Going Down to Kansai Again

CJ gets ready for a bath before we head out.

After a lot of questions, calls to home, and talking with my friends, I decided to take a break from Tokyo and go to the much safer region of Kansai. An Orthodox priest's family had invited me to come down and spend a day or so with them in Kyoto before they went to Hiroshima. Luckily, I have a sempai near Kyoto who offered me a place to stay with him, should I need it.

At this point, I need it.

I was able to get one of the last tickets on a night bus from Tokyo to Kyoto for the super-sketchy night bus on Thursday. My plan is/was to organize my room for the new roommate and just in case I don't come back, pack and take the bus, arrive in Kyoto on Friday morning, stay with the priest and his family for a while, then move in with my friend Kai and then with my friend Gina. Fool proof plan since I have a friend with me every step of the way. But, of course, Thursday night is the time when I have to get all emotional and start acting like I'm never coming back. I started going around and taking pictures and videos of things, crying at every turn, saying good-bye like I'm moving away to a new city forever, and basically being a baby about the whole thing.

Hmmm, left-overs! I actually made a mountain of this
stuff, but somehow managed to eat it all.

In retrospect, I did eat really well that night, because I had to cook all of my remaining veggies and tofu in a last soup so nothing would be left in the fridge after I left. I wolfed it down, hoping that it would keep me filled all night, but it didn't (booo!!). But for added fun, I got to use the ingredients that other girls before me had left behind (yeah!!).

I was only allowed to carry one large bag, one small bag, and one purse due to the bus's rules, but that was more than enough for me: after traveling with Gina and from my experience as a pk, I am well trained in the Tetris-like art of packing. After I got all my stuff packed and moved into the lobby, I went back for my food. Daddy had made sure to stress that I needed to carry nonperishable foods that needed no prep-work just in case I found that Kyoto was just as hard pressed for food as Tokyo has become. So I packed almonds, dried apples, a log of salami, crackers, and tuna packets into any extra crevices in my bags. I didn't think that I would need it all on the little trip, but I figured that I could always give it to Kai in return for staying at his house. As for my last loaf of bread, I gave that and a bottle of Meghan's Coka Cola to Matthew, who was staying in Tokyo longer than the rest of our family.


Lastly, I interrupted Miki in the shower and told her that I'd be leaving in an hour. She followed me about for awhile as I sobbed all over Keyaki, then gave me a few presents before I left: she called her mom and let me talk with her one last time (her mom was really supportive this whole time and invited me back to their house should I ever come back to Japan), gave me a small piece of chocolate for the bus ride, and gave me a face mask for the trip down there (I think that the mask was supposed to help keep other people's germs off me and protect against the radiation somehow). She even walked me to the bus stop and used her Wadaiko-super-strength to tote my bags the whole way, but kept remarking, "You're really taking all of this with you? Unbelievable!" I don't bring many bags, but I jam-pack them full of stuff!

Instead of taking the bus, since the bus schedule was all out of wack, I got a taxi ride with another ICU exchange student named Kara. She and I were in the same Japanese class, so I knew her a little. She was actually up in Sendai when it all happened and was getting ready to run away to Okinawa that night. At the train station, we went our separate ways. Getting to the meeting place for the bus was a hassle, sine it wasn't an official stopping place, just a sidewalk that the company commender at the wee hours of the night. When I got on the bus, no one told me where to sit, but I had heard someone say that people going to Kyoto were in the front and those going to Osaka were in the back, so I sat in the front, only to have a flustered couple ask me to move to the last seat in the last row in the back. The bus was cramped, but I was used to not having much space in Tokyo. I was just happy to be sitting down out of the cold wind (since I had shown up to the meeting place an hour and a half ahead of time as to not miss the bus). I decided to take a nap, and when I woke up, the bus was stopped at this rest area and it was snowing!!! I got back on the bus took another nap, and woke up in Kyoto around 7 am.

At least I had made it to Kansai! I lugged everything to the nearest McDonald's and had a breakfast sandwich while I waited to get warm again and meet Marie, my pk friend from Canada.

The Earthquake, "Where were you?"

Since the earthquake, everyone I've reunited with has asked, "So, where were you?" We want to find out how close people were, if they realized what was happening when they felt it, and how soon they were able to find a way back home. It really reminds me of 9/11, where everyone recounts where they were when they first heard the news or when the towers were first hit. As I said in the last post, a few of my friends were back home in their respective countries. Here are some of the more interesting stories my friends had to tell me.

Jerry was in his room when it happened, but wasn't sure what to think because he couldn't compare the feeling of this earthquake to any other one. Should he leave? Was this a normal intensity? He left his room, but the only other boy in his area was named Ryan and he didn't know what to think of the quake either. They saw the walls of glass and metal beams on their floor shaking, but no one had told them what to do in this sort of emergency. They just stood in the hallway, away from the glass, until the largest amount of shaking was done. Then Jerry returned to his room and went online to find out he had just experienced Japan's worst recorded quake.

Kaze was closer to me than anyone else from our group. He was shopping in Kichijoji when the ground started to shake. Actually, he was playing with a toy Godzilla when the first shakes started to happen. Living in Taiwan, he was used to earthquakes and thought that the Japanese were overreacting when he first saw girls curl up into balls in the streets and people dive towards the pavement. After going back to the original store to buy the toy Godzilla doll, he was able to return home and find out more of what happened by bike.

Meghan was meeting with a veterinary student to whom she's been teaching English. He had just gotten back to Japan from America and was excited to tell her of his studies there. As they were speaking in Starbucks, they felt the shock. At first, Meghan thought it was fun, but started to to wonder why everyone was so worried and surprised. She was prepared to sit and wait it out, but her student rushed her outside and waited with her until all the shocks were done and she could get home.

Matthew (not Gan-san, but a boy from Australia) was swimming in the ICU pool for some extra exercise this spring break when the earthquake reached the campus. The entire pool turned into a mini tsunami as the water splashed against the windows, emptied out the larger pool, and flooding the changing rooms. The swimmers clutched at the metal  ladders on the side of the pool as they were tossed around like buoys. Even though he lived in a distant city, luck would have it that he had ridden his bike to school that day and that he knew the road home well. He was able to return home easily, but his host mother had to walk 3 hours home since the trains had stopped running by that point.

Another boy in my dorm was 5 kilometers from the nuclear reactor and was able to take pictures of the initial heat explosion and smoke cloud on his iphone. He was visiting his grandparents at the time, and they refuse to leave the area, but sent him back to Tokyo yesterday.

Meghan, as I had mentioned before, was trapped with a friend at the Tokyo Disney theme parks and was not able to return until Saturday morning.

Yuta was driving near Yokohama and was not really bothered by the earthquake because of the shock absorption in his tires. Luckily, he made it home to find his family and home completely fine. The Zelkova kids were able to contact him through facebook the day of the earthquake.

Yu-chan, a senior in the Wadaiko club, was finally able to contact her father a few nights ago. He was working in the Sendai area during the earthquake, but is finally doing well now.

