Monday, January 01, 2007

The year in review (part 2)

As I'm writing this it's just turned 00:12 A.M. on the 1st day of 2007. I hope I finish this on time...

When I first moved to Osaka, the company I worked for set me up in an apartment. And by set up, I mean they rigged it so that I got a sub-standard place in one of the worst neighbourhoods they had...which I had to pay them rent for! Bloody cheek. The view from my bedroom window was of a car park wall - it was so close I could touch it. My other neighbours were a hospital (with ambulance sirens going off all night), a Pachinko parlour (a place so annoying I would punch myself in anger just thinking about) and a busy intersection.

I though all was lost until Karaoke Queen came to my rescue and introduced me to my current housemate Matt.
Yes, he is Australian. All you need to know is that he doesn't photograph well and he's a bloody nice bloke who wishes that The Matrix exists as he wants to become one with technology.

We moved into our new place in April. It was an old style japanese house with tatami floors and everything. Best of all is that it's very quiet. 家はとても静かです。I got the top floor with 2 rooms, each of which are 6 tatami in size. That's a lot of space, people.

My new place had three big advantages: it's proximity to Dunk, my lovely neighbours and it was very cheap.
With my social life now much improved, I began to settle into life in Japan. I was making great friends, exploring the country, trying new food and partying my arse off on a regular basis.

I took some of my most poignant series of pictures around this time. I was exploring Kyoto one day when I came across this huge temple at the top of a hill in Gion. It was a memorial for all the people from other countries who died in japanese territory during WW2.


The names of dead allied personnel according to nationality and alphabetical order. And yes, there was a name I did look for. I never knew this place even existed or would be allowed to considering the opinion of some japanese politicians.

Cherry Blossom season came and went with the blink of an eye and signalled the coming of summer. "Japanese summer hoto ando humid" came the answers from my students. Temperatures in the high thirties with 90% humidity for 4 months. Understatement is a concept I'm sure they would never understand....

Coming soon: part 3 (FIGHT CLUB), the arrival of Jessie and the gang. They like to play with swords on a regular basis.

5 comments:

karaoke queen said...

Wow, I didn't know that your old place was that bad. I just thought you didn't like the neighbourhood :)

samuraifingers said...

I HOPE TO GAWD, that I'm not working for the same company you started with, so that I don't get arse raped on my apartment...

whew.

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

Rock on!
A little more than a month to go!

Rock,
JNM

karaoke queen said...

Hmmm, Osaka otaku also wants to become one with technology. Perhaps they can start their own matrix :D

JNM, the apartments are a crap shoot. Some are really nice, some are....er....less than stellar. Our apartment that we were initially put into was very nice. Just really f$%*king expensive. Thats why WE moved out.

Anonymous said...

I don't photograph well huh? Pffft, if that first shot isn't evil incarnate I don't know what is. And if the devil himself doesn't take a good photo then personally we are all lost!!

Glad to be of service saving you from hell. (See previous paragraph)

Wish I could be so 'Year in Review' like...but oh well. I know what happened, most of you were there at the time! :)

karaoke queen said...

Hehe. I'm assuming that you're back from Tokyo then? Hope you had a great time with your lady :D

And you do photograph exactly the same way in every photo I've ever seen of you - it is kinda funny!!