Another Party Weekend....

My blog updating is already getting slack! will try to fill you in on last weekend's events and then hopefully will post a another blog entry this week about the weekend just past (went to a traditional japanese tea ceremony). eventually i should have everything up to scratch.

phew... last weekend was another riotous party weekend (i swear there is more to japan than just drinking!). i headed over to Isesaki, a neighbouring town about 30 mins drive from Takasaki, to my friend Anthony's house for a party. there was a lovely bunch of gaijins sitting around watching the K1 fighting championships on tv. i discovered that K1 fighting is basically a real-life version of Street Fighter (the videogame) minus the crazy outfits. when the match finally ended (i didn't catch the winner) we moved on to a Brazilian night club and danced the night away to RnB and bad 90's techno. the club itself was packed with japanese and brazilian patrons and was decked out with fancy disco lighting and even (cue drum roll) a bubble dispensing machine on the ceiling.

Bubbles on the dancefloor!!

After dancing all night we decided to continue our raging into the following day. we (myself, Gemma and Anthony) boarded a train and headed to the Ashikaga Wine Festival, what a day it turned out to be!! i have never seen so many drunken people congregated in one area, it was hilarious. we met up with a small group of friends and sat on the hillside with our wine bottles counting the passouts. in less than a minute i tallied about 20 dozing drunks dotted precariously around the place. it was a beautiful sunny day and the vineyard where the festival was held was perched high up on the mountain side so all around us were thick green pine forests and a picturesque view of Ashikaga town. my bottle of japanese white wine was sweet and fruity and after polishing it off (along with various, generous samplings of other bottles) i began to feel slightly drunk. i remember having indepth conversatons about reggae music to a complete stranger, suducing helpless German men and participating in a heartfelt, group rendition of Dirty Dancing classics whilst lining up for the shuttle bus back to the train station..... enough said.

gradually on my way to getting pissed at the wine fest....

Then, on tuesday night i headed back to yea ol' faithful Odessa for Gemma's final farewell party - gem, if you're reading this i miss you, promise i'll see you when i eventually do the trip back home!

some of the party people at Odessa

There are lots more photos to see here. about 2 weeks ago i bought a brand-spankin new digital camera inTokyo and i've been going snap happy with it! it's my precious.

enjoy the read. x

Party Weekend

Well, as the title suggests i was up to lots of mischief this weekend!! firstly there was a birthday party for Kevin who turned 25. Kevin hails from Canada and works for NOVA, he's been in Japan for about 6 months and has romantically attached himself to my workmate Sarah. Kevin is also one of my favourite people in Takasaki and even though he likes comics and 'Transformers: the movie'.... i still love him.
The party consisted of mainly gaijin(foreigner) NOVA workers and was situated in a nice restaurant where we had to kneel on the floor and as a result receive severe leg cramps! there was much debating over the best and worst movies/actors of all time and general NOVA gossip oh, and of course... beer.

the gaijins!

birthday boy

me and my workmates (L-R) Sarah and Megan

On Saturday night, i attended another social get-together for Gemma's farewell party. Gemma is an awesome girl from Tasmania who is a "top chick with great tits". she also works for NOVA and is based in the nearby town, Maebashi. i'm sorry that i didn't get to spend more time with her because she is alot of fun and a very intelligent, kind hearted person. i think she was happy to have all her friends come out to say bon voyage.

gemma, sarah and I at Odessa

after the restaurant, the party relocated to Odessa which is our local gaijin watering hole. it's a small club/bar which is run by a loony irishman named Andy with his beautiful wife, Kaori. there, we stayed and boogied into the wee small hours of the morning.

all in all a good weekend. for more photos, check out my photo gallery here.

A Brief Overview....

Well, i guess i started this blog a little late, i've been here almost four months and it's hard to fathom how the time has flown. Japan is an amazing place and i am in love with every inch of it! still can't believe how lucky i've been to find myself in this amazing place.... did i mention this country is an amazing place?!

To start, i suppose i'd best try and fill you in (in brief) on all my goings-on for the past few months. the most recent highlights have been trips to Kyoto, Osaka, and of course Tokyo cities. Tokyo is really BIG! most of the people you speak to about it will tell you the same thing, "it's the type of city that's great to visit but after about a day or two you need to get the hell out before your head explodes...." well, that's fairly accurate. i didn't really mind it though, i loved the highrises plastered with excessive advertising and neon lights, the fashion, shopping, nite-clubs and hoards of people - i had to laugh at myself and how i once thought Sydney was a big
city.

Harajuku with Callie (a friend of Sarah's from Bisbane who was visiting).

Tokyo scenery

Kyoto was more my kinda town - low key with alot of history and an awesome club scene to boot! myself along with Sarah and Megan (my two work colleagues and dear friends) saw lots of gorgeous shrines and conquered all the major tourist attractions. we hired some bikes for a day from our hostel and rode like crazy, soaking up all the interesting sights and sounds along the way. highlights for me on this trip were 1. riding my bike through Gion (famous geisha district); and 2. seeing a pair of geisha girls - i read somewhere that there are only about 1000 geisha remaining in the whole of Japan, 500 of which are presumed to be living in and around Kyoto, so we were very lucky to see them.

Another great place we visited recently was Nikko, a beautiful town situated in magestic, green mountains 2.5 hours drive from Takasaki (my town). there were heaps of amazing temples and shrines surrounded by prehistoric looking forests, i felt like i had taken a step back into ancient japan. also, you know the famous phrase, See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil? well, the original '3 monkeys' is found carved onto one of the temples in Nikko... pretty cool, huh? Mum and Dad, this town is a MUST for your trip!

Pretty pillars in Nikko (with Callie)

A towering pagoda in Nikko.

'The' 3 monkeys!

I told you this entry would be brief and that's all my fingers will allow me to type right now, so i hope you enjoy the read and the snaps. i also hope that everyone is healthy and happy back home. i hear Brisbane is all blues skies and sunny perfection - that thought will keep me warm at night, when winter sets in and i'm lying in bed and the temperature is starting to drop below zero.... love you all.

em x