Sunday, January 28, 2007

Rockin the Onsen Part Deux: ...

So last night my host mom gave me a warning "We're going to the Onsen again! hee hee hee." Come 7 o' Clock, my host dad is no where to be found. While it may have been awkward going with my host dad...at least I got street cred for going with an older Japanese man. This time, I was told, would be different. I was going by myself. My host mom and host sister were going, but obviously they were going to be in a separate bath. I figured, I'd been in the onsen with my host dad, with my newly-made American friends...how bad could alone be? Answer: Bad. (Well, mostly just awkward.)

Getting undressed wasn't bad to start with. I get undressed and walked away from my little locker and turn the corner (you get a small hand towel to cover yourself with while walking to the bath/shower area) and run into, making full contact with a small Japanese woman. I stress WOMAN because I was completely naked. Luckily, she was fully clothed or it would have made it more awkward. I was so surprised and embrassed that I kind of muttered "oh my god" and started laughing. She too started laughing. This was a new thing I learned: The entire cleaning staff at the Onsen is female.

I walked on over to the shower area. This wasn't too awkward, it wasn't that crowded this time, though since it was a new Onsen, I got a lot of looks again. (I don't think this will ever change so I'm not too worried/upset by it). I sat down in the large, very hot bath and began to try to relax. (You must imagine, running into an old lady while naked doesn't just "go away" from your nerves in a few minutes). I moved over to another bath, this one was bubbling and there were two people in it. I sat down in it, within fifteen seconds both men had stared at me, and left the bath with dirty looks. They didn't seem like nice people anyway. This bath was easily the hottest water I'd ever been submerged in. It hurt but felt good at the same time. It was a very strange feeling. I got out and I don't think Japan had ever seen something so red before. People stared again, most likely because they were surprised at the range of colors my skin was showing. Super blinding white to bright pink-red. Anyway...

I walked back to the first bath and sat down. In jumps two naked eight-ish year old girls with their dad. They stare directly at me, whisper to their dad. he giggles. They mosey over to me and start talking to me, asking me why I am so red, asking me where I am from, if I know Japanese. This was easily the most awkward and uncomfortable feeling I've ever felt in my entire life. Taking a bath with two naked girls who I didn't know while a bunch of old Japanese men watched me. I kept my eyes fixed straight ahead as I didn't want to make the mistake of looking the wrong way. The whole time I couldn't stop thinking "Girls! I AM NAKED. I am RIGHT HERE! I would be arrested for this so fast in my country." It lasted for only thirty seconds seconds or so, but in "awkward-situation-time" that's close 2 minutes and 47.3 seconds.

I got up and walked to the outside bath to seek refuge from the girls. I sat outside in the bath for a while and walked back inside because the clock said 8:05 and I was meeting my host mom and host sister in the lobby at 8:15.

I don't think I'll have to write any more entries about Onsens because nothing will get as weird as this. Seriously. I probably shouldn't have even shared this story. And to be honest, the Onsens are awesome, they are so relaxing. Just not when there are little kids near you.

Lunch.

Satoshi is the guy who sets up all the stuff for us IES folks in Japan. He's hilarious, he's really nice, and likes to take advantage of the fact that IES will spend good money on us. Whenever we have a meeting or a place we have to meet for sometihng, he picks a nice nice restaurant and lets us eat a ton. Today we had our "IES Welcome Lunch" (even though we arrived almost a month ago). He picked this really nice place downtown and ordered all of us a Nomihodai (All you can drink). My table included myself, three other students, and occasionally Satoshi. We ripped up the food and drinks. We ate two smallish pieces of fried fish, a piece of tofu, a ton of edamame, followed by one spring roll each then we went through two Nabe (a giant pot filled with tons of veggies and meat), then two giant plates of Sweet and Sour Chicken, a giant pot of spaghetti and fish, dessert. I've never been so close to vomiting just from eating... yet I felt so great at the same time.

I can't wait to see how the rest of this trip unfolds.


(Nabe #1 - Completed!!)


The Next Post: Rockin the Onsen Part Deux: Back with a Blinding Vengence!

The B's!

