Okayama: A Place to Belong, Part Two

This morning, I got up at 6:30, as usual. But the futon was pretty comfy, so I stayed in bed for a while. At 7:00 some sort of van went by outside, announcing something or other over its loudspeakers. Finally, at 7:30, Rika gave the wake up call, so I went downstairs to eat breakfast. We had scrambled eggs, wieners, and bread. It was really good! After getting ready to go, Ayumu and I went with Satsuki to the crop harvesting event. The plant in question is called makomotake. In my dictionary, it’s labeled as wild rice, but it’s actually very similar to bamboo shoots. We rode over to the field, where Enishi Akiyoshi, a famous Okayama comedian, was talking to all the kids who came out to participate. They gave some safety instructions (don’t run with the hand scythe), and then passed out gloves to put on. As a side note, Satsuki is some sort of local politician, and she knows pretty much everyone. Think of the granny in Summer Wars. That’s a good representation of how awesome she is. At the event, she introduced me to a tea ceremony teacher, who I would be meeting again later. She also introduced me to Enishi, the comedian. We talked a bit - he seems pretty nice. Then we went down into the field, where we learned how to harvest the makomo. It was pretty easy - you just grab the one that you want, and cut it from below with the sickle. We each got to harvest three. The news cameras filmed both Enishi and me while we were at work – the video should be available online at some point. They took some group pictures, and then sent us back to the main reception area where we ate tonjiru; a miso, pork, and makomo soup. The mayor made a speech, and Satsuki introduced me to a number of her friends. After a while, Ayumu and I decided to head home. We walked, which only took about ten minutes. It’s actually kind of interesting – the house is in an area called “Green Crest”. We can’t seem to figure out why they decided to give it an English name. When we got home, Rina was getting ready to leave. She plays Spanish guitar, and I guess she was hired to play at a wedding. I said my goodbyes, and Rika went with her to the station. She asked me and Ayumu had to look after Yuna, the baby. Everything went fine for about five minutes, and then Yuna started to cry. Having no experience with babies, I wasn’t really sure what to do. Ayumu told to to pick her up while he called Rika. I rocked her and tried to calm her down, but she just wasn't happy. The strange thing is, the moment Rika came home, Yuna stopped crying. She’s really a mama’s girl.

For lunch, Ringo made me a bowl of home-made ramen. He used to be a chef, and eating his cooking, I can tell. It was among the best bowls of noodles I have ever eaten. When I finished, he took me up into the mountains to see the sights. It was super pretty up there – a great view of the city, plus a golden statue of the Buddha, meant to watch over Satosho. However, I managed to walk face first into a spider web, which covered my glasses, blinding me. Ringo grabbed a stick and waved it around, trying to clear out any remaining cobwebs.

Having returned to the car, we drove over to Kuriyama (Chestnut Mountain) to pick…chestnuts! Apparently, my family is the caretaker of the mountain, and so they’re allowed to pick the nuts there. We went around, opening up the spiky coating and extracting the nuts using tongs. Those shells are SHARP – they pricked me once or twice. There weren’t all that many nuts, as the season has come to a close. Still, it was a good experience, and I got to bring home the nuts I collected.

I met up with Satsuki, who took me over to the tea sensei’s house (I told you, she knows EVERYONE). As we were driving up, I felt a migraine start up. We entered the tea house, which was a tiny structure compared to the massive main house. We were welcomed in by the sensei and one of her students, and we entered the tea room. Another man, the son of the student, was present, and he spoke some English (of course, I speak Japanese). So it worked out in terms of translating. Now, at this point, I was worried I would have to sit through my first actual tea ceremony with a pounding headache. Miraculously, as we began, the migraine just melted away. I learned the proper etiquette for eating the tea sweets, and for drinking the tea. I received a little round cake thing as my wagashi. When I finally drank my first bowl of tea, it was fantastic. Really frothy and creamy. It wasn’t even all that bitter. Apparently, the objective of the practitioner is to mix the water and tea just right so that small bubbles form creates the ideal texture and taste. When we had finished, the sensei brought out another student, who taught me how to perform the ceremony (rudimentarily, anyway). The sweets this time around were senbei crackers and sugar candies shaped like bells. My tea wasn’t so good, as it was kind of bitter and grainy. I got to partake in one last round of tea, this time made by my teacher. I was served sugar candies shaped like Noh masks, and a wafer filled with red bean paste. This tea was as good as the first, very flavorful yet not overwhelming. I also got to examine the tea bowls – each of them bore a motif that captured the Fall essence. We had to duck out at this point, but I was able to get a really rich Tea experience.

