chidade.net

Early wake up to get on a train for Kamiooka, my old stomping ground. Arrived earlier than expected, curse my Type A-ness. Still, it was good to wander around Yokohama for the first time in a year. Aah, the More’s Building. How often I’ve emptied my wallet there. Check out the old arcade, nothing worth trying to win this morning. I totally own at the UFO catchers.

Anyway, onto Kamiooka. Oh gods, my old eikaiwa *shudder* Quick, look away! Don’t make eye contact! Yay! T & M! Reunion! Have an ice kohii at there place because even at 10.30am, the sweat is already running down my back in torrents. Damn tsuyu.

Hadn’t really looked at the Lonely Planet’s pages on Kamakura. It’s so close to Kamiooka, I’d been there before during the 10 months I lived here, but unfortunately my camera was stolen soon after and I wanted to get more photos again. T & M wanted to go along because apparently the hydrangeas are in bloom all over Kamakura at the moment. That’s….such a Japanese reason to go somewhere XD

But anyway, I basically thought that all there was to see was the Daibutsu, or Giant Buddha. It’s about 800 years old and quite spectacular. It used to be housed within a temple but a tsunami had washed away the building, leaving only the temple. It must’ve been a heck of a tsunami. Kamakura is on the shore but the Daibutsu is still about a kilometre away from the beach with big hills in the way.

I knew that there were more temples around Kamakura, but I didn’t think they were going to be that special. I had been to the main one at the top of the shopping street which was quite nice but….you know…..just another temple. T had some ideas about where to take me in Kamakura though and I was happy to let him lead. I just wanted to have photos of the Daibutsu and the rest was up to them.

First, to the most famous hydrangea temple in Kamakura, Hase-dera. Heh, they’d never mention that in the Lonely Planet. No, all that they say about this place is that “it has the largest wooden statue in Japan carved in 912″ - feh! How is that important compared to the hydrangeas?! There were hundreds of small statues of Jizo which were very cool. I took a couple of shots which I’m proud of. May submit one to Metropolis. It also has an impressive view over the bay.

It was CRAWLING with people all over Kamakura, but particularly in Hase-dera. M said that there had been a special on the television about Kamakura’s hydrangeas, and since it was a sunny Saturday, absolutely everyone in the Kanagawa and Tokyo region wanted to see them today *rolls eyes* So there was a 40 minute wait to go for a walk along this Hydrangea Path within the temple grounds. It wasn’t the ONLY place you could see them, mind you. They were growing out of cracks in the pavement! So we decided to skip it and move on the Daibutsu.

Daibutsu, photos photos photos - finally saw a squirrel! I seriously need to smuggle some into Australia. Okay, photos done, NEXT!

T said he wanted to take me to Zeniarai Benten, so off we went - got lost - got lost again - gave up an caught a bus to the station - had lunch - revived - then got proper directions - and finally we walked up this hill to find a great big tunnel bored into the rock with a torii gate outlining it.

This shrine has now been added to Chidade’s Awesome List™.

First cool part is the tunnel in the rock. When you walk out to the other side, there are many red torii gates to walk through, like Fushimi Inari in Kyoto, although not as beautiful. The shrine is in a tiny little gully that is almost completely closed off by hills all the way around. There are two ways to get in: the tunnel, and a back entrance if you climb the stairs over a smaller hill. So the surrounded and hidden feeling to the place is another cool factor.

Finally, you go into a cave carved into the side of the hill where a natural spring wells. And there……you wash your money. Zeni-arai means “coin washing” but these days people seem to wash paper notes. Out of greed? I don’t know but I washed 1000 yen. T & M told me to keep it in my wallet and never spend it, like a lucky charm to make me rich, but I’ve read other sources that say the idea is to spend money that has been washed in the springs and it will return two-fold. I think I’ll just keep it as a souvenir.

Such a unique tradition - washing your money in the spring to bring fortune. And the Lonely Planet never mentioned this! Zeniarai Benten is listed on their map but not described. Odd, given it’s uniqueness and apparently it’s the second-most visited shrine in Kamakura (awesome link found via Frangipani).

Anyway, Zeniarai Benten: now on my awesome list, along with Nijo-jo in Kyoto, Gyokusendo Cave in Okinawa, Zuigudo underneath Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto, Takeshita-dori in Harajuku and all of Akihabara, heh. Hmm, maybe I should set up a page of these places.

