Chugger (noun): Charity + Mugger
Paid “charity” street worker (read: student) who has been trained to believe that they are carrying out a worthy task, improving peoples’ lives by conning Joe Public out of their money for this week’s Good Cause. Usually an agency worker where the agency takes a hefty cut of the hourly rate that the charity in question has paid for, whilst at the same time increasing profits by selling on details of those foolish enough to actually stop and sign up to said Good Cause. (Urban Dictionary)

So while your walking down town and trying to mind your own business and keep your money safe, what methods do you use to try and steer clear of these young ambitious (and seemingly well paid) chuggers? A couple of friends and I have assembled a top 10 list of our favourite tried and tested methods that have got us out of awkward conversations and helped a real charity-case; ourselves. I do want to point out that I’m not against charities and do give what I can when I can (which I’ll admit isn’t very often), but I’m not a fan of “all these people are suffering and only you can help them” type sales pitches. I don’t want that kind of responsibility, I’m not frickin’ Batman.

Honourable Mention: Rugby – When eye contact is made, picture yourself on a rugby pitch with the tri line just behind them. Run, dodge and weave your way right past them, not stopping until you’ve planted your non-existent ball (usually your shopping) in the scoring zone (usually the lap of an elderly man sitting on a bench).

Chuggers may use subtle psychology to try and part you from your money.

9. Be Literate – As well as killing time on a long commute, having a book, newspaper, or magazine to hand can help bypass a chugger or two. Open a page and put your nose right in to give you an excuse not to notice the massive smiley person after your money. However, try to keep an eye on where you’re going, particularly if you’re heading towards a main road, otherwise a chugger will be the last of your worries.

8. The Direct Approach – Chuggers are trained to be very friendly and positive in their approach, so this is a regular fire versus fire technique. Instead of allowing a chugger to spot and approach you, you head in their direction with the biggest creepy grin your can concoct. You can make this more effective by turning your head slightly sidewise but maintaining eye contact. The goal is to get nearer to the chugger so they get creeped out and move to someone behind you. However, cock-this up and you’ve virtually given your bank details right to them.

7. The Very Direct Approach – The English language has been blessed with a rich lexicon, as such there are plenty of words that you wouldn’t want your 8 year old to shout in front of a church of elderly people. This technique is commonly used by anyone who has had a bad day, normally work-related, but isn’t recommended for people with small children (protect their little sodding ears and all that). It works simply as this, when approached by a chugger, trying to capture your attention by talking about how great things are, you simple keep on walking but give them two “words of encouragement” that rhyme with Cook Off.

6. Be Embarrassing – Most effective when you’re visiting somewhere that people are unlikely to see you again, so not one for your home towns. Once eye contact with a chugger is made you have but a few seconds to try and make yourself as unappealing as possible and make the chugger go straight for the unfortunate person behind you. Some suggestions are faking tourettes, rip off your t-shirt and shove it down your bottoms, or get into dance mode and try to moonwalk past the chugger.

5. The Floor – I’ll tell you what, I never noticed how fascinate the floor is. Go ahead, have a look. If you think it’s pretty good now, it’s really thrilling when you’re out there on Chugger Street. Pulling off the ‘Stare At The Floor’ does require a bit of a steely determination, and a dynamite concentration. Try focussing on the feet of the person in front of you, unless of course it’s a chugger. Like the reading a book tip, watch where you’re heading.

To be fair, this Chugger started his spiel with "I'm not after your money today".

3. Eigo ga dekinai (I don’t speak English) – A treat for anyone who has an interest in the world. For this one to work you have to be able to mutter a line or two in a foreign language, something most of us can do thanks to learning it at school (if we can remember that far back) or European holidays. Beware that most chuggers are or have been University students, and it’s very possible that they studied that language that you are about to try and blag your fluency in. This is more likely to be the case with European languages. Thankfully I have yet to meet a chugger who can speak Japanese.

2. iGnore – The beauty of the portable music player has meant that you have a visible reason for blatantly ignoring people. Spot a chugger down the street and whack your headphones in. You don’t even need to be listening to anything, as long as your headphones are visible you can just breeze past them. You can make this more effective by singing along (quietly) to what you’re listening to (or pretending to listen to). Of course listening to loud music means you’re (supposedly) more likely to get robbed, so still keep your wits about you.

Smart move my friend, keep your hands on your money ... literally.

So there we have it, our top ten tips on how to avoid getting chugged. Unfortunately if the dialogue begins you’re on your own there, but here are three quick methods of trying to break it. First of all, if they ask you any ‘Qualifier Question’ (ie are you in a specific age group) just say “No”. If it’s followed up with other questions just repeat No until they get bored of you. If they have a memorised script then let them say the entire thing, then just stand there for a moment, make a few “thinking noises” then casually walk off. If all else fails, start crying. You can almost guarantee they’ll let you go.

And just because a friend of mine asked me how the Japanese ignore people, here’s a rather stereotypical scenario (set to start at 5:33).

Four of us decided to run for the position, which normally changes annually, so we each announced why we’d make a suitable candidate. In front of a lot of people I ended up initially forgetting to mention the fact I’d previously set up and ran an anime club in Shropshire, and other things I thought after would have swung votes my way. Votes gave a two-way tie between myself and a well known society member. A second round of voting, for which we were asked to leave the room for vote by show of hands, also resulted in a tied vote. However after yet another re-vote (and what I can only imagine as a lot of luck, for which I’m very grateful mind you) I won the election.

The result of ongoing strike action in Leeds.

