David's Journal

Japan is great. Simply wonderful, the food is spectacular, particularly the devilish things they do to custard and various forms of pastry and sponge. Its inhumane that I will not be able to eat them when I go home.

What I really want to tell you about is a trip down south to a little place called Ibusuki. Now I want you to pronounce it in your mind properly. Think russian, as in Ibuski, and then think of someone saying it in a smooth deep sexy voice that sounds like seven kinds of caramel dripped over smooth vanilla icecream before being dipped in dark chocolate.

Ibusuki is where you can go, lose your clothes (all of them) in favour of a yukata (kind of a japanese robe thing), then proceed down to the beach to be professionally buried up to your neck in naturally heated hot sand. This lasts about ten minutes - some of the most divine minutes of my life. I'm getting chills just thinking about it.

Then you proceed to the onsen, where you throw your yukata down a big chute and proceed starkers into showers and a hot pool full of (if you're a guy) naked japanese men. Its a rather freeing experience to say the least.

Apologies to those with overactive visual minds, if you are bothered by residual images please think of a natural woodland scene with deer and rabbits gamboling and the afternoon sun shining through the naked, er, native woods. Sorry.

Location: Kokubu, Japan
Players: Sarah, me
Score: 8-3 to Sarah
Note: This is after me introducing the game to Sarah for the first time, after which she handed my ass back to me on a large silver platter. I was trying my best too. Well done Sarah.

A word of advice - when travelling on an overnight bus, do not under any circumstances be allocated a seat in front of the man who snores loudly. Nothing short of an elephant tranquilliser would have been sufficient to ease me into some semblance of sleep given the decibel level of his nasal rasping. As there were no elephant tranquillisers immediately on hand, it was a very tired and grumpy David that arrived in Kagoshima at some ridiculous hour of the morning. Thankfully Sarah, who I am staying with and who teaches English at the local school soon arrived to take me to someplace I could sleep without seismic disturbance.

Speaking of which, in Taiwan recently I felt my first ever earthquake, it didn’t shake things off the walls but felt huge and powerful nonetheless. But don’t worry mum, I am trying to stay out of natural disaster’s way as much as possible. On an unrelated note, the live volcano I can see out of the lounge window is very beautiful, though it only smokes a little.

Kokubu, the town in which I am staying is lovely, the sky has been brilliant blue and the surrounding hills and mountains green and fresh. When you walk to town grey and white herons fly out of your way, protesting with strangled squawks. The traffic is sedate and calm, a huge contrast to Taiwan, where the main rule is that the rules must be as confusing as possible to foreigners.

I have just been to an English class at Sarah’s school, and the kids wrote questions for me to answer for them. Most of them were the same; name, age, favourite food and so on, but here are my favourites:

“How many girlfriends do you have?”

“Do you have a girlfriend?” (about ten times)

“Do you know karate?”

“What is your special ability?” (this one came up three times - I can only conclude that I look like a super hero)

“What is your dream?”

“I envy your face!!!! You are so cool.”

“I like playing the guitar and the piano How about you?”


Ah Japan is good for the ego.