If there was one word to describe this trip, it would have to be "Random". The only thing that was planned was where are we going and where are we sleeping. If there was a crazy adventure to be had, we would do it. There were many people on this trip, they would come and go, but only one was there the whole time. The WHOLE time. Rachel, I love ya! :) It was Rachel and I who gallivanted across the south end of Japan. It was Rachel who entrusted me with thinking of cheap ways to travel. It was Rachel who put up with me the most.

Whatever passes for an Itinerary: Day 1, meet in Tokyo, but sleep at Takasaki. Day 2: Enjoy Takasaki at the expense of Beth. Day 3: We all leave together to go to Hamamatsu, and stay in Kosai, Tiffany's place. Day 4: Explore Nagoya, but head in to Osaka by night. Day 5: Enjoy Osaka at the expense of Harvey and Yuko, while reuniting with Tiffany. Day 6: Enjoy Kyoto at the expense of Yuko. Day 7: Head to Toyoshina, via Tokyo and visit Aaron. Day 8: enjoy Toyoshina at the expense of Aaron. Day 9: Head home. If that didn't make sense, don't worry. It didn't make much sense to us either. As anyone who travels can tell you, plans changed. Fast.

Tokyo: In order to meet Rachel, I had to brave Tokyo again. But it wasn't bad. This time, we decided to make a day of being random. We would take the train wherever it went. Wherever it went was Disneyland and some outskirts. We saw a giant spider with an egg sac.

Takasaki: Visiting Beth and Katie. They live in a good town, next to three "lonely" mountains (Thank you, J.R.R. Tolkien). There, they also have the Goddess of Mercy, a "holy" woman (Rachel, I'm still groaning)

Tokyo, Snow, and Hamamatsu: We left Takasaki early in the morning (7:20) to take the train back to Tokyo so we could (ahem!) watch the movie The Incredibles. The 9:30 am showing was the earliest that we could see that was in English with Japanese subtitles. It was snowing when we left the theater, but an odd kind of snow, flat and melting, and huge. Then to Hamamatsu, where we saw the castle, karaoke, and Act Tower. I have no pictures as I'm very used to this, but if anyone else has pics, send them my way!

Hamamatsu, Boredom, and Osaka: Decided to cancel the Nagoya day trip. Everyone voted to see more of Hamamatsu, so I had to think of some stuff to do. We were planning to go to the beach or the Nakatajima Sand Dunes, but no time. So we instead saw Lake Hamana and use me for my copying skills. Then we wanted to leave early to Osaka. But we missed the train (story of our lives, eh?) and had to take the next one anyway. Getting in that night, Yuko threw a party with a bunch of her friends. (See the Osaka story for more information about Yuko)

Osaka, Namba and New Year's Eve: This day, we went to Namba where they had this building set up like pre-war Japan. It was interesting that the writing had changed so much. They had a play that truly made me want to leave Hama and move to Osaka. :) Of course, this is according to Harvey who doesn't realize that I just do not respond to cheesy romantic plays which play the "Titanic" song as their conclusion. Beth got her fortune read, but I have no idea what it was. I didn't hear. Then we did the traditional Japanese New Year's celebration, ate soba noodles, representing long life.

Himeji Castle and Kyoto on New Year's Day: Himeji Castle is supposed to be one of five unrestructured castles, so we had to visit it before Beth and Katie had to head back home. Yep, it was pretty bitchin'. Five stories tall, with weapons racks and some old weapons. Most of this castle was actually still wood, hence unrestructured. We then went to Kyoto for the traditional New Year's celebration, going to a temple and praying. The Japanese are a wild bunch! Phew! Sometimes throwing five or fifty yen coins into a big wishing well, but with no water. We went to two temples, Yasaka Jinja and Kiyomizudera Temple. Unfortunately, I only have pictures from the first because we saw Kiyomizudera after the sun had already set and the pictures would have turned out horribly. Afterwards, Rachel and I were so zonked, we watched Ocean's 11 while eating junk food that night. Rewarding.

