DaiOni

Top Fuel is in mie ken - that's a long way from tokyo! Abflug is in shizuoka ken - a couple of prefectures away from tokyo - not exactly close Veilside - couldn't find their address on the site (must be there somewhere...) knightsports - is in tokyo, on jounanjima (jounan island) - as far as I can tell, it's somewhere near haneda airport - so there will be a rail line that way (not sure how far), probably need a taxi too None of them are near Ikebukuro. Having the addresses in english will mean you are able to pronounce them, but it would be far better to print out the japanese text/maps instead

sorry for the bad quality for this one (I took a digital pic of a photo from the slr): ??? One day I'm just rambling along on the pushbike - enjoying the weather, getting some exercise, exploring backstreets and so on... In amongst a grove of trees I spot three run down jidohanbaiki (vending machines). This is pretty typical, so I don't pay much attention to them... then something catches my eye and I nearly fall off my bike... "do you wanna get high?" umm... okay! however, no amount of bashing, thumping, pushing, etc, will make the machine accept my 100yen coins or 1000yen notes It's not every day you find a vending machine that sells magic mushrooms* There were several varieties on offer. What's more, the machine also offered panties! (not the famous 'used schoolgirl' variety though - at least not as far as I could tell). Hopefully the machines are still there - I'll go back soon and take a few digital pics I've seen egg vending machines, machines that sell an amazing variety of alcohol, all sorts of porn vending machines... but the magic mushroom machine is by far my favorite yet. * 'Mushies' were actually legal in japan until recently

"I want to see a hot babe standing next to it!" sprinting to catch up with it??

just another scenery shot: typical combination of wonderful nature, intrusive concrete, and more bloody overhead wires! Little spots like this are also good fishing spots - all that concrete does come in handy (easy on the backside). The fishing is supposed to be very good, but I've never had any luck (I think I have to talk with the locals a bit more). Interestingly, the fish on offer are very similar to what I'm used to (NSW central coast) - bream, snapper, kingfish, yellowtail, and so on. I once went on a glass-bottom boat here and saw some of the biggest bream I've ever seen - wish I knew what bait they like here!

random car pic #1 This is one of my fav local cars. Nothing special - just an s14, but I love the way a car that would (usually) be so well looked after in oz, is just someone's 'beater' here. note the different rims, roll cage... someone's been playing in the mountains methinks...

here's another thing you won't see every day... womens' sumo, on a floating ring: Great festival! the boys get a go too, of course. I haven't done this myself, as I'm actually retired from the sumo ring. I'm no big boy* but we entered a couple of gaijin teams in a local amateur event (standard style ring - which is bloody painful). Didn' win a single bout in the regular comp, but did okay in a later 'tekken tag' style comp (win as many bouts as you can in succession) - was probably the most physically demanding thing I have ever done. So why did I retire from such a 'promising' sumo career? A week later the pain still hadn't gone away and I ended up having to go to hospital! Luckily no permanent or serious damage I have pics of that too, but I know for sure you guys don't want to see my arse hanging out of a sumo belt * Thanks to japan, I've now nudged into the 'overweight' section of the BMI. Within my first 6 months here I put on an extra 10kg! It's gone up and down like a yo-yo since (more up than down). Japanese food is good

and now a different kind of demon... At any temple you will find these guys (or similar) inside the gate house.

most are taken with a sony f717, some are from a nikon f60 slr. I finally gave into the wife's demands and got a keitai too - so expect a few pics from that (only 1.3mp but the pics aren't too bad). next pic... demon drummer Culturally, the island is very famous for onidaiko/ondeko (demon drumming, also a clue as to why I chose my username). You'll find it at every festival here - it's a very integral part of the local culture. Some days they will drum from house to house, offering their blessings and receiving the goodwill of the home owners (ie: alcohol). By evening they are blasted, but the performances don't seem to falter at all.

In japan, everything is decided by janken ('rock, paper, scissors'). I think it's in the constitution... That's me in the pic (in the funky banana suit). Janken-ing with a very, very pretty young japanese woman She really took a shine to mr banana (pity I'm married...). Anyway, to the story... Every year (at yet another festival) this town holds a street race. Teams of three have to run 100m with a wooden chariot-thingy (a long pole with a seat underneath it - two carriers run with the passenger along for the ride). It's kind of what you might imagine samurais used to be carried around in by their pet peasents. At the end of the 100m the passenger gets in - lucky me last year - carried by two very sore gaijin girls We run back 50m, I get out, have to find a sour plum hidden in a mound of flour (no hands allowed), then sprint the last 50m. Prizes are awarded on speed, costume and 'performance'. Now this is the interesting bit - the town gives each team 20,000 yen ($255) for 'costume money' (which we of course, spend as little as possible). Being gaijin (and great performers!) we usually win something extra... In this pic, I am janken-ing to decide 2nd place. As you can see, I won ("good old rock..."). Prize = A$640! Gotta love japan!

oh, btw, take a close look at the background of the mx5 pic. This was before downstairs was converted into a fishing tackle shop. My late landlord was a huuuge astroboy fan - that room used to contain an astroboy library (literally 10,000s of astoboy manga). What you can see is a rather large (and beautiful) statue that he had custom made.

taken at a village festival umm... this one's hard to explain. At first I thought it was some sort of magic act, then maybe a comedy act, then it turned out he was a bit of a con man selling some sort of 'snake oil' (he miraculously cured his 'wound'). In hindsight, I think it might have been a combination of all three

Just a scenery pic: Taken from a big rock in the ocean (apparently "one of the three biggest rocks in japan"). I like to climb/walk it as often as I can - it's good exercise You can see the typical scenery - rugged hills climbing straight out of the sea, rice fields jammed in wherever they can fit, strange outcroppings and clear water, nice driving roads...

another car pic... The second car I bought in japan - a 90 mx5 (roadster in japan, miata in the US). Being a JDM version, it had an extra (IIRC) 10kw over oz versions. Also had factory bilsteins (rock hard), lsd, momo wheel. No mods. Had 150k km on the dial, but still ran sweet as. Cost me bugger all too (about A$3k using the current exchange rate). I can't rate this car highly enough! I'm priviledged with my current line-up, but I still miss this car so much! Perfect for the twisty, tight roads (fun in the snow, too). Yeah, they don't have much power - but that's not what they are about - they are a 100% fun machine (when set-up in the same way as the oz 'clubman' spec). If you are thinking about buying a cheap beater/runabout/daily driver - take advantage of the 15yr rule while it's still around - get one of these!

I will endeavour to get a few pics of the mountain runs (scary stuff - tyre marks, crumpled guard rails, huge drops...), but here's a pic of one of the roads that takes you around the coastline. There is something like 270km of road around the coast - and it would make for a sensational tarmac rally. I love this corner - but it's nearly got me into trouble a couple of times...