Back at Pump - December 1st

Finally getting another chance to get out to the Pump in Kawaguchi, Sousha and I meet up after class in front of Building 22. Turns out that they were preparing to light up the trees for the Waseda Ilumination Project. I somehow got roped into the project, and although I showed up for the first meeting, I didn't receive word about the others, so I ended up feeling a bit guilty for being a lackadaisical participant. Yesterday, I decided to stick around school long enough to see if there were any last minute preparations I could help with. I ended up spending a good hour twenty or thirty feet up the tree, wrapping it in tin foil and lights. At one point we burned out an entire cord; the girls were wiring up lights, and as I was climbing down from the tree, they fired it up for a test run. One cord lit up and got increasingly bright, until the bulbs began to smoke and turn black. After fixing the lights, it actually looked pretty good all lit up.

Fast forward to tonight. It's already dark, and the streets are lined with spectators, waiting for the lights to come on. They were taking too damned long to actually flip the switch. They'd better hurry up, cause the trees look like shit with the lights off, and we had to get moving. Sousha and I met up with a friend of his on the way to the gym; a half white and Korean named Donny, who'd lived in Japan pretty much all his life. His English was perfect; I wouldn't have guessed that he had been born and raised here. He currently works for a company that brings great foreign movies (like Trainspotting and Reservoir Dogs) to Japanese audiences, but soon plans on going to study in Alaska; citing "being in Japan for wayy too long" as a major reason.

We stopped at a different station this time, and took the bus to the gym (which I later realized was actually within walking distance from the station). Yamada-san, one of Sousha's senpai, was already at the gym, and one other member of the Expedition Club was on his way. We did some bouldering, then roped up for some top-roping. Since a majority of the wall at Pump is dedicated to lead climbing, I might take that up sometime. We had a good climb, returning to the bouldering wall from time to time. Although they have an interesting way of setting and taping the walls here, I have to say that I still prefer how things are done back home. I will admit that I prefer the way they belay here, which feels much safer and controlled than the way I was taught in the states. Unfortunately, the senpai that was on his way went to the wrong bus stop, and got lost for about three hours. By the time he actually arrived, the gym was closing and we were packing up to leave. We all walked back to Kawaguchi station and spotted about 4 bus stops that had the exact same name as the one we got off at, so it wasn't entirely his fault either. Note to Japan: giving bus stops different names helps your passengers know where they're going!

Other honorable mentions of the day: Liquid Chalk (a wonderful concoction of magnesium and other "safe" materials) does a surprisingly good job of keeping your hands dry as you climb. It's also nice that if and when you peel off the wall, you don't land on your chalk bag and send a cloud of white dust everywhere. Also, Shakey's viking (pictured at the top of this thread: all you can eat pizza, pasta, and curry between noon and 4pm, 787 yen) kicks ass. The word for buffet here is "viking," by the way. Apparently, it's because we eat like freaking barbarians when we go to buffets.