Friday
I spent about an hour translating directions to "The Shelter," a club in Shimokitazawa where the Melt Banana show was. I really had no idea what to expect, I just knew that I wanted to go, I had to go. Bear in mind that since my plane landed, I'd only slept 4 hours at the hotel and 4 hours the first night in my apartment, so I was definitely running on low batteries. I tried to force myself to take a nap, but nothing doing. I then decided that for better or for worse I'd just load up on food, coffee and beer and make my way through the day, so that I would HAVE to be tired enough to sleep at night.
I managed to figure out how to load a text file of the directions onto my ds (if anyone is curious you can ask me about it) and set off around 3:30. The show didn't start for 3 more hours, but I figured I would get there early and look around. According to the wikipedia article, Shimo (for short) is a really happening, hip place, so I figured there would at least be some cool stuff to see. I made my way on the trains for only the second time, but already everything was falling into place. I later had a conversation about this: The Tokyo subway system looks incredibly intimidating, but not only is everything color-coded, there are signs in English everywhere, especially at the big stations. One just has to not psyche one's self out. Observe:
Anyway, I made great time, and listened to Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" on the way there, a very thought-provoking read/listen. I had however made the mistake of eating 2 Big Macs (oh lord, never again) before boarding the train so I wasn't feeling my greatest. I had been hungry and hadn't feeling like figuring out my @#%&ing rice cooker the day before.When I actually got to the town, I could see the vibe immediately: Young, artistic, exciting. A lot of shops, for almost every niche and weird thing you could possibly imagine. I bought a disposable camera but those pics will be a while if they ever make it up here. There was one shop with everything from weed-pipes and incense to 70's disco lamps to neon signs to, well, it's hard to describe. Random crap, really. Another specialized in matchbox cars, of all things. There were also a lot of bookstores and eateries as would be expected.
So, being there hours early I of course found the venue almost right away. The only thing that threw me off was that according to the Japanese directions, I took a left at Rohson, which actually turned out to be Lawson's Market, a convenience store chain. This is the fun of translating Engrish back to English, people. So I passed it the first time, but otherwise the venue was easy enough to find. The door was gigantic and thick, plated metal, like a dungeon door, and there were stickers everywhere. The guy told me no admission until 6:30, and there was a sign on the door that said NOREAD-MISSION, so I figured I had better go and get some food and coffee beforehand. By this point I was pretty tired, but moreso in the lacking sleep sense than being physically tired.
I moseyed around, tried to eat a chicken sandwich from the convenience store that almost made me throw up due to its pickly ketchup and slice of processed cheese, and read and took a picture of a sign that said "you move out of way, but your smoke doesn't." There was a whole diagram on it and I'm still not sure what the meaning was. I saw a guy with a t-shirt that said: "My idea of fun is killing everyone," which made me laugh. I really want to blatantly take pics of all the terribly funny Engrish shirts sometimes, but of course I'm not going to point my camera at some person I don't know; That'd just be rude.
The funniest thing that happened was, while I sitting at a bus-stop bench waiting for the show to start, playing my ds and keeping to myself, these 4 kids walked over, two boys and two girls. They looked 13- or 14-ish, and they're all laughing about something, but I tried not to place too many furitive glances. Suddenly I see the two boys start dancing in unison with each other, like a sideways electric slide, in an obvious attempt to impress the girls. Then the one girl promptly tells them her opinion: "Gay."
I had to try really, really hard not to laugh. Even more ridiculous was that he immediately tried to save face, and if I understood his slang correctly (which I'm pretty sure he did) he said he'd "fight the gaijin for her." ?-_-?
Getting tired of sitting there I went back to the venue, and outside I ran into a white dude whom I had spotted earlier buying a ticket - he had some punk-rock looking gear on and looked bored as well, so we chatted it up. It's easy to start a conversation with another foreigner here: "Hey, so what are you doing here in the land of the Asians?" As it turns out he was a graduate student of Science, from Berkeley College! He said that he was riding on some 5-year grant between scientists in California and Japan, and he had just traveled here from Lithuania where he'd played drums for a band's European tour. That's the sort of thing I want to get to do someday. Anyway, he was a solid dude or at least a fun companion, so we decided to get smashed and watch out for each other.
The first band was an absolutely amazing instrumental act, with an electric keytar-flute, an air harp-thingy that works on electromagnets and a really sick drummer. I was really impressed and went to go buy their cd, only to find out that when I said "that set was awesome!" I started hearing scattered laughter for some odd reason.... I had bought the wrong band's cd! The guy politely offered me my money back, but I refused, mostly to seem like it was on purpose or something. Oh well, live and learn eh?
By the time Melt Banana played I had gotten thoroughly smashed. Earlier, when I had come down off of my caffeine high, I saw swirling colors for a minute and thought that I might have pushed myself too hard for once, but I evened out just fine and the flow of adrenaline kept me up. I should mention a few things: The venue itself was rather small, and drinks were $5, so considering the lack of tipping in Japan it's about the same as back home. There was also a barricade between the stage and the crowd, with a rubber-foam wrap to keep people from getting hurt - so basically, I headbanged and thrashed off this with a few other people moving around in a tight little area while Melt Banana played. At one point I got way too excited and accidentally slipped over the barricade and onto the monitor, landing on my back, feet up in the air - it was both embarrassing and hilarious at the same time.
