i am ok!!!!

regarding my eye- the irritant remained in it all day, but just went to an opthamologist (random, random, random) and he pinced, of all things, a piece of bark from my eye. who woulda thunk it!!!

anyway, now that i am healed, time to do the crazy eye makeup for karaoke!!!!

tokyo my love town #2

so i forgot to write last night, that i had something in my eye all day yesterday and that it is all red and irritated and puffy. i hoped it might get better overnight but i woke up at 4 am and my eye had swollen virtually cloed (rocky eat ur heart out) but it is better now.... sort of. so the moral of the story is, i will meet the ambassador looking rather weird. fabulous.

tokyo my love town

can i just reiterate how much i love this place??? the title refers to a tshirt that can be bought here^ kinda cheesy-but when i find one- i am buying!!!! hehe.

so today we went to the tokyo municipal govt offices and took a tour. it was quite interesting especially considering that the area they are administering is two thirds the size of our national govt with a tiny fraction of the geographic size!! we also visited ntt docomo which is the biggest telecom company in japan. all i can say is - the future is now people!!! their internet is 50 times faster than our fastest. a 2 hour movie downloaded in living colour in just 5 mins!!! hello! but alas, the technology will not be coming to australia- docomo have the patent, and methinks they aint sharing!!!!!

we went out for dinnmer in harajuku tonight which is the young trendy part of town, well another one of them! the clothes and accessories are amazing, but despite my diet of fish and rice (and asahi....!), i still cant fit. actually i havent tried. might save that for my free day in my love town- thursday!!!!!

tomorrow we are meeting the australian ambassador to japan which is huge really.... hopefully my mind wont be on karaoke later that night with the awesome mitsui students the whole time i am disussing our bilateral relationship with japan...... hmmm

thursday i will be going to see harry potter, which will set me back about double the australian admission, but i consider pennies well spent.

speaking of pennies- it seems that i am burning money here even in spite of mitsui picking up virtually every tab. but with 3 days left i think i am in decent shape. might not be when i get home though..... )-: i still have one extravagant purchase to make with my mitsui travellers cheques!!! i intend to splurge on an anna sui purse. very hot! if i could find shoes to fit my clodhopping feet i would also splurge on them too, but all the girly ones are tiny... so it might have to be converse chuck taylors!!! at least the japanese designs will be unique (-:

kabuki kalamity

hmmm. kabuki. interesting...... a little dull. without commenting on the quality of what i saw tonight for i feel somewhat unqualified to assess quality, i will say, definitely, not my thing...... sorry kabuki officiandos.

came *home*　tokyo today. this place is so cool and i am so happy to have three more days here.

but, that said, i have just experienced the most overwhelming hospitality and generosity with my host family in chigasaki. kobayashis- you are the best. chizu, risa nao and ally, thankyou so much! i had a fantastic weekend in this little surfer town one hour from tokyo. the experience of *everyday* japanese life is something i will never forget. and my luggage is literally twice as heavy as a consequence of the multiple gifts i have received. unbelievable kindness. overwhelming.


anyway, again, short post i apologise. the speed of events is crazy, but it will regretaby end soon. )-:bye!

more photos

i am currently uploading some more pics to the blog- available for viewing any second.

and yes, that is a real geisha girl. i felt like paparazzi! there are only 200 i think in kyoto, so we were very lucky to see one. in other years groups havent been so lucky. kyoto was a breathtaking city, the picture of the leaves is not even 10 percent as vivid as in the real version!

i am going to kamakura today which should be good, lonely planet shall guide me i think, as risa is at work. chizu-san and nao-san are escorting me, so between their english and my japanese it should be a great day!!!! ;-)

chigasaki breeze, no english, no japanese!!!

aya!

i have been with my host family for approximately 4 hours, and already my arms are feeling tired as a consequence of the wild gesticulation i have been doing! only one person speaks english, and she is a teacher out of the house most of the day. aaaargh! it is quite funny though. chizu-san, the mum, made delicious okonomiyaki for dinner- i was so full i couldnt have the second course of noodles, but seriously, how japanese girls stay so thin with all the food they eat is beyond me!!!

