Having explored Yokohama sufficiently, we headed down to the rather large Chinatown, which is found closer to the middle of the city. When we arrived we had to walk through one of the four large gates to get into the town. I think we walked through the Goodwill gate, but it could have been one of the others.

Because it was Chinese new year, there were an awful lot of people milling around, waiting for the parade to start. We however had spent the day freezing by the sea, so we were not in the mood to stand around some more. Instead, we started doing what we do best; exploring and eating.

As you can see, the place was packed and everything was very pretty. I just wish Chinese New Year fell in June, when the sun basically never sets and it's warm and toasty all day long. Nevermind.

We decided to check out a few of the souveniour shops along the main street. I realise that this is a very touristy thing to do, but we were pressed for time and very rather hungry, so rather than search out the traditional shops we gave into quick advertising.

After that, we headed to what I think was the main shrine in Chinatown, and fought our way through the thousands of people trying to pray so we could have a look at the pretty decorations. Man, we really were tourists. I couldn't take any photos of the inside of the shrine (people might have got annoyed) but I managed to get some pretty good photos of just outside it, which gives a hint as to how many people were there. Notice the big Chinese parade dragon too. We didn't stay to see them perform but we did get to see them carrying the huge dragon suit through the street.

Eventually, 8pm rolled around and it was time to get some food. We had to wait for some time to get a table at one of the hundreds of large restaurants, but eventually we did. We were then basically assaulted with food. If you made a mountain out of all the food we consumed, mountain rescue dogs everywhere would come out of retirement.

Sadly, we took so long eating our meal that by the time we finished we were so exhausted, we just hopped on the train and headed home. When my mother comes to Tokyo in March, I intend to take her to Yokohama, so I will be able to write Yokohama Part 3 then.

In the mean time, the photos from the school speech contest have arrived! I'll write about it this weekend. (I hope).

Having been for an excellent English-style meal on Saturday evening after our marathon, I came home very late and crashed straight into bed, without stretching or exercising properly. This meant that on Sunday morning, every time I moved my legs, a jolt of pain would run up and down them. That's why it would have been pretty stupid of me to accept our friend's offer of taking us to Yokohama, Tokyo's neighboring city, for Chinese New Year. Only a fool would take up that offer.

So we set off to Yokohama at around 2.30 from our local station (which goes straight there!) and sat on the train for about 40 minutes, dealing with stares from Japanese people and complaints from my thighs.

When we arrived, we were met by another friend and taken around some of the large shopping malls and walkways of Yokohama. The city itself is tiny in comparison to Tokyo, but it still has a sizable population. The important differnece is that Yokohama is nicely spaced out and nice to live in, whereas Tokyo is a case of an angry toddler on a rollercoaster planning a city. Have a look at an overhead map of Shibuya or Shinjuku and try to work out some logic to it.

As you can see, the skyscrapers were still huge, just like Tokyo. However, unlike our lovely city, you can take a photo of just one skyscraper. That's impossible in Tokyo, because the chances are whilst you're lining up the shot, another three buildings will be built right next door. The second photo is a pretty funky statue that we walked under. I don't know what it is, why it's there or what it means but it was very pretty. Finally, the big wheel of Yokohama. Not as big as the London Eye, but bigger than the one in Odaiba I think. (Remember?)

Notice that the sky is very blue in these photos. That is because it was a lovely day. A little cold, perhaps, but a nice clear sky. It's kind of strange that after exploring a few shops and stopping at a cafe, the sky was basically black. My theory is witch magic.

The shopping malls offered similar wares to Tokyo's, but at a much better price. I know I'm coming here next time I need to buy lots of clothes or something. Yokohama also had a Snoopy Town, just like Harajuku!

The next time we stepped outside, however, it was a different story. Night had descended on Yokohama. Or rather, it had tripped and fallen on it. It became bitterly cold, and everyone agreed it was time to head to Chinatown, safe in the knowledge that lots of other people would be there, and it might be warm. But first, we had to take a standard "Look at us! We're at the sea!" photo.

…well, that photo came out badly. Notice the pretty wheel in the background. They light it up at night so people don't walk into it. Or something.

Tune in for part two, when I take lots of pretty pictures of a country I'm not in!

Every year, all the first year and second year juniors (13~14 year olds) run a mini marathon to raise funds for charity. The boys run an 8km race, and the girls run 6km. This year, we chose Refugees International Japan and asked the students from everywhere in the school, plus other teachers, friends and so on to sponsor us to wake up at 6.30am and run alot.

For me, the waking up at 6.30am was much worse than the run itself. The run was to start not at school, but at the other campus about twenty minutes walk away. This of course meant we, as volunteer teachers, should stand on a freezing cold bridge and welcome the ten students who are daft enough to walk instead of taking the train like normal people. Still after standing around, the entirity of the rest of the day felt a lot warmer.

All the students were gathered together in the large soccer field (notice I say soccer, as a lot of Americans read this blog and they think football has to do with dressing up in a large box) for stretches, and a few speeches from the staff. For the rest of this update please count how many times I mention speeches. Trust me.

