OMG Japan!

...so my wallet got stolen last week. In one of the safest cities in the world.

So here's the thing. Teaching English in Japan is basically a ghetto of an industry, with the companies seeking to save money however they can. And one of the ways they do that is by calling their workers "contractors" and skimping on benefits. And by "benefits" I mean, "withholding income tax from pay checks". As far as I understand it, this is a pretty common thing in the US, right? Meaning you won't have to pay more federal taxes come April? Yeah.

So Japan's tax time is also in April, and I went to the office and filed my taxes. I was told then that I wouldn't need to pay anything since I'm in a pretty low income bracket. Looks like whoever told me that didn't know what they were talking about- last month I got hit with a bill for taxes. A bill so high it was kindly broken up into increments to be paid over the next few months. The first was due on June 30th, a Monday.

On Saturday I took the bill to a convenience store to pay it, as is normal. Took out the money to do so, grimacing at how close it put me to my budget, and took it up to the counter. But! It turns out this is a SPECIAL bill, and can only be paid at banks and post offices. Which meant I'd have to pay it on Monday, as both are closed. Well, I stuck the cash back in my wallet and vowed to ignore it until Monday.

That night, Liz and I went out with a couple others. We saw the new Indiana Jones film and hit a bar afterward to complain about it to each other. I stuck my purse under my chair, and bought drinks and snacks, both times taking only the wallet up to the bar to pay. Liz and I left around 11:30 PM to catch the last train back to my place.

When we got to the ticket gate, I realized my wallet was gone. I tried to keep calm, and sent Liz home so she wouldn't miss the train. Then I went back to the bar, and checked around the table, the floor, and the counter. It was nowhere to be found. That was about when I admitted to myself that it had been stolen, and had, well, a minor breakdown. The others that had stayed after we left helped. A few minutes later, I talked with most of the staff and left my name and number with two of them. Then we went to report it to the police station. One of the other people we were out with that night stuck around to help.

...so screwed. Holy fuck. The cash that was in there to pay my income tax was NOT money I could afford to lose. My cash cards for three bank accounts, my emergency credit card, and almost every piece of ID I have- also lost. My certificate of alien registration (fondly known as the gaijin card) - which non-citizens are NOT supposed to walk around without- gone. Basically, I not only had no cash, but I also had no ACCESS to cash.

We went to the train station to ask about lost and found items and got an incredibly rude response from the employee we asked. He didn't even try to listen. It was a real slap in the face on top of everything else.

Liz had given me money for a taxi home. I eventually rolled in the door around 1:30 AM. She had bought dinner and brought it home, she kept me calm. I tore around the house looking for my bank passbook- the other way to access the bank account in which my salary is deposited. It had been issued when I got the account and never used, since the card is so much easier to carry around. Then I made a desultory effort to call and cancel the old cards. I got through one of the accounts before crashing for the night.

The next day was basically a follow-up. We went back to the bar, the police station, the train station. We checked the Lost and Found offices of three different train lines, and decided the fourth was too far away from the actual events to be useful. No one had found it- they all promised to call me first thing if they did.

That phone call never came. But Liz lent me the money to pay my taxes- the girl is awesome. The next day, I took off work early and went down to city hall. I filed a missing card report and they agreed to reissue the gaijin card- I get it in a week and a half. I paid taxes with half an hour to spare, and I called more banks and canceled the cards. I was feeling incredibly productive and useful- it helped that I managed to confirm that the passbook got me cash, and that I'd been paid that very day.

I've even already received one of the new cards. It's stuck in my old wallet, the one I never quite got around to throwing away when I bought a new stylish one a few months ago. I get to carry around my passport until the gaijin card is ready, but that's okay. I'm doing better- it's already become a past event rather than something to panic over. Cash will be a little tighter this month than I would have liked, but I'm getting used to that.

Bottom line- crime happens even in Tokyo. Although weirdly enough, this is the second time it's happened to me since I moved here, and I never had similar problems in DC or Baltimore. It makes me wonder about those statistics, really. The ones that say crime isn't really a problem in Japan.

It's been a while! Sorry about that- I've been kind of busy. But I come with pictures of my neighborhood, because it is awesome.

( Not for the faint of bandwidth... )

The most exciting news I have at the moment is that I've been asked to translate a song for an indie rocker I know. I'm really excited by this, though also trying not to be, since he hasn't written it yet and may change his mind. But if it does happen, you all can be sure you'll hear a lot more about it in the coming weeks!

