Articles by chris

Hey everyone sorry its been so long since I’ve blogged I kind of went into a slum of doing nothing but work and watchin tv after getting back from Japan. Went to Las Vegas last week also and it kicked ass. I went because it was Kappa Sigma’s Grand Conclave (my fraternity’s international biannual convention). That’s right 1000+ of my fellow brothers and myself al wondering around Vegas without supervision. It kicked ass. It was also really expensive! I’m now completely broke. Oh Well, It was all in the name of a good time. And what time however my lawyer as advised me to take the fifth on all things that happened there so i don’t end up going to jail.

As you all know our drummer as finally come back from his trip to death’s door. Apparently it was about as hot there as in Vegas. We’re all glad that he’s finally back. Well take care everyone.

Deinesaur

Go Hawks!! So yesterday we went to a Japanese baseball game. It kicked ass! We had a few classes before hand and they were rather boring but I did get a Linux english to Japanese software program out of it so I suppose it isn`t that bad. Then it was off to the ball game We took the subway and then walked and made it there all of about 15 mins before the game started. Tickets were only 10 dollars for the cheap seat behind right field. Which were pretty good seats. It was a really short field because it was inside Fukuoka Yahoo dome. The farthest part was 180 yds and that was BEHIND the seating. Which for reference, put us IN the outfield at a Royals game. Needless to say homeruns are pretty common. Japanese know how to do baseball. They have cheerleaders, multiple mascots and full pep bands for both teams. Each team has its own theme song as well. It It`s really cool. Though kind of weird cause there was Wendy`s and KFC at the game, and Wendy`s was serving a bad excuse for a hotdog. It was more like a footlong sausage link. I could have really gone for a chili Dog that would have made the afternoon complete. The Japanese really get into the game they all have their different chants but they don`t really boo the other team or the Ump so we did that to make up for it. They also have this giant inflatable Hawk that is humping a Coke bottle that inflates whenever a Homerun is hit. YA that`s funny to see. We ended up winning 6-2. Then Fireworks went off inside the dome. After that we went over to Hard Rock Cafe, which was right next to the dome. I got a pilsner glass to add to my collection.

When we finished there we went to the beach on the other side of the dome. It was really beautiful scene. It was night by then so You could see the reflections of the lit buildings off the water. The girls decided to try and run around in the ocean a bit and I took some photos of the city scape and of them. We then made our way to the pier and just stared at the sky and the city and tried to take in the tranquility of everything. We then headed back to subway so that we wouldn`t have to take a taxi back. Bout fell asleep on the subway. Made it home and called it a night. It was definitely one of the more enjoyable days here if we have enough time we are going to try and make it to another game in the next 2 days before we leave. I can`t believe time has gone by so fast. I wish I had a few more weeks here so I could head to Tokyo and the rest of central Japan. Oh well, I suppose that will have to wait till the next trip.

Deinesaur

Well we had calligraphy class today, which was rather interesting. We learned about a few different types of kanji and then practiced writing them, this was really hard to do. I have decide that this is definitely not any area of art that I am good at, kind of like painting and printmaking. We worked on a fan and also a piece of posterboard that we got to keep. I also got my friend Shinachi to write out Kappa Sigma in kanji so I am going to meet some cool stuff to the fraternity when I get back to my desktop and printer. After that we kind of loafed around for a bit until we went to the archery club. I was excited about this cause I figured we would be able to practice Japanese style archery with a longbow, but no :_( we got to pull back the bow and that was it we didn`t get to actual shoot. I hoping that get some practice but I guess it Just wasn`t to be.