anyway, went to the onsen last night in hakone, which was an amazing experience. not a co-educational one thankfully, and we foreigners were a bright white sight to behold in the baths, but it was fabulous. highly recommended everybody.

anyway, have 2 days here, which promise to be manic. keith- the mum is a tigers fan (baseball) and has already given me 2 presents for knowing that they won the championship this year (communicated with the able assistance of my phrasebook!) haha! apparently this weekend is supposed to be relaxing. i personally expect it will be anything but!!! oh well!

ps- sorry for brevity of posting lately. will try to get some more pics up over the weekend.

the other side of a common phenomenon

so the title of this brief post refers to the group experience in kyoto of perhaps, being the receiving end of racism. apparently kyoto is quite an insular place, and for this reason do not necesarily react to well to foreigners. it is subversive not overt, but i have frequently had the feeling of unwelcomeness, such as tonight when i wasnt allowed to try on a jumper in a shop..... but it is nonetheless one of the most beautful places i have ever seen.

anyway, am off to hakone bright and early in the morning. may not get to post until i get back to tokyo, but keep up the comments! thanks keith for posting that comment re homeless- mum- remember that 6000 homeless in a city of 12 million people is quite a small number, and they live in comparatively good conditions to australia and also receive assistance for buddhist organisations etc, so perhaps we shouldnt be too critical..... but it is sad and fascinating.

anyway am surrounded my crazy video gamers, some asleep and no doubt unwashed for 24 hours, in this internet cafe called healin feelin, and i feel far from healed. so am off for a quick bev with elzabeth peta and caroline, and then back to crazy ryokan!

kyoto, keith, krikey!

well, as the title may indicate, there is a slight story about how i almost did not see keith in kyoto!

you see, we missed each other at the arranged meeting point of kyoto station, and then, as luck would have it, his phone was not working so i could not contact him! lucky for us that fate decided that we would meet on the street outside out ryokan (our japanese inn in kyoto) in a somewhat random fashion. but in the end keith and i had a lovely meal, too much sake and plum wine- and all worked out well. but almost, almost, disaster did strike!

so now we are in kyoto staying at a crazy ryokan,　with crazy ladies who enjoy playing charades with us when we are deciding what to have for breakfast and when to shower (in our communal shower- urgh!) all fun.

it is autumn here currently and the leaves are every shade of red and orange imaginable. the temples and shrines are breathtakingly beautiful and my camera is unable to do them justice. but it is trying.

speaking of pictures- i have uploaded some! so click the photo link on the left side of the blog to meet my excellent new friends and see me doing weird and wonderful stuff!

sorry if this post is schizophrenic btw, everyone else has finished on the computer and i am holding them up. not good!

saying goodbye to our mpe friends was very sad, but hopefully we will see them again next week... i have my homestay this weekend, plus the visit to the famous onsen in hakone (more communal nudity- very nerve racking for this gaijin- foreigner!) so all systems are go. keith has promised to meet the demand for more info re the homeless in ueno park for those of you that are interested- so keith if ur out there...... ;-)

btw- mum and dad my cough has gone. miraculous. must be all the sake and beer?? i really am not drinking that much here, but the weekend was, shall we say, big??!

ok better go join the other crazy kids. loving this place. definitely coming back. xx

karaoke, cocktails and new friends!

well, i cant possibly do justice to the weekend i have just had in the 8 minutes i have on here. and especially not at 6.20 in the morning, which is the time right now! we are getting the train to nagoya today to visit toyota and then on to kyoto tonight.

i have quite possibly just had the best weekend of my life- we have been taken out by 8 of the mitsui graduate employees, not spent a cent, and done things including karaoke, dinner at a ninja restaraunt, visited tokyo university or a university festival（fabulous) and visited shibuya and harajuka- the young cool districts of tokyo (well 2 of them anyway). we also visited odaiba apparently the best "date spot" in tokyo..... there was an amusement park there, and what was, before the london eye, the biggest ferris wheel in the world. absolutely beautiful!

our guides were absolutely fanatastic and i am sure that i have made some close friends amongst them. mpes if you are reading this- you guys rule. i hope to catch you again later in the trip.

