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It happened in...

June

Let the party begin / Let the rains come

29 June

No work today, or for a while, as Simon arrives from China night. As he's going to get the full-on urban experience when he gets up to Osaka and Tokyo, we'll show him some of rural Kyushu while he's here.

26 June

Just as an overdue baby can be coaxed out with a hot curry, the surest way to bring about a late monsoon is to go on a camping weekend.

It rains so hard in the night, it sounds like we parked under a rockfall. When we awake, 'bright' and early, it's still torrential, and the campground is flooded. We drive to the wash-block and get soaked in the five yard dash to the door. But as we drive away from Kirishima ('Foggy Island' - odd name considering it's inland) the rain eases slightly. We head round Kagoshima Bay to our goal, Sakurajima ('Cherry Blossom Island'), a volcano in the middle of the bay, which is no longer in fact an island, as the lava flows from the last big eruption attached it the mainland.

A drive around the island (there are one or two roads up the volcano, although not the very top - not even the barking mad islanders, who, let us remind ourselves, have set up home on a volcano, are that warped) and you see volcanic debris everywhere. Various viewpoints point out that the volcano isn't actually dormant and erupts many dozens of times a year. Canals have even been built hopefully to guide future lava flows, beside which are small shelters, should your visit to the flow go spectacularly pear-shaped. These things happen, as we discovered when we visited a shrine which was no longer there.

Leaving Sakurajima behind, our eye is caught by a sign directing us to an archaeological site. Here they've unearthed (and reconstructed) a tribal village from the Jomon period (about 9500 years ago). They may look cramped, but like the tardis, these things are surprisingly spacey once you're inside. But as it's getting way too hot to be hiking around here, we head off to Kirishima again now that the sun's out.

But as we approach, black clouds descend and Kirishima is hidden once again. As we drive through the mountains in the hope of outlasting the 'shower', the clouds descend as we climb, and we're in them, visibility gets down to about ten yards and the heavens open for real, and the road becomes a river. So the place does, in part, live up to its name and remains hidden, as do the allegedly splendid views from the mountain roads.

But again, as we depart Kirishima, the clouds lift as if by some peculiar design. And we're not the only ones up here.

The drive home is about 100 quick miles along the straight expressway, or quite a lot more miles along riversides, through mountain passes, remote villages, bamboo forests. Much more entertaining.

I didn't sleep badly last night, but I'm going to sleep infinitely better tonight.

25 June

We both finish work, and then we hit the road - destination: Kagoshima, the southern tip of Kyushu. We're going to drive through the night, park up at a campsite, and do the sightseeing early tomorrow.

24 June

Tis my party, in an izakaya at the end of Kamitori. Owner is a friend who ensures the table is kept jammed with booze and fine food (including a mango cream cake he made for me ) until all are finally incapable of moving (though some are swaying without apparent effort). Lots of presents, including Taiko Drum Master - a Playstation game which involves beating a drum in certain ways in time to a stream of differently coloured and sized whatnots dancing across the screen, and alienating and annoying the neighbours for months to come. Despite the prodigious amounts of alcohol taken, those that are still awake perform shockingly well.

23 June

Very nice birthday, thank you very much, despite having to go to work. Boo.

Lunch together at a Chinese on the top floor of Tsuruya. As much garlic as you can pack into one dish, just before I go off to work. Perhaps we'll do pronunciation practice today. The letter H...

20 June

So what's a step up from 'glee'?

Let's not step too close to 'smug', but let's pause a moment by 'mirthful' as we consider the score.

The score being - Australia 0 Not Australia 4

If it carries on like this for much longer, certain journalists will dare to write 'Australia' and 'humility' in the same sentence, and what sort of a world will it be then, eh? Eh?!

19 June

The word 'glee' is a much-underused word. But what a perfect word it is to describe my feelings this morning on reading that Bangladesh, written-off as mere whipping boys, no more than net practice, beat Australia by 5 wickets in the Natwest Series of 1-dayers.

When you're at the top, of course you should expect folks to take pot-shots at you, but I wouldn't be so vulgar and graceless as to point out that this is Australia's third defeat in a week, because I'm not even counting.

And on the same day that Kent go top of the County Championship! Glee. Use the word today.

18 June

There are still only 3 winners of the Treasure Hunt. It's still open, although probably a good deal more difficult now as the clues have become somewhat buried.

