My story continues the following day. Again, I arrived at
Doshisha bright and early, met up with Dani, and made my way to SMMA’s room to
listen to more performances. Just like the day before, the music was excellent.
While it turned out I missed seeing Dani’s band perform (I was away at
Amanohashidate), I did get to see my friend Kaori rock out on the drums. I’m
glad I was able to make it!
Just after Kaori finished up, we had to bolt – I had
promised my friend Ai I would come see her dance. When we got the stage, there
were a few other dance groups that performed first. But it was good that we
showed up for them – I got to see amazing breakdancing, hip hop, and all sorts
of dances. Ai’s performance was jazz dance, I think. It was good. Like, really
good. Props to whoever did the choreography for that. There’s something about
these Japanese clubs; everyone is just so GOOD at what they do! I’m kind of
jealous, actually. More on my jealousy of Japanese clubs shortly.
We wandered about again, eventually being persuaded/conned
into buying some beef stew. It turns out it was Campbell’s soup beef stew. And
I didn’t get any beef in my stew. Lame. After a brief circuit around the
campus, I headed back to the smaller stage to see another SMMA performance. As
I listened, I chatted with Kaori about SMMA; by this point, I had decided that
I was interested in joining up. I was surprised to hear that SMMA had a
tradition where after EVE, third year students retire from the club. It seems
that all my friends were performing in SMMA for the last time.
Unfortunately, as a result of KCJS not matching its schedule
to Doshisha, I had homework due the next day. (Side note: Doshisha was
technically closed due the anniversary of its founding; we had class anyway.)
But since I didn’t want to head home, I went into the library for a couple
hours and did what had to be done. Doshisha’s library reminds me of the Graduate
School library back home. It’s so quiet that even sitting down seems to make a
lot of noise. A place like that makes you want to do your work and get out,
which is precisely what I did.
I got back to SMMA’s room just in time to hear LionPanda’s
last performance. They played this beautiful song called 新しい日々,
which I would have paid for a CD of. No, really, it was that good.
Over the
course of the last two days, I witnessed the strength of 先輩後輩関係
(Relationship between upper and lower classmen). The kohai would present the retiring senpai with flowers, a photograph, and some other present, and
thank them for being so kind, sometimes telling a story related to the person.
The senpai would tell them how glad
they were to have met them, and that they should still hang out in the future.
Well, something like that. There were tears and emotions. I don’t think I’ve
seen a group of people that care so much about each other.
This reached its peak when the senpai all got on stage to say goodbye to the kohai. Everyone was crying at this point. Hell, I was crying at
this point. This was when I realized I had
to be a part of this circle. Not once in my life have I been a part of a club
like that, where everyone cares so much about each other like that. I’m so
envious that Japanese students get to have this wonderful experience; I think
it’s incredible.
Incidentally, during this last, tear evoking scene, the
scent of something burning started spreading through the room. I looked around
for smoke, but found nothing. The smell kept getting stronger, and at last some
of the guys went for the windows. There was construction outside, and the
windows were taped shut, but I gave them a hand and we were able to pop open two
of the windows. It helped, to some degree.
With that ceremony, EVE had reached its conclusion, and it
was time to clean up. And so clean up we did! I asked if I could help out, and
it seems they were glad to have another pair of hands. I helped take down
decorations and flyers, and then carried tables (which they had used to make
the stage) out and around back of the Fusokan.
But if you think that’s the end of my night, you’d be dead
wrong! Me and Nick headed on over to Kyodai for our Art Appreciation club
meeting. We met up with everyone at the clubhouse, and discussed our dinner
options. There were two clearly defined groups: those who wanted curry, and the
anti-curry rebel faction. Opting for curry, our group headed over to this Thai
curry shop, where we chowed down on some fine spicy green curry.
After eating, we headed back to the clubroom, where a few
latecomers had just arrived. As always, we had some snacks and drinks while we
chatted. Nick and I mentioned to some of them the lantern word game puzzle, and
wondered why they were correct. After thinking about it for a while, our
Japanese friends explained to us the trick behind the game. In return, they
asked us for some English word games. Nick brought out a whopper that completely
stumped me; after a while, one of the Japanese students figured it out.
On the way home, I ran into a familiar face on the train. It
was my friend Akira, who I hadn’t seen in months. Although he’s training to be
a monk, he’s decided to keep his option open, so he’s also job hunting like
other Japanese students. What a neat guy. It seems he’ll be more free…next
year.
To wrap this story on up, Doshisha EVE revealed to me new
possibilities I had never dreamed of. Even if the timing is hard, and even if I
have to travel all the way to the Tanabe campus, I’m going to make things work.
My future, as always, is in my hands.
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