Chasing the Sun

(stay tuned)

2010-06-03T14:41:00.000+09:00

Fans of Chasing the Sun, thank you for your continued patronage. I appreciate the lasting effort that you've made to keep up with me. Recently I found the file that has all of my writings from Japan and I decided to finally finish my blog. The problem now is arranging the pictures and providing subtitles. I have the general narratives still, but the pictures are difficult to resize/upload/link and subtitle. To make it worse, Imageshack is making me mad with their inconsistency. I'll do my best though, so stay tuned in the coming days for the thrilling conclusion to Chasing the Sun!

The Greatest Adventure...

2006-08-07T12:58:00.000+09:00

I can't help it. I'm incredibly excited! The opportunity has finally arrived, and I'm taking it. Damnit, for better or worse, I'm going on a journey alone tomorrow. I just know this...

Nagoya
Kobe
Kyoto
Osaka

I've got four days. I've made a list of places I really want to see in each city, but that's the only planning I've made. This is going to be a sort of personal experiment to see if I can survive traveling by myself in a foreign country while being extremely happy.

ganbarimasu.

Elisabeth and I say Goodbye for the First Time

2006-08-05T00:04:00.000+09:00

I don't know where to begin. Days and nights melt away, but tonight will undoubtedly stay etched into memory for some time. I don't want to be overly dramatic though. I just think every adventure needs an end, even if just a symbolic one.

Tonight, IFL threw a bai-bai party for Elisabeth and I. It was a really nice gesture, even if they've thrown them for a lot of the other folks before us. They put a lot of work and preparation into it, which was very nice of them. I let Elisabeth take most of the attention, because she deserves it. She's one of the nicest people I know.

We went to a little pizza place, all 20 or so of us. Some people like Yuji, who I haven't seen in a long long time showed up. There were empty spaces in my mind for others, like Eli and Ken, who are long gone by now. But still, I'm very appreciative of those who came. It was lovely.

I still can't believe that my time here is coming to an end. I feel silly saying so again and again, but I really can't believe it. I haven't even begun the real journey of my life, but I'm already leaving people behind.

For example, I'm going to miss Akane, who presented me with my IFL book, which everyone in IFL wrote in and signed. She brought me some pretty origami paper just because I mentioned it casually last week. It's hard to find truly selfless kindness in America. It's also hard in Japan, but I got lucky by getting lumped into a group of people who, out of obligation or genuine feeling, made me feel appreciated just for taking up a little space at their lunch table every day.

I'll miss Tony, Jun-yon, Yuuko, Eri,... I could go on for a long time. I'll miss everything about this place.
It's so...

Ahh, I'll continue the narrative. We left the pizza place, books in hand and alcohol as well (woo!) and went to a nearby park. There ALWAYS seems to be a park nearby when you need one in Japan!

(I don't know why I'm doing 'the shocker')

Well, many of us got slightly drunk, but since my last experience in a park (look back a few entries!) I decided not to drink very much. Instead I spent most of my time going from person to person and thanking them in broken Japanese.

I did however drink some delicious sake that Elisabeth apparently won in a Japanese essay contest some time back. She was very kind to share it with us, and I was surprised that she opened the bottle for just this occasion. I would keep such a prize till the grave or my wedding, whichever comes first. I'm glad she did though, as it was flavored delicately.

We rode back somewhat tiredly together, not really speaking very much. I'd love to visit her in Belgium if I had the opportunity. Elisabeth has a powerful presence, not in force but in gentle kindness. I'll miss her too. Lots.

I'm glad I've gotten this time to write this down here, even if I'm the only one who will appreciate it. It's good to remind yourself that people care about you though, even if you're thousands of miles away.

Ascending Tokyo Tower

2006-08-04T02:18:00.000+09:00

It's hard to write about experiences that you know many others have had and still feel justified in describing them. I know thousands have gone to Tokyo Tower, but I know millions of others haven't, so I guess I'll do my best to describe my ascent up the thing.

I arranged to meet Yayo at Hamamatsucho station, though I had never been anywhere near there before. I thought it would be easy to navigate the way to Tokyo Tower, because it is, after all, about a thousand feet tall. Still, as I looked around the different exits of the station, I didn't know where to begin. There were lots of beautiful gardens in the surrounding area though, so at least I had plenty to look at. Tokyo is so wonderful in its manifold secrets.

Yayo arrived and we were off. Thankfully she knew where to go and pretty soon I could see Tokyo Tower yet again looming in the distance. It looked short in the distance, but soon it became much larger.

We stopped at Zoujouji temple, which seemed to be directly in the way of us and the tower. It was a delightful detour though.

This is just one of several beautiful images on the grounds. There was even a tree that was planted by George Bush (the senior) during his famous vomit trip to Japan. The temple complex had such a nice feeling too, so we stopped and talked for a while in a nearby park. She talked about wanting to visit America, and I talked about wanting to stay in Japan. So it goes!

We tried to walk around the temple to continue, but it wouldn't let us past. Instead we had to walk all the way around it, which was tiring. And then finally...

...we made it. It was actually quite large from the bottom looking up. It went on and on into the sky. There wasn't much time to spare though, because we had to get to the top before sunset. We headed in and bought tickets to go to the very top. I thought, 'why stop halfway?' I may never get another chance to go into it.

The elevator attendants welcomed us with a curt smile and a gesture from their white gloves. And up we went in the elevator, up and up into the sky. I didn't know what the view would be like, but I'm used to heights. I knew it wouldn't be like Fuji but what is?

We looked out of the glass over the city on all the sides. As if on cue, the sun began sinking behind the Tokyo skyline, turning it a beautiful array of colors.

Candid.

Colorful.

I think about the sun a lot these days. I chased it over the ocean to this land and soon I'll leave it behind when I return. I'll leave a lot of things behind when I return.

I don't think I can continue my narrative, because at this point I just really want to think about it and dream a little. There are thousands of energies pushing us this way and that in this old world, and I don't think we should try to understand how or why. We should just sit back and breathe in the sweet air, breathe out the bad, and enjoy every moment of it that we're given. It's good to be alive.

Kana and Karaoke... DOKI DOKI!

2006-08-02T00:44:00.000+09:00

Today was fantastic! I called Kana and arranged to meet her in Harajuku for lunch and karaoke. I couldn't wait to see her honestly, because I love Kana so much. It's not nice to say that someone is your best friend when you have so many amazing friends, but already I miss her and I saw her today!

It was my first chance to wear my cool new shirt that I bought with Yayo in Yokohama, so that was fun too. I love Japanese clothes so much. My UNIQLO pants fit me like a glove. It's so hard to get good fitting skinny jeans in America unless you pay a LOT to get them. I feel really good in my cheap UNIQLO pants though, because they're so worth it.

Anyway, enough about the shirt. Kana and I went to a coffee shop and talked about all kinds of things while a pianist played Ghibli songs on a piano next to us. Doutor is a really wonderful coffee shop.

We talked about going back to America. We talked about Kevin. I talked about Yokohama, my haircut, Yayo, karaoke, harajuku, etc etc etc... but it was time to go shopping. I wanted to buy some sunglasses and Kana needed something herself, so we headed to the teenager filled madness that is harajuku. Before today I had never been to the other side of harajuku, the side that most people would think of first. And yes, the rumors are true.

Okay, imagine that you're walking down a narrow path, probably fifteen feet at most in width at any given time. Now imagine that there are dozens of booths, shops, gothic boutiques, and strange adult places lining the walls of this path. Now add about a thousand people in that path wearing everything from gothic lolita to gyaru style. Lets see,... I'll add the sound of loud J-pop in the stores and the smell of crepes and coffee to the mix and voila. You have harajuku.

I loved it though, though Kana seemed a little disturbed. She said it had been a frequent spot during her youth, but now (as if she's old!) she doesn't shop there. I could tell that most of the people were middle to high school aged, so I understood. But I still felt great to be there, an observer of such a strange hive of activity.

Kana and I found some sunglasses for me, which she said made me look like Gackt(!!). Hahaha. I guesssssss... maybe if you scrunch up your eyes until everything is really blurry, THEN I'd look like Gackt. Hahaha.

We did purikura together, which is a true sign of friendship in Japan. I'll always cherish the picture of Kana bowing in awe before me while I do my best Gackt-impression. It says "GACKT?!" in big letters at the bottom. If I had a scanner I would love to show it.

Then, full of happiness and laughs, we were off to the nicest karaoke place I had seen in my time here. Most karaoke places are at least a 3 to a 5 on a possible 10 points scuzzy-factor scale. This place was about a 2. It was still dark, but everything was clean and fashionable. The prices weren't too bad either, which made me feel better though Kana insisted on paying for me.

Kana and I sang everything we could think of together. You can see how seriously I take Karaoke from the picture. haha. It was grand though, because it was just the two of us singing songs to each other. In another time and place it would've been very romantic, to be honest. But I didn't sing too many romantic songs to her. They were mostly things like the perennial favorite, 'Linda Linda'. I sang her a Rick Astley song though, because she loves him so much. Arg, I already miss karaoke. I hope I get to go again before going back to America, but somehow I doubt I will.

I look drunk in this picture, but it's just me being happy.

I felt sad returning to the dorm. The train ride just seems to get longer and longer. I fall asleep on it all the time now. Maybe I'm becoming Japanese, or maybe I just want to dream a little longer.

Sleeping In

2006-08-01T17:27:00.000+09:00

I feel terrible for saying it, but some days you just need to sleep in. Even when you're in a place as fantastic as Tokyo on an island as wonderful as Japan, some days it's impossible to leave your bed/room/dorm. I stayed in today, only visiting Jun-Yon and the cafeteria. I think it's because today was the day I was supposed to be returning to the US of A, but here I am. Many of my friends have left, and my Japanese friends seem busy. I'm a little depressed, to be honest.

I realize that I need to make the most of the short time I have left, but without classes and other routines, it's so easy to sink into stagnation. I'm planning a trip soon though, so that'll be grand.

Here's a fun picture I took though when watching Howl's Moving Castle on TV...

Notice the Calcifer doll! I got that for mom. I think it's great that I caught both it and its on-screen namesake in the shot. It also shows my hyaku-en detergent, ghibli bag and osake fan, all on that wonderfully flimsy bookshelf of mine.

OH! I forgot to mention. Hashim gave me his TV! That should be obvious by now, but it has been really nice watching 14 channels of Japanese TV joy. There are some days when it's tiring, but I wish I had had a TV this whole time. I would probably be a lot better at Japanese!

My Japanese Haircut

2006-07-29T23:42:00.000+09:00

It came to my attention that I've been putting off a haircut for far too long. Kana was nice enough to take me in for a trim in the station about two months ago, but since then I haven't been back. It's a shame too, because so many of my friends put a LOT of work into their hair! Jin seems to have a new style every week. But, I've been careless and let it grow too long. I was looking at the pictures of me from Yokohama, and I think I'm in desperate need of a cut and style... a real cut and style.

I don't know what to expect to be honest, because I'm not even sure my Japanese is good enough to explain what type of cut I want. I think I want a short style, but there are so many others to choose from.

It can be argued that the "ideal" of Japanese male beauty differs greatly from our rugged Brad Pitts and Russell Crowes back in the states. Rather than having unshaven masculinity, they more often lean toward a look that is more refined and polished. This often leads to a more feminine quality. Needless to say, while I appreciate it, I don't necessarily want to look more feminine. I don't think it would work if I tried!

Everyday on my commute to and from Rikkyo, I have to pass by several different salons. It seems like Shakujii-kouen is filled with them. The pictures of men on the doors and windows of these salons look very much like that picture I posted above. But, I took a plunge and randomly walked into one earlier today.

It was strange at first, with a nervous old lady taking my name and making me sit in an overstuffed chair. They all smiled really big and kept saying "one minute please!" in overly polite Japanese. I felt strange, being the foreigner in yet another new situation. I smiled back while leafing through a Japanese hairstyle magazine.

The selections didn't look too promising. There weren't many styles that would work with my 'gaijin' hair. I eventually found a picture of a rather attractive guy with short hair and put my finger on it to mark the page. That was the one.

The prices were listed on the wall, ranging from $30 to... lets see... 10000yen, so... $90 or so. It may be expensive by American standards, but it really wasn't that bad in Tokyo ones. There were other salons nearby that cost twice that. This place was obviously a family owned business.

To illustrate that point, the ancient lady who took my name and offered me tea was accompanied by an even more ancient mummy of a man who gave another patron a really relaxing looking massage. He didn't look at me a single time in my visit. Instead, a younger man with tight Tokyo jeans and well-pampered hair handled me. He asked first "is Japanese okay?" and I nodded yes.

I tried desperately to explain what I wanted my hair to look like. I just said the Japanese word for "short" and then "cut" and then "hair" and pointed at the picture. The guy smiled and laughed at my flustering. I don't blame him. He probably cuts the hair of deaf mutes every day. I might as well be one with my Japanese. He seemed relaxed and surprisingly masculine in his actions. I say surprisingly because of the stereotype we have in America about male hairstylists that is sadly usually true.

And he asked about how long I've been in Japan, and I was sad to report that I'd actually been around for much longer than my Japanese level suggested. But, he was mostly business and after a small shoulder massage, two shampoos, and a flurry of activity, I was done.

presenting...

...the best haircut I've ever had in my life. It's light, it's short, and it feels great. I think I'm one step closer to being less of a gaijin and more of an American gaikokujin. Huzzah!

Adventure in Yokohama!

2006-07-28T14:28:00.000+09:00

I've been planning for some time to visit Yayo's home city, Yokohama, which is only a 30-45minute or so trainride from Tokyo. So, we made plans to get together for the day and go around Yokohama. Like usual, I got lost and missed a few trains. I keitaied her a few times to tell her, but she was still mad when I finally got to Yokohama. I agreed to pay for dinner in exchange. That was a bad idea, but I'll get to that later.

We decided that first we would visit Chinatown, because Yokohama is famous for it. Yokohama has a really large Chinese community, and as you know the Chinese diaspora try really hard to both maintain their Chinese identity and simultaneously destroy it for tourism.

But, all in all the Chinatown was really impressive. We got niku-man (a chinese meat bun) and walked around some. Unfortunately, I have been stuttering a lot lately, so I was really embarassed. I stutter in Japanese a lot now, just like I used to in English. My English is fine, but for some reason I was completely unable to say "futatsu onegai-shimasu..." to the lady. So, Yayo ordered for me and asked what my problem was. She laughed at me. That wasn't really nice, but I know she doesn't mean to hurt my feelings. So, it's okay.

We visited a Chinese Buddhist Temple, which was a weird mix of Chinese Popular Religion and Buddhism... there were some really nice Chinese dogs outside of it, so I had to get a picture for my mom.

Then we walked through downtown Yokohama by the city hall and large buildings. There was one of them that I found really interesting. Yayo said its name was "Jack" after the card. There was also a "King" and a "Queen" but Jack was by far the most interesting. It was obviously built by foreigners a long time ago and preserved ever since. It was so strange to see such a beautiful older Western-style building in the midst of the city. Yayo said it was one of her favorite buildings.

It was actually really hot too while the sun was out. There were all types of people out on the street too, but not nearly as many of the subculture folks as in Tokyo, of course. The sea smelled strangely sweet while we walked between the buildings.

When we got to the harbor area we came to another really interesting set of buildings. These were used for shipping and trading with foreigners in the post-Perry's days, but now they have been converted into an expensive stripmall. It was really confusing to walk into such a strange looking building and find a boutique.

And then we went to the shore. Ahh the Pacific, we meet again! It was actually pretty dirty in the water, but I was just glad to see water. The air seemed fresher than it was in Tokyo, but maybe that's just an illusion created by the "newness" of the place. I'm sure if I lived in Yokohama, I would be sick of it.

Yayo and I decided to see a movie (Pirates of the Carribean 2 with subtitles, haha!) but had a lot of time to spare. So, we loitered around the mall for a long time. Here I am doing my best "hard gay" impression! If you don't know who hard gay is, look him up... actually you may not want to. He's a Japanese comedian that thrusts his pelvis into people's faces and yells "WOOOO!" and is extremely popular. I don't think his act would fly in America, especially in the red states. Yayo thinks he is "stupid" so didn't like my impression! Bah!

After the movie we walked around the now dark city. Yokohama tries to be more pleasant than Tokyo I think, and in some ways it succeeds. I had an amazing time, despite having to pay about $40 at Hard Rock cafe for what would've cost half in America. Ah well, I grumble about money.

I took the last train back to Tokyo, tired, happy.

