The end

The last four weeks were my last four weeks in Japan, and as such, they were full of a lot of lasts. My last show, my last travels, my last dinner with my friends, my last days as a twenty year old, my last night in the Seminar House, my last udon, my last gyoza, my last whiff of Japanese air. Though I wrote this at Kansai International airport, there is no internet here, so by the time I post this I will be in the Incheon Airport in South Korea. A quite poetic bookend to the blog, considering my first post was created at Incheon just before I entered Japan. As usual, I will run through what I did to give you all a feel for it, but I don't think I need to go into quite as much detail anymore. It doesn't really matter. I will see everyone who reads this blog soon anyways. I guess I'm writing this post more for me than for anyone else.

There are three weekends I need to write about, it seems. I should begin just before December began, at my last show of the semester. I played again on Friday the 30th at Cafe Istanbul with 外Genius, minus Kaoru who couldn't make it because of some sort of prior commitment. I played a lot of originals and a lot of covers again; by the end I was just doing requests for my friends in the audience out of a giant folder of covers that I know. I broke two strings throughout the course of the show! It was totally rock'n'roll. The show was certainly not as crowded as my first, and that wasn't a great feeling. Many people who said that they would come didn't; I even changed the time to earlier so a group of boys could show up but they didn't. It was slightly disappointing. However, my good friends did come and the space was almost full and I played my heart out for four hours and honestly that's all I could do. I don't regret playing the show at all. It was super fun, and I may even have enjoyed playing for a bunch of close friends more than a bunch of acquaintances. 

Playing at Cafe Istanbul again!

The following day I went to Arashiyama with my friend Sandy from Wesleyan, one of the ones who came down for my show the Tuesday before. It was raining off and on all day, but that didn't stop the fun! I met a Japanese friend of hers and we walked around looking at the leaves (so pretty!) and the monkeys in the monkey park. Yeah, there's a monkey park. Are you jelly? Yeah, you're jelly. I know you're jelly. We fed the monkeys through some grated windows so they couldn't bite us and just sat outside and watched them for about an hour. It was so nice to see some wildlife! Most of Japan (especially in the Kansai region, where I lived) is very industrialized, so you don't see animals very often, especially not in the quantity that there was in the monkey park. They had really funny red butts.

Monkey friends!

That night was her birthday party. We went to a tabe-nomi houdai for a few hours and I met a lot of her friends from KCJS (her program). A few more of my Wesleyan friends were able to make it out as well (Niko and Alex! Yeah!), and we sat together and got to catch up so that was really nice. The night ended with some chu-hai by the river in Kyoto where all the college kids gather on weekend nights before it gets too cold. It was almost too cold, but we were warmed by the beer and the company and spent an hour or two out there laughing and taking pictures and having fun.

The next day I went on a Zen field trip! We got to go to a famous Rinzai Zen temple complex (can't remember for the life of me what it's called) and have a talk, meditation, and some tea with a head monk of one of the smaller temples within the complex. It was wonderful. The priest had grown up in the temple complex and then moved out, went to America, and didn't want to study religion (rebellion?) until something about 9/11 changed his worldview. He is well read in all the Western philosophers and many contemporary Western neuroscientists. He's not an esoteric priest reciting sutras and other mumbo-jumbo all day long. He has a very realistic and practical approach to life, and he seems very down to earth. He doesn't think you can calm you mind completely as Zen tells you to do because neuroscience tells us that we can't. He doesn't believe there are such things as Zen "masters" that are somehow levels beyond everyone else. He just thinks that mindfulness and meditation help out a lot in living, so he practices Zen. Buddhism has always appealed to me for its realism, and this man was a living example that Buddhism can change to fit the times and the facts while still giving spiritual significance to someone.

After that, we went to a jumbo okonomiyaki/yakisoba restaurant just around the corner. Usually portions that are large in Japan are normal for America; normal sized portions are too small for the average American. This was not the case at this restaurant. Three of us (Andrew, Kelsey, and myself) ordered two jumbo yakisobas and one jumbo okonomiyaki for us all. We were almost defeated. That was some serious food! If there had been any more, I might have exploded. It was like Japanese Thanksgiving all over again!

Mmmmm mmmmm tasty!

Since we were already up in the northwest part of Kyoto, we decided to stop into Ryoanji for a but before going home. Ryoanji is very famous for its rock garden. It was beautiful. There are 15 stones in the garden - 15 was seen as a perfect number in ancient Japan because it was the number of nights between a full moon and a new moon. It symbolized the perfection of nature. However, the catch about the rock garden is that you can never see all 15 stones from any angle. This, I believe, represents the inability of human perception to fully grasp the incomprehensible beauty of nature. Maybe I'm reading a little bit too much into it. It was absolutely beautiful, though. Why would I want to look at a few rocks for half an hour? I don't know. I don't think it's just because it is famous. Something about them is captivating. I am sure several monks have attained enlightenment from the sight I saw.

PICTURE OF RYOANJI

The next weekend was full of dinners with my friends. Finals were the next week, so people began leaving right after they were done. That weekend (the 7th-9th) was the last time everyone was going to be together. Risto had several of us over to his apartment for a takopa/housewarming party (Japanese slang for a takoyaki party - takoyaki is a delicious octopus ball made with pancake mix). A grand time was had by all, although it was a little too whisky-infused to talk too much about in this setting. The next night about 25 of us from my Seminar House went out to an all you can eat/drink for our "last dinner" - our Seminar House only has 60 people, so those people that want to be a part of the community can easily be a part of it. I will miss them all dearly. The food was delicious, mostly chicken teriyaki skewers and salads and other fried things. As per usual in Japan, the drinks were watered down, but honestly I was OK with it because I was still slightly groggy from the takopa. Those of us who had been at Risto's house the night before did not drink as heavily as everyone else at the final tabe-nomi houdai.

Sunday was the final Seminar House party - a few us us made nabe (delicious! gosh, look it up right now!) for the whole seminar house. Chie, Yurika, Ayumi, Midori, Jenny, and I all worked for probably two hours at the stove making 8 pots of nab simultaneously. We ate SO MUCH FOOD. All 8 pots adjust broth left; we then filled up 6 of them with noodles we had bought for the second course and so much more meat (because we had so much meat). Everything was finished. Wow! You go, Seminar House 1! Oh, and we ate two tubs of ice cream. Jeez. It was so fun to cook for so long with my friends; we've cooked together before but nothing like that. We were working!

Then finals hit, and it kind of sucked for a little while, but I did well on them all and wrote a 20 page paper about the differences in the right method of acting between Daoism and Zen Buddhism so I feel good about myself. They were finals. Whatever. They're over. Also my roommate moved out on Friday! It was awesome. I really disliked him; I hardly even know why. I loved having the rom to myself instead of waking up to him playing Warcraft every day. He was always click-clicking away on his computer and it irked me to no end. Like, dude, go out and experience Japan! What are you doing inside? Do that when you get home!

On Friday, I took my first and last trip to Kobe. It was nice, but not as nice as Kyoto or Osaka or Nara. If you have a short time in Japan and are going to be in Kansai, go to those other cities before you go to Kobe. In fact, spend 4 days in Kyoto before you go to Kobe. It's worth it. However, there was a very famous illumination in Kobe that we went to see that commemorated the Kobe earthquake of about ten years ago. It was very very beautiful. As with Nabana no sato, it was super crowded, but as with Nabana no sato, I hardly realized it because I was busy looking up the whole time. Also, it is worth it to go to Kobe for the beef. We went to a nice restaurant in Kobe for the beef because while we were in Kobe we had to have Kobe beef, right? One of the best decisions of my time in Japan. Damn, was it expensive, but DAMN, was it good. It is by far the best beef I have ever had in my life. So juicy, so flavorful, so tender, so everything. God damn. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it and I ate brunch an hour ago. Words can't do it justice, so I'll try a picture. Just take my word for it: if you go to Kansai, get some Kobe beef.

Look at that marbling. Just look and marvel. You wish you had some, huh? Ha!

