Plane Crash in Tokyo

As I mentioned in my previous post, my wife and I returned from Busan, South Korea yesterday morning. As we approached Kansai International Airport we hit a lot of turbulence. It was a really windy and stormy day in Osaka and Kobe and our landing was a little hairy. I personally hate that part of any flight. Taking off; no problem. The flight itself; no problem. The final approach and landing, no matter how good the weather, a problem. It just scared the crap our of me every time. So, after that hairy landing and then our bus almost getting blown off the bridge that connects Kansai Airport Island to the mainland, I was really freaked out this morning when I turned on the television and saw this:

Japan cargo plane crashes



So, I've spent a few hours today editing some of the footage I took while in Busan.

One thing I've been interested in doing and now am, is making a series of videos about all of the great food I have the privilege to eat while living over here in Asia. My videos are about food from Japan, Korea, China, etc. They seem to be getting a very positive response. I suppose everyone likes eating!

Here's my first "Asia Eats" video from Korea.

Asia Eats: Kevin eats Bibimbap


I'll also be posting videos of my former band playing.

Oh yeah, apparently, while we were in rainy Busan for a few days, it was sunny and in the 20's (Celsius) here in Kobe!

Back in Japan

My trip to Korea is all over and now it's time to lick my wounds and let the healing begin. Fun it was, fun indeed! Too much fun at times. A good "liver punishing" is all part of the "Korean Experience" I suppose. I was in Busan with my wife for four days and we got back to Kobe this afternoon. We had an amazing time with all of our friends. I'd have to say that there were three main highlights to the trip:

1. The Hermit Kings reunion show (that's my old band).
2. Hanging out with all of my old friends!
3. Korean food (we ate a lot of great stuff).

We were staying at the Novotel along Haeundae Beach. Although the weather was nasty pretty much the entire time we were there, it was still nice to be so close to the water.


On Friday night, the Hermit Kings had their reunion show at Soul Trane in PNU (Pusan National University) area. It was cool. It was the first time I've played drums in almost 2 years.

Of course, a major part of any vacation is the enjoyment of food. We had some great stuff and I took a lot of footage. I'm planning to start making more "foody" videos on my You Tube Channel from now on and later this week I'll post a few about some of the awesome food I had in Busan.


Check out this little treat I picked up at the duty free shop. That's right! Soju chocolate. I'm pretty sure it will be nasty, but I had to buy a box.


Here's a little taste of what I saw in Busan!

Cool Machines - Korea Short Video #2


More videos and pictures to come in the next few days!

China Town Snacks and St. Paddy's in Kobe

For all of you out there who are not on any sort of vacation,let me first begin this post by apologizing. I am now officially on vacation and started the whole thing by going to work this morning. What? That's just plain stupid Kevin! Yes...I realize that, but I had to tie up a few loose ends I left on Friday. By 11:00am I was on my way to downtown Kobe and, more specifically, Chinatown.

I simply love little outings to Chinatown. Whether with my wife or by myself, a chance to sneak off to Chinatown for some great street food always puts a smile on my face. Kobe's Chinatown is known as Nankinmachi and is located in the Motomachi area of downtown. STreet food is plentiful and affordable; a great combination.

At lunchtime today, I went there for something called Guo Bao. In a nutshell,Guo Bao is a steamed bread and sweet pork sandwich. I've read about it online and some folks refer to it as a Taiwanese pork sandwich.

Here's what the little beauties looked like. They were 400yen each at this shop, but I bought mine for 200yen at another shop further down the street.


Good stuff.


I of course took the time to make a short video blog about the occasion.

Kobe Eats: Kevin eats Guo Bao

Check out the original here.


I'm tossing around the idea of doing a more frequent food based vlog. Of course my BusanKevin channel is all over the place, but I'd like to do more food-type vlogs.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. From what I gather, aside from a parade in Tokyo yesterday, it's not really much of an event here. I'm sure at the local foreigner pubs, there will be a lot of folks, but I'll celebrate at home with a can or two of Guiness.


Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

I'll be off to Korea on Wednesday morning so I promise to take a lot of cool footage and post some entertaining vlogs on my You Tube Channel.

Almost time for Korea

One day of classes left and then it's pretty much all said and done. Friday is Graduation at my school and then it's time to relax for a few weeks. I'll be siting in Busan, South Korea in exactly a week from now. I'll be there for 5 days and plan on a reunion show with my old band "The Hermit Kings." The majority of the original band is still there and we'll play a gig at an undisclosed (I will disclose it as soon as I know) club in Busan.

