There and back again

Time for an overdue presentation to the faithful blog-followers. Please open your books to page 2010, index 179.0081, class is in session.

New York was quite a trip. Going home was such a mindfuck, I could actually feel pieces of my memories of Tokyo-life and NY-life overlapping and fighting for dominance in my mind, like someone suffering from split personality disorder. Allow me to digress into a bit about the "counter culture shock" I mentioned a few posts back.

When I walked off of that plane, it was like stepping into a different world. I had been in Japan for about 18 months remember, the only break being a trip to Korea. So I was accustomed to many things which were turned on their heads promptly upon my arrival. To be frank, the sheer mass of people - yes I'm talking about obesity but also average height and girth - and ethnic diversity stunned me. Hearing everyone speaking English, not to mention speaking loudly in line, seeing the attendants looking bored, tired, and wearing blatant expressions of "I don't want to be here" on their faces was nothing less than shocking to me. You've got to understand what service is like in Japan: everyone always wears a smile, they say the veritable equivalent of "Someone honorable is present" (often less literally translated as: "Welcome to our store) every time you enter their place of business, and give you extended thanks and courtesy to the point of overkill. Flipping from that back to the American standard of courtesy on the job (which is pretty pathetic by all of my accounts) really made my head spin.

While I was standing in line for customs (it took well over an hour) I was at first talking to this professional fisherman from Guam on his way to Kentucky for some sort of business-related thing, and I was having a really interesting discussion about America's claim of eminent domain concerning Guam and the history and everything for as long as we were waiting. That distracted me well enough until I got into a separate line and had to take in my surroundings. Everyone was chattering so loudly, and in English mind you, that it flipped some WTF switch in my mind and I had to leave on my headphones for the sake of keeping it together. Granted I hadn't slept at all for about 24 hours but still, it was such overload. The plane ride from Newark to Albany consisted (as per usual) of taxing for nearly an hour followed by a 30 minute flight. I was cranky and just wanted to get home.

When I did, well that was very nice. To see my family, and my best friend Jessica, it was a relief but I was almost too exhausted to appreciate it. On the way home riding in my Mom's minivan and sitting on the passenger side was also really disorienting, it being a dark and frigid December night didn't help one bit (bear in mind that cars in Japan drive on the left side of the road and the passenger seats are also on the left side)

When I got back, I had the pleasure of a bowl of my Mom's homemade turkey soup and with a side-order of my Mom's two-month old kittens. They really helped me relax, although they kept walking on my face in the middle of the night. The one was named Bonnie, the other Butterscotch, though it turned out that contrary to my Mom's impressions the former was actually a boy, making him/her "Bonnie, the sexually confused kitty cat." He/she also has a serious mother complex and is always trying to nurse on peoples ears. WEIRD.

I was only jetlagged for a day or two, but I was wound so incredibly tight, and this feeling outlasted my jetlag. I will never forget the next morning, that lovely, crisp Monday morning roasting at a seasonable 34 degrees, walking into Price Chopper, our local super market, and being awed by the sheer size of it and the offerings of so-long forbidden delights: giant succulent red and yellow peppers, hummus, feta cheese, bagged salads, a plethora of canned goods, whole grain oat and wheat breads, tortilla chips, salsas and even an entire aisle dedicated to cereal!!!!!! My heart never sang with such joy as it did that day. It was almost magical.

Thanks to the kindness of my Father I was able to drive the old 97 Jeep Cherokee delivery-mobile of many a pizza around during my stay. And boy did I drive. A lot. And the majority of drivers in my area - and I'll be damned if it isn't true for most other areas as well - are terrible drivers. Especially in the winter-time. No blinkers, no flashers, sudden stops, running lights, erratic driving, sliding on fresh snow, overly aggressive and unwarranted driving, granny driving, I could go on and on. Long story short is I enjoyed traveling by car around the beautiful capital region of Albany New York and soaking in the never-ending waves of nostalgia, but my god give me trains for the rest of my days and I'll be content. I didn't realize how much stress driving can really add to one's day until I had the opportunity to compare it to living in an urban environment like Tokyo.

Which gives me a nice segue into the urban versus the "suburban," or downright redneck hick-town U.S.A. Upstate NY is full of the latter and I lived in it for like 95% of my life. Suffice it to say I saw my surroundings with new eyes, a greater appreciation for the beauty and historical character of the American city versus the clunky, overly modern and concrete-blockishness of the Japanese city. Albany and it's surrounding areas are also full of nature, and lots of it. So many trees, I'd never really taken the time to look at them before. It was as if I had seen them, but never had any breadth of appreciation save a fleeting one. Even in the wintertime they stood like glorious landmarks of NY's natural beauty in my mind, and I was to spend a good chunk of time just observing and appreciating my environment over the course of my stay.

I mentioned being wound up? I was wound tighter than a rattle snake on speed spun down a hill in a tractor tire. If it wasn't for the courtesy of my friend Dave (writer of this fine music blog plug plug) letting me rage in his apartment for a bit and vent out all the crazy thoughts that were swarming in my head, I don't know how I would have survived the whole ordeal. I did spend valuable time with (in no particular order) Dave, Rich, Phil, Danielle, Kevin, Josh, John T., Kerri, Kyle, Gabe, Jessica, Dana, Fran, Margaret, Kaitlin, Mike L., Mike C., Rick, John B., Alaric and probably many others who are escaping my mind at the moment. That doesn't even include my family, or the slew of people I saw for like 5 seconds and didn't have nearly enough time to catch up with. There are others I'd like to have seen but wasn't able to, and of course the few I was hoping not to run into and (luckily) didn't.

I tipped everyone in a reckless fashion - there being no tipping whatsoever in Japan and also on account of my feeling great about having money and free time at home for the first time in what felt like an eternity. I even dropped 10 bucks in the tip-jar at the pizza shop I used to work at. Some had left but a few loyal employees looked the spitting image of themselves from 2 years ago. Very peculiar, or maybe not so peculiar.

It's amazing how some things and people change so drastically in a short period of time and some stay completely the same. Constancy is a good thing mind you, routine is something we humans crave, but change is also good. Very good, and very necessary even if we don't always want it to be. I am in short glad I've made the choices that I have. My hometown is a truly beautiful place, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life confined there doomed to wondering if there wasn't something more that could've been. That's my take on things, and you can quote me.

I bought/received many amazing books, not limited to Salman Rushdie's latest, Howard Zinn's "A People's History...," "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," a Charles Bukowski anthology called "Run with the Hunted," "Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger: Can China and India dominate the West?" An index of classical to modern philosophers and their main theories, and several other tomes which weighed down my suitcase by no small amount. I'm currently digging eagerly through the Bukowski and audiobooking Moby Dick, both of which have so far greatly exceeded my expectations.

