Holiday J-Tour...Part 1

My Holiday J-Tour road trip of Japan started on December 24 in Osaka where I met up with the lovely Mayu Ito – a friend from my days as an English teacher at KGIC Toronto – who works at a youth hostel in Osaka. We went for Christmas eve dinner, which consisted of grilled beef and Nabe, which is a hotpot dish, consisting of veggies and meat cooked in a simmer fish broth. Sooo good! And then we did Kristmas Karaoke, which is becoming a rather nasty habit for me

Me and a big beer

Kristmas Karaoke with Mayu

I then fielded a heart-felt phone call from my siblings, who were spending holiday together at the family house in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. Due to travelling, I've spent a many Christmas away from home, but I still get slight pangs of homesickness this time of year because we’re a pretty tight clan.

I spent Christmas Day walking solo around Osaka with map in hand, truly missing the city life of human traffic, mass transit and urban culture. I did most of central Osaka for about five hours until my feets ached.

After a brief rest back at the hostel – which I decided was not where I wanted to stay, it being on the outskirts of town – I decided to book a hotel room in the centre of the city, close to Osaka’s only real musical instrument store (I saw a beautiful ’59 Les Paul reissue), numerous vinyl and CD shops (god damn!) and funky little clothing and shoe stores.

In the evening, I met up two other former KGIC students, the wonderful Memu Mineta and Kayo Furukawa. Guaranteed to make any person smile, Memu and Kayo have great energy and humour that I couldn’t wait to revel in. They took me for a healthy dose of genuine Osaka delicacy okonomi-yaki, which is a savory pancake with all kinds of fillings and sauces poured on top. Mmmmm!!!

The obligatory drinking session ensued, which included really fun Japanese and English slang lessons, cell phone calls to old friends, countless drinks, and even more food. I quickly realized that my liver (nor my wallet) may not last out my J-tour.

Kayo, me and Memu

Mayu and Memu both helped me call up a whole bunch of former KGIC students, and I just added another city to my tour. Originally, Nagoya was not on my tour, but I arranged yet another drinking party in Nagoya on December 29, as I head east towards Tokyo. Details to come

James Brown has left the building...

Right now it is the morning of December 26, 2006 in Japan (Christmas Day in North America) and I clicked on the TV in the hotel room to news on Japanese CNN that Soul Brother #1 Mr. James Brown passed away. Everyone in Rap, R&B, rock, funk, soul, electronica and everything else in between owes everything to James Brown What else can I say except it was fitting that he passed away on a global holiday. Baby, baby, baby! I'm just glad I got to see him live in concert a couple years ago. God damn, huh!

The Godfather of Soul

My festivities will continue today, with a drinking party in downtown Osaka with Mayu, Kayo and Keisuke Nishio, yet another former KGIC student. The great thing about meetings like this (I’ve had similar situations in Tokyo and Taipei) is that these three people have never met each other, but they are linked by their time in Toronto and at KGIC and it makes for great drinking sessions, indeed.

Tomorrow I will meet yet more former KGIC students in the historical city of Kyoto, where I will stay for two days. Stay tuned.