The First of the Gang to Die

2006-07-26T13:49:00.000+09:00

Originally written 7/26/2006 and editted again much later.
~~~~~~~~~~
I've been really lax these last couple of weeks. It's probably because I'm breathing so damn well these days, and I don't feel a need to write about it. I could talk more about schoolgirls on the train and things, but why bother? You folks know about that already. Anyway, on to today's business.

It's strange to see people leaving, especially when you've only just really gotten to know them. I remember when Naoko left and how I felt about it. I guess it's the finality of international goodbyes thats strange and not goodbyes themselves. If you have a friend who lives a few hours away and you say "goodbye!" you kind of know that you'll still be seeing that person SOMETIME. But, as big as the world is, when you say goodbye internationally, such as before leaving the country possibly forever, it's really damn difficult. I mean, what do you say in that situation, "have a nice complete rest of your life, all 60 years of it!" just because you won't ever see them again, ever.

Well, stranger things have happened. People sometimes meet back up in interesting ways if you travel enough and experience enough, but by and large many international goodbyes have a poignant sense of finality. I'm regretting my impending goodbye from this island. It's coming sooner than I thought.

Dan, Greg, Jason, John, and Steve are all leaving Japan. Well, Steve is only going to China for a few weeks, but they still decided to include him in the Bye-Bye Party festivities. It's interesting how IFL somehow thought it would be rude to have only one or two of the Americans (and one British) represented, so they lumped them all together. I think it would've been nicer to have a small event rather than the huge monstrosity they planned.

Regardless, I was really looking forward to another Bye-Bye party, because I've been really generally stressed out since Eli has been gone. I really miss my partner in crime, but so it goes. I thought, "I'm going to drink my money's worth tonight!" I realized a few nomihodai parties back that All-You-Can-Drink is not always worth the money. This time, I planned on getting my moneys worth, and so I did.

Here is part of the gang, Jun, Takuya, and Puji.

IFL gave books as gifts to all the folks returning to the US and UK respectively with personal messages and pictures of their stay. It's really well produced and developed too. I was really impressed.

One of Greg's friends Adam came to visit and he had a smothering crush on Eri, which I was amused by. BUT! The shocking part was that he doesn't know any Japanese so she was forced to speak in English. I found that her English is so much better than I ever thought. I have no idea why these girls aren't more confident.

After the first bar (yes, there were several) we decided to relocate to another...

And here Gentleman Jack greets us wearing his swimming attire. I have a picture of Shibu and I kissing him, drunk as we were. And god, we got so much drunker. I remember ordering a lot of sake... and let me tell you, sake drunk is the best drunk you can possibly be.

Needless to say, I don't really remember the rest of the night after that. There are pictures I took somewhere along the way, but I have a vague recollection of the actual content of them. What I do remember is that I drank a lot of sake at the Izakaya, that I drank it very fast, that I went from there to the park and drank a lot of chu-hi... and then it all goes kind of black.

This is the clearest picture left over from that night. I had to get rid of most of them, because they were blurry splatches of color. On second thought, maybe I should've kept em. Make sure to note the giant beer cans in the picture... oh god.

It actually ended pretty badly. I had to sober up a lot, passing out for a while... my head wouldn't stop spinning. Alcohol is a killer. I swear, if there is ever a time that I will be sucked into oblivion, never to return, it'll be after vast quantities of chu-hi and sake... and that's all she wrote.

Well, goodbye guys. I'll actually genuinely miss them. They're part of the gang, and now our quantity of gaijin is dwindling! We're dying off!

Catching the Sun: Mount Fuji Pt. 2 "Victory!"

2006-07-15T23:00:00.000+09:00

Dear friends,

Now, where was I?

Oh yes! That's right...
When we left our adventurers they were trudging unhappily up that godforsaken beast, right?

I remember only a few things about the last slope... I remember thinking about death a lot. I remember feeling like I was stretched infinitely thin. I remember the torii. That's about it...

But... at last...

I found myself sitting on a rock underneath a statue of a dog. There was another torii right ahead of me. There were people around... hugging. I looked over and couldn't see any more mountain rising up into infinity. WE HAD MADE IT. WE HAD CLIMBED FUJI TO THE TOP.

I searched for strength to look up at the sky. It was beautiful. It was the most beautiful stretch of sky that I have ever seen in my life. The splashes of warm colors to drive away the blackest night.

The colors meant the sun was arriving. We'd done it.

There really is no better way of describing the sky at that moment... there's no way of describing the feeling of love and brotherhood I felt for my companions or my hunger and need for sleep.

I remember doubling over inside the lodge with twenty or so other strangers and just falling asleep. Eli moved around at this time and took this photo showing the inside of the crater!

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the other side was incredibly far away and the sides were coated in permafrost.

Meanwhile, while he was freezing himself outside, I was warming myself inside with scalding hot coffee from a can that cost at least five times more than at ground level. I hated paying the money, but this was life or death!

People started moving outside, so I followed... and, while still a zombie, I managed to take in the unfolding sight before me.

As I stood on the brink of the world, somewhere captured between the Earth and the sky, "kimigayo" crackled on to the speakers behind me. I laughed at it and looked at the first ray of our star arching its way toward me.

There she was. Amaterasu crawled from her cave. Warmth flowed over the freezing peak. 'KI MI GA YO...' I never thought I would actually hear that song in Japan! But, I guess if there is an appropriate time to play it, sunrise on Mt. Fuji is one!

Everyone had their cameras out and was taking photos. I think the idea was that even if everyone was too miserably tired to enjoy the moment, we should at least photograph it for times when we weren't. I did it too. I was still so tired, but I imagined myself as Sir Edmund Hillary but with a lodge and a whole lot of people around. Who cares if it's been climbed thousands of times and will be climbed thousands of times again. My heart is mine and mine alone, and it moved for me that moment. I wanted to cry.

As the sun rose higher, the mountains turned from black to purple to blue to green and sank back away from Fuji. Poor ol' Admiral Perry in his black ship. He saw this mountain and admired its white cap and steep sides. He didn't climb it though! He didn't trudge step by step to the top and catch the sun.

Imagine the monks that climbed it before they even had a path. How precarious and foolish of them. I imagine the monk, dripping with sweat, his beard filled in and his eyes bloodshot... I imagine him resting at last, putting his feet up on the rock in front of him and lying down. Then, the first rays came to him as they did to me. But, he was the only one there. There was no hot coffee waiting. That was a true adventure. Mine is only true to me. Ha! True... I dont even know what that means. I guess I should say, mine was as real as anyone elses, which is a good way of skirting the reality question.

Oh Eli! My companion and best friend of friends! On the brink...

And then myself, making some kind of face.

And we rested for a while... I don't know how long. I bought a bowl of instant ramen for 800yen and ate it like a starving dog. Steve and Nancy, Louise, John, Eli... we all replenished ourselves.

But, after a lot of procrastinating, we knew it was time to get back down.

The Fuji's shadow shrank, and the decent began. The path leading down was a zigzag of loose dirt paths. The soil was so loose, like walking in dunes at the beach, and your feet could sink in. After a short time it became evident that the way back down, while just as long, would at least be less painful.

So we walked and talked about Nietzsche, life, religion, animals, plants, phytoplankton... it split into three groups... Eli, John, and myself, Louise by herself, Steve and Nancy in the back. Since we were in front it was hard to see exactly how fast we were going. But, halfway through we couldnt even see the rest of our party. We just high-trotted down zig after zag and our shoes filled with rocks. My previously clean black Pumas became brownish red.

We passed through the cloud line, breathing in fresh water mist and godknows what else. It was our only shower that day.

Also, looking back... it really was like a strange Martian landscape afterall. Red and barren...

To make a long story short, because I know everyone is tired of reading this by now (just as I'm tired of writing it!), sooner or later we arrived where we began so many countless ages before. We were different people at the bottom than we were when we were there the night before though. I can't tell if Fuji took years off of my life or added them on. I would like to think the later. If I could, I would choose that sunrise as the sunrise to my adult life. I would like to choose it as the exact moment when everything I was in my childhood and youth were aged. 'The grape on the vine becomes the raisin and wine.' Of course, that's never true! I can never escape my childhood nor want to really. But, it is nice to play around with the idea of maturity. It won't be the last time.

We were all pretty quiet. If we were tired at the top of the mountain now we were far passed that, dwelling somewhere in our thoughts on reserve energy. My feet throbbed and seemed to be stuck in the same motion they had repeated for the previous 12 hours. God, my body hated me!

We waited for our bus, dragged our bodies on board and fell asleep. I remember being on the train with Eli at the end and looking at all the people around us. All the people! Shit, look at all the people around us Eli! They were just so normal, they were doing their normal thing. We had just climbed a mountain and had dirty shoes and socks. Our hair was messed up... pretty typical gaijin. Nothing of use here.

Goodbye Fuji, tallest mountain on this tiny island that I love. I guess that means I love Fuji too.

I can say without the slightest hesitation, I am glad that I climbed Fuji and I'm happy and proud that I did and am still alive. But, I NEVER ever want to do it again. I'll just show these pics to my grandchildren and tell them the story of my reckless youth!

Catching the Sun: Mount Fuji Pt. 1 "Hardship"

2006-07-15T12:18:00.000+09:00

The hardest physical experience of my life has passed me, and now, 20 or so hours of sleep later, I write about it. This is the epic tale of men and the mountain, the untamed beast of Fujisan... my conquering of the mountain and the sun.

It all began last week when Eli (my trustworthy companion in this bold journey!) concocted a plan to climb Mount Fuji, something we had talked about but I had never really considered. Eli got the bus tickets, for which I paid, and then it was cemented. We were climbing Fuji... we would do it.

So the day before yesterday... counting the sleep I've had since, we took off aboard yet another Highway Bus for that lofty slope in the distance.

Now, you may remember my recent rediscovery of Fuji and my adventure in Fuji-Q Highland... before that I feared that Mount Fuji was lost. I couldn't see it on my daily commute to and from Ikebukuro aboard those blessed trains. I rediscovered Fuji yet again, rising ominously out of the night sky.

We left Tokyo slightly before dusk in pursuit of our climb. Spirits were high. The group feeling was positive. I thought, if old ladies can climb Mt. Fuji, as the man I sat beside told me, I could! I sat beside a Tokyo businessman who talked to me in English. He worked for a car company but he didn't say which. He had just returned from a two week stay in Kentucky, and didn't seem to have enjoyed it very much or done anything there. I wanted to tell him that Kentucky isn't exactly the flagship state of the United States, but I don't think he really would've cared. He had a flippant attitude towards everything, asking me about study abroad and such in such simple easily answered questions. "Do you like Japan?" "Well yeah... sure." I'd reply. When I gave a more than few word answer, he would seem somewhat disturbed by it. Such was the occasion when he asked me the standard, "Do you like Bush?" question. If you don't know, this is one of the FAVORITE questions towards Americans along with "Do you like natto?"

Well, I replied with a long detailed answer on how I feel about Bush, probably ten sentences long or so. He grumbled something, and then he mistakingly asked me what I thought of Koizumi. OH brother! Well, I told him truthfully how I felt about Koizumi, Abe, Fukuda, and those old guys in the Diet... and I don't think he liked my answer. Maybe it wasn't that he disagreed so much as he was disturbed to have to think about it. He likely didn't want to think at all, just practice some English with some dumb American kid.

Back to my initial point. His wife, who was likely 60-70, awaited him at the summit of the mountain. So he had to climb the whol way or face her wrath. And, I guessed... well, if this guy's wife can do it... why can't I? I'm young right, somewhat healthy, I'm used to walking. I can handle a little mountain!

Maybe Karma was playing out against me. Because when we stood in front of this beast of a mountain at the base camp, I felt that it wasn't such a good idea for me to taunt Fuji like that.

Our merry band of adventurers posed on the rocks near the base camp sign. Here we go! From left to right bottom to top... Eli, Nancy, Louise, myself, Steve, and John, may our names be etched in a history book somewhere. We were ready!

Such foolish optimism that was soon lost once the trek began. It was only by the second dip on the walk, when the incline was little to none, when Nancy had to stop for breath. That was the first 1/100th of our journey, but already one member of our party was troubled. The first dips came and went and then ahead we heard a message warning us, "Please wear warm clothes, because it gets very cold at the top," and other such important messages. For some dramatic irony, I had no idea that there were no occupied medical stations at this time of year. I will return to this point shortly!

So, we soon came to the first real incline, which looked like a zipper going right up Fuji's thigh. We were still so low, even if 2000m above sea level seemed high at this point. Nancy's condition worsened a few notches up in the zipper. There were stone walls with metal joints on them, preserving the path, and she had to rest on them and catch her breath periodically. I was still feeling relatively healthy at this point, even though I was foolish and didn't get a good night's sleep the night before.

It was only about 8-9pm, and we had plenty of time to reach the summit before our goal of 2-3am for the sunrise. But, our pace was too sluggish so we basically split into two groups, John, Eli, Louise, and myself ahead of Steve and Nancy. Steve was really worried for Nancy and stayed by her side.

It was an endless time before we reached the top of the first hillock where there was a small refreshment/oxygen/etc shack. The water was double what it was at the base... up to 200-300yen a bottle. But, I guess you have to pay it. We were all drinking a lot of water, myself especially because of my intestines.

The map showed the first station as about an inch above the base, with the other stations all close in proximity to one another. So we all let out a "yatta!" and kept hiking. It was a gradual change but the dirt and gravel turned to rocks. I don't mean small rocks, I mean the medium to large river sized rocks, and you had to step carefully to avoid turning an ankle this way or that.

The moon was nearly full and stared on at us like a curious child. "What the hell are these people doing climbing that beast? Aren't they happy with being so far removed?"

But no... we wanted it all. We were determined. There wasn't any turning back, and we marched on like a pile of determined ants.

To make it worse, even if we did want to turn back, it soon became clear that it was impossible. Some of the embankments were too steep to go down backwards. And, we walked through torii after torii, showing us clearly that this was holy land. I don't want some angry kami to make my hair fall out or something. That'd be a pretty bad punishment for our cowardice.

But... as time wore on, I became increasingly tired. Like I said before, I got no sleep and as the night wore on my energy level declined sharply. I found it harder and harder to stay focused on the trail, my mind having to venture away. I became so sleepy, and my legs refused to move. It's a pale comparison now, but at the moment I imagined myself as a jew 60 years prior trodding on to avoid the bayonet to my back. I was being dramatic and stupid, but it was the most tired I have been in my entire life. The short breaks we took every 20-30 minutes at each station were a small and necessary help.

I took this shot entirely for this blog. I knew that someday I could look at my face in this state and know, "Wow... I'm feeling pretty shitty right now. But, LOOK AT ME!" Sure enough, even now I get that feeling when I look at it. This is the face of a man completely drained of every single bit of energy in his whole body. His head hurts, his feet hurt, his back hurts... his toes are sprouting blisters. It was an all time low.

Eli, God bless him, I would tell him, "one second... just let me... breathe... a second... just... wait..." and he'd stand there and help me along. Just like Mr. Frodo couldn't have made it without Sam, Eli really helped me. He kept my head off of my own pain for long enough for us to make it up. But god, Fuji was so demoralizing!
I mean, you would look up and see endless mountain rising above you with a tiny yellow light up there. Then, you would reach that light and see a wall of endless mountain with another yellow light so far above you. Wash and repeat this pattern for 7 hours and you kind of get a feeling for what climbing up a volcano is like. And, not just any volcano... the tallest mountain in Japan. Our trek would not end. We were above the clouds, we were above reason. And now I was really confused how that man's wife could make it up there. Maybe it's nothing compared to childbirth. Ha! That's a nice maternal joke for you there.

The fact is... four Americans, a British girl, and a Chinese were at the lowest physical point of our lives... the elevation increased, the temperature decreased, the price of water jumped to 500yen, the air grew thin... and our morale plummited, rolling its way back down Fuji's rocky banks.

Transcendence: Falling in Love With Japan

2006-07-11T18:06:00.000+09:00

Dear Japan,

This is an open letter to you that I never planned on writing. The truth is Japan, now, as I sit here, nestled safely within your still foreign shores... I think, I love you.

No, no... that's stupid! I can't love Japan! I'm a student. I'm researching Japan. Maybe I just became too close... maybe I need to focus back at the bad things, the prices, the language problems, the utter lack of... it doesn't matter Japan. I really do love you.

You know Japan, we've been together for what... 3 1/2ish months or so now right? It's so short, I know... but, there's something about the way you make me feel inside.

Japan, I was in a weird mood today. I don't know why really, but I felt really bizarre, really... foreign. The people walk past me without notice. I can stand in the center of the road and they will just walk past. It's like they're ghosts, milling around from here to there. I'm not a part of any thing here... I don't have a spot.
And then I saw the sun shining around a building and an overwhelming change came over me. I was fine with it. I realized that I don't have a spot in America either. Sure, the language makes it seem like it, but everyone is alone. Why should I feel any better there than here, on your mysterious rockladen shores.

Oh Japan, I can't help it. I just know there's something about you. I'm not like some adolescent American obscessed with you through your exports, tinged through the American lens and sprinkled with exoticism and escapism... I'm no where near that point. Instead, Japan... I see the little things that they may never see. I see the details written in your back alleys and the pulse of the city that beats on and on. I hear the same voice of the subways. That voice... OH! Japan! That must be your voice!

I know your voice Japan, it says... "mamonaku, ikebukuro... ikebukuro wa shuuten desu." It's always that voice... female, slightly elevated so that we'll wake up from our daze and listen to you. You're everywhere. You're in every station, the same voice!

I can't believe it took me so long to realize. But some revelations are better late than never, right?

And like I said... with the sun shining low on a bustling city. I love you Japan. Never let me forget that fact.

South of the Japanese Border

2006-07-08T22:14:00.000+09:00

hola mi amigos! Soy Juan!

kyou, mekushikan ryouri wo tabeta. Oh shit, that was Japanese... I was seriously trying for Spanish and.. whammo! Back to the nihongo.

Okay, get this... Mexican food DOES exist in Japan. It's very limited, but there are a few places, very few places, that actually do serve Mexican delights for a slightly increased price. But, what you get in price is made up for in quality.

LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL FOOD. My heart leaps just looking at its gorgeousness. And the taste... it's interesting. It's as if all the grease and accumulated filth of most Mexican restaurant's friers and skillets etc were no where to be found. It was like if you went to a brand new, and I mean brand new Mexican restaurant, you were their first customer, and they actually took time to make the dish visually splendid as well as tasty.

AND TACO HOLDERS. WHAT THE HELL? When are we going to get those damned things in the states?!?!?!?!

I drank a kiwi margarita that itself would've made the meal, but... arg!! It was just so good. You have no idea. Best Mexican food in my life and I find it in JAPAN? Is anything confusing about that to you? Godbless you Japan.

Afterwards I snapped this photo of Jin wearing a sombrero. It was at least three of our party member's first times to Mexican food. It was my 10814180th time. It doesn't matter though... I ate everything and could've licked the plate.

Homes

2006-07-06T20:48:00.000+09:00

Dear concerned readers,

Thank you for your numerous replies... my heath has improved greatly since we last spoke! I was afraid that I had a spot of the consumption, but it passed!

Todays transmission will be another attempt for me to capture the essence of something that I think is important that I will probably fall very short of expressing.

How many people in our world do you think are homeless? The tossed out forgotten men that populate the train station after the trains stop running? Is that all? Maybe the half-crazed blown out old dilapidated people you see walking with that distant deer-like look. They're neither here nor there...

how about the others?

Can you even argue that most of us have homes? "Home" as in a spiritual-base.. a gathering point of feeling.. some place where everything falls into place, it's easy, it's understood. Do you have one?

I don't think I have one anymore. I used to think it's Maryville, but once mom is moved on or gone, it won't matter much to me at all. My dog died, too... so that takes away a lot of the "home"ness of the whole place.

I just can't ever see myself so firmly grounded (no pun intended) on any one plot of land, any one expanse. Especially after spending time in a foreign land and finding it not so foreign. I just can't justify calling any place my root, my base.

Maybe that'll change once I have kids or something, but as it appears now, I think home is a luxury that very few non-complacent people have. I feel that most of us are just wanderers through life, like the dilapidated people, just bouncing here and there. ping pong.

AMERICA!

2006-07-04T22:29:00.000+09:00

HAPPY MOFUCKIN' FOURTH O' JULY!

I HOPE YOU SPENT IT KNOCKIN' DOWN SOME BEERS AND SETTIN' THINGS ON FIRE!

THAT'S WHAT AMERICA IS ABOUT.

Even in Japan, us Americans sometimes feel the need to celebrate our independence from those damn dirty British types those two-hundred and change years ago.

You know... I'm not a patriotic fellow at all. I really can't stand what I would call "a significant portion" of the population in the US, namely the fat redneck types that live around my home in Tennessee. Hell, I went to highschool with these people. I saw them gradually lose their hair, their teeth... I saw them take up fun habits like smoke-less tobacco and wife-beating. So many fat people in Tennessee...

The residents of The Sacred Republic of Gaijinjima were out tonight in their finest regalia. We were celebrating both the liberation of AMERICAN people from the colonies and also our own temporary liberation from Japanese folks with our own all AMERICAN celebration.

As you can tell from this image... we spared no expense for the bombardment! The skies would be red with the fires of our revolution! Greg was the arch-duke of fireworkery, or something... and the rest of us just brought lots of Chu-Hi to drink.

Steve, Eli, Hashim, Greg, and myself showed our patriotic spirit by burning shit that made sparks. This is a sign of our FREEDOM.

Afterwards Eli had a mind-controlling worm crawl into his head so he tried to bash us with a bag of McDonalds trash. He didn't know that we were still AMERICAN and that this wouldn't work.

In all seriousness though... look at that face! Holy shit! That's the stuff of nightmares. It's like those renaissance images of people in hell. Jeez.

So yes... much chu-hi was drunk, many wookie noises were made, many fireworks improperly handled... it was a lot of screaming about AMERICA, and that's about all.

AMERICA.

Oh yeah, also, during this time North Korea tested some missiles and the island nation surrounding Gaijinjima made a big deal out of it.

The Fuji-Q Highland Experience

2006-07-02T23:11:00.000+09:00

I was awoken about 4 hours too early by a friend of mine from England, Dan, who was watching soccer coverage on TV in our room. It was about 7am and people were already getting ready for breakfast. I brushed my teeth and changed my shirt and came to my first "real" Japanese breakfast, with natto and everything.

As you can tell the usual cereal and toast is in this case replaced by fish, natto, nori (kelp), some strange pudding coffee jello shit, and of course rice. It was far from delicious. I mean, when I wake up in the morning, even if this is a beautiful array of Japanese food, it just isn't as appealing as say.. a bacon-egg and cheese biscuit with hashbrowns, really greasy and disgusting.. just what you need to start your day right!

Well, we left the Ryokan shortly afterward and the people who owned it provided us all with wooden sign things with a picture of Fuji on one side. Pretty tacky thing, but nonetheless, the gesture was appreciated.

Our next destination I learned was a "famous" Japanese amusement park called Fuji-Q Highland, appropriately located in the shadow of Mount Fuji.

Now, keep in mind that my experience with amusement parks is here and there.
I hate crowds, but I like roller-coasters.
I hate waiting in line, but I like being flipped upside down in a robotic death machine.
etc etc...

And Fuji-Q DID sound more appealing then say... Six Flags. I mean, it's in Japan. It has got to be better than Georgia. And, there were no Warner Bros. characters to be seen either!

Though we got there somewhat early, I was immediately surprised at the overall LACK of people at the place. It seemed less like Busch Gardens and more like Ghost Town in the Sky. There were lines for the rides, but they were short... managable.

And, the food vendors didn't jam plastic cups with advertising all over them into your hands. Instead they had things like tako-yaki, squid-sticks, sausages, grilled corn, and so on. There were "American Hotdogs" but not the accompanying funnel-cakes and sourdough pretzels.

So yeah, I was very impressed right off the bat with the place. It seemed pretty damn cool overall.

First ride we rode was the largest roller-coaster in Japan, Fujiyama. Named after, of course, Mt. Fuji. It was pretty typical actually, no complete loops or anything like that. It was fast though and pretty exciting. Also, when we started riding it we suddenly got caught in a cloudburst. So, needless to say, we were soaked head to toe by the time we got off the ride. And, there is nothing more fun then getting hit by rain while going 70-80mph on a rollercoaster... let me tell you.

Another ride we rode after that was a gimmicky videogame shooter ride, where you have a lazer-cannon on the front of your cart and you have to aim for aliens and robots on the walls. I'm a gamer, so I found it really damn easy to manipulate the thing. I was surprised but I actually got the highscore of the day with an 87. The others in my cart however did pretty poorly. I don't know if they were trying. I can't say that I was proud to get the highscore for the day, but in Japan that's saying something as a gaijin. I mean, the stereotype says that there should be millions of otaku guys that have mastered the ride and could get 100s easily. AH well.

A few rides later, including a hamtaro themed rollercoaster, a crazy puzzle maze place involving nuclear missiles and ghosts of fuedal warlords (I shit you not), and a few others... we retired to the FOOD ARENA (or stadium maybe?) to eat. The food was typical but in the bathroom there were inspirational messages to inspire and entertain you while you pee.

I've never felt so moved, so inspired, to pee. I mean, "You are handsome guy!" is a message I can agree with! Thanks walls... you made my day.

And check this guy out! He's wearing a Smiths shirt! I had to do a double-take. I mean, what is further from the Smiths than a Japanese amusement park. I should've started up a conversation, but it would just end up being awkward. So, maybe it's better that I didn't and ninjaed this pic instead.

To make a long story short, we rode a number of other rides. I got flipped around in a pizza-inspired whirlymajig... I got shot out of a...

OH SHIT... that's right!

Do don pa!

I rode the fastest accellerating rollercoaster on the planet. Or, what I like to call, 0-100 in 1.8 seconds. Do don pa is the otomatapeoia for a drum (or heart) beating. It sounds like "We Will Rock You".

It was amazing. The whole way up they show you safety videos on how to hold your head so that you won't be injured. You have to take off al of your jewelry, glasses, watches, change in your pockets, keys, wallet... etc. Everything has to go because at those speeds they can apparantly become DEADLY to your person.

You get into the car and can hear the super-compressed air being charged below you... 3... 2... 1... then an awkward pause before...

WHOOSH!

The thing just freakin SPLITS. Your lips flap around like in some astronaut training video. You brain sinks back into your skull. Your monkey falling from a tree instinct kicks in and your primal fear activates to the danger, making your adrenaline pump and your heart race. I mean... you can't get that kind of g-force doing just anything... maybe if you fly jets in your freetime then it's nothing big... but seriously... it's like being shot out of a gun. AMAZING.

So, It's a must-ride for anyone with a solid physical condition. Just hold on damn tight to those bars.

My personal hero of the day, outside of Akane, who got me some medicine for the "do don pa" induced headache is this guy. This was on the hamtaro bicycle ride, where a couple can peddle around in a circle while suspended 20 feet above the ground on a rail. I loved how this guy was like 30 and doing it all by himself. Poor dude. I mean... maybe he had a girlfriend that dumped him shortly after riding this because of his poor peddling skill... so now he has a complex where he practices every day.
Maybe!

We got back to Shinjuku around 8pm or so... all extremely tired from all the g-force and so on. We ate one last meal as a full group and then retreated to sleep.

Well Fuji-Q... I'm impressed. I mean... overall it was so much more pleasant than our American counterparts. Maybe it's the location or the company I kept. But, something about that place gave me a generally less crappy feeling than most amusement parks. And for that, I am glad.

Escape from Tokyo!

2006-07-01T14:43:00.000+09:00

There's no better feeling than liberation. There is no better feeling then suddenly feeling chains lifted off of you. Just being in Tokyo has been dragging me down. Now, keep in mind, as much as it drags me down, being stuck in America would be much much worse. It isn't so bad really.
Still, I just needed to get out. I was looking at a map of Japan, and other than Kamakura I really haven't spent much time at all outside of Tokyo and its many suberbs. That's a damn shame, because while Tokyo is great, there is just so much more to Japan than Tokyo.

Mom told me that I could start going on trips and enjoying myself, even if I can't really afford to go often. Yesterday and today's trip begins with the thought, sure it's expensive, but I've gotta get the hell outta Dodge. I gotta!

IFL planned a trip to a Ryokan on Lake Kawaguchi and afterwards a trip to Fuji-Q highland... this will be a big entry, so hang in there.

We took the highway bus from Shinjuku. An hour and a half or so later, for the first time in so so many weeks, there it was!

Mt. Fuji rose like an island surrounded by waves of smaller, less prominant mountains. I couldn't imagine living in the shadow of such a beast. It was such an impressive sight.

Surrounding the summet was a thick layer of clouds. Since it is Summer now, there didn't appear to be any of the trademarked snow-topped cap. But, I entertained the idea of tengu and kappa having tea at the summet, safely protected from sight behind the clouds.

We got to the Ryokan and put our stuff in our rooms. We didn't stay indoors for long though. Naoki, Cho, and I ran to the lake shore to survey the land and take in the sights. It was beautiful too. The land reminded me so much of Tennessee, but it was mysteriously different. I mean, there were green hills, but instead of rolling out like a blanket all along the horizon, they were jagged and uneven. It was familiar but unnatural. It produced within me a very good effect though, and I became very cheerful just to be out and about in Japan!

We took a number of silly photographs, including this one of me doing my best Christopher Columbus impression. I was being bold and adventurous... the rock I'm standing on was actually a good 10 feet out from shore. I had to do some creative hopping to reach it too.
The other stragglers joined us soon afterwards and we spent a lot of time just skipping rocks and making jokes.

We gathered and had another yakiniku with big piles of onions and beef, which I didn't complain about. This time we were on our own with it too. I ate so damned much. I hope I put on a little weight while I'm here. It was gratuitous.
We shot off fireworks and this time I didn't get in trouble for holding them. I think the Japanese were even worse than the Americans as far as safety precautions. Maybe it was the Chu-hi or something.

And then we played games, ran around, drank, climbed trees, got lost in the woods, went to the onsen...

There was a lot of activity.

I spent a lot of time with Akane, and as a result got very lazy with my Japanese. The fact that she speaks better than some Americans even do is a terrible hamper on my ability to speak to her in Japanese. Another one is that I can't understand her Japanese most of the time because she talks so cute and high-pitched. It's pretty frustrating, and I feel stupid for not understanding half of the stuff she says when I should!

It somehow became extremely late and most of the people watched the World Cup. Since I didn't care about that, I just talked to more people before falling to sleep around 3:30am.

TO BE CONTINUED! TOMMORROW...

FUJI-Q HIGHLAND or... Japanese Amusement Parks are Better Than Ours

Eli's Deviance

2006-06-30T23:10:00.000+09:00

Oh Eli...

Eli and I were on a walk for no reason through Ooizumigakouen when he randomly says, "I wanna smoke a cigarette." I tell him, yeah, that'd be pretty nice about now, or something of that sort. I mean, that's accepable. Hell, a man rode by on his bike smoking a cigarette. I think that's just a tad bit counterproductive.
And so he went to the cigarette vending machine (they're common in Japan) and got some really weird brand. I think they were like "PEACE" cigarettes or something weird. And so he got to smoke his cigarette. But, I think it wasn't as rewarding as he would have been led to believe. That's pretty typical of urges like that that are quickly and easily fulfilled. It's like being a kid and getting what you want, because then you don't give a shit about it. I don't mean that Eli is a kid. I just mean that kind of impulse and reward.

As we neared the station we saw, to our surprise, Greg, Steve, Kendra, Louise and Nancy so we spoke to them briefly. Kendra saw that Eli was still holding his cigarette butt and asked him if he smoked. Eli is such a damn good guy. He knows that it's illegal to drop the butts on the street, even if everyone does it anyway. I mean, hell, there are hardly ANY trashcans on the streets, so what else can you do.

You can hold onto it.

And that's what Eli did. He just held on to that damn thing for like 30 or so minutes while we talked to Greg and Steve. Jeez. He's a better man than I for doing that, let me say flat out. I don't mind if some poor guy with a dustpan has to sweep up my trash, but Eli does apparantly. Or maybe there wasn't that much thought into it. Maybe it was just that his impulses (the same ones that told him to get the cigarette) were telling him to hold onto the butt. So he did.

Ironically, while this was going on, I noticed that there was a sign addressing this very topic RIGHT BEHIND GREG'S HEAD. So, while Greg was talking I just kept seeing it again and again. How hilarious how we notice these signs and follow them when probably 99% of the others in this country don't.

I don't remember what happened to the butt. I think he eventually gave in and just dropped it in some stormdrain, probably carefully placed so that it wouldn't bother anyone. And that's so freaking admirable for some reason.

The Final Farewell to Nakajima, the second Bye-bye

2006-06-26T08:57:00.000+09:00

"Goodbye!" is never like in the movies, all that crying and carrying on. I mean sure, some people do... but for me, inside, I just feel a profound mysterious drop. If I could wrap it around something then I would cry maybe. Like when something dies and you think about the polar oppisite of dying, just a face or an image of a happy thing, a smile or something like that, and then you just feel profoundly sad, or maybe you'll cry then. Goodbyes are like that I guess. I'm realistic though. I don't overdo things. Sure, we're all one breath short of dying, but we don't have to fucking act like it all the time. Maybe people will never come back into your life, but if they are meant to be there, they will be again. It just happens like that.

And goddamn the internet for making light the waters of lethe.

I mean seriously. If you want to forget someone, the best way is to dilute any relation you had with them over the internet. Nothing settles the cold grip of death's icy claw around the throat of true emotion like some washed out conversation where nothing meets, nothing connects. People become so connected that they in turn reverse the connection, purposely severing it. I would much rather have a "GOODBYE" a "SAYONARA" and never have another interaction than some stupid chat over AIM about dumb pointless shit that doesn't relate to what was in any way.

Well, my rant is over for now...

the real intention of this post is to document the longest damned party that I have been to. Yes, I know you're thinking, "holy shit John, so many parties these days! I bet you're not doing any school work!" au contraire. I just know that this journal doesn't need 100 entries like those damn blogs that read "Today I brushed my teeth. There was a hair on my toothbrush. EWW GROSS. Then I went to school. I sat next to BRAD! OMG OMG OMG... And then I did my homework, and it was crazy hard! I mean totally hard." Christ. I would rather make this an episodic blog rather than detailing in detail EVERYTHING I DO IN JAPAN. So, forgive me.

Anyway... hrm... ah yes...

So, it was the second bye-bye party for Mr. Kentaro Nakajima, the famous Ken that I mention so much, and about as many people showed up as last time. Perhaps 1/3rd less than before, but it was still a damned lot. The itenerary was quite long. First, a Japanese barbecue yakiniku, then drinks or something, then cheaper drinks?, then ALL-NIGHT KARAOKE. Yes... no shit... all-night freakin Karaoke.

At yakiniku I sat across from another Legendary figure, Tatsuro, who is the only guy in IFL that listens to damn good music (that I know of). Notice the Ken Yokohama shirt. YEeeeeeah. Tatsuro is also one of the most genuine Japanese guys I know. He's really expressive, which usually means being really damn silly, but sometimes he'll also show concern and stuff. Sitting on his left is Puji again.

It's hard to take a "normal" picture of Ta-chan, because he's always being goofy, but that's actually a good thing because I'm so sick of the posing in pictures. I just know I'll have the reflex to peace at any camera I see after being in Japan. It's just automatic!
But the meat kept coming and it was delicious. I ate so damn much beef, pork, sausage, chicken, all kinds of meat and onions and mushrooms and... god, I'm hungry again. They just bring out plate after plate for you to cook up. I'll really miss these events once I go back to America.

Full on meat, we left and headed toward our next location. On the way Ta-chan and I sang some Going Steady together, which was cool, but I had to fudge a bunch of the lyrics because I just don't know them like he does.

