"experienced" tour guides

Just ten days after Karen and I said goodbye to mum and dad our second set of visitors arrived, this time it was a couple of ruffians known as Ali and Banks. Alister (my brother) and Banks (his girl friend) were to be in Japan for a little over two weeks, just over a week of which would be spent in the excellent company of Karen and myself.

Upon arrival they had an overnight stop off in Osaka as there were not late trains for them to catch down after their flight in. Still they seemed no worse for wear when we met them at our local train stop in Takeo (after they had missed the earlier planned train I might add! Lucky we live a two minute drive from the station!).

the fireworks were almost as good as my excellent wendy's hot dog...almost

Over the next five or so days we tried to offer them a range of experiences they were unlikely to encounter in the larger cities when they parted from us. I took Ali and Banks to school one day, and they got to do an introduction game to two different classes, one of which was a junior high class full of amazingly energetic and motivated kids. The kids clearly were buzzing at the fact I had somehow spawned into three separate people overnight, as there were now three weirdos at the front of the class communicating in that strange language!

Karen and I, the ultimate tour guides, took them to plenty of different restaurants around our town so they could sample the amazing food on offer. Tenpura, yakitori and sushi were by far the clear winners, although okonomiyaki was still eaten with enjoyment.

I took them for a couple of drives into the countryside up into the hills to see the green tea fields, freshly planted rice fields and a cool swimming hole. At the swimming hole we actually met a bunch of army Rangers doing some training. Ali's eyes widened and very soon he was getting a demonstration from one of the guys on their technique of abseiling. We also spotted a snake, from the safety of the car, but that was enough to satisfy Ali's desire. I think they really liked seeing the countryside of Japan and how small towns are set up. Alister was blown away at how every spare inch of land seems to be in use, growing something or another. Another advantage of not living in a city is that when we went running we could do so along these same fields, and not have to inhale car fumes every step of the way!

I took them to an awesome outdoor onsen in the hills of a nearby town Ureshino. Shibasaso (sp?) is a beauty, and a great first experience for the two of them. I think it's actually where Karen experienced her first onsen, and since then she's never looked back, so I doubt they will either! We were actually a little worried about the fact Banks has a small tattoo on her lower back. I had heard stories of people being denied entry because of tattoo's. In Japan tattoo's have long been associated with Yakuza (Japanese mafia) and as such are frowned upon by most of society. However, it was definitely not a problem as once Ali and I had stripped off, washed and were stepping outside I spotted a guy chilling in the pool, his body covered in tattoo's. He was so clearly yakuza, and even had his cell phone out in the onsen, which is something I have never seen before! It was very cool to see, all be it from our averted eyes of course! When we met up with Banks afterwards she informed us there was a girl (his gf/wife no doubt) in the female onsen also covered in tattoo's and so Banks was able to relax.

After a one midweek dinner, Ali, Banks, Matt and I cruised into Saga to hit up the Round One arcade centre. We met up with Nick and Mark and proceeded to set about playing some team sports. After some competitive basketball, and a little tennis, we formed teams and played some three aside soccer. All was going well until Matt smashed a goal past Banks (yep, no save...what's with that!). The ball caught banks on the thumb and instantly everyone could see she was in some serious pain. Still, we merely got her off the court and let play resume (you can't stop a good soccer game can you?!). After an hour and a half of playing the arcade games, her thumb was very swollen, and she was still in agony so we decided to have it checked out in case it was broken.

Off to A&E we went and sat down to wait for a doctor. Luckily Banks was seen to rather quickly, but after some discussions she decided that with the potential for a massive bill, and since no x-ray was going to be done that night, she would wait it out and get an x-ray done in the morning in Takeo. So we drove home, got banks to pop some painkillers and went to bed.

The next day Ali and I had planned on taking off early for some hiking down south. However, these plans quickly changed as we wanted to make sure Banks was alright before she went north to Hiroshima for the night. I took them to the doctor who had seen Karen a week or so before, and must have looked like an ambulance service bringing in the next "victim". All the doctors and nurses who examined Banks seemed to have a thing for literally grabbing her thumb (which was now three times its normal size and clearly very painful). They would twist it here or there as though it was helping them assess that she was in fact in pain! (I think they must have know she was an Aussie and were using it as a means to inflict some pain!!). After twenty minutes she had an x-ray and with it confirmation that her thumb was definitely not broken, but in fact badly sprained and swollen. With this news we ignored the doctors advice to visit a plastic surgeon (I know, wtf?!) and instead went to the drug store to get some strapping tape. Then it was off to the train station where we dropped Banks off for her train north.