On Saturday I went back to Nara with some people who had never been before. As before, I fed the deer and went to Todaiji to see the Daibutsu. I did do some other things, though! There were two museums of a sort that I went to after most everyone else had decided to go home. The first was connected with Todaiji and the second was connected with Kofukuji. Nara was the capital of Japan in the 7th century. During that time, the Buddhist sects centered in Nara gained an enormous amount of power in politics and life in general in Japan (to the extent that a Buddhist priest almost became emperor!) and there was a ton of Buddhist art from the period in each of the museums. It was amazing to see wood carvings that had been preserved for 1200 years, each portraying something that I knew immediately upon sight. Some of them seem like they could have been made in the last thirty years. I think some of those images will be with me for a very long time, especially the giant wood statue of Kannon and the wooden ashura in the Kofukuji temple.

Saturday night was a birthday party for my friend Chie, who lived in the Seminar House with me. We went to nomihoudai (as per usual). She turned 19, I think, but her ID says she's turning 21 so who really cares. It was good to have another night out with my friends, and good to give Chie some love. She's a totally zany Japanese girl, and let me tell you, that is a very very rare thing. She apparently has studied in Australia and lived in Europe for 6 months. I think that's why she's not as restricted as some of her strictly Japanese counterparts. She constantly complains that she's not "cute" enough - the culture of cuteness is overwhelming in Japan. If you're a girl, it's cute or bust. Chie is not typical Japanese cute. She is awesome and zany and weird and I love her for it, but sometimes she gets down on herself because she can't or doesn't conform. Isn't that a strange thing for an American to read? Being sad because you CAN'T conform? It's nearly unfathomable for me. I make a point to be weird and out of the box at all times. As the old saying in Japan goes, "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down." I stick out; I would get hammered down. Chie sticks out too, but maybe she won't get hammered down and will stay zany forever. I hope so.

Good ol' zany Chie!!

And that brings us into the last week. Classes are over, people began to leave, the Seminar House began to feel more like a ghost house, and I spent a lot of time cooking and traveling and saying goodbye to the people I love.

By Monday a few of my friends had left, but not the two that I called Mom and Dad all semester. Seriously. There was a couple, 28 and 30, that lived in my Seminar House. A few of us young-uns have been calling them Mom and Dad for about three months. Sometimes we have family outings. Anyways, Mom and Dad took me and Jen (another family member!) out for lunch on the 17th as a birthday present because they were leaving the next day. It was wonderful to have a meal with just them - despite the difference in our ages, we all get along really well. Both of them are fairly artsy, and I have always felt like I get along better with them than with many other people I have met in Japan. Vicky (Mom) has a place on the beach in Florida and I'm thinking of going down to her place for half of Spring Break! Nice! Tim (Dad) might even be there! That night, ben and my birthday celebration began. Ben also lives in my Seminar House and has the same birthday as me, both 1991. We have styled ourselves long-lost twins all semester - obviously he's a part of the family. I went with Mom and Dad and Jen and twins Ben to Kappa Sushi for a birthday dinner. It was so tasty! A real family outing. I paid this time. Felt better about myself, being a real man and shit. I ate tons of maguro sushi and salmon sushi - it's amazing that the sushi is so good for $1.40 a plate! God, I'm going to miss that in America.

After that, it was another night at Doma Doma for some nomihoudai. I mean, what better way to turn 21 than drunkenly? Probably 15 people showed up for the party, which was nice as I was only expecting ten. We had just been there on Saturday, and the same waiter was working. He was so surprised to see us! He remembered what I had been ordering all night before and just brought me one. What a guy! His name is Tendai. We became friends that night. My friend Tomoki was one of the people that showed up (really grateful for that, too! He had class the next day!). Mom and Dad came too, which also meant a lot because they had to be moved out by 9:30 the next morning. Dad convinced Mom to "just go for an hour" at dinner - the ended up being there for about three. I love em, man. I really do. We played a game for a lot of the night that involved someone writing a random noun (started as people and eventually got weird) on a napkin, sticking it on someone else's forehead, and then the person trying to guess what it was with yes or no questions. I got one in three questions once! I was so proud. The queries and responses were as follows:

"Am I a person?"

"Yes!"

"Am I famous"

Everyone: "YES!!!"

"Am I Jesus?"

"Wow, that's pretty damn impressive…"

Highlights of the evening included: "Seminar House Okaasan," "salmonella," "consumerism," "Tennessee's dad (multiple answers acceptable)," "Ayumi's boobs (Ayumi is Ben's girlfriend here)," "a unicorn's penis." It took me lot as long as you would expect to get "unicorn's penis." We must have played for four hours.

Daddy as Donkey Kong.

The best part about the evening was that at the end I was the champion. Many people had left, one girl had vomited on her way to the bathroom (rookie!) and Jen and Jackie had gone to clean it up because the girl could not herself. Risto, Chie, Ayumi, Larae, and Julia were all passed out on the couches around me. Ben and I were the only two men standing (or sitting as it were. We were finishing everyone else's drinks that they had left - it was our birthday, after all).

Ben and myself surveying the wreckage. The last men standing! Observe the people passed out behind us.

And the best part about all of that? He was blackout! I am the only one who remembers it! I am the champion! I win at 21st birthdays.

The next day I said goodbye to Mom and Dad. It was really sad to see them go but I'm confident we will meet again. Tim has a place for me to stay in Holland and Vicky has a place for me to stay in Florida and I have a place for them to stay in the Bay! What could go wrong? We will meet again. I remember looking at Ben as they were pulling away in the cab and saying something like "Wow, instead of kicking us out of the house when we turned 21, they kicked themselves out. This is kind of weird… Like, OK, you're adults, have fun with your lives now kids!" Very strange, very poetic.

Tuesday was my birthday! But I didn't really do a lot. I had celebrated almost all day the night before and I was a little spent. That being said, that night I went back to Shinsaibashi for some last minute shopping. It did feel a little weird to spend my money on my family on my birthday, but you know what? I love you guys and I am happy to say that part of my summer was spend working to get you things. You all have done so much for me, and I need to begin to return the favor. Plus, what's a birthday anyways? It's just another day.

On Wednesday I went back into Kyoto with Jen and Chie. We went to Ginkakuji, the sister temple of Kinkakuji. Kinkakuji had been built by Ashikaga Yoshimasa; Ginkakuji was built by his grandson or great-grandson Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (thanks Dr. Hlwatsch!). Apparently he sat in the grounds and contemplated the beauty of the gardens while Kyoto burned around him during the Onin War (a War over a succession struggle which Yoshimitsu sort of created!). It's almost Nero-esque.

I went to Ginkakuji see everyone! It's not just a story it's real life!

In any case, he had good reason to contemplate the beauty; the temple is absolutely beautiful. I had never been and it was great to get in a quick trip before I went home. The week (starting with Kobe) was spent doing the things I had wanted to do but hadn't had time to. Ginakakuji was one of those. That same day, Chie took us to a shop in Kyoto that sells macha everything. Don't know what macha is? Look it up. It's a special Japanese tea made of powdered tea leaves (very high quality) that you stir with a whisk. It's super super super good, and it is incredibly hard to find good macha outside of Japan. I needed some more in my system before I left. And, indeed, I got it. All three of us shared a macha udon and macha ice cream; I had never had green noodles before. It looked strange but tasted delicious. You could actually taste the macha in the noodles. That seems obvious, but it was certainly a jolt in the mouth, as it were. And for dinner we went back to tomato ramen! Tomato ramen is maybe my favorite restaurant in Japan. Maybe that's the Italian in me.

Macha udon! Who has eaten green noodles? This guy!

Thursday I didn't real do anything all day except pack and cook. How boring! However, at night we all gathered for a movie and a few people surprised Chie, Ben, me, and Sakura (whose birthday is the 22nd) with some birthday donuts. Everyone who was at the Seminar House still (maybe 12 people or so?) sang for us. It was so nice! I really loved everyone I lived with. I'm so glad that I stayed in Seminar House 1 instead of a homestay. Instead of only knowing one Japanese family (who I may or may not have liked!), I got to know really great people from all over the world who hopefully I can remain in touch with and visit when I travel! I do plan to travel a lot - maybe use this blog again! - and having friends in many places is an unexpected benefit of this semester abroad.

