wacky adventure!!! OR: How to sleep well on trains!

Alas, the new year is almost done, and it is about time to welcome in the old. Or something like that.

Christmas is already behind me, and thank god. Quite the lonely one I must say. I wont go into to many details, I'll just say that eating Christmas dinner alone in McDonalds is not my ideal way to spend the holiday. However, I did have a fun night on the 26th (27th?) and quite the adventure.

I started out the day going to baseball practice with Ojihara and Tanaka. We were the only three that showed up, so after throwing the ball around and practicing our swings, we decided to clean the field and get lunch. They took me to this wicked good ramen place, in some back alley of Kabuchi-cho, where for 750 yen you can chose 1, 2, or all 4 heaping toppings of pork, veggies, garlic, and pork innards (?) to have with your already ginormous bowl of super thick ramen. Needless to say it was filling.

After that I met up with Gea and went with her to Micky Ds (I did not eat... just coffee). We wandered around Shinjuku and played UFO catchers (like those rip off claw games, but somehow more easy looking and harder to win) and then my all time favorite: Elevator Action Death Parade. We had some time to kill before Korey's bday celebration possibly house party extravaganza (lots of time since the time, place, and event itself were all still TBA), so we decided to have a drink at this classy lil joint called Kuimono Coconeel.

OH BOY, let me tell you. We got there at 5:45, the place had just opened so we were the first customers. I started out with Tanquery and Tonic, Gea with I don't even remember. While we were having our first drinks, and our food, the bartender (I have named him taro, for lack of actually asking him his name) was taking out these giant, square ice cubes (rubic cubed size) and shaving them into spheres. We finally found out what drink they were for when I asked for his recommendation, and got Earl Grey Liquor with a giant ice sphere in a rocks glass. Quite fantastic. Annnnnnyways,

More T&Ts, fancy drinks, Chocolate pies, and a couple hours later, our friend mark showed up and joined us before we eventually headed out to the now in progress house party. On the train there, Mark and I were comparing who had better headphones (to Lady Gaga, Poker Face, a classic) and I was taking mine off and putting his one and off and on and off and on and then we got to our stop and we got off and my vision was blurry and.... wait... where are my glasses? No where on my person... oh fuck a duck.

My glasses fell off while I was enthusiastically ripping and shoving head phones on my head, and were now on the Tokyo metro 10:55 train bound for god-knows-where. Yippee. Thus, slightly blind, quite buzzed, and very full from Ramen, Deserts and cheese platters, I stumbled off to the lost and found (to report my glasses) and then to Korey's.

11:00: arrive at Korery's (friend's) apt

11:15: get wrecked by Korey in beer pong

11:30: find kotatsu and crawl underneath

11:32: get away from kotatsu because the Japanese kid next to me is throwing up... on himself and kotatsu

From this point on I really stopped thinking about time, but I am pretty sure we were at Korey's until at least 12:30. Finally the guy who actually owned the house wanted us out, and we wanted to go out, so it was off to Roppongi to Club Ferrier (possible name of the club, because of the lack of glasses I didn't really pay attention to anything ten or more feet away from me).

The club was pretty fun, pretty basic for a club I suppose, danced around for quite awhile until one of us realized the 4th floor was deserted and we could move our entire gang up there for our own personal dance floor. We danced around some more, and suddenly it was 5:00 am and we were leaving. I don't really remember being tired until we got to the gyro place, and by the time it was 5:30 Mark and I stumbled to the trains.

It was most likely the worst train ride of my life. The goal was this: Depart: 5:35 Roppongi>>>Ueno>>>Home @ 6:31 - Total travel time 56 minutes (@ 730 yen)

What actually happened: Mark and I fell asleep on the train. We went an hour past Ueno.
(6:45)

Went back to Ueno (7:45) Mark and I go separate ways at this point. My train does not leave the station until 8:00. I fall asleep waiting for it to move. I wake up, an hour (give or take a couple min) past my stop, in the countryside. I swear I heard a cow moo when I got off the train. (now 9:30)

Finally get home, at 10:30. In summery: Total travel time Roppongi to my house: 5 hours.


