Soukeisen - Oct 29th

I have a confession to make... I Don't really care for baseball.

Yes, I did little league as a kid, and no, I didn't suck. But I never got along very well with my teammates, or the coach for that matter. Moreover, the entire game is like a Pennzoil ad; all stop and go. I've been to a Giants game before, and I think I slept through at least half of it. I was just never able to get into the game, or understand the mindset of those who could. Then I came to Japan, and found out what it's like to have fun at a baseball game.

Waseda has a rivalry with Keio University that is about as old as the schools themselves. This rivalry manifests itself in baseball and rugby games, and is called the 早慶戦 (Soukeisen, derived from the kanji in the school's names). Invariably, Waseda is the victor. Twice a year, there is a baseball tournament between the two schools (best of 3 games), and today is the second round of the fall championship. Surprisingly, Keio took the first game, so even if Waseda wins today, the victory parade would have to be postponed until the final game on Monday.

Having gone to bed way too late, I woke up around 9 or 10 o'clock, already missing the meeting time at Setagaya station. Hans had gone home to shower and change, and returned about the time I woke up. We were still really tired, but had already bought the tickets and didn't want to waste them. We rode the Chuo line back to Nakano, where I got off and rode the bus back to my place. I had conveniently forgotten my ticket at home, so I had an opportunity for a quick shower before returning to the station. Hans had stayed behind so he could nap on the platform, and my host mom was kind enough to drive me back to Nakano station.

We got to Sendagaya around 11 or 12, with only an hour or so to go before the beginning of the game. Already the stands behind first and third base had been filled to capacity, and we were herded into the bleachers behind right field (after identifying ourselfs as Waseda students). We could see the WIC students in their bright pink windbreakers, along with many fellow CSU students, but we were barred from going to meet with them. To make doubly sure, we tried asking some cheerleaders and stadium employees if we could join our friends, and were met with a wall of indirect "no"s, even though we could clearly see empty seats in the adjacent bleachers. We slumped back into our chairs, exiled to the wastelands. I can't say that I regretted not arriving 4 hours earlier, but I did want to watch the game with our friends.

Each school has its own 応援団 (Ouendan - cheer club) that wear old-style school uniforms and nazi-esque armbands to signify their school affiliation. These guys are incredible; the entire game they are on their feet, either singing, shouting, dancing, playing an instrument, or otherwise directing the crowd to cheer for our team. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and sitting right across the aisle from the band (full of Ouendan members), it was impossible to refuse their orders to stand, link arms, sing, and chant for Waseda. Everyone would stand the entire inning Waseda was up to bat; The cheering is so intense and involved, we practically ignored what was going on in the game, save for the batter's name so we could properly incorporate it into our chants.

Perhaps it was because we were constantly on the move, the game went by extremely fast. Before we knew it it was the bottom of the 9th inning, and we were still behind by one point. With a man on first and two outs, the last batter's name rang out through the stands. Three balls and two strikes, and everyone was singing wildly the same song we'd been yelling for the entire inning. The next thing I know, I look up to see a fly ball fast approaching the stands. It came to rest about ten feet directly in front of where we were sitting, taking both runners home, and winning the game for Waseda. The bleachers erupted in jubilation, cries of joy and hugging random people, followed by more singing. Finally, as the winners, we got to sing our school song first, with everyone raising and lowering their arms in unison. I could only imagine what it must feel like to be on the other side of the stadium, watching a huge crowd of your rivals giving the victory nazi salute dance to the tune of their school song. Afterwards, we smugly watched the Keio crowd sing their own boring song, and when the ceremonies had ended, began to flood from the stands. I ran into Shun and Peta, who we didn't realize had been sitting only a few yards behind us. Peta had enjoyed a luncheon of alcohol along with the game, and was stumbling comically towards the bathroom.

We met the WIC folks and the other students in front of the gates, and moved towards an art museum, where we took a group photo. Hilary had sat next to Claire the whole game, and had taken her frustration out by beating her cheering clappers together so hard her hands turned red. Although the championship still hadn't been clinched, there was a victory nomikai planned nonetheless, and we all headed back towards baba. Hans, who was exhausted all day, went straight home in order to pass out. We arrived at baba and ran into John (another CSU student) who watched the game at home and saw Hans and I on the TV during the seventh inning stretch. I was writing an e-mail to Sacchan, sending her a photo of the game I had taken with my phone, and so John saw me looking down at my phone, whilst absentmindedly raising my arm and singing the school song with the rest of the crowd. I wish I could get ahold of that video.

Everyone moved towards the izakaya where the nomikai was planned. I got as far as the top of the stairs and chickened out. Winning the game gave me a second wind, but I was fading fast, and desperately needed to pass out again. Back home once again, I finally found my bed and got some long overdue rest.

