So Long...

I say, "So Long" to Japan. It's been the most fun I have had in my life. Being able to have this kind of freedom, I feel very lucky. Living in another country with a great family, eating great food every night, and stepping out of my comfort zone on a regular basis. I wish everyone could experience something like this, whether just for a week or for years...

Everyday I start to add things to a list of things I will miss in Japan and here are the current contenders...

1) The Class I teach English To
2) Being able to go out late any day of the week and eat at delicious restaurants with friends
3) Speaking/hearing Japanese on a regular basis
4) The lady I see every morning on my way to school. I see her walking a different dog every day, and each one slightly resembles her...
5) Coco Ichiban Curry House (A cheap and delicious unhealthy Japanese Curry meal)
6) My host moms cooking and my host sisters insane cooking...oh man their Kimuchi Nabe is insane.
7) Japanese Toilets (Self heating seats MAKES the difference)
8) The new friends I've made at school. Being able to make friends who don't understand you in your native language is a very interesting feeling. I've made friends from China, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Netherlands, Poland, and Vietnam...I never ever thought I'd have friends all over.
9) The new friends I've made on my trip. It's strange that I came here knowing absolutely no one and now have friends that I consider some of my best friends.
10) My host family. The funniest and nicest host family of them all...

Things I won't Miss/Things I am happy to get back too...

1) Fruit. The fruit here, although much tastier, is disgustingly expensive so it's a rare eat. I'm looking forward to eating fruit on a more regular basis.
2) Better Showers...
3) Japanes Toilets (though the one in my house has a self-heating seat...public toilets are a dread)
4) My Bed
5) My real family (and yes, Step-family is included)
6) My other moms cooking and the food she buys (i.e. bagels...dear god, I want bagels)
7) I won't miss being stared at so hard you can feel it in the back of your skull...
8) Masks...I hope they don't catch on in the USA
9) I miss my guitars...
10) My friends and teachers back home...



The bad toilets...


The good toilets...



Working at the Cram-School teaching english...

Searching for My Mind (As I Am Unsure Where I Lost It)

While the clock is slowly (was to fastly) clicking down to the time I lave. I have a lot to do. I have to get some good gifts for my host family, I have to get hotels ready for my family when they come, I have to hang out with my friends before I leave, I have to register for classes for next quarter at school, I have to finish writing songs that I started, I have to... well I just have a lot to do. This is a position I should never ever be put in. When it comes to taking responsibility to get things like this done, I am not the person to put in charge. There are somethings, that I have extreme interest in, that I will work myself to death trying to finish. For instance, I worked hard on helping produce and get permits for a submission to the Chicago Comedy Television Pilot Competition this year and I worked my butt off. When it came to filling out papers for my study abroad to Japan, I just couldn't get myself to do it. When I want to finish recording a song or finish writing a song, I will lock myself in my room until it's done. When I have to wash my clothes because all of them are dirty, I will avoid it like the plague. Ask my mother, I wouldn't be in Japan if she hadn't helped me out.


I have had to book a lot of hotels lately and it took all the energy out of me. I booked a hotel in the town I live in but they didn't have enough rooms on the days I wanted. They had two rooms open on the 18th, but not the 19th. The other hotel in the city luckily had rooms on the 19th, but not the 18th. This worked out conveniently, though having to switch hotels will be hectic. Yesterday I was contacted by the first hotel saying they have space the second day. So I called the first and cancelled. Starting to get annoying? Yeah, that's just the beginning of it. The same thing happened with my sisters hotel in Nagoya. The hotel in Miyajima, and Tokyo. I haven't reserved a hotel for my second return to Nagoya yet, though I should probably get on that.

In order to relieve myself from the pain of reserving things (I think I just hate to use the phone, especially here because it's harder to understand Japanese on the phone since you can't see any gestures...gestures speak louder than words.) I have been writing a lot of music. I started writing two lullabyes and a small collection of piano solos, kind of jazzy-bluesy-boogie-woogie piano solos. All of them are about the different trains I ride/have ridden here in Japan. One is called the Tsurumaisen Boogie Woogie. Tsurumai is the name of the line sen is "line". The others that are coming are the Meijo-sen, Higashiyama-Sen, Meitetsu, Shinkansen (bullet train), and possibly a small Aonomi-Sen. I haven't really written anything in months and they are just pouring out and it's a great feeling. There's no forcing, writing has never felt easier. It's also nice because since I haven't had a guitar here I've been able to work on my piano skills a lot at home. I can't wait to get a guitar in my hands though, as much as I play piano, it will always be my mistress. Guitar is my true love.

