Back at home finally and already been to work!
Felt quite tired really.
Saturday went on a day tour to kota tinggi to view fireflies...
That was a long day and i can't say that i totally enjoyed myself.
Oh well.
New year is coming.
Gifts to distribute as well.
And my cat missed me.

Christmas eve was spent on wandering around Fukuoka eating ramen and yakitori. That was the day that i tried raw horse meat and cow liver sashimi while the yakitori boss performed magic before our eyes. We drank beer and left for a walk along the river in the cold. Felt nice.

One thing i enjoy most during this trip is the little incidents from out of the blue which happened to make my interaction with the locals more interesting...

For example, we decided on the spur of the moment, while on our way to the museum on this cold windy christmas morning, to step into the corner shop at the end of the street which looked a little interesting. After looking around for a short moment, we decided that things were quite expensive and it's was just selling handicrafts from other countries like peru and mexico. We were just about to leave when the lady owner started talking to us in rapid japanese so we told her we were foreigners. She stepped out for a while and just as we were stepping out of the door, she appeared with two cups of japanese coffee for us. And before we knew it, we were sitting on the couch having coffee and trying to converse in my quarter-baked japanese from the language guide while she was telling us about the various items in the store. We didn't buy anything in the end but i think she didn't mind. Not a bad morning on the whole though a little side-tracked from our original agenda.

Merry Christmas.

I just realized that it is christmas eve and everyone must be having a party at Dave's.
Darn it.
I want to be there too grandpa!

On reading my blog, he commented that i have forgotten to write about Midnight Blue and meeting important people... like the chairman from Shell.

Hmm.

Well, midnight blue is a pay-to-view porn channel which you have to pay Y500 for 12hours worth of naked nubile, big booby (his dictation) japanese babes engaging in various sexual activities with really ugly japanese men. What can i say? Its a channel for the males and perverts. (Same implications for him i suspect) Anyway, most of the important bits (ugly or otherwise) are pixelated.

And the chainman and his wife?
Nice people and they bought us dinner.

Frankly, I think that's it.

Being in Fukuoka is a really different holidaying experience than other backpacking trips or even the short trip out to nagasaki. Here, because of him, we are more involved in a different level than being just an accidental tourist bumping into sights and situations. To have people of a different culture know you a little more than just nodding their head as you walked pass and be more involved in their daily lives. Of course this is just work-level and not much else but it is still insightful and different from being just a simple tourist.

We were just invited to the museum staff annual thanksgiving party before the museum is closed for the holiday. Everyone was gathered into the conference room, from the cleaning aunties, the security guards, the museum's attendants and the adminstration staff, including the museum chairman and secretary general. Everyone stood formally around assorted sushi, food and drinks (beers, sake, juices) catered for the occasion while a member of the staff introduced the chairman to give a thankyou speech. I had no idea what he said other than "gambatte ne" and to nod when others nod their heads. Then drinks were offered but no one is suppose to drink until the official toast is offered by the secretary general. It is all quite formal but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, even the cleaning lady was busy asking us to drink our sake and eat.

Merry Xmas to everyone!

Oh ya.
1500 balls and no jackpots.
Drats.
Its tempting to try again.

Back in Fukuoka and freaking tired.
I miss my cat and feel like going home to take nice hot shower.

I spent so much money over the last 4 days!!!!

PART III

Dejima, Chinatown, Spectacles Bridge, Sofukuji Temple, Glover Garden

- Dejima was being restored as we walked through the little island. Tons of things had changed since the dutch was here. They used this little island off the coast of nagasaki sea port (mainly reclaimed land now so the "island" is really inland rather than an island) to contain the dutch during the 1600s when christianity was prohibited but trade was still opened.

- Chinatown was pretty vibrant and more money was spent for lunch and knick-knacks. Famous food in Nagasaki are called the Chompon and Sara Udon. The former tasting alot like cabbage-soupy noodles with meat and assorted stuff while the latter is alot like hong kong noodle (i.e. fried crispy noodles) draped in a gravy with the same ingredients like the Chompon. Speaking of food, we had rice handroll from the local convenience store for Y120 almost everyday for lunch till we are almost sick of it. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

- Spectacles bridge was only interesting because of the carps that swam in the waters and the hawks flying above us.

- Sofukuji built by chinese residents in the 1600s. Ma zu is being worshipped here and there is an old chinese cemetary beside the temple. Being the only port open to the rest of the world during the national isolation period, this is the only city in japan with a continual influx of portuguese, dutch, chinese and korean nationals. So i guess it is also the usual habit of chinese people to build ma zu temple wherever they landed to ensure harmonious sea voyages.

- Glover garden has the japan's oldest western-style wooden house. Again, another example of the presence of Europeans in Japan, but only in Nagasaki mainly due to its role as an trading post. Lots of influencial europeans, including the most famous, Thomas Blake Glover who aided overthrowing the shogunate and in establishing a constitutional government in Japan. But the garden itself is really just a collection of old houses (some relocated from other places) in the formal european settlement in Nagasaki, overlooking the harbour.