The next place we visited was just a short walk away from Zeniarai Benten if you take the back route. It’s called the Sasuke Inari Shrine. Cool, because it does the multiple torii gates thing, has dozens of statues of foxes (because Inari is a god of foxes, among other things), has a cool name, but mainly because, despite being less than 50km from Tokyo, it really seems like you’ve founded a hidden little shrine in the middle of the forest, untouched and unvisited for years. Completely not the case, but the atmosphere is like that.

After that, we headed back to T & M’s for a much needed shower before off to the izakaya for a massive party. About 6 old students, 2 old friends and assorted were there. To summarise the night, I’m going to borrow Circus Girl’s blogging style again:

To the station! I need to pick up S and his mystery friend! You! It’s you! *glomp* I’ll be right back, I need to find S, T keeps me company, he never arrives, never answers my texts, eventually call him and find out he’s already at the izakaya, WTF? Well at least I can make a grand entrance now with all the other guests there, get cheered, take a bow “You bastard, you never emailed me”, debates on email, shut up and order a drink! I’ll have a sour, a sour what, uhhhhh, apple? Yes, Apple Sour, “Minna san! Omiyage desu!”, yaaaaay, boomerang makes me an accessory, canned kangaroo! No really! I think we should open it right now, muaahahahahaa they totally fell for it! Wow, M-chan’s English is awesome now! So is S’s! Heh, so the new gf is a Hong Kong expat too, eh? I detect a fetish. Beer! I don’t drink beer? BUT I’LL DRINK THIS BEER! Wheee, room is kind of spinning, I can haz foowd now pwease? TUNA!!! where’s the salmon? “It’s fish but it doesn’t taste like it”, “K, I’m probably drunk enough now”, mmm, cheezy, what, it’s over already? BUT WE JUST GOT HERE!! Okay, back for some drunken Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Buh-bye some people, I’ll see you in a month! Bottle shop stopover, beer beer beer, girly drink, H lives in that big building? Really? Can I see? Get taken up to the viewing platform, “YOKOHAMA I MISSED YOU!!”, wow don’t want to drop my camera down there O_o, okay, onto T & M’s place, photo slideshow time! Man, I should really do this on my Wii too, catching up, drinking coke and vodka, what a combo, getting pretty woozy now, how did I get so drunk so quickly? *glomps Canadian*, why is the Billy Banks exercise DVD playing? More gossip, YAY! A’s here! Omiyage! “Sorry, I’m a bit drunk”, catching up, ok, so this is how you play Rayman, I love that song, um, are you ok? Sleepy? “Where’s he going to sleep?” (With me!!!) “He should be on the floor in the hallway” (?!) “and A can share with you” (No, he can sleep with me, really!) “Ok, we’ll set up a futon in the lounge room” (Awwww) Brush teeth, “Oyasumi“, unconsciousness.

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If you really want to learn about what life is like as an English conversation teacher in Japan, then don’t read this piece of tripe. I update rarely and I don’t write about work often, except maybe to curse its existence.

Read this instead: Of Rice and Zen.

It’s how I would write if I were witty and poetic and British. This guy is my new yongfook.

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One thing I’ve wanted to do since…oooh….2003 was to see the pillows in a live gig. Since I’ve been in Japan, they overtaken The Cat Empire as my favourite band. It’s also partly because TCE’s second album Two Shoes album was, well, pretty disappointing. I’ve only heard two songs from the third album, Cities, but out of those two, I already find one (Miss Soul) pretty mediocre. The TCE members’ side projects are getting more play on nano-kun than TCE themselves. The pillows, on the other hand, have been together for nearly 20 years and their last album My Foot was rockin’.

I still love the Cats, and I’ll always be part of their hometown crowd - going to every gig possible (it must be into double digits by now?) - but whilst in Japan, the pillows have been the soundtrack to my life. Little Busters is what I played as I unpacked my suitcase, Skeleton Liar was playing as the train pulled into Akihabara that first time, I had Nightmare thrashing at probably damaging volumes when the other teachers at my branch pissed me off so much I had to stick my iPod in to drown them out, I watched Mt Fuji from the top of the hill behind my house at 6am with Hybrid Rainbow playing in my ears…so many occassions when there’s been a pillows song to match the moment.