Yamanote Train Party - Oct 28th

Back in the late 80's, there began a tradition among the foreigners of Tokyo. Each year, on the saturday preceding Halloween, they would start to gather at platform 13 in Shinjuku station around 8:00 at night, dressed in their best costumes, and then everyone boards the 9:07 train. Once they've crowded onto the 9th or 10th car, they would proceed to drink, party, and break pretty much all of the rules for train etiquette. This tradition continued for some years, until in 1995, there was an incident in Louisiana where a Japanese student on his way to a Halloween party got shot by a redneck who thought he was trespassing. This was a tragic event, and it received a lot of news coverage here in Japan.

At that year's Yamanote party, some retards got the bright idea to dress up like rednecks and run around with fake guns, pointing them at the regular Japanese commuters and yelling "freeze!" This was the last thing that poor Japanese kid heard before he was shot. These idiots had obviously pushed the envelope too far, and a few of the commuters had taken it upon themselves to beat the shit out of them. Their well-deserved ass-whooping led to a cancellation of the following year's ride. The party was disbanded indefinitely.

A couple years ago, the Yamanote party saw a revival, on a much more subdued level. One of my classmates told Hans and I about this event, and that anyone was welcome. Giving up on the idea of going to Ageha (as there was another group planning on going on Saturday night as well), I called up Hans and we met at baba around 8:30 and rode the Yamanote to Shinjuku. My host-mom had lent me a cheap red felt cape and bonnet, so I guess my costume was little red riding hood. Without leaving the station, we walked to the appointed platform, and started to see outlandish costumes through the crowd of Japanese commuters, including a guy who looked like powdered-toast man (he had a giant plush toast head). We met up with a few of Hans' friends who also knew about the party, and came dressed in middle-school uniforms. Already seeing the looks of confusion on the Japanese commuters and the platform attendants, I could tell this was going to be interesting...

When the 9:07 train rolled into sight, an enormous roar sprang from the crowd. As the normal passengers gratefully disembarked and waded through the crowd of costumed foreigners, we all jostled and shoved our way into the one and a half cars the crowd stood before. We would've tried to fit everyone into a single car, but I'm afraid that would have violated some laws of physics.

I can now say that I've been cured of any clausterphobia aroused by being in a manin densha; the train was so packed, it was practically impossible to move. Fully expecting to be asked to leave by the train officials by the third stop, I postponed opening my can of chuhai. Peppered throughout the crowd were ordinary Japanese commuters who had picked the wrong car to board, and got swept up in the crowd. To my surprise, they were delighted by the raucous group of gaijin. They wore an expression of "I don't know what's going on, but everyone sure looks happy!"

At each stop, the groups near the doors would dash out and move to another door, thoroughly mixing the crowd, and inadvertantly spilling the costumed partygoers into the surrounding train cars. While exhilarating, this also meant that some of the people who weren't quick enough on their feet would get left behind; it was like leaving a wounded man on the battlefield, so each time I looked out the window after the doors closed and saw a gaijin in a cape looking dejected, I gave them a military salute. Looking for a bit of respite, our group of friends recollected ourselves just outside the perimeter of the insanity, before diving back into the sea of freaks. Some of the commuters on the following train smiled curiously in the direction of the ruckus, while others were clearly disgusted by the ongoings in car #10. Finding a group of what looked like extras from the Hebrew Hammer, I finally opened my can and was able to partake in the accent-laden cries of "Kanpai!! Happy Halloween!" Hans had gotten ahold of Jessica, the girl who originally told us about the event, and she had apparently missed the train! We coaxed her into jumping on the Chuo line and intercepting us at Tokyo station. She should at least be able to enjoy half of the wild ride.

As we approached each major station, a chorus would ring out, chanting the station's name. As we curved back towards Shinjuku, the crowd got wilder; on top of smoking, drinking, and yelling, there were people now riding on the luggage racks above the seats, and 3/4 of the trip in, all of the flourescent lights on the train were spun so they would turn off. We were now riding in a caucophany of darkness. I had gotten separated from my group, and ended up at the far end of the party. I found Waldo (or as he's called here, "Wally"), at the end of the car, talking to a girl in a way better little red riding hood outfit. At the next stop (Yoyogi, maybe), I ran out of the car to see if I couldn't find a door near my friends. As I neared a random entrance to jump in, I saw a guy in a fairy costume, stripping and streaking down the platform. Thankfully, he was running away from me; I was just hoping that he wasn't going to try to get back on the train like that. With no time to lose, I slipped in through the sliding doors into the nearest car, and found that I had actually met back up with Hans and everyone, just in time for the final chant for Shinjuku.

As the train neared our final destination, the crowd got really wild, jumping and yelling. Compared to the craziness on the train, disembarking was relatively subdued. I took a few last photos for posterity, and we moved off the platform, our thirst for a good time not yet satiated. I removed the hood and cape, and returned it to my handy handbag. Before I knew it, we were walking through the streets of Shinjuku 2-chome, which is essentially Tokyo's Gay District. Oh boy.