I ate so much delicious food when I was home. New York pizza at least 10 times, Indian lunch buffet at least 3 times, hummus uncountable times, my Aunt's homemade lasagna and my Mom's amazing taco dip, divine pork cops, ziti, tuna noodle casserole, exquisite salads, chilis, wraps, sauces, flavors, and all kinds of wonderful things. My tastebuds rejoiced like it was the second coming. Sometimes I just had to stop doing anything else, close my eyes and just bask in the glory of the things hadn't touched my tongue in so very long. I consumed them and it was good.

I even went to church for the first time in what must be nigh on 10 years, with my father and my sister. My feelings on the matter? It was very nostalgic for me, being the church that was also a private school I attended in the 4th and 5th grade (and I refuse to discuss these years in any more detail whatsoever for now) Was I converted back to a healthy life of God-fearing Christianity? Sorry to disappoint you but no, I was not. I did however recognize the beauty in the community that a church embodies in a way I couldn't when I was younger. I saw people supporting each other and reaching out in a very healthy and healing manner, and I thought: "That's great for them. It's just not for me."

I'm a staunch atheist by the way, if I haven't made that clear in the past. We'll leave religious musings for another post but let me preface anything you might think questionable about my stance on religion with the fact that I was raised a Christian, and that I believe in the righteousness of the ethics laid out by Jesus Christ, and even that the bible is full of morally rich teachings. I simply don't believe in any of the supernatural elements of it. Jesus was a man, and a great one, but just a man. That's all. Sorry Mom and Dad and the rest of my family which is uniformly Christian.

However, you don't have to be Christian to do good deeds, like charity of one form or another. It wasn't much but, thanks to Rian and JT and some other really cool people who supported the event or came out, we held a benefit show as was mentioned some posts back. This was a benefit for NBIA, the disease which afflicted my brother and continues to plague my two older sisters. The highlights for me were:

-seeing lots of friends all together in the same place
-Kerri preparing tons of delicious baked goods for us to sell. Thanks Kerri!!
-Damnation Alley's set. It was so tight. They even opened with River Runs Red by Life of Agony which is an awesome song. Thanks guys. I went up to Dave (guitarist) at the end of the set and told him: "I'm glad I quit the band. You guys got way better without me."
-Me raffling off a bunch of Japanese candy (mostly purposefully "gross" stuff like fried squid strips and fish-flavored shrimpy corn puffs) along with a few rare goodies (100 yen-store chopsticks and an F.I.D. CD). I never knew people got so into raffles, made like $60 selling tickets, crazy.

In the end we only raised around $300, but it's that much more to a good cause. You can donate, learn more and spread awareness of this particular cause if you so desire by checking out the official website: http://www.nbiadisorders.org/

This is also a video of my Mother, whose strength of heart I hope to achieve some day myself, being interviewed for the local news about the disease:



Heavy stuff isn't it? Welcome to my family life. I remember when that perfect model of an 80s-bloomed le femme news anchor turned to me with a look of longing to understand and asked me: "How do you process all this?" I could have answered in various ways but chose something along the lines of: "In my eyes, this has been the reality for more than 10 years. I've had time to process it, I accept things for what they are." I could have said a lot more... About the cruelness of the genetic lottery, the random coldness of the world itself, the unfair burdens shifted upon some and not others, how it effected and shaped my personality (which it played a heavy hand in), how my brother's death indirectly lead to my leaving the country. I could have said a lot of things, but I don't bother to say them to those who don't really want to listen. Or at least don't have the time. I bet some of you internet-readers out there care to know it a hell of a lot more than some local celebrity T.V. journalist does.

I can't properly detail and describe everything I felt and experienced throughout my Return to New York (although I do distinctly remember an elderly couple almost backing into my car while I was on my way to the aforementioned church that fateful Sunday). Some details I have left out are too personal, although they would undoubtedly make for great writing. Let me leave it to mystery and say that I love and appreciate the western woman and her independently feminine identity and attitude much more than I did before I left. It was refreshing to see a bit of that while I was home, cultural gender identity was, among other things flipped on its head, as Japan is stuck somewhere in the 1950s as far as Women's lib. is concerned.

At any rate, I made it back to Japan in one piece. And being here, now, I hold a greater appreciation for Tokyo and feel some of the awe and inspiration this city once instilled in me born anew. I won't be here forever. If things go according to plans, some time in 2011 should be an exit date. But while I'm here I'll make the most of it because baby, you only live once.

I'll leave you with a stunning reading by the man who has been reinvigorating my love of poetry from beyond the grave, one Charles Bukowski:

I could say a lot of things

My head has been full for weeks, I could say a lot of things right now. I'm not ready to say most of them yet though, and certain things I have no intention of writing the majority of them in a public blog. Let's just say that coming back home has put me face to face with some of the more difficult life-related decisions I've been reluctantly avoiding for the last year or two. Being an adult? Not easy. But I'm blessed with loved ones who support me, and a will to keep on pushing on. I'm not exactly sure where to push however. I've had to cut ties, turn my back to people and aspects of life I once held dear to be on the "adventure" I am now. And now that I'm back over here, in Tokyo, I'm glad to be here, but it comes with very real price tag. I'm only now beginning to realize some of the weight that has come with my separation with the old world, my old environment where I spent 23 years and some change. Reinventing one's life takes a lot.

I'll be 25 in April. Where will I be at 30 if I'm still kicking? My guess is probably just as philosophical and even more confused about which way to turn. I just wouldn't have it any other way. That's life, and I'm cool with that.

On the plus side of everything, I've written more poetry in the last 2 days than I have in the past 6 months. I'm not happy if I'm not creating something. So here's to you 2010, may you be as revealing and lucky of a year as 2009 was for me, lord knows I've seen much much worse in the past.

"You're not in this all alone just look around and you'll see, the answer's right before your eyes I'm here for you and you for me. It's hard to open up, just try and you'll see, that true friends will always be there." - Sick of it All

...creep into place...

I couldn't help looking into the bathroom mirror and laughing hysterically. What a ride. As I walked out of the airport facilities I thought to myself: either I need some tums or I should just keep away from sausage biscuits, not sure as of January 3rd 8pm Tokyo time, 6am at my current location of Albany New York. Albany airport to be exact (about time they provided free wifi here!). Newark, New Jersey doesn't do the same though, so this will be my last communication until I'm back in the Japanland.

This is a red-eye flight of sorts, even though I woke up at 2:30am this morning. Fairly ridiculous when you think about it.

I'm not in disbelief I'm going back to Tokyo, I merely find myself laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. And possibly the unbearable light of being as well. Huge thanks and much love to all my friends and family who made my vacation so enjoyable. Also, list of awesome bands I saw in the States over vacation, that I'd recommend to you all:


After the Fall
Born Low
Damnation Alley
Make do and Mend
Down to Nothing
Forfeit
Oak and Bone
Trapped Under Ice
Sun God

I could through myspace links in there... or you could just google ANY of those names and the word myspace. C'mon, you won't.

