Disaster in Osaka

The next week Janet Claire and I were headed for Osaka. We were going to meet Take there and go dancing and drinking. We were so excited on the bus. The hotel was reserved, everything was great!

We got off the bus checked into the hotel, met Take and then all headed out. Janet had friends in Osaka that night she was going to meet and Claire had friends on Saturday. Janet and Claire had eaten and were eager to go out so Take and I went for Mexican food and met up with them later. First we went to Pig and Whistle where Claire and Janet were chatting up some guys from the UK who lived in Tokyo. After a while, Janet wanted to go dancing. I was feeling a bit tired but we obliged. We wandered into American town to search for a place to dance. The first place was free. We were having a good time, despite the music being bad and the place being almost empty. Janet wanted to leave tho so we left, and tried to search for another place. Everywhere else had 25$ or 30$ entrance fees. I was NOT about to pay that. We got more tired and more discouraged as the night went on. Finding nowhere else to go, we decided to go home.

The next morning I get a knock on the door. It's Janet. She's lost her wallet, probably in the taxi home the night before. Claire said she paid for the taxi, but when they stopped at McDonald's before the hotel it was gone. The really crappy part was that there was about $700 in it. We spent the morning going to the police and calling different taxi companies. Take was a star and really helped us out. If we didn't have someone with us who could speak Japanese we would have been really panicked.

As it turns out Taxi companies get a lot of lost items in their cars. So they cannot report it to the police every time it happens. The car will take it to the company. And the company will take it, once a week, to the big company that runs all the taxis in Osaka. Once a week or so, THAT company will then drop everything off with the police. A big long process. She was discouraged but at least we did all we could. She was set to go home after this. We were going to stay all weekend but now after this Janet just wanted to go home. I loaned her $100. Claire took her back to the hotel and went to an onsen. Take and I went to the movies. We were going to go to IKEA that day, but with all the running around with the police we didn't have time. When we left the theater after seeing 10,000BC, we called and Janet decided to stay. She would only feel depressed at home, so she might as well distract herself a bit longer.

Hiromi was meeting me that night for dinner. She is the secretary to the president of Universal Studios Japan, and as it happened, a friend of Take's. We had dinner planned with her, and I was going to ask her questions about the job and get as much information as I could. She turned out to be a great woman. A completely fun person to be around. We went to a Nepalese restaurant and had outstanding food and great conversation. We all boarded the subway after that and landed in a bar that Claire Janet and I had been in before. Cinquecentos (the martini bar). The night is great, and I made a friend who is high-up in the Universal Studios job. The following morning we parted ways after breakfast. Good luck Janet!!


(sorry no pictures this week)

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 10:37 AM Comments: 0

Farewells, Flowers, Tacos, and Trivia!

The following two weeks were spent in Tokushima City (and surrounding areas). April 12-13 and 18-20. To start, we had Chris Reidl's farewell party. After a thousand years of living in Tokushima and running the musicals, he was finally going back home to America.
Before going tho, several of his friends were throwing him a goodbye party at P's Paradise.
The events leading up to the party that prove I make the worlds worst first impressions:
Louise James and I went to Coco Curry for dinner. Eating there we discover Nate. Louise knows Nate because he lives near her, but I know of him and have never met. When he comes over I make an odd comment about his shorts. Really I was trying to say that I didn't like them, but because I was censoring myself, the comment just came out baffled and making no sense at all... We finish our curry and buy Chris his going-away present. A single donut from Mr. Donut, wrapped in a ribbon (which cost more than the donut did). We don't know exactly why we wanted to buy him a donut, but we did. We boarded the bus to James' to change and regroup for the party!

At the party I proceed to make an awkward fool of myself in front of a number of people. Finally to top the cake I end up setting off a fire alarm. As the bar owners were running around trying to shut it off... 20 minutes of it ringing later, it finally stops and I'm sufficiently embarrassed. But that was the bad news. The good news was we got there, and we presented Chris with our donut in a very stylized manner. He seemed to like it. By the end of the night, because the ribbon cost so much, we snatched it back from Chris after he unwrapped his donut! Buahahaha. There was also a book going around to be filled with memories. I wrote something snarky like "I remember it like it was yesterday. The cool breeze blowing through the palms; the feeling of the soft sand like cat tongues between my toes. The evening dark as I sipped my cooled colada from a pineapple husk, the only light around coming from the stars and the dim neon sign of the bar behind me. That was one of my favorite nights. You weren't there of course.. but I still really liked it..."