This is a fascinating group of Tweets from Japan during the first day. We all experienced the earthquake from different perspectives, and it wasn't until we came together to see how each person was able to deal with it. Since Friday, more and more students are evacuating the area for Kansai or leaving the country. We don't know where to go or what to believe now, but those of us who are staying are trying to find out as much as we can and help each other stay prepared. If there is anything that the world can do now, it would be to pray for us in the next few days and to donate to various relief efforts. More information to come later. Take care - we'll do the same here.

The Earthquake, Roll Call

Ever since I was a kid, roll call has been one of my favorite parts of group work. The litany of call-response was very reassuringly to me. Whenever my friends and I go out, we always have a roll call or sound off of some kind to keep track of the group. Because everyone was scattered in the midst of daily activity, one of the first things that happened after the tremors stopped was to take roll call.

Just of few of the 40-some Wadaiko members
we needed to call roll for everyday

This was easy enough for my Wadaiko kids, who I was with at the time. After the first evacuation, we were able to call roll and establish that everyone was there. But getting a hold of someone outside of the area was more of a problem: the phone lines had been jostled, everyone was contacting each other at the same time, signals were down or lost, and there was too much going on at one time. I couldn't even call the girl standing right next to me. We went into a tizzy trying to contact everyone we could think of, find out how they were, where they were, and how they'd get home. After the major quakes, I started emailing my family, Gina in Thailand, friends studying abroad here in Japan, and and people who have been taking care of me here, like Mr. Spengler and my Wittenberg sempai. They all sent, but none of them arrived on time. My phone, too, wasn't receiving any of the emails sent then; it wasn't until 4-5 hours later that I began to receive messages from my friends.

As it turns out, my close friends and classmates are doing well and are safe now, but some had a more difficult time than others. Of course, the Wadaiko OYRangers (Alice, Jorren, Sarah, and I) were all together with my roommate, Miki, and the rest of the team when it happened. Thankfully, my best friend Gina was enjoying some amazing summer weather in Thailand wasn't in harms way in the slightest. My Zelkova Familia, however, were all across the board: Lia was in New York, Sho was in Virginia, Rei was in New Zealand, Ellie was in Hong Kong, Meghan was at the Starbucks near Musashi-sakai here in town, Yuta was driving near Yokohama, Matt H. was in the pool, etc. In the end, we were all accounted for and made it home that night, except for Mika, Jorren's sister, and Meghan's dad. It turns out Mika and her childhood friend had gone to Disney Sea (that place I was so excited about with the Soul Run kids) and they got stuck there once all the trains stopped running. She, her friend, the entire Disney Sea and Land staff, crew, and customers, were stuck there the rest of the day and into the next morning. They slept in a movie theater as the Disney staff scrambled to find bread and rice for people to eat (the local cafes, stores, and vending machines were all empty). Jorren's sister was visiting him from the Netherlands and arrived in Japan on the morning of the earthquake. She doesn't know Japanese or anyone else here, let alone have a phone, so he was terribly worried about her. Meghan's dad had come to visit her, too, but his company forced him to board the next flight to China when they found out there had been such a major earthquake, so they did not get to see each other before he left.

The girls organized the sofas into a nest with room for
2 girls per couch. Even at night, they left the TV on
in case a new development was announced.

Since then, we've been holding up together in groups, and the girls on my floor have been sleeping together in the lobby for the past few days and many of the foreign students have made camp in the first floor lobby. The Wadaiko team has been super paranoid about us always traveling with a partner, especially between cities. Meanwhile, some people have started to leave the country. My friend Elliott is the kid who usually has all the information, so I steal a peak at his blog every now and then for good links and up-to-date reports. He is currently on his way to/has arrived in Australia where he will be for the next two weeks. The rest of us are going to sit it out here. I'm keeping track of where everyone is, in the meantime. We are still on break for the rest of this month, so I don't have to worry about classes, homework, or tests. I'll do my best to get more information out there.

Keep us in your prayers.

Zelkova Family Tree, the Basics

Just to warn you, this is a huge post with a lot of information! If you can't finish it all in one sitting, don't worry; this took me a few days to write.

Zelkova House is mostly for underclassmen here at ICU. That would explain the rather high security, strict regulations, and all the kids here under 20. But, for some reason, ICU decided that it would be a good idea to also open up the dorm to third year foreign students. Ummmm, lots of 21-something, party-loving, loud and proud, American students in a super-conservative, Japanese dorm? You really thought that was going to work? Hahahahaha!! It makes me laugh because it is numerous!

While I love my roommate and many of the other April students, it really has been a relief to have the other foreigners around. At first, I must admit, I wasn't too sure if I'd like anyone else here (my track record for making friends in my dorms has been pretty low), but during the fall term, a little group developed and started hanging out, eating out, talking, and doing a lot together. Most of the students are from Middlebury University, a language school in Vermont that I was interested in going to, but that was too, too expensive for me to think about for long. Then there is myself and a boy from Taiwan/New Zealand, but he's just here avoiding the mandatory army service for a while. The other students are 4 year regulars; most of them freshmen who grew up outside of Japan and now returned for college.

One of our members starting saying that we were like a family; something I normally find too clique, but it seemed to work here maybe due to some of the hostility from the Japanese students to our group. Pretty soon, we even started assigning family roles (mommy, uncle, sons) to the different people. I wanted to make a little family tree, but luckily enough one of the girls with more artistic talent than I beat me to it. (Note: I didn't draw it this way, but only the white or mixed kids have round eyes, but all the full-blooded Asians -Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean- have slanted/closed eyes. The one that says "Me!" is Mika, the artist.)

The relationships are all self explanatory, so let me introduce you to the family!

A baffled Matthew helping Yuta with English 

First, we have Grandfather Gan-san. His real name is Matthew, but Gan (or cancer) is just his nickname because he complained about getting too much sun on his unnaturally pale skin. He's rather tall, quiet, and timid, but a wiz at kanji! This boy knows words and kanji in Japanese that I haven't thought about in English for years. He is a huge Arashi fan, too (no, like you don't even know!) so I still get a frequent dose of boy-band banter with him.

Next is Lia, the mommy in the group. She is absolutely gorgeous, very responsible, a model student, and a grammar fiend! She'll make sure you speak good (I mean, well) if it kills you.  She's a great dancer and really fun in arguments because she never backs down. I love her fashion sense and she's always making sure we stay on task.

Elliott is smart-mouthed and cocky, but well informed and good to have on your side of an argument. You can't force this kid to do anything he doesn't want to. He's chill and usually practicing some new dance moves during class. His main interests seem to be his girlfriend, current events, and mocking/insulting his friends, mostly Kaze.

Kaze, Ellie, and Lia (left to right)

Kaze (really name is Tony?) is super quiet, Taiwanese film major whose studied and lived almost everywhere! We used to laugh at him a lot in Japanese class, but he's gotten much better now. He's also really sporty, swims, runs, and plays basketball. He usually takes care of everyone else at parties, and all the girls agree that he's such a gentleman and too sweet for words.

Ellie is so young and genki (really, I don't know where it all comes from), but this tall and thin Hong Kong model is such a good student and always has such nice things to say about other people. She dresses so well all  the time and is so curious about everything the group does or talks about. I am so jealous of her skin, hair, height, heart, everything! I'm so glad I met her!