If anyone really wants to know what's in my head, or perhaps why I'm going back to foreign lands and am content to do so, you need look no further:



"Go to work, go to school
Get an education, so you won't be a fool
Be a doctor, PHD, all that shit, that's not for me

All my life people tell what to say
This is my life live it my own way

Was so blind could not see
figures of authority, always standing behind me,
ready to come down on me

All my life people tell what to say
This is my life live it my own way" - Sick of it All, "My Life"

I now leave you as a "quote" in typical E.F.N.Y. fashion, the first track off of After the Fall's latest CD "Fort Orange." It's the best work yet from an amazing local band that has been together almost 10 years... and who I should see in Tokyo this year. Go dudes!! Fort Orange is the original name of my beautiful hometown of Albany, NY, by the way. I don't have the lyric sheet with me so here's most of it from memory.

"December 31st marks the day when Albany police opened fire on Lark street and killed an innocent man. Tell me what the fuck were you thinking, were you following standard procedure, to protect and serve?.... David Scraringe was only 24, he had a family not just another name.... those cops never saw any punishment to this day" After the Fall - "Fort Orange"

like having a dizzy spell cast upon you by a malevolent wizard

The more I read about Japan's last 150 years of history, the more I marvel at how everything has become so perfectly industrialized, as is now the standard. If I ascend the roof of my 3-story apartment complex, I can see nothing but buildings in every direction - maybe 20 of them apartment buildings, give or take. And I don't live in a very "urban" area, by Tokyo standards. I may have said this before, but the supreme wackiness of how everything is designed and put together here makes me think of a child with an infinite supply of legos: He just starts laying things into place pell-mell, without regards to the gas station next to the temple next to the research laboratory next to the preschool next to the bottomless pit. But I digress; I don't find buildings that beautiful. They can be awe-inspiring, as I re-discovered walking from Mejiro to Ikebukuro the other day, but it's a temporary effect, like having a dizzy spell cast upon you by a malevolent wizard. As embarrassing as it may be to say, I am a child of the suburbs, and kind of liked it there.

And yet, somehow, I am growing more and more acclimated to city life. Just thinking about how I've gotten used to these mechanical beasts that we all trains as my mode of transport was a mind-blow today. I compared that to the only real public transit option in Albany - the public buses, or CDTA, and shuddered at the thought.

I am going to plow through this "Modern Japanese Literature, 1868-present" book in all its tomeliness if it kills me in the process. Also reading Mother Night by Vonnegut now, that's exactly what one would expect from such a master of wit and pen. I started writing a bit more of my own fiction, although where that'll go remains to be seen. It feels a bit like bloodletting, but painful as it may be, perhaps it's necessary as well? Blogging is infinitely easier than creating worlds from bits of inspiration in my personal life.

Band practice was kick-ass today, no bones about it. Songs are getting tight. Trying to put together a proper set-list, which is harder than it was in punk/hardcore/metal bands. When every song is 1-2 minutes on average, you have to combine them and time them right, for maximum output. Gonna have a "studio live show" in November, which just means a relatively small studio space. I'll post a flyer or what-have-you when things get confirmed.


...Maybe it's less what I want to do with my life, than what life chooses to do with me?

Bear with me while I bear with me

Summer vacation is over as of tonight. It was a full 2 weeks, so I should feel satisfied. I went to the beach in Zushi, Kanagawa prefecture on Saturday, and spent 2 days in Nikko. I got to see some famous things, like some waterfall named after a dragon and lake Chuzenji. And Toshogu temple. There was NemuriNeko (the sleeping cat), sansaru (the three monkeys - hear no see no speak no evil), and exotic food called yuba, the skin off of tofu. The mountain air was crisp, cool and refreshing. I took some pictures with my cell phone, having forgotten my digital camera, but I don't feel like uploading them right now. Mwahahahaaaaaa!

Man have I gotten lazy about pics or what? Sorry guys. It was easy when everything here was shiny and new and I didn't have so much else on my plate.

This learning Chinese one day a week thing is certainly interesting. I go to work a few hours early (or rather the city I work in that day) to meet my teacher, and we do a language exchange. So far I have learned the general rules of thumb for reading Pinyin, "the standard system of romanized spelling for transliterating Chinese." I'd like to spend more time focusing on it, but really I practice only once a week. I hardly feel guilty or anything, since I spend so much time on Japanese.

My friend and neighbor who was in my training group has moved back to the States today. I was kind of bummed out, as this now makes zero white people or friends in my building - not that I have anything against my Japanese neighbors, but they are all really shy - and Dayn has been here for the exact same duration as me. Watching people disappear, and soon watching new people pour in, as there is a new training group starting this week, is certainly odd. I don't really know how to describe it.... maybe a dual axis. The world is spinning fast enough around me - I live in Tokyo for pete's sake - but relatively speaking everything stays still. I stay still. And people come into my sphere and leave almost haphazardly, whilst I go about my business. It's disorienting in a way, and I fail to see how anyone could get used to this.

It was quite a shock to be in Nikko, in a place where trains run only once or twice an hour. I'm used to every 3-7 minutes. I'd been thinking for a while how much of a pain this city can be, and how I subtly wished for a quieter life in the country, but this really opened my eyes to the reality of how boring country life appears to be. It looks gorgeous on the surface, but in comes the feeling of being trapped out in the countryside.

Here is where all the opportunities are. Here is where I am employed, have a band, and have a few cool friends. So I should be happy here, for the time being.

I've almost learned to write 2000 kanji. I can taste impending victory. According to Anki, my friendly flashcard study tool, I've spent 2.59 days on this deck of cards. (I have others...) 12,052 reviews, counting each time I reviewed each card. !!

My teacher noted today that I'm making less mistakes than before with my grammar practice. And I'm noticing things like comics becoming gradually easier to read, and sometimes I can go through quite a few sentences of Japanese text without needing a dictionary. It's like all I needed was this vacation and a few days off to really look at the progress I've made. Still, gotta keep the motivation up, and pass that JLPT2 test in December. Or die tryin!

There is one F.I.D. show planned, though it isn't until January. It's a long ways off, and probably there will be something before that. We are close...

I am close. Closer to comprehension of a foreign language, closer to finally playing a show, closer to breaking through this stage of my life.

"It was always worth it, that's the part I seem to hide." - Modest Mouse

"Uuugggh.... Turn that treble up!!" - Loss of Reason

"You wanna see pissed off? I'll show you pissed off like you've never f**kin seen!" - Burnt by the Sun

"Now that's hardcore"

Hardcore has become a label for a subgenre of somewhat trendy music. The idea came from separating it from radio-friendly trash or wanna-be hair-bands in the 80s though. I forget where I heard it, maybe the "American Hardcore" documentary, but it was something along the lines of: "Yea, you'll like this band, they're really hardcore." Hardcore punk just means real punk. Not something with an image for the sake of it, not a cash machine, but something you feel with all your heart and do because you love it.

I've come to realize in years though that the line between faking the punk and living hardcore is not so black and white. Tonight, I went to my first hardcore show in almost 6 months. That's amazing, because back home I used to go to a show almost every weekend - granted I cut it down to once a month, once every other month at times - but I'd been steadily attending shows and "part of the scene" if you will ever since I was 17. And in fact I'd been going to shows since I was 14, but not having a car or money can be a surprising hindrance on making it to gigs.