Once the stretching was done it was time to walk down to the start line. Off we trotted, all three hundred or so of us, to the start of the race. The track was 4km down the side of the Arakawa River, a short stop to get a line of green felt tip pen on your hand as a badge of success, then another 4km back to the finish line. Before we started it was time for another couple of speeches (keeping count?), and two laps around a tiny field as a warmup.

In case you are wondering, the four of us running for charity (left to right; Barney, Matt, Myself & Nakahara Sensei) were not incredibly angry, this photos were just taken with the sun behind the cameraman.

Then, at about twenty to nine, we were off! I had set myself the challenge of running a strong race, so I wasted no time in overtaking the majority of the students. It was interesting to hear “Ooh!” and “Aah!” and “Mike Sensei!” being gasped as I passed, before dropping in behind a group of students in about 10th place.

I feel now I should explain about the eventual winner of the race. He finished the race about 10 minutes before anyone else, never had any competition, and is one of the best long distance runners at his age group in the entirity of Tokyo. So for the rest of this update I am going to pretend he doesn’t exist.

I came in at a respectable 37.06, in seventeenth place. Matt and Barney came in at exactly 45 minutes, but the winner of the teachers was by far Nakahara-sensei, who I think was toying with me a little by just staying ahead of me until the last half kilometer, at which point he taught me exactly what running is all about by forcing to watch him disappear into the horizon. A true lesson in pain. We were then taken back to the school and about thirty speeches were made by various staff members and students.

Anyway, I’m going to disappear for the night now. I have two more updates coming up very shortly. The first is about the school speech contest, although I am waiting on photos to appear before I write that one, and the other is about my trip to Yokohama today for Chinese New Year. I actually had the speech contest before this run but chronology is for losers and history textbooks. Oh, and we finished with a short speech.

I’ve been meaning to write this update for some time now. In case you’re wondering when the eye of the blogging storm will pass, I have quite a few interesting things coming up this next week, so everyone can stop complaining and leave me be!

Anyway, Karaoke. Before I go any further, I feel I should dispel a few myths about Karaoke in Japan. Firstly, each Karaoke establishment has hundreds of private rooms, it is not one Karaoke machine on a stage in a bar. I don’t know exactly how many rooms one place might have, but I’d estimate it at eight floors, twenty or so rooms per floor. You can fit between four (small room) to twenty (large room) people in each one, and everyone’s paying to be there and then paying for food and drinks. You do the maths.

Inside each room is a large TV, two remote controls, some books listing every song on the system and two microphones. One of the remote controls looks like a TV remote, and is used to type in the numbers of songs which can be found in the books. The other remote is a touch screen interactive menu for selecting songs. Once you select it, it joins the queue of songs. Once it’s your turn, it pops up and you sing along to the words whilst everyone laughs.

Firstly, the selection of songs. Different Karaoke companies have different choices, and there are one or two places that have fantastic selections. I always try to test the limits by choosing some really obscure stuff but when ultimately, nobody ever chooses them anyway. Everyone just chooses Bohemian Rhapsody anyway.

I’ve been to Karaoke many, many times since I’ve been here, with various groups of different people. Below I have put the most common three songs or artists for each particular style of client;

Young Japanese

• 1. High pitched, instantly forgettable Japanese pop song.
  Uuuuurrrrgggghh….
• 2. High pitched but slow paced, instantly forgettable Japanese pop song.
  Uuuuurrrrggg (twenty minute guitar solo) ggggghh…
• 3. Avril Lavigne – Complicated.
  Just as bad as the others, but this time I know what’s going on.

Young Foreigners

• 1. Something by The Beatles.
  Japanese people love it, and everyone knows the tunes.
• 2. Something by Britney Spears.
  Japanese people love it, takes no skill at all to sing.
• 3. Anything else from America or Britain.
  Japanese people don’t know it but try their hardest, which is fun to watch.

Drunken Rabble

• 1. Europe – The Final Countdown
  Do do dooo doo! Do doo doo doo doooo!
• 2.
  Nobody has any idea what song they’re singing by this point.
• 3. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
  “I’m going to sing the guitar solo!”

With the majority of foreigners I go with we finish with Bohemian Rhapsody every time. Which is awesome.

I’m sorry there’s no photos but often the rooms are so dark for Karaoke that taking any photos would cause everyone to die from epilepsy. Still, every time I post that I don’t have any pictures, I invariably end up posting some soon afterwards…

*Bohemian Rhapsody*

Howls of disbelief and sorrow could be heard when I announced in this update that I had no photos of me in my Shorinji Kempo kit. It’s just as well then that Leon came along to Saturday training to take lots of embarrasing photos!

Before you laugh, remember that I could kill you. If you stood very still and allowed me to shout out “Ichi! Ni! San!” whilst I tried to hit you.

This is me locked in furious battle with Tomomi-san. She foolishly thinks that by knowing all the moves of Shorinji and being very very good at it, she can defeat me. She would be right if it wasn’t for my secret weapon – my armspan.

This is me getting the move we had worked on just last week entirely wrong. But I can do it now! So that’s OK! Right?! Hey, don’t look at me like that!

Well, that’s it. Sorry it took so long to get these photos to materialize, and I’m fully aware I haven’t updated in a few days. I’m working on an update about Setsubun, which is the beans festival. BEANS!