One thing I need to explain is that if you've ever seen any live Japan entertainment at all, be it Mixed Martial Arts or Baseball or whatever, you may have noticed that fans are not nearly as outspoken and obnoxious as their American counterparts. As such, when a band plays here in Nippon, the audience will clap in between songs for a few seconds, and then be completely silent and listen to everything the singer is saying. This is of course the complete opposite of back home, where no one pays attention and heckling is rampant. I've seen plastic bottles, drumsticks, t-shirts, frisbees, and even footwear thrown at bands back home and vice versa, but I strongly doubt that would ever happen here.
The reason I felt it necessary to make this clear was so you could appreciate that, after the entire crowd had fallen silent in between songs, I was so stoked that I yelled "MEEELLLLTT BAAANNAAANNNAAA!!!" as loud as I could, and the singer just says: ano, gaijin-san (Uh, Mr. Foreigner). Whether it was with a tone of acknowledgement or just to be funny, or both, I'm not quite sure, but I was reflecting on how awesome the set was for the rest of the night anyway.
The last band was rather anticlimactic, but it was their cd release party so they played last. Post-rock mewithoutyou-type stuff, pretty good. I would not have bought their cd had I heard them first, however - all the lyrics are in Japanese so a lot is lost on me. All in all it was an excellent first show, I talked to a few people there, but the Japanese are so introspective and shy by nature that starting a conversation can be difficult, even at a show. I met a cool dude named Hideki who kept talking to me in English while I talked to him in Japanese (lol), and some people I raged with in the pit, who I'll probably see around. The former guy, when I told him I had arrived merely 2 days ago and it was my first show ever here said: "werucomu to Japan!"
After the show, me and my new compadre wandered down what I thought would be a shortcut, but what naturally ended up getting us lost. I can hold my beer pretty well, being the big guy that I am (plus my college "experience"), so it wasn't so much that we were wasted as it was that everything in Japan is really, really confusing. We stopped at a diner-looking place where I had some deliciously over-priced curry and rice - like anything spicy, it makes great drinking food! We talked about random crap or whatever, and I invited the dude to stay on my floor if he needed a place. He refused, saying he wanted to check out a capsule hotel while he was still here, and get up at 5 to go and eat at some fresh fish market Capsule hotels by the way are little tube-like places with TVs above your head where you can crash out drunk, sort of like a last-minute plan if you miss the last train. They are actually really expensive despite being so small though.
I made it home OK, and was very proud of myself to have the way home pretty much down after such a short period of time. And, being so incredibly tired and drunk, I finally achieved my first good night's sleep since Sunday night. Eat shit jetlag!
Saturday
Upon waking up around 8am, I knew the first thing to do was take a shower and promptly get to work on figuring out my rice cooker - I had already eaten out more than I had originally planned to, and I really wanted to make a good effort on conserving money whenever possible. After about an hour or so of translating characters and skimming the directions for what I actually needed to know, I figured it out, and in another hour had some delicous rice with curry, which was featured in my last post. I also picked up the latest Shonen Jump from the corner store - $2.45 for 380 pages of comics? Uh, yes please!
The next course of action was to get my Alien Registration Card. Being a foreigner in Japan, I am currently relying on carrying around my passport, on the off chance that a police officer (who are a total joke to most people here in Japan, by the way) asked me for some identification, I would have it, no problem. However, within 90 days I am obligated to get an ARC, and I need one for my bank account, cell phone etc., so I went to get that taken care of.
The train ride was roughly 40 minutes, and I ate at Mos Burger again. That was the place I had eaten at my first day in Japan - they are everywhere around here and so much better than McDonalds! Also, here in Japan they bring your food to you at the table, even though it's just fast food. Sweet! When I crossed the large bridge and got to the doors of the Town Ward, I was dismayed to see a sign on the door with the dates of ８月２３日-８月２４日, and various kanji that I could read such as "broken," "electricity," and "closed." Annoyed but not willing to take the day as a total loss, I listened to Mitch Hedburgh, hopped the train back to my transfer station and went to Akihabara, also known as Electric Town.
This picture scantly does it justice, the place was PACKED and full of electric signs, niche shops for parts and pretty much anything you can think of pertaining to techhnology, ranging from giant superstores and little street vendors.So obviously, one of the first things I did was look for a camera to buy. Ironically enough, after going to a stand and checking out a refurbished Casio that was $170, I decided to look around thoroughly to find the best deal...but found nothing cheaper. So, when I got the camera I took a few pictures on my way out. It was raining, otherwise I'd have a lot more:
On the outskirts of Electric town.
One floor of the 9 story SofMap building I bought my T.V. from.
Next stop, cameras!
I like this ad, mostly because the girl on the left is getting pwnt by a cookie, and the other duder is all like FTW
Ladies and gentlemen, the sign on top is either "Mr. Computer," "Mr. Love" or the biggest simultaneous misspelling and understatement of the year.