I've moved into the new apartment, and I continue to be really happy with it. I'm renting a fridge, washing machine, and TV from the rental agency, and they all seem to be new, and the TV is, well, bigger than any TV in any place I've lived in previously, which is exciting. My new neighborhood is lovely as well, and I'm really enjoying exploring it- I find new stores and stories every time.

I don't have internet access there yet, so updates may become sporadic for a while. At least, more sporadic than they already are. I'll check in from internet cafes when I can. There's one right behind my branch at work, so when I'm not quite exhausted at the end of the day I'll spend a few hundred yen there.

If there's anything really important, please email my phone or (if it's long) my normal email address, with a notice to my phone that I need to check it.

Ja mata ne!

So Monday was awesome. I got my delivery of Ikea furniture at the new apartment and put very nearly all of it together myself, with no major mistakes. luna_hoshino called around three, and we made arrangements for dinner in Shinagawa. So at five, with only one chair left unfinished, I left the new apartment, went back to the old apartment, got ready for dinner, and hopped on the train to Shinagawa.

I met Kit and her sister (who has an LJ, but I don't know it O_O) at the station, and after hilarious antics we all finally met up. We went to dinner at the Outback Steakhouse, as Kit wanted to try Japan's interpretation of America's interpretation of Australian food. I'll admit I was intrigued, but the final result was basically a delicious steak dinner, whatever country you're in.

We hung out until it was time for me to catch the train home. I have yet to miss the last train, though I'm sure it will happen some time-- I'm told the usual thing to do in that case is to find a 24-hour karaoke joint until the trains start again at 5 AM.

Tuesday was pretty quiet. I slept late, finished the last chair at the apartment, and bought a few more things for it. I also discovered that Yahoo's broadband service has lost my contract, so I need to sign up again before I get internet access in there. Lose! Shouldn't be too bad, though- I can shop around for a bit and maybe find a cheaper service.

Work has been less than exciting lately. I've settled in pretty completely. Now I'm getting comments along the lines of "You've only been here for a month and a half!? You don't seem like a new teacher!" Though really, on my first day everyone thought I was a help teacher because I "seemed so confident". I think a lot of people misread quiet paranoia...

I just bought a bunch of furniture at Ikea in Chiba. The irony of this is not lost on me. It was, however, a very pleasant experience. The store was almost entirely bilingual, and most of the staff were as well. It helped at the delivery counter, though I'm pleased to say that I managed the rest of the store pretty well in Japanese. The furniture will be delivered to the new place in a week, where I'll get to put it together because I didn't want to pay for the assembly service.

...hee, new apartment.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the whole trip. It took an hour and a half to get there on the train, but the Keiyo line which runs closest to Ikea also ran out over Tokyo Bay and past Tokyo Disneyland. The view was great, and it was nice to see more of the city than just downtown. Chiba has some nifty architecture.

***

So one member of the Japanese staff in my branch discovered I speak Japanese, and declared that she would only speak to me in Japanese from then on. This has led to a bit of blundering about, but in general it seems doable, and I'm pleased to have some one to practice with. The weird thing, though, is that she seems to think I'm good at it. My last shift in the voice room (Voice is a feature of my company which allows students of all levels to mingle and hold casual conversations together in English. There's always one teacher present, who more often than not has to keep conversation moving.) we were talking about learning foreign languages. The conversation reached the point where I had to encourage it, so I said something generic about how I thought Japanese was much harder than Spanish. And then? Three of the students at once went "Oh, but Maiko says you're very good at Japanese!"

I think I'm flattered?

Today I signed the lease for the new place, paid for the home insurance, and put down the first month's rent. I feel broke... but very, very happy.

They gave me the keys before I left the office and said that though utilities wouldn't be turned on until my official move-in date (and that's not until the middle of March), I was free to be in and out of the place as much as I wanted. In celebration I stopped at a nearby coffee shop and had the strongest cafe macchiatto ever, holy crap. I was yawning all the way to the rental office, but that tiny cup still has me bouncing. I had forgotten how strong Tokyo coffee can be. I also got a slice of chocolate gateau, which was lovely. So I was feeling really good as I left, and I decided to visit the new place on my own, have a chance to enjoy it without the rental agent there.

It was bigger than I'd remembered. And really gorgeous. And quiet. It was just... I was so excited just to stand there and think "This place is mine. I can do what I want with it." And I do have plans- I need to acquire two tables and four chairs, I think. One dining table and one computer desk. It has plenty of light- not natural light, unfortunately, but no extra lamps are needed. The bathroom has both a tub and a shower, the aircon is brand new, and the kitchen area is as well. I'm really happy with the whole place.

