The weather here has gone from extremely wet to extremely hot. As such I’m finding myself drinking more and more. To help me out, many of the supermarkets have started attaching free gifts to drinks, and bringing out new versions of old drinks.
I discovered Bingo Bongo soon after arriving in Japan, it’s some mixture of berries, and is fantastic. There’s a yellow fruity version which isn’t so fantastic. The other day I was in the Daiei before work, and this amazing bottle caught my eye.
It was a blue bottle of Bingo Bongo. Not only was it a delicious shade of blue, but it also had a Pineapple Pirate on the bottle. With Lemons and Oranges as the supporting crew. Few drinks can make such a claim.
Unfortunately, like so many drinks in Japan, it tasted terrible. I mean, absolutely disgusting. I don’t know where they get their pineapples from, but they don’t taste like any pineapples I’ve ever had. This blue bottle has disgraced the good name of Bingo Bongo.
Published 1 year, 5 months ago
in Work.
I was leaving my apartment a few days ago, when I noticed this van parked outside. This was of note for two reasons. First, it’s the first Nova branded vehicle I’ve seen since getting to Japan. And second, there’s a giant number one on the side. Is there a whole fleet of Nova vehicles similar to say, Thunderbirds?
Published 1 year, 5 months ago
in Animals.
As if my previous post wasn’t enough, since then I have encountered even more local wildlife. I present, “The Sanda Zoo: Part Two”.
Continue reading ‘More Zoo’
I don’t know if I posted about this or not, but a few weeks ago I was trained to teach Chibiko classes, which are the really young children, the two to four year olds. The lessons are comprised mainly of songs and games, and are really active. It’s 40 minutes of non stop action, which the kids may or may not join in with.
Anyway, I went to a place called Okamoto for my training. Because it was a place I had never been to before, I went early so I could walk around and have a bit of an explore. The part of Okamoto I ended up in was three blocks between the Hankyu and JR railway stations. The whole area was small and narrow paved streets with many tiny shops lining them. It was totally different to anywhere I’d been in Japan. Initially I thought Okamoto was pretty cool, but if you wander out of the three block radius you realise it’s just another big city, and the illusion is shattered.
However, Okamoto did have one thing going for it. I was wandering along a street lined with what appeared to be houses, when I noticed this gem standing in someone’s backyard.
Not only does that look like lego, it is lego. Amazing.
A question that students ask me often at work is “Where in Japan have you travelled to?”. I tell them that I’ve been to Osaka, and Kobe. If they look at me quizically, I’ll add in Himeji, Takarazuka and Tsukaguchi. By this point they’ve normally interrupted and asked if I’ve been to Kyoto, to which I had to say no. However, not anymore. I have now been to Kyoto. Am I impressed? Not so much.
Continue reading ‘Kyoto’
As most of you should know, Japan was hit by an earthquake the other day, which caused among other things, a radiation leak. Now, some of you have sent me an email asking if I’m ok. (Which is nice, it shows you care) But, all your worry and caring could have been better utilized elsewhere.
Sanda is nowhere near where the earthquake was.
To assist you in visualizing this, (Hey, most of you have no idea about Japanese geography, and why would you? Most Japanese couldn’t tell you where Dunedin or Palmerston North are) I’ve made a handy diagram, which not only shows you exactly where this disaster took place, but can act as a useful guide in the event of future disasters.
Last Wednesday Neil and myself went to Sannomiya in Kobe as he wanted to try and find a bag to buy. We wandered round the city for a while, when we found a department store with eight or so levels. As we ascended escalator after escalator we noticed a sign that said on the top floor was an “English garden”. Truly intrigued we kept going.
Continue reading ‘Up, up and away’
Published 1 year, 5 months ago
in Animals.
Seriously, I’m beginning to think Japan is just one giant zoo. Every night when I come home I see new animals outside. Just this morning as I went to work, I noticed at least 15 dragonflys all hovering over the rice field.
Continue reading ‘I live in a zoo’
Yesterday at work, all the students were talking about a typhoon thats coming and going to hit Japan. I rely on Stuff for my news, but they are quite often way behind developments around the world, so I had no idea what was going on.
 Turns out, it’s really close and is predicted to go almost right over Osaka.
By the time it gets here it should be pretty weak. Most of the students just said that it’ll rain a lot (Like it’s not already), and be really windy. Nothing to really worry about.
After we saw Himeji Castle last week, we went for a little wander through the town itself. Or at least the part of the town between the castle and the railway station. We found a district that appeared to be entirely composed of love hotels.
Nestled amongst them was this building.
 
All along this street were intersections without road markings. Positioned at every intersection was a man who’s job was directing traffic. While we were walking along we saw another man dressed the same ride past on a bicycle, and relieve the man at the next intersection. The relieved man then got on the bicycle and rode to the next intersection (maybe 20 meters tops), and relieved the man there, who got on the bicycle and rode off.
My best guess for this practice is that there’s a whole circuit of traffic directors around the city, and they slowly rotate. When you reach the home base it’s break time for you. Each circuit is timed so that you spend the appropriate amount of time working and on breaks.
Assuming that this is what actually happens, it’s a simple system a few workplaces back in New Zealand could learn from.