We drove to an elementary school, where KCJS students were supposed to take a karate lesson. I was about 15 minutes late when I walked in. The lady there handed me a uniform and told me to change. When I finished, they threw me right into the action. I would have been lost, had I not been rescued by this Japanese girl, who told me to imitate her. It turns out, she’s the daughter of the karate teacher! No wonder she was so good at it! We learned what I think was a basic kata, but I only got about 2/3 of it. It was like learning a new dance routine, but harder because I didn’t know any of the basic steps. Still, we made it through with only minor embarrassment. At the end, we all did a big round of jump rope, where two teams had to jump simultaneously over this extra-long rope. We were there for about two hours, and by the time we left, my host mother had run off on some errands. I proceeded to the next location with Brendan and his host mom.

The next location was a shrine, where they were setting up for matsuri. I had never been to a matsuri, so I was really excited. But what was really shocking was that the guys (no girls allowed!) would be participating in omikoshi, carrying around the portable shrine. We gathered together, and waited near the shrine. Japanese men came, and drank some beer (painkiller before the main event). For a while, we were just waiting, but finally, we got some beer as well. Apparently, the swaying of the portable shrine is supposed to be partially due to the inebriation of the participants. But I think it’s just because it’s damn heavy. We finally hoisted the thing onto our (30+ men strong) shoulders. It felt like a tree. I mean, it’s a wooden shrine, with three kids inside drumming on a big taiko. They didn’t explain much before we started. In fact, the only clear instructions I got were “You are not allowed to fall over, or run away.” Way to inspire confidence. We carried it to the shrine, where we ran back and forth, sometimes hoisting it into the air along with the rhythm of the taiko and our collective chanting. I definitely got bonked on the head by it at least once. After what had to be an hour, we took a short break, at which point Satsuki bought me some ikayaki (grilled squid). I was starving, so it was a welcome treat. After halftime, we ran around for another half hour, before we left the matsuri grounds, and left the shrine with the men. They ran it around until 11pm, I hear. While carrying the shrine, I saw the karate girl again, and waved hello. It’s a nice feeling that, in such a small town, you run into familiar faces everywhere.

Having arrived home, I got the first look at myself after omikoshi. My shoes, once black, were dust-brown. My glasses didn’t fare much better. And my poor, poor shoulders; they were sore as all hell, and were bright red. That’s what you get, carrying a damn shrine around for near to two hours. The sight that awaited me at home, though, was fantastic: a table covered with piping hot, crispy tempura, and a bowl of udon noodles. Risa had worked her magic again. I ate and ate and ate, not only because I was starving, but also because it was just so very tasty. When I finshed up, I paid my complements to the chef, and hopped into the bath. The hot water was JUST what I needed after the day’s hustle and bustle.

We stayed up a bit to chat, and Rika asked me a bunch of questions about English slang. She wants to be able to help foreigners, so she’s doing her best to learn the language. And she’s pretty damn good at it too. We talked about acronyms like “LOL” and “JK”, and she asked me about the difference between “I’ll” and “I will”. Tough stuff there, but definitely high-level questions. Even I couldn’t explain it very well, and I’ve been speaking English for almost 21 years. Meanwhile, Satsuki switched the TV to the local news station. First, there was a report on the morning’s makomotake festival, in which I made a surprise appearance. There was definitely a better video of me harvesting the things; I’ll try to dig it up later. But even more surprising was that the interview from the day before was scheduled to air. I was really embarrassed because, as mentioned above, I pretty much made a fool out of myself. Luckily, they cut out the embarrassing part, and so the interview came off pretty well. Having enjoyed the evening with the family, I decided to turn in early.

Okayama: A Place to Belong, Part One

Hello! This is Sam, calling in from the Japanese countryside!

Today, KCJS went on the annual Okayama trip. After a somewhat long drive to the station (my host dad took a wrong turn and we got stuck in traffic), I commuted to Doshisha, as usual. We had a brief meeting regarding our trip, then headed for the bus. The only thing of note during the drive was the interesting combini we stopped at along the way - it had oppai pudding. You know what that is? It’s two cups of pudding “arranged” to look like breasts. Only in Japan.