That is one happy train!
A slow day at the train station.200 yen from a vending machine. :)
Akihabara is also a haven for Otaku (Japanese slang for those super-nerds who dress up as fictional characters), and I saw a white dude dressed up as Super-Saiyan Goku from Dragonball Z, with a giant blond wig and gi on, the whole 9 yards. I also saw some girls in maid outfits advertising "Maid Cafes." These are places where you pay an abormal amount of money to have a girl act as if she is your servant (no, not like that) by bringing you tea, feeding you, etc. The idea is to make the customer feel at home, but damn what a waste of money!
Anyway, that was pretty much all that happened in Akihabara, besides me being blown away by the sheer amount of people and, well, electric stuff. Oh and I also had a conversation in Japanese with one of the dudes who worked at the T.V. superstore about 360 vs. PS3, and how the latter is stronger but the former currently has many better games. He also informed me that Final Fantasy 13 is coming out for both systems in the States, but not in Japan. For once we get something cool that the Japanese don't? *Shock*
Back on the train carrying around a semi-heavy T.V., and back home. Stuff might have happened but I forget by now. Oh yea, some guy in a business suit said to his friend in a business suit that I smelled bad. I just ignored it, something I'm going to have to get used to.
Back home, I looked over my directions for the show and, despite being tired and destroying a bowl of "spicy-spicy-spicy-delicious curry," which made me into a sloth, I convinced myself to go. Fuck You Bastard was playing, and they were supposed to be pretty good. I wouldn't really know though, because the story is that I couldn't find the venue. I had rushed to get there on time, but stopped to grab a beer at the grocery store which was my very first mistake. The store was right before the train tracks, and sure enough about 4 trains go by including mine while I wait, and it's already 7:20 by them time I even board, about 50 minutes after the show had started. Even better is that right before the transfer at Ikebukuro, there is Kitaikebukuro, meaning north ikebukuro. Me, not paying attention and being slightly buzzed, completely kept sitting on the train while everyone got off, somehow being too oblivious to notice, until of course the train starts off in the opposite direction. I fixed my mistake promptly afterward, but still...
I get into Shinjuku around 7:55, and dash out like a madman to make up for lost time. I circled the same 5 blocks what felt like a dozen times searching for the place, to the point that my feet were throbbing, and still no dice. It was also raining. I asked at least 15 people in Japanese if they knew Shinjuku Wall, but no dice there either. Keep in mind that I was also originally planning on seeing Caliban (metal band from Germany) with Loyal to the Grave (sick beatdown J-hardcore) that night, but the show had sold out like 5 days beforehand. So, the beginning and end of my day were both a bust, but....
Lucky me, I found my way to Cheers street!
And flavor potato, now with more salt!
When I got home, I attempted to hook up the T.V., despite being rather tired. I figured some Japanese cable would be just the mind-drug to help me not dwell on the fact that I felt stupid for missing the show. "There will be many other shows," I thought "no biggie." Little did I know just how great the next one would be! Anyway, I hooked up the T.V., tried to skim the Japanese directions for how to program the remote, figured out it was pre-programmed, scanned for channels and got 'em, but when I tried to watch any besides the informercials I got some message saying "B.S.-Card yaddayaddananika." Bullshit card is more like it! Apparently here in Japan, there is a card you purchase at stores to pay for cable. You then stick said card into the side of the TV. That is whack. Luckily for me both of my video games worked, so I will be able to turn off my brain and play CoD4 with my mates back home without a problem.
Sunday
Are we there yet? No, not quite. Sunday was a great day: I talked to my friend Ian for a while via webcam, and my Father as well. I decided to take it easy since my feet still hurt from walking so much the day before. However, when I was skimming an e-mail that Ian sent me a week or 2 back concerning shows, I realized that Melt Banana was playing again, just outside Shinjuku. I decided to check out the other bands playing, and upon realizing that they were all vicious, relentless grindcore/crust/punk/thrash bands, I knew I couldn't resist the opportunity:
Slight Slappers
Senseless Apocalpyse
Nice View
Maybe these bands aren't quite as impressive on recording, but stuff like this is excellent live. Not to mention, bands like this rarely ever play back in Upstate New York.
I got as prepared as was humanly possible, and set forth around 4, even though it didn't start until 6:30. When I arrived there, it was raining (as it has been and will be for apparently the next month or two, according to Ian), and I set off in what looked like the right direction. I had two landmarks: a huge gaming center and a Tonchan, some kind of pork-themed restaurant. I found the first one no problem, but couldn't see the EARTHDOM or Tonchan anywhere. Seeing a little "police station" (more like a hole in the wall), I asked them how to get there in Japanese, and thankfully someone actually knew what I was talking about this time! It blows my mind that you could work within 100 feet of somewhere and not know it exists, although with the crowded conditions of Tokyo, it is entirely plausible.
