To protect the many drunken men holding up these death sticks, other drunken men threw buckets of water on them and the sticks. As caught below in my fun filled photos.

The crowd was massive. I would be afraid to bring my kids to such an event, but parents were bringing the kids up to within arms length of the burning masses. What was highly entertaining were the constant flashing of cameras the entire time. The sticks were usually surrounded by serious photographers. It was tough to muscle my way through them to take pictures with my little camera.

At the top of the temple were a bunch of Stacy's students from the local Junior High School playing drums! I had gone to the same school 2 years ago and some of the kids still knew who I was. It made me smile.

For a much better idea of how the festival goes down, watch this rather long video of the happenings. Its rather trippy.

Enjoy!

The nice thing about this place was that while it was in the middle of nowhere, there was also no one around. We were the only divers in sight. All three of us. Its nice having the ocean to yourself. The reason we headed to this spot is that it has an unusual amount of soft and hard coral for this area of Japan. A couple of really nice pinnacles of coral. I was impressed.

Besides the coral there was the usual assortment of fun undersea life. Lots of random little fish, and to my happy surprise, a bunch of little harmless jellyfish. So cute! I have some video at the end showing the cute little jellyfish swimming around.

On our first dive we found these really interesting little Zebra crabs. No bigger than a penny, these guys blend in to their surroundings to such a degree that I didn't know what everyone was making a fuss about.

One our second dive we ran across three well hidden sting rays in the sand. In fact I almost landed on one while taking a photo. I could only see its sys sticking out of the sand. The one in the picture below is missing a chunk out of its face. I also got really lucky when taking photos of a couple of pipe fish (they're very closely related to Sea Horses) who wouldn't stay still for me. I took a bunch of photos and only one turned out well, but my goodness, is it a decent picture.

I really did enjoy the dive sites, but as you can see in many of the photos, the visibility wasn't very good. You could say that I'm a bit spoiled after having such great diving in Indonesia. Watch the video below for a better idea of the beautiful coral and playful fish.

Enjoy!

Its just like the regular version of Monopoly, except you have Shinkansens instead of train lines and all the properties are famous places in Japan. Can you find Hiroshima?

The below cards show how nice of a design they went with on this version.

Plus they have some real handy dandy score keepers for you.

I was really wanting there to be a 1¥ note. But I guess I'll have to just supply my own while playing.

I really do enjoy the fun artwork in the middle of the board. Its so Japanesey.

So with only three weeks left I wonder if Stacy will ever get us all together to play a game with her. I just always remembered how my games of Monopoly were great fun as a child. Everyone left the game feeling really pissed off and angry at everyone else. Especially after 4 hours of play. Good old Monopoly!

he asked me to take a photo with him. Which is very Japanesey and was a bit weird from someone I had only met a couple minutes before. Good times in Japan. Thats for sure.

Made from 100% real cow. its one of those "Only in Japan" kind of things.

We're going to try and focus a lot on Prefecture activities and sights, and maybe even roll out a webpage if we can find someone to work on it with out. Someone with decent webpage building skills (as you can see my webpage is as 'Default Settings' as you can get). Hopefully it'll all turn out well. We have some rather big shoes to fill around here.

I sank very low into my seat for about five minutes. Awkward...

Da da da...

After spending three full years in Japan I can tell you that Japan does in fact have five seasons, not four, and that here in Hiroshima they all suck in their own way.

Summer: Japanese summers are hot and humid. Very humid. Getting off a plane in Japan is like having someone smack you in the face with a hot, wet, towel. You don't walk down the street you swim. This is why everyone has a towel around their neck all day long, because they're sweating non stop. Combine this with the fact that no one in their right mind would ever turn the AC on, Summer is a horrible time to live in most of Japan.

Rainy Season: You could also call this typhoon season, as this is when Japan is getting his ass handed to it by storms. Every typhoon thats comes along brings horrible wind and horrible rain. So much so that they sometimes cancel trains and schools, though it does mean that I have to go into the office still. By ridding my bike. Through hurricane like weather. Rainy season is not fun for anyone.