So Hans and his two friends Mark and Jeff are apparently bi-sexual, and had been to 2-chome before. Anika, the girl they were with, couldn't fight the compulsion to ask if I am gay. She was delighted when I assured her that I wasn't, apparently because she constantly finds herself surrounded by men who are a bit too light on their feet. We walked to a place called Arty Farty's, which is one of the more accepting clubs in the area (ie; it is frequented by a wide demographic, straight guys and girls included). The only cover charge is a one-drink minimum. On our way to the bar, an asian guy approached Anika and I, as we were walking behind the three guys, joking about the way they walk, and frankly asked if we were together. Immediately sensing danger, my natural reaction was to protect the woman. I said "yes" in a robotic voice. The man was visibly disappointed, but without skipping a beat, asked me "so, you aren't gay?" Suddenly, I realized just where I was, and understood that it wasn't the girl he was after... I apologized and told him that I'm incurably straight. He sauntered back to his group and we ducked into the bar. Once inside, we grabbed some empty stools and watched the pulsating crowd boogie on the dance floor. Jeff had asserted earlier that he didn't intend to dance, but I could see that he was bubbling with regret. I told him he didn't need our permission to dance, and he skipped into the crowd. Eventually we all moved out onto the floor, and danced in a little group. I still had my messenger bag, which was acting as an ass-shield as I grooved to embarrassingly familiar beats.

Having long since lost Jeff, who had disappeared from the club completely, we stuffed our crap in a locker so as to not get in our way, and struck out to find our missing friend. It seems that this is a common occurance when hanging out with Jeff, so no one was surprised when we spotted him chatting up a group of people outside another club. Back together, we found a convenience store and shared a carton of umeshu. Sensing that the last train was fast approaching, we returned to Arty Farty's and retrieved our belongings. We all rode the subway out to Mitaka, where Jeff and Anika go to school (at International Christian University). We went to their "guest house," which is essentially a dormitory (which isn't that bad, actually, except for the overwhelming smell of public restroom wafting through the halls), and watched "The Devil Wears Prada," before passing out at around 2:30 am. I'm not entirely sure how we were going to make it to the 9:30 meeting time for the baseball game tomorrow.

Festivals, Hub, and Hanna's Birthday - Oct 26th

Today there is an assload of things going on, and I'm invited to them all. My host parents are going to the nanmon festival, to visit their relatives that run the famous Takada-bokusha (高田牧舎) restaurant just outside the main gate of campus, there's the festival itself, which includes performances by a wide array of clubs, Happy Hour at the hub, at which time I have already arranged to meet with Billy, Hanna's birthday party, which is to consist of nomihoudai and okonomiyaki tabehoudai (Japanese pancake filled with all kinds of different materials; look it up, it's tasty), and finally, a trip to a supposedly amazing club called Ageha that Bob has been harping about for weeks now, at the end of some rail line in the middle of nowhere, where the only thing nearby the station is the club and a bunch of convenience stores so people can drink before going to the club. I'm going to have to prioritize.

After class I went with Hans to Nakano to see if I couldn't find some clothes that fit. We went to a shop that Hans had gotten some shirts at, and I actually found a nice set of three shirts for 2,000 yen; a bargain by Japanese standards. We returned to campus and ran into Juha (Finnish guy in my Japanese class who wears black almost exclusively) and a British guy named Craig. We went to Hoshien so I could ask about the upcoming trip to Fukushima. They, who hadn't yet even finished making the posters advertising for the trip, asked how on Earth I knew about the event. I just have an amazing gift for realizing when a good deal is around the corner, ok?

We talked in front of the dorm for a while, and at around 4pm, made our way to the Takada Bokusha to meet with my host parents, who had stopped there to say hi to their relatives running the place, and to observe the frenzy of the festival outside the retaurant. Already several small performances were under way as we walked through the crowd. We sat and chatted with them and enjoyed some small talk over beer and appetizers, before heading out into the crowd. We watched the Waseda Breakers' performance, and everyone split off to take care of their own minor business before heading to the Hub later. I walked back and forth up and down the street, enjoying the various performances being put on by the school's clubs. I ran into James, Willy and Ehtesham just as the 男の祭り started dancing around wildly in fundoshi (loincloths). They were on their way somewhere, but I invited them to the hub nonetheless.
I went to the hub and met up with Craig, Juha and Billy. We enjoyed happy hour and chatted it up, then Billy and I met up with Hanna's birthday party, and went to the Okonomiyaki restaurant. We ate our fill of the fluffy Japanese pancakes, and chased them with as much alcohol as the waiters could carry. Billy, who had already downed a lot at the Hub, was now very happily smashed. Hans was flushed bright red, as usual. As the nomihoudai ended, we started migrating back towards the Hub. On the way, we met up with Issa, one of the Japanese students, whose friend had gone over the edge and was lying unconscious on the sidewalk. An ambulance pulled up, and the paramedics rolled over a gurney and scooped up the remains. Issa worked out a rotating schedule with his friends so someone could be with Takashi (the fallen comrade) at any given time. In the meantime, he joined us at the Hub. We hung around a bit longer and acted social. I didn't order any more drinks, not because I had already drunk enough, but because happy hour was over.

