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.

Chebu for Christmas

Way back when, I mentioned that I'd make Cheboraashika (Japanese spelling) part of my sister's Christmas present, but I guess she forgot, because when she opened the present I sent her, she nearly fainted! I really wanted to send her a mess of items, but I'm not that rich, and it turns out that little Chebu is experiencing a lot of popularity right now, so there was no shortage of items. What was the problem? I couldn't find the store!!! A few months ago, a friend brought me to Kichijoji and showed me all around; we got tea, ate fish pastries, saw a local festival, and went to a bunch of stores. But it was dark and we covered half of the city and because he knew where we were going, I didn't bother keeping track. Anyway, during that trip, we were looking for a good birthday present for his friend and came upon this little store tucked in the basement of a corner in a back alley. Sounds like a bad horror film? Well, it was actually pretty neat (see Kichijoji photo album for more detail) and they had a mountain of Chebu items. My mission: find the store again, on my own, secure the toys, and save Christmas!

But even the best of plans....well, you know.

I ended up walking around for 2 hours the first day unable to find the store. Now, I've got a pretty good handle on some of the places in Kichijoji now, but like I said before, I haven't seen this particular store in a few months. So, how did I try to track it down? This may sound asinine, but I started walking to places that had a familiar feel and didn't go to places where I knew it was not. And it worked, too! I felt my spider senses tingling as I got in the area where I kind of thought it was and was able to track down most of the other places I haven't been in a long time, but I couldn't for the life of me find that store! It was getting dark and cold and things were starting to all close up, so I gave up for the night and went back to ICU. Back at the dorm, a strange burst of inspiration hit me. "You know, I remember the store being rather popular with younger people. It probably has a website. I could use the internet to find the exact location of the store. That would save me so much time! Why didn't I think of this before?!"Because I was all caught up in the moment before and thought I could track the place down like a blood hound, that's why. Brilliant, right? So with the power of the internet, I went back on the Emperor's birthday and sure enough found the place immediately (go figure).

I would tell you more about the gifts, but let's see the runner ups that didn't make it back to America:

I wonder if Anna liked her gift... let's see!

Looks like all is well that ends well. I actually have the same set of Chebu Tupperware as Anna does, so we match just like sisters should (side note: my little angels, Lucy and Emily, also got bento lunch boxes that matched each other).

Christmas, Christmas Time is Here~

Ah, Christmas. That beautiful time of year when we remember the birth of Jesus, spend time with family, admire the glimmering lights, carol with friends, cuddle under the kotatsu, write dozens of nengajyo, and eat a bucket of KFC. Wait, what? Okay, so Christmas in Japan is a skosh* different from America. I got a bit miffed when I first started to notice the differences between the two Christmases, but it isn’t such a big problem now, more like a nation-wide game of I SPY. “Can you see the difference? I spy with my little eye something slightly off”. Well, maybe not like that, but something that makes it more Japanese.

Some things that has been fun is seeing all the decorations. Everything is ornate and well organized, matched, and arranged. I love looking at all the displays in stores and along the street. Kichijoji has a display called "Underground Christmas" in which these little robot moles act out various holiday scenes in their burrows. I thought it was adorable! Even my dorm mates got into the decorating spirit. They put up a Christmas tree in the lobby. However, according to my friend Jerry, a Christmas tree expert of the 4^th degree, the branches have too many gaps, the tinsel only is on the top half of the tree, and someone started putting unrelated ornaments it which ruined the whole feel. Personally, the childish way the tree was put together made it rather cute, like the tree that my sister and I would have in our bedroom that only we were allowed to decorate. What is more, I came home today to find that one of the first floor boys had bought (if he made these, I will be floored) tiny, delicate Christmas cookies and hung them in the tree for people to take.

Another first floor boy made a gingerbread house that looks exactly, EXACTLY, like our dorm, complete with pod sections and the security entrance. He even had a window for each of the rooms and a little garden of sugar candies on the second floor terrace! The piece is uncanny. Working off of his inspiration, some second floor girls also made a little gingerbread and left it in our kitchen for the other girls to see.For example, my dorm wanted to join in the campus caroling session. Fine, no problem, I love a little holiday spirit. But when it came time to pick the carols, they choose Seasons of Love from Rent the Musical and Ookina Furui Dokei (The Old Grandfather’s Clock) by Hirai Ken. Both are fine, lovely songs, but neither are Christmas carols nor speak to the message, feeling, or season Christmas. Okay, fine, no problem, if this is what they want, and they are willing to practice, we shouldn’t fight it, after all it is their country and their Christmas, so just calm down now.

