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Well I didn`t go surfing in the end and I didn`t see the fireworks. That`ll teach me for writing about something that I am going to do instead of writing about things I have done. The waves weren`t big enough on Friday as the typhoon changed direction slightly and Osaka was on the outskirts of it. We drove about three hours on the way to Wakayama which cost fifteen quid for the driver each way on the toll roads. Then we realised there was no surf and so sunbathed and swam instead. I saw lots of weird fish like yellow and black striped ones which I tried to catch without success with my hands again.

Saturday, I was left on my own in the house and enjoyed a very good day free of being moaned at whilst everyone else either worked, shopped or played Pachinko. On Sunday I played Ultimate frisbee with some Americans in a large park in Osaka at Shinkanaoka. You could have called it the foreigners married to Japanese women club. These people were incredible at it, doing throws such as hammer throws which I can`t (yet) do. Not having played it for about eight years I was out of practice and they used a much lighter and larger frisbee than I was used to. As it progressed it seemed that whichever team I was on invariably lost until I finally got used to the weight of the frisbee and remembered how to catch it and I started to get good at it. I scored some and made a couple of points and we won the final game.

These people were built like brick shit houses and having been in Japan for anything between four to nineteen years spoke fluent Japanese. There were a couple of Japanese natives who also played and I couldn`t converse with them. This has shamed me into attempting to speak more Japanese to people. Inbetween each punishing game, these people would down beer after beer and inhale copius amounts of tobacco smoke with seemingly no negative effect on their running and throwing ability . This was the same when I played the five a side football. I don`t understand how these people do it.

I blame only myself for being a fat, lazy bastard but every single muscle aches now. I know this means it is working and that I may lose my pot belly and gain legs thicker than that of a chicken. This morning (Wednesday) I can still feel the pain and struggled down the stairs like an invalid. Oh well stop moaning you lazy git and feel the burn.

After the frisbee and having missed the fireworks, we went to an onsen where I soothed my aching, aching muscles. There was this thing called a healing sauna. This is where there were about twelve human sized rectangles in the floor which were filled with stones and some metallic plates. You lay down on the rectangle with a towel to cover the stones and then they turn out the lights and lock you in there. These stones get heated from below and cause you to sweat profusely. I was told that it would only last fifteen minutes so near to the end I was thinking I have to get out now I think I am going to die this has to have been fifteen minutes by now doesn`t it? After a cool down and some more onsen I felt refreshed and wanting for bed. Yes.