Welcome To My Home

This weekend, we had friends visiting us from the UK. Some of my favourite nights out in Japan have involved visitors from abroad. I’ve really enjoyed showing visitors round the city. It’s funny how quickly you develop a sense of civic pride about a place. I was so proud of Manchester when I lived there, even though I had only actually been a resident for a couple of years. Now, I always feel that I really want to show off the best that Okayama and the surrounding region have to offer.

Sometimes in London, you see foreign tourists walking along Shaftesbury Avenue or Charing Cross Road at about dinnertime, desperately looking for somewhere decent to eat. And then, invevitably, they make their way to the Angus Steak House or Aberdeen Steak House. You want to rescue them and guide them off the main road towards Soho proper, but you can’t. Fortunately, this is not something that could ever happen in Okayama.

Okayama doesn’t really have an equivalent of Shaftesbury Avenue. Sure, it has some slightly touristy areas. The Bikantiku area of Kurashiki for example is tacky as hell, full of shops selling junk and overpriced cafes (this is not to slate that area totally as it’s quite pretty and the Ohara Art Gallery is excellent).

Okayama isn’t somewhere that you’d usually visit as a foreign tourist. It has a beautiful garden, some historical areas, a history of pottery craftsmanship and some other bits and bobs. But the Lonely Planet only devotes a couple of pages of the “you could actually spend half a day here” variety. In the end though, a karaoke booth in Okayama is much like a karaoke booth in Shibuya, Tokyo.

So there’s a Hefner song I like with the line “How can she love me if she doesn’t even love the cinema that I love?” That’s basically how I feel when it comes to visitors. If they don’t like the Korakuen Garden or aren’t impressed by the lush countryside I get doubtful about whether we have anything in common really. This shows that a) I am the most tremendous snob, b) I am a poor judge of character and c) If you want to deceive me Hustle-style, you should just, on meeting me, casually drop Pulp b-sides into the conversation until I hand over my bank details and the keys to my flat.

Highlights of the weekend: Lounging in my favourite Okayama cafes, trying blue beer, encouraging others to pay money to try blue beer, amazing yakitori (how did we survive before yakitori entered our lives?), playing an arcade game where you have to overturn a table in an onscreen bar by flipping a piece of wood on the control panel, discovering that Soundbeat karaoke has Rip It Up by Orange Juice.

The above picture of Ted Hughes has nothing to do with any of this but he does have an impressive jaw.

Summer was a long time ago.

I've just come across this video from JefflesinJapan that captures some of the best bits of our Orientation Week back in August. I mainly like this video for a) Beautiful shots of Korakuen,, b) Shiraishi looking like a tropical paradise-It sort of is, but as Jeff implies, it also isn't all that interesting, c) For reminding me of the beautiful, if sweaty, Okayama summer and d) You can overhear me regurgitating jokes from South Park on the walk to the park and thinking myself witty. I am not witty. In any way.

Artsokayama

So, I am no longer in London. I am now in the city of Okayama which is in the south-west of Japan. In exciting news, I am wearing tights today for the first time. Yes-until now I always thought long underwear was something other people did. Older people. However, perhaps it’s the effect of the impending Significant Birthday, but it just seems like the sensible thing to do. I am both toasty warm and ready to prevent all manner of crimes in Gotham City.

I haven’t updated for a long time. That’s because I am lazy. Deeply lazy. You also may have noticed that this is not really an arts scene blog any more. Okayama is not known for its art scene, despite having the odd gallery/museum of interest dotted around. I’ll try and shine some light on those things that I do visit, but this is likely to be a bit more personal and about my day to day life than it was before. I’m also going to try and write in the first person rather than as “Artslondon” as I think that taking that personal element away misses the whole point of blogging. And because the Londonist does that type of thing much better.

So yesterday I handed in my re-contracting papers. It’s a “no”. I will be returning to London in August as originally planned. I did have a brief wobble over the Christmas period as I was having such a good time, going out constantly and feeling very comfortable with my daily lifestyle. In a basic calculation, my day to day existence here is more exciting than my equivalent existence in the UK. However, I have stuff I want to do back in the UK. Not to mention that I’m half of a couple and the Lady has her own reasons for wanting to return this year.

So in the end, I know that I am making the right decision and I am happy with it. But there will always be a part of me which wonders what it would be like to totally change my life, move to Japan, Tokyo maybe, and live a more decadent existence. Maybe the solution is to live that way back in the UK. By decadent, I don’t just mean painting the living room red, although that would be a start.

My life is pretty busy at the moment. Three of my week-nights are taken up with regular activities-football, taiko and Japanese lessons. That means I am keeping myself active through the cold winter period, though I suspect I will cut down on some of these activities when it warms up. I am also really excited about our forthcoming trip to Hokkaido for the snow festival. It’s -14 degrees there at night right now. I may have to double up on the tights.