A can, but no can opener?

On Friday night, I stayed up far too late watching documentaries on youtube of the People's Temple (900+ murdered/committed mass suicide in this cult in a small African country) and the Heaven's Gate cult. It's just really mind blowing stuff, and makes you think of how desperate some people are for answers. The real scary part is that the Heaven's Gate organization still exists today, so people are still carrying out these ridiculous beliefs.

Saturday was one a hell of a day. I got up and scrambled out the door to procure my cellphone and catch the train on time to get to work. Work was generally slow but good, and I had a student from Myanmar! Also met some more co-workers including a ridiculous prankster from England and a nice girl from Scranton, PA - you know where The Office takes place. Nothing too astonishing to report on the work front.

However, upon coming home with my new cell phone, and the sandal "purezento" that came with it, and even a package that was my new 360-HDMI kit which I was very excited to try out, I realized that I had forgotten my key in a rush this morning and had locked myself out of my room. "Fuck," I thought, "I knew I would do this sooner or later, I was just hoping for later." This was at 6:45pm, Saturday night.

I went upstairs to borrow my friends' phone so that I might call the housing agent for help (I had my cell phone but the Gorilla on it kept saying: "you need replace new battery" and he was nice enough to let me throw my bag and annoying excess clothes and such in his roomh. I called up, and was informed that the office was in Yokohama (over an hour from here) and closed, so I thought I was most likely screwed. He said he would call me back, so I waited on the roof this time, sitting anxiously by the phone.

A call back came 10 minutes later. "Yes, a Mr. Fujiyama has an extra copy of your key, but you will need to bring 5000 yen ($50) as a fine for losing it, and return it some time in the future."

"Yes, that's fine, thanks so much, just tell me how to get there"

I scribbled down directions to Ichigawa, on some train line I had never heard of before tonight out of Shibuya, and told Dayn: "If I make it back by 11pm, I'll be lucky." It was 7:20. I left wearing my white shirt, long black work pants and a pair of sneakers. I brought my Ipod and DS to stay entertained, and thought: "Hey, this really could be worse, at least it's early enough that I might still be able to sleep in my bed tonight." I was actually in a pretty good mood despite my idiocy, had 6000 yen in my wallet so I could cover the ludicrous key-loss fee, and sprinted to catch the next train. I played some games and watched some rifftrax (Troll 2, a real good one) to help pass the time.

When I got to Shibuya, a huge station much like Shinjuku, I followed the signs for the train line I needed. However, when the signs suddenly turned from Bilingual to Japanese only, I became very lost for about 15 minutes. When I finally figured out my station was across the road, I bolted and saw the train loading up and almost ready to leave. Unsure if it was the right one, I asked the station attendant if it was going to Ichigawa.

"Ichigawa?" He said. "Just a second..." So he pulled out his map and looked it over, and at the last possible second said "oh yes, yes it is!" So I jumped on the train, and got caught in the automatically shutting doors. This wasn't as painful as it sounds, and I've seen it happen to other people plenty of times, so I just shook it off and looked painfully with squinted eyes at the trainmap on the wall across from me, trying to find Ichigawa. When the next stop let some people off, I walked over and looked. No Ichigawa. "What the hell?" I thought, "I don't have time to make mistakes here!" After painstakingly searching a couple of times, I found Ichigao, and though "oh, this has to be it. I must have misunderstood the name over the phone."

Still, I was pretty nervous the rest of the ride: It was getting close to 9 by this point, and if Ichigao wasn't the right station, I'd lose any chance of catching the last train home later, which stops running around 12:30 or 1. I thought about calling the guy now, but the train was so loud I knew I wouldn't be able to hear or understand him.

About two stops from Ichigao, I noticed I had a missed call. I figured it was the housing agent for some reason, so I returned the call, waiting to hear that he had messed up and was sending me to the wrong place. As it turned out, when I plugged my one ear and was straining to hear, I couldn't tell if I was hearing English or Japanese.

A jumble of sounds. "...Ben, this is Dayn. Kojima gave you the wrong number."

"You are a lifesaver," I said in earnest. He proceeded to text me the right one. Lucky me, I have a solid upstairs roommate.

I arrived not 5 minutes later at my final destination, and called the man up. He showed pretty quickly, and much to my delight had a copy of the key for me that he had made for ¥42o, instead of what I thought would be a ¥5000 penalty charge for a key that I would have had to return eventually! I thanked him several times, gave him a ¥500 coin and told him to keep the change (probably the closest I will ever come to tipping in Japan). I was in a good mood for the rest of the night, and when I got back to town an hour and a half later I bought some beer, milk and bread, and arrived at Dayn's door doublefisting Asahi's and saying: "Well, I guess I was lucky."

As it turned out he was watching some One Piece so we did that and I happily reflected on just how bad this night could have turned out, all things considered.

Nothing good stays that way though, and as you may have ascertained from my previous post, I felt pretty shitty yesterday. I've come to find though that everyone has those days, wherever you may live and whoever you are, so that's really nothing special to report.

That said, here are a bunch of pictures from the show though, starting with Fuck on the Beach:





Maybe my favorite band of the night, and not just because the guitarist kept busting into Megaman music in between songs either! Die you Bastard!










