Since we don’t live by politics alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo was an Australian group blog which discussed politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
Beppu is really cute tonight, because it’s firework festival tonight (hanabi – flowers of fire) and everyone is really cheerful. Hordes of young women are out in Yukata, summer kimonos, driving cars or talking on phones or gathering in little gaggles of pretty kimono-y fun. The three women at my local convenience store not only dressed up in yukata, but they got their hair done for the day, and are making a huge effort to be stylish for the occasion. There are lots of men wandering around in men’s yukata (which are considerably plainer, but still pretty cool), waving fans and swaggering, talking rough and being noisy with their hair all spiked up Final Fantasy style, and teenagers are wearing jinbe (a kind of summer shorts-suit) festooned with disney patterns, demons or strange cartoon images. I am sure I saw a girl in nearby Oita wearing jinbe with Nyarlathotep on them.
Also, everyone is drunk. And Japanese fireworks are the best. So it’s generally an excellent evening all around.
Beautiful day here, I worked, and mulled over what to do with my vote, but then I got distracted by seeing not one, but THREE echidnas! I’m not sure if I interrupted some kind of love-in, because they were all hanging out together. I only noticed them because I’d stopped to look at a kangaroo which was reclining nearby…in fact I think the ‘roo may have been watching the echidnas because I was able to get quite close before it even noticed me.
The tech from Telstra came and fixed our landline today. The street connection was so corroded it apparently readily fell apart. I had given Telstra a 5.30am reminder call this morning for which surprisingly the phone worked. Now I am pleased and grateful, and so I imagine is the technician for the opportunity to work on Sunday. A win/win.
sg, wish I was there – or, alternatively, watching echidnas with furious balancing.
Went for a ride this morning through bushfire country in the Kinglake Ranges. It’s nice to see it start to recover. The wildflowers should be pretty spectacular this spring.
Robert, you can only wish yourself here if you like 35 degree heat and 99% humidity.
On my partner’s orders I went back to the convenience store to take photos of the girls there. The usual woman who works there, the sub-leader “Nachan,” is about 3′ tall, and very very sweet (we referred to her as “Honourable Miss Cheerful” until we knew her name, which I think would be “Child of Summer” in a proper translation). She bossed me around as soon as she saw the camera and got customers to take photos of us, and forced the despatch girl (from another shop, who I’ve never met) into a photo with me because “she’s a classic Japanese girl” (and she was). Summer festival time appears to be an opportunity for the lowly convenience store workers to make their customers do things they would normally be too shy to ask them to do. In exchange for getting my photo taken with a “classic Japanese girl” I had to agree to share with Nachan some photos of our pet mice.
Yesterday the same store was having an “eel-eating festival,” which we booked for a month in advance, and today they were madly shelling out eel-and-rice lunchboxes in their yukata. Sometimes it’s like this place hasn’t changed for 100 years, they just got ATMs, cell-phones and running water…
I’m happy you’re having such a fine time in Japan, sg… but it worries me a little that you know what Nyarlathotep looks like, well enough to recognize it…
Saturday. Mostly working on taking notes from the Kemble Papers. Had a visitor late Saturday afternoon. sat around drinking white wine and discussing history and Catholicism. Watched The Bill etc, Saturday night.
Sunday, still reading and note-taking from Kemble. Watched the Great debate. Infinitely boring, then Sunday night TV.
My land line has dropped out again. The construction of the new block of shops on the Bunnings block is probably responsible. Its the second time in a few weeks its been cut off by them. Can’t ring a taxi and its too wet to walk into town. Have had to cancel a meeting I had in town this morning because I can’t get in in time. Will have to get the early morning bus in tomorrow, as have Home Care coming this afternoon,- at least I’ll have the phgone fixed in 24 hours because of my medical condition. Can only hope I don’t have an asthma attack today or tomorrow.
j_p_z, once the mysteries have been revealed to you, you can never forget… even in sleep…
the yukata in question was emblazoned with this kind of dark tentacly design, and over that was irregularly scattered this kind of lurid pink/purple creature that was a combination of elephant and octopus. Do I need to say more?
I should have done more then to protect the innocent, but the memories returned, and the gibbering madness clawed at my eyes such that I had to turn away and cower in the shadows lest the Elder Gods notice me, again…
Thats not actually what Nyarlathotep looks like sg.
It looks more like
this actually, tho that face isn’t quite as cruel as the wandering wanker.
And of course its skin is jet black. Almost so black no light escapes.
Its been known to wear pinstripe suits tho.
If you claim to have seen it in its other forms you haven’t (cos you still have eyes).
Peoples eyes have been known to crawl out their nostrils and run down the street after seeing Nyarlhotep shed its skin.
I went to the Australian pavillion at the World Expo in Shanghai this week. I heard it was good (and I didn’t believe the hype), but I was blown away!
After walking up a spiral showcase of Australiana, including a now surreal picture of KRudd, we entered a theatrette with a 360 degree rotating screen.
The video was a story about a young Australian boy and a Chinese girl discussing the Australian and Chinese ways of life. It was a powerful message of understanding and mutual respect in Mandarin. The audience were entralled and it was a masterful display of soft diplomacy.
Afterwards, I posed for pictures with the cutiest little Chinese girl who was so please to meet someone from “Aodaliya” (‘Australia’ in pinyin). I’ll post a photo when I get back.
I’m no fan of jingoism; but it was as one of the best days ever and I’m an little embarressed to say I almost cried.
The Aussie staff at the pavillion were consumate professionals, especially when the video didn’t load on que; and they stalled without the audicence even noticing. The two Aussie female ushers from Brissy and the Gold Coast as well as the two tall blokes that were the compere and the manager your Mandarin was perfect. I only regret not studying Mandarin past year 10.
Congratulations to DFAT and the major bank that sponsored the pavillion theatrette.
The Chinese and Australian pavillions are clearly the best at Expo and I recommend you going, if you can make it to Shanghai.
My lazy Sunday was spent returning to Tomo-no-Ura, where almost every shop has a goldfish called “Ponyo” (my favorite is the one who lives in a bowl in a sake shop, so cannot swim straight).
Wandered around the nearby island of Sensei-jima, then returned to my AU$80 hotel room on the sixth floor with a view that, in Australia, would find you paying at least four times as much to see from a hotel room.
I’ll be catching the fireworks in Tokyo next weekend, SG (there was none in Okayama this weekend, I think their festival is next month), but have found the back streets of Tomo to be more beautiful at night that Kyoto’s Gion.
Monday, however, is turning into a Shinkansen adventure as I search western Honshu for a laundromat. There was one in Okayama, which was open, but where none of the washing machines worked. So now I’m back in Hiroshima looking for a washing machine…
that should be pretty easy! just ask someone for “cleaning”. According to yahoo there’s a bunch in Shareo, and maybe one behind the ANA grand hotel…? They’re ubiquitous in most towns… or you could just buy new t-shirts at the 100 yen store…
did they have fireworks at Miyajima yesterday, or are they next weekend too? I have heard they’re a pain due to the huge numbers of people, but they must be very very beautiful.
I really don’t know, SG. My quest for a laundromat, by the way, led me to one in Okayama which was open but in which all the machines were inoperable.
I never found the one I was directed to in Hiroshima, but managed to have an excellent and large bowl of soba in a tiny soba shop beside the rail yard (about 800 metres from the Shinkansen station).
I’ve figured out part of the escalator monologue, too. At one point the escalator says “This is the escalator”, which is handy for those people who were under the mistaken impression that they were riding on the television set.