When it came time to go, Issa and I walked the girls back to their dorm. It may be Japan, but just cause the streets are a bit safer at night doesn't mean we have to throw chivalry out the window. Some strange white guy passed us on the street, and we then saw him hanging out in front of the dorm entrance. None of us knew who he was, so we stopped for a moment. After a brief conversation, we turned to see that the mysterious creep had disappeared. We walked up to the door, then turned around to head back. It was about 3am, which was about the time Issa had to be at the hospital to look after his friend. I talked to him briefly, and he rode off on his motorbike. I walked home from there, and passed out as soon as I hit the pillow.

Touki Studio and Illumination Project - Oct 24th and 25th

On Wednesday I got to find out whether I got into the ceramics class, or if I'd have to pick another discipline to learn. The ceramics was the most full, with the teacher imploring students who weren't really interested to changing to another art. I sat tight, and when he called role for the different classes, mine was the very last name in the ceramics list. I breathed a sigh of relief and waited for the teacher to show up to escort us to the studio. She came, and we walked to the bus stop near campus. We disembarked near the Shinjuku kuyakusho, and walked towards Shinjuku-gyouen, a huge park adjacent to the studio. We got acquainted with the studio and its staff, and headed up to the roof to admire the awesome view. That was all for the day, so I had an adventure trying to find my way back to the train station.

The next day was average, but I had to stick around late to go to the meeting for my group in the Illumination Project (the club that decorates the trees in front of the international studies building). We met up in building 22, and discussed the possibilities for our design decisions. We took a look at the trees outside, and made a short list of the design ideas we came up with. We're supposed to vote on them by next monday, but I have a feeling that I'll forget. This could be fun though, I had a chance to flex my concept-creation muscles, I didn't realize how much I missed brainstorming. I really need something to work on here...

Mexican food? In Japan? - Oct 23rd

Today we had to meet up early for our Japanese class to go to the Bosaikan to learn about what to do in case of a Fire, Earthquake, or medical emergency. I was planning on biking to Ikebukuro, but due to a light rain, ended up going to baba to meet up with the rest of the class. We headed over on the Yamanote, and even though I had never been to the Bosaikan before, my teacher had me act as tour guide to herd the three classes towards the station. We got to the building, and went up to the fourth floor, where the classes got split up. The level 2 classes got their own tour, and my class went up to the fifth floor for a few fire drills. We watched an animated video showing us how to escape from a smokey building, and then got to practice it by finding our way through a dry ice smoke-filled maze.

After that, we went to a room with a bunch of fire extinguishers. They explained the various kinds of extinguishers, and even had a video screen with sensors around it for us to put out a digital fire. The extinguishers were filled with pressurized water instead of the usual yellow-chemical compound (hey, that stuff is messy and expensive!), and we had three scenarios for different groups and kinds of fire. When we spot the fire, we are to yell "火事だ！" and run with the extinguisher to try to contain the fire.

From there, we went downstairs to the CPR room. All in Japanese, we learned how to peform the life-saving technique on freakishly western-looking dummies. We all got a chance to practice on the dummies. My dummy didn't make it; you can't save them all! I can't remember if I've ever done it before, but it was a lot more fun than a real emergency would be, I'll bet. There was a poster on the wall that showed what looks like a guy on fire running toward someone who has collapsed. Well, isn't that just making the situation worse, I asked to the amusement of those around me. The large caption reads, あなたでもできます, which would translate to "even YOU can do it"

We went back upstairs to the Earthquake room. There was a small room with a kitchen table and some chairs, a sink and fake stove. We sat outside of it and watched videos of the level 2 students reacting to the simulated earthquakes. Then we all got a turn to experience some of the famous earthquakes in Japan; as the room reproduced the seismic readings from the actual events. My group was the Kobe earthquake, I believe. As we huddled under the table, a screen behind the fake window was showing earthquake footage, I guess to make the experience that much more believable. I know the real thing is a truly frightening experience, but we all couldn't help but laugh under the table.

After earning our wings, so to speak, class ended and we were on our own to find sustenance for lunch. I led a small contingency towards Sunshine City, to check out the El Torito, one of the three "Mexican" restaurants I have seen in Japan (the first being a small deserted place in Akarenge in Yokohama, and the other being the infamously horrible and expensive "Que Rique" in Osaka. We took our seats, and amidst an endless parade to the chip bar, enjoyed some remotely familiar dishes. It wasn't Mexican food, but it was certainly El Torito. If anyone is coming this winter, please bring me some burritos from Guad. Thanks.

Coming back from Ikebukuro, Ehtesham asked Hans and I to go to Shinjuku to help him find a belt; apparently he had lost a lot of weight, and his old belt wasn't doing its job anymore. We walked around for a while, and went into O1's flagship store. Finding an appropriate belt, and getting wooed by vests and jackets, we dragged Ehtesham out of the store, about 15,000 yen lighter. I've felt badly about spending so much money here, but shopping with Ehtesham cured all that; he likes buying stuff more than my sister! Hans had to head back, but I had some time to kill, and went to another department store with Ehtesham. We explored every nook and cranny of that store, floor by floor, looking for a puffy maroon jacket that he was longing for. We finally found an appropriate one on the 6th floor, for only 30,000 yen. It had the right color, size, and fur collar that he was looking for. Just in case, let's check out the remaining two floors, I said; I tend to be the voice of reason when it comes to shopping, and although Ehtesham was ready to part with his money, I wanted him to be sure that there wasn't anything better out there.