And this is all backwards, but here is the opening act, BROB:

I think you can get an idea of how crowded it was, and how smokey it was from this picture.

Rick ta Life follows me wherever I go?!

:)

So unfortunately I didn't see 324 - I left during the band Motiveless because it was too packed with too much smoke and there was no re-entry. It really was a good grind show though. And now I'm sitting around on my day off, just taking it easy. I'm watching some NFL games, and the Bills are looking REALLY good this year, that QB has been nearly flawless the past two games. The next Jim Kelly, perhaps? I also played some Lost Odyssey and basked in the glory of HD gaming, even though I got frustrated and quit after 3 hours without saving because I was stuck, heh. And, I've been reading Harry Potter. I've caught the bug after all the books came out, so I just download ebooks and audiobooks and can glut them all at once.

If the internet was a lawnmower woman, I would totally get with her.

"Good night, good morning, good evenin', good whatever-it-is" - Fatman Scoop

Wait, so why am I here?

I asked myself this question a couple of times today. I am idly pondering what motivations I can chalk up to moving to Tokyo... and coming up not blank, but feeling like I am not properly understanding myself. So much of the American perception of Japan is pop-culture, outdated or complete fiction: There are no ninjas, no giant radioactive monsters, and no dragon balls to be found here. There is a good market for teaching English as a Second language, sure, but I would never move strictly because of a job opportunity. I have always liked to think of myself as above just living for a paycheck, and although I've felt the desire to teach bubble up inside of me over the years, this was not originally on the agenda at all. I don't even think I heard of JET until I entered first entered SUNY Albany, which would have been roughly 3 years ago this month.

Recountable motivations: Career, independence, pop-culture/technology, possible love interests (just to be completely honest).

Did I get what I expected? To an extent, yes. I have the freedom of living on my own for the first time, and not 10 minutes away from my parents' house either - I don't know that I could get much farther away from everything I ever knew without being in Outer Space. I have access to the pop-culture, and I've already amassed a collection of about 15 volumes of various manga at used book stores. I'm hopefully going to walk away from this with an improved understanding of the Japanese language, but of the culture? Well, I don't really know about that. It could be like studying philosophy on a Graduate level, and you would just end up more indecisive and confused after the fact; The idea being that just because you have access to something greater than you does not mean you can even begin to fathom understanding it.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here, I believe I just wanted to capture how I'm feeling right now. Today was my day off, and I went to a show where there were so many people, and so much cigarette smoke in the air, that I had to leave early and miss the last 2 bands. I hate the smell of cigarettes, and the place was so rife with it my eyes burned and my clothes stank afterward. I missed that wonderful smoking ban we have in New York, and the huge, paradoxical movement in the U.S. right now against smoking. In NY, one of the most expensive states in America, cigarettes are now roughly $7.50 a pack. I hear in Australia and England they are up to $10-12 a pack. In Japan? $3. No wonder people smoke like chimneys here, it's cheap and it's the only legal addiction they have besides alcohol and caffeine.

So many things are backwards from what I know that I felt an unquenchable desire for reprieve today. After 10 hours of being awake I felt very tired. I'm going to read a book and just reflect for a while, or keep myself from thinking, that would probably be for the best. I wonder what will become of my love/hate relationship with this country, and nobody knows but those lucky Tralfamadorians in the 4th dimension.

CD of the week - Caitlyn Bailey - Fuego!

As promised, I'll be reviewing different styles of music - predominantly metal, hardcore and punk - from different places all over the world. This week's band is Caitlyn Bailey from Region XI in the Philippines! I stumbled across this band the other day and was really impressed by their chaotic culmination of unpredictable grind-parts, rhythmic breakdowns and massive crescendos.

The bottom line here is that if you like old Converge stuff that was short and sweet, like Locust Reign for instance, you'll like this band. The vocals are reminiscent of old Jake Bannon screams, and the final track "Object Permanence" really shows the bands ability to step outside of just the heavy and chaotic sphere.


Myspace: Caitlyn Bailey - Download Fuego!

Worldwide Hardcore

Today was another good day. It wasn't easy, but I earned my keep, so to speak.

I woke up to the sound of a knock at my door. It was the postman with a package that needed to be signed - my bank card. Now I can put money somewhere besides the bottom of my mattress, score! Then I went for a quick jog, because I've been feeling kind of crappy not exercising at all the past few days - I mean, other than the mile or two of walking I do everyday. Afterward that, I threw on my sandals and made for the train. I had a few hours before work, but I needed to go to the town ward office to get my official "Alien Registration Card." This means I can do many things, including get a cell phone tomorrow! The trip was rather painless, and I watched an episode of Pete & Pete on my new used 160gb Ipod! I have wanted one of these things for so long, I splurged and bought it yesterday. It should make riding the trains that much easier - I usually commute 45 minutes to an hour everyday, including walking and transfer time.

Work was work, here are a few highlights:

-A few more really fun and motivated high level students with whom I talked about the mind and soul, some recreation of the "big bang" in Geneva this week, and the concept of an inner struggle.