I finally convinced myself that I should leave the empty apartment and wander around the neighborhood for a bit. There's a shopping district not one block away from my building! I love the Tokyo shopping districts. They're also fun, full of tiny little stores selling awesome things. This place has a sizeable grocery store (with fruit for decent prices, and cheese, and sushi) and the biggest 100 yen store I've ever seen. I rather expect most of the furnishings in the new place will be from that store. I swear, it had everything.

Oh! Today's moment of Zen: Buddhist nuns shopping in the 100 yen store.

The district also had a 300-or-500 yen store, which I've never seen before. It sold things that were significantly nicer than those in the 100 yen store, though not in such profusion. I picked up two etched-glass wine glasses there, which I took back to the apartment. I may not be moving in just yet, but it's nice to think that there's something of mine in there now.

There's also a bakery, and a large pharmacy, and a tiny store that sells nothing but fresh-baked taiyaki! Four different fillings, including satsuma imo. I'm very, very pleased. There are many other stores too, and some restaurants and the like. I'm looking foward to exploring the whole place later.

( I even have pictures of the new apartment for you all. )

So things have been both really interesting and at the same time almost routine. Work is very quickly settling into a daily rut, and I'm already picking up on which students I really enjoy and which make me groan when I see them on the schedule. I seem to have strange tastes compared to some of the other instructors- I like single high level lessons while most seem to like groups of four mid-levels.

I got trained to teach kid's classes yesterday, and today I taught my first kid. Not wasting any time about it, were they? Anyway, the kid was great, too much energy but quite happy to answer questions and play games.

I've spent a few days wandering around Shibuya recently. It's really fun, though not a place I'd want to be tied to in any way. So crowded! And way, way more giant lights and neon than Times Square ever had. I went there once to hang out with friends and once for training, so over all I've had a bit of a Shibuya tour recently. I wouldn't mind hanging out there more, really.

I sign my lease in a week. I can't wait.

So the other day I woke up with a truly disgusting sore throat, though luckily it hasn't turned into anything worse. Today's a day off, so hopefully a day of doing nothing at home will chase it away. I was healthy for two whole weeks! *sighs* Well, at least my room mate seems to have something too- she called in sick this morning with a fever. As I don't have a fever, I'm pretty sure I didn't give her whatever she has, but I'm attempting to stay well away for both our sakes.
Work the other day was awesome. I had a class of four students of the highest level we teach, and those are always fun- more conversation than lesson. I started the topic of comparing education systems between Japan and the US and it... evolved.
This may sound weird? But in the time I've been studying Japan, I've been slowly developing the idea that Japanese society is facing a serious crisis. Many problems with the society (low birthrate, low immigration, women kept out of the mainstream workforce, etc.) go hand-in-hand with each other that I only see them building and building and building. In some sense, I always considered this a kind of over-the-top academia- that the problems were there, but societies as a whole tend to change slowly enough that perhaps the problems would be solved before the began to truly manifest. That, on some level, the theories of academia were two steps removed from practical application.
The more I work at Nova, the more people I meet, and I'm discovering that members of Japanese society also seem to feel this sense of crisis. The four person discussion on education turned into an involved debate over the best ways to introduce creative thinking into a school system that officially defines pi as 3, and what the government needs to do to stop the brain drain causing scientists and intellectuals to leave for China and the US. We covered the recent history of Japanese educational theory as well as the newly proposed educational reforms that might be put into action next year. All four students had something to say on whether or not these reforms would accomplish their aims.
It's fascinating to me to discover that the slowly developed sense of crisis I gained in the classroom is acutely felt in the country itself, at least among some segment of the population. But even so, there are still powerful people in Japan who refuse to see it- who refer to women as baby machines and blame rising crime rates on foreign immigrants. I don't know even if there's anything that could be done to stop the declining population even if the right people were in power. But I do think I want to be here, for the time being, just to see what happens.

So it's been a while since the last update, huh? I guess I have some stuff to update with...

Last Sunday I went to Yoyogi Park just to see what it was like in the colder weather. To my surprise, it was pretty much exactly the same. The cosplayers haunted the bridge, and the random bands were out in full force. I didn't hear any I liked enough to stay through a whole set, but I got distracted by the Gabez dance troop pretty quickly. I'd never seen their whole routine before, and they were awesome.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were my training days. They were... okay? They seem to believe in telling you a little about what to do and then throwing you in head-first, but by the end of training I was actually pretty confident. The job is not hard, and though I think some of the things the company does are a little outdated, they do make sense.