I slept all day.


For any parental figures that may worry: 1.I found my glasses. They are probably cleaner than before I lost them.

2. I spent the day after recuperation at an aquarium. It was pretty and educational. I saw dolphins and a fish with a really long squiggly nose.

3. After that I have been at home with my host family (and manic 5 yr old host brother) doing my HW that is due after break.





OH and Happy New Years! I am going to Nikko for three days with the host fam.


see Nikko: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikk%C5%8D,_Tochigi

<<>>

Title says it all folks. I've never been good at keeping a diary, journal, or any sort of blog. I just don't really wanna write on the darn thing unless the spirit moves me so to speak.

Anyways, over this past weekend our wonderful group of CIEE space cadets ventured down to the edge of Japan to visit Hiroshima and Miyajima. We left Tokyo at around 6:30ish on the infamous bullet train (日本語なら『新幹線』だな). Flying on the tracks at about 150mph, stopping at each stop for about a minute at the most, we reached Hiroshima at 10:30 (it would take 10 hours to drive). The following day we toured the Hiroshima peace museum and park, heard a talk from a professor about why the USA actually dropped the atomic bomb, and lastly we heard a first hand account from an atomic bomb survivor. Thanks to Middlebury Japanese Language School, I've had the privilege of hearing three such talks (now four) to date. Each account has been so different, and so moving in their own ways. You can look at pictures of Hiroshima, see the flattened houses and the inexplicable flatness of the devastation that took place. But when you hear first hand from someone who was there, someone who was burnt so bad her skin melted and was hanging off her arms, someone who watched her friends and family die, someone whose own father couldn't believe it was her because her face and body was so badly burnt, you forget about the need to drop the bomb. Nothing politically motivated can justify such a horrible, wicked thing. And you feel sick, that mankind can conceive of something filled with such viciousness.

But the sadness is replaced with an even deeper fear at the realization that the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are pebbles compared to what our country has now. Consider this:

People about 1 mile from the hypo center in Nagasaki were pretty much unaffected by the blast and subsequent radiation. However, if a Hydrogen bomb were to used on Washington D.C., the following fallout would result (depending on wind direction) in the entire eradication of the eastern seaboard. Goodbye NYC, Philly, Boston, etc. That is how much radiation would be released from one of these newer bombs.

I didn't really set forth to talk about this, I meant to talk more about our night after the tour of Hiroshima, and Miyajima the next day. But alas, the mind wanders.

I went to hospital with a fever. You would think that would mean that I had a temp of 108°F and was hallucinating, but no. I had a temp of 100°, and I went to the hospital. This is the norm in Japan appearntly, that when you are sick, you go to the hospital. yippie? only took three hours for them to stick a q-tip up nose to see if I have Influenza A, or as I know it, SWINE-OHMYFUCKINGGAWWWD-FLU. Luckily, the test came back negative, but because I had only had the fever for three hours, the doc said I should come back the next day, cause it could be too early to tell for sure. Low and behold, one day and another three hour wait later, the new doc says that because I had been taking Tamiflu, there was no reason to test me. The solution: treat it as if you have swine flu. Just to be safe.

And here I am, third day in. House arrest. Confined to my room.

Come Tuesday, when i am free, I wont want to leave! Its gonna be like Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption, I am too used to these walls! I wont know what to do on the outside!

Maybe I will become Hikikomori.... (see link) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori

Lunch

After baseball, if I don't have class (or I'm not going X_X), a couple of first year students on the baseball team and myself will eat lunch together. Most likely we are all still wearing our uniforms, quite sweaty, and exhausted. Lunch also has an unspoken routine: we put our shit down at an open table and head to the sink to wash our hands. We look at the display of food and muse out loud what we are going to eat. After we eat, we usually buy ice cream. Lastly (my favorite part folks), we rock paper scissors to see who will clear all of our trays full of dirty dishes. We never do this when I eat with other exchange students! Why is that? Personally, I think that ending lunch in this fashion adds some excitement to the meal.