We left and made plans for dinner then, I went to the grocery store with some of the guys for food for breakfast the next day as well as other supplies. The grocery store is one of the few places around that takes a credit card so we frequent them a lot especially since they have a lot of sushi and other things already made so we don`t have to cook it. I then found a store that had some gifts that I was going to get for a few a my brothers. Boy did I feel dirty leaving that store. After we got back to the dorms we all gathered together and headed out to dinner at one of the kind of cook it yourself stir fry restaurants. This place is a lot of fun we need to have them in the states. Once dinner was through we all kind of parted ways. Several people wanted to go to Karioke but I was kind of tired of that so I went with Charles back to the dorm to kind of hang out with him and some of the other guys. We were just kind of mulling about thinking of people to call and what to do when Charles got an invitation from the Belgian girl, Kristin, to join her and the british girls out for some drinks and food. He asked if I could join and they cheerfully replied yes so we went along our way. They took us to this neat little Japanese pub and we sat around and had a Chu-Hi or two and chatted about the relations between our countries and their views on the world and we even talked about comedians. It was a really great time, and there is something about a pretty ladies with a great britsh accent that is just hot. After while Dave from cal Berkeley and 2 of the other British people showed up and joined us. We continued our chat for another round and then Charles and I decided that it was time to call it a night. So we closed our tab and left. On the way back we stopped at a Lawson`s to use the restroom. When I came out Charles had a grin on his face a mile long and was callin for me to come over there and see something. I went to see what he had found and what do ya know it was fireworks, right there in the front of the store. So we bought some, I won`t go into details about what we did with them but a good time was had I promise you that much. We then ended up on the balcony drinking more Chu-Hi talking to people as they came back from the bars. They then came up to join us and we ended up with a mini party on the balcony. It was quite and enjoyable way to end the evening.

Well its been quite a weekend. Which means this is going to be another long blog. So go get a beer or use the restroom or whatever it is that you may need to do……………………………………… Ok, back? alrighty let`s begin.

Friday

Had a rather interesting class this morning about the relations between Japan and China. I have decided that China is a whinny bitch. They spend their time ragging on Japan and the rest of the world just so their people don`t have time to look inward at their own country and see just how screwed up it is. But that`s a rant that could take awhile so we will move on. After class we went back to the dorms and packed for our homestays. I really wasn`t quite sure what to expect but it was quite a fun time. Yasu (the guy who picked me up) is a student here at Fukuoka majoring in law. We went out to his vehicle and I put my backpack in the side of his Chevy Astro, that`s right he drives an American van, and there is this cute little Japanese girl there. She smiled and I introduced myself, and Yasu explained that she was a friend of his and that she was going to join us on our trip today. We went to this wonderful Shinto Shrine named Tenimanga (I think that’s how it`s spelled) It was huge There were a part of Red bridges that we crossed to get there, and once inside there were all these golden relics inside this beautiful building. I got lots of photos and I even got a photo with this very beautiful priestess. As we were leaving Yasu asked me if I had ever eaten octopus. I hadn`t and so he bought me some (which was quite good I might add) and for the rest of the trip he tried to feed me octopus where ever we went. Not that I`m complaining cause I have kind of grown fond of it. After that we dropped off his friend and we went to this giant entertainment place, It had several different arcade games, bowling, pool, pingpong, and lots of gambling. The Japanese have some of the strangest forms of gambling I have ever seen but I must say at least its more interesting then sitting in front of a slot machine all the time. Once we had wondered through this place I taught Yasu how to play pool. He really picked it up pretty well.

We then went to his house and I met his mother and father, as well as, this younger sister and brother. His mom showed me my room and as I walked in there sitting in front of me were these 2 beautiful samurai Helmets. I ask Yasu about them later and he said that the bigger one was his and the other was his brother`s. Apparently they were each given them at birth as is custom for when a male child is born. How cool is that I wish we had some really cool custom like that, oh well. I then went out to dinner with this little sister, hanahu, and him and one of his friends. We ate at this really cool restaurant and had drank a beer and talked about where I was from and why I was in Japan and several other things. I impressed them with my mastery for chopsticks, apparently they figured I would need silverware, frankly I like eating with chopsticks more, it`s more of a challenge and they are easier to clean. Hanahu is quite good at speaking English so she played my translator for the the weekend. Ya it was difficult having to talk to a very attractive Japanese girl all weekend. Life is rough After dinner we walked through the rain to another arcade. Did a little gambling, I spent all of about 5 dollars for an hr and a half of gambling, ya got to love that. Then we headed home.