And Friday was my last day to do anything. I went up with a few friends to a very famous flea market that is held on the 21st of every month in Toji temple in Kyoto. The one in December is the biggest one of the year. And, damn, it was huge. We got lost. Even with huge temples and pagodas to help us find our way, we got totally lost. We walked around for three hours without really retracing our steps. I bet at any one time there were between seven and ten thousand people there, and throughout the day maybe even seventy or one hundred thousand. It was unbelievable. And there was so much random crap! Buddhist figures, udon, old airsoft guns, masks, coins from the Edo period, action figures, vegetables, takoyaki, cups and plates, teapots, comics, pins, swords, clothing, literally everything you can think of was probably at this flea market in one form or another. I once looked down while talking with my friends about a gift I had just bought and noticed we were standing almost directly over a bucket of porno. It was uncensored, too! How strange for Japan.

Maybe 1% of the flea market at Toji. Maybe less.

And on Friday I said goodbye to Ben, who is off to Korea and Tokyo for winter break before coming back to Kansai Gaidai for the next semester. I'm gonna miss my twin, man. But he goes to school/lives in Pennsylvania so I bet that we'll cross paths again. I hope so.

And on Saturday I packed some more, at all the rest of my food, moved out of the Seminar House, and stayed in a hotel in Hirakata before taking the 6:30 am bus to the airport this morning. I walked around the station once before going to bed, just to say goodbye I guess. i have spent a lot of time around there, and a lot of money on the Keihan going to and from Hirakata. It's strange that it will be some time before I see it again, if I see it again at all. I said goodbye to a lot of things on the bus. Goodbye Kansai Gaidai, goodbye Hirakata, goodbye Engrish, goodbye to good cheap ramen, goodbye gyoza, goodbye Japanese kimchi, goodbye nikuman, goodbye beer vending machines, goodbye vending machines everywhere, goodbye crowded trains and buses, goodbye squeals of "kawaiiiiii," goodbye to so many things I can't even count them all. It's very bittersweet to go home. Obviously I want to see my family again, see my friends, fall back into the patterns that keep me happy. I want to eat at my favorite restaurants and see the Golden Gate Bridge and walk around the Headlands. And God knows I can't wait to get back to Wesleyan and see the homies that I have been seriously missing for almost eight months now.

But there's another side to the coin as well. How will I remember this time in Japan? What will I make it? Is it going to be like a long dream that I sometimes look back on and smile about? Will I regret leaving for the rest of my life? Am I coming back? Will I see these people again? Who will I remain friends with, and who will fall by the wayside of my life as so many other passing acquaintances have done before? What did it mean? Am I making the right choice, coming home? I will miss Japan in a serious way, I think. These past few months have been some of the best of my life and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I think I changed. I hope I did, anyways. That was part of the reason I came here.

Americans are generally too loud, too self-centered, too unwilling to compromise and be slightly uncomfortable for the greater good. Japanese people, in my experience, are too shy and afraid to express themselves, to apologetic, and too willing to sacrifice themselves and their identity for the greater good. As I said before, in Japan, "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down." You don't want to stick out in Japan. You want to be as unnoticeable as possible, especially if you are a woman, and sometimes that makes me sick. I want to scream, "Express yourself! You can't honestly be as bland as you seem!" and then I realize that somehow I am not getting it or being culturally insensitive or something so I hold my tongue. And sometimes I just want a roll of duct tape to use on the bus in America because that one asshole about the most inane things you can imagine in the loudest voice he can. The cultures are different, and I hope my time here will allow me to walk more of the middle path. That was my goal, in any case.

Overall, I am happy with how I spent my time here. I wish I had gone to a real onset for a weekend, and I wish that I had gone up to Hokkaido or down to Okinawa for a spell, or even over to Korea or Taiwan. But I didn't, and I will have to live with that. I explored Kyoto and Osaka extensively, spend a weekend in Tokyo, spend a weekend near Nagoya, and took a few day trips to Nara and Kobe. I started a band and played three shows with them. I made friends from all over the world, and a few especially close ones, and I made friends with a number of Japanese people too. I suspect I will not forget these people. I got good grades. I learned to cook pretty well. I wrote some songs in Japanese. My Japanese is currently very very conversational; I can often understand what people are saying on the bus or train around me. It's very funny to hear them talking about me and then just put in a little interjection to let them know that I understand. The looks on their faces are priceless. Basically, I did Japan right. I traveled every weekend and tried not to spend a full day in my room. I lived life to the fullest that I could and I am very happy about that. I don't think I will look back on my time in Japan with regret about how I spent my time here; the only thing I might regret is that I didn't spend more. But I don't even think that's true. I can come back if I want; I probably will. I'm just glad it was so great. I hope this isn't some crazy dream I'm having on the plane to Seoul that I will wake up from in a few hours. It sort of feels like it was. But, honestly, I'd be unhappy if my life in Japan felt normal to me. I wanted to live outside my comfort zone, and I did.

November (and some of October)

OK, so I have a lot to catch you all up on. No time for needless introductions (hah, look at me, I'm doing them anyways).

The weekend before Halloween I went to Nara. Nara is the second capital of Japan (after Asuka and before Kyoto and Tokyo). I went with my friend Sophia - we have a few classes together and we talked sometimes, but this was the first time that we really hung out. Both of us wanted to go to Nara and no one else did and we made spontaneous plans and it totally worked out. It was great to get to know a new person.

Nara is famous for a few very old temples, a Daibutsu, and its deer. The old temples were cool - we saw them all - but they reminded me a lot of many other temples that I've seen. The Daibutsu was also awesome (Daibutsu literally means big Buddha), but I also don't think it was as cool as the Daibutsu in Kamakura. This is not to say that Nara was in any way disappointing. Seeing that other Daibutsu was way better than not seeing it at all. It was majestic and old and beautiful - I just think that the facial expression, especially, of the other Daibutsu is more realistic, and thus a little more impressive.

The deer were super fun, though. We bought a sweet potato that we saw some Japanese people eating for about Y500, but it was kind of gross so we began feed it to the deer. They were really into that. The deer in Nara are famously very agressive - they are used to tourists giving them food and will literally come up to you and gnaw at your backpack if they smell food inside (or even if they don't, because backpacks so often have food). In an especially impressive moment, I saw a man training a deer to bow. He had some food and would bow once and then the deer would also bow its head and he would give it some food. Super Japanese deer!

Feeding the deer some sweet potato in Nara

Oh, and in Nara we also rode a rickshaw. I had never ridden a rickshaw before and it was super super fun. The guy brought us back from near the Daibutsu to the train station. It was nice. I didn't want to ride back, and plus now I can check "ride a rickshaw" off of my bucket list!

Halloween this year was on a Wednesday - four weeks ago today, as I recall - and Kansai Gaidai went all out. Japanese people don't normally celebrate Halloween, but Kansai Gaidai is influened pretty heavily by the Western world. It's also trying to promote multiculturalism. As such, many Japanese people dress up and all of the international students do as well. There is a giant costume contest in the evening and everyone is walking around all ridiculous all day.

My costume for the daytime was to dress in all blue and have "da-ba-di, da-ba-dai" written in two strips of paper safety clipped onto me. If you don't get that reference, you should go brush up on your 90s pop culture. Hint: Eiffel 65.

Anyways, the costume contest was awesome. Some notable costumes include a zombie Two-Face and (I shit you not) two large groups of people dressed as McDonald's characters. There was a group composed entirely of Ronald McDonalds and a group that had one Ronald, one thing of fries, a hamburger, a drink, a server, the hamburger thief, and a few distinctly recognizable McDonald's people/things/monsters. It was super super creepy. McDonald's is huge in Japan - there is a McDonald's on campus right across from the cafeteria. I have eaten more McDonalds in the last three months than I have in the rest of my life. It's a little gross.

That night I went out drinking with my comrades and seminar house friends in costume. The mask taht I bought in Venice was worn by everyone at one point or another. There are pictures. We did cheap nomihoudai - it is less than $15 for all you can drink from 10 pm - 5am (not that I stayed that late). I have gotten much better at being drunk in Japan. I didn't have a hangover the next day! Wow. Yeah, mom, I'm sure you're happy about that.