15 June

! Warning: Rant.
Had a cold (so I was in a really good mood anyway), so took myself off to a drugstore for whatever the equivalent of Lemsip might be. "Simple," I thought. Dash in, grab a flu remedy, dash out. "Why a flu remedy if you only had a cold?" I hear you ask. "Is that not overkill?" Not at all. Drugs here are famously weak (why make them stronger when you can just sell twice as much? "Take 7 tablets, 8 times a day") so I reckoned this was more fitting to my needs. I couldn't be coughing and sneezing all over my students.

Except nothing could be so simple. After going into great depth about the variety and severity of my symptoms, the pharmacist came up with a particular bottle of pills. The idea seemed to be that if I was given something that specifically tackled a sympton I didn't have, it might finish me off.

And this miracle bottle of (around 20) pills must be the long sought-after cure for the common cold, because it set me back Y2250 (which is nearly 12 quid). And what did they do for me? Precisely nothing.

What with painkillers that don't kill pain, and cold remedies that relieve nothing but the pressure in your wallet, I think it might be time to import Nurofen and Lemsip in bulk.

And while I'm on a roll - imagine a deodorant that has no deodorant or anti-perspirant properties at all. Now imagine that it's half the size of your regular Right Guard, but 3 times the price. And the can lasts about 6 days. You'll look at your Sure or your Right Guard with renewed awe and respect now, won't you? It is indeed a pharmaceutical thing of wonder.

14 June

So you live in a country that doesn't value the very many subtle varieties of beer, and produces a hundred identical chemical lager brews. So what do you do?

Well, you can always get on the phone and import some from Germany. Bliss.

12 June

The dish is up, the cable's plugged in, but until the end of the month, the only satellite channels we'll be receiving will be Disney, Bloomberg and an array of 24 hour shopping channels. But hey, there aren't any important football matches in June.

10 June

The sky's greying, the wind's picking up and we're awaiting the monsoon, forecast to hit today. Tsuyu is Japan's rainy season which runs from early June to early/mid July. It doesn't rain every day during tsuyu, but when it does, it's usually intense and localised flooding isn't uncommon. Last year, the dark clouds seemed to roll in over the mountains at about five o'clock if they were coming at all, then the heaven's would open for a couple of hours, and then it would all be over by nightfall. It's times like this that you're glad that every single building has an umbrella stand (usually full) at the entrance which you can borrow from if you're caught without your own umbrella.

9 June

RW gets an update, and here's a little panorama, made in Canon Photostitch. (If you have a Canon camera, particularly an Ixus, this software is a dream. Does all the hard work for you. Just do what it tells you to do and voila!) You may need to click on the image for the full bigness...

5 June

Tamana, a town north-west of Kumamoto, is famous for its wisteria. But of course it's no longer in bloom in June, as all keen gardeners would know before they set out to see it. Ahem.

But as we discovered along the river bank, it's equally famous for its irises. Even the drain covers have irises on them.

4 June

My place of work hires a plant. That's not 'heavy plant', some kind of expensive machinery that would make no sense to actually buy and own. It's a potted plant of the greenery variety. And it's rented.

When I asked why this unfathomable state of affairs came into being, it was explained that "Plants are so difficult to take care of." Hmmm, all that... watering and... err... nothing else. Very tricky. But rest assured if this 6ft palm in the middle of the room does slip the mind of the waterer and it's killed, another will be couriered round within the hour, cos that's what we're paying all that money for. Can you hear the Lament of the Accountant too?

3 June

I've long railed against the woeful state of what is laughably labelled televisual entertainment in this country. But today we took our first step out of the darkness into the hypnotic, flashing neon of satellite tv with the arrival of the hardware bits and bobs wot I acquired for free. A gentleman from Sky will be along shortly to attach said bits to the house and drills holes, I've no doubt. I wonder how you stop a satellite dish from whizzing off in a typhoon...

2 June

Was called before the Übergruppenführer of the Immigration department today, who was satisfied that the pile of forms I'd filled and returned was now up to the requisite 10 kilogrammes, and begrudgingly issued my permission to remain. And all I got was some crappy little sticker that looked like it was from the 100 Yen store, and printed off a ZX Spectrum. I made the full force of my dissatisfaction known by bowing, mumbling "Arigatou gozaimasu" and leaving. That showed 'em.

1 June

And so begins my birthday month. You may begin showering me with presents and money whenever you wish.