I'm back! A friend I stayed with in Tokyo interrogated me over IM, and I think that makes a better summary than I would have written:
(10:25:33) Friend: did you meet Bob yet?
(10:25:39) Me: Not yet
(10:25:59) Me: My cell phone won't charge, and I think I put the charger in a box of stuff I mailed home that won't get here for weeks.
(10:26:21) Friend: aww
<...>
(10:29:31) Friend: so how was your bus ride?
(10:30:17) Me: The bus ride was fine. I was the only person to get off at Terminal 2, and I took a little bit of time to get off the bus because of all those little plastic bags [ed: souvenirs], so the guy unloading luggage looked a little confused and a little annoyed.
(10:31:04) Me: Narita airport is one confusing place when you first get in. None of the counters say "check-in" and all of them say "American Airlines," even though less than half of them are.
(10:32:15) Me: I bought souvenirs, but the store looked closed, so I asked, "aiteimasuka," and she just stared at me until I asked, "Is this store open?"
(10:32:30) Me: But then another guy walked up and asked a question in Japanese, so I was really confused.
(10:32:41) Friend: lol
(10:33:06) Me: I got home late, and I haven't had any meal since getting here.
(10:33:18) Me: I hope Mike gets my message soon. I haven't called yet.
(10:33:21) Friend: whaaaaaaaaat!?
(10:33:46) Friend: did you eat those chocolate cigaretts?
(10:34:00) Me: Not yet.
(10:34:03) Me: Maybe I should.
(10:34:03) Friend: oh
(10:34:12) Friend: how about copan
(10:34:21) Me: I think I'm going to put all my candy together to decide which ones I want to share with family.
(10:34:32) Friend: lol
(10:34:34) Me: I didn't eat that one yet either because I was afraid I would be too thirsty. :-D
(10:34:43) Friend: I see
(10:35:06) Friend: I thought after you left that I should have bought two cc lemons for you
(10:35:29) Friend: I am sorry that I didn't
(10:35:30) Me: heh
(10:35:43) Me: I had exactly the amount of liquid I needed, so thanks.
(10:36:11) Friend: how was your airplane ride?
(10:36:21) Me: Long, but well-timed.
(10:36:52) Me: I read HP, then watched Fullmetal Alchemist until my battery died, then read more, then slept, then read more. That flight ended before I knew it.
(10:37:33) Friend: I see, so you didn't do any Kanji training?
(10:38:12) Me: Transferring to the next flight in Chicago was pure madness. I had to fetch all my luggage (!!), go through all the customs lines, drag my luggage to the next check-in, and then find my new gate. They had to put me on a later flight because moving through all those lines took too long.
(10:38:24) Me: No, I haven't done any of that yet. I should. I did play some Bleach last night before bed. :)
(10:38:40) Me: I wonder if I have the reflexes for that game
(10:39:21) Friend: oh yeah, you had to pick up the luggage at Chicago...
(10:39:37) Friend: I have to remember that too, since I am going to do that in 21st
(10:40:02) Me: It's no fun at all.
(10:40:10) Friend: yeah, I know
(10:40:29) Friend: well I have a trip tip for you
(10:40:47) Me: Pack less?
(10:40:55) Friend: yep
(10:41:03) Friend: only need one suitcase
(10:41:12) Me: haha
(10:41:15) Friend: and one carry-on
(10:41:16) Me: You lie!
(10:41:20) Me: I need seven suitcases!
(10:41:23) Friend: no I am not
(10:41:30) Friend: I have only one suitcase
(10:41:35) Friend: that is all I need
(10:41:54) Friend: 9days of clothing, and you wash them little by little
(10:42:11) Me: That's no fun at all.
Two days ago, I was up very late talking with friends, and only got two hours of sleep. Yesterday, I was up very late because we had a closing JTW dinner, and then I had to finish packing, so I again got only two hours of sleep. I woke up at 5 AM so that I could catch a 5:30 AM taxi to the airport (and have my room completely cleared out -- sorry Mack!) for a 7 AM flight to Tokyo. My host mother and father were there to see me off, and my conversation partner meant to be, but he accidentally slept in.
When I got on the plane, I immediately fell asleep, and didn't wake up until it landed around 9 AM. I then bought train tickets to my friend's house, slept for most of the express train trip (until around 11:30 AM), and navigated the local trains until 2 PM when I finally found my destination. I should have been there at 12:30 PM, but I took the wrong train, then I didn't get off when the train turned around, and carrying around 4 bags was a huge pain. But I finally made it.
After that we tried to go to Mr. Donuts, but there wasn't enough room for my bags, so we waited an hour for a bus to his house, rode the bus for about an hour, then rode the bus back and had some とんかつ (tonkatsu) for dinner instead. Then we walked around for a bit and eventually wandered into a book store where he bought a joke book and I bought Harry Potter (!!) and a tiny English comic that had Japanese translations. Then, after stopping for some breakfast bread, we came back and, of all things, Facebooked until 11 PM. Then I couldn't take the lack of sleep and more and collapsed. I slept for 12 hours, and now I feel pretty refreshed.
