My funny photo moment

There were all these cool statues of Chinese emperors standing in different poses and doing different things outside the Chinese museum. I got so excited about it, that I had a brainwave to take funny photos with all these statues. So here are a few of the funny ones I took of me with the statues!


Catch ya later, buddy!














So you think you're tough, do ya, PUNK?













So can I eat the whole thing?













That's a choice script, cobba! I really like what you've done here!












Did you hear that lion ROAR???













Ready or not, here I come...pick a boo!













Look, mate! What the hell is THAT?


















Please let me take this picture - I'll put you on my blog if you let me!

Hollander Slope and Nagasaki’s Confucian Shrine

The next day, we woke up early to begin our sight-seeing. We went to Hollander Slope which consisted of all Western-style houses that were built hundreds of years ago. They looked fascinating!



While we were walking along the street, we came across the coolest looking shrine. It was called Nagasaki’s Confucian Shrine: Then and Now Museum of Chinese History.
Lauren and I were really keen to go inside and have a look, but Tina was a bit more sceptical about it, so she decided to wait outside and stare at the grey, cracked building across the road until we were finished.

As Lauren and I walked into the grounds, I couldn’t stop ooing and aahing over what I saw. Tina heard all my sounds of amazement that she decided to come in and see what I was going on about! Well it was worth all the oo’s and aah’s, I can tell you that much! In the end, she said, “that was good, wasn’t it?” I couldn’t help but say, “I told you so!”

Arriving in Nagasaki

Tina, Lauren and I went on the Shinkansen to Nagasaki straight after school on Wednesday and we arrived in Nagasaki late on Wednesday night. When we got off the train, we realised that we had gotten off at the wrong station! We had no idea where we were! We asked the information desk and luckily, we had only gotten off one stop early and it only took another three minutes to get to the Nagasaki Station. Lucky!

Hikone and Lake Biwa

Tina, Lauren and I decided to go to Lake Biwa in Hikone on Monday as it was a public holiday and we didn’t want to waste it by staying in Himeji doing nothing. We always make the most of our weekends and our days off! Lake Biwa is the biggest lake in Japan, so we HAD to go and see it!

It took almost two hours to get there on the train so it was a big day. When we arrived, it was lunch time so we walked down the main street which was full of old, Japanese style buildings with restaurants and souvenir shops on either side of the road.


All the restaurants were busy, but we finally found one that we didn't have to wait too long for. Hikone is famous for its beef, so naturally, I wanted to try some Hikone beef. This restaurant had exactly what I wanted. A big nice fat, juicy piece of sirloin beef! It was delicious! It cost an arm and a leg, but nevertheless, it was worth every cent! I had so many courses including soup, steak, salad, rice and dessert along with my favourite drink in Japan: Melon Soda. It was just what the doctor ordered!

So we left the restaurant feeling satisfied and definitely NOT hungry anymore! We walked through the Hikone Castle gardens.

The Hikone Castle is one of the few original castles left in Japan that managed to withstand all the wars, earthquakes and invasions from the enemy.

It is a beautiful castle, but in my opinion, I think the Himeji Castle still takes the cake! We got a nice view of Hikone from the top of the castle which was really nice to see.



During our walk, we spotted this place called Club Marie. I just HAD to pose and take a photo in front of this club, because this was one in a million in Japan!


We went for a walk for what seemed like ten hours to get to Lake Biwa. It was worth it though coz we got the most spectacular view of the lake that seemed to go on forever. It is one mother of a lake! We took some pretty pictures and then it was just about time to go.

So we walked another ten hours to get back to the train station and by that stage, we were pooped! It was a long, tiring day, but was worth the effort just to see the beautiful town.

Next on the list is Nagasaki!

The Osaka night life

The next night, Lauren, Tina and I went to Osaka with this American girl who also lives in our apartment called Lexi. She loves Osaka and really loves the nightlife there and she was going to take us to some cool places in Osaka. We met up with Megumi in the afternoon in this cool Australian café and had a drink with her. It was good to catch up with her again. Then we had tea at this sushi train restaurant that cost 130yen ($1.30) for one plate of sushi. It was so cheap that I ended up having nine plates! I was so full in the end. It was delicious!

Then Lexi said she would take us to a host bar. Host bars are really popular in Osaka. On just about every street corner, there are young, trendy guys dressed in suits that are hosts and they prey on young, trendy girls (usually hostesses) to come into their bars.

When you enter a host bar, you pay around 2000yen ($20) for one hour and you get as many drinks and you want in that time. Young Japanese guys dressed nicely in suits come up and talk to you and this is all included in the cost. They are the hosts.