Another example, Christmas here isn’t a family holiday, it is a couples/friends holiday. Sort of like a winter Valentine’s Day. Kichijoji (my favorite little city), has a giant lights display outside the station, but it is of a huge heart and ribbons for Christmas Couples. Having a Christmas date is seen as the perfect way to spend the day and is what all the Japanese consider ideal. If you don’t have a date for Christmas, you are said to be having a “Lonely Christmas”, sort of like the Black Heart’s Club. Um, what about the entire reason for the holiday in the first place? Or, less religious than that, what happened to the season of giving and “going home for the holidays”? Once again, we just need to calm down, do things their way, not everyone is Christian and you shouldn’t force ideologies on other people. But it makes me wonder; how did all of this get lost in translation? How did Western Christmas get so altered while appearing almost identical at first glance?

At the beginning of the month, we were having a bit of a wet season, but that all cleared up soon enough and by the 23^rd, things were even starting to warm up! How strange is this! A Christmas without snow? I haven’t experienced that since I lived in Kansas. We did have a minor earthquake at 2 am the other day, got hit by a tsunami that afternoon (barely felt the effects of it here, though), missed out on the lunar eclipse due to cloud cover from the tsunami, but did get a clear, full moon on Wednesday night. So the last few days have been a tumult of natural phenomenon. Tis the season!

Christmas itself is going to be very exciting for me, though! I’ll be spending it with my best friend Gina from Witt who is also studying in Japan right now. We are spending Christmas together in Tokyo (going to see the new Tron movie and see a ska concert on Christmas Day), and then head off to trek across the western part of the island! I’m so excited I can’t sleep, which is good because I still need to pack and do laundry and write more blogs before I’m on hiatus for about 2 weeks, but bad because I’ll be super drowsy (maybe) when I see her tomorrow. All will end well, though – it always does with Gina.

To all of you back home (and to those who have just returned home for break), Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

*skosh comes from the Japanese word sukoshi (少し) meaning “small or little”, and is a prime example of gaijin Jingrish or Japanglish.

City Farms

What in name of Farmville has happened here?! Am I going crazy?! Seeing things?!

So, there are little farms in my town. I can get that. They are more like these little plots of land with an odd assortment of veggies and such grown by who-knows-who for who-knows-what. But they are cute, and our town is small-ish, so they aren’t so out of the ordinary. But I was riding my bike back from Kichijoji, a city which (I personally think) is rather large-ish in Japan (it is by Ohio standards, at least), and I’m riding, and I’m riding, and then I stop riding, because in the parking lot, I see a bird. But not a normal city bird, mind you. I saw a chicken; a live, clucking, walking chicken. Wait, no, there were three chickens. Two hens, one rooster, and a partridge in a pear tree~~ Haha, a little Christmas jest, that.

Apparently, and I didn’t stop to ask too many questions, but the person who owns the parking lot built a super-sketchy "chicken coop" next to the Pepsi and coffee machines and trained his birds to avoid cars (very important) and not to leave the area or go into the street (another useful trick since now no one can ask him, “Why did the chicken cross the..” Oh, you’ve heard that one? My bad). These chickens were rather flustered as I stared at their odd, fowl selves, but they never left their area of safety around the roost. One of them even scampered up to the top shelf to hide away. The others started running in circles which didn't help my confusion.

I just didn’t get it. I still don’t get it.

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.

Chebu Take 2

Back, like I said, with a few links to Chebu in Japan.

Cheburashka dancing in Kichijoji, Japan

Cheburashka taking pictures with Japanese fans, watch towards the end for a bunch of girls with Chebu stuff

Chebu Anime, this was created in Japanese, but dubbed back into Russian

Chebu Anime, this was created in Japan, but subbed into Russian, Chebu sounds like such an adorable little baby in Japanese!!

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!

Costume Shopping with the OYRangers

In the Wadaiko club, there is a small group of us gaijin (mostly OYRs – One Year Regular students) who have bonded rather well this term. We had to learn everything and experienced “firsts” together: buying our own drumsticks (the Harry Potter adventure), wearing pacchi pants, performing, and eating different treats. We even had a captain named Koji, so we felt like quite the little team of amigos.