Anyway, I must have seen over 1000 shows if I add them all together. Tonight was something like my 7th or 8th in Japan. I got offered a guest list spot by my friend Koba - or as I have named him COBRA - so I decided why not see some new bands. I was especially interested in Doggy Hoods, a band sounds kind of like Bulldoze and other oldschool NY hardcore bands. But I'll get to that later.

It's been sweltering, and I mean it, 90 degree heat with 90% humidity, for what seems like an eternity. I really had to push myself to even leave the apartment, but thanks to my patented Gaining Ground tank-top I felt slightly less hampered. I made the trains, and walked into the belly of the beast, downtown Shinjuku, a.k.a. Kabukicho. That's where ACB, the venue is located, and it also happens to be a district infamous for it sleaze, Visual-K acts (poofy-hair boy bands), host and hostess clubs, and even more sleaze. It oozes it. Also it's always dumb-crowded, at least 10% with tourists. I saw a line stretching around the corner and coming back again of over 100 people waiting to get into what looked like a new McDonalds. I laughed out loud, unable to control myself, at the sheer ridiculousness of it. This is a sub-rant about how, deep down, I loathe the big city and secretly wish I was living anywhere else in Japan. It's the place with the most opportunity, but at the cost of many souls I should think.

"MONEY STINKS MONEY STINKS, THIS CITY STINKS" - D.R.I.

So I got to the venue. The club, or "livehouse" if you wanna use Janglish, is 3 stories underground, my biggest qualm with the place. Otherwise its great: no security, a knee-high stage perfect for diving, and a nice dance floor. About the size of Valentines back in Albany, for you NY people. I saw 3 or 4 bands that can best be described as melodic hardcore - all interesting enough, but none of them striking my fancy. I hadn't been to a show in half a year and thought hey, I need to mosh, it's long overdue. Give me something that sounds closer to a sledgehammer breaking a watermelon in half on a concrete cinderblock, not this boy-girl makeout music. (Not that it was that soft, or bad, but I wasn't feeling it)

Then Doggy Hoods played. The sampled a rap song and walked out with custom Nike sneakers hanging by knotted laces around their necks. They all wore matching shirts with a crown design (incredibly campy by American standards but it seems to be cool here). The singer at one point busted out into a freestyle which had me laughing in tears. They had a big fat guy drinking a cola surge energy drink on the side of the stage, almost just for the sake of standing there and grooving (maybe he's a former sumo wrestler or something, I dunno but he was slapping his gut every time he laughed). They were heavy and tight, and even covered Slayer's "Reign in Blood," which I got a kick out of.

My main point in all this is Doggy Hoods were almost exactly what I expected. They played fast and slow parts, I danced and a lot of the crowd got down, it was crazy and wild and all that. But hardcore? What's passionate about neon-green sneakers? What's truely moving about wearing matching clothes and dog tags around your neck? Just like in the states, I thought to myself, it's a fashion before passion wasteland.

I've come to realize however that fashion and image is a necessary evil with any genre of music, or any band. People have expectations, and if they are fulfilled to the nines, they are much happier than they would be with a surprise 20-minute freeform Jazz odyssey. Go figure.

Even I was happy. But, I think I'm growing up. Dammit. Seeing kids pile-on for sing-alongs and do stagedives still makes me smile, but unless it's a band I'm really into, I don't feel the same passion I used to a few years back. It's like a spark that faded little by little, coinciding with the disillusion of adulthood. I think there's great merit to people singing alike words with perfect strangers (even if there's no melody, DAD), dancing and doing what feels right, just letting lose and forgetting their troubles in creative expression for a while. It goes back to our primitive roots. But the real wacky part is, like I said to one guy, almost everyone in Tokyo moshes just like people in NY! It's like Bizarro Albany where everyone is Asian!

Now that I've spoiled the brooding mood and seriousness of this post, allow me to end with an extra special anecdote or 2.

1) I pointed out to a guy in a Boston redsox hat and black shirt with Brooklyn on it the irony in his clothing, but he didn't get it. He did proceed to say "You look like Raybeez" and to call me Raybeez for the rest of the night. I took that as a compliment.

2) As I mentioned, I was wearing my Gaining Ground stuff. My buddy Koba knows em, but I didn't expect anyone else to. (Koba and the Loyal to the Grave dudes love NYHC) But I met one guy who recognized it, he even knew where they were from! ALBANY! HE KNEW ALBANY! At which point I looked to the sky and thanked God for all his good blessings. Oh, and did I mention it's really annoying how no one here has a concept that lives down the street from a parsec of a clue as to New York outside of NYC? And how I try to avoid saying where I'm from, because countless times I've gotten the "I think, New York is such big city, how do you live there?" response which makes me want to cry and scream at the same time? No? Well, that's the case.

ANYWAY, this guy knew GG, and he had seen them in concert in Canada last summer. This is a fairly local band who have only done one major tour outside of the U.S. at all, and this was a Tokyoite 6000+ miles from home I was talking to, so it made me happy. That concludes our broadcast.


"1492

can someone explain to me
why we dedicate a day
to a fucking rapist
are we that disillusioned
that we've forgotten how to read
and when we do
we look past the facts

as a whole
we refer to knowledge learned in basic education
reciting songs
of faithful voyage
and sugar coated exploration

and we continue to celebrate
and we continue to praise his name
but we look past the genocide
we look past the fucking rape


but why dont we teach our children
why do we plague them half the fact
they see a loyal captain
i see a filthy fucking rat

were cultured to be content
were brought up to abide
the aincient ropes that tie us together
are made of rotting lies

with our minds
so young
we become
so numb

social manipulation
we continue to celebrate
social manipulation
and we look past the fucking rape" - Gaining Ground

Life happens

It's 11pm on a Saturday night, and after working from 10-4 today I spent 4-odd hours studying Japanese (nice power nap included). I'm working overtime tomorrow which is a slight bummer but it's easy money and I can't turn down the opportunity. The Japanese is certainly coming along though, and while some things move slowly others show great improvements. I can quickly and easily recognize (be it in speech or reading, more-so the latter) many phrases, bits of vocabulary and grammar points which I have only learned in the last few months, which to me is pretty amazing. I think that the last 4 months of hardcore studying (and reading lots of manga) has armed me with knowledge of the language that a semester or 2 in college in America just can't provide. It's immersion at work, I just had to experience it to believe it.

The shift is quite nice. Granted my social life is taking a hit but I'm also trying to save money and limit going out for the time being. Once a week is enough I figure. I know far too many people who seem to blow everything they earn on living the party life, but that was never for me anyway. I'm serious about what I'm doing and think it will play a part in whatever I do in the future. Yah.