For those interested, I have loaded the Tsurumai-Sen Boogie Woogie (in its current Synthesized Piano, slightly unfinished status) to my music website http://www.purevolume.com/michaelmalarkey feel free to visit and listen.

My older sister arrives in two days, I can't wait. It's a lot like having this weird dream you get excited about so you keep telling people about and everyone just goes "...oooh cool...yeah..." but then you get to finally get to bring someone else into the dream with you. Maybe that's a strange analogy, but that's what it feels like...

Happy Mothers Day Mom and any other Moms or Grandmas who read this.

The Tanjyoubi!

Here is exactly how I celebrated my bithday in Japan...

First, let me say that I wasn't really looking to celebrate my birthday, I didn't really care at all. On the 29th, I actually had forgotten that my birthday was the next day... anyway...

Once a year my host family's extended family from Tokyo comes and visits. This year it was on April 30th. We went out to an incredibly expensive, incredibly delicious Japanese style restaurant called "Hari Hari." We were put in our own small room with a very low table. Under the table the floor is dug out and you put your feet below. My hostaunt, two host uncles, and two host cousins were there. My host mom, host sister, host dad, and host grandma... I guess I could have left off the word "Host" for all of those and you would have gotten the idea, but...it's too late to go back.

All your food comes on separate plates. One small plate with sushi, one with some vegetables, a small bowl of soup, etc. You get ten or eleven different plates of food. It's a lot like eating at my grandma's house where each thing requires it's own plate. (The land where a sandwich, an apple, blueberrys, chips and cheese can never share one plate. Clearly each one necessitates it's own resting area.) I was wished happy birthday by everyone and my host grandma got her mothers day wishes because everyone was around. Following lunch we went downstairs in the building to a fancy cafe/cake restaurant. We drank coffee and orange juice and they brought me out a big cake covered in delicious fruits (not a fruit cake) and then my host-extended-family gave me expensive chocolates and some nice little tea treats. We took some pictures, chatted and then we went to my host familys house. Here we talked, drank tea, I played piano for them, we watched TV and it was nice.

At about 4pm, I met up with my friends and we went to a kaitenzushi (the place where the sushi travels around the little moving sidewalk thingy on little plates.) I ate 12 plates (about 20 pieces of sushi), and a piece of cake. I felt so sick. All of my friends were mostly out traveling so I was only with my friend Lisa and my friend matt but it was really nice keeping it low key. Sometimes it's really difficult to go out here because everyone always wants to come and it ends up being a big a group and everything gets harder when there's too many people. It's not that it's BAD with a lot of people, it's just a little much at times. We walked around and drank some soda. That was it. It was a relatively low-key birthday which is just how I like it. I couldn't have been happier.

Today, however, my friend Jessica wanted to celebrate (she's a very motherly friend) and so she invited a bunch of people out to lunch (The same Kaitenzushi..I could barely eat there after eaching all those sushi last time.) It ended up being me, Jessica, and 4 Japanese girls from school. Lunch was good because we all just talked. They gave me some Japanese Mochi-Ice Cream. After we went downtown to Sakae and they went shopping. How I end up getting stuck with girls who want to shop is beyond me. I've had years of practice though, growing up with two sisters and my mom. I wandered around and watched them all touch various articles of clothing while they considered buying it... it was entertaining. I had fun... but...I don't really think any males idea of a fun birthday celebration is watching girls shop. No offense. I still had fun though.

Thanks for any birthday wishes I recieved from anyone! I will surely see everyone soon (The unfortunate countdown has begun...About 28 days left.) Part of my wants to stay forever but part of me is a little tired of being an extreme outsider, it's a very interesting feeling. It's strange coming from America. I realize now how blind people often are to other people's race because we are so used to seeing all different kinds of people. Again, thanks everyone.

-Mike

Oh Johnny!!

