Sayonara Japan… :(

Well this is it. It’s 2 am on the dot as I write this and I am leaving my house for the airport in 6 hours. The death of NOVA put a lot of plans on hold but I think it’s about time I head home anyways. I can be back for Christmas and the new uni year too!

I can’t say that I’m not sad to be leaving the Land of the Rising Sun. Plenty of good memories and good mates. I am also having to put my plans to travel around the world after I finish here on hold too, hopefuly if everything permits, I can do it later on in my life. Fingers crossed.

I don’t think I would be able to pick only one thing I will miss here. From friendly people and cute girls. From an Ancient Culture to High Technology. Something different everywhere you turn. Truely it is the place I read about before I came, appearing one way on the surface and being totaly different beneath.

So goodbye Japan, maybe one day I will return. No Sayonara, only Ja Ne. Catch ya later.

On the side of this I am really looking forward to a few things back home, like seeing my little sister, all the people I left behind and PIES and SNAGS. Haha. Swimming, Trees, Birds, The Ocean well swimming in it anyways. Of course English is in there too, but I kind of feel that I spoke too MUCH of that here so not SO much.

I do have a HEAP more photos to put up, but they need sorting and all kinds of things that I don’t have the time for right now. So I’ll do it when I get home.

Guess I’ll see everyone when I get there!

Ben out.

A Post? You Just Might Be Lucky!

I’m alive, but NOVA (the guys I work for) might not be for much longer! More updates in a bit! I’m feeling lazy right now

Final note.

So yeah three posts later and I have updated mostly what I wanted to. My life at the moment basically consists of work work work then play on the weekends or any day that I don’t start till 5pm. I’m trying to save for a trip around the globe, well Asia and Europe anyways, if I CAN save enough I’d love to go to South America too but we shall have too see, it’s a little out of my way. I will do another update with the full plans when I feel I have everything I want to do sorted out.

Thats my new computer! And a beer and a whiskey heh. I won’t bore people with useless specs, needless to say however it is an impressive beast heh.

So yeah, as I said above I have posted THREE posts today, so scroll to the one below all the pics too, it has a little more info on what I’ve been up to. Of course feel free to ask a bunch of questions and I will put them up in another post in the next few days. Less overtime this month means more free time.

On that note I shall leave thee. Filled with lovely Japanese curry and content in the knowledge that I have appeased at least one or two of my MANY fans haha. I’ll catch you guys on the flip side.

Ben

Enter the shrine!

Yup I finally managed to visit an old Japanese shrine the other day, of course it was THIS day my camera finally decided to run out of batteries and I didn’t have backups. So I got some nice photos but not as many as I would have liked.

A Tablet but I have no idea what it says heh.

Giant archway with sunset in the background.

I guess this was a lamp housing, of course it could have just been decoration.

A different light source? Who knows!

Another giant archway this time with a giant bridge in front of it, this place is rather epic in size for which the photos do little justice.

Bridge from the side.

I am guessing that this place was a “bathhouse” (can’t think of another word for it and don’t know the name) I am guessing that they poor the water over their heads but of course I HAVE NO IDEA!

I figure this as a gate, of course it’s a portal of some kind. It’s huge.

Some architecture on the inside, was pretty awesome. For any of you interested in such things.

This open area was about as big as a football field. One thing you may not be able to tell from the pictures is that the stones have been raked, as such I did not walk over them. This maybe stupid and touristy of me but you know I was just being nice to the stone rakers.

This building looked the same as the one I was standing in, so chances are it lead to another open space or something even cooler. But I chickened out and didn’t walk on the stones, I guess I will have to wait until mum and dad comes over. I’m sure mum won’t have my hesitation in walking all over some poor old mans hard work love you ma.

Here is a panorama of a lake at the shrine. That big clump of trees had a lot of noise coming from it (in the form of a voice over loud speaker) but after this shot my camera ran out of batteries and it started to rain rather heavily.

Well I won’t write much more other than this place is awesome and I will be most certainly be taking my parents when they come over in September.

I’ll have my dinner now and do a smaller post after that. Update city!

I’m ALIIIIVE

Yo folks hows things? Genki desu ka? I’m hopin’ so.

So yeah I know I’m a slack arse and all that but I have a few updates that should keep some of you occupied for at least a little while.

So before I do my second post containing all my pictures this one is just purely for updates on the life front so you folks can know whats been goin’ on in the life of Mr. Kramer.

Well mostly it hasn’t been that interesting, I’ve been working a heap, wandering all about Osaka in search of many things, of course always too gob smacked to pull out my camera which is too big to comfortably fit in my pocket a mistake I wont make again when buying one. I’ve been eating all kinds of food here and not just Japanese, of course everything here would have a slightly Japanese bent to it I would say so it’s hard to tell whats authentic, not to mention what is actually Traditional Japanese food or stolen and Japanised. Found a really nice all you can eat Brazilian place, so I’ve had my meat fix for the next few months.

