The real reason I am in Japan for another year

I have fallen in love.



I'll admit it. I am only staying because I am in love. Maybe it isn't a good reason. Maybe I have made a foolish decision. But I can't help it. I am absolutely infatuated. Absolutely, head over heels in love.

With a beautiful, golden skinned, thick, delicious, crispy, salty plate of french fries!

Just look at em!



Gorgeous!

Yuko recoiling in horror after she reached for one of my loves and I snarled at her like a momma bear protecting her cubs.



She might be smiling, but she almost lost that hand a second ago.


So sad. Look how temporary love is. Like two ships passing in the night. Or like a plate of delicious fries placed in front of a fat guy, it was too quick.


Akiyoshi, Kehi Shrine location, french fries. New king of Japanese french fries. Or furaido potato as they are called here.

My favorite Japanese person

Last night I saw a drunken, middle-aged man get out of a car at a stop light and then walk into the middle of the intersection and sit in the road. His friend, who was driving, thank god, got out of his car and tried to get the man out of the middle of the road. But the drunken sitter was fighting him off. As this was going on cars were going around them.

Eventually a cop car came upon them. Stopped in front of them and waited there for about a minute until the friend finally dragged the drunkard out of the road. The cops then simply left.

After the cops left the drunkard returned to the middle of the road, but just standing this time.

His friend was pleading with him (I am guessing, I was too far away and not Japanese speaking enough to understand the words, but his body language was pleadingly) to get out of the road. And eventually the gentleman who enjoys imbibing stalked off away from his friend walking angrily, but on the sidewalk until he was out of view.

I think that might have been my new favorite moment in Japan. I love how drunk Japanese people get. And I mean, all Japanese people, from young to old. I can't tell you how many Friday nights I have had to navigate around drunken octogenarians.

One year

I have now been in Japan for one year.

And this is what I have learned....



















...fuck all really.


Seriously. I mean, I have learned a little bit of Japanese, a very little bit. A frustratingly little bit. But, other than that, I haven't really learned anything. It has been a year. It hasn't been a profound experience. Japan isn't some kind of secret paradise that will reveal all of life's secrets to Western travelers. It is a place. It has people. It is basically the same as America in many many many ways. Apart from food, driving on the opposite side of the road, and having a completely indecipherable written language. Other than that, pretty much the same. Sure, I have experienced some new things (fed a monkey), seen some new things (temples, so many temples), and have been crushed on a train with hundreds of other people (Tokyo, anytime in Tokyo), but for me to say I have experienced an awakening of some sorts is completely douchtastic and not true.

But, my mom asked me some questions, so here are my answers.

What is the best thing about being in Japan?

Nothing I do really matters. It is kind of like being in a dream, in that it doesn't really feel real. No matter what I do here there are really no repercussions. If I fuck up at work, so what. If I act like an ass, so what. I will never see these people again. And anything I do can be written off as me being gaijin. It is very freeing to know people don't expect anything from you.

Also, I live a much simpler life here which is nice. I only have so much space, so I don't fill it with things. I basically spend money on food here. And once in a while new clothes online. But I spend much much less than I spent in America (not to mention no car so no gas to buy) and since I am earning more money than I earned while at the airport I am able to save money for something big and important (whatever that may be).


What is the worst?

Pretty much the same thing. Nothing I do here matters. Nobody I meet here will be a part of my life in a year. Nothing I do here will matter when I am back in America.

And I can't really be myself. All of my friends here are Japanese English speakers, so even though they can speak English very well, well enough that it is easy to communicate, they do not get jokes or sarcasm very well, and I miss being able to make jokes. I mean, I still make jokes, but most of them are my butchering Japanese. That seems to entertain them. Furthermore, they are all either my students or my co-workers, so I kind of have to be on my best behavior all the time. Or at least not cross a line. Even when we aren't at work I have to be aware of that and act accordingly. Very prohibitive sometimes.

Also, no live music. I miss going to shows.

What was the easiest part of my acclimation?

I don't know. Everything was pretty easy. It isn't all that different from being in America. I just can't understand it when people talk to me or read anything.

I guess the easiest thing was homesickness. I was never really homesick. Only for food. And I do miss pets. And I guess my parents too. But I was never really really homesick for America. Quite frankly, I sick and tired of my life for the past several years and I was glad to have a change.

What was the hardest part of getting acclimated?

Having to wear long sleeves all the time to cover my tattoos. Not only at work, but outside of work as well, just so I don't get stared at even more than I normally do. It is easy to tune out the normal stares, the double takes as they look at my arm, that is harder to ignore.

Most delightful moments

I don't know. I enjoyed a lot of things. Hanging out with new and interesting people. Eating new and interesting food. Maybe that is it, discovering new food. And I wonder why I am fat.

Also, monkeys.

Most difficult

Not being able to effectively communicate with people. It is frustrating for me and for the people I am trying to communicate with. Also, I feel like a baby a lot of the time, needing to ask my co-workers for help doing the most simple of tasks. I went to the bank last week to turn change in and needed to bring Kaori because I couldn't say, "I don't like this change. Please exchange these coins for paper money for me." I don't like being a burden on other people, and here I constantly feel that way.