When we reached Okayama, we wearily dismounted the bus, and were immediately whisked off to a conference room where a crowd of Japanese people were waiting for us. There was a TV camera and everything. We all sat down, and waited for it to begin. Yotsukura-sensei gave a fairly high-level speech in Japanese, although she seemed really nervous. She was followed by speeches by local officials, who used bigger words and were less understandable. Then came the moment I had been dreading. Along with five other KCJS students, we presented a little speech as well; as representatives of KCJS, we had to thank the group for hosting us again this year. I messed up. After we were seated, they had all the KCJS students introduce themselves. And I messed up again. Our host families also introduced themselves – at least one of my friends got cute sisters. Maybe a little jealous? My host father was dressed In a yellow polo and wearing shades, a very non-Japanese look. When we finally got to meet, he gave me a strong handshake, and used some English to make me feel welcome. I tried my best not to show my nervousness as I introduced myself yet again. He told me his name was Shingo, but that I should just call him Ringo. Like, the Japanese word for “apple”. And he has an awesome car - when he said he likes race cars, he doesn't mean watching. He actually races cars. Just as we started to talk though, we were rushed out, along with three other students, to go to a smaller, local government office in Satosho, the city we were staying in.

When we reached the city office, we were led to one of the cushiest rooms I've ever been in, where again cameras were set up and official looking people were waiting. The mayor came out and greeted us personally, delivering a speech in heavy-duty Japanese. We all got cellphone straps and little badges of the town mascot. They also had us all take a photo together. Afterwards, one of the TV cameramen came over and interviewed me. I only made a huge fool of myself; I didn’t catch one of the questions he asked, and someone off-screen started talking to me. I finally stuttered out something about wanting to eat chestnuts. I really hope they edit.

The first activity in Okayama was to make pottery. Apparently, one of the six famous Japanese pottery styles is based in Okayama, and we were to learn a little about it today. My host father drives me over to the technical school where the pottery class was being help. On the way, all the students walking home from school turned their heads to stare at me. A couple of girls waved at me, and when I waved back they cheered like I was some kind of celebrity. I guess I’m big in the countryside.

Ringo had some stuff to do; he works part time to pay for his expensive hobbies. So we parted ways, and I got onto a bus with the rest of the KCJS kids. It took us to a pottery studio, where an old sensei explained about the style of pottery and why it’s famous. But he used some really technical lingo, and I don’t think anyone understood more than three or four words per sentence. But when he finished, we got a much simpler explaination: we would split into two groups, one to make stuff out of clay, and the other to decorate. I wanted to make a tea bowl, since I'm a fan of chanoyu, Japanese tea ceremony. And so make that tea bowl I did, with the help of the teacher. Actually, she did 75% of the work. But it came out well...until I nicked the side with string while removing the bowl from the wheel. Funny thing is, everyone (except Ken, Yotsukura-sensei’s son) didn’t know what to make, so they also made bowls. Ken made a little sake jug.

Once we finished and cleaned up, we walked back to the school. The teachers with us didn’t know the way, and we actually stopped at an intersection, unsure of which was to proceed. Once we made it back to the school, we waited for our host families to pick us up. I had seen a bunch of smoke coming from the fields on the way over, and I asked one of the teachers what it was coming from. Turns out, the farmers burn off grass to keep it from stealing the crops’ nutrients. When Ringo showed up, everyone was super impressed with his awesome car. It’s some sort of sporty convertible race car. It’s really loud, by the way. Before we headed home, he wanted to show me the ocean. And so we drove (okay, he sped) through the beautiful countryside, through the mountains, until we reached the sea. On the way, he showed off his awesome driving skills, by doing several 360˚ turns in the middle of an intersection O_O

Anyway, the ocean. We got there just in time for the sunset, which would have been stunning if it wasn't cloudy. Still, it was beautiful and peaceful. Ringo had a smoke while I relaxed in the beauty of nature. The world just felt at peace for a while.

We went back over the mountains to his house. That’s when I met the family. It's a big one – there’s Ringo, his wife (Satsuki), their three daughters (Rina, Risa, and Rika), two of whom are married (Ken and Norio), and then their two kids (Ayumu and Rui), and the baby (Yuna). I spent most of the evening talking with them, really enjoying being around so many people. It was just such a welcome change from my relatively boring life in Joyo-shi. We had a maki sushi party for dinner, with a giant plate chicken karaage on the side. Risa is an amazing cook! I haven't eaten this well since I was staying with the Fujiwaras, to be perfectly honest. When Satsuki got home, I introduced myself once again. I had just mentioned that I’ve been taking kyudo lessons (they asked me what I have been doing outside of classes); when she heard, she looked me in the eyes and asked me if I wanted to do kyudo that night (which I did). She picked up the phone, made a call, and then rushed me away in the car.