 According to our family tree, Ellie's twin sister is Mika, who is sassy and surprising. I don't know when she's going to be quiet and when she's going to play music really loud! She did my mermaid-bubble make-up and is great with fashion, too. She has a way of making other people feel better and can calm down the boys after they get too rilled up.

Sho is the classic cool, no other way of saying it. He plays lacrosse, cuts class, is always in a constant "chill" mode, wears name brands, etc.; it continually surprises me that he and I are in the same circle. Elliott likes to rag on Sho for not being serious enough and partying too much, but that is just what he does. We've come up with a lot of nicknames for him, but my favorites have got to be "Shosuke" (a play off of "Ryosuke", a typical Japanese boy's name), "Feather Now Spring" (the direct translation of his name), and "Fo' Sho!"

Zelkova Family's "golden son" would have to be Rei. This kid can do lay down the law in Tae Kwon Do, Aikido, and cooking. I love listening to what he thinks about everything from the complications of life to the consistency of a pizza crust. He's really talented with films, directing, and impressions. Having him around always leaves me in stitches; either from laughing so hard or bending my brain around so new perspective he's shared with me. What is more, this energetic New Yorker has picked up the yo-yo as a new hobby and watching him practice some of his advanced tricks leaves me hypnotized most of the time.

Takana (not officially in the family), me, Kaze, Elliot, Lia,
Meghan, Jerry, Mikey (left to right)

Mikey acts as the uncle in our group. He's a wonderfully talented musician, who will hopefully be able to study abroad in California at a legitimate music school. The girls (myself included) always force him to play his guitar and sing for us until late into the night, sometimes even after his voice is dead. Sorry, Mikey! His family are professional Outrigger Hawaiian canoe racers and his arms are as big as my legs, I swear! He's usually practicing at the pool when he's not int he library, or trying to stop talking with us and get to either of those places.

Jin plays sister to both Mikey and Elliott in our family tree. She's our Korean beauty, very mature, and a fantastic cook! Sometimes she'll treat the group (well, okay, mostly Elliott who misses his mom's food) to spicy and tasty Korean meals with names I can't remember (I think "thug" was one of them?). She's a great dancer and was even learning Arabic dancing, which made me happy to hear. It is good to just sit and talk with her when I'm feeling stressed or fried  from too much drama. She has even offered to help me learn the Korean alphabet! To think, she's had to learn to speak two languages fluently and is practically fluent in Japanese too. What a smart girl!

Jerry is a great balance to Lia. In the family structure, he is my dad because is the only non-Asian guy we have in the group. He's loud (always) and is not afraid to let you know that you're wrong, so get used to it. He reminds me a lot of my high school friend, Mike; he loves languages, studying cultures, and getting into debates. He is a great source of knowledge for Asian music, especially Korean and Hamasaki Ayumi. Now, I thought that I enjoyed a good stroll, but Jerry loves walking so much, he's refused to buy a bike because he knows he'd rather walk somewhere instead. Power to you, Jerry.

If Jerry is Mike, that would definitely make Meghan Sophie (and Lia would be Rashmi, come to think of it. Would that make me, me? Or is there someone better suited for that position? Regardless.). Meghan and Jerry always go off on Spanish tangents since both of them grew up in Hispanic households, but their arguments look so lopsided since Jerry is so much bigger and taller than Meghan, although she's got enough spunk for both of them!

Then there is same old, same old Zaiton, the oldest cousin in the Zelkova family. Zaiton is the romanization (or latinization) of the Japanese pronunciation of the American version of my family name. I would have done the Arabic pronunciation but Japanese doesn't really have an "tuu" sound and anything close to it wouldn't be close at all. It is better this way, and I'll let you all know when I find the right kanji for it.

Yuta is the newest member to our group. He was always getting help from Matthew and then came over one night. He doesn't talk much, but we try to get him into the conversation From what we've been able to gather, he's wicked tall, plays on (or is the captain of) the volleyball team, and likes (among other artists) Justin Bieber. Hahahahaa, he'll learn. Yuta is one of the only April students who is willing or bold enough, not only to hang out with us at the dorm, but in public, too! He's really laid back, which is good for our group dynamic, but I worry that we might scare him sometimes. In the family system, he got to pick where he wanted to be, and decided to be Ellie and Mika's older brother (he specifically asked to be under Kaze and not Elliott).

That wraps it up for the current family members.Why mention all these characters now? Well, we constantly have family outings, dinners, and parties, so it is all preparatory knowledge for later stories and blogs. Sorry for making this so long, but it needed to be done. お疲れ様でした。Good work for reading all of this! I'll try to make the next ones short, sweet, and interesting.

Robot Tour!!!

Having only two weeks off for Christmas vacation isn't quite what I'm used to, but I made sure to make that time count this year! With the help of one of my best friends, Gina (we would have brought you with us if we could have, Anna Sophia), I got to backpack across Japan in the "Long-awaited, Cross-country, Pan-Japan, Caffeine-infused, Giant Robot Tour of 冬休み2010". Special featured performances by random bus friends, McDonald's lady, Miki's family, helpful direction givers, Nagoya Hoststay family, and the Japanese train system.

"Was it epic?" you may ponder. "What about Giant Robots is ever un-epic?" I would respond.

The exciting saga is airing on my blog as of March! Stay tuned for more!

Goofy Sailors: Jorren

Have you ever heard news that you thought was so amazing, so fun, and so astounding that you became more excited than the person who told you/it happened to?Haha, well, guess who is feeling that way now!?

My friend Jorren (aka the Pink OYRanger) is a very kind boy from the Netherlands whom I met through Wadaiko Club. He's blonde-haired, blue-eyed, silly, strong, and 6 foot something, which means that the Japanese absolutely LOVE him! I can't get over this kid's accent because it is so soft, but definitely there, and I'm so used to him speaking English, that whenever he speaks in Dutch, it totally knocks me for a loop. I want to keep this kid in my pocket always! He says things like, "I'm sorry: I'm not a native speaker" when he bumps into you accidentally and is always playfully taunting the French girl in our club. Seriously, he is one of the best people on the planet!

Did I mention that this guy has height? And is really cute? So, small wonder why we've been asking him all year to model in Japanese magazines, right? Do you see where this is going? *If not, just check the pictures on either side of this post - it will come to you* .

..........He finally did a modeling shoot! Haha! He had a day free and did a one-time modeling gig for POPEYE the Japanese men's magazine. Jorren, I'm so proud of you!! The topic was called "Goofy Sailors" which fit his personality perfectly. Of course, I bought the magazine (only because he is in it) and I've been showing it off to as many people as I can find! Miki has even agreed that we need to email these photos out to everyone in the club. But I ran out of people here, so I'm showing you all through the power of the Great Internet.

Anyway, I'm just procrastinating a little but, but I do have a slew of stories for you all; I'll post them (or, rather, write them) just as soon as finals are over. Happy St. Valentine's Day, by the way!

Kaze’s Basketball Game

I was surprised to find out that many of the foreign students here don’t join clubs. Some of us have and, in most cases, are regarded like freshmen, but some groups give pretty equal treatment.