That weekend was Kansai Gaidai's culture festival. The school presents its best face to the world and has food booths and international booths and a day-long concert (you have to be in the music clubs to do it). It was totally awesome - a great way to spend Friday and Saturday. My part in all of that was as a sort of teacher for elementary school students. We helped a bunch of 8-10 year olds learn how to say such phrases as "What is your name?" and "Where are you from?" and "What is a famous holiday in your country?" They then went around (herded by the teachers, of course) to different booths in the Center for International Education and asked the students there about their cultures.

Afterwards we went out to an all you can eat and drink restaurant. That's sort of a thing you do after completion of a large event in Japan - maybe in America too? I don't know, I'm not legal to drink in America yet. But I will be when I get back! Nice.

After a large meal and many drinks, I met some of my friends at the station and we went to hear my friend Tomoki play a DJ set in the same bar that I've mentioned on here before. One of my friends brought a skeleton onesie from the seminar house with her because it was a costume party. The majority of the people in the bar were Tomoki's friends, so we had a lot of fun dancing and acting the fool. In fact, at one point, Tomoki, Shota (his friend), Saran (another American), and I were freestyle rapping over the beats that Tomoki was playing. I was rapping in a weird mix of English and Japanese (mostly English), sometimes using English sentence structures and Japanese words, sometimes using Japanese sentence structures and English words, sometimes all Japanese, sometimes all English. It was really ridiculous. Someone took a video but I haven't seen it... Too bad!

Let me get away from a strict chronology for a second. I want to talk a bit about a fun cult that I have been a part of. We're six or seven international students, who, fed up with all religions that we've come across, decided to create our own and dedicate it to the blueberry. Why the blueberry? Well, a more adequate question is why not? It's tasty and nourishing and no one has ever died for a blueberry. We meet on Tuesdays and make a dessert (different every time) with blueberry as a main ingredient. We have some beer and smear blueberry juice on our face in a way reminiscent of war paint. Every time we come back to the seminar house, people look at us funny. "Did you know you have, uh, something on your face?" "OH REALLY???"

We also are mostly anarchistic. If something goes wrong, we blame roll. If there are seven people (there are usually seven people) we roll an eight sided die. We assign ourselves numbers in a circle from the left of the person who is rolling, and whoever's number comes up is responsible. An eight means we're all responsible. We also roll for menial things, like who has to do the dishes and who has to go to the store to get the blueberries that someone forgot. It's really freeing and totally fun. It's a great way to relax in the middle of the week, especially since I don't have class until 11am on Wednesday.

Also, I had a show on Tuesday that I have been trying to set up since the first week of the semester. The ICC (International Communications Center) is a new building at Kansai Gaidai and they are trying to get everything up and running and have many events to make students like the space. As such, I offered my musical skills (how selfless, right?). We organized a Multicultural Music Event that got cancelled twice (once a day before the show!). Bands kept dropping out, the administrators in change of approving events didn't ever make a decision in a timely manner, and there was never a lot of communication. I was really angry, especially the second time they cancelled. The event initially had three bands, then two, and then finally just my band 外Genius. Since it was multiculturalism-based, they thought that only one band wouldn't be enough. However, they also recognized that I had been helping them through every step of the organizing process and were very grateful for that. The students then worked hard to get a one band bill passed, and it did, with the caveat that I had to give a short talk on music and multiculturalism through music beforehand. I did. It was really fun. About thirty people showed up - including some Wesleyan friends who are studying abroad in Kyoto! - and everyone seemed to have a great time. The band played well, the vibes were good, we plugged the bass into a PA that had speakers in the walls of the room. I felt like a rock star for a second again. Pictures to come on Facebook, but here's a sneak preview.

外Genius live at the ICC on Tuesday 11/27/2012

With that, I want to get back to my chronology. On Saturday the 10th of November, I went to Mt. Hiei with my Japanese History class. It's a really famous mountain temple complex outside of Kyoto that is the base of the Tendai school of Buddhism in Japan. Dogen (founder of Soto Zen), Eisai (founder of Rinzai Zen in Japan), Nichiren (founder of Nichiren), Honen (founder of Jodo-shu Pure Land), and Shinran (founder of Jodo-shinshu Pure Land), among many others, all studied at Mt. Hiei. The leaves were beginning to change color and I wondered to myself if those famous monks had seen some of the larger trees I saw when they were just saplings. I wondered if they turned the same colors.

A group of use hiked up the mountain. Some friends and I had brought a bottle of shochu (a type of alcohol) and we split it amongst ourselves during the picnic at the top of the mountain. Initially we were  concerned - you know, alcohol on a school trip - but then we saw our professor having a glass of wine for himself so we thought it was fine. Indeed it was. There were two professors on the trip - the other one teaches a course called History and Ideology of the Japanese Warrior. The shochu we brought was a brand that he had mentioned in class, apparently. He got a total kick out of seeing us drinking it. It also made the cold day feel slightly warmed, and for that I am super grateful.

The next weekend I went to Arashiyama, a very beautiful place in the outskirts of Kyoto that is famous for the mamoji (changing of the leaves). There is also a famous Zen temple with a giant painting of a dragon inside called Tenryu-ji. I can't really do it justice in words, and my camera couldn't do it justice either. The colors were amazing. I eventually decided to stop snapping pictures and just enjoy the eye massage. It was wonderful.

That weekend I also went out to two birthday parties for Japanese friends of mine. Birthday parties in Japan usually involve nomihoudai. They were fun. We took silly pictures. One of the birthdays was Tomoki's! During that dinner we also freestyle rapped around the table.

That Thursday was Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, there is almost no turkey in Japan. We couldn't get any. As a consolation, we went to an all you can eat restaurant where you cook the meat yourself. There was a two hour time limit - the last order was a half hour before that. My table was only five people but we ate for ten! We literally did not stop eating from the minute we could order until a minute before they stopped us. We finished everything - anything you don't finish you have to pay for separately. When the waitress came for the first order (appetizers only), she asked what we wanted and we replied "Everything on the menu." Thinking she misheard us, she asked again, and again we replied "Everything." It was all gone before she came back to let us order meat. You could order 3 plates of meat every time the waitress came - we did. When she brought out the food for our last order, we had on our table two soups, three salads, various plates of veggies, five plates of meat, and a few other appetizers, as well as thirteen small bowls of ice cream. We ate it all in half an hour, despite the fact that we were almost full when it came (that was probably because we had been stuffing our face for a solid ninety minutes). If you can't get turkey and mashed potatoes, you make do. And, gee whillikers, we made do. It was a Thanksgiving to remember.

Last weekend I took advantage of a Friday off and travelled by train up towards Nagoya. There was a very famous light show in an amusement park of sorts called Nabana no Sato. Again, words cannot do it justice. I'll provide a picture instead.

Part of the winter illumination at Nabana no Sato

Friday night was the closest I have ever been to sleeping on the streets, though. We tried to book a hotel in Kuwana (the town near Nagashima, the island where the park was) but we couldn't find a cheap hotel on the internet so we decided to just go and wing it. It was a national holiday in the middle of mamoji season, the time in which everyone and their mother wanted to go to Nabana no Sato. We got into Kuwana and walked to all of the hotels. They were full. We had nowhere to stay. A kindly attendant named Yamamoto-san took pity on us and promised to call the hotels in the area, even those several stops away, and get back to us by ten. We wandered and checked out some bars that were open until 5 am - that was an option. We were also scoping out dark places on the streets that were protected from the wind where we could potentially sleep. He called us back at ten and told us that every hotel was full. Our hearts dropped. "However," he continued, "my hotel just got a cancellation. If you come right now, you will get the room." We sprinted there and got the room for just a little over $100. It was awesome. It even came with free breakfast. What a start to a magical weekend!

And I guess that brings us up to now. I have another show on Friday and we're about to hit finals week so that's going to suck. I'll leave you with something cultural that I've been thinking about a lot. In Japanese, the word for "wrong" and "different" are the same - "chigau." I'm wondering which English translation is closest. If it's more like "wrong," then everything that is different is simply wrong and culturally it makes people stay in the box and be afraid to try new things. However, it could be an awesome form of perspectivism if everything that is wrong is simply different. Oh, you just perceive that differently than I do; it's not wrong because I don't know if I'm right. It might imply a super post-modern lack of objectivity. However, as with previous cultural things that I've mentioned, I have no idea of the truth. I am an outsider here and doubt that I will every fully get it. All I can do is try my best to not be chigau.