Anyway. After Chris' party Louise Chris Pickles (other Chris) and Amy went to Mike's bar. We arrive at a pilot's party. They're all drinking and singing and we join in. In a matter of time some of the pilots are taking off their clothes. What a shocking thing for Mike's bar... I phone up Janet and tell her what she's missing. The pilots stripped to their underpants, then packed up and left. After a short while we were joined by other JETs and the party there continued. Louise James and I went back to James' place to wait for tomorrow's party.

I awoke to Louise giggling at her pictures. A standard morning ritual. She and James were dressed as pig farmers. Meaning they were wearing matching red Gingham shirts. We watched a bit of British comedy on Youtube, and a very clever dance to Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn." We decided that we would learn this dance. After that we headed to a Mos Burger breakfast.

The thing about Ingrid's Hanami party was that it was during the day, on Sunday, after a long night out Saturday. We were lamenting going. She was charging for all you can drink beer, but Louise and I thought better to bring our own. At Tokushima Castle (the location of the party) we met Louise's friend from Takamatsu, Akane, and our friend Julie. We moved toward where Ingrid's gathering was and sat down. We knew few people but proceeded to drink anyway. Akane drank whiskey coke out of a bowl that Louise had taken from Mike's bar the night before. I bought some bottled orange juice and mixed my vodka in with it. It began to rain and some of Ingrid's friends had to put up a tarp. I thought I could help by climbing a tree, but once up there I felt precarious and didn't want to move... so I didn't help at all, and instead merely climbed up a tree while everyone did all the work.

Bored with the party at some point, I convince Louise James and Akane that we should crash a neighboring gathering. We went over and Akane chatted them up in Japanese while we looked interesting. We proceeded to eat their food (even if it was arranged in a naughty way on the plate...) and accept their offers for drinks. James and I befriended two college students who, despite being only 19, were smoking! I felt like I should scold them. (The smoking and drinking age in Japan is 20.) We waste the day away with our new friends. Soon night fell, and Louise and I found ourselves in a state much more intoxicated than we imagined. Those are the perils of starting to drink around noon. It was Sunday and we had work the next day so we could NOT miss our last trains. We drunkenly meandered through the park and over a bridge. We thought we stepped into a huge pond which in our minds came up to waist-level, but actually our pants were only wet around the ankle. This sent us into a riotous laughter which delayed our getting back. We miraculously made it to the train station. I have no idea how we managed that as we did not know the way. Our trains were at 9:00. and it was 8:00 so we had some time to grab food at Lotteria. By the grace of God we managed to go from the party, onto our individual trains, and then make it home to our houses. Not to mention up in time for work the next day. Amazing!

The next week we had more planned! Take came to visit but he was coming late because of work. I was under the impression that there was a ferry from Wakayama to Tomushima at midnight arriving at 2:30. But there wasn't. Take had to wait at the ferry port for 2 hours until the 2:30 ferry which arrived at 4:30. I felt so bad. And so tired. As I waited I had some dinner and Karaoke with James. The next day there was a musical viewing party. Our musical, Momotaro was recorded by Andrew and everyone wanted to see it before Chris R. had left. Everyone drove up to Naruto to a Mexican food restaurant named Sombreros. The food was ok. I prefer our spot in Osaka, but it wasn't bad for being the only Mexican place in Tokushima. I couldn't drink because I was driving. We watched the musical, talking and laughing over it, most of us seeing it for the first time. Everyone was in good spirits with tasty food and entertainment from the musical. Stuffed and laughed-out we head back to Tokushima City.

Tonight is the Trivia night that Louise and I had been preparing months for. We are hosting it this time and we were in correspondence with questions for a long time. Everything was ready! We got changed into our host's attire and headed to P's Paradise to start the show. We charged 500yen for participating and had about 9 times of anywhere from 3-6 people. The evening was an overall success. Our winnings pot totaled about $200 to be split between the members of the winning team.

Our theme was "The Meaning of Life" based on the Monty Python movie. We had seven categories. Birth, Growing and Learning, Fighting Each Other, Middle Age and Live Organ Transplants, the Autumn Years, the Meaning of Life, and Death. Birth was questions about childhood TV shows. Growing and Learning were selections from high school exams, Fighting Each Other was a collection of questions about History and Politics. Middle Age and Live Organ Transplants was a category about plastic surgery, and gadgets. The Autumn Years was about board games. The Meaning of Life was about religion. Finally, Death was a collection of pictures of dead celebrities (or celebrities who deserve to be dead) who had to be named. In each round we hid the name of a fish (like Carp or Tuna...) somewhere in the questions or answers. This was the bonus round: Find the Fish (also from the movie). Everyone had a great time. The team Louise and I were on last time had dressed up as Naruto (the anime) characters. They had adopted more members in our absence, including Janet and Take. They came in second place and received their 500yens back. The first place team was nicely Chris R.'s team. It was nice that he won the big prize at the quiz night before he left Japan. Louise and I were exhausted from hosting such a big event and we were both thrilled that it went over so well.