To celebrate our great spirit of wa, we decided to have a group costume for Halloween, since we’d be going out with the Wadaiko kids that night anyway and they would really appreciate it. Our shopping venture brought us to Don Quixote, the Japanese version of Marcs; a cheap store where you can find anything and everything, you just need to look in the right place. There were not a lot of choices for costumes, unless we all wanted to be pumpkins or Japanese Pop stars. Which, are both totally fine, but let’s be serious. Luckily, we were able to find something cheap and befitting of our team: Color Ranger masks!! How is this not perfect?!

The Rangers are a totally Japanese idea, represent the power of teamwork, while recognizing personal contribution and differences, and would allow us the chance to do obnoxious poses in the middle of the train station! And that, as we all know, is the true meaning of Halloween. The Color Ranger masks came in 5 colors and were one-size fits all. Sure, one of us would have to double up on color, but that was fine. We ended up deciding to buy track suits in the same color as the masks, and as for special weapons (which couldn’t really be weapons because of Japanese law, fear of deportation, and the scare factor on public transportation) we all grabbed household items to accessorize our outfits.

Getting into our outfits was a bit of a hassle, we needed to maneuver around the freshmen, who were working on presents for the upperclassmen in the main floor of the building we were changing in, then we needed to get to Kichijoji and make sure out costumes were hidden until we made our grand debut as a group. While I rode my bike to the train station, the others took the bus and ended up almost an hour late! But when we all came out in mask and all, we got roars of applause from the other members and there was much picture taking.

Now, allow me to introduce the Rangers.

Derek from California: Yellow Ranger with the golden shoe scoop

Alice from France: Red Ranger with fearsome batsu fan

Jorren from the Netherlands: Pink Ranger with fluffy feather-duster of justice

Liane from California: (also) Pink Ranger with fluffy feather-duster of truth

Sara from North Carolina: Green Ranger with emerald shoe scoop

Alexandra from Ohio: Blue Ranger with dual laundry pins of furry

“OYRangers, ikou~~!” (OYRangers, let’s go~~!)

Samrat Restaurant

Just a “by the way” sort of thing:

After Wadaiko, but before the Soul Run nomihoudai, Kai, I, and another former OYR went out to eat in Kichijoji. They had both gone to ICU and had spent a lot of time in Kichi, and there was one place in particular that they wanted to go to: Samrat. It was an Indian restaurant tucked in underground with a hard to find entrance that we only caught on the second time. As we started down the stairs I could already smell the kitchen that reminded me so much of Rashmi and Sophie’s houses I got a rush of high school memories! But as soon as we stepped inside I was pulled back to reality as a tall, bearded Indian man greeted us with a loud Japanese “Irasshaimase!” I’m in Japan, not Ohio. I’m in Japan, not Ohio. Got it.

The great thing about this place, I found out, was that there was an unlimited bread rule, which we three probably abused. While my friends got some of the more mild flavors, I asked for some daal terka and spicy veggie curry. It was so good, but the portions were tiny and I was done with mine in almost an instant. I ended up eating the rest of someone else’s, too. But it isn’t my fault!! Japan’s serving sizes (even in Ethnic restaurants, it seems) are super small not super sized. I wanted to stay and talk with everyone a little more, but Soul Run was meeting at the station soon and I didn’t want to be left behind.

I would give this place a 7 out of 10, a good place to stop back again, but just a touch expensive.

ICU Festival: Day 2, Saturday, Oct. 30th

Good morning!! Rise and shine, because it is time for Taiko!

My entire day was spent with the Taiko group, preparing for the concert, setting up the gym, grabbing some lunch, walking around (in the rain) calling out to the festival goers (in Japanese and English) to come and see us perform, and tear down. Luckily, we were over at around 3 pm, so I still had some time to catch another glimpse of the festival that day. It was drizzling the whole time, which had my spirits down at first, but everyone was trying to be as energetic as possible and that really affected my mood too. As you walked down the sidewalks, everyone was yelling out to passers-by, waving signs, dressed up, and fighting for your attention. How can you ignore that kind of life and energy? What’s more, Kai was there!! He came up from Kyoto for the weekend to see his ICU friends and to cheer on Wadaiko! We were able to perform in our usual gym, which made our sound reverb off the walls and give us this awesome presence while keeping the drums dray. There was a modest crowd, but I was kind of nervous anyways. I only did two half songs, but I had to carry and rearrange drums, so I was a part of the concert the whole time. It was really fun, but I messed up in two parts. It didn’t show, but I know that I made those mistakes and that is what matters. Miki’s mom was there, too! She had come all the way from Kamakura just to see Miki perform, but she stayed a little while after the show to talk to me, too. I was so revved up from the show that my Japanese was getting confused, but she said that she was very proud of both of us and was such a mom about it all. Kids from my dorm and classes were also there, too. They were all super surprised that I did Taiko and said that it was a shock to see me so energetic and active in the last song. I know I’m a bit on the quiet side sometimes, but I guess people don’t expect me to do something big or loud. I don’t usually do that sort of thing, but for that song, I just couldn’t help it!

