Music / 音楽

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New Apartment / 新しアパート

Blah! Since my last post I’ve been kinda sick and really busy. Well I know which classes I’ll be teaching (well about 80% sure.) I’m pretty happy about my classes.

And... Yay... I moved into my own apartment a 10 minute walk to my job. No more 40 minute or so commute. The apartment is HUGE I was amazed. I thought it would be more like my friends palaces in Nishinomiya, but no. It’s almost too big. I love it, I’m like equal walking distance from a CoCo curry, an Osho(王将), a 105円 kaiten sushi, and a porn book and video store. Could life get any better I ask?


Oh it can---Meat:safety.

Oh and I saw a guy in front of the Japan (a Family Dollar/Pick-n-Save like discount store) today who while waiting for the drink machine to pour his soda walked across the parking lot, to take a quick piss on the bush next to the curb. This, I might add, was in plain view of not only me but two kids waiting at the bus stop and at like 11:30 in the morning. Glory.
Anyhow here's a few photos I took riding around Sanda and of my new apartment. I hope you like them.
I’ll have a few things to say about my little one night trip out to Fukui sometime soon.

三田駅／ Sanda station

三田駅／ S anda station
Originally uploaded by sleepytako.

僕が3日と青春18切符。三田駅に始まるでも、どこかへ行こうの？

I have 3 days and a unlimited rail pass for the JR. I'm starting in Sanda but, where to go from here.

This was the first post but didn't get posted for some reason. I'm now back in Osaka at an Internet cafe.

お休みの友達

お休みの友達
Originally uploaded by sleepytako.

福井市は静かだ。人は珍しい。一人酔っ払い彼女はカンチュハイ持っているは僕に見えた。「外人だ！」と大声をあげた。今フランスらしいのは居酒屋で一人にワインを飲んでる。

敦賀駅

敦賀駅
Originally uploaded by sleepytako.

福井まで行くつもり。金沢へ行けるでも、ちょっと遅い。この電車はメッチャ面白い。日本中この電車は一番汚い！本当大好き！福井でいい写真が取られるよう。Bakersfeild、CAらしい。



I'm gonna stop at Fukui tonight. Going further would be too late. this is the dirtist train I've seen in Japan! Love. It's like the Bakersfeild of Japanese trains.

東舞鶴駅

東舞鶴駅
Originally uploaded by sleepytako.

ここに電車を乗り換えした。何もないあるよう。

敦賀へ行こう！



East Mazuru station



Ain't much around here it seems. I'm now on the Japan Sea side of Honshu.

福知山駅／ Fukuchiyama

福知山駅／ Fukuchiyama
Originally uploaded by sleepytako.

東舞鶴へ行く。後 福井か金沢？



On my way to Matsuru...and beyond?



(￣▽￣)ｖ

篠山口／ S asayamaguchi

篠山口／ S asayamaguchi
Originally uploaded by sleepytako.

電車を乗り換え。



changed trains

三田まつり / Sanda matsuri

All decent sized Japanese towns have a festival (or matsuri) once or twice a year. Last Saturday, the 5th and 6th, was Sanda’s summer matsuri. Like any gathering like this in Japan there are the booths selling street food, games of chance, and other related junk. Since it is the summer matsuri people typically wear yukata, a kinda less formal kimono. Many of them that are sold in stores for young kids feature Hello Kitty or other similar characters. Most matsuri typically end with a fireworks show and Sanda's 45min show was no exception. Since this is Sanda, on the edge of the really rural area, lots of country people came in from the rice fields, hence Sam, Dan, and I got some rather funny looks. We are already quite rare up here (even-though its only like one hour to Osaka) so the random odd stare is normal, but this night it was coming from everywhere.

Another thing to note is that last year there wasn’t a matsuri because of the train accident. If you remember in April of last year there was a big train accident in Amagasaki city on the JR line. Well that was the line that people take from Sanda into Osaka for work. Sanda is like a suburb town with many families who move out here to buy a home. Of those killed in the accident were many Sanda residents. Because matsuri are family occasions, the matsuri was cancelled last year. I think the city made up for the missed year with this years celebrations. Overall, super fun.