With the time now being a bit after 12 Ali and I were faced with a decision to make. Either we set off now and maybe get a two hour hike in, before setting up a tent and going to bed, with potential for bad weather, or we stay around Takeo and do something else. We wisely opted to stay in Takeo, and as for our something to do, we went to a professional Baseball game with Karen, oh yeah! In our two years here we had yet to make it to a Fukuoka Softbank Hawks game, and so it proved to be a great option as we got to experience something new with Ali.

We cruised up to Fukuoka about 4pm and after taking a while to find a parking space, we finally made it to the arena, and in the doors just as the first pitch was being thrown. The Yahoo! Dome stadium in Fukuoka is awesome! The place is huge, and all under a retractable roof (that was closed to keep out the rain). The crowd seemed to really be into it and as the night progressed, the stadium filled more and more. For a Wednesday game we were very shocked to find it was basically a sell out.

One of the coolest things at the game was watching the 'worker bees' in action. The 'worker bees' are the boys and girls going up and down the aisles selling beer, food and soft drinks. It was very cool to watch them work the aisles, and there were just so many of them! They all worse highlighter colour outfits, so from a distance you could literally see them all around the stadium lugging their mini kegs on their backs up and down the steps!

I don't know that much about baseball, but I know enough to appreciate that the game was an absolute beauty, with the Hawks running out eventual winners 9-5! The crowd had so many chants and for each one there seemed to be a different set of actions that everyone seemed to know perfectly. We were lucky to be sat next to a very nice lady who spoke a good amount of English. She was able to explain some of the song's meaning to us, and let us know of big events in the stadium. For example, in the 7th innings, we suddenly realised a few people around us were blowing up yellow balloons. Three minutes later the entire stadium seemed to be a mass off yellow as people held onto their inflated giant condoms shaped balloons. We were handed some ourselves and we're told to blow them up and wait till the Hawks came out to bat, then the whole stadium would let go of their balloons at once. I tell you, it made for quite a sight seeing the balloons race in vain for the rooftop.

During the game we moved around the stadium a bit to sample different spots, our preference was the "cheap seats" where the "real" fans were. Next game we are definitely getting the 1,500 yen tickets instead of our juicy 4,000 ones.

As reward for the Hawks holding on for the win, we got to experience the balloon ritual again, this time with white "victory" balloons. The balloons were then followed by some massive fireworks booming around the indoor arena! I have to say, the fireworks were almost as good as my excellent wendy's hot dog... almost mind you!

The next day was a washout (god ol' rainy season!). Ali and I tried to go north towards Karatsu and the beaches, but the weather really didn't want us up there and so very soon packed the idea in and drove back home to watch a movie (Goal 2...yep, the soccer one!) and just chill out. It was nice to be able to just hang out with Ali as if we were home in NZ and not have to worry about always being somewhere or seeing something new.

That night was round two at the tenpura restaurant, and it was just as good.  When we had eaten until our belly buttons were being untied from the outward pressure we figured it was probably time to leave.  We explained to the owners that Ali and Banks would now be heading north and then on home to NZ, and, after hearing this, Mine-san produced a couple of boxes of matches with the restaurant name on them for Ali and Banks to take away as a souvenir!  So, so cute.  Then she followed us outside and kept waving to us until we were well down the street and she had faded into the distance.

The next day the rain got heavier, and with Karen rightly at school with the car, we found ourselves a little house bound. So, we had a relaxing day just eating, slowly packing bags and we watched another movie. Then, before we knew it, Karen was racing in, chucking some things into her pack and we were off, out the door, and walking double time to the train station. An express train and two shinkansens (bullet trains) later we set foot in Kyoto, the number one place both Karen and I had been wanting to visit for our entire time in Japan. We had been saving it until Ali finally made his way over so that we could share the experience together, and that time was finally upon us!