I open my front door and across the road there’s a matress and a fridge, both dumped there from one of the neighbouring restaurants/landlords. Cheeky buggar initially put the matress to rest on our house; we put it right back. I look to the right from my front door and 10 meters down the road there’s another matress, sodden and covered in oil from a restaurant and the recent rain. But worse is when I turn the corner of the house. Full wheelie bins and bags of crap lying in wait to be collected by someone, anyone!

The council (apparently) have contracted private refuse collectors for now, but collections are few and far between. It didn’t really help that people walking by from the takeaways would use our bin anyway, but now it’s seriously getting nasty. The advice the council have given is

Residents should continue to put all their bins out – black, green or brown – on their normal scheduled collection day.

If your bins have not been emptied by 8 p.m. (please note new time) on your day of collection please take them back into your garden or yard and put them out on your next scheduled collection day.

If your bins are full, put any extra rubbish into bags, store them safely and put them out next to your bin on your next scheduled collection day.

You can also take any excess recycling or waste to your nearest Household Waste Sorting Site. More containers have been provided for both recyclable waste and rubbish at Household Waste Sorting Sites – please check for a full list of our sites and their opening times.

but this leaves a few problems. We don’t have a yard or garden, and we’re sure as hell not having this crap in the kitchen or living room. I’ve also looked at where these Household Waste Sorting Sites are and unless I fancy carrying bags of shite for miles, I’m not budging. I also don’t think I could take a bus with them either. I’m not going to pretend like I know all the ins and outs of why the binmen are striking, but as long as they’re holding the city of Leeds at randsom, it’s pretty hard to sympathise with them.

Record yourself following the audition lines below in MP3 format, and send them to me at darlo@darlosworld.co.uk. The audition deadline will be Saturday 10th October (6pm BST), so there’s still plenty of time.

Audition Lines:

• Good morning Anna, are you ready to learn today?
• Would you like to learn some Japanese?
• Do you know any Japanese already? (Anna thinks, but doesn’t seem to know any) Oh I’m sure you know some Japanese words, let’s think really hard.
• To say “I am Anna”, you say “Watashi wa Anna desu”.
• (Anna get’s it wrong and laughs it off) Never mind, shall we try again?
• Very good Anna well done … (stammers and get’s cut off as Anna recites a phrase of Japanese) oh Anna, now you’re just showing off, aren’t you.

Here’s the animation so you can get a feel for it. Don’t worry about timing the lines accordingly, as I will make adjustments to the timings.

AUDITIONS RECEIVED (last updated 10th October 09)
Kakkun
Jason Phelps
katy
R Wong
slowolf88
Tiffany
wushubabe
Damaru12
Jennifer Vaughn
KingTsundere
Tylec

Enjoy!

Green Pea

Black Bean

Peanut

Natto

Edamame

Red Bean

Sweet Bean

Coffee Bean

Cashew Nut

Jelly Bean

However something around me seemed to be very funny and slightly off. Everything was surrounded in a very soft blur and I noticed I would very easily lose focus. Now this is something I’m used to when eating (thanks to my wonderful lazy left eye), but to notice it when I was just walking along was a little strange.

Could it be possible that all this last minute effort has given me (or has begun to give me) “Love Hina Syndrome”? For those that don’t know Love Hina is an anime & manga in which the main character, Keitaro Urashima, is trying to get into Tokyo University. Various aspects of his character I’ve been able to relate to since first encountering the series such as the duration it takes him to get into University as opposed to normal, the fact that he works with just girls (something that I encountered during my time at The Bear Factory) in a Japanese dorm (like me now … only this isn’t an all girls dorm), and now it seems I’ve may have studied too hard and destroyed my eyes. Well, my right eye anyway. Ol’ lefty was always crap.

I’ll see how I get on, but if you start to notice these blog entries looking like someone’s just been smushing a fist against the keyboard, then that’s the time to worry.

狼と香辛料 (Ookami to Koushinryou, Wolf and Spice (refferred to as Spice and Wolf in the UK)), is an anime I first saw at the Leeds Anime Society. I was mainly entranced by it’s storyline that wasn’t set in Japan, but old Europe, and the fact that it uses early economics and trading as a continual baseline. ¬_¬ Yeah that may sound dull and boring to you, but shush, it was great. So not only did I manage to find a copy of the game (that I didn’t know even existed), but I found a special edition box set. I just checked the Spice & Wolf website to find it has a price of 7,770 yen (£54.33), however I paid a measly 2,940 yen (£20.56). I’ve just opened the box and found a ‘Horo voice in a bag’, an audio CD, and of course the game itself. Not bad.

My other bargain was partially based on something I bought yesterday (but forgot to blog about). There are two Higurashi (yeah I know, lately I haven’t shut up about the series) games on the DS which I’ve been wanting to get since I first noticed them back in September, but they were just too expensive. Well yesterday after dropping a 13.8kg box of books at the post office (which will take about 3 months to reach the UK), I found a copy of the second game at a reasonable price (with a 200 yen coupon I had) of 2,280 yen (£15.94), so scooped it up.