This was my first time in a dojo besides Kawaguchi sensei's. I was nervous, and yet really excited. I was introduced to the sensei, who seemed strict yet kind, just like my own sensei. Then we all sat down to watch. Today of all days was a special event, one that only happens once a month, called tsukimi shakai, or “moon viewing kyudo”. It's a special event only done at this dojo, but is decently famous among those in the know. This evening’s theme was “full moon obscured by clouds”, represented by little trees placed between the archer and the target. After a beautiful ritual, where a male practitioner ritualistically readied his bow and nailed the target dead center, the archers all lined up and fired at special gold targets, representing the full moon. It was amazing to watch, and I felt incredibly lucky to have gotten to see it. 

After we returned, I met the last sister, Rina. We stayed up talking for a long while, the three sisters, their parents, and I. I took a bath, although I can only hope I did so in the proper way. My Japanese bath etiquette is a little lacking. Despite some not so encouraging news from Nick, I had a fantastic night here in Okayama. Tomorrow seems to be a really busy day too: aside from karate and going to a matsuri, Satsuki has scheduled some sort of harvest festival in the morning, and then a tea ceremony. Any worries I had about coming to the countryside are gone; I'm so glad I came.

A Week of Hardship

Well, this week was not as fantastic as I had hoped when I last posted here. Not saying it was terrible overall, but certain factors made sure that I didn't get off easy this time.

By which I mean, I've had a migraine every day this week, in the morning, during Japanese class T^T

Monday's Kyudo practice was fairly interesting. Although I came in with confidence that I could practice by myself, I failed to properly shoot my bow for the first half hour of the lesson - every time I tried, the arrow would flip out and smack me in the side of the face. One time when sensei was helping me, not only did I get hit by the arrow, but the string whacked sensei as well. Turns out, I wasn't releasing the string properly, which threw the arrow off. After a bunch of tries, I finally got it right. And then continued to do so over and over.

I actually got to the point where I could feel the smoothness of the draw when I pulled the arrow back. It just felt right. Not only was I hitting the target (still the big straw one), I was hitting closer and closer to the center. By the end of the lesson, I was feeling GOOD.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, we have a new member! Another of the artists from the art enclave. This time a pianist. She's pretty cool, and seems really eager to learn. I like her sense of humor, and at the same time, that she's well attuned to Japanese aesthetic elements.

At the end of lesson, I tried to talk to sensei about seijinshiki, the coming of age ceremony here in Japan. Now, to be fair, I was completely mistaken; I had thought that Kyudo practitioners performed at these ceremonies. The reality is that practitioners who are turning 20 go through this special ritual. Either way, I tried asking sensei about it, and we wound up with a HUGE miscommunication. I was asking about who is able to participate, and sensei just had no idea what I was saying. I haven't felt that inept with Japanese since my first day here. In the end though, we sort of worked it out. But it took all three KCJS students to do so; I'll have to study harder, haha.

So jump to Thursday. I'm sure stuff happened on Tuesday and Wednesday, but all I remember is the crazy amount of work I did. So, this morning, at the end of the first block of Japanese, the migraine monster reared its ugly head. I quickly took my painkillers, but they didn't help quickly enough. As soon as class ended, I ran over to the convenience store to grab a cup of coffee. Since today's second period was "Personal Goal Meetings", and I had time before mine, I thought I'd cool off in the library. But, to my disappointment, was a group of my friends...watching the presidential debate on a laptop. Sound, no want. So I fled to an unoccupied room on the second floor, drew the curtains, and finished my coffee in silence. I tried to rest, but my head kept pounding away. At one point Nishimata-sensei (!) came in, thinking I was taking a nap. I told him about my migraine problem, and he told me to take it easy and rest as long as I needed to. He is totally the coolest Japanese teacher I have ever met!

So, I rest. Slowly, slowly, the pain fades away, leaving me exhausted. I know my meeting is coming up, but I'm too drained to get up. The door opens again, this time revealing Fukai-sensei. She pretty much just came to check on me, and told me that I could just meet with her next week. She left, telling me to rest up (she actually told me to go home, but I had another class today). Finally, by 11:30 or so, I was feeling better, so I headed to the library to print my notes for the presentation.