On another note, please enjoy this commercial for the phone company that I am using

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyF5kNjGTO8&feature=related

Baseball... finally!

So here is our baseball team! 強そうじゃない？

Delayed

This morning I woke up at 7am like always and began to prepare for school. I got all my stuff together, noticed that if I was going to make my 7:46 train I would have to hustle. I ran down the street, up the steps of the station, and on to the plat form only to see that my train was non-existent! The station attendant announced that due to technical difficulties, the train I normally take was not running. This wasn't too bad, as I could take a different train and transfer once and still make it to school with plenty of time.

It almost seemed I would too, until I was two stops, 10 minutes away, and my train stopped. The conductor came on over the PA system and said that there was a train stopped in front of us and there would be a short delay. The conductor then continued to repeat the same message, for the next 45 minutes, while all of us on the hot, crowded, stuffy train stood waiting. It turned out that some traffic signal the at the station was messed up, and we had to get off at the stop before mine and take another train on a different line to get to it. Of course with no trains but this one line running to my stop, there were SO many people they were lined up down the stairs of the platform. I finally got a train, and made it in time for the last 30 min of my first class.

Normally my commute take 45-50min, give or take. Today took 2 hours.



Yuck

The fall from grace, or, all you can drink, a nasty time

So I thought it prudent to share a little bit about drinking culture in Japan. It is pretty much the way you make friends. You go out, you get drunk, you get closer. I think it is a way of knocking down the wall between the uchi/sotto that the Japanese live by. uchi and soto means inside and outside, or your inside group ((family)) and an outside group ((co-workers, friends, etc)) and the different ways you act around them. To Americans, being "true to yourself" and always being the real you, not putting on different faces is important, but the Japanese would think this crazy. Why would you be the same person you are with your lover when you are with your boss? Thus they put up certain barriers and defenses. Drinking, really takes away the pressure of having Uchi/Sotto, when you are drunk you can do silly things and be yourself. In sharing that you get closer. At least that is my interpretation, as I have yet to do any real research or field work on the matter. It seems that to aid in this ritualistic process of breaking down walls, Japans' many bars (Izakaya 居酒屋）and yes, even Karaoke, ofer what is called 飲み放題. If you are unfortunately illiterate when it comes to Japanese, the previous word is Nomihoudai. The characters themselves mean Drink All You Can. Yes, for the small fee of usually 1,000 yen ($10), you can drink as much as you can for about 2 hours. You might be able to tell how this idea of drinking as much as possible in two hours can be a bad idea. However, don't worry. For 2,300 yen (about $23), you not only get all you can drink, but all you can eat BBQ. Now things are beginning to heat up! This brings us to two events that I would consider two instances where the term "A fall from grace" could easily be applied.

Friday (Saturday?) Night, 3 weeks in. With a group of about 15, we arrived at an Izakaya for Nomihoudai. The area with our room was on an elevated platform, so we took our shoes off and put them in a locker before entering. We sat on small cushions, and there was a space under the table for our legs. We had 2 hours to drink, so we got started ASAP. Now, things to consider: Smooth wooden floors, people in socks, drunk people in socks. Our two hours were up, and needless to say because there are 15 people, our long table is littered with remnants of half eaten food, along with empty and half finished drinks. We all were struggling to get up, drunk, tipsy, and a slightly more that fucked-outta-her-mind girl decided to test out gravity and let the table catch her as she came crashing down. Brings more then half the tables' drinks and food with her. Broken glass, the rank smell of alcohol, and my friend and I are left in the room. apparently, my friend thought that instead of walking around the table AWAY from the broken glass, knocked over booze, etc, that he would simply jump over it. Good plan, expect he obviously did not learn from Ms. fucked-outta-her-mind's fine example of how gravity tends to work. My friend fell short, landed on a cushion which promptly shot out from under him landing him on the other half of the table. To make a long story slightly shorter, no injuries what so ever. A fucking miracle if you ask me.