Fast forward to today where I find the special edition (Angel Mort) boxed version of the second game for a meagre 1,890 yen (£13.22). The cheapest I’d seen this edition was in the region of 5,000-6,000 yen (£34.96-£41.95), so let’s open her up and see what she holds inside …

We have the game (of course), a framed Shion & Mion card in an Angel Mort stamp card (might take a while for me to read what it says inside >_<), 2 Angel Mort coasters (one written in English: “Dear Customer, Welcome to my cafe. How lucky you are to have chanced upon this place. A place that will make your dreams come true. Have you found your favourite angel? If not, don’t worry. Keep visiting us, and you’ll find your one and only. Please enjoy yourself to the full. We are here to serve you. From, shop owner”), 2 sticker cards, an Angel Mort flanel/hand towel, a paper Angel Mort apron, and an Angel Mort Drama CD. Quite a haul really. You can see a picture of what’s inside on this forum page, though for some reason they got an extra amulet thingy.

So in buying this I was left with the predicament of having two of the same game. My choices were simple. I could either keep both games, try and sell one on to a friend (or eBay), or try and take the more expensive one back to the shop. Despite not knowing how refunds were conducted in Japan or if any etiquette was needed on my part, I opted for the last option.

After quickly looking up the vocabulary for returning something to a shop 返送 (hensou) and refund 払い戻し (haraimodoshi), I headed to the shop (open 24-7, or as is said in Japanese 4-6 (四六時中, shirokujichuu, open around the clock, 4 x 6 = 24)) with the game, the receipt, and what I hoped was the same carrier bag.

Normally in the UK getting a refund isn’t a very simple process. Well, I guess it is (as long as you’re not a prick to whoever’s serving you), but normally the shop will want you to fill in a form, give your address, wait for a manager and so on and so on. With this in mind I was somewhats apprehensive about the whole thing, especially as I still take a good 10 minutes or so writing out my address. When I approached the counter I explained that “I bought the game yesterday as a birthday present for my friend, but he already had it so I wanted to return it” (my usual blatant returning product lie ಠ_ಠ). The staff member then popped to the back and returned with another member of staff. She then checked the amount with me and returned my money with a smile. No paper to fill in, no signatures to sign, that was it … done.

I think I’ll be leaving these two games for the plane trip back, but in the mean time, here’s what I bought today (these will be added to The List at some point, along with the ones I bought that day we went to the Mother Cafe.

• DS Games
• ひぐらしのなく頃に絆第一巻・想　エンジェルモートお持ち帰りBOX
• 狼と香辛料　ボクとホロの一年　初回限定版

• Music CD
• Moment by Vivian or Kazuma

• Sound Novels (games)
• うみねこのなくの頃に　第一話 (also came with a very funky metal bookmark
• うみねこのなくの頃に　第二話
• うみねこのなくの頃に　第三話 (I already had this, but couldn’t remember which of the three I didn’t have)

• Manga
• Genshiken – book 6 (series complete)
• Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei – books 10 to 16 (series complete … for now)
• The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – book 5 and a one off special anthology
• Love Hina – book 0
• Akihabara Ichiman Chanel (1 off)
• Higurashi – the remaining books from the 罪滅し編 (tsumihoroboshi hen)
• Higurashi – the remaining book from the 宵越し編 (yoigoshi hen)
• Higurashi – コンプエース編 (comp ace hen)
• Higurashi – Book 1 of 5 of the 語咄し編 コミックアンソロジー (cohanashi hen comic anthology)

• Day 1 – Shinkansen, Hiroshima, Peace Talks, Someone Elses University
• Day 2 – The Island, The Bridge, The Discrimination
• Day 3 – Clapping, Caving, Cop-Out, ID?

Day 1

Shinkansen, Hiroshima, Peace Talks, Someone Elses University

Having a trip not going in the direction of Osaka meant that I didn’t have to be sour about having to skip breakfast; the previous 2 class trips had us go all the way to Kobe to meet the group then head back through Osaka (moments from the dorm) to get to the destination. Something also was different on this morning and that was the fact that because the dorm I’m in now serves breakfast from 6:30 instead of 7, I didn’t need to skip it at all, though with the amount of mayonnaise on the plate I just stuck with the toast.

On this trip we were taking the 新幹線 (Shinkansen, bullet train) a first for many of us, so timing was crucial. The meeting point was also at a different station to what we were normally used to, but because we left earlier than usual we didn’t feel much of a rush, knowing full well we’d be on time. I was thankful to see that all the other students also made it on time, knowing for a fact they’d get left behind (something that didn’t happen in previous trips, much to my dissapointment).

Passing a vending machine with a rather funny sign urging us to “drink tobacco” (photo taken of course), we boarded Nozomi 101 and took our seats and prepared for the trip. As expected from a train with an operating speed of 300kmph (186.4 mph), travelling to Hiroshima was incredibly fast, arriving in just one hour and 15 minutes.

In Hiroshima we met up with our very friendly, though a little nervous, tour guide. The bus seemed to be where most people felt at ease as the majority of us soon found ourselves falling asleep. This was a feature common throughout the whole trip, regardless of how much sleep we’d get at the hotels.

Stop one was lunch and for this we went to お好み焼き村 (Okonomiyaki Mura, Okonomiyaki Village) for some Okonomiyaki. Hiroshima, it seems, has become famed for it’s style of okonomiyaki, much to the same way my own home town of Osaka has for the same reason (read this short article for differences between the two). Our food was already ordered before we got there (the ‘speciality’ okonomiyaki) so unfortunately for me I had no choice in what went in it, meaning I couldn’t say “please … no mayo”, which has happened every time I’ve had okonomiyaki in the past. However this time it was different, no sign of that awful white gunk could be seen at all, and I managed to eat the entire thing getting a satisfyingly full stomach.