-A few noisy little girls breaking into the teacher's room in between classes (we get 10 minute breaks) and yelling at the other teacher: "Gum please!" Over and over again. It was really cute and funny. When said teacher explained that I had the same name as him, the one girl pointed and said "Ben paatoh one and Ben paatoh two!" It was very cute.

-A very excitable and demanding student who, as I had been previously warned, likes to jump from political conversations into conversations about nuking North Korea. This was with two other students in the room, and they became immediately as uncomfortable as I did. I promptly changed the subject, using the power of AUTHORITIIIIIEEE.

-Talking to a few of the Japanese staff in Japanese, and getting to know them a little better. They work ridiculous hours - 40 a week plus unpaid overtime, very common in Japan - and get paid really crappy wages.

-Finding a Subway only a block from a school I'll be at twice a week. I hadn't eaten turkey, roast beef or ham in a month! It's like $5 for a 6 inch, but completely worth it. I also had melon soda, which is like ecto cooler meets mountain dew, without caffiene.

Finally, on my way home I ran into a white guy with tattoos waiting for the same train as me. I sat next to him and started a conversation. As it turns out, he's a hardcore/punk straightedge dude, originally from Poland who landed a job working at a private school teaching Art to kids. He talked about seeing the Promise every time they came to England. and how their founder and the current bass player in Terror is a really good friend of his. Ridiculous. He also lives in the same town as me, which is almost downright bizarre. We talked about various NY Hardcore bands, some of which were too old for me to even have heard of (Antidote ring a bell, Scott J? Zach?), and I got his number so we could hang out some time. He has apparently been all over the world, which I find to be really fascinating.

Anyway, that's my day in a nutshell. Tomorrow is work at some random school, probably subbing for someone, and then Sunday and Monday are days off! Possibly not for long though, as I may pick up extra hours to earn some extra cash. We shall see.

And Sunday is a grind show, which should be hella fun:





"A means to an end? Good night my friend. Was I right or wrong to trust no one?" - Dead Hearts

Look out the window of my Color T.V.

With the end of training, and work beginning, we've finished chapter 1! At this rate, I might not get bored and stop writing before this is all over!

Well, don't hold your breath.

My devout reader and good friend Richard made an inquiry in my last post: "How big are your classes?" Well, so far they are mostly 1 on 1. Standard classes can be as big as 4 students, and soon I will be teaching special 80 minute classes to 7-10 students. Today was a day very heavy with "man to man" classes, and a slew of different types of students: Everything from the "nervous newbie" to the more rare and very fun "pro at English dude."

Nervous newbie was a young guy who said he DJed for a club. I thought this was really cool, however his English was not very up to par. He definitely wanted to learn, but kept getting very flustered and almost panicky, even though I tried to calm him down. I made a mistake or two myself and got him to laugh about it, so I think that helped. He also offered to get me on the guestlist of a nightclub he DJs at on Saturdays - supposedly to a thousand people every night! o_0

Pro at English dude was, well, a pleasure and a relief to talk to. I didn't have to grade his level at all, I could just talk as I normally did, even a little faster and more difficult. We had no real lesson plan and 80 minutes to kill, so we talked about anything and everything, including the philosopher Kant and his having to read his works in original German in college. Crazy. The best part for me though was at the end, when I invited him to say whatever was on his mind, and he asked me how to get better at English. I thought about my Japanese classes, and one of the first things that my wise and benevolent Sensei had taught me: it is easy to "plateau" after a few years of learning a language.

Plateauing is the concept that learning a language is a lot like building an upside-down pyramid. When you first start off, you learn very simple basics, which are widely applicable. Also you learn common words which you can use quite a bit. However, the farther up you go, the more freedom you have to choose which direction to go in, and where to learn more. This freedom is can not only be wonderful, but terribly stifling. The more academic or "obscure" you get in the far reaches of the linguistic universe, the more it can seem like you have plateaued at your current level, and can't get any better. I have sort of experienced this with Japanese, but nothing close to what a 20+ year student of a language must feel. That being said, it made me really happy that I could explain to him why he was getting frustrated with his English, and I told him a possible solution: focus on one specific area, and hone your language there. So next week we are either going to discuss a wordy article related to literature, or something very political with a lot of thick, governmental language.

Today was very mentally exhausting, but I do love my job. Again I met more friendly co-workers, both teachers from all over the world and Japanese staff members who were more than happy to practice their English in brief intervals with us. I tried to retain as many names as possible, but I'm not very good at that.

And finally, I leave you all with an advertisement that was plastered in copious amounts all over the subways until last week:

"For that job, isn't rainbow BOSS coffee delicious?" - Tommy Lee Jones

And I have to answer, like so many canned coffees, it is addicting and sweet, if only served in ridiculously small amounts. To save cash, I travel with my thermos full of black coffee, always.

"I wanna live in a city
with no friends or family
I'm gonna look out the window
of my color T.V." - Modest Mouse

"You are from New York? oOOOOOoooOOOooo!"

I'm just too exhausted to type out my story, but in a few words my first day of teaching went better than I could have hoped. I stumbled here and there, but all of my students were fun and really interesting, a pleasure to teach. I even had a few ask me if they could have me next week too! I also "sold" a new student into joining which made me feel pretty happy. In my lessons, I talked about everything from International Politics to cockroaches to skateboarding to field trips. All of my co-workers were incredibly nice and helpful as well. This could be the start of a beautiful career, methinks.

