Otaku Day

Monday 22nd, had a walk round Nihonbashi with some other teachers. It's the electronics/toys/comics/adult dvd district - if you're into one of those things, you must be into the others, right? By toys I mean any kind of collectible figure or model, usually of manga and anime characters. But the reason we went was to pay a visit to a maid cafe, of which there are several in Nihonbashi. Found ourselves a good one, called Maidolce (works better in Japanese, maid is pronounced 'maido'). Had a coffee and lingered for as long as possible, basically a normal cafe but you ring a little bell for service. And the girls are dressed as 'French maids'. We happened to go on 'Cat Ear Day' (of course!) so we got some added bonus cosplay madness. I think the service is supposed to be extra polite and respectful, but it's hard to tell in Japan. They weren't very demure anyway, seemed to be having a laugh - running around and being 'girly' but maybe that's part of the gimmick. Had to get a picture of course, seemed to be the done thing. There was a sign up explaining that asking for phone numbers and, disappointingly, stalking your favourite maid is frowned upon. I guess they get some over-zealous regulars.

No, I didn't draw that stuff all over the picture. Like my ears, though, and the bit that says I should come back again. If you're wondering what 'nyan' means, you shouldn't be because it's obviously the noise a cat makes. If you're wondering what the hell I'm doing (you wouldn't be the only one), see below

Not about to get battered and thrown off the premises by 'Hiro' and 'Ayano', just another version of the maneki neko pose I was supposed to be doing in my photo. Usually looks like this:

Kobe

Had a lie-in on the 3rd before taking the train south (not far) to Kobe in the afternoon. Didn't spend too long there, but seems like a cool place, small city with lots of narrow back streets full of interesting shops, mostly trendy and expensive but quite varied.

There's a small but impressive Chinatown in the centre, the deal is you walk along the main street lined with stalls selling various cheap n tasty snacks - by the time you get to the end you're full. So that was lunch.










Met up with Erhi who taught at the school before me, over from Tokyo where he teaches now. His sister, Jahri, was visiting from London, he was following her round while she bought things.

Not sure what this guy was for, but thought he deserved 3 pictures


Stopped for a drink. Obviously a classy joint - the red wine wasn't chilled, for once




Back to Osaka for dinner, Hiromi, the (now ex-) manager and Jo (part-time helper) were all delighted to see Erhi. You trying to tell me something?

South Korea for New Year

New Year in Japan is a fairly quiet affair as far as I can tell, most people visit shrines and spend the 1st with their families. No street parties, fireworks and so on - I struggled to explain exactly how big a deal Hogmanay is in Edinburgh (although having seen the footage of this year, it looks like I didn't miss much). So a good opportunity to venture out of Japan for the first time, a decision made easier by Andy and Susan suggesting that we meet in Busan. Kamsa hamnida to them for sorting out somewhere to stay and giving me a reason to be decisive for once: flight's booked, I'm going, worry about the details later. As it turned out, one of the 'details' was that I'd have about 12 hours in Busan before they arrived, given that they were working on the 29th and had to get a bus over from Suncheon in the evening. My flight landed at 12.30pm; they didn't make it until around 1am. Getting from Osaka to Busan was straightforward (airport bus, 1 hour flight) but I had no real idea as to how I would pass the time. However, one thing I've gained (among others) in the last three months is a real lack of nerves about new and unfamiliar situations (is it possible to gain a lack of something?), so I figured I'd just turn up and see how things went.



December 29th

What I ended up doing was picking up a map and directions from the tourist information desk at the airport and taking a bus, then train, into one of the central areas, although there wasn't as much to do there as I'd imagined. Wandered around for a bit, then decided to head over to the place where we were going to meet up, Hadan, which is where the apartment was. Turned out to be a good decision - plenty of shops, restaurants and 'hofs' (equivalent to izakayas). Left my bag in a coin-locker at the subway station and killed 8 hours or so. Things weren't made any easier by the icy wind blowing over from Russia (think I heard later that it was the coldest day for 20 years, or something like that. More like 200 years...), or the fact that I'd been up since 5am, but armed with a good book, handwarmers in my gloves, and a sheet of 'useful' phrases I managed to eat, drink, and avoid freezing to death until the cavalry arrived.

Dried fish market near Jagalchi

Real-live wild nori

I don't know if Seoul is different, but in Busan there is a real contrast between the tall, neon-lit buildings full of shops, bars and restaurants, and the stalls and vendors on the streets. Looking up, there is a superficial resemblance to Japan, but at street level the noise, chaos, sights and smells (more about the smells later) are completely different.




December 30th

Morning view over Busan. Can't remember which floor the apartment was on, but very high. With underfloor heating.

First stop was Gupo market - labyrinthine, noisy, full of tiny old ladies... just like it should be. The fish and seafood looked and smelled amazing, though each stall seemed to be a near replica of the last, so no idea how anyone chooses between them. It all seemed pretty good to me.



