Otto's blog

Do you remember your first kiss?

How about your first KISS LIVE CONCERT???

I do, & in both cases I was excited, embarrassed, and confused...

But I knew I wanted more!

So! Last Saturday I joined a crowd of rock romantics at Gifu Teragoya for another performance by our favorite Kiss tribute band, `God of Thunder`. Of course they didn`t disappoint, putting on a performance I don`t think anyone will ever forget. Even if they try hard to.

New additions since last time included a smoke machine, a cool laser display, & a new drummer. I had a nice chat to him & his lovely girlfriend afterwards. It was a strange experience talking to a guy wearing more make-up & sexier clothes than the girl beside him. He apologised for not singing `Bess` & I apologised for staring at his sequins.

Did you go to the concert? If not, you missed an awesome time!

Oh - & thanks Kiyotaka (Ichinomiya Teragoya student - Yay!) for your opening performance, including 2 songs in English - good job!

Bamboo is fantastic. I think it`s proof there is a God (or Devil, if you`ve ever tried to get rid of it from your garden).

It can be as strong as steel, sharp as a knife, or so soft you can eat it! It`s useful for making all sorts of things, from boats to vases.

As you can see, my skill level is not high enough for the boat option yet, but this vase I made from bamboo looks pretty nice, don`t you think? I made it from bamboo I found on the beach at Mihama.

I stole the flowers from my mother-in-law`s garden.

On Friday, Ichinomiya Teragoya held a Tanabata Party at an izakaya called Wataminchi (why do staff always laugh when I say it?), which is in front of Ichinomiya Station. The interesting thing for me about this izakaya is that it used to be a Nova school before, and I used to work there! So the place we drank beer & ate food on Friday used to be a classroom where I taught English to students - pretty funny!
Anyway, everyone had a good time, and I realised I`m not a heavy drinker at all after sitting next to Mr. Kesao...
Thanks everybody for coming, & thanks to those who wore yukatas - you all looked so cool!

If you`ve been to Ichinomiya Teragoya this week, you`ll know it`s our Yukata Week (Gifu & Ginan are later). It`s good to see so many kids in yukatas - everyone looks great!
Girls often complain that yukatas (& kimonos) are uncomfortable & difficult to put on, but for men it`s not so bad. I have a few yukatas, and I quite like wearing them. It feels like I`m wearing a dress in public, which I don`t get many chances to do in Brisbane (Sydney is a bit different).
When I first came to Japan about 10 years ago, not many men wore yukatas to festivals. Recently though, I see that they are coming back into fashion for guys. That`s good, because I think they look pretty cool. Do you agree?

Monday was `Sea Day` in Japan, so of course I went to the sea. (So does that mean I have to work hard on Labour Day? I hope not).

I went to Mihama, in Fukui, which you already know about if you read my blog regularly. Which you should.

The water was clean - great! Unfortunately for me, the beach was also clean, so it was difficult to find enough wood for a campfire. When I come to the beach at other times, there is usually lots of wood on the beach, so I can make a huge fire. A huge fire is necessary when you go camping. The bigger the better. It`s common sense.

What did you do for Sea Day? Did you go to the beach?

I had intended to support Holland in the final, but after about 10 minutes of watching, I decided to support Spain instead. I don`t mind cheering on the `underdog` (= the team everybody expects to lose) but I don`t like dirty tactics & bad sportsmanship, and Holland played one of the dirtiest games of football I`ve seen in a while. They received so many yellow cards I lost count, & although they only received 1 red card, it should have been 2 or 3. Look at that tackle in the picture - can you believe he only got a yellow for that!?
I`m glad Spain won. Congratulations!
By the way, did you notice that the Japanese referee from the Holland v Brazil game was the `4th official` (the guy who holds up the Lost Time sign) for the final? I guess this was a kind of reward for his good performance, which I mentioned on this blog.

Mariko is a long-time student of Ichinomiya Teragoya. She has excellent English skills, she has an excellent English teacher (that`s me), she has excellent taste in English-speaking holiday destinations (she sometimes goes to Noosa, near my hometown of Brisbane), & now she has an excellent husband (but he`s not English, he`s Japanese). Congratulations! I hope you have a wonderful life together. And thanks for the bottle of wine which I won at bingo at your second wedding party - woohoo!

When I was walking near my house I saw a bicycle in a waterway. It was rusty & covered in rubbish, and - I guessed - damaged. Nevertheless, I wanted to rescue it & try to fix it.

And I did! It took a while, but it was fun.

However,if I use it, there is a chance I`ll be stopped by the police, and maybe they won`t believe that I found it & fixed it. Maybe they will think that I stole it & I`m lying (because I have a big nose). I don`t need that kind of trouble in my life.

So I don`t ride it; I just keep it in the garage. One day I`ll probably throw it back in the waterway.

On Sunday I went to an exhibition of art by Spanish surrealist Joan Miro at Kiyosu City Haruhi Art Museum 清須市はるひ美術館. Do you know him?

He`s an interesting guy, because he has a girl`s name. Also his art is interesting because it looks like a small kid did it, but he`s an adult...

Actually (maybe you can guess!), I don`t like his art much.

However, I`m interested in art, and especially printmaking e.g. etching, engraving & woodblock printing, which is what Joan Miro usually did. Besides the exhibition, the museum also had an interesting display of art printing equipment & decriptions of different art printing methods. I enjoyed looking at that.

Do you often go to art exhibitions? I recommend it. Even if I don`t really like the art, I always feel positive, creative & motivated afterwards.

At an izakaya or barbeque I usually drink beer, but when I have a nice meal, especially pasta, I prefer wine. A bottle of cheap wine in an Italian restaurant is usually about 2000 yen, but recently I found a family restaurant where a 500ml carafe of wine is only... 370 YEN! Wow - that`s cheaper than beer! And it tastes okay (but I`m not very fussy).

Of course the name of the restaurant is Saizeriya. It`s a chain, so there`s probably one near you. Do you often go there?