Fukuoka City

On Friday we took the night bus to Fukuoka, our trip got off to a dramatic start as we had to sprint and scramble around Umeda to find the well hidden bus stop. We got there with 3 minutes to spare. I was bloody relieved!
The trip was a little tough. When we got there I was pretty tired, as I had only about 4 hours sleep, still, it wasn't as bad as I expected. It was 7 am when we arrived so there wasn't too much to do, we just walked around the city. We went to the 'canal city' shopping centre and BIC camera, where I bought a digital camera.
I like Fukuoka, it's a big city but still has a country, relaxed feel to it.
When hit the 'Hakata Asahi brewery', quite close to the main railway station. We were a little late, but they let us catch up. I love breweries, they remind me of 'Willy Wonka', except with beer and no umpa lumpas. After the tour we got snacks and free beer for 25 minutes. The 'Asahi Black' beer was really good. The tour ended at 2.30, we were pretty buggered so we went back to the hotel for a nap. We got the hotel bus to the entertainment district -Tenjin. There are many small portable restaurants selling ramen and other food. After that we walked around Tenjin before going back to the hotel for some hard earned brews.
The next day we checked out of the hotel and walked to the nearby 'Marine World' aquarium. They had it all-from spooky specimens to dolphin/whale/porpoise/seal shows. The badgers were pretty good too. By the time that was over we went again to Tenjin, at 4. We ate ramen again. We did some recon and found the bus stop (we didn't want a repeat of Friday night) before heading to the 'International Bar', which had some nice drinks, ensuring we slept like babies on the return to Osaka. All and all it was a great trip.

Pub Crawl

On Saturday I didn't go to training because my rib is still a bit sore. I just took it easy. At 8.30 we went on a 'pub crawl' in Umeda. A pub crawl is where you go to many pubs in one night. About 20 people showed up. After 5 pubs things turned a little ugly, I'm not going to lie, there were some heads in toilets and nervous taxi drivers on the trip home. I had to wake very early, but I quickly went back to bed. My hangover made me lethargic so I didn't really do anything, just watched a movie. At 8 I went to my friends' place, it was a great bike ride there on my orange 'mama chari' because the streets were pretty much deserted.

Japanese Cultural Festival

Yesterday I woke at 8. Me, my flatmate and his friends headed up to Kyoto on the JR line. We got there at about 10 and headed to a cultural festival right near the station. We eventually made it after going in a few circles. It was inside a building, there was everything Japanese, including green tea ceremony, fan throwing, kimono wearing, calligraphy, incense smelling, wood block printing, instrument playing and flower arranging. It was great, my calligraphy was a bit wonky but I had fun.
After that we boarded a bus towards the main part of Kyoto, around Shijo and the Kamo river. We had a vague idea of getting a beer and heading to the river, but we soon realised it was a tad cold for that. Instead we walked into a art gallery. We soon learned that for 500 yen we could have a look, but more importantly have a drink. As we walked in I thought 'what have we gotten ourselves into', it appeared to be one of those weird art shows that I've heard about. I didn't want to be trapped in there for 3 hours looking at a blank wall while some sumo wrestler barred my way.
Anyway it turned out it was actually quite good, they had some pretty funny student films. We got a couple of drinks including one of he strongest gin and tonics I've ever had. We had to leave at the interval but the nice people gave us some cake before hand. It was beaut. I took a few wrong trains and got home in 2 hours instead of 1. I was pretty tired when I got home. A very busy and fun day.

Izakaya Bithday Beer

Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. We went to a Kyoto izakaya. An izakaya is a cross between a pub and a restaurant with equal emphasis on both. They sell many things, mainly skewered meat and chicken, you can even get gizzard or heart if that's you want. They also sell massive beers. After that we headed to karaoke for some good times. I returned to Osaka on the Hankyu train line, unfortunately it stopped many stops before my place. I had to take a taxi the rest of the way. 3000yen-what a heartbreaker!

Sore Rib

Yesterday I had to work for 6 and half hours, I was pretty relieved when it was finished.
At 7.30 we had an international party. All you can drink is always a good thing. There was a Japanese girl with an Irish accent, now I've seen it all. I was pretty tired when I got home.
My hand has felt like it has repetitive strain syndrome, I think it's due to all the tetris I've been playing. The other day I got a score of 90 000! Also my rib has been pretty sore from last week's knee in the back. I think I'll have to miss a few training sessions.