As the weather gets warmer, that fleeting period of sweet, comfortable temperatures and beautiful days slowly slip away, soon to give way to the rainy season and the dog days of another sticky Tokyo summer. I caught the tail end of one last year, and I am not looking forward to it, to say the least. I've heard from veritable world travelers that Tokyo summers are among the worst (thanks a lot, Global Warming and Excessive Industry!) The bugs come out in droves, everything sticks to everything else, and the only salvation is the A.C. in my room, the train, or the office. And if I had a nickel for every time I was stuck in a small room, teaching four people with a broken A.C. unit - and let's just say they ain't smellin like bundles of roses, more like businessmen who haven't showered in several days, wearing the same suit they did on their business trip to Nagoya last night - if I had that many nickels, "I'd throw them at people in the foodcourt." - Strongbad

I'm sure it gets like this in other crowded cities, but man, some people (in and out of work) just reek like a sack of old onions or various other ripe products left to spoil. I mean why not at least carry some cheap cologne or something, and spare your neighbors the olfactory suffering? Instead of smelling like a sack of sweat (and often shochuu (rice wine)) when you're standing right next to me. [/end rant]

In my case however, I've always been a bit of the indoor type, if you hadn't already guessed by my dorkish tendencies and pale complexion. So the summer for me is much like the winter in that it's an excuse to retreat indoors and do rainy-day activities. Like study or read or what have you. Yes I know it's not cool and I act like an old man, but that's how I roll. In fact I've always been of the belief, although it took time to act on it completely, that I should do my own thing without trying to conform as much as I possibly can. This doesn't mean painting A for Anarchy on my left buttocks and sleeping in gutters after huffing paint; It simply means I shouldn't feel obliged to do things strictly because they are a social norm. I personally feel like so many people get bogged down in this that they lose themselves in the process.

I do need to get to more shows, but I have trouble finding good ones on my days off (that I'm willing to shell out the 30-40 bucks for). So for any readers out there in Japan, shoot me your suggestions.

I'm currently re-reading (actually listening to an audio rendition by this stirring British narrator, thanks to one of my uber favorite blogs Audiobook Corner) Lord of the Rings, and enjoying it far too much. Also reading Dragonball and Hare nochi Guu to practice my Japanese (and get some laughs). I picked up more books lately, since I can never have enough, and although most are Japanese-studyish stuff, I did find the autobiography/memoirs of one "Milton Bertram" at Book-Off the other day. He was a well-to-do British gent who visited Japan in 1868 and again in 1904 if I recall the dates correctly, and talks about the vast changes that occurred (in a funny, if presumptuous and by current standards prejudice and uninformed kind of way).

Ya know guys, I try to think of interesting things to blog about, and worry slightly that rather mediocre entries like this one may lose people's attention, but then I remember: I'm writing this for a) myself b) my friends/family to let them know what's going on. A little mundanity isn't always such a bad thing, at least there are no shitstorms coming that I can foresee at the moment! :)

P.S. Visiting home in only 211 days! Mark your calendars.

"too much is never enough
we take more than we need
too much is never enough
our gluttony will be our demise
it's a growing epidemic
it's too late to make a change
we're taking over
we are a cancer
this is the human plaque" - Pulling Teeth

Feeba!

Chapter 5: Cedar in the Air.

The other night I wound up, by some various hair-brained circumstances, hanging out with two Japanese friends of mine from Kobe and wandering aimlessly around Kabukicho, Shinjuku's famous red-light district. The two girls' reactions were quite hilarious: "It's so embarrassing walking through here!" They say as we pass love hotels, host clubs, strip joints, and what are probably soap houses (legitimate brothels). This area of town used to be run in a more heavy-handed manner by the Yakuza, and quite dangerous; Now it serves as more of an area teeming with varying forms of night-life. This was the night before Spring Equinox (national holiday) and there were foreigners abound. Other than the usual black dudes and other foreigners (not to sound prejudice or something, but it's like 80% black dudes), out to hustle you to going into an overpriced adult club of some kind, there were foreigners, salarymen and everyone from everywhere you could think of, all out to have a good time in this ubiquitously well-known, over-crowded area. Tokyo is an exciting place to live like this, and I guess I take it for granted at times.

I escorted the two ladies to the cheap bar I knew there, but it was full up since we showed up late, having celebrated early holiday with overpriced (but non-Japanese) beer for a belated St. Patty's Day. Again, the girls said they felt weird but we turned a corner and poof, like magic, we went from perv-ville to a huge display of hundreds of colored balloons, various cheap dresses on sale and stuffed animals. One block away was the hotel district, and two more was a 20+ story hospital. The sheer abundance in such small spaces is dizzying. Japan is condensation. The town I live in is more dense and probably bigger than Albany, the capital city of New York that I am "from" (really five minute across the river). But this 100,000 person or more area is considered somewhat rural.

When there are neon signs, 24-hour eateries and 3 convenience stores in 1/8 of a mile, I don't quite call that rural.

*note to self: place clever transition here*

--

Feeba (Fever)

After the veritable breeze that last fall was, as far as no noticeable allergy afflictions, I thought I had left my horrendous pollen allergies behind with my old life in New York. You see back there, every Fall and Spring were murder on my sinuses, so I had tried everything to counter-act it, from pills to nasal sprays to allergy injections. (!!) I even brought some of the nasal spray with me to Japan, but stopped taking it and noticed no difference - good for me, since acquiring and refilling prescriptions are supposed to be a royal pain here.

As you may have already guessed, I jinxed myself hard on this one. Spring is in the air, with temperatures reaching up to 70 this week, and Japan's over-saturation of cedar-based pollens has rocked me pretty hard today. Headaches and a sore throat when I woke up this morning, nothing unmanageable, but today I earned my chips, substituting 3 kids classes in a row, 2 of which were levels I've never really taught before. 2 of them went smoothly, despite being craft-based: making playdough was a right mess but fun, and coloring Easter eggs with a bunch of 5 year olds is really no big deal. I did have a class of 10-12 year olds though who were really, really hard to get through to, like they wouldn't pay attention to a word I said and I was continually being talked over by more than one person, and I have to work on some methods to counteract this. I think they call it discipline? I call it my least favorite part about my job, since I just want to be the cool, down-to-earth kind of teacher I always enjoyed back when I was a kid, but sometimes it's necessary. More on that as things develop.

I got my new job contract! (In case you don't know, everything starts in April here, school, new fiscal years, etc.) It's only tentative at this point, but it's looking good. I have five kids classes which I think is a good number, and some closer schools thanks to management acknowledging my requests. I'm leaving some students and classes and schools behind which is a strange feeling, as it's the first time I've really done something like this. It feels like a weird situation, between me and my students... We only have a student-teacher relationship, but I really want to know what will happen to the young guy who specializes in agriculture moving to the country who I've taught since I moved here, or how the 5-year-old who I just started giving private lessons to will get on in the future. I'm so stubborn about leaving things behind, and change and all that, which you wouldn't think considering where I live, but I am.

Took a trip with some friends to Kamakura on Monday. It was a great time, getting out of the city and seeing the ocean. Pics coming whenever I get off my lazy butt to upload em. (...or I guess that would be on my lazy butt, with a camera and USB cable in arms reach).