The library is wonderful, filled with hundreds of books on Japan that I would LOVE to read. It is also inhabited by two of the worst computers I have ever used, and the WORST printer in existence. I printed those notes 8 times, and even after changing the format to A4, it kept cutting off 90% of what I had written. Finally, I just copied everything to Word and printed from that. Infernal contraption.

I got those notes printed just in time, too. At 12, I had to meet with Nishimata-sensei. On my way to his office, I ran into Fukai-sensei again. She asked how I was doing, and flat out forbid me from doing any homework while in Okayama. I need to get lots of good, country air and rest a lot. Sounds good to me, especially if it includes some interesting foods (bear meat?) or some local sake. Now, if you recall, I REALLY don't care for the countryside. It's pretty much ruined my plans 3 times over (5, if you count events I was invited to today - sorry, AKP friends!) Well, we're going tomorrow. And since my group is going to the new families who helped SAVE this event from being cancelled (>_<) 
we have to give a thank you speech. So we worked with Nishimata-sensei to craft this WONDERFUL speech which the six of us will be delivering. On the upside, I got to learn more about this amazing sensei. The rumors about his Gundam-obsession were true - he showed us some of his models, and this cool pen that looks like the axes used by Zaku in the show. He claims he uses it to correct tests and chop bad students. He's totally Zaku obsessed, by the way.

Jumping to today's Kyudo lesson, I spent most of the time practicing on my own. This time, I didn't get whacked by the arrow, although the arrow fell out twice. Sensei criticized me for not drawing the bow back properly; when I do it the right way, it feels way better, but I don't think I have enough strength to do it like that :(

So I got a special treat today - Kawaguchi-sensei went out onto the range to shoot. I watched her every movement like a hawk. Every motion had purpose, and strength. Her first shot was glorious - dead center of the target. My respect for her has increased yet again. The new student told me that it's an honor that such an experienced practitioner was giving lessons to a bunch of newbie foreigners; she's probably right, too. I'll have to get her something nice from the countryside.

Actually I did get a present today. There's this temple in Kyoto where they do archery at 60 meters - apparently, its a real sight to see. And now I have a ticket to go see it!

On the way home, I got some Ajari-mochi  from Isetan, a fairly well-known department store. Omiyage, acquired.

So tomorrow, it's off to hickland with me. Shame about all those fun times I'll be missing out on. Many new developments to come, especially given some of my new interests.

A New Hope

*This post refers to Friday, September 28th*

At last, relief has come. It was a rough week, featuring the first test of the semester, followed by the first paper of the semester. But both of those have been completed!
I met the first of my two language partners for lunch - he seems like a really cool guy. It was mostly just "getting to know you" sort of questions, but I think it will work out well. Lunch was cut short by a text from kenji - I was late to the field trip! I dashed across campus, and met up with the rest of the class just in time to catch the bus to ~. We met Katsu-sensei in front of the shrine. We walked through what looked to be the very traditional part of Kyoto. On the way, we grabbed some green tea refreshments. We trekked up a steep hill, finally reaching the museum. We split into teams to explore: our group chose to focus on the shinsengumi. To be fair, I think everyone did. After we finished, Katsu led us over to Kiyomizudera, my favorite temple. On the way he treated us to ice cream - the specialty was honey-sesame. It was really good! The temple was beautiful as always, but parts of it were undergoing renovation. After being teased by Katsu and the class about the enmusubi shrine (its where you go to pray for a lover), we got in line for water. I was shocked when Ryuji, a local, didn't know that the water came from a mountain spring. It was cool and delicious! Just like I remembered.

After walking through, we all went our separate ways. I went with a few of the KCJS students back to Doshisha, on the way to the party. Running into a bunch of friends on the way, we managed to get to the dorm without much trouble.

It was a good party. An American style party, really. Lots of people and cheap alcohol. And loud (by Japanese standards) music. I was able to meet a lot of new people, and had a ton of fun. Interestingly, there were a lot of non Americans there. And all the Japanese students had studied abroad. I spent most of the time chatting in Japanese, meeting new people. At last, I feel like my student life in Japan has begun!

What Goes Up, Must Come Down...

Remember how awesome yesterday was? Invert that, and you have today.

