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St. Patrick's Day Parade, Nagoya (Tokyo Photos)
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| Osu Kannon |
Zig Zag didn't close until 3am or so and I woke up feeling a little on the seedy side around 11ish, got myself together and with Guinness hat (thanks Michel) and tricolour headed in to the milds of Osu. Come to think of it, I hadn't been to Osu in about 10 years either.
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| Fire Brigade Bird |
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| A sea of green... |
It is carved in stone somewhere that all things Irish usually start a little late, so it was a bit perplexing to be nearly run over by a marching troop, brass band and a couple of hundred jovial drunks before I'd even reached the temple. Must have been some local influence at work. 3 Irishmen talking bollocks on mobile phones? Hardly! WTF was going on?
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Apparently I'd missed a pipe band, and some folk music etc that had been played a little earlier (in a different part of Osu), but here was the parade. Heading the lovely 500 metre long traffic hazard was Saint Patrick himself. Patrick was no St. Declan when all things are considered but not too shabby a saint all the same. Behind St. Paddy came a few dignatories including a slightly grumpy looking Ambassador(?), the Nagoya Fire Department's brass band et al, some Irish lads, a Japanese piper incongruously wheezing Scotland the Brave out of his bagpipes, some not so Irish, and some whose great great grandmother once had an Irish setter or something. And so on and so forth. Not that it mattered, since St. Patrick wasn't Irish either. It was fun, it was noisy. We should do it again and again. I'd never met anyone at the parade before, the only person I "knew" was Brian Cullen who I'd exchanged an email or two with a while back, but never met.
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The parade was an out-and-back route, so returning to Osu Kannon didn't take too long. Even so, walking is thirsty work. First port of call was "Smash head" - just around the corner from Osu Kannon. A weird kind of place. It is both a bar and a motorcycle repair shop. It was taking absolutely ages to get a pint, so I ordered two to save myself from having to queue up again. Proved to be a typically slick move by Declan, as proved when they ran out of Guinness about 3 minutes later. A few days before I'd just received 6 kegs in preparation for the big all-niter Zig Zag has planned for the 17th, so I thought to myself "piss poor planning". What to do with two pints?
I gave one to a fella I was talking with outside - Barry the Finbar - who turned out to be the same bloke who had told me to head to the "Kannon at two turty" earlier. Ordinarily I'm very partial to a Chimay Blue or a Duvel, but not today, and since the only brews still available in "Smash head" were Belgian or Asahi etc we decided to take a cab to a place called Arco in Sakae. This episode became a lovely showcase in Irish organisational skills, as naturally the place was closed when we arrived since nobody had told them that there was a parade on, let alone that Arco was on the official pub crawl route for the day. We detoured to a cafe & drank Hoegaarden White for a while. Low expectations are the key to happiness, and Belgians always exceed expectations.
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Turns out that Barry the Finbar (his name is Barry, in Japan he is called Finbar) is a Nagoya local, with Japanese wife and kid. I guess that makes the kid as Irish as me. Kokuseki Airurando DUBLIN Shusseichi SYDNEY confuses the hell out of Immigration, as it probably should. Also enjoying a few quiet drinks was Barry the Baker (his name is Barry, he is a Baker) and his lovely wife Mrs Barry the Baker. The Barry the Bakers had made their way to Nagoya from near Ogaki in Gifu, he with his arm in a sling since there had been an accident at his bakery. "I was expecting three people talking bollocks" says I. "I was expecting three people and a dog" says another. We had a lot of fun. Barry the Finbar lamented that the Irish in Japan don't seem to network too well and that there is a high turnover. Probably true on both counts.
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Having woken up with a shocking hangover, the day was getting longer. Mrs Barry the Baker went off to do some "window shopping" (and failed of course), while we headed off for the next round. At Arco (a nice but surprisingly expensive pub, 1000 yen for a Guinness) we knocked back a few pints and some Bushmills, before heading to Elephant's Nest for a few points and some Bushmills, before heading to Bumphy's by taxi. Somewhere along the way (I think it was Elephant's Nest) we picked up a bunch of Germans or Swedes or something. I think this was where I started to lose track of the evening. Sorry again Luke!
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Never been to Bumphy's before, and since I went by taxi still don't have a clue where it is. Turns out that it's Brian Cullen's local. I spotted a Murphy's tap, but cruelly it was just there for decoration. Another "Guinness kudasai & Bushmills choudai". The band "Roast Pork" provided the entertainment. They are a local Japanese punk band that are kind of like the Pogues, albeit with their teeth intact and a tendency to not fall off the stage halfway through a set. Whiskey in the Jar! (download video). It was fun, it was noisy. We should do it again and again.
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Got completely and utterly langered of course. I've no idea how I got from Bumphy's to Nagoya station. There is an unexplained receipt in my wallet so it was probably by taxi. I also don't know how I ended up in Toyohashi because surely it isn't possible when standing up in the train (all seats were taken) to miss your stop by 20 minutes. Must've been sleeping on my feet. I have a vague recollection of asking if there was a train back to Okazaki, but alas. When I woke up the following afternoon I discovered that the taxi receipt for the fare home was a cool 15630 yen.
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