When I look back at the photos I took of and in our next destination, the 広島平和記念公園 (Hiroshima Heiwa Kinen Kouen, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park), I feel … something. I’m not sure exactly what it is and I don’t want that to come across as one of the many generic “Oh my gawd I can’t believe we did that to those people”-type comments that I heard way too often from tourists when I was there, but something in the park definately had some kind of effect on me.

The only times that I’d seen the A-Bomb dome, the skeletal remains of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, a building that’s structure survived largely due to it being at the epicenter of the atomic blast, was from はだしのゲン (Hadashi no Gen, Barefoot Gen). Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa, is a manga (later an anime) which depicts the semi-autobiographical tale of a boy surviving the nuclear blast which, in itself, also had a profound effect on me. Perhaps it’s because I don’t know much about the war itself, or much of what happened either side of it.

My feeling of ‘something’ was further emphasised when we went onto the 広島平和記念資料館 (Hiroshima Heiwa Kinen Shiryoukan, Hiroshima Peach Memorial Museum). Seeing simple things like a watch which stopped at 8:15am (on the 6th of August 1945) and models showing before and after versions of the area that we were in were a bit too much for some, as they left the museum back through the entrance rather than see the whole thing. Perhaps that was a good thing. Had they reached the part of the exhibition that showed how people were walking with their skin dripping from their bodies and jumping into rivers filled with blood to cool down from the heat only to realise it was boiling, who knows how they’d have reacted.

After the museum, at the recommendation of one of my teachers I then went to the nearby 国立広島原爆死没者追悼平和記念館 (Kokuritsu Hiroshima Genbaku Shibotsusha Tsutou Heiwa Kinen Kan, Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims). Topped with a simple water feature, made with tiles from buildings destroyed 63 years ago, you are made to walk down a seemingly never ending hallway with information points along the way, until you reach the main hall. From here you get a 360 panoramic view of the area in ruins, again with a very basic water feature in the center of the room. In the next room was a wall covered in changing pictures of the people who had died and were being mourned for. There were also computer monitors if you wanted to look for specific people (no Darlingtons were on the system).

Back in the park I was treated to my first viewing of 桜 (sakura, Japanese cherry blossoms) in bloom. This is something that has been gradually getting earlier with lots of people suggesting global warming, however I can’t find any decisive sources to agree or disagree with that. So going into artistic cameraman mode i tried taking plenty of different shots with different angles and backgrounds and managed to get a few nice ones (as well as a heap of not-so nice ones). It was quite funny though as later on the bus one person commented that “anyone can become an artist by taking a photograph of sakura”. I laughed a little.

On that note there are still new photo’s of my time in Japan being updated daily.

We headed to the hotel and were joined by students from Matsuyama University’s English Speaking Society Club for a Peace Study Session. In this session we talked about the dropping of Little Boy on the city we were in, and whether any aspects of it could be justifiable or not. Arguements ranged from “It’s all fair in love and war” style comments to whether or not America was using the citizens of Hiroshima as “Human Guinea Pigs”, as they really didn’t know what would happen.

After this we were free to head out for dinner or whatever. The hotel closed it’s doors at midnight so our only limitation was to be back before then. I already had my plan for that night before we even left Kansai. Lately my inspiration has been yoyo-ing like the toy of the same name, so I wanted to see somewhere that inspired someone that I looked up to, and this being Hiroshima was my chance.

One of my Japanese teachers back in the UK studied in Hiroshima, so I wanted to get a photo of the university not only for my own inspiration increase, but also something to send back to say “look where I went ^_^”. After searching the best way to get there, wasting a couple of hours before the trip when I should have been packing, I eventually realised I was looking at the wrong university. Think of it as someone saying they studied in Leeds, naturally one would assume they went to the University of Leeds, but no, they went to Leeds Metropolitan University. That’s what I get for making assumptions.

Unlike the trip to Kanazawa, I couldn’t find anyone daft enough to join me on the trip which, according to googlemaps, would take just over an hour and have me walk over an unpathed, unlit mountain. However I changed the route to suit my need of being able to see where I was going. I had to take two trams to reach my walking starting line, but here I hit a snag. In Japan I’d only taken trains and taxis as public transport. I’d avoided taking busses from fear of looking like a complete burk, but it wasn’t until I reached the tram station I realised I had the same problem. I had no idea what to do.

Somehow I was at the front of the queue, so after letting everyone onto the tram before me, observing what they were doing, I got on and took and sat down. From there I had a few stops to learn how to get off and pay properly, unlike trains I couldn’t merely get off and go on the tram going the other way until I’d figured it out. Unfortunately for me from the next stop it got too busy for me to see what was happening, and thus when my stop came I simply muttered to myself “oh buggar”. I headed to the driver and simply asked “中電前からいくらですか。” (chuudenmae kara ikura desu ka, How much from Chuudenmae?), and whacked the appropriate amount in the slot, pretty much the same as busses in Birmingham … ish.

The walking section was nice and peaceful. It actually reminded me somewhat of walking from Okamoto train station to Konan University, only at night … and much longer … and up more hills … and I didn’t really know where I was going. I was also a little surprised at the number of police cars going past, lights flashing, but as long as it wasn’t me they were after I don’t mind. After finding the university, about a half hour walk away, I took a photograph of the main gate (I didn’t go in because it was a womens uni), and made a little video message to my sensei.

The walk home seemed to go really fast, and I did feel like I was more inspired to work my arse off. I think I’ll make similar trips to my other sensei’s uni’s (thank goodness they’re only in Osaka and Kyoto).