Well, okay, maybe it wasn't THAT bad. It sucked a lot though. First of all, I was woken up at 7:00am. Okaasan shouted "SAM! TIME TO GET UP! RAKUGO TODAY!"
Fantastic.

So I groggily get myself ready. Eat breakfast too quickly. Drag the suitcase with Rakugo stuff through the train station, and wait for the express. And then, out of nowhere, this little blue parakeet (?!) swoops down and lands on the head of this lady sitting next to me, who freaks out. The bird flies away, leaving pretty much everyone shocked. What the hell? Parakeets don't live in Kyoto... Maybe someone's pet got away? Okaasan didn't quite understand my explanation, though. She thinks it was a pigeon. That was no pigeon.





I'll spare you the details on setup. It was bad.

Silver lining 1 of 2: I look great in yukata. Thank god.
Silver lining 2 of 2: I made a new friend, even if she does go to Ritsumeikan, Doshisha's rival school.

The rakugo was actually pretty good too. But by intermission, one of the worst possible things happened. For the first time in over a year, I had one of those killer can't-open-your-eyes migraines. I had to take a walk somewhere quiet until it settled down. By the time I got back, I was late. Which was bad.

The last of the performances was REALLY good. I mean, the premise was funny, and the acting was stellar. It involved getting castle guards drunk, and then tricking them into drinking a bottle of pee. Kind of childish, but hilarious nonetheless.

Skip the cleanup, fast forward to the afterparty. Wait, no. I forgot - when we left KoKoKa, it was pouring. Did I mention we had a typhoon today? We took a cab to the afterparty, with me protecting my manbag with all my might. Note to self - bring the waterproof bag when a typhoon is predicted.

Anyway, afterparty taught me why I don't drink with adults. I only had one beer, but I gotta say...I just didn't enjoy it the way I do when I hang out with my friends. Luckily, Akira was there, so I had someone to talk with. But we kept getting roped into other conversations, which was kind of tiring.

Worst of all, on the way home, the migraine struck again. Worst commute home ever. Okaasan didn't really get what a migraine was, so she kept on talking at me. She actually suggested I eat grapes to feel better. I have never heard a more 関係ない statement in my life.

I guess that was the entirety of my day. Sorry that it was all complaining today. The quality of this blog is usually much higher, but I guess the quality of my days are also usually higher too. Here's to a not-suck week leading up to the accursed Okayama trip!

Sleeping Butterfly

Today, September 29th 2012, Choucho performed her first live concert. And I was there.

I got up pretty early to get ready. I went with my snazzy red chinos and a plain black t-shirt, with my ring-pendant for accessory. I triple checked to make sure I had my tickets, and then left for the station. After a couple transfers and a long ride, I found myself at Umeda. But no matter how much I looked, I couldn't find Esaka on the train map. When I asked, I found out why - I had to take a different train line to get there.

I never know how complex Umeda is before today. I traveled up, down, and around the maze that is Umeda Station, until I finally found the line I was looking for. Even then, things didn't go smoothly - the train I was riding stopped service at a station, and some dude had to explain to me that I had to get off and take the next train. But I wound up in Esaka some five hours before the concert.

My first mission was to find the concert hall, Esaka Muse. That wasn't easy. I asked at a Lawson for directions, but I wasn't able to figure out what the guy was talking about, turning left on some street and then looking right. There was some sort of Esaka Music Festival going on, so the street was filled with shop stalls and live music. I asked a cop where Esaka Muse was - bad idea. He told me it was in some building 5 minutes walk away. When I went, I realized he had no idea what I was looking for - he sent me to a music university. So I went into another Lawson, and got more instructions. Find the street with Mos Burger, and then it's across the street. So I wandered around for a while, putting the instructions from the two Lawsons together. And it worked! Turns out Esaka Muse is on the 5th floor of a pachinko parlor. I went up and asked about lining up and whether or not photography was permitted - it wasn't.

But then I had another four hours to kill. So I wandered around the music festival, tried to find JoJo at a local Book-Off (and failed), went to some department stores. Still, too much time. I went back to Esaka Muse and bought some merch - a fancy Choucho t-shirt. Just take my money, all of it. I chilled on a bench, and ran into another foreigner, this time from Romania. Apparently, she's interning in Osaka, but she knows virtually no Japanese. I was kind of interested in her story, until she started saying how people here do things "wrong". I acted nice, and tried to suggest that different doesn't mean bad, but she was pretty set in her opinion. I was kind of relieved when she left.