Also, Dad, because you asked for a picture of the man in the loincloth and gas mask (upon further inspection, it may be a snorkel) at Borofesta

A bunch of festivals, a bunch of teaching, a bunch of tests, and a good amount of alcohol.

Well, I have not posted on here in a dog's age. If you were hoping for updates on my adventures, I am truly sorry. I have been living far too hard to spend any time writing; all my "free" time (read: when I'm not travelling, hanging out, or rehearsing) has been spent reading articles for essays that I am currently procrastinating upon. Looking at my calendar, it seems that four weeks have gone by. FOUR WEEKS! That's a month! I hardly even have that much time left in Japan. I've had this tab open on my computer for a month meaning to write something down, but the more I procrastinate, the more I live, and the more daunting the task of writing it all down gets.

So I guess I'll go back to the weekend of the 13th of October. My friend Kaoru, who played some songs with me at my show at Cafe Istanbul, was playing at a Jazz fest out near Lake Biwa in Kyoto, so I went with my friends Jen and Chie to go check her out. The band before her was terrible. I mean, absolutely terrible. Apparently they were a bunch of high school kids who had never heard the blues before but were trying to play it. I mean, I didn't think you could play the blues worse than a white person, but you can, apparently. The drummer couldn't really keep time, the bass player didn't walk at all, the solos weren't even really in key (HOW DO YOU EVEN DO THAT WITH BLUES???), the guitars were too distorted, the vocals were out of tune. Ugh. Terrible.

Then imagine my surprise when Kaoru's band came on and absolutely killed it. My favorite song of theirs was a rendition of "Spain." I was told by the drummer after the show that it was inspired by Stevie Wonder's version. The bass player was playing a fretless, the drummer was one of the sickest players I've seen in a long time, and everything was wonderful. Did I mention I was hanging out with them afterwards, joking around in Japanese? Perks of knowing the band. Oh, hey, if you're interested in hearing that drummer, check out his Electro-dance-pop band Welcome Toxicity. They're pretty rad.

Anyways, afterwards I went to a nightclub with my friends which was pretty funny because they played all American top-40 electro-dancey songs and the Japanese people were all singing along. The demographics were also amusing; a bunch of older Japanese men, younger Japanese women, and tons of gaijin all trying to prey upon Japanese people of the other sex. I wasn't that drunk because the drinks were expensive and I was just laughing at all of it. There was one guy (always, right?) who was a little too drunk and jumping around and acting the fool and I was forced next to him for a while by the crowd. I couldn't tell whether or not to laugh or cry.

By the time we left the nightclub, we had missed the last train, so we went to karaoke and paid for a room for the night and just fell asleep. It was awesome. We were so tired that when we got up two hours later (I actually didn't sleep because there was music everywhere and musician Tennessee listens to music really intensely even when he doesn't want to) we just hopped on the first train and rode it back and forth and slept for two hours and got off at the same station. Since Japanese trains only charge you for how far you ride, not how long, the nice two-hour nap only cost about $1.50. Awesome.

The next day I had an audition for an International Music Festival in Kyoto. Since I was going to be playing "traditional American music," I wanted an acoustic guitar. I didn't have one, so I had said previously that I needed one for the audition and the show. When I got there, an organizer said that he couldn't play guitar and he had a $60 guitar and hey do you just want it? It's blue and three-quarter sized. I was psyched.

I will probably have to give it back, though, since I'm not doing the festival. They didn't really want one person acts, especially because they had so many large groups audition. Oh well. As sort of a consolation, they asked me if I wanted to sing in the large group song at the end because they like my voice or something. I went to go practice it only once. It was three hours and fifteen dollars round trip for transport for an hour of practice. The song is like some Japanese version of "Kum-ba-yah" and no one else that is singing is a trained singer. The song is too high for the boys and too low for the girls. All in all, it sort of sounded like a bunch of cats being strangled while simultaneously clawing themselves up a blackboard. Needless to say, I was not happy. I quit soon after. I should probably give that guitar back...

And, with that, I hit midterms week. They had sort of started up the week before, I guess. Starting on the Thursday the 11th and continuing through Friday the 19th, I had a speech in Japanese, an in-class essay in Japanese, an oral exam in Japanese, two written tests in Japanese, and another written test in English. Thankfully the rest of my English classes put off midterms until about now. Also thankfully, this university is really easy. I only studied a bit and got really good grades on everything. Nice! I think I stressed more about the midterms than I should have. However, I'm worried that I won't stress enough about finals because midterms were so easy, and since I won't stress I won't study enough, and since I won't study enough I won't get good grades. Most students here only get a pass or a fail sent back to their home university, but Wesleyan actually factors the grades you get at Gaidai into your GPA. I want to keep my GPA up, but I also want to experience as much as possible while here. It's a conundrum. Balls.

The following weekend I spent Friday night at my friend Tomoki's house. He is getting to be one of the best Japanese friends I've made here, aside from the Japanese girls that are living in my seminar house. He wants to be a teacher, so he invited me to help him teach a physical education class on Saturday morning where I spoke/gave commands in English so the kids could learn English while having fun running around. But what better way to get ready for a class than have a party? He bought lots of food and a good amount of beer and we sat around and drank and ate with my friend Sakura (who lives in my seminar house). She also wants to be a teacher, so she and Tomoki have a lot of classes together and they're also good friends. It was a regular friendship-fest. Two Japanese girls who were going to help us the next morning showed up a bit later. I forget their names. I'm terrible.

The next morning we woke up a bit too early for my addled brain and headed to the gymnasium where we were going to be teaching. We practiced the routine and I learned a dance to warm up the kids (man, it had a lot of squats. My legs were killing me for days). My favorite part, besides the kids obviously being scared of the gaijin at first and eventually coming to like me, was that I was playing my guitar most of the time. While calling out "run!" or "walk!" or "hop like a rabbit!" or "run like a gorilla!" or some such thing, I was playing a really simple I-IV-V type thing that everyone was running/walking/crawling around in time to. It was so nice to see that everyone was moved by the same music, that it transcends all cultural and distance-based boundaries. Little kids everywhere like C, F, and G. And an A minor sometimes. WOAH!

The following day, Sunday, I went with five friends to an all day three stage indie music festival in Kyoto called Boro Festa.  It was one of the best experiences I've had in Japan. The first band we saw was this awesome band called Young who played totally infectious indie-wave of sound-pop. I loved it. They jumped out into the crowd a lot and had a hype man with bunny ears and a tambourine. My friends and I were right in the front and we were dancing the most because apparently Japanese people don't really dance at concerts; at least, it seems that way from the experience I have had at all the concerts I've been to here. Anyways, because we were so animated, I was making lots of eye contact with all the members of the band. At the very end, there was a really crazy jam going on and the guitar player was wailing and the lead singer took his guitar into the crowd. The bass player just ditched his bass and jumped around in the crowd at the same time. While he was doing that, he hugged me for about ten seconds. I was so surprised and honored and a little drunk and it was awesome. The other bands were awesome, but not really as awesome, I think. Another notable band was one called Hello, How Are You, a duo that played really cute music. I feel like it was Electric Tiger Lily in Japan, for those of you who get that reference to my past. The last band I watched was sort of a headliner called Toe that played almost all instrumental rock. They were awesome, especially the drummer. I got two signatures, too! One from the lead singer of Hello how are you and another from a super super super hot bass-playing chick who was in a band called the Freak Folk Fuckers. There was also a giant fist that was sometimes paraded from the outside to the inside of the venue amidst a procession of people in very strange costumes banging pots and pans. One dude was only wearing a loincloth and a gas mask. I got a picture with him.

My favorite band from Borofesta. They were called Young.

Not content to end the fun of the weekend there, I had one of the craziest experiences of my life that Monday. Once a year in a tiny one-street town called Kurama about an hour out of Kyoto, there is a fire festival. What is a fire festival? It is exactly what you might imagine it is. There are a bunch of men wielding large torches marching down the street chanting "sai-reya, sai-ryo!" over and over, with the occasional gilded kami shrine in the procession. OK, maybe that's not exactly what you were anticipating. The people are dressed in Edo period clothing (I think, they're definitely old-style); it seems like the festival has been happening in exactly the same way for hundreds, if not a thousand, years. Everyone has been drinking a bit, too!

