I`m in Japan!

[Golgo_13]

Hi everyone!

I just flew in to Osaka last night. I`ve never seen so many people on bicycles in my life, from young to old. They`re eveywhere.

Today I went and walked around some of the places I lived as a child. A lot had changed. I found an childhood friend`s house so I rang his bell and he came out to meet me but he didn`t remember me, after 30 some years. I left but a few blocks down the street, my friend`s 74-year-old mother came chasing after me on her bicycle--she remembered me. So we went back to the house and we had a nice chat and recalled old times.

I`m using the computer in the hotel`s lobby so I can`t stay on it long but I`ll tell y`all more about my trip in the coming days.

Mad Piero, if you`re reading this, let`s get together this Sunday during daytime if you can make out to Osaka. I`ll be busy after 7 pm. Or I`ll be free next week sometime. Call me at the hotel bro.

 

[Keiichi]

Hi! Cool. Let us know what's goin' on!

 

[Chipi]

oh, wow
Sounds so nice..have a nice time there!
I'm coming too after a couple of months (hope so)

 

[silver angel]

Take plenty of pics for us not in Japan!!! ^_^ Hope you're having a blast!

 

[playaa]

Golgo, sounds fun wish I could leave early!

 

[Elizabeth]

Golgo, sounds fun wish I could leave early!

Me too, Golgo ! :angryfire: Hope I can get a job there ! Is this your first time back to Osaka since having to leave as a child ?

 

[Golgo_13]

Liz,

It sure is. So much has changed, it`s lke being in a foreign country.

It`s day 3 today. (Saturday)

Because of jet lag I`ve been waking up at about 5 am. There`s a nice park near my hotel so I go there at sunrise and do Tai Chi and Chi Kung. It feels great--almost like being re-connected to the energy field of the land where I was born.

Then I went to Denny`s to have breakfast. The young waitress spoke like a damn robot! "Burekkufaasuto ni narimaasu." "Fresh Mango ni marimaasu" "1,450 Yen ni narimaasu". I wonder if she rode her bicycle to work like every live person in Osaka.

The phrase "Narimaasu" that`s often used by young retail and restaurant employees in Japan is grammatically incorrect. Nothing "becomes" fresh mango! I once saw a Japanese college professor discussing this on TV. It should really be "Fresh Mango de gozaimasu" or "1,450 Yen de gozaimasu".

I blew 2,000 Yen last night in Pachinko. I just had to play it once but summarily lost quickly. Then I went back to the hotel to watch "Conspiracy Theory" with Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts on TV. Fortunately, it was only subtitled instead of dubbed so I got to hear some spoken English.

Today I`m meeting some relatives in the Nanba section of Osaka.

On Sunday I`ll hook up with Mad Pierro in the afternoon and see more relatives at night.

Monday I`m going to an apartment project where I once lived for 2 years and see if my favorite 3rd grade teacher is still there.

Tuesday and Wednesday I`ll be in Okayama prefecture to visit relatives.

Thursday will be a free day to do as I please, and I`ll fly back to the States on Friday morning.

Til my next update. Hope y`all are doing well.

Cheers!
Golgo-ojisan

 

[playaa]

Dang! I am so jealous, sounds like you have a objective filled week, hopeing I will have as much fun as you! Hope your safe in your travels and all goes well, maybe bring us some pics?

 

[mad pierrot]

Sakai...

It's a big yakuza place from what I hear.
I'll see ya on Sunday.

Heh, heh, pachinko? Be careful, or you won't have enough money to get back to the airport!

 

[playaa]

What exactly is Pachinko? Sort of like Gambling here in the U.S.? I assume..

 

[Elizabeth]

The phrase "Narimaasu" that`s often used by young retail and restaurant employees in Japan is grammatically incorrect. Nothing "becomes" fresh mango! I once saw a Japanese college professor discussing this on TV. It should really be "Fresh Mango de gozaimasu" or "1,450 Yen de gozaimasu".

Are these the same ill bred young people that go like "Shigoto no hou wa ikaga desuka?" What is that again? Like how in which direction is your work ? :rollseyes:

 

[Dream Time]

Then I went back to the hotel to watch "Conspiracy Theory" with Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts on TV. Fortunately, it was only subtitled instead of dubbed so I got to hear some spoken English.

I don't like dubbed...

I've seen American movies and Japanese dramas that are dubbed in Chinese,
it feels weird that I see their mouths speaking English or Japanese but I hear Chinese...
I also feel some kinda weird when I see Westerners speaking Chinese fluently...

 

[neko_girl22]

The phrase "Narimaasu" that`s often used by young retail and restaurant employees in Japan is grammatically incorrect. Nothing "becomes" fresh mango! I once saw a Japanese college professor discussing this on TV. It should really be "Fresh Mango de gozaimasu" or "1,450 Yen de gozaimasu".

ackt no wonder this place is so confusing. I knew what that meant , as they say it everywhere, but I didn't know it's grammatically incorrect! I just thought it was strange..... ☝

 

[Golgo_13]

Met Mad Piero Today!

Day 4.

Mad Pierrot used up his precious day off from his teaching duties and took a long train ride out to Sakai to meet me.

To all the young ladies of the forum . . . Mad Pierrot is a very nice, good-looking young guy and a perfect gentleman.

I met him at the train station and we took a walk over to a park nearby. I gave him a brief demonstration of Chi energy and he was suitably impressed. You all should ask him what it was like.