Despite my gushings, I’m not that much of a rabid fangirl. I don’t know the band members’ names ‘cept “Sawao”, the lead singer. I don’t know what the lyrics mean in English. Half the time I don’t even remember the title of the track I’m listening to and have to glance down at nano-kun’s display to double-check. But I think I have all the albums, except maybe the very early ones that are now out of print. There’s a pile of pillows CDs as tall as my stereo here. A second pile that’s the same height are all the other Japanese CDs I’ve bought. As an aside, I’ve only bought one foreign artist’s CD here - Fatboy Slim’s Best Of. And I’m glad I got the Japanese version of that because there’s a bonus Japan-only remix by Fantastic Plastic Machine.

Anyway, I digress.

I love the pillows’ music intensely. It’s rock and pop and occassionally electronic, occassionally reggae (waaaay back), occassionally old school rock’n'roll - it’s catchy as hell with broken English choruses, euphoric melodies and fizzy riffs. Like most gaijin fans, I first heard them on the FLCL anime soundtrack, but unlike most gaijin fans, I didn’t stop there and bought more. One day I’ll have the entire back-catalogue.

The drummer has a side project called “The Peas” or, “The Pees”, however you transliterate ザピーズ. I bought one of their CDs too, which was a pure rock project - enjoyable too - and they’ve been around since 1998, I think, so a big back-catalogue to collect there too! Tower Records in Yokohama always empties my wallet everytime I go there. I’ve filled up at least three points cards since I arrived.

Good grief, I’ve written five paragraphs and I haven’t even gotten to the main part of the story.

I had tried to book tickets for the pillows earlier. Around Christmas time I heard that they were doing a New Year gig, which I definitely wanted to go to, even if it was by myself. Sadly, it was sold out, as were the next two gigs in Tokyo. Nee-san signed me up for the ticket company’s newsletter, so I occassionally get Japanese emails about concerts that I can’t understand. Once, just once, I saw them listed in Metropolis but it clashed with one of my trips to Kyoto. Also, their website only shows Japanese gigs in Japanese, only the American gigs are on the English part of their website.

So basically, it was difficult to get information on their gigs. I can only read hiragana and katakana. My kanji is laughable. The few times that nee-san would visit our apartment were the only occassions when I could get a translation from the website. And again, sold out, sold out, sold out, wait, that one’s not sold out! Ah, but it’s in Kyushu.

“How about Shibuya?”
“Yes!”
“Shibuya’s not too far?”
“Dude, we live in Yokohama.”
“Yes, but you might have to run for the last train.”
“I don’t care, I’ll sleep out in the streets if I have to. I want to watch this band live!”

I think I scared her a bit, with that comment. But, she’s wonderful, and arranged tickets from Lawsons (which again, has only Japanese ticket machines) for me. Two tickets. Did nee-san want to come? Sorry no, she didn’t know this band and she had work the next day.

Funny that, Every single Japanese person I’ve asked has not heard of the pillows. I haven’t heard their music in any shops or on TV, evidently they aren’t completely mainstream - but their shows keep selling out? Must play small gigs.

“L! I have a surprise for you!”
“Is it food?”
“Um, no”
“I’m feeling shitty and I demand chocolate”
“Um. Okay. I have some. But I have something else for you!”
“ehh”
“A ticket to see the pillows!”
“Isn’t that that favourite band of yours that I’ve never heard before?”
“Yes! You’re coming with me to see the gig!”
“I don’t have money!”
“I’m paying. In fact, I’ve already paid! Ah ha!”

Apparently pillows tickets aren’t appreciated as much as tickets to the Studio Ghibli museum. And she umm-ed and ahh-ed about it for weeks, ’til half an hour before the gig, she told me she wouldn’t be coming. Probably just as well, as we would’ve been late if I waited for her. I didn’t mind going by myself so much, but I think she would’ve liked the gig even if she’d never heard of them. We have pretty similar tastes in music.

The gig was called “Getting Better - 10 year anniversary”. The pillows were headlining but there were three or four other bands playing. I had no idea what Getting Better was but I imagined it was some music magazine. Later I learned it was a regular rock gig held at Shibuya O-EAST, one of the major gig locations in Japan. The DJ played rock music (Jet, The Strokes, Oasis und so weiter), the bands played rock music. The kids danced and moshed and rocked on. And this has been going for 10 years? Damn, I’m jealous. I wish I had been a part of it.

