Gaijin Win

So, I finally did it, I actually fell asleep on a train (suprisingly I have never done this before).
I think I have always been too worried about getting lost, missing my stop, etc.
But I totally passed out on my train home and managed to wake up and get off at my stop!!!!!!!!
Mua ha ha, take that Japan, I have mastered one of your impossible Nihonjin skills! Of course it will probably never happen again, or I will miss my stop next time. Oh well, for now I am just going to appreciate that it happened.

My other recent revelation is about guys hair. So I'm sure some of you are familiar with that fact that I always complained about not being able to have a Japanese hairstyle because all the boys here have straight hair... Lies!!!!! In fact, most of the boys here have curly hair, or at least wavey hair. So all those times I complained because I would have to straighten my hair to get it to look like thiers... well, thats what they have to do to make their hair look like that too! Sneaky Nihonjin and their secretly curly hair. Knowing this, I'm still not sure I'm up for blow drying and straightening my hair everyday like they do, its a lot of dedication... but it sure looks good.

Counting down to USA time... ok not really, I'm too busy with shiken (exams) to even think about it. But the 20th is closing in fast...

Versailles

On Sunday night I went to a J-rock concert! The band is Versailles, they are visual-kei, and they are incredible. These are literally the costumes they wore on stage. The first picture has the outfits they wore for the first half of the concert, then they changed into the outfits in the second picture for the second half of the concert. The concert went on for about 2 hours. The lead singer, Kamijo, had the blonde hair like he does in the second photo. And yes, They are all men, I'm pretty sure at least, haha. The concert was in a venue very much like an American one (but no smoking) kind of clubish and smallish. Lots of people dressed up, some not, and a lot less chaos than at an American live, because Japanese kids are polite... until the music starts. At American concerts everyone is doing there own thing, some people head bang, some people have their arms in the air, etc. However, at a Japanese concert (as with everything) it is a collective experience, and everyone does the same thing. It is a really good feeling actually, you know you are feeling the same way as a large group of people around you, even if you are one of the 3 gaijin in the entire crowd! Everyone would surge forward at certain key moments in the music, creating a sort of wave of people, it wasn't quite moshing but it had a similar push and pull, like a current in the ocean. Also, I also felt like some visual-kei music made me want to have seizures, or seizure like movements, well apparently Japanese kids feel the same way, the rate at which they head bang is crazy. Having a room lit up red, surrounded by convulsing Japanese people, with intense music... surreal. The best is the Lolitas that headbang and convulse in their fluffy dresses and head bows. Also, I'm convinced Japanese kids are born with inate ability to do the growling gravel rocker-yell, because everyone around me seemed capable... either that or they were Lolis yelling "Kami-sama!" in the squeakiest voice ever. I was not dissapointed in his voice either, he could sing just as wonderfully in real life as on the CD, and his screaming was actually better in person. Its like the court at Versailles suddenly turned into vampires and picked up instruments. How they kept their hair up like that though, I don't know, Japanese hairstyles are still a mystery to me, although I am figuring it out slowly. It is good I don't live here, I would have no money, concerts are expensive!!!!!!! My entire body hurts, which is a sign that it was a good concert, and there are bruises on the backs of my legs from being pounced on my small Japanese girls. Good thing: at Japanese concerts it doesn't matter where I stand, I can always see! Overall, I am so happy.

Tokyo

Ok, so these aren't all of the photos, obviously, but its a few, and I don't have time for more now, gomen!!!!! (sorry). Tokyo was awesome amounts of fun, however... I like Osaka better. Tokyo had an attitude I wasn't too fond of. Also, despite how big Osaka is, Tokyo is bigger, and that was a tad too overwhelming. My darling tomodachi (friend) Caitlin and I took a night bus to Tokyo on Thursday night, so we got to Tokyo on Friday morning cramped and sleepy. We stayed in a hostel in Shinjuku all three nights we were there. It was really nice actually, the beds were wonderful, but I forgot to take a photo of them, bugger. Anyway, photos: Giant Kitty-chan in Shinjuku. The first 6 photos are from Shinjuku. Shinjuku includes the gay club area (Shinjuku 2-chome) and the host/hostess club area (Kabukicho). Lots of big buildings. The man standing in a sea of movement is a host. The women in the sign with a 24 were very very drunk young ladies being highly amusing in the street. This was Friday night. On Saturday we went to Akihabara, the otaku area, so anime, manga, video games, and electronics galore. The next 7 photos are of that area. The funny billboard is supposed to be an animated version of the prime minister. Everything was big, colorful, and involved anime characters. There was an awesome area that was like a maze, it was under a building and each little corridor was lined with booths selling every tiny piece of an electronic you could imagine. You could have bought everything to make a computer from scratch, for cheap too. I found it all incredible, sadly I don't know enough about electronics to fully appreciate it. The next 15 photos are of Harajuku!!!!!! Yes I freaked out while I was there, as you all were expecting. It was impossible to take photos because the crowds were so big and the street was so small, I couldn't find anywhere good to just stand/sit and snap shots. Oh well. Takeshita street was the best area... rows and rows of street fashion stores etc. The square bridge area is the famous Harajuku bridge! And the Nice boy with the Free Hugs sign was standing on said bridge, so I gave him a hug... to which he said "arigato gozaimasu"... erm I was confused by this because it is a rather polite for of thank you very much, and I have no idea why I needed to be thanked. Whatever. Street fashion is awesome, ne? Next 6 are from that night. We had dinner with another girl that goes to our school and goes to Caitlin's home school, plus a Japanese boy who graduated from their home school. We ate shark cartilage in plum sauce, surprisingly tasty, but very odd consistency. His name is Yoshi Suzuki, and after dinner he took us to a locals club/lounge in Roppongi (foreigner area). That was all around hilarious and wonderful. There was a bed in the middle of the club, which in fact is where we hung out. The Japanese kids were doing a famous dance from the 90's which involves standing on a stage/box and waving a fan back an forth. Hilarious. Also, I now have the business card of a piercer in Tokyo and a picture of my face is now probably in some piercing parlor. Of course, famous Tokyo Tower. The next morning, Monday, we went to Ueno, the historic/museum area. We went to the zooooooo! Oh, and had green tea lattes. So, more temple type structures, lots of cute animals, including a capibara which I am obsessed with (long story), and very nice kouyou (fall colors) in front of one of the museums. There were really cool street markets there too, but it was pouring rain at that point, so no pictures. Last but not least, to avoid the rain we went to karaoke! This place was crazy fancy, there were black lights, lasers, shiny things, and the pictures on the walls all lit up when you sang. Then another night bus home, which but us in Kyoto at 6am, then we went straight to school... you can bet I was passed out in the lounge between classes. This weekend is a J-rock concert, Kyoto, and maybe Osaka-jo.

