On my first day off since starting work I decided I would be a tourist and do some exploring around the city. I grabbed my trusty tourist map and set out on my room-mate's bike. My first stop was a place called Tsurumai Park, which is a short bike ride from my apartment. It is a bit like Stanley Park in that it's positioned right in the middle of an otherwise very urban area (I got some cool pictures which show this juxtaposition). It's a really cool place, with lots of very Japanese-style landscaping. At one point I came across a large group of older men seated around various game boards. I think one of the was some type of Chinese checkers, and the other looked like dominoes. I guess that's what the guys do when they retire. They didn't seem to mind that I stopped to watch.

Next, I headed in the direction of a temple that was on my map. On my way there I came across an area that looked interesting so I parked and went for a peek. The area was called Osu Kannon, the site of a rather impressive Temple (Shinto, I think) and a really cool indoor/outdoor market and shopping centre. The highlights included: 1) a 5-floor anime store, complete with anime-based books, videos, games, clothes and even full-on costumes 2) tons of food vendors , 3) a store called the "Deal Church", 4) a temple in the middle of a mall, 5) a Denny's (nothing like the North-American ones though...or so I hear) 6) a kebab shop and, 7) my first street-side beer vending machine (I'd heard the legend of the street-side beer machine, but this was the first one I actually saw).

In the first of two chance encounters of the day, I ran into one of the other teachers that I had spent my first night in Japan with. He had come over to Nagoya from his city a ways out of town. We did a bit of exploring together and made some plans for winter vacation (which will hopefully include seeing a Pride Fight in Tokyo on New Years Eve).

Just as I was getting my bike to leave Osu, I heard a girl yell at me and come over for a hug. It turned out to be a friend from UBC who I hadn't seen in quite some time (actually the second person from Vancouver that I new from before and have met randomly here). It turns out that she has been here for about 2 months now and lives not far from me. Small world.