My host dad's band "The B's" (A Beatles Cover Band) rehearsed yesterday. I was pleasently impressed with their skills. Though, they have been practicing for 4 decades...so I guess they've had time to get good. They ripped through two hours of tunes, songs from their earliest stuff to their abbey road days. It was pretty great. One of the guys didn't seem to like me. He kind of gave me dirty looks a lot, but he was new in a band and I don't thinkt hey like him much anyway.

(My dad is the drummer. And the loudest drummer I've ever heard at that.)




Friday, January 26, 2007

Perfect...

So let's take a short break from Japan so I can give you a brief history of the relationship I've had with construction...

Starting in the summer after I graduated I high school, they started doing construction on block. Most of this was cutting down trees. They'd start at about 6:30 or 7:00 am and work til about noon. The trees weren't just little trees, those huge hundred-year-old fifty footers. It was noisy, it drove me crazy. I remember one evening I really wanted to get sleep so I slept at my friends house where there was no construction in site. At 6:00 am, a tree got cut down right outside the window of the room I was in.

(First year of college...over)

Next summer we moved into a new townhome. All of the unit were basically finished but the street outside of them needed a lot of work done. That whole summer they cut bricks for the sidewalk, tore up the street, put in a new watermane (spelling?), and tore out the old curb and put a new one in. I rarely slept past 7:45. Jump to next summer...

The following summer (this past summer) I moved back home so I could prep myself for my trip to Africa and my trip to Japan. The "new" watermane that was put in the past summer, needed to be replaced. This took most of the summer. The tore up the street, dug 7 foot deep holes, ripped up chunks of curb, the whole deal again. It drove me crazy. When they dug the really deep holes, they would jackhammer with the truck-jackhammer type things. This caused the house to shake so hard that it broke the tiles in my moms bathroom.

(Are you starting to see the pattern?)

Jump to thanksgiving break...It's finally the end of school for me for a while. I am going to catch up on sleep and get ready for Japan....wrong. Construction on my moms damaged bathroom starts every morning at 7:00. Luckily this only takes a few days but it's still ridiculous.

So I get on a plane, fly to Japan and here I am now. I woke up this morning (Saturday) at 7:00 am... why? you ask. Because they are doing construction on the street outside of my house. That's why.

It's tough being stuck in an old vaudeville routine.



P.S. Dear "Unclejohnny" the Sumie Painting is not mine. I am way better than that painting. WAY better. My teacher did that one.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Goal...

Every morning I see the same group of kids walking to school. They walk in two lines with bright yellow hats and matching backpacks. Each morning I say, "Good morning!" or "Ohayou!" to them and each morning they have more courage to say hello back to me. By the end of this trip I want be getting high fives from all of them every morning. I won't leave until it happens.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Class

I've now had the opportunity to experience all of my classes here at Nanzan University. I will make a brief comment on each of them.

IJ300 (Intensive Japanese) - This is currently a very easy course, it promises to get harder by the end of the quarter, I believe it will, but it's currently pretty simple but fun. The homework usually consists of a few pages in a workbook, kanji practice, and an occasional short writing assignment.

Japanese Writing IIs - This is, so far, pretty fun. The teacher is really nice, though I was truly afraid of her for the first class. She looks very intense but is super laid back and funny. The first ten minutes of class are for writing. We are given a topic and we write on it for ten minutes then turn it in. After that, the past two classes we've just gone over 200 kanji we "should know" though it was pretty difficult for everyone in the class.

Japanese Religions II - There is no textbook for the class, we only write two papers and the teahcer (an Indian Priest) told us he's bad at English so he can't tell if the papers are bad anyway. Being the only Jew in the class is a little weird. Judaism is the only religion the teacher seems to know nothing about so he consults me on everything.

Sumie - Chinese Black Ink Painting. This is not calligraphy. The teacher (Ritsuo Sugiyama) is apparently a pretty famous dude, he has an entire book of his work published that we are using as a textbook. (http://www.world-egg.com/sumie/hanainxe.html here are samples from the textbook). In the one class we had, he showed us how to disperse the ink, showed us one stroke and then said "Paint what ever you want". I painted a banana, an apple, and a kiwi. I don't think he liked it, but he probably liked it better than one students painting of Nebraska (A large outline of the state, essentially a box, with a cow in the middle, a line drawn for where the interstate goes and "Nebraska" written across the top).