Toyoshina and a Relaxing Night: One of the big highlights of our trip, seeing Aaron again. That guy has a great attitude and is always patently funny, yet really quick. Between the three of us, we all play off each other with more and more snide humor. Needless to say, this reunion was something Rachel and I were looking forward to. This was also the first time I saw a lot of snow on the ground in Japan. It didn't build up in Tokyo, and it didn't snow anywhere else. But here, well, it looked like it could've been Iowa. We went to his place, decided we were really tired, and watched The Family Guy and Chappelle's Show amidst much junk food and tacos.

Matsumoto Castle and Family Guy: Trying to justify our trip there, we had to visit a castle. Matsumoto castle, which apparently was closed that day anyway, but it was worth a shot. There was, though, a lot of snow on the ground...perfect snowball snow....It had to happen sooner or later. A snowball fight was imminent. Meanwhile, the castle was something to look at. A cool little moat surrounded it, and there was a long bridge getting to it. After that, we headed back home for more relaxing adventures of The Family Guy. The next day, we were planning to build a snowman, but it warmed up by then, and much of the snow had melted off. So instead, we went to Swan Garden, where there was only one swan chilling in the river among a gaggle of ducks. There were a few eagles in the air, and it would have been a great place for pictures, but I forgot my camera.

Going Home: The trip had finally come to journey's end. Silently, we went our separate ways. Rachel to Tokyo, and then then to Yamagata, Tiffany and I to Hamamatsu, and Aaron to his home, three minutes away from the station.

Click to Close

Right, so I'll be the first to admit I was in the wrong on this one. A few extra seconds in one day could have saved me a half hour of hell. But you didn't endure what I did, and I need an outlet!

So I did a few things wrong that added exponentially. Here's what I did:

Forgot the climate of Japan

The temperature and the humidity of Japan make it a veritable feast for certain things to grow. This is why they tell us to constantly air out our futon. This is why tatami mats have to be replaced. This is generally why keeping a place clean is so tricky.

Didn't line the trash can

I was in a rush one morning, getting the trash out. And so I figured I'll just leave it unlined, after all, nobody will be in my Corridor while I'm gone. I figured I would line it when I came back from school. Of course, when I came back from school, I was so tired, that I just didn't care. I figured I would put my trash there now, and then I'll line it later, before it gets too bad.

Forgot the trash days

Trash in this country isn't as simple as it is anywhere else in the world. They have different levels of trash here. The burnables, the non-burnables, the recyclables, the non-recyclabes, the non-recyclable non-burnables, and the PET bottles (those plastic bottles for drinks). Each one gets their own trash day. Two of them come every other week. So forgetting a trash day here can build up a lot of trash.

Started cooking

In trying to maintain control over my nutrition, and frankly, to keep costs low, I started buying groceries and actually cooking. Things like spaghetti, Something that requires yogurt, some chickens, the like. Of course, one of the big problems with cooking is the amount of trash greatly increases. And it's not good trash (like there is a thing), but more like the trash that allows for a very big growth of other stuff.

Adding it all up:

Yeah, it was bad. My trash can, which is large, was overflowing with trash. Cleaning it out meant having to actually hold the now rotting mess of plastics, food, and papers, while trying to shove into a bag so the garbage-man will take it away from me. The chicken leg was no longer a chicken leg. It only had the shape of one, but it had been eaten through, blending in with the plastic bag around it. The yogurt had developed it's own written language and the tomato sauce for the spaghetti? Well, let's just say that it will now have to develop it's rocket science in the landfills of Japan. The entire can was covered with white and green fuzz. It looked like a koozy, no longer a metal can that once held innocent sauce. I discovered too that I ran out of big garbage bags, so I had to put them into the little shopping bags.

I couldn't quite take the smell, I wanted an oxygen mask to breathe. So I took a towel and wrapped it around my mouth, hoping it would be enough. No, it wasn't. Have you ever encountered such a foul smell that you could see it waft into your eyes? The kind that though your nose is covered, you don't want to breathe the same air, so you cover your mouth, but then, at the same time, you can feel the stench seep into your eyeballs, forever scarring them? Well, armed with the cloth wrapped around my head, I bravely marched in, only to run right back out and grab my sunglasses, the only means of protection. Where are my chemistry lab goggles from high school?!

