So I am back.
Went off on hiatus there for a while, and I am mucho sorry about that. A friend sent me a rather curious and adorable message that made me remember that I have to keep a certain select clientele updated on the wither-thee-why-fors of my time in the glorious land I now inhabit on a full-time basis.
So I moved apartments and as I was moving out I realized that I had only spent one saturday there alone and only two or three there with friends. It was my very first saturday in Japan. The rest of the time I was (and still quite frankly am for that matter) running, seeing, going, doing, and living.
I have yet to spend a single friday or saturday night in my new apartment at all.
That is just fine by me.
I used to have such a sedentary lifestyle in America. Things have changed completely.
The following is a map of all the places in my prefecture I have spent more than a consecutive day in. Thank the hito who invented tatami mats and foldable futons.
A brief list of things I have done as they pop into my mind.
Kyoto and Omihachiman trip:Cricket, Swimming in the biggest lake in Japan, Proposing to a Japanese girl in an Italian Restaurant.
Myoshi: White Water Rafting, Cliff Jumping, 8 Bagel eating, shouting at a group Japanese passerby whilst on raft “watashi no fune wa unagi de ippai desu!” (My boat is full of eels!)
Onsening: Itano, Myoshi, Kamikatsu, Naruto, Tokushima, Mino. I stood naked on the roof of the one in Naruto and yelled at Japanese passerby. I stood naked at a giant window in Kamikatsu overlooking the river. Also had a run in with the Yakuza in Kamikatsu, it is safe to assume that those tattoos of theirs go ALL the way down. Sat naked on a platform overlooking a DIFFERENT river. In Itano had a 35 year old japanese woman walk into the onsen under the pretense of “getting towels” and see me in my summer’s finest. Mino: went to the onsen with two complete strangers.
Now that I have it layed out, something odd seems to happen every time I go into an onsen…so da ne?
Poker Nights. You havent seen adorable until you watch two japanese girls try to figure out how to play poker.
Halloween Party: Dressed like Zoolander. Pretty Epic costume. and unbeknownst to me at the time two girls (Mary and Mari) played a rather disconcerting game that had to do with my tight leather pants on the train.
Transgender Party: Had two Japanese girls shave all of my outer extremeties (arms, legs, pits) then got dolled up in a little black outfit, pink wig, and great accentuating make-up and mosied about Tokushima-shi. Going into a combini for a late night obento dressed like a Stripper but still obviously a male gaijin with a five o’clock shadow was rather entertaining. I rocked that stripper poll hard too.
Hiroshima: Watching Japanese people get TRASHED is amazingly hilarious. The Atomic Bomb memorial is sobering and beautiful. Beautiful gardens, Miyojima. Fighting deers for ice cream, somehow talking two british girls into climbing a mountain, and you have a bangin’ week-end.
Karaoke: Over and Over and Over again. Get on it america, it is going to catch-on like kerosene trousers.
Movie Nights: Trying to explain the plot of Indiana Jones to a Japanese girl was amusing. With my stilted Japanese and the overall PLOT of those films, it was quite an ordeal.
Going to Playgrounds: In Japan we can go to a playground anytime we want to and we don’t have to look like pedophiles. And let me tell you, the playgrounds in Japan put American playgrounds to shame. The number of ankle shattering bridges, ridiculously unsafe balance beams, 200 meter slides, huge elaborate net tunnels, the tendency to build entire pirate ship masts on the SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN, and you have fun for many a saturday afternoon.
Being the Giver: I am not a fan of drinking, but everyone around me seems to be, so I get to play the role of being the one who remembers EVERYTHING that has happened over the course of the evening. My lips are sealed…not really.
Field Day: Growing closer to my one “Animus Spirit” (ask Adam Beard-o-heaven Black) while competing with JETs and random passerby from all over the prefecture in games such as Slaughter Ball, Dragon Tail, Capture the Flag, and epic Janken (Paper Rock Scissors) and that was all she wrote. Then at the end having a good ole fashioned Japanese grill-off and being presented with one (all six) animus stone.
Orphanage Visits: Getting to be Genki as all get up with these kids was so rewarding and I get to do it some more this weekend! Watching a 27 year old guy with a recently shaved pedo-stache (mustache november) dress up like Santa and tell a kid that his name, Asahi (which is a hugely popular beer brand in Japan but obviously this kid had different Kanji for his name) was Santa’s favorite beverage was pretty hysterical.
The list keeps going and going and going. These are all the things I could think of off the top of my head that I have done, there is undoubtedly more that I have temporarily forgotten.
I am in overdrive, have been for months. It isn’t slowing down, and I could hardly care less. Keep it coming.
Things to Look Forward to:
Tokyo Trip: Studio Ghibli Museum, and Tokyo EVERYTHING.
Burns Supper: Harry and I have a rather…entertaining number up our sleeves for this mountainous poetry/artistic reading up in the mountains.
Bijo to Yaju (Beauty and the Beast) Musical! Yours truly is the beast. Practice begins next month.
And more of anything and everything I can think of.
Disregard any typos. I am losing my ability to spell in English. I stared at the word succeeded for a good 3 minutes the other day unsure if I had spelled it correctly. Still not 100 percent.
Broc Sewell 