Nagasaki

Nagasaki is a very nice spot indeed. I recently dropped by to moderately tear shit up with a friend and good times were had. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to communicate the excitingness of the place when the only pictures I took were of war atrocity memorials. These are not exciting things. It was a short-sighted move. At least this picture is nice and colourful (but don't go getting excited about it, because these origami displays are meant to honour the dead, you bastard).

Fireworks

You have to hand it to the Chinese, not only did they invent paper and Chinese food, but they were also the first ones on the ball with fireworks. Ten points! Then the Japanese got wind of what was going down and made them bigger, faster and more colouredy then ever. Possibly. Either way, I went to a fireworks display in the nearby town of Nogata last night. It was pretty cool alright, although my crap photos don't do the thing much justice.

The following day, a very lovely lady with whom I work informed me that she saw me there the previous night and then, with a wink, made a drinky-drinky gesture. Yes, that's right, I was drinking, however, that shit is legal in public in Japan, which is why it is such a great and powerful nation.

Perhaps public drinking deserves its own post.

Back to fireworks, though, for a second: fireworks are savage.

Space World

Space World in Kitakyushu is a pretty exciting place alright. It's a space-themed, er, theme park and there's rollercoasters and 3-D fillums and a space museum and machines that spray water at you as you walk by for no discernible reason and all sorts of shit - fantastic. It's also the home of that cute little panda feller you see up there in the title box. I went last week with a few friends and got so overexcited that, before I even got through the gates, I managed to buy myself a year pass. Oh my! Anyways, I would recommend dropping by should you just happen to find yourself in the vicinity; and, I dunno, maybe if you are going, I could come along too. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I have this year pass thing, so I can go whenever I like. For a whole year.

Yeah, Space World is the best.

Squat toilets

In a country as technologically advanced as Japan, one might expect the populace to have long ago cast squat toilets into the abyss of defunctness (yes, apparently that is a word) along with their malnourished Tamagotchi and mini-disc players. But no, it would seem that the affectionately named "squatty potties" are, in fact, all the rage. How exactly one uses such a device without messing themselves up real bad remains a mystery as old as time. Actually, there are probably tutorials on YouTube, but I don't care to watch them. No, squatty potties are against God and man and that's the end of it.

Incidentally, my workplace only features such receptacles in the men's toilets (they have nice, sit-down affairs in the ladies' staff toilet, but I've only been working there for two weeks and to be caught using the ladies' might have a significant impact on future working relationships). This is a most undesirable development indeed.

UPDATE: It has subsequently come to my knowledge (upon looking in a second cublicle) that the men's bathroom DOES in fact have a non-squat toilet. So I won't be shitting all over my own pants any time soon then (phew).

Smokes

Cigarettes are cheap in Japan (about €2.50 a packet - take that, life expectancy!). Also, the health warnings are in Japanese so they don't really count. There are many exciting brands you can enjoy here. I picked up some Seven Stars the other day - I don't think this particular variety would market very well at home. They come in a pack as opposed to a girly carton, which makes for a more satisfying smoking experience. Cigarettes can be purchased in many locations, including the approximately sixty bazillion vending machines that are dotted all over the country. But that's another post for another day...