Go Parlor

Go is an ancient game. It's most likely a chinese game but the Japanese and Koreans both play it and have taken the game as their own. Chris started playing Go back in the states and when he heard there was a Go Parlor in a town near us his mouth started watering. I had a lot of fun even without playing. I took a ton of pictures and talked with people. Mostly I just nodded and smiled.

Also, because of my ridiculous sinus infection I have been having nose bleeds. Just before I walked in the door my nose exploded and dripped on my pants. Eventually it quit bleeding and I went in.
Read More

The Go Parlor is mostly old guys socializing, so they were quite excited to see not only some young blood, but FOREIGN young blood.


Everyone just sits and plays game after game, they switch to a different partner sometimes, but mostly they play slowly and chat.


This is from the corner of the room. The whole place is just this big. It was quite warm and comfortable, I wanted to take a nap. They lady that runs the place gave us tea and cakes. Woot!


Chris, Rowan and I all noticed that whatever age everyone was, they all sat on the floor. They looked pretty comfortable in that position. There were folks who could barely walk, that couldn't stand up straight, but they sat on the floor with legs crossed. Rowan theorized that because they have sat like this their entire lives their joints are stronger and are quite used to this position. The 2 or 3 chairs in the room were often left empty, used only by spectators to better see the whole board.


Mrs Tabuchi, the lady running the place, tried playing with Rowan, but could only explain in Japanese and we couldn't figure out what she was saying. She kept taking Rowan's pieces off without telling him why. He got a little frustrated but he persevered.


When the going got too rough, Chris would lean over and explain what was going on to Rowan.


It looks like he's going "What about this move, see if you can handle THIS!"


I really like this picture, I used my new lens. I stood on the opposite side of the room and could still get in pretty tight.


Chris says that in Go, you often have to try to think up to 25 moves ahead. I can't imagine.


One can join the Go Parlor for about 3000 yen a month and have your name put up on the board. As you gain levels your name plate moves up until you are the master.


These are the white pieces...


This guy blew me out of the water. At 93, he suffered from a little hearing loss but remembered lots of English. When he saw us he sat down and said "Hello! Rejoice! Spring is here and the winter is gone, the flowers will bloom and the earth is beautiful!" He met some navy guys when he was younger and learned English when he was younger. He was in incredible shape for 93.


This guys with long hair heard about my nose bleed and came over. Mrs Tabuchi kept saying "JUDO MASTA". He grabbed my hand and rolled my pinky finger like a cigarette then pulled it quickly. This apparently will stop the bleeding. Since my nose was fine before he did it, I'll never know. But I haven't had a nose bleed since!


Though I'm started to feel better now, yesterday I was given a mask to keep my nasty cough germs out of the little kids faces.

Kumamoto Two

We had a quick trip into Kumamoto, a city I like more everytime I go. I bought a new camera lens, which I haven't used yet! I only took a few pictures and none of them have turned out. So desu ne...

Also I was super sick last week. I had to go to the hospital, which is basically like the Dr.'s office in the states, to get my fever down. The hospital was only about 50 feet from my door so no big. Turns out I had a 104 fahrenheit fever. After about 2 hours I was better and went home to sleep. People brought all sorts of blankets and food to cheer and warm me up. Everyone was super nice.

On to the pictures!

I finally got a picture of the capsule to do it some justice. We found a great hotel in Kumamoto for really cheap. I love capsule hotels!


They even supply sleep wear. Tim models it for us. And Chris makes like he's on a street car.


We ate at this pretty delicious italian restaurant. This picture really sucks, its quite boring, but the place had an atmosphere I really liked. The light was beautiful and it was sort of basement place. Your head was about where people's knees on the street were. I'd like to go back and have a couple drinks at night.

Seaside Park

I've come to this park twice before this, but never noticed that just a little way up the hill, a playground waited to be explored. The interesting thing was that adjacent to the playground was a tiny buddhist temple, surrounded by japanese shrines. There is even a Tori gate in the back.

Read more...

