From Japan to Australia

Man, I thought I wouldn't be this slack!!! Well, I have been back in Australia for 2 weeks now. Not really much to report from Australia though. I don't have a job, so I have been spending time applying for jobs and catching up with mates. So, I should try and get my blog up to date! Here are some of the things I got up to in my final weeks:

Nagoya Sumo Tournament

How could I live in Japan and not go to the sumo? On July 16th, I went with Megan and a couple of handfulls of JETs to check out the chunky guys bitch slapping each other. Like sucker gaijins, we showed up at the doors open time of 9am.... The real stuff didn't start until 3pm or so! The place didn't provide any good food either. The ticket allows you one re-entry only, so Megan and I ducked out for a few hours to Sakae to have a spot of shopping. We got caught up in a huge downpour/storm on the way back though. It made it a lot cosier at the sumo! The final few hours were excellent though. There were 15 (? I forget how many) matches for the top sumo wrestlers. Interest is maintained by betting amongst your friends, however, I didn't join that. I have bad luck.... Anyway, here are a few of the photos from the sumo. The wrestler with the white dangly bits between his legs (that sounds gross...) is the yokozuna. That means that he is the top ranked wrestler. I don't know if he maintained his title or not, but if you are interested any further, Google is your friend...

For my final weekend in Japan, Megan and I visited Kanazawa. I suppose it's like Soverign Hill or something, because the place is full of souvenirs with gold on them. Kinda tacky I suppose. However, the place was amazing. It wasn't so busy, yet it had a lot of appeal for tourists. We checked out the garden in Kanazawa (I forget the name, again, Google is your friend), which is in the top three gardens of Japan. My favourite part of the trip was seeing all of the organised tours. It's so different to back home in Australia, where people are happy to grab a map and go their own way. In Japan, they especially love tours. They have a load of photos taken of the groups. One of the best things about the group tours is that you wear a name tag, just in case you get lost. Oh yeah, before you go assuming anything, I did not join in the groups. I can read maps just fine! (Even if they are in Japanese gibberish...). The ladies gardening in the photo below were so pissed off that we took photos off them. The one in the front is giving Megan a huge greasy. I got lucky. Hehehe.

This is two days before leaving Japan! One thing I definitely didn't want to go without was going to a baseball match! Together with 5 kiwis (not the animals... the people), I checked out the Tigers against the Dragons at Nagoya Dome. They were the top two teams in the league at the time. I was going for the Tigers because my students told me to. Good thing I did because they won 7-2 (or something like that, my memory is bad). I went to the match with the intention that I just wanted to experience the atmosphere. However, the game was very interesting too. I thought it would be boring like cricket or something, but it is very well paced. I had a great time at the match, and I wish I had gone to more games. If you are living in Japan, you must go to the baseball! Okidokie. I have no more updates about Japan. The next one will have random photos of Australia and what I have been up to. Let's see how long it takes me!!!! Hmmm, I wonder if anyone reads this blog any more anyway?