I chose to walk the entire trip back instead of taking the two trams so I could see a lot more of Hiroshima than the others, seeing a whole range of stores, restaurants, buildings and of course the local prison (Hiroshima Detention House). Passing a small arcade I tried to replicate the luck we’d had on the Kanazawa trip by winning a toy from a UFO grabber. Though I didn’t manage to get a huge toy like we did on the last trip (I still have no idea how I’ll be sending that buggar back to the UK), I did manage to win a small Doraemon keyring.

Buying a carton of hot chocolate from a vending machine (yes, that’s right), I headed on towards McDonalds before heading back to the hotel.

Day 2

The Island, The Bridge, The Discrimination

I’m guessing the song playing may have ended by now, so here’s 手紙 ～拝啓　十五の君へ～ (Tegami ～ Haikei Jyuugo no Kimi e ～, Letter ～ Dear 15 Year Old Me ～) by Angela Aki.

The problem with a buffet stlye breakfast is that if there are things you don’t like (or can’t eat) then you’ll soon find yourself with a very boring plate. Yeah it’ll piled up as much as possible, but a mountain of one or two things hardly excites the tongue. I was however really happy to see that the Aster Plaza Hotel (I’m not sure if it’s actually a Youth Hostel, but if it is then it’s definately one of the better I’ve seen by a long shot) also provided breakfast cereal in the form of Frosties and Choco-cornflakes. Man it’s been so long since I’d had either of those, definately a welcome break from all the toast I normally eat at breakfast.

After brekkie we headed further west to the island of 宮島 (Miyajima) by ferry (and bus, obviously). Miyajima like Nara, is home to a great deal of 鹿 (shika, deer), however unlike Nara where you are encourage to feed them, here tourists were warned not to do so, and to especially avoid any deer with antlers. Miyajima is also home to the 厳島神社 (Itsukushima Jinja, Itsukushima Shrine), a world heritage site that is popularly photographed with it’s 鳥居 (torii, Shinto shrine archway) partially underwater. Of course I also joined in this by taking a few shots. When we were there the tide was in, though some students were brave enough to try to walk out to the torii (despite waist high waters and no spare trousers) to try and touch it and get a photo.

At this point we split up for lunch, a few of use taking a walk up unto the hills where we found a fantastic sitting area and a small cafe with a hoard of blooming sakura trees. After finishing a bowl of udon I was back up with my camera. Likewise the walk back was full of serene views and excellent photographic spots, however because time was starting to go against us I just enjoyed them for that moment, rather than take a dozen pictures.

After arriving back on the mainland we then went even further west to 本州 (Honshuu, Japan’s largest island)’s most western (located, not necessarily styled) prefecture, 山口 (Yamaguchi). We were heading to the 錦帯橋 (Kintaikyou), an impressive bridge whose steep arches resemble snakes … or possibly Nessie, in the 岩国 (Iwakuni) area. In Japan white snakes are considered very lucky, and Iwakuni is no exception with many facilities and viewing spots dedicated to white snakes.

Taking a cable-car up the mountain, we headed to 岩国城 (Iwakuni Jyou, Iwakuni Castle), which was now an impressive museum of the area. It played host to a vast range of swords, armour and other artefacts and an amazing 360 degree view from the roof that was only marred by a couple of morons (sadly from my course) trying to convince one of the patrons to let them play with the swords.

Before heading back to the bus a few of us tried some ice-cream from one of the many (seemingly endless) ice-cream sellers. Given the time of year I tried Sakura flavour and to be honest … it was a flavour I couldn’t even try to describe. I’ll have a go anyway; it was bloody fantastic. This is my new favourite flavour ice-cream (sorry coconut, mint, choc-chip combo) and something I’ll be thinking about everytime I have an ice-cream when I get back to England … with a tear in my eye.

The Hotel Park Avenue (very posh sounding) was nice. Nothing magical, but nothing poor either. Having a TV with a 24 hour anime channel was nice, but to be honest I didn’t watch that much. Strangely enough there was also a channel which only seemed to play Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.

Since I wasn’t planning on visiting anywhere random that night I went for dinner with a few friends. We headed down one road until we eventually came to an Indian restaurant called Ganesh. This is where things went tits up.

There were two factors that enticed us into this restaurant for dinner. First of all was the fact that they had a very nice student offer in the window, and we being students thought it just up our alley. Secondly it was somewhere recommended by some of the staff members that had come on the trip (and were already in there when we entered).

We flicked through the menu, as is customary despite knowing already what we were going to order, when a member of staff came over. We then (in Japanese) ordered the student deal for each of us, when he asked if we had student cards which we then brandished. He then asked us to wait a moment for another staff member, at the time I thought it might have been because he wasn’t confident in using Japanese.

When his friend came over we did the same again, same order, same language, to which we were told that the student offer was only for Japanese students (as oppose to foreign students). Urm … what? Yes that’s right folks. Here is our first real receiving of racial discrimination in Japan … and it came from an Indian restaurant. Even if this were the actual case (something I didn’t buy for a second), how did he know that we weren’t in fact Japanese? Believe it or not there are people who are of non-Japanese origin that are born in Japan, or even people who have been naturalised as Japanese. But it seems not in the eyes of Ganesh, where only 100% pure-blood seems to count. But no it didn’t stop there.

Opening the menus (which were written in English and Katakana … I don’t actually remember there being any kanji in there) our polite and very help fellow then asked (in English) if “we were having trouble reading” the menu. Now perhaps if we’d gone in speaking Danish, Italian, or one of the two languages that wasn’t printed in the sodding menu that would have been helpful, but when a group of customers come into your restaurant the last thing you want to do is insult their intelligence. To his comment one of my friends replied “I can read” (the first time an English word was spoken in the place by one of us), to which the restauranteur said “yes but it’s …”, “yes I can read” repeated my friend.

