In the big city
Kimba says:
Can it be possible? We worked our white asses off for a year and now the money that we tucked away is flowing like water into the drain of the Japanese economy?! We are like white ghosts, plundering the discount trolley at the supermarket every night at 9pm. We're not alone though, you should see the tussle for the half price sushi, Katsu and tempura every night...at least you can buy an alcoholic beverage for a buck twenty - that sees us through the hots nights in our tatami room.
We have been spending a bit of time in Osaka. Each time we go it's an expensive day, but we are preparing to move there, so each time we visit it's a productive day. Yesterday I had a few hours between appointments, so I went for a bit of a wander. Just trying to get outside once you are underground in Osaka is a real feat. The underground mall there is the largest in the world. A vast warren of discount shops, donburi stalls and identical entrances to Diamaru. When I finally reached the surface I was inside a huge covered mall, that stretched as far as the eye could see, punctutated with busy roads, but otherwise a seemingly infinite stretch of pachinko parlours and okonomiyaki joints. The mall was 6 or 7 stories high and signs that flashed from each building described the untold pleasures lying upstairs; hostess bars, shot bars, magazine rooms.
The strange thing was that all these parlours were full...each one was stacked to the rafters with smoking, gibbering goons hoping to win the paCHING!ko jackpot. I noticed this profound sense of isolation spreading through my flesh...and I became aware of this feeling...that I was this tiny morsel of fallible flesh completely dwarfed by a street of neon promises. I remedied this troubling feeling by stopping into a stand-up soba bar. A steaming bowl of soba and dashi for just 200yen. (about 3 bucks.) Topped off with an alcoholic soda I felt my resolve returning, slurping and gobbling, an elbows length from a Japanese truckie.
It was a steaming day, so I did what all clever Japanese do when they are at a loose end and it's steamy outside - I headed to the convenience store to read the magazines and comics in cool air-con comfort. The manga comics here are astounding. They can be as thick as phonebooks almost and are surprisingly cheap. They have amazing hentai (porn) comics that have penthouse type spreads and comics that are pretty explicit. The funny thing is they can't actually draw the cock, so they leave this ethereal white space in the exact shape and size of a cock, so all these huge breasted girls are getting rogered by phantom penises. I bought one and am currently writing english captions in all the speech bubbles. Ryan gets to read one story a night...I will be sending them home to one lucky reader once he has finished, so let me know if you are interested!
Work is a bit of an albatross. I picked up some proof reading and editing work for a public relations company. My first job was to fix this annual report for a massive pharmeceutical company Nipro. The report was just full of errors - of grammar, expression, spelling....When I took it back to the office the girl nearly fell over. Apparently they only had 2 days to fix the errors, so I dropped a bit of a bombshell. She loved it though....this is a company who wants to gain massive investment from the West, but refuses to fix their slogan, which is 'Our goal is for wholesome life.'
The money is excellent,but the only problem is they pay two months from the invoice date - which means I will get my first paycheck in October. Until then...well such is the lot of a freelancer! I picked up another dyas work teaching chakra and colour therapy at a beauty school. They can give me a days work each month. Unfortunately they already have someone who is teaching thai massage basics, but I am going to start looking around for a place to do my massage. I fear I am getting rusty after almost 3 weeks without giving a massage. Ryan has kindly offered up his bod, which is lovely!
English teaching - the jobs we are getting offered are so far out of town that we couldn't move to Osaka and do them. the job that Ryan was pinning hopes on in Kobe has turned out to be a lot less hours and money than he hoped for. He is on his way back from Kobe as we speak...I think he will take it though...We have got a few hours work tomorrow doing promotions work for this partty company that organises parties for foreigners. Normally you have to pay 3000 yen and you get food and drink - well we get paid 2500 yen and get to meet people and eat and drink. cool!!
Gigs are happening slowly - we are practising like freaks. had our first gig at this little tiny bar called le depart. It was dead quiet but we played sooo well and then a bunch of local players came and jammed, including this larry correll disciple that played the weirdest, fastest guitar I have heard in ages. We have made an awesome contact - a bass player called Kaz. We met him at a business english interview - haven't got work from them, but he is taking us to jazz club and doing a lot of fast talking with our demo. He has also asked us to sit in with some of the top jazz singers around Osaka and Kobe. Very exciting. Hopefully after some auditions and sit in's we will get a gig.
I leave you with some images and feelings...
the yippee dog grooming parlour, where your pooch can be washed, blow-dried and pampered. There is even a dog hotel there where it costs more to leave your dog than to rent them a room at our guest house! Riding home at 1am after an amazing soak at the bath house....it's a balmy night and so still, I am almost touching silence...as I ride a waft of delicate incense envelops me, it has unfurled from a neighbourhood temple, whose lanterns burn dimly through the sleepy evening...the kindness of strangers...music practice down by the river...keeping up ech other's spirits after another long day on the hunt...