The slide was pretty massive and rather than just solid metal to peel the skin off of kid's legs, this monster uses rollers.


At the top, there were ropes on pulls that you could ride on. It was basically a lousy zip line. So Chris dances.


The town of Kuchinotsu is quite of proud of this bridge to nowhere. It does lead to the park, but just seems silly. The bridge uncomfortably accommodates one car at a time. If you meet another confused person on the bridge. You might meet their eyes and discover they are looking quizzically at you. Why go this way? Hey, its pretty, I shoot back with thought bullets.


Chris shows me how to slide down "Buddha's Tongue". I don't know if thats the official name, but it should be.


As I roll down this enlightened slide, my butt starts to feel very hot and itchy. The rollers are pretty horrible.


The ferry passes.


I can't wait until summer. More fun to be had at this place.

Free Shoes

Well, today I mentioned that I was thinking of buying some soccer shoes. A teacher over heard me and everyone started asking each other if they had some shoes to give me. Next thing I know, these shoes are shoved into my hand. They are actually a little too small. I don't think I can use them all, but they are LSU colors. Go tigers!

Tokyo Visit

The first few days Leah was in Japan we stayed in Tokyo. Please take enjoy the pictures.

Read more...

We saw the famous Tokyo Tower and as we approached Leah did a Japanese Anime pose.


From the tower, the city looked like a model. I imagine a greying old man building this sky line in his basement, carefully painting the dirty and smog stains onto buildings. Mount Fuji watches over the city from a distance.


My fiancee poses with her back to the anthill city.


We happened upon a park while wandering the city. This torii gates greeted park goers.


Its amazing that in a city this size, you can find a place to sit under some trees in a park and peacefully read a book. I think to the japanese, having nature available to them like this, is as essential as rice and fish.


We also visited the Imperial Palace. Most of what we saw was rather unimpressive. I'm not sure if we missed the best part, or that the best parts are closed to tourists, but Leah and I considered this place a relative bust. But we were glad we went, if just to say we've been to the imperial palace. There were a couple highlights though. This bridge was beautiful. It was in the "inner garden" I think. We couldn't get to it.


This samurai statue was another highlight. He was pretty magnificent. His face was dark with oxidation and his horse looked downright insane. If I were a foreign invader or a peasant rising against the imperial forces, this guy would likely send me back to the fields at first glance.


I also really dug these trees.


We finally hit pay dirt when we headed for Ueno Zoo (which was sadly closed) and walked through Ueno Park. There was plenty to see, these cool torii for example.


We also walked through to this amazing shrine. Leah and I stood uncomfortably while a japanese family paid their respects. The signs were all in japanese so I didn't know what this was for, but it was beautiful.


In a large pavilion a saxophone quartet and a drummer hammered out a few christmas tunes and a few songs neither of us had ever heard of. Leah informed me that the little sax in the middle, the one being played by the guy in the cowboy hat, is the same type as Kenny G, a soprano sax. I think Kenny G's sax looks stupid, this soprano sax I like better actually. They were fabulous and we gave them some money.


We got a kick out of their dance routines.


As the brass quartet was wrapping up, this guy politely waited for the music to end. When they did he started his show. He is a yo-yo ninja. He used both a chinese yo-yo (shown here) and the conventional type.


He could juggle multiple chinese yo-yos, it was incredible. I can imagine this guy going to parties and all his friends are like "Koji! Do you have your yo-yos? Do that thing!!" And he feigns bashful saying "Well, if you really want to see, I've got a new trick!" I also see him practicing hours and hours, strutting around with this yo-yos flying.


His assistant was no less talented. She unicycled around for a bit, then began to jump rope whilst on the mono-wheel!


In the Rippongi area, we saw a big Christmas tree sort of deal. It had ornaments projected on to it and would change from time to time. The area was covered in lights and sweets shops lined the back of the pavilion. The smells of taco yaki (octopus balls), cotton candy and even pseudo hot dogs piqued then erased our appetites. The hot dogs looked kind of gross.


See a few more pictures : Tokyo Picasa Album