If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Banana and chocolate pizza.

Japanese names are great. They are so much more interesting than English and Western ones in general for that matter. My helper at the schools surname is Terayama which means Temple Mountain and it just gets better from there.

My favourite baseball player for the mighty Hanshin Tigers is Akahoshi which means Red Star. It`s as if they were all given Dances With Wolves Indian names. “You want medicine for axe cut?” You go see Ringing bell Temple Mountain.” etc. etc.

This is a burger meal with Oolong cha bought at the Japanese version of Mcdonalds called Mos Burger It is a fast food burger restaurant but that is where the similarities end. It is somewhere in-between a 50`s American diner and a McDonalds. Each meal is prepared freshly for you which means you wait with a number for about five to ten minutes depending on what you order so it`s not really a fast food restaurant. They have some interesting meals such as the rice burger below which is a burger but with rice instead of the bun and the Atkins lettuce burger found in most restaurants now.

I thought I`d do a little promoting of other blogs in the selfish hope of blog karma. Here are some blogs on my blogroll I love. Have a look at them. I`m sure there`s at least one you`ll like too.

No 1: Extraordinary Ordinary Guy in Japan - A blog by a Japanese bloke in English. Informative and really interesting views about life in Japan. A great and unusual read - especially to see a blog in English by a native Japanese person. Email him and make him post more.

No 2: Bryanboy: Le superstar fabuleux - BE readers will probably be aware of this great blog. A blog by a gay filipino which is hilarious and a good read.

No 3: Glitter for brains -Another gay blog. Are you worried yet? This time he`s in London and this one is really funny. Read how Cher (allegedly) came to dinner and the continuing Girls Aloud chronicles. Always a great read.

No 4: Blog Blog Woof Woof - A great blog pulling in world football news, current affairs and a daily Buddhist thought for the day. Increase your karma, read this blog.

No 5: This is a less famous blog than it`s well known cousin Slashdot but it still deserves a mention. It is also a gadget and technology blog called Engadget

No 6: This is Sir Harris A photoblog with a set theme for every day of the week. Be it Landscape Monday or Greyscale Wednesday, you`ll see great pictures every day of the week. Another photoblog I recommend is Efeb: Timeframes A jaw-droppingly beautiful photoblog by Marcin Wojcik photographing askew pictures of New York.

Let me know what you think. Have you found a new blog from this post here you`ll revisit? Know any others I should take a look at which you can recommend? Post a comment. I need more blog knowledge! Thanks.

Curry with massive oishee nan bread eaten today at food court stall next to Hawaian meal. Okawari!

This is a Hawaian meal in a supermarket food court of beef and egg with lettuce. They gave me a large spoon to eat it with when chopsticks would have been better.

I found this in the Japan Times last week but couldn`t find it anywhere online until now. Elephants in Thailand have had custom built toilets for them which they have been trained to use (and flush)

Yesterday the school I was at was having some sort of international day with myself being English, a Korean lady to teach Korean and a dreadlocked silver jewellery-wearing black man from New York who has lived in Osaka for twelve years teaching music.

It`s hard readjusting to in your face Western conversations when you are faced day to day with normally passive Japanese who on the whole are very conservative and withhold their true opinions or just don`t understand most of what you are saying. He entered and after speaking to the head teacher in fluent Japanese turned to me and with a flick of his dreadlocks said “Yo man what`s up?”

This makes me revert to normal English stereotypical Hugh Grant um and arring. The shock just threw me out of synch completely. When I play(ed) frisbee in Osaka in the summer there were many Americans with their typical optimistic and friendly attitudes and I couldn`t seem to adjust easily from not being able to be understood with quiet Japanese to outgoing and embracing Westerners.

Elsewhere I may be taken on full time at the English school I`ve been subsituting at as the woman wants me to work Friday as well and said we need to talk which means I hope that she has sacked the normal bloke for failing to turn up/contact her. I`m not one to wish ill on others but I need a steady income coming in and two part time jobs are better than one and a half.

I finally opened a bank account today in my name today. Better late than never. UFJ! UFJ! You need a special personalised stamp to open an account and for all official documents and contracts. Flickr is down at the moment but when it is back up I will explain the crazy Japanese stamp for your perusal.

This is ten don which is prawn tempura on a rice bed in a bowl with dashi (soup) The place we ate this is very famous for this meal. It is on a side street and seats only six people. and serves only this dish every day. It`s cheap at only 550 yen. We had to queue for fifteen minutes outside. You are not allowed to drink or smoke. When you have finished you have to leave straight away so that others can come in.

Today was also a lucky day despite having to leave the house at eight on a Sunday. We drove to Osaka centre and for a lack of anything else to do, went to a pachinko parlour. There were long queues outside one before it opened with people clamouring for the luckier machines. We double teamed again on two machines at the same time and I won twice netting about 24000 yen which we split. With my winnings I bought two more PSP games which are quite cheap at around 4000 yen. With 1 dollar being 104 yen and one pound being about 200 yen or 1000 yen being five quid or near tto 10 dollars you work it out. The PSP itself came to only 22000 yen. 20 GB Ipods are only about 30 000 yen. Japan AKA Land of the cheap gadget future.