Then we found something better. On the top floor of the building, there was vest that put the other jacket to shame; leather accents, and a material the shimmered from a deep maroon to black depending on the angle you viewed it at. Unfortunately, this ultimate in fashionable maroon winter wear came with a nearly 60,000 yen pricetag, and the jacket wouldn't even be available for another month. Additionally, only three would be coming to the store, so if Ehtesham wanted one, he would have to pre-order it. This isn't a jacket, it's a freaking Playstation 3!

Again playing the role of conscience, I persuaded Ehtesham to forgo the kings ransom jacket by first appealing to his vanity, "You haven't yet earned the right to wear that jacket, it's too pimp for a student to sport! Wait until you get a real job and start raking in the dough, then you'll be big balling enough to come back and get it." He was swayed, but I could still see the gleam of desire in his eye, so then I appealed to his philanthropy; he had mentioned that he really wanted to get something nice for his sister, who had helped him out a lot before he came here, including paying off one of his bills without saying anything. "If you go with the other jacket, which you were perfectly happy about getting before you came up here, the remaining money could go towards a gift to your sister, like you were saying earlier." Finally persuaded to put the wallet away, he relented and said that he would sleep on it. (ed. a few days later, he told me that he got the "cheaper" jacket).

During this time, I had been messenging Sacchan to let her know what was going on. She told me that her brother's workplace was nearby, and that I should check it out. Until earlier this year, she had been really worried about her brother, who spent most of his time in his room, on the computer (sounds familiar...). In Japan, hikikomori (shut-ins) are a pretty big problem, and when he started showing signs of improvement, she was very much relieved. He started going out more, and a few months ago, started a new job working for Square-Enix (it's a famous company, in case you didn't know). He now commutes to their headquarters in Shinjuku, mere blocks from where Ehtesham and I were. Getting just a bit lost, we found our way to the building, and I took a photo on my webcam, and e-mailed it to Sacchan. We didn't have time to go in and check things out, not that it was likely that there is anything in the building for us to see anyways.

Exhausted from all the shopping, I headed back home, to be greeted by my host-mom's best friend and her older sister from Osaka. We had nabe and some really nice dishes that okaasan had painstakingly put together. Later on, her friend's husband showed up and caught the tail end of dinner with us. He is apparently a well known jeweler, and actually is one of the judges for the 国家試験 (national exams) for metalwork. His younger brother is a theatrical actor, but had lately been seen on a drama about an autistic guy (played by one of the lesser-known members of SMAP). We watched the drama together, and he pointed out his brother, who played as a professional cyclist on the show. Finally beat, I retired to the inner sanctum and floated into space.

Hard Drives and Yataimura - Oct 22nd

Today it's time to fix my computer; my hard drive is indeed toast, so I needs me a new one. Today is the yataimura at Waseda, but Okabe-kun has some free time and said he would take me to Akihabara to show me good places to get a new drive, so I'm going to pick up the drive before heading over to campus. I rolled over to Akihabara and met up with Masato at the station. Walking into Yodobashi camera, we were slightly delayed by a large display for the PS3, which will be released soon in Japan. We ogled the graphics for a while, but didn't feel like waiting in line for a chance to try out the unit for ourselves. He showed me around the computer shops, and I found a decent replacement drive for about 7,000 yen. Strangely enough, there are multiple branches of the same store, and the prices actually vary, even though it's the same chain.

Afterwards, we headed back towards Takadanobaba. Okabe-kun lives in Ikebukuro, but I invited him to check out the yataimura, since it's so close. We headed over to the school, and ran into the WIC people, decked out in cowboy-gear. I had told Tomoko that I would help with the yataimura, but I hadn't been able to follow through with my pledge, which I felt bad for. We bought some potato wedges from them as penance. The tacos had long since sold out, as it was fast approaching closing time for the yataimura. I ran into my host-parents, who were there to show their support for father's alma-mater, by buying Waseda stuff. We talked for a while and I introduced them to Okabe-kun and a few other friends from school, and when they left they gave me a big cup of nihonshuu (sake) they got from one of the other stands.

With the event ending and daylight running out, we broke down camp and headed for home. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by the sweet sweet smell of Sukiyaki. Is it winter already?

Gakujo Bunkasai - Oct 20th

So, today was the culture day for Gakujo, the all-girls college near Waseda's Toyama campus. Maho and Kaoru, who both go to Gakujo (despite being members of Waseda's Niji no Kai), were helping put on the event, and invited myself and Hans to check it out. We took our sweet time getting there, as it was already starting to get dark by the time we arrived. Kaoru had run several blocks to the Gindako intersection to intercept us, since we had no idea where Gakujo was. We walked back to the campus, just a few blocks past Toyama park. It wouldn't have been hard to spot, due to the mass of decorations Kaoru and Maho had put up for the event, practically all by themselves. We got to the main quad, where all the food stands and such were located, and ran into Eli, Issa, and Claire. They were chatting with some of the foreign students who were studying at Gakujo. Claire, the self-apointed ambassador of the CSU group, was obviously putting her best foot forward for the rest of us. Yikes.