Our next stop was this hip-trendy night spot called "Mysterious", which means apparantly that it's very dark save for some black lights and pulsating lights on the floor in different colors, has a strange modern layout, and charges twice as much as usual for the same ol' crappy drinks and dessert. They forced us to get something to eat, because they're Nazis, which tacked on an extra 600yen (for the cheapest pudding!) We left pretty quickly. I got to talk to Akane and Chie, two of my favorite people though. Akane did most of the talking to me, while I did most of the talking to Chie. It's like Yin and Yang, only both of them are probably the Yang to my Yin. I feel pretty dark, ya know?

We headed to the park for a bit before... All-night Karaoke!

Here's a picture of Akane and I. She looks a lot younger than me but she's actually a few months my elder. Kind of strange how that happens. I guess me not being well-shaven in this picture adds on a few years.
But yeah, this is getting off the narrative again...
So all-night Karaoke is the best and the worst. It's the best in that you have plenty of time to sing songs and people get into it after a while.
The worst is that around 3am everyone's energy drops about 300%. Perhaps a little more or less, but it's a noticable change. Some asshole started singing Nirvana (argggg, most hated Karaoke ever) around 3:30am or so, and I wanted to hurt him. I sang an Elvis song, a Roy Orbison song, Joy Division, Genesis, Muse, Beck, and a few others. It went on and on and on... everyone was singing. And the thing is, girls that told me AT THE PLACE that they would not sing eventually did, and they had great voices. Like Akane's version of The Brilliant Green's "Forever to Me", it was pretty dead on.

Which brings another question. Do all Japanese girls have the capacity to carry a karaoke song? Perhaps. Is it genetic? Of course not. I think after going to karaoke for years and years you just build up your karaoke sense. It's natural.

And that's something someone like Hashim doesn't have. Bless him. I mean, Billy Jean is most definately a song that you have to be able to keep the beat on.

I just realized...

This entry was about Ken's party, but I haven't even included any pictures of him in it. I mean, I didn't really talk to him at all till 5am this morning when we crept out into the daylight. They invited me to Saizariya for cheapass breakfast. But, I decided not to. I said "Goodbye!" to Ken, probably for the last time in person. He's a good guy and I'll miss him. I'm sure he'll have a damn good time in Mass. while in grad school. He's been really itching to leave Japan.
We're Americans. We don't belong here!

And at 5:15 or whatever, while walking through the train station as it was just opening up its lines. I saw that the walls of the station were lined with the homeless. I wanted to take a picture, because it was profound, but I didn't want to rouse anyone from sleep. I didn't want them to know that I was there, even if I was one of the very few walking past. No doubt they'll wake up from their newspaper beds and scoot off under some dark rock for most of the day. So, so so many homeless. At least that's something I have, a home. Even if it isn't in this country, at least I have one.

I wonder how your head feels after keeping it on cold concrete all night.

Ken and Ai's Bai-bai Affair

2006-06-24T22:48:00.000+09:00

The time has come and Ken will be going back to America. It's pretty sad I suppose, because he's the thin bridge between the Japanese and us lowly foreigners. He's great at interpreting really complex Japanese into simple, almost too simple, English. Like figuring out cellphone plans, "So like... what this says is that you gotta buy this shit in order to get this other shit..." I'm gonna miss that a lot. It's pretty hilarious.

Ai is leaving for Thailand too, and though I didn't get to know her much, she's always been nice to me. Even after Kevin 'poisoned the well' so to speak with Naoko (who won't talk with me, OMG DRAMA) Ai doesn't care and does anyway. She's a really easy going funny person who I'll also miss a lot. But so it goes eh?

The meeting place was of course another crowded loud station exit in Ikebukuro.

This is the part of Japan that they don't show you (but I do many entries ago). All the damned waiting! You have to wait for every late sonuva bitch that's coming. And for huge events it takes forever! But no matter.

Yoshiki and Kazu were the MCs for the night. When we got to the restaurant they led the kanpai and other such important events. It was a little too formal for my liking. I mean, it took like 10 minutes to decide where to sit, which is about 9 minutes too long. Jeez, indecision on the part of manners.

The pitchers of beer kept coming and everyone drank their fill, whether it was very little (and sometimes oolong or orange juice) or if it was THREE large bottles of sake for Davide. He drank most of that too and became unruly. He was asking crude things of girls in English and they didn't really understand. The ones that did just avoided him.

The drunkenness led to funny moments. Just look at the look on Jason's face in this picture. He's wondering why the hell Yoshiki is touching Dan. I think it looks like some weird ceremony honestly.

There were a lot of people there. About two full tables of 20 or so... so as you can guess it was pretty expensive for a nomihodai, But... who cares, it was for Ken and Ai.

Gifts were handed out to both of them and speeches were made. I would like to say that I enjoyed the speeches or that they were moving, but after you see one crying Japanese girl telling a rambling socially-conscious speech, you've heard them all. I mean, it's okay to say, "I'm going to miss you so much! You've been an inspiration!" or something, but say it! Don't hold back because it's embarassing...

Afterwards we retired to a park for some more socializing. I got a few numbers of people I probably won't call.

We walked around for some more in Tokyo. It's an amazing place. I love knowing that all over the freakin' city right this moment people are just bouncing back and forth in their little paths.
I had a thought a while back about how everyone are essentially tied to some path, even if we can't tell, some kind of set parameters that move us through our daily lives and insure that we don't bump into anyone on the way. No, it's not like Donnie Darko, but maybe it could be. Just kinda interesting thinking of the robotic salaryman day in and day out on his little path, a rat on a wheel he can't see.

World cup FEVA

2006-06-22T17:56:00.000+09:00

Yeah bitches... seems like this country has been taken over by World Cup FEVA.

Even sensible types can be seen wearing blue jerseys and so on. Kinda weird, because in America NO ONE CARES about the World Cup/Soccer. I mean, why should we?

Then again, why should Japan? It isn't like their team is any better.

I don't watch soccer, but it is really hard to avoid overhearing something about it just on a daily basis. Hell, the flyer people that hand you leaflets around town give you little booklets about Japan's team and so on. It's weird.

Today Eri and Davide were perusing such a booklet. I swear it is impossible to take a picture of the girl not making a really bizarre face of some kind. Notice how laid back Davide is... he's even drinking a beer in school, BECAUSE YOU CAN IN JAPAN. But yeah, I say boringggg... sports and all that.

And when I asked him to do a cool pose of some kind, she copied.

I swear the girl is insane.

Save money, go Italian

2006-06-21T22:52:00.000+09:00

Miki got a job. This is a big big deal in Japan as many people can attest for. I mean, it isn't like... "oh, you got a job that you'll keep for a year and quit!" It could be a career. There are two words that people usually use for work...

baito, short for arubaito, a Romanji version of the German word "artbeit" (work), which refers to a part-time Job type deal... something temporary to get some spending money

and

shigoto, a big one, a perminant career type engagement. Perhaps a better translation would be "profession."

So, Miki got a shigoto, or so I hear. She thought it'd be fun to celebrate the end of the tedious process of interviews and so on by having a party. And, why not? Because the Japanese third and fourth year job search time is probably the most stressful for anyone... why not celebrate?

We got together at 6:30, like usual, after school and walked together to a really strange Italian restaurant near Sunshine city. It wasn't like the one that Kanako Haruna and I went to a few weeks ago.

Everyone was in a pretty good mood and the food kept coming and coming. It was delicious too. The pizza was really doughy and good with interesting toppings. Lots of mushrooms and seasonings.

There were a lot of people too. I mean, there were so many that I didn't even talk to during the night. Kevin got frumpy and left after a while and Greg joined our table, but the others were just there and I barely noticed.

I actually sat by Miki, so I got to say in really bad Japanese congratulations on ending your job search. I almost said congratulations on graduating, but I remembered the difference JUST in time to not be embarassed.

I also sat next to Puji, who is a pretty hilarious guy. This picture is classic too if I may add. I don't know what the look in my eyes is about. I think i was pausing before taking another big helping of spaghetti.

The kicker of the evening was... even though EVERYONE was full on delicious food... it only came out to be about 1000-1500yen a person. That's like half of what it usually is to go to an izakaya or something under similar circumstances.

So hell, I was damn glad to save a little money AND eat good food. Can't beat a deal like that.

As a little exit prize or something Puji got a weird brown fruitcake-like lump from the restaurant. He said that it smells really bad and let me take this photo. I have no idea what it is though, but it looks alarmingly like poop. Almost too much like poop for me to be comfortable getting near it!

Congratulations on the job Miki... and remember folks, SAVE MONEY, GO ITALIAN!

Taiyaki

2006-06-16T15:29:00.000+09:00

I've had requests for more food entries, but I've been eating a surprisingly large amount of boring dons and so on. It's been hard finding unique foods to write about. Even if there are still plenty of snack food related entries I could write. But, if I started writing those then I would never stop because there are virtually thousands of types.

Todays entry is about a really interesting style of cookie/cake/pastry called "taiyaki."

Taiyaki is a pastry that comes in a lot of flavors and styles. It has a fish shape and is filled with red sweet bean paste. I believe I saw custard ones too. It's pretty delicious! They pour what looks like pancake batter into the molds then add the filler. You then flip it over in the mold and it cooks into the fish shaped finished product. Why it is called taiyaki, I don't know. I don't want to look it up either.

If you're in Japan, I would recommend trying them.

In other news, the world is going to hell in a handbasket!

A nice picture for a nice day!

2006-06-14T15:15:00.000+09:00

You know... these days have been so disgustingly rainy. Not even like a HARD rain... just drizzly.

Today I took this picture and I think it's pretty. There are exceptions to everything.

Ricardo's Wicked Style

2006-06-11T22:11:00.000+09:00

So I've known "capsule_kei" (or as I sometimes call him Crapsule GAY) for about 3 or more years through the internet. He's always been a good indicator of whether or not an album is worth buying or in many cases downloading. I mean, sure, he gets some stuff way off... like I still don't know why he loves "Glay" so much. But, generally speaking our tastes are pretty similar.
I found out in February or so that we would both be in Japan at the same time. Both in Tokyo area too! So, I thought it'd be cool if I could meet the guy. I was curious to see if the most insanely "Back Horn" obscessed maniac was some kind of creepy serial killer or not!
But then again, anyone who likes the Back Horn has got to be at least partially good, eh?

So we arranged a meeting in Shibuya at Hachi-ko... which is an appropriately typical area for it I guess!

I was actually really late because of my confusion over train lines in Japan. So, I felt pretty bad about that. But, the rain had stopped mostly, which was good. Ricardo turned out to be a much taller than expected, really skinny guy, much like myself... he's Puerto Rican too, which I can relate to KIND-OF though I've never been to the island myself, at least not yet. He also kind of reminded me of Charlie Savage in some way.

Anyway, so we went to possibly the coolest section of Tokyo I've been to yet, the legendary Shimokitazawa area outside of Shibuya. It is probably the best place for a young fashionable type in Tokyo. I mean, Harajuku is fashionable, but it has the really "dasai" people too. Too many VKers for my likes. But, Shimokitazawa seemed to be a Mecca for the fashionable, good-looking Tokyoites with good taste in art and music.
The dori we walked through reminded me a lot of Shiinamachi, but with a bit higher of class and more interesting stores. There were record stores and live venues everywhere. I was really damn surprised and happy.

We went to a cafe and got some pretty good food and talked about lots of things about our experiences as Americans in Tokyo. That seems to always be a good topic. Ricardo's Japanese seems to have progressed much faster than my own, which tells me that I need to get out and talk to more Japanese. His friends that are Japanese actually spend time with him outside of class. So yeah, i'm jealous for that!

He's also met Mineta and Chin from Going Steady/Ging Nang BOYZ... jeeezzzzzzzzz I would kill for such a thing. Kill! (If you want to arrange something Mineta, just let me know!) Man... again, the jealousy. That's one of those things I would love to do in Japan. But, it probably won't ever happen. Freak happenings like that don't happen to me.

We then went shopping around and to a game center. This is a hilarious picture of him playing that drum machine game that I'm convinced only nihonjin can really play well. Same thing with guitar freaks, I mean you have to be insane and completely zen to be able to do some of those songs perfectly. It must take hundreds of thousands of yen.

It was a fun afternoon on the town. mata ne!

Sewanee Japan!

2006-06-09T22:59:00.000+09:00

Yes yes... the much anticipated entry has finally arrived. You all can stop emailing me for pictures now!

Sewanee Japan is alive and kicking it in Ikebukuro!

Tonight Junko-sensei, Kana, Toshi, Eli, Marie, and I got together for our first semi-official get together, as organized by the fabulous Toshitake Tanuma. He arranged the whole thing through email and I had been anticipating it the whole week. I mean, I hadn't seen Marie for example in... oh god, like a year and a half? So, it was a happy reunion.

We spoke in a strange mixture of Japanese and English as we headed to some little Izakaya for food and drinks and so on. It was a lot of fun and definately a good finisher to a really hard week of school.

Here's a snapshot from Eli's perspective. My fat gaijin head is blocking Kana almost completely out of the picture. Sorry Kana!

And here Junko-sensei looks really uncomfortable or something. I don't think she's fond of cameras!

Anyway... Marie got a job with Glico apparantly, which is a pretty sweet gig. She'll start once she graduates in a year... I think it's amazing how companies will just WAIT for you in Japan. But that's another story.

And then, we took pictures...

And my face is scary!

All in all... great fun with great people.

After eating, the girls left and it was just Eli Toshi and I, so we went to Karaoke.

Here's a video for your amusement...

Eli and I singing "More Than This" by Roxy Music in our most "Lost in Translation" moment in Tokyo yet!

enjoy!

EDIT: Apparently the compression on the video threw off the audio sync and made it incredibly dark. Sorry 'bout that! Just me and Eli clowning around anyway!

Buried

2006-06-05T21:15:00.000+09:00

Buried in studies and other various things... I wish I had time to update this thing a bit more regularly, but for the next month it'll be hack and slash I'm afraid!

Nice assortment of stuff here though, eh?

And this was perhaps the grossest thing I've eaten, so I had to take a photo. It was some kind of conbini bread with uncooked bacon parts in it. DISGUSTING.

Gaippongi

2006-06-03T01:04:00.000+09:00

Nestled betwixt the sweaty buttcheeks of Tokyo there lies a land of unbelievable paradox. It exists as a completely surreal conglomeration of foreign things used by foreign people surrounded by foreign buildings in a Japanese area. Hell, I don't want to get in to it really, because I HATE Roppongi. I mean, I absolutely abhore everything about it. Maybe it's because I hate a lot of the tourists in Japan, or maybe it's just because the whole damn place confuses me. I mean, if you're in Tokyo, you expect to be in freakin' Tokyo. It isn't even like America in Roppongi though, it's just... the most foreign place I've ever been to.

I renamed Roppongi, "Gaippongi" some time ago because of this overpowering foreign quality. It's just, so damned bizarre there. They seem to have taken all the worst possible aspects of urbanization, such as sex, drugs, exploitation of Japanese culture, bad eurotrash nightclubs... and wrapped it up in a disgusting tortilla. I just can't explain it, but trust me... it is by far my least favorite place in Japan. But then again, I'm a weird guy.

So, tonight Eli and I were meeting up with an old friend from our Japanese class for some food and drinks at where we thought would be Ikebukuro. But, sadly her friends (didn't know there would be friends really!) wanted to go to Roppongi instead. Eli and I pictured like the most annoyingly overpowering Australians (we've had bad experiences with Aussies) being loud, drunk, and picking up the lowest of the Gas Panic faire.

Well, we still really wanted to see her, it's been like 2 years afterall, so we made the trek to Roppongi and met up with her. I forgot how damn green that girl's eyes really are!
We headed to TGIFridays, a restaurant that I usually avoid like the plague, and met with some of her friends from the JET program. They were pretty nice all around. It was weird to be around REALLY American people, like not just geeky foreign exchangers like ourselves, but real solid American fratboy-esque types.

I love how Eli seems to not blend in at all with the crowd. I was about the same way. I mean, it was just really surreal. It was like we had stepped off the plane into an airport in America or something. The waitors even spoke in English and we answered in Japanese. The menu was nearly identical to its American counterpart too, with chicken sandwiches and Tex-Mex and all that bullshit. Far too many calories for a Japanese restaurant.

Barbie got a much too big Long Island Ice Tea, and I swear it was impressively huge. I don't even have to continue about all this "OMG JUST AS BIG AS AMERICA'S" stuff... though it was surprising. I kind of missed my little Japanese teriyaki patties or something. Hrm. Here, i'll just share another picture...

I mean look at that. It's about the most artery-clogging, gut-wrenching thing that you can buy on the island. I mean, I guess I enjoyed it about as much as I do giant greasy burgers in America. But that's not saying TOO much really.

In the end though, it was fun. I got an international beer (ha!) and enjoyed spending time with Eli and Barbie. Though, everything about Gaippongi still bothers me deeply. I mean, there is something incredibly wrong with the place. I don't want to spend enough time there to find out what either.

The Disappearance of Fujisan

2006-06-01T18:23:00.000+09:00

So June begins with rain... always rain.
I mean, Japan is historically humid. It's why the big scientific breakthrough that transformed them into an agricultural society was the raised granary. It meant that John P. Japaneseman back two-thousand plus years ago could finally store some of what he grows and not have the moisture that's so thick here ruin it.

I mean, it's amazingly humid. My room is air conditioned, so I never really notice it, but when I leave the door instantly it feels as if I'm submerged in a pool. I need a bloody wetsuit to navigate the streets of Tokyo in June! And, I hear it just gets worse, by July it'll be nearly unbearable.

At least I spend my time in class (not that I like it) so I'm not outside all day, getting all sweaty and swarthy in the sun!

But, that's not what todays entry is about... todays entry is about a lack of vision. A lack of drive!

If you look back two months (wow, two months!) then you notice how I write about "I can even see Mt. Fuji from the train as I head to Ikebukuro!"
And I expected to see it everyday as a beautiful reminder of Japan being awesome. But, then... POOF!

It was gone. I mean, Mt. Fuji, Fujisan, disappeared! I haven't seen it since. Everyday I try to look out the window around the same spot on the line I saw it before, but I can't find it. I mean, how do you make a snow-capped mountain just disappear? Maybe the fog is just really really thick today and everyday since two months ago.

Maybe Fujisan is hiding because it knows that I have nothing to offer it. I mean, why should it show its proud slopes to me? I'm a foreigner. I'm a boil on the backside of Japanese society. If I wasn't here, would Japan be better... naaa, but since I am here, is it better? naaa! I don't contribute anything. I'm like a tourist with bigger goals than taking a good picture or two. I'm just soaking up a little oxygen that could've gone to someone else, eating some food that could've fed someone else, sleeping in a room that could've gone to someone else.

Maybe Fujisan is angry at me. I mean, haven't I lost my vision of Japan? Haven't I become lost in the backroads of Tokyo instead of focusing on what I should be doing here?

I think there is some truth to that. I do need to refocus. I need a change of mind. I need to take the remaining months and squeeze as much life into them as possible.
And that I will.

Hopefully, someday... I'll see the slopes again, shining in the hazy sun.

MANY CAKES!

2006-05-31T20:49:00.000+09:00

Hi folks...
your word of the day is: vinculum. Keep it in mind! Pass it on!

So, I haven't talked to Eri in weeks. I mean, I literally haven't spoken more than an "ohayou" to the girl in weeks! She's just kind of disappeared it seems into another group of friends, of which I am not included. But, that's okay.

Before this change she sent out a message to the mailing list saying,
"LET'S GO EAT MANY CAKES! YOU CAN EAT THOUSANDS OF CAKES IF YOU CAN! IF YOU ARE INTERESTING IN THOUSANDS OF TASTY CAKES, EMAIL ME."

Grammatically it was fine but, wow... thousands of cakes... I was intrigued! So, the weeks passed and then whammo... the day came. (Yes, as I've mentioned before, Japanese plan VERY far in advance. Tooooooo damn far.)

Let's see... how do I describe wall to walls all you can eat cakes? I guess that's enough imagery though. Imagine a decently fancy/nice restaurant with an extremely well-stocked sweets section offering an all-you-can-eat cake pigout for a semi-low price.

And check out the first plate I got. I got a little sample of everything, chinese buffet style, and even topped it off with a dab of chocolate sauce. This plate alone was probably 3000kcals ya know? The Japanese people with me were like... (in English translation) HOLY CRAP THAT'S ALOT OF CAKE! But damnit, I wanted my 1,500yen worth! So, I got as much as humanly possible and then...

I ate it all. It was unbelievably good too. Every cake was different and intriguing. The cheesecake was the best by far though. Mom would've loved the stuff. Jeez, and I ate so much. I went back for two more plates worth and then icecream. I think the Japanese people became a little scared.

It's only natural that in this group picture I look drugged up. I was so full at that point. And, gluttany is my favorite deadly sin, because the only person I'm hurting is myself really.

Jun-yon took this picture of me telling me to give him my "kimochi warui" face... like "I feel sick!" face, but instead I gave him a face of the other "kimochi warui" the... well... there are many meanings to the word, ne?

Haha

good times with many cakes.

Shibuya

2006-05-28T23:30:00.000+09:00

When you think of Tokyo, 9 times out of 10 you are thinking of images from Shibuya, what I would call the premiere machi of the whole city. I mean, Shibuya has it all, expensive boutiques, massive department stores, hip trendy Tokyo youth, huge crowds, technology everywhere, etc etc... all the things you think of when you think "Tokyo!"

I hadn't been there yet, even if it is only about 40 minutes or so to travel there from my dorm. I mean, I never had a reason or a person to go with. But, today Eli and I thought we'd take another Gaijin expedition out to strange new lands, though he'd been there before.

Upon arriving in Shibuya the first thing I noticed was the famous statue of "hachi-ko" which is possibly the most famous meeting spot for young people in Tokyo. It was much smaller than it looked in other pictures though, but sure enough people were crawling all over the place.

Eli and I actually went to omotesando first to try to find something to eat, but were unsuccessful. We would have eaten at "the SAD CAFE" (aka the most Emo cafe on Earth) had it not looked so crappy. I did end up just getting a custard crepe, which powered me long enough to survive our walk everywhere.

Back in Shibuya, we passed building after gigantic building, and I can honestly say that the architecture was damn impressive.

I mean, sometimes you can see really strange buildings (like the one above) intertwined between other similar ones. And, it was all so crowded too. I felt like I was lost in a sea of people, which is kind of common for Japan.

The famous Tower Records in Shibuya was a sight to behold. They had so many things that I wanted to buy but just didnt have the money for. As you can see from the picture, they're also promoting "a, un" by Bonobos, which is a freaking amazing album. So, I was damn happy with the place!

I don't even know why I'm still rambling, this entry should really be mostly pictures. I mean, that's more fun anyway. I guess ill just post a few and say something when I need to.

The housing area outside of Shibuya was incredible. Huge houses with nice architectural designs. Brendan would love it.

An imitation Spanish villa?

A view of Daikanyama from a park we walked through.

Eli trying to look cool in the aforementioned park. Ha!

The sun sets on the city.

And... night follows.

Revisiting the world's most crowded intersection. (At least, that's what I hear!)

This one is wallpaper size, so if you want to impress your friends, download it and use it on your desktop. But yes, this is a common image from Shibuya... big LCD screens overlooking masses of people.

And, now a short film I took panning over the crowd and surroundings...

I wish I had more to tell about today... maybe how Eli and I got lost somewhere in Meguro and then found a ramen place and then got lost again? Hrm, no... that's a story for another day!

PS. I've been asked by someone why there are halfnaked Japanese women on those ads. Those are the Japanese equivelent of those Dove ads that are like "average women can be beautiful too!" There were probably 5 or 6 of the billboards in the hachi-ko area alone, so it must have cost Dove a fortune. So yeah, now you know... you perverts!

It's a real horror show!

2006-05-27T23:16:00.000+09:00

Who likes Asian horror movies? I mean, granted they're weird, which is scary in itself, but do they really do as adequate of a job scaring their audience as American ones?

Well, maybe if you're Japanese the answer is yes. Ken's "all night horrorshow" was tonight, and it was good fun. I arrivedaround 8pm or so and didn't leave the house till 5am the next morning. Eli, Arika, Chie, Eri-chien, Yuki, Sasa, Ken, myself and a few others packed into Ken's apartment and the movies began.

The first film was typical asian horror down to a T. I mean, it was REALLY generic. I didn't catch the name because it was actually Korean but the story goes like so... and no I'm not making this up.

Okay so like no shit,
this girl and her friends somehow summon the ghost of a girl whose face was burned in a bag by some mean schoolmates after that girl 30 years ago had willed someone to death making them jump out the school window during class. The girl who summoned the ghost's mother was in the class with the ghost back when she was alive and thus the ghost girl is able to inhabit her body. When possessed the girl who summoned (ill call her GWS for short) goes on a killing spree of all the people that were involved with putting the ghost girl's head in a flaming bag and also burning down her house with her mother inside. So, GWS goes through a dumb moral dilema as she spends scene after scene murdering her friends and teachers. There is a goofy scene with the art teacher because the ghost girl had had some kind of lame affair with him 30 years prior. There is nothing redeeming about this movie and it ends in the lamest way possible. Both ghosts of the ghost girl and her mother (who it turns out was psychic!) finish their killing spree and meet eachother, it then goes into a really silly montage about what can only be described as "the love between mother and daughter" and it shows the ghost girl growing up and stuff. And it was so cheesy I wanted to puke. THE END. (1.5 out of 5 stars)

So yes, first movie down and still nothing redeeming. Grrarg!

The next was the disgusting remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I don't want to talk about this one because it shouldn't even exist as far as I'm concerned. But, a few comments. First, I know the original was made in the 70s, so they had excuses not to wear bras, but the modern one has the same thing only add in a lot of silicone. Also, leatherface's character used to be kind of intriguing, but like Jason Vorhees, the film reduced him to some kind of UNSTOPPABLE KILLING MACHINE and was gay and lame. The R. Lee Ermy performance was about the only thing uplifting about the movie, and even then it was just him ripping off his own shit from Full Metal Jacket. So yeah, nothing really uplifting here. The intended "emotional" parts were utterly retarded too. Her boyfriend is hanging up on a meat hook and he's like "DO IT! KILL ME!" and all this shit and she's crying and shit and then she has to gut him with a gross knife. It was supposed to be intense but just ends up being cheestastic. (1 out of 5 stars)

Dark Water or why Jennifer Connelly needs to be more selective with her movie selection was up next. This 2 hour two long snorefest brings you another message of the bond between mother and daughter. For indeed, even ghost girl need a mommy... apparantly. The most horrifying part is imagining stagnant water all over a gross New York City apartment. I mean, that's how diseases like AIDs and Ebola were created right? Just throw in some monkeys. All in all, it was a hack job, I mean, I could probably tell a story better than that. There are so many things that make the viewer go "wtff!!!" but not in a good kind of scared way. Instead it's a "wtff!!!" of utter brain-melting stupidity. NEXT. (1.5 out of 5 stars)

By this time most people were asleep and Hashim came bursting through the door, drunk as hell. I took a funny picture of him after he passed out inconveniently and we stacked stuff on him.

Yeahhh... uhh. Anyway.

Last movie of the night as it was now very late and 90% of the people were asleep.

Stigmata is a film that I hadn't seen before. But, the whole "let's take christian imagery and just GO WILD!" idea doesn't float my boat. I mean, it's so overdone now, and we have the Passion, so why do we need MORE psuedo-Jesus imagery, much less with a gross lesbian and an annoying priest guy. But yeah, Stigmata was still better than the other movies of the night. It had a decent budget for special effects and had kind of an intriguing story. The main characters were stupid, including Jonathan Pryce (though he's brilliant in lots of other movies) as the EVIL CARDINAL archetype. So yes, another pass I'm afraid, although I was tired enough to actually kind of enjoy the film. (2 out of 5 stars)

Anyway, the best part was actually walking back at about 5:00 through Shiinamachi, which was really quiet and pleasant. I wish I could wake up early more often, because everything has that morning haze, which makes it more interesting. I got some strawberry milk from the vending machine, and that was good too.

All you pokah people!

2006-05-25T22:42:00.000+09:00

yo, word up represent...

it's been a while, ne?

Ha!

I'm joking. Thanks for continuing to read my blog guys. I appreciate it.

Tonights entry is about the zanyness of small-scale poker with Japanese friends. Yes, it involves real money.

Ken had a group of 5 or 6 of us over tonight to participate in a little Texas Hold-em.

Thanks to my cousin Matthew, I was quite familiar with the game as well as the terminology. I can hear Matthew now, "damn, if I had pocket queens I could DESTROY HIM!" Ahh, I miss the guy!

Keep in mind that again, this was for REAL money, so it was my first gambling of any sort really. We all bought in for a mere 1000yen. But still, 1000yen can buy more than a full meal at most places. That's like two bowls of ramen!

So indeed, the tension ran high. We all bought in and Ken explained the terminology in Japanese. "chieku" "beto" "kauru" and others were explained and the cards were dealt. We played by really standard professional rules. Everyone maintained the utmost of seriousness. It was great!

And check out the discipline in Yoshiki's pokerface! How impressive is that?

The hands were odd, and though we were using 5 different decks and rotated, I could've sworn something was weird about the cards. We kept flopping ace pairs and kings and straight draws and things. It was a night of big hands. I got two full-houses, a three of a kind, etc.

It was well matched between me and Eli. We were the two chipleaders throughout the whole game. Yoshiki lost all of his money early on through some bad betting. Since it was limit, I couldn't just go all in and make it exciting. I had to be calculated and last the long haul. But, overall... thanks to Matthew I was able to smoke the suckers.

In the end it came out with me on top with almost double the money I put in: 1970yen, then Eli with 1300something, and Jin with about 1100 or so... the rest lost money badly. The lovely Chie was there too, but she was just our token female observer. She sad quietly and listened and occasionally laughed when something silly happened. I was glad to see her.

Here's our happy group. This is the "serious" picture, so everyone is trying to look cool with their cards.

And here is the goofy one. Aww, poor Ken!

Well, with my new winnings I headed back to the dorm with Eli. We stopped for some food along the way to spend some of it. All in all not a bad way to spend the night... Texas Hold-em in Japan... who would've thought.
Next thing I'll see a Zebra driving a bus.

Rainy Day Dreamer

2006-05-24T23:17:00.000+09:00

Rain begins in an instant in Tokyo.

I went into Bookoff in the afternoon sun and found this when I exited.

No, I don't mean the motion blurred car. Just look around the picture, can you tell how wet everything is? It's hard to tell here, because the droplets don't show. But, it was pouring rain when I left the store. I thought I could handle it too, so I ran and took shelter in a nearby overhang. No, it was definately too strong.

I was getting really upset. Of all the days to forget an umbrella, this had to be one of the worst. I didn't want to be soaked head to toe, like some neglected dog in the big city. But, there was simply nothing else that I could do.

Well, I could keep waiting I guess. I could've waited, well god knows how long... I could've been safe about it. But, that ain't me.

I did what any good, careless young person would do. I tucked my backpack under my arm like a football and took off sprinting. A few steps into my stride a huge grin swept across my face. I burst out laughing... it must have been hard for the people passing me with their umbrellas to tell if I was laughing or crying, with all those droplets flooding my face like that. But, I didn't care. I mean, it must have been a sight... this guy sprinting through the rain past old ladies, children, businessmen... huge grin on his face, laughing like a lunatic. I felt great.

When I reached the station I was certainly soaked through and through by the rain, and I didn't care. It's hard to tell in this picture, though I was hoping it'd be obvious. I was really damn happy to be the insane outcast in this land. Take that conformity!

I smiled at everyone I saw. Why not?

Reaching the train I barely got a seat and I fell into a deep nap. I woke up in Nerima to change trains. By now the storm had blown into such ferocity that it was almost scary, almost...

It didn't stop falling!

Sports Day

2006-05-23T21:49:00.000+09:00

I grew up around sports with my father, so it's a past I can't escape. Though none of my brothers or me became athletes or even attempted to be (really), my father is a college tennis coach, so we grew up around people whose lives revolved around games. If you want to be philosophical about it, you could argue that LIFE IS A GAME or something lame like that... please don't. I mean, there is a certain admiration I have for people that achieve some sense of physical perfection, whether it be shooting a leather ball through a hoop, throwing it really far, sculpting muscles, or whatever. I never liked sports growing up, probably as a result of having to be around them so much with my father. We would go to Kalamazoo Michigan to the Boys National 16&18 tournament for recruiting, and I would feel trapped in some boring blackhole. I mean, dad would be doing his work, watching the matches, and meanwhile I would try to think of anything but tennis. I could never understand it.

Anyway, flashforwards about 10 years or so into the future, wow... 10 years already?

I agreed to participate in a voluntary field day at the Niiza campus for Rikkyo University's SPORTS DAY. The caps are used mockingly I assure you, because I was never that excited about it. But, when I got mails on my Keitai it'd always say "SPORTS DAY!" with caps.

Jun-Yon and I met with Yoshiki at the ikebukuro station and made one of the most interesting train trips since my time in Japan to Niiza. Yoshiki is one of my favorite people here, because he has one of the best attitudes and a genuinely good sense of humor. He's planning on studying abroad at Sheffield University in England so he has all these tapes on British Slang he listens to... it REALLY cracks me up when he says things like "bullocks" and "rodgering" in a really heavy Japanese accent. He's a real character.

Anyway, I'll skip to the "action." We got to Niiza, checked in, and proceeded to watch the EXCITING SPORTS ACTION of SPORTS DAY! I had no idea of the itenerary other than the time of my tennis match. I was participating with Eri in a mixed-doubles match later in the day.
The sports clubs really dominated the other non-sports-playing clubs like ours. It was really sad. We lost everything!

The real crushing loss was in Soccer. The opposing team was so incredibly good, they wiped IFL out with no difficulty at all.

In volleyball too... yikes... it was a tough break... I guess. I couldn't bear to watch most of the games, because I still think 90% of sports are boring. But, I had nothing else to do, so I took pictures of various people (like Elizabeth here) being mediocre at their sport.

Afterwards I went and prepared for my tennis match. It was to be a 3-game match, the shortest I have played since tennis camp as a kid. So, I went to the wall and hit against it for about half an hour. It felt really good actually. My strokes are still really pretty good and I felt confidant that I wouldn't embarass myself. Who is to say though! The momentum of a game can change very quickly. Perhaps that's what people like so much about sports... how skill and training can only do so much for a person before they have to implement it.
Well, I had been trained since I was little in at least the motions of tennis, though I was horrendously out of practice. I was able to hit against the wall with little problem after the thirty minutes when my partner came and joined me.

Eri has been acting really strangely towards me. I think she feels that I create too much added pressure for her, so she in turn cuts me off a little. That's fine though, because she has been annoying me a lot too. I think she's a little crazy. By a little crazy I mean, she's nuts... simply looney! I'm not sure of it, but I'm pretty convinced. You can never tell with some people, and Eri is no exception.

So, that being said, we barely talked as we took the court. When we would, it would simply be her speaking REALLY quick incomprehensible Japanese and me nodding like I understand. She hit the ball toward me and I hit a winner on her. Gah! What a goof. We're supposed to be practicing. I said I was sorry, but she still had to go running after the ball. I was embarassed... sorry! I didn't mean to shoot a damn winner... bah! Just a habit I guess.
After several more shanked shots and the realization we couldn't really "warm-up" effectively, we just waited for our competition.

They didn't come however, and we advanced to the semi-finals! Easy!

Our competition was a very tall gangly guy with groovy animeish hair and an incredibly short girl. They didn't look tough at all! But, when the match began, it was deceiving. The girl was truly bad at the game, but the guy was amazing. He picked up the slack, covering most of the court and hitting at some weird angles. However, most of the points we lost were a result of our own unforced errors. So, we lost the first match. Arg, embarassing... I didn't even talk to the other IFL people that came to watch. They said "yabaiiiI!" and stuff.

Of course, there was still one more match to determine who was 3rd and who was 4th. So, we did more practicing and I built up some team confidance. I was freaking pumped. I would've listened to some silly 80s sports movie music had I been able to.

Our next competition looked more fierce than the last, but I didn't care. We were going to wipe the court with their asses. Yeah!

So, the match began and sure enough, point after point, we were winning. Our friends gathered to watch as we were kicking the stuffing out of the other team. I even served an ace, which surprised me a lot, because my serve is horrible!