I've got an ID card to get, a cell phone to buy, and an ironing board to obtain as well tomorrow, so I need my sleep.

DUDUDU DUNU DUDUDU DUNU DUDUD DUNU

THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Get mad, listen to death metal, rage down the subway

One of the best things about living here has got to be the public transportation system. It is highly amusing watching so many humans, unnaturally packed into trains everyday everyone so dead to each others' presence, unless it involves an elbow in your spleen.

I invented a new game/system for learning Japanese: Pick whatever words/characters I want to learn each day, and fill a whole sheet. This will usually involve 3-4 compounds, which are like "compound words" in English except with kanji (Japanese characters), so multiple pronunciations are prevalent, and meanings are rather non-literal and unintuitive. I will write each compound 15 times or so to hammer them in. Then, the fun part: Try and find them in the masses of advertisements, signs, and kanji-overload that I see everyday!

Turning problems into solutions: Pro-active Belcher!

As for the title of this post: Without going into unnecessary detail, someone/something/some culmination of both made me angry, and in typical Ben-fashion I used music as my catharsis, as my self-therapy to get out all of those "bad vibes." I mean, of course dealing with said problem head-on would be ideal and much more satisfying, at least temporally, but realistically confrontations only get you into trouble in our modern world. Not to mention that I have other interests to protect, reasons not to confront it etc. etc.. So in rationale, I am not a coward who is running from my problems, or a kid who hates his parents (I love them dearly in fact), I just really like heavy music.

No, that sentence is misleading: I like music that fits my mood. Sometimes, the music can shape my mood. Other times, I need it to conform to me. Tonight was an example of that last one, and I listened to Suffocation's "Pierced From Within" whilst storming through Shinjuku station like I had somewhere important to go. And no need to worry about that pesky road rage either! What a city.

Incidentally, tomorrow is my first day of teaching. MY FIRST DAY EVER IN THE HISTORY OF TIME TEACHING ANYONE ANYTHING PROFESSIONALLY. I'm a little nervous, but rightfully so, even though I think I'll nail it for the most part...Sometimes though, I build up my hubris so convincingly that even I am fooled, and that shallow pride is stricken back just as quickly as it was made when I realize that I was never that confident to begin with! I feel about 65% good about teaching lessons now, and from what everyone says who has been doing it for a while, after I've developed a routine in the next month, I should feel 85-90% good/great/awesome.

So.

Today also marks the point in time when me and all my fellow trainees split up. We were like a big team of naively happy newbies in Japan, and now we all go on to different schools, and aren't likely to see each other unless we plan something outside of work, which will surely happen eventually. Such is life: everyone goes their own way.

I've had so much bogging me down as of late, but at the same time I'm always keepin it as "posi" (remember ye olden folks, this is slang for having a positive attitude!) as I possibly can. I really have no reason to complain, I'm just longing for some kind of routine or groundedness in my life. I thrive on it so. Once I have that, along with the proper amount of adventures, I should have a recipe for living relatively comfortably here in Japan.


"Do you believe that you are the solution, when you're just contributing to the problem?" - End of Line.

The smell of cooked meats while running can be very distracting. Subheading: Kitamachi Town Festival! BANZAI

Tonight I was running down the path near my house, and smelled barbeque and it made me hungry. I saw a picture of a wolf creeping up on I think a cat, with its paw stretched out, and it read: "Beware of Perverts!" (literally "be careful of bad-touchers!") I ran/walked about 2.5km which I think is something close to a mile. But that was at night, at 7:30, which must be national Japanese dinnertime, because salarymen walked through the streets toward their respective homes, and the smell of delicious food wafted through the air.

After returning home and taking a shower, I made myself some well deserved dinner. I fried up some salmon and pork links and put it over some rice with carrots that I had prepared earlier:

The facts are out: I can actually cook!

And now I am going to become unstuck in time and travel backwards, in honor of the late Kurt Vonnegut and his amazing writing talents. 32 hours ago, it was around 2 in the afternoon on Sunday, and I was enjoying a day off after having to go to Shinjuku for training 6 days in a row. I was finally sitting down with my Japanese textbook when I heard the clacking of wooden objects and whistles, along with an organized chanting coming from somewhere outside. I thought it must have been a dojo or some big martial arts thing or something, but the sound kept coming closer, turning into a huge crescendo of: "CLACK CLACK WHISTLE OYAAH CLACK CLACK WHISTLE OYAAAH!" It got to the point where the sound was right outside, but I couldn't see anything since my street turns at an obtuse angle and many building obstruct ones vision. At this point, I grabbed my camera and sprinted out the door to see just what was going on.

When I got to the bottom of the street, I saw a stand with green beans/lima beans/asian beans of some kind in a bowl, popsicles and beer and cups all laid out with a few attendees at the bottom of my street, which is a T intersection. On the opposite side of the table were at least 60 or 70 people in purple, ceremonious robes, all sounding jovial on that beautiful Summer Sunday. Here is what it looked like from that angle:

The sound had stopped, and so did the cameraman.

A massive feeding frenzy!

