Car Shopping in Asahikawa and MANZAI!

I was at work till about 5:00pm on Wednesday night, when my supervisor asked me suddenly if I wanted to go to Asahikawa for some car browsing. I, of course, said yes. And off we headed to Asahikawa.

After about a 45 minute drive, and talking about all sorts of things, we arrived in Asahikawa. The first stop was at G-park, which sells used cars all refurbished by Subaru. There were three cars of interest.

The first car, which we saw on the internet, was a Rally Blue Subaru Impreza Wagon with 1500cc engine. It was almost like new, but it was about 690 000 JPY base price. It had no Shakken (manditory yearly or bi-yearly inspection that costs about 100 000 JPY, the time of the inspection depends on how old the car is), so altogether it was estimated at 800 000JPY (I think that includes some taxes and stuff I'm not yet aware of). Which is a little more expensive then I would like.

The second car, was a silver Subaru Legacy 1500cc engine; the only legacy I could find on the web that would use regular gas. It was a ten year old car, but listed at 370 000 JPY it was kind of a bargain I guess (probably with everything it will be about 500 000 JPY). Unfortuately I was a little bit adament about its features (or better yet, lack of features). It's a pretty nice car and I might buy it if the next one doesn't turn out.

The third car was a pale yellow Subaru Impreza station wagon, that was a few years older than the first Impreza. My supervisor calls it the Ero Impreza (sounds like Yellow Impreza), being called ero means your a pervert, and if I buy that car I know hes gonna say something like: "Hey its ero Wing in his ero car". Anyway, it had been upgraded with a Momo steering wheel, and other asthetic features by its previous owner. It had traveled like 50 000km over 7 years, and had a CD player. The total price was listed around 470 000 JPY. There was also one year of Shakken. No winter tires, but even if I buy some, I'm sure it would be cheaper than the legacy.

Anyway, after, we went to a couple of car shops around Asahikawa, but didn't find anything that was suitable. All the cars were either too big (Trucks, SUVs, etc.) or really expensive cars (BMWs, Benzes, New Cars). We then went to Yoshinoya to eat the famous Beef rice bowl, which was pretty good. I added an extra egg to mine, and treated my supervisor to his beef bowl.

We then headed to a nearby supermarket where my supervisor had to go grocery shopping for his family. Apparently his brother had caught a fish and they were gonna smoke it. Unfortunately we couldn't find all the ingredients. He also helped me shop around for a few things, and taught me couple things about eating rice Japanase style. Such as Ocha Awase (puting tea in your rice), puting some special nori in your rice and about famous canned foods in Japan. We also figured out the Furi-kake that I bought in Asahikawa with Peter, was Natto flavored... Yes....Natto flavored. I suppose I should of clued in when it smelled strong. I also should of looked up the Kanji on the bottle. Well....now I know the kanji for Natto....

Your probably all laughing at me. Which is fine, I'm laughing at myself too.

Today was teaching at the child care, which was fun because the kids are soo friendly and are all over you the minute you walk into the child care centre. I basically turned into a human jungle jim. I actually had one kid give me the Naruto, "Thousand years of Pain" move (basically pushing his fingers into my butt). Although the kid didn't do much damage, it did hurt a bit. But other than that it was a pretty fun experience, although somewhat tiring.

I went back to the BOE and told my supervisor that I was interest in buying that yellow impreza. It turns out that the impreza is actually being negtiated with a previous customer and that I might not be able to buy it. We'll see, I guess if I can't buy it it was never meant to be. My supervisor told me to be patient, because if you express that you want it, they may end up charging you higher. He also said that if we manage to get to the negotiation stage, we could potentially negotiate for winter tires :D. I know Canada works like that for new cars, not sure about the used ones, but hearing this really surprised me, and I can only hope that everything turns out ok. I'll just be patient and not rush myself into any dumb purchases. I only hope that hockey doesn't start till later!

I had lunch and studied Japanese until about 3:10, when I headed off to the High School to do conversation class with a group of 2 students and 1 teacher (all female). It's always fun talking to them and explaining things and teasing them to describe difficult things in english. It's always a great time, though I think I need to start going into the club with a definate plan of action, rather than just wing it (excuse the pun).


After that it was back to the BOE there was Rakugo (traditional Japanese stand up comedy, well not really stand up) and Manzai (a two man comedy act) event.

Rakugo was the majority of the event was Rakugo. It's an old Japanese cultural thing dating back to Edo (as I was told by Kamada-san owner of Asahi-ya). It's basically stand up comedy, except that hes sitting on stage, and making Japanese jokes, which require a different type of thinking at times. I think the jokes are set in older times, but I couldn't understand much of it, because it was mostly in Kansai-ben (Kansai-dialect), which is like a totally different language of Japaneseand some Hokkaido-ben (Hokkaido Dialect), which I'm still learning. I did learn a few friends and kind of learn a bit about Kansai-ben which was really nice (Nande ya nen!? --> "What the hell?"). The Manzai act I understood a bit more because they were speaking Kanto-ben, your basic textbook Japanese. All in all, a good experience.

I then went to Kyoshi, a local izakaya, where I was treated to Crab Fried Rice, Yum soo good, and had Horumon and pork. Since he gave me free rice, I figured I should give him an omiyage, so tomorrow I plan to drop by with someting. Anyway, I should head to bed. I just wanted to catch up with some blogging and let everybody know whats happening in my small town.

On the weekend, I'm going to Sapporo to watch baseball, go to Izakayas and a sports museum, while drinking the whole time (this is gonna be such an awesome trip!). No, shopping, but I figure I need to save for a car anyway? aha. Guess I won't be saving much with all the money I'll be spending on CH3CH2OH (Ethanol/Commonly refered to as Alcohol). Anyway probably won't blog till Monday, or Sunday evening at the latest. So...Till then!

EDIT: One more question before I sleep. This is for everybody who reads my notes. Put yourself in my shoes. You're an ALT in Kamikawa. One evening, an ALT calls your cellphone and asks stay over at your house the next evening because hes doing some biking excursion. All you know about this ALT is his name and that he is with the JET program (so he says). Do you let this guy stay over because hes a JET?

What I did? This ALT called me while I was in Asahikawa. Though I try to be nice to JETs as I don't really like causing any animosity between members of JET and myself, I found myself saying no. For one, I have no idea who this person is, or even how this person got my number. He didn't say, and in fact it freaks me out quite a bit. He could be a JET, or he could just as easily be some mass murder, maybe I'm being too paranoid but I hope you understand where I'm coming from. If I had met this person, and then invited him to stay over, like I did with Peter, then it would of been better. Two, this guy asks me one day before hes coming to Kamikawa. Maybe he has his reasons, but to me thats really last minute and kind of rude.

If this action has put me in a bad position with the JET community then I guess so be it. I not too sure why it should, I'm just being paranoid again I think. I realize JETs are suppose to help each other, but there have been JETs who have been tricked by their JET predecessors. And theres also a limit to what one will do for a someone they haven't even seen. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to what you guys have to say.