Pachinko Pushin’ Geisha

What do we do when our semi-ancient socio-cultural skill no longer serves us in the modern world? Spiff up and get with the times! Throw on a signboard, learn a louder instrument, and sell ourselves out to the biggest hype. Yet another “price to pay” for modernization. Still, it looks to me like the sax player is the most awkward and out of place here. With her normal clothes! And her youthful passion! Bleh!

A friend who was along with me said that these people weren’t even worth a picture, citing it being a shame that this is what these professionally trained geisha are left to. The other (perhaps just as significant) argument being that they may not be trained at all and are simply posing in the geisha look.

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | May 24, 2009

Infestations and Alleyways

May twenty-first, the year of our lord two thousand and nine. On this dreadful Thursday I woke to receive word that the infection has finally reached Hachioji, a mere seven stops west on my line. It drags at my soul and thoughts to step onto the train knowing that it has just come from that very place carrying with it the risk of spreading. Most certainly the grippe has found a way of expanding via the train lines due to the simplicity of human contact within Tokyo. I have begun to suspect it will be only a matter of days before the whole metropolis is shut down and we are confined to our living quarters left wondering just what is going on outside these walls and shuddering at the slightest cough from our next door neighbor…

~

Have I made an accurate portrayal of the overreaction to the recent issue in the world? Sorry for being vague with words for this, I just don’t want my post turning up hundreds of thousands of hits from searches because it has the most searched words at the current time. I’m also gonna leave it out of the tags too. Hope you all enjoyed! Haha!

Moving on to the other part of the title here, I was in Kichijouji a few days ago and came upon some back alleyways that I had never seen before but had practically been walking circles around. I friggin’ love alleys here and I snapped some pics and thought I’d share ‘em!

Looked up and thought this overhead view was nice. There are a lot of interesting winding wires and such above when going through the older, tight alleys here.

To the right was a cool little whole-in-the-wall bar on the corner with a wine and laundry detergent shop across from it. (Weird combination, yes.)

Perfect alley atmosphere accompanied by fortunetelling, a jewelry shop, curry and the necessary atmosphere-setting lighting.

A back alley which is not quite as happenin’ but still has that run-down, not-so-upkept feel.

I saved the best for last. This is my favorite alley shot! Lanterns that will create an amazing atmosphere later on at night, racks stacked and full of beer for the oncoming heavy drinking night crowd, the cafe, the yakitori joint and the gyouza joint in the back, all capped with the rafters above. Throw in the part-timer girls and guys running around getting the rustic eateries ready for the evening and you’ve got the perfect alleyway feel.

Hope you all enjoyed this collection of pics and thoughts. I’ve always wanted to do a little something to pay tribute to the wonderful Tokyo alleys. And don’t believe that these are the only ones! There are plenty more scattered about the city – you just have to be in the know! For now I close with this sunset picture from Yotsuya, just outside the school, taken a few days ago.

Take care guys!

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | May 21, 2009

I Just Want to Write in My Blog

I’ve been thinking I’ve wanted to write here for a few days now, but I don’t really have a one track mind right now and have no single idea I wanted to write about. So, enjoy – my random thoughts spewed below!

~

Just remembered when I was in Okinawa and a British couple approached Danielle and I as we were rushing to the shrine just before it closed. The man said “Excuse me, are you English by chance?” (He was polite about it.) But I replied quite suddenly with “I speak it.” I realized only afterwords how rude I sounded. They still asked for our help in finding a garden nearby and I was able to wisp away their minds with my awesome Japanese reading power! They didn’t talk to us much when we bumped into them again… This also is just one of the many times here when I realize how informal and rude my English has become. Now enjoy some pics of me from Okinawa! (And the Oita crew too!)

In Oita, before going to Okinawa, while on the most bumfuck (pardon) road heading out to a shrine in the hills, came across a human sized cone.