Then, it began raining... MATCH CANCELLED!

My god.. we would've won! Not that I care too much, but shit, it was actually pretty fun. I would've liked to have finished the stupid match at least. The officials and everyone else escaped to a tent set up beside the courts. It was then decided by them to have us play PAPER, ROCK, SCISSORS in order to determine the winner. This is a really popular way of solving disputes of course, but that doesn't mean I support it. As you guessed, Eri threw a scissors and it was a rock. We escaped with 4th place. Not bad actually!
I got a Rikkyo University Towel and two Ballpoint Pens as my reward. Ha.

After lunch and the rain letting up, it was time for the tug-of-war.

I could've sworn money on our victory in this event because of the amount of big foreign guys and muscle we had. When we walked up to the field, members on the other team said "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" and "waaaaa" and "SUGOI!" and so on. Yes, the gaijin invasion has begun. Lock up your women. Bar your doors.
Hashim was the anchor too, so I thought victory was assured. There aren't too many things I would think he would be that good at, but I would've sworn that pulling heavy shit would be one of them.

After the gun went off the two teams squared off. I just watched. I had four cameras to take pictures with in addition to my own, and it was all very challenging. In addition, I didn't find it exciting at all really outside of it being a bunch of foreign and Japanese vs. pure-bred Japanese. That kinda cracked me up! Who would win in the land?

THEY DID OF COURSE. No amount of muscle can defeat unified effort, right? That's what they say.

This picture of Hashim is hilarious too! I caught him midlaugh about the whole thing.

Afterwards, the baseball players enticed our female members over to try baseball. They had a cheer section and everything. A few of the girls got a kick out of batting, and some were pretty good. Poor Elizabeth though...

As you can tell, it was hard for me not to laugh.
Belgium is not known for their baseball. After about 10 pitches she hit a ball slightly and ran for first base. The guys rushed over there and picked her up. Everyone cheered "ERIZABETO! ERIZABETO!" and threw her up in the air. It was hilarious to see.

After some more tomfoolery, like this impromptu Sumo-bout between Jun-Yon and Yoshiki, we all split up and head back.

I don't know. There are worse ways of spending your day than sports. I still don't like them, mind you, but at least I got some excercise today. I'm going to bed.

She's Back!

2006-05-21T21:56:00.000+09:00

I'm overjoyed!

Kanako has returned to Tokyo. I know this is a bad thing for our mutual friends in America, Amanda, Kevin, Alex, and so on, because they won't be able to spend any time with her... but now I can!

Tonight we went out for Italian at an incredibly good restaurant in Ikebukuro (by Sunshine City). It'd be a great spot for a date someday, if I could get one that is.

Kanako, her friend Haruna, and I talked for a good length about America and our friends and so on. She had pictures with her of our friends too, so it made me miss them a lot. America isn't such a bad place I guess... I mean, at least the people are awesome, generally speaking. Then again, our friends are like the tip top highest level of Americans (though some are international) and thus aren't a good representation of "Americans" as a whole. We're spoiled!

After eating we went for Purikura and did a bunch of goofy pictures. My favorite is one where we're all making "rock" faces... I'm shooting the horns and have the guitar-solo face, Kana is flipping a bird and grimacing, and Haruna is uhh... well she's just smiling but trying to do something rock with her arm I think. Good try Haruna! Kana wrote "WE ARE ROCK!" when we were adding in effects afterwards, and I swear it's my favorite picture of her. Way to go Kana!

I'm so glad to have her here though. I missed her, and I still miss Kevin and the others a lot. So, it's a touch of the familiar in the land of the unfamiliar.

Also, she rules. Rock on Kana!

If You've Grown Up... the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka

2006-05-20T23:03:00.000+09:00

Since reaching Japan, I have felt a strong desire to visit the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. On the first day I met Takuya, we started talking about Ghibli. (you know, the whole "Ghibli suki?" "un, suki!" conversations) I told him that one of my goals in Japan was to go to the Ghibli Museum, as stupid of a thing as that sounds. I was REALLY surprised when he said that we could possibly be going there sometime.

That time came... umm... 7(?) weeks later. Hrm, I'm losing track of time I guess.

Yuuko sent out an email to IFL mailing list about a week ago and I instantly replied... "IKITAIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" I think she was a little confused and embarrassed by me being SO eager to go to the museum. But, simply put... I'm a huge Ghibli fan. I have seen everything they've made about, and I think Ghibli films capture a kind of adventure and fantasy that transcends generation and nationality. For animated features, they're incredibly complex and fantastic, with furry forest spirits and flying pigs. I love it. Even their realistic stories, like "mimi o sumaseba"(sp) Whisper of the Heart, are amazing.

Anyway... that being said. Today was the date of the excursion, and I prepared by putting on my Kodama shirt from Princess Mononoke. Yes, this is the most otaku thing I have ever done. But... whatever.

The trip to Mitaka and the walk down the tree-lined streets was beautiful. It was an extremely sunny day though not too hot. I was with a lot of people that I adore too, Eli, Chie, Jun, Yuuko... Lots of great friends for company. My spirits couldn't have been higher! I couldn't wait.

Walking to the museum we saw lots of Ghibli indications, mostly signs with Totoro on them and an arrow. It was like we were going to visit the guy or something... though I doubt he'd like that very much, Japanese kids jumping up and down on his belly while he's trying to sleep.
(Yes, this entry only makes sense if you've seen the movies... Sorry.)

Finally, we came to the museum. Totoro was everywhere even from the outside!

But then again, doesn't everyone love Totoro? What is there not to love? He flies around on a top, plants the forest, looks like a mixture between a panda and a cat, and makes the wind blow. Come onnn!

It looked very characteristic even from the outside. The ground was covered in some type of imitation matted woodchips that were soft underfoot. The sides of the museum was a mix of a kind of earthy adobe look and the typical Ghibli "mixed-European" that Miyazaki uses a lot.

A lot of care was taken to make the structure look asymmetrical and somewhat organic. I'm sure one of the original plans was to put it all in some kind of huge Endor-like tree house structure, but that would be too dangerous. The layout was amazing nonetheless.

Behind the ticket booth was a gigantic Totoro and a whole lot of acorns of various sizes. Haha, how cool is that.

Then we came to the REAL entrance and handed in our tickets. The man said to me in English "WOW! Nice shirt!" once he saw the Kodama. I laughed.

Unfortunately, right upon entering I lost my ability to use my camera, though god I wish i could. I can tell you that the windows inside are like stained glass with suns and moons and Ghibli characters and the like. The place was decorated like a 19th century Victorian/French home, with large hanging lights and various other adornments. But, the actual layout of the building was still perplexing. The lady gave me the English brochure because she could tell I was gaijin, and so I got to read the message, "Please explore the space. Our museum has no set path. It is up to you to find your own way around it." I love that idea too. What freedom to be able to follow your inclination to various areas.

The first area in the basement contained an explanation of the animation process for children using, I shit you not, a variety of steam-powered dioramas! It was really amazing... they would have a wheel that spins very fast with different images written on the sides, but when spinning showed a face that would twist and eat itself and then repeat the action over and over or a girl dancing or a sun that sets and moon that rises and sets and on and on. Just various dioramas. Some of them contained Ghibli characters. They also had an area where children could push a button and this giant wheel with about a hundred totoros, meis, nekobasus (the cat bus!), and so on in various positions would begin to slowly spin. But, upon reaching full speed, the characters are animated perfectly to do various actions. The illusion was created with a strobe light that spread out the images at the exact interval to fool the brain into thinking they were moving. This would be SO much easier with an image, but again... no photography. It was really amazing to watch, all those totoro.
The name of it was "totoro pyon pyon!" I believe... which is the sound of jumping up and down. How much fun.

The area captured a kind of youthful creativity... that childish ability for imagination that gets beaten out of us when we get old and wise. It made me incredibly nostalgic for youth. I wish I had come 10 years earlier, but even if you've grown up, as I have, there is so much there to be offered anyway.

We went upstairs and found a giant catbus (about half sized) with about 20 some odd Japanese children crawling on it. The little runts were running around and throwing makurokurosuke (dustbunnies) at eachother while the parents looked on from the side of the pen. I couldn't play along, so I moved up the spiral staircase to the roof.

Now, back outside, I could take pictures again! Hallelujia!

We reached the roof and found a familiar image.

There was an exact sized copy of the robot in the garden from Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta. It was about... god, I'm bad with distances... 15 feet or so tall. Quite impressive really!

Laputa is in competition for my favorite Ghibli film so I was particularly captured by seeing the familiar image of the robot up close and in three dimensions. It was incredibly detailed too. The back of it even had some grass growing on the hipjoints. They took time to craft the thing inside and out.

Of course, being in Japan, we had to have the group image in front of it. Left to right in this picture, Chie, ?(forget her name!), Elizabeth, Eri-chien, and some dumb foreign guy.

Further into the rooftop garden we found the keystone from Laputa as well. So, we took another picture. I was going to take a shot holding Sheeta's pendant (one of the girls bought a replica earlier in the gift store) pushing "Sheeta" and trying to look evil while holding a book and the pendant... just like Muska in the movie... but, ah well! I've seen that film too much.

They took detail carving all this fake "Laputian" writing into the stone to make it look genuine. I loved it. Too bad I can't haul it back to the states.

By this time I was hungry so...

Eli and I headed to the Ghibli museum cafe, which had (you guessed it) a French cafe theme. The actual cafe menu was decent, but it was so crowded that we had to settle on Hot dogs and Gelato instead.

It was my first Japanese hotdog, so I was excited!

And sure enough, it was pretty delicious. The roll was especially tasty. The meat was kind of reminiscent of bratwurst or something. Pretty good! I had Eli take these pics to capture the joy on my face too. Ha!

Back inside (no pics!) we visited an area that was set up like Miyazaki's work room. He had all kinds of pictures of various airships, French landscapes, adventure books, drawings, sketches, etc all over the place. I would love to show my brother Adam, he would've loved it. They even had an exact sized replica of the Insect Rifle from Kaze no tani no Naushika there. I wonder if it really could fire.

Then they had a duplicate study of the other director from Ghibli, Isao Takahata (He did Hataru No Haka, Grave of the Fireflies and others) and an area with various scrap books and clips from Ghibli films. Then there was a room that had nothing in it at all (random), the gift store (I bought lots of souveniers), and the Saturn theater.

The theater was interesting because I got to see short Ghibli film. I can't remember the title, but it was really exceedingly strange. It was about a boy who runs away from time then meets a woman doing the same. They live happily growing gigantic turnips. Then as he's taking the turnips to market he meets a frog person and a furry person (uhh, walrus?, god I can't tell) who sell him a seed for one of his turnips. He takes the seed home and plants it. after a while, the seed begins floating in air above the pot. It has tiny bits of earth and gem orbitting it too. To make a long story short, he cultivates his own planet out of the seed. But, then the time police guys come and take the lady away... the frog guy and the walrus guy take him to outerspace in a trolley car (I'm serious), and he releases the seed/star into the cosmos. There is some moral at the end about being yourself and also some vague environmental message about cultivating and not destroying... but my Japanese didn't understand everything.

I liked the film a lot, and I was glad to know that I had seen a Ghibli movie 99.999% haven't!

I can't wait till their new film is out!

Sadly, when we came out of the theater, it was raining. Not just rain either... on a weird weather scale of 1 to 10, 1 being Sunny and warm and 10 being a black hole randomly opens up in the sky, it was about an 8. There was INCREDIBLY hard rain and thunder and a downpour of all types. People just looked out at it in awe. It had been sunny just minutes before and now it was a deluge of rain, flooding everything.

We decided to leave once it slowed to a bearable pace. I had to store my souveniers under my (now soaked) Kodama shirt and run for the bus.

We had Chinese food afterward but everyone was so tired. I thanked Yuuko for organizing such an amazing trip.

The Ghibli museum was everything that I had hoped for, a tiny look into a fantasy world that I love so dearly.

The Arab Party

2006-05-19T23:14:00.000+09:00

Ahh Arabs... the things they've given us! Cool dances, turbans, various coffees and horses, rich luxurious pillows and rugs, neat curly facial hair... It's staggering!
I'm not poking fun at Arabic culture, because it's incredibly rich and varied. Though, I guess I don't have to qualify the stupid things I say anymore, so I'll move on! This isn't an academic journal, and I try to make it wrong sometimes just cause it's more fun. So, deal!

Hashim has been planning his "Arab party!" for about three weeks now and tonight we finally had it.

I was in such a damn good mood too. The normal things that really bother me in Tokyo seemed bearable or showed "character." There probably wasn't a single negative thought for me the whole day.

And, similarly, I met friends of Kanako's (who just returned to Tokyo!) who were very nice. Yuko was a very nice girl and studied in America about a year ago. Her English was still passably good too. I got to speak a beautiful mix of Japanese and English words in order to best communicate with her. It worked too. We had a good discussion about culture and stuff. Pretty boring though if you're not into anthropology, I think.

Anyway, to get to the point, we all headed back to Shakujiikouen park for the party and set up. I had heard that there would be a mizu pipu... a sheesha at the party, but I didn't know that there would be two of them. Both Hashim and Kazu brought sheeshas to the party, along with copious amounts of flavored tobaccos.

I'm not really a fan of smoking by any stretch, but it smelled really good.

Kazu was a bit of a pro. He had this really expensive imported apple flavored tobacco that he was smoking. We all passed around the huge pipe and sat on cushions in the park. It wasn't quite Arabia, but I guess it'll do.

Kazu was the best at it. He would puff out huge clouds of smoke. The image made him look a little bit like a demon or some kind of devil. I thought about the wacky caterpillar from Alice In Wonderland.

I didn't smoke really, because it was more fun watching other people. The girls weren't very good at it, nor were most of the guys. But, I think the guys put up more of a show of trying to blow out huge puffs of smokes... tiny train engines every one of them.

When the party started dragging on, we quickly found ourselves in the all too common sudden outpours of rain. I know the truth though! It was the smoke from those sheesha! It reached the sky, formed clouds, and brought all that moisture back down on our heads. I sure wish weather worked like that.

We grabbed our things and ran to find shelter underneath a small roofed pavilion. There wasn't much room for everyone, and worse, there was another group of guys there that were filming some type of horror scene before the rain hit. They were still trying to get some kind of establishing shots, but then we ran up and disturbed the process. But, what else could we do. It was raining so hard and most of us didn't have umbrellas (naturally).

This picture is really silly! I don't even know who this girl is. Rami stole my camera and took it. It looks like I'm attacking her or something. Jeez.

But, you get an idea of how close we all were.

The time came to flee through the rain and return. I didn't have an umbrella. Chie, the girl I mentioned before from the Shinkiba trip, did!

So, the two of us hopped puddles out of the park. I'm taller, so I held the umbrella overhead while keeping close to her. It was a nice moment, and we talked very casually. She's so brutally shy, but tonight she and I talked at some length, barely keeping dry.
The rain was coming in at an angle with the wind, so it was hard to shield her from it. I was making my best effort, and I think she appreciated that much. She was wearing heels too, I couldn't imagine dealing with that.

She said suddenly, "KAERU!" and had a look of fear on her face. I looked where she was indicating and sure enough there was a big fat frog. He just came out to take a cold shower I suppose. I took this picture of him. Not such a scary guy though really.

We reached the station by and by, and she indicated that I should keep the umbrella for the walk back to the dorm. But, I shook my head no and stood in the rain. I smiled, waved, and thought... Wow, I bet she thinks I'm a little crazy. Or, maybe that's a good thing.

I walked slowly until I was out of sight and then sprinted the rest of the way back to the dorm, soaking wet and inundated in good intentions.

Aroma

2006-05-18T22:18:00.000+09:00

Somewhere outside my window, someone is roasting a fish.

Shiinamachi Revisited

2006-05-17T20:43:00.000+09:00

Rain rain rain... how drab. You would think that the Earth would stop shifting water this way. It makes it inconvenient on us non-plants.

Another day of sporadic rain, but today was different. It didn't bother me, it didn't stay long. It did give me an interesting perspective on the place I went before and now see again in the daytime, Shiinamachi...

yes, Shiina Ringo's machi! I come to it again!

(AND NOW AN OBLIGATORY SHIINA RINGO PICTURE BECAUSE I LOVE HER.)

Okay... now that that's done.. I will continue!

Today after school, Ken tipped me on how to get some REALLY fresh shit... like straight from the used bins. You know it, I'm feeding my addiction to used CD stores. It's gotten out of hand I think, but not to the point that I should check myself in somewhere. So, Ken told me about a three-story CD store right by his house in Shiinamachi. Since I was looking for adventure after a particularly boring day, I thought, "why not?" So I, the founder of the John Kriese Expedition Into Strange New Lands decided to walk A FEW BLOCKS OUTSIDE OF IKEBUKURO TO FIND IT.

Yes, I know... you all are SHOCKED by my DARING BRAVERY to walk so far in an unknown land. I too was terrified! But, overpowering the fear was the thrill of discovery... the thrill of adventure!

By and by... somehow.. I ended up in the cloud-covered land of Shiinamachi.

On first inspection the area seemed pretty typical for Tokyo... and on second inspection this reaction was cemented. I use the word cemented because that's all that I could see... cement... cement... cement. It was like they had huge hoses of cement and dumped the stuff all over the place.

The sky looked ominous as I made my way down the major roads toward the general direction Ken instructed me with. I finally found the CD store after the trainstation which was a heartbreaking disappointment. Their selection was terrible unless you like washed-out overplayed crap like Morning Musume, Glay, and Globe. I didn't buy anything!

But, by now I was desperately seeking to make something of my journey. I knew I had to find some kernal of interest so that I could make my long trek (not really that long) worth it.

And I found the nugget buried in the Buddhist temple that I had visited with Sorin before. By now the sky was so hazy and crazy... I could feel the gathering electricity in the air. There was a statue of a monk ahead of me.

It was wet with rain, but still very striking. I also thought it strange that a monk would get a statue erected in a temple, when they themselves are such dovoted and humble creatures. He must have been an important man... whatever his name was. I couldn't read any of the words on the plaque because they seemed to be of a strange old type of Japanese. That's probably intentional. It makes things sound pretty grandious. Like writing in Ye Olde English because you can. It's the pretentious shit that kids that listen to Rush would do!

hard to place the age of the temple though, because some places looked acutely older than the rest. Again though, the place didn't matter so much, it was just that electric wind before the storm... the tingles of energy.

Ahead in the graveyard I saw the master of the domain, at least one of them. It was clear now what the statue I had photographed before looked like in the full light, well... grey light.

And the graves didn't bother me in the slightest. Every marker in the cemetary held only the name and possibly ashes of the deceased and not the actual body. I prefer that much more, though I know the hungry worms need food too!

But talk like that will get you nowhere in this world, so I found my way to the station and returned before the rain got worse.

Nice detour to save a wasted trip... ne?

The Legend of Gaijinjima, a simple land of simple rules

2006-05-16T11:46:00.000+09:00

Before I begin this entry... CHECK THIS HEEEE(Ex100)LARIOUS SIGN OUT!

Anyway, I liked it a lot so I took a picture. Barber perhaps? I should purchase one.

Today's (tonight's!) tale is of a mysterious island shrouded in enigma, wrapped in uncertainty, covered in doubt! I speak of course of the mist covered island known only as "GAIJINJIMA" the first officially colonized Japanese island of this expedition.

Indeed my friends, I was glad to see that we were met with little resistance as our proud white races spread over the island, crushing any bugs we saw along the way. Of course, the attack was a stealthy one. We chose to hide within the shadows of that mystic isle by nighttime and return by day. What a brilliant plan it was.

Thus, the 7 of us, 3 French, 3 American, and 1 Italian claimed the tiny island off the shores of Shakujiikouen kouen as ours.
What a fine prize she was for our represented nations too. Less than 20 feet in diameter and connected to land only by a narrow walkway... containing no resources other than dirt and grass, and the wood should we choose to break apart and burn the pavillion some cold winter night.

But we were in good spirits. There was much laughter, many jokes... many stupid stupid jokes. Much of the barbarian horde (dirty dirty gaijin we be!) was fortified by chu-hi. While, others drank only in the stupid jokes and good feelings.

Sasha played what I deemed our national anthem, some French song I didn't know, it sounded like David Bowie. He played very well.

The Italian representative, Davide, let his dreadlocks down, which made it looks like he had a large dirty spider growing from his head...

oh... speaking of spiders!

They're the other inhabitant of Gaijinjima. Currently, we live in coexistance with the eight-legged ones... as their interest is only in our vast fly/mosquito resources. We can surely spare that bit.

But, in truthfulness, it was really fun going out there with those guys. The pavillion was honestly quiet, which is about the first place in Tokyo that I've found to be as such. So, that alone was remarkable really!

And, we'll return to Gaijinjima again someday soon!

You see your gypsy!

2006-05-15T22:45:00.000+09:00

The weirdest fragments of familiarity hit me with alarming constancy. Its like how they say you can smell weird things just before you die, or you'll hear your mother's voice or something. Well, I don't get anything that remarkable (unless I call my mom! har har!)

This entry is about my daily commute.

I haven't commented much on it, but trains are sometimes a time of silent reflection ahead or behind as terrain rolls past.. It's like everyone packed inside has all this potential action but are for some reason silent and still.

And then,
BANG!
The doors slide open and they're off. The flow of people out of the train is amazing to see. You would be surprised to see how quickly the decrepit elderly can move when motivated to leave those steel prisons on rails. People don't push. However, there is a sense of urgency that overpowers the need for personal space. It is during this time that they get closer to the people around them than they will likely get for the rest of the day, as they stack up in front of bottlenecks like doors, escalators, etc... It's amazingly sheeplike, though that image has become so cliche in our times. Hell, even Chaplin used it.

Then, through the bottleneck, personal space is reacquired. People disperse and fill the space thoroughly. This is the time I like to call "the gauntlet," due to the manner that people come toward you.

"There, 1 o'clock small child... dodged, next target... 3 o'clock and closing, danger! salaryman in a hurry, orange priority warning! Whew, dodged... barely! That was a close one mission control. We're approaching our objective rapidly now, cruising speed reacquired... oh no! Closing at your 11, blue haired obaachan! Hurry, evasive manuevers... skirting to the right... NEGATIVE! Still closing, she anticipated our approach and evaded in the same direction! One step to the left... it's close, and... passed! Thank god! That was too close... we were about to be flattened!"

It's interesting... people observe absolutely no rules when walking through this part of the station. You would assume they would stay to the quickest and most logical path, but it seems like there is no such thing as logic and station walking. But, somehow you narrowly avoid crashing into them... somehow! Lord knows what force controls such things. I'm sure it's instinctual.

The next phase of station travel is what I call, "mindless advertisement avoidance" or maa maa for short! (That's actually a lie, but it sounds nice anyway.)
This phase refers to the numerous stands, flyer-hander-outers (everywhere!), and so forth that you must avoid at all costs if you wish to reach your destination. To make a long point shortened, this is the motivation for this entry.

I was entering the maa maa phase when I heard a familiar tune! There, amidst the crowds, ignored by all but myself, I heard the all-too (oh good, all-too) familiar tune of "Gypsy" by Fleetwood Mac wafting through the air like a bad fart smell that you can't avoid. I looked where it was coming from and it was a tiny stand of discount (bootleg) CDs and DVDs, that are so very numerous in the Ikebukuro station. Normally, these stands will play Sarah Brightman or Mozart or something equally unmotivated... but today... GYPSY! YOU SEE YOUR GYPSY! WOO WEE WOO!

I want to emphasize at this point that I really carry no fondness for this song, especially Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood or the rest... it just seemed so incredibly... bizarre. It was like the universe became entropic... nothing seemed to line up... nothing made any sense!

Why is Stevie Nicks singing in the station? Why here? Why now? Why do I even notice this and not the Mozart and Sarah Brightman? Do I SEE MY GYPSY??

I guess I'm crazy... great! Going crazy by hearing a Fleetwood Mac song... that's real classy. I hope that goes in the history books, along with a guy who chokes on a block of cheddar cheese or something equally unremarkable.

Damnit... I don't even know how I made it to school, but later on... there I was! Bam! Consciousness restored... disaster avoided...

BUT FOR HOW LONG?

Tom Yam days and Rockabilly nights

2006-05-14T23:58:00.000+09:00

What a completely awesome day in Tokyo. The weather was great, and I didn't sleep too long to enjoy it either!
Today I was awoken by ai-chan at about 11am. She asked me if I wanted to go to the "big Thai festival" in Harajuku. I was anxious to go to Harajuku anyway, so I agreed and got ready.

Getting to Harajuku was incredibly easy. Twenty minutes on the JR Yamanote Line and I was there. I felt weird instantly upon leaving the station. Far too many cosplay girls and guys were loafing around on the sidewalk on either side. I would've taken pictures of them, but if you've seen one gothic lolita you've seen them all. There was the typical mix of the cutesy goths and the more "hardcore" (lol) VK goth types. VK is visual-kei, like Malice Mizer and DespairsRay and all that goings on. Anyway, they were everywhere. There were a lot of foreigners walking around with cameras. There were also creepy old men too. But, that's pretty typical. I got the hell out of there once I found my way.

The walk to Yoyogi park is really enjoyable. There is a treelined sidewalk that everyone has to walk on, but here's the kicker. There are at least 20 bands playing down the stretch of the sidewalk too. Some are RIGHT NEXT TO EACHOTHER. It must make it hard to stay on beat when everything blends together.

Most of the bands were pretty typical, with guys in ballcaps holding guitars and playing powerchords. But, some were interesting. This guy was from a 5-10member band that had it's own horn section. I really dug the J-fro too.

I'm not sure what the band was called, nor do I care. Their music was pretty rotten. I was just glad to see something with horns and stuff, even though the trumpet player looked like he was confused.

I got to Yoyogi and instantly was immersed into a thick crowd of people. I tried in vain to call my friends to meet up, because it was so impossible to hear over the drumming, the bands, the people...

I somehow crawled out from the mass of people long enough to place a short call (shouting my words) and met up with the others. The festival drew so many people for a celebration of Thai culture... bwahaha just kidding. If anything, it drew people together for a celebration of Thai FOOD. Oh my brothers... How we ate. I ate and ate and ate. I had two bowls of this and a helping of that. I had two bowls of Tom Yam Kung before I finally decided that enough was enough. But, it was so delicious.

The Thai community of Tokyo used the festival as an opportunity to show off their traditional costumes and drums and things. I suppose that being a minority in Tokyo can produce fond feelings for your homeland. It still hasn't worked for me!

I just couldn't stop noticing how crowded the damn place was though. It was impossible to move anywhere quickly. The people trotted along at turtle pace from one food vendor to the next.

I like this picture because it shows the ocean of people that I had to somehow maneuver through.

I had a guide by the name of... umm... Chippy? Tipsy? Chirpy? Tipper? Erg... I can't remember. I couldn't remember two minutes after she told me though, honestly. She's a friend of Ai's and kept asking me what I thought of Thai culture and stuff. I said that it was "nice."

We also talked about the king of Thailand. She said "everyone respects him but no one really knows why." Because, he doesn't do anything apparently. It's like the British monarchy. They just open up Shopping malls, smash bottles on ships and all that. I hated to admit that even though I'm an Asian studies major, the only thing I studied about Thailand in school is the sex industry. I don't know much history really, unless it ties into other countries in the region.

Well, sometime shortly after this I lost Chippers in the crowd. It was one of those one second she's there and the next she disappears! I didn't see her the rest of the day either. She was swallowed by the crowd!

I waited 30 minutes in a line for fried banana. Though it was unbelievably delicious, it just wasn't worth 30minutes of my life. I'm going to be on my deathbed someday and think, "Damn those bananas!"

In crowds people become a living organism. They move together in lines at the same pace, following the same people. It's bizarre to see.

I took this movie from a bridge that crossed over one area. It gave a good viewpoint to illustrate my point...

Isn't it creepy!?!?

Maybe I'm a little agoraphobic and just can't handle that many people, but I think anyone will lose their mind after long enough in that crowd!

Thankfully, I was now ontop of the bridge. I found Kyoko and Lily who told me they were planning on going to Meiji Jingu, which is directly Northeast of Yoyogi park. I joined them and finally... I was free of that mess of people!

The rest of Yoyogi was really quite pretty. It definitely beat being at the festival.

Also, along the way we passed numerous street performers that were doing various activities. Most were amateur musicians. Some were just plain bad too, like this old man with worn out bongos that I didn't even want to take a picture of (too depressing!).

But, we also saw some guys practicing sword techniques for some unknown reason. They were impressive too.

I thought that it would be typical kendo practice, with some type of organized structure. But, the only way I can explain it is, NINJAs.

As you can see in the movie, they're quite acrobatic (in a half-assed way naturally, but still). It was impressive.

That was quickly overshadowed by the appearance of the Tokyo Rockabilly Club (TRC) outside the park. These guys supposedly meet there every Sunday to dance around for hours and hours and hours to heavily distorted Rockabilly music.

I had seen Rockabilly guys before on TV, in movies.. I have long dreamed of being one myself too, and now there they were, pompadoured and greasy. Some were so hideously ugly too, it was crazy! How rock and roll though, to be ugly and dancing outside a park to really distorted rock on a crappy tape player.

I had to get a movie.

I should've focused on one guy in the movie in retrospect, but I wanted to show that there were at least 8-10 guys dancing at any one time spread across the area. They were really spastic and silly, and lots of people laughed at them... Man, they just don't understand.

Like Ace says in "Wild Zero" "Rock and Roll will never die!" Amen man... Keep the fire!

We reached Meiji Jingu after another long walk.

This picture is bizarre! My dumb gaijin face sucked up the flash again! But wow, I look so angelic.

The shrine was quite large, easily the largest one I've seen yet. But, I have to admit... I wasn't that impressed. I think the smaller shrines are probably more interesting than huge ones like this.

However, I did have the opportunity to see a wedding procession in progress.

Many people gathered around to take pictures and video of the soon-to-be-weds, even though I think all of them had nothing to do with the procession. Maybe it's the fact that the wedding kimonos cost about 1000000yen. (around $10000!) I just could never justify dropping that kind of change on anything that's not a car or something. Undoubtedly the family was very wealthy. I don't think the bride is very attractive though, eh? haha.

They walked off out of one of the private shrine areas with the priests and procession. It was lovely to see, even if they passed so quickly and quietly.

We left the shrine after a short time and returned to the festival area.

It was now getting darker as the sun began its nightly decent. I stopped for a brief time to take this picture but I couldn't really enjoy it because the girls were so persistent.

And here's another funny picture of Sasa, not like there aren't a hundred of them. He's a goofy guy!

After returning I did a Japanese faux pas by leaving the group prematurely rather than waiting on the rest to get back.

I took this time to walk around and try to find some of the bands that were still playing, but it was pretty meager pickings at that time. There were about twenty people grouped around a girl pop-group (with synchronized dance steps!) but other than that most had packed up.

Of course, one group was still there!

They were still dancing around and being silly. One Japanese lady walked up to one of them and said something and they all posed for a picture with her. And then they did another with another girl, and a guy, and so on...

I was really excited! Now's my chance! I can get my photo with these guys and put it on my ultra-cool photoblog!

So I waited in line with my camera ready for my chance to do my best Rockabilly scowl, when disaster struck...

LOW BATTERY!

UN-freaking-believable! I can't believe that my camera cut off right before my turn. Unbelievable!

I just waved, looked embarrassed and walked off... gah! How can my dreams of rock and roll and pompadours ever come true at this rate?!?!

Damn you cruel fate!

Well... Here's to wishful thinking!

Better than nothing, right?

The greatness that is Japanese audio reproduction

2006-05-13T22:57:00.000+09:00

Sorry that I haven't had pictures these past few entires. They're all pretty isolated events, so pictures are difficult to really capture anything of value. That being said...

I've found myself addicted, yet again, to the greatness that is Japanese music. It isn't that I stopped. I just haven't been living and breathing Japanese music lately. But, that has changed in the past few days as I have discovered how affordable and simultaneously awesome Japanese CDs and CD stores can be.

Hrm... let me dig up some pictures to make this entry mildly more interesting for everyone and also to prove my point.

Okay here... take "Tategami" from Go!Go!7188...
(Here's a video for the unindoctrinated: Go!Go!7188 - Ruriiro)

In addition to the incredibly cool art work both on the cover and the back and CD itself, the booklet contains about 15 pages more than necessary just to have extra info, lyrics, etc. Also, there are some great pictures of the band doing random silly things.

It's rather typical for an album package I guess, even by American standards. Well, the art is really awesome, but I mean... okay, heres another one.

"Neu" by the Polysics
(Check out that link on the side panel to see one of their vidoes! And, here's another: The Polysics - I my me mine)

The cover has a blue turtleneck like the one Bazooka Joe's friend always wore... shit, why do I remember that?! And, when you open the booklet, there are four other faces than the boys that you can line up under the cover to wear the sweater. I have no freakin' clue why!!

Then, on the flip side it has images of children doing various things with the instruments, fishing etc.. and it all has this idyllic 1950s America look to it.
That's a major difference I think. It's like the bands decide on a stylistic-theme for the album and every bit of the production revolves around it. If it is spacey, then it should be filled with large spaces and little text. Maybe it should feature the band members looking from inside a spacecraft. But damn, it'll be stylish.

Maybe my favorite designs are those that are really psychedelic or scream rock and roll, like Guitar Wolf's pleather-bound (with studs!) "Jet Generation."

It fits the album perfectly too if you've heard any guitar wolf.
(IE: Guitar Wolf - UFO Romantics

The inside is covered with appropriate rock images of Seiji, Billy, and Toru tearing the shit out of various places.

And for something entirely different... brilliantly organized production quality as opposed to brilliantly chaotic productionless quality... Cornelius' "Fantasma."
(And a video from "Point": Cornelius - Tone Twilight Zone

The cover reminds me of "Very" by the Pet Shop Boys, which is only because it's orange I suppose.

The inside is another collection of... well, you get the image! It's all really high quality...

I've gone on long enough. But, this is the reason it is a bad idea to get shitty Thai bootlegs of Japanese albums. Be very careful on ebay!

I completely circumvent the problem by going right to the source, those fabulous used CD/Book stores that are EVERYWHERE in Tokyo. I can spend all night in one of those places.

Anyway I'm out till tomorrow...
Keep the rock alive!

If the next war is fought only with joysticks, Japan wins.

2006-05-12T23:14:00.000+09:00

Before this entry, I would like to say that my nose is getting a bit better. I took an anti-histimine that Eli's mom mailed him in a care package and it did miracles. So, I guess it was allergies afterall. I also cleaned my room, vacuuming, taking out garbage, shaking out the curtains... the whole deal. Mom wouldn't believe it so don't tell her.

Tonight I joined John and Jason, the two Vanderbilt guys for a jaunt around Shakujiikouen. Our intention was to go to bookstores, play some videogames, eat some food...
I haven't spent much time with either of them though. John always seemed a little too sarcastic for me to feel close to, and Jason kind of creeps me out. But, I found both of them to be really interesting good people by the end of the night. No one cares about that though!

We went to a Game store I didn't know existed that sold the most archaic games and systems only two feet or so from the brand-spanking-new UNSOLD Xbox360 ones. I say unsold because of course no one in Japan really wants a 360. Who would?
John got a Playstation for 200yen... that's like, $1.75, and it even still works. Beat that! I know the system is old and extremely common, but that's cheaper than a sandwich! Only in Japan.