After asking for directions at the koban, I made it to Shibuya O-EAST a little late. The first performer was on stage, a single man with an acoustic guitar. Not entirely sure who he was but the music was pretty good. I made use of my free drink coupon upstairs and watched the TV screens broadcasting what was on stage. Dang, they need to do that in more venues in Australia. The only place I can think of that does that is Melbourne Park so you can watch the tennis game inside while you’re queuing up.

Two or three songs later, he was off. Next, a strange band that, in hindsight, I’m not sure how they got the gig. It’s a rock gig isn’t it? But the lead singer was an American who played the violin, and the music was a cross between The Corrs and a traditional African percussion band. Great percussion, but sadly interspersed with wailing violin talking of a lost love at age 12. Wasn’t impressed, but used the time to find a good vantage point on the staircase (something you’d never get away with back home - good ol’ lax Japanese fire safety laws). Four songs later and they were gone too.

Next was another band, which I learnt from the animated displays on giant screens around the venue were called Come Back, My Daughters. Not bad really, but I was starting to get angsty. I knew that the pillows were headlining so they’ll be on last, but I wasn’t sure how many bands were left til they would perform. Each time a new band arrived, I was counting how many members went on stage. The pillows have three members. Come Back, My Daughters finished, and the DJ played the good rock stuff while the set changed. Jet is amazingly popular here. Everyone went nuts when Are You Gonna Be My Girl started playing. The crowd was getting worked up. And judging from the time, it would be about right if the pillows played next.

Lights went up again. Crowd cheered! One…two…three…..four people? Bloody hell, couldn’t be the pillows yet. They started playing a song that I didn’t recognise, but was fun nonetheless. Everyone in the crowd was getting right into it. And I started thinking…that drummer looks like the pillows’ drummer. And even though I don’t know the song, the singer’s voice seems familiar. Hang on, don’t the pillows always have a guest bassist? Because the first one quit? So the fourth guy could be the guest bassist and this could be the pillows playing RIGHT NOW?

“Okay?!” shouts the lead singer after his short rock intro.
“OKAY!” scream the crowd. And suddenly the lights go up, that fast drum roll begins and Sawao is singing Rock’n'Roll Sinners, the crowd is moshing and I’m thinking “holy crap…it is them!”

All the people of the earth
want to rock and roll.
I quit forgot. yes.
I’ll try to do better in future.
All the people of the earth
want to rock and roll.
I will do it yet.
I felt my heart beating wildly.
What do you want?

Awesome.

I feel silly that I didn’t even recognise my favourite band when they went on stage, not even until the second song. But on the other hand, I like nice surprises like that, too. Sawao jumps around the stage like a madman. They all do. This is a rock gig so a rock setlist, please:

Unknown Rockin Intro
Rock’n'Roll Sinners

Then, after that, Sawao yells out “Crazy Sunshiiiiine!” and the crowd goes off again. I can see now why their gigs sell out again and again. There are bigger fans here than I, with merchandise I’d never heard of draped over them (a Little Busters towel! I want!), singing along with the words, and all punching the air at the same time.

Crazy Sunshine
My Foot
Please Mr. Lostman (old school and slower, so people can catch their breath)
Another song from the My Foot album whose name alludes me now (EDIT: It was The Air Lelistor)
The Third Eye

My camera battery dies so I decide to join the mosh. Sawao is saying happy birthday to Getting Better - and I sing along. Getting Better - what awesome gigs they must’ve had.

The band were rockin’ like no band I’ve seen before. Actually, no maybe Tim Rogers and You Am I beat them. But the energy on this stage is amazing. The energy in the CROWD is amazing. When I first walked in the door they asked me which band I was looking forward to seeing. I think everyone would’ve said the pillows. They put in a…I know I’ve said it a dozen times already - but really a rockin’ show.

The opening chords for Little Busters and I feel my throat getting dry. This is my quintessential Japan song. Playing this in the suburbs of Melbourne made me want to play it in Japan. It was listening to this song that made me finally decide to apply for my job here. I played it while I filled out the application forms, I played it as I left the country, I played it when I arrived…and now I was hearing it live by my favourite band. The crowd claps in time at the solo and so do I.