PICTURES!!!!

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 8:54 AM Comments: 0

Two weekends in Kansai

March 29-30 and April 2-6th were two weekends spent joyfully in Osaka and Kyoto.


The first weekend was a short one. I met Take in Wakayama and we headed north to Osaka to meet Claire Janet and Terrina. Before meeting them we had Mexican food and about 4 margaritas each. We met the three girls at Pig and Whistle (an English Pub) in Osaka for a little bit and then decided to go out dancing. Club Pure is one of the biggest clubs in Osaka so we went there (Biggest by Japanese standards means it was pretty average sized). It was $25 for girls to drink and $35 for boys to drink all they can. A bit expensive but we were already there. We decided to go for it. The club was crap. Bad music. Too crowded. So we decided to not complain and just enjoy ourselves for a little bit until we've had a few drinks to make the cost seem worthwhile and then leave.

Claire joined a game of Pool with someone and was kicking their butt when suddenly it was time to leave. Terrina had gotten too drunk and we needed to find her a place to sleep. We sadly forced Claire away from her game when she was just an 8-ball away from victory.

Now, this weekend wasn't a national holiday, but it was right at the start of a new school year beginning. This translates to many students moving into their new schools, which translates to parents coming with them to help and staying at hotels, which translates to no vacancy in a million mile radius. We walked to my fail-safe standby hotel and found it booked solid. We called the hotel Claire found online-no room. Called around to other hotels in the area-all full.
We tried love hotels, capsule hotels, business hotels. Full. Full. Full. What on earth were we going to do. Terrina was about to fall over and we all were tired. We walked to McDonalds hoping to be able to get some food and sleep in there, but they only served take-out from 3-5am. Finally we decided that we would go to Karaoke for a couple of hours, until the first trains were running, and then we would deal with finding somewhere to stay. Karaoke was expensive but it was nice to lay down and have a rest. I find it so amusing how we went to karaoke, turned off the machine and took a nap in the booth. We ordered some food and replenished ourselves for the too-early start of the next day.

At about 5:30 we had to leave Karaoke. Everyone was still groggy and miserable feeling. We trained down to Dobutsuenmae where Janet knew of a youth hostel, but we decided that it was too late to deal with anything. We sent Terrina to the Kansai airport (she was meeting her friend later that day) where she slept on a bench and felt fine when she woke up. Claire and Janet took a bus back to Tokushima and slept. I went with Take back to Wakayama and slept, then headed back to Tokushima in the late afternoon.


Homeless in Osaka. And we all lived to tell the tale!


The next week was Spring Break!!! I had managed to get a few days off from work by rearranging half-days into full days and days off. So on Wednesday April 2nd I headed out to Kyoto. I was going to look at the cherry blossoms. Hanami. I arrive in Kyoto mid-day and head out by bus to Ginkakuji temple. There is a stretch about a mile long of cherry blossom trees draping themselves over a small stream. Vendors were selling cherry-blossom ice cream (which was uniquely delicious) and various other things. People were strolling down the sidewalk, snapping pictures of the beautiful trees along the way, having picnics in the grass. It was a nice relaxing time. Beautiful trees, good feelings, and a general sense of carefree. I ended the day with a walk up the hill from the cherry blossoms to see the actual Ginrakuji temple. Pretty nice. The temple was that like any other, but there were lots of stunning sand sculptures. Meticulously carved sand sculptures which I'm not even sure how some were made. I grab the train to Osaka and stop in my usual hotel. I go into town and get a $10 haircut (which I've grown to consider REALLY cheap, even tho it's about what you'd pay in America for a men's haircut...) which looked horrible. Then I ate at a Korean restaurant.

Thursday was the day that Louise and Lisa would be coming back from Thailand. I get a call early in the morning from them, asking if I could make a reservation at the hotel I'm staying in for the two of them + James. For them this weekend is a punk rock concert. I get them a room but they cannot check-in until 3pm. So we drop off all their things in my room and go out. Louise and I are hosting a trivia night and we are looking for costumes that could involve prosthetic (or plastic) body parts. By stroke of luck, Louse and I knew perfectly well where to find said things, having stumbled upon the store where we bought the plastic head, Gerald, months ago for that guys bathroom. As it happened, they don't sell mannequin arms by themselves. (which I find strange, what if you needed them for your glove shop...) So we couldn't complete the costume idea. We wandered back strolling through America-town and stopping for sushi and got to the hotel perfectly around 3pm.

