Bottom left is my friend Yoriko (she's a mercurial player - looks so sweet and "kawaii", even right up to the moment when she smashes the ball? shuttlecock? at your head...) and Manuel, whose curiosity got the better of him, I dare say...However, he was an excellent player, and he managed to handle the usual onslaught of Japanese female gushing with absolutely no trace of humbleness or aplomb...
No no, he was suitably modest...:P
The requisite action shots...I apologise for any blindness caused by my legs. It's the harsh lighting?
Sadly I've had to say goodbye to two good mates...
Jabe and Alexa - they will be (are!) sorely missed...
Also, we have Mike (and a VERY drunk Mike at that) heading back to Canada...
His leaving party Saturday night was typically...well, Mike!?
At JK's Bar in Takatski...
Cash and Seiko...
...and Mark, if you didn't catch that...(the Japanese had some difficulty with "Mike" and "Mark", so he came up with a surefire solution to help 'em out...and to ensure that no-one sat near him...)
Iz was just claiming love from everyone...
However, after this display...*sigh* I'm afraid the magic was lost...
If I serve myself, do I get a discount?
Seiko, Takeshi, Iz's new man, Ivory Coast (real name's Valery, but Iz didn't think that was especially masculine...), and the new kid Catrina.
And what party would be complete without...you guessed it...
(I think we were attempting to sing 'Piano Man'...)
Mark made the near-fatal mistake of falling asleep...
...and I couldn't resist the charms of Cash the Karaoke Cowboy.
6am Sunday morning we finally surfaced...
...and then she sleeps...and sleeps, and sleeps...
The Kiwi Bar
Last Sunday Emma, Iz (being an American, she was the minority for once), Joel and I ventured out to the New Zealand bar and met our gracious host, Tomoharu.
I felt a little tear fall when I saw the vast array of Kiwi beer there. They even had Tui, the King of all ale, so I gently persuaded Isabel to have a taste...
At first she was a little hesitant - one could even say scared...
But of course, the magic of Tui won her over...
The Shoebox
I've had a few requests for pictures of the infamous 'Leopalace Apartment', so here goes...(just excuse the little bits of paper stuck everywhere - French vocab, because my memory is appalling...)
...my, well, I guess you'd call it a kitchen...
...and my bedroom, my head barely misses the roof when I sit up...