Anyhow, I got directions but didn't understand 90% of what the officer said - all I picked up was to turn around and look on the left side of the road. I did that, no luck. I decided that maybe he meant to go past the train station, so I looked over there for roughly 20 minutes, with still no luck. I returned in the direction of the police station, frustrated and hoping this would not be a repeat of last night. However, I saw something that made me very, very happy: Tonchan! I don't think I'll ever be that happy to see a sign for pork again! (I don't even like it that much) I still had half an hour before doors, so I went to the corner store and bought a tallboy Asahi, and went to drink it and nom some tuna sushi outside. Even cheap convenience store-sushi is so much better here! I saw this white lady walk by for what must have been the third time that night, so I said: "Hey, must be the third time tonight, huh?" She gave me a deep look, and proceeded to talk about how she had swords, and had attempted to kill herself in front of the police, all in a thick British accent. Yes, that was actually the kind of nonsense she was spouting.
I popped my beer and decided hey, instead of losing the crazy, I'd hear her out and have a conversation with her to kill time before the show started. She looked to be in her late 30's, sort of hard features like a stout nose, and long, dirty, blond hair that probably hadn't been washed in ages. She wore a slicker over a haggard checkered shirt. The shoes she wore looked like they had been to hell and back, and there was something undeniably sad in her manner and appearance. She went on in her thick accent, mixing in bits of Japanese that proved that she really had been here a long time. There was always a twinge of desperation in her voice as well. Here are some of the things she said to me:
-"Oh yea, my father raped me, abused me, you know the whole bad deal"
-"I'm from South Africa, and they tried to send me to a mental hospital there!"
-"I'm stuck here, it's where I want to be, but I don't have any I.D.. It's my sixth time coming here since 1993."
-"Why did I come here? For love." ("Well, that was your first mistake," I thought)
-"I sleep over there in the park by the man in the box, although we've traded places recently."
-"Oh yes the police all know me, they abuse people here, rape them, put the umbrella right up me pussy, even guys they rape here."
-"I was speaking in tongues and being exercised when I fell backwards and smashed my head on a brick"
-"My brother's pregnant wife stabbed me."
And so on. I would engage her and encourage her and calm her down, whatever seemed necessary. I drank my beer while she talked and showed me pictures of samurai from pre-World War II - the connection having something to do with the "samurai sword that the police trusted her with." It was hard to tell with that furious jumble of British tongue and bits of Japanese. I offered her a piece of sushi, which she initially declined, a very Japanese thing to do actually, but she ate it a few minutes later. Overall, I felt like she had mental problems that were untreated, and was a sad case who really just wanted some attention; And food, shelter, all the things that people normally want. She had most likely been a lot better at one point in time - how else could she have gotten here in the first place - and it's a shame that the Japanese seem to so strongly ignore their homeless. Hell, most anti-psychotics are illegal here, so the woman couldn't even get that kind of treatment if she could afford it! I ended the whole thing by shaking her hand, and telling her that whether she really does believe in Jesus Christ or not, every day of ones' life is precious, and to be grateful for the ability to live and breathe. Maybe she was just impressionable, but this really seemed to strike a note with her. I told her good luck, pleasure meeting you, and walked to the club, hoping she wouldn't follow me.
The Shelter is a basement club with a bar-room that has some very comfortable furniture, paintings of blackbirds on the walls and various graffiti such as "FUCK POLICE" written in English across a vending machine. I would have taken pictures, had I not come with the intention of getting completely shitfaced, and therefore left my camera at home. It was nice, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was not the only white dude there! (Friday night it had only been me and the other guy) After finishing my beer, I made my way to the two white gents, who turned out to be British, along with their Japanese friend, a nice girl who spoke good English. As it so happened the one guy, a tall, short-haired dude from Northern England, was in Japan teaching for Interac and his friend had stopped through for a week on his way to a wedding in Australia. I almost met another Whiteguy McGaijin, this one also British but with glasses and a long scar on his arm from the recent insertion of a metal plate to fix an injury, who has lived here a year were my cohorts for the night, and that helped to make it a lot more fun.
The silence in between songs was still strange to me - and besides Melt Banana and No Value, I didn't know who any of the bands were, since they never seemed to say their names and the two just mentioned both have female singers. No Value's singer was really cute, and the way she was bopping around innocently and abrasively screaming to grind was downright ludicrous. Definitely nothing like any band I've seen in NY, that's for sure. She would bounce her hands on her knees in tune with the songs, and other various gesticulations of cuteness. I mean, as much as I do love watching sweaty dudes with their shirts off play music and all... 0_o
By the time Melt Banana played I was again tanked. The club was packed, maybe 150 people or so in a fairly small area, like CBGB's size. I got in the pit and thrashed, and also had my longest stage dive ever, probably around 30 seconds, thanks to my new friends holding me up! Afterwards the tall one says to me: "Bloody hell man! You're too big to be doin' that now!" We all laughed a lot, and I can't remember much specifically of what was said later on, other than me calling football "soccer" and the two English dudes getting really offended! I didn't really pay much attention to the last two bands; I just kept drinking with my friends until it was roughly an hour before the trains would stop running, 11:15. Yes, shows begin and end earlier because of the train schedule in Japan. We all had a blast, and the night ended with the aforementioned Japanese girl being so drunk she could barely stand (she was keeping up with us the whole night!) and telling me that: "You're funniest person I've ever met. You're so funny, you could be comedian!" That sort of made my night. Well, that and actually getting loose at a show over here, it's about damn time! Oh and I define "getting loose" as both moshing and drinking. It's got 2 entries in the Belcher dictionary, so please watch for contextual clues.