My friend Kaze (as he likes to be called) joined the basketball team in the fall and has been training and playing with them for these past two semesters. I always see him practicing in the gym while I’m on the second floor with Wadaiko, but I’ve never seen him play. Last week, we heard that he had a home game, so the Zelkova group decided to go cheer Kaze – and, you know, those other guys – on to victory! The others used makeup as face paint (it is all the same thing, really) and we started getting pumped about the game. From what we had heard, the ICU Seraphim were playing the ICU high school team.

High school? Really? Yeah, that is what I said, too.

But these kids are apparently the 5^th or 6^th best in the nation and their star player has been picked as one of the best players in Tokyo this year. Pretty cool stuff, but that meant we needed to make a distinction to cheer for ICU University, not ICU high school.

The game went pretty well, and I had a lot of fun screaming and clapping loudly – two things that aren’t looked on well in daily life here. We had only come to see Kaze, but sometime the other teammembers were really impressive. What do you do when you don’t know someone’s name? Give them one of course! One of my favorite pastimes is to give people nicknames based on their most obvious and sometimes worst feature. Ex: Purple Hat Boy or Dirty Shoelace Kid. They kind of sound like superheroes instead of strangers, which helps me feel more for them, but regardless. Besides Kaze, there was the Cap’in (sort for “Capitan”), Tall Guy, Ocho, Number 12, and Fast Kid. We nicknamed the high school's star player "Periwinkle" because that was his shirt color. Everyone had their own skills to contribute to the team. Except for Ocho, he was rather disappointing, but maybe it was just an off day. For some reason, though, they kept switching Ocho and Kaze during the game because Kaze was getting too many fouls too fast and they wanted to make sure they could still use him later in the game. What surprised me: after Kaze got hit in the face with the basketball and chipped his tooth, they wouldn’t sub him out! What gives?!

The cheering section was supreme; I’m just going to say. I learned about backwards spirit fingers, which had a 45% success rate, and we were pretty genki for the whole thing. But I think that Meghan started to lose her voice by the end of it. Oh, did I mention that besides us 4 who went for Kaze, no one else showed up? People would wander through, stop for a while and watch, but we were the only real audience. It was a good match! Why didn’t anyone else know about it?! More for us, I guess. The Daigakusei did give their all, but the Seriphim were behind by 24 points during most of the game. They did manage to catch up, but lost to the high school by 4. Well played, all. Hopefully I can catch a real game during the season.

Kaitenzushi, the Basics

(Yet another food blog)

Up until now, I’ve only been to the kaitezushi (revolving sushi) bar behind Musashi-Sakai station and one in the basement of a Kobe department store complex. Going to the one in Kobe won’t happen for me until I go all the way back to Kobe, so I was prepared to settle for the one near the station. But while it was cheap, it was so small and so crowded, and I’d have to bike all the way there. Not such a good set up. That was until my friends let me in on a great ICU secret: there is a bigger, closer, cheaper sushi bar right down the street!

They had all been craving sushi (and, really, who doesn’t?) and we had Friday afternoon classes canceled for a government issued test that weekend, so we decided to head off for our fill of sushi right after Japanese class. So, after class, off we went; past the gate watchman, past the rival ramen stores, the small shrine, J-Mart, Don Quixote, the large shrine, and under a bridge or two. We can in mass, which might have intimidated lesser store owners, but this particular kaiten was used to having swarms of ICU foreigners, so they weren’t shocked to see us at all. We did, though have to split up because SOME OF US couldn’t wait and decided it would be a good idea to skip the second half of Japanese class and go to the restaurant early, so they were already done by the time we arrived. All’s well that ends well, though, as our second wave would have had to sit at a second booth anyway.

For those of you who are new to all this (and in case I haven’t written it already), kaitenzushi bars are known for minimal customer-chef interaction and for serving most of the food on a revolving belt. The sushi chef cooks (rather, matches or wraps) everything in a little area and sets his finished pieces on the belt. As the little fish travels around the counter, it is up for grabs for anyone sitting at the bar. If you want one, just take it. After you eat the sushi, keep your plate until the end the servers will tally up how much you ate and bill you off that. Different types of plates have different colors or styles to help calculate price. For example, a yellow plate might be 105 yen, but one with blue flowers will be 225 yen. Color also lets the customer know if the sushi comes with wasabi already included or not. Each shop has a different plate system, so it is good to check before you grab a 500 yen plate. Ordering off the menu is also allowed.

If the store is small enough, you can just tell the chef what you want. But at the place we went, there cooks were all in the kitchen and two belts of food were coming out on the floor. In order to order, you had to type what you’d like electronically and when your order was ready, it would be sent around in a special bowl and music would announce that it was coming near your booth.

Most people like tuna and other types of fish, but the chewier stuff is my favorite! Clams, oysters, squid, and octopus are all good choices, but if you want something else, just pick it up. The restaurant that we went to had French fries, soups, desserts, and lots of “unique” sushi rolls, too. The food was so good, filling, and cheap, we all went back two days later! But having it twice in a three day period is enough for me. I’ll be set for sushi for a while, I think.

Let's Meet Ayako

Tada! It has been a while, but I finally found the second "Friends for Anna" video by Ayako (aka A-chan). This video had gone missing shortly after I took it (back in the ICU festival days). A-chan is one of the presidents of Soul Run this year and since Soul Run recently had a revival, I thought it was only appropriate to bring this back out. For those of you who are curious, we are practicing again so that we can perform in front of the Tokyo Prefecture Building at the start of a huge marathon! Something to encourage the participants. But, here is the thing: over half of our members are gone!! Many of the foreigners in Soul Run went home already and some of the freshmen don't want to practice again this year, so they're not coming back to help. None the less, we'll give it our all, although I can already feel my legs crying in pain. (>.<)

Oh, that's right, A-chan. Keep in mind, this is a rough, translation. Some things she said are even left out because I just don't know the grammar yet. No, really, it is a rough draft. It is, like, sandpaper rough. Run-out-of-water-and-your-tongue-feels-like-cracked-bricks-rough. You know the feeling? Yeah, it is terrible. Just like this translation. Douzo.

Me: Whenever is fine.

A: Can I start? Okay. Um, nice to meet you. I'm this year's ICU Soul Run president, Saito Ayako. I met Zaiton (that's me, y'all!) in Soul Run, but she was so beautiful, and I was really moved. She was busy with Wadaiko but (mumbles nice things) . I love you, Zaiton! Thank you! *chu, giggle, giggle*

Saitama Soccer Game

Remember back when I mentioned settai? If not, you can scroll back in time to find the blog, but if you do recall this little Japanese vocabulary, let’s pick up where we left off.

Well, waaa~~yyy back, my Wadaiko group was set on a string of settai. One was run by our president ("Nani Sore Something Something" Shunyo, the boy looking at this red phone and standing next to me in that ever-so-flattering photo). He absolutely loves soccer, and practically lived on the soccer field in high school, so he opened up a goup outing to see his hometown, pro-team play. A chance to see a Japanese soccer game AND hang out with the Wadaiko members?! I’m in all the way!! And so were the OYRangers, but the other kids….were busy. But even if it was just the foreign students who promised to come, Shunyo went all out; he brought all of his official jerseys and t-shirts for us to wear on top of all our jackets and sweaters, taught us soccer terms, gave us the team’s stats, showed us chants and cheers, and escorted us from start to finish. Thus were the OYRangers made into Urawa Red Diamonds fans. Or, as they say in Japanese, “We are Redzu!” Engrish makes me smile.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. A few things happened before we even made it to the stadium. First of all, we were running a little late. We had to dash straight from practice, so everyone was pretty tuckered, but had to stay somewhat awake on the series of buses and trains. As we were waiting at one of the many stations that took us to Saitama, Shunyo made a call, and then walked down a narrow hallway, stopping in front of a tall, thin boy with a high school uniform.