We then moved on to a multifloor game center that I ALSO didn't know existed. The guys took up the Taiko machine which left me to brave the unknown waters of other games. Their selection of rhythm games was extremely small, so I settled on my favorite fighting game of all time, Tekken 5... only it wasn't Tekken 5. It was the expanded version with many extra fighters and levels and so on. And let me tell you, it was amazing. The new characters are really cool but apparantly somewhat cheap. There is a Nazi-vampire (at least he looks like one) who does scary practical fighting. His form kind of reminds me of Bryan Fury. Hard to tell with only one play though. The girl with the blond hair, Lily, has a really strange flippy wispy kind of martial arts. I lost with her quickly. So, finally I whipped out my Lee, my favorite character. I was kicking ass despite the weirdness of Japanese joysticks (they've got odd directional sense), when suddenly "HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER". The game pitted me against a copy of one of the previous players of the game. And, I cried. I barely got a punch in on the guy. His name was "Yamada (something, something)" and he crushed my spirit. jeez.

So, not wanting to lose any more money to the Tekken Gods, I went over to watch a non-descript Japanese man playing a shooter game. I spent about 15 minutes watching the man...

It was amazing. Have you ever seen the shooter games where they shoot approximately 50-100 balls of shiny death at your tiny plane at one time? I always die in those after about the second enemy. This guy expertly flew his tiny spaceship inbetween EVERY SINGLE ONE of the orbs. It was innnnnsane. He was so masterful at it that I wondered if he had played it enough to be partially insane or else possibly was part machine. I would like to think that under his skin there were tiny processors and sensors that expertly calculated the exact position of the joystick at all times. I mean, the guy died only twice in the 15 minutes or so of me watching, and it was such a damn impossible game. Why would anyone play that game?

The military should recruit these guys to man their battle robots of the future, imagine the proficiency in which they could operate something with a joystick. It's daunting. I just.. can't explain how incredible it was to watch. When he died for the last time, even though he had been on his first play, he just quit the game... not wanting to continue. It was really interesting. Maybe he's become so masterful that he is in constant struggle with whether or not he should play the game. Either way it kind of scares me!

I went back downstairs and John and Jason were still playing Taiko. John was really damn good at it. What is it with people being good at videogames today?

The rest of the trip was a bust. We ended up getting convenient food from the nearby Family Mart rather than actually eating somewhere. I think I was still recovering after staring at all of those shiny orbs and the tiny ship, bouncing around on that screen. gosh.

Return of the Ryou-chou scare!

2006-05-11T21:59:00.000+09:00

I've been sneezing a lot again. I think it's just something in my room or maybe allergies. There's undoubtedly a lot of dust and nasty stuff growing in here. I'd leave my window open for fresh air but there is no mesh over it to protect me.

Eli was stupid today. He stopped by to say hi and saw that iw as sneezing and running (my nose that is). He was fine with it, but then he told our dorm manager, Ryou-chou-san himself, that I was "sick!" Ryou-chou sprinted off into his office to grab all the various types of medicine he had stored up for this very moment. I got so damn mad. I wasn't about to face the second wave of that nonsense. If you go back a few weeks in entries I have an entry about being sick, and he made me gargle brown liquid crap and quarantine myself. I wasn't gonna let that happen again. So, I had to lie... well kind of. When he came back I said, "iie, alerugi dake desu, hontou desu" and so on until he believed that I wasn't contagious. He left the surgical mask with me anyway. I know it wasn't entirely true, but I do think there is something to be said for it actually being a dust allergy or something of the sort. Ah well, I don't need to worry about the moral framework. More was on the line than just gargling. I wouldn't be able to do ANYTHING in the dorm because every time I would open my door he would come out, tilt his head back about 45degrees, make a gargling noise, then point at me.

Shit, close call! No brown crap for me. But, my nose is still running. Damn.

Chinese at 7am does not make for a good day!

2006-05-10T09:21:00.000+09:00

Every day... every day... EVERY BLOODY DAY...
Everyday I am brutally roused into semi-conscious fury by the harsh tones of the Taiwanese guys talking RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR in loud... overly loud and annoying Chinese. Who the hell is that active at 7am? What kind of human beings can produce that massive amount of volume... that bellowing laughter. Don't you people live and breathe and feel tired... don't you see a little pang of consideration for the poor bastards in the nearby rooms that DO?
I mean, It's unfair. My door is about half an inch of cheap metal thick. How is that supposed to keep these guys out?

Enough questions. I know the worst of them. It's that guy with the black framed glasses... he's the worst! He's the one whose voice is both extremely loud and extremely annoying. It's like that guy Isaac from my trombone section in highschool. Man, that guy could make noise. But, at least he was in English. I can't even tell this guy "SHUT UP!" unless I use Japanese, and I doubt that'd have the same effectiveness.

One thing's for sure. I'm going to try to avoid Taiwan, or.. at least I'll just find a room there with some freaking soundproofing. Is it wrong that I'm an Asian Studies major and should be sensitive to cultural differences and stuff but simultaneously want to RIP OUT THE VOICEBOXES OF EVERY CHINESE GUY ON MY FLOOR. Even calling them Chinese is "insensitive to their special cultural position." Hrm, ripping throats... Oh hell, I can one up that. Just send em to one of those quack vets in America that will debark your dog then let them just walk around trying to talk and then looking sad!

Man, that's so evil.

I'm just really damn frustrated. Today I usually get to sleep in, but arggggggggg! I think I'll just put a pillow over my head.

My ideal Japanese bachelor pad!

2006-05-09T22:36:00.000+09:00

Class ended late, as it always does on Tuesdays. I spent about 20minutes extra talking to my professor about Chinese/Japanese foreign relations and international policy. Yes, very exciting. But, afterwards as I was walking out I saw Sorin, one of the other exchange students from Romania/Maryland. He's a kind of strange guy, a model even! He models for clothing or something, since foreigners are much desired in that department. Though strange, he's also a nice enough guy, son of ex-patriate Romanian artists that passed to him a sense of individuality and creative spirit. He also loves women a lot.
Anyway, we had a cup of coffee and talked about politics for a damn long time, about philosophy and Japan and our friends. And then he invited me to shiinamachi, an area just outside ikebukuro. I hadn't been there before, but had heard very good things about it. It's name actually made me think "Shiina Ringo's place" at first... gah, what can I say... I do love that Shiina Ringo!
We walked to shiinamachi and I found it to be like Shakujiikouen in many ways, but the market area was a lot friendlier. We got sushi from a streetside vendor, a few beers from the 7/11, and headed to his place. I have to tell you... the only reason I am writing this entry really is that his house was so amazingly cool. It's basically the exact kind of Japanese bachelor pad that I want to get when I'm out on my own and living in this country.

I asked him to take this picture, and he suddenly seemed really self-conscious and cleaned up lots of the trash. Trash aside the house was really typical for Japanese but cool. He had tatami floors, a futon, paper doors, a central heater under the table. It was cramped too, but for some reason it was really cool nonetheless. He had various interesting wallhangings, which were all really damn cheap he told me. Yarg, I wish I could get out of the dorm!

After we ate we left and headed toward Ken's house. On the way we passed by an otera. It was night by now and the place was actually kind of creepy. The statues were interesting to look at though, and I loved how no one was around. There was a big cemetary behind it too, with large grave markers but no actual corpses buried there. This is of course because Buddhist's cremate their remains.

This statue of a boddhisattva (I can't tell what it is really!) was just visible, silhouetted against the night sky. I wish I had a better camera so I could capture the image better. My eyes made a better image than the one above. In reality it looked as if the figure was merely standing still, oddly human and peaceful. It was uncomfortable. I didn't feel comfortable until we reached Ken's and returned to the world of the living.

Old Ladies with Purple Hair Pt 2! (The Revenge of the Obaachan)

2006-05-08T21:27:00.000+09:00

My relations with people over 60 in this country have been diverse.
Last week I mentioned the scary old hag that made weird gestures to me on the train. Then, there was that really drunk old man that yelled at us and told us the wrong station to get off at. Then, there are the old ladies that are bent over at least 90%, walking at a right angle, and staring at the ground. (They exist!) But, finally there are actually a small select group of foreigner-friendly obaachan granny types that want to talk to you in English and make you Japanese cookies and tell you about their dead husbands.
I met the latter on the way back from the bukuro today. It was on a crowded train, one of the rapid expresses that are simply packed solid with bodies. I was wedged between an old lady behind me, a salary man on my right, and an old man with "bako" hair (barcode hair, japanese name for a combover) on my left. It was an uncofortable 15-20 minutes. It helps that I'm taller than almost everyone on the train though, because my head is above theirs, and I can see out over the whole mass of people. During this time I usually space out. I can't even manage to comfortably read a manga or my trusty H.P. Lovecraft book Richy lent me. It's far too crowded!
But, Shakujiikouen came and the doors opened. Like a leak in a damn, we all poured out of the crowded train, sardines no more! I was rather slow in recollecting myself, because I had spaced out quite thoroughly on the journey. So, I was walking side by side (in speed) with the old lady that was behind me. She looked exactly like an architypical Japanese lady over 70, though she wasn't bent over. She was probably 4 and a half feet tall with saggy eyes and wispy gray hair.
It was her that spoke to me first, "blahahbalalahhabalha!" she said... that's my translation. I wasn't listening to her. I was still spaced out.
But she continued talking and eventually I made out, "which exit!?" and "I want to go shopping." and "Where are you from?" and so on. I responded in the most polite form of Japanese I had, refusing to drop any "desu"s or "masu"s, afterall, she was my elder. So, manners implied that I should speak formally to her.
She responded well, smiling, probably because this tall foreigner was speaking politely to her. I told her I was an exchange student at Rikkyo from America and so on. And, she would respond in very simple Japanese. She kept asking "dochi!?!" which is like "which way?" and we were still heading the same way.
She told me that her husband was dead, which surprised me! I didn't know this kind of behavior existed with old people in Japan. Usually you'd think the boundary of public/private stranger/friend would be wider. But, she told me that and I didn't say anything. That's crazy! maybe she's a little crazy though.
Her name was Satou-san, well her last name. I didn't bother learning her first name, afterall I'd never use first names with someone so much my elder. Japanese grannies with dead husbands are probably all a little crazy. The blue hair dye they are so fond of likely leaks into their brains and does that. Haha, maybe not.

A Buddha, a beach, and a little boredom in Kamakura

2006-05-07T23:40:00.000+09:00

Thanks for your patience with this entry friends... it's a BIG ONE, so I apologize in advance! I'd split it into minisegments, like a bad television miniseries... giving little bits here and there. But, just to keep the chronology intact, I'll leave it like it is. Yarr.

I woke up incredibly early today for some reason. I felt really light-headed and good spirited. I put "Sailing" by Christopher Cross on repeat and listened to it over and over while I wrote some emails. So smooth.

But, as all things do, it quickly ended when I had to rouse myself to leave my comfortable chair/bed and take a damn shower. For, today was Kamakura! Egads, excitement! IFL had planned this trip weeks and weeks in advance. The first sheet I got from them had a picture of the big ol' Buddha on it and a nice English translation like "LETS GO SEE KAMAKURA TOGETHER!" Sounds groovy enough. I like gigantic Buddhas. So...

Bam!

I reached the station, still in a good mood. The air was fresh, despite the rain.

Tommy Lee Jones looked gruff from his billboard. The lines on his face were amazing, like a roadmap.

Anyway, to jump ahead... I made it to the station normally and met with the others in our group. We then got on the JR Yamanote... switched trains and headed to Kamakura! One hour of trainage or so... oh boy!
Fun stuff happened on the way. Sa-sa was wearing a silly pink shirt, so I told him to "pop" his collar so he could look like one of the tools I go to school with in America.

And hell, it worked! Instant fratboyization.

The rain only got worse once we got to Kamakura. I now regretted not bringing my trusty 100yen umbrella with me. Actually though, I didn't care too extremely much. Sa-sa and a few others did though and tried sheltering me with theirs.

Kamakura was extremely low-key and pleasant compared to the lively Tokyo life I've been used to. And I enjoyed the contrast.

We reached the Torii outside the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine a few minutes later.

The shrine was founded by Minamoto Yoritomo in the 12th century and has been active ever since.

The surrounding grounds were lovely too. It has been a while since I've seen large patches of green. Though, I know these patches were fiercely maintained by an army of gardeners. Therefore, it seemed intentionally unintentional.

I'm going to skip ahead a little bit because there are just SO many pictures!

Here is the front of the shrine, Hachimangu.

This is one of the lion/dog statues I saw outside the shrine. I was told they were a dog by a Japanese, but then told later that they were intended to be fierce lions, but given that Japanese had little knowledge of what a lion was... ended up as dogs.

Sorin and Ta-chan in front of Hachimangu. Ta-chan looks really worried for some reason. Poor guy! He was in a damn good mood though, nonetheless.

The surrounding area was quite lovely, with many ponds and trees.

Here is a picture, for my mother, of me beside a pond outside of Hachimangu.

After leaving the shrine, we walked to the Northwest... new adventures for bold adventurers! Look at Eli, he looks fierce!

Our next target was Zeniarai Benten, a shrine dedicated to the washing of money. It was said that Minamoto Yoritomo had a dream in which he saw the sacred spring which this shrine encircles. By washing your money here, you are said to produce more money for yourself in the future. I, of course, washed all of my money! Can't hurt, right?

In order to reach the shrine, you actually had to walk through the mountain through a narrow pass.

And then, when you reached the shrine, you had to pass through another series of torii. So many torii!

The worshippers burnt incense and prayed to the kami at the shrine. I did too. I even learned the proper method for this. You step up to the shrine, cast your offering, ring the bell, clap twice, bow your head, pray, and then step backwards and bow.

I also bought some incense and burnt it. When you burn it you are supposed to wave the smoke toward your head. It's said to make you smarter! Damn, I hope it helps.

Inside Zeniarai Benten, there were other shrines. This dog stood guard over one such shrine. Huzzah.

I was particularly struck by a particular koi pond in the area. The koi were so colorful and darted around the pond. It was beautiful.

Eventually, we left Zeniarai Benten and made our way toward the daibutsu.

It was about 20-30 minutes later that we actually reached the shrine that the massive statue was kept in.

Now, keep in mind that I had seen this dobutsu many many times in various textbooks and so on. So, I knew what to expect. But, still... whenever you see a giant bronze statue of ANYTHING, it's captivating. It actually looked much smaller than I was led to believe. But, that didn't disappoint me that much.

The actual statue was made about 700 or so years ago, and I'm sure it was much more magnificiant back then. But, it was still captivating. Buddha's face was deep in meditation. I think I heard some people joke that he needed to go on a diet. I think he looks pretty healthy though.

I wish we had more giant statues of things in America, much less ones of religious value. I would love to see a giant statue of Jesus riding a donkey or something similarly interesting. But, we don't seem to have much room these days for giant statues. And, it's a shame. I know that this Buddha statue will outlive me by several hundred years at least.

Here I am doing a half-assed imitation of his expression. Easier said than done, eh?

For a mere 20yen you could go up into Buddha and peer out of him. I thought that was damned funny for some reason. I mean, people say... "I take shelter in the Buddha" when they worship, but who thought it would be literal! I literally took shelter in the Buddha. Beat that! He even had windows in his back!

Jin looks freaking amazing in this picture. His button on his jacket reads, "Shit Happens!" Amen to that! That's what the Buddha would say too. Then he would say, "but the way out of this endless cycle of 'shit happening' is through following my teaching." I do love that Buddha. I love Jin too. He's a damn cool cat. That hat is tight too.

Of course, since this was such a tourist area, there was the big ass souvenier store. Inside you could buy katanas, nunchaku, buddha figures, scottish claymores, tanuki figures.. etc etc... only the last of those tempted me to buy it. But, I'll pick up a tanuki in some more reputable place. I don't want to support a store like that. Honestly, pagoda, sakura, fujisan, torii.. how generic can your sign get!

After leaving the area we headed to the beach. It was my first time being on the shores of the Pacific ocean. I ran to the shore and touched it... now I've touched most of the world's oceans! Only the Indian/Arctic oceans elude me.

The seashore was really pretty nasty though. The surfers didnt seem to mind, but the smell of dead fish and seaweed bothered me. There were several dead things on the shore. Ta-chan looks pretty maazing in this picture. I can't classify that expression of his though!

To finish this tale... we were extremely tired on the hour train ride back and everyone but myself and Sorin seemed to take the opportunity to sleep. I snapped this cute picture of them during that time. Aww.

And, we arrived back.

It was an incredbly good day, but it's hard to recap all the tiny stuff that happened. I have about 50 pictures of the daibutsu and about twice that more of the other areas. Kamakura is an amazing place, and I'm glad to have gone.

First contact... the Korean food has landed

2006-05-06T23:20:00.000+09:00

Oh what the hell has happened to my stomach.... blarrrrrrrrgg

It feels like I ate a bunch of stuff that I shouldn't have... oh wait... I did!

As the title suggests, I ate Korean food for the first time ever in large qualities. Oh sure, I'd had/smelled kimchi before. I knew the basic idea of Korean food. I knew what to expect. Everyone says, "karaiiiiii desu!" (no, not kawaii, karai... spicy) yeah yeah... I can take spicy. I had nakamoto's for pete's sake. I mean, who gives a shit. Spicy is rock and roll.

Jin's twenty-second birthday party was scheduled for tonight.
We all met at Shinokubo and walked a few hundred meters to the restaurant, which looked like a Korean version of one of our (American) "country kitchen" style restaurants. I mean, there weren't any old tennis rackets and washtubs hanging on the walls, but there was the plump rosey-cheeked Korean granny on the sign holding a humongous spoon. The name translated like "Mama's kitchen" or something of the sort too. sheesh...

We went upstairs and sat (about 20 of us, another large group) around the very low tables. In order to sit you had to either sit "Indian style" or "Karate style" as I would call it... since I forget the actual name. Basically, this means kneeling then leaning back and sitting. After about five minutes this style becomes painful, but then your legs go numb and it's actually okay, until you try to stand.

Various things were ordered apparantly, because food of various smells and colors began appearing around me. The table was not large enough to hold all the stuff. I say stuff because a lot of it wasn't recognizable. It definately all contained large amounts of peppers, cabbage, and reddish sauce of mysterious origins. I think one dish had cheese in it too... hoorah! (cheese is kind of rare in Tokyo. By kind of, I mean that you're lucky to see it on pizzas!)

They prepared a stew that tasted better than it looked. As you can see in the picture, there are bones jutting out of the bowl... and this is after people had eaten most of it. I tell you, there is nothing like picking meat off of bones with your teeth while trying to appear civilized and have good table manners. It was extremely hard. I also found the whole excercize unrewarding, because the actual amount of meat was very small. Ah well... the broth (?) tasted good.

Here is an image of the lefover food after we had pretty much finished everything. You can tell how many small dishes there were. The total amount of food was enormous, and we had a lot of leftovers. I wish we couldve taken some of it back in a box for later, but that hasn't happened since I've been in Japan.

I don't know how I feel about Korean food. I mean, it's pretty interesting, but it definately isn't as appealing to me as washoku is. I mean, you can eat Japanese food every meal of everyday and possibly only feel a little bored of it. However, I cannot imagine how Korean people can possibly eat many of those dishes day in and day out. Maybe you just get really desensitized to spicy food when your tastebuds slowly burn away. Something must happen though, because though it's not nakamoto... it's something!

As I said, Jin (on the right) was having his birthday celebration, so he got two cakes and a special Korean birthday soup. I didn't get to say more than "congratulations!" (in Japanese) to him all night though, because I was on the other side of the room. Instead I sat by Yuki, Aino, and Kazu (the guy on the left there).

My Japanese was terrible tonight! I mean, it was really bad. I couldn't say much at all. I tried asking Yuki about this and really ask her about that. So, conversation broke down very fast. Shy girls are damn hard to talk to too. I have the same problem with Chie. I say the Japanese equivelent of, "What's up, what did you do today?" and they will answer very tersely. It's frustrating!
As a result, most of the evening I just sat there and stared at the food or at the wall or something. A lot of people kept asking, "genki?" or "tsukareta?" to me, and I just replied affirmative. It was easier that way. I mean, I learned a while back that it's dangerous to express any real emotion like frustration or anger when you're surrounded by Japanese people. They'll tear you apart.
I mean, they'll prod you with questions till they know the source of it and then dislike you a lot for making them go through that whole mess. So yeah, I need to learn to smile like an idiot TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY.

Ahh well, they can't help it, I know. Aino (left) and Yuki (right) are nice girls. I just wish I was freaking fluent in Japanese so I could stop saying the same amateur bullshit phrases over and over again. What would you do if a foreign person came up to you and could only say...

"Hello!" "Are you good?" "What did you do today?" "Interesting!" "I am hungry!" "Is that so?" "Wow!" "You're good at that!" "I'm alright!" "Of course!" "I think so!" "What is this food?" "It's spicy!" "It's too hot!" "It's good tasting!" etc etc etc

I know I know a lot of Japanese, but it's all Japanese that a ten-year-old would know. I really can't express complex thoughts.

"Well, it's difficult to tell if reality is based off of individual perception or off of group perception. I mean, perhaps when your brain analyzes a foreign object, I mean of course, something that you perceive that is alien to you... your individual perception merges with what you can tell (through speech recognition) that others perceive it as too. Then again, perhaps reality is not absolute at all, and just a collection of approximations."

I think I have a way to go to till I can talk silly philosophical physics with a bunch of hip Japanese stoners!

What Elvis and I have in common

2006-05-05T21:10:00.000+09:00

Golden week trudges on.

I would have thought that a lack of school would mean more time to be active with other pursuits, but it's just so slow. No one knows what to do... I'll call my Japanese friends and their answer is always, "baito suru" or something. Everyone has a job but me!
I should get on the net and put up a profile on one of those English teaching sites. ahh well, maybe tomorrow.

So, today I woke up early because Ren called me last week and said, in English...
"JOHNNNNNNNNNNNNNN HEY! You want to sing Karaoke? I want you to meet my friends! You are cool!"
or something like that. He's a good guy, really good spirited. We have the same birthday too, March 28th! But, I'm still two years older. I call him MC Ren sometimes, like the guy from NWA.
Not that he knows who MC Ren is!

Straight Outta Compton!

The scheduled day of karaoke was today, May 5th (FELIZ CINCO DE MAYO WOO!) so I woke up and took the train to Ikebukuro.

We met and it turns out that his "friends" really meant one friend, Hitomi. Ah well, no matter... I was getting sick of those gargantuan groups in IFL anyway. How can you sit down and talk to anyone when there are thirty people around.

We ate Indian food at Great India, a popular franchize in Tokyo. Despite its price, it was damn damn damn good. The curry and nan went down really well. I think Hitomi didn't like it very much, because she hates spicy food.

Because there were only three of us, we were able to talk deeply about different things. They had both been to America on the same trip, when about fifty Rikkyo students went to Minnesota last summer. Why Minnesota? I had no idea! I mean, I would understand Florida or California or New York, but... Minnesota?

we finished and headed to Pasela, one of the many karaoke joints, but the one with the largest foriegn music selections (English, Korean, Chinese). Every floor of the place had its own theme, and ours was on the "Hawaiian Hula Party!" floor. Gee willikers!

It is only appropriate that on this floor I sang swinging Elvis songs... yes, my dream of becoming an Elvis impersonator becomes one step closer... I am able to sing a decent section of his reportiore now. yay. We switched out though, so I also got to help on "Linda Linda" by the blue hearts, "Lover Soul" by Judy and Mary, and "Sakura" by Ketsumeishi (Click the song titles for links to watch the promotional videos on Youtube! Good stufff!!)

After singing "Good Luck Charm" I mixed it up with "The Boy With the Thorn In His Side" by the Smiths and "Follow You, Follow Me" by Genesis. I loved singing Karaoke in such a small group, because everyone got to sing and participate and have a good time. HItomi had a damn good voice too, as I am starting to think all Japanese girls do. (ha! Just kidding.)

So it was a really really good time, and it was damned cheap because of golden week (100yen for 30min). Definately worth every yen.

I only got one picture with them, and it turned out pretty bad! You can tell that we're all smiles though!

Onigiri

2006-05-04T16:46:00.000+09:00

Onigiri is such trash.
I mean really...
Rice and kelp and a bit of meat in the center.. obviously just left overs from larger dishes. Some guy said, "oh shit, I wanna preserve that little bit of leftover meat. Hrm, let's just wrap it up a few times and..." whaabbam!

He did it.

Some industrious merchant crafted the ever addictive onigiri, rice balls, from leftover bits of this and that. And how sweet it is.

Picture this...

You're walking back from the station and your legs hurt from standing/walking all day long. Maybe your throat hurts from karaoke. And, worse, your pockets are nearly emptied of money. But, like Charlie Bucket, you dig that one last shiny 100yen coin out of your pocket and paw at it greedily. Then, you go to the convenient store, but oh no... everything (except gum) exceeds your budget. What do you do?

Then!
Oh shit... what's that! That blue wrapper... oh no, not light blue, that's the mayonnaise kind... oh there... the sake (salmon), oh yes... you found it. Your golden refuge. The sweet succulent embrace of the onigiri, wrapping you in its goodness.

That's about how I felt, only much more exaggerated. Onigiri is a fickle mistress though, because the enjoyment level of eating them decreases exponentially after the first. But wow... that first, especially when you need to just chew on something to stop up the noise and smell of Tokyo... it's worth the 100-125yen. At least, it certainly was today. Mmmm, sake.

onigiri ball
the Spring wind blows hard from the sea
salvation in rice

I'm just being silly really. It's not like I had a choice. Stupid golden week made the banks AND ATMS close, soooo ahh, onigiri... joy.
Not such a golden week afterall...

Push

2006-05-02T03:52:00.000+09:00

I thought it interesting when I noticed a queer old lady on the outside of the train looking in. She was likely 60, with unkept black and gray hair. I noticed her, because though everyone was waiting on the left side of the train when the doors opened, she was present on the right side by herself. She ran to the train, pointed to me while looking at a younger man, and then made a quick motion with her hands, like...
Push!
Two hands clasped together, moving out from her body. She noticed my glance and quickly changed her appearance to a unnaturally large smile. Then, she raised one hand and waved at me.
I became very frightened. I mean, what if the guy followed me from the station. I know we're in Japan, but fuck. Who knows?
But, she kept waving and the train pulled out from the station, leaving her behind.
When it reached Shakujiikouen, I waited a moment as the man stepped out of the car and waited to let others pass. I then quickly darted past and manuevered around a group of people and one police officer. I walked toward the North exit, only to double back and head to the South. I didn't see the man again.

Strange feeling. And there I was trying to look for something to throw at him. Hrm, perhaps a keitai wouldn't be that good of a weapon afterall.

Asakusa: Visiting Senmoji Temple

2006-04-30T23:49:00.000+09:00

I was fortunate enough to visit Asakusa, a section of Tokyo I actually know very little about. The nihonjin that told me about it merely said, "there are many temple and culture!" or something of that nature. Eh, it was free... so I thought I'd make the trip.

Unfortunately, I was about three hours late.

I slept in because I thought the meeting was at 2:00pm in Ikebukuro for some reason, when it really was 12:30... ahh unfortunate! Miho messaged me, asking where I was. And, since I had no idea of how to even get there, it was damn interesting trying to find out. Eventually I cheated and called Ken who told me the train lines.
I really liked riding the metro on my own though, going somewhere where I had no idea about. It was another of those genuine travel experiences that I like so much.

By and by, I reached Asakusa. My initial reaction was clouded by the notion that it was simply like every other section of Tokyo. Ahh, that's so untrue though. I mean, who could logically argue that. There really isn't much that ties Tokyo together at the end of the day. Maybe a few postal codes...

The objective of todays journey was Sensoji, a pure-land Buddhist temple complex, which is the oldest temple in Edo (645 CE). The story goes that the temple was founded after two brothers were fishing in the Sumida River, when they "caught" a little golden statue of Kannon, the Boddhisattva of mercy. How cool is that?

I reached the market/temple complex of Sensoji shortly after leaving the station. It had an amazingly large chuuchin, Chinese lantern, that hung over the gate to the market. I asked one of the native speakers what the significance was, but I don't think there really is one. It's just a mercantile symbol apparantly. Too bad, because I was hoping for something like "IT KEEPS ALL THEM GHOSTIES OUT!" like you'd find with say, Chinese Popular Religion.

The market was a mix of tourist trap type stores, with katanas and cheap kimonos, and mysterious food vendors. I didn't buy anything from them.

However, I was really amused to see how merchants like this bastardized and peddled their cheap merchandise to stupid gaijin tourists. Anyone who buys a shirt with a big kanji on it better be prepared to be laughed at by most Japanese people. No one would wear that stuff. If you have to wear text, at least make it in Roman characters like, "Free Titflow!" or something equally insane.

And check out the nationalist headband on this one. It's definately a fashion statement to wear your 50dollar Kimono and headband in Harajuku. You should try it when you come to Japan! One stop at Asakusa is all you need!

I do confess that I did want to buy a Tengu mask though. Who wouldn't want a long nosed red guy on their wall? Everytime I see it I will remember Davis dying to that guy over and over again in Dead or Alive on the hardest difficulty just to unlock some dumb costume with the characters. Ahh, poor Davis. It's sad that that's my association.

Anyway, we walked through the market area with little notice, as I've stated, and came to the great gate of the temple, Hozo-mon. It was hard to manuever, much less take a picture, because the crowd was so thick at this point. I almost got run over by an old lady with purple hair. Those dyed hair hags are everywhere here and have jipped me out of multiple train seats.
The gate was lovely though. It had large wooden guardians in the sides with fierce expressions, exactly the kind we studied in Oba-sensei's Japanese Art class.

The first building I noticed upon entering the gate was the five-storied pagoda, Gozu-no-to, on my left. It was a beautiful wooden structure that, despite its age, looked impressive and well-preserved. The pagoda is largely a decorative and symbolic structure, closely resembling stupa, but lacking a relic. They told me that the Gozu-no-to contains the ashes and memorial tablet of Buddha, but I highly doubt that. Maybe symbolically, yes.

Several "butsu-zo" (god I hate Romanizing Japanese words), statues of Boddhisattva and Buddhas, were also on the grounds. Senmoji was dedicated to Kannon/Avalokateshvara, the Boddhisattva of compassion, so I assumed that most of these were depictions of the same figure. However, Kannon was only depicted in one of the statues that I was able to see. This photo is of Seishi-botatsu
At this point I wandered off on my own, so was able to freely take many pictures of the expressions on the faces of these statues.

I found the expression of Seishi-botatsu more soothing than Kannon's, which looked like it had eaten something bad for lunch.
Of course, Kannon's muddra (hand gesture) was more complex, and I only wish that I understood the meaning.
The intention of both was to capture the expression of one who is deep in meditation, existing no longer in this world but serving those who take shelter in them.

They were the first of such statues that I have seen on my journeys, but surely not the last. Many depictions of the various Buddhas can be found in Japan, and in one week to the day, I will visit Kamakura where there are undoubtedly more.

There were still worshippers present at the site, so it would be unwise to say that it was a purely tourist area. In fact, there were still about 10 times as many Japanese as foreigners. This number is less that in other areas perhaps (with the exception of Roppongi), but still large enough to allow the temple to function normally. This particular statue looks incredibly familiar, and maybe I should mail it to Oba-sensei to see if he recognizes it. Ah well..

Since my mom likes to see pictures of me, here is one proving that I was actually there! Not that you guys doubted it but... you know. There you go mom... okay... moving right along!

I purified myself at this fountain, which was probably less purifying than it would seem. I liked the statue standing guard over it, but could the statue even guard against bacteria? Now that's a question for the ages. I refused to drink the water, but I did wash my hands and arms with it. I figure that's good enough.

We entered the temple afterwards. There were several people in kimono closer to the center of the building, so I could not make my way there. But, I was able to cast a little money into the bin and pray for peace. The only people who didn't pray were Kevin and Hashim, who cited religious reasons for not doing it. I think it's fine to not pray, but to fiercely reject it because you can only kneel in certain buildings or something is false.
It gave me a good feeling too, and I tried to pray for something completely unselfish. I'm sure most people ask for more money or something of that nature, but I just prayed for peace and understanding between men. Haha, I know... fat chance!

Upon leaving the temple I saw koi no bori, carp streamers, that were blowing in the afternoon wind.

With Asakusa I felt like I had a genuine, if not crowded, travel experience. I was certainly glad that I made the effort to attend another cultural event during my brief stay here. Certainly it won't be my last either, and I will do my best to report them well in the future.

Bonus: A short movie of the streamers.

but they were much more impressive in real life. Oh, and I think something is wrong with the bottom one!

PS. The posting of this entry was delayed about a week due to some problems with my images of the butsu-zo. Photobucket was being stupid and resizing them to be very small so I had to considerably drop the quality of the picture. If you wish, I can send the full 2meg high quality JPG to your email address on request. They really are impressive works of art.

Shinkiba: "camping", fireworks, and motorcycle otaku

2006-04-29T17:03:00.000+09:00

When I heard that a group of us were going "camping" in Shinkiba, I had the image of us going out to a park or something, pitching some tents, and roasting marshmellows while box-shaped cars roar by. Maybe I'm skeptical, but large patches of secluded greenery, like you have en masse in the USA, simply don't seem to exist in Tokyo. And, Shinkiba, while South of most of the larger metropolitan Tokyo area, is still TOKYO. I mean, It's not like there's gonna be bears. Maybe there just isn't a more appropriate term for it than "camping," but... anyway...

"Camp" we did... I guess.

I'll rewind a bit.

A large group of us arrived in Shinkiba together after a pretty lengthy ride on the metro. It seemed like a pretty dumpy place really. There were even some ashes from a nearby incinerator that were falling on the area around the sidewalk. The typical colors of Tokyo, pink and rust, were still dominant.

However, once we finally reached the "camp", there were several trees, some palm trees even. The air smelled pretty good too. Apparantly, none of the typical Tokyo fart gas smell ventured onto the grounds.

We walked a short distance to the "lodge" which really wasn't a lodge at all.

Instead, it was a huge complex of various buildings. Signs pointed out such things as the martial arts dojo, the archery range, the swimming pool, the tennis courts. CAMPING? Bah! Not in that kind of a facility. I think it's odd that even a completely clean, indoors experience can be considered, "camping". Bah!

I really like how Chie, a girl from our group, had a kind of childish curiosity and sense to explore rather than waiting with everyone else in the road. I took some pictures of her walking out amongst the green in her red coat. I wish I had had a decent camera, because they could've been a million times more interesting. I hear that the other girls make fun of her, because she's quiet and keeps to herself. I would say that's a good thing though. Well, maybe not being shy, but at least being an individual.
She walked around by herself, occasionally disappearing green and then reappearing later. It was more fun to watch than the rest.

Anyway, we checked in and made our ways up the elevator. Bah! Camping????????? There are no elevators in the woods! The only thing elevated is your food so that bears won't eat it/you.
But, maybe I'm making too big of a deal of the word. I mean, it's probably just a poor translation. There may be a Japanese word that means precisely, "stay in a room with a bunch of people in a big hotel complex," but it probably also refers to a brothel.

The rooms were really pretty cool though. They had tatami floors and futons for everyone. So, maybe that aspect is like camping, sleeping in a room with a bunch of strangers.

I was so hungry though, and had only brought two onigiri and some random crackers from the convenient store. Everyone else had bentou and stuff, but I had bloody junk food. So, I was hungry for the rest of the day. Blarg.

Everyone drank a lot, and for some Japanese that can be dangerous. But, it was pretty fun actually. Everyone was pretty jolly. Also, Ta-chan was playing some damn good Japanese rock on the stereo, which sure made me happier.

We played a game like bingo, where you find 16 people and get them to write their names in boxes on your sheet. Then, names are drawn randomly. If your name is called, you had to stand up and introduce yourself and answer dumb questions from some of the upperclassman guys. I got asked what kind of girls I liked and something about my sideburns. People say I look like Elvis. haha.

After all the drinking and the introduction bingo, we went outside and shot off fireworks. God, Japanese fireworks are WEAKKKKKKKKKKK. I mean, I guess that's something America has for itself, its ability to blow off children's fingers with high-powered explosives. The most high powered Japanese explosive was a roman candle, and everyone was still really frightened when John held it in his hand as it shot off. Jeez.