Life in Kobe is still great. The weather is warm and Prime Minister Taro Aso still has a gruff voice and wears too many pins on his suits!

Today, during my break I wandered through a neat little neighborhoodclose to my school. I say "neat", but then again, I still consider most little neighborhoods in Japan "neat."

An Old Japanese House


Although I have no burning desire to become reacquainted with Korea's "famous" drink, soju, I do plan on reminding myself just how bad Korean beer really is! Luckily the Korean won is in the toilet at the moment (not so good for all of the ESL teachers there), so my Japanese Yen will go really far! That's a lot of cheap beer and grilled beef!

Soju. Some of what Korea has to offer that I'll pass on!


Galbi. Some of what Korea has to offer that I ABSOLUTELY love and plan to fill up on! Galbi-jibs of Busan...here I come!


Although it was again a slight change from my normal style of video blogs, I recently posted a video I called "Fear." It was another attempt at a "light" video. It has gotten a great response so far. Hope you enjoy!

Fear

You can see the original here on my channel.

Now, it is coming up on St.Patrick's Day all around the world and here in Japan. The Japanese really love the drink of course and are quite fond of Irish style pubs and Guiness as well. I'm not sure exactly what happens in Kobe or Osaka on St. Paddy's Day, aside from he various pubs holding parties. Since I'll be heading to Busan the following morning, I plan to just stay home, have a few pints of Guiness in the comfort of my living.

Here's a little about what you can do if you happen to be in Tokyo this Sunday, March 15th.


Tokyo’s St Patrick’s Day Parade – It’s a long way from Tipperary

TOKYO —
On Sunday, March 15, Omotesando-dori will be transformed into a bustling Celtic cultural fiesta. This year’s St Patrick’s Day parade is sure to be one of the best in years with over 2,000 participants and some 30,000 spectators expected along with dignitaries from Tokyo’s diplomatic community.

This fun-filled international parade offers a unique opportunity for all to enjoy the delights of Irish music and dancing, Celtic art and design, colorful paraders from throughout Japan and a even a chance to sample a free glass of Guinness or Baileys – two of Ireland’s finest liquid exports. Read More at JapanToday

Vacation, Graduation and Life in Japan

It's officially been 1,000,000 years since I've made a post on this blog. Apologies, apologies. I suppose I've been concentrating mostly on work (it is the end of the school year crunch time), making videos for You Tube and organizing the first You Tube met up in Kansai. It's actually going to be tonight in Osaka. Should be a great time. Some of the You Tubers who I knowwill be there include: BusanKevin (moi), kansaipj, kkajapan, sydermurphy, thatjapanesegirl, renoldsair, platonicmojo, jnmorrison, Takarcuka Tim, and many others I'm sure.

Some interesting things have happened recently. March 3rd was Hina Matsuri 雛祭り, or Girl's Day here in Japan. I only have 2 girls in my class, but we used the afternoon to make Hina Matsuri crafts. It was very cute, the boys made their crafts and then gave them to the girls.

Here's a little more info about the festival.

The Japanese Doll Festival-雛祭り

This video was made by Gimmeabreakman, a well-known Japan video blogger.


I'm also very excited about the fact that next Friday will be my last day of work before Spring vacation. The Japanese school year ends in March and begins in April. I'm teaching at an international school, but we use the Japanese school cycle. I'm pretty excited because I'll be heading to South Korea for a vacation with my wife. We're going to Busan for 5 days. I'm really looking forward to it since both my wife and I have many mutual friends still living there. My old band will be having a "reunion" show on Friday, March 20th.

I think the thing I'm most looking forward to when visiting Korea (aside hanging out with my friends) will be the food. I'm really looking forward to filling my stomach with galbi (Korean bbq), anyong jimduk, bibimbap and many other things. I'll stay away from thesoju, but plan to bring a few bottles back to Japan as gifts!

Here's a video of my old band on my last night playing with them before I left Korea 2 years ago.


Hermit Kings in Korea (BusanKevin on drums)

I was the drummer...BusanKevin. For all my You Tube subscribers, now you know why the city "Busan" is in my username.


Recently, I've been enjoying a podcast based in Korea. Seoul Podcast is entertaining and fairly relevant for anyone who teaches in Korea, has taught there or would like to in the future. I'd recommend checking it out. Each podcast is quite long (between 2-3 hours), but interesting. I really enjoy listening to it when I'm out running.