With the kids sing out the future
Maybe kids don’t need the masters
Just waiting for the Little Busters, oh yeah…

It seems like this song is their theme song, much like The Chariot is TCE’s. Not that surprising. The band’s mascot is a bear named Buster. At the end of the show I bought one that now hangs from my bag, going with me whereever I go. They finish Little Busters, say thankyou and walk off.

The DJ starts playing Video Killed The Radio Star, which was cleverly picked because it has a good, fast beat to clap along to when you’re demanding an encore. And half way through the song, the pillows comply. Sawao starts to play the Video Killed… riff, we clap along and he sings the words but not very well, because although the pillows often have lyrics in English…it’s not the best English. Which I guess is part of the charm.

He soon laughs at himself and says something rapidly in Japanese. Everyone else laughs, there is another message congratulating Getting Better, and for their encore they play perhaps their heaviest track - Advice. Pure, grinding guitar and sweating moshers. It’s over all too soon and they say goodnight again, this time when the lights go up to tell everyone to catch their last trains. Actually it’s not that late. I might go have a subway supper.

The set is getting dismantled. The DJ plays Whatever - probably my favourite Oasis track. Soon, he lowers the volume…

“Anou….arigatou gozaimashita”

…and bows. The audience cheers and applauds. Aah, so this DJ is the man behind Getting Better? He’s grinning like his child has graduated high school with top marks, so I think this must be a very nostalgic night for him. I like him. Excellent taste in music, and it’s good to see that someone was promoting Japanese rock here in Shibuya - home of the ko-gal and ganguro who only want parapara, R’n'B and hip-hop. I hope Getting Better can go for another 10 years, because I want to sample it on a normal night soon!

Outside, and make a beeline for the merch tables. Holy crap! Autograph cards! Not as great as getting their autograph personally, but AUTOGRAPH CARDS! The woman at the bench says in perfect English that if I’d like one, please buy a CD to the value of 2000 yen. OK, this one. Aaaand, this one. Ooh, I haven’t seen that one before. Plus I’ll get a T-shirt, the stickers and a little Buster-kun keychain, please.

15,000 yen later, I stumble towards Hachiko crossing, passing the Shibuya-kei and Visual-kei cosplayers and band-members. There’s some Lolita wandering around too. Tomorrow is Sunday, the day they all hang out in Harajuku. I guess that Sunday actually starts at 7pm Saturday night for them. I wish my camera’s battery hadn’t died.

The gig was awesome, and I’m so glad I saw them, but it was too short! I guess that comes from sharing the bill at a birthday bash. Only eight or nine songs tonight, but it’s still an adrenaline rush. It might be a while before I can see them live again - I hope I can. But the lack of Japanese might work against me once more. Besides, I think they’re touring America at the moment. North America gets all the luck.

Come to Australia, too!

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So, I saw my first ever baseball game the other day.

Tokyo Swallows v. Fukuoka Hawks. Twas surprisingly good fun. I had never watched a baseball game before and didn’t even know the rules. Luckily, I went with L and S - who’s a baseball freak (he doesn’t support either of the teams but enjoyed himself highly anyway). He tried to explain the game to me as well as he could in broken English.

The game was at Jingu Stadium (at least, I hope that’s the name) near Shibuya. We arrived quite late and missed the first 3 innings but the vibe was good as soon as we arrived.

“Alright kids, who are we barracking for?”
“Tokyo Swallows”
“Why?”
“Because I like Swallows!”
“…”
“No, really, they’re much nicer than hawks. Hawks are predatorial birds, they can hurt you!”
“…good enough for me!”
“Who are you going for?”
“Tokyo Swallows”
“Why?”
“Because I like Tokyo?”
“Sounds good!”

It took until the 7th inning until I actually felt like I knew what the hell was going on. S had brought his catcher mitt which made me a bit nervous. I don’t exactly dig being thwacked in the head by an accelerating ball of bloody hard leather. This guy had the right idea, methinks. No balls came flying our way, thankfully.

Hehe, I love live sports crowds.

The vibe was so much fun. The fans were chanting and singing and playing trumpets almost non-stop. At the start of the seventh - apparently lucky - inning, the fans for both teams released balloons just before their first batter went up to the plate.

