Game Arcade

Game arcades are very popular in Japan amongst people of all ages. We decided to check one out and try some of the games. There are many different types of skill-testers, the games we all know are totally rigged! One that I tried was a cabinet filled with different boxes of Poky (chocolate pretzels) which had big plastic loops attached. You had to manoeuvre a hook up, down, left, right, forwards and backwards to pick up the prize. Each turn cost ￥100 and you had a time limit of 60 seconds. It was pretty fun.

Throughout the arcade are video machines (Mortal Kombat and the like) as well as games that require a bit of effort on your part. Jess and Liam jumped onto the dance machine while Jono and I looked on in awe! Two other games in particular caught our attention, or rather the people playing them did! They were incredible. One machine simulated a drum kit with different colour-coded drums as well as a foot base drum. On the screen was a scrolling blur of colour which related to the different drums you had to hit. The next game simulated a type of keyboard (but with not so many keys). There was a scrolling screen on dots which related to the different buttons to press. This guy's fingers were moving a million miles an hour and his eyes never left the screen. Just crazy.

Reading Record (cont....)

16- "The Partner"
By John Grisham
This is an intriguing book about a partner in a law firm, Patrick, who faked his own death and stole 90 million dollars from the firm. After being on the run for 4 years, his past finally catches up with him. As his story unfolds and the mystery of "how did he do it?" is revealed, you are taken through many twists and turns into a very well planned and executed plot. Just remember, what goes around comes around!






17-"Obsession"
By Karen Robards
This was a fast paced novel that I just about speed read! It was exciting and thrilling, getting my heart racing with fear and panic many times. It's about a woman, Katherine Laurence, who survives a vicious home invasion, during which her best friend Lisa was killed right in front of her. But she seems to have lost her memory and doesn't even recognise her boyfriend's voice on the phone. So she acts on her instincts and runs for her life, but she always has someone on her tail.
Thanks for my birthday present Mum!!!







18 - "Just Like Heaven"
By Marc Levy
This movie is one of my favourites, however the book is quite different. It is about a man, Arthur, who finds a woman, Lauren, in his closet and soon discovers that she's a ghost. Her body is in a deep coma in the hospital. Arthur is the only one who can see her and after spending time together they become quite attached. When Arthur learns that the doctors want to bring Lauren's physical care to an end, he does the only thing he can think of to stop it...steal the body. The novel follows the story of the body-snatching and time after that spent in Arthur's mother's house, which he hadn't been back to since his mother died (he was 10). I still enjoyed this story but am a bigger fan of the movie.

Osaka - A laugh a second

Jess and Liam (Jono's sister and her boyfriend) have arrived in Himeji and for our first big adventure we headed to Osaka. In search for a new camera for Jess, we found our way to Yodobashi Camera. The world of all things electronic sucked us in and held us hostage for several hours as we browsed through the computer section, the camera section (Jess got an Olympus camera), toy section (we bought UNO) and then made our way to the 8th floor for lunch.

This floor was jam packed with different restaurants where Jess and Liam looked at the various display cases, containing the plastic models of each meal on the menu, with intrigue! A common question being..."What's that?" We decided to dine at a steak house and introduced Jess and Liam to their second Japanese meal. Jono, Liam and I had the lemon steak and Italian hamburger with rice, cabbage salad and bacon soup, while Jess had the lemon and soy steak, curry and rice, salad and bacon soup. All meals were delivered to the table sizzling on a hot plate with the steak looking quite rare. We quickly turned the meat over on the plate and let it cook a bit more. The meal was delicious and very filling.

Next we cruised the many shops (yep, in the same building) and had a laugh a minute. Our first crazy purchase for the day were the "Nudy Sandals" which feature in the What the? section. Hmmm, Jess and I were intrigued and assume that, because they were marked down to 504 yen from 2980 yen, they didn't really take off. Well, imagine the base of a sandal with a sticky film on the top and you have the Nudy Sandal. Jess tried hers on and said they felt squidgy!

T-shirts were the main form of entertainment for us. Here are some t-shirts we remember:

-"No Crackheads" with a picture looking similar to ghost busters, but he had a particular apparatus in his hand.

-"Camp fun time" with a picture of a totem pole.

-"Water Melon. I fell in love with this taste".

-"Bowling. Observe the rules and play happily. The ball was disgusted".

-"Boy Howdy" with a beer bottle that had eyes and arms.

-"Ringo" With a cartoon picture of Ringo Starr eating an apple (apple is 'ringo' in Japanese).

One particular store kept us entertained for about half an hour. It was full of little nick knacks, foods and odd bod merchandise. There were Alf, The Little Mermaid, McDonald's and Trolls trading cards, bacon print packing tape, animal kettles, fruit key heads, coin purses in the shape of a chicken wing, a peanut, a steak, SPAM 25% bigger in Japan (alright, time for a SPAM burger!), and the list goes on.