I trained with one other new employee, and two trainers who had both been with the company for a long time. They were both nice enough and the other trainee and I got along well. The first day was almost entirely lecture and observation, and on the second day they we got to teach our first two classes alone, with plenty of feedback. On the third day we taught four classes alone, which is about half full shift. While I kind of wish we had more time to prepare each lesson (10 minutes between classes) it's definitely doable, and work thus far has had only a few minor issues.

I had Thursday off after training, and I used it to visit Akihabara in search of a cheap wireless router for the apartment. Though I succeeded in finding one, I have yet to set it up properly. It's all easy up until you're actually setting up the router settings... and then it's all in Japanese. Hrm. I'll make another attempt or three before I give up, and I've been told that our ISP actually provides English assistance, so I'll probably call them as well.

Friday was my first official day of work! I like my branch office so much better than the training office, and honestly I like both better than I thought I would. All the images/video they have for applicants to check out show much darker offices than the reality. Not to mention all the criticism of the company I found online- well, I took most of it with a grain of salt, and talking to other employees made me feel better about the rest.

My coworkers all seem pretty awesome- lots of Australians and British, and all pretty out-going and willing to help the new girl. It turns out that my branch doesn't often get new permanent staff, so every one thought I was a substitute for the first few lessons. I met my branch manager today, and he's a real character, but seems like a decent enough boss.

Work is definitely, well, work. It's easy enough, but you get out of it what you put into it, and by the time the day is over you're definitely ready for it, even on the short days. But even so, it can be nice. My branch does a lot of one-on-one classes, which is apparently kind of rare, but the higher level classes are more conversation than lesson. I had one student earlier today who works as a translator, and we spent the whole lesson talking about modern Japanese literature and the reasons why the older generation of intellectuals in Japan dislike the Murakami generation. It's a fairly unstructured sort of job, and I can see myself getting tired of it eventually, but for now I'm enjoying it. I like the one-on-one classes better than the three- or four-person classes, so my branch is a pretty good fit.

Hmm... I'm not too sure what to do on Monday and Tuesday, my days off. Sleeping late so far has failed (first jet lag and then construction outside) and I don't know anyone else who's free those days yet. Well, I'm sure I'll figure something out. If nothing else, I can explore the neighborhood a bit more and perhaps get thoroughly lost in Tokyo. That's always fun.</

I've spent most of the last few days wandering around the neighborhood and getting familiar with it. There are some great restaurants in walking distance, and a rather astonishing number of grocery stores.
Last night I went to a bowling party with Jen which was... entertaining considering how bad I am at bowling. Ahahaha, man. Plus, I kept getting teamed up with Japanese people who spoke no English, so the extent of our communication tended toward high fives and "Don't worry!" At least, I think that's what the phrase is supposed to be... The highlight of the party for me was the last game, when my team had both Namine (the team that sponsered the party is named after her. All the members where wearing shirts with "Namine" across the butt. This woman is... really, really entertaining.) and a guy who claimed his name was "Magnum".

Today I got a cell phone! It is full of hotness. It has an mp3 player (with speakers) and a 3.2 megapixel camera and a GPS system and an English/Japanese/English dictionary and a radio and a bar code scanner and web access and all the other things a good phone should have. The keypad has a nice texture and the case is shiny and blue. It came free with the 3600 yen a month plan. In the cell phone race? America still loses.

Send me mail! Remove the capital letters from this address -> wReEyMrOlVaEdMyE@ezweb.ne.jp - you know you want to.

I also picked up some hangers, so I'm finally all unpacked. I think I need to find new futon sheets, as the ones Nova provides are kind of uncomfortable. Tommorow I plan to visit Yoyogi Park and Harajuku to see if anything is happening there. I kind of doubt it, as it's actually getting cold, but you never know, and I do miss Yoyogi Park.

I think I'm pretty much over any jet lag I might have had. That didn't take very long at all, but I felt fine today and slept til about 8 AM this morning, so... I guess that's what comes of having an unhealthy sleeping schedule at home.

I'm in Tokyo. I am incredibly happy to be back. I was on the Narita Express, just watching all the neon signs whiz by, and I was just incredibly happy to be there. I suddenly wasn't worried at all- no matter what else happened, I was where I wanted to be.

