SUMMER IN JAPAN IS TOO MUCH!

Enough fucking about, its high time I put some words on paper and i think this blog is going to lose its PG rating.

Apologies in advance to any relatives who would rather remember me as the young innocent teenage Simon, but the masses are emailing me and telling me they want more dirt. I will not be offended at all if you would rather not read on.

Summer here really is hell on earth. I don't know how the hell the Canadians and Scots put up with it because it's close to sending me completely mental. More than 5 minutes outside at ANY time of day even 4am will have you dripping sweat in no time. If I didn't like Hiroshima so much I'd seriously consider applying for a transfer to Hokkaido.

I went to the baseball yesterday evening on a whim and ended up drinking about 8 cans, sweating so much I looked like I'd just been for a swim and generally making a filthy mess of myself... Baseball is an awesome sport for just pissing away a Sunday evening with some friends, you only have to pay attention maybe 50% of the time and the Japanese lllove a good beer or 10 at the game. The Carp got destroyed by the Giants 11-6 with some of the worst pitching I've seen since I got here, including an accidental walked run... that pitcher didn't get pulled until 2 innings later!

Alright its been over a month since I last put anything proper up here... let me cast my mind back.

I've been on a few proper trips around Hiroshima prefecture now, once to Onomichi and once to Iwakuni. Japan is pretty damn easy for a traveller sans car especially if you have some basic travel-vocab down.

Onomichi is an incredibly picturesque little town on the Seto Sea about 75 minutes east of Hiroshima on the JR Sanyo line. I spent an agonisingly hot but beautiful 5 hours walking the temple trail through the town which takes you past at least 30 different temples and shrines. Didn't see one other gaijin the entire time in Onomichi which made it feel much more isolated. Despite going there with absolutely zero planning I managed to end up finding a "rope-way" (Japanese English for "cable car") to the top of the biggest mountain in the town where a supurb little lunch cafe served the town's speciality "tako ramen" (fried octopus with ramen noodles in a tasty broth) with panoramic views of the nearby islands in the Seto Sea.

Mt.Senkoji is beautiful in quite a peculiar way. It's not spectacular but it has some odd little magic moments. Clearly this is well known since at almost every one of these spots an artist was sketching/painting away.

While I think of it, odd observation time. Japanese tourist groups, as in Japanese tourists being lead around by Japanese tour guides, definitely live up to the stereotypes. They power along at a crazy pace with cameras going full speed. Normally there's a very attractive girl in a uniform with a tiny skirt and a neck scarf holding a flag/standard with the tour company's logo up the front of the group. They speak way too fast for me to catch much from my eavesdropping but they do seem to drop in a lot of "keep moving please, this way please"... time is money on these tours I guess!

I plan on going back to Onomichi sometime when its not so damn hot and riding a bike the entire length of the bridge that spans all the islands from Onomichi to the major island of Shikoku. I was talking about it with some British guys who run a bar here called Spud Love (yes they all have adorably cute Japanese wives, such is the way here) and they said its a terrific weekend plan. Cycle on Saturday, end up in Matsuyama which is right near Dogo Onsen (the most famous hot spa in all of Japan apparantly) and kick back all day there Sunday until you have to leisurely catch the ferry back to Hiroshima in the evening.

Time for another segue... how awesome is some directionless, unedited writing? self-indulgence thy name is "Internet Blog".

I've dropped my stupidly hostile behaviour of trying to avoid other expats here, sure you meet some morons but there are also some great people over here. I should explain, I got sick of hanging out with expats when a few of them began Japan-bashing in ridiculously cliched, unintelligent ways but I've since met enough great people to have my faith restored. I've met quite a few expats who run bars or nights at clubs here, they will not shut up about Hiroshima being the best city in Japan (they've lived in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka amongst other places) but I'm still looking forward to making my own mind up first hand.

One great thing about this city (and living so close to the centre of downtown, with its gorgeous parks and rivers) is how many random encounters you can have just walking around on your own. I went to buy a Sega Dreamcast for $35AUD off a guy who advertised on Gethiroshima.com. I expected it to be a 2 minute exchange but it ended up (through pure chance) with him, two of his friends and I all drinking beer/chuhai and shooting the shit for about an hour in the muggy evening in the Peace Park overlooking the A-Bomb dome.

I've got to head off to the Yakitori place under my building now to meet up with a bunch of people. I've got heaps more I've started to remember that I'll try and put up here later tonight. I don't think this ended up being anything other than G rated again... mmmm too bad, maybe my mum and dad really did raise me with too many manners, or maybe I don't want to kiss and tell to the entire Internet with all those prying eyes...

You know what, if you're reading this and you want me to continute updating it (or you would like to give some constructive criticism - NO more requests for photos of girls, the internet has enough porn for you already) then please EMAIL ME. swfenton at gmail dot com.

Patience please!

I've just uploaded a stack of photos to Flickr.

I know I am really overdue for a proper update here, I'll try and set aside enough time to do so tomorrow before work.

For now you can enjoy some photos of Iwakuni (a town 40 minutes south west of Hiroshima), home of the famous Kintaikyo bridge. Also included are photos of August 6th's Peace Memorial Day activities. It's been quite a day, beginning with a speech from Prime Minister Koizumi at 8am and finishing with an unauthorised drum'n'bass party into the early hours of the following day.