I grabbed a bite to eat at Mos Burger - it was tasty, but a little on the small side. After walking around a bit more, I popped into Baskin Robins to kill the last half hour before the show. I was set on being first in the door - after hanging around for five hours, it was the least I deserved. But there were a few other people hanging around, and when they opened doors, I was second in line. Luckily, the guy in front of me was somewhat rotund, and I beat him up the five flights of stairs. First one in, the gaijin in the fancy pants...

...is how it SHOULD have gone. But little did I know, they let you in by your ticket number. Even though its standing room only. So I dropped from first to maybe 50th or 60th. Lame! I bet if I pretended I couldn't speak Japanese, I could have gotten in earlier!

So after more waiting, I entered the club,  along with a guy who had helped me understand the whole numbering system. We were talking about Choucho - it turns out, a lot of people, including him, only found out about her after she did her first Anisong. I've been a fan for over 2 years now, ever since I heard her version of Black Rock Shooter. I have the right to be all hipster about this, don't I?

The club itself was pretty small. I was able to get close to the stage, but not close as I wanted to be. I was kind of surprised by their musical selection: something by Avril Lavigne, Fly for a White Guy, then Sk8ter Boy by Avril Lavigne. Also, the crowd was mostly otaku...of the showers-once-a-month sort. It wasn't ideal, especially for a stylish foreign dude, but I made due.

And then it began. The lights dimmed, the music stopped (thank God), and the band came onstage. The tension rose. Choucho, in a sparkly pink dress with butterflies, came out on stage and belted out "flyleaf". She would generally sing two songs, then talk for a bit. She even broke out a new song - it has my complete support. I was in a good mood, jumping up and down and cheering. I know for a fact she saw me - we made eye contact. I couldn't help but break into a smile - my favorite singer was less than 20 feet away from me, looking at me from the stage. She gave a little smile back. Let me say, not only is her voice crystal clear and powerful, she's really cute. And has really pretty eyes.

Part way through, Choucho announces that her next song would be a cover of a Western song. Her parents had listened to the Beatles and The Carpenters when she was a child - her dad apparently sang to her. What happened next surprised me. She belted out a cover of The Carpenters' "I Need to Be in Love"...in perfect English. I knew she had studied in Canada, but I hadn't expected her English to be that good! I was extremely impressed and moved by her performance.

She changed outfits halfway through the show. Her first dress was cute, but the second was stunning. White sequined dress with a floral headpiece. She looked like a princess when she came out on stage. My jaw might have actually dropped.

The show ended with a bang, but we all wanted more. We called for an encore...and nothing. And then nothing. We shouted for maybe 3 or 4 minutes. The band members came out on stage, but no Choucho. We got louder. The speakers kick in. The room fills with the sound of a subway train. I immediately know what's coming. Out comes Choucho in one of the pink shirts they were selling at merch, and goes right into singing "Hajimete no Koi ga Owaru Toki". It was amazing. Why does this matter? This song is one of her earliest covers, and it's the second or third of her songs I had ever heard. I was moved close to tears; someone in the audience actually started to cry. She follows this up with Sleeping Butterfly, one of the songs she wrote for flyleaf. When she finished, Choucho thanked us all again, and left the stage.

At which point we called for second encore. I was actually leading the chant this time - shouting with all my voice "もう一回” (one more time). She comes out on stage, thanks us all for coming, and tells us this REALLY is the last song. Telling us that this song will change our futures, she sings "Kawaru Mirai". Despite my exhaustion from cheering for two hours and standing for many more than that, I gave this last song my all, jumping up and down cheering. Choucho took a bow, called the band over, and took one more. I was trying to take it all in - with the no photos policy, I have to remember everything on my own. But this was a night I will never forget.

After the show, I was going to buy one of her CDs (even though I already own them, haha) so I could get one of these little cards with her autograph. But unfortunately, they were all sold out! Still, nothing could take away me overwhelming happiness that I got to see my favorite singer live, and the pride I felt as a fan for how far she has come in the last year. I just know her future will be bright.

Although I bought a ticket a while ago for next week's Tokyo show, I won't be able to go, since KCJS is going to Okayama. It's a shame, and a waste of money, but seeing Choucho once made it all worth while. No matter where I am, whether it be Japan or America, as Choucho's #1 foreign fan, I will be cheering her on.

