Sun Hotel Phoenix Miyazaki

Heute sind wir nach _Aoyama gefahen. Surferparadis Japans und so. Lauter verfallene Hotels, indenen man super Horror Movies spielen koennte. <br>Japanische Baywatch Typen gabs aber dennoch am strand. Da ist uns gleich wieder mal was passiert. Besser gesagt mir. Jaja diesmal bin ich schuld. Wir haben unsere Wertsachen abgegeben, da kann man sich so einen Korb kaufen auf den dann ein Maedchen aufpasst. Die konnte leider nur japanisch. Im gegenzug ...

I spent a great couple of nights last weekend at THE BAR. Its a bar in Miyazaki above the Pauls Smith Clothes shop not far from the main Miyazaki Station.@The owner, Sean, from New Zealand has a great little establishment there. Its only been open for less than a year but its the night spot of choice for all the foreign community in town and most of the Japanese people too if the crowd on Friday and Saturday nights ...

So what do emergency brakes and a rental car have in common? It turns out you can't set the GPS on the rental car if the emergency brake isn't on. Try to figure out that one when all the instructions are in Japanese!! And then... try to find the emergency brake. When we first rented the little car we got the key turned... engine on.... controls figured out... and then ... whumph... you can't move when the brake is on so ...

... us into it. Japan consumerism wasn't overwhelming either because it was all so new and different then what we had at home. Also, I have to admit, I am enjoying being a full blown consumer again. I'm tired of the same three shirts and two pants I've been wearing for 42 weeks. I'm happy to be listing to what I want on the computer while tying these thoughts down. However, I am freshly reminded of exactly how luck I am ...

... home to swap his tiny car for the jumbo company van and set back out to see if he could find us. If ever we needed a travel fairy, that was the day. To get to Beppo we had to go through the city he lived in so he showed us the family business (reception hosting to which he was the 16th (!) generation) and we picked up his wife. They were both quite friendly and helpful in finding a nice Minshuku for us to stay at ...

... blog. We took the high speed train out of Kyoto back to Onomichi to re-join our bikes and finish up the trip. I was a bit worried about the bikes; there was a suspicious lack of bikes outside the train station, and in the end, very pressed for time, we had thoroughly locked them to a random sign in front of the station. Only as we were pulling out of the station did I look back on the other side of the tracks to see a HUGE bike parking lot. Ooops!! But Japan is a VERY ...

... were extremely proud to walk me around the factory. Several young Japanese girls were following us around the factory taking pictures and getting us tea and coffee. Needless to say, the male dominated society is different, but I`m enjoying myself! :) I`m exhausted and going out to dinner tonight which probably means more karaoke. Peace.

... the highest suspension bridge in the world and taken a museum tour. All of this while defiling myself every night trying to keep up with the Japanese tradition of filling your beer, sochu or sake glass before you finish your last. UNREAL. Every bar has a karoke machine that is well used. Tonight, I will perfect the phrase, E Eh Kedo des, which means no-thank you. They don`t take no easily and usually I give in first. More Later.

... at themselves, they point to their nose. After several tense moments of conversation I figured out that everyone was not telling me that I had a big nose, but they were trying to tell me about themselves! My humor is hard to translate here. One of the translators was a fashion designer. I asked her if she could design a shirt that could me lose 10 pounds. She didn't laugh and said she would bring me a shirt later. . . Maybe she can! Have to run!

... 20 hours. I noticed that during my trip through customs in Nigoya that the further I moved passed immigration the less English everyone knew. The ticketing ladies knew less than the custom officials, the baggage check-in people knew less than the ticketing people and so on. It finally ended with me nodding my head and forgetting all the Japanese I had learned over the last few months. I guess there is something to be said for stage fright!