Ikebukuro and my new fukuro – Sept 29th

As I said, I went to Teru’s place to hang out until the morning train. His apartment is a strange assortment of American and Waseda memorabilia, including flags, posters, and a Bill Clinton doll that actually spouts random quotes when you press a button. His surroundings reflect the personality, several times I’ve caught him practicing the (American) National Anthem, or humming the Waseda school song… he makes no excuses for his behavior, which is probably why he’s been so long without a girlfriend (the right girl just hasn’t come along, you know). The floor of his one-room mansion is made of tatami mats, so he just laid out a futon (a real Japanese futon is more like a thick comforter than a mattress), and gave me a pillow. As long as I have a pillow, I’m good. With just barely enough room for the three of us, we lay down and chatted for a while. Teru, who was actually pretty drunk, fell asleep quickly. Jin, whose sobriety I didn’t venture to estimate, gave me a history lesson (in Japanese) about Nikko, one of the destinations for our future group trips. Both of them need girlfriends, and I told him I’d keep my eye out for them.

I set my alarm for 5am, so I could catch the early train, but since the guys were still sound asleep, I went back to sleep for another couple hours. I had strange dreams about a perpetual “ooru” (all-night) where I never went home, and just hung out and ate and drank with various groups of people. I certainly hope my experience in Japan doesn’t turn into that. I got up again around 7:30 and by some small miracle, so did Teru. He let me out and I thanked him for letting me stay at his place. I tiptoed down the stairs and walked back to the station. The train was practically empty; most of the commuters were headed in the opposite direction, towards Shinjuku. I disembarked and walked back home, just in time to see Yukiko and Okaasan pulling out of the driveway. I flagged them down and explained that I didn’t drink that much, and just missed the train. They laughed and asked me how it was and I told them that I’d pay closer attention to my watch from now on.

Once in the house, I brushed my teeth (I’d been dying to do that all night) and took a hot shower before crawling back into bed. I had told my friends that I was going to meet them at the gym at around 1pm, but I had a premonition that I would never make it…

Around 5:30, I was just sitting down to dinner, when Hans sent me a text message asking if I wanted to go shoe shopping in Ikebukuro with him. I said I’d head out once I finished my meal. We met up at the rotary and rode the Yamanote to Ikebukuro, just a couple stops away from Takadanobaba. Tracing the steps I’d taken a year ago, I found not only Don’s old hotel, but the excellent Thai restaurant where Don, Okabe-kun and I had stuffed ourselves and been likened to various American celebrities. Hans got a pair of shoes at ABC Mart (a shoe store), and we walked in the direction of Sunshine City (a huge mall complex). We turned a corner and strangely enough, there was another ABC mart. How odd, we thought, to have two identical stores in such close proximity. Finally arriving at Sunshine City, there was a third ABC Mart right next to it. Then, the universe collapsed upon itself.

We walked around the deserted mall for about 15 minutes. The mall closed about 5 minutes before our arrival, and the place is so huge, it was extremely easy for us to get a bit lost without anyone to follow to the exits. Once we escaped, we decided to call it a night before something really ridiculous happens. We stopped back by the rotary, where a small contingent of exchange students from the Houshien dorm were gathered (mostly male). I recognized Roberto, a half-Italian, half-Japanese fellow, and stopped to say hi. Apparently, the European guys were going to Shibuya to “score,” and probably weren’t coming back until the next morning. Having no interest in going to Shibuya, picking up random girls, or staying up all night, I bid him adieu, and returned to my nice warm house. I’m seeing more and more a huge dichotomy of interests between the students who have come to Waseda. On perhaps our first day, Kazaoka-sensei warned us that our actions reflect badly not only on ourselves, but as our entire group. We may be individuals, but first we are Americans, from the CSU group, in SILS, of Waseda; while back home we might just embarrass ourselves, here, we embarrass everyone. It seems that not everyone got the same lecture, I just hope my fellow CSU students were paying attention.

After I got back, I had a small snack with Okaasan, and Yukiko gave me a neat bag she bought for me in Kyoto the other day. It’s about as big as my wallet, made out of kimono silk, and has a rat design on it (my zodiac sign). 気に入った – I like it.