One thing I like about the Tokyo Swallows is that they have some cool traditions. When the Swallows get a home run, or a ‘home in’ as they call it, they fans bring out these mini green umbrellas and start bobbing them up and down. Looked freaking mad! Colourful, hand-held fans came out for the 9th inning. Fun, fun vibe!

The Swallows were the home team, and the atmosphere was definitely in their favour. The giant screen would show a fancy animation for each new batter or pitcher on the field. Music pumped out and they were treated like rock stars. Big, flashy animations would come up everytime somebody got a hit, a home run, or even if they made it to second base. If something similar happened to the Hawks, you wouldn’t hear a peep. Now, I can’t say for certain, but I don’t think that “home town advantage” has that much meaning for games in Australia. Then again, it has been a damn long time since I saw a sports game live, and even then it was a tennis match.

Dang, this is kinda fun.

“(announcer speaking incomprehensible Japanese)…MIYAMOTO!”

“Yay! Miyamoto! I don’t know who you are but you have the same surname as Shigeru Miyamoto! So, go Miyamoto! Ganbatte! Fight-o!”

This random ranting amused S no end, so Miyamoto immediately became my favourite player. He scored a few hits which resulted in home runs, and I later learned that he’s the captain. Go Miyamoto, indeed. Hehe, this is kinda fun ^_^

Ooh..tension!

Ninth inning…score was tied, Swallows were batting second…2 out, bases loaded…and Miyamoto comes out to to hit the Sayounara Home-In…

…he struck out. Thrice.

Game had to to go to a tie-break tenth inning but we had to catch the last train home so we couldn’t watch it. S messaged me later that night to tell me that the Swallows had lost.

Godsdammit!

Stupid sport anyway >.<

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Yokohama went all Melbourne on me yesterday. I was woken up early by wind rattling the apartment and by rain flying horizontally against the windows.

Rolled over, went back to sleep.

Woke up maybe 4 hours later, thinking I’d have to pinch an umbrella to get to work, only to find that the sky was a brilliant blue with not a cloud in sight. Kinda warm too, but still really windy.

Four seasons in one day indeed.

Melbourne probably doesn’t get magnitude 6 earthquakes, though.

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Jean Snow pointed out that Metropolis magazine (the free English magazine here in Tokyo) has made a podcast of it’s contents.

So, I had a listen…

Oh gods.

The Rick Dees accent is too much >.<

Never mind the blatant advertising. It’s kinda sounds like a 1950s talkshow for housewives.

Is it meant to be funny? Is it all just a terrible joke? I’m not laughing, I’m cringing.

Blegh. I might give it another shot but they need to get rid of that host. And the cheesy American accents. And the cheesy elevator music. And the cheesy classifieds. And everything.

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What the hell is wrong with stuff today?

ATM was broken. My phone doesn’t want to make phone calls or receive them. The light in the toilet is giving out.

And everywhere I walked around, power lines were buzzing loudly. I thought at first that maybe the cicadas had arrived. But no, it’s the power lines, the entire walk home from the train station. I can hear them now from inside my bedroom, it seems to be making the fluorescent lights in my apartment buzz too.

What the hell is wrong with stuff today??

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Went to Harajuku today, with H, L and her sister. L finally got dressed up in her GothLoli gear, and she said she felt incredibly uncomfortable afterwards. Heh. I guess she’s not really GothLoli material. Not enough exhibitionism in her.

She got a few people asking her to pose, including - as expected - some perverted old oyaji making kissy faces at her. Poor girl. But still, she looked good and it was a highly successful day. I took lots of photos and the weather was great. We also went to Akiba later where I finally found volume two of the Ragnarok Online figurines.

The kids on Omotesando were really friendly today. Very willing to have photos taken, unlike a few times in the past when I was just ignored or told ‘no’. Which is fair enough, I’d be annoyed at people wanting to take my photo all day too. But it was a relief to have them willing and ready to pose. I think it was the good weather. Everyone was genki. Takeshita-dori was absolutely packed. L bought another pair of shoes in another Lolita shop that we found.

H, the native, had no idea that this was the kinda thing that happened every Sunday in Harajuku. I think she had fun there. She was probably more bored in Akihabara, when L, her sister and I went into otaku mode.

