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| Well this last weekend was my going away party. It was a great time. With Lisa's help I made masks of myself for everyone coming to the party, and we all went to Universal Dining (the one place which could probably have enough room for the amount of people I had planned on coming).
To my surprise there was a cookie jar there that was being passed around and accepting donations for my mother.
It was eerie to look around the room throughout the night and see myself staring back at me. With about thirty Tim-masked people in the room I wasn't sure who was looking at me and who had their mask on backwards.
After UD we all headed over to Iceman. We walked into find a large group of gaijin (most likely new recruits to the Honda plant down the road). I remember when me and Matt used to go and the entire bar would be empty.
One of my friends used this to their advantage and got ever person there to donate some money to my mom. The cookie jar made it's rounds throughout the entire group of strangers.
After everyone had a drink at iceman we all headed over to karaoke for one more bash.
It was nice because as the night went on people kind of straggled off, saving me from having to say goodbyes. I'm not very good at goodbyes, so this made things much easier for me.
All in all it was an amazing night, and I'd like to thank everyone for coming and everyone who didn't. All around I just want to say thanks to all my friends here in Japan for the past 3 years, and thanks for the kindness and support you've shown me and my family.
Pictures to come later, so until next time
FANTiM | | |
| ::Foto of the Day::
So this is one of my shots from my day at the Sumo practice arena. Six o'clock seemed way to early to wake up and take photos. Especially after working at a wedding the night before. But as they say "When in Tokyo.." So we arrived at the building where we were going to watch practice after roaming the streets for a while. I walked up to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. After walking around the building a few times we could hear sumo sounds from one of the windows. "What exactly is 'sumo sounds'?" you ask? It is the sound of raw meat slapping into raw meat at the speed of a football player.
We went back to the front where I rung the doorbell. The lock turned and the door slid open a crack, but no one looked out at us. So we opened the door and walked in.
We were given designated spots where we were forced to sit. We watched the practice matches, and all the training exercises the wrestlers went through. It was pretty amazing to see such large guys moving so fast. At one point I tried to move to get a better shot. I stayed near my designated spot, but scooted over a little to an unoccupied area. I was immediately yelled at by a sumo wrestler looking guy in sweat clothes to "please sit down" *translated from Japanese*. Embarassed I quickly sat down.
All in all an amazing experiences. To see more photos from the day go to http://fantim.zenfolio.com/sumo | | |
| :: Foto of the Day ::
So I went out and took photos of Utsunomiya the other night, as my goal to take photos of the city before I leave it.
I haven't posted all the photos yet because of slow internet, but you can see them here. And more will be added later. | | |
| So I've managed to do pretty much everything I could think of in Japan. So now I've been trying to think of a few things I want to do before leaving. Here is my list so far.
Things to do before leaving Japan:
Wake up early and take photo of fog over rice fields.
This one might be hard for me. Let's just say I'm not much of a morning person. But I hope to bike out of the city a little bit and shoot photos over the rice field. I wanted to do this in the spring time when they were full of water, but I didn't. But the sky has been beautiful lately, so hopefully I'll get some good shots.
Play pachinko
This is one thing I've never done the whole time I've been here. When I go into Pachinko parlors I'm usually so overwhelmed by noise I have no desire to stay. But I have officially made it a goal to play.
For those of you who don't know gambling is illegal in Japan. So what they did is created a loophole. Pachinko is similar to slots, and you win little metal balls. When you're finished you can cash in your balls for a prize, and the same place where you're playing will cash in your prize for money. I love loopholes.
Shoot Utsunomiya
I've lived in this city for two or my years in Japan, but I have yet to properly shoot it. Tonight I will change that. Photos to come later.
See a sumo match
This is one I'm really excited about. This weekend I will go to Tokyo to watch the Sumo wrestlers practice. You can bring your camera and take photos too. So I think this will be pretty great.
If you are interested you can find more information here
Take pictures at a kabuki theater
Kabuki is a traditional Japanese play. The actors paint their faces with white black and red paint, and it looks gorgeous. Unfortunately this is one thing I don't think I will get to do while I'm here, as most kabuki theaters run weekly and don't allow photography so they can sell their own photos. If you want to see some kabuki you can look here
If you have any other ideas of things I should do let me know. I have three weeks left here.
Later
F | | |
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