Memoires of a Royal Canadian Mounted Gopher

I've always been fascinated with travelling to different places. Seeing new sights and learning about different cultures. That's why when I had the opportunity to go to Japan, I wasn't going to pass it up. I've been travelling now for over 9 months and although the experience has been a rewarding one, there's always things you miss. Like your country ...

My name is Scott. I'm a voyager, an adventurer, free-spirited and ... a gopher. I'm Canadian and proud of it. This is my story. I just arrived in Osaka. As I mentioned it's been about 9 months travelling around. It seemed a life time ago since I jumped into that guys (oh what was his name ... slipped my mind) backpack and started my journey. Although my trip has been a rewarding one, there's always something you yearn for, something that reminds you of home. I wasn't sure why I was feeling this way until it suddenly dawned on me. Today is July 1st, otherwise known as Canada Day. That's why I had that feeling of emptiness. Being the proud Canadian as I am ...

"Oh Canada, our home and native land tru ...". Sorry, couldn't help myself. For some reason, everytime I get a funny feeling in my foot like someone is squeezing it, I want to break into song ... very strange.

Anyway, where was I ... oh yes. Canada Day. So, I'm wandering in the Osaka train station wondering what to do on this special day when I spot a familiar sight. A black backpack with a Canada Flag on it. I was so excited, I quickly ran towards the person holding the bag. Dodging all the on coming non-canucks, nearly getting kicked around ... it doesn't pay to be short. Anyway, I managed to catch the guy:

Scott: Hey ... Happy Canada Day, eh?
Man: Huh?
Scott: (rolling his eyes) Down here!
Man: Ohhh ... hey, same to you!
Scott: What's your name?
Man: Joe
Scott: Hey Joe! Where ya from?
Joe: Calgary
Scott: Hey! What a coincidence, so am I!
Joe: Sweet! What are you doing for Canada Day?
Scott: Don't know yet, you?
Joe: Yeah, I'm meeting 3 other friends from Calgary, wanna tag along?
Scott: Yeah!
Joe: Cool! Hop in my bag!

So, off I went with Joe, joining him and his friends. We met up with 3 others, Carl, Colleen and Leanne. Carl and Colleen are a married couple who live in Osaka and Leanne is a free-spirited traveller like me. She's been travelling for about 4 months all over Asia ... Sigh, that must've been cool. I heard something about each of them having nicknames, but I can't recall who was who, but there was Motormouth, Schmeeb, Wet and Babyface ... it had something to do with the Canadian Superpowers Team. Who knows! Moving on ... after meeting the other 3, who of course warmly welcomed me into their home, which apparently was amazing to Joe because I kept on seeing his awstruck face and mentioning something along the lines of "The kitchen is as big as my apartment". The festivities commenced with of course beer (unfortunately Japanese but it will do), nachos with salsa and cheese and of course Canadian music: Great Big Sea, Spirit of the West... I also heard some theatre music, I think these people were actors or something. I guess nobody's perfect. Later on after the beer was finished, I saw them dive into some home made plum liqueur ... I mean hooch (let's stay Canadian here). Joe brought it from where he lives, apparently he's a teacher and one of his students gave it to him. Oh and what's a Canadian party without spending time in the kitchen. After enjoying the wonderful Nachos, we decided to move into the living room and bring out the crib board. Ah yes, there's nothing like saying Happy Canada Day without that famous wood block and cards (with Canada Flags on them). I was waiting for the Trivial Pursuit game to be next.

As the time passed and a few crib games later, we all decided to take the festivities elsewhere. Carl mentioned something about a Canadian style Izakaya (Japanese bar). After a quick dress up and a few Canadian tattoos, we were on our way to our next destination. Apparently, this group decided to make me their leader. Which of course makes sense. After all I am the adventurer and a representatitive of Canada ... I heard something about being short, furry and cute, but I don't think that's the real reason. We arrived at the bar and I must say what a sight this was ... log cabin style, huge Canada Flag outside, we walk in and there were saddle chairs, plaid shirt wearing employees with rubber boots. It was an interesting sight. Of course nothing says Canada like Japanese style food ... oh well, so you can't expect perfection. We spent most of the evening at this pub enjoying the atmosphere. Although, I couldn't help but notice we were the only Canadians in the entire bar. I don't think they realized that today was Canada Day because every time I sang our national anthem, I kept on getting strange looks followed by laughing. Anyway, the night got even more exciting when one of the waiters started bringing out the Bingo. We played a few games ... Colleen even managed to win one of the games and knocked 2000 yen off our bill ... sweet! Well, THEIR bill ... I don't drink or eat for that matter, always on duty.