One Summer's Day

Three days late, sorry about that! Saturday was a wild and crazy day, starting at 5:30am. I had to get up for a food-field trip in Kyoto. Ironically, this was the morning my host mother bought bagels, cream cheese, and (passable) lox for breakfast - so I ate my fill. The morning commute was surprisingly tame - nobody wakes up for the 6:30 train on Saturday, I guess. Made it to Karasuma Oike with half an hour to spare. Met up with some KCJSers, killed some time, and then made our way to Yubahan.

I'm not going to give a full write up, if only because I've done it already for homework. Simply put, yuba is kind of the skin of boiled soy milk. It sounds gross, but it's really good. I ate things that don't even have names, because they aren't sold. Fresh yuba, fried yuba chips (tastes better than potato chips), and a bunch of other stuff.

After the field trip, we went over to Starbucks with a Yotsukura-sensei, and had a really interesting conversation about...something. I wish I had written this post earlier, because it seems I forgot. But anyway, getting to know teachers YAY! Afterwards, she took us to an import shop - I looked around for Kahlua. So what if it's girly, its damn tasty. Anyway, no luck. My group left to go pick up some friends. I met a couple of Hiro's college buddies, both of whom were super cool. More on them later. Then we met up with Nick, and his friend Ayaka. Yay, Japanese friends! Gotta keep it as close to the golden ratio as possible (the golden ratio is a secret).

So we started off towards Kyodai. But on the way, Christina was distracted by a manga festival, and we split our group. Bad idea, we would later realize. My team went to a food festival. Takumi (one of the aforementioned friends of Hiro) and I got hot noodles - bad idea, on a hot summer day. We chatted for a while - I really, really enjoyed our conversation. After the food, we continued on to our ultimate destination, Kyodai's Oktoberfest!

Which is where the problems began. I discovered, to my dismay, I was out of money! I had to borrow some to get a glass of delicious German beer which, due to the lack of hops, remains my favorite. Yum. But it was really pricy. Really, really pricy. So we decided to leave. But no, we couldn't we first had to reunite the groups. I'll spare you the details. It took an hour before we could get going again.

Due to my monetary depletion, I had to stop off at a 7-11 to pick up some bills. This is where the trouble really began. Due to factors I had yet to realize, I was unable to withdraw money. Cue freak out. In Japan, no money. WHAT.

We took the train to Shijo to buy beer at the コンビニ, during which I called my card companies. Luckily, I got it straightened out. I went with Kenji and Takumi to  get some cash, and bought myself some drinks. I earned it. I was just about to join the others on the riverside to enjoy my purchase when trouble struck again.

In my distracted, money-deprived state, I had forgotten to contact my friend Leila, who was waiting at the station for us. I kept her waiting for two hours. She was going to have my head. Simultaneously, we had decided to split up into two groups for dinner. My team, following my stomach's impulse, went for Okonomiyaki. With me were Nick, two AKP students, Kenji, and Akira (the other of Hiro's friends). Once we ordered, I went off (with Kenji) to redeem myself. We walked halfway across the city (lies) to pick up Leila, and brought her back to the restaurant. I apologized profusely for missing her texts. Luckily, things worked out, and we wound up back on good terms. Back at the restaurant, the food has long since been cooked up, and we dug right in when we got there. Turns out, Akira also likes Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, making him the first of my Jojo Comrades. I can't describe how awesome this is.

Wait, I can. Nowhere near as awesome as the fact that Akira is priest in training, next in line to run a major temple in Nara. Somehow I forgot the name, but it's a big deal. Turns out, he's also the head of the Sado Club (tea ceremony). When I told him about my (very loose) connection to Sen no Rikyu, he asked me to introduce them. I'll see what I can do ^_^

We joined the AKP students at a bar, but everyone seemed to be super happy being around other gaijin. I don't share their interest, unfortunately. It was neat to see Jared there, although he was on his way to the fun part of the evening. I hear antics later ensued when they went to a club. I sat in the back with Kenji, Leila, and Akira, and we shared a few pitchers of beer. Akira showed one of his cool talents - he reads palms (or something like that). I was legitimately impressed. Unfortunately, he had to bail early. We left not too long after - the smoke started getting to me. So we headed home, although we stopped at a yogurt place on the way back. It was from Hawaii!

And then I came home, and slept. Overall, great day. Made some new friends, whom I hope to meet again soon. And I really owe a lot to Kenji, for helping me out with my multitude of unexpected problems.