Kaoru and Maho were just finishing up their duties at the event, so we waited for them to finish up, goofing around a bit. I realized that the pillars near the library were close enough together to scale, and got up about 10 feet or so before dropping back down. Claire went about forcing nekomimi (cat ears) on everyone (except for us guys, who wouldn't have anything to do with it). Maho looked cute in them, so Claire wrapped her arm around Maho (so she couldn't remove the cat ears) and posed so Eli could take a photo. Eli obliged by zooming in so only Maho was in the photo. I died laughing.

Kaoru, Maho, Eli, Claire, Hans and I walked to baba, and after dismissing a few izakayas (we didn't want to drink for a change, and just wanted some cheap food), we settled on a nice little lunch counter underground somewhere. I got ahold of Bob, and retrieved him from baba to show him where everyone was. We all had a grand time, and talked about all sorts of things. After a while, Mai and Issa returned from a Niji no Kai nomikai, and Claire proceeded to force the nekomimi on Mai. I managed to capture a look on Eli's face that rivals Hilary's expression from the other night. Hans drew a portrait of Maho, cat ears and all.

With ten o'clock approaching fast, we headed back to the campus so I could retrieve my bike. The gates normally close at 10:00 or 10:30, so I hustled my way back to the school, but when I arrived, the gates were already closed. Puzzled, I found a door in the gate that was unlocked, and walked through it to ask the guards if I could retrieve my bike, and was startled by a sudden shout of "NO!" followed by the big batsu sign (make an 'X' with your arms) by the guard in the little office. I looked to the other guard who was fast approaching me, and he explained in amazingly clear British English that the gates close at 6 on the weekends, and I would have to wait until the next day to get my bike back. Dejected, I apologized for the intrusion, and retreated from the scene. At least I missed the curfew by about 4 hours, and not 4 minutes.

As we began to head back, we ran into Ehtesham and Willy, dressed to the nines and escorting two Japanese ladies towards baba. We were all headed in that direction, so we walked alongside them for a while, but it became glaringly apparent that our company wasn't welcome (blatantly ignored). A bit hurt but definitely understanding (I wouldn't want some loud chumps cramping my style if I were mackin' on some babes), I nonchalantly upped the pace and led my companions away from the couples. Eli wondered what all that was about, and Hans let it slip that Ehtesham didn't think too highly of Eli, and presented that as an alternate theory for their coldness (which I would later find out to be the reason for their stiff demeanor; only Ehtesham was just playing wingman for Willy that night). Having faith in my friends, I held to my theory that they were playing the field, and didn't want any seventh wheels hanging around. From baba I just walked home without bothering with the train at all. It actually wasn't that bad of a walk; I could get used to saving the 140 yen it costs to shave only 20 minutes off my commute by foot. It even gives me a chance to enjoy a few more songs on my ipod, which I desperately need to get more music on, as I have not had a chance to change my playlists since my computer first crashed.

Kuma Keychain and CSU Nomikai - Oct 19th

I didn't do too much today, but I did get this nifty Okuma keychain at the Waseda cafe. We had a CSU dinner planned tonight, so I killed time at the ICC lounge with Hans and Katy until Shek's class. After sitting in on the class, I walked over to the rotary with Dr. Shek and headed to the dinner, being held at a nice izakaya called Uotami. The nomihoudai had just started, so I got busy ordering drinks for myself and the rest of the table. The food wasn't too bad, but the drinks were actually the best I had thus far at an izakaya. I soon set about, nomadically moving to each table, ordering more drinks and striking up conversation with the other students. By the end of the nomihoudai, Hans had turned bright red and tossed his biscuits in the ladies bathroom, much to the surprise of the girl who saw him coming out of the restroom.

I, maintaining a slight buzz, pondered with everyone else what to do with the remainder of the evening. A few of the students already had plans to go out partying elsewhere, and James and Ehtesham and a few others were going up to bowl in Big Box. Dr. Shek had been so kind as to let me park my bicycle at his apartment, so I had to go back with him. Eventually the group snowballed into Dr. Shek, myself, Hans, Bob, Hilary, and for some reason, Claire, who was apparently toasted. We ran into a few of the WIC folks coming out of a meeting, and I snapped off a photo (I think the look on Hilary's face is priceless). Shek invited us all in to take a look at his humble abode, which is like a scaled down version of my host-family's place. Impressive digs indeed. Bob had to go continue his journey to his dorms, and the rest of us naturally fell into pairs and started chatting. Hans and Hilary were talking about their plans for later, and Shek and I discussed religion and philosophy, with Claire piping in some random unrelated comments ad nauseum. We concluded the evening with Hans and Claire and myself walking back to the rotary, with my bike in tow; I couldn't just leave a wounded man on the battlefield... Claire let us know that her only requirement to call someone a friend is that they know her name. An interesting, if not completely clueless take on interpersonal relationships. The evening was full of sideways glances and eye-rolling. My sarcasm muscles are getting tired from all this exercise. Yikes.