PART II

Night View on Mount Inasa, Ropeway, Nagasaki City
After walking 1.5km from the tram stop, we reach the ropeway station situated next to a japanese shrine, at the bottom of Mount Inasa. Mt Inasa is 333m high and it took us around 5 minutes up the ropeway. It has a fantastic night view of Nagasaki city below and the night was clear but cold and windy. There's a nice little italian restaurant where couples go to to enjoy a nice romantic dinner. A nice couple helped us take a photo, the guy had insisted that his girl count out 1,2,3 in japanese, and she did it in a cute camera-assistant fashion with her fingers held up high. All of us had a good laugh.

Shimabara Castle, Shimabara
An hour and a half away by the JR train is Shimabara.
Some thoughts on Shimabara...
Coastal town with greying skies
of castle upon the hill
of Geronimo and christian faith
of children playing on warrior alley
of tatami mats and waxed figurines
of smoking volcano overlooking
of lake which appeared over night
of mountain springs sprouting through people's homes
of my very own cat nirvana
of carps swimming through our paths
of common pets
of birds waiting for a morsel of fish
of rice dumplings in clam broth
of greying skies and misty mountain ranges...

Huis Ten Borsh
Pseudo holland city recreated painstakenly over a reclaimed area that's twice the size of tokyo disneyland, an hour away bus ride away from Nagasaki City. Impressive if not a little fake with windmills and what nots. Needless to say, we spent a bomb at this place buying gifts and other unnecessary purchases. The weather was fantastic, with the sun shining and blue skies, perfect for pictures. Half the time we did not understand what was going on during the various theme rides/shows but it was funny nonetheless. They make good cheese and i particularly liked the cream cheese cubes doused in soya sauce ala agedashi tofu manner. We did not buy any cheese though. A wedding was going on at the replicated queen's (of holland i assume) castle where the happy couple was getting up onto a horse carriage during a cold winter evening where everyone was freezing their butts off. The lucky wedding guests gets to ride in a heated bus though. Quaint place and quite kitsch really...

Alright. Spent the last 4 days in Nagasaki and pretty much covered everything in that small city. Some of the places and thoughts i have of the place, wont be much and not sure if i will ever get down to elaborate once they passes my mind...

PART I
Nagasaki City (accomodation)
Was staying in a little minshuku (ming2 shu4) or inn just behind the bus terminal. The inn keeper was very nice and spoke little english though on first glance the place looked really dodgy and old. There is a common bath and toilet, and we slept on tatami mats... In general, a very japanese inn experience and the place sort of grows on you. The heating was adequate and the inn-keeper puts out the bath for us each time we come back after a long day which was really nice. This must be my first experience of bathing, the japanese way, where you scrub yourself up, rinsed before soaking in a bathtub full of hot water. Very very relaxing and soothing really. I can see why japanese enjoy this. After the bath, we put on japanese robes and drink green tea and eat little cakes. All this and quite cheap (in japan standards) as well, as long as you do not mind the smell of kerosene in the middle of the night from the hallway heater.

Nagasaki City (transport)
Nothing much interesting about this except they uses tram mainly and its generally cheaper than buses (Y100 for one way to anywhere within the city) though the coverage is not as extensive as the buses. Still, it gets you to most sights in Nagasaki itself.

Atomic Bomb Museum, Peace Garden, Hypocentre
These places are just about 5 tram stops away from the main railway station (nagasaki eki) and not difficult to find. It is actually still quite disturbing to think about the bomb and it sort of tinted my thoughts for a bit. And i would be wondering would i be still left alive while visiting various parts of the city, when the bomb dropped? The A bomb museum was very informative about the effects and explained what exactly happened when the bomb exploded on august 9th at 11.02am. It is quite unimaginable how much devastation it has caused within 3 seconds of detonation. It is not a memory bear remembering nor a memory easily forgotten. The videos depleting the victims was too horrifying for words. It was not a museum meant to garner just sympathy for the victims nor push the blame on the Allied forces. In fact, they have been quite candid about their role in world war two as well. I think facts would be facts and it is already horrifying enough without anymore embellishment. The main thing is, no one wants to have a repeat of that or to have a nuclear war on our hands. Everyone else is someone elses family and loved ones.

To confess, i did not enjoy this experience in the museum very much. While going around the peace garden, i was quite ambivalent towards a war that had happened before my generation and there has not been much meaning in it for me personally but once you are confronted by what a war and do, listen to what the victims had to say, touched the very items which had stood in the presence of that war, it is difficult to remain detached and feel ambivalent or even academic about it. I guess i have finally stepped out of the history books and breathed real air.

Well, one week down and I am still stuck in Fukuoka with only 5 more days to spare. And that's including the time needed for the sights i have not seen in the Fukuoka Prefecture yet. Now i am sitting in the museum without lunch and not knowing if there would be a dinner.

Never fool around with Father time, we are always the one who end up losing out.

Here's a handy answer to all my questions: "Soon..."

I think we can be impractical about alot of things...
but if we are also impractical about time, we stand to lose alot in the process.

