Other than today being my 35th Birthday and this afternoon i’m going back to Australia for a little under 2 weeks, today is just another day.
I’ve got no real set plans in Australia, other than to catch up with Friends and a trip to Adelaide to see the family in between. Tommorrow is bound to be a big day and the beers will be flowing at a few old stomping grounds. Saturday is the annual Kris Kringle which is always a highlight and on the 28th i’m going to my first Boxing Day Test at the MCG. New Years eve will be upon me before i know it then it’s time to leave the hot weather and head back to Japan to continue a long and cold winter.
I’ll miss Japan while i’m away and i’ll be excited to get back and continue the journey, continue learning the language and do more things now i’m more independant, a snowboarding trip is one of those.
One things for sure, if the next 2 weeks are anything like the good times i’ve enjoyed in the past, i’ll be a happy man. Melbourne is a great place for entertainment and i’m blessed with having a great group of Friends back there.
Days at the races were a blast, i’ll be having a punt on the Perth Cup on New Years Day.
A little Nampa Australian style, Spring Carnival there’s more fratenising with the ladies than betting is the theme of the day.
Even though Christmas isn’t that widely celebrated by the Japanese the month of December is full of drinking parties and celebrations to see out the end of the year and get ready to bring in the new one. I’ve never attached that much importance to Christmas but having all these year end drinking parties does atleast give me some kind of feeling i used to get back home in the lead up to Christmas, even if the purpose of them differs somewhat.
In a busy week full of Bonenkai , a Japanese tradition which means “forget the year gathering”, the local Karaoke bar i often frequent has decided to close it’s doors and re-open in the new year as an Izakaya Restaurant.
Tonight it’s on again as Mama-san closes the doors on Sudo 1, a local Karaoke bar than if nothing else was great Japanese practice for me. Late nights in a bar frequented by typical Japanese Salary Man types is a great way for me to practice my Japanese communication skills and on the odd occasion a spot of Nampa. Actually, last night at my local Sushi bar, as the clock struck 11, it dawned on me i could justify my many hours of drinking each night by calling it “Japanese Conversation Classes”, so from here on in, i will.
I`d never heard of the term Salary Man prior to coming to Japan, now i hear it and often refer to it all the time, infact i am one. A Salary Man basically describes a Japanese businessman aged between 25 and 50 living a very typical existance of long hours at work, long hours at play.
Living in a city like Tokyo i can totally relate to it, Tokyo is driven by routine. Whether it`s catching to train, working or socialising, everything is planned and executed by intervals of 1 minute. As a lover of routine it`s great, although even for me i sometimes find it frustrating to be driven by such a time managed life. I kid you not, when i say, i see the same people day in day out on the train, at the station, in the same seat on the bus, the list goes on. I don`t think they notice me as much as i notice them, especially the cute girl who catches the 7:15 and looks better in a skirt or dress than she does jeans, but i digress.
My schedule is repeated day in day out with nothing spontaneous about it, but i still love living in Tokyo and i busted my first few `public un-alcohol assisted` Nampa moves on the return journey the other night, the result was less than ideal, but it made for a good laugh.