I was experiencing some chronic wrist pain when lifting so I bit the bullet and saw a doctor the other day. I was gonna go to a hospital but my friends in Japanese class convinced me that a Clinic was better. This bears some explaining: In Japan, almost any city/town will have several Kurinikku, where you can see a licensed General Practitioner who will take care of your needs on a more personal level than a hospital. The best part is that with my health insurance, I've been getting some crazy, acupuncture-point-style massages on my aching arm for real cheap, significantly better than the co-pay back home. I've even taken to chatting my doc in Japanese, since he mostly just knows medical terms and can speak only broken English. The best part was when I mentioned moving to Japan, the first thing he says something about toilets, using an onomatopoeia to the effect of zaaaa, with an exaggerated hand motion, exhibiting some kind of function that the high-tech toilets here have, which I have yet to uncover - lazer beams perhaps?
As far as Japanese toilets, they come in two styles here: medieval holes in the floor (see: the one right outside my room) and high tech models with buttons for everything from varied degrees of flushing to personal, shall I say, genitalia-washing sprays. Haven't tried that one yet myself. Or rather, I haven't been forced into a situation where I have to.........yet.

Speaking of sound-based words like my doc's "zaaaa," they love, utterly love using onomatopoeia in speech here, I'll do a full article on it some time. It's mind-blowing.

In band news, there's no real news. Sadly our new prospective drummer Ian had to back down due to an already over-slammed schedule. So we're drummerless once again, and I'm kind of bummed, but waiting patiently. We've got some ads up but no catches yet - if anyone knows a good, grind-style drummer in the Tokyo area, contact me, ok?

I know there are cool stories or things that have happened that I'm not recalling right now, and that's a shame. I should write more regularly, but I spend more of my free time now study-study-studying. I've got kind of a "maximum-output fever" going on, and want to keep it up for as long as possible. I spend my time drilling flashcards, practicing grammar and reading Japanese comics I understand 40-60% of, with varying success. Right now reading a lot of Gantz, Dragon Ball, Bobobo, One Piece.... I also have been reading yet more Lovecraft, he's got an addicting style with his vivid, spooky imagery. And watching the hilarious music-student based drama Nodame Cantalibre, hilarious!!! (Ashleigh, you would like this one)

No point in forcing it I suppose - more of my quasi-exciting life coming soon!


"Given to the rising." - Neurosis

"I'm walkin' and I'm talkin' and I'm tryin' and I'm lyin' but I just can't get through to you! Maybe I'd be better off talkin' to a wall, cuz you aren't makin' any sense at all!" - Cro-mags

"And it's strange, but they're all basically the same, so I don't ask names anymore." - Death Cab

Aw dang yo, they don't sell Shonen Jump here!

Well, I made it. Here's how:

The flight was rough, and definitely not one I am looking forward to doing again any time too soon. This year. This lifetime. As I said before, anyone who can sleep sitting up, or in any moving vehicle with ease, I envy them greatly.

We landed in Narita, and I proceeded to customs where I had my fingerprints scanned, picture taken and bags checked, all in accordance with new immigration laws. Despite only sleeping a little on the plane and being rather out of it I did OK, got my bags and went towards ABC movers, the company that moves your bags since everything in Japan is too small for you to do it yourself. I lugged my 120-some pounds of luggage along with my two carry-ons across the terminal, only to later realize there were carts one could use to move heavy baggage. Do'h!

Then, I hit a snag. When I gave the movers my address, they said it was lacking a room number, so I thought, "I'll just call the company!" Only problem was that I hadn't yet exchanged any of my money into Yen! So I did this, then went to a pay phone only to get put on hold for about 5 and a half minutes, leaving me only 30 seconds to talk to the person in charge who basically said "we are not the housing agency, so I don't know either." Great. By this point I was frustrated, but pressing onward I went to go buy something from a stand to get more change. Seeing a magazine rack, I thought: perfect, here's my opportunity to do something I've been waiting for years to do, buy a real friggin' issue of Shonen Jump! Except, as you probably gathered from the title, they don't sell it anywhere in the airport, as a lady kindly explained to me in Japanese. For anyone not aware, Shonen Jump is "the world' most popular manga magazine," featuring the latest weekly serializations of such international hits as Dragonball Z, Naruto and my personal favorite: One Piece. Anyway, I said screw it, bought some funky energy bar instead, came back to the pay phones and called again, and after being put on hold for another 5 minutes they tell me "just tell the movers to ask for you at the guest house, and they should find you." I tried to joke with the people at the counter and crossed my fingers, but the meaning of this is completely lost on a non-westerner.

I found the shuttle and took it to my hotel; Luckily that was free! To my surprise and chagrin however, the outskirts of Narita are fairly desolate by Japanese standards and there was nothing within walking distance of the hotel to go and see. Too tired to travel back to the airport to take a train into the city, I just crapped out in my bed. I slept about 3 hours (to help make up for the near 26 hours straight I'd been awake) and went to the dining hall to eat dinner. As I walked outside my room and fiddled with the lock however, I got my first taste of really feeling excluded for being a foreigner. I heard two little girls laughing, so I glanced down the hall and two japanese girls of what appeared to be 5 and 8 were heading toward the elevator. I turned that way and the little one said "dangerous!" in Japanese, then "safe" when I stopped and let them get on the elevator by themselves. It was innocent enough, and I realize that with my height I can intimidate a child of any ethnicity, but it kind of hurt my feelings just a bit. I'll get over it, or get used to it, hopefully both.

Looking at the dinner menu, and noting all the grave spelling errors such as "red vinagered," I chose the horse meal because my friend Ian had told me horse is delicious, and I believed it! The only problem was it turned out to be fried horse mackerel, some kind of funky fish and tartar sauce, which was pretty subpar for my first real meal in Japan. I bought an Asahi beer from the vending machine because I could, and proceeded back to my room. Asahi is cheap and roughly the equivalent of Molson Canadian in the states: it doesn't taste that good, but it gets the job done. I went to take a shower, because the whole trip plus the ordeal at the airport had left me sticky and soaked in sweat, a feeling I should probably get used to for the remainder of the summer here. So I passed out again and woke up repeatedly before figuring I couldn't sleep anymore around 4:30am. I thought: "well, if I can't get to sleep and I can't get breakfast until 6:30, I'll get another beer and watch some Japanese T.V.!" This proved to be exceedingly more entertaining than I could have possibly foreseen. I will recount in list format some of the things I saw:


-A medley of J-Pop music videos, the first of which had a chorus that went "monkey monkey" in Engrish, cuing a group of 5 girls in yellow dressed to instantly switch into red monkey suits.

-A commercial where 5 female reporters made intense faces to emulate athletic expressions, then held up their mics which caught fire like olympic torches

-A hair-loss commercial that starts with an old woman sprouting a giant mole and a 2 foot long hair out of her forehead, which she yanks repeatedly.

-Olympic coverage of the American basketball team kicking Australia's sorry butt, with japanese announcers who were cracking me up with phrases like: "Damn, that black guy
is really tall" in Japanese and "Naiso shootoh!" in Engrish

-Olympic coverage of the Japanese female ping pong tournament where a girl made ridiculous noises every time she won or lost a bout; She also served by bopping the ball with her forehead.