Outside in the rain, you could to see all the different club booths and group that I got a little carried away. I bought a chocolate and sprinkle covered banana, freshly made yakisoba and fried mochi on a stick, a kabob that was pronounces kay-ba-bu, delicious lamb, grilled beef (from the Lacrosse boys, good friends of mine), hot chocolate, and a muffin (from the Yearbook kids). It was all so scrumptious, but I had to pull back before I spent too much on just food.

During the same time as Wadaiko that day, Soul Run’s main group performed on the stage. Since it was raining, they had to go inside the auditorium, but there was a slight problem with this; the indoor stage was too small to fit everyone, so only the freshman and exchange students were able to perform. Anyone older (including the seniors!!) weren’t able to dance. Later, I watch a video that one of the presidents had recorded of the group, and it looked good, but I know that it was slightly disappointed for the upper classman not to dance. To celebrate their hard work, Soul Run organized a nomihoudai (literally, “All You Can Drink Party”) in Kichijoji that night. Myself and another Wadaiko/Soul Run kids, Derek, tagged along too even though we wouldn’t be performing until the next night. Besides a lot of drinks (I had cola, thank you) the food was great and seemed to just keep coming! Some of the members were a little too enthusiastic about the beverages, but no one got too rowdy; unless you count a group-late-night-cream-puff fight rowdy. Haha, I guess that part is just a yearly Soul Run tradition. All of the members gave the upperclassmen and the co-presidents presents, we told stories about practicing together, took a lot of pictures, and had a grand old time. It was good to celebrate with everyone, but I’ll miss our lunchtime dance sessions.

I don’t know how late everyone stayed out, but I went back to my dorm in time for curfew and to try to get some rest. There was still one more day of the festival and I knew it was going to be a long day.

ICU Festival: Day 1, Friday, Oct. 29th

WAH! I’m so behind on my blogs, this is embarrassing. If I can catch up with them this weekend, though, I’ll be solid.

Let’s take a trip back a few weeks to the ICU festival. If you’ve ever read manga or seen anime, you know that most high schools and colleges in Japan have these cultural festivals once a year for clubs to show their stuff, make some money, and for the school to attract attention and prove that their students are well-rounded and do more than just study and go to cram school. Sure, right, whatever you have to tell yourself. But these festivals (try to think more like school fair) are really fun and people pour hours upon hours of effort into them. By the time students reach college they are experts at preparing for festivals, which really helped me because I’ve only had the Wittenberg festivals to pull experience from.

I’m in a few clubs here, which means that I had to be a pro at time management and I also had to make some decisions on priority; who was I going to perform with? Which group was I going to help on the day of the festival? Which group would be more forgiving if I didn’t chose them? That sort of thing. My final decision: dedicate myself mostly to Wadaiko, playing with them on both days and attending all of the preliminary events as a Wadaiko member, helping the Yearbook Club leading up to (but not during) the festival, dancing with Soul Run at the closing ceremony only, and supporting my friends whenever I had some free time. It was surprising to see how much importance all the groups were putting on this. Since the first day I joined, the Wadaiko kids were talking about preparations for the festival (which was two-ish months away at that point), and Soul Run was formed ONLY to perform at the festival. Everyone was throwing a lot of pressure on how well we’d be and exactly how every movement would look. There isn’t enough time in my blog to talk about all the preparations, but just know that we practiced a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. I thought it a bit obsessive, but I can’t argue that the results were fantastic.

On the Friday right before the festival, I had morning class, but all afternoon classes were canceled to let kids do final practices and set up for the next morning. I had already promised my time to Taiko, so I ran home, changed into my purple pacchi (a style of traditional Japanese pants) and dashed to a 4 hour practice session. We had to rehearse, of course, but since we would be playing outside on Sunday, people needed to practice bringing and setting up our equipment and instruments for the day of the show. Every movement and responsibility was charted out and directed. Once again, it all seemed super controlled and over the top, but it left no room for error and responsibility was made obvious, so if you didn’t do your part, everyone would know. The OYRs and the freshman were slightly paranoid at this idea, and that is probably why we did so well.