I’ve been working a little at a place called Kashihara Jingu Mae which is in the Nara prefecture. It’s one hell of a long way away from where I live but it does have a few perks. One is all the pictures I got of the shrine that is there (which I will put into the next post I do). The other is an AWESOME Bento place right next to where I work. For anyone who doesn’t know Bento is a lunchbox, filled with a few different kinds of food in the Japanese style to add variety to a meal I would guess, with plain rice to cleanse the pallet. The one I had this Saturday was hamburger patties in a Japanese gravy, bacon and sweet potato, a pasta salad, and rice. This is a western styled one I am guessing, the other type I have had included Tempura (Japanese battered seafood and veggies) octopus salad some kind of potato thing and rice. All this is freshly cooked by an old Japanese lady that doesn’t speak a single word of English.

Phew anyways as a result Bento is now coming in a tie with Yaki Niku (A Korean style Japanese BBQ)

Seeing as I have to do some washing and go to the supermarket I’m going to leave it here for now. I don’t trust the internet not to destroy this the moment I turn my back on it….

More to come in a bit.

Ferret!

Very short post to let you all know that I just saw a wild Ferret on the way home from work tonight. I heard something ratting around in a garbage can and figured it was a rat but I was super surprised when a Ferret jumped out of the bin, looked at me for like 5 seconds then ran into a storm drain…

Yeah wtf huh?

Beer and things.

Hey everyone, got my one day off for the next ten days today so I figured I’d better put up a post. Whew that was a long sentence.

So yeah I’ve finally gotten into drinking beer, which unfortunately is actually not cheaper over here. It pays way more to be a whiskey drinker as I just picked up a bottle of Jameson for $17 Australian from the import alcohol store 5 mins from my house.

Most of the big cans are about 230 yen each, the little ones are like 150, if you aren’t sure how to translate that to Australian just stick a full-stop in two digits from the right 100 yen = 1 dollar. My fave at the moment is the Kirin Lager, the only reason I have mostly small ones is because the 99 yen shop only stocks those and they are open 24 hours. Sorry sis Asahi tastes like anus.

These are the lovely Whiskeys that we have acquired since finding the import store. Starting from the left the 12 year old Jameson was 2600 yen. That Suntory Old is a Japanese whiskey, not too bad and at 1500 yen not pricey. The Tullamore Dew was 2400. Finally as I said before the Jameson was 1700 yen. Oh and the Grants in the background was 1900 yen. I like to now call Japan, Liver-Be-Gone.

On a slightly different note my hair is growing back very quickly, here is a quick mug shot for ya, also it lets you know that I’m alive and that some crazy man isn’t randomly writing for me instead!

Ja Mata.

Benjamin.

Green things and my nostrils.

Haha sorry folks this post is about both but they ain’t related. So yeah I wandered out Nara way today, not because I was going to Nara (A place filled with temples, shrines and castles) but because I got a help shift for work right outta Osaka. So I have seen my first bit of real Japanese greenery! Photo provided Sorry that there is so much road in it, I blame the train as I am too awesome to mess anything up.

On a side note my nostrils have never been clearer than they are here, possibly I get hayfever from some Australian plants or that the humidity has given me a nose bath. Who knows heh. My sense of smell is unparalleled here! Which is actualy unfortunate some days at the JR station in Tennoji (It smells like poo. No really, poo)

So yeah theres my random post for the day/month/year/millenium.

I’m in Japan so I win.

Plate

This ones for you Sis.

For the peoples

Hey guys and gals. Just figured I’d update so you didn’t think I’d died or gotten a Japanese girlfriend or something. I’m writing just prior to heading out to the Fujiiderans favorite Indian joint, Aja Kaja I believe it’s called. Lovely food, if a little pricey.

So yeah I’m going great, trying my harderest to save $500 aus this month so I can buy/do some stuff next month or the month after. Been taking a HEAP of overtime at work and now the boss is asking me for all kinds of work. Saying no to a few things so he doesn’t start giving me insane kinds of work but the next few months will be busy. This means that I should get paid roughly an extra 1500 aus and what I am going to do with this I haven’t really decided. I’m tempted to buy some technology (I.E. a computer) seeing as if I don’t spend it on something I’ll no doubt just drink it away, something my liver wouldn’t love me for.

So considering that my biggest worry is where to spend my extra money I really haven’t got any worries at all, heh. Work is as easy as ever, I’m about to come off probation and start earning more than I have been. My social life is certainly lacking nothing (though of course mother will disagree seeing as I DON’T have a Japanese girlfriend. Love ya mum) in fact I have to be ever vigilent of my workmates least they tempt me into spending my money!

On that note I’d better go get ready to leave. Heh.

Catch ya all another time.

Benjamin. Ben. Kramer. Gerrit. Whatever you call me .