Something that I have learned about myself

Like I said, nothing really.

Favorite thing to eat

Yaki tori. Grilled chicken or beef on a skewer. Or Yaki-onagiri. Grilled rice balls. Or basically Yaki-anything. The grilled food here is fantastic. And I always get french fries whenever I can, I like to sample the different fries around Japan. I also love chi-ji-mi, or the Korean version of an omelet. It is fantastic. Damn, now I am hungry.

Something I will not eat again

Whale. No taste. Chewy. And I think I am morally opposed to it.
Natto. Terrible texture. Awful smell.
Straight Shochu. Tastes like paint thinner. I wanted to cut my tongue out after drinking that vileness.

Special People

Hopefully they know who they are. The 7-up crew and my co-workers. Especially the co-workers I have now. I rely on them for many many things on a daily basis and they are always accommodating of my needs. I can't thank them enough.

People I would rather not have around

Well, this is a public forum so I am not going to say their names. But there are a half a dozen or so people that could drop off the face of the planet and I wouldn't give them another thought.

And the old bitch who ran her cart into me at the store not once, not twice, but three times. As if I wasn't even there.


And those are my opinions of the last year. Basically it went super fast. I don't feel like I have learned anything. I feel stupider everyday.

Also, I went bald this year. That was awesome.

Hanabi

Hanabi aka fireworks over the weekend. Apparently Tsuruga has the largest fireworks display on the west side of Japan.

And boy did the people come out for it! Wow! I am glad I wasn't on one of those trains. I was waiting at the station for the Sabae school teachers to arrive and about 300 people got off of a two car train. Yuck. And of course it was 90+ and humid since its mid-August in Japan. Not the most pleasant traveling conditions I can imagine.

We parked at Kazu's office and walked a little over a kilometer to the beach to avoid the brunt of the traffic around the beach. Not a bad walk. Got to see lots of people in Yukatas (summer kimonos) which always looks cool on women and goofy on men. And downright retardulous on white men. But I digress.

Got to the beach a little after 6 and it was already packed. The fireworks are shot off of a boat parked about 500 meters off shore at Matsubara beach. The fireworks start at 730, but to get a decent place to sit you have to get there much much earlier apparently. Seems like a bunch of people made a day out of it and had a bbq in the afternoon and then stayed for the fireworks at night.

If you enlarge it you might be able to tell that there are people all the way down that beach and wrapped around the other side.


Apparently something really interesting is going on just to the right of me.

Sabae school came out in full force. Two teachers, manager, and a student came down to hang out with us. Nice. Plus Mike, the guy in the black t-shirt, is Scottish, so that made the day of my students.

Wow, that guy behind Ayumi is not happy that I am taking his picture. I wish I had known, I would have taken more of his grumpy looking ass. Oh, and Ayumi and Mamoru are eating fish cakes, which are like rolled-up fish fingers. They are pretty darned good.


Kazu, on the other hand, seems to be quite content with having his picture taken.


Mike too for that matter.


A nice sunset.

One of the cool things they do it launch floating candles to memorialize the dead. Hanabi falls during Obon which is the summer holiday where people go home to honor their ancestors. According to my sources (Japanese people) the ghosts of the ancestors come home during Obon to visit so it is important to light lanterns for them to find their way back. I don't know about all of that, but it looked pretty neat to see a bunch of floating lanterns on the ocean.




Here are some of the lanterns being launched.


I would like to say this is a picture of more lanterns being launched, but really, I think it turned out to just be a bunch of Japanese butts.


Some more lanterns just after being launched.


And here they are floating along the bay behind the water break. They eventually drift over to the pier on the right and then out to sea.


Starting to get dark and you can begin to see the glow of the lanterns.


Uh-oh! Somebody's lantern caught on fire against the pier. Thus catching all the other paper lanterns around it on fire. Somebody's ancestor is going to be pissed.

Ahh, finally dark enough to see the glowing of the lanterns on the water. Beautiful. My pictures of course do not do it justice.


The fireworks were really really good. And since they were launched over water they could launch them really low to the ground/water sometimes which was very impressive to me. Nothing like seeing fireworks that look like they are coming out of the ground.

Low launch. Maybe you can see the ship that is launching the fireworks, maybe not.

More fireworks being launched pretty darned low to the ground.




All in all, a fun night. I don't know. I mean, it was freaking fireworks. They were bright they were (not that) loud. There were tons of people. That is pretty much all there was too it.

Well, aren't I just the fucking word painter.

Pictures Kazu took in Tokyo

Here are some pictures that Kazu took in Tokyo.

Well, here are the pictures he took of ME. I care not about other pictures.







How embarrassing that she has finished more of her drink than I have.
Okay, so most of these pictures are of Ayumi and I just happen to be in the frame.

Either she has exceptional awareness of when someone is taking her picture, or I have exceptionally bad awareness.

That's it, I am outta here!