Weekend plans @ Osaka: typhooned

(update: pictures from the sports tournaments on 10/7 have been posted)

On Friday afternoon I found out that typhoon #22 was heading straight for Osaka over the long weekend. "最悪!! (the worst!)" said the weather report. Carrie also adviced against it. So I cancelled the trip to Osaka, thinking better of doing the tourist round in the rain and wind. As it turned out, the typhoon veered away from its projected course and cleared Japan by mid-Sunday morning. ARRRRRGGGGGHHHH! WHYYYYYY!

So, instead I visited Kurayoshi on Saturday with Pam. I knew there wasn't much in Kurayoshi, but I dragged Pam along anyway just so I wouldn't be by myself when I show up at Yuko's choir concert. I really wanted to see a bunch of choir boys and girls! I don't care about scoring points! Really! Elsa, Chioko, and Brian Wilson, an ALT from Tottori-shi and UCI grad, were also there. We went to a nabe mochi place afterwards (where you cook and soften dried mochi in a stock pot). Pam couldn't eat any of it, so we went to Hoa Chi cafe after we got back to Yonago around 9pm.

Sunday I stayed home, watched movies and whacked off all day in the rain. Made the dill weed tuna salad for the pot-luck party at Chioko's house in Daisen. Matt was also there, the only non-Asian besides Brian. Besides the Japanese people, there were a bunch more Singaporeans, Indonesians and Malaysians of Chinese descent, so the party turned out to be a pretty multi-lingual experience: at any time during the party, there were Japanese, Chinese, English, Malaysian, or Indonesian conversations happening all within a 400 sqft area. It was a wooden barn/garage/loft type space right outside of Chioko's parents' house in the middle of the Daisen rice paddies. Dimly lit with candles and lamps running with generator electricity, we sat either on the floor or in portable picnic chairs. With Brian and Satoshi playing the guitar and Chioko playing the Shamisen in candlelight, it definitely had that woodsy country thing going for it (not to be confused with the snooty country thing of the Martha Stewart variety). Another friend of Yuko, named Asami(sp?), showed up around 8pm. She is a Japanese living in Singapore who works as a stewardess for the Singaporean Airlines--you imagine what she looks like in a SIA Kabaya. A definite head-turner. Though I resisted her obvious charm, she also brought moon-cakes (a traditional Chinese sweet eaten during the moon festival, the 8/15 of lunar calendar, which was 2 weeks ago and I couldn't find any in Japan) which completely neglected my efforts. Did not talk with her too much, her being Yuko's long-time-no-see friend and all. At about 9.5pm some Singaporean guy named Lin decided to take the lead and MC the whole party. Not surprised, my first impression of his brown-tinted glasses plus black-and-black outfit pegged him as the "I'm too cool and stylish for this party" type. His choice of activities were even lamer than his image: some sort of women vs. men trivia Q&A and the Singaporean variation of line dancing. Most people acquiesced and participated out of pity I think (I know I did). Thank god Shivley (a Malaysian/Singaporean whose name is actually Shirley, but a spelling mistake by the Japanese immigration/customs changed her name in Japan forever) drank too much and had to pass out, throw up, and be hospitalized; I don't know what else could've stopped the lameness. The party broke up soon after. Yuko was staying at Chioko's and I didn't get a chance to talk with her more.

Monday I went with Matt to Izumo, to visit the shrine there and the ekiden race. 出雲大社 (Izumo shrine) is one of the most renowned in Japan. Apparently, after the fall equinox, all the gods all over Japan leave their home shrines and take a collective vacation to chill and gather at this shrine in Izumo. It is also the shrine for some god of love. With the collective powers of all Japanese gods, visiting and praying at Izumo shrine must have had favorable effects on my overall seductive potency. Also there was a big ekiden race happening the very same day. 44km, 6 legs ranging from 5-10km, between all the major Japanese colleges and a team of selected IVY league runners (good choice: slow runners from famous universities). Matt and I got there 5 minutes before the start:



I had a feeling that our car was one of the last that got through before they closed off the roads. And after the starting gun (actually right before the starting gun--Matt's camera ran out of battery)


we went ahead and saw the shrine.


It gives you good luck if you can throw and lodge a coin inside that huge turd of a straw bundle. I got in several \10 pieces, just to be sure.

Another look at the many sub-shrines inside.

We also saw a Japanese wedding take place. I can never understand why you would ever want to be married amidst hundreds of tourists. But they did.

I also paid \50 for a paper fortune to tie on a tree branch. From the few kanji characters, I gathered that with the grace of god and plenty of worship I will become rich. So I guess I'm all set.