"ONE BEER OVER HERE!" "POPSICLE!" And various other cries I didn't understand immediately replaced the clacking, whistles and OYAAAHS.

At this point, I knew I had to get a better angle, and not wanting to be incredibly rude and disrepectful (which I already felt I was doing by invading this bubble of pure Japanese culture with my foreign presence), I didn't push my way through the crowd, but went the long way up the street and a few blocks over and back to see things more clearly. On the way, I met a man who was blocking off my street for the festivities, and we had a conversation that went something like this:

"Uh, excuse me, but what is that over there?"

"That is Kitamachi's town festival."

"Oh, really? Cool! Do you know what it's called?"

"Well, not really, sorry."

"That's OK, um, how often do they have it?"

"Twice a year."

"Thanks!"

So, even though I don't know much about the traditions of festival-related details, I extrapulated that much from the random road-blocker-guy. And, when I finally reached a good vantage point, I became unstuck in time again, slipped back into the present moment and said to myself: Enough with the descriptions and words and such, just show them.

OK!












It's not obvious from the pictures, but whatever that "ark of the covanent"-looking thing was in the middle, they began dancing around with it and moving down the street again. They had apparently only stopped at the T-intersection for a snack break at a preordained stand.

So, that was random and cool, and it really brightened my day. Afterwards me and my house-mate Dayn went exploring the town, where we found a bunch of cool stuff that I didn't know existed, including: An arcade, a video game store, a big used book store, a gym and a pizza place. Awesome! I bought HD cables for my 360 too, mwahahahahaaa...

And that's about it. Thanks for reading, and to close, here are some pictures from the roof of my building, which is only about 3 stories. Still, it gives you an accurate, if somewhat miniscule, idea of the clusterfuck of Urbania which surrounds me. Check it out:




"This isn't me, I never asked to feel this way. I can never justify why every dream has to end. The morning's coming, so now we're falling, in and out of things we've said, in and out of dreams we've let die!" - Dead Hearts.

P.S. A few extra shots from Karaoke last weekend, courtesy of my new friend Claire:

Language is the liquid that we're all dissolved in

At my training yesterday, I noticed that I was starting a class on 9/11, and I said to the trainer (who was from Canada):

"9/11, never forget bro."

"Forget what?"

"..."

So maybe it's just my cultural ignorance showing here, but I thought 9/11 was a big deal to everyone, not just to Americans, right? Somehow it makes sense though, since we've had these numbers shoved down our throats and upon them a foundation of lies and propaghanda has been built, so the tower of lies is in much more recent memory to the world as a whole than its initial base. Fair enough but still, to think that people don't make the same association with 9/11 as I do is a bit unnerving. I mean, I lived only 180 miles from NYC when it happened, and my Mother was only about 80 miles away from there when a giant plane smashed into a huge building, both full of people. Shit is bananas.

But I digress.

So last night, I went out to a shindig to which I was invited to by some of my co-workers. I left around 7:30 only to find out that it had begun torrentially downpouring a few minutes before. By the time I got to the station, despite having my umbrella out, I was pretty soaked. I actually took off my shoes, took of my sucks and rung them like washcloths. Must have been a good cup of water in there! Using my quick wit and McGuyver-like skills, I wrapped the socks in my handkercheif which I put in a small plastic bag as to keep them from getting my shorts any wetter.

So after about an hour of travel I made it to said party, which was in Shimokitazawa, a hip spot in Tokyo where I saw Melt Banana two weeks back. However, I would have rather gone to a show. The bar was packed, hot, and just reminded me how much I generally don't like bars. The music was unnecessarily loud and not very good, the beers were minimum $8 a pint, and as much as I like Guiness, that is just absurd. So after saying hi to everyone I knew there, me and a few of my friends split, went to McDonalds for the very unhealthy but satisfying Greasefest 2008™, and went our separate ways. Kind of a lame night, so I thought I'd share it with you! :)

Daily J-Fact to the Rescue! Bread here is an inch thick per slice, I kid you not. They sell loaves of 8 slices, and it's got a strange texture to it. Wheat products are also really hard to find.

In other news, according to Japan Probe, the Japanese are incredibly interested in Sarah Palin, McCain's new running mate. This interest is a mirror of their fascination with Hillary Clinton though, and has nothing to do with issues of health care or pork-barrel politics in the States, so much as the fact that they are women running for the oval office. Huh. I guess since Japan does tend to maintain that "women should be barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen" motiff quite strongly in contrast to feminism-liberated America, it would be interesting to them. Still comes off as a bit odd to me.

But what isn't odd here, really. I heard at weddings they use dry ice machines. ?

I'm going to clean my place up today, and possibly explore town a bit with my friend Dayn. That's all for today, going to see a crazy show next weekend so hopefully I'll get some good stories for ya.

Me and some other trainees, fulfulling Gaijin stereotypes such as being loud and boisterous.

"I've been affected by your lies and I've let that hold me back, I wasn't thinking for myself, I wasn't living for myself! I will not be a victim, I'll choose my own!" -Hatebreed

CD of the Week: Loss of Reason - the Nightmare Ages

Today's CD of the week is dedicated to some special friends of mine from Virginia Beach, Virginia, who've worked hard for a long time to produce what is easily their best album yet. The Nightmare Ages is their third CD in the last 6 years, and it is a 7 track EP that is chock-full of catchy riffs, gutteral but comprehensible vocals, and solid drumming.