Saterday

Was able to sleep in a bit today and then was feed this huge breakfast by Yasu`s mom. I then watched a bit of baseball and chatted with Yasu and Hanahu to figure out what to do for the day. We decided on going to Canal City, which is this giant shopping complex. After the drive there we went through several stores and then came across this band that was playing in front of this fountain water show so we stopped and listened for awhile then moved on. After a few more shops we went to KFC for food because it had a smoking section. I taught them the wonders of eating ketchup in large amounts and we sat an talked for like 2 and a half hours about the differences between Japanese and American government. It was quite a bit of fun. After that we went wondered the streets a bit and then went back to there house. There father was home and asked me if I wanted to go golfing . Since I hadn`t gone in about a year I naturally said yes and we all went to go play golf. It was a short 9 hole course. All 9 holes were par 3`s the longest of which was 177 yards. I never used more then an 8 iron but it made if great for me to practice my approach game. We played the last 4 holes after the sun went down, because they have lights on their golf courses. Night golf is awesome, though I played like crap. I took a 65 you do the math. The sad thing is I still beat Yasu. I think I spoke him a bit when I took a 9 iron off the tee of 1, which was a 124 yrds and slightly overshot the green. He used a 5 iron on the same hole.

Once we all finished we went home and had a great meal. Then Yasu called up 2 of his buddies and we went out bowling. I got a 125 and took 3rd in the group. Oh well, One of the guys who was bowling with us turned out to be cop here in Japan. He was a lot of fun and a really animated character.
After bowling we played pool. Pool is expensive here, it was 10.50 for an hr. So we played a game of 8 ball. And then I taught them how to play 9 ball. They picked it up really quickly and we had alot of fun. After that we went back home and then Yasu and I stayed up till about 2 in the morning talking about the geography and attractions in Japan and the States.

Sunday

Slept in and then had another wonderful breakfast, I watched some TV and then helped Hanahu with her English homework. It was some pretty difficult stuff. Talking about what we can do to prevent Human Rights violations and why they keep happening, I`m glad we never had anything that difficult in German. Then it was time to say good bye to the family. I gave them there gifts and everyone loved them, took a few photos, and then headed off. But we didn`t head back instead we went north to this town on the ocean that was a bit of a tourist trap. There was a performing monkey and some other street performers, and a live salsa band (how a salsa band ended up in Japan I don`t know) We also met up with Yasu`s ex girlfriend, damn this girl was fine. Turns out she has been studying German for about 4 years and for some reason I was able to speak German better then she could I don`t know if she just know how to read it or what but I had fun and started talkin about different things in German. After watching some street performances and having a beer and some more octopus we headed back for Fukuoka. He dropped me off and we said our goodbyes. I then went up and met with the others. Went started swapping stories then decided to get some food and some beer came back met up with more people as they arrived and we all sat out on our balcony comparing notes and stories for the weekend it was quite a bit of fun. Well I`ve taken up everyone`s time long enough. Hope everyone is ok. Mom and dad I`m glad to hear that you made it through all the tornados this weekend and that no one died. Speaking of Natural disasters I sleep through another aftershock this weekend. I really getting tired of sleeping through things like that. They aren`t as much fun, oh well. Remember everyone;
be careful, and if ya can`t be careful, be Safe;
and if you can`t be safe name it after me.