Okay, let's start at the beginning. The whole trip started with a bit of utter panic as, at Dulles, I was informed that entry regulations for Americans to Japan require that they have either a return or onward ticket out of the country. I have never. Heard. Of this. But the lady was very insistent- even had me paged when she realized. Said it was an esoteric regulation that people forgot about all the time. Claimed that if I didn't have a return ticket I could be refused entry and the airline would be fined some massive amount.

...man, it sounds like bullshit. But my dad was there, so at least there was no major problem. We bought a return ticket as far in advance as possible- Tokyo to Honolulu in three months, fully refundable.

The plane ride itself wasn't bad at all. I flew from Dulles to Detroit to Narita, with very little layover. Both flights I had a window seat next to an empty chair, which was very nice. The long leg of the flight had me seated next to this really fascinating woman, and we had a long conversation in fits and starts throughout the flight. I'm told I got about four hours of sleep, and the plane actually fed us three meals. All in all a pretty good flight for economy class.

Customs and Immigration were no problem. I arrived at the end of the shift, and I think both were just happy to make it take as little time as possible. I was met at the airport by an older guy in a suit and a British accent. He gathered up all of the new employees, gave us our packets of vital information (where we'll be training, where we'll be working, how to get to our apartments, keys, what to say when you want to open a bank account, like that) and then said we needed to wait a few minutes for a second flight to arrive. I took the opportunity to find the Northwest ticketing counter and get the return ticket refunded, which was no problem at all.

We finally collected everyone, and all started heading off. To my complete amusement, Older British guy pulled out a PSP for the trip. Those of us in the general Tokyo area took the Narita Express to Shinjuku, and there I was met by one of my flatmates, and suddenly I wasn't worried about that anymore.

Char and Jen are awesome. They're both loud, extroverted media fen. They love Tokyo and hang out in Ikebukuro and watch movies and consider the kitchen communal property. They seem to have friends over and in and out all the time, and what I've met of them so far I like. Jen had my bed set up for me, and Chalotte insisted on cooking dinner- then Joe insisted on cooking dinner, and Jen decided to make salad. So dinner was chicken curry rice, stir-fried fish, and salad with feta and balasamic vinegar. We warched Men in Black and talked until I zoned out almost completely, and decided to go to bed.

Jet lag had me up early, but I'm mostly feeling pretty good. The apartment has DSL, and is really rather nice. My room is the one I suspected I'd get (not the one with tatami mats, and not the one with its own balcony) but it is larger than I thought it would be. The neighborhood is really nice- I passed a lot of restaurants on the way here, as well as a rental store and a grocery store and a number of others I can't wait to explore. Things are looking good so far.

I spent the day applying for my foreigener card and a bank account, and wandering the neighborhood. It's distinctly more urban than the Tsuda area, but it's nice to have everything so close by.

I realize it's hard to reopen a journal that never officially closed, but that's what I'm doing. On July 28, 2005, I returned to the USA from Japan and stopped updating this journal. On January 17th, 2007 I will be returning to Japan as an English teacher for a full year, and will start updating this journal again. In the meantime, I'll attempt a new layout for it.

Mmm, today was excellent. Class involved giving a presentation on my kanji project, which went surprisingly well. People liked the project, and the format (I like collaging. Yay!), and I didn't screw up too badly speaking. Heh.

Lunch with some of the other exchange students was awesome,with topics ranging from Pride and Prejudice to Anne of Green Gables to Erin Brockovich to Japanese pop culture and the spread of a global culture.

Met shibbyfangirl afterward and we went into Tachikawa. She got a reentry visa, and then we decided to see Batman Begins, except it didn't start for three hours, so we ended up exploring the area. Tachikawa is awesome! Oh man, I adore Tokyo. It's just a gorgeous city in general. Tachikawa especially is awesome- it's a shopping district, and the buildings are all giant skyscrapers. There's a walking deck above street level that covers basically the entire district, on two different levels. The monorail is on a higher level again, and in general you get this impression of a city as vertical as it is horizontal, with all the buildings as interconnected on the upper levels as they are on the ground. The station is accentuated with tall swooping arches out front that only add to the effect. The area is just gorgeous. I kind of want to see a cities major walking through it, just to get their impressions.

We had KFC for dinner, because we for both hit with the same craving at the same time. Sometimes these things just happen. Also, I bought the Korean version of Gackt's Love Letter album. I'm a giant tool, as I don't even like the album... but he sings in Korean! For the whole thing! *loves* He's also lost the tonal quality that made the original sound so flat. Yay! I love Gackt's ballads. (Incidentally, the song title "ピース" is rendered in English as "Peace", so I feel that solves that debate once and for all.)