I had some weak bottle rockets that I was lighting and throwing, you know, like I do in Tennessee. I mean, even if it exploded it wouldn't even hurt me. But, Kazu said, "THATS DANGEROUS!" so I said, "In America we do it all the time." He replied, "But this is Japan!" Hahaha. I just didn't bother after that. I did think it was funny that fireworks are less powerful and more dangerous in Japan though, apparantly. No one got hurt, naturally. I think maybe some fingers were burned from the lighter, but that's to be expected.

An even more impressive display of danger came next!

Two guys on a motorcycle appeared out of nowhere, obviously drawn by our noise and fireworks. No one knew them, and they didn't know us. I think they might have been motorcycle otaku, but it was hard to tell. I noticed that they had backpacks, that possibly were filled with gaming books, a laptop, and possibly some weird French Maid hentai.
These pictures have been artificially filtered to make the riders more discernable. It was very dark.

The guys PERFORMED for us too. They stopped and revved up their engines, then would speed up and down the parking lot popping wheelies, doing stoppies, and turning donuts. It probably cost them a lot of gas and tire to do those stunts. It was so freaking cool though.

It was really dangerous for them, of course, but they just really wanted to show off their bikes or something anonymously. They didn't stop and chat or anything. After probably two to five minutes of showing off, they just sped off into the darkness again. This is something else that will ONLY happen to you in Japan.

We went back in and spent the rest of the night sitting around/talking/drinking/etc. It was very relaxed and fun. I got to meet some more new people too. I also got to spend a lot of time with Eri, and we had a really good talk that I'm not going to talk about on my blog. I was so tired by the time dawn came.

But it came, and it was time to pick ourselves up again, despite how tired we were. Thankfully, my sickness was gone, and I wasn't coughing for two hours.

Japanese hotel products are exactly like you would think. Exactly like American ones but smaller, nicer, and more numerous. Like this toothpaste, happy white. They gave everyone toothbrushes and toothpaste, but LOOK AT THE SIZE OF IT. I could barely get one glob out of the thing. It's really funny actually.

And so we emerged from our rooms and somehow mustered the energy for one last group photo before heading back to our beds. If you notice though, everyone looks really damn uninterested in the photo. That's because it was like the 10th one. Everyone had a camera, and everyone wanted a photo. So, I stood on that fence for a long time. I hate group photos really, but everyone takes them. It's hard to get a photo of just one person in Japan. They always want to drag their friends into the mix.

Walking out was the same as walking in only much more tired. Somehow, Chie managed to pull herself apart from the group again and find her own path.

"And that has made all the difference."

Good for her.

Brighter

2006-04-28T11:51:00.000+09:00

A quick apology for my poor mood the past two days or so. It was a hard week for me because of my coughing and such. I feel much better today, and the huge assortment of pills seems to be working. At least, I hope so!

Here is a smiling okonomiyake face! Eri put the mayo on it like that after I tried flipping the damn thing and it broke into little bits. I guess it's an appropriate picture now!

Later today I'm going to Shinkiba to go camping with about... 30 people or so. Shinkiba is still technically in Tokyo, but it supposedly has trees. At least, this is what I hear! Bah, trees in Tokyo... maybe robotic trees.

Should be fun though. I also wrote my first paper for Caprio's class, a four-pager! People were complaining about it, but it took me like an hour. Maybe the Sewanee speed paper skill does help in foreign countries! I certainly couldn't have done it three years ago.

I bought a bag of Cheetos in the convenient store for about 300yen. It's the biggest bag I've seen and very closely resembles American cheetos. It kind of makes me homesick just looking at it's fattening glare. I, being a cheese puff connoisseur, should know too. I know for a fact I won't be able to find my favorite brand of $1 cheese kurlz here though... blast!

I have class shortly, but on a final note... I finally picked up my gaikokujintorokushou, so I am officially 100% legal to be in Japan now. I can flash it at those gaijin hating cops if they wanna slow me down.

Haha! Suckers!

Shinkiba soon!

The nail that sticks out

2006-04-27T19:34:00.000+09:00

I find it interesting as time goes by to see just how vastly different my way of thinking is compared to the people I've met here. Sure, there isn't any real indication, since what I'm seeing is just their public selves, and I feel that for Japanese, the public and the private are worlds apart. With me, maybe because I'm American or maybe because I loath bullshittery, it's more "What you see is what you get." If I'm sad, I'll show it. If I'm angry at someone, they'll see that too. I don't mind showing emotions and having others see them. Oh sure, everyone smiles... but I haven't seen anyone cry.

I've only been here for... oh shit, it's been a month! so maybe that's not so surprising. The differences are much deeper though and defy explanation, so I'm just grasping for something more visible. Really, though, such differences of communication can only be felt. I'm a poor indication though. I feel REALLY out of place in Sewanee, perhaps moreso than here. With Sewanee I feel that 90% of the student body is comprised of morons that don't know how or just don't care to think for themselves. People just want to get a grade, even if it means biting down their humanity. I wish I was joking, but after my experience as being the only person in my Asian Theater seminar class that didn't cheat and lost two letter grades because of it, I learned very quickly. It's depressing too, because I have other intentions in college. I want to shape myself as an individual, gaining knowledge that will be practically applied to my life, and open doors to a larger variety of career paths and so on. Like hell I want to be stuck in a shit job in a shit town in a shit country. I want to see the world, damnit!

So here I am! Tokyo! It's the first time I've been allowed out of that cage that I call "the Sewanee Deathtrap". I was willing to do about anything to get out of that place... hell, only one more year I guess. I just don't belong on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. And, now that I'm not there, it's so much clearer how much I hate it.

Back to the differences though... I guess most Japanese would feel that I am being selfish or at least don't have a keen sense of community when I say that I want to show people how I feel. I mean, if I feel like shit and am frowning or something, causing others to see this and be sad/depressed, isn't it my fault in the first place for creating a negative vibe? That's what happened earlier with Eri (the president of IFL, not "Sunny" Eri from Sunday's entry). I got really frustrated because my Japanese, that has phases of being passably good or horrendously terrible, was horrendously terrible. I told her, "I'm sorry, I really can't say anything to you. So I'm just going to stand here and be quiet." in English. I'm not sure she understood all of it, but she looked kind of dejected. I don't think it was because of what I said, but because I looked dejected. Must be very strange to actually be complex. I would be better off smiling dumbly all day long.

I don't think she likes me very much really. It would help if my Japanese was consistent, so that I could at least say dumb shit to her about being "genki!" and stuff all the time. Japanese makes me extremely tired though, because I have to translate to and fro between English and Japanese... it isn't an automatic mechanism. When it's failing, and my brain spins out of control, I would rather plug my ears than have to listen to it. And in Tokyo, it's rather hard NOT to hear Japanese every single minute you walk around it. Well, at least I usually get enough sleep.

It bothers me to see that I may be wired differently than my friends here, because that is just another barrier I have to deal with when trying to make a connection. The public/private barriers are annoying to me too. Still, I guess it all makes sense in a society with so many people that you simply have to ignore during your day. In my textbook I read a pretty strange statement about Japan that said, "The nail that sticks out will be hammered down." Maybe that's me!

Then again, I'm probably the sort that would sooner lead a rebellion than blindly turn my back on the things I think make humanity so important.

I'll pick up this topic again soon. I just need some more data to really do it any justice.

Geography

2006-04-26T04:21:00.000+09:00

Dad wants to be right, I think, so I will say that today was the first and only day so far where the "adventure has become a job" so to speak. He always says that... something like "Son, after two weeks or so, the adventure will become a job..." Well, okay... maybe. I think it's more of, today I was really freaking tired and still had class and the clinic and didn't feel like talking in Japanese at all because of it. I don't like this idea that you can't discover new adventures daily. I mean, if you get sucked into routine, you might as well not even bother. I purposely try to break routine, but was sucked into it today because of poor weather, class, and sickness. Oh well...

That being said, today was boring. I mean, Professor Naseer's class is interesting, but it's about an hour too long. I like learning about ODA and JBIC and all those economic institutions, for about 10 minutes. Japanese today was reading, which has always been the hardest part of learning Japanese. So, it was frustrating. And, since I was up too late last night... ah well, you get the idea. I just feel worn out today.

The only fun part was after class when Eli and I were hanging out in the cafeteria with Sa-sa and some others. For some reason, Sa-sa decided to draw a map of Japan, quite a detailed one, on a sheet of paper. It was impressive that he knew his shoreline well enough to make the complicated curves and account for all the islands. When he was finished, Eli and I drew daikaiju battling it out on top of the country, a giant robot and a lizard. Miki saw it and called us otaku. Bah! Daikaiju are cool... damnit.
So, after this I flipped over the sheet and drew my most accurate portrayal of America.

As you can see, every state is to its correct proportions, especially the mammoth that is Tennessee. It apparantly annexed most of Virginia and North Carolina in its rapid expansion. Some of the states I can never remember were replaced with cooler ones, like John Land and Eli's Fortress of Pain. Ah well, close enough!

I showed the nihonjin my depiction and I don't think they were very impressed. It later became an origami ball of some sort.

Still, I remember a time when I was young and I actually did remember where all those tiny New England states were, and would've known their capitals too. I remember coming in second or third (behind Nathan Brown, that jerk!) at the school's Geography Bowl. Times have changed though eh? Sa-sa took his islands seriously, but hell if I take mine! Who cares about New Hampshire anyway?

I don't think it matters so much anymore.

Why I'm a Genius

2006-04-25T03:53:00.000+09:00

It was another sick day today. The medicine is helping reduce the symptoms a little, but I'm still feeling kinda crummy. Because of this I only have a little to report of interest... anyway...

It rained off and on again today, and I had laundry to do. So, I, being a genius, thought I'd try a different approach.

I say this sarcastically, because my method was so flawed that it could only end in failure. But, 100yen clothespins and clothesline in hand I was ready.

I told the clouds, "bring it on bitches," and did my laundry as normal. After the washer finished, I strung the 10 meter line in a V pattern around my tiny, cramped dorm room, and I poorly attached my shirts and so forth to it. It worked!

I felt like some stereotypical poor Italian housewife, managing babies laundry cooking and cleaning all within the confines of a tiny, dimly lit apartment. But it was a hell of a lot of fun too. I turned up the heat a bit to hopefully speed the process. I was half-worried that my room would become a rain forest, so I periodically circulated air through my room. And oh, how my clothes dried. It was perfect... flawless! Not even rain can stop my mad genius! Muahahaha!!

Now if I could figure out how to fold the damn things.

Infection! Live from the Scene!

2006-04-24T23:27:00.000+09:00

Hey cats and kittens,
things are rainy here in Tokyo, and I wish I could say my health was better!
It's a process though, and I'll start with the beginning.

I'm usually a pretty healthy guy right? I mean, I don't get sick often. Even my case of Mono wasn't all that horrendous compared to some I've heard. I just laid in bed for weeks, played my gameboy, watched old movies, and wrote bad poetry. It wasn't bad at all. But, I guess everything changes when you go toa foreign country.

Being a foreigner is hard enough when healthy. I've mentioned before how some people stare you down like you're a boil on their back. However, when you get sick, it just gets worse. Because I've been so busy with school and maintaining/building friends, I've had little time to actually convalesce. Nor do I want to! I'm in Tokyo! My time is limited! I'd better have a freakin bullet wound to have to stay in bed all day.

Still, I got worried when I spent all last night coughing and hacking and coughing, so I sent a silly, rushed email to Hirai-san, the liason for the ryuugakusei. I thought she'd say, "oh kurishi-san! Do not worry. You will get better. Everyone is sick this time of year." But, the response I got was "Lets go to the health center today! Bring your ID and Insurance card!" And, that I did.

Hirai-san is a genuinely nice person that I think is tied back from being even nicer by obligation and manners. It's hard to explain, but I feel that she wishes to be more helpful than manners often allow. Today, though, I finished class and went to her office. We went together to the clinic, and I filled out the necessary paperwork. She seemed to think my Japanese was much worse than it is because she tried translating even the easiest Japanese words into English for me. I mean, sometimes it was very helpful. I'm terrible with forms too. But, it was also excessive.

Hirai-san and I made our way to the second floor of the clinic and talked about various things. She remembered it said that I was born in South Carolina because she studied at USC and I talked about my ties with Clemson and all other kinds of boring smalltalk. It was weird though when I had to take my temperature in my armpit (that's how they do it, it seems). She acted like I was like half-naked or something, really embarassed to be sitting next to a foreigner with a thermometer in his armpit. Oh no, it wasn't because I was foreign. It's just another level.
I met with the doctor and had an unnecessary series of X-rays made of my chest to test for TB. Of course it was completely negative. The doctor's English was good, which was good... because we never covered the word for "phlegm" or "expectorant" in Japanese class. But again, Hirai-san got really nervous and weird when I had to let the doctor check my breathing and lift up my shirt. It reminds me of the incident with my dorm manager, but I'm sure it's doubled since she's female. Ah well, not that I care. She can be all weird about being polite another time, I'm sick damnit! haha, how American of me!

So, get this... in Japan they give you tons of weak medicine for your ailments. Instead of taking one massive do-all medicine for say... a cold, they'll prescibe one pill to stop your nose from running, one to suppress your coughing, one to break up crap in your lungs etc etc and so on. From my visit to the clinic I brought back four types of medicine that did one thing each. You can custom treat any ailment that way. I think it's brilliant. Oh, another brilliant thing... SOCIALIZED MEDICINE! The clinic cost me exactly 0yen with my insurance card. boomshakalaka...

Running down the road to recovery!

Another thing I left the clinic with was my very first GENUWINE surgical mask.
If you live outside of Japan then it would probably confuse/disturb you to see a person wearing a surgical mask walking down the street or riding in the train with you. But, in Japan, probably 10% or more of the people I see on my morning commute have surgical masks on. There are various types of them too. The women's model seems much smoother and sleek. It doesn't have big bumps and usually holds onto the face tightly. The men's model is usually pretty typical for surgical masks.
I know what you're thinking, why would a populace go around in those damn things? Well, in order to protect yourself during a peak cold season, it makes sense to put up a shield over your breathing and eating areas. Also, if you consider what some call the Japanese collective consciousness, it makes sense that you would consider the health of others around you if you yourself are ill, and would not want to spread a disease to a perfect stranger. It's just good manners.

Therefore, now, everyday to and from school or in other crowded areas, I wear my goofy mask. I would've been a cool looking doctor too, I think!

If you notice, I'm also holding my 105yen clear umbrella that simply everyone who forgets their umbrella buys. They're incredibly common on a rainy day. Stores that have nothing to do with umbrellas will wheel out their clear umbrella stand and the money just rolls in. I got mine at the 100yen shop, so it was actually a good deal, but they can get up to about 500yen in some parts of town. I think Scarlett Johansson has one in Lost in Translation too, but I don't remember. I love my umbrella though. It's the saver of the soaked salaryman's suit on a sunless day.

In conclusion, I'm more nihonjin everyday! I even bought a really really cheap Ranma 1/2 manga to read on the train. Yeah, it's sad. Maybe if I squint my eyes with my mask on, they won't know I'm not Japanese! They even liked me enough to give me this damn sickness. I mean... oh.

Drowned princesses make for good festivals!

2006-04-23T23:47:00.000+09:00

I woke up early today to meet Eri at the station. I had called her the night before to ask her to go to the festival with me. So, I guess it was my first date in Japan, of sorts, tee hee. Anyway, it was realllly early. I don't see how she does it though. She has to travel about an hour or more from Ibaraki (I think it is) just to get to Ikebukuro. So, it must be an extra 20 or so minutes on top of that to get to Shakujiikouen. She probably had to wake up at 6:00am. But, I still complain about being up and ready to walk 5-10minutes to the station! wahh wahh!
We were meeting up with a few others as well, a few IFL and so on... though it promised to be a small group because of how early it was. I really was excited though. I mean, Omatsuri festivals are a big deal in Japan, right?

In America we don't really have festivals. I mean, if we get a fair in town, it's overpriced, creepy, and dangerous. It has rust-covered, vomit-smelling, deathtraps for rides. It's really sad. If we get festivals, like the Fall festival (or whatever the hell it is) that comes through Maryville every year... you have the unique opportunity to see such things as a water skiing squirrel named Twiggy (http://www.skiingsquirrel.com) oh god... shoot me now! That rodent made the front page of the newspaper in my town too. They also have bands like "Herman's Hermits". In case you missed seeing them forty years ago, now's your chance.
Okay, I'm sorry... I'll stop being so negative. I just think that festivals in the United States are lacking of any redeeming factors really. I know there are some exceptions (film festivals, etc), but I think general public festivals aren't worth their weight in cotton candy and popcorn.

However, in Japan it seems like all ages of people pour out into the community for Omatsuri, even small ones like the one in Shakujii. Well, perhaps it wasn't that small... but I don't think of Shakujiikouen as a hugely urban place. It has that small town/big town feel. I don't know, ignore me. The point is, matsuri means a lot more to a Japanese person than festival means to the random American. Maybe I'm just biased, because I've seen the crappiest of the American ones and anything compared to it must be exciting!

The festival took place in Shakujiikouen no kouen... Shakujii park's park. The day had a good energy about it too, or maybe that was just me. I was in a relatively good mood, dispite being sick and coughing a lot. Eri smiled anyway. We talked in Spanish, English, and Japanese. It's really fun actually. "Yo tengo mucho okane. Want takoyaki? onaka suita? Ahh, what a kawaii little kodomo!" It's a kind of game we play. Her English is better than my Japanese, which actually is more helpful to me than her. When she does speak Japanese it's lightning quick. So, I always say, "motto yukuri..." or something with a confused look.

To get back to the matsuri,
Though the festival only had a 20 year history, the mythology behind it dated back to the middle Muromachi period (1300-1500ce). This was the age of civil war in Japan, when rival diamyo, samurai, and all that. You can pick up a history book or google it if you want to.
It was dedicated to Teri hime, or Princess Teriyaki as I called her.

The story goes that there was a castle in Shakujii where there lived a BEAUTIFUL princess named Terihime. She was beautiful and kind and loved nature and all that other crap. Her father was a warlord and was off assaulting (burning, pillaging, etc) a neighboring fief. When defeated in battle, he rides his horse into the pond at Shakujii and kills himself. Terihime learns about his death and throws herself into the pond and dies.

THE END.

I might have omitted a few details, but that's about as much as I could figure out from the story. Matsuri worthy? Uhh... I don't know. Maybe. I mean, how beautiful was she again? I mean, how much did she love animals and nature? She did kill herself right? Hrm. I guess it's a good subject. Definately worth a parade or two, eh?

Oh well... good enough for me!

The itinerary for the Omatsuri was pretty unremarkable unless you're under 10 years old. I was interested in seeing the Chinese acrobats, Taiko, and especially the SUPERHERO SHOW. So, my friends indulged me and we headed to the stage.

The superhero show was... AMAZING. mukashi mukashi, I heard Oba-sensei (my Japanese professor at Sewanee) talk about his days playing the Power Rangers and Gundam on stage. And now, I got to see the same sort of thing about twenty years later. How cool is that? I loved it though. It was so cliched so as to make it completely understandable to the tiny kids in the audience. Periodically, a ranger would be down or pinned by the giant plastic monster and a lady with a microphone would come out and start clapping her hands saying, "GANBARE!!" over and over till the little kids were all shouting it at the ranger. Like magic he/she would get up and do a roll and a pose. It was actually pretty cool, because it isn't easy doing that many flips in a costume. Yuuko was really surprised that I liked the show. I guess seeing that kind of stuff for your whole life will water it down a bit, like cheap ramen. It just loses its impact.

Me and the 3-8 year olds of Japan have something in common! "GANBARE RENJA!!"

By the way, small Japanese kids are unquestionably the cutest little kids in the world. I thought about what it must be like growing up in Japan as opposed to growing up in America, and it boggles the mind. I mean, my childhood might have been entirely different in this post-modern world. Maybe not though. There isn't any way of knowing, and it doesn't matter anyway, right?

After the Superhero show, a man who was moderately talented at Yo-yoing performed to silly techno music. He botched some of his big tricks, so it was pretty sad really. Definately not the same caliber as the rangers! But, he ended his show soon enough (though we left early to get some takoyaki and strange dumplings of some sort) and taiko began performing.

Taiko, as well as being the theme behind my favorite video game, are the drums that are played at every matsuri. I had never seen an actual ensemble in person, so I was surprised at the variety of rhythms they could produce. The costumes were groovy too!

Even more interesting than the actual stage performance was a man that I noticed beside the stage...

I watched him for about two minutes while he twisted and jerked to the drums. It was really impressive in a spastic, uncontrollable way. It seemed like he'd been bottling all of his movement up till this day and then just exploded. We approached him, still watching his pudgy dance. He didn't stop. Finally, Sa-sa said something to him and he acknowledged us. It seemed like Sa-sa was complimenting him on his dancing style. The man laughed and explained that he dances at about FIFTY matsuri a year, travelling far sometimes to do it. It was a devotion to dance that I was inspired by. We were the only ones that seemed to acknowledge such devotion too, and I think it may have been my attention that drew the Japanese I was with to even notice the man. I was filming him. What a guy! What a dreamer!

He showed Sa-sa some of his favorite moves, striking a silly pose after each one. Yuuko kept mumbling stuff under her breath to me about him being a weird person. Well, sure, but that doesn't stop him from being the best damn dancer at the matsuri!

After we took this amazing picture, he did a few spins and poses and ran off behind a bush, never to be seen again. God speed you crazy dancing stranger!

The parade was cancelled due to rain and replaced by a stage performance that reinacted the fierce battle and drama of Terihime's story. The costumes were nice, but there is only so much posing with swords that I can handle seeing. Thankfully the dragon, supported by about 5 or more people in traditional dress and spewing smoke everywhere was really cool to see. It was just a low budget smoke bomb deal, but the idea was enough to make it worth it all.

I was very tired and feeling sick, but the day was a lot of fun in all. I walked Eri back to the station and talked about random subjects here and there. I was hoping that she wouldn't get sick, because that'd make me feel incredibly guilty.

Here she does her best kamo impression. Quack.

anyway...
I'm feeling pretty crappy still and can't stop coughing. So, I think I'll call this entry here! More to come once my health returns... blarg!

PS.

I found that photobucket has a movie upload feature... I'm gonna test this with one of the shorter films I took when I first saw the dancing man!

Ah wow... it works! Finally! I got a longer video of the guy from a better angle later, but I don't want to test the Photobucket gods' patience! Enjoy!

Spirits/Gods

2006-04-22T10:55:00.000+09:00

Weekend finally! I got so much sleep today, even though I've felt sick the past few days. A little cold can't keep you down though, so when I heard Ken and some others wanted to go to Ueno, I jumped on the chance.

Ueno is one of the more popular parts of Tokyo, known for its sakura trees and other scenery. It's quite big though, so I don't think I'll make any assumptions about it right now!

It was a lovely afternoon though, with near perfect weather.

It was interesting though, when we got in Ueno, no one knew what we were going to do. I think it was Yuuko who finally decided to go to a jinja. And, it was a great idea.

People that take introductory courses on Asian Studies or Japan know that jinja are shinto shrines, shinto being of course the native religion of Japan. There is the belief that kami, natural spirits and gods, inhabit certain areas, sectioned off by torii, large gateways made of wood or stone.

I have always liked shinto, because I think that it represents a recognition of the supernatural within the natural. I mean, when someone sees a giant tree and sections it off, realizing that something supernatural created such a divine natural beauty, it's quite extraordinary. This was of course my first time to ever visit a jinja, but hopefully not my last.

The jinja grounds were the most pleasant I have seen since in Japan. The flora was thick and alive. There wasn't any trash or cigarette butts stomped into the ground. It's hard to explain.

The first section we came to was the fortune-telling area. Here you could buy a variety of objects to indicate good fortune. Some of the people seemed unwilling to participate, but I really wanted to, so I paid 100yen and got a fortune from the kami there.

It was just a little paper thing really. The more expensive ones were better designed. It was more fun than a fortune cookie though, because it actually came from the temple, not from some waitor with the bill.

I got "dai kichi" which is like REALLY GOOD LUCK. All the nihonjin said "sugoi John!" when I opened it up. I didn't know what it meant. Supposedly I'm going to have good luck in love and money and all kinds of stuff. Feel free to translate the message above if you want to... I didn't bother. It was written in confusing old-style Japanese. It was enough to know that I'm going to have really good luck! Haha.

Others were not so fortunate, so they took the fortunes and gave them to the kami to hopefully have the kami take them away. I guess it works sometimes. Ken got a bad fortune and was pretty depressed about it. He kept saying, "Oh man, I don't know what's gonna happen!" I made the joke that his bad fortune will be that he'll get married. I guess there are varying degrees of seriousness with which people take such divination.

We went around the jinja and some of our friends prayed for various things. I just took pictures. It felt strange just walking around and looking at the markers, the statues, the arches, the plants... but I liked it.

I also like catching people off guard while they're petting ox statues!

Certain People

2006-04-21T10:14:00.000+09:00

It's sad when you meet certain people about two years too late. I mean, it happens all the time... "Oh jeez, I never noticed you in class!" or something. So, instead of having a normal span of friendship, as varied as those are, you have only a very short time with someone. It's like... Harold and Maude, only without gross old people! Actually, I never saw that movie. I don't really want to either.

One such person that I will miss very much is Naoko, my friend of only two weeks. It doesn't matter that it was only two weeks though, because some people you just won't ever forget. I asked Kevin about it, and he said the same thing.

Today we went to Karaoke for the last time with Naoko as the pre-bye-bye party party. Her "bye-bye party" was scheduled for 6pm and it was 4:30ish, so we headed to Karaoke kan and got in some fun beforehand. I sang Elvis, which was amazingly fun, Muse with Greg, "Yatta!" with everyone, because everyone loves that song, and tried and FAILED to sing a J-rock song I know.
Oh well!

Naoko was in a good mood, and it was fun for everyone. The group was still relatively small, so we could actually goof around and interact with everyone instead of having to divide attention between twenty others.

From the ninth-floor of Karaoke kan we could overlook the streets of Ikebukuro far below, but also peer just over the horizon to where the sun began a slow descent somewhere behind the rest of Japan. It was really lovely.
When our time was up and our vocal chords pained, we left and headed to the school to meet others for the actual bye-bye party. After sufficient time waiting for others, the group, now quite large, headed to an okonomiyaki restaurant.

The kanpai began with a short speech by Naoko that thanked everyone and told about her trip to Australia. I couldn't understand most of it since I was sitting pretty far away, but I of course understood the "KANPAI!" and joined everyone in yelling it.

DIY Okonomiyaki places are fun. And, we grilled em up one after another. I ate probably a whole one by myself over the course of the night. It was much better than I thought, actually. But, I realize that I talk about food WAY too much in these entries, so I'll skip this section! tee hee.

After eating and everyone saying "onaka ippai!" several times, we stepped outside the restaurant and Naoko was given her presents. Everyone cried sufficiently well, because they were losing one of their own. It was as if she was going off for longer than eight months. But, you just have to know Naoko. I mean, like I said before, she has one of those personalities that you never forget. She's kind to everyone, because I think she genuinely likes everyone. It's as if she tapped into the marrow of human beings and suddenly has some great peace with them all. I don't know. I won't get carried away, but I can honestly say that people like Naoko are far and few between. It's one thing to be always seem happy and smile, but an entirely other to actually feel the same on the inside. It's infectious!

We did purikura (picture club), which is an indication of friendship for a lot of young Japanese. It was a lot of fun, and now I have little stickers I can put on everything. But, it was very rushed too, because we had approximately 15 minutes to run from the game center to the station and catch the train.

I gave Naoko a hug and wished her the best at the station. She was crying, having to say goodbye to all of her friends. It must have been harder for her than she thought.

I held her flowers while she said goodbye to everyone.

Tokyo is a strange city. At times it smells like fart gas, at others like flowers.

The Nicer Side of Roppongi

2006-04-20T20:32:00.000+09:00

Roppongi is a word that has become synonymous with foreigners and sex. It's pretty true. If you go to a bar (as a foreigner) in Roppongi, you will easily meet many women that like foreigners and want our money. Well, that's good for some, I guess. But, personally, I prefer to meet women outside of bars... because you know, the light isn't that good and... who knows, it may have a five-o-clock shadow and a harelip... you can't tell!

So, when Ken (famous for his incredibly powerful foot muscles from thai-jitsu training... I kid you not) told me "hey man, you wanna go to Roppongi," my first reaction was 'whhhhy?' I mean, the image I always have is pretty much the same image as the ones I think of when I hear the words "mardi gras", frat-boys, urine, and beer. Also, I hear that sound that frat boys make... you know, that drunkin' whallop. "Wooooohooooo!" but not quite so... more like "woooeewwwhouuu" or something similar to a pig-call. I guess it is a pig call though... bwahaha *rimshot*
Roppongi has all nationalities of frat boys, ones even without frats. You know, the slimey Italian guys, the tabacco-puffing French, the overly affectionate Germans, even the wild American forty-year-old-man-who-wants-to-be-20-but-fails! That's a rare one! gotta catch em all!

But...
Ken promised me, "we'll just walk through man, it's all good." So, I agreed, reluctantly, to at least see Roppongi. Even though I hate lots of foreigners that aren't students or at least pretending to be productive in the country, it seemed like it may actually be fun to check out. Also, I'm not gonna let a few gaijin scare me away from anywhere.

We met in Ikebukuro and rode the JR Yamanote and then another subway to Roppongi.

There was one cool part when Greg pointed out the holes in the wall behind the ticket machines. These hatches can be opened by an operator on the other side to answer/ask questions of the people buying tickets. It wouldn't bother me if it wasn't completely and utterly hidden that there was a person behind there. I mean, how many other places have hidden people in them. I shudder at the thought!

As you can see, Naoko was the only Japanese national, though Ken (eating the Onigiri, of course) is of course Japanese-American. It was a smallish group, which I prefer, especially to last night's fiasco with money. Crazy days!

Anyway, to skip forward... I was kind of worried that there would be disgusting slutty places all around us when we emerged from the subway, but surprisingly it was really pleasant. There was the typial sprawl of restaurants, though the street scene seemed strangely akin to a city you'd see in the Northeast United States. I mean, lots of themed restaurants serving various styles of "Western" food, as opposed to the variety of washoku places. There wasn't a noodle bar in sight! I found out then that we next to Roppongi hills, the flagship community for the wealthy and dumb foreigners who want to blow millions of dollars on luxury apartments and lifestyles.

I knew that if I had gone in some of the stores, it would have been pretty fruitless, because the goods there would have a tag that would make them miraculously cost 10 times more. Names like Louis Vuitton both annoy and scare me. I feel like I'm charged money just reading them.

The architecture was really cool though, and I thought of Brendan in Harvard and how probably would've made fun of me for thinking it was cool. Seriously though, it was really interesting futuristic style. Random curves and shape to the buildings, lots of lines, shapes. It's the Tokyo that businesses love to show off, the profitable, clean, futuristic side. But, honestly, I missed sorting my trash.

Futuristic architecture and weird spider sculptures aside, there didn't seem to be too too much there really though. It didn't have that chaotic balance of energy like all the other areas of Tokyo I'd been in, or that since of hidden discovery. I mean, I felt that by walking past the buildings, I was taking in all they were worth. I didn't say... "OH hotdamn! I wonder what's on the third floor of that one?" because I knew it'd just be different versions of the same old thing. Boring!

Also, for such a popular area, there weren't very many people visible, even if it was only about 7-9pm or so. You would assume that every area of Tokyo is packed to the brim, but apparantly no. It was almost quiet, with only a few people passing us as we walked around the TV Asahi building and others. We found a pond too that contained (I kid you not) fish that were bred in space. No one believed Naoko till she showed us the plaque, which surprisingly had an English translation... I mean, it is Roppongi...

We got icecream (typical American style), and the guy at the counter actually greeted me in decent English smiling and asking, "what would you like sir?" Even after I transfered the English name Banana Caramel Crunch into "banana karameru kuranchi" he still said, "what size?" and I didn't even bother answering it in Japanese. Jeez... am I still in Tokyo? At least it was good icecream.

Also, on the way back I noticed a shining tower in the distance, recognizing it at once as Tokyo Tower. It was the first time I had scene it, and I love crazy huge useless monuments... so I was excited. No one would stop for a picture, but I snapped a few anyway. I guess I'm the only one that was actually glad to see the damn thing.

We made it back about 45 minutes before the last train. Though tired from our trip, we stopped at Elvis ramen (yes, THAT Elvis) for some food. Elvis ramen actually apparantly had nothing to do with Elvis outside of the name, but it was okay. I saw the rich and worthless side of Roppongi, a one-night stop for businessmen en route to other places, useless to anyone in the long run.

betsu betsu de!

2006-04-19T19:50:00.000+09:00

Anyone who has been to a bar in Japan that collects a bill rather than paying as you go most likely knows how I feel in the following story.

School today ended pretty typically with me returning to isshoku after class to meet with my friends there. There was a big group today, so obviously a lot of people were either bored or too lazy to leave the school. Somehow, we finally all stood up (I think it was the chubby Lunchlady who said we had to that helped) and left the cafeteria.

I'm not sure how things get planned amongst Japanese, but it surely involves a lot more thinking and consideration than in the states. Usually in the US it'll be one guy who says something like, "shit dude, I'm hungry. Let's go hit Waffle House up for some omelettes!"
And then BAM! you're there. Maybe, two minutes of deciding who will drive, but that's it.

It's simple!

Well, in Japan it seems that everyone's perspective must be considered as well as the group's collective hunger level and desire. It sounds more complicated then it really is. It mostly involves being really indirect about what you want and then passive-aggressively inserting it in tiny pieces.
"yeah... Watabi sounds good... but it's expensive, isn't it?" or something.. meaning "NO! not Watabi!"
So, as you can imagine, it takes at least 30 to get here or there... but reservations made in advance sure speed up the process.

Okay! Back to the narrative!
So, we left school and headed to a place that I think was called Watabi, but I didn't really pay attention. I was busy trying to understand this one girl's Japanese who I just CANNOT understand for some reason. Maybe it's just a dialect thing. The place was pretty typical for a bar. People go, take off their shoes, and sit around a table talking while various food is ordered.

The thing about it is that not everyone drinks like a champ. I mean, I had 2 or so small beers, while our English friend Daniel drank at least 4 or more daijokii (sp?) which is a huge glass of beer. Also, all kinds of food (okinomiyake, yakisoba, random stuff I didn't recognize) began appearing in front of me. I remember a singular thought, who will pay for all this?

We stayed there for a long time, and as people got drunker, they ordered more and more food/drink.

Finally, the bill came and Whammo!! it was enormously huge, about $40USD per person (though I'm bad at math). It was a lottt of money that people didn't want to spend. I didn't want to either of course, but there is no such thing as "betsu betsu de" in most restaurants. In fact, some restaurants HATE splitting the bill. They'd sooner give it to you free than have to calculate 20 people's individual tab.

So, the girl in charge of the bill, who will remain nameless, decided that since Hashim and Dan are both big ryuugakusei (exchange students) and seemed to drink more than the rest that they should cover the bill for the others, by they I mean us... I mean me... I mean all the ryuugakusei paying more than the nihonjin.