well gotta go! will write more soon from kyoto!

crunkyou very much

i ate some chocolate called "crunky" today...... hence the title. need i say more, really??

well just checked my exam marks, and have just discovered i must have done very poorly in the evidence exam because my grade is quite dismal..... claude- if u are out there- i want a re-mark! i am serious!

anyway, we have spent the last couple of days doing technical visits to factories in the chiba prefecture. we vistited nippon steel yesterday and ichihara eco-cement and mitsui chemicals today. the tours consist of an video that we assume is shown mainly to potential investors and then a guide (mainly young females) show you around the plant. we have caught tokyo metro in peak hour too which is... hmmm... how shall i say, an experience?? people are squished into carriages like sardines,　and stand there calmly, resigned to their fate.

one of the highlights thus far is yoko-san our tour guide- or as i prefer to call her "encyclopaedia japanica". she is a pocket rocket, zipping us across tokyo faster than a speeding bullet, and full of pearls of wisdom about everything from love hotels to gingko trees. she is an absolute champione (say with french accent-hence the "e").

but the real excitement is going to come this weekend. graduates who will start with mitsui next year have been given a bucket load of cash to take us out over the weekend and show us a good time. we are going to al sorts of places including tokyo university for some sort of festival, shinjuku to do ceramic making and shibuya for shopping and karaoke. we are also going to odaiba on sunday which is apparently "the best date spot in tokyo".

should be massive so may not get to post until i arrive in kyoto on monday, where, incidentally i will be catching up with keith my old chum from liquorland. anyway, better get an early night before the weekend!!!!! much love people!
　

heated toilet seats!

as the title suggests, today was my first experience of what i assume is a distinctly japanese phenomenon! but toilet stories are for a later time...

this place is amazing. today was a national holiday, but most retail things were open^ it is apparently only office workers who get to take the day off. we went to a stack of places inclusing ueno park, a big park in the middle of tokyo where 6000 homeless people live in permanent shelters, and where there a thousands of gorgeous cheery blossom trees. we also went to the national museum which was fantastic, and equipped with many extremely helpful english speaking guides with encyclopeadic knowledge of their exhibits. we visited the big electronics district, the name of which escapes me, but which confirms the stereotyoe of japan as mecca electronica! we ended the day in ginza, where the land is woth 15 million yen per square metre, and which had exceptional shopping. girls, i found the hottest handbag, only 5250 yen (60 dollars) and leather!

perhaps the highlight of the day was dinner in a japanese pub, where we befriended a table of middle aged salary men who then went on to buy us several bottles of beer! another table provided a marriage proposal for peta- one of the girls in the group. hilarious, will try to get pics on tonight.

some further observations on japan.....

uniformity- i have noticed that japanese women have uniformly nice figures, japanese people are uniformly stylish, and all are uniformly well-mannered! however, despite the uniformity in these areas, the place exudes diversity and eclectic-ness- there is really something for everyone here. the weather is surprisingly mild, the winter coat i brought is apparently redundant. slightly annoying given that it weighs a lot, but i suppose there are worse things than carrying wool coats in your bag.

anyway, despite the plush surroundings of cafe 246 where i find myself enjoying rosehip tea, jazz and free internet, my eyes are heavy and my cough a little irritating for those around me. so until next time, sayonara!

tokyo tokyo

well,　after my 10 hour flight i am finally here, struggling to type on this keyboard that insists on changing back to japanese characters and confusing me, but nonetheless i have 8 minutes to update you!

yesterday was an amazing day in sydney. i will upload the pics tomorrow, but in short, i spent the day at the mitsui australia offices on the 42nd floor of the axa building with the most amazing view of circular quay. we were given several briefings on the company itself (the one that organises this trip) and japanese culture and customs. we also met the mitsui educational foundation trustees, who included amongst others, john menadue (former ambassador to japan) and bill purcell (the pro vice-chancellor of newcastle uni) all of whom were interesting and had interesting insights upon japan which i was grateful to hear. we ate tea at doyles opposite the opera house where australian idol was being decided.　in conjunction with my 3.30am start, the entire experience was surreal!

