of fun. And I only fell three times. Quite proud. Until I looked at the 6 year olds going down the slopes. But then again, they live here I don't. I have another one tomorrow so I'm looking forward to it.

The mother of one of the Senior High School Pupils invited me in to their house on Saturday too. it was really nice of them. I sat and had tea and they spoke English, Badly, and I spoke Japanese, Badly. But we all understood each other. Yesterday, to return the favour I invited them to my house. Two of my Pupils came over. Which was decent enough. We watched FFVII: Advent Children and played Mariokart Double Dash. Excellent game. It was really cool. Advent Children is in Japanese and they tried explaining some of it in english. Which was good because that's what I'm there for. Their Enlgish Teacher. And it was refreshing to see that I was having some impact!

Anyways. Thats all for now. My hands hurt from typing!

Catch you Later!

Ryan