Being in a new place also meant that i have become more adventurous in the things that i eat.
Things that i wouldn't actually try if i was back home.
For example:

different types of fish roe
chicken liver
chicken heart
chicken lungs
pig lungs
all other parts of innards of various animals

I just close my eyes and bite into it.
In any case, most of the time they don't look like what i imagined them to be and its easy to think that they are perfectly edible

Of Nakatsu and Pachinko

Even though Japan is supposed to be the land of the raising sun, i have yet to wake up early enough to see any sun raising (not as if the gloomy misty weather is going to help much in this aspect), but what i have done so far was to get a real good feel for the night scene in this town. Nothing comes up more vividly than the experiences of eating dinners and more dinners, hence my protential weight problem. Every night is a different cruisine and different eating experience, whereas day seems to pass by in a blur, being trapped most of the daylight hours inside the asian art museum.

Nakatsu is one of the more famous night life venues in the whole of kyushu. Its bright neon signs and the numerous yatai along the river is quite a well-known picture to most tourists in the region. However, i would hesitate to recommend any women travelling solo along to walk along the inner streets beyond its neon lights as Nakatsu is also infamous for being the "unofficial" red-light districit. As my japanese friend tells me, "there are not such thing as a red-light districit in japan, well not officially anyway". There are rows and rows of strip joints thinly disguised as pubs along the streets of Nakatsu where men in black suits stand waiting. Innocently, while walking through the area with friends, i remarked at the number of "cute" guys standing around, abeitedly looking quite menacing as they seldom smile, only to be told that they are really pimps. These men are dressed well and looked really neat, in fact a few looked as though they had make-up on and tweaked their eyebrows. According to friends, these men would come up to only male customers (without any female companions) and offer them photographs of the "wares" they have. If a deal is struck, the customers would be brought into the inner sanctum of these pubs to have a "closer encounter" i assume. Occasionally, there are also the "products" displaying themselves along the streets. I just had to take a closer look at this girl (who must be older than i am) dressed up in a tiny little sailormoon/student costume chatting up one of the men on the streets. Further on there were other back alleys and pubs which i did not dare to venture as it became increasingly seedy. Half-jokingly, i wondered out loud if black is the official uniform of such pimps because they are from the mafia, only to be told that only the yakuzas would be engaging in such businesses in the first place.

Nakatsu is also the home of numerous pachinko parlours. I guess it is a little like those jackpot machines we have up in genting but a sight rather rare in Singapore. Last night, we decided to follow a friend into one to experience another local favourite pastime. The first impression i had was the tremendous volume of noise in the place. It is brightly lit with rows upon rows of pachinko machines lined up. First, we had to change our money (Y2000 for starters) into a little farecard before we select one of the machines (seems like there are a few variations of different animations) and start playing. Once the farecard is slotted in, a rush of tiny little metal balls were released into a "drain" at the bottom of the machine near our lap (500 balls at a time). To play, all you had to do was to turn a knob on the side to shoot the balls into something that looks like a vertical pin ball machine. The aim is simple, get the ball into a little hole in the middle to start the jackpot rolling. Sounds simple? Not exactly because the hole is really small and before you know it, 500 balls can disappear before your jackpot even start to roll. Each ball fallen into the hole meant one chance at hitting the jackpot. The animations of the jackpot are rather cute and designed in such a way to entice you further. For example, just when you thought you might have lost, there could suddenly be a chance to hit the third correct number again. It is not difficult to feel the rush of excitement when you do hit the jackpot and start on the bonus round where every ball you bounce into the hole (now wider therefore meaning greater chance), will result in more balls being released into your little "drain" which you then have to released into a basket below to prevent the "drain" from overflowing.

Luck must be on our side that night in the pachinko parlour because within fifteen minutes into the first 500balls, we managed to jackpot once and by the end of the evening (around 2 hours) we had continuous jackpots and filled up 5 baskets of tiny metal balls. I think we were pretty giddy by the end of it and i could see why gambling can be so addictive, especially when you are winning. Well, officially, once you have those basket of balls counted individually (i think we had around 125,000 balls approximately) by the machine, you can use the tokens given to exchange for gifts like toys or even ladies handbags. But more importantly, or rather unofficially, you can take those tokens to the back alley and exchange them for cold hard cash. I think it is not difficult to figure out what we decide to go for. There is a certain amount of danger involve, holding on to the tokens and giving them to this little obscured window in the side lane where you cannot see them, and they cannot see you. All in all, we managed to win around 45,600yen with just 500yen worth of balls since there are still 1,500yen of credit left on our farecard. I think i can still hear the little sound of cash register going *kaching kaching* in my head amidst the drone of the pachinko machine in the background.

Like i say, i think i know why gambling is so addictive now and it certainly take two clear-minded individuals to walk out of the place loaded with cash and not have the urge to stay on playing (actually, it was already closing time). I was still grinning like an idiot when we decided to buy our friend coffee and cake afterwards with our winnings. In any case, after waking up in the morning and knowing that such "luck" can't possibly sustain forever and knowing all the horror stories of mothers abandoning their children playing pachinko, we were able to take such winnings of chance in our stride.

After all, we only have 1,500 balls left and i promise that once that's finished we wouldn't play anymore.
Really.

Today is grey and misty.
Cold.

I am free... free as a bird chained to a dead log.