Now just so the reader doesn't think I am preaching, I offer this next delightful antidote that involves yours truly.

Friday (this past one in fact!) More than a month in. With a group of 20 we went to Guts! Soul!, a yakiniku (BBQ?) restaurant that had all you can eat/drink of 2,300. We proceeded to get absolutely gone. Well, I didn't know that at the time, I felt great. Didn't feel that drunk until when we started leave. This is also where I get a tad bit fuzzy. I do not remember paying (although upon further examination of my wallet the following day it seemed that I had), I remember getting to the train station and leaning against something. My friends were talking in the background and I thought, "If I don't run for it, they wont let me go home!" While I did not so much as run much wobble, I made my way suddenly and without comment into the station. Everything was so blurry, I couldn't see which track to go to for a train that would take me home. Some how I focused enough to get on the right train, only to become acutely aware of the food in my stomach, and how it seemed to be wanting to race up my throat. I raced off the train at the first stop to barely make it to the bathroom. I will spare you the messy details (unless you really want them, in which case you can email me), but what took place from then on was a three hour ordeal of getting off at every stop on my way home to re leave my body of any food/beer that it might have contained. I finally some how made it off the train and stumbled towards my house. My savor came in the form of Jason, the other exchange student living with me. He led me to our house and helped me inside.


And the rest, is history.

三人で！！行けぇ！！よっしゃ，これぁチャンスゥ！！

Man, Japanese baseball is an entirely different sport from American baseball. I mean sure the rules are the same, the objectives are the same, but the way you go about everything is entirely different. For example: Everyone on the team dressed in suits and ties for the trip to and from the game. Doing so is showing respect for your team mates, your opponents, and the ground. Speaking of which, paying respect the ground (or playing field) is very important. Every player takes part in maintaining our field. At a game, we clean the ground before and after playing (both teams). Before the start of a game and when the game is finished the opposing teams line up, face each other and bow.
Throughout the whole game, the players on the bench were standing and actively cheering and making noise throughout the whole game. Everyone was involved. I love it!


BTW This picture is of the team I am playing with, but it seems to be an old photo because not everyone in the picture is a current player

Classes

Classes started this past week, and things have gotten really busy. I have Japanese from 9:15-12:30, baseball practice from 12:30-13:30, then on Tue&Fri JapCiv from 13:30 - 15:00
and Approaches to Japanese Society from 15:15-16:45. Seems like I will be having baseball practice on Saturdays and games on Sunday. SO yea, no free time. It makes me really miss Bennington to think about just being able to walk back to my house, relax in front of the fire, and just enjoy a cozy evening with Marie. Here, when I want to go home I have to navigate through crazy busy crowded train stations, do a 45- 1hr commute (on my feet no less) and then walk from the station to my house. Kinda homesick for the green mountains and all that comes with them, not gonna lie. BUT! I will survive. 1 yr is a long time to be away form the people you love nd the places you are familiar with. And I know that I can stick it out and make it. In the process I hope that Japan becomes more familiar, and that when I am home I will be homesick for Japan, and the friends I will leave behind when I go home.

10 reasons why Japan is kick ass

1. You never have to buy tissues. If you are out and about you will see people handing out tissue packets with advertisements printed on them. These are not only a great way to save on tissues, but you can find out about good Karaoke places, hair salons, etc.

2. They hang dry their laundry. Without fail, outside on every balcony of every house/apartment complex etc you will see laundry drying. Some Japanese people will even do laundry once a day. This hang drying means no static, less energy used, and you wont end up with a shrunken shirt.

3. Vending machines. You could be in the most remote countryside, walking along a deserted road with no street lights, and you will undoubtedly come upon a vending machine (which will most likely be in front of a convenience store no less). Most vending machines have canned coffee (hot and cold), sports drinks, tea(also hot or cold) and sometimes coke. There are also tales of more wackey ones, for examples sushi vending machines, flower vending machines, even used panty vending machines (although you most likely only encounter the drink kind).