“What is he doing?” the Yellow Ranger asked. “Maybe the boy is asking him something” the Red Ranger speculated. “Nah,” the Green Ranger piped up, “He wouldn’t have gone all the way down to hallway to get asked a question.” The Red Ranger gave another guess “Maybe they know each other. We’re near Shunyo’s hometown, you know.” After a moment or two, I noticed something a little strange.“Um…hey, guys…does that kid have a white envelope with him? Yeah, it kind of looks like …Shunyo just snatched it away!! Now he’s pushing that kid around! What’s going on!? He’s, he’s hustling that kid!”

After the brief wave of panic, we were able to find out what was really going on. In actuality, that “kid” was one of Shunyo’s kid brothers and was just dropping off our tickets to his big bro (so rough housing is totally normal).

A. Ny. Way. We finally get to the field and this thing is super! I'm so glad that Shunyo used to pretty much live at this field when he was younger, because just navigating the parking lot was an adventure. It tuns out that although we bought tickets, we couldn't find a place to sit, so instead we all stood in the isle, which wasn't that weird as it turns out. From our lofty spot we could see everyone from the opposing team's fans to the players, the die-hard flag wavers, and the ocean of Reds fans.

The stadium was made especially for the FIFA World Cup 2002 Korea/Japan and can hold 63,700, making it Japan's biggest specialized football ground. But more than come to see the game, the fans who fill these stands feel like they are actually a part of the victory. There are dozens of songs, chants, and dances that everyone seems to know. If you don't, you learn them right quick, to be sure. I was worried about using my camera to record them because I figured, "As soon as I turn it on, they'll stop." Not true: one song was repeated for a timed 20 minute interval! The fans feel that if they have just as much energy as the players, it will all be channeled to victory, somehow. We just faked like we knew the words and sang along with the rest of them for the fun of it.

Bad news? Reds lost. Good news? I got to scream at the top of my lungs in Japanese with my friends!!

After the game, there was a huge closing ceremony because it was the last home game of the season/pre-season/actually I'm not sure why they had it. Sorry. I'm sure that you fine folks at home are probably bored to tears with this, so I'll end on some fun videos. Also, if you were looking in my photo gallery and were wondering what the final image that the crowd made was, watch the last video!

For more Reds Fan fun, check out their English website!

http://www.urawa-reds.co.jp/index_en.html

Soul Run's Disney Sea Videos

I'll admit right now that I'm not the world's most interesting narrator, so I'm sorry for all the repetition in the videos. The first clip is the entrance of Disney Sea all decorated for Christmas; you can hear me most of all, but my friends are chatting and aww-ing in the background, too. The second snippet is of Agrabah, my future home.

Soul Run, the Basics

I know I just wrote about Soul Run going to Disney, but in reality, we don’t ever hang out. I used to see them three times a week and now we only meet up for dinner every few weeks or to go out. I miss practices! I miss scrambling from class to the gym back to class again! I miss exercising and dancing with everyone! I get the world’s smallest violin, right? Actually, I won’t be upset for much longer. We just had a Soul Run Bounenkai/Christmas Party at which they announced that we will begin practicing again soon! Apparently a really nice hotel has booked us as live entertainment for some big event and we need to get back into practice, reorganize our lines, and build up those leg muscles again. We did lose a lot of good members because they were only here for the first semester, but this time we won’t be starting from scratch, at least.

But this is a “basics” blog, so let me get the cultural lecture out of the way. I’ve done this speech so many times, and if I’ve already done it on here too, I’m sorry, but I’m sure someone will be reading it for the first time. “Soul Run” is a play on words; the group does a type of dance called Souran Bushi and it sounds a lot like Soul Run, so the name stuck. For Japanese, they translated the name directly (魂走) and call themselves the Running Souls. Kind of cool, kind of creepy, but it works. Souran Bushi is a traditional Japanese (Hodaiko?) fisherman’s dance that has been sped-up and reset to more modern-sounding music. Every group who performs Souran has their own version or style. There are certain parts in the song that are made for slight improve, and of course the number of people changes a lot of flare in the dance. For all my kids in FLA, we did Souran Bushi before, but I wanted to do the real thing here in Japan. It was such an experience and it really showed me how weak my stamina could be, but I soon got the hang of it.

Now that I know the real way to dance, I really want to start a group of my own at Witt. It would have a purpose: we can perform at the East Asian Festival during my senior year, I ‘d be teaching people about Japanese culture, and I would be able to do the dance again (hehe). But if it is under my control, the dancers are going to know their stuff! No slackers allowed! If we dance Souran Bushi, we go hard and fierce! Just saying. It is all still in the planning stages, but it is going to happen. But before then, we have to do the performance in February. Once more with the Running Souls, then I’m on my own in America. Dokkoisho!

Before I finish the post, I was able to find this video on facebook! It is of our final performance during the ICU Festival. The first one is us performing Souran Bushi and the second is the Para Para performance. The boys stage left are the Para Para Club and the kids on stage right are the Shorinji Kempo members. Soul Run is in front of the stage and I'm the one in dead center. Remember, I had dislocated (the relocated) my left knee a week before th performance and had been doing taiko all that week and weekend, too. But I think I kept pace pretty well. Hope you like it!

Disney Sea

WAAAHHH!!! This was beyond great!! I haven’t told you about this yet?! Why not?! Oh, that’s right. I take forever to blog. My bad. Now on with the show!

Going to Tokyo Disney Land and Sea are a Soul Run tradition. They always go to D. Land on the last Friday before finals, which is a given reading day, but who ever reads, right? Then they also go to D. Sea on the next Friday which is at the end of finals. I really, really, really wanted to go with the group, not so much that I love Disney Land/Sea (I’ve never been), or that I was such a Disney kid growing up (which there is no denying – animated musicals all day? Sounds like a party to me!), but I love the Soul Run members and it is always better when you can go with a group of friends. Trust me, I’m a loner for most activities, but an outing is so much better when you can turn to someone that you know and say, “Wasn’t that cool?” or“Dude, we so have to try that!” Going in a group also get you a good discount! The first Friday, as it turned out, I couldn’t go; I had been writing a paper since 2 pm the day before and pulled an all-nighter, but still

wasn’t finished by 7:30 am, when they were all meeting at the train station. I finished the paper by 11, by the way, but I was so bitter about it that I stopped caring (side note, I got an A).

Luckily, not as many people were planning on going to the Disney Sea trip, so I just switched my plans for that day instead. Why not? It was break and I wasn’t doing anything that day.

I didn’t know the differences then, but apparently Disney Sea is better for young adults anyway. The themes are all around water, but very few are water rides. This makes sense because I don’t think that the Japanese like to get wet and then walk around like that all day (they are kind of like cats – always trying to stay clean and neat) and we went during late fall, so the weather was too cold for a water park adventure anyway.