For me, I’d had enough. I told my friends I’d see them back at the hotel and that I was going elsewhere. Thankfully I didn’t have to go far. Right opposite that crap-shack was a nice little udon place. While I was looking in the window at the plastic display versions, one employee was heading back into the restaurant and gave me a smile and a welcome.

I ordered a cheap udon dish called うどんむすび (udon musubi), which seemed to be a basic udon (thick Japanese wheat noodles in soup) with tempura pieces and seaweed. It also came with a freshly made お握り (onigiri, rice ball), something I’d only ever eaten from a fridge wrapped in plastic. When in came time to pay I and the lady on the counter made small talk in Japanese, and soon I headed off. There were no other customers at all in the restaurant, but it had some great 演歌 (enka, traditional Japanese style song) playing so I could really enjoy my experience.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you find yourself on Ginza Street in Shunan in Yamaguchi (Japan), and want to be treated badly and like a complete idiot (and possibly even lied to and/or discriminated against), then go to Ganesh (here’s a link), but if you want to go somewhere nice, then head to the udon place opposite from them. And just so my Japanese friends don’t miss out on my little warning …

皆、もし（日本の）山口県の周南市の銀座通りにいたら、悪くて取り扱われたかったら（ばかのような人だ、多分あなたに嘘をついて、差別することをくれる）、ガネーシュに行くべきです（こちらはリンクです）。でも、良い所に行きたかったら、向こう側のうどん屋に行く方が良いです。
私は日本語が下手なので、失礼します。T_T

(on that note if anyone from Ganesh is reading this (that is if they’re capable of reading it that is … snide remark over) feel free to comment at the bottom)
(this topic has also been covered on Japan Probe.com)

Day 3

Clapping, Caving, Cop-Out, ID?

Day three’s music comes from The Who, and it’s that classic track Won’t Get Fooled Again.

Despite living in Japan the last time I had a Japanese breakfast was at New Year. Normally the Japanese option at the dorm doesn’t quite appeal to me as much as the toast I’d normally eat, but at this hotel it was our only option so I took it as a welcome change (though I was thankful orange juice was still available).

First on today’s trip was a visit to the 瑠璃光寺 (Rurikouji), a Buddhist temple best known for it’s 5 storied pagoda, which, I was told, was built as a symbol to show the wealth of the land owners (in 1442). In the area of the temple was a small outdoor stone staircase where if you clap or stamp your feet in front of it, it (the clap sound) turned into a strange kind of duck-like quack noise. Quite amazing really, especially with a group of 50 (ish) people all clapping or jumping at the same time. Perhaps it was built to show how quickly humans could be turned into clapping seals so easily.

A traditional Japanese lunch, served in bento form, was provided for us at a nearby souvenir store just ten minutes away, just enough time to get to sleep on the bus before being woke up.

After lunch we headed to the 秋芳洞 (Akiyoshidou), the largest cave system in Japan. On the coach I had a chortle as someone commented “I wonder if it will be cold in the cave, or if it’s one of those heated caves”. However my gigglation (love making up words) soon came to an end as we entered the came to a short warm blast of humidity. In the caves were lots of stunning rock formation that seemed to glisten with the run off of water coming from above, or perhaps that was just people’s sodding flash photography (yes I’m a hypocrite, I used my flash at times ¬_¬).

It was in the caves that I considered my own list of things I wanted to see/do/achieve while in Japan, and how I could actually do some of them by bending the rules slightly. For example, I wanted to take a photo of Mount Fuji, but can’t afford to get there. However, one of the rock formation in the cave was called Mount Fuji. Photo taken, job done. ^_^ Likewise I wanted to see live sumo wrestling, and conveniently enough there was an event in Osaka. But it was too expensive for me to go. However, I did watch a live sumo match on the TV. ^_^ Now I know you’ll be shouting “cop-out” at me, if not you, then certainly I’m shouting it at myself, right before I treat myself to another melon pan.

Our final bus trip was to the Yamaguchi station, where we said goodbye to our tour guide and driver. We were going to be riding part of the way on a steam locamotive 特急 (tokkyuu, limited express) train, something I found to be remeniscent to going on the Severn Valley Railway when I was younger. A lot of the group compared it to the Hogwarts Express (or something) from Harry Potter, but for me it was more like the Flying Pussyfoot from Baccano!

Changing at Shin-Yamaguchi station for the Shinkansen line, we were then given lunch of a sandwich bento and a juice carton. The juice was nice (orange), but I ended up just giving away the sandwiches. Once I’d discovered mayo in over half the sarnies I just gave up and instead went to the nearby udon place (believe it or not, I’m not addicted to udon).

The shinkansen trip home proved to be a relaxing (tiring more like) time for most of us, as it was a pretty quiet trip. I too had headphones in drifting in and out of slumber for the short trip. I did get up and go to the bog at one point and let me tell you this, standing up and going for a wee at 186 mph is not easy. I’m only thankful that I wasn’t on top of the train doing it >_<.

We arrived at Shin-Kobe and then headed our seperate ways.

After getting back at the dorm in just enough time to miss dinner, a friend and I went to the 99 yen shop for some food. Feeling the mood I also bought a can of beer. However something happened that hasn’t happened to me in Japan before, or anywhere else for a long time. I was asked for ID to prove I was over twenty! Wow, I wasn’t angry, just shocked for a moment. To be honest I’m glad it happened because it means that there are people in Japan who will ask you to show it, and since I had my 外国人登録証明書 (Gaikokujin Touroku Shoumeisho, alien registration card) with me, something we have to keep with us by law I might add, I was happy to show it and be on my way.

