Miyazaki adventures

Beaches, mountains, sparklers, scotch, chicken nanban, ropes, hiking, log cabins, surfers, winding country roads, onsens, sprightly old people, coolers, convenience stores, portable stoves, crap toilets, giant spiders, camp fires, smores, carrots, peanut butter and jam sambos, creepy old men, helpful Canadians, sunrises, traffic jams, mosquitos, inquisitive children, tunnels, baby wipes.

Yup, silver week adventuring in Miyazaki can really take it out of you.

Taiko

How I have failed to mention taiko thus far, I do not know, but now is the time to right that wrong: taiko is deadly. Hitting big drums with large sticks is the most immensely satisfying post-work activity I have ever encountered. I joined a group in Kokura called Wai Wai about six weeks ago and have been going to practice regularly ever since. They're a pretty righteous crew and no doubt about it. They perform all sorts of different routines with bitchin counter-rhythms and amazing breakdowns and stuff and, and... it's just savage.

Above is Adam from Australia, who was good enough to pose for a photo. I think in this shot he managed to express the savage beauty that lies at the heart of this centuries-old art. Nice one, Adam!

Underground metal

One thing I've noticed about Japanese versions of Western pursuits is that they don't do things half-arsed. Case in point: last night's sampling of what Fukuoka's underground metal scene has to offer. Those mad bastards rocked the fuck out of it. Some of them even brought real animal hearts on stage so they could smear themselves in blood before they started their sets. You wouldn't see those pansies down in Fibbers doing that, oh no.

Even the toddlers are in on the game. I met this gentleman and his mother outside where every now and then, he would treat the assembled crowd to complex drumming improvisations. The time signature changes were so fast and downright controversial that, to the untrained philistine, it might have sounded like he was just slapping away on the pavement, having a laugh. Not to these finely tuned-ears, though. No, this boy will go far.

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

Yesterday, I went to see the SoftBank Hawks take on the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Fukuoka's Yahoo Dome. Now, I've always thought baseball was a bit of a crap sport and this game did little to change my mind. That said, the crowd was proper psyched and gave it socks even when the Hawks were getting their arses kicked.

More exciting than the fans, though, were these stickers that stewards handed out when you got into the stadium.

Sunset Live 2009

Sunset Live is a festival that's been going down every summer for nearly twenty years in Fukuoka. The great food, proximity to the beach, beautiful weather and eclectic line-up make for an excellent weekend.

All of that faded into the background, however, when I discovered the Marlboro stand at which you could make your own personalised packet of cigarettes.

I put lightning bolts on mine.

Enkai

The average enkai (Japanese office party) doesn't usually begin with a trip to a men's sauna. But for some reason my first one, which took place over the weekend, did. Oh well, I can't deny that there's something liberating about standing around naked with a load of lads. Sure, at the end of the day, we all have genitals. And if there's a better way to break the ice with a large group of male co-workers than getting bollock-naked in a room together and then lathering up at a row of sit-down showers before hitting the sauna, then I'll be damned.

After drying up, we moved on to dinner, where I made a speech (this particular event was in my honour as a new member of staff) and then got bleedin' mad wrecked. Such a state of intoxication provided the perfect mental state for me to attempt to speak Japanese and I like to think that I learned something from the experience. If only I could remember what exactly that was...

The drinking continued afterwards at a karaoke bar. I don't think I have to explain how amazing karaoke with a load of drunk Japanese high school teachers is. There was amorous serenading of nearby tables of middle-aged ladies, tying of work-ties around foreheads, tambourines, everything.

Man, I love Japan.

Sports Day

When it comes to sports day, the Japanese don't mess around. There's military stylee marching, brass bands, that thing where people make pictures with different-coloured placards that you can only see from really far away (as above), cheerleading, human pyramids, human bridges, martial arts displays and also sports. Very exciting.

Sports day also means that students get most of the preceeding two weeks off to prepare and teachers get to sit around in the sun supervising activities/craftily snoozing under the cover of sunglasses. Fantastic.

Some take it a little too seriously, though, like that student who visibly wept when his team won the overall prize. That was a strange one alright. That said, it certainly beats the last sports day I was at when I was 14 and I tried hurdles and fell over lots and couldn't actually physically finish the race because I was too shit.

That kind of thing stays with you...

Sprite Zero

Many things are sexier than water: noticeboards, couches, ties, actual sex and now... Sprite Zero.

Get it into ye.

The Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art

So, there I was, moseying around the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, in one of the more obscure corners of the gallery, when WHAT did I come across but a print of The Great Wave Off the Coast of Hanagawa. Y'know, that one.

I must say, it fulfilled all of my expectations about what a stereotypical Japanese art gallery should contain.

Then afterwards, when I was walking home (through the scary woods, as you can see above), I saw a snake and it was wriggling at me (with intent, no doubt).

I won't lie to you, I ran away.

But I live to appreciate art another day.