4. Suica cards. A Suica card is like a metro card, except you not only have full access to the JR and metro lines, but the money you put on your card can be used at any store or vending machine inside the station. All you have to do is touch your card to the sensor and it automatically deducts the amount.

5. No tipping. In Japan, there is a saying: 『お客様は神様』 directly meaning "The customer is God." Good service is always a must and is expected. It would seem ridiculous to a Japanese person to think about have to pay extra to be treated with respect when they go to a restaurant to eat.

6. Open container law (or lack of). I am not 100% clear on this, so I wouldn't walk up to a police officer waving a beer around. However, I know at most food vendor stations in parks you can buy beer and drink it anywhere. You can also see business men having beers on the trains home (which they respectively wrap in a bag).

7. Public transportation. Trains go anywhere, everywhere, and pretty late as well (however, if you do miss your last train cause you were drinking late with your coworkers, you can always go to a mangakissa ((manga cafe)) and stay the night. You get a private room with a coach, and I think some even have showers). They trains are always one time, and the conductor will announce at what times you can expect to get to what stations. If an accident causes the trains to be delayed, you can receive a coupon saying it was the trains' fault you were late for work.school.

8. Neko Cafe. A cat cafe is exactly what it sounds like. You go into a small cafe, that is full of soft cute cats. You can get cat treats for about $1 and when you open up the container don't be surprised to find yourself mobed by 6 cats all trying to get some food. You usually pay per half hour, and the price includes a drink and a snack for yourself.

9. Cellphones. Cellphones in Japan are amazing. You can watch T.V., surf the web, take pictures, send and receive email, scan bar codes for information, send your contact info via infrared, scan kanji and have them looked up, and oh yes, you can also make phone calls. While making a call is very expensive, receiving a call is free. (still many Japanese just use email).

10. Izakaya. The Japanese answer to the pub. Cold beer, good food, and good service make going out to drink totally awesome. The best part? They will tell you how much each person needs to put in to pay the check. (Some places even have this number printed on the check itself). This saves the hassle of trying to split a check while drunk. And as per number 5, no need to through in for tip.






Tune in next time for "10 reasons why Japan is insane" (in a non-good way).

busy busy busy

Yipes things are starting to pick up. Between trying to hang out with friends, host family, and get ready for school, I have no time to sit and do nothing! The other day I went to the zoo with my friend and his host father + 5 yr old crazy super 元気 host brother. We walked around from 11am till 4pm!~ Fun, but really hot and crowded. The day (or two) before that our whole group of CIEE students went to the Ikebukuro Tokyo Fire Dept. Station to experience and earth quake. While there I bought a Tokyo FD cell phone strap, tshirt, and stickers. I also tried on this sweet outfit:




We have also started looking at what classes we are going to take. I think I have finally decided on doing the intensive Japanese (which meets five days a week, 9:30am to 12:30pm), and two history classes. One sounds awfully boring (but necessary for a good foundation in Japanese history) but the other sounds real cool. The class goes around Tokyo looking at different memorial sights and talking about Japanese history.


Lastly, I have also been trying to figure out what club I want to join while I am here. There are over 250+ clubs (called circles here) all from serious sports teams to groups that just meet to drink. The circle I want to join is a baseball circle that meets twice a week with twice a month drinking times. These circles are how you make friends in Japan. In this culture it is all about being part of a group, and doing things in a group. So needless to say I am excited to not only learn how to play baseball again but to meet some cool Japanese friends to hang out with.


OK well that is all for tonight, I am freakin tired and have a placement test tomorrow morning!!!!!!(T_T)!!!

Host family!

So I wanted to talk about the family I am living with right now. They are very nice and very accommodating. The two grandparents run their own business (a liquor store) and the mother stays at home and takes care of Kento who is 5.