Fall: I actually enjoy fall because its the one time of the year where I'm not freezing my ass off or soaking myself with sweat. The problem with fall is that it lasts for less than a month. If you're lucky. Due to wacky world wide weather fall has almost been completely canceled. Trees don't know what to do, so they just change color randomly. Plus due to Japan's love of official schedules, no one can actually change into winter clothing until the official start of winter. So even if it does snow outside, everyone will still be in their summer clothing.

Winter: Cold + No insolation or central heating = crap. The real problem is that you never get warm. Ever. You're more or less cold for the four to five months of winter. Especially when you work in environments where there is no heating what so ever, and the prevailing wisdom is that opening windows in winter helps the kids get fresh air. They told me this once as I looked outside at the falling snow. At least I don't have to wear crap school uniforms.

Spring: If you're lucky spring lasts two months. Cold weather leaves, warm weather slowly comes back. The problem for me is that Spring is just a short break between being cold and being miserable in the humidity. Even in the middle of spring you're bound to be miserable due to humidity.

Rainy Season: Yes, I already said this once before. Thats because Japan has two rainy seasons. How do I know this? Because its been raining for the past two weeks strait. Which is great, because I wasn't already suffering from the humidity as it is. Rain may not seem like such a big deal until you realize that a lot of people, like me, ride bikes everywhere. That and its illegal to ride a bike and use an umbrella in Hiroshima Prefecture.

So there you have it. What to expect when it comes to Japanese weather. Just be happy that most places only have one rainy season, though Japan will probably take special pride in the fact that they have two and hold it over everyone else.

The company was good, even if the Carp last 11 to 3. What puzzles me is why the city is building a brand new stadium for the carp when they can't even fill the old stadium...

Below is a video I made nearly three years ago showing the fun that is Japanese baseball games. They have the vibe of a big college sports game, only with more beer.

The Hiroshima Carp. The Milwaukee Brewers of Japan.

Although Wilson has a bell around his neck and no front claws, word on the street is he's killed 5 rabbits in my parents back yard. Those darn rabbits! Though I miss having a cat around all the time I also like not having killer allergy attacks. Also I've come to udnerstand why the Japanese have a long tradition of hating cats. Paper walls + tatami + yukatas = trouble. Plus the cats would totally try and steal all the sushi! Bad kitty!

Fights pit two boxers against each other, reading their own poems inside a ring complete with red and blue corners. The subject matter varies wildly - from politics through critiques of celebrities, food and the unfairness of life as a student - and after each boxer's three minutes are up a seven-strong panel of judges votes on the winner.

So they key to get overly shy youngsters to speak and express themselves is to put them in front of a panel of people who will judge them. That seems like a really bad idea. From my own experiences in Japan I've found that the entire country operates on a diminished level of self expression. From art to music to even hobbies, people who take part in such things are maginalized and looked down on by the general public. Heres a country that has the second biggest economy, 120 million people, and the biggest cultural exports they have are Hello Kitty (which was actually created in England) and anime/manga.

Speaking of manga, the US NAVY is using some manga for propaganda within Japan. To combat fears of nuclear warships harboring in Japan and increases in military personal in Japan the US NAVY has produced a fun filled manga about what its like to be in the NAVY.

From the article:

The navy will distribute 26,000 copies of Manga CVN73, named after the George Washington's hull number, to children and young residents of Yokosuka, a US naval base south of Tokyo where the ship will be based from August.

I'm guessing that the manga will leave out the parts of the NAVY where drunken sailors wonder around Japanese towns, harassing the locals and occasionally assaulting school girls. But I'm only guessing on this one.

This is very... disturbing. Music is not safe for young ears.

This rap has to be the most oddly entertaining fan video I've ever seen. I wonder if they still will have rap in the 24th century Because it automatically plays when the page loads, and the music is rather... offense, click the link below to actually see it. Its funny if you like dumb Star Trek stuff.

The old as compared to the new, not so "in your face", Tanuki.

The last two images were from a children's animated movie called "Pom Poko". Be afraid. Be very afraid.

My parents house!

The Milwukee Art Museum

The Brewers Stadium

And thats about it. Ok, I lied. There really isn't anything too interesting in Milwaukee. You'd be better off looking at street views of Chicago and its giant chrome bean. But what is really cool is that Street View covers everything BETWEEN Milwaukee and Chicago. Why drive somewhere when you can just Google it.