We had a house party on Saturday night, not too many people showed up. It wasn't the best situation considering I had to wake at 7am the next day.















I managed to to it in the end though it wasn't easy. We went on a footy trip to Gifu City, about 2 hours drive from Osaka. We took a couple of cars. The ground looked great. Very big and flat, though we found out later that the grass was a bit rough. The game kicked off at 2.10pm. The first quarter was quite even, we had a 2 goal lead, helped by a fairly strong wind. In the second we played very smoothly with good run and great tackling, we managed to push the lead further. However we were absolutely stuffed by that stage. We didn't have any spare players so we weren't able to rest, the ground was big and the game went for longer than usual. The Redbacks came out in the second half and although we keep trying hard they ended up winning 79 to 52. A fair effort and a good, hard game. I was bumped in the last ten minutes and twisted my knee, doing a patalar sublaxation-so painful, I had to leave the game. We went to an after game izakaya. That food and drink was much appreciated. I was falling asleep by 7.30, it had been a challenging day and I badly needed a bath and sleep. We got back at 11pm.

I had my first experience of 'sakura cha(tea)' on Wednesday. It consists of cherry blossom leaves that are pickeled in vinegar. It's very pretty but tastes like seawater.

Last week I went to the Kiomizu temple illumination, it was a little eerie.










On Saturday I headed to footy training at the Yodogawa, thankfully the playing area wasn''t a stinking bog like last week, but that didn't stop the injuries, with one of our players ending up with his finger on a 45 degree angle, I'm glad I didn't see that! After training a few of us went to a Kogoshima izakaya(Kagoshima is located near the bottom of Japan's southern island) , they had the best fried chicken I have ever tasted. The Blarneystone was next, an Irish pub nearby in Umeda.


















I was pretty buggerred after training so I went home a little early. On Sunday I saw 'Valkyrie' in Kyoto, so exciting, nearly gave me a heart attack.

Muddy

On Saturday we had training down by the Yodogawa river, it was so cold! The ground was quite boggy so it was great fun. I trained hard until I missed a handball and the ball hit me in the nether regions. After training we went to a sento-neighborhood bathhouse. The hot water was much needed. At 6 pm it was time for a bar, so we went to Captain Kangaroo in Umeda
Because it was St Paricks day or 'Irish day', we went to proceeded by train to Shinsaibashi. The green beer was good but bloody hell it was packed and hot! Walked home after about 2 hours.
SUNDAY
On Sunday I did some study then we got a pizza, about 3 slices the grease felt like it was congealing in my veins, however it did give me an super energy hit. I decided to ride in the general direction of Kobe. Riding's good, it allows you to see things you would never usually. There's many interesting places in Osaka. Met up with my flatmate and we went to Murphy's, they had a comedy/open mic night. Rode my bike home and I was stuffed.

Footy and Reggae

Yesterday we had footy training near Umeda, I was so hungry afterwards so I got some maccas-bad move, I felt very sick! Went to Stew's party, good times. At 11 I met up with some friends and we went to a strange club-izakaya hybrid, which played reggae and had incense everywhere not to mention those Middle Eastern smoking devices.. It was a special night offer-2000yen for all you could eat/all you could drink, not too shabby. I got beer spilt all over my crotch at 3 so I thought it was a good time to call it a night.

Return to training

I haven't been doing anything too exciting recently. Last Saturday I went to my first football training in about 6 weeks, the broken rib has just healed. We went to a very muddy field on the banks of the Yodogawa river just north of Umeda. I struggled through it, I'm a little unfit. Also the field was very muddy, I was surprised that no one broke any bones. Afterwards a few of us went to Tsuruhashii for some 'yaki nicku' or'Korien bbq'. We had some good pork and beef. We also drank some pretty suspicous alcohol, including a yukult-like drink. Afterwards we headed to a British pub. They had a beer from a small brewery Mino, in Osaka prefecture. It was so good! The footy team is going there next month for some 'all you can drink/all you can eat' It's going to be good!
The next day I had a pretty bad hangover. I saw 'changeling' in Kyoto, good movie but sad.

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.