Making my way home was fun, and as it turns out the convenience stores are open significantly later than I had thought, especially on a Sunday night. Also today had been some kind of Japanese holiday - I saw a lot of men and women wearing traditional Japanese garb with purple and white colors. (Want to tell me which holiday it is, Ian, anyone?) I grabbed some spicy potato sticks and munched home, leaned on the walls to get into my apartment, and watched the Office until about 1am. Never seen that show before a few weeks ago, absolutely hysterical.
Monday
Almost to the end! I woke up today, feeling excellent as I usually do after a good show, despite being slightly hung over. I talked to my Mom, Aunt and Cousin and Ian for collectively 3 hours, which was nice. My only obligation today was to go to the Town Ward in Nerima, which if you've actually read all this in one sitting I need not remind you is where I go to get my official Japanese I.D.. The trip was relatively fun, except for one thing that made me really, really angry. An Asian couple who were obviously on vacation because of the maps they were holding were sitting across the train from me, and I saw the man putting his hand to his mouth and talking into the woman's ear, both of them laughing and her waving her hand as if to ward off a foul smell. I got the sneaking suspicion they were saying how bad I must smell, being a foreigner, but I brushed it off as paranoia and kept listening to Slaughterhouse 5 on my ipod. After a while though, as the laughing continued I could hear over my IPOD on maximum volume: "He wants to understand, but I don't think he understands at all hahahaha." Now this was in English, and the very audacity of such a blatant insult made me want to tell the twat to shut her stupid fucking mouth. But, being the well-mannered person that I am, I subsided my rage despite the mockery. I shot the woman a look which I think got the jist across, I mean I can look pretty mean, not that I have any desire to most of the time. This has been by far the worst instance of prejudice I've been subjected to, and I'm not making any promises to myself that I'm not gonna start telling people off if they insist on making such obvious cracks. I mean Japanese is one thing, but in English? Really? Right in front of me too. Rageragerage. I'm going to work on my Japanese and seriously lay a verbal browbeating on the next person that not only insults me, but laughs at me and is incredibly obvious about their comments. Everybody has their limits, ya know.
OK, I'm done venting. I brought my camera today, so check it out:
I guess it's local voting time, because these guys with their loudspeakers spewing political shpeels are all over, even where I live.
With his cuteness, we may save the planet!
Fire...bad?
Kind of a lot of comics. There were 5 aisles like this, and this was a small book store.
Japan's fascination with my childhood hero, Thomas the Tank Engine, continues to baffle me.
Destination reached!
The Foreign Resident Registration Office.
A quick story about my time at the office: I was supposed to bring pictures of myself from a photo booth, which I did (and they look ri-freakin-diculous, trust me), but I had neglected to bring the printout of my address with the company's official information. This lead to me having to give the lady who worked there my e-mail addy and password so that she could retrieve it. Of course she couldn't sift through my e-mail even with accurate directions, so I had to go back and do it myself. Everything seemed to be OK, and I copied the information and gave it to her. However, she goes on to tell me that there is no such address on block 23 in Tobu-Nerima. I say that's impossible, since the baggage-movers brought my stuff there. Blah blah yadda yadda and of course as it turns out, 10 minutes later we figure out I had copied the number down backwards, it was really 32. I felt like such an ass, but these are the kinds of mistakes I make with mathematics: Even when I still delivered pizzas, I would have to check the address several times because numbers always get mixed up in my head. Maybe I'm actually lesdyxic?
Anyway, I got that taken care of, and came back home with some groceries and another new manga. Good reading practice and all that jazz. Here I sit in my room, wondering how tomorrow will go. It's my first day of training and I'm a smidgen nervous, but I'm sure it will all be gravy once I actually get in there; I'm most conerned with teaching little kids, anyway. However, getting a chance to wear one of my suits will be kind of neat and fun, at least for now, save the stickiness of summer and me being the supposed King of Stink here in Japan. I kid though, I shower regularly and apply copious amounts of deodorant, so if anyone has anything to say about my body odors, they can suck it!...or perhaps sniff it? Or both. Either or. OK.
On a completely unrelated note, I'm waiting for the next big bug sighting here at the apartment. Just a matter of time. As such, I have found it necessary to link yet another article from Japan Probe, concerning the Japanese equivalent to silverfish (a.k.a. "house centipedes") and daddy long-legs spiders, my loved/hated friends from back in NY who kill all the little peskies for me. *Cringe*
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, YOUR GRAND PRIZE FOR READING (or perhaps just skimming and scrolling, either is acceptable) THIS FAR: FUNNY ADVERTISEMENTS AND OTHER RANDOM PICTURES I'VE TAKEN:
Anyway, that was pretty much all that happened in Akihabara, besides me being blown away by the sheer amount of people and, well, electric stuff. Oh and I also had a conversation in Japanese with one of the dudes who worked at the T.V. superstore about 360 vs. PS3, and how the latter is stronger but the former currently has many better games. He also informed me that Final Fantasy 13 is coming out for both systems in the States, but not in Japan. For once we get something cool that the Japanese don't? *Shock*
Back on the train carrying around a semi-heavy T.V., and back home. Stuff might have happened but I forget by now. Oh yea, some guy in a business suit said to his friend in a business suit that I smelled bad. I just ignored it, something I'm going to have to get used to.