So, we continued our journey and decided to participate in another Canadian past time ... Karaoke. OK, so it's a Japanese pasttime, but we Canadians are starting to do it more and more, aren't we? There was only an hour and a half before last train, so we found the first place available. Unfortunately, it was the most expensive, but hey ... it was a celebration. I heard that this was Colleen, Carl and Leanne's first time in a Japanese style karaoke. Joe and I were chuckling seeing the amazed looks on their face. They didn't expect to be in a private room. Unfortunately, I didn't do any singing. I couldn't find my favorite songs ... "Oh, Canada" and those songs from the singing hamsters, they're the best! I did watch the rest of them sing one song after another. They sounded great. Leanne also didn't do any singing, she just kept on punching in random numbers. Carl and Joe did a pretty bad rendition of You've Lost That Loving Feeling. But, hey that's the beauty of having your own private room.

The 5 of us took the last train back to Colleen and Carl's apartment and hung out a little more talking. I sat and listened to Joe and Carl having an intellectual conversation about Saturday morning cartoons. Leanne and Colleen were in the kitchen, I think I saw them rolling their eyes a few times as Joe and Carl were continuing with their in depth talk. After watching the 4 of them, I realized that I picked a great bunch of people to hang out with.

The night ended at around 2 am and I heard something about going to Universal Studios the next day ... oh I was there.

The next day was difficult for the other 4 to get up. I kept on blasting my voice with the anthem, but they didn't seem to respond. Finally, Leanne was the first followed by the other 3. After realizing what we were doing today, everyone perked up, quickly got ready and headed to ... Universal Studios or Universal Stadios as they say in Japanese.

The day was not a very nice one ... pretty rainy, but that's Japan. Welcome to the rainy season. None of us cared of course because we were going to ... Universal Studios. But, apparently the rainy season was used to our advantage, Japanese people tend to stay home when it's raining outside. So, that meant hardly any people at the park which also meant short lines on the rides ... very nice. The 5 of us walked into this happy place. Me, in the lead of course followed by Leanne who was the map expert then Colleen who was doing her happy dance. I guess it was her first time at an amusement park. It's funny my foot needs to be squeezed in order for me to dance and sing, for Colleen she voluntaringly did a song and dance ... I'll never understand humans. Joe and Carl joined in of course, cause, well ... they're kids.

Looking at this place, I couldn't help but smile. every building had their little theme. The park was divided into 8 different themes like Jurassic Park, Amity Village, Hollywood and New York. Music from past movies were playing. Shrek and Fiona were greeting everyone as we were walking in. All I can think of was how happy this place was. We spent the entire day ... morning, noon and night wandering around this park going on rides such as Jurassic Park, ET, Back to the Future, Jaws and not to mention that "Amazing" ride Spider-man ... which we went on twice of course. There were also some 3-D shows like Shrek and Terminator (which we have to admit was the worst out of all of the attractions). We ended the night watching an excellent fireworks show. The entire day was fantastic.

So, you're all probably wondering if I ever left this group. Well, believe me I tried. I felt I was imposing on them. But, they all seemed to want me to stay, especially Leanne. For some reason she wanted to take lots of pictures of me ... I think she digs the uniform. I stayed one more day with the group, mainly because they were talking about seeing the sights of Osaka and I never had a chance to check out Osaka-Jo or Osaka castle. Jo means castle in Japanese as Joe kept on telling everyone ... I don't know why though. Anyway, the 5 of us checked out Osaka which I have to admit is quite the city. It does have a great night life and of course lots and lots of shopping especially if you're into name brands, electronics, etc.

As you can see my Canada Day weekend turned out to be a memorable one. I met 4 great people and had the time of my life. Although, I've been a lone traveller for 9 months, I decided that being with friends is much more fun. So, on Monday when Joe and Leanne were about to leave, I hopped into that black backpack (you know, the one with the Canada flag?) and headed back with them.

Now, as I mentioned in my email, I'm writing this on Joe's blog ... but he doesn't know, so I appreciate it if you don't tell him. Oh yeah, I'm also adding some pics I took of the weekend, so you can check them out.