Welcome to Korea!

Moving right along I embarked on the next "leg" of my journey by hopping a ferry from Fukuoka in Japan to Busan in South Korea (which I will refer to as Korea). I have never had any real interest in visiting Korea, but given it was just across the "ditch" and I do have a great friend who live's here it seemed appropriate to go. I hadn't done any research, my arrival point was the most convenient given my location in Japan and the advice I received from my friend Jin, so an overnight bus ride from Hiroshima to Fukuoka was the beginning, I had tried booking the ferry online but to no avail, not that it wasn't possible, just that I couldn't translate the web site, so on arrival in Fukuoka I figured I'd just make my way to the port and take it from there... Of course nobody told me it was peak holiday season in Korea and as a consequence the cheaper of the two ferries I was aware of was fully booked, "you can't fit one more on"? I pleaded, "sir, we are licensed to carry 640 passengers an...

Travelling is not all glamorous hotels, sandy beaches, exotic night life and cultural revelations, the more mundane daily tasks like, well, survival, also have to be tended to...with this in mind I headed off to my local supermarket to get my breakfast supplies, banana`s and yoghurt, cereal is not common and is restricted to things like froot loops and equally sugary variants, and at the asking price they are not an option, at all.

So I headed into the arcade, mindful of the ubiquitous bicycles..







these old ladies with umbrella`s are not the most dangerous, that honour lies with young girls sending or reading text messages..by the way, I`ve learned, after asking the police, that it`s actually not illegal to ride on the footpath, it`s just being discussed, so I`m learning to live with it, reluctantly!

So I survived the walk and headed in..



past the bike park..

into the...

Travelling is not all glamorous hotels, sandy beaches, exotic night life and cultural revelations, the more mundane daily tasks like, well, survival, also have to be tended to...with this in mind I headed off to my local supermarket to get my breakfast supplies, banana`s and yoghurt, cereal is not common and is restricted to things like froot loops and equally sugary variants, and at the asking price they are not an option, at all.

So I headed into the arcade, mindful of the ubiquitous bicycles..







these old ladies with umbrella`s are not the most dangerous, that honour lies with young girls sending or reading text messages..by the way, I`ve learned, after asking the police, that it`s actually not illegal to ride on the footpath, it`s just being discussed, so I`m learning to live with it, reluctantly!

So I survived the walk and headed in..



past the bike park..

into the...

An enduring aspect of Japanese culture is Sumo, a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler (rikishi) attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring (dohyo) or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally. My only experience was the rare glimpse we get on Australian TV, enough to create considerable interest when the prospect of attending a Grand Sumo tournament presented itself. My "aide" was Karla, a Brazilian lady (friend of a friend) who lives just outside Nagoya, the location for this event, one of just six of the annual "Grand" tournaments. We met at the Nagoya castle, yes all these cities seem to have castles, (almost all reproductions), Karla had arranged the tickets, all I had to do was get there. This I had managed after taking a bus ride from Osaka to Nagoya and "checking in" to my airbnb hosts apartment. Cozi was his name, around 30 I guessed, who lived...

Before arriving in Japan I had heard about the Gion-matsuri, a month long festival, one of Japan`s three most important apparently, held in the city of Kyoto, and I was reliably informed that one of it`s highlights is "yamaboko jyunko", parade of halberds, on the morning of the 17th.

It was common knowledge in my Osakan hotel and a number of guests were planning to attend so when these Chinese boy`s (from Malaysia) that I had previously met told me they were going it seemed a good fit, they were organised and had the whole day planned.




First it was on to the subway for the short ride to Osaka station..



Then a transfer to the Kyoto line for the longer of our two journeys..



The train system is incredibly efficient, and the station`s and carriages are so clean it`s almost like you could eat your dinner of them..

We boarded our train to Kyoto and very soon were joined by many, ma...

Greetings, I`ve decided this practise of riding bicycles on the footpath is allowed, no, tolerated, because of the unfailing politeness of the inhabitants of this city. That is those inhabitants not threatening the live`s of humble Osakan pedestrians by weaving in and out along crowded footpaths! I am reliably informed that the practise itself is outlawed but it seems so ingrained and so prolific that the police appear to have little or no chance to prevent it. What`s required is a push from the grass roots, for the pedestrians to fight back, and I have started the charge! Yesterday while searching for a venue to view a telecast of the Collingwood v Geelong game I was faced with a potential frontal assault, in what was almost a game of "chicken" I held my ground (and nerve) and stared down my protagonist! The young man, obviously accustomed to having his way met a foe equal to the task and blinked first, shuddering to a halt inches in front of me, I gave him a triumphant stare...

Greetings, so I arrived in Osaka, my first mission was to get a sim card, luckily, enough English was spoken to inform me that I couldn`t buy one but could indeed rent one, 105 yen per day, 40,000 yen deposit, and a written warning that if I inadvertently logged in to their internet it would cost me a fortune, I believe them! I caught the train to the city, then a subway to Dobutsuen-Mae, a seedy part of Osaka with cheap hotels, perfect! I have a private room with a single bed, a desk the size of a bedside table, what appears to be a child’s chair, tv, fridge, a robe and a pair of "slip ons", the room is two paces wide and three paces long, I also have a window and air conditioner, 1900 yen per night, a bargain! After checking in I spent the day sightseeing with a local I had contacted earlier, she was my type of girl commenting very early that there was a nearby bar with Osaka`s most famous beer, and that she was thirsty! Perfect! We then ate a local dish, okonomiyaki, for dinner...

Greetings, well Melbourne's winter is here, seems a perfect time to go somewhere else! And why not Japan, I have been to many places but had never considered the Land of the Rising Sun, until, that is, I met a Brazilian girl of Japanese heritage a few years ago, she queried, given my professed love of Asia, why it was not on my list of places to see? I didn't really have an answer, she continued that given that I enjoyed diversity above most other things, Japan seemed a natural fit, being "one of the most diverse cultures in the world"..fair enough I thought, and after a bit of research, (and finding a cheap air fare), I'm off! I'm not sure for how long, Australians get an automatic 90 day visa on entry so, given other commitments, I expect I will stay between 30 and 60 days, by way of research I have met with a Japanese student to try to learn some useful phrases, she was very sweet and giggled a lot, I wondered were "all Japanese like her"? "No" she assured me, I managed to learn ...

Lovelorn with Lucy



I don't recall exactly why, but I was sitting at home one evening last year when the comedian Judith Lucy came to mind. I have always enjoyed her work and often thought that she had great potential as a partner as she has that most desirable quality, the ability to make one laugh. That thought grew a little while viewing her tv show "Judith Lucy's Spiritual Journey" on the ABC, it may have been presented as an exploration of spirituality but seriously, who was fooled? This was clearly a woman looking for some action!

So with this in mind when her name popped into my head I decided that a single man, aware of a single, age appropriate, somewhat attractive, "horny" woman who was displaying numerous mating signals on national tv, should approach her, but how? We don't mix in the same circles, I've never seen her at my local, none of my friends know her, what to do?

WWW, the world wide web, that was my path, a quick search...