Instead, they had an Italian-Mediterranean-Greek area (each one blurred into the next, pretty much), Atlantis, Atlantica (from the Little

Mermaid), Agraba on the coast, a Boston Harbor area, a lost island place, and even a European coastal town. Everything there was perfectly done and meticulously decorated and detailed. It was too perfect, like being in a drawn world, and maybe it was the weather or my friends, but I loved every-single inch of it. Being there made me seriously consider applying for a part-time job as one of the actors there. I could so do Mary Poppins or Belle, why not?

There were some pretty memorable part to the day: a trio of foreigners dressed as chefs played trash cans, pots, and pans while talking and singing in Japanese, I got to go on some awesome rides, we all met Aladdin and Eric (such sweethearts, and I think that they are actually brothers), watched the Japanese

belly dancers, eat some strawberry flavored popcorn, and take a lot of pictures (I’m so much of a shutterbug, but at Disney Sea, that’s okay). Back to the Aladdin and Eric guys: Eric was wicked tall and had such a pretty face, none of the girls could get over how young and lovely he was. He smiled, acted, spoke, and stood just like a Disney

character, and as we were leaving he said, “If you guys see Ariel in the Mermaid Lagoon, send her my love, okay?” Isn’t that just so charming and princely!? You don’t get it, he was too good. Hardly had we gotten over that shock, then we went to Agraba and met Aladdin. “Hey doesn’t he look familiar?” “Um, yeah, he looks like Aladdin. Duh!” “No, no, no. Its something else. Doesn’t he kinda look like a shorter version of Eric?” “….O….M…G…They’re totally brothers!!”

Here is our theory: Either Eric or Aladdin came to Japan to pursue his career as an international model because the American agencies wouldn’t use him saying that he looked too young and feminine. Maybe he started out with commercials or ads, but soon he was scouted by Tokyo Disney and hired into their full-time staff. He was doing so well, that he called his brother, who was now looking for som

ething to do, and hooked him up with the other prince job. Disney was overwhelmed, of course, because now they had two young, handsome princes – one tall and pale, the other shorter and willing to get a fake tan – and they all lived happily ever after. The End. Or something like that. I think. Anyway, not only was it Tokyo Disney, but it was Christmas themed Tokyo Disney.

Like I said before, the Japanese don’t have a concept of Thanksgiving (because it is an American holiday), so as soon as possible, they throw up the Christmas lights, decorate everything with snowflakes and call it good. One of the little decorations that we saw everywhere was Pablo the Penguin. Okay, here is where we tell the die-hard fans from the casual observer. As every true Disney kid knows, Pablo the Penguin premiered in movie where Donald Duck learns about birds from all over the world, most notably those from South America (and then he makes two friends from Brazil and Mexico, thereby making the Three Caballeros! Arriba!). But here is the thing, besides the half-Hungarian-half-Mexican girl and me, NOBODY knew who Pablo was. Many of them also didn’t know that Goofy had a son named Max! But there was a character that can only be found in Tokyo Disney called Duffy; he's a light brown teddy bear from who-knows-where, but the Japanese love him. His girlfriend is call Constance Mae, or something like that. :S

It was a fantastic time and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I’ll try to be as detailed I can on the pictures, and a little video, too.

All You Can Hit!

(Before we start things off, I just want to say that to tell this I had to really reach back into my memory banks. I’ve really got to start writing events as they happen, instead of going back a few weeks or so every time. I’ll be doing that a lot for the next few posts. But anyways!)

In late November during fall break, I had that chance to attend Wadaiko’s 20^th Anniversary All You Can Hit Party! Literally, that was what they called it: an uchihoudai (打ち放題). Besides being another gathering of Wadaiko players past and present, people made more of an attempt to come and celebrate ICU Wadaiko’s 20^th Anniversary. The current members had quite a task of setting up the event, contacting everyone, and preparing for the day’s activities, but luckily the retired members made sure to help out and we all ended up having a great time. As usual, the OYRangers were dazed and confused throughout much of the day, so we ended up doing odd-jobs, served food, or sat around and tried to stay out of the way. Wadaiko used up the whole basket ball court that day; half of it was covered in blankets for people to sit on and watch, the other half was covered in taikos. I mean it. Absolutely covered in taiko drums! We had every, single drum that was owned by the school and our club out on the floor. Large, small, often used, hardly touched – it didn’t matter.

The first hour or so was spent setting up, signing in, and waiting for everyone to arrive. 10 am marked the start of the party with sensei leading us in a group warm-up exercises. Then the real fun started! On a board was written all the major songs that Wadaiko has played in the past 10 years. No system was given, we just waited for the leader of the event to name a song and everyone who knew it, performed it, liked it, or wanted to try it could go up grab a drum and have a go! Some of these songs were written for 3 to 4 people, but it didn’t matter. We set up every drum we could find for each piece so that anyone who wanted to had a chance to play. There was an army of kodaikos, a plethora of chappas, a swarm of odaikos, you get the idea. Everyone else got to sit and watch the massive group play. I had only been there for one term, so I only knew that songs that they had played for the ICU Festival concert. There were so many songs that I had never heard of before. It was really strange to see the upperclassmen join the retired members to play pieces that I didn’t recognize at all. There were songs that used flutes, different sized/styled drums, and some that had bells, symbols, and gongs! People weren’t trying to have a real performance, just play Wadaiko’s pieces. You see, all but two of the club’s songs are composed by its members. There are two traditional Japanese songs that we play, but everything else is an original, which makes each piece very precious to the club.

Besides just other members, some people brought their children, too. Most of them were under 6 and they were really curious about the drums and what their parents were doing. They would stand next to the taikos as their moms or dads play and were amazed that their parents knew how to do all of these songs/dances. On little girl insisted on sitting in her mother’s lap while she played the kodaiko and another boy hovered around sensei as she performed an odaiko and chime solo. We brought out a giant, fluffy, stuffed pig for them to cuddle with and we had little Wadaikos for them to hit. Anything to keep them interested. Derek's parents even came all the way from California and got a chance to play the drums with him. Afterwards, he took them out around town, but they left us dried mango strips from Trader Joe's! What a treat!

I got to perform all the pieces that I really likes, and even played on some drums that I know the club would never allow me to perform on. That’s what the kick out parties and All You Can Hit sessions are for, after all: experimentation, exploration, and just hitting a drum in a loud room!! Afterwards, we went out to an All You Can Drink place, but I went along for the company and the food. It all turned out to be a great day. I’m really lucky to have come to ICU this year and met the Wadaiko players. They’ve helped me make some of the greatest memories here.

Going to the Park

Woah, this is actually reaching back into my memory bank about two weeks. Bear with me folks, I’ll probably be a little hazy on the details. Here we go:

The OYRangers wanted to spend some time together, but Tokyo doesn’t have many places where people can just “hangout”. No, there seriously isn’t. You have restaurants, houses, businesses, temples, and ramenyas, but no one spends extended periods of time there. There is Starbucks, but they are so small, you can’t fit many people at the same table or be there for the whole night. In order to have some open space to ourselves, we decided to do some exploring and go to a park instead. Someone had heard that there was a lovely park in a nearby city, but once we actually got to the city and looked at the local maps, we noticed that the park was only as big as someone’s front yard. We were hoping for something a tad more spacious or at least big enough for a picnic. So we walked ALL THE WAY to Shinjuku (see photo album) where we heard that there was a national park. We spent more time on trains and on foot than actually at the park. Not “national park” like Yosemite, but more like "national garden" I guess. It had lots of organized garden areas, chrysanthemum beds, a tea house, lots of lakes and fish. Now, in theory, we went to the park to study together, but although we did open up our textbooks, not much studying got done. Instead we ate a lot of junk food, talked, and had a great time. CJ even had some fun.