Geidai Trip 2 - Oct 17th

The rest of the week was relatively uneventful, save for a chance encounter with Danny, the Korean magician. Apparently he was in Okuma garden looking for people to practice his magic on, but unfortunately for him, I was with Derek, who had actually taken magic classes, and was able to spot all the tricks. Eventually, it turned into an English lesson for Danny, who had only been doing magic for about a year. I wished him luck as I escaped to the gym. That excitement aside, let's move on to the next art class.

This time, we would be going to adjacent half of the school dedicated to the performing arts. We first sat in on a Noh lesson. A single female student in a heavy kimono was sonorously chanting and moving all about the raised platform as the teacher in hakama stood to the side, chanting the narration and occasionally switching to his normal voice to give direction to the student. The movements were very exacting, it must take a lot of discipline to memorize such a long and complicated performance. We moved on from there, splitting into two separate groups. The lessons were usually conducted in very small rooms, so our whole class wouldn't fit if we all tried to go. I went with the group to see the Shakuhachi lesson (bamboo flute). We saw a one-on-one lesson with an advanced student simultaneously playing with the teacher. The lyrical aspirations of the flute tell a very harmonious story in the hands of a master. From there, we went to see the beginning lesson, comprised of students who were majoring in other instruments. I think we came to their first lesson, because they were just learning how to hold the flute.

From there, we went to see a traditional folk dancing lesson. The master greeted us and ushered us to the side of the room, and several of the kimono-clad students performed a number of dances for us. Their movements were very deliberate, but had a sense of delicacy and flowingness to them that was absent in the stout Noh performance we witnessed earlier. After about 15 minutes, we arose and took our leave once again, thanking the teacher for letting us watch.

We then headed to another part of the building, where there was a Japanese orchestra of Shamisen, flutes, drums and other instruments I have yet to hear of. The students, who were all very skilled but half of whom were still in high school, were practicing festival music for an upcoming event in Ueno. I was very impressed with the way they all played together without a conductor; the various instruments blended together until we heard a single sound from which the individual voices could no longer be extracted. The shamisen players were especially fun to watch, because they tended to be the most animated of the group.

Finally, we went to sit in on a giant beginning Koto class. It seemed that people from all of the classes we had visited had come to help out the students. We saw the kimono-clad folk dancers come in to help the students set up their instruments. We were there for about 20 minutes, just watching them set up their strings as more and more students crowded the floor. I was exhausted and started to actually nod off. Finally, our teacher said that it would still be a while before the class would be able to start, so we could all go home at that point. We made our way to the exit, and I headed back home to take a much-needed nap. Halfway home, I realized that I must had dropped the small bag I had used for my camera somewhere at the school. I still had my camera, but the bag was missing. Not willing to go back to look for it (as it was just a pouch that came free with my wireless mouse), I gave it up for lost and went back to sleep.

Sheryl in Shibuya - Oct 13th

My timestamps on my camera have all been in US time, so I think this might still be Friday, but whatever...

I went to Shek's class on Chinese Religion, and afterwards gathered downstairs with Katy, Jill, Tracey and a few others who were planning on going to party in Shibuya. I wasn't going to tag along with them, but I was also headed in that direction. Sheryl had hit me up earlier and asked me to meet up with her in Shibuya to hang out with her and Mariko. Earlier that day, I got a message from an unknown address, and it turned out to be Yoshi! So I made my way to Shibuya a bit on the early side, since I had thus far never seen the famous Hachiko statue that is the meeting point at Shibuya station.

Earlier that day, I had gone to the Seikyo for a drink, and I noticed that the 2 liter bottles of tea were only about 50 yen more than the small bottles. I figured "what the hell," and got the big bottle. I had spent the entire day drinking that bottle of tea, and as a consequence, by the time I got to Shibuya station, I was in dire straits. Desperately needing to find a bathroom, I walked a little ways with Katy and Jill, who were going to the bank, and ended up ducking into Shibuya 109, the mecca of kogyaru (Paris Hilton-worshipping ridiculously ditsy-looking fashionistas). I went up to the 8th floor and finally found a bathroom. I returned triumphantly to Hachiko, where everyone was still gathered; they were going to go out with a group of Japanese guys to eat and drink and be merry. I still had about 40 minutes to wait for my friends, so I took a seat near the statue and started reading about phonetics.