Can it be possible? We worked our white asses off for a year and now the money that we tucked away is flowing like water into the drain of the Japanese economy?! We are like white ghosts, plundering the discount trolley at the supermarket every night at 9pm. We're not alone though, you should see the tussle for the half price sushi, Katsu and tempura every night...at least you can buy an alcoholic beverage for a buck twenty - that sees us through the hots nights in our tatami room.
We have been spending a bit of time in Osaka. Each time we go it's an expensive day, but we are preparing to move there, so each time we visit it's a productive day. Yesterday I had a few hours between appointments, so I went for a bit of a wander. Just trying to get outside once you are underground in Osaka is a real feat. The underground mall there is the largest in the world. A vast warren of discount shops, donburi stalls and identical entrances to Diamaru. When I finally reached the surface I was inside a huge covered mall, that stretched as far as the eye could see, punctutated with busy roads, but otherwise a seemingly infinite stretch of pachinko parlours and okonomiyaki joints. The mall was 6 or 7 stories high and signs that flashed from each building described the untold pleasures lying upstairs; hostess bars, shot bars, magazine rooms.
The strange thing was that all these parlours were full...each one was stacked to the rafters with smoking, gibbering goons hoping to win the paCHING!ko jackpot. I noticed this profound sense of isolation spreading through my flesh...and I became aware of this feeling...that I was this tiny morsel of fallible flesh completely dwarfed by a street of neon promises. I remedied this troubling feeling by stopping into a stand-up soba bar. A steaming bowl of soba and dashi for just 200yen. (about 3 bucks.) Topped off with an alcoholic soda I felt my resolve returning, slurping and gobbling, an elbows length from a Japanese truckie.
It was a steaming day, so I did what all clever Japanese do when they are at a loose end and it's steamy outside - I headed to the convenience store to read the magazines and comics in cool air-con comfort. The manga comics here are astounding. They can be as thick as phonebooks almost and are surprisingly cheap. They have amazing hentai (porn) comics that have penthouse type spreads and comics that are pretty explicit. The funny thing is they can't actually draw the cock, so they leave this ethereal white space in the exact shape and size of a cock, so all these huge breasted girls are getting rogered by phantom penises. I bought one and am currently writing english captions in all the speech bubbles. Ryan gets to read one story a night...I will be sending them home to one lucky reader once he has finished, so let me know if you are interested!
Work is a bit of an albatross. I picked up some proof reading and editing work for a public relations company. My first job was to fix this annual report for a massive pharmeceutical company Nipro. The report was just full of errors - of grammar, expression, spelling....When I took it back to the office the girl nearly fell over. Apparently they only had 2 days to fix the errors, so I dropped a bit of a bombshell. She loved it though....this is a company who wants to gain massive investment from the West, but refuses to fix their slogan, which is 'Our goal is for wholesome life.'
The money is excellent,but the only problem is they pay two months from the invoice date - which means I will get my first paycheck in October. Until then...well such is the lot of a freelancer! I picked up another dyas work teaching chakra and colour therapy at a beauty school. They can give me a days work each month. Unfortunately they already have someone who is teaching thai massage basics, but I am going to start looking around for a place to do my massage. I fear I am getting rusty after almost 3 weeks without giving a massage. Ryan has kindly offered up his bod, which is lovely!
English teaching - the jobs we are getting offered are so far out of town that we couldn't move to Osaka and do them. the job that Ryan was pinning hopes on in Kobe has turned out to be a lot less hours and money than he hoped for. He is on his way back from Kobe as we speak...I think he will take it though...We have got a few hours work tomorrow doing promotions work for this partty company that organises parties for foreigners. Normally you have to pay 3000 yen and you get food and drink - well we get paid 2500 yen and get to meet people and eat and drink. cool!!
Gigs are happening slowly - we are practising like freaks. had our first gig at this little tiny bar called le depart. It was dead quiet but we played sooo well and then a bunch of local players came and jammed, including this larry correll disciple that played the weirdest, fastest guitar I have heard in ages. We have made an awesome contact - a bass player called Kaz. We met him at a business english interview - haven't got work from them, but he is taking us to jazz club and doing a lot of fast talking with our demo. He has also asked us to sit in with some of the top jazz singers around Osaka and Kobe. Very exciting. Hopefully after some auditions and sit in's we will get a gig.
I leave you with some images and feelings...
the yippee dog grooming parlour, where your pooch can be washed, blow-dried and pampered. There is even a dog hotel there where it costs more to leave your dog than to rent them a room at our guest house! Riding home at 1am after an amazing soak at the bath house....it's a balmy night and so still, I am almost touching silence...as I ride a waft of delicate incense envelops me, it has unfurled from a neighbourhood temple, whose lanterns burn dimly through the sleepy evening...the kindness of strangers...music practice down by the river...keeping up ech other's spirits after another long day on the hunt...
posted by kimba at 1:27 AM
Meet your hosts: Kimba and Ryryry
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