So you could imagine how embarrassed and awkward we felt when we had these young Japanese guys dressed in suits coming and talking to us. Not many of them knew how to speak in English, so it was a bit difficult to hold a conversation with them, but luckily, Lexi speaks Japanese really well so she did well at breaking the ice. I think they felt bad that they couldn't talk to us though. I wish I knew how to speak Japanese better! One of the guys was pretty good at speaking English. He was really funny too. He said, “Foreign girls are beautiful. They have a good body shape – like a statue!” I swear he had rehearsed that line before! It was classic! I have never heard that one before!

We left the host bar after our hour of drinks and Japanese/English conversation. It was very exhausting, but funny at the same time! We walked around for what seemed like hours before we finally decided on a club to dance in. We went to this club that didn’t have much atmosphere. We had one drink there and left straight away. We walked around for another couple of hours (so it seemed) until Lexi suggested we go to Jewel. This nightclub played trance music which wasn’t really Tina and Lauren’s type of music, but I was happy to go wherever because I just wanted to go SOMEWHERE rather than wondering around for another hour! So we finally decided to go into this club. It was really REALLY cool! We were all really glad that we had decided to go into this club.

You should have seen the way these people looked and dressed! It was a totally different atmosphere – so different to anywhere in Australia. It was just amazing! The guys all looked like Dragonball Z and the girls looked like Barbie dolls with really tanned skin that looked like they had sat in a solarium all day. The girls wore next to nothing, but they got away with it because they were all so thin and perfect looking.

The guys were extremely trendy with hair sticking out everywhere and they wore really trendy clothes that you would only get away with wearing in Japan. It was just a totally different experience being in there. I want to go back there very soon!


Tina and Lauren decided to leave at around 4am, but Lexi and I wanted to stay, so we danced on until around 5:30am and then Lexi walked me back to my hotel. It was such a good night and pretty much everything I had experienced that night was something I have never experienced before in my life! Do you ever get that funny feeling where you walk into a place and just think WOW! I have never seen ANYTHING like this before in my life! Where everything is so interesting and amazing and you can’t stop looking at the people and the places because it is just totally different to what you would ever expect or even imagine. Well that was how I felt that night! It was a really good feeling!

80’s night in Kobe

Tina, Lauren and I had planned to go and hit the town on Friday night in Kobe at an Irish pub called Ryan’s. Many foreigners go there which is a bit of a disappointment because it is way cooler to go out to places where there are heaps of Japanese people coz then we get to practise speaking in Japanese and we get to make Japanese friends. We had a really good time though. Bill came with us too and I think he really enjoyed himself. Bill goes every weekend pretty much, so he was like a regular there! Bill is another Australian who lives in our apartment block who is also an English teacher. He is pretty cool and we had a good night with him.



We even got to eat a chicken parmigiana which is what I have been DYING to eat since I have been in Japan! It was soooo good! I loved every bite of it. Bill was about to take my plate away from me when I hadn’t even finished my food. I was so distraught when he did that! I had three chips and a bit of salad left on my plate and I couldn’t believe he was about to take my food away from me! I took it back from him and savoured the taste of my last three chips and salad!

Tina, Lauren, Bill and I danced the night away at Ryan’s to cool 80’s music. It was lots of fun. We had a really good night and enjoyed dancing and drinking red wine!

Kobe and Jazz

On Roley’s last night in Japan, Lauren, Mariko (a teacher from my work) and I took him to an oyster bar. They made the best oysters, but at the most expensive prices! One oyster cost 600 yen which is around six dollars! It was crazy!

They tasted good though and the oysters were as big as my whole hand! I couldn't believe how big they were! The view from the Oyster Bar was spectacular. You could look down and see the beautiful lights of Kobe from the window. I think that was part of what we were paying for!

After eating about three oysters each (because that was all we could afford) we took Roley to a famous jazz club in Kobe called Sone. I have been to this jazz club before and in one of my previous entries on my blog, I wrote about a cool jazz singer who I spoke to and thought she had an amazing voice. Well this amazing singer just happened to be singing back in Kobe again this same night! It was so cool. I got really excited when I saw her and I knew it was her straight away. Her name is Keiko. After her set, Roley and I went to speak to her and she remembered me from last time. We exchanged email addresses and said we would keep in touch. It was a good night and Roley was really happy that he got to hear some jazz whilst in Japan. Listening to a jazz band in Japan was on the top of his list of priorities so I’m glad that he got to see it. His last night was worth while in the end!

I think Roley really enjoyed himself in Japan, so that is a slight hint to all of you who are contemplating coming to visit me. You will have the time of your life, so just buy a plane ticket and come on down! You will LOVE Japan, I promise you that!