Eh?

So life in Japan is running along smoothly as can be expected, an yes the kids at Tenno ES have made a habit out socking me in the berries. Life can be rough here, not as in hard, but there is not a lot of "cushyness" like there is in many other parts of the world. Things just kinda function with out overdoing things; they love the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" mentality and it has done right by them.

Some cool experiences since last I wrote. Tons of festivals going on at the moment to bring in the season change. They are fun and the food is amazing. I usually draw more attention than the festival though so it can be weird at times. They never get over how big a person can be in this country. I was fortunate enough to be invited to go to a Matsuri (festival at a shrine) on the far side of town with two JETs Lindsey and Ryan. Was creepy though, we were in the Yakuza area or Kure... for those of you that don't know what is, its the Japanese mob... the kind you don't want trouble with. The night was incident free for my party and I, but we did get a fine education in "spot the gangster". They are pretty easy to pick out based on behavior, haircut, etc.

We had a Halloween party at the local pub called Memphis that I like. I followed my tradition as going as tall people and went as Jaws. Not the shark, but the villain from the James Bond flicks that was over seven feet tall and had metal teeth. Yeah my teeth were foil, booya! As the night progressed many of us moved on to check out a small bar tha tone of my colleagues had heard about and wanted to check it out before going to another "known" bar to do some karaoke. We ended up in some random "hostess" bar, the kind where you pay by the hour to have company.. was weird. It was closing time, but they let us in and let us pay by the drink instead. So we had a beer and some alcohol soaked fruit and then moved on (no we are not quite raging alcoholics, its the social culture over here to drink and socialize). Was kinda odd, I felt like we may have been set up, heh. We then went and had a good time at the other bar and I eventually got taken by the bartender from Memphis (the bar we started the night at with the party... yeah she came with us, lol) and we went to another place. Definitely the underbelly of Kure, it was where all the working women went after their places closed up shop. Even the girls from where we had the beer and fruit were there! It was a crazy good time and lots of fun. No mom, I did nothing bad except get home just after moon went to bed.....

So yeah, Kure has its rough spots, but what do you expect from an industrial city. I didn't think they were bad, just needed a different perspective to appreciate. Was really fun though.