Actually before going to southern Japan, I went to an event during cherry blossom blooming time called 花見 (hanami). This literally means “flower viewing” but honestly I don’t think much of that goes on during the event. Primarily people just go to the park, sit under the trees and get trashed. And here is where I got my most disgusting view of Japan. (Not that it’s anything that’s gonna scare me off. I’m a pretty down-to-Earth guy, I think. And honestly when I saw this all I could do was laugh hysterically like a publicly drunk, babbling fool.) Oh, and speaking of publicly drunk, this should kind of allude to you that drinking in public in Japan is legal and furthermore alcohol can be purchased pretty much anywhere, anytime and by anybody. I’ve only been carded here like twice. (I’ll exclude the comparative number of times I’ve gone drinking…)

Anyways, returning to the point: disgusting Japan. I joined two friends from the dorm at the YouTube hanami party in Yoyogi Park near Harajuku. The event was open to whoever wanted to come, so there were tons of people – primarily non-Japanese. Got there, started powering down free alcohol and it hit my bladder FAST. So, I decided to head to the bathroom. Here I saw a huge line where I waited for practically 20 minutes to pee. And by the time I made it to the bathroom I was crouched on the ground clutching at my loins. In line though, I noticed there were people using the bathroom on trees in the back and subsequently decided that was the place for me next time.

First time I went back I tried to be discreet about it, but that’s when I realized just how not-discreet everyone else was – bearing all for all to see and not caring in the least. Among the times I went back to have a pee, I saw every imaginable expulsion of bodily fluids on the ground. The areas behind the buildings and around trees were filling like pools because the ground couldn’t soak up anymore. Girls and guys, number 1 and number 2, as well as a few people purging themselves. The whole time the park is filled with people going to and fro. Man was I grossed out… Here are some far more normal pics from the same day!

As mentioned before, I quit kyudo. But also as mentioned before I have a huge love for it. So, I decided to buy the outfit and I’m going back to the off-campus dojo again to find out how to wear it and of course to stay brushed up on my skills. I also want to continue going in the US at the place in Raleigh. Maybe I’ll make a trip there from time to time – at least once a month. So, it’s not a waste at all. I’ll continue going to the off campus dojo once or twice every week from now on. In the picture is my outfit still fresh and in the bags. My name, in Japanese, is embroidered on the pants in orange.

Still tired of people staring at me on the train and leaving the seats beside me empty until the train gets so packed that someone has to sit down. It makes me think back to the previous five minutes to be sure I didn’t accidentally fart without realizing it. Being in classes with more Japanese people and being around Japanese people more often this semester I’ve begun to notice a bit more discrimination towards me and also have noticed since coming here, more and more I’m treated like a child and told what to do, what to say, and when to do it. I hate how the people taking my order at restaurants cut their Japanese down to informal because I’m a foreigner. They know very well how disrespectful it is and yet they think they are doing it to help me, not realizing of course that I learned text book Japanese – the respectful language. Of course I wonder if some just use it simply to be disrespectful back to the already disrespectful foreigner who eats and drinks and farts on the train. (Scratch that last one, I only did it once. On accident. Really!)

EDIT: One final point on the discrimination issue I forgot to mention when I first posted. A fun little story of what happened on the train. There was a guy and three girls and he was talking on and on about whatever and carrying on and making them laugh. (In Japanese, yes of course.) He finally made it to the subject of piggy flu and decided to throw the word “America” in there too. I donno what he was talking about, but I found it a nice chance to shoot him a nasty look just to see what kind of “Oh crap!” reaction I could get out of them. Unfortunately his back was to me so one of his female friends opposite him instantly got the brunt of the blow. Her face changed from a big smile to very apologetic and almost scared as she started shushing him saying 失礼！失礼！(That’s rude! That’s rude!). She indicated me, the foreigner, on the opposite side of the car from them. I kinda laughed it off for the most part mostly because I was having fun with it in the first place. I was even considering starting to fake cough near him just to freak him out a bit. Thinking back to it, it was indeed pretty rude and presumptive of him and kind of makes me angry. But what can you do? Just be you.

Recently I’ve been staying just regularly busy. Lots of homework and studying for Japanese class. It really is intensive but I can already tell I’m learning SO much more than last semester and it’s FAR less boring too. I haven’t gotten out much for leisure time and hanging out except with my girlfriend. But the two of us do fun stuff together too. We even checked out the old Arakawa line I had been dying to ride for so long and saw an old early Showa era 商店街 (shoutengai; shopping arcade).

Still, I have a number of places I want to see and things I must do before heading back home. Can you all believe I only have two and a half months left here? I’d like to think it’s a long time, but it sure is flying by. Things are gonna get more and more hectic by the end of the semester with exams as well as my JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test). So bear with me guys! And I’ll be sure to take a few pictures of my room at its finest and put them up on here before I start packing things to send home.