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Oh. Yes.

So, I did it. I bought tickets to the Stevie Wonder concert. I just had to do it. My amazing host mom actually helped me out a lot. The ticket window (which is in the giant trainstation near my house) didn't open til 10 and it closes at 3. My classes are from 9:20 - 3:35 + an hour train ride home. She went to one station, they were out of tickets, then called a different station that still had tickets left and got them for me. I have to pay her back, but it's still so nice of her.


No matter how hard I try (with exception for one day.) I can't get to school "on time." No, I am not late, I am always extremely early. In our student center type area, there's a bunch of computers where you can use the internet so I usually go there to try and check email. Everytime, there's this annoying Japanese girls who just sit in front of the computers and don't use them. Then they put their bags at the other ones next to them so you can't get to them. They also do this in the computer labs. It's hard to tell if they are that persons, or someone elses stuff so it's always awkward asking if someone is sitting there. It's so annoying! Also, whenever I am going to a train, people walk so slow! This is partially my fault as I tend to walk "swiftly" but seriously, they go at a snails pace. Every morning there's a huge hill I walk up to get to school and since all the girls here wear ridiculous boot-high-heels (not to mention how every girl here is extremely pigeon toed and bow legged), they not only walk slow, but they can't walk straight. They kind of just wobble from side to side, kind of like they are weaving through cones that aren't really there. This results in my crashing into them frequently. It's not just me, in case you were wondering. All the exchange students seem to have this problem.

Other than that, everything is still really fun, really exciting, and really "new". This is definitely a trip that I needed.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Oh. No.

I was afraid I'd come to Japan and miss out on a lot of things happening in Chicago. For instance, word on the street WAS that Stevie Wonder had been planning a US tour, I knew this meant that I'd show up in Japan and he'd perform in Chicago and never go back. Fortunately that's not true and he's not going to Chicago...he's coming to Nagoya. That is where I currently reside. What the hell? I happened to catch a commercial for it on TV. Tickets are 11,000 Yen. That's roughly $110 USD which is probably about the same they'd be in the US. The problem is they're only purchasable via an auction in a pair, the current running price is between $250 and $280. Do I bite the bullet and just buy tickets, bring a friend and ask him to pay whatever he wants? I've been in a Stevie Wonder "phase" for over a year now. I passed up on Mitch Hedberg, he died. I passed up on Ray Brown, he died. Jimmy Smith, died. WHAT DO I DO????




Next Blog: Japanese people want to make me late for things/don't like Americans using the computer at school.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Shit Happens...

So, I woke up this morning 10 minutes early so I wouldn't feel so "rushed" with the morning routine. I got out of the shower early, I ate breakfast and felt quite comfortable. I got to the train station, hopped on the train, and was going to meet my friend at her stop. Everything was going perfectly. I realized two stops into the train ride, that I'd left my Sumie tools at home. Instead of freaking out, I called my host mom and told her. She was super super cool, she laughed and said "I'll meet you at Umetsubo station" which was one stop behind me. I figured I'd be ok with time. Unfortunately, I JUST missed the train when Iw as trying to go back. I finally made it, ran down to her, grabbed my stuff, ran back up to the platform and JUST made it back onto the train going back towards school...or did I? I got on the wrong train. As soon as the voice said the next stop, I knew, I was in trouble. We went for a looooooong time before it stopped. I got off and at the exact same time my train arrived, the train BACK arrived. Everyone saw me bolt to the other platform, as I got there, the doors closed. The conductor saw me, laughed, and reopened them. Thank god. I made it to school about 8 minutes late. I hate being late for things.




I realized that Pat Metheny makes a great soundtrack for Japan. So does a lot of 80s music, Tupac, Dr. Dre, Sugar Hill Gang, some Stevie Wonder, and surprisingly, African music (Especially Ali Boulo Santo).

