Turtle in Osaka, Japan

Hangovers still happen in Japan

Well i just wrote a massive blog post b4 the mac im on crashed.
Macs r so shit! why would n e waste their money on them. If u wanna be weird get linux.

The pic is me and some japanese homies.
Westside

So finally had time to go out on a bit of a bender.
Went to american town, just walked about a bit till i saw something that looked kinda open. It was only 9pm but it shut at 10pm!
N e way this place was kinda a hardcore trance place with loadsa guys with their tops of and girls dancing like wigfield.
All the japs come up to us and start saying "HI five" just like borat. So i humoured myself and pretend to be borat.
So this place shut and we had no where to go. I asked a japanese girl for "cool bar???".
She showed us some place and then left.
This place was reggae and didnt open for another hour, fuck that.
So walked off and asked another group of jap girls, "cool bar?".
These girls spoke good english and took us to a hip hop bar.
This place was kinda small and maybe had 250 ppl in there, but we were the only westerners. It was like being the black guy! I was soooo cool!
They were doing some "dance showcase" and they dragged me on stage, but all i could muster was the brent dance. I think it was lost on them. The japanese guys also love to teach me swear words and giggle when i say them a lil too loud. Stayed there till about 6am, then biked home. I was all over the place but still saying ohio gasimass to strangers.


Oh ye works ok.

Ok so kinda settled now, had 2 full days at work, got a phone! (you can email me on it, just email my gmail account and it forwards it on to it).
What else have I done, umm joined a gym, off there in a bit before work.
Best thing about this phone is I can now show pictures of Japan!
So let's start with my room,

As you can see it's the tradition style and the japanese like to put their belongings on the floor rather than us storage tools.

Next is my pride and joy, my bike!

Bikes are so NOT uncool here, in fact here's a photo to try and get across how many bikes there are here,

I don't know if you can make it out but the bikes go on forever!

Finally here's some photos of the "landscape",

Ok rite, im off to the gym now, then work after that.

Remember to leave a comment if you want.

Yesterday my ear wasn't too good so I went round the corner to the red cross hospital.
I wasn't expecting to be seen there and then, just enquiring.
Anyway, the doctors and nurses made such a fuss over me. I was seen in casualty (for an ear ache!) and even though I didn't have any money on me they saw me and gave me ear drops anyway! Sweet!
Today I was on a mission to buy a bike. It makes sense seeing as I can still claim my tube money even though I can cycle to work everyday.
New bikes here cost from 50 quid but I heard you could get a re-condo one from 25 quid.
Adam told me roughly where to go. After 30minutes of wondering around I was getting no-where, but hello! Osaka International House!!! Surely they can help. And they did, TRY!
A Japanese woman with a strong new York accent helped me. However, she was more interested in "cockry" accents! I spent over an hour there, and she didn't really tell me much!
So on the way home I find this place Adam told me about. I enquire inside as regards to a bike. The guy spoke very good engrish and told me all their bikes where crap!!???!! He then gave me engrish directions for a better shop with many bikes!
This lead me walking for 30 minutes whilst finding nothing.
I then find a bike shop but only new bikes. I ask in there about cheaper bikes. The lady gets a ruler out and draws me a map! Weird, but very nice of here.
She tells me it is very far. It is!
After another 30mins of walking, I find this place. A bike shop with second hand bikes!
I try to haggle but didn't manage it. Still I got a bike with a lock, a basket, lights and new tyres for 30 quid. Not bad. And I have kinda like a number plate which bikes need here!
Me and Patrick have just been to a resturant where we fried our own beef, cool.
Really tired now, but tomorrow is my first day off!
All I have to do is open a bank account, provide Nova Hq with my bank details, join a gym, do my washing and relax!
Blend!

First day at work 2day, kinda.
had orientation. basically it was in the building ill b working in, but they just went over everything i had already read.
We did get our hanko though, which is our own personal seal we use for openin our bank accounts.

The beatles are everywhere in japan. They must have been playin the greatest hints on a loop in some restuarant i was in the other day. Today i was in a toilet no less, when i noticed the calming 'lift music' was based around lennon/macartny!

