on the bright side

first of all, i am not really worried about finding another job. i'm already looking and there is a lot out there. this might be just the opportunity to move to tokyo and party like a rock star!

so...here's what i've been up to.

on my first day exploring the city, i met eric (brandon's roomate) and yoshie (his girlfriend from nagoya). we ate the most delicious steaks and then wandered up to the nagoya television tower to watch the sunset. we could see the mountains in the distance and the sun setting over the misty mountains. as we climbed up to the observation tower, we heard an orchestra playing across the street. now the "building" they were in is almost impossible to describe in words. it's like a huge oval pool has been removed from the ground and moved up 10 stories. the open area that remains below the pool is a shopping center. this night, they had an orchestra playing for free there on a weekday. i love this place.

the following day, while looking for posters, we wandered back to the tower and saw little cartoons walking around. my favorite, koran-chan was a bouncy ball that wiggled and jumped when you say "konichiwa!"

after an intense week of training and karaoke knee banging, i was off again to enjoy myself on days off. though it was raining and misty, i went to nagoya castle with brandon, eric and yoshie.




we watched a 3D tour of the castle as it was and observed the skyline of nagoya from the top of the castle.


after that, we walked through the underground mall to avoid the rain until we met some of my friends from training for yakatori: traditional japanese grill. we ate shitake mushrooms, shrimp, chicken and other delicious foods tapas style and drank their local drink: a strong, whisky-like drink that you mix with an apricot. we would call out, "sumimasen!" when we needed something and the whole staff would shout, "hai!" and someone would scurry over. they proudly steered us toward their delicacies, including grilled fish fin, which is suprisingly meaty and tasty, and the osaka version of a traditional liquor. after that, we all walked through the rain to a driving range and played golf.



it was pouring rain when we left and made our way back to kanayama on the last train. not wanting to go home, we solicited a crew of young japanese and then went to joy joy, the 24 hour karaoke bar right by my house. we got a private booth and sang our hearts out for the rest of the night.



the next day, i went exploring with my friend aaron for awhile before going to lunch. my plan was to go to osu to find a bike, but i ended up window shopping and exploring a buddhist shrine in the area.

it's strange- there are shrines everywhere here. sometimes they take you by surprise. i didn't find a bike, but we did enjoy a nice walk around the city. i found the orchid gardens, which will open later this year, and then the robot museum, where we played and assembled robots like huge nerds!


i closed the evening back at the futuristic fountain, watching the sun set over nagoya.

as we left, we saw a hip hop showcase in the shopping center with 2 breakdancers, a guy rapping to a human beat box and live painting. my city constantly takes me by suprise. i figure, if i can love it when it's typhoon season, i'm all set here in japan.