Akihabara on a Sunday was interesting too. The main street was shut off to cars, so there were a few maids posing for photos and handing out flyers with HUGE crowds around them. One of them was practically in her underwear, so I’m not surprised in the least.

Then, to Shibuya for dinner. Mexican, numnumnum. Expensive but hella satisfying.

A purikura session to record the day together, then home to Yokohama.

“Oh wait, we need to get the shinkansen tickets for Kyoto tomorrow”
“Ah, yeah”
*gets a quote for tickets……jaw drops….*
“Um…maybe we’ll go to Nikko instead?”

Ha, that ¥50,000 I had L hold onto for Kyoto wasn’t needed after all. Excellent, more spending money! To Tower Records!

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So, I was meant to go to ageHa last night. It’s the biggest nightclub in Tokyo but sometimes I wonder if Shin-Kiba really counts as Tokyo; it’s as close to Chiba as makes no difference.

Either way - Tokyo or Chiba prefecture - I travelled a fair distance to get there. And why? Because apparently some famous trance DJ that had performed at the Athens Olympics Opening Ceremony was going to be at ageHa. And a friend of a friend of my friend H had tickets.

I hate trance and I hate nightclubs even more. But it’s hard to say ‘no’ to H, so off I went, in my jeans and Harajuku shoes, to what I knew would be a crap night.

First though, to Ginza (my first time there. For shame Chidade, get out more, woman!), where we would meet said friends of friends for dinner and alcomahol. Too bad I’d already treated myself to Subway earlier. Which only left alcohol left to consume. I was the youngest of this group (23, when the average age is 31) so drinking Coke isn’t going to be cool enough. I really should learn to drink beer or wine, instead of all these weak ‘cocktail’ drinks, like Cassis Soda. Tasty, but girlie.

Not only was I the youngest there, I was the only gaijin. So most of the jokes were based on my lack of Japanese, and how I misunderstood their katakana pronunciation of ‘rock’ (rocku) to be the Japanese word for ’six’ (rokku). I suppose it’s their revenge for all those bitter and cynical gaijin teachers they had that would laugh in their faces when they made a mistake. I’m not one of those teachers but I know many of them.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: what ruins Japan the most are all the bloody foreigners.

Despite the jokes at my expense, they were nice enough and fun enough. We were joined later by other gaijin - a Mexican and two Americans, and we moved on to another izakaya in Shin-Kiba. More alcohol! And soon, that familiar shooting pain in my arms as the alcohol forces my veins open with a torrent of anti-coagulated plasma. It’s not unusual for me but it’s still unpleasant and it doesn’t quit for about 20 minutes. It was at that stage when we reached ageHa and the tin shed monstrosity and it’s inhabitants confronted me. At that stage I was thinking that maybe now was a good time to quit while I was ahead.

H was also the worse for wear since she had visited the dentist that day. So luckily she was quite up for excusing ourselves politely and heading home. Which we promptly did.

Haha, ageHa! Yes, you might have a swimming pool and a reggae room, but I can still manage to spend a year here without visiting you! Go to freakin’ Chiba for a nightclub? Not likely! That kind of travel is reserved for anime conventions!

Like the Tokyo Anime Fair this weekend, f’rinstance ^_^

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I have a dilemma.

I don’t know what to do with myself. I have goals I want to achieve, which requires going back home to do another degree. I’m looking forward to going back to uni. But I’m also having a brilliant time here and I’m not quite ready to leave in September.

I could, theoretically, stay here for another year, but that’s unlikely to happen because

• that would mean I’m 28 by the time I graduate, and that’s probably pushing it, career-wise.
• there’s a chance the degree I want to do won’t exist anymore, since many universities have decided that IT is no longer popular or profitable. Apparently even Monash are integrating IT into their Engineering faculty.
• I would have to get a different visa and pay for the change, which is a hassle.
• I would have wasted money on the return airfare I bought, and would have to buy another.
• Kicia seems to be disintegrating into a small, furry ball of misery. I’m sure Errol and Cat-Eilix aren’t much better off.

And other reasons…

I have another option, where I stay for an extra 5 months, up until the time I’m supposed to start university. But that still leaves the last three dot points as issues.

What do I do? I love this place, I don’t want to leave yet!

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