After work today a group of us popped to an english pub called the pig and whistle. Word crept out that it was my bday 2morrow, but also that i have a 7:30 start 2morrow and the day after.
Any-ho, we all aranged to meet up after work 2morrow for a bit, and adam my housemate said he'll meet us too and knows some places i can get free drinks and even a free bday cake! blend

in that weird internet cafe again wid the weird keyboard, but ill try my best.
so ive just had my first full japanese meal. lots of rice, some weird soup and COOKED trout! it weren't too bad really and only cost about 4 quid.
I start work tomorrow which im kinda looking forward to. spent the last few days not really doing n e thing but getting over jetlag, which i think ive done now.
Its really sunny here today, which is even sweeter that i hear its snowing in england.
went to a bar last nite called bar 280. basically everything there is 280yen, a small beer or a large beer. all the same price, awesome (about 1.50 quid).

About the culture shock. Yes, things r weird here, but it kinda just brushes off u. Ive been told that after a while u can break down due to not understanding anything really. Its kinda like that simpsons episode when homers face is a company logo so he goes off to japan to learn more, but leaves even more confused.

its my birthday on tuesday too (no flowers please). Ive been told i might have it off work. In which case adam says he`ll take me to koyto. Ive only really seen the namba area of japan so far, which is kinda like going to england and just staying in picadilly circus, so it`ll be sweet to see these mountains japan apparently has.
Ok well im off now to a cheap supermarket i found to get some chicken to fry.
bie bie

So im in my flat typin away on my housemate adam's mac.
I think im just gettin over my jetlag. Things have been pretty weird recently and ive only been getting 5 hours sleep at a time.
I just popped upstairs to a flat occupied by some girls who also work at nova. Jesse has just given me instructions to get to a gym that's really near my work which is sweet.
I don't start work untill monday but ive already spent 50 quid which isn't too good.
it seems that the cost of livin in osaka is cheap as hell. i dont know wot the japanese spend all their money on. you can buy a 3 bed flat near the centre for only 10000 pounds! I think they all just save up their money to have a garden. There is no flat, green space anywhere here and apparently it's really valued.
There is a lot of cars on the roads, like anywhere but no where to park. People have to buy a parking space and there are space-aged car parks which are hard to explain but basically there are cages for the cars which are somehow stacked on top of each other. I'll have to take a pic when i can. And petrol stations have the pumps on the roof with the hoses hanging down. A space savin tech no doubt.
Well im off now, prob to eat at another mcds. They are cheaper than at home!

First things, im using a weird jap-english keyboard so sorry if they are some mishaps.
Ok so few out on tuesday, such a long flight. I did get an aisle seat and no one next to me though which made matters slightly better. I got abousutly no sleep though and the movie/food choice was aweful!

TIP 1 - Don't play wid ur spots on the plane, the dry air and low pressure will make them worse!

Landed after 12 long hours, quick through immigration and then were met by a fat australian nova woman in arrivals.
Then had to wait about for 3 hours untill a canadian plane landed. This plane would include my new housemate Patrick.
Then take a 45 min Bus ride to Osaka then me and patrick went off wid a japanese lady on the tube. 10 mins on there then a 10 min walk then (did I mention it was pouring it down), finally at the apartment.
So I:ve been up over 24 hours, and end up in this small apartment with no lights we can work.
We did find the light switch eventually and then found out that are rooms are right next to each other and only seperated from themselves and the living area by a sheet of paper for a wall!
And to make matters worse we dont have a bed each, but a big parcel in the middle of one of the rooms addressed to us. GREAT!
So we went about making　our beds and it didnt take that long to be fair.
After that we just popped out quickly cos I saw that there was a happyshopper type place across the street and was starvin!
I got a sandwhich from there, went back to the apartment and went straight to bed.
TIP 2 - Dont drink too much water on the plane.
Ok, so it seems im made of spongue because even though I was so knackered my head hurt I had to get up every 90 mins to go piss. GREAT!
I'll leave it there because me and Patrick have to get home now due to our suitcases getting delivered. That's right, I haven't washed in Japan yet!