The good times came afterwards, though. Typical Japan, the park closed at around 5, so we were left with nowhere to go. So we decided to head back to Kichijoji to one of the boy’s houses for dinner. After stoping at Tokyo Hands® in Shinjuku (see another post) we all hoped the train to Derek’s. On the train, we were debating the fastest way to get to Kichi, when a Japanese salaryman jumped into our conversations with some helpful advice. He spoke surprisingly good English, actually. He asked where we were from, if we liked Japan, and what we thought of the people. After, he told us what planes to use and what types of bus tickets to buy if we wanted to go up to Hokaido. Our group had a great time talking to him, and Jorren (our Dutch Ranger) was shocked that a Tokyo man would be so friendly to foreigners he just met on a train. The reason that guy was so nice? Maybe it is because he’s not from Tokyo at all, but from Hiroshima, just like Yuki-chan/sensei. People from the western part of Japan are supposed to be louder, funnier, and friendlier than people from the eastern shore.

That was a little off topic. Anyway, we bought a bunch of food from the local grocery store, went to Derek’s house and cooked up a storm! The only problem was that he lives in one of the Sakura Houses. Sakura House is a company that rents rooms to foreigners who are planning on staying in Japan short term and don’t want to invest in a long-term lease. There was a Korean girl who had moved in the week before and, even though she was in her pajamas and in the middle of making her own dinner, was kind enough to let us use both the stove burners, so we gave her a heaping plate of food and talked with her for the rest of the night. We had to communicate in Japanese (which went….well, I guess) since no one knew Korean and she didn’t know English. Well, that’s a lie. Jorren actually did know how to count to 10 in Korean from his years in Tae Kwon Do and Sarah could go as far as 20 because…she just…knows…that’s not the point! We ended up becoming her best friends and even gave us all adjectives: Derek and Jorren were “interesting/funny”, Sarah was “cute”, and I was “pretty”. She was such a sweetheart and asked us to come back to talk with her sometime. Which we never did. Um, maybe we can still make it back before Derek moves out? Ugh! Now I feel like I’ve wasted time here.

I'll just have to fb everybody to get over to the Sakura House soon for a final cooking party with Derek's housemate.

By the way, the food was great. Cheap and quickly made, but great. In the end, I had to get back on the 11 pm train so that I could get back to my place in time for good-‘old curfew. Great story, right? Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something better.

Time

I guess that this marks the beginning of my fourth month in Japan. September, October, November: three months done with and most of the California students leaving soon. It is strange to think that many of my new friends and the now familiar faces are going to be gone. Their time with here is done already. Come to think of it, Keith only had three months here, too. How could they be down with so quickly? I was speaking with Liane the other day and she gave me some advice that I should have been following all this time. Because I came here knowing that I would be staying all year, whenever something was scheduled to happen, I didn’t make such a strong effort to attend. Sure I went to activities or events that sounded fun or exciting, but if I missed one outing, I told myself that there was always next time. But for some exchange students like Liane, there would be no next time. She told me that she did not sleep much here. If she did, then she’d miss out on hanging out with friends, going somewhere new, or doing something she can never do again. The other day, I didn’t climb Mt. Takao because I told myself that I could do it in the spring. I also missed out on dinner with my friends because they told me that it would be too late. I didn’t fight them on that subject, but just went home because I thought that we could always just go out another day. No big deal. But maybe it is a big deal. I might be too busy in the spring. Something might happen between now and then that makes it impossible for me to go. That night could have been the last night for me to go out with everyone. Likewise, just staying home in my dorm with the other students could be an important event. By going to bed early or heading up to my room before everyone else, I thought that I was being responsible and getting proper rest. But look at Liane, she didn’t sleep for fear of missing out on the moment and still she had regrets. What if I stay for a year and keep living the way I’m living? Will I have more regrets than her? I still have time, and she is already gone. I should stop holding myself away from everyone when they are close to me now. Later, when I have no way of being with them, I will wish that I had another day, another evening, or another moment to make them smile or share a drink. This may sound like I am talking about death instead of leaving Japan. Maybe I’ll come back, but no one could even guarantee that I’d come here the first time. Who can say that I will come back just because I plan on it?

In retrospect, I have done so much already (like Wadaiko, the OYRangers, teaching English to the high schoolers, and making friends - a difficult task for me), and my Japanese is better than when I first came. I would definitely not say my time has been wasted, but did I miss out on too much by trying to be practical? Should I take more chances, get more involved, go more places, not worry so much about money? Not go crazy, but not be as scared about if something is feasible or entirely rational. It makes some sense. I should live like next week isn’t coming, like I’m leaving at the end of the term, or like I actually won’t be able to come back to Japan again. This means that I won’t be on facebook or skype as often, I’m afraid. I’ll be there by appointment only to help keep me from being so dependent on home.

I’m sorry to have such a downer of a blog entry, everyone, but this has been on my mind for a while. Maybe it was the unhealthy amount of sugar recently that left my mind in a candy-coma. Maybe it was all the cheesy Japanese dramas and music videos that have me feeling a little depressed. Maybe it is because I've been stuck nearly alone in my dorm for 2 weeks! But I digress; speaking about not wasting time, I’ll be sure to post pictures and info about Disney, the Taiko after-party, traveling to Kobe with Gina, and other adventures on here for you to see.

p.s. People came back to the dorm today, so now there are actually people to talk to again. I was starting to spend all my time in the Yearbook club room, but now I can be social in my own dorm again. Finally!

Mt. Takao: Fail

So, the freshmen from Wadaiko club organized a hiking trip to Mount Takao, but I was not able to go, and stayed in bed for most of the day. “That’s alright,” I consoled myself, “they will be going out to dinner later on and you can just meet up with them later.” Some of the OYRangers were nice enough to text me about dinner, but got the times wrong. Long story short, I showed up an hour late to the station, waited 40 minutes for no one to come, then went out for sushi when I heard that they were pretty much already done. My friends felt really bad about the mix-up, but it all turned out well; I haven’t had sushi for a month and a half, so it was a nice little treat. Too bad I had to wait on a stone bench for that long, though. :S

Hiking trip: Fail

Dinner with friends: Fail

Waiting in the cold: Fail

Getting wicked-cheap-sushi and a cup of everything-will-turn-up-soon-tea: Yatta!!

Sweets Paradise

Are you ready for this?! It is Sweets Paradise!!

Okay, you may remember me talking about All-You-Can-Eat/Drink places here in Japan, right? You know, those restaurants where you pay, like, $10-$35 and get a buffet and a time limit? Bonus info: the longer the time limit, the more you pay. Well, they are really popular for parties and group outings. Well, my friend took some of us out for a newly opened All-You-Can-Eat-Dessert-Buffet! I know, it’s great!!!

