Japan: It's all about Fs

After being back in South Korea for over 5 months and having Lisa already visit me from Japan, I have finally got round to write about my adventures in JAPAN!!!!

My wonderful friend of 15 years Lissy Lau has given a day-to-day account of our adventures in Tokyo
http://becoming-reesa.blogspot.com/2010/10/meeting-up-of-old-farts.html


and Kyoto and Osaka,
http://becoming-reesa.blogspot.com/2010/10/kyoto-and-little-bit-of-osaka.html

which are impeccably written and can be found on her blog. Check them out!

AS for me, I am going to give you an overview of my experience as best as possible!

Somehow for whatever reason- I found Japan very similar to France! :) Maybe because I love France and LOVED Japan. Nevertheless, I will now with my love too for Alliterations describe my Japan experience with a giant big "F"!

Fast trains- Never in my life have I felt so overwhelmed my efficient public transport to the point that it is just petrifying! EISH! Lisa's poor iphone could not take the pace-it was just as intimidated by the cacophony of railway lines as we were! :) Nevertheless the high-speed trains were impeccable when we were able to eventually locate the correct platforms!

Fashion- Everyone in Japan is not necessarily stylish-but everyone definitely spends a great deal of time and effort on their particular fashionable outfits! Compared to Korea this was insane-dressing to have others stare was more the norm than not, and it wasnt uncommon to see one person wearing leather boots, fur, stripes and floral on the same outfit. But just as the French,they definitely exuded a sense of flair about it! I thin what I loved most was the daily wearing of kimonos around the street. The women looked absolutely beautiful. Lis and I found out that it definitely wasn't all that pleasant an experience with several layers of clothing plus ropes so that your breath is sucked out of you!

Fun at heart! For a nation with such a horrific history of war, the Japanese sure know how to have fun and relax! My favourite experience of this was in Hirajuku Park where everyone is merely enjoying themselves: either playing guitar or in a drum-circle, reciting some poetry, playing badminton or even better playing with a giant bubble machine! WHAT FUN!

FOOD! The Japanese just like the French love food-but only the best! Along with a nifty little price! EEEK! I loved the ookonomiyaki and bean filled Yatsuhashi! :) One day in Sendai, I treated myself to a gustatory overload! It was tremendous! I paid about R300 for 6or so small little bits of everything! I sat at the train station exit and critiqued every morsel- smell, presentation and of course taste! :) Was such fun!

Fine living at a fine price! Nothing in Japan comes cheaply! I mean nothing-eventually i stopped even converting it was just too depressing! But high price means high quality! Everything in Japan is of the best standard- even weddings which we were lucky to stumble upon! WHOOPPPEEE! Here is a glimpse of fine dining( R75 for a piece of cake), a very cool art exhibition at the Mori Art Museum, the golden pavillion and the castle in Osaka!

Fabulous fun in Japan!

Thanks to my dearest friend Lissy Lau and her friend Lami-for an unforgettable experience!

(arigatogozaimatz!)

Love you Lissy Lau

Finally I am done with this post,

JO-explorer

xxx

Best weekend so far!

My weekend rocked the party!!!This will be a very brief summary of my crazy fun weekend-definitely the best one yet in Korea!

So it started off on Friday afternoon after school when I went to the cute little coffee shop-LUZ- just off the river! I jolly well broke a cup on my way out which was so clumsy of me but after much apologizing and an extra 5000 won all seemed settled. Then off to Yubong Girls Middle school where Chen and Nicole work-to play Badminton! But it turned out that I did not actually have any proper clothing or equipment, so instead Dani and I just sat out, watched, cheered, chatted and chirped! Definitely going to start from this week-think I will go on Mondays and Fridays if I am in town. So yay to exercise! :) Then we headed off to a great little pork place(which is Sam's great food place-I think mostly because of the trendy owner!) Food was fabulous! So yum! Even had patty like things-yum yum! Then we went to this gorgeous little pub place that has been around since the 60s kitted out with old Korean pictures and adverts, vintage telephones, old school electric wiring and an atmosphere that reminded me so much of Ganesh back home in Obs-it was scary! :)
We had a delightful fruit blend juice and some delicious rice wine! And phew that was it-exhausted! Called it an early night...