The first to show up was Mariko. We caught up for a while before Yoshi showed up with Sheryl. She told me earlier that she dresses to compete with the Japanese girls, it seems that she won that evening, especially considering the pervasive "look" of Shibuya, it was a refreshing sight to see a girl that looked good without a ridiculous amount of makeup or accessories. We went to the Shibuya Hub (apparently there are about 15 Hubs dispersed throughout Tokyo) and had a few drinks. Sheryl and I split a Stairway to Heaven, a cocktail supposedly made from absinthe, which is illegal in the states. It tasted like a spicy shot of Jagermeister, but according to Sheryl, it burned her lips. Looking for other things to do, we finally settled on an inexpensive izakaya and had a little nomihoudai, where I ended up doing a majority of the drinking. They all had to catch the last train back, so we all went back to Shibuya and split up from there, but it was great to see them and I look forward to another chance to hang out with them!

Moments from memory - Oct 11 and 12th

So, I don't rightly remember much of what happened in the week following my first trip to Geidai, and my photos are pretty sparse, so I'll just have to make do with what I have.

On the 11th, I apparently went to a Japan study thing, where we learned some slang and nomikai terms from the Niji no Kai people. Of course, I already knew most of the terms, but we still had fun anyways. When the group thing was over, we all went over to the bungaku-bu campus (near Toyama park) to eat at the cafeteria there. I sat with Aiko and Hanna, who was still upset (or joking) about how I didn't seem to remember her when we went to Yabusame the other day. From now on, when I see her I'm going to pretend I don't know her. After eating, I ran into Shun and Peta in the main cafeteria, and we went around practicing our "jama." Robert (not Granite Bob) was macking on like, five girls from Keio, so Peta and I went over and introduced ourselves and got in the way. Eventually we tired of the games and I left with Toru and Derek, and we stopped by the front of the gymnasium to watch the Waseda Breakers practice before splitting up to go home.

I went home and Hans came over with his laptop to help me try to recover and back up the stuff on my hard drive. Up until this point, my computer had been unusable (hence the tardiness of this blog entry). Fortunately, we were able to recover pretty much all of my data, including the photos I had taken during my first month here. I breathed a big sigh of relief, and we started backing stuff up onto DVDs. Hans got a free dinner out of the deal, and as usual, we had some lively dinner conversation. Unfortunately, it was getting late and Hans had to catch the subway back to his place. I walked him to the Oedo station near my house, since he wasn't sure where it was, and he jumped on the train. He was supposed to transfer at some point so he wouldn't have to take the long way home, but I think he was worried that he had already missed the transfer subway, and he stayed on the train. Well, apparently the train stopped somewhere south of Ginza, and he was stranded at like 1 in the morning. He found out where he was, and started walking towards home, but eventually jumped in a cab that charged him way too much. Crazy night for Hans.

On the 12th, I had a lot of time to kill between classes, so Hans and Jessica (from my Japanese class, originally from Chicago but studying out of Oregon) and I escorted Hilary to the kuyaku-sho in Shinjuku to pick up her gaijin card. We jumped on the Seibu-Shinjuku line, since the Seibu station is closer to the kuyaku-sho than the JR one. She got her card, and we all headed back to my house, so Hans could get his laptop. We recovered everything, and everyone took off as I tried to reinstall windows on my computer and see if I could make this mess right again.

As a bonus, check out the awesome Engrish bag Jessica has. In case you can't read it, it says "Terrific Power! Storage Case. You are freer than whether to use with what kind of use."

Geidai Trip 1 - Oct 10th

Today my only class was the Practicum in Japanese Art. I guess we're still in the orientation phase, before we break off into studio groups, because we were set to meet up at Ueno station for part one of our tour of Geidai (東京藝術大学), a well-known art college in Tokyo, and our instructor's alma mater. I went a bit early to meet up with Hans, who is also in the class, to have some lunch. Unable to find a suitable cheap restaurant, we settled on conbini food and went to the rendevous point in front of the station. About 20 minutes or so after we were supposed to leave, the group made its way through the park past some... interesting street performers, to the Geidai campus.

The school is divided by a street into two parts: fine arts and performing arts. Today we would visit the fine arts half of the school, and see some of the disciplines we would be learning for the next several weeks. We visited the metalworking studios, including hammering, welding, and casting, then we moved on to ceramics and urushi (traditional Japanese enamelware). Urushi is especially interesting and at the same time, seems to be mind-numbingly boring. Many many layers of noxious enamel applied to the same piece of wood for several weeks sure sounds fun, but seeing as it's the most expensive studio class to take, I don't think I could handle all that fun.

The last stop on the tour was weaving, where we saw a few students working on concepts for woven work. This would not be one of the studio classes offered to us, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Once the tour ended, we all set off in different directions. As luck would have it, there was a "good design award" show being held at one of the buildings on campus, so I went to check it out. It seemed to be mostly consumer design from the past 50 years or so, and there were some weird things considered for the award, such as the original playstation. Upstairs were the items from the past decade or so, along with a crowd of people listening to a couple of older gentlemen give a speech. The speech being in Japanese, and the acoustics bouncing the speech off the walls made it impossible for me to understand anything that was being said, so after a respectful period of looking like I was paying attention, I headed again for the door.

On the way back to the station, I looked through the entrance to a restaurant and took this photo. I just think it looks cool, so live with it.