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Well here I am just barely awake after a massive weekend in Krysta's city, Takasaki!!! After a huge day of work on Saturday I jumped on my first of two trains to travel 3 hours to Gunma, which I could probably drive in 1 hour and a half if I had a car. I had to go all the way into Tokyo instead of straight across of Tsuchiura which adds unbelievable time onto the journey. Oh well enough wingeing. Jody and Krysta met me at the station and we headed back to Krystas apartment to chill for the night - cause we were tired from the week and we had a full weekend coming up, starting with drinking at 10am the next morning. After watching Charlies Wilsons War which was an excellent movie I hadnt seen before, we headed to bed - and to be up early the next morning.. When we were up the next morning - looked out the window and saw nothing but rain when we were going to a wine festival --- not brilliant to say the least!!
After meeting Jody and Krystas mates Takasaki Station we all headed to Ashikagi where the wine festival was taking place. The winery is on a hill and every year to celebrate the harvest, it puts on a massive festival where for the equivalent of $20, we got a bottle of wine, corkscrew, wine glass and entry - very good deal indeed. We didnt really consider the rain when packing stuff for the day and when we arrived with our rain gear, and saw the mud we would be sitting in - not amused. The Japanese around us were well prepared with tables, tarps and good spots on flat spots on the hill, and here we were - the dumb foreigners with umbrellas and one tarp for 8 people - garbage bags and scarves came in handy - but all this aside! It was an amazing day of drinking, eating, chatting, enjoying the entertainment like live music and japanese flamenco dancers - and suffice to say, we were drunk by midday - with the festival running from 10 - 330. we didnt have much time to enjoy it. It rained on and off during the day which didnt dampen the spirit - wine has that amazing effect on people huh? I met some amazing friends and once the goodbye song had been played twice, a gentle hint to get up and leave and we saw heaps of drunk Japanese people who cant hold their wine fall down the hill and end up in the mud - hilarious! We headed back on the train to Takasaki to chill before dinner at an izikaya *Japanese pub and then went on a riding tour of Takasaki and the Christmas lights. Christmas is not celebrated in Japan because it is a Buddhist country but there are as many decorations here as any other western country in the world. Including the amount of lights is amazing - I am sure that if Japan turned off their lights for one day a week, the problem of global warming would disappear - Im still amazed at the amount of neon in this country and the amount of electricity burned - but it does look amazing and make awesome photos!!
We then headed to Ban Ban karaoke for a couple of hours to chill and sing our hearts out.. It is a weekly ritual for me now, and I love karaoke, and the great thing in Japan is that they have microphones and amps with voice improvement software, so anyone sounds good - especially when drinking!! Afterwards back to Krystas apartment for the end of Charlie Wilsons War and then we watched Chris Rock live -- the weather is getting freezing at night now and after a huge day of drinking we just wanted to relax and we had another full day ahead of us the next day.
Nice and early rise to be at the station by 10am, so we could head to Lake Haruna - which is the magnificent Mountain with a beautiful lake and since the fall colours were still beautiful in Takasaki (In Tsuchiura, the leaves fell straight off from the strong wind from the lake) we missed the autumn leaves. The bus ride took an hour and a half and was worth the fare. We went through the Gunma countryside and saw lots of gorgeous panoramas and onsens - abosolutely beautiful until we arrived at the Lake and Mountain. The village of Haruna was a quaint little town with a few busloads of tourists just leaving as we arrived so we basically had the place to ourselves. Foreigners are not very common outside of Tokyo which I am quickly realising- and the amount of stares we got that day could not be counted on one hand, or two for that matter - its like we're circus freaks and they have never seen a gaijin (non- japanese) person before... Cars slow down- they stop and stare and I have gotten used to it in Tsuchiura cause everyone has seen me now though so they dont slow down , but in new towns where they dont get gaijin visit - very rare and we are amazing to them - especially Krysta with her blonde hair!
We walked around the lake in order to reach the cable car to go up the mountain, but after a few pitstops, the weather declined and it was freezing - so we continued around the lake, back to the township and into a delicious family run ramen restaurant. The owner was very interested in us and we practiced our japanese while we had a conversation which between three of us trying to understand what she was saying, was hilarious but exhausting... After an hour long lunch and an entire conversation in Japanese - we needed a break and headed down the hill on the bus back into Takasaki for an easy afternoon, we headed back to Krystas to chill before I had to catch the train back to Tsuchiura for yet another work week, which brings me to now... Another week at work awaits - but Parent Observations are making us all stressed and you need to qish me luck!!! Thanksgiving next weekend at my place and I cant wait to see everyone and eat and drink heaps at my first full dinner party since I left Australia - so cool!!!
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