A typical view at the Fire Festival.

So, we arrived at about 10:30, in time for the climax of the festival (coincidentally, on the same train as my Zen Buddhism professor!). The festival was amazing; people were chanting - apparently the chant has no meaning, but is just syllables passed down from ancient times - and fire was blazing and there was a samurai in full regalia at the shrine, maybe to ward off evil kami or something. So we watched, and watched. There was dancing and more chanting and they loaded two gold-gilded pagodas into the main shrine. Totally otherworldly. I can't really describe everything that happened. If you want to know, look at my Facebook pictures or ask me in person. What happened during the festival is not the best part of the festival. It's what happened afterwards.

The festival finished and we walked back up to the train station only to find that we had missed the last train back to Kyoto. Oops. We had been planning on spending the night in the park in Kyoto anyways, so we weren't too mad. We grabbed some coffee and decided, with the help of Vicky's smartphone app, to walk back down to Kyoto. It wouldn't take more than two hours. Whatever, no problem. It would be an adventure.

As we were walking down the single street of the town, we passed the shrine where most of the festival  had taken place and noticed a few Japanese people and a few gaijin hanging out and conversing with the Shinto priests under the awning of the temple while the holy fires slowly burned out in the slight rain that had begun to fall just as the festival ended. Well, let's just stop in for fifteen minutes, we thought. What's fifteen minutes?

And so we started talking. There were a few gaijin who had been in Japan for 10 years or so; one of the priests had been first a musician, then a teacher of autistic children, then decided to become a priest. As the conversation progressed, the main priest offered us a beer. Sure, what's one beer? But one beer turned into two turned into three, and we were getting friendlier and friendlier (my Japanese gets better when I'm a little drunk because I'm less scared of making small grammatical mistakes and more worried about just getting complex ideas across). The priests realized that they had a lot of holy sake and food that they had offered the kami that they were supposed to consume. No kami has ever actually eaten the offerings put out for it in the thousands of years that Shinto priests have been doing it, so there is no sense in letting it go to waste. And so we opened the sake. It was a two or three gallon bottle. And when we finished that, the priest calmly went inside and got a new one. Every time we would drink, we would raise our glasses in the direction of the shrine and say "Okamisama no okage de!", which means "Thanks to the kami!" We drank heavily from 12:30 until 5 in the morning. All the alcohol was free (obviously), and I was drunk as a skunk. I talked in Japanese with these priests about life and the differences between cultures and how there really isn't any difference between humans, only cultures. The fires burned out and we took the holy charcoal and painted our face and danced around like fools in the rain.

And finally it was 5 in the morning and the first train to Kyoto was coming in 20 minutes. We caught it and I made it back in time for morning classes. I went from drunk to hung over in the middle of 11 am class. It was terrible. I skipped afternoon class to go home and sleep. And that's my story! I can't believe it wasn't a dream. I think it wasn't a dream... The people I was there with definitely say that it happened, so either we had a communal dream or it really did happen.

And that brings me up to two and a half weeks ago. I want you all to see this and don't want to keep procrastinating so I'm just going to post this now and start up another blog post immediately to be left permanently open on my browser so I can write about my more recent experiences when I have a little bit of time. Much love!

Tokyo, a wonderful show, and Hiroshima! Also, some general remarks as I've settled in.

Dearest readers,
It has been nearly two weeks, I believe, since I last wrote on this blog. My sincerest apologies. Life has moved far too fast for me to have a minute to just sit down and type about how crazy it is.

I had one of the best weekends of my life in Tokyo two weekends ago. I went up with my friend Kelsey via the night bus on Friday night and came back via night bus on Sunday, meaning we had about 40 hours in Tokyo to take in as much as possible. To that aim, we took off immediately upon arrival for the Daibutsu in Kamakura. It took about an hour and a half to train then train then bus there, so we arrived at about 9 am. That was awesome; there were no crowds to obstruct our view of one of the biggest outdoor bronze Buddhas in the world. The Daibutsu is a bronze casting of the Amida Buddha (think Pure Land) that is probably 70 feet tall and 600 years old. People have been praying to him to save them for the last 600 years, just as I prayed to him to save me last weekend.  He has the most peaceful expression on his face. I imagine he sees us like we see the clouds, buzzing trough the earth so fast in our best attempt to remain unenlightened, but he is still and calm and happy and enlightened and has been for the last 600 years. I'm an agnostic atheist (I don't know if there is, but I assume there is no God and try to live morally without a divine decree to do so) and I have never had an urge to pray before, except when I was faced with the star on the ground in Bethlehem where Jesus is supposed to have been born. I was so in awe that I prayed to him twice, once before and once after we went inside. Oh, did I mention that? You can go INSIDE the giant Buddha for another 30 cents. It's the same bronze that has been there for 600 years! I was in a Buddha belly! OMG!!!!

The Daibutsu in Kamakura

After that, we met my friends Rikiya and Nanako in Harajuku, then went to the Meiji shrine and shopped around Harajuku. There was so much cheap neon clothing! If you know me, you'll know that I was in heaven. I haven't seen Rikiya and Nanako in about four or five years; they were exchange students at Marin Academy for a month during my sophomore year. Thank God for Facebook! I tagged them all in a post saying that I wanted to come up to Tokyo and Rikiya offered me a place to stay. It was amazing. It was crazy, too, because now I'm much better and Japanese and we could have serious conversations and found that we really get along quite well. They took us out to dinner - we tried to pay, but the INSISTED - and then his mom picked us up at the train station in her Prius (I was reminded of home, mom!). They had bought us delicious sushi - the best sushis I have had in a long time! - and we had a lovely conversation for a few hours, finding commonalities and shared thoughts that transcended continents and cultures. We're all people! We all like to laugh and hate it when the neighbor's dog wakes us up. It's good to recognize that that is true.

In the morning, Shogo (his cute as a button little brother!) made us bacon and eggs, trying to appease the American in us, I guess. It was delicious. In the morning, we drove around to various shrines and temples near the Oguchi's house (that's their last name). The highlight of it all was meeting the curator of a Buddhist art museum attached to a thousand year old temple and getting a free tour. We were the only ones in the building and everything was absolutely beautiful. There were sculptures of Ashuras and Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and oni and the King of Hell (he has different names so I don't know which one to used), beautiful paintings of the Buddha's death and various parts of his life, incredible mandalas - the famous two for the Shingon school - and a giant gold statue of Buddha that was totally breathtaking. Then the curator, who was also an artist-in-residence at the temple, took us back to his shop (past a tree that was planted there 600 years ago) and gave Kelsey a give of a lotus flower with its seed removed and beautiful woven multi-colored balls put in their place. While we were talking with him, the head priest of the temple showed up and we all talked (in Japanese, of course!). He's a flute player and so we talked a lot about music. I think he was happily surprised that I could understand him. I was happily surprised that he took the time out of his day to converse with little ol' me. After all that, Rikiya's mother dropped us off at the train station and we spent the day walking around with Shogo and Rikiya, taking in the sights and eating some food. We went to Asakusa and Akihabara, chilled around Tokyo station, tried to avoid all the rain from the typhoon that was blowing in (yeah, that made for an interesting night bus ride...). We did a lot of things that I did on my MA trip but I was totally OK with it because it was still as beautiful as it had been and Kelsey had never been to Tokyo before. The MA trip hit the important parts of Tokyo and I'm glad I got to go there again.

