Sunday 10th September

My bike has been christened... Ricycle the Bicycle!

Courtesy of David. J. Clark, 25, Glasgow.

After a very wet week, the clouds cleared and out came the sunshine in time for the weekend! My weekend started on Friday night with my enkai (office party) at an Izakiya in Iiyama called Hyorokudama. There were 7 of us and my teacher ordered a wide range of food for me to try...

Chicken neck and thigh on skewers (very safe and very yummy!)
Tofu and rock salt
Caeser salad
and then.... I ATE RAW FISH!!!!

We were served up a platter of raw squid, tuna steak, untranslatable shellfish (i.e no one could tell me what it was in English!) all of which I tried and two other raw fish specimens which I didn't try. I very quickly adapted a way of being able to eat the raw fish without gagging - pretend to be struggling with chopsticks while my 'bit of fish' soaks nicely in my bowl of soy sauce which also conveniently covers up the smell! Yuk! It was bearable though and it was only the texture that freaked me out.

Lots of lovely cold beer (called ASAHI - if you can find it in the shops, its really nice) and randomly sparkling sake (!!). Having spent the week mastering cycling in the rain (which involves steering with one hand and holding on to your brolly with the other), I was lured into a false sense of security and thought after a few beers and some sake i'd be perfectly capable of cycling the 3min journey back to my apartment. Lets just say, sake hits you from the feet UP and after spending the whole night sitting on your knees, a random feeling of pins and needles takes over!


Up bright and early on Saturday morning to head into Nagano to meet Kat, Kyla and Belinda for a walk around the shops followed by lunch. Kyla knew of this place in Nagano that served up 'all you can eat' Indian platter of curry and nan for £4.50 (oh and the girls get ice cream) so we set off to track it down. It also doubles up as a jazz cafe with our waiters singing various Carpenters songs in a cheesy karaoke style performance. The whole restaurant was a random mis-match of things - lots of neon signs, cartoons, antiques, Japanese tac and a mini piano akwardly shoved up against the wall. Very Hard Rock Cafe meets Antique Roadshow!




















After a lovely lunch, I headed back to Iiyama to meet Makoto who was taking me to his community Autumn festival called Akimatsuri (sp?). The festival has been a tradition in his neighbourhood for a loooooooong time and basically celebrates the upcoming harvest. It was a great evening - I had dinner with his family and then we went out to wait for a group of young men carrying a huge bonfire over their backs! The idea is quite similar to 'trick or treating', so when the men come round to your house you ply them with sake and watch while they throw things onto the bonfire - usually firecrackers and more sake (the cheap stuff, obviously!). There are sparks and flames dangerously close but still pretty spectacular!

The man in the white top and glasses is Makoto - he was worried that he might look drunk in this photo and didn't want me to show mum and dad if he did! The older guy is Makoto's dad - he sat in this position for hours and was mesmorised by the performances. There is lots of dancing while men play flutes (and drink sake...well, pour it down their throats until they fall over is a better way to describe it) and two children who are selected months in advance give an hour long solo - twice. The pic below is the two 'chosen ones' for this years festival. Apparently Makoto, his father and his son have all been 'chosen' and so are very keen to watch the new ones and explain how difficult their moves are!