Batman Begins was excellent, though it requires an awful lot of suspension of disbelief, as both an East Asian Studies major ("What? Tibet? Ninja? Samurai armor? Whaaaaaaaaa!?!?") and a geology minor ("You're telling me a giant house with wooden foundations in a cave full of running water is still safe for human habitation 200 years later? Not so much!"). Cillian Murphy is awfully pretty, Bruce was full of angst, I'm totally convinced Random Little Boy will eventually be Robin, and the end was an AWESOME tie-in to the first movie. Yay!

We got back in time for me to show Lizzie pictures of Bryn Mawr, because she wanted to see what I was talking about when I said my school was full of castles. I ended up showing her pictures from a couple May Days and some random Spring pictures, plus my dorm room last semester. Hee, Bryn Mawr.

Mmmm, update. Let's see.

Saturday was exciting. A couple days ago, I walked into the International Center to check my mail, and Ono-san asked me if I was interested in part-time work. I gave her a cautious 'yes' and she said there was a Tsuda graduate who had to present a paper in English and wanted a native speaker to check her English. Two hours, 3500 yen an hour. Sweet deal! I told her I'd be happy to, and on Saturday I found myself on the way to the American Club.

American Club. Right. This place is a big complex in downtown Tokyo, right near Tokyo Tower. In fact, you get off at the Tokyo Tower station and walk past the Tower, its park, and several shrines on the way there. The club itself is members-only, though it doesn't actually seem to be strictly American. It has a pool, a gallery, several restaurants, and a number of other things. I was a little early, and spent the time looking at some woodblock prints in the gallery.

Fujikawa-san turns out to be a pretty interesting person. She went to Tsuda, but married pretty quickly after graduating, and spent forty years as a house wife. Now she's applied to a doctoral program, and is preparing her first presentation for it. She offered to buy lunch while we went over it, so we headed to one of the restaurants (we both ordered the same thing, which I think we both took as a good sign.)

I spent a little longer with her than we had planned, but did manage to get it done. Afterward, I took my time on the walk back to the station, taking pictures and exploring the area. It's a nifty place, great architecture. When I got to the train, I realized it was the first chance I had to see what Harajuku and Yoyogi Park were like on a Saturday, so I took a little detour.

And it didn't talk me long to find You. Hee. He seemed to have attracted some new fans, all sitting in a circle chatting with him on break. One was an American from Missouri named William who spoke no English (EDIT: By which I mean he spoke no Japanese. That's what I get for typing this up when I'd rather be asleep.) When I showed up, You asked me to interpret. Heh. I don't think I did too badly, though William seemed kind of intimidated. I got to hear You's last set for the day, we hung out a bit more, then he left. Woe!

I was headed back to the station, but I encountered a group I felt deserved a listen. Of the four members of Super Massive Star, three are from New Zealand, and they're brothers. The fourth was an extremely adorable Japanese boy. I was waved over by an older man who turned out to be the brothers' father(!), out to support his sons. They'd only been an official group for two months, apparently, but they already had merchandise, a CD, and (get this) a TV appearance. And I have to admit they weren't bad at all. They sang in English, but spoke between songs in both English and Japanese, and flirted SHAMELESSLY with the audience. They asked me where I was from, then immediately launched into a song titled "American Girl" which they dedicated to me. Couldn't help but buy their CD after that, could I? Anyway, they were a lot of fun, and I was sad when their set ended.

And I decided I had a chance to explore Harajuku and Takeshita Dori, famous as the fashion center of Tokyo. And crowded! SOOO crowded! It was fun, though. The street is full of tiny, funky little shops selling very individual clothing. Just watching the people was rewarding, too. I found a plaza full of EGL and Lolita stores, that made me happy. So pretty. Mmm, Harajuku.

Sunday wasn't quite so exciting, though still fun. Phoebe and I spent a little bit of time at the Nakano Mandarake (where I found the cheapest Trigun cel ever, yay!) Then we continued on to Yoyogi Park. It was a little quieter than past Sundays, but it did feature some odd things- action painting, for one. A guy in a full-body black outfit put on some loud music and gyrated to it as he attacked a canvas. It was... interesting. We found You at the beginning of his set, and got to listen to the whole thing. No rain this week, yay! I'm happy that he seems to be attracting more of an audience. He had two members of his band with him, that may have helped.