In other news, I was expecting the night bus to be a relaxing bus of some kind. It wasn't. Both to and from were just normal buses with very little leg room and very potential for sleep. It was the strangest nights' sleep I have ever gotten. I feel like half the time I was hallucinating; definitely, all of my dreams took place on the bus. Kudos to Kelsey, who had a quiz AND a test the morning we got back. The night bus from Hiroshima was SO MUCH BETTER. I could extend my legs all the way instead of curling up into a weird ball. I actually slept. やった！

I also played one of the best shows of my life on Friday. As I may or may not have already mentioned, I rehearsed for almost every spare minute of my past two weeks with my Japanese friends Minori and Kaoru, and damn, did the show go off well. I played for about two hours (longest show I've ever played!). I was only planning on playing for an hour and a half (two hours with a half hour break), but both sets ran a little bit over and we jammed on some blues to get people psyched before both sets, so I only had enough time to go downstairs and grab a beer before I went back onstage. Minori and Kaoru totally killed, making sweet epic face-melting solos at all the right times, and we had an impromptu drummer! A guy named Bruno was there a little early when we got there to practice and he's a classically trained percussionist. There was a djembe-ish thing lying around and he joined in during the practice and I told him to just sit in, which he did for about half the songs. It really added another layer to have percussion instead of just guitar. The best part about the show, though, was the audience. There were about fifty of my friends and acquaintances, which was enough to pack the second floor of Cafe Istanbul to the extent that you couldn't really walk around. Everyone was drinking and listening and talking and having a good time. They were also eating up everything I was playing/singing. I would sing a song (either mine or someone else's), and no matter if people had been talking to their friends or not at some point during the song, everyone would explode into applause when I was done. I felt like a rock star. I could do no wrong. They were all chanting "Tennessee, Tennessee" at the end of the show (after an unrehearsed encore of 'Stairway to Heaven') and I almost exploded inside. Everyone sang to the songs they knew, probably 8-10 songs including such seminal classics as "Fuck You," "Santeria," "Three Little Birds," "Hotel California," and "Hey Ya." "Hey Ya" was my favorite (probably everyone's favorite) because it was the last song and everyone got up and started dancing. The floor was shaking. Seriously, the floor was shaking. Oh, and I had free drinks all night and got paid. Yeah, it was the best night ever. The only problem was that I only got about three or four hours of sleep because I was going to Hiroshima the next morning, catching a bus that came at 6:30.

Hiroshima was really heavy, as it was the last time I was here. I have had images from the Peace Museum in my dreams for the past three years; seeing them again in person was incredible. As we were walking past the A-Bomb Dome, some of the people I was with were smiling and taking pictures by the river. I couldn't. All I could think about - all I can think about - is that river full of dead bodies sloughing their skin. And these girls were smiling and taking pictures in front of it and I could hardly look. I was getting sick to my stomach. "Tennessee," they asked me, "why are you being weird?" I couldn't answer. I said something about it being really heavy and that they should probably just wait until the go to the museum. The didn't understand and laughed and sure enough when we were listening to the bomb survivor speak they were crying their eyes out.

It was an incredible privilege to hear an atomic bomb survivor speak. She told her story and minced no words but didn't exaggerate either. She didn't need to exaggerate, didn't need to raise her voice to make her story heart-wrenching. She spoke of being in a factory with her classmates and being one of 6 who got out alive, being trapped in the rubble as a fire burned towards her, trying so hard to escape, using her headband to turnicate her friend's arm that was bleeding out, looking around the wreckage of thecity and wondering if they were the only ones alive, watching people wander aimlessly in circles and then die in front of them, mothers clutching the dead children, people dying because their bodies couldn't handle the water that they were given. I was reminded again why I am a pacifist.

That night we stayed in a hostel by Miyajima, the island with the giant orange torii gate that sits in the water that you've probably hear about and seen pictures of. Here is when life stopped being heavy and started being really fun again. We met a bunch of backpackers from Europe and America and got drunk with them and exchanged stories. I woke up with a friend and we watched the sunrise over Miyajima from the shore. It was beautiful. We had the privilege of travelling with two of the only Japanese students to go on the trip. I sit with them every Tuesday and Friday and so does my friend Jen, so I'm sure they felt more confortable with us. I am trying to hang out with Japanese people while I'm here, so I'm super happy that we were able to travel together.

We got to Miyajima super early to catch the low tide so that we could walk out and touch the torii gate itself. After that we hung out around the island for about 7 hours and almost went to the aquarium until we realized it wasn't free at all, ate some good food, saw a lot of gaijin from Kansai Gaidai (who were all in the area for the Hiroshima trip), and pet the deer. The deer in Miyajima are super friendly because no one ever hunted them (the island in more ancient times was only inhabited by priests/monks) and they like being petted and trying to steal the food out of your bag or just trying to steal your bag because it probably has food. My favorite part of the day, I think, was wandering upriver towards a spot with tons of small waterfalls. It fell like it would have been a sacred area for one who followed Shinto. I picked the biggest waterfall and sort of baptized myself, and we all sat around and noticed the first leaves on the Japanese maples beginning to turn red. It's almost autumn here, and the days are getting cooler and shorter and I'm sure in a few weeks the world will be alive with color before it dies again.

Look! I'm holding up the massive torii gate in Miyajima!

I've been noticing something that I think is related to the interdependent culture of Japan (as opposed to the more independent, ego/I-driven culture of the West). I will say something, and people who are listening to me/who I am talking to will repeat what I say word for word at the same pace. It's like an echo chamber, and initially I was really confused but now I've realized it's completely cultural and natural. I don't know if it is assent that the person heard you, or if the person is saying it because it is their opinion as of the time you said it. If it is the former, it's a great though somewhat longwinded way of saying "word." If it's the latter, then I feel like it stifles opinions because everyone agrees with the first person to express an opinion. I haven't decided/don't know if I as a gaijin can know what it is. More to come.

Much love. Thanks for making it to the end of this long-ass rant.

More more more more more

Another weekend passed! Back to the grind. I have lots of quizzes and tests and homework, but I think that living (really living) in Japan is worth not studying sometimes. Also, it's a nice rationalization to go out and get lost rather than study for another fucking vocab quiz.

This weekend was really low key. I went out on Friday night with Sakura and Misaki and Risto (two Japanese girls and an Estonian from the seminar house) to an izakaya where my friend Tomoki (the DJ)  was working. It was a fun night, Tomoki gave me some extra-topped off drinks, we had a good time and took some pictures and talked a lot. It was a small izakaya and not a lot of people were there, so Tomoki could kind of hang out around our table. It was super funny to see him in waiter mode. I've determined that my Japanese gets better with a drink or two in me - maybe it's because I lose my inhibitions regarding using the wrong grammar? Only the kami know.

Saturday I didn't do much, mostly homework and rehearsing for my show on October 5th. WUT WUT. But on Sunday my friend Kelsey came downstairs at about noon (I was just eating breakfast) and said we should go on a spontaneous trip to Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion). I'm all for spontaneity,  and so I was totally psyched. Plus, I hadn't been there since I last came to Japan. It's maybe one of the most beautiful places on earth, and I couldn't wait to go back. Funny story - we were outside the train station in Kyoto waiting for the bus to take us to Kinkakuji, and we saw Risto walking around - he's pretty hard to miss with his schock of bleached hair. Anyways, we called him and asked him if he wanted to go with us, but he said no because he was with his home visit family. OK, that's fine, whatever, do your thing and we'll do ours. So we get to Kinkakuji, and there he is, home visit family and all! We flagged him down and after a good laugh all went through the temple complex together. It was wonderful! There are a bunch of metal bowls at various places in the complex that you throw coins at from the path - those that make their shot are rewarded with good luck. Risto and I totally made it. Woot woot.

In front of Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion

On Monday my friend texted me and convinced me to go out on a walk and get lost in Hirakata (my city) instead of studying. It was totally worth it. I made a closer friend and found a whole new section on the city! Who needs vocab anyways...

I think I had the best Tuesday of my life yesterday. I went to a spa complex in the evening with a bunch of Japanese girls and several international boys (all from the seminar house). I was not expecting it to be as badass as it was. There was a lazy river (kind of; I'm not sure if it had a current) with a tunnel with rain coming down and rainbow lights. There was a giant water slide. There was a huge hot tub. There were restaurants and massages and complimentary spa wear and foot-skin eating fishies (I didn't take advantage of many of the opportunites because they were so expensive, though...). We got home at like 12:30 and I hadn't studied and I probably should have but I don't care at all.

And today I practiced with Minori for the Istanbul show! He's rockin' and lays out a solo like no other. He's gonna play the second half of my second set (about 5 songs). I'm totally psyched! Pictures to come, I promise.

Stay well, you crazy America-jin.

I guess it's been a while since I posted on here. It's amazing how living (really living) in a place will prevent you from the tasks you wanted to do. I guess there's a whole week and a half to catch y'all up on (y'all = my parents, I think. No one else seems to read this). Well, here goes.