Back home, I looked over my directions for the show and, despite being tired and destroying a bowl of "spicy-spicy-spicy-delicious curry," which made me into a sloth, I convinced myself to go. Fuck You Bastard was playing, and they were supposed to be pretty good. I wouldn't really know though, because the story is that I couldn't find the venue. I had rushed to get there on time, but stopped to grab a beer at the grocery store which was my very first mistake. The store was right before the train tracks, and sure enough about 4 trains go by including mine while I wait, and it's already 7:20 by them time I even board, about 50 minutes after the show had started. Even better is that right before the transfer at Ikebukuro, there is Kitaikebukuro, meaning north ikebukuro. Me, not paying attention and being slightly buzzed, completely kept sitting on the train while everyone got off, somehow being too oblivious to notice, until of course the train starts off in the opposite direction. I fixed my mistake promptly afterward, but still...
I get into Shinjuku around 7:55, and dash out like a madman to make up for lost time. I circled the same 5 blocks what felt like a dozen times searching for the place, to the point that my feet were throbbing, and still no dice. It was also raining. I asked at least 15 people in Japanese if they knew Shinjuku Wall, but no dice there either. Keep in mind that I was also originally planning on seeing Caliban (metal band from Germany) with Loyal to the Grave (sick beatdown J-hardcore) that night, but the show had sold out like 5 days beforehand. So, the beginning and end of my day were both a bust, but....
Lucky me, I found my way to Cheers street!
And flavor potato, now with more salt!When I got home, I attempted to hook up the T.V., despite being rather tired. I figured some Japanese cable would be just the mind-drug to help me not dwell on the fact that I felt stupid for missing the show. "There will be many other shows," I thought "no biggie." Little did I know just how great the next one would be! Anyway, I hooked up the T.V., tried to skim the Japanese directions for how to program the remote, figured out it was pre-programmed, scanned for channels and got 'em, but when I tried to watch any besides the informercials I got some message saying "B.S.-Card yaddayaddananika." Bullshit card is more like it! Apparently here in Japan, there is a card you purchase at stores to pay for cable. You then stick said card into the side of the TV. That is whack. Luckily for me both of my video games worked, so I will be able to turn off my brain and play CoD4 with my mates back home without a problem.
Sunday
Are we there yet? No, not quite. Sunday was a great day: I talked to my friend Ian for a while via webcam, and my Father as well. I decided to take it easy since my feet still hurt from walking so much the day before. However, when I was skimming an e-mail that Ian sent me a week or 2 back concerning shows, I realized that Melt Banana was playing again, just outside Shinjuku. I decided to check out the other bands playing, and upon realizing that they were all vicious, relentless grindcore/crust/punk/thrash bands, I knew I couldn't resist the opportunity:
Slight Slappers
Senseless Apocalpyse
Nice View
Maybe these bands aren't quite as impressive on recording, but stuff like this is excellent live. Not to mention, bands like this rarely ever play back in Upstate New York.
I got as prepared as was humanly possible, and set forth around 4, even though it didn't start until 6:30. When I arrived there, it was raining (as it has been and will be for apparently the next month or two, according to Ian), and I set off in what looked like the right direction. I had two landmarks: a huge gaming center and a Tonchan, some kind of pork-themed restaurant. I found the first one no problem, but couldn't see the EARTHDOM or Tonchan anywhere. Seeing a little "police station" (more like a hole in the wall), I asked them how to get there in Japanese, and thankfully someone actually knew what I was talking about this time! It blows my mind that you could work within 100 feet of somewhere and not know it exists, although with the crowded conditions of Tokyo, it is entirely plausible.
Anyhow, I got directions but didn't understand 90% of what the officer said - all I picked up was to turn around and look on the left side of the road. I did that, no luck. I decided that maybe he meant to go past the train station, so I looked over there for roughly 20 minutes, with still no luck. I returned in the direction of the police station, frustrated and hoping this would not be a repeat of last night. However, I saw something that made me very, very happy: Tonchan! I don't think I'll ever be that happy to see a sign for pork again! (I don't even like it that much) I still had half an hour before doors, so I went to the corner store and bought a tallboy Asahi, and went to drink it and nom some tuna sushi outside. Even cheap convenience store-sushi is so much better here! I saw this white lady walk by for what must have been the third time that night, so I said: "Hey, must be the third time tonight, huh?" She gave me a deep look, and proceeded to talk about how she had swords, and had attempted to kill herself in front of the police, all in a thick British accent. Yes, that was actually the kind of nonsense she was spouting.
