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Cats, Japan, costumes, jaw dropping. Follow the link.

Although you will see many pictures of Japan and it`s countryside, cherry blossom and temples, Japan also has a lot of dull and dirty buildings.

It must be the fake Hermes tie. I went for another interview today (wearing the tie) and they offered me the position. I`m wondering whether this tie has an unlimited amount of uses or from now on it has lost it`s power. I should try going for harder positions I`m not qualified for - CEO, Prime Minister or President and see where it takes me. You must give me the job - Look at my (fake) Hermes tie. Succumb!

On top of that I won a competition last night in Flickr to get a free pro account (worth 25 dollars) for one year. I submitted two pictures I had taken - the escalator and the rice crackers below and an incredibly nice Englishman gifted me a pro account on the strength of them. We are not worthy. It must be the tie…

The ceiling inside the Sri Lanka Pavillion at the Aichi Expo..

The multi-walled film in the French Pavillion condemming environmental destruction.

Rice crackers for sell in Kyoto.

I have been reading more photoblogs and trying to emulate them on this page. Bad photoblogs can be like blogs with bad poems on them (though an excellent poetry blog is Living Poetry) so please tell me if you want less pictures but two I love reading are the inspirational A-list Japan photoblog Sushicam and the excellent Marcin Wojcik`s NY-based photoblog Efeb timeframes.

Now my parents have gone back to old Blighty and Reiko started her new job today, it has been left to me to find employment in this fair and pleasant land or be forced to take a plane home on the 26th June when my visa expires.

Looking at the calendar this is only two and a half months away. In that time I need to find enough work to be able to get my working holiday visa (valid only for one year only and only issued once) changed to a proper working visa. This necessitates around 35 hours of work a week. I have been thinking of changing it to a student visa and studying Japanese here. That will still allow me to work for 28 hours and learn a beautiful language. But lessons can be expensive.

So I have been scouring the local English speaking magazines for adverts today. (Incidentally my blog may be listed in next month`s issue of one of the magazines here.) I even bought a red marker pen to circle ads I liked. I saw one ad today that asked for English teachers at a small school on five days, I called them, got an interview and managed to garner the Friday 4-9 slot. All within three hours! That`s five hours a week down, thirty to go. I put the success down to the fake Hermes tie brought back to me by Reiko`s friend working in China which has got me past the interview stage both times I have worn it.

Teaching English in Japan requires no teaching qualifications. You only need a degree (for the visa requirement) and you get on average 2500 yen or 12 quid or 25 dollars an hour. This makes them highly prized and there is a lot of competition for the jobs. I blame my lack of work on smiley, easy-going and happy Americans taking my jobs (instead of the true causes - my laziness and general incompetence.) Please forgive me my American cousins, I need a scapegoat - It worked for Hitler.

There is a hilarious post on Man in Japan`s blog about some Japanese signs depicting a wanted super villain dressed in black. In Nagasaki he is an abductor of young girls, in Nara he becomes an arsonist. (Click on the link for his site and pictures.) I went to an onsen in Osaka and I found the nationally chased fiend as a burglar on the left. Is there anything this evil jack of all trades won`t do?

A
B

D

These are some pictures taken over the last two weeks

A: A pathway lined with cherry blossom trees.
B: Central Kobe at night
C: The escalator at the Umeda Sky Building
D. Almost the mighty Cerezo Osaka`s home kit.

For larger versions go to my Flickr page.

Quote of the holiday comes once again from my mother whilst we were partaking of Kobe beef (cunningly enough in Kobe)

Me: The cows are given beer to drink which makes their meat more tender and jucier.

Mum: Don`t tell me that Simon it`s cruel.

…..

Mum: This beef is delicious you know.

My parents go back to England tomorrow morning and then normal life resumes for me. Reiko bought a motorbike (kowai!) to go her new job which she starts on Saturday and I have to go through fighting with thousands of Westerners all vying for the English teaching jobs about so I can extend my visa past June.

These two weeks my parents have visited have been really great. I have taken over 300 pictures with my camera and discovered some beautiful places in and revisited some others. It was around a year ago that I came on a trip here so the sense of deja vu has been unsettling yet welcoming. I`ll try and put some pictures up of the best bits.

The weirdest part of the trip was having to “mother”my parents all the time such as encouraging them to try new things, training them how to do it and scolding them when they did something wrong or inappropriate. This role reversal is something which has been hard to take and unusual for me. We all agreed that staying for two weeks was the best thing to do. They had time to acclimatise their tongues to the food and accustom themselves to Japanese culture.

My dad was impressed by the pride they all took in their jobs whether they were a policeman or a street sweeper and also the state of the trains whilst my mum loved the shops. Coming from a town where the largest building there has eight floors, the skyscrapers and endless and varied stream of shopping centres were appealing to her. All in all it has been a fun two weeks and it will be sad to see them go.