I took a bath here, which means sitting on a stool and pouring water over yourself, which was a rather unique experience for me. Life in a traditional Japanese setting is still awkward for me.
There you go, you've made it to the present.
Well, you will be after seeing this: goodbyes from JTWers after the closing ceremony.
Inbetween packing and sleeping I managed to finish editing the promised Yamakasa video. Here it is, in most of its glory:
If I had encoded it at the bitrate it deserves, it never would have finished uploading, so I hope this suffices for most. By the way, here is a direct link to the video page.
I also took the time to upload my latest batches of photos. As usual, they were prepended to my Japan in Today's World photo collection. Here they are in chronological order:
- Gyouza party photos - my Japanese Speaking class got together at the end of the semester and prepared foods from our respective countries. Lacking cooking skills, I prepared spaghetti, but the other dishes were excellent!
- Yamakasa photos - of course. The video exists because these do not do the festival justice, but there are still a few gems to be found.
Cheers, for now!
My plans just changed: I bumped the first leg of my plane ticket up to next Tuesday, so instead of sitting in the Tokyo Narita airport for 9 hours, I sit there for 4 days. Or I leave the airport and come back. We'll see which is more convenient. ;)
In the US, it's not uncommon to see young people on tiny bicycles---you know, the ones with the tiny wheels. They're eye-catching and make it easier to do certain tricks (hence the sale of bikes like these). Well, however entertaining it is to watch people rolling down the street on one of those, it's at least twice as funny when it's a Japanese businessman in a suit, presumably on his way to do something important. I see these people by chance nearly every week at various locations, and I can never help smiling.
Imagine trying to leave campus at 3 AM to find that all the gates are locked. All the police boxes are empty, even the one with the flashing red light. At intervals you can hear the sounds of other bicyclists in the distance, and sometimes catch a glimpse, but never really know if they're there or your imagination.
That's my experience from just two hours ago. It was a scary old time. Thankfully, I found a gate that happened to be open (when I was in the middle of sending emergency e-mails to a few friends for help), so I zipped out and pedaled home as fast as I could manage.
On the way home I actually stopped to watch some construction that was happening. There was a long stretch of road that was sectioned off so that construction workers on gigantic cherry-pickers could do some sort of maintenance work on the raised toll road that runs through the city. The scale of their operation was impressive, and they were making very little noise.
I went to Yamakasa. It was fun. I feel like I'm too busy to write much, so I'll just close this with a teaser.
Yesterday, despite knowing full well that it was a horrible idea given my impending deadlines, I visited a Yamakasa practice near home. Let me tell you, I have now seen enough nearly-naked butts to last me a lifetime. In fact, I never want to see that much skin on a guy again, though I may make an exception for the actual race because I hear that it's awesome.
Photos are forthcoming, so you will soon be able to enjoy it for yourself.
Highlight! There was a video camera crew recording the event---I assume for a news organization, though there were no logos---and I was lucky (?) enough to get caught on film a few times. In fact, there was one point where the camera was trained solely on a conversation between my host mother and I for 15 seconds or so. I guess my orange and black umbrella (gotta represent), our difference in height, the fact that I'm foreign, and my innate handsomeness gave the scene some interest. I just wish I knew where the tape went.
Just before the float started moving (which was a sight!), there was one kimono-wearing Yamakasa member who decided to stand directly in front of me and stretch. I wanted to watch the preparations, but oh man, if I looked even in that general direction, I had to deal with the fact that out of the corner of my eye there was a man shaking his nearly naked butt in my face. I'll never be able to rub those images from my mind.
As for the actual float-carry part of the practice, they basically ran down the street, ran back, then repeated the same down an intersecting street. It was really fun to watch, though, because there were 6 people sitting on the float barking out commands while there were guys on the sides repeatedly throwing entire buckets of water over the guys carrying it. The energy level was very high.
Here are some photos from previous Yamakasa (accompanied by some crazy music).
As I understand it, Gion Yamakasa is a traditional Hakata (Fukuoka) festival where guys wear skimpy outfits and carry gigantic floats around the city as fast as they can, to the delight of women and girls alike. You can tell a Yamakasa float-carrier in the days leading up to the race by his nearly modest loincloth and nearly-completely exposed rear end.
July 1: Floats unveiled
July 9: Runners perform purification and blessing rituals
July 10: Afternoon practices in respective districts
July 11: Early morning practices
July 12: Rehearsal race
July 13: Floats are carried to City Hall
July 14: Evening "warm-up" (sounds like a drinking party)
July 15: 5AM race! The main event!
Oisa-oisa!
Flickr got more love today. No time to talk about it; tagging took long enough, and I have a big final tomorrow! Just look:
Rice-planting study trip photos