Saturday, Augustine and I met Dani and Bryan to go shopping for outfits for Jax's party! We were required to buy white shirts and markers-hmmm-this could only mean trouble! We found this gorgeous dress up shop and I got a great big red bow that is worn as an alice band. Bryan got this scary Irish Jesus wig and beard, Dani got catears and a pink wig and Augustine got bunny ears! We tried everything on though-from the horse face mask to the cowboy hats, to the scary clown masks! Was a hoot! Then we met Chen outside M-department store, as we were going to go have lunch before we left for the wedding! Dani and Bryan knew about this great place that was rather underground to say the least-down an alley, passed a pigs head in the market, down a flight of stairs that smelled revolting and along another dimly lit corridor to the CHINESE PLACE! Lucky we had Chen with us to order -funky noodles with a strange sauce similar to Bovril and the famous sweet and sour pork!

After a rushed taste of pure goodness, Chen and I had to dash to catch a cab to the wedding. We were unbelievably confused when we arrived at the venue, as about 6 weddings run concurrently with a crowd of people mulling around aimlessly on each floor. Eventually we found our right KIM on floor 3 and just caught a glimpse of the bride in the bride room, before the ceremony started! For some reasons brides are always magnificent-and this was definitely not an exception! An exquisite dress, fake flowers, cheesy music, air hostesses for bridesmaids and a groom in a dashing white suit were the order for the day! It was the most bizarre event ever. Chen and I were flabbergasted. The ceremony and reception were done within 70 minutes which included the western ceremony, the traditional Korean festivities and the reception including a full on lunch!

After great excitement and much confusion- very brief-but fun we headed back to myeong dong for more shopping and baskin and robbins-best ice-cream ever! Then back to kangdae humoon for a round of airguns which is pretty much shooting at targets-I was officially useless!!! haha! Then a power-nap for what was about to be a night to remember! We headed off to Carla's pad around 7ish and greeted all our friends as if we hadn't seen them for years. Funny how quickly one makes friends and how another SAFA seems like family! Everyone was donned with their crazy hat and white shirt.After a few rounds of SOJU, MJ announced our challenge-to complete a list of crazy things in our group. The list consisted of-kiss a Korean, dance with a Korean, take a picture with a bunch of Koreans, get a Korean business card, fall in front of a group of Koreans, etc! Hilariously embarrassing yet rather entertaining tasks! I might add that our group was very successful and completed most of the tasks. Dancing with a Korean guy on the main road is something I will not forget in a long time. :) After Sheriffs, the night ended singing Naerebang! (no surprises there) Augustine and I ended up staying at Dani and Bryan's place cause Ashley's place just seemed too far to walk!

This morning we woke up rather late and had a delightful scrambled eggs and toast while reminiscing over the evening's events and cracking ourselves at the hilarious photos! We met up with Carla and the gang for some Kimbap and then headed back to her apartment to chill out and laze about. Then we made a mission to the CGV-the movie theater in Chuncheon-I chirped Augustine for watching an American movie as his first big screen movie in Korea-The green zone! Really enjoyed it especially as Matt Damon was the main actor, although I couldn't help but feel as I have always felt-that war is just terribly pointless and depressing and no matter what side you are on-it sucks! Then a quick Starbucks, which really always reminds me I am overseas and I get a little wave of excitement that I truly am living abroad! I saw my high school kids in E-mart who all screamed a loud, "ah TEA-Ch-ER!" I couldn't help but chuckle!

A great dwedgie (pork barbecue) dinner finished off the weekend on a high night! A weekend definitely to remember! Friends + frantic chaos + a fiance turned bride + fashionable head-gear + fearless waegooks (foreigners)= fantastic fun!