This release strikes a note with me not only because I've seen this band go from a sloppy Every Time I Die knockoff into a tight metalcore quintent with their own sound, but also because this is yet another band who has not received any kind of real label support, and are therefore generally overlooked. The music is passionate and real, and subscribes to no genre stereotypes like the infamous "chugchugweewee" trends of Norma Jean or the Acacia Strain. That being said, there is plenty to mosh to on this record!

Another highlight of the band is the singer Ian's witty lyrics. Song titles like "Hit by an Oceanliner" and "Blood Bath and Beyond" should tip you off that this isn't just your standard generic and cliche' lyrics - this guy actually has something unique to say. The dynamics of said lyrics also range from positive to very negative: "Everything will fail...I know how the world will end" vs. "Take every chance that you get from life." The schizophrenic nature of the lyrics is personally a big plus for me, and give the music a kind of depth most bands just lack nowadays.

In summary, this band is a must listen for fans of non-trite metalcore. With such an implosion of copy-cat bands over the last 3 or 4 years, these guys are a breath of fresh air, and even manage to do something which is damn near impossible in this day and age: be somewhat original.

My Rating: 8/10

Listen!

Everyday I wake up, drink a bowl full o' honey and let the locust fly in

Good morning from the Future, Americans.

It's Saturday over here, and I have just set up my new fan, which is tiny like everything in Japan. I bought an iron the other day that's about a foot by a foot, and my coffee maker is only a foot tall as well. Even containers of shaving cream, soap, spaghetti sauce, everything is miniature here! For better or for worse....

I am almost finished with job training. This makes me excited not only because I start teaching on Wednesday, but also because I don't have to role-play as a 6 year old anymore during the other trainees' demos. Yea, it's weird, but that's how we practice before we do it for real. Go figure.

I'm still trying to squeeze my pennies (yennies?) since my first paycheck has about a 6 week delay, but it's hard in a country like this. Especially when your bosses and fellow staff invite you out for 200 yen ($2) beers after a long hard day. Work hard, play hard, that's how the Japanese do things.

Small size! Efficiency!

Speaking of small, I'm still a little freaked about doing kids classes but LUCKILY I only have one per week (I know people who've gotten 4 or 5) and I have a bunch of more advanced ones which makes me exceedingly happy. I can in fact hear a little girl yelling "HIDOI! NEE NEEE!" ("No fair! Waaaahhh!") outside my window right now, hah. Anyway, what those advanced classes mean is that I can actually use all that crap I learned in college for my job! Who would have thought I'd be doing anything with an English Bachelors besides managing a Starbucks?

Y tu, brute?

Speaking of money, I got an offer to get paid about $120 for 2 hours of proofreading and correcting an article from Japanese into English using an automatic translator. If you don't already know, automatic translators are incredibly flawed, especially with Western -> Eastern languages because the differences are incalculable. Asia is the place where my English knowledgde comes in incredibly handy.

That being said, I really ought to study more Japanese. I took two years and can speak OK, but there is so much written stuff I don't understand yet, and it's frustrating! Once I get into a routine, I will study everyday and get better!... Or just become another English teacher who gets comfortable and stops trying. One or the other.

What else what else.... nothing really. I'm going to enjoy my weekend by relaxing and resting my throbbing feet as much as possible. Walking miles in dress shoes and a full suit in the middle of Summer can really get to you. But first, I have to go to work for an hour. Yarg!

Until next time hombres


"Be bop a lou bop a wop shamoo and Domo Arigatoh if I got to!" - Clutch

Today i became an official non-fan of "ume" sour plums

Hello again. It looks like people are still reading, so I'll keep on writing.

Keep on keepin' on.

Today was overall a good day. I found out that the sour, mushy crud call "ume" is a sour kind of plum that the Japanes like to put in sushi and rice balls, God only knows why, it tastes like custard gone bad. I also had my credit card (kind of a lifeline right now) rejected at the exact same convenience store that took it yesterday, which was a scare. Luckily it worked later at the local Department store, seems that their machine was just messing up.

Weird J-Fact of the Day: To name a completely B.S. statistic, probably 1 in every 200 businesses in Tokyo takes any kind of credit card. In other words, Japan is a very cash-based country. Why? Well, I don't really know. To speculate, perhaps after the economic bubble burst in the mid-90s (they've supposedly been in a recession for 10+ years now) they decided not to embrace credit, on the fear that it might drive people into debt. Maybe it somehow violates some intrinsic Japanese cultural factor, I don't know. All I do know is that I've only found 3 (out of dozens and dozens) of convenience stores that will take credit cards. Restaurants, forget about it. The Department store, OK. Karaoke, OK. Everything else is very cash only, which is a bit frustrating right now, but I can deal.

Anyways, training was fine, quite fun actually. We were a bunch of full grown adults, role-playing as kids to practice giving them lessons. I also observed a real lesson today, which was a tad strange. For one thing, the kids definitely seemed just as wild and uninhibited as any 4-6 year olds I've ever seen before, but somehow they were slightly more disciplined. They cleaned up their messes afterwards which completely blew my mind. And they did look like a fun group, if challenging to teach.