Deinesaur

Well yesterday was our free day and I needed as you all know I was more then a bit hung over while writing my last blog. Man that was one hell of a night. Well, after getting some food a couple of us decided to wonder around town. We hit a bookstore and a few music shops. Then we saw this place called PC Soft, with anime posters on it so we went in. YEAH, It wasn`t your typical software store, what it was, was a softcore porn software shop. So we decided to tell some of the girls about it but not tell them what it was. They were a bit pissed off at us when they came back but who cares, it was still funny. We then went tattoo shopping for Andy. After a half hour subway ride and another half hour of walking we found one. Andy told the guy what he wanted and ask how much and the guy said it would be 30,000 Jen (roughly 300 dollars) Seeing how this was WAY to much for what he wanted to have done. We decided to skip the tattoo. We then just wondered around the area for a bit and came across this giant 8 story electronics super store. Bestbuy ain`t got crap on this place. They had everything. The DVD and PS2 sections were really impressive. If only there wasn`t that dvd region coding problem. Oh well, Probably for the best cause I would spend to much money on PS2 games if I could buy them here. When we left the store, we found another Shinto Shrine. So I walked through it to take some photos while the others went to a T-shirt shop. I really love getting to wonder through all these shrines. They all have their own style and feel to them, and watching people pray is pretty cool as well.

After we met back up, we decided to have dinner at one of these little cart stands that are on the sidewalk. The food as usual was great. I`m really going to miss all the great food here. There just isn`t anything like it in to states. After dinner we caught the subway back to the dorms, changed clothes, did some laundry, and met up with the girls and headed out for karioke. It was quite a bit fun and we got in about 1ish instead of the 3:30 like the night before.

Well I`m going to be starting my homestay this afternoon so I don`t know if I will have computer access for the next 2 days or not. Apparently the mom of the family that I:m staying with over the weekend is really into golf, so this could be interesting. May end up playing some golf in Japan, hope I don`t hit anyone. I really hope that they speak semi-decent English cause if not this could be a long weekend. Take care everyone and happy birthday Sean. Since by my watch here ya only have 2 days left.

Deinesaur

Man I almost didn`t`t blog today cause I`m still hungover 11 in the morning here and I got up an hour ago that`s pretty late for me over here. Home no big deal I sleep in all the time there but its a different story here. Anyway I:m sorry if this blog doesn`t`t make much sense cause my mind is only functioning at about 15% right now. Yesterday was crazy. We had Japanese language class. I have retained nothing from that class unfortunately. Oh well, After that we went to the the Asahi brewery for a tour dinner and a bunch of free beer. Yeah for free beer!!! We went to Sam and Daves for partying. It was a wild night and I didn`t get in till like 3 in the morning. Well its time for lunch so I`m cuttin this one short take care.

Deinesaur

Well I got my exercise today! If I don`t end up loosing at least a few pounds on this trip I`m going to be seriously ticked cause we are walking everywhere. Today we finished our class, which was really cool. we ended up making seals of your family names`. Apparently the Chinese, yes Chinese, symbol for Deines translates to mean “conquer” how cool is that. I figured with the way my luck has been on this trip it would be something stupid like he who receives crap or something like that. But we carved these seals out of stone, and will be doing something with them in our caligraphy class. More on that in the future.

After class we headed off to visit the park. It was really beautiful. We stopped by the Japanese Gardens that were there and wow I didn`t know trees could do some of the stuff that these did. They were growing at all sorts of strange angles and stuff, and carp were huge. There were carp in these ponds that had to be like 2.5-3 feet long. After Gardens we started to walk over the islands that were in the middle of the lake that the park surrounded. The whole area was just really quiet and tranquil. There was a Saxophone student practicing in the one area near the U.S. Consolate. He was really good and the music just rang through the whole park. After the walking all over the park we went to Fukuoka Castle`s Ruins Talk about hiking. Most of these castle`s had a stone base that was all around castle. This base was all that was left of the castle so we climbed it and were rewarded with a really cool view of the city and park. So I took more photos. I have filled all 3 of my mem cards already. Its a good thing that I brought my laptop for extra storage. 300 images down prob another 300 to go. After the Ruins we road the subway into Tenjin to do a bit of shopping. That is adventure in itself. Their malls are like our dept stores. There aren`t any walls between the stores but you have to pay in each one. It`s really kind of strange especally went you figure most of this malls are in buildings that are 9-10 floors high plus 2 sub basements.We are going to spend all of tomorrow in Tenjin shopping so we will see how that goes its going to be interesting. GO VISA!! Everyone has agreed that when we get back we are so having a kimono party. I`ve also decided that my apt is getting redecorated when I get back cause I`m hoping to get several cool wall decorations to replace some of my posters. Well hope everyone is doing fine enjoy.