Johnny Ohkura... The greatest Japanese rockstar of them all. My host parents gave me tickets to his concert, they weren't really sure who he was, they knew he used to be famous in the 70s, he was coming to Nagoya and that he's a rock and roll man. They gave me some tickets and a small poster that showed an intense older man with large sideburns sporting a purple velvet suit with a giant white collar towering out and sash tied around his neck. His guitar was a big purple one and boy did he look cool.

I had no idea what to expect (I say that, but I really did have a pretty good idea of what to expect just from the poster...) It was incredible. I went with Lisa and Bob, my two friends here. We entered the club, put our belongings into a little coin locker and watched this older gent rock out to a half empty club. Even though he's older, kinda washed up, and a lot of his songs sound the same, the man could really rock. His band was so together and on top of things. They rocked out, people were dancing, everyone was extremely drunk (except for us as it was a thursday night and our last week of classes and we all had big tests the next day.) We were also the youngest people in the club by about 20 years. The audience consisted of older business men and women, small superfan groups who all had greasy pompadours and leather jackets that said "JOHNNY!" On the back, then there was 3 exchange students.

For two or three songs we just kinda bobbed to the music and watched as some of the most drunk people we've seen in Japan moved to the music. Eventually Lisa was flagged down by a man and some women, she wen tover and boy oh boy did she cut the rug up. Soon enough Bob and I were all dancing...well... the lady wasn't really dancing...more like...moving...to the music. Lisa put it best when she said "You had NO idea where she was going next." He body was just thrown around randomly until she got a little dizzy and had to stop...yikes...She was awesome, her strange behavior included frequently holding my hands and spinning herself, sticking her finger into bobs ear, and sucking on lisa's cheek.

Johnny himself was quite a strange inspiration. He's famous, but he's not superstar...but he acts like it, he was a huge diva. He absolutely has fans and he has fun music, but it's not liek he's selling out arenas or anything (for now at least...) He could have easily been your average burned out ex-rockstar and acted like a jerk and played a half-ass set to the half empty club. But he didn't. He acted like he was the kind of the fucking world. He walks out in his sparkle vest and giant collared shirt and just owned the place. There weren't many people and he absolutely knew, but he didn't care at all he gave it 163.7%...his all. At times he'd leave the stage while the band played an instrumental selection, when he returned he'd have a large towel hanging around his neck...but then he'd grab both sides of it and break it apart with a powerful face only to reveal it was TWO towels that said "ALIVE THE LIVE! JOHNNY OHKURA!" and he'd spin them in the air and finally throw them into the audience for his super-fans to wrestle each other to the floor to get their very own "ALIVE THE LIVE!" Towel. Amazing... Following his towel trick, his stange hand would come and put on his guitar while he stood and just glared into the audience. Then another stage hand would come out and fix his collar and sash. He was a total diva. I loved it. He knows he's isn't the biggest star int he world, but he doesn't care, he makes everyone think he is just for his concert and as I said before, it's oddly inspiring. I don't think having a big ego is a good thing by any means, but for him, when he's on stage is the best thing in the world because it gets everyone excited and a little bit jealous. His songs were kind of a mix of Chuck Berry, late Elvis, Early Rollingstones, and other various Rockabilly/Rock and Roll bands.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Johnny Ohkura!

Type A Influenza

I don't get it. I floss. How many people actually floss? I eat vegetables, I drink a vegetable juice for breakfast every morning, I eat fruit and salads, and I shower regularly. I was my hands often and don't do very bad things to my body. Why do I have Type A Influenza? I wish I had an answer, but this happens all the time. Though it's been years since I've gotten the actual flu, why did it have to find me NOW. One more week of school is left, all my finals and papers are due this week except I was instructed by the doctor (which I'll get to in a minute) that I have to wait a week to go back to school.

I woke up this morning with 102 degree temperature. Yesterday the temperature was almost completely gone but today, for some reason, it was super strong. I was light headed, not hungry, and my whole body hurt. I wasn't upset, I was just kind of annoyed. My host mom insisted that I go to the doctor. I agreed and we went. First I get there and they make me wear a mask, I could understand this, they don't want me to get everyone sick incase I have flu. They take my temperature, and I just lay on a bed for a while. They tell me to go into the doctors office and we talk. He asked me questions in broken english and I responded in broken Japanese. My host mom could hear this in the waiting room and told me that everyone was laughing. Oh well, I tried.