The place was called Sweets Paradise and was all done up in a old-fashioned train car feel with an extensive display of cakes, pastries, a chocolate fountain, a fair-ground style popcorn machine, and fruits. For drinks, you could have hot chocolate, soda, teas, coffees, or shaved ice. There was also a pot of curry, rice, a bowl of salad, and several pastas to balance out the meal. It was all so lovely, but not as sweet as you might imagine. Japanese desserts look deceptively sugary. But they mostly taste like fluff or aren’t very sweet. Natural sugars, like those found in fruits and honey, are more appreciated. The Japanese, it seems, have an aversion to anything that’s flavor is too strong, so spicy foods aren’t that spicy and sweet foods aren’t that sweet. Give them a Reese’s for example, and most of them will say, “Too sweet!” or “Too buttery!” Many of the Japanese students at Witt would complain that the cafeteria slacker desserts were amasugiru (too sweet).

Because of this neutral flavor, I didn’t eat more than three platefuls of sweets, but went straight to the curry, which overflowed from my plate and burned my hand! I did what anyone would have done, ate that curry to the last drop and showed it who was boss!!

Would I go back to sweet’s paradise? Definitely, it is surprisingly close (Kichijoji) and I’d be able to get a full meal besides the desserts bar. Maybe sometime in January as a pick-me-up when school starts getting hard, the weather is depressing, and I just feel like eating my weight in strawberry jelly rolls!

Japanese TV

Oh, boy. Here we go.

I’ve been talking with my new Japanese friends and one of the things they keep telling me to do is watch more TV. As a kid, I was never told that. In order to be more fit in high school, I was also not told that. But in college in Japan, people suddenly want me to watch as much TV as I can in my spare time. I can see why: it would expose me to overhear real Japanese conversation without being creepy, it is available all the time, even when everyone else has gone to bed or is busy, there are pictures and video recordings to help me understand what is going on, and many Japanese shows now throw colorful and large subtitles at the bottoms of the screen for added emphasis on something funny or interesting. But I hardly watched TV in America and, besides, Japanese TV has some very strange topics that I don’t know the vocab for and it all goes so fast! But I have been giving it a try recently and here is some of that I’ve found.

Of course you have the news, but Japanese news is more colorful, trendy, and young than American news. The only problem? Japanese news reports are given in keigo, an honorific language in Japanese that gives us such humorous translations as “I meekly suggest that you honorably shut up before I humbly punch you in your great and wonderful face.” Don’t get me wrong, I love a good bout of keigo as much as the next foreign student, and it is much easier to hear than to use, but it is rather tiring, so I can only do it for a little while before I need to change the channel. Next are dramas! Every country has them, but Japanese dramas can be as typical as Days of Our Lives, as far-out and unbelievable as Star Treck, or as historically inaccurate as Memoirs of a Geisha (which is an entirely different rant). I like to watch dramas on my computer (with subtitles to help catch words I don’t know yet), but watching a drama on TV? I’m just not ready for that. Then, I thought that I’d be safe with a children’s program. They are cute and easy to understand, and one that I was watching tried to teach kids the difference between the trashcan and the toy box. It is a very important difference! However, my television is in the common room, and I’d get a lot of looks if that were all I watched.

I was finally saved when I realized that versatility of variety shows. Let me just say, they are varied! You can find anything on variety shows: art/history education, world travel, famous actors/singers/comedians, pranks, quizzes, stories, music, live performances, games, and fun acts. Also, no matter which variety show you pick, at least one other person on the floor will like it, too, and want to watch it with you. I usually stick with variety show with famous people I recognize or like (Johnny’s Entertainment members like Nikishido Ryo and Tegoshi Yuya, for instance). If none of those are on, I’ll pick one whose rules I can understand within the first 3 minutes. Usually, they all end in a batsu (punishment) for the loser or a prize for the person who gets the most points. All in all, very fun, but be careful because they get more strange and less understandable as you near the early morning hours. Then, somewhere in the TV broadcasting waves, something trips and everything turns back to news. Peculiar…

ICU Festival: Day 3, Sunday, Oct. 31st

The final day of the festival had the Wadaiko kids a little on hedge. At 7 am, the President had declared it sunny enough for us to perform outside, but it was still a touch on the gray side by the time we started setting up. The other groups seemed to be in better spirits, though, so we moved all the instruments, equipment, and curtains, then went about the yard calling to potential guests and making a huge ruckus. It was great! But by the time we got back to home base, it had started to drizzle!! Everyone rushed to the drums, which would be ruined by the rain. We threw blankets, coats, and jackets on all the taiko and wooden stands. “Oh, great,” everyone was saying, “what if this doesn’t stop in time for the performance?” But the weather did clear and, trust me on this one, no one was more excited than the President, who started jumping up and down on the hill.

The concert was a great success and we had people stretched far and wide, past the back of the stage just to listen to us. We had the largest audience out of any group at the festival! And it was no surprise why the upperclassmen had been so particular about our practices. When I was talking to other students later that day, they were telling me how huge the Wadaiko reputation was, so I could see why we couldn’t allow any major mistakes. I was focusing too much on my responsibility during the concert, that I didn’t notice who was in the audience. Apparently, everyone I knew was there at one point or another (even my house parents, Kaji-san!). During the next few days, I got so many compliments and more respect now that everyone knew that I was a taiko member.

After we cleaned up and stored all of the equipment, I had to dash over and prepare for Soul Run’s final performance which would be that night on the main stage. We met up, changed clothes, practices the dances and kata a few times, and even dressed our male president in a traditional fisherman’s wrap to add to the coolness of his costume. Haha, I have to admit though, it looked a lot like a body cast, and he said it was very hard to breathe in at first.

The festival organizers moved us out onto the side stage pretty early, and it was confusing to know when to go one because we were in the very middle of the finale. Before I went on, some of the Yearbookers even came up to me and told me they'd be around during the show to sell hot chocolate. It was a good idea because the night was starting to get chilly. Once we finally took the stage (I mean, grass) it looked really cool, because we were under the spotlights and right up in front of the audience! Many of the other Soul Run kids were gathered and cheered us on from dead center, so when I looked up, I saw a mess of red, purple, and shining light (from cameras and spot lights). My knee was kind of hurting by this point, because I had dislocated it again (great job, Alexandra) the weekend before, but my mother had sent and Ace-bandage which saved the day! It was such a rush to be with them and dance Souran Bushi together. I got to be in the very middle, right behind the two club presidents when we performed. Between having the other 11 up there dancing with all they had and our fellow members sitting right in front of us, shouting along with the song, I was in some sort of dream world. Everything was buzzing with life, even when we moved onto the different parts of the show. Dancing Para Para even felt intense! It is so sad that I'll never get to have this feeling again, but maybe I can somehow share it once I get back home. My school has an East Asian Festival once a year, and maybe I can make a Soul Run group to perform then, too.

Later, Derek and I made our way back to Dialogue House where the Wadaiko freshman were making presents for the upperclassmen. We helped them out for a while, then ducked upstairs to change into our Halloween outfits for Wadaiko's nomihodai that night (see previous post).