Ladies and gentlemen this concludes the story of my recent trip to the west of Honshuu. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it (or bits of it), and welcome any comments. I’ll see you next time!

Good evening everyone and welcome to 春分の日 (shumbun no hi, Vernal Equinox Day), a national holiday here in Japan where people visit graves of departed family members and holding family reunions. And since I could do neither of the above, how did I spend my day eh?

Well to start with a nice lie-in was had (no food on holidays, you know the drill by now) as well as a day off from Uni. This in itself seems quite rare, as we normally (as exchange students) go in on most national holidays. Some of my Leeds friends at other Uni’s in Japan always seem somewhat shocked that we still have to go in during the Spring break.

Today I’d arranged with a couple of Japanese friends to go down to 日本橋 (Nippombashi) to look at the second hand manga shops and other anime related goodies. Like me, my friends arrived earlier than we agreed to meet so we could head off earlier. I love it when people are punctual ^_^.

After arriving at Nippombashi we headed in the direction of Den Den Town to first grab some food. Suddenly we came face to face with a barrier and a guard directing foot traffic. After crossing a road to where we wanted to go, we noticed a sign over a bridge saying that ‘something’ (not being able to read the kanji) was happening that day. According to my friends there was some kind of festival on, but even they weren’t entirely certain, suggesting it could be an Otaku Festival.

Sure enough the moment we turned the corner the street was jam packed with cosplayers, photographers and maids among other people. Voices could be heard over loudspeakers aswell as the excited calls of shop staff as they tried as hard as they could to entice people in to make a sale or two. After having a very brief nose around, we headed to the nearest McDonalds.

After chowing down we headed off down the road to the A-Too Media Recycle Shop, my favourite shop in the area. For my friends, this was the first time they’d gone to Nippombashi, so going in a shop that had manga starting at 10 yen (just over 7p at today’s rate) appeared to be a real treat. I too was astounded by the number of books that had been put down into the 50 yen and 100 yen sales. Picking up 7 books from the 100 yen section and a set of 6 books for 300 yen I headed for the till.

Now, either this shop was having an amazingly generous sale, they undercharged me, or both. Let’s just do a little math shall we? 7 books at 100 yen is 700 yen, plus the 6 book set for 300 yen, totalling 1000 yen (convenient number). Now when I was at the counter I heard one girl (there were two at the counter serving me) mention that the 100 yen books were now at 50 yen. This in itself was pretty sweet, so let’s change the equation. 7 books at 50 yen is 350 yen, plus the 6 book set for 300 yen, totalling 650 yen, right? ブー (buu, wrong (audible noise like a buzzer)).

I paid a total of 410 yen (£2.97) for my 13 books, giving an average price per book at just under 32 yen (23p) each. Get in! Checking the reciept later, they’d charge me just 60 yen instead of 300 for by 6 book set.

Shopping List: The 山田家 (The Yamada-ke, The Yamada House) books 1-6, 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 (Suzumiya Haruhi no yuuutsu, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) books 1 and 2, and げんしけん The Society For The Study Of Modern Visual Culture (Genshiken (a word made from an acronym of) The Society For The Study Of Modern Visual Culture) books 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8. There is of course one big problem with buying manga at the moment at that has a lot to do with the fact I only have 2 months (ish) left, shipping this stuff home is going to be a heavy and expensive PITA.

After having a nice look around the area and in some other shops, we then headed to nearby Namba for some more nosing. One of the biggest differences between the two places was the vast difference in the kind of people that seemed to be in the area. Sure, both were full to the brim, but whereas Nippombashi was packed with people dressed in outfits of characters from Ace Hono to Zodd The Immortal, Namba had a more “commonly dressed” crowd, the two barely seeming to notice the fact that they’re right next door to one another.

Vistiting Namba Parks again was a nice little experience. We didn’t really go with a set plan or list of things we wanted to see, meaning we could freely wander around. Heading up through the restaurant section we were treated to a display where a chef was showing how cold soba noodles are made from dough. One person from his restaurant was then giving samples out so we could have a taste. Personally I’ve never been a fan of soba, but these were quite nice. I took a video of him cutting it with great care and attention, so that’ll be on the photo and picture blog soon.

After this we headed up to the top floor where there was a garden area. Performing on a staged area was a clown from America (I think he said his name was Dave or something). Don’t get me wrong, when I said clown I don’t mean he was some tosser arsing about, I mean he was actually performing clown-like things (well, we only got to see his finale, juggling knives on an elevated unicycle). Also fair play to the guy, his Japanese was pretty damn good (he slotted in English every now and then, but it seemed to work), so good in fact that it wasn’t until the end that he said he was from the States that I’d have believed it. Good show Dave.

Throughout the rest of the garden were handprints people who had achieved fame in Japan. We had fun comparing different people’s handsizes to our own and I felt a nice sense of acomplishment that my hand could compete with writers and athletes to name a few professions.

Parting ways in Umeda, I headed to Matsuya for my usual holiday meal of Curry-Rice.

Setting off at about 3 o’clock, not too long after getting my lazy arse out of bed, I headed off in search of some lunch and an appropriate gift. After not too long I found myself in Umeda, under the bridge in the restaurant that I ate in on Monday, eating the same niku-udon. After giving thanks to the woman at the counter I headed towards the far side of the Umeda Sky building, an area I hadn’t yet walked around.