Deinesaur

Well as those of you who actually read my ramblings already know yesterday I was privileged to be able to witness and take part in the Japanese Tea Ceremony. This was great although sitting on top of your legs with your feet straight back for 2 hours hurts like hell. The Ceremony was really pretty and its surprising how much symbolism is involved in it. After the ceremony we got to learn how to make the tea. I ended up drinking like 3 cups of tea, which was really good. After the ceremony and all the blogging from yesterday, I went to see President Farley give a speech on education. It was really good and Japanese students seems to understand what he was saying, but he did a really good job of communicating speak, slowly and precise, with lots a gestures. After that I went through and cataloged my photos so far till the students from Fukuoka who went to visit Washburn showed up. We then had a bit party with them. We had KFC, which tastes the same no matter where you are at, Pizza, which had toppings that I had never seen before, and sushi. Everything tasted great and the beer and other beverages for good as usual. After that we ended up going to a Karaoke bar. This was quite a bit different then in the states because instead of singing to the whole bar, which usually doesn’t want to hear you, each group gets their own booth and 2 mics and you phone in your drinks and they bring them to you. It is a lot more enjoyable. Unfortunately there wasn’t ANY country music in the song book. They didn’t even have Garth Brooks. I figured they would a least him but no, so I decided to go and tear up some Metalica, and Green Day and some Puddle of Mudd. There is just something really relaxing about singing She Fucking Hates Me. All the singing and music however is really making miss playing I`m just glad I brought my laptop which has all of traffas` country music its been helping with the cravings. To make things even better as we were leaving the bar we discovered that the University was paying for everything the time at the bar, drinks the whole thing. When we came back I ended up just sittin around discussing all sorts of things with the Georgia Tech students. I`m definitely going to have to go visit there and stop by the Kappa Sig chapter there.

Well everyone have fun cause I will.

Deinesaur

I just realized that part two is going to be showed before part 1 so if you haven’t read part 1 stroll down and read it first, or just use your imagination on what has happen it could make for a better story. Either way is fine with me. The Tea Ceremony was great but you will have to log on tomorrow to hear about it. Back to the story at hand when last left off I had been petting dolphins. We load back up onto the bus and headed off for Hotel we were going to stay at which was about 3 hrs away. The hotel was owned by Fukuoka University, which is pretty cool cause the students just by chance as class camping trip out in the woods that night so a few of our friends happened to be there. We weren’t planning on see them it just kind of happened. Anyway we checked into the hotel and had a great traditional Japanese dinner. The food here is WONDERFUL! I don:t always know what I’m eating but it tastes great. After dinner we changed into our Kymonos and headed to the Hot Springs for a shower and a bath in the natural springs. This was great nothing makes you feel better after spending all day on a cramped little bus then soaking in a nice sulfur hot springs. After a bath. Patrick and I watched the end of the Fukuoka Baseball game and they won 5-2. Japanese baseball seems to be more interesting then American I don’t know if its because I can’t understand the annoucers so I have to pay closer attention or if the pitch isn’t as good but there seems to be a lot more action.

After the game I headed into the lobby and got a beer from the vending machine, (that’s right they have beer vending machines) and sat in the lobby and chatted with the others. After awhile some of the Japanese students came up to the hotel from their camp ground and join the few of us still up for some conversation. They were all quite drunk which made it a very interesting, and challenging conversation. I don’t know if it’s the fact that they have to be so polite and reserve all the time or what, but then Japanese college students decide to have fun and relax and have some drinks they really cut loose. They are so fun and cheerful, and noisy (my kind of crowd) It’s so much fun to watch them even when you don’t know what they are saying. These people know how to have fun. But, I’m starting to ramble off topic, we ended up having a like 1 more beer then calling it quits at midnight.

