Osaka Cherokee

I was a alpine guide this weekend up in Nagano Prefecture at a mountain called Mt. Ena (famous in Japanese lore because its the place where the sun goddess first came when she came down to earth). There were thirty five "customers" and four guides so we split them into two groups with two guides per group. They put me and my boy Nakamura-san in group two and made me the lead guy. It was fucking awesome. I was like, "See the badge grandma! You're in my world now! This isn't gonna be a nice leisurely hike through the flower patch. This is death march at the speed of a blitzkrieg. We're here to find spirituality through punishing the body (mi wo korosu jin wo nasu). If you can't hack it stay on the bus. If you can't pee in the woods, stay on the bus. We're just gonna scream out things in English as we pass it. TREE! ROCK! OTHER MOUNTAIN! I hope you didn't bring your camera cuz that's just extra weight that you're not gonna be using. No time to pick up the dead. We'll just roll 'em down during our descent."

One guy in my group came up to me afterwards and was told me he was a country singer and asked me if I liked country music. I told him I like some and that I really like Johnny Cash. He gave me one of those snort laughs and was like, "Johnny Cash? That's old!" What the...?! Japan is the last country on the planet that keeps Deep Purple CD's rolling off the shelves and he's deriding me for liking the man in black!?

Song of the Day: Morcheeba- "Shoulder Holster"