The K Experience

Japan, the home of small cars, small streets, small people, small gadgets, small apartments, and small Jazz bars. While living in Takaoka, I was lucky enough to live about a minutes walk away from a great little jazz bar. Little being the operative word here. It was called the Jam House, and was by far the smallest jazz bar I had ever seen, and quite possibly the smallest in the world...

Being a secondary school/highschool teacher is a tough job. One of the toughest jobs there is. Doesn't matter what country you're in, or what you teach, it's tough. Even though it's important to recognize those people that do such a job, more often than not, they go unmentioned. So here's to you guys. Wherever you are in the world...

No, I wasn't pointing a gun at her or holding up her shop, she was just reacting to the camera that I had in her face. Wada San was one of the lovely people I met in Japan, and is living proof that you can find unsuspected kindness in the strangest of places. Not Japan, her store...

This is Her Space Holiday, headed by Marc Bianchi (second from the left). While on a crazy trip to Kanazawa with a few friends, we stopped off at a club that they happened to be playing at. It was off the hook. Probably one of the best gigs I've been to...

Pachinko, a bunch of Japanese people sticking their balls into a machine, in the hope of a big win...

So, I'm standing by a train station in a very small town in Japan, minding my own business waiting for the train, as you do. A couple of girls walk into the station, then walk out again, and then sloooowly make their way towards me and then...

Takaoka, 高岡, the land of mountains, rivers, rice fields, tasty water, fish, beatiful parks, great music, random festivals, and not forgetting, lovely Japanese ladies.

I have already written of the first part of my first impressions, based mainly on the Shinjuku orientation in Tokyo. This part is about arriving in the sticks of Takaoka, well, semi sticks anyway.