Dinner was a funky Hawaiian restaurant in the wilds of Kokubunji, but only because the Mongolian place was too busy to seat us. I had spare ribs and some sort of tuna and avocado construction, both very good. Also ice cream. The whole place had this very... almost touristy feel, but the sort of touristy you find in Hawaii. They even had a Hawaiian radio station piped in. KSSK, I think? Anyway, car sale ads in Waikiki blared at us as we ate. Surreal.

Tonight, Phoebe, Lizzie and I reserved tickets for a trip package to Aichi this weekend. Looks like we're going to see the World Expo! Can't wait. ^^ We figured it was our last chance to do so before the exam crunch.

There's a kimono store near the school, which sells these tiny lengths of cloth, and I keep buying them. Today, I bought about a meter of the most brilliantly blue silk I have ever seen in my life. I don't even know what I've going to do with it. It has some small stains, and there's not enough to use in a costume or anything. But it's just utterly gorgeous. It's the sort of thing that makes everything around it look faded and pale, and it defies cameras. So pretty.

Yes, this is an entry about cloth.

Aww, today was fun. Started with sleeping in til three, then lazed around for a bit, wandered into town for some food. Then it was time for Jini's birthday party! We ended up going to a sushi restaurant- conveyor belt sushi was 100 yen a plate. Ahaha, I love those places. You could even order something specific from the chefs. Good stuff!

Afterward, we had a roof party. I brought my computer, Denise brought her iPod, Lizzie brought her speakers, other people brought food, blankets, candles, and drinks. Man, Japan has the best girly drinks ever. So we had a party on the roof with music, food, and drinks by candlelight. We had people there from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the US, and Australia. Alaine even brought out her bagpipes for a bit. Fun conversation was had by all. And afterward, fireworks in the park. Good times. I'm going to miss the people here.

Today was awesome, but for the fact that we never met up with Jes. We were supposed to! But it simply wasn't meant to be. Around 11:30 we headed into Ueno to await her phone call, with the thought that it would be closer to her hotel. In the mean time, we wandered around the general Ueno area, which is full of fun stuff. I ended up buying a yukata... I'm not entirely sure how that happened, but hey! I have a yukata! It's pretty, all dark blue with a flower pattern (Bryn Mawr!) The obi is plain white, and the cording seems pretty simple. I even got a fan to match. Don't have any sandals, but I'm looking for a good matching pair that fit my big gaijin feet. Eeee, kimono!

Lunch was found at a place called the "Freshness Cafe". Yes, the name alone won our patronage, because it made us laugh. It was excellent, though. They offer, and I kid you not, a Menchi Burger. I had a burger and a mango smoothie, and they were both really good. Anyway, among other things, we managed to miss it everytime Jes tried to call. So there was no meeting with Jes. It was sad. We eventually gave up waiting for the call and decided to head to Aoyama. Because... today was the day of You's live performance! The live started at 6:30, and we found the place at 5:30. We decided to fill the time by exploring Aoyama and finding dinner. Aoyama's awesome! So far as I can tell, it's a center of rock music and general artsiness- we passed at least two art galleries and three live houses in about three blocks. It's a great place to just walk around and watch people.

We found dinner at a place called Sara's International Cafe (since 1970). Great little place, good atmosphere, good music, great food. I had a beef and red wine stew that was excellent. We finished up just in time to get to the opening. Of course, the show started late, but that just gave us time to check out the place, stake out a table, and redeem our drink tickets. I had a hazlenut milk, which is exactly was it sounds like. It was yummy. Anyway, the room was really small, one of the smallest concerts I've ever been to. The pamphlet claimed the place could hold 80 people, but there were barely 30 there tonight and it felt a little close. The show didn't start til 7:00ish, but it was worth the wait. The opening act was a group of three girls, who were excellent. Amazingly genki and happy, and great musicians, too. I enjoyed them, even though they weren't who I was there to see.

You took the stage at 8:15 or so, and well worth the wait. Suddenly he had a full band behind him, a guitarist, a bass, a backup singer, and drums. He sand the same songs we've heard at the park, but they were suddenly much more powerful. He had half the audience dancing in place, and even the more stoic ones were seen nodding to the music. The set was only 45 minutes long, but he fit 9 songs into it, as well as some banter we only half followed. It was really, really gorgeous stuff, music that gets inside your head and refuses to leave. Afterward, when we returned the surveys that came with the tickets, he even talked to us. I think he's excited to have gaijin fans. He offered to email us his perforance schedule, too. We won't be around for the next live, but he'll be performing at Yoyogi Park most weekends, with the two-person version of the band.