The weeks proceed as many weeks at college do - I am definitely a college student in Japan, surrounded by twenty-somethings at almost all times, taking classes, studying, playing guitar, doing homework, pretending to do homework and really fucking around on the computer. But my weeks are also filled with things that I didn't normally do at school before. I go out exploring a lot, trying to read the signs and figure out what's going on. I try to be really respectful to all the Japanese people I meet because I am a representative of all foreigners, and especially all Americans. I don't want to perpetuate negative stereotypes that it seems that Japanese people already have about foreigners. I gave ten yen (about 12 cents) to an elderly woman on the bus the other day because she was short and needed the money to get off the bus. She was so surprised I thought she might have a heart attack. She didn't. That was good. I really would have been the asshole foreigner then.

I have shit tons of tests and things (that's what happens when you take 5 classes, I guess), but all the classes are FAR easier than the classes at Wesleyan so that's a relief. I mean, I have between 5 and 15 pages of reading for each class. I am used to more like 60 in textbooks/real book that are much harder to read. Is this what other colleges in the states are like? I'm a little worried that I'll be off my game when I get back. Meh. Whatever.

I can't believe I've been here for three weeks. It seems like no time at all and an eternity. I'm getting used to living with my roommate (who still only lays WarCraft all day) and the rules of Japanese houses - the different shoes for outside, inside, bathroom, laundry room, and the roof where we hang out clothes to dry, and the call and response that everyone goes through every time they enter or exit the house. I actually really like the second part. I feel like everyone acknowledges you and recognizes that you are coming or going. It marks a passage/transition through a liminal space, and it makes you feel like everyone loves you.

My seminar house is great. I was talking with someone who lives in a different seminar house today and she said that, unlike her house, Seminar House 1 was 家族みたいです - like a family. And it's true. Everyone knows everyone (except my roommate) and gets along. There's a few aloof girls who seem like bitches and a few obnoxious people but everyone is really good-intentioned, just perhaps misunderstood. There are not a lot of the typical "artsy" types here, which one might think would lead to my feeling alienated, but I don't. I get along really well with jocks, even though we don't enjoy the exact same things. We're all just trying to do each other right, and that's really good to see/experience. Plus, they're not going to start hating on me.  We're living together all semester. Creating bad vibes now would be a pain in the ass for everyone.

Some of the international boys have begun calling me "Tennessee John." I guess the whole "my name is a state is my name" thing was a little too much for them, so they needed to tag something onto it. Plus, they tell me I sound like a cowboy and because I'm from America obviously that's what I am.

This weekend was super fun. I got some super cool pants (picture below) in a shopping district in Osaka called Shinsaibashi, and then went to a beautiful building called the Osaka Sky Building that has a "Sky Garden" at the top with an incredible view of the entire city. Damn, it was gorgeous. It was all for lovers and couples and other mushy stuff like that so I had my friends take a picture of me in the big heart with a sadface on because I was all alone. All the Japanese people watching thought that was super funny. Afterwards we went out to dinner (probably at about 11:30) and ended up sleeping in a hotel. Thank God for three day weekends.

I've spent a good amount of time in the last few days playing music with Japanese people. Damn, they are good. Yesterday I played with a girl named Kaoru and was kind of expecting her to "play the guitar" but not really play the guitar. She could play. I mean, she was taking ripping solos and adding tasty lines and just being really great. I was uber surprised. And then today after class I jammed with a guy named Minori who was ALSO really good. Again, ripping solos and tasty parts when I was taking more leads. I hope that they will each come and sit in with me for a few songs at Cafe Istanbul next next Friday.

"What? Cafe Istanbul? Tennessee, what are you talking about? Aren't you in Japan???" Yes, I am in Japan, thank you very much. That in no way precludes me from playing at Cafe Istanbul. It's a little bar near the school that caters primarily to Kansai students. The owner is a really nice woman named Masako and I went down there on Monday night and played for her for a few hours in an audition of sorts and when I was done she just said, "So, when can you play a show here?" やった！Anyways, its on October 5th and I have to play for an hour and a half (wowza!). I'm totally psyched. Also, the week afterwards, on Friday the 12th, I'm playing another show at the International Communication Center, which is a new building that is affiliated with Kansai and is all about building (you guessed it) intercultural communication. I'm sharing the bill with the school choir and the school jazz band; it seems like its going to be a pretty serious event. Guess who's headlining? Moi. Nbd.

I also started writing songs in Japanese. Just finished my most recent one - it switches between Japanese and English line by line. It rhymes, too, which is something Japanese songs generally don't do. Maybe I'll post it here! Maybe not.

これは長めになったね。This post is getting a bit long, it seems. I guess I'll leave you with two little factoids: I learned only pick up lines in my spoken Japanese class on Tuesday, and my spoken teacher opens every class with a favorite video of his. It makes the mornings great.

SUPER COOL PANTS!!!!

Well, here I am, sitting in the CIE (Center for International Education) Lounge on the second Monday of classes, just beginning week three of the Japan experience. I think I'm going to spend a lot of time in the CIE Lounge. I have class every morning and class every day from 4:40-6 (sometimes with some classes in between), so I have a lot of free time every afternoon. My Seminar House is only a few minutes away by bike, but sitting in the lounge sort of gives Japanese students an OK to talk to you (whereas otherwise they might not - culturally not wanting to disturb/inconvenience you with a conversation you dont want). I like talking in Japanese. I relish the opportunity to do so.

I had the best weekend last weekend. If you want, you should check out the pictures on my Facebook. If you're not my friend on Facebook, then I might not want you looking at my pictures... In any case, I began the weekend (after getting out of class Friday at 6:15) with a lovely dinner at the okonomiyaki place right next to the seminar house and a few beers from the vending machine outside (yeah, that's right, there are BEER vending machines). I went with several gaijin friends to karaoke and we all sang the songs of our childhood, etc., etc. They do a thing called nomihodai which is all you can drink for a certain amount of time for a flat fee. I didn't partake (damn you mom and your low alcohol tolerance! Damn you genetics!), but several of my friends did. Also, though I had only "gone to karaoke" with four or five people, apparently all the Kansai Gaidai international students decided that Friday was the day for karaoke. The makeup of the place was probably 75% foreigners and 25% Japanese people. It was super fun to be able to walk into any room I wanted and know some people and sit and sing for a sec. Also, they had a tambourine and no one else could really shake it in time so I was tambo-ing all night. I actually cut my knuckle because I was shakin' it too hard for too long (heh). However, I did come to Japan to hang out with Japanese people, so I was a little annoyed.

Thank God for Saturday night, then. The school put on a "fireworks show" for us early in the evening. By "fireworks show", I mean they bought a shit-ton of sparklers and other handheld firework-y things and gave all two hundred students who showed up like ten fireworks. It was SUPER fun. After that, though, the night became one of the best of my life. My friend Tomoki was DJing (and absolutely killing it) at a tiny club near the train station by my seminar house. It's owned by a Kansai graduate and attracts a lot of Kansai students/recent graduates but almost no international students. In fact, my friend Emma (a 28 year-old Aussie) and I were the only two white people in the place. I was speaking only in Japanese all night. The people there loved that I was conversational and kept buying me tequila shots so that we could drink together. Damn, I hate the morning after tequila. But I do think I have found my new "watering hole," so to speak. It’s great to get out of the international student bubble, and this club/bar/whatever seems like the perfect place to do it.

On Sunday I also had a fantastic day. I met up with my speaking partner Kyoko and went to Fushimi-Inari, which is an old old temple in Kyoto with thousands upon thousand of torii gates (those orange gates you think of when you think of Shinto). The make a path up a mountain - it's probably four kilometers to the top (also, I've been thinking in meters and kilometers since I've been here - fuck the 'Murrican system base ten makes so much more sense). I had gone there when I came to Japan previously but only gotten about half an hour up. Kyoko and I walked up for almost two hours and reached the top. It was AWESOME. And after that I met up with some Wesleyan friends who are all studying in Kyoto this year! Im lookin' at you Biko/Alex/Niko. You the homies. I was hardly at home all weekend, but it was the best way to be in Japan. I can't wait for next weekend - I hope it lives up to this one.