-Some kind of imitation sumo wrestling match in which two women - one average Japanese-size, the other a classic case of baby-got-back - tried to push each other out of the ring not stomach to stomach, but butt to butt. Hilarious.

-A behind-the scenes interview with "Alien Jones," Tommy Lee Jones' character in an ongoing series of ads in which he plays a space alien who drinks an energy drink. When interviewed, he said something like: "these commercials are great, fun to make, and funny. You also get a lot of presents!" I guess he forgot about the millions of dollars-part. Whatcha' doin with all that dough, Mr. Jones?


And that's just what I can remember. Seriously, I've condemned watching T.V. for all these years but the Japanese have some quality programming, and also seem to have significantly less commercials, but ones which are actually funny and entertaining.

I took another shower, got my things together and went to eat breakfast. This was in buffet format, which excited me greatly, and was also the first really good meal I'd eaten since I went to Pancho's with my Dad and Rich the night before I left. I had: 3 eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, miso soup, salmon (not boneless which caught me off-guard), some black japanese seaweed (which was surprisingly delicious), potatoes in three different formats and some fruit salad (tasted just like the canned stuff, probably was). The things I didn't try included 5 varieties of pickles, and dried sour plums. I would have taken pictures of this and a lot of other things but I am currently lacking a camera and cell phone, not including my macbook which can do both, but is a little clunky to be whipping out and snapping photos with.

I took the shuttle back to the airport, and caught the Narita Express to Shinjuku, where I was to meet some representative from my future employers. The train ride was smooth and rather interesting, actually. Oh, and right before getting on board I bit the bullet and bought Young Jump, one of the only other manga magazine I am currently interested in - they serialize Gantz, an intense sci-fi/horror manga about people forced to fight aliens. I couldn't really concentrate on a book, magazine or my DS, because to the left and right of me was the most intense display of urban sprawl I have ever seen in my life. Apartment buildings everywhere, a person to car ratio of what looks like 1:100, huge skyscrapers in Chiba and, much to my chagrin, giant posters advertising AEON and NOVA. The former is an English-teaching company which denied me a job - they are infamous for pulling stuff like unpaid overtime and not treating their employees so great, so it was just as well - and the latter is similar huge company that went bankrupt this past year due to embezzlement, leaving thousands of foreign teachers without pay for several months. The big thing was that as we kept chugging along - the train ride was almost two hours - the sprawl never stopped. It subsided at times and gave way to some rural areas between Narita and Tokyo, but really, it is just breathtaking how many people live in such a small area. I've known this for a long time, but seeing it in person and reading about it are so completely different. I guess this is the closest I've really come to "culture shock," although it was more like a feeling of just being really, really overwhelmed.

When we arrived in Shinjuku, I got really excited: Here was my first chance to explore, on foot, a downtown area of Japan for myself. I had over 4 hours of time to kill, as I wasn't meeting the company representative until 2, or 14:00 as they say here in Nippon, so i made my way casually through the station. It was huge, and when I finally got to the proper exit, I noted something very, very different from any NYC subway: people were scanning tickets to get out of the station! Not knowing this, I had left what I thought was a worthless ticket stub on the train. Realizing I'd made a mistake, I went to talk to the nearest station worker, but he spoke little to no english and only kept asking: "ticket. Ticket. Ticket?" And signaled for me to move out of the way. I found what appeared to be an officer, or perhaps a security guard, and upon explaining to him in Japanese that I had left my ticket on the train, he talked to the station worker for me. This was where it got weird: the station guy asked me to put, in a calculator, how much my ticket was. Why, I haven't a clue, but I typed in the 3310 yen and he said "Oh, OK," and signaled for me to go on through.

I was supposed to meet someone around 2 at a coffee shop in the station, but instead of that I figured hey, why not just impress them by walking to the company headquarters myself? Then I figured I'd have some time to walk around and explore, despite the two annoyingly heavy bags I was carrying: XBOX 360 in my backpack and my laptop, wii and other things in my leather suitcase. When I saw daylight however, I realized promptly that I had never printed out the instructions on how to get from east Shinjuku station to the company location! I asked around but no one seemed to have any idea who or what my company was. I also tried several coffee shops for internet service but none offered, which I thought was strange. Aren't internet cafes supposed to be huge in Japan? I ended up snagging a map and some directions (which later turned out to be wrong) to HQ from the information office at the train station, and made my way in what turned out to be the wrong direction towards what turned out to be the wrong location. I stopped for a burger and a chance to sit down in a nicely air-conditioned place, whose premiere item was a hot dog with chili in a soft taco shell. The burger was surprisingly excellent, and the service was very friendly - something I've heard about but had to experience for myself to believe, here in Japan. Even at fast food restaurants, people actually take pride in their job, which seems to be a lost art in America nowadays.

After talking to the pleasant folks who worked there I discovered my error in direction, and proceeded to head back across a main road toward the station. However, looking to my left, I saw on a building my employers' name in big red letters! This was in a totally different direction than the Shinjuku station dudes directions told me to go, and I was lucky to have spotted it. When I got to the building, I went inside and up the elevator, despite a total lack of any signs I figured hey, I'll just try all 9 floors until I find it! I quickly discovered why there were no real indications of business locations inside the building however - the signs outside were merely billboards! Feeling a tad dumb, I went back outside and looked more closely at the sign: it had directions on it saying (in Japanese) turn right at the pharmacy and we are right there! Doing that, I found headquarters, a task which amazed the teacher sitting in the lobby. "We usually have to send out rescue search parties for new teachers," he said. This made me feel rather happy, and I proceeded (there was a lot of proceeding done today, let me tell you) toward the personnel department, where they offered to take my bags off my hands, and told me to come back in a few hours. I knew I was early, so this was no surprise. I asked the trainer who escorted me out about any internet cafes, and he said try Tully's and Excelsior. The former had no wifi, and at the latter I asked in Japanese "can I use the internet with my own computer here?" The girl said yes, but as it turned out, after I got my coffee and settled into a nice, comfy chair with a fresh butt-print, she didn't really understand what I was asking, because there was no wifi. Sigh.

So, here I sat for a good hour typing out this entry and sipping on coffee - this place has a nice atmosphere, and now that it's lunch time it's packed with people on break, with light Japanese lounge music in the background, various conversations and the ubiquitous odor of cigarette smoke, a smell that I will have to reacquaint myself with. Let me elaborate: In New York, there were laws past in the last 5 years banning smoking in bars. Smoking sections in restaurants have been disappearing steadily in recent years due to the controversy of second-hand smoke as a cause of cancer. There is evidence going both ways, and in my opinion, the law did more to hurt American businesses than it did to protect American health, although not smelling like smoke after coming home from shows was a big plus for me when I was 18. Also, I have never puffed a tobacco cigarette in my life, nor will I ever.

