35 hours after leaving the hotel in Okinawa, I’m back in the bay. What a trip. Back in sb on Sunday.

Leaving Okinawa for home really soon. 930am Japan time here, and I won:t be getting home to the bay area until 2pm Japan time, which is 36 hours from now. I have a ridiculous connecting flight through Chicago, then come back to SF. Have to get ready now. Maybe I:ll use the bidea. It has a feature to wash both the front and the back. Wouldn:t mind a burrito.

Is the number of pictures that I’ve taken so far.

This is the closing ceremony of a Japanese middle school 7-9th grade. By American standards it was miltaristic. Teachers were tapping students on the head through the 30 minute ceremony telling them to sit up straight and be attentive. They sing the school song before and after.

In the Gion Matsuri or Gion Festival, there were thousands of street vendors selling food, games and other stuff. These are fish on a stick for 500 yen (about $4.50). In the center of the fish there is a propane burner that cooks the fish. Didn’t try it, but I kinda wish I had.

In Matsuyama which is on the Island of Shikoku. It’s a city of 500,000 but the tour books glaze over it only giving it three pages of airtime. I’m staying with Deb who’s doing the JET program. Getting here was quite exciting, especially not knowing much Japanese. Got lost on a bus, went to the bathroom in a squater toilet only to find no toilet paper, got rejected by the train station ticket machines (like bart machines), the Shinkansen (bullet train) made me sea sick, climbed to the top of Japan’s coolest castle, got lost/wrong bus in Hiroshima for and hour and a half, and took a hydrofoil ferry to the Island.

Went to the school at which Deb teaches English (7th-9th grade) for their last day of class/closing ceremony. American public schools make Japanese public schools look like military institutions. But they get the job done. For example, they take 10 minutes out of each day for the students to clean the school (there are no janitors, the students clean everything). I also had a chance to practice my English and broken Japanese with some of the students. Local university for lunch (their cafeteria is like going out to a really good Japanese restuarant, and I’m not talking sushi.) So here we go….

So I’ve been in Japan for 3 days. It has been crazy. And hot. Like 34 C and humid. I think that’s about 93, plus tons of humidity. Done a lot of fun stuff…a highlight was definitely yesterday. Went to a Japanese bathhouse and scrubbed and soaked with several yakuza guys (this bath house is known for having yakuza. They had crazy tatoos all over their body. Then they shot me. Jk. Bath houses are interesting b/c you kinda just run around everywhere in it naked with a bunch of other Japanese guys. Ok going to feed the monkeys at another temple. Hasta.

We know that Japanese have bad translations and often times it’s humorous. I didn’t want to take pictures of signs, but a lot of the product names are too funny to pass up. One of david’s bikes is called “Forever.”

Might be the last entry for a while. Leaving SB for the bay in about 5fivehours, then for Japan in two days from SFO. I’ll be back in August. My number one priority in Japan is to make thousands of pictures (literally). Yeah, people say that sometimes you should just put the camera down and experience life without having to look at an LCD screen or through the viewfinder, but wait a second…aren’t those the times life should be captured? Exactly my point. That’s why I’m bringing 10 lbs of camera gear. “Sayonara bitches.” (Quick fact: sayonara actually means goodbye for a long time or forever, like bon voyage, not just ‘bye’ or ‘see ya later.’)

Who Cares. I spent some time making the dvd case insert for the Pgrad video. They’re all done, but there isn’t enough $$ to print 40 inserts. Only the worthy will get one.

What’s with the drama? Do I seem dramaphilic? That’s not me. Neways. Sorry to the people who deserve an apology. Maybe it’s good that Japan is only a couple days away.

It was Ryland’s idea…so I take no responsibility for the implications of this image. Either way, setting concrete on fire with gas is kinda cool.