Then we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I had gyoza and Rahmen and he had gyoza and fried rice.

Next, we took a walk to a book store in a huge mall to see if they carried the English-version of Golgo 13 manga. Unfortunately they didn`t.

So we sat in a coffee shop in the mall and chatted some more. Then I walked to him back to the train station since he had to be back in Wakayama to meet a friend.

All in all we had a great time, and it was a relief for me to meet someone from an internet forum who was a nice guy. I once met a guy from a martial arts forum in LA and it was a disaster--he was a total jerk.

So anyone else in Japan, the Pierrot Man is completely safe for you to meet.

Piero-kun, Nihon de ganbatte kudasai !!

 

[mad pierrot]

Thanks, Golgo!

Believe me, it was nice to spend a day in the city. The demonstation was cool as hell, too. I really need to find a Qi Gong (sp?) Sensei while I'm still in Japan. To anyone on this forum who doesn't believe in that kind of stuff, it was friggin amazing, and I'm usually skeptical. Take my word for it.

Oh yeah, Golgo's safe, too. He looks like a yakuza, but that's all. :japanese:

It was funny, a waitress at the coffee shop stopped and mentioned to Golgo, "Your English sounds very good."



Enjoy Okayama, and have a safe trip back to the states!

 

[playaa]

Cool that yall had fun.. So what kind of Chi energy demonstration did Golgo do? I am interested in that sort of stuff aswell!

 

[Keiichi]

Sounded like you had nice date, Golgo_13. j/k

That Chi stuff sounds interesting. Yeah, so what exactly did he do? Punched a car from the side into a sidewalk parking lot? Or is it secret stuff? ^^;;

 

[mad pierrot]

The Ki

Well, you have to understand I'm normally a very skeptical person when it comes to this kind of thing. I tend to agree with people like Richard P. Feynman who called soft-sciences "witch doctoring." That being said, I'm open minded. (Most of the time...)

Anyways, back to Golgo's demonstration. After he did a warm-up and such, he asked me to place my hand palm open in front of him. I didn't feel anything at first and was dissappointed. Then he moved his hands closer to mine I felt kind of a shock. The best way I can describe it is to say it felt like a weak battery current. As he moved his hands closer, I could feel it stronger. Weird ****, I have no idea how he does it, but it's definately the real thing.

Then he kicked a car twenty feet into the air.

 

[Golgo_13]

Anyways, back to Golgo's demonstration. After he did a warm-up and such, he asked me to place my hand palm open in front of him. I didn't feel anything at first and was dissappointed. Then he moved his hands closer to mine I felt kind of a shock. The best way I can describe it is to say it felt like a weak battery current. As he moved his hands closer, I could feel it stronger. Weird ****, I have no idea how he does it, but it's definately the real thing.

Then he kicked a car twenty feet into the air.

No, it was a 45-yard field goal.

Had we done the demonstration indoors you would have felt the energy even more. Most people can feel a kind of eletromagnetic field as soon as they bring their hand up. Some have said that it almost feels like steam.

 

[Golgo_13]

Day 5.

The only thing I do not like about my trip is that so many peolpe in Japan smoke cigarettes . . . everywhere. I just had dinner and the guy who sat 2 seats away from me at the counter chain smoked. When I got together with my relatives on Saturday one of my cousins also chains smoked. And my diet has been shot. I have not been able to have any fruit here--stores like 7-11 i.e., Konbini, are the only kind of stores near my hotel to buy food but they never carry any fruit. Only kind of bread available are Wonderbread type white bread, which I hate. No whole-wheat anything here. Or brown rice, which I eat a lot of back States-side. Oh well, it`s only for a fwe more days.

Onward to Okayama Prefecture tomorrow! (it`s jsut east of Hiroshima)

 

[mad pierrot]

Regardless, I was suitably impressed. Hands generating an electrical current is not something I expected.

Heh, @ that super thick white bread. Eating that stuff makes me feel like a honkey.

 

[Golgo_13]

Just got back from my Chi kung practice at the park and breakfast at Denny's. Of all places, they had white rice/brown rice blend at ole Denny's. I also bought some bananas, at of all places . . . the 99 Cent Store, I mean, the 99 Yen Store.

Now I have to go and pack for my trip on the .357 Magnum bullet train to Okayama.

Go West!

 

[den4]

Cool, Golgo....never been to Osaka, meself, but I hear it's more open than Tokyoites are...

have fun....

 

[playaa]

Golgo, sounds like fun.. How is the trip on the Shinkansen with bags? to Osaka, and Okayama, and Hiroshima..

 

[Golgo_13]

Day 7.

Just got back from Okayama. The Shinkansen bullet train was great . . . and fast as "#$%& ! It feels exactly like on an airplane as it speeds down the runway just before take off--I'm sure over 200 mph. The train is spotlessly clean and runs right on time. The seats are like those on an airplane, and the doors between cars open automatically when you step in front of it.

I met two male cousins and one female cousin. The female cousin has a 23-year old daughter who is so pretty I said she looks like a TV idol. I also said it's too bad I'm related to her. Either that, or I could take her to Kentucky or W. Va..

I took a room in a high rise hotel and on Tuesday night there was an earthquake in the Shikoku area and my hotel shook also. BTW, my hotel had free adult movies so I took a look and sure enough there was a couple going at it but all private parts were blurred out. So much for Japanese porn.

I took the subway from the Bullet train station and noticed that during peak hours they have a car set aside just for female passengers to prevent "chikan".