In Japan, smoking is everywhere. I believe the rate of smoking amount males is something like 55%, which is one of the highest rates in the world. From what I understand, information regarding the safety concerns of soming were not released to the public until the 80's. Crazy.

On a completely unrelated note, one of the girls who just left the cafe had a bag that said "I am not a plastic bag" on it." My oh my, the wonders of Japan.

My laptop is about to die, so that's all for this entry. Hopefully I can get it posted on-line soon. じゃあ、みんあでさよなら！~ Well, later everyone!

--

That was my entry written about 10 hours ago, completely intact save some spelling and grammar corrections. The rest of this day has been, how shall I say, B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

After I left the coffee shop, I had some overpriced rice at a local shop, and asked the lady who worked there if there was a "Supaa" (Supermarket) nearby. She said yes, and when I asked her to repeat the name of it again she was kind enough to write it out for me. Upon my arrival there, I bought a few light items that wouldn't add to my already annoying load: Bread, Tabasco, bananas, pocky, and some dirt-cheap tuna rolls. I still had some time to kill before I was due back at "work" (hard to call it that yet, considering I'm on unofficial vacation until I start training on Tuesday), and I found a record store called "The Warehouse" that was advertising itself as punk/hardcore, so I checked it out. To my surprise, tons of vinyl there - sorry Rich, as much as I hate to admit it, records are coming back big and strong worldwide. I found a cd I actually wanted for $5 in the used section: Engineer - Suffocating The Artisan, actually the only cd by them I didn't yet own. Score!

Finding my way back to HQ, I was waiting by the elevator, sticky with sweat and using a free hand-fan with my company logo on it, when I realized I had trash in my pocket obstructing my ability to reach important things, like money. I saw the trash was just outside behind a door, so I opened it up and sure enough, there is my future boss holding my bag at the bottom of the stairs, next to a guy who must have been 6'5". He was an Australian, and as it turned out was leaving the company after 5 years of employment. A lot of hellos and goodbyes this time of year, I suppose, old faces out and new faces in. After being pointed in the right direction of my future home, Tobu-Nerima, I proceeded- Sigh. I proceeded to stop overusing the word proceeded. I hopped the trains and, after some confusion at the transfer point which involved me talking to a station attendant with the most high-pitched, squeaky voice in the possible history of all station attendants, I made it to Tobu-Nerima.

Now, I was supposed to be there by 3, but I arrived around 2:20. "No big deal" I thought, "I'll just go call this guy from the housing agency that I'm supposed to meet and tell him that I'm early." When I tried his number however, it was wrong. I tried calling HQ but got a busy signal, so I sighed and walked back to stand awkwardly in front of the station exit with my two big, bulky bags, bloated with electronics. Being the only white guy around and standing in front of a main area of entering and exiting is awkward if anything ever was, and here's a few things about that:

-The man across the road, apparently being paid to hand out flyers, is one of the first people I have ever witnessed fall asleep standing up.
-I got my first mean-looking "WTF, another freakin Gaijin (Foreigner)?! In my town?" look from an older dude.
-I saw another, older guy with what looked like liver spots level 50 on his face, something out of a scifi movie (or maybe just a really bad skin condition? Gosh, I'm so desensitized)
-Upon being bored and waiting, I was lightly swinging my hands back and forth when a dull thud hit my left. Of course a little kid ran right into it, and I felt a smidgen bad. Just a smidgen though.

When 3:15 came around, I had had enough. "Whatever happened to Japanese being super-ultra punctual?" I thought angrily. Sticky with sweat, lugging my now downright aggravating bags of video consoles that I just had to bring, I went to the payphone and dialed HQ. Keep in mind that by this time, considering that each phone call is 100 yen (roughly a dollar), I had spent almost 8 bucks just on freakin' phone calls. I explained my situation and read them the number, and sure enough it was wrong, so the boss says to call back in five minutes. Lug lug back to the exit, wait, lug lug back to the phone. "Well, that bit about the number being wrong is strange, but someone will be there within the next 20 minutes. If not, call me back." Lug lug, stand. I finally decide to whip out my DS - I had tried reading earlier but so many people walking literally inches from me was far too distracting to get into Dickens - and about 2 minutes into my game my man finally shows up. I contained my irritation and he explained about a traffic jam which held him up. He also turned out to be a really nice guy, showing me around and being generally very informative. He also spoke decent English, which was a nice break for me, and he said he did a year abroad in the UK.

Much to my delight, my apartment was in a quiet part of town, in a little 3-story building. It's bigger than I expected, right next to the pisser, and I don't have any direct neighbors, just ones down the hall. There is also a sink, fridge and hotpan right in it, so although kitchen and bathrooms are shared facilities, I can do a lot without even leaving my room. After going through all the boring paperwork, details about how earthquakes and man-eating termites aren't liabilities of the housing agency, we wrapped up and I waited for the arrival of my luggage, so I could charge mein comp and get on the internet, finally. I did this, made some calls to the parents, and was starving by this time so I went out with the intention of buying something cheap, but ended up spending 1000 yen (about 10 bucks) at a ramen shop.

OK, American ramen is what, dried noodles and a packet of flavoring? Japanese ramen is pure deliciousness, and besides being made right in front of you it includes delicious broth, a slice of pork, a slice of hard-boiled egg and some seaweed. That and another Ahashi ("EKUSUTURA DORAI," as the slogan goes) had me feeling OK. I made casual conversation in Japanese with the owner, and a nice enough guy who only seemed to have two teeth that weren't black or rotting in his mouth. I felt a little offended when the owner made some kind of comment in really quick Japanese to the other customer, something probably along the lines of "who the heck orders ramen and a beer?" But I'm trying to be tolerant, really. Once I got the impression that the owner had enough of my poor Japanese and random questions about the area I scooted, and prooooooactively mdae my way home, feeling way more juiced than a man should after only one beer and a meal. I guess that stuff really is like Molson Canadian: "extra strong" should be the slogan.

Still, taking some directions I got from the housing agent dude I went to the local "conbini" (convenience store) to buy some stuff, realized just how marked up it all was, and went out instead to the 100 yen store where I got some cheap soap, notebooks and garbage bags. Next stop, despite my feeling incredibly tired was the "depatoh" (department store) where I was completely blown away: 5 huge floors of consumer goodness, making Walmart look like a friggin' mom and pop shop! I was really too tired to look for everything I needed, but found some cheap beer, fish, and the latest volume of one piece manga for enjoyment and reading practice.

I sluggishly made my way home before typing out all this in a desperate fashion before I crash out on my new bed. Plans for tomorrow include buying a TV and maybe a camera at Akihabara (a part of Tokyo famous for its electronic stores), and relaxing. Saturday, Caliban and Loyal to the Grave at Club Asia in Shibuya. Expect many, many, many more pics in the future, with the advent of my upcoming super advanced Japanese camera.

Overall, I like it here.




"It's hard to know, where we should go, one hopes to find a way and, here's a hollow place where people come, to softly hum, songs that scare you most, believe me, I'm scared enough!" - Polar Bear Club