Parklife

Apologies to those of you on dial-up...theres a few photos today.

Right then.

The other night I had my first shift working behind the bar at this dodgy English pub I've been dj-ing at. If anyone has a thirst for a pint of Stella with a 3-inch head, I'm your guy.



After my shift I was talking to these two Japanese guys at the bar, who clearly only wanted to talk to me because a) they wanted to practice their English with a native-speaker, and b) they were pissed off the 3-inch-head Stellas I was pouring for them. Anyway, they were asking me about Melbourne, and when I told them there were lots of trees and grass, they said:

"Grass? What is...grass?"

Meh. I guess its funny if you've spent time in Tokyo.

Anyway, this weekend was all about nature. After breathing the lousy Tokyo air for so long, we wanted to get away for a bit and hug some trees. Saturday we ended up at a place an hour out of Tokyo called Kichijoji. We were trying to find the huge park with the lake and the zoo, but we instead found this:



Usually childrens slides are made of metal or plastic. This one was made of concrete, and not very slide-y. Unsurprisingly, no children were playing in this park.

We eventually found the good park:





Around the lake local artists set up stalls and sell some of their works. We got some postcards from one of them





You can see more of her work at http://yume.pya.jp

The zoo was closing, so we only got to see a few of the animals.

What are youse lookin' at?

Sunday was the Takao Quasi-National Park:



Takao Quasi-National Park is up the top of a mountain. As we are possibly the laziest people on Earth, we thought it better for us to take the chairlift up to the top.



You know why the sign says "Danger"? The seats don't have safety bars!



TQ-NP has many attractions. Waterfalls, shops, statues with hats...



..and MONKEYS! REAL, LIVE MONKEYS.
We left the monkeys alone shortly after they started doin' it in front of everyone though.









So thats it. This weekend was all about trees, swans and monkeys. Next weekend I'm going to University Open Day. No Tri-Lamb jokes, please.

Wave of Mutilation

From MSNBC.com:

"TOKYO - A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 struck
the northeast coast of Japan on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami warning
and shaking buildings nearly 200 miles away in Tokyo, the nation's
Meteorological Agency said.

Kyodo News Agency said many people were reported injured in the
coastal city of Sendai, Kyodo News Agency said. But the national
broadcaster NHK, citing city officials, said there was no major
damage.

A 4-inch tsunami reached the Japanese shore about 15 minutes after the
quake struck, NHK said, with no major damage immediately reported."

Let me repeat that last bit for you:

"A 4-inch tsunami reached the Japanese shore about 15 minutes after the
quake struck, NHK said, with no major damage immediately reported."

A 4-inch tsunami. With no major damage.

So, instead of this:







...the Meteorological Agency only had to worry about this:

Avalon

Hello!

Most of this entry is about drinking again, I'm afraid.

Last weekend we found ourselves in the bar in the Park Hyatt (yes, the Lost in Translation bar) with our friends Kevin and Andrea.
The New York Bar, on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel is every bit as swish as the movie made it out to be. Plush and dimly lit, with a great view over Shinjuku.

After that, we got a bite to eat, and wandered the streets of Shinjuku until we found the "World Wide Bar - One Shot Bar, Cash on Delivery". Despite the huge street frontage, the bar could hold ten slightly built people. Seriously. The smallest bar ever. It was full of locals who all went quiet Wild-West style once we walked through the doors. Luckily for us, the natives were friendly (especially after they found out that Gel could speak Japanese), and all squeezed up so we could fit. We found at that One Shot Bar means basic spirits only (no drinks with umbrellas here), and Cash on Delivery means you can't run a tab. Definitely going to check that one out again though.

Unfortunately, this bar was only open for another 45 minutes before closing time, and we got booted back out into the street. We got lured into another bar, which was pretty ordinary, but they brought us a big pot filled with hot coals and a stack of meat to grill. And they had cheap beer. Whoo! Meat and beer!

Finally, on the drinking theme...Gel and I went to this dodgy English pub for lunch the other day. If anyones keen on becoming a proofreader, theres probably a job here for you:



In other news, I'm doing some training to become a Foreign Currency Trader. I was hoping for Slave Trader, but this is a start...

Strange Brew

This is a regular sized can of booze. Much the same size as a can of soft drink back home:

Mmm. Cool and refreshing

This is an enormous can of beer that I bought from a vending machine today:

MMM! COOL AND REFRESHING!!!