the flight today was fine, although as usual on long flights, i didnt get nearly enough sleep. we landed here at about 530 and then had a 90 minute ride into tokyo. there were the 9 of us on a massive "limosine" coach which was bizarre- the bus couldnt fit down the street of our hotel so we had a short walk but that was cool- helped to wake me up somewhat.

one of the first things i notice about any country when i step off the plane is the smell- every country smells different. tokyo air smells clean- fragranced air wafts from open doors, but there is also a slightly indutrial smell in the air too- i suppose it comes from having so many people, machines and cars etc in such close proximity. it smells unlike anywhere else i have been- not like hong kong or bangkok. having been here only a matter of hours this is one of my first observations.

the second　is economy of space. my room at the hotel is compact to say the least- i reckon it would fit at least 5 times in my bedroom at home. the bathroom is raised up off the floor in a little compartment and the closet too, is tucked neatly away- so much so that i couldnt find it! i have only spent about 5 minutes in there so far, but after i finish typing this i will be back up there.

we briefly walked up to roppongi which is (i think) a big shopping, nightclub "tourist" type place but as we are all quite tired so we just go there, gawked, took some photos and then walked back.

the other 7 people on this tour with me are great- they seem to have picked a friendly down-to-earth bunch- and after knowing each other less than 2 days we are all get along famously!! the good thing is, that girls outnumber boys 5-3 so when it comes time for democratic decisions on matters such as whether to go shopping or do something else, i am confident that the former will frequently win out. yay! ;-)

tomorrow is a sight-seeing day, but i should get a chance to upload some pics tomorrow night i hope. if not you will have to put up with my unpunctuated prose. (actually its the keyboard not me!) see u soon!

count down time

Well, exams are finished. I managed to party hard enough at the end of Legal Ethics to make myself sick! I now have 6 days to get rid of this delightful combination of cold/hayfever.... quite a challenge.

You may also have noticed that I have managed to get a photo stream set-up... i have put a couple of pics from Alicia and Dan's engagement party on Saturday night. If you think i look tired- I was....! I got my new camera on Saturday- a very sexy Nikon S1- so hopefully it delivers the goods. I need to sit down and read the manual I suppose, but all my concentration was used up on exams!

Anyways, perhaps next time you hear from me I will be in Tokyo which is a whole lot more exciting than sitting at home on my computer, as if that needs to be said..... Until then... hopefully my brain recovers so that I can write something intelligent on here!

premature excitement?

Hmm, I feel i may have erred somewhat in starting my blog a month out from leaving!
How the hell do I maintain the intensity for three more weeks till I go to Japan? Nonetheless, thanks to all my pals (and their mums!) for posting.

Also, I can ZERO credit for the layout of the blog- it is template thing as my fellow bloggers would know! But the Make Poverty History band is easy to put on, just click it and you can get one too!

Hard to believe that in a week I will be finished exams, and finished Uni at Adelaide forever, and my Law degree altogether! Sort of sad :-(

Anyways, enough sentimental-ness, I have the Law of Evidence to revise, and Law of Ethics to learn from scratch. Yikes. Hopefully none of my teachers are reading this.... Some good news is that I will have a new digital camera soon to put some piccies on here of my last days of uni etc etc.

Right, no more babbling.

It starts.....

Welcome to my blog.

Apologies to Air (one of my favourite artists) for borrowing the name for this blog from one of their songs. I though it was rather apt however. I hope they can forgive me.

I basically want to use this thing as a way of letting my friends and family know what I am doing while I am O/S (Japan in about 3 1/2 weeks & exchange to Indo from January to June). I don't expect that any random readers who happen to stumble upon my ramblings will be particularly interested, however if you are feel free to comment! I suppose it will make me feel a bit famous?!

The reason I am setting this up now is because tomorrow in my Indonesian class I have to give a talk in Indonesian (dalam Bahasa Indonesia) about "How to Set-Up an Online Diary". This will be the one I "made earlier".

I was hoping to put some links on here to other friends blogs, but at this stage working out HTML enough to be able to do that seems a bit impossible. If anyone knows... HELP!

Anyway, this is my blog debut, if you will. Forgive poor grammar and spelling. I truly am a child of the computer-age. ;-)