We left right after that, not sticking around for the last performance. Curfew gets in the way of a lot. It normally doesn't bother me, but tonight I would have loved to stay longer. As it is, I think I'm going to be investigating some more live houses. The music scene is just awesome.

So, a couple weeks ago my academic advisor gave me two tickets to a kabuki play at the National Theater of Japan, and the show was today. We met two other girls who were going to see it at the station, and proceded on to the theater.

The theater is a big concrete monstrosity next to the Supreme Court, which is also a big concrete monstrosity. Inside, you'll find multiple restaurants and gift shops. Our seats were on the third floor, which wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds. We'd rented the 'English Assisstance Earphone Guides'- basically, a little sountrack that plays along and translates the play. It was quite convenient, though the translation was a little lacking.

The particular play we saw was "Kenuki", which is apparently famous for being a funny detective story. The main character, Kumedera Danjo, is a retainer who has been sent to the house of his lord's betrothed in order to find out why she's been refusing his invitations. Turns out the lady has been afflicted with a 'mysterious ailment' which makes her hair stand on end. It's Danjo's job to find out what ails her, save his lord's marriage, and save the honor of the bride's house from those who plan to bring it down.

And in the meantime, he hits on everyone who talks to him, in a thouroughly distressing manner.

All told, it was a lot of fun, and absolutely gorgeous to watch. Mmm, kabuki costumes.

We were thouroughly amused by the stage ninjas, who make no attempt at all to stay hidden. In fact, as this was an older play, they wear 'traditional' robes in their roles, so they're more like stage samurai. It was fun.

On the way back, we stopped to explore more of Kokubunji. We found an odd little consignment shop full of fun knick-knacks, as well as a very cheap video game store. I... picked up the X fighting game, to play on Phoebe's new PS2. Too much fun. >.> I love that game. I may have to pick up a cheap PS to play it on.

We had dinner at Mosburger, since we figured we couldn't leave Japan without trying it once. My burger was odd and messy, but good. I have no idea what they put on it.

And then we went home and played video games until curfew. Which is far more exciting than it sounds, as I am thouroughly besotted with the X game.

I realize I owe you all an update. But I'm tired, and really want to curl up with a book. So here are highlights to fill in later:

-Brenda and Laura are here! The Mawrtyr invasion of Tokyo has begun! Liz is in the area as well, and Jes is in Misawa. So amused.

-Ghibli Museum! OMG! Cels! Gorgeous, A1 portrait cels! TACKED TO THE WALL. Not even behind glass, or behind a rail, or anything. Cels worth thousands of dollars just... sitting there. It was traumatizing. But still fun- I'll fill in the fun parts later.

-Rain. So much rain.

Random snippet from daily life!

Today I had "morning class" which isn't a class so much as meeting with people who are assigned to help me with homework/conversation/kanji/what have you. Also, it doesn't meet in the morning, but hey, whatever works.

My morning class people are big manga fans, so that's what we talk about for the most part. Sayako brought in her favorites, and we went through the first few pages of each. Then we walked to the bookstore near the train station to browse, and they pointed out their favorite magazines and series. Whe we wandered upstairs, I found the NANA . display and mentioned as how I'd like to read it, but I didn't know if it had furiganaThey smiled and asked the clerk something, and the clerk kindly ripped the plastic off and let me look inside. It does, in fact, have furigana on every kanji. So I now have two volumes. Mmm, NANA.

As we were walking back, I ran into Shiho-senpai. She was waiting at the train station to meet Alaine, so they could go to Gorai's cello recital. Turns out she is actually first cello in a string ensemble. Or would it be an orchestra? I don't know, it seemed larger than one and smaller than the other. Anyway, I joined them, and we caught the train to Nishi-Kokubunji.

The main thing I was struck with at the recital was how similar it was to American orchestra performances. It was all.. black bottoms and white tops, silently filing in and waiting for the conductor. The conductor walked in and bowed, left after every piece and returned... just very similar to every other classical concert I've seen. Odd.

Shiho didn't have time to hang out afterward, so Alaine and I wandered Kokubunji for a bit and found a place to eat dinner. We had a great time- I'm really glad we got a chance to talk. We managed to talk about both politics AND religion without arguing. What's the third thing you're not supposed to talk about in polite company? We can discuss that next time!

Well, I had a good time. I'd meant to get some homework done this afternoon, but it's not due til Monday anyway.