This little story began one chilly night in early January. I had just gotten back to Tokyo from a rest-break in Adelaide, I was feeling better than I had been for months and months, and I felt like going out for once.
"Let's go to Shibuya!" I said to my friend Dave, and so, after making dinner and getting dressed up in clothes completely inappropriate for the weather (a shirt and a light jacket) we took the 10-minute train ride there.
For those of you that don't know, Shibuya is one of the 'coolest' places in Tokyo. Most of you will know it for the massive pedestrian crossing (pictured) they have right outside of the station, and there's a good reason it's so busy. Packed with shops of all kinds, restaurants, bars, clubs, love hotels and karaoke parlours, Shibuya is a haven for young people. It's only a short walk from cool fashion central Harajuku as well.

As my friend and I were waiting to cross the above intersection, we were approached by two young men. Now, my friend Dave is an Australian of Chinese descent, so he is easily mistaken for a Japanese, as these men did:
"Ask your friend if he would like to be a model for our magazine" (in Japanese of course).
What! Poor Dave (sorry man)...
Anyway, after talking to these guys a while and giving them my contact details, we headed off to walk around...but my mind was abuzz. Sure, I'd heard of people being scouted for being models in Tokyo, and in fact I have a model friend, but me? I'm no イケメン!

The photoshoot was to be on a Friday, on which I had class. I was at first reluctant to skip my class (I'm too good of a student >.>), but then I decided that this opportunity was too good to pass up. So, on January the 22nd, I arrived in Shibuya again, fresh and early in the morning.
Fortunately, there was to be one other model for that shoot, so I would not have to brave the dangers of an off-the-street modelling request alone! He American and also a first-time model, and, to jump ahead a bit, after that day we became good friends.
After waiting a few minutes, we were told to get into a nondescript, apparently rental white van. Uhh.... I suppose it was a good sign that the van was white. All the bad stuff happens in black vans, right?
We drove around for a while, leaving Shibuya and heading into the suburbs, stopping only to pick up a short Japanese woman (random) and the clothes (that explains the van). Before long we had arrived at the studio where the shooting was to take place!
Everyone was really nice, even if they didn't really tell us what we had to do. "Come here", "Wear this" and "Look serious" were about the extent of their instructions. Thankfully, because I was not alone, I was able to share nervous giggles and uncomprehending shrugs with my new-found friend.

I could write more, but I think all you really want to see are the pictures. The magazine came out last month and has just been replaced by a new issue. The magazine title, "Choki Choki", is the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound that scissors make, and as such it's a young men's hairstyle/fashion magazine. Also, apparently, a magazine that almost never uses foreign models (which are otherwise all the rage here).
Enjoy, and try not to laugh too much (the clothes they made us wear are pretty weird).






 It was only a one-off job so I'm not really a model now - but it was a great experience and a priceless souvenir of my time in Japan!

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I know I'm not a good blogger. It's been nearly two months since my last blog post - that's unexcusable! And I have no excuses, in any case.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make up for it from now on. Since too much has happened since I last wrote a blog, however, this post will just cover some random points from the last couple of months of my time in Japan, focusing on the Spring Vacation, which I am currently in the middle of.

First, I think I have finally decided that Spring is may favourite season of the year. That first warm, sunny day, with a slight smell of pollen on the air, lifts my spirits so much after the long, cold winter. In my mind, I've come to associate Japan with cold and winter because it seems like that's the only season I've experienced in this country (forgetting the hot, humid weather when I first arrived...).
Spring is also the season of flowers (yay!). First come the 梅(ume; plum blossoms), whose small, fragrant flowers so contrast the dead winter wear of the trees around them that they have captured my heart. I want to plant one in the garden at home when I get back! (if it will grow...) After that are the 桜(sakura; cherry blossoms), that haven't bloomed quite yet but which I am looking forward to with great anticipation.
Spring makes me feel so alive!


Two weeks ago, I left the Kanto area for the first time on a trip with my American friends Mike and Brett. Typical for an all-guy trip, only the bare essentials were organised (not even the entire trip) and very little advance research was done. Research such as, say, where exactly the bus departed from. Needless to say, we did not make it to a single bus with any meaningful amount of time to spare; rather, we gave ourselves some good morning exercise each time by running a block or so, five minutes before departure time, in frantic search for our buses. Departing on time with no hassles would be boring, I think!


During our trip, we headed to the West (South?) side of Japan, starting from Nagoya. In Nagoya, we met up with my friend Yuri, who had come to Adelaide in 2008/2009 for an exchange. She showed us around several interesting places, such as the castle (unfortunately a replica as the original one was, um, burnt down in WWII) and the Toyota Automobile Museum - the latter of which we arrived in Yuri's mother's pink Yaris (wooo!) and departed in a cool mag-lev train.
Having left Tokyo, we had begun to notice various changes - the trains departed less often, the people looked a little different, there was less Louis Vuitton around (only one in three people had an item now, instead of one in two), and, having less foreigners around, we attracted more stares (usually welcome ones from pretty girls). In fact, on one occasion, my friend was able to get a girl's phone number simply by smiling at her through the window of a pub - something that probably wouldn't have happened in Tokyo. But did happen again in Osaka. Um, I probably shouldn't be writing about these things in my blog...