Thinking of going home is the craziest confused process on my mind. I’m happy and sad about it. I wouldn’t mind staying here but would love to be back home. Recently I’ve even been experiencing my most serious bouts of homesickness. Then, the next day, I won’t be able to even consider going back home without feeling sad about leaving here. It’s tough, but I’m surviving just fine. Keep reading and looking forward to next time everyone!

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | May 17, 2009

Kyudo

It’s been awhile, and for that I apologize. But honestly, I’m really not sure how many of the hits my blog is getting are actually people who are reading my blog. The only comments I get recently are spam and so I have even less motivation to write in the blog. So, seriously, friends, family, random readers, everyone, comment more! Otherwise you can’t complain I’m not telling you what’s going on with my life.

~

So, moving to the primary point here: Kyudo! For a simple introduction, kyudo (弓道) is a traditional Japanese style of archery which focuses more on “targetting your inner self” rather than the target itself. There are also a number of specific forms and motions associated with the proper and formal way to set up the bow, approach the target, fire a shot, etc. Basically, from before you step into the dojo to the moment you leave there are a number of formal rules and such for the tradition of kyudo.

A one-semester study abroad friend of mine here in the dorm was just a week from heading back to the states when he decided to go and check out an archery store in the north part of Tokyo, off of the old Arakawa line I mentioned briefly in my last post. When we got there the English-speaker for the shop asked my friend Rob if he had any experience with kyudo. Rather than selling a bow to him simply for the sake of making money, he instead recommended us to a place on the other side of the tracks a short walk away where we could go and get lessons for pretty cheap. So of course we went and checked it out. They taught us some forms and let us pull bows but not actually shoot any arrows. It was a truly interesting experience and I was quite happy be sucked into another strange situation by Rob. (That would often happen with him wanting to try out something new but not having the strong Japanese language ability. In the end it always ended up interesting. Cool guy, that Rob.)

So, before Rob left he went back once more and thoroughly persuaded me to continue with it. So, I did. After I finished traveling for my long break I started going back on Sunday evenings. At 550yen I can use any equipment they have that I need and get a one on one lesson for three hours. In fact, it often turns into lots of people there helping just me, haha! So I figured how can I go wrong. Then, once school started back up I decided to join the kyudo club. From there it got pretty damn fun! Every kyudo club meet involved yelling and keeping the spirit moving combined with formalities to the whole situation as well. This was three days a week for nearly three hours a day. Combined with my Sunday lesson I was getting four days a week of straight on kyudo. Needless to say I learned a lot and fast. Lots of arm use left my arms pretty sore but much stronger and lots of seiza (正座; a traditional Japanese way of sitting) left my feet often numb. I learned the forms for kyudo and memorized them by name and took lots of notes like Rob often did for his martial arts classes. Overall I truly enjoyed myself a lot!

But, this semester I decided to take Intensive Japanese 3 (15 hours of class time in Japanese per week) plus two other classes and a soccer class. In the end, three of the four classes I’m taking this semester are in Japanese. This ended up being more than I expected to take but in the end it will definitely be better for my Japanese and will definitely give me more to spend my time on and less to spend my money on this semester. So, with the intense course load and homework from Japanese class (as the name implies) I have been left with absolutely no time for kyudo. I decided to quit. It really sucked. And didn’t help to have some of the other club members telling me I was the best and that they were losing their best translator for the other foreign members (hahaha, flattery!).

To quit kyudo really did turn something inside me. At that point I think I fully realized how life is full of these tough decisions. One thing or the other. Fail classes or quit kyudo. I enjoy the classes and kyudo, but also appreciate being able to keep my sanity. Even now that I’ve completely quit I write about kyudo in my notebooks because as I close my eyes I can envision the forms and the technicalities recited over and over in my head in Japanese. And when my time is freer and easier perhaps I will one day start going back to the off-campus dojo once or twice a week for a kind of refresher. For now, I’m full up on things to do for classes. I apologize for not being able to fully express here my level of soul-deep, quickly found love for kyudo – I’m afraid if I think too deep it might hurt too much.

“For them the contest consists in the archer aiming at himself – and yet not at himself, in hitting himself – and yet not himself, and thus becoming simultaneously the aimer and the aim, the hitter and the hit.”
~Zen in the Art of Archery, by Eugen Herrigel

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | May 4, 2009