After many hours of exploring Yodoboshi we ventured down the road to the Entertainment Park, another high rise shopping building. We went to the Snoopy shop and the Disney shop, buying some cute merchandise. On the top floor there is the Hep Five Ferris wheel. It is 106m tall and one round trip goes for 15 mins. Jess, Jono and I boarded the Ferris wheel and were just amazed at how many buildings are crammed in next to each other. We laughed when we saw the train station, only one block away. We were out and about Osaka today!!!!!

VISITORS COMMENTS:

First time out of himeji which wasn't the bus ride from the airport got to see a lot of the different cities when travelling on the train (even though they all run together and the only way to tell is by the train station you get off at). Osaka was a lot busier than any where i have been before. People are everywhere and it's very crazy. There don't seem to be as many bikes as Himeji but we didnt really travel very far away from the train station lol. So far it has been a very fun trip (except feet are hurting haven't ever walked this much i think (liam)) also Jess and i havent had to navagate the train system by ourselves yet so that could also be interesting :S . all in all the day was lots of fun and got to look at some electronics :) . Also got to buy a new camera and new shoes (it only took me lots of complaining to get them)... so a great day of shopping for me!

What the?!!?? June

Who stirs their peanut butter?

Take me out to the ball game

Jono and I finally experienced a part of the Japanese culture...a baseball game. We saw the Hanshin Tigers play the Lions at Koshien Stadium, Kobe.

The stadium was massive, holding 55,000 people (no wonder the train was packed on the way home!). The game went for 3 and a half hours, but it went really quickly. The crowd were right into cheering for their team when they came up to bat. They had different chants and clapping actions using clapping sticks to go with them. I was enjoying doing it with my fists and then a lady sitting near us gave me her clapping sticks and said "present". I was so excited! I watched and followed the cheer leaders and hit my sticks together like crazy! I was probably a funny sight.

Dotted around the perimeter of the field were some "cheer leaders". These cheerleaders were not wearing belts as skirts, have their hair in pigtails or holding pom poms. There were men and women leading the crowd into the various chants and kept the crowd in sync. Many people were dressed up to support their team. They held signs, t-shirts and flags in the air and the clapping sticks were everywhere. Boy did they make a great sound! One lady was even in a full body tiger costume, now that's commitment!

The game moved at lightning speed, almost as fast as the pitchers threw the balls. The fastest ball of the night was clocked at 146km/h! That's amazing! There's no way I would want to be at the receiving end of those balls! This was my first time to watch a whole baseball game so I was watching and learning. I liked the way they played until 3 were out and then it was "side away". When a new pitcher was brought into the game, they were delivered to the pitching spot via a baseball car! It was really cute. They even reverse parked it after it's trip! They love their reverse parking here in Japan!

I was really looking forward to having a hot dog for tea, but there were none to be had. Instead Jono had a ton katsu sandwich and I had curry and rice! Not your typical baseball cuisine, but we are in Japan after all! There was a psycho of an old man sitting near us who would get up and stomp on the seats when the other team was getting runs or when the Tigers made errors! We just looked at him and thought, what the?

From time to time the pitch needed levelling out. Out came men in yellow coats with big rakes as well as tractors to make the ground pretty again!

At the end of the 6th innings everyone (including us) blew up some long balloons and held them in the air. After some chanting and lifting them into the air everyone let go and the thousands of balloons filled the air with wiggling lines of colour. It was so cool. At the end of the 8th innings it happened again because the Tigers won. Everyone was so happy! We bought a souvenir towel (looks like a bar towel) with Williams on it. He is an Aussie, so who else would we support? Jono bought himself a t-shirt. Wearing the towel like a scarf and hanging my clapping sticks around my neck, I looked like a seasonal supporter. It was great fun. And even better that the Tigers won, 6-3.

Starlight, Star Bright

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder where you are!

The night skies of Himeji remind me of a scene from 'Madagascar' when Alex comments, "Look, the star's out", and it turns out to be a helicopter!

Tonight we were blessed with a spectacular night show. From our balcony we could count a whole 6 stars in the sky! WOW! Now that's special.

Reading Record (continues...)

15 - "The White Masai"
By Corinne Hofmann
What an intense book! It's about a Swiss woman (Corinne) who, while on holidays there, falls in love with Kenya country and imparticular a Masai. Once she returns from Switzerland she breaks up with her current boyfriend and her life fast becomes an obsession to get back to Kenya and find her Masai. She ends up finding him, Lztinga, and starts a traditional styled life in Kenya. After much hard work on her part, they end up getting married and all is well until their first baby arrives. Lztinga suddenly becomes very jealous and constantly accuses Corinne of having an affair and having other boyfriends. Their whole life together is a struggle with its remoteness. Over the course of her stay in Kenya, Corinne struggles against many diseases, all of which made me quite queezy while reading! As the book continues you can feel the tension mount and hope something good can come from all of it.