The guy who runs this podcast is a fairly well-known blogger. He has a very cool blog about Korean food. Check out Zen Kimchi.

That's an owl in the supermarket!

Weird thing just happened. I ran out to the supermarket with my wife to pick up some things for our lunches tomorrow. As we stood in line waiting at the checkout, a small commotion began. The woman in front of us in line started speaking to my wife. I was confused. Asked my wife what was going on and she pointed to the front of the store (close to us).

There, close to the checkouts was a man, maybe in his 50's, wearning rubber boots and holding an owl by the wings. A real owl. A live owl. He stood there for about 10 minutes and then walked away. He apparently had found it somewhere close by (injured I assume) and was waiting for the police to come. I'm sure the local police would have no idea what to do with it either!

Of course, this was about the only time in 6 months that I didn't have my camera with me. Normally i put it in my pocket every time I leave the house. Tonight I thought, "Nope, I don't need it." I wish I had brought it.

Suntory whiskey and big boats

It's been a busy week. Valentine's Day and a trip he the Suntory Yamazaki Whiskey Distillery all on Saturday. Good stuff. The Yamazaki Distillery is a stones throw from Kyoto and was a great tour. Although in Japanese, I had an English translator device I could wear around my neck. I'm really not into whiskey too much, but it was cool to see how it's made and have a few drinks.



Earlier in the week we had a day off. Last Wednesday was National Foundation Day. Mai and I hung around in Sannomiya and then wandered to the waterfront in Kobe. There was a very cool tall ship called the Nippon Maru docked close to the Oriental Hotel. I love ships like this. Growing up in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, we would often have tall ships come to our harbour during the summer. I often daydreamed about being a crew member on a ship like this.

Unless they let me wear a pirate hat, I don't think I'd be wiling to do it though!

1000 subscribers!

Yay! Just a short post today. It's National Foundation Day here in Japan which means it's another public holiday. I'm not complaining at all! I'm quite happy, especially since it falls directly in the middles of the week.

So, news in my little world. As of last night, I finally reached 1000 subscribers on my You Tube channel. Once upon a time I used to focus most of my energy on blogging, but the inner clown in me finds it likes to perform in front of the camera. I spend a lot of time making videos and have a lot of fun doing it. If you watch my channel, you'll know they're mostly about aspects of my life in Japan.

Do Monsters Like Poo?

Quick excerpt from a conversation yesterday between myself and one of my students:

Student: "Mr. O'Shea."
Me: "Yes."
Student: "Do monsters like poo?"
Me: "I don't know. I think some might, but most probably don't."
Student: "Do monsters drink poo?"
Me: "No, I don't think monsters do that."



Yep. It's too weird for even my creative brain to make up! Previous to this discussion, my class was watching the movie Monsters Inc. In one scene in the movie, a monster was drinking a cup of coffee. Some students argued that it was coffee, while others thought it was feces! Kids can have a warped way of looking at things sometimes!


On another note, I posted a video this morning on You Tube showing some of the problems I've faced over the years that I've been abroad when it comes to speaking on the telephone. It's amazing how much we rely on nonverbal cues when speaking to someone who doesn't use English.


Culture Shock: The Telephone

Here's the original.


Ah....tomorrow morning I'm running in the Kobe Valentine's Love Run. That's right!! I didn't make that name up either. That's the name of the race I'm entered in. I'll be running the half-marathon starting at 10:30am.

Watch out for the Demons!

Today is Setsubun and it's almost over. I spent part of the morning being pelted with soy beans. Oh yeah; did I mention I was dressed as an "Oni", or a Japanese demon. Each class in my school took turns pelting the beans at me in order to "symbolically" drive away the evils of the year and welcome in good things.

One Japanese tradition is to eat soy beans after you've pelted them at the man dressed as the "Oni." You're supposed to eat one for every year you've been alive. I was apprehensive at first, but once I began chomping down on these little brown things, I instantly realized that they taste pretty awesome.

Another tradition for many Japanese people on Setsubun is to eat "Norimaki", which is a sushi roll. When I came home from work, my lovely wife had one for each of us as well as a special miso soup and a large sardine to eat. All traditional food for the day and it was pretty damn delicious!


This was one of my students' lunches today. Her mother had prepared this at home for her. I love the rice, in the image of an "Oni." Very cool dtuff indeed.

By the way, it was amazing how so many students were able to throw beans into the eye holes of my demon mask. Wow, some of them really stung!