Official Japan Flashback Day!

I hear-by decree that the 21st of May each year will be "Official Japan Flashback Day"! For some time now I've been having regular flashbacks to any of my three trips to Japan. I had another one this morning, flashing back to hanging out in Osaka, drinking boss coffee (or Asahi Dry Black!), eating kombini chicken karaage and just watching the world go by. It was so realistic that I felt if I could just concentrate a little bit harder I'd go through some sort of portal and I'd suddenly be right there back in Hotel Raizan South, Osaka. Maybe with the addition of one of those movie special effects where the air seems to wobble and shimmer as I port between Brisbane and Osaka.

Guess who this is...

The past two years running I've spend almost all of May in Japan with the 21st of May 2011 spent checking out various parts of Tokyo with my mates Al & Shinsuke before drinking some big talking Polish guy under the table at nomihodai (all you can drink). After a brief stop so I could play silly buggers in a kids playground (hey i was drunk!), we proceeded to the laundromat do our overdue washing before we left for Hiroshima the next day. Unfortunately for him, old Polish mate passed out in the laundromat and in my drunken state I decided we needed to adorn his head with a pair of girls underwear. Despite it being late at night and the laundromat being completely empty the universe did indeed provide! The very first washing machine I opened had a full load of clean washing sitting there all lonesome without an owner in sight. On the very top of the pile was a pair of female underwear sitting right there, just waiting to become the new stylish hat of a passed out, drunk Polish man. The rest of the night is rather blurry (well actually all of the night it is rather blurry) but I recall doing my best Henry Rollins impersonation while wearing only a small pair of gym shorts, then I recall being kicked by the manager who wanted to lock up. The best bit of the whole night was that somehow we managed to account for every item of clothing. We leave none behind!

About the best photo I took of a cloudy Fuji-San

...And just because you probably think I'm a bogan Aussie drunkard after that story I'll tell you about the 21st of May 2012 now. It was a polar opposite day to the year before but just as memorable. For my second trip to Japan I tagged out my mate Al and tagged in my (future) wife Amanda. We caught up with Shinsuke again who kindly drove us out to spend an amazing day around Fuji-san (Mt Fuji). Fuji-san is a very beautiful mountain and I can see why it is held in such reverence in Japanese culture. It really is quite incredible to behold up close and has a very serene shrine at the base of the mountain.We spend many hours slowly wandering around the shrine and watching the clouds roll over the top of Fuji-San from an opposite hill. We finished the day having a couple of beers and eating some Tebasaki (Nagoya specialty deep fried chicken wings). There were no repeats of the 'all you can drink' craziness, the panties wearing Polish man nor the drunken Henry Rollins impersonations this time around.

So this brings us to today the 21st of May 2013 - The first annual Official Japan Flashback Day! The best I could do today was to drag my mate Ben down to the local Sushi Train for some overpriced but passable Sushi. While the company was still good, being in Brisbane and not in Japan was a little disappointing. I think a trip back to Japan (Osaka in particular) will be high on the cards if Amanda & I need a break from the laid back, small town, tropical island lifestyle of Palau.