I popped my beer and decided hey, instead of losing the crazy, I'd hear her out and have a conversation with her to kill time before the show started. She looked to be in her late 30's, sort of hard features like a stout nose, and long, dirty, blond hair that probably hadn't been washed in ages. She wore a slicker over a haggard checkered shirt. The shoes she wore looked like they had been to hell and back, and there was something undeniably sad in her manner and appearance. She went on in her thick accent, mixing in bits of Japanese that proved that she really had been here a long time. There was always a twinge of desperation in her voice as well. Here are some of the things she said to me:
-"Oh yea, my father raped me, abused me, you know the whole bad deal"
-"I'm from South Africa, and they tried to send me to a mental hospital there!"
-"I'm stuck here, it's where I want to be, but I don't have any I.D.. It's my sixth time coming here since 1993."
-"Why did I come here? For love." ("Well, that was your first mistake," I thought)
-"I sleep over there in the park by the man in the box, although we've traded places recently."
-"Oh yes the police all know me, they abuse people here, rape them, put the umbrella right up me pussy, even guys they rape here."
-"I was speaking in tongues and being exercised when I fell backwards and smashed my head on a brick"
-"My brother's pregnant wife stabbed me."
And so on. I would engage her and encourage her and calm her down, whatever seemed necessary. I drank my beer while she talked and showed me pictures of samurai from pre-World War II - the connection having something to do with the "samurai sword that the police trusted her with." It was hard to tell with that furious jumble of British tongue and bits of Japanese. I offered her a piece of sushi, which she initially declined, a very Japanese thing to do actually, but she ate it a few minutes later. Overall, I felt like she had mental problems that were untreated, and was a sad case who really just wanted some attention; And food, shelter, all the things that people normally want. She had most likely been a lot better at one point in time - how else could she have gotten here in the first place - and it's a shame that the Japanese seem to so strongly ignore their homeless. Hell, most anti-psychotics are illegal here, so the woman couldn't even get that kind of treatment if she could afford it! I ended the whole thing by shaking her hand, and telling her that whether she really does believe in Jesus Christ or not, every day of ones' life is precious, and to be grateful for the ability to live and breathe. Maybe she was just impressionable, but this really seemed to strike a note with her. I told her good luck, pleasure meeting you, and walked to the club, hoping she wouldn't follow me.
The Shelter is a basement club with a bar-room that has some very comfortable furniture, paintings of blackbirds on the walls and various graffiti such as "FUCK POLICE" written in English across a vending machine. I would have taken pictures, had I not come with the intention of getting completely shitfaced, and therefore left my camera at home. It was nice, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was not the only white dude there! (Friday night it had only been me and the other guy) After finishing my beer, I made my way to the two white gents, who turned out to be British, along with their Japanese friend, a nice girl who spoke good English. As it so happened the one guy, a tall, short-haired dude from Northern England, was in Japan teaching for Interac and his friend had stopped through for a week on his way to a wedding in Australia. I almost met another Whiteguy McGaijin, this one also British but with glasses and a long scar on his arm from the recent insertion of a metal plate to fix an injury, who has lived here a year were my cohorts for the night, and that helped to make it a lot more fun.
The silence in between songs was still strange to me - and besides Melt Banana and No Value, I didn't know who any of the bands were, since they never seemed to say their names and the two just mentioned both have female singers. No Value's singer was really cute, and the way she was bopping around innocently and abrasively screaming to grind was downright ludicrous. Definitely nothing like any band I've seen in NY, that's for sure. She would bounce her hands on her knees in tune with the songs, and other various gesticulations of cuteness. I mean, as much as I do love watching sweaty dudes with their shirts off play music and all... 0_o
By the time Melt Banana played I was again tanked. The club was packed, maybe 150 people or so in a fairly small area, like CBGB's size. I got in the pit and thrashed, and also had my longest stage dive ever, probably around 30 seconds, thanks to my new friends holding me up! Afterwards the tall one says to me: "Bloody hell man! You're too big to be doin' that now!" We all laughed a lot, and I can't remember much specifically of what was said later on, other than me calling football "soccer" and the two English dudes getting really offended! I didn't really pay much attention to the last two bands; I just kept drinking with my friends until it was roughly an hour before the trains would stop running, 11:15. Yes, shows begin and end earlier because of the train schedule in Japan. We all had a blast, and the night ended with the aforementioned Japanese girl being so drunk she could barely stand (she was keeping up with us the whole night!) and telling me that: "You're funniest person I've ever met. You're so funny, you could be comedian!" That sort of made my night. Well, that and actually getting loose at a show over here, it's about damn time! Oh and I define "getting loose" as both moshing and drinking. It's got 2 entries in the Belcher dictionary, so please watch for contextual clues.
Making my way home was fun, and as it turns out the convenience stores are open significantly later than I had thought, especially on a Sunday night. Also today had been some kind of Japanese holiday - I saw a lot of men and women wearing traditional Japanese garb with purple and white colors. (Want to tell me which holiday it is, Ian, anyone?) I grabbed some spicy potato sticks and munched home, leaned on the walls to get into my apartment, and watched the Office until about 1am. Never seen that show before a few weeks ago, absolutely hysterical.
