Sorry about the big pause. Busy or lazy...take your pick.

A couple months ago in the paper I get daily, I read about some Van Gogh exhibition over in Shinjuku that sounded like it might be worth a trip. I read the entire article and it mentioned (if memory serves correct) that at this exhibition they were doing something a little out of the ordinary. Apparently Vincent drew a small sort of scribbled drawing, perhaps on a letter to his brother, I'm not sure, that depicted two of his eight sunflower paintings flanking a portrait he had done of Madam somebody or other, I forget her name. Anyway, a museum in Osaka owns one of the eight sunflower paintings and this museum in Tokyo somehow got the rights (temporarily) to borrow the painting of the Madam and another of the eight sunflower paintings from a museum in Amsterdam. So in essence, this museum in Tokyo recreated in reality an idea Vincent had in his head and doodled onto some paper. Pretty cool idea really. I think I also read that they are pretty sure they got one of the sunflower paintings dead on, of course they got the Madam painting right, and they're about 50% sure of the other sunflower painting. Problem with all this is that the sunflower paintings look a lot alike and since he did eight of them, the two in his doodle could be any of them. But they had "experts" look at the drawing and determine this and that, so I don't know, maybe they did get it right. Or maybe Vincent didn't give a damn which of the eight flanked the Madam. That's what I think anyway. But it is always cool to see these paintings by these guys you've read about and/or seen documentaries on. They also had many "flower" painting by other artists, Monet, Renoir, and a few others.

So after that we headed over to the big bookstore and I got three books: two Japanese literature books (in English), and a book on Sake. One of the literature books I started yesterday and is a bit disturbing. It's about some program by the fictional Republic of Greater East Asia for which one junior high school class every two years is selected to take part in. This program consists of taking the kids to an island, fitting them with explosive collars (just in case), arming them with various weapons, and informing them that they have 3 days in which to kill each other until only one is left. Sounds fun, aye? Anyway, I'm not far into it and there are still 38 of the 42 students to read about. So I'll let you know. Book is called Battle Royale in case any of you are interested.
Anyway, the bookstore was quite large and about half of one floor was dedicated to books in English. Some of them were a bit pricey but that's just the way it goes over here, I guess. Battle Royale cost me 1945yen (about $18.00) and I can see on the back of it that it would cost me $15.95 if I had bought it in the States. So two dollars ain't bad. But I did find a Sports Illustrated, that is what? usually 3 bucks in the States, going for about ten dollars. So I didn't buy that or any other magazines.

After the bookstore we wondered over to the Shinjuku Imperial Gardens, paid 200yen to get in, and were treated to a beautiful display of Japanese gardens, changing leaves, and all kinds of trees. It was really nice (and I'm not much of a "let's go walking in the park" type guy). The cool part (to a guy who's never been to New York's Central Park) was that you felt as if you were out in "nature" but if you looked up and over the trees you could see the skyscrapers and other large buildings of Shinjuku right there. Kinda interesting.
So we wandered through it all for about an hour and a half until 4:15pm came along and the loudspeakers told us, first in Japanese and then in English, that is was time for us to get out. Apparently they were bringing in a bus load of teenagers that would be armed and forced to kill each other. No no, just kidding....
.....or maybe I'm not......

Then we had no idea where to go so we found our way to an extremely busy part of the town, wondered around, dodged people, bikes, and cars, and decided it was time for a beer quest. Or I decided it was time for a beer quest. Bars in Japan are either easy or hard to find depending on your perspective. It is easy to find small, hole-in-the-wall places to sit down and drink. But it is hard to find places that feel like a bar should (at least to me) and have a selection of beer beyond Asahi, Sapporo, and Kirin. I'd had enough of those beers in the past few months and was looking for something with more taste.
So eventually we found a small "beer bar" and went in. It was pretty crowded but lucky for me there was one table for two left. So we sat down, the waiter brought the menu over, and I prepared myself for what I thought would be a nice long decision about which beer to get. As many of you know, in America, or let me correct myself, in California, it is pretty common to go into any "good" establishment and have 6 to 12 to 20 beers to choose from, and that's just the "on tap" stuff. Deciding from the bottled selection could take a while longer yet. So I was ready to challenge myself and relish the moments I would spend trying to figure out just which beer I was in the mood for at just this moment.
But worry you not, it took me less that one minute to decide. You see, they only had four beers to choose from (not including the Japanese brands I was sick of). And they were all in bottles. Granted they were good beers to have to choose from, I'm not complaining about that, just that this was a "beer bar" as the sign said, so where were all the beers?
But, oh well, I chose a Belgian White (can't remember the brewery name) that cost me 850yen for a 12oz bottle (that's $7.87 at today's rate) and enjoyed every drop. The place was small but nice. Lots of wood and lots of pictures of famous writers, Presidents, and various other people. We were sitting right under a picture of Ernest Hemingway(perfect) who was standing next to a large swordfish he caught as it was being weighed. It had a line from The Old Man and the Sea written on it too. Amy drank her Vodka and Ginger Ale with lime (called a Moscow Mule) and I ordered another beer, this time a Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout (another 850yen down the old gullet).
About this time Amy mentioned that she was getting hungry and we set off in pursuit of food. But first I wanted to make sure that the train station was where I thought it should be so we walked up the street in that direction.
On our way Amy, to my ever lasting appreciation, looked up and noticed a second floor window that announced Dubliner's Irish Pub (you see, sometimes it does pay to have a girlfriend). So we continued on, found the station was right where it should be, and then went back to the pub.
We ate and I drank two pints of Guinness and the world was a happy bubble in my glass. It was great. It's been many months since I've been in a British/Irish/American style pub, with pub grub type food, and good beer. No, the beer selection, yet again, wasn't that extensive, but when you have Guinness you don't need too many other types. So Amy was my hero for a few hours over that one.

So after the pub we headed back to the station, caught the 8pm train back to Kofu, and made it back to my apartment around 1015 or so. All in all, a great day.

So I do have more to tell you, but as I will be spending three full days at the Kencho this week, I think I'll save it for then. So have a good weekend and appreciate the beer the selection most of you have access to.