He lay me down on another table and said " Influenza Examination. close your eyes and squeeze this tissue." I watched him pull out the worlds longest q-tip and I wished I had closed my eyes before I saw it because I knew it was going in my face. He put it up my nose. I felt it go into my nose but it just kept going deeper and deeper to the point where my eyes were watering and I could feel the q-tip cleaning off the back of my skull. I checked for chuncks of brain when he pulled it out but my eyes were watering so bad that I couldn't see. The tested it and it came back as "Type A Influenza" and he told me I couldn't go to school for a week and that I'd be feeling better by monday of next week, not the monday coming up...the following one. Oh well, I've had worse things happen in my life, although sometimes I wonder if this is actually worse than the time I vomited on my grandma's bed from jumping on it and eating popcorn at the same time when I was 6.

A Fight to the Finish...

This weekend (Saturday morning) I am scheduled to take a trip with my fellow abroad students to Nara. Of course I am very excited to go to this old city that has the worlds largest brass buddah, tons of old temples and shrines, and tons of aggressive hungry dear. Of course, whenever something exciting is going to happen what happens to me? If you know me, then you know the answer is, I get sick. The day before I came to Japan I got the stomach flu (which I managed to wrestle all day while I ran errands), The summer before college? mononucleosis and my wisdon teeth out. Stevie Wonder concert here? Got a cold. Host-Family trip to Shizuoka? Sick. Trip to Nara? SICK. Of course I have been very light hearted about all of this because I am still lucky enough to be in Japan and being in Japan and being sick is much better than being back home and being sick. I came home from school today took my temp (which rings in at 101 degrees or 38.3 degrees in celsius). Although being sick sucks it does give me a nice break to relax.

Explaining what happens when I get sick is very difficult for me here because my host family continues to believe that the reason I am sick is because I didn't have an umbrella in the rain yesterday. Sure someone could get sick from that, but I haven't slept well for a few days and I've been working and everyone at school is sick, not to mention the packed trains where I am face to face with people who are wearing masks full of their germs.

The strange thing is about being this sick is that even though I should be angry and frustrated (as I was right before I came to Japan.) I haven't really. Everytime I'm about to get angry or frustrated something good happens. For instance, I was in my room translating song lyrics and my host mom called me out for dinner. I was really really tired, had a horrible headache, and a serious case of the chills. My host mom went into a frenzy of Japanese and I was having a hard time understanding as my head wasn't all together. I just kept quiet (I am good at it) and started eating. In Japan, it's easy to feel better when you're feeling beat and down, just turn on the TV.

I watched a TV show where two men have little houses attached to each other and there was one wall missing. There was a big gate that opened into a little fenced off field that was full of Goats, Sheeps, and one cow. Their mission was to live with these animals for one week, every morning they would have to get them to enter thier little houses and then milk them and that's all they could use for food for one week. They pretty much just ate cottage cheese for a week. It was perfect to see because it was so ridiculous seeing two Japanese chasing Goats and sheep around. There was one black sheep that hated being milked and they would chase it screaming "Kurochyan! ochichi!" which means "Ms. Black! Milk Please!" I don't know if that is funny to anyone, but I find it hilarious.

Japanese people put "-San" "-Kun" "-Chyan" "-Sama" after everything. Mt. Fuji? Fujisan or Fujisama. sama is usually what people would use for a king or a god or someone who is very very important. Sometimes they will refer to fish they are about to cook as "Sakanasan" which means "Mr. Fish" I am not sure, this is an educated guess but I think it has something to do with shinto, it is believed that there is souls and deities in almost everything...all of the "incredible natural wonders" at least. Mountains, Trees, Flowers, Animals, the Ocean...things like this.

Anyway, I am sick with a temperature and if I don't feel better tomorrow I'll miss a Kanji test and a trip to Nara so I am going to go to sleep.

A little lift up...

I don't have much great news and I thought that people might want my blog to have a little bit of a pick up because it's been a little bit on the downs...

Since not everyone will be able to enjoy the wonderful joy of Japanese Television, here is a nice clip I saw and that I think everyone will enjoy... I don't think any context is necessary as it makes no sense no matter what...




Enjoy.