Earl Grey Beer and Tiger Mosquitos

A few weeks ago, before typhoon and crazy humudity hit, I headed for Mt. Daisen to enjoy the local Beer Fest. Every year the mountain in Yonago is the host for a craft beer festival. The event features close to 75 craft beers from all over Japan, and a nomihoudai ticket for $45, which includes a limited edition beer glass. If you are cheap like me you can just buy a 5 drink ticket (or 2) for around $16, which is more than enough considering this is real beer and not the watered down stuff they normally serve at izakayas. Anyways the beer of the day was definitely the Earl Grey beer. Seems like a strange combination but it was the most refreshing beer I have ever tried!! I made the mistake of trying the banana beer, not good. I love fruit beers, but banana was a bust. The location was superb, as the festival was just at the mountain base. In addition to all the beer there was handmade food being sold and performances throughout the day. Camping is also free for people attending the event, so if you are a Tottori resident it is a must do summer event! One major downside was the allergic reaction I had to the tiger mosquitos at the event. Yes, tiger mosquitos, they are a bug found mostly within Asian countries. My foot swelled up and was itchy in a way I had never experienced before. After two trips to the doctor and the ophthalmologist (my vision became blurry!!) I slowly began to recover. Also the eye doctor is insane in Japan. It felt like a twilight zone episode as I was led into a dusty old room filled with books and told to press my face into a giant round machine while clinic staff watched, all in the same matching pale teal colour uniform. It was so outdated and I felt like a specimen. The appointment ending with them laughing at me because ‘my eyes were fine’. It was bizzare and I definitely can’t wait to be able to go to an appointment next year and actually communicate effectively.

Later that week I stopped at a friend’s Juku (cram school) at her request. She teaches two students from my school and she wanted me to drop in and have some English conversation. The two students were shy, but the boy in particular was quite sweet and tried his best to chat. Overall it was awkward but I walked away with a bunch of gifts including a fan, chopsticks, furoshiki and some natural pressed juices. I made my friend happy, and I probably brightened up some otherwise tiresome lessons.