Sunday
Got up this morning and at 7a.m. I’ve decided that its a lot easier getting up early then your always in bed by midnight or earlier so maybe there is something to it maybe not who knows. But we had another fabulous traditional Japanese Breakfast which was huge. I didn’t know I could have 3 bowls of soup and still have room for more. After breakfast we said goodbye to everyone and took some photos, and one of the Japanese girls gave President Farley her Fukuoka University hat. Sometimes its good to be the Pres. We then loaded back up onto the bus, and headed to Mt. Aso which is an active volcano. When we arrived at the mouth of the volcano we were there for all of 2 mins and then all the sirens went off, and people started to run. Turns out apparently the volcano had started spewing some rather toxic gas that was fatal if you breathed in to much of it. I think Buddha is still a bit pissed about the photos. So we loaded up onto the bus and went down the Mt to the museum. We went truth it and in the shopping area Jimmy and Pat discovered a lady who was going out Sake samples so they decided to try them all and then bought a few bottles. I decided to tour through the music boxes which were there. I’m not sure what music boxes have to do with volcanoes but there were a lot of them there so I roamed about looking at them. We then caught a movie, that was on 5 screens, that was about the Mt. Aso and the surrounding agricultural area. After the movie everyone gathered for lunch which as great as usual. This one had a bit of a twist however, as usual we didn’t really know what we were eating. We discovered that one of the dishes was raw horse. I figured you would like this Traffas. Another thing to do with horse besides make glue from them. Apparently though the region of Japan that we were in at the time is the only one that eats horse. Apparently its a bit of a cultural thing. I have to say though raw horse is pretty good. Even when you know what its. When lunch was over it was time to hop back onto the bus.

Our road trip found it way to Kumanoto Castle, which is just under 600 yrs old. We unfortunately only had 45 mins there so I had to go through it at break neck speed. I have mastered the art of power walking. The castle was amazing. It’s shear size made you wonder how they pulled it off. Every timber was hand crafted and and fit perfectly into its place. The stones in the walls all fit together with little mortar. There were also several suits of armor that were worn by the past lords of the castle that were beautiful. I took tons of photos for everyone to see and will post them when I get back home.

We loaded back up and continued on our way. Our next stop was to some ancient ruins. The site had been rebuilt to look the way it did back in about 600 BC. I don’t remember the name off hand but I will get it later. Village recreation was very cool the houses had very small doors maybe 4.5 feet tall so going in and out was a pain in the ass. There were also several watchtowers that we were able to go up into and the view from the towers was awesome. I have several photos of this site as well so I will hold off most of the details till they get posted since I can’t give a just description of the area by without the visuals to assist. We left the ruins as they were closing and we headed home. It was nice to finally be off that bus for good. Several of use decided that for dinner we wanted to go to a sushi bar, so Charles talked to one of the guys in the area discovered that there was a good Sushi place in Befu so we hopped the subway and headed on our way. We were able to find the place after stopping at only 2 seven elevens to ask for directions to make sure we were still on the right path. The Sushi was all on these little plate that ran along on a conveyor belt and you took off the ones you wanted. I wasn’t feeling the greatest after the ride so I opted just to have the chicken which was great. Charles, Dr. McCoy and Andy however dove right in having a little bit of everything. It was really a lot of fun. After we all had eaten our fill we headed back to the subway, and home for a nice evening in the dorms.

Well this concludes the longest blog on this site EVER. I have more to tell but you will just have to wait till for Tues. Installment.. On a side note this blog as all my blogs will be cataloged a day behind. It:s Monday here though the computer lists it as Sunday, but you being the intelligent well informed reader that you are already knew that didn’t:t you. Take care everyone and have fun sleeping since it’s almost midnight back in Kansas. (for those of you keep score at home it’s 1:45 pm here, and I have survived an earthquake and an volcano spitting toxic gas. [Deines 2 Earth 0] ) But I hear there may be a hurricane on the way so we may be seeing round 3 but I’m ready for it. Take care