By the way, I took that photo with my new phone! I think I am in love with it^^

東京らしい話

Well orientation has begun, and our group of 46 students are all going to be living with their respective home-stay families and dorms by tonight. The family I am going to live with is in Saitama. There is two grandparents, a mother, and a young boy. I am going to believing at their house with another CIEE student named Jason who is very nice.

We are also in the process of getting phones, and I am really hoping I can end up with a softbank Aquos shot:





Fun story about my first night out! A group of about 26 of us went to Shinjuku to try and find a bar that one of my buds heard about. It turned out to be an English style pub, which wasn't bad in itself, but I didn't come all the way to Tokyo, Japan to go to a pub. So after a few drinks a couple of us (10 maybe?) Left to go find a Japanese Izakaya. Izakaya is a Japanese style bar. We were walking and walking and not seeing any, so one of the girls in our group just started asking people where a cheap izakaya was. We were in the process of asking a convenience store clerk when 6 super drunk Japanese people wandered into the store. There were three guys and three girls, they were very noisy, and looked quite hammered. So of course we asked them where to go cause they obviously knew where to get drunk.

They were so funny, made us take at least 10 minutes worth of photos outside the combini before heading to the bar, another 10 minutes out side the bar, and finally more whe we sat done. We went around the table after the Kanpai and every time one person introduced themselves there was a loud (HEEYYYY) followed with clinking of glasses and drinking. Over all it was pretty fun and we hope to run into those guys again!

MADE IT

I finally arrived in Japan! The flight was really nice, I watched almost an entire season of prison break and ate lots of good food. Landed and met up with other CIEE peeps, and went to our first hotel *right by the airport. After settling in we went and tried to find a resturant. We had to take a shuttle from our hotel, and it was about an hour or so until we got to a department store that had a food court. Ate good ramen, miso flavored to be exact, and then took the hour ride back to the hotel. I was soooooo tired when I got back I got passed out. Now I am jjust waiting for the bus that will bring us to the hotel in Tokyo (a two hour drive(

Hanging out with Mr. Swanky Pants

Two hours to my flight, and here I am relaxing in the most ostentatiously stylish lounge I've ever seen. Free open bar with top shelf liquors








the best freaking coffee, and wicked nice lounge chairs. I think this whole trip to Japan is worth it just to sit in this lounge for two hours waiting for a plane.

Nerves and flying tomorrow

Well I leave tomorrow! I am currently at an airport hotel, watching the Phillys and getting getting mentally prepared to board a plane. Truthfully: I hate flying. I hate flying like a fat kid hates dodge-ball. So needless to say I haven't been sleeping like a baby for the past few nights; on top of the recurring dream where I have forgotten my passport and get denied entry to Japan, I am now having dreams about flying (not the good kind mind you).
However there is good news! My flight is a United Airways' flight, but it is operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA). In case you've never heard of ANA, they have one of the most luxurious business classes in the world. The seats lay down flat and have privacy dividers. The meal is either American or Japanese (and I have read that the meals are on par with a restaurant). Check out these seats:







Pretty sweet huh?



So on my last night I am nervous, excited, and slightly terrified!

Address in JAPAN

Here is my official mailing address for my time in Japan:



Nicholas Haas
c/o CIEE Study Center
Sophia University
Building 11, Room 108
7-1 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 102-8554
JAPAN

the Final Countdown

7 days! In 7 days I'll be on that plane. Craziness!! My goal this last week is to eat a lot of buffalo wings, and set up a Citi bank account. Marie just came down to Philly for my dad's wedding. It was sad saying goodbye to her at the airport; I'm missing her so much already. We said our goodbyes in the ticketing area right by the door because there was nowhere to park. After she walked up the escalator and out of sight there was a collective "awww" from all the female ticketing ladies behind their desks. Kinda ruined the moment.

First post!

Finally got around to making a blog so that I can write about my time living in Japan for y year long study abroad. I hope I can keep up regular postings and keep a detailed journal of my time there. I did begin to prepare today; picked out suitcases, spent $$$ buying stuff from Rite Aid (soaps and shit), etc etc. So excited to go!