Onsen

Second installment in what will hopefully prove to be a long and annoying series of completely impersonal, mass e-mails. Sitting on tatami mats in my cousin Dereck's place enjoying an Ashahi beer. Have spent the last couple of days with my cousins and we've had a blast. Really great to get out here into the more rural part of Japan (yes they do have trees) and get to see things a little more close up. Vast difference between the big cities and this.

One of the amazing thing we were able to experience here was the Onsen. An Onsen is a Japanese spa / comunal bath deal, fed by natural hot springs. This place was incredible. Can't begin to describe the place or the unbelievable effect is has on your physical and mental state. Went in feeling tired and still slightly jet lagged. Walked out feeling like a million bucks. Liked it so much that we went this morning as well and we're going again tomorrow. Aiden, Dereck, and I are now making plans to bring the concept to North America, making a tidy profit. If not, it has been added to the plans for my dream home. Dorian, you would love it.

And we needed to be revived a bit this morning. Some of Dereck's friends came up with him to Suzanne's last night and we had a bit of a bash. Dereck introduced us to Shochu. This drink, the pride of Kyushu, is essentially sweet potatoe whisky. The oldest woman in the world lives in Kagoshima (where we are tonight) and claims her long life is associated with daily doeses of Shochu. Depending on who you talk to, this stuff can do just about anything. Including get a person highly intoxicated.

So, after many rounds of Shochu, we descided that when in Rome, we must do as the Romans. What does that mean? What else, Kareoke. It's a bit different here though, as you rent a room for your group and don't have to deal with the crowds or prying eyes and ears of others. One hour turned into two and believe me, Japan has never heard such a racket. We had a killer time and screamed ourselves silly. Great time, but my throat hurts and I'm sure a few other people's ears feel the same.

Funny experience too when we walked into the Kareoke joint. Ran into this group of young Japanese kids that were completely inebreated. Just trashed. If you didn't know, Japanese people drink. A lot. And these kids were no exception. I won't give details, but one thing we've discovered is that Japanese people seem quite obsessed with breasts. It's actually the girls, not the guys who are most obsessed. One in our crowd was subjected to a random groaping, by another girl .....

We had a great time at Kareoke, but there was a bit of a somberness at one point. We were looking through the list of songs and I picked one out to add to the queue. Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. As I punch it in, one in our group notices and lets me know that Johnny is no longer with us. Came as quite a shock as it was unexpected and I hadn't heard yet. I've been listening to Johnny a lot lately so this really sucks. Once June went, I didn't think he'd be around long. Still sucks though. A great man and a great musician. Right up until the end, he was making great, valid music. So we gave tribute to the man in Black as best we could, given the state we were in.

Anyway, I'd better get going. We take off for Bangkok on Tuesday, then on to Nepal. I imagine e-mail will come less frequently after that, so not sure when I'll get back to you. I hope all is well with all of you.

Take care,

Justin

P.S. Aunty Muriel, we lit a candle last night when we were having dinner.