More interesting was the gathering of Japanese mothers that I was sitting in a room with, as we all sat next to a glass window that looked onto the class. They didn't really seem too interested in what was going on in the classroom, and who could blame them? They probably watch their kids all day and night, and they pay good money for these English lessons, so why not enjoy a break? I listened to the fast-spoken chatter, a characteristic of women that seems to be transcultural: Put em in a room together, and they'll talk a mile a minute.

And if that last bit offended you, well, I'm talking about transcending culture here! If that ain't worth sacrificing Political Correctness, I don't know what is.

Most of their banter I didn't understand, but bits and pieces here and there I did. When I first introduced myself, I explained that I was a new English teacher in Japanese, and they all seemed astounded by my ability to speak. "Why can you speak such good Japanese? That's amazing!" They said, with wide eyes echoing "amazing" in Japanese several times. I explained to them that I took it in college, and had a great teacher. Whether they were impressed or bewildered by this 6 foot tall white anomoly that could speak their languages mildly well, I couldn't really tell.

Toward the end of the lesson however, I told the one Mother who was sitting next to me that she had a very cute and energetic child. The conversation went on, mostly with me speaking Japanese and her speaking English, as happens so very often in this country. The reason is simple though: We both want to practice a language that we feel we don't get enough chances to speak. The conversation was quite interesting though, and hit such topics as why I came from New York to here (money and teaching opportunities and experience), why I liked Japan, partly because it was so different from home (she echoed me on the "sooooo different!" Which was pretty funny), and eventually we even talked about the difference between Japanese and American kids. This subject was brought up by her, not me mind you. I expressed my opinion as stated earlier in this blog that, well, they just seem more disciplined here, and though American children tend to get more chances to be creative and free which is a great thing, perhaps they get too many of these wonderful opportunities. Too much to understand stability, order, etc. I explained it was a difficult thing to think about on a personel level; If I ever had a child, would I want to raise him in a more American or a more Japanese way? And I had no answer, and still don't, of course. Not like there is really such a black and white difference, but I would like him/her to have some idea of respect and values that the new generation seems to have left so in the dust. End rant.

Oh, and I mentioned how I have no younger siblings or real experience with kids and am terrified of teaching them classes, hah. But, I'm sure I'll be fine....probably.

Anyway, that was the big event of the day. I ate a "Moon-Viewing Burger" from McDonalds, simply because I had to try it: An egg over two beef patties with bacon and special sauce. Oh decadent treats. I also ate at a delicious pork place earlier today, which had some kind of amazing sauce with pork that was cooked right when you got there, with lettuce, rice and miso soup. The food people, THE FOOD. I cannot stress this enough. Food is what makes you go and what can make your body feel many different ways, and if you eat good food that's like 70% of the battle of Life, in my opinion.

I also listened to more of Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" on audiobook, and man what an intriguing read/listen. I can't believe I didn't appreciate this in High School, I must have had no attention span...although I do think I tried to skim it, and that of course doesn't work in a book where you jump through time.

CD of the Week coming next week, I chose to opt out this time around due to current time constraints.

Until next time treasured lurkers!

Love you Mom & Dad!


"Lets not praise the past, just the facts: BUILT TO LAST. Old school or the new, doesn't mean a thing if your heart ain't true"

"All mirrors hide... Failure inside
That's maybe why they take so much time

Big money lies, big lying eyes
Eyes are the soul of big dollar signs

What is the force that drives the superficial
Tell me what keeps their minds remaining little
What is the force that drives the superficial
Tell me what keeps their minds remaining...
So afraid of what they'd see underneath the fantasy
So afraid to actually SCRATCH THE SURFACE!"

-Sick of it All.

Last night in Sam's Town

Hey everybody! That has to be the longest I've gone without posting since my flight, huh. Well, what can I say, I'm a busy man. Straight to brass tacks:

Last Saturday I went out to Karaoke with a bunch of my fellow trainees. We were all exceedingly happy to get out of the stuffy classroom and into a slightly more stuffy (but much more fun) private Karaoke room! I suppose this needs some kind of explanation, since singing your favorite tunes and drinking is almost a whole different animal over here in Nippon.

Even though I've never participated in it much, if it all back home, I can tell you what Karaoke is like on a Friday night at a bar in New York: People singing terrible country and pop songs you don't want to hear, along with self-proclaimed musical prodigies who just never got their "big break," and those people who heckle you mercilessly because you couldn't hit that solo in B flat. Basically, it sucks, in my honest opinion.

Over here, Karaoke isn't a drink-special-Thursday-night kind of deal; It's big business. There are multiple story buildings in almost any major area with huge neon signs for it: KA-RA-OH-KEH is how they pronounce it, in big, bright, phonetic characters. In these buildings, you rent a room with a TV, a few huge songsbooks with an impressive selection of both Japanese and English songs, and a food and drink menu. Like most red-blooded Westerners, we also paid extra for the all you can drink deal! Granted this was a little pricey due to us hitting the place up during peak hours on a Saturday night, but if you're willing to go earlier or later (and pull an all-nighter/fall asleep in the bar) it's actually really cheap.