After Wadaiko, I ran over to the Soul Run practice for the finale, and boy, was I in for a shock. There were a few girls there already when I arrived, but I was waiting for the rest of the crew to show up. Soul Run had 53 members this year, and I knew that at the finale only a few of us would be performing. I thought that a few meant 30. It really meant 12. I was one of the 12. WHEN WAS THIS DECIDED?! I mean, it was such an honor to be chosen out of that many people and perform with the top dancers, but I’m not that good! I was so, so embarrassed when the presidents of the club explained that we were the only ones dancing; it finally hit me why everyone else had made a big deal about me being picked. Besides doing the Souran Bushi dance, we also had to do a Shorinji Kempo kata and a Para Para dance. Shorinji Kempo is an energetic and a very disciplined Japanese martial art, that is much more popular at my school than at others, I think, because the leader of the club is a national champion, or some such thing. By the way, one of the Japanese princesses goes to ICU. I just found that out, but that’s beside the point. Para Para started as a joke of a dance, in a way, but is now no laughing matter (even though I laughed at it at every practice). There is an idea that the Japanese can’t dance, but are really good and hand dancing while swaying. So there is a very easy form of hand dancing that caught on in clubs and is used all the time by Japanese pop artists. Think of the Macarena to Japanese music. That is Para Para. I really liked the dance because no matter how outrageously silly, expressive, or dorky you were, you would only be acting more true to the dance style.

Later that night, I went to check up on the Yearbook Club who had turned one of the classrooms into a café for the next day. It was very cute, decorated with Halloween themed origami, and we all ate cheesecake together! But I had to dash and do one more practice with Soul Run on the stage before the mega-huge pizza party!! May I just say that while tasty, Japanese pizza is disappointingly small and uber expensive? They try, but still. Luckily, though, we all paid for the pizza that night, and when I joined up with the Yearbook guys later and they asked me where I could find a lot of change, I was able to hook them up with Soul Run. Yahoo! Chalk one up for the international student!

With all of this running around, I was really hyped up, but had to go to sleep since I’d be up bright and early the next day. I had such a fun day, but there was only one problem: the weather channel that night was calling for rain on the weekend….

An Adventure! Well, to me it was, anyway.

Picture it in your mind's eye: feeling crushed and defeated, hungry and economically bound, our young heroine sets her resolve on a last-chance-go-for-broke-over-exaggerated-but-I'm-glad-if-your-still-reading-this-blog dash to the nearest major city for some relief. Even as she prepares for the journey, the world still fights against her; rain, wind, and narrow passages are all that await between our adventurer and her destination. But mounted accompanied by her faithful traveling companion, even these forces of nature seem mere distractions!

Haha, I shouldn't write fan-fiction.

The real story: I was feeling a little blue the other day, so I thought, "Hey, why not go to Kichijoji to get cheered up and do some shopping?" But when I was leaving the dorm, the rain from that morning still hadn't let up, but I still decided to save myself the $4 of bus fair and go to the train station for the first time by myself. In the rain. On my bike. With CJ in the front basket. But still alone. Without a map. In Japan. With no umbrella. "A lone, lonely, loner" (copyright of Ice Age 3). I was soaked by the time I got to the train station, cold by the time I got to Kichijoji, disappointed in the kaitenzushi place there (the best one near me is in Musashi-sakai, I think), and not feeling any less blue when I arrived back at my train station.

But it ALL turned up after I went grocery shopping and then bought a calling card (so I can use my phone officially!). When I got back to the dorm, I cooked myself up a little something, chatted with the girls, chatted more with the kids downstairs, finished my homework, studied for a bit, and was feeling as right as rain (ba-dum-da!).

So our heroine learned an important lesson that day: the greatest joys are not in overcoming grand obstacles (alone, on one's bike, in the rain, in Japan), but in simple pleasures of good food and the company of friends.

The End

Matsuri in Kichijoji

I know that I am making everyone wait in between posts, and I've got another one coming. Here is a small something to tide you over, though. This was a group of musicians playing at a main stage in Kichijoji. You can't see the main taiko drummer, but you can hear it, and (at the time) you could feel it, too.

Kichijoji Festival!!!!

Okay, so I thought that I loved Kichijoji before. But I was wrong. I LOVE KICHIJOJI!! It is so artsy, filled with interesting shops, and has all these little secrets that you have to snoop around to find! It is so a great place to explore, and if you get bored with the main streets, take a back road, or go underground. It's a blast!