Passing a wide range of small factories and small businesses (including a lot of mechanics), I was reminded of Telfords own industrial areas, the kind of places a normal guy like me could work. Maybe not a fantastic job with a great pay, but work is work. I also pondered the possibility of working in a place like this after my degree. I also considered the average part-time job done by my fellow exchange students, and how all but a few seemed to be doing the well paid English tutor/teacher thing. But the people I really take my (metaphorical) hat of to are the guys working ‘normal’ jobs, like in a cafe, or in McDonalds. Yeah the pay isn’t as good, but this is the sort of job where you’re using real Japanese in a real Japanese environment.

I (metaphorically) salute you.

Coming from the other side of the Umeda Sky Building I soon found myself face to face with a nice garden area with waterfalls, walkways and awesome plant-life. If the weather would have been more Summery (I had to allow for the fact that it wasn’t summer), like when we first arrived in Japan this would have been a very tropical environment, similar to when we went to Jamaica‘s Dunn’s River Falls over 10 years ago.

On the walk back, walking a different way from usual (as usual) by chance I looked up to see a sign attached to a fire escape advertising an ‘anime and manga production and training school’. Now I know that I’m more likely to find one of these in Japan than in England but I really wasn’t expecting to actually see one. Walking around the corner I came face to face with it, so casually picked up one of it’s leaflet packs from outside (which came with a copy of one of the schools manga publications). As much as I’d love to go to 大阪アニメーター学院 (Osaka Animator School), it’s a bit expensive for me. Not to mention I’m only here for another 2 months.

On the way home I stopped at the Family Mart convenience store to pick up some chocolate. I decided to buy a piece for all the staff members at the dorm, let’s face it they’ve been pretty awesome, so I bought about 15 or so small pieces. When it came to giving them out, the staff member seemed to be really shocked at the gesture, but at the same time really greatful.

Seeing as I didn’t go out the night before last, I made a point of deciding I would without a doubt go out last night. Checking the schedule for Sam and Daves (once again I couldn’t be bothered to go to Shinsaibashi, wanting to stay in Umeda) they were going to be having ‘Playboy Mansion Party’ theme, so decided to go to that. Unfortunately trying to convince others to do the same wasn’t so easy, especially as I’d left it so late to email everyone. For the homestay students, it was understandable if they didn’t want to go (the same reason I seldom go with them to Sannomiya, it’s too damn far) and for the dorm guys they had other reasons ranging from illness to plans already being made.

“Sod it” I thought, “I’ll go solo”, and so I did.

As far as Playboy Parties go, with the exception of the barstaff wearing dressing gowns on top of their normal uniform, there wasn’t really much different to be honest. Non of the customers were dressed up (neither was I thankfully), so if it wasn’t for the fact I’d seen it advertised on the website I wouldn’t have been any the wiser. However, apparently there were bunny girls there before I got there.

Even though I went alone, by chance I met three people in the club who I knew; a guy who I study with at Leeds, a Japanese girl that he knew and I’d met a few times at Konan (despite the fact she goes to another Uni), and one of the guys I met when I did that 初めての日本 (hajimete no nippon, first time Japan) TV show a few months back (skip to the bottom of this entry to watch the show).

So throughout the night I managed to practice Japanese and also held the occaisional conversation in English as I met a few people wanting to learn the language. I did meet one very irritating American buggar though. Here’s a brief of how the conversation went

Him: Approached with a nod of the head
Me: 今日は (konnichiwa, hi)
Him: Yeah, I could speak to you in Japanese, but I save that for trying to score with the ladies
Me: Riiiight … good luck with that.

I was very thankful to see him then walk facefirst into a wall. Karma, you gotta love it.

So like yesterday, the majority of today was spent in bed due to the fact it was about 7 o’clock this morning I got home. Hangover? Meh, if that’s what this is it’s not doing a very good job, more like I ate something funny. And speaking of eating funny things, I now present to you my first (and probably only) television appearance in Japan. Enjoy! (The Room of Living Dolls is on the second video)

To be honest when I crawled out of bed with a stiff neck at about 6:30 this morning with a stiff neck, I thought I was in for one of those days, but around 15 minutes later I found I suddenly a nice bout of energy. Breakfast wasn’t fantastic, fried egg with ham slices and salad, but the egg had a hard yolk (just the way i like it) and best of all, NO MAYO!

Setting off we soon encountered something we hadn’t in a good few months. The weather was nice. It was sunny, with a very gentle breeze and a temperature that was neither a sweltering heat wave, nor it a Japanese version of the North Pole. It was just … nice. This good weather lasting pretty much until I got back in through the door tonight.

Nothing particularly special at uni today. I had my usual tutoring session, being a Tuesday, so this accounted to my one time to really practice Japanese out of class I usually get a day. The conversation was good, it was funny and entertaining, and I managed to use some of the new grammar points we’d covered on class.

I left campus much earlier than usual today, mainly due to the fact that there were even less Japanese students about than usual. However, the Spring Break will end soon and speaking practice will resume. Leaving early meant that I got to enjoy sitting down on the trains back to Osaka instead of standing.

This day, and this feeling, could only have been made better if we had curry rice for dinner.

And so we did (pork curry rice!!! EPIC!). My simply perfect day (ish) has been complete. And so to leave you with a video clip. Here’s the opening sequence to Baccano. Even though it’s just the intro, it’s still pretty intense, so I hope you enjoy it.