Crush Them All

The kanji next to the two words in English say "tabehoudai", literally meaning: eat as much as you would like to. The Japanese way of using English never fails to make me smile.

From Beyond

I lost my camera in Osaka, then it mysteriously reappeared with this picture on it. Osaka really is a pretty crazy place.

The Company I Can Get

[please be aware that this post comes with an advanced nerd warning]

Say hello to one of my new friends, and the best bike in the whole world, Masayume. (that's pronounced: MassaYuMeh). We go on many adventures together.

Waiting for the Snake Assassin

The last 2 or 3 times I have been somewhere that Lightning Bolt were playing, I haven't even bothered to watch them. It just got too difficult/frustrating/painful, being crushed and elbowed in the face by people. Well luckily, I spotted that LB had decided to come and play some shows in Japan, at nice small venues too. I went along and surprised the Brians (they were quite shocked), and a jolly good time was had by all. Maybe 100 people or so, all rocking out, but without falling on Brian's drums or breaking Brian's bass pedals and such.

Dracula Mountain was a very nice birthday present indeed. Thanks Brians.

Village Green

"Wow, Graeme. That looks lovely! Is that in one of Kyoto's many beautiful temples and shrines that the city is so famous for?"

Well no actually. This is one of the THREE parks in Kyoto Eki (the main station in Kyoto). Yes, the station. Kyoto station has 3 parks, 2 markets, a few hotels, a cinema, a theatre, a museum, 2 department stores, maybe a thousand shops and several hundred eateries. It might have more than that in there too, but I have gotten lost in there on 3 separate occasions so I can only confirm what I have witnessed with my own senses.

Oh, you can catch a train in there as well.

Choke

Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey

Here are some pictures from my trip to Arashiyama Monkey Park. This place is great. It is a pretty harsh climb up some serious hills for a wee while (especially in the pointless Kyoto summer heat), but once at the top it is very much worth it. Nice view, nice monkeys. My favourite thing is that there is an enclosure for the humans rather than the monkeys.


This is a monkey getting ready to charge at my flatmate, Ryo.



Me feeding a monkey some tasty banana.



Me trying to feed a baby monkey, but the adult one kept swooping in and stealing everything.

The mortified Japanese children who were nearby were shrieking "CHI-CHAN!!!" One of the little girls cried and tried to punch the adult monkey. Thankfully the fence was there to prevent the monkey in question from destroying her.

I did look at a monkey in the eye, and I held a monkey's hand for a short while. It was a good day.