Monday
Almost to the end! I woke up today, feeling excellent as I usually do after a good show, despite being slightly hung over. I talked to my Mom, Aunt and Cousin and Ian for collectively 3 hours, which was nice. My only obligation today was to go to the Town Ward in Nerima, which if you've actually read all this in one sitting I need not remind you is where I go to get my official Japanese I.D.. The trip was relatively fun, except for one thing that made me really, really angry. An Asian couple who were obviously on vacation because of the maps they were holding were sitting across the train from me, and I saw the man putting his hand to his mouth and talking into the woman's ear, both of them laughing and her waving her hand as if to ward off a foul smell. I got the sneaking suspicion they were saying how bad I must smell, being a foreigner, but I brushed it off as paranoia and kept listening to Slaughterhouse 5 on my ipod. After a while though, as the laughing continued I could hear over my IPOD on maximum volume: "He wants to understand, but I don't think he understands at all hahahaha." Now this was in English, and the very audacity of such a blatant insult made me want to tell the twat to shut her stupid fucking mouth. But, being the well-mannered person that I am, I subsided my rage despite the mockery. I shot the woman a look which I think got the jist across, I mean I can look pretty mean, not that I have any desire to most of the time. This has been by far the worst instance of prejudice I've been subjected to, and I'm not making any promises to myself that I'm not gonna start telling people off if they insist on making such obvious cracks. I mean Japanese is one thing, but in English? Really? Right in front of me too. Rageragerage. I'm going to work on my Japanese and seriously lay a verbal browbeating on the next person that not only insults me, but laughs at me and is incredibly obvious about their comments. Everybody has their limits, ya know.
OK, I'm done venting. I brought my camera today, so check it out:
I guess it's local voting time, because these guys with their loudspeakers spewing political shpeels are all over, even where I live.
With his cuteness, we may save the planet!
Fire...bad?
Kind of a lot of comics. There were 5 aisles like this, and this was a small book store.
Japan's fascination with my childhood hero, Thomas the Tank Engine, continues to baffle me.
Destination reached!
The Foreign Resident Registration Office.A quick story about my time at the office: I was supposed to bring pictures of myself from a photo booth, which I did (and they look ri-freakin-diculous, trust me), but I had neglected to bring the printout of my address with the company's official information. This lead to me having to give the lady who worked there my e-mail addy and password so that she could retrieve it. Of course she couldn't sift through my e-mail even with accurate directions, so I had to go back and do it myself. Everything seemed to be OK, and I copied the information and gave it to her. However, she goes on to tell me that there is no such address on block 23 in Tobu-Nerima. I say that's impossible, since the baggage-movers brought my stuff there. Blah blah yadda yadda and of course as it turns out, 10 minutes later we figure out I had copied the number down backwards, it was really 32. I felt like such an ass, but these are the kinds of mistakes I make with mathematics: Even when I still delivered pizzas, I would have to check the address several times because numbers always get mixed up in my head. Maybe I'm actually lesdyxic?
Anyway, I got that taken care of, and came back home with some groceries and another new manga. Good reading practice and all that jazz. Here I sit in my room, wondering how tomorrow will go. It's my first day of training and I'm a smidgen nervous, but I'm sure it will all be gravy once I actually get in there; I'm most conerned with teaching little kids, anyway. However, getting a chance to wear one of my suits will be kind of neat and fun, at least for now, save the stickiness of summer and me being the supposed King of Stink here in Japan. I kid though, I shower regularly and apply copious amounts of deodorant, so if anyone has anything to say about my body odors, they can suck it!...or perhaps sniff it? Or both. Either or. OK.
On a completely unrelated note, I'm waiting for the next big bug sighting here at the apartment. Just a matter of time. As such, I have found it necessary to link yet another article from Japan Probe, concerning the Japanese equivalent to silverfish (a.k.a. "house centipedes") and daddy long-legs spiders, my loved/hated friends from back in NY who kill all the little peskies for me. *Cringe*
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, YOUR GRAND PRIZE FOR READING (or perhaps just skimming and scrolling, either is acceptable) THIS FAR: FUNNY ADVERTISEMENTS AND OTHER RANDOM PICTURES I'VE TAKEN:
DRINK THE LEMONADE AND YOU WILL LOOK LIKE US.
I almost bought this.
The skin and hair products of Super-Saiyan Goku and his Shonen Jump pals.
Yeammkay.
Tokyo Disney is pretty close-by!
Is this bad grammar? I can't tell.
Manbearpig?
A ha! The Japanese are all penguins in disguise, no wonder they can't fly!
What 90% of Americans think of when they think of Japan. Oh how I loathe that franchise.
Put a decimal point in two digits to the left and you got the USD price, more or less. $5 for an apple and 4 for $10. If anyone tried to sell at these prices in New York, they would either get laughed at, shot, run over by a pickup truck, or all three at once.
My personal favorite. "Everyone, let's have good manners together!"I probably spent a collective 5-some hours on this post. If you liked it, please let me know, and I'll keep feeding your Japanese culture cravings, fiiiiiiiiiilthy humans!!!~~~
"One more day to say, one day at a time." - Life in Your Way
"Have you ever known fear? Have you ever felt fault? Have you ever felt something? Did you ever seem lost?" - Kylesa