Welcome to the dog section. It was a bit disconcerting to see the big cages full of dogs, lined up next to similar cages of chickens, ducks, goats and so on, and on a large scale - there were a couple of streets lined with canine treats (not talking about chew toys). Not because of any moral objections, but because the other animals didn't notice and look at us as we walked past. A bit like being in a huge open-air petshop with a very narrow selection - Choose me! Choose me! No, wait, put me back! I can see the legitimacy of arguing that eating one (non-endangered) animal is no different to eating another, so who's to say that dogs should be off limits (even taking intelligence into account - pigs are smart, right?), and I'm open-minded regarding other cultures (or I wouldn't be out here), but I do have a couple of problems with what I saw. Firstly the conditions the animals (not just the dogs) were kept in, and the physical state of the dogs, were poor to say the least. Not exactly appetising, whatever the meat. Add that to what I've heard (though this may not be 100% accurate, I realise) about the way the dogs are farmed and the methods of killing them (which increases the levels of testosterone), and it does become hard to accept as just a cultural difference. Gimme some free-range dog! Where's the organic counter? The other problem is that the market traders denied themselves the 'just another animal' angle by becoming angry and confrontational when we took pictures. Andy made a point of photographing a cage full of chickens - no problem. Picture of the next cage along? Cue appearance of cantankerous old crone. Anyway, here are a few of the ones he got away with.

How much is that doggy in the cage?

The one with the barbecued tail

How much is that doggy on the pavement?

I sure do hope he is for sale

This delicious-looking felllow, with the cute little jumper, belonged to the girl selling the carcasses above. She kept it on her lap under a blanket. I learned the Korean for 'how much is this?', but it didn't occur to me to use it. I don't know what the Korean for 'irony' is.


Busan Aquarium

Someone fell into the tank, and the frenzied piranhas stripped the flesh from his skeleton in seconds! Someone fell... and the piranhas...

We made a friend. An inquisitive type







We walked around and under this huge tank (not pictured - more sharks, giant turtle, some kind of huge fish, all very happy together) for a while, ended up lying down in the tunnel. The colours, the sharks swimming round and round, the ambient music... it made me sleepy

The street stalls all sell the same stuff, including these little brown things, simmering away in a big pot (background). 'Someone' said they thought they came from the sea, if I remember rightly. Decided to give it a try, why not? Skewered a few with the toothpick - didn't smell, look, or taste, like seafood... kind of meaty and soft

Ate a good few before realising that they weren't so tasty, abandoned 3/4 of my cup somewhere. Decided they looked a bit like bugs, pointing them out at every stall - look, more of those bug things. That night, in the convenience store, I found some canned... bugs. After that, I could smell them everywhere, hadn't really noticed it before

After the aquarium, we decided that there was only one place to head for - Millak Town raw fish centre. There were a few of these places - the ground floor is full of tanks of live fish, with the restaurant on the floors above. We chose the one with the most enthusiastically beckoning fish-sellers (who didn't seem to want us to wait for the green man)



My 'Oldboy' moment. That's as far as it went, though

Wherever I go, fish die and become sashimi. I don't look too upset


Andy warms up for the 31st. Gwangalli beach was full of vendors selling fireworks, kids running around firing them off in every direction (most directions, at least - didn't see many going straight up in the air). The vendors kept themselves and their fireworks warm with a metal bucket full of open flame. Health and safety? Great fun




December 31st

Another clear, therefore cold, day

We had passed by Busan Museum of Modern Art on the 30th, but it was about to close (so we went to the aquarium instead). Made sure to go earlier on the 31st, and it was worth spending a while there. The space itself was excellent (the gallery is quite new, built in 1999), and was bright, warm, and fairly quiet, with a nice cafe serving ginger tea and the like. The exhibitions (probably more important) were a bit of a mixed bag, but there was some good stuff in there.

With my latest work - the almost empty plastic cup of wine, that is

Inspired by the surroundings - the token 'arty' shot


The best work we saw was probably this series of paintings by Sung Soo Kim. The photos don't really do justice


Outside the Museum is a sculpture garden (more garden than sculptures, but good for a wander). This one stayed still long enough for me to get a good shot




The area around Haeundae beach is the most built-up, with the main (expensive) hotels and big buildings. This was one of the best-looking. Apart from the McDonald's in front of it

About halfway up the same bulding - samgyeopsal, various types of kimchi, and soju (probably not poured correctly)

Practice makes perfect

A (very) brief visit to the casino at the Paradise Hotel - our small stack of low-denomination chips didn't last very long, but it gave us the opportunity to look serious and make like high-rollers, a snap of the fingers for... an iced coffee (which was free)

Plans unchanged in the absence of new-found riches, we headed to one of the foreigner bars to meet up with some of Susan and Andy's friends from Suncheon for a quiet toast to 2007. Things get a bit hazy around this point...






January 1st

Not as much of a lie in as any of us would have liked - Andy and Suze had to take a bus to Suncheon - back to work for them on the 2nd. I managed to find a central hotel without any difficulty, even managing to talk the girl at the desk down from 35 to 30 pounds for the room. Turned out I was getting a double room at single rates anyway so not a bad deal in the end. Fortunately I was safely installed in my room with a soft bed and hot bath before the 'lack of sleep' caught up with me.

There are plenty of reasons to complain about ubiquitous, homogenous branches of Starbucks, but when all I could stomach was a latte, a cup of tea and a muffin (and then only just) I was drawn to a familiar, reassuring, shining green beacon about 90 seconds away from the hotel

Last view of Busan