...anyway, the next stop was the Kansai region, were the people were famed for being friendlier than the cold-hearted busybodies of Tokyo. First up was Kyoto, the old Imperial capital of Japan, and a sightseeing heaven. Unlike Tokyo, which had been built straight up from the winding, narrow streets of old Edo, Kyoto was built from the start (over a thousand years ago) in a grid pattern, much like our beloved Adelaide. The star attractions of Kyoto are its Buddhist temples, many of which were almost as old as the city itself, and Gion, the old Geisha district which retains to this day much of its old-Japan feel.
Like I had mentioned earlier, my friends and I had no plan, so, and I say this with the utmost regret, we were not able to partake in a day long temple-crawl with a bunch of other camera-happy tourists. Instead, we just followed our feet, a few scant recommendations and our instincts ("let's climb to a temple on a mountain!!") and still managed to see many beautiful things. I for one quite enjoy looking at a rudimentary map, finding a temple on the edge, way apart from anything else, and spending an a couple of hours trying to find a way to get there (no, I am not being sarcastic here).
My only regret of our time in Kyoto was that we didn't go to the Ninja restaurant with a built-in underground labyrinth. I guess that will have to wait for next time...


Our second stop in the Kansai area was Osaka, the second largest city in Japan, and, in 2009 at least, the second-most expensive city to live in in the world. Of course, Tokyo was number one. Yay!
There's not much I can really say about our time here, as, being the weekend, we took the time to go out on Friday and Saturday nights. Going to the all-night all-you-can-drink club sounded like a good idea until we realised that such a place would attract a particular crowd which we didn't really want to be a part of...
Some Osaka interesting experiences:

• Walking past a public car-park in the 'night life' area of Osaka and seeing four Lamborghinis parked next to each other. A closer inspection revealed an F430 Spider a little further inside the building. I wonder who could own them...
• Finding an Australian pub and ordering a Pure Blonde for $10. The taste was so light and sweet (and I do not say those two things in a good way) compared to the Japanese beer I have been drinking, of which Asahi is only the start.
• One of my friends coming home from a night out with a red cowboy hat. Of course I remember where we got it from (a random Japanese dude), but still very amusing nonetheless.
• Being treated to a free live event at the hostel we were staying at. It was Tate Takako, an apparently famous Japanese singer, who in any rate had a very beautiful voice.
• The beautiful plum-blossom orchard at the Osaka Castle (see photos).
• Realising all too late that the bus station was actually several blocks away from the train station. Yay!

After Osaka we had only one more destination: Hiroshima. Most of you will know this place as the first city in the world to have felt the destruction of an atomic bomb - but surprisingly, very little in the city today gives a hint of the terrible events that happened many years ago. Indeed, Hiroshima is quite a bustling city! It even had a substantial dodgy night-life area, which by now my friends and I had taken to use as a trademark of a Japanese city - every one we visited had one! (Tokyo has many). Not that we entered any of the establishments - it was amusing enough to just walk and observe from the street.
We spent most of our time there out visiting some of the various islands nearby, including the incredibly beautiful Miyajima. For those of you that don't know, Miyajima is a world heritage site, and for a very good reason - it's a forested paradise complete with deer roaming the streets, monkeys climbing the buildings and incredible temples and shrines. In particularly, the 鳥居 (tori-i; literally bird's nest or the gates you see in front of a Shinto shrine) of the main shrine is famous for the fact that it is partially submerged at high tide. Just have a look at the photo and you'll understand!


On Miyajima we were finally able to realise our wish of climbing to the top of a mountain to a shrine. Not only that, but this shrine housed the eternal flame of peace! Too bad I did not think to take a photo...
The other item of interest in Hiroshima was, of course, the various memorials they had to the atomic bombing event. Most famous is the 原爆ドーム, or Atomic Bomb Dome, which stands, in ruins, as a monument to the bombing. Nearby is the peace park with various statues and monuments, as well as the confronting museum. I won't go into detail about what is inside - you have to see it for yourself - but suffice to say that I really hope people don't use atomic weapons again in the future. Especially considering that modern technology means that the bombs of today can be over 3,000 times as powerful as the one dropped on Hiroshima....


But enough of that sad story. I think I have made it to last week, when I returned back to Tokyo. After a hurried few loads of washing, attending a Monkey Majik concert (long story short: awesome) and battling a cold, I was back on the road again - this time to Fukushima for skiing!
Despite my reservations, it was very fun, if a little painful. I was able to get down an intermediate-level slope more or less in control and with only a few falls by the end of it - I can't wait to go again!
One thing that makes skiing in Japan quite unique (apart from perhaps Iceland or Scandanavia), however, is that after abusing your body in the cold during the day, you can retire to a hot spring in the night for a much needed rest. Once I had overcome my initial embarrassment (as long as no-one looks down, it's all ok), I found myself really enjoying the whole concept of a hot spring. In particular, the 露天風呂 (Rotenburo; open-air bath), which allowed you to enjoy both the warm water with your body and the cold snow falling on your head at the same time was just magical. Of course I have no photos, though...



I think that's enough writing for one blog post. I'll just leave you all with a small teaser of what's to come in my next post....


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