I went this Sunday night with a friend named Shin from my dorm. Shin helped me buy a bike in the afternoon, and asked if I had time to kill during the evening. We rode my new bicycle all the way to Kichijoji (taking back roads and hidden paths to avoid the police - two people riding one bike is illegal in Japan), and got there in about 20 minutes. For free!! I didn't have to buy a bus or train ticket! He showed me how to get to the park, zoo, basement shops, washoku (Japanese cuisine) restaurants, and we even caught the tail end of the matsuri! I told you that there is a festival going on everyday in Japan; this past weekend was Kichijoji's matsuri, and I got to be right in the middle of it!

I'm so in love with that city, that I've made a photo album for it.

Anyway, after all of that excitement, I was thuroughly lost and couldn't have gotten back to my bicycle if Shin wasn't there. I guess living in a city is the best way to know how to get around in it, but I'll just have to visit Kichijoji in order to do more exploring. On the way back to the parking lot, we bought steamed buns (soooooo delicious~~~) and Taiyaki, which was warm, adorable, and tasty.

I really need to get back to Kichijoji soon, but maybe I should practice riding my bike first. I know that people never forget how to ride, but I don't completely remember. Who knows? Maybe I'll be back by this weekend to get more steamed buns!

Taiyaki

Taiyaki (literally “baked sea bream”) is a Japanese fish-shaped cake. The most common filling is red bean paste that is made from sweetened azuki beans. Other common fillings may be custard, chocolate, or cheese. Some shops even sell taiyaki with okonomiyaki, gyoza filling, or a sausage inside.Taiyaki is made using regular pancake or waffle batter. The batter is poured into a fish-shaped mold for each side. The filling is then put on one side and the mold is closed. It is then cooked on both sides until golden brown. Taiyaki was first baked by a sweet shop Naniwaya in Azabu, Tokyo in 1909, and now can be found all over Japan, especially at food courts of supermarkets and Japanese festivals. They are similar to imagawayaki (今川焼き?), which are thick round cakes also filled with sweet azuki bean paste or custard.

Kichijoji with Mr. Spengler

It's a small world - no joke!

I go to a pretty small university in southern Ohio, but for some reason, there were enough alumni from my university in Japan to create the Wittenberg Alumni Tokyo Group. Isn't that cool!? Oh, come on, it is a little cool. No? Fine, whatever.

Lucky for me, the group is based in and around Tokyo (with ICU very close by), so the president of the Group has been able to help me get my footing here in Japan. He met me in Shibuya, gave me a ride to my dorm, and has even been able to give me advice about ICU since he went there in the 80s!

The other day, he was generous enough to take me out to diner in Kichijoji to make sure that I was adjusting well and getting enough to eat. We went to a lovely restaurant that focused mainly on one thing: chicken. Except for the last two pages of the menu (desserts and tofu) everything was made out of or included chicken, and tasted amazing! Let me explain: The shop door was supper small and we had to open the sliding door, then go under the hanging red flap in order to get in (Mr. Spengler is quite tall, so this was the awkward part for him). When we entered the narrow restaurant, there was a bar on the right and small tables on the left. The shop owners/workers greeted us and led us to another space upstairs. Can I just say that I love stairs by the way? They are great! And these stairs were small with dark brown boarders. At the top of the stairway we had tables with large, hanging, blank scrolls that helped divide the areas. *Interesting fact* Japan doesn't have a strict "no smoking in restaurants" rule yet. They have it in classrooms, covinience stores, government buildings, and trains, but not restaurants. However, shop keepers use those little "air-purifier fans" to eliminate all the smell. Good show.

Anyway, we ate a bunch of chicken themed dishes, but halfway through the meal I realize that I could have been taking pictures of these beautiful and tasty foods. I quoted my friend Gina Gray and said, "Can I have a gaijin moment?" He completely understood and even helped me move the food into the light for the best picture. These two pictures are of chicken croquet with various grilled veggies, chicken haru maki (spring rolls), and a great dish called Oyakodon (親子丼) or "parent and child bowl". There is a bowl of rice and on top is chicken and eggs (the parent and the child). It is a great dish with a weird name, but very popular. I used this as an example in Japanese class today and my teacher was shocked that I and the other students knew what it was. Apparently it is one of her favorite dishes (bonus points?).

And have I said how much I love, love, love Kichijoji yet? Because I do. You'll definitely see more stories about this town, and its food, coming later!