2015-04-04: Support Systems

Nagoya has an International Center (http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/e/index.php) which has a tagline of A Lifeline for Foreign Residents. Personally I would change that, Nagoya is nowhere near that bad. Normally I avoid these places as all their recommendations are places full of people (normally churches or architecture as well! pffft).
So it never occurred to me to go there. Fortunately I am not the brains of this operation.

Sign Review: Temporary Work Barriers

These would be red cones in Australia. Maybe some yellow tape.

Don't trust the winking frog at the back!

Rating: 10/10 (Unquestionably)

Most Japanese websites are, surprisingly enough, in Japanese and our curriculum of Japanese is geared around communication, not learning a new alphabet then learning to read and write. Learning to read would take up valuable time that could be used practising communication in various bars around the city.
Unlike most languages Google tends to translate these webpages in the manner of a drug addled surrealist poet which I enjoy, But I don't learn much from.

Arguably the translation do inspire me in my particular lifestyle.

Conrad was smart enough to escort us up to the International Centre and just scoop up every English language pamphlet they have. The weather is probably the nicest it has been since we arrived. Ewa is feeling tough. We went on our new velocepedes. Conrad mounted the crutches on his bike like a lance, I used the ninja back mounted sword technique. We inspired fear either way.

Jumper matches Blossoms, Bike Matches Blossoms, I had nothing matching because I have no style

Unfortunately it is Saturday and so the normals are out in force. Currently the driving force behind every person in Nagoya appears to be See the Sakura In The Lovely Weather. The normals want to see the blossoms at the castle. So did we, I hate it when I agree with the crowds.

Velocopeding Reduced to Veloco-putt-putt-ing

Blossoms, Samurai.

A Gust of Wind, A Stone Wall

So much death

The Blossoms are easier to clean up than the dead Samurai though

That dude is jealous, he has like 20kg of cameras and I am riding along just holding the Take Photo button waving the camera vaguely. He probably has a sweaty crotch too, I have shorts and a bike generated breeze.

Heh. Sponsored by Beer, that is great. Japanese drinking culture is different to almost anything I have ever seen before. The Germans / Belgians take huge national pride in their beer, The French pride in their wine. Most everyone else has a binge drinking culture. The Japanese have beer almost everywhere, seem to consider getting drunk normal enough but rarely take it to the fisticuffs and tears stage in public. It is interesting and something I am trying to figure out.

Stand alone tree, No crowds, Much Pretty

Just a bit of love for a stone wall not picturesquely garlanded in blossoms. The ugly kids need attention too.

Instead of entering the groves directly Ewa and I rode our bikes around the outskirts. With the crowds there was no sensible way to ride through the groves and on crutches it would have been a nightmare. We trusted to the God of Half Arsed Travellers and rode somewhat aimlessly through the streets. The Cherry Blossoms are everywhere and some of the solo trees have more complex blossoms than the vast clouds can be.

Cultural Observation: Political Campaigning

It is election time here. This means that people drive around in little vans which must be 85% stereo system and 10% white gloves.

At the Cherry Groves even

You hear slightly distorted "Vote for me Please" and see white gloves waving.
I would not vote for anyone that had one of these on principle. Life is loud enough without having to cause problems.

But I do love the Bikes With War Banners and would vote for that guy if he would just ditch the loud hailers

And because the police, ambulances etc all have loud hailers I never know if there is an emergency happening or just another politician. which is even more annoying. It might not be quite as bad for people that understand Japanese as they can probably tune out the political stuff.

Rating: 4/10 (If someone recreated the battle scene in Ran with the bikes I would lose my mind)

All the riding made us hungry and somehow we ended on the other side of the city in Osu, home of the flagship shop for Yabaton’s Yaba-cho Honten (Which is on the checklist for food [1] and places [2]). I blame faulty GPS.

The Normals were all here as well. A patient queue had formed around the corner and was getting longer, not shorter. I am a Patient (and Courteous) Man at times but not today. Rehydration was more important than food anyway.

I hope they sterilise these regularly

Polish Spirytus, 96% alcohol, Primary use? Cleaning Product. I would love to watch someone try drinking this unawares

I guess Libre is even harder to say than Larsen

We stopped at a below ground Swing Gang Club. Weirdly lifeless given the crowds outside. Oh well. Mos Burger is the native fast food burger place. There is one on the way home, we can stop for a beer and a burger.

The word coffee should have prepared me for disappointment.

No Smoking, No Drinking. In the one country I thought I could have an old time burger experience! (Conrad says the franchises have different rules so we will try and find one that at least has beer. Burgers without a beer have to be fantastic to be desired, Fast Food is rarely fantastic)

Event though we aren't learning to read or write I have accidentally picked up a few kanji.

Shiny!

I thought the handles on the door to our apartment were the kanji for door. I found this to be hilarious.

My observation often rely on vague recollections rather than well researched thoughts

Of course they are actually closer to the kanji for money

Which makes no sense as they are huge handles and the apartments are quite cheap

An opportunity missed I feel. I should start a business here manufacturing doors which have handles saying door.