Not so fast!

Beer for lunch? - Why, that's... ...a great idea!

I'm thinking of joining a hanami party. Hanami means cherry blossom viewing. It's in a park, about an hour from my home. It's organised by one of my local bars. This will feature Japanese craft beer and food. The weather isn't fantastic but heck, I think I'll go!
There's nothing like a breakfast/lunch of beer to f*ck up the rest of your day!
more news here soon, after I get back.

Yozakura - 2008

At about 10pm tonight, I went to the park above my home to see the cherry blossoms in the evening lantern light.
The sakura were beautiful.To view my slideshow, click on the picture below:
The whole cherry blossom viewing is really wonderful. The blossoms really do blossom and die soon after. This has always been heavily symbolic of the fleeting life we all lead. We live, we bloom then we die. All the lives is born to die. But the beauty and the glory is in the life.
The Japanese people ceom out and drink under the cherry blossom trees. They call the daytime viewing 'ohanami' - viewing the flowers. The evening experience is called 'yozakura' - evening blossom. This is when the drinking gets donw. The temperature in Japan is also quite nice and cool at this time of year. It is not cold like the winter and not yet humid as in the summer. a perfect time to gather with freinds in a park and just relax, surrounded by natural beauty.
Everyone hangs out together and it's a wonderful experience.

Oh, man, I was drunk writing that one.

Where are you, trunk monkey?

"High fives for the women and open mouthed tongue kisses for the men."

"Harooooooh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Here's a certain little compilation a certain Squirrelboy put together from a certain movie about a certain movie about certain Greek soldiers, a certain time ago.

I think the certain movie looks better in this compilation than it actually is.

But you just can't beat the original.

'Lucky 7' at Baird Beer's Taproom, Numazu

Baird Beer had a Lucky 7 Stout event at the Taproom Beer pub in Numazu, Shizuoka, Japan.
I decided to check it out. I had a good time.
I was joined by Dave and Glen.
Here's the story of our day.
I started off, waiting for Glen at Yokohama station. I was late. He was alter. Dave was already well on his way to Numazu. He didn't wait. Fair enough. No beer for him then.
Eventually, the boys were off.
We both enjoyed the pleasant journey with a pair of Grolsch Weissens. Nice beer. Got them at Seijuishii, Yokohama station. Not cheap, at over 600yen a bottle but good.
We took the JR Tokkaido line to Atami and changed trains to get to Numazu. This was the chepaest option, around 1500yen and 2 hours travelling time. Not too bad.

We got to Numazu station and while I waited for Glen to finish on the toilet (he took AGES), I decided to amuse myself in public. Heres the pigeon theme park I discovered:


Glen arrived and it turned out he was buying us lunch. Thank you, Glen.
We followed the main street and the Kano river to the harbour. It was about a 15 or 20 minute walk.
At the harbour, we found the Taproom and went in and started drinking! Here's the link to my slideshow (just click on the picture):


Whilst in the Taproom, one of the brewers walked in and I recognised her. She was kind enough to invite us for a quick visit of the brewery. We jumped at the cahnce. Here's a tiny movei squirrel boy made (it's not very good, sorry):


Here's a quick video of squirrel boy taking you from the Taproom to the suschi place where Whammbammasamma and I had our dinner:


Glen left early to meet a 'friend' and Dave and I had one last beer for the road after arguing over the bill. He went on to his big party in the big city and I stopped off at The Thrash Zone for one last stout. I had a good day.

That's all.


For now....

It always happens in karaoke

Hollywood in Japan

It's true, though. There are some really silly commercials, done by famous Hollywood stars. Some have a contract clause that those commerciasl will never be shown in their home countries.