Summer in Japan can be describe using four scenarios....bikinis at beaches, flaring fireworks, supposedly scary ghost stories and the all famous kaki goori....which means air batu campur or air batu kacang minus the kacang, which means it's only air batu....can't say campur also cause' there's only one colour.
Hmm...let's start with the beaches shall we??
Well, beaches in japan is plain horrible...particularly the sand. Sand at the beach is dirt colour. Yea, it's white on the surface but mess it up a lil' and you can instantly see the ugly gray underneath, which is made worse by the waves that come pounding the shores. So, the beaches look like mud at the shoreline and you get an impression that it's dirty. And oh, not only that, you can harvest hundreds of kilos of seaweed from it too! Just go for a swim and your leg and hands will automaticly collect seaweeds for you....how convennient. I don't know if that is good news (your mom actually BUY them right?) but i wasn't that happy to have one the slimy stuff sticking to my leg. Given the dirty sand and seaweed, people still pack beaches...why? Hey! It's summer!! "everyone goes to the beach in summer......it's the best time of the year!!" In japan, it's not summer if you haven't been to the beach. Don't get me wrong though, pack means good. You don't see much mud when there's people around.... and the other thing is that girls here are only wear bikinis (Ooooh yeah, i'm not gonna complain bout this..haha) and guys only wear beach shorts, no swim suits or swimming trunks allowed. Wear one and you instantly become "attraction of the day". I know it because me friend wore swimming trunks there....and he thought he was a hunkie cause' every bikini girl was like, "staring" at him....and so i was at the beach. I eventually avoided splashing in saltwater...the seaweed's hospitality was just too much for humble me, and walk on the shore instead....and uhh, "sightseeing" of course..... hehe.
Beaches are also the place where they sell overpriced stuff. Japanese mee goreng, yakisoba....the kaki goori, ABC...beer....and nothing else. There's like more than 10 stalls there and they sell only these 3 stuff.... "But, hey! It's summer! Who would eat anything else?? " " It's the best time of the year to eat and drink those stuff!".
Japan's summer also boast for it's superb pyrotechnics....or so it's said to be. It's super if you get to big cities and they really do light up the sky but be in a smaller city and suddenly fireworks is something very boring. Well, my place happen to be group under "smaller cities". At first it was okay with big, thunderous ones and pyros that actually have smiley, hello kitty and doraemon shapes. And so I was like......ooh, look at this...ohh, look at that but after a while, it's like....." hey, let's go get something to eat" and "hey, let's ignore the fireworks and play some stupid game". The whole show goes on for an hour and the half but i'd say the 10 minutes show during Merdeka Day in Ayer Keroh made better impression. hmm...maybe it's that i just haven't been to the big ones... "but hey!! It's summer! We've gotta have fireworks somehow....it's the best time of the year!"
Anyway, we had to go back early, the girls' hostel alarm is activeted at 9.45....bummer. Went there bout 7.30 and left at 8.50. That was the moment where i totally lost my mood to do anything else and spend the entire next day swimming in my bed.
Summer also can be quite an enlighting period. This time i think i finally understood the long misunderstood spiritworld. Ghosts and spirits and demons....whatever you call them, are actually afraid of cold. Yup, that's right folks....you read it right...and that's the main reason ghosts' existence and stories only gain popularity during summer. I serious wonder why and have pondered for weeks and finally settled for the idea that they are afraid of the cold. Isn't it so? I mean, Malaysia's hot the whole year and we have pontianak and toyol available all year round right?? Anyway, it's really amazing that even tv stations air these kind of stories only at this time of the year. I've ask many of my jap friends bout it and they said..."Yeah, Why have I never thought of that before!" and one even said..."Hmm...think when i die, I'll be japan's first non-summer ghost but i don't think i'll be scary though..." weird but true...but hey! It's summer!! We've been too busy sweating from the hot weather and we desperately need something for us to shiver about!! it's the best time of the year to listen these scary but funny at the same time stories...
And uhh...piece of advice for those coming to japan, if you ever will....eat Air Batu Campur as much as you want before coming. ABC here is actually shaved ice .yup, just plain, nothing special, shaved iced with only one colour (flavour)....tried asking once..."hey mister, can you please mix up all the flavours, please?"...he gave me one very twisted frown and said..."Can you PLEASE just decide on one??". Totally different from our colourful ones. And they have nothing at the bottom. No kacang merah, no green stuff, no sweet corns.....just plain shaved iced. And they cost you RM10.00 ...not just us humble malaysians but even japs here complain that they are expensive...but, hey! it's summer! who would mind?? Everyone eats this ridiculously overpriced ABC for summer! You have chance to eat this crap only during summer!! It's the best time of the year!!
....please forgive my mood. Didn't mean to drag you fellas down with me. Summer is supposedly the best time of the year...i know i said it many times already, but....somehow, I ended up with only two choices on how to spend summer....go solo or travel round with that MGS girl....who already have a boyfriend. I've never been on a solo travel, it's always been a group or something like that....and traveling with MGS girl...hmm, that may not sound so bad.....anyhow, tomorrow's the last day of campus and I still don't have any clear plans with me. Maybe I'll just "go where the wind blows" ....