The issue with me wasn't the money, it was that I was amazed at how quickly it became us and them, when I thought we were all friends just spending some time together. I didn't like the idea of nihonjin and gaijin, because it is what I get everyday in this country. I mean, nearly every person in this country treats me like a foreigner, which is okay because I am. But, at least amongst my friends I just wanna be John, not "ryuugakusei" or "gaijin".

Anyway, it got straightened out quickly by Ken, who had the ability to speak in amazingly fast Japanese with the girl (not Yuki in this photo) and somehow voice our distress. He would occassionally tell me what was going on, because he knew the Japanese was blazingly fast. I think a lot of words were exchanged, and somehow things worked out. But, I was still noticably mad and felt kind of lonely.

The night ended well, because I got some nice messages on my keitai on the way back apologizing.

It was just money, money made the foreigner foreign again.

My first run-in with the coppers!

2006-04-18T01:12:00.000+09:00

Today started as a normal enough day, I suppose. I kind of bothered my dorm manager, I think, by walking out of the shower with no shirt on. It's abnormal for Japanese to show their bare chest, and even though I was walking straight to my room, he seemed really surprised to see me. Ah well, he can deal with it! A little half-nudity never hurt anyone!

I got ready as normal and headed to the station with my buddy Raj. He's the Nepalese exchange student I talked about about a week ago, and I was helping him buy a train pass.

As we approached Shakujii station two Japanese coppers rode up on their bikes. The older, grumpier one in the front did a sort of double take and raised his hand. He put down his kickstand and stepped off the bike. His demeanor seemed like a kid trying to pretend to be an adult rather than that of a trained officer of the law. He pointed at Raj and said "show me your gaijin card" in Japanese.

A quick note before I continue. Asking a foreigner for their gaijin (foreigner) card is technically illegal in Japan, unless they're doing something suspicious or illegal. The law that makes this illegal was passed because several Koreans were arrested after being intercepted on their way to the bath. The cops would know that they were on the way to the bath and wouldn't have their cards with them. It's racist, eh? A law was passed to protect us from that kind of behavior. Therefore, this cop was technically breaking the law by asking some people innocently walking to the station. But, It isn't like they care!

(This is the face of a "criminal"! Note it well!)

We produced our student IDs and tried to explain that until April the 27th would not have our gaijin cards. Raj did a pretty good job with his Japanese saying that he was an exchange student. They basically ignored me and focused on him because his skin is darker. The lackey cop (the younger one that seemed really dazed) did take my personal information but didn't even write it down.

For five minutes or so we had to stand there in the middle of the street while they probed us with questions, which we could only answer with bad Japanese. Finally, the older, grumpier cop nodded and pointed in the direction of the station like... "okay, we're done with you... you're free now little gaijin!" and then hopped on his bike. I swear, it was the least intimidating thing ever though. It didn't even bother me that they were police and could've hauled us in to jail had they wanted. It was the opposite of American cops, who approach you with one hand holding their gigantic flashlight and the other rested over their firearm. These guys were probably just looking for something, but I'm not sure what it is.
Oh yeah, Jason said he got asked for his card today too.

jeeeeeez, overzealous coppers in Shakujii-kouen, what gives!?

Videogames ga suki?

2006-04-17T00:51:00.000+09:00

So, apparantly Japanese girls LOVE videogames, at least the ones that don't have massive amounts of violence.

I asked Naoko, "do you like videogames?" in Japanese and she said that she did, in Japanese mochiron. I thought it was interesting because it seems like it's dreadfully uncool for American girls to like videogames, I mean reallllllly like videogames. It has been changing though, and more girl gamers are emerging. Still, games like Grand Theft Auto that have lots of graphic violence don't seem to have many female patrons.

Greg got the idea to have a videogame party at his house, so he invited a lot of us over to play various games, all of which he thoroughly listed on his email. I can only read so many N64 and playstation titles before I just lose interest. But, the concept was kind of cool. I had seen a lot of Nihonjin playing games in the arcades, but they were obviously very trained. The question was, how good would the average Nihonjin be versus my slightly trained Amerikajin self!

Sunday came and Eli and I made our way to Hibarigaoka to meet with Greg and head to his house. Eli actually rode his bike, because he likes showing off that he can reach places by bike just as quickly as we can by train. Bah, showoff.

On the way from the station we stopped by "Life", a moderately sized grocery store that seems to have several locations in Tokyo. It's a fantastic name, Life... "What do you want from Life?" one could ask... "sausage, beer, and some tenpura!" Yeah.

I just bought the tenpura, some gohan, and some yakitori for the party. The tenpura was amazingly delicious but I found that I accidentally got chicken liver yakitori, which tasted like dog food.

The party was pretty cool though. I beat everyone at Super Smash Brothers several times in a row. Sa-sa kept saying "SUGEI!!!" and seemed really surprised that I could win at that game. It was hard to explain that when you live near Davis, some of his crazy video games skillz rub off on you. At least, I' guessing that's what it is!

We also played TEKKEN 5, which I freaked out over since I love that game more than any other. Again, "JOHN SUGEI!!!" over and over as I played various characters and beat them. But of course, it was only because I played against Davis so often. Ken did have a nasty Steve Fox, which I could only combat with my Lee. I'm sure most of you don't know what im talking about, but I know some of you do... so I'll write it anyway. For those of you that don't, buy Tekken 5... it's amazingly good.

Because I'm in Japan, I got to play Final Fantasy XII, which won't be released in the US till the fall. It was really damn good too. It had the silly bishonen lead character, but the combat system seemed really interesting. The story seemed pretty typical, though I'm sure it'll have the silly twist in the middle. Also, the cinematics were pretty damn good, but that's not surprising. I could give more spoilers, but I guess you people in the states will just have to wait, eh?

Chicken liver aside, it was a pretty good night, and we got back in time to rest up for class the next day. Hibarigaoka is a strange area though. It's very small, but there were prostitutes at every street corner. It makes me pretty sad.

keitai-ed

2006-04-16T01:22:00.000+09:00

greetings and salutations all doers of good and/or evil worldwide... hope your day has been fruitful in those doings.

I'll try to keep this entry short, because no one but the geekiest of the geeky will really be interested in it AT ALL.

I got a keitai, FINALLY, after taking in all the paperwork, the extra form cause im a gaijin, and my credit card to the dealer.

The deal was really damn good too. It'll cost me 2500yen per month, plus extra services (if I use too many minutes, etc), which still is about half or even less than what it would cost in America. Email is free on it, as well as cool stuff like GPS. Now if I get lost in Ikebukuro, I can load up a map with my location pinpointed on it along with the location of some landmarks in the area. May be very convenient for me if I get really lost and scared, though I'll probably still try to figure it out.

There are some other cool features in the model, like a 3.2megapixel camera (pretty insane), songs, dictionary, blah blah blah, tons of customized features that I don't want to list. Only thing is, I've had to spend about 24 hours getting to know how to use it because it's in Japanese only. I took up the challenge and learned some more kanji learning to use the damn thing. It actually gives me a little more confidence when I use and understand it too. Though, I admit, most of it was the result of random button mashing and menu surfing while looking for easy phrases.

You can put silly frames on the pictures you take too. Here's my best impression of a protester!

If anyone wants to photoshop something into my wordbubble, feel free!

My nihonjin friend said that it is an "ojiisan" (grandpa) phone too, because it has ways to make the text really huge. I got the old person/gaijin keitai!

The best part...

it was free!

I love Japanese telecommunications!

Bowling

2006-04-15T00:48:00.000+09:00

Bowling is one of those sports that doesn't really have a regional flavor.

Some sports seem to have variations depending on where you are, at least in the surroundings. Maybe the surfaces will be different or the size of the ball. Not so with bowling... because I have seen today that in Japan, bowling is exactly the same as in America.

Oh sure, there are differences, like the smell. Japanese bowling alleys, at least the one I was at, don't smell like cigarettes, beer, farts, and old machinery like American ones. The bowling shoes were well cared for and though demure, didn't have that clownlike quality of American ones. Actually, that was kind of a negative aspect, because I like the goofy old worn out shoes.

The house balls we rolled with had holes that were way too small for my freakishly long fingers, but I didn't really complain. My fingers bled (along with two other Americans') because of the finger holes. Maybe our fingers are weak, or else they need some new damn balls.

Oh, but it was all so polite and high tech too. Everytime you rolled a gutter, random people would pop up on the screen and say "gambatte!" (good luck!) or something similar to cheer on the person bowling.

Sometimes a pouting Japanese woman would do a spin and suddenly appear happy again and give a peace sign. It was really strange. They also had messages like "WAY TO GO!" when you get a strike and Ami from "Puffy" would come on there and say "YEAH!" or something random like that.

Ah maybe that isn't so interesting unless you see it. The version in America would be abhorably awful though. Ami would be replaced by Jeff Gorden or Jeff Foxworthy, and there goes the appeal! Who cares if Jeff Foxworthy says "WAY TO GO CHAMP! WOO YEAH!" or something to me... I think it would hurt my motivation more than anything!

We played two games with our team (eri, yuka, keiyu, hyesun, and myself) vs. the other 3-4 teams. Our team seemed to be doing pretty badly. In the final frame of the final game with the final player, me, we squeaked ahead. I rolled two strikes and a 9 in the final frame, adding over 30 points to our score. They acted like it was the most amazing thing they'd ever seen. Eri, who normally is really stern or shy, came up and gave me a big hug, and high fives went around. I was really surprised. I mean, I didn't even really try to do well, and maybe that was why I did. Not that it matters, there wasn't any prize. But still, it was fun being the champ, at least in one game of bowling.

(these are our victory faces, but I look like I'm on drugs!)

Go team go!

And for the record, I don't think I've bowled since Wellness class. Haha, jeez.

Salmonella does not exist in Japan!

2006-04-14T00:44:00.000+09:00

This entry is going to make my mom gag and then worry and then be okay, because afterall... I'm still alive, right?!

Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, we had another all you can eat event celebrating, well, man's love for meat, all kinds of meat, especially ones that come from tasty animals like cows and chickens!

We sat around a table, much like you would at a hibachi place in the states, but instead of a central grill and a chef, they brought out small braziers for every small group of people to cook with themselves.

It was amazing too. They brought out platter upon platter of bloody meat for us. We couldn't cook it fast enough sometimes and would just throw it on top of the grill. The fat would bubble and drip off of the meat and catch the grill on fire, which made for some INTERESTING times trying to prod it with chopsticks to get things straight again.

Gyuuniku is the general term for beef, which apparantly applies to virtually any part of the cow, apparantly... because when I would ask.. "kono niku wa nani?" the reply was usually "gyuuniku," or sometimes "toriniku" (chicken) or even pork. Later I found that much of this "gyuuniku" was in fact cow tongue, cow rump, and the ever delicious COW STOMACH LINING. Mmm boy! But you know, it didn't really bother me to think about the slabs of bloody meat being tongue or something. I mean, I eat hotdogs back in the states, and those have got to be worse!

It was a barbarians feast in a very civilized sort of way. Maybe civilized isn't the right word... more like, clean and safe sort of way. Only at first did I worry "oh man, I hope I don't get sick! This meat may not be cooked well!" Because, I've decided that salmonella doesn't exist in Japan, at least not at yakiniku! It was pretty safe really. The most dangerous thing I did was probably drink after a few other people and speak bad Japanese. Nothing really deadly.

There was a particular item that I knew mom would freak out over if she knew I ate it, Yuuke. Yuuke is basically raw meat with a raw egg on top, and you stir it all up and eat every slimey bit.

The taste was astoundingly good. It didn't seem like a seasoned kind of taste either. It seemed like the taste was the original taste of egg and beef before they're cooked, which doesn't sound appealing at all. Somehow, though, it was. I mean, the hardest part was picking it up, because it slipped out of my chopsticks several times. I'm really glad I ate it, though, and have... as of this moment... not had explosive diarrhea as a result!

My feeling with this experience, as with so many others, is that I can't let my presupposed notions get in the way. I came to Japan to experience new things, so I'm not going to hold back from eating something weird. Even if it looks gross or feels slimey, it's worth it in the end. It's another page in the book of my experiences. I've now done another thing that over 99% of non-Japanese Americans haven't done.

Also, as always, the company is great. I've grown very fond of my Japanese friends already, and I know it'll be really tough leaving them when I get on that plane. Again, I can't let it get in the way of my experience here though. Just because they'll turn into email addresses in four months doesn't mean I should avoid becoming close to them. The people you know changes who you are, and by being around good people (or even goofy ones!) I'm a better person at the end of the day.

But, I'm not going to get too sappy. My brother Clay is reading this and saying, "blarg! boring!" He wants me to share more crazy shit! That'll wait till tomorrow though!

All I have is this picture of Ta's face and a belly full of meat.

The Subjugation of the Great American Wild Gaijin

2006-04-13T03:03:00.000+09:00

Dear friends, family, bored internet peons,

Again, I have been tardy with my entry. The once a day is hard to keep up with since I don't want to just write stupid junk about ramen every day! I'm going to try to keep this thing at least somewhat interesting to read for when I'm old, grey-haired, and feel nostalgic for my wild youth! Haha! I think that's pretty unlikely, but it's a nice thought. More likely, it'll just get wiped out when the world ends and we're all reduced to scavengers in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. I can barter the rights to this website for two gallons of gasoline and a box of shotgun shells. My hair will be a mohawk, purple perhaps, and I will have no teeth. They'll call me "Johnny No Teeth", though no one in the village will have teeth. Maybe the women will still care for their teeth, but in the post-apocalypic warzone of the future, I find this option EXTREMELY unlikely.

ANYWAY. Now that I've had my daily post-apocalyptic fantasy, I will continue to the topic of todays entry, RACISM.
Ooo ooo ooo! He said RACISM! I hope this stuff shows up on a google search for some kid's dumb research project or something. Though, I'm sure I'd be on page 324 of the "racism" search, so no one with at least two beans for a brain would go that far in.
But yeah, Racism. I'm sure everyone knows where I'm going with this entry, because it's quite a 'hot button topic' from what I hear. Japanese? Racist? no, never! They're so polite and kind and say "oh! but of course! Thank you sir!' when I buy my McDonalds and smile so big while handing me the change and wow, did she just say thank you for taking my trash?! Wow! Not racist at all!

I'll just throw out some crazy stereotypical statements now and not really back them up to get the ball rolling. Lets assume that Japanese people, in general, ARE very racist towards differences. Lets also assume that there is a rising conservative nationalist ANTI-FOREIGNER group rising in Japanese political circles.

I don't want to get into that, but much of it is true. There is a rising nationalist group that's most famous for printing a history book (atarashii rekishi kyokasho) that whitewashes Japans involvement in WW2 with state shinto, the Nanjing massacre, and other such events. Also, it's clear that many Japanese dislike foreigners, though generally my personal experience has been very very positive. I love satire, and I love exaggerating... so most of what I said above this paragraph is silly rubbish that was brought about by a really dumb experience today.

I tried to get my keitai today, which proved impossible due to brand new legislation passed THIS MONTH that stated that foreigners had to get yet another notice of registration (or something of the sort). This means that the Japanese government managed to delay my pursuit of a cellular phone for yet another 24 hours at least till I can get my ass to Nerima and head back to the same office for yet another stupid form! I spent over an hour in the store today listening to bad popular music, getting the paperwork filled out, only to find out it was useless without this form. Unbelievable.
Yes, maybe this isn't racism, but it's a fun argument that seems to justify my anger towards such a fatuous trip. I would rather have a fat man kick me in the balls and hand me the phone once I regain consciousness than go stumbling through Nerima without a guide. The lady wrote down the kanji for the form but it was... at least 10 characters of complicated unrecognizable writing... and well, I hope they know what the hell I mean. Damnnnnnnn I want a keitai, but alas. I gotta wait. Racism! Gaijin persecution!

But, I did get a teki (train pass), so I can ride the train for free to and from my dorm. It saves me about 400yen or more a day.

Later tonight is another nomi/tabehodai, which has been discribed as "ALL YOU CAN EAT MEAT" like platters of the stuff.... so, that sounds fun. I'm a big fan of the meat so...

Shit, I guess I already had a few food entries eh? Ah well.. the meat thing should be worth it!

PS. I found a really nice cheap CD store and finally got Guitar Wolf's "Rock and Roll Etiquette", which is brilliant. I still like "Jet Generation" more, but it's a close race. Weeeoowww

And check out this awesome album design... pleather and studs!

ja mata ashita ne...

Crazy Ramen Days

2006-04-12T22:35:00.000+09:00

I apologize for not having an entry yesterday. I was working on some type of filler entry about junk food I've gotten in Japan, kind of an evaluation of different types and so on, you know, just to give you guys something to read.

The truth is, yesterday it rained hard and was ungodly quiet, which meant a slow news day. I didn't travel except where I had to, to school and back. While I'm sure you guys would LOVE to hear all about my zany Professors and my first Japanese class in a year etc... I think I'll spare you from that.. joy, for now. Instead, I'll share with you a little story about an American of sound stomach and a little ramen shop named Nakamoto.

Well, it all began at 5:00pm in isshouku when Ken asked us if we wanted to go to ramen. Actually, to be truthful, I don't know if Ken actually started the idea, but it works for this story, I'm going to really exaggerate everything but the important stuff...
He asked me, "do you like it spicy?" and I told him that I had never had actual ramen till the night before with Eli. He said that he knew a place that was an "experience" if you like spicy food. So, I said hell ya, let's go.
We left campus and headed down the road a bit till we reached a two story building with a staircase leading up the side of it. Ken said something along the lines of "holy shit! No line!" obviously surprised that the place wasn't packed full of patrons.
We entered the restaurant and immediately a strange mix of smells assaulted me. I suppose assaulted is too strong a word, but it was a queer mix that I couldn't recognize at all. There were a number of famous signatures I didn't recognize either, but obviously the place was really famous for something or other.

Looking at the menu it became apparant that there wasn't any real "safe" dish if you don't like spicy food. I mean, even two fires has some danger to it. I was tempted to be weak and just get some really savory 0/5fire ramen and call it a day. But, hell... I'm in Japan to experience stuff right? Why not?

Soooo, I compromised and got the miso ramen with 4/5fires, just shy of the 5/5 "North Pole" ramen that Ken ordered. As I said a few entries back, you can tell how spicy a place will be by their willingness to give you tissues and pitchers of water. Needless to say, this place had both in large quantity, a mark of excellence.

It wasn't long until the waitress dropped a bowl of noodles and bubbling blood red goo in front of us. Greg said that the "North Pole" looked more like Magma than ramen. The smell was overpowering too, but not in a bad way. In all, it smelled and looked really delicious.

(Disclaimer: for the next part of this entry I will describe the actual eating of the ramen. Keep in mind that my experience was 4/5fires of spice while Ken faced a much worse fury.)

The taste of the ramen was incredibly good. The noodles were tender, the meat well prepared, the onions chopped nicely, and the eggs were arranged in a nice pattern on the sides. The taste was incredibly good, for about two seconds. Then, the nerves in your mouth start sending crazy distress calls to your brain telling you that you've just done something very very stupid. It burned going down, noodle by noodle, but it was so incredibly delicious at the same time. I held back my tears to say that it was like heaven and hell at the same time. Half a pitcher of water and several tissues later I had made more of a dent in the red substance.

But, it wasn't over. I still hadn't tried the other strange reddish stuff they gave me. Though I didn't catch the name, the smaller tofu-filled side item seemed strangely tame, for about 5-10seconds. Then, again, the last of my tastebuds decided they had enough and systematically shut down, just to prevent too much pain. Breathing in hurt from the sheer amount of pepper and god knows what else still left in my mouth.

Ken and I powered through the ramen, each noodle like a tiny victory over our stomachs. It felt like an alien was trying to punch its way out of my chest, but I kept on eating. I mean, why not... it's only a little ramen. It certainly isn't anything to cry over. Even so, I was crying uncontrollably and my nose began running. It was amazing to see how overpowering such hot food can be to your senses.

And then, we finished. Ken had drops of sweat pouring down his face along with tears and was still drinking the "broth" regardless. I was unable to handle any more and just let that hellish red stuff stay in the bowl.

Ahh Nakamoto... it kicked my ass. Still, if you have about 800yen to spare and need a good cry, head to Ikebukuro. What a fun fun time.

On a related issue, check out this high-tech toilet I saw today!

Sadly, it did not talk.

The Geekiest Place on Earth

2006-04-10T21:30:00.000+09:00

...besides maybe the International Science Fair is undoubtedly Akihabara, which I visited today with Eli.

It's hard to explain, and perhaps in the picture above I look a little confused, that's because the three words I most commonly said today were "what the.." and a four letter explitive that I will delete (since I found that my mom's friends at work and professors of mine could be reading this). You know what I mean though.

Akihabara is a geek haven that houses stacks upon stacks of shops specializing in everything from really technologically advanced clocks to used computer parts to scientific equipment. I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that geeks of all kinds can find their haven in the streets of Akihabara. Every possible angle of pimply geekdom is covered!

Not that this is all bad, because it is very convenient at the same time. If you want an MP3 player for example, just go to Akihabara... they have EVERY FREAKING MP3 PLAYER EVER MADE there. Or, say for example you're like... "Oh damn, I need 12.24volt resistors to put in my robot back home!" then you can find hundreds of them and anything else you could possibly think of. It's insane!

See, I think I'd be a little hesitant to buy computer parts off the side of the road, but I'm sure the people who own the shops have REALLY devoted patrons that keep them in business, or maybe i'm just being stereotypical. I mean, who knows... maybe not ALL the people who shop at Akihabara daily are unable to get girlfriends or hold down jobs or speak without a lisp... maybe! Teehee, I keed I keed...

Not all the shops were flea-market like though. Some were very high-end. This audio store was amazing in its selection of really high quality audio equipment for people that need to spend that extra 50,000yen for their headphones. Yes, Eli.. I'm speaking about you. I still think it's a little crazy to spend substantially more for a product that is very very similar even if not the same. I don't think the ears will notice that 50,000yen, but I'm sure your stomach will when you need to buy some food but can't afford to. If you're filthy stinking rich, well okay.
I think that Akihabara is all about that extra degree of specialization that changes the average consumer to the megageek or the rare majestic titanicgeek.

Some of the stuff was just plain awesome. Who wouldn't want Pat Morita on their T-shirt!?!?!?!?!?!

Alright... so maybe I DO kind of belong in Akihabara. But, I think I have a lot of work to do to reach the guys that actually go to the scientific equipment store all day to peruse microscopes and geiger counters.

Also, I think something is wrong with you if you wait till the year 2006 and decide that you just don't have enough Sega Megadrive games. In case you do, for some reason, you can pick some up, along with some 3DO, Saturn, Neo-Geo... all those systems that kind of disappeared from the face of every place on Earth but Akihabara.

Oh yeah...
THEY PLAYED SONGS FROM THE NES METROID FROM A BIG LOUDSPEAKER OVER THE STREET. WTF.

Sorry, I'm still in a state of shock. I can't decide if it's awesome or terrible or if it makes me happy or depressed... it's just all very, new.

There were some parts that were creepy too, so even the creepy dorks had their bases covered. Eli and I even saw a man very carefully perusing a huge stand of various sexual roleplay costumes. It wouldn't have amused me if he hadn't been so thorough in his selection. Not that we really stayed around those people much. Eww, jeez.

This picture is classic though. I asked Eli to stand in front of the holographic "Sexual Cushion & Doll" sign that moved as you passed it. It looks like some weird french maid anime character... blarrrg. Eli told me to send this picture to his girlfriend, and say "look what he's been up to here in Japan!" That's brilliant.

I can name a lot of people that would want a 40-inch flatscreen monitor though, including myself. This guy played around with it for a while, but it was hard to tell how useful such an ungodly huge monitor would actually be. Maybe when I have a secret lair where I need to type up my secret evil plans for world domination I can have one of these babies on the wall. That way my powerpoint presentations I show my arch-nemesis secret agent will be all the more impressive.
It's hard to tell in the picture, but the price of the thing is something insane like 328,000yen... yes, about 300,000yen too many.

If you're into videogames, like Davis, then you can find a 5-story tall arcade in Akihabara that has literally an entire floor of shooter games, an entire floor of fighting games, an entire floor of annoying noisy games (though everyone of them is), and so on. This guy I show here is playing one of the guitar games and was in-freakin-credible at it. The lines on the screen were going by so fast, but he did near perfect. I guess he's a guitar videogame geek, a very select breed. I tried playing Street Fighter 2 but Chun-li got her butt kicked hard after only two stages. I guess I still have a ways to go. Maybe I should've played one of the really obscure SNK games they had in the place. Man, Davis would've been drooling all overhimself in there.

Lastly... in the case that you are a huge fan of Counter-strike and want to own your very own life-size Steyr AUG or Colt M4A1... you can buy functioning airsoft versions of a huge array of popular firearms on the 7th floor (or so) of a huge megadepartment store in Akihabara.

Here I am being proud of my GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS HALLELUJAH. I would hate to carry one of those around in America though, because they look so damn realistic. In Japan, of course you know it's not real (firearms are outlawed), but in America who knows who could see you with an "Uzi" and whip out a real 9mm Baretta on you. Seems kind of dangerous, eh?

In conclusion,
Akihabara has everything anyone who is possibly off the center of the line of normality could ever need to fulfill their material needs. Whether it be DDR Ram or replicas of Robotech fighters, everything you could possibly even think of needing is there.

And look, even Lupin shops there!

Why does that not surprise me?

(cue Lupin III theme music!)

(Interlude) A few interesting pictures as requested by Lauren

2006-04-09T15:17:00.000+09:00

Seen on the side of a pachinko parlor

This is how pizzas should be delivered.

The first corporate logo I saw in Japan once leaving the airport. It's for some manufacturing company.

More to come in the future! And like I said, it'll be easier once I get my keitai and can NINJA shots of strange looking people without fear of them hurting me!

Hanami made easy

2006-04-08T14:15:00.000+09:00

Today we had our first IFL event of the year, a hanami party in the dirty park in Ikebukuro. I had been to the park before and seen the numerous people drinking out on tarps under the sakura. But, I never imagined that you could have a fifty person party under just a few trees.

It was very crowded as you can imagine and very loud too. We did a kanpai at the beginning and introduced ourselves. I told them simply that my name was John, I was American, and that my Japanese wasn't very good so please excuse me. It was nice to see so many people too, though it was so loud that I didn't hear many names. I never like big parties either, because you can't really talk to anyone. This seems to be okay in Japan, because it's somewhat unnatural for them to talk about deep subjects at a party anyway. So yes, I spent much of the time talking about the weather and my major and how pretty America is but how nasty the people are. You know, chit chat...

still, when my Japanese was good enough, I was able to talk to some people.

As you can see, we had VERY fancy catering by McDonalds and Mister Donut. The Japanese kept asking me, "do you know Mister Donut?" because supposedly part of the company's advertising was that they are part of an American franchise. To play along I said "yes!" and said the Mister Donut motto that I hear on the way to the station in the morning. This seemed to be a good response. In actuality of course, we don't have any Mister Donuts in America to my knowledge. The donuts and McChickens were good though, I guess. I also drank some grape soda, or so I thought. It was later I found out it was a wine cooler of some kind even if it came in a can like grape soda. Not that it matters much, but I was surprised.

They also had me try Asahi beer, which is freakin disgusting. They tried to capture my "mazui" reaction in this picture. I drank maybe half of it. My finger looks like it's covering up a recycling symbol, but it's not. It's actually one of those biohazard ones you see on toxic waste... I swear!
Only one freshman guy drank too much, which was good. And Hashim kept his big dumb gaijin self somewhat sober saying, "naa man, I'm good. I only drank four." Well shit... fantastic! (See previous entry!)

Theres the dumb gaijin, shibu, yasu, and oh shit... what's his face.
If you notice, all the pictures I take seem to be posed, that's because when you pull out a camera in Japan people naturally react and pull others toward them. I think it'll get easier once I get a keitai that has a camera so that I can then take NINJA shots!!! I really wanted to take pictures of this silly salaryman on the train today but didnt want to be caught. He had a huge briefcase and a nicely pressed suit but when he opened the briefcase had absolutely nothing in it but a few wrinkled papers and an MP3 player. He took out the MP3 player for a little train music. I just thought it was funny to imagine him carrying such a huge briefcase just for that.

Anyway, rather than go karaoke again after last night's fiasco, I opted to go for ochya (tea) and coffee. So, a group of us went to a nice coffee bar for mocha lattes and stuff. I talked to the French guy Tony, who gave me some good ideas for my senior thesis. I'm getting closer to finding a good topic, but it'll take some more time here.

Tomorrow I'm going to meet up with Saeko in Shakujiikouen. It'll be nice to see her again, though I haven't talked to her since Kevin broke up with her. So, perhaps it'll have awkward moments. I'll try to keep focused though and avoid that topic as much as possible. She also promised me some homemade washoku last time I saw her in Sewanee, so I hope I can collect on that! Mmmmmm!

The continuation... part two of Introduction to (mostly) Wholesome Tokyo Nightlife

2006-04-07T11:54:00.000+09:00

Hanbe:

As I said in the entry before, it helps to have a dining guide in Tokyo. Because, by doing so you can find some really damn interesting places. One such place was Hanbe, which is a cramped restaurant in Ikebukuro. The decor was in the style of an occupied 1950s Japan, with dusty movie posters and pictures of Japanese women with groovy beehives on the wall. There was also the inclusion of the "Cracker Barrel" staples like, old coke ads and stuff of the era. But, since they were all in Japanese, it was an interesting change. The first thing I noticed when sitting down, besides the terrible singing in the records they were playing (also from the 50s), was the incredibly low prices. Everything was prices around 100-150yen about, with drinks only being slightly more expensive.

Ren ordered a "hoppy", a beer that was supposedly drunk during the times when really cheap ass beer was a necessity. I tried it and it didn't taste like anything. I mean, it's hard to explain. It wasn't strong, but it wasn't weak. It wasn't water, but it wasn't alcoholic really. It just kind of... sucked. Ren was upset, and I ended up having to drink much of the hoppy, even if I didn't really want to. We had plenty of noodles and grilled foods and things to make this more enjoyable, so I didn't mind so much. We also ordered an okonomiyake, and it was delicious. The strange thing was that the fish flakes on it moved with the heat so it looked as if it was breathing. I think that made eating it a little bit more exciting in some way.

The final item we ordered (outside of sparrow... yes, sparrow), was called "oppai aisu", after what it resembled. Now, I'm not sure how many of you perverts know, but oppai is another name for breasts, so oppai aisu is well... boob icecream.

As you can see, they kind of look like condoms that have been filled up with icecream, and the way that you eat them is by sucking on the end, like a baby. It seems to be some gaijin hazing ritual for people coming to Hanbe, because Rabirori and Ren both got a kick out of it. Of course, they didn't dare order them while Naoko was still around, because she would've probably kicked our asses. Oh, by the way, Rabirori sounds like "ravioli" in Japanese... It's a good nickname if you ask me.
The service at Hanbe was unique as well because the waiter did not use purely polite form Japanese. He sounded like a guy in some bad mobster flick with a really cool slur in his speech. I thought it was interesting that he said stuff in casual because EVERYWHERE else they simply say "kashkomarimashita!" and smile really big and get your food... But he even made jokes. When Rabirori said "Oppai onegai shimasu!" (oppai please!) then the waiter retorted "dare no oppai?" (whose?) and everyone laughed. Ahh, boob jokes... we've come so far!

matteiru:

One aspect of being with a lot of people often (as I have been since I've been here), is the periods where you stand around waiting. It seems like Japanese, just as Americans, have a hard time deciding on where to go, so they ask many times "ikou?" and I say "hai" a million times back. But, this is all just manners I'm sure and I don't really mind waiting a little time to be around such cool people. Still, a lot of time seems to be wasted in this country by waiting on something, whether its the train or a group of college girls to make up their mind which karaoke bar is motto kakkoi. Yesterday Naoko, Miki, Ravioli and I went back to the GAME CENTER while waiting on the rest and played an award winning game of Taiko. I say award winning, because we actually placed like 15th out of 100 or so people (not bad for amateurs!) on the machine's highscore. The most fun song was that goddamn annoyingly catchy Romanian pop song Numa Numa. We did really damn good, but then it was stuck in my mind most of the night. Anyway, Greg also won everyone some cute black cat keychains, one of which he hung on Naoko's back without her even noticing for a LONG time.

The kanji on it's shirt read something like "assistant manager" and mine said "division manager" or something, so they're business cats. I think mine looked a little happier, because he was pulling in the huge salary and just bought that second house in Ibaraki.

Here's a pic of Ravioli, Naoko, and Greg in front of the Washoku restaurant we went to that night. Good times!

Why "all you can drink" is a bad idea for Americans:

I was invited to "Noma no bai bai pati" after meeting Noma/Kantaro just a few days prior. He's going to Nigeria to do some kind of research or study for Temple University. Noma is a really chilled guy who likes drinking smoking and South Park more than almost anyone I've known. He's a champ.

Well, on the way to the bye bye party we found that this party was a "nomihodai", meaning that it is all you can drink and eat. Since we had reservations, it was incredibly cheap too, being only about 1500yen per person. For all you can eat/drink, that's a damn good deal. So, we sat down and ordered tons of crap for everyone. I tried to get the Nepalese guy to try to use chopsticks but he seemed unwilling to convert. And Noma drank... and drank... and drank... lots of whisky and beer.

But the thing is, he was completely fine. The American guy I mentioned before, hashim, was not so fine. So, when it came to move on from nomihodai to karaoke, he became belligerent.

I don't know if I've said anything about it before in this blog or not, but I hate foreigners. I mean, I really hate other gaijin. It seems like most gaijin just don't know how to observe common rules of etiquette, especially ones exclusive to Japan. They're loud, obnoxious, and just make me hate being a foreigner.

Hashim became a nasty ass gaijin after what he calculated (in his dumb drunken head) as ten beers and three whiskys... or so. Well, this apparantly gave him the right to, while we were walking to karaoke, run up to random girls and hit on them in nasty English, or even run up to a COUPLE and hit on the girl. The guy had a lot of willpower because he didn't hit this big fucking dumb foreigner right in his big fucking nose, but in America I'm sure any guy would have. Somehow Hashim got to Karaoke, and, after nearly breaking the expensive equipment in the room, fell asleep on the couch. God, he's such a big fat moron. NO ONE else, not even Noma, came close to drinking that much.

The karaoke was pretty fun though, because Hashim was asleep and didn't get to sing the shakira song he queued up moments before. Thank god. But we sang muse and shiina ringo and some other stuff...

And check out this groovy blacklight art...

That's Takuya singing in front of... a woman with a crystal ball and a sword.

It kind of reminds me of something you'd see in a cheesy club in Tennessee in the sheer tackyness of it all. There was also a huge Jupiter on one side and a unicorn on the other. Crazy!

Well, as you imagine, karaoke was over and Hashim was still passed out. He woke up briefly only to spill alcohol on all the Japanese on his side, which pissed off many of them and made them leave. I was so fucking angry. But, being from the same station as him, I knew I would get stuck taking the dumb motherfucker back. And, I think he's annoying on the train when he's sober.

Everyone else left me and Ratz, the Nepalese guy, to handle this big dumb fucking American all the way back to Shakujiikouen. I hate taking care of drunk people, especially ones that weigh like 50 pounds more than me.

