Where is Derek?

Hi people, I am sorry for not blogging a lot lately. I have been through a whole mess of stuff. I did a sidetrip to Hiroshima, Miyajima, Okayama and Kurashiki. I will upload pics and videos next. I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix with Reina and yesterday, I saw Wicked the Musical in Tokyo, yeah, that’s right bitchezzz! Too bad the musical was in Japanese but I still understood the origin of the Ruby Slippers and how the Tin man, Scarecrow and Lion came to be. I highly recommend everyone to watch Wicked the Musical! I have something to confess to all my friends  out there. I don’t have enough to go to Thailand this summer but some day, I will go back to Kansai instead and meet up with Allison and two friends in Tokyo and show them around for the rest of my vacation.  I will go to Asakusa for the Sumida River festival which is basically a fireworks show that celebrates Au Bon or summer.  More to come… I love Japan especially…

This post is to all my old and new friends that I have made over the years. For the friends that have helped me through difficult times and for those friends that will continue to be there for me. I know that friends will come and go in my life. But those few people that I truly call, my friend, I want to thank you. To all my friends, I wish you the same happiness that I am experiencing in Japan. Friends are more than people who hang around the good or bad times, they are people that you keep in contact with for life. I.love.Japan

The Magic Hand

The Orange Ball

Misc Video

These pictures are of the Full Moon Party in Minakami: 1. The signs you had to follow to get to the rave location 2. A friend, Kazu, passed out in some odd location in the woods

1. The morning after the Full Moon Party, in the cabin. ahahah 2. Bad video of a little of what was going on at the Full Moon Party deep in the stixxx!

These are miscellaneous pictures: 1. A Japanese size beer 2. Reina and Hana making dinner, Apple Spice Curry!!! Oishii! 3. How the Japanese help with the train ticket machines, they pop out of little doors along side the ticket machine!! ahahahah 4. F-Cup cookiezzz, for those girls with Big dreamzzz. ahahahahah

The Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival was an interesting mix of kimonos, Japanese street food, tons of people, bamboo decorated with things and intricate paper lanterns. Reina wore a beautiful, pink kimono and looked so effing good. There’s this drink called Ramone, it’s really good, it’s basically this glass bottle with a ball inside it, you push down on the top which dislodges the glass ball so you can drink, its made up of sugar and water and some artificial flavor but it is the sheeyit with fresh squeezed oranges, orange juice and soju. Yummy! Me likes. Also ate Hiroshima style okinomiyaki, which is made of flour, noodles, egg, veggies and other stuff, really effing good. One thing that we did was tie up on of the hanging tassles off a lantern and that is supposed to make your wish come true, so I tied up one of the silver tassles on the black vs. red spidey lantern, ahahahah. I hope my wish comes true. I really enjoyed walking the streets with Reina, she looked so good in that kimono!

There’s this star festival in Hiratsuka called the Tanabata Festival. From Wikipedia:

FestivalThe festival is usually held on July 7, and celebrates the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). The Milky Way, a river made from stars that crosses the sky, separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year. This special day is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar.

This year is cool because the date will be 7.7.07, that’s right, lucky 7′s. I am going with Reina and I am so excited to go. From what my students have told me, it’s a big deal with tons of people going. Sendai has the most famous festival but Hiratsuka has the second most crowded festival.

Want to know more follow this link: http://www.city.hiratsuka.kanagawa.jp/tanabata/e_index.htm