MY FIRST ONSEN!!!

So yah sorry guys,I keep leaving things out of my blog. Guess if I kept up with the blog I really wouldn't have this problem would I?

Anyway heres what I left out of the last blog.

1) I went gambling last wednesday in Asahikawa. We went to a horse race which was kinda cool and exciting at the same time. I've never really been to one, but I believe it works the same way in Japan and Canada, where you pick the horses that you believe will come in first, second and third. And if your choices matches the outcome the you win money.

It was kinda cool because I won the first of my three races. Unfortunately I only bet 100 JPY so I got like 1600 JPY in return. I made about 15 bets over 3 races, all about 100 JPY each, so really I didn't spend that much. I guess it was more fun just having fun with everybody at the town office and my supervisor.

On the bus back, for some reason I suffered an anxiety attack, where I questioned why the hell I was in Japan, while I was on the bus ride back home. I actually think it was more about being away from my home in Edmonton, and then being away from my home in Kamikawa, with the Sapporo orientation and frequent visits to Asahikawa and all. I guess being shipped from place to place has its toll on me and somehow I just wanted to return to a place I could call home. I just closed my eyes and pretended to sleep it off until the panic subsided. My supervisor was pretty worried, I don't think he knew exactly what was going on, as I didn't say anything, but after a while of just listening to my MP3 player I felt a lot better. Upon to returning to Kamikawa I felt great. I think it was just being removed from Kamikawa or soo long. I dunno...

Also on the bus back, Konno-san, drank to much and almost puked on the bus. We had to pull over for him to puke. I guess its a first time for you guys to hear about me not puking somewhere. I did have to go the washroom soo bad that I almost peed my pants on the way to Asahikawa. I had to tell my supervisor, and he told the driver to pull over to the nearest washroom. It was pretty fun and sad, for me, at the same time. Damn you alcohol!!! You make me have old man bladder.

2)I had my first haircut in Japan. I decided to go to a barbershop called Higuchi, ran by a man of the same name. It's fairly close to my apartment and on the way home from work, so I figured why not? I had actually met Higuchi-san on the sunday of the Furusato Matsuri, and he had showed me his beer chugging skills. He managed to finish one pint of beer in about 2.5 seconds. You have to see it to believe it, its mind blowing.

Anyway, for 3300 JPY he'll cut your hair, give you a head massage and give you nice shave the traditional barber way. Now that's service! I never got that kind of treatment in Canada. Not even close! Thats why I love Japan. BTW, all the stores and shops in Japan provide pretty good service.

For example, if you buy something from a clothing store, they'll walk you out and carry the bag for you till you reach the end of their store. Then they'll hand you the bag and say good bye. I actually went to a department store in Sapporo just as it was about to close, and when I finally found something I liked and bought it, the department store had closed. The lady clerk, walked me out of the building and actually showed me where the subway station was. Fracking great, I don't think I will be able to stand he service when I get back to Edmonton.

Anyway, I plan to get another haircut later when my hair is a little longer, I kinda wanna go back to the mullet as its socially acceptable in Japan, and people will actually still hire you if you have one, and girls kinda like it more then short hair I'm sure ;P. Might be fun to have long hair eventually anyway. But the haircuts are more really enjoyable experiences here, I'm only concerned about Higuchi-san being able to style my hair, if I grow it long. I'm sure he will be able.

But anyway, I found out another thing I really enjoy about Japan. ONSEN (Baths)!!!!

I went to one today in Sounkyo with my supervisor and his friend Nobu-chan. They're really nice and relaxing, although a bit draining. I'm sure everybody knows a bit, or has heard a bit about Japanese baths. But I'll explain my experience anyway.

Well first we went into the change room and removed all our clothes and put them in a basket. You have a privacy towel, you use to cover your privates. After that we walked into the bathing area, where we would shower ourselves off, and then finally enter the baths. Its good to enter slowly, as entering too fast hurts pretty badly (the water is really hot). The change rooms are really seperate by sex of course, and so was this bathing area, but I heard from my supervisor that there are baths that don't seperate the bathing areas. I dunno if hes just jerking my chain, but that would cause me to nose bleed continuously, unless it was full of old women, then I'd just be creeped out.

After staying in the bath for about 10 minutes, we went to Otenburo (Outdoor bath) just one floor up (it was just part of the bath, but just one floor up, which is reachable by the stairs). The bath there is a lot cooler, and its really nice to be able to enjoy the outdoors as well as feel the breeze.

We then went to sauna for a good 10 minutes before we cooled down in a pool full of cold water right beside it. That was easily the best part.

Then we warmed up in the otenburo for a bit before showering off and eating lunch at the italian restaurant right beside it.

We all went home, where I took a 2 hour nap. The baths somehow drain the energy away from me, but it made me feel good and refreshed in a way.

Anyway I got some work to do, so i'll talk to you guys later. I started playing FFXII international version in Japanese, so hopefully I'll get to continue some of that tonight once I finish my work.

Talk to you guys later!