There were times when we would be walking fine and then he would drop all of his weight onto Ratz and I, nearly crushing us. Ratz was even angrier than I was, saying to just leave him in the middle of Ikebukuro. But, by this point I was still feeling like we had better get the dumbass back. So we bought tickets and got out to the train. On the train he was awful. He kept rubbing his ass on the woman behind him saying "oh shit, hope that's not a dude", pointing out the "ugly chicks" on the train, asking strangers over and over in HORRIBLE Japanese "shakujiikouen, denshya ka?" and them just ignoring him. I kept saying in Japanese, "I'm sorry, he is very drunk" to people, and a few even smiled and laughed. But, he was so loud that an old man said "urosei!" a masculine form of "urosai" (loud), which basically means "SHUT UP!" So, obviously the others in the train were pretty disturbed.
When he stepped on my toe at the station I threw him off and walked off, leaving him there. Because, we took him damn far enough, he can make the 15 minute walk back to the dorm on his own. So Ratz and I walked off quickly, leaving him crookedly trailing us. Ratz said that he would never come to another party, because of how he acted. And, I don't blame him.

The kicker was, Hashim followed us and even kept up, going in perfectly straight lines while we had our backs turned, but then when we looked he would begin slanting again. It was so damn childish. It was like a little kid pretending to be drunk because he wasn't getting any attention. I don't know if it was because he wasn't hugged enough as a child or what... but it was fucking depressing.

And that is why Americans should never be allowed to nomihodai.

Introduction to (mostly) Wholesome Tokyo Nightlife

2006-04-06T23:38:00.000+09:00

Salutations from the mysterious land of mist and dragons!
(yes that's a joke, by dragons I mean Dragonball Z)

Anou...
Today and yesterday were spent filling in paperwork for the kokusai center and dumb gaijin registration bullshit. I also had to take a two hour Japanese placement exam.

but...
I've been fortunate enough to fall in with a really good crowd of people as I mentioned in the former posts, and I've been having a hell of a lot of fun here in Tokyo. The safest metropolis in the world is filled with diversity when it comes to its nightly diversions. I don't mean disgusting strip clubs either, I mean clean good places to eat incredible varieties of good food and drink.

The only downside is that it can be expensive. But, then you bring in the great equalizer, natives that know where to go that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and provides the same if not a better product. This has saved me tons of money already, and I think I've spent a lot less this week than I thought I would while I've done much more.

Let me reemphasize one thing from the last post. Japanese food is in-fucking-credibly delicious. Anyone that says Japanese food is bad HAS NOT BEEN TO JAPAN. Washoku is the best damn food I've ever eaten. And the thing is, in the past week there hasnt been a single thing that I've eaten outside of the dorm that has been anything but delicious. Tokyo is batting 1000 in that regard. And, there's much more variety than you would ever see in the states to washoku, which I think is a damn shame. Maybe I'll actually gain a little weight here after all!

So, last night we went out for karaoke for the first time since I've been here. The selection was huggge with two gigantic books of songs to choose from. I only sang gaijin songs, queen, elvis, and a radiohead one, but it was interesting to see the other belt out these Japanese and even Thai and Korean songs that I've never heard of.

The thing that I find interesting about Karaoke is the surprise when a mild mannered person steps up and really gets into it and sounds really damn good at the same time. Such was the case with a 5 foot tall Indonesian girl singing "Princes of the Universe" by Queen. She kicked so much ass, it was incredible. Others, like Ken pictured above, seem to be content with a proper rendition of the song but not necessarily a really excellent one. Such was the case with all the Japanese that went this time, with the exception of Takuya who seemed to get really into that Hirai Ken or whatever the hell it was.
I really like Karaoke though, and I think I'll get better at it. Hopefully I can sing some Erasure songs or something and just really confuse my Japanese and American friends alike!

The part I said about making sure you get a native to direct you to a cheap place is especially true with Karaoke. The place we went to was so damn good because everyone knew it was good after going to all of them. They mentioned the cleanliness and other factors I wouldn't have even considered when going to karaoke, being the greenhorn I am. And, it was only 50yen per 30minutes per person. That's really damn cheap for Tokyo if you think about it, even after drinks.

Being the people we are, we left the karaoke and bam went to another place right afterwards. This one was a very traditional Japanese bar with tatami mats and the like. It was great too yet again, though the draft beer was gross and I had to drink Suntory Malt instead.

And it was really cheap, yet again... even cheaper than in America. Also, the service was better... faster and more polite. If I knew the name of the place I would give a good review, but that doesn't matter I suppose since anyone reading this is thousands of miles away.

Karaoke + bar + ____. You'd think it'd be done but we went to another bar and talked politics for a long time and then made our ways back. It was a good night, even if I had to deal with an annoying gaijin guy I don't like. I made yet more Japanese friends though, which seems to be daily here.

To be continued in the morning after I get a little sleep. I got some more adventures coming up but my eyes are on auto-shut. Stay tuned for Part two of Introduction to (mostly) Wholesome Tokyo Nightlife!

Shakujiikouen

2006-04-05T09:04:00.000+09:00

It's easy to see why some places are named what they are. Unless you're viking, the names all seem to make pretty decent sense. "Greenland"... what the hell were they thinking?

Well, thankfully the Japanese seem to have a better grasp on this concept and named the area of Nerima-ku I live in ShakujiiKOUEN after the park we have in the area. I had not been to it prior to today but today I ended up there twice.

Using my best Taoist technique, I set out from the dorm around noon with a clear mind and wandered around the area. It was interesting to see the ariety of buildings in the area, ranging from the small to the extremely large, even comically large! Close to the park there is also a shopping area that seems reasonably priced for Tokyo.

As you can imagine, I got very lost very quickly. But, it was fine. I found a nice bakery and a few good restaurants while trying to find my way back. Also, I found the park. Shakujiikouen's park is a sakura-lined body of water with two temples on its shore (that I counted) and a variety of meeting areas and so forth. You can rent boats and paddle about. If you do, "don't get the swan boat, or your relationship is doomed!" I was told. Sound advice.

When I walked around as a lone gaijin I saw many hanami, a traditional Japanese picnic under the sakura. Some groups were couples but most were older people just relaxing and drinking. It seems like a great way to spend your afternoon.

Eventually, I made my way out of the park and somehow ended up back on my street. I was hungry so I thought I could at least handle ordering at makudoronodo (McDonalds).

Here's a picture I took later even though Eli's dumb gaijin face sucked up all the flash! haha!

Anyway, the McDonalds here are about the same as in America but here they have much better sauce, smaller drinks, and seem to put more care into preparing their food. I ordered fine, which made me happy. I didn't understand what she said when she asked "for here or to go" so a lady behind me said it in English and I thanked her later. She lived in Seattle for a year so her English was good.

To skip ahead past boring parts, later in the day I met up with Eli and Greg.

Many of you know Eli because he went to Sewanee but has been away for the past semester. He's still the same too, but perhaps more worldly. It's nice to have a good friend here already too.

Greg is from Michigan and has also been here a semester already. He's a really intelligent guy and likes the SAME music as me! A fact which means we'll be great friends. He also loves singing karaoke, which is freakin awesome. The first Japanese musician he mentioned liking was Cornelius, and I flipped my shit! I mean, how cool is that. He promised to show me some cool record shops and so on.

So,
the three of us made our way back to Shakujiikouen umm.. kouen and we talked about random things, such as Japanese keen sense of land management. Greg also pointed out the weirdest of the large houses I mentioned earlier, one that was shaped exactly like a Victorian dollhouse right on the border of the pond. I imagined some spoiled Japanese lady ordering her wealthy husband to recreate the dollhouse she had as a child. Maybe not, but it's a possibility!

We also stopped at "gaijin-island", so dubbed because greg eli and a few others used to go out there during the night and drink sake on it. It contained a pavillion type area that had the most profane pornographic graffiti I've ever seen drawn on it. The boy's bathroom in highschool can't even compete. Greg said he didn't notice it for a long time since they always came at night. But we didn't stay too long, because we were getting hungry and that meant CURRY.

Oh god, Japanese curry is the best thing ever created by man. There's a special spot in my stomach that can only be truly filled by Japanese curry. The place we went to, coco-something-curry (Damn, I forget the name), well, it was really reasonably priced and I got COMPLETELY full off of delicious food for about $6-8 US.

For the gastrophiles out there (Brendan!), here's a picture of my chikenkatsu-kare.

By the way, Japanese do not eat curry with chopsticks, they always use a spoon. They'll make fun of you if you use chopsticks. And also, you can tell how spicy a curry restaurant can be by two factors. 1. If they provide pitchers of water on your table. 2. If they have lots of napkins.
I only tried "kutsu" normal level of spicyness, but Eli was daring and got "futatsu" second level of spicyness. You have to get special permission to try anything over level 7 they say.

We made our way back and Greg showed me his keitai which was so freakin sleek and awesome. I have to get one. His was insane though, it had GPS navigation and maps, tetris, calculator, email, etc etc so on. Just, way too many features for anyone! In America it'd cost so damn much, but I'm in the future now, eh?

Well, it's time for me to head off to ryuugakusei orientation. I'll post more later!

Clubbing...

2006-04-04T05:58:00.000+09:00

Greetings from the city that never sleeps, at least... it waits a long time and then falls asleep on the train!

Anou, mukashi mukashi mukashi...

Today Kevin and I helped the IFL (International Friendly Lunch) advertise our club at the Freshman orientation. Basically, the idea was to show that if freshmen joined the club, they would be able to meet lots of foreigners. I guess that only appeals to some though, because I feel that many people were uncomfortable when I approached them and said
"kokusai koryu kai desu! onegai shimasu!"
and handed them a flyer. Many wouldn't make eye-contact at all. Perhaps this is just the shy manner of many Japanese, especially Japanese girls. The guys were usually a bit more outgoing and would nod at me or just shake their heads no.

It was really an interesting experience seeing the hustle and bustle that many of the clubs created. We just had flyers, but the athletic clubs, the cheerleaders, the punk rockers... they all wore their costumes. Yuuko, an IFL member who I talked to while handing out flyers, told me that about half of the first-year students will actually join a club, which is actually about the same I'd say in America. However, the Japanese method seems to create a sense of loyalty, like a gang almost, amongst the club members. If you do join a club, like soccer or lacross or music, then you have to eat with them every single day and meet every single day, etc. It seems rather harsh in that respect.

When I was young and would watch Anime that took place in highschools or in college (Ranma 1/2, Here is Greenwood, etc), there were several instances where the tennis club would be together like a gang, or the hockey club would constantly be wearing their hockey pads, or who could forget Tatawake Kunou and his love for the Kendo club? Perhaps it's going out on a limb, but I don't think American students would ever show such loyalty to their groups. I mean, half the time most people just don't show up. I don't think that would happen in Japan.

Still, the question can be asked, is this a reflection of Japanese society? Is a group mentality wired into the culture? I would say yes. But, I don't think it's right to see this as negative and bring our American cowboy/loner/individualistic mentality into the picture, because it seems that this way of thinking helps in many ways to create a more productive society for everyone. Instead of focusing on oneself, being omphalocentric as they say, there seems to be an extra perception of how what you do will affect those around you. The bad part is that this perhaps leads to severe depression or anxiety when a person is excluded from a group such as when fired from a job or kicked out of a social circle. If a personal identity was based off of others, and then the others are removed, then what is left of your identity?

The freshman orientation was behind the "primary" building where there are several sakura trees. And, it's true what they say, sakura blossoms fall like snow. Today, though, the wind was so fierce that it created a blizzard of sakura petals that whipped around us. It was sometimes very calm, but then, as if Totoro flew over on his top, it would suddenly batter us.

The sakura as always are beautiful trees that seem to color everything around them pink. Though I got sakura petals in my shoes and hair, I didn't mind so much.

I'm going to post a few photos of some of the cool new people I met today. Though, many I did not get pictures of. Also, some of the spellings may be wrong as I just heard their names and may have missed a few sounds. I'll try to be close though!

kore wa yoshiki desu. He's the vice-president of the IFL and a really funny yasashi-na hito. I didn't really get a chance to talk to him, but he seems like a funny guy.

kore wa ren desu. Ren is a sophomore that I met that told me about going to Minnesota and other such topics. At dinner I told him that MC Ren was one of the guys from NWA and tried explaining what NWA was and what gangsta rap was. It was kinda fruitless I think.

kore wa yuuko to... yuka? yuri! I only heard her name once, so I can't remember so well. Both of them are really nice girls though. Yuuko on the left was the one who passed out flyers with me. She's a very nice person from what I can tell, because she corrects my bad Japanese! I guess a lot of people do that, since my Japanese is so bad. Yuka/yura (sumimasen!) I talked to for a long time about a variety of stuff, like languages. She and Tatsuya(? I think his name was Tatsuya) asked me how to pronounce some things like 'world' and 'this' and a few other hard words with TH sounds or L's like Lollypop. They were both yasashi na hito, and it made it easy to communicate.

kore wa shibu desu. Shibu is yet another really easy going cool guy from Kobe who has an awesome sleek keitai that I may try getting once I can. He also has a really cool casual way of speaking that sounds awesome.

anou, kore wa tony to MYSTERIOUS STRANGER. Naa, it's me of course! tee hee. Tony is a French student who is the ojii-san of the group at 27 years old. He's been in the country for about 2 and a half years and wants to continue working in Japan in some "non-business like" job, I think he said. Well, something that doesn't tie him down I think he means. He's very relaxed, which makes him yet another in a long line of yasashi-na hito I met today.

And, there were many others that I did not get pictures of, but will no doubt show up in future posts.

Anyway... I woke up a while back to write this entry and it's nearly 5:55AM now, so Ryouchoubo-san must be cooking breakfast. Mmm, I hope it's good.

That's all for now!

A New Dawn, my first full day

2006-04-03T03:30:00.000+09:00

I awoke at 9:30AM somehow. See, my alarmclock is my laptop, and... it was indisposed at this time. But, however it happened, I was glad.

My first Japanese shower was interesting, because I learned that it had a digital temperature control, a pressure nozzle, and a heat nozzle... or something. It's very complicated. The same goes with my toilet, which uses excess water to power a wash station. In the words of Hashim, another fresh international student, "damn Japanese efficiency!"
I got ready and went through orientation. Kevin served as interpreter to Ryouchou-san as he painstakingly covered the entire dorm's many features. He said some incredibly strange stuff that I picked out, since I actually understood most of the Japanese, like "you can do everything outside while hanging laundry, like singing and dancing, but please don't smoke." and a story about the refrigerator... or something. Anyway, it was interesting and he seems to be a severely yasashi na hito... so his cheerful nature was overpowering and helped me feel ready for my day.
Kevin decided that it would be nice to show us around Ikebukuro and Shakujiikouen, since we would be spending so much time in them and did not know anything yet. 'Us' of course refers to the four American internationals who arrived the day before. As far as I can tell, all of which are pretty decent people. There is not a single otaku in the group... at least not yet!

And now, because pictures are cool and stuff... may I present a street of Shakujiikouen.

Notice the mirror for drivers to check blind corners. I think it's brilliant!

And, here's a photo of Kevin I snapped at the Shakujiikouen station while waiting on the train. The wall in the background is probably has probably the fewest advertisements I saw in stations all day.

Kevin is half Korean, half mixed English American, a heritage that he says helps him avoid most recognition as a gaijin. I also think the hip Tokyo haircut, which cost about him about 100 dollars, helps!

Also present was a guy from Vanderbilt named John (later "Kewpi" as dubbed by a half-drunk Japanese friend) and Hashim, a muslim Kuwaiti-American who has a poor sense of volume control but is still a nice easy going guy. The four of us rode the trains to Ikebukuro and found ourselves awashed in people. I had never seen so many people with brown and black hair in a single location. I saw one ganguro girl too, with grossely bronzed skin, drawn eyebrows, bleached hair, white lips... so alien-esque. It felt odd walking around so many people and getting so many looks for being foreign. They weren't necessarily hateful looks, but it still felt extremely odd to be seen as different by so many people.
Like I said, Hashim has a booming voice so I thought he was surely annoying the living hell out of the passers-by. John was quiet but occasionally said some off-colored negative remark about something. And, Kevin spent much of the inital decent to Ikebukuro speaking on his keitai with various friends he wished us to meet or pointing out various thing.

There were advertisements everywhere, and I don't think most consider this one of the primary shopping areas of Tokyo. I guess it doesn't matter!

But, first thing was first. It was nearly midday and none of us had eaten. So, we made made our way to a medium sized restaurant on the second floor of a large unremarkable looking building called "saizeria" (or something like that... it's very hard to translate) a decently priced Italian restaurant (YASUI NE!).

I ordered the drink bar and italian hamburger, a hamburger steak covered in marinara, cheese, a fried egg, and corn. It does not do it justice to say it was delicious. For a mere 499yen, about $4.00US, I ate a savory meal and got unlimited fancy sodas for only 190yen more! The sodas were fun to try. I drank CC Lemon, which was a typical lemon flavored soda, an orange soda, and two glasses of the surprisingly delicious Suntory Melon soda... mmm. I could get used to Japan!
I normally don't drink that much soda, but they were all interesting and fun to try. I skipped a lot of other interesting flavors though.

We left the store and headed toward Rikkyo, the school that I will be spending the four months studying.

It was raining just a bit, but not bad enough to worry about getting an umbrella. So, we walked past the iron gates of Rikkyo and it looked like a pleasant anachronism in the middle of metropolitan Tokyo. The main building was covered in Ivy and had that mock-college look about it that was delightful. Around the gate Sakura bloomed.

(a bit closer look at the sakura blooms)

I didn't think I would arrive in time to see the sakura in bloom, but I suppose I did. The pink petals littered the ground while more fell with the wind.

As we approached the primarily hall of Rikkyo (I don't know what to refer to it as!), it became apparant that the growth of the vines was not entirely a natural event. The coverage of the building was too complete, too thorough, to make me believe it.

We left and made our way to central Ikebukuro, where I found my first experience with Tokyo shopping.
Biku Kamura is an electronics store that has about 4 or more locations in Ikebukuro alone, it was daunting. Each one of them was around nine-stories tall and two were even directly accross the street from eachother. Eat that Starbucks!
It was within the advertising nightmare of bik camera that I was able to find an adapter for my laptop AC adapter, which was extremely reassuring. I wish I had taken pictures inside the store but I was afraid of being rude... it was a constant cacaphony of music, talking, bells, buzzing televisions, workers... it's actually hard to pin down all of the sounds. It was quite a racket, to say the least. We met at Bik camera with Noriko, a member of International Friendly Lunch, the social group between the gaikokujin and the Japanese students, and the first Japanese friend I made while in Japan.

Ah, I forgot to mention that we went to a CD store, where despite the incredible prices I was glad to find lots of bands like Go!Go!7188 that non-Japanese have no clue about but that I love. Hashim bought a Koda Kumi best of album which made me laugh. I think he just bought it because she was wearing the SMALLEST PANTS EVER on the cover. I guess that's as good a reason as any... but for 3,000yen it better be worth it.
We got coffee and I drank the most expensive drink I have ever had... over $5 US or so! Blarg... it was good but, blarg. I'll have to get used to Tokyo pricing!

Lets see... because we hopped everywhere in a blur it's kind of hard to remember all the new stores I saw though some were bizarre, like a cat petting zoo called "Nekobukuro" LOL.

Yes... I'm serious. I wish you could make stuff like that up!

And, no shopping trip would be complete without a stop at the arcade. As expected from a Japanese arcade, the multistoried building contained a number of games that we could only dream of playing in the states. Then again, we don't really have arcades in America.

My favorite of all the ones we played (besides maybe the new Mario Kart!) was TAIKO! Well... I don't know the full title, but anyone who saw Lost in Translation has seen this drumming game of wonder.

I have always loved rhythm games, and this one was better than any I had played. Screw you Dance Dance Revolution!
Now... I'm not going to say that Guitar Hero isn't possibly better, because I haven't played that one yet, but Taiko is just damn fun. In order to play the game you have to hit the drum at certain times in certain areas, either on the rim or the skin in the center. Kevin and I played and beat song after song until we got to a really slow dance remix of what sounded like the 1812 overture and just completely failed the entire song.

Sorry the picture is blurry, I didn't want to disturb people with the flash.

Back to the original narritive...
It was about 6pm at this time and that meant Happy Hour at an English pub near our location. So, again the five of us set off.
I didn't drink very much, but an impressive amount of alcohol was consumed by everyone.

Here Noriko holds the giant beaker of beer that she and Hashim split.

and another of us all minus Kevin who took it.

It was good to talk to Noriko in bad Japanese and be understood and even better to understand what she said to Kevin much more adequately and with better responses. I think I'll pick up the language very fast, it'll just take a great deal of practice to feel comfortable with Japanese.

Also, though I like them. I'm glad that I'm not going to spend all my time with just other Americans. I can do plenty of that in America. I'll meet more Japanese and make some friends soon I hope.

There are so many details I'm omitting but this really isn't that good of an entry anyway... I mean... I ideally would not have to post these big all-encompassing review posts, but I've been typing them up for the last 2 hours or so trying to get caught up. In the future I hope to have slightly more interesting episodic entires about specific topics. I know how tedious this must have been to read! But, there really is SO much to say... I'll summarize by saying, Tokyo is incredible and it'll eat ALL of my money soon! I'm just joking mom... don't freak out!

Travel Hell

2006-04-02T02:17:00.000+09:00

UPDATE NOTE:

This entry is post-dated by one day due to the lack of an adapter for my laptop and lack of internet in my room! But... things are much smoother now. I digress... lets go about... 48+ hours back in time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well friends,
As I knew I wouldn't, I did not sleep on the night before my journey. The entire night I moved through a variety of irrational emotions including lonliness (preemptive!), regret, and just plain anxiety.

Somehow though, the night rolled by and at 5:30am my mother and I approached the airport. It turns out that we were two minutes late for the baggage check for the flight I was supposed to take, but the lady was able to redirect me via Chicago Ohare on a flight about 30 minutes later. Little did I know that this was the first of MANY such occurances with just plain bad travel luck of the day.

I began reading Kokoro by Natsume Soseki while I was waiting on my plane. It just seemed appropriate. And finally, with about 10 other adventurers, I boarded the plane. It was a cramped two aisle deal with cracked leather seats and a smell much like a school bus left out in the rain. The flight attendant mumbled a greeting as I went by but I was too busy to notice and watched out my window as I waited for the ground to begin moving. As if by divine providence, right as the sun's first rays arced over the horizon, I was jolted and we began our pursuit of the sky. I'm perhaps being a tad too romantic, but it just seemed like a good sign that the sun greeted me at the precise moment my journey began.
And so, we climbed above the clouds and I got to see it all through my tiny porthole. I drank my juice and read my Soseki, and all was well!

THEN... Chicago. An hour and some change later we arrived at Chicago Ohare airport, the place I will forever call, the airport that never ends. I don't mean that jokingly either! I mean, it goes on and on and on and people are just crammed in to every spot of the damn place.
I read the letter-numbers "K44" on my ticket, so I headed for the K wing of the terminal... not knowing if it would be correct. However, earlier in the day my mom and I noticed a Japanese business man in the knoxville airport taking the very same flight as me, arriving at exactly the same time. As I stood, bewildered in the middle of a swarm of mostly-overweight people, I saw the same man jet past me at an incredible speed. I chased him for about 15 minutes, remaining unseen to him but keeping him in sight. It turns out that both of us reached the ENTIRELY wrong terminal, because "K" was my Seat number and I was flying JAL, which is in the "international" terminal, WHICH IS ON THE OTHER END OF THE NEVER ENDING AIRPORT. With my computer bag cutting a hole into my shoulder, I followed my guide to the train to get to terminal five. Something is wrong when you have to have a freakin' train to get around in a facility. I mean, Disneyland is fine perhaps but... it just amazed me to find one in Ohare.
I knew at this time that I was on the right track because every one in the train car but myself was Japanese, including the attendant who was speaking very polite Japanese to the man standing behind me. And eventually, I made it to the security check. The man was there with me and she told us both, "NAaaa you Gotta RECHECK... RECHECKKKK" over and over again she said that word like it could POSSIBLY help us understand it by hearing it 12 times. Of course, this was a rudeness she was committing against the man and not myself. Damn security ladies...

Anyway, so off now to the JAL booth of the airport to recheck. I talked to the man a little on the way over, telling him that we were on the same flight, and he laughed remembering how my mother and I had trouble with our flight earlier in the day. As I said, we oddly arrived in Knoxville at EXACTLY the same time. Well, the line for JAL was umm... 2 miles or so long. I didn't count. But, the man, who I then learned was named Yamada, and I bypassed the line. I was confused why but he motioned me over. Turns out that this was an extremely kind act, because he was a gold-card carrying first-class passenger with JAL and was able to go to the "First Class" line! Again, there was a problem. I did not have my electronic ticket to get my boarding pass from JAL. But, the lady behind the counter took my papers and spent about 30 minutes with her supervisor discussing if it was alright. Finally she came back with a smile and handed me the boarding pass and my passport etc. During this long wait Yamada-san waited with me though he was done long before. He kept saying... "you are lucky! I am gold-card member!" and laughing in a polite way about it. It all reminded me very much of something Oba-sensei would have done.

This time, the grumpy security woman let us through and we were goaded through security. Again, he waited for me as I put back on my shoes and everything. We arrived at Gate M8, and right as I sat down he told me, "goodbye!" and disappeared.

I'm serious when I say that he disappeared. I'm also serious when I say I don't believe that this man's interest in a dumb American college student was just a coincidence. I don't believe in angels, but if there are angels.. Yamada-san is surely one. Perhaps he's just a normal guy that something, god or fate, pushed to help me. One thing is for sure, if it were not for him, I would never ever ever have found my flight in the spralling hell of Ohare airport.

The bad luck continued as a very polite message told us in Japanese and later English that the Cockpit crew had become "suddenly ill" and that the flight was delayed two hours because of it. For two long hours I sat next to a Japanese kid with a Nintendo DS and a sleeping bald man who made whistling sounds with his nose.

At 11:30am CST, I boarded flight JL009 for Tokyo Narita airport. While boarding, I stood behind about 5 Japanese and the flight attendants said, "irashyaimase" or some such phrase, but as I walked past they suddenly changed, like clockwork almost, to "welcome sir!"
The JAL seat I was in was not the window seat that I had booked through travelocity before and I sat in a cramped middle section of economy class.

I will summarize the fourteen hour or more flight by saying that...

1. I befriended the man sitting next to me, who was named "Tobu" by nickname.
2. watched about four movies on the screen I had... Goodnight and Good Luck, Memoirs of a Geisha, some crazy chinese gangster film, and Narnia again.
3. Ate some actually decently good airline food, Japanese chicken and rice, salmon and noodles.
4. Was pampered by the INCREDIBLY polite flight attendants who came every 15 minutes or so with another hot towel or drink or so on.
5. Slept about.. 5 or so hours.
6. soared majestically over Canada, Alaska, and the Pacific without even seeing or knowing it.
7. Saw the first glimpse of Japan as black tarmac through the airplane camera.

Anyway,
So, I landed. But, my ordeal was not over. Indeed, though I was in Japan I had to make my way through Narita airport. In comparison to Ohare, Narita was heavenly. Still, I had to wait 30 minutes to get my passport stamped and another 15 or so for luggage and another 15 or so for exchange and another 15 or so for a limosine bus ticket and... you get the idea by now.
4:25pm Tokyo time (22 or so hours from the time I made it to the Knoxville airport) I boarded the Limosine bus bound for Ikebukuro and enjoyed two hours of watching suburban and later urban Japan rolling by. The bus was caught in traffic much of this time and I decided that if I had to assign two colors to Japan from my first moment in it, they would be pink and rust. Also, as an observation, nearly 90% of the private vehicles that passed the bus had GPS systems in them. Also, Japanese license plates apparantly have 'mora' on them in hiragana, such as se, ka, ta, me, ne. Just some observations. I was so incredibly tired, but I could not sleep because the man sitting behind me caughed two million times, sneezed four million times, and made a disgusting phlegm sound about 3 million times, approximately.

I made it to the Crown Plaza Metropolitan Hotel in Ikebukuro where I was met by masashi, a volunteer for Rikkyo, and his friend, a Belgian named Filip. They also had two girls with them, so we had quite a convoy. Unfortunately, I had my HUGE bag and two others so masashi hauled the damn heavy thing down to the Seibu line in Ikebukuro and... this is funny to me, we boarded my first Tokyo denshya ride with the heavy thing. It was still early, so nobody made any comments about it. Using a map, we treked abhorably long with my luggage to my dormitory in Shakujiikouen.

Once we arrived, ryouchou-san, the dormitory manager/watchman greeted me and my posse and invited us in. I removed my shoes and put on slippers 5 sizes too small and followed the man to my new home for four months.

Ryouchou-san speaks only Japanese, so the inital meeting was very difficult as I tried to ask a few questions. Also, my heart sank when I saw how spartan my room accomodations were. The door is made of.. umm... about two layers of sheet metal. That's the only way I can explain it. It looks much stronger than it really is. Masashi and filip (the girls waited outside) gave me their keitai numbers and email and left. For the first time since the morning... nearly 26 or so hours from my original time and even more since being awake, I was alone. I felt my heart sink to an abysmally low level.
To make matters worse, I noticed that the wall outlet did not support my laptop AC adapter and that I had no internet!!! Yes... I flipped my shit (so to speak) for a minute or so. I called my mother and she reassured me that it would be fine. But, after SO long a trip and being so far away from home, I felt more alone than I ever have in my life. And, my connection to the outside world was broken.

It was then that I met my first Rikkyo friend, Kevin, who lives next door to me. I looked in his room and noticed that his computer was just like mine and it had a WEBPAGE OPEN... eureka! I knew it was possible! Anyway, we ate some dinner in the shyoukudai (dorm cafeteria) and he answered every single one of my questions and generally boosted my moral by about 90%.

So, thus the day ends with my head hitting the best pillow I have ever had, nearly... well... a VERY long time since I left my mom what seemed like ages before.

As painful as it was, I am glad that I was able to endure such a terrible experience. Such ordeals can do nothing but improve a person's willpower.

Prelude to a Journey

2006-03-31T14:31:00.000+09:00

はじめまして。

The Basics:

Greetings,

My name is John, and I am a Junior Asian Studies major at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. As you can notice from the listed location on my profile, I am currently studying abroad in Tokyo, Japan at Rikkyo University.

Hrm, what else to tell...

See, I'm trying to approach this objectively, as if someone ACTUALLY just found it on some search and wanted to know something about me. But, nevermind that. I'm not a bunch of facts. Name, location, sex, major... it's what I had to list on my application to be on this trip. That's not the story. That's just regulations!
Here... I'll start again.

Greetings,

I feel that instead of introducing myself, I will just share the where/how/why/what I am and the details of who I am will be filled in as a result.

It's 11:23pm in Maryville, Tennessee in the United States of America on the planet Earth. I am resting on my couch with my laptop, another in a group of new things that I purchased for my trip abroad. I can't sleep, obviously, because in approximately 6 hours I will board a jet and begin an undoubtedly arduous flight Westward to Tokyo. It seems stupid now, but I have been awaiting this trip for my entire college career. It's not some otaku dreams of a delusional anime fan who thinks that he will find some exotic orientalized wonderland amid the spralling metropolis or anything like that (I don't like anime nearly enough). Rather, it's the dream of someone who genuinely feels the need to break down the barriers of his life and experience, cliche though it sounds, the world. And, though Japan is the first such journey that I am able to take, it will not be the last. It is very special to me though, and not just because it's the first time I have flown or been outside of the country excluding Canada. It's special because I have the opportunity, thanks to my family, professors, peers, and my institution, to truly STUDY abroad and absorb a beautiful rich culture through the experience of an international student living in a city of 30 million souls.

Maybe it's romantic of me, or... I'm not sure the word... but, I feel a sense of pride in the fact that I am not obligated to approach my journey as a tourist. I don't hate tourism, but it limits your perspective on your experiences... it makes you feel that you're looking through a periscope at something strange and separate from yourself. It's just glimpses and not authentic. You get the view of a hotel room, a restaurant, a tourist guide, a shop attendant... And, it is my hope that in this journey I can approach my experiences in Japan from all perspectives and not the limited few accustomed to tourists.

This brings me to the name I chose for my blog...

The Name:

I have a tendency, perhaps through feelings of mortality, to archive my life experiences. I've kept several blogs and personal journals during my life, as well as archive my papers, my Mp3s (100+ CDs filled with them, yeesh), photos... basically anything I feel needs to be remembered. Another reason for this is my poor memory. Growing up, I was jealous of my friend William Aper's ability to recall the most insignificant facts or quotes from what Andrew calls the "steel trap" of his mind. I've never been as fortunate as William and instead recall only pictures and glimpses, perhaps faces or smells or sounds, of past events. The chance that I remember the full story in detail is much rarer. Rarer still is the chance that I can recall and then share such memories on command. I never may have the gift of personal narrative, but I can archive and hope that it rekindles the grey-matter up there.

So, I am creating this blog for such an occassion. I know that my experiences in Japan will be worth remembering, to say the least, so I am hoping that by capturing the memories and images within this blog will help spark recollection of my trip in the distant distant future. Who knows, maybe someone will actually want to read about them too!

I have great difficulty choosing a name for stories, papers, poems, or even rock bands that I create. Nothing seems memorable or appropriate... it just doesn't click like it should. Just for fun I'll share some actual suggestions of failed rock band names from the past.

Bands:
The Delicate Disciples
Xenophobia
Bjork II
Bubble Chamber
Righteous Slaughter
Infant Cannon
Brush till you Bleed (Clay's brilliant idea!)
German War Machine
Terracotta Army

you get the idea...

Something has to really jump out in order for me to be happy with it. The case with the band naming was that while watching "Sleepaway Camp 2" one of the characters says "TWIST THE BLADE", and whammo... Twist the Blade. The same had to be true when coming up with this blog.
I considered a few possibilities and even opened a poll on my other blog to possibly get some inspiration. But, nothing was working.

But, lo and behold, two hours ago while on the phone with my brother I mentioned that I would be gaining time on the flight to Japan due to timezones, essentially "chasing the sun." And zing... that was it! Chasing the sun is a perfect way for how I feel about this experience in a way. I don't mean "land of the rising sun" or even the tale of the sun goddess Amaterasu being led from the cave. I mean, chasing the sun is at its base a fruitless but beautiful pursuit. We are spinning on this top we call Earth that's simply revolving, so chasing the sun is like a dog chasing its tale. It pulls away as you get nearer before setting and rising again. Maybe there's another level there, such as eternal life with the sun being the giver of life.. but I won't take it that far. I see instead a sleek metallic jet surfing on the clouds like a cork, pursuing the sun as it moves Westward to a new land of unknowns. In that way, what most people call the "far East" is to me the far West.

The Conclusion:

I'll end this rambling prelude to this journal with a few more optimistic words, because the time before a journey you know nothing about is always the best time for optimism before the real world sets in. Therefore, I'll take this time to say that my time preparing for this journey mentally, physically, and spiritually will not be in vain. For the past four months waiting at home I have pushed away idealistic thoughts of adventure and just... new... much as a convict would thoughts of freedom while in jail. But now, in my last moments, I can indulge them, just knowing that tomorrow Tokyo will be my Mars. It will be that entirely new world of the unknown.

My father, whom I hope reads this, taught me to think of obstacles and unknowns in my life as opportunities for growth. With that attitude I see the promise of unbelievable growing... learning... changing for myself. It's like I get to be an infant all over again.

Pleasant travels friends.

つづく