Skatoberfest.

I had a good time yesterday drinking with friends, making new friends, and listening to some Japska (Japanese-ska) at Septemberfest Oktoberfest. As usual, the beer was dear yet the company made up for it.

The group above is called おひつじ座流星群 (Ohitsujiza-Ryuueigun loosely translated as The Constellation Aries) and the keyboard player on the left is a former student and current friend of mine, Kelly.

I just plunked my phone down on a railing and aimed it at Kelly's hands for their rendition of Nat King Cole's Smile.



If you're interested in purchasing a CD of theirs, try Hibinone. I have a copy of it, it's an enjoyable listen. They won't be at Oktoberfest this time around but the imported Oompapah band, ヴァイスビアムシー Veisspiamushi?, from Germany,  are pretty damn good. I even convinced a new friend, Manami, to do a polka with me.

She is also the proud recipient of a devilish mask and I even found the final two Masks that I wrote about the other day.

All in all, a pretty fine day.

Swilling beer, Sausages and Snakes.

Pretty damn good weekend. It started off on Friday night with dinner with my paramour, Hisako whereupon I regifted her a birthday present. Since it was a gift that I'd originally given my mother, I thought it was okay to regift.

She also got a few Totoro items and some James Bond Girls nail polish!

I had a wedding on Saturday and afterwards, I attended the Meat Festival or Niku-matsuri which I coined as the Meatsuri. It was actually quite lame, yet I managed to buy a steak and a few plums. I caught the tail end of a Jazz trio and then on came a YoYoer.

Warning: really loud annoying song follows...



This gal giving out Frisks made me a little frisky. And I have NO idea what the other thing is!

I went home and changed and then back downtown for Junefest Oktoberfest which turned out to be one of the best fests in recent history.

With our new-found friends, I tore up the dance floor and did a 10-minute dance of with a hip-hop boy. I was exhausted from my 30-min. routine and was oblivious to my surroundings. Alex came back from peeing in the bushes to see a crowd gathered around and correctly surmised, "Mike is at it again."

After a few hours of Karaoke at Liga (Alex and my duet of Sweet Caroline is always a crowd pleaser), I popped into Ernies for some desperately needed Ginger Ale and made a new friend. (I may have a girlfriend now, but I'm not dead.)

I decided to retire around 3 until I bumped into pal Apple and ended up in a Punk Bar where I made yet another new friend. Not slimy in the least.

A shot of Dracula's Blood vodka, maybe it'll make a good Bloody Mary.

I'll end today with a heads-up to my Father the Father on this Father's Day.

Oom-Pah-Pa!

I popped into the former location of Yodobashi Camera, now a current location of a summer-long Oktoberfest and quaffed a few overly expensive pints with Alex. This would make a great place for a rave though the music played  today was more Shmenge than Kraftwerk.

Personally, I thought this band was better than the authentic German troupe that we normally get for the occasion. Great yodeler, an Alpine horn player, accordians & bells! Had there been less than the 99% male in attendance and a few more potential polka partners, I might still be there dancing up a storm.

The Oktoberfest August/ Septemberfest is only there until September 2nd so if you'd like a bit of German hospitality, head on down! They serve up some traditional Deutsche fare as well, try some Cabbage Rolls & Coffee, Mm Mm Good!

Sauerkraut!

I partook in the Oktoberfest activities once again on Saturday evening and it was much of the same but didn't seem quite as chaotic as Friday. Perhaps the band members were pooped from the night before or they were instructed to keep the dancing localized around the stage instead of randomly polkaing throughout the hall. The music was identical, the crowd just as rowdy, but it just didn't have the same vibe as the night before. It could be that I drank about a third as much as I had previously...Nah...that couldn't be it.

I'd heard about メロンパン so at lunch today, I decided to pick up some "Melon-pan" from the Melon-mobile. It turns out to be just a sugary doughy round bread in the shape of a melon and has nothing whatsoever to do with melons otherwise. Tasty enough, I suppose, but I was expecting some melony-goodness. I bought two more and divvied them up amongst co-workers and students and they were delighted.

I took some photos of some "Capsule Machines" the other day just to see what was out there related to Halloween. It's cheaper to just click a pic than to buy the goodies but what I did buy will be showcased next month as part of the "2011 Countdown to Halloween!

There's something unusual about this one that I can't quite figure out. Is it the mushrooms with faces? Hmmm, maybe.

Tomorrow is a Respect for the Aged Day, so give me some respect!!
I'll be spending the next two days in Tokyo on the school's dime...woohoo!
Tomorrow afternoon, I'll get my geek on and wander the metro area and tomorrow night, we all go on a Booze Cruise around the harbour.



Unless there's computer access at our Hotel, you'll have to wait for a new update...

It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Wurst Of Times.

It's that time of year again, a time to swill some brew, conquer Poland, eat some sausage and listen to some oom-pa-pa! I wasn't planning to go on Friday but I was cajoled into attending the annual Septemberfest Oktoberfest though admittedly, it didn't take that much arm-twisting.

It wouldn't be an Oktoberfest without an appearance by a Majikal Monkey who by the way has a charity concert coming up in the actual October. Be sure to check it out.

Stay tuned tomorrow for round two.