And, yes those are real live eels in that photo, and that really is grilled octopus.

I put a few comments on the photos where necessary. Click HERE for the set.

日本へそ公園 / The Navel of Japan Park

Last Thursday I took the train the long way to the Navel of Japan Park or Nihonhesokoen (日本へそ公園) in Nishiwaki city (西脇). The day was hot hot hot and super humid, but clear-ish at times leaving the sky prettier than usual on these humid summer days.

I had purchased the super fun Seshun 18 Kippu (背春18切符) that lets you ride on any normal service JR train for any five days during a given period. Using one of these days I took the longer more scenic route from Sanda (三田), where I am living now, up and around to Sannan (山南) where I changed trains to Nishiwaki, then down to the coast at Akashi (明石), and up again finally to Sanda. Most of the trains were single car conductorless models, and one was a two car model with a conductor but with out automatic doors! Very cool.

The first big group of my photos shows the rail line from Sanda to Tanikawa station (谷川) in the city of Sannan where I had a 2 1/2 hour wait. This was a lovely little city up in the hills filled with old houses and on a wide river. I asked the lady working the Kiosk shop in the station where the post office was and she directed me to it, hearing as I walked away a question from a bystander, “What did the foreigner want?” and the Kiosk lady’s reply “Postoffice.”



The second set of my photos shows Nihonhesokoen itself, the reason for my trip. It is here that the geographic center of Japan lies at the intersection of E135 and N35, as the first visitor to this place from the Degree Confluence Project states:

“The 135 east longitudes have been the standard of the Japanese time. There is the northernmost Japan tip in North latitude 46 degrees, and the southernmost tip in North latitude 24 degrees.”

So this is not like a center of Japan in the way we might try to find the center of the 48 states by dividing all the maxim distances in half, but a created one kind of like the 4 corners monument in Colorado, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico. Lacking in fry bread but equipped with a super cool playground (see below).



There are also two confluence points, one for each datum used commonly in Japan. The Tokyo datum site is older and much less visited it appeared to me. The WGS84 datum is perched on the side of a hill but commands better upkeep, perhaps due to its closeness to the museum and playground. Interestingly enough, the WGS84 site is also on the side of a kofun, yet I was not truly able to make out its shape. I got photos of both sites, and the reading on my GPS for fun.



The museum (only 300yen--thank you ISIC card) was pretty interesting, if I had a child I would definitely take him or her here. I got a daytime telescope session and played with the various exhibits on the stratification of the Earth, gravity and other basic principles of Earth science. But, the best part of the place was the super cool playground, that had with super slider slides that had corkscrews and super fast long drops. The slides have conveyer belt like rollers so make sure you remember to use one of the many butt pads they have to slide on or you’ll have a burning hot bottom like I did the first time I did it. The playground’s theme was the Solar System and I have to say really cute, a little bit of cleaning work would have made it perfect. Although for me this typically Japanese state of mild detritus only made it more appealing.



I had a late lunch in the restaurant at the end of the parking lot. A super good ham sandwich plate with iced coffee. Pretty cute waitress too. I should have stayed around there but I was wet with sweat and probably very stinky so I made my way to the train station, skipping the little, yet appealing, modern art museum for another day.



I road the train out to the beach side station of Asagiri (朝霧) near the world longest suspension bridge where I took a bath in the beach-front super sento. I’ve forgot the name already, and found it too crowded with beachgoers to be enjoyable for me. Still it seemed nice and I want to return to the station again to go swimming at least.



I hope to write more about the park, hopefully I can try to read some of the Japanese in the pictures I took to find out when the Tokyo datum site was built.

Clicking on any of the photos will take you that photos page or you can see all the photos in the 日本へそ公園の旅行 set on my Flickr page.

Another site in Japanese about the park, and where I got the map at the top from.
http://www11.ocn.ne.jp/~ohhashi/hesokouen.htm

ewww!

今僕の部屋でちょっとビールを飲んでインタネートを読む。僕のビール瓶の外で長い黒いかみを見えた！EWWWWWW!!!自分じゃないよ！（笑）