So you get your room, and in it there are two mics and some random crap, in this case tambourines. There is also a telephone, and when you pick it up it instantly puts you through to the desk downstairs, where you can order more drinks, or food. Oh, the convenience! I won't get anymore long-winded than that, but I had a great time and seeing everyone sing songs they knew like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the like. It was a great time, not to mention the difficulty of trying to do Japanese songs (lyrics all in Japanese remember) and keep up with the pace of the vocals!

It's all in the hips.

So that was a fun night, and I was utterly exhausted by the end of it. The usual.

On Sunday, I was able to call my Mother, Father, and Ian over Skype, which was nice. It was my first day off since Monday so I enjoyed it thoroughly. I also found a running/biking path near my apartment, in the opposite direction of the road-with-no-sidewalk that I had been jogging on before. *Wah wah waaaaah* I was in a good mood all day, and I bought an iron and a fan from the department store, which was packed! The lady behind the counter seemed utterly amazed when I spoke to her in Japanese and told her I had come from New York last week. Sugoi yo! (Amazing!) She said.

At this point words like "amazing," "ridiculous" and "compact" are all starting to seem a tad trite though, regardless of what language they are said in.

Later on was the show! It ended up exceeding my expectations, and was well worth it despite me being so tired and feeling out of it (the intense night of Karaoke was still hanging over me, I think).

Okubo Hot Shot. Dungeon Doors seem popular around here...

Me and my friend Chris missed the first band, and in a completely normal move the headliners played 2nd! Why they do this so much in Japan, I am unsure; Perhaps they are trying to curb people who are just "too cool" from showing up fashionably late? Regardless, Defiled completely blew me away. Real technical death metal with insane drumming, real interesting to listen to, and hey, their 14-years-and-going-strong repetoire ain't too shabby either!

Shred!

"Sank you, zat was very fucking metal." - the Singer's exact words.

"Breep orp eep"

They played the longest set of the night, and I talked to a few of them afterward - they were all pretty cool. I told the bass player that they should tour the U.S., since my friends back in New York would love this stuff!

I didn't know any of the other bands, so I was suprised by the wide array of genres on just one bill. We got some Judas-Priest-Power/Hair metal dealy with Hellhound. Despite this not being my normal cup of tea, it was pretty damn entertaining. If you like Dragonforce, you'd probably like these guys.

"WAAARRRIIIAAAAA, METALU METALU WARRRIIIAAAAA"

I'm usually vehemently opposed to the fashionable side of music, but these guys did what they did pretty well!

Next up was Scarlet Garden, and they were some well-played death metal. Despite some serious shredding and solo-action from the other bands' guitarists, these guys killed it:

Shredtastic!

And finally, Concrete Experience. Yes, that was their real name. They obviously sweat bands like Pantera and Biohazard a lot, and there is nothing wrong with that! I told them I'd buy a CD next time I saw them, but I was broke that night.




The singer kept looking at me and nodding during the set, maybe because I had a Recon shirt on? Speaking of which, I complimented him on his Eyehategod shirt and we got to talking after the set; He knew Recon, but agreed that the latest album was pretty subpar. I explained that they are my friends and have went through some, er, member changes and junk... "but maybe the next cd will pound bro!"

Anyway, they were fun. What a diverse show!

There was also a guy at the show who insisted on talking to me and my friend there, despite us having nothing at all in common and nothing interesting to talk about. This was a classic case of the guy who just wants free English practice, plain and simple. I was nice in talking to him for a few minutes, but left shortly afterward. I was tired anyway.

On the way out:

Okubo. That big shiny building is a Pachinko Parlor, a form of gambling that is so huge here that these babies exist every mile or two on main roads, if not with greater frequency!

This was a fun weekend, and the last two days of training have been good to me. Oh, and after training on Monday we all had a few drinks and ate some chicken-on-a-stick (for lack of more refined Japanese terminology) along with some kind of amazing beef stew, all at a little shop down a sidestreet from a huge main road in Shinjuku. The food the food the food... Later, I went home and watched a poor-quality telesync rip of Tropic Thunder. Pretty funny overall.

For lunch today, me and several of my co-workers ate at a little Indian place. Indian and Japanese curry are worlds apart after all - and I was even informed by a Scottish member of the staff at my job that curry is the national dish of Scotland! Who knew? Anyway, this place was great and despite a small selection, they offered unlimitied naan (Indian bread) with your bowls of curry. I hadn't eaten Indian Food since I had been in New York, and it made me feel nostalgic for just a moment.

The food, people!

And, with no particular segway, it is time for the now regular weird J-fact of the day: Most restaurants have fake, plastic food displays outside their doors. Yes, stuff like this is actually supposed to attract customers, not send them screaming in the opposite direction:

Um...yummy?

Sometimes, I feel lost here. Sometimes, I feel like I could take on the world because I made it here. Mostly, I just take life as it comes at each moment; The more I try to imagine and plan the future out, the more implausible such plans actually seem. Despite some routines like taking the train and walking the same routes, everyday here is unpredictable. Everyday is some kinda adventure!