Nara

Nara! Nara is a beautiful historic part of Japan. Specifically famous for the shika (deer) which are in fact considered to be holy, and the Daibutsu (big buddah). The shika seem cute, but secretly they try and eat anything they can get their mouths on, which can be an issue since they aren't afraid of people at all. We had to sit on a bridge edge to avoid them while eating our yakisoba for lunch. What you are supposed to do is buy little packets of flat starchy cakes to feed them, they are not very tasty as Caitlin and I discovered. The five part pagoda is common in Japan because its five stories represent five elements of nature, earth at the bottom, then water, fire, wind, and air. Also, I'll give you a dollar if you can understand the Engrish sign. It was a long day, we were Japanese and slept on the train. Well, I'm off to Tokyo for 4 days!

All Hallows Eve

I'm seriosuly behind on blog updates!!! I have done many interesting things since my last post, goen to Nara to play with the shika for example, and gone to see the kouyou at the Imperial Palace. Right now I have some more photos of my and my family to share. The day before Halloween is my sister Yoshiko's birthday, so on Halloween we dressed up and went out to dinner at Universal Studies Japan street with the parents to see my sister Reiko's friend perform (he is a magician), then we met the brother at a bar for further celebration sans parents. We had two cakes, goodness, one at each party. You may recognize the creepy clown as the DJ from an earlier post I made about going out with my sisters. Since I have yet to really mention him/have a picture of him due to his lack of participation in family events, my brother is the one wearing a hat to the far left. Hurray Halloween in Japan!

Irasshaimase!

This past weekend was INFES, otherwise known as the international festival. Now, in Japan, festivals happen all the time. Seriously, all the time. I like that about Japanese culture, they like to celebrate things. Regardless, in schools it is very common to have festivals (like the sports festival we had a while back). This occurs in all age groups, so elementary through university, and the students put a large amount of genuine effort into it all. They create booths and sell food for cheap, ahve club performances, actually come out of their shy shells, etc. And, as good sales people do, they yell "irasshaimase" (welcome) over and over in highly irritating voices. Trust me, come to Japan and set foot in ANY store and the clerks will yell, I mean this literally often as not, "irasshaimase!" at you. So, as the Gaidai festival was going on from Friday through Sunday (have I mentioned that they didn't have school from about Thursday afternoon through Monday?) we international kids also set up our festival to share our cultures and talents with the other gaijin as well as Japanese students. Everyone had school off on Monday, because lo and behold, another holiday (cultural day)! Preparing for INFES was a big deal, as I mentioned the large amount of effort Japanese kids put into it, likewise we were expected to as well. I spent the last month teaching two Japanese girls to belly dance to perform in the World Dance Show. I performed three times on Saturday, not to mention walked around being stared at by all the Japanese students! I am under the impression they don't see belly dancers often, not to mention the fact that it is kind of scandalous to show off any of your upper body in this culture. The word "sexy" sounds like "shekshi" when pronounced by a Nihongo (Japanese language) speaker. So my day was filled with "Shekshi!!!!" followed by "Shashin!!!" which means picture. Anyway, everyone dressed up in their traditional clothing, etc., the boy in the interesting clothing is from teh Czech Republic. My friend Ayako looked lovely in her kimono, and the crazy American boy wore traditional Japanese frighting clothes. The girls I taught to dance were named Hiromi and Ayaka (Japanese names are very hard to remember because they mostly sound the same, I have friends named Ayaka, Aiko, Ayako...). My friend Tetsuya, the Japanese boy in the photo, is a yonensei (senior) and will graduate in March and move to Tokyo to work. Overall, it was a compeltely fun experience, my okaasan (mother) said I should stay in Japan and teach Belly Dancing, because it is supposedly getting very popular all of a sudden, who knew I was so on top of the trends?

3rd Annual

Rainbow Parade! Traditional Taiko drummers (gay men's association), the usual camp and drag, me and Jess, my hilarious professor with a towel on his head (he was video taping), Top Star (the cute girl, that is some how associated with the LGBTQ culture and is recognizable), gay men from America are the same even in Japan, but Japanese gay men often dress like gansters (I am completely serious, they were flamingly gay), the gaijin (foreign) crew from Gaidai, final celebration of letting all the balloons go, more camp and a beautiful back tattoo (yes thats a men, at least originally in the biological sense).