On an ending note. Reasons why Japan is crazy. Over the past two weeks the news has reported the following: A brother who murdered his sister (they were adults). A little girl got hit by a truck and died. A man randomly grabbed a little boy while he was walking over a bridge with his mom and threw him off the bridge. A girl murdered and cut up her boyfriend into a lot of pieces. Then today, a woman was caught dragging a bloody body out of a hotel and putting it into her car where she drove off and got into a car accident (images of a car covered in blood, and bloody snow). All of these were shown on the news with lots of animations showing exactly "how the truck hit the girl" and "how the boy fell". None of this is funny, I know, except my host family is very unphased by it and finds some of it kind of funny. However, this is all ok to show on TV in a country where if you wear your "house slippers" without socks, people can get very offended.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Japan has got a heart problem on its way...

Seriously, this is insane... I think I have to eat one only to say I've eaten one (and because its probably really really good). It makes American fast food look like veggies and fruits. How ridiculous is this thing? The worlds smallest and healthiest people seem to eat the worst things ever.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Booyah. Booyah. Booyah.

I can't think of a time when I've been so conscience of being a white person. Even in Africa, I feel like I blended in more. (Probably because I am black) I ride the trains here, NO ONE wants to sit near me. (And it's not because I stopped showering in December). People stare at me all the time. (NOT because of my leather-vest-with-no-shirt-underneath-and-cut-offs-while-wearing-rollerblades-and-giant-headphones-style). I've even been denied service at a restaurant, though I blame it on the ridiculous size of the group I was "with" and their obnoxious inability to control their vocal dynamics. The waitress kept saying "That takes too long to make, we can't make it" to anything we tried to ordered. Two other gents and myself split off from the group to show the owners our polite, quiet, respectful nature and were eventually served and actually waited to til everyone left to have a nice conversation with the owners. BUT initially, they wanted us out. I ordered a thing of Curry Rice and then someone at the table next to us (the loud people) ordered the same thing and the waitress said "We don't have any rice. you must order something different" (this is where you should take a hint. No restaurant in Japan runs out of rice) so she ordered toast. I got my rice. Booyah.



This sign wasn't REALLY there.

PS My host brother finally talked to me. He was nice. It was the third of forth time I've seen him. We talked about Africa, he's going to Morocco in March or April. Respect.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Rockin the Onsen

The other night, I was sitting and finishing up dinner (it was about 9 at night) my host dad goes "do you have any plans?" I said "nope." he said "you should take a bath!" I thought "sure why the hell not!" and agreed. I was slightly ocnfused when he threw me my coat and towel and we drove for 20 minutes to a large old building. We go inside and what do ya know he wanted me to go to the public bath house....with him. I was KINDA nervous, but not really since I didn't really have much of a choice...I was there...I was getting naked. There was no way out of it. 20 year old american men don't usually like to waltz around from bath to bath totally naked...with other naked men (ranging from about 14 to their 80s). Well I didn't think about it and just did it. It was really relaxing after everyone stopped staring at me. A tall white, gangly, hairy, monster with huge eye brows...how could they not stare.

I'm kind of a monster here. I have to walk over a huge arched bridge every morning to get to the train. Little kids are walking to school, the see me and start to run. If I smile they always stop and stare. Then in horror, they wave at me. After I wave back they are amazed, they never know how to react. It's the same way with adults on the train. If I smile and nod at them...they freak out and occasionally take a picture of me on their cellphone...I'm seriously a monster. I love it.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Secret Part II...

I also secretly can't wait for the Fertility Festival (Hounen Matsuri)...

...if not for the hilarious giant penis shrines, then definitely for the penis shaped candy.

Exposing my secret...

I have a secret. The secret is that I secretly want to play Pachinko.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

What the heck is going on...

I've been hearing a LOT about this Tokai earthquake that's on its way over here. Every 100 - 150 years the area I am in suffers from a major earthquake. They get a lot of random little ones every couple of months, but nothing too serious. Currently we're in the 100 - 150 year time frame for the big one. Infact, they've already named it "Tokai". Hopefully this sucker doesn't strike while I'm here, but it may. We've been warned that we get, usually, 2 hours to 24 hours of warning before it strikes, luckily. So not only will living here be fun and exciting, but i'll also be scary as hell! Great!

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Am I Afraid?

No and Yes. No, because I'll be living in a place where when the flowers bloom everyone gets drunk, there's a castle, and a "naked festival". Yes, because places that have castles tend to have dragon problems.