Deinesaur

I’ve very sorry that haven’t blogged in while we have been roaming the countryside for the last few days and I haven’t had any internet access, so its been kind of rough. I’m no going to attempt the longest blog in this site’s history. It may have to be a 2 part series cause I have to go see the Tea Ceremony in an hour, that right I get to watch the Japanese Tea Ceremony. Anyway lets begin:

Friday
We had 2 classes in the morning which turned basically into on big discussion on the differences between Japanese and American culture. I was pretty interesting and the instructor was really cool. There was also an aftershock from the major earthquake that hit about a month or so ago. It happened about 4 in the morning and I sleep right through it. Check another disaster off my list of things to do. In the afternoon we met of with the English Studies Society (ESS) and chatted with them for about 2 hrs it was really quite fun they had all sorts of questions about the US and we tried our best of answer them. After we finished it was time for major shopping trip #1. We went to this big shopping complex called Daisae (don:t know if I spelled that right) there were all sorts of cool clothes there unfortunately most of them were to small for my fat ass. It’s depressing when the LL (XL) t shirts all fit like muscle shirts or in my case fat shirts but I got a few as gifts for some of my smaller friends. There was one shirt that truly deserves being mentioned though, it was a Baby Burger shirt (thats right BABY BURGER) It had this little baby in a hamburger bun and lettuce and pickles and ketchup and the baby was saying help me and this demonic looking 10 yr old was about to eat him, below read something to the effect of, Baby burgers the best source of getting your daily protein, calcium other nutricional needs since (and then some date) We all laugh our ass’s off at this shirt I almost bought one but I couldn’t find one that would fit :`(
That evening we went with several of our new Japanese friends to Tenjin for a night on the town and what an interesting night it was. For some reason we ended up in the Red light district of Tenjin, not really sure why, but we saw the 4-20 store (yes I have a photo) and after wondering for about an hour we found a place that had a half price drink special going on if ya had a coupon and somehow we had a coupon. It was quite a night cause we had all of about 2.5 hrs before the last train left at midnight so we started shotgunning mix drinks (we don:t know what they are but they were good) and after about a half dozen or so Daniel, one my of new friends for Georgia Tech who can really put them down, decided to order a glass of Sakai. It was really interesting the way they served it but thats for another time. Anyway he shotgunned the Sakai so then I ordered one as well and just drank it normally cause damn that stuff is strong, good but strong. We continued having a merry time and then everyone made it home safely.

Saturday
Got up at 7 in the morning so I could catch the bus at 8. I didn’t have a hang over yeah for me. We started our trip around Japan with President Farley (president of Washburn for those of you who don’t know) We had a lot of stuff packed into the day so I will do my best of hit everything.

Monkeys and fish
We went to this Monkey preserve/shrine for the monkey god. It was really kick ass I figured it would be a bunch of monkeys in cages, hell no the little guys were just running about loose! They would just let you walk up to them but we didn’t touch them cause apparently they like to bit and hump so we refrained from physical contact. There had to have been about 150-200 monkeys around just doing whatever it is that monkeys do. Some were cleaning each other, some were sleeping, and other were playing. What was really cool though was when the guy working there let out this call and all of the sudden all the monkeys started screaming and then ran from everywhere to gather near him. Apparently it was feeding time. It was like hurding monkeys! After about 10 more minutes of monkey business we all headed to Aquarium to play with the fish.

The Aquarium was quite interesting there were several species of fish that were native to the area and all were quite beautiful. the most fun though was the shows they brought out the seals to perform for and audience and they were so funny. They would wave to crowd, clap, catch rings and do sit-ups with the trainers it was cute. One of the funniest things thought was the seal racing they would line them up and race them. It was so funny watching the flop as fast as they could to get the fish at the other end. After the seal show we went to visit the penguins. They were so cute. I felt sorry for one of them. He kept swimming straight at the glass in the tank trying to get out and walk around with us. Unfortunately he wasn’t making any headway one breaking the inch thick Plexiglas. I decided to visit the petting area and ended with getting to pet the dolphins. Well time head to go to the tea ceremony so pt 2 will have be later.

Deinesaur