Compare the two:

The beer the Grollo family drink

The vending machine was quite a way from the house, so I had to carry the giant beer for a while. Due to the condensation on the can, ands its immense size, I couldnt carry it like a normal beer. I had to carry it the way a mother would carry her newborn child, cradled in my arms. I'd even look down at the giant beer nestled against my chest and SMILE at it while I walked.

Look! It doesnt even fit in the stubbie holder!

I fear no beer. Except this one.

(Apologies for the shaky photos in this post. I'm too excited thinking about the giant beer)

In other, slightly more disturbing news...
I thought this country had managed to avoid the Crazy Frog.
Nope.
Crazy Frog Present Crazy Hits is on sale now.
Still, at least we don't get the ads.

I can hear music

Sunday: FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL!!



We only got to go on the final day of this three-day music extravaganza as we a) werent organised enough to get 3-day tickets, b) had no accomodation / sleeping arrangements lined up and c) werent sure if we'd actually like it. Apparently it poured down on Friday and Saturday nights, so probably best we werent in a tent.

Anyway, we caught the bullet train to the festival, then spent close on two hours waiting arpound for the shuttle bus to take us from the station to the festival site. This meant we missed Juliette and the Licks, but I'm sure they were good.

*ahem*

Last train to Trancent...er...Fuji

Heres what we saw / heard:

The Go! Team: They were really, really good. Really. I'd heard a few crummy reports of them after their Australian shows, and heard some less-than-promising live tracks from last year, so I was a little apprehensive about it. But they ruled. Probably the pick of the day.
The Magic Numbers: A bit boring. So I got a chicken pita sandwich instead. That was nice.
Ego Wrappin': Imagine the demon spawn of The Cat Empire and Bjork. Then double the evil. That would be Ego Wrappin'.
Aqualung: Just keep walking. Don't make eye contact.
Athlete: Surprisingly good. They seemed genuinely happy to be there, and it showed in the set. They stopped a song mid-intro and dedicated it to a girl they met at a meet-and-greet session. Not many people turned up though.
Doves: Great, but maybe a little loud. A few technical issues - foldback not loud enough, then a guitar wouldnt work, then a tambourine broke...Still, a great set (despite no Catch the Sun). They are coming back for a proper tour in October.
Beach Boys: Only heard a few songs, as we were trying to negotiate the mud pit that was the path between stages. Finished with "Fun Fun Fun", and sounded alright. As soon as they finished, the DJ played a ripoff of "Kokomo" called "Camel Toe" by The Bob and Tom Band. Possibly the worst timing ever.
Royksopp: Really good. Couldnt see them due to the smoke machines and lights, but they sounded great.
After that, Moby was due to come on and it started raining really, really hard. So we left. Stupid Moby. And we had to catch our bullet train back home.
Of course, having to leave so early meant I had to miss Sigur Ros, Primal Scream and New Order. Doh.

Rockin' out, Fuji-style

Many visitors to Sovereign Hill like to try panning for gold

The "hippy area". Note the man in the red g-string.

Highlight of festival: Go! Team
Lowlight of festival: Knowing the John Butler Trio was there
Fashion accessory of the festival: GUMBOOTS! They're back in fashion, you know.

Monday: Kaiser Chiefs, The Bravery, The Black Velvets

Shibuya AX is a great venue to see bands. Standng room downstairs, and seating up in the balcony. I had a great view wherever I stood in the venue (but that could be due to me being tall rather than venue design).

Anyway...

The Black Velvets: Do NOT see this band. The singer was a cross between Def Leppard's Joe Elliot, and Kula Shaker's Crispian Mills. The bassist looked like Chris Farley. The guitarist would intermittently play using his teeth. The drummer seemed reasonably competent. They sounded like any pub rock band in Warrnambool.
Kaiser Chiefs: Not bad. Very Blur-sounding, and they have tons of energy. they got the best crowd reaction of the night. Seemed a bit lost though, after the singer ran backstage after disappearing into the crowd - they had to have a quick band meeting to figure out what they were going to play next.
The Bravery: Total let-down. Shouldnt have been the headliners, as no one got very excited for anything that wasnt "An Honest Mistake". Wouldnt pay money to see them again. Stupid Bravery.

Still havent decided whether to go to Summer Sonic or not. Theres some good stuff on (The Tears) but some godawful stuff as well (erm, Nine Inch Nails).