Hamby Adventures in Japan

Downtown & Batsu Game

I was introduced to this show and comedy duo when I was in Osaka for New Years. The idea is they are put into situations which are meant to make them laugh. If the participants laugh they are spanked. This is Japanese comedy at its finest. I have been told by everyone this is very popular and I can see why.

This is from the comedy duo “Downtown.” They are from the Osaka region and as they say, “Osaka is not part of Japan and is full of comedians.” One of my favorites, TV Guide and shaming the McDonald’s Manager

I eat curry most nights of the week for dinner since I can make a bunch with a ton of vegetables and eat it all week long. I totally understand what he is getting at in this video with curry.

This is a sketch where a man is stuck in a wall.

Flying lessons.

Star Wars Batsu

We Should Have Leveled Up.

Today I was at the traditional Japanese spring celebration, explain more with video tomorrow, and saw this giant ship at the end of the parade being pulled by twenty or so people. The ship reminded me of my senior year at Transylvania University when all the seniors of each fraternity would run out for bid day. Thinking about our version of the ship and seeing the one they had for the celebration indicated to me we should have leveled up 8,999 more levels.

The ship from the celebration in Nagoya, Japan.

The “ship” from bid day.

Anyone ever see this type of advertisement on the web pop up outside the states?

Tomorrow I should have some photos and video of the spring celebration

New Year Celebration in Kobe, Japan

Over the holiday break I was whisked away for a little tour of Japan. I went with Takuji to Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara. It was great to see parts of Japan I have not seen and to have guides at each stop who knew the small places tourists never get to experience. Everyone wanted me to see a traditional Japanese New Year Celebration so we went to the Shinto Shrine in downtown Kobe. Little did I know there would be thousands of people lined around downtown, vendors selling traditional Japanese and New Year food, and Japanese drummers. I will update the Flickr account soon but this video should give you an idea.
We waited in line and once midnight hit everyone jumped, cheered, and the drumming began. You could hear the drums all over downtown and people would wait a couple hours to get into the shrine. We were very lucky to be toward the front of the line and the police did a great job of crowd control. I wish I would have been more vigilant and captured more video of the drums multiple songs but one will have to suffice and the other songs will live in my memory.

Bowing Deer of Nara

When I was in Nara right before the new year we visited some temples. As you walk around the grounds you see hundreds of deer. They live on top of a nearby mountain and come to the temple ground during the day. They are not shy at all and will nudge you from time to time and scare little kids in the process. You can buy wafers and deer will come to you like you have the last ticket to the UK/Louisville game to give away. If you bow to the deer they will bow back and expect to be fed for the little Japanese greeting. Hopefully the video will show just what I am talking about and Matt gets rammed from behind and violated.

As you can see the deer are not shy at all by how curious they are about the camera.

Happy New Years

I will have photos and video up in a few days of my New Years Eve celebration with thousands of Japanese at a Shinto shrine but for now this picture will have to suffice. I did not send it to Kentucky Sports Radio but it made its way onto the website. For those who read and do not know about KSR, it might be the biggest website in Kentucky and certainly one of the most popular college sites on the internet. The photo is taken at a friends home in Osaka. We were having a Nabe party, a traditional Japanese dish, and we all posed doing the John Wall. Hope 2010 is a happy time for everyone as it should be a great year for me.