There it was meet James, nap and get up to go! Go!.. Go where?.... Um... Ok so I guess we're hungry. We went to Mexican food. True I went the week before, but I love it, and the other 3 hadn't been. After a delicious feast of burritos and the like, we went out to Karaoke. They put us on the 1,000,000th floor overlooking the city, but first we had to get in an elevator that made a horrible crashing sound/dinosaur sound on the inside speakers when it arrived at a floor. Very unsettling. Sing sing sing. Then home to bed. We of course pop into an arcade for some Purikura.

The next morning we take a stroll out to breakfast. After said meal, we pop into a shop Lisa knows called Don Quixote. It is an odd shop, filled with wigs and novelty underwear, as well as sensible clothing and home goods. Basically anything you ever might need for whatever reason. Then we went to Umeda quickly to take care of some bus tickets. On the way back we had to meet Sean at the Glico running man (a famous meeting spot in the center of the street). As I was searching the exit guide at the subway stop this confident older foreign guy struts over with his Japanese girlfriend and asks us like tough shit. "Hey are you guys lost?" "No we're just looking for what exit the Glico man would be at..." "Well THAT'S not going to be on there!!! Let me show you! I know the way." I was thinking "no shit its not going to be on there, but I can figure it out based on the part of town its in" but we decided to amuse him and let him think he's doing us this great deed. His girlfriend pressed snugly to his arm, our hero guides us in the direction of our desired location! Oh thank heavens. What would we have done without him...

We meet Sean who decides he wants a piercing. All of us head to America-town to the piercing place James and Louise went to. He gets an Orbital (two holes in the ear, one earring going in a circle through them). We look for pictures of James' and Louise's piercings in the book, but they're not there. After Sean whimpered like a baby over a tiny ear piercing not even through the cartilage, they all left for the punk rock show, leaving me to wait for my Friday plans: meeting Janet and Claire. On the way back to the hotel to rest I pass a crowd of people around a celebrity. I always look, and usually have no idea who it is. This time I recognised the man. It was Duke Saraie. The walking doctor! A few weeks ago one of my Adult English Class students had taken me to a walking class in Tokushima by a famous walking doctor, Duke Saraie. Famous in Japan for his idiotic style of walking which is supposed to energize you and keep you healthy. The class was bull, and I found him sickeningly full of himself, but it was funny to watch the sad man milking his fame for all it was worth. I see him on the street and I decide to wait around to talk to him. At least to tell the student of mine who took me to his class that I saw him on the street. We take a picture together and he remembers me from the Tokushima class. That was nice of him. Then I head back home filled with silliness for giving into celebrity crowd-gathering like so many Japanese girls.

Janet and Claire will be late, so I wander around Namba trying to familiarize myself with the area. I discover that I am able to locate several of the places where in the past have been separate and un-connectible in my mind. Now my grasp of Osaka is increasing. I head up to Umeda for more Korean food (a different restaurant, just down the street from the first one, and this one is better) and a quick stop in a bar while I wait for the two girls. They arrive and after checking into the hotel we head out for the night. Our last stop was a bar called Cinquecento. A martini bar with over 30 kinds of martinis. We meet some very weird people who looked interesting at first but ended up being near impossible to escape. The night ends with each of us having spent over $100. Yikes.

Janet has a horrible hangover the next morning so Claire and I go out to fetch her food. We wander about and discover a grocery shop randomly that has huge bulk food items. The biggest we've ever seen in Japan. We buy strawberries and head out to the riverside where we sit and eat berries and watch people passing by. The weather is lovely and its quite relaxing. We return to Janet with some sustenance. After a little bit we all head out to meet Take and go out again. We go out first to drink and then to dance and get home late.

Walking around outside the next day Claire Take and I hit the Mexican food place for half priced happy hour while Janet gets her hair cut at the same place Lauren went to when she came to visit me. Earlier that day we see that there's a shop called "Star Maker" where you get dressed up and do your hair and they take modeling photos of you. We make plans to get that done soon. Almost time for everyone to go. A really long "weekend." A lot of money was spent but it was an enormous amount of fun!


PICTURES!!!
Hanami Pictures in Kyoto
Two Weeks in Osaka

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 8:33 AM Comments: 0