Click to Close

The culmination of my being in this one moment. What I had been working towards every Tuesday night was finally here. What I had even bothered trying to promote became a reality. I was singing on stage in a tuxedo-like suit, in a Japanese choir, singing German.

We performed all four movements of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9." You know how it goes. In English, I believe it became "Ode to Joy" but I have only ever sung it in German. Big work.

That is a professional orchestra that we brought to Hamamatsu from Tokyo. The conductor is also a professional from Tokyo. We were the retarded gimps who did not get paid squat. But we were considered semi-professional. Yeah!

We performed in the Main Hall. Huge. Gigantic. Two very big balconies. Tickets were 6,000円 5,000円, or 4,000円. This equates to about 60 USD, 50 USD, or 40 USD. Yeah, kinda expensive, isn't it? Harvey said it the best when I saw him afterwards. "Wow. I thought it would be much smaller scale than this." Yep. A lot of people were expecting it to be something kinda small, including me. But when I walked on stage and saw the crowd look at us expectantly, and I saw that the main floor, the most expensive section, sold out, as well as the second tier...well, it was big. And very professional looking. Almost intimidating, but I have been in this situation before, just with all English-speakers.

As you're probably aware, December 5 was on Sunday. Well, that gave an entire weekend, finishing with the concert. Some of my friends viewed this as a great opportunity to visit me and see the concert. I will forever be grateful to all of them for making that long trip. They came from all over the country, one from Yamagata-ken (a prefecture way up north, almost near Hokkaido), one from Utsunomiya (just a hair south of Yamagata), two from Osaka (south of me about two hours), never mind the few who made it from within Hamamatsu. As I said, I am entirely grateful for all of them. It was truly an amazing weekend.

On Friday, Rachel arrived from Yamagata. Yes, the same Rachel from the illustrious Five. Another one of The Five, Alaina, was supposed to have made it, but could not. I hope she feels better. Being from so far away, she arrived late Friday, at 11:15 at night. We went straight from the station to Tiffany's place and talked until about three in the morning.

Saturday, I had a choir thing in the morning while Tiffany and Rachel bonded. They had their woman time so they could share feelings and talk and all that without having to translate it to grunting man-speak for me. After that, we went to the station. Rachel later asked me what the best part of Saturday was. Without hesitation, I said this. "When I saw Leah walk down the steps in Hamamatsu." Leah is an old family friend who is also a JET (see the job section of Biography at the top) and her visit meant a lot to me. It was like she represented my family arriving to see this concert.

I took them to the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments on Saturday. Does that sound lame? Piss off! It's actually quite cool. Everyone who goes comes back saying it was a lot better than they expected. The museum has this exhibit where you can play the bongos, a koto (a traditional Japanese instrument), a piano, a guitar, and many more. This is Rachel videotaping me so her videotape will have the audio of the banjos in the background. After that, we went up Act Tower to see Hamamatsu from the sky at night. Really cool.

We then met up with Cat and Rose (noticing a gender disparity yet?) and proceeded to try and find a good dinner place. The popular Garlic Restaurant (that is it's name. I'm not making that up) had a two hour wait, and we couldn't have been asked. We went to an Indonesian place instead called Surabaya. Really good food.

I know there are pictures of our karaoke experience out there. Please send them my way. After dinner, Rose had to leave, so the rest of us went to do some karaoke. There's this place here that is pretty cheap and you get all the cotton candy you want. You make it yourself, and they offer four different colors (is cotton candy flavored?). They also had ice cream sundaes that you make yourself too. Yeah, we could give a damn about the songs and singing. We were happy with our candy! I opened the night with a brief glimpse of the concert. That's right, this place actually had Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 in it's playlist. An abbreviated version, to be sure, but still. Rachel and I ended up doing Linkin Park songs and Leah, who almost never gets mad, sang Meredith Brook's "Bitch." But she sang it in a pleasant, nice tone.

Then the typhoon hit. Literally.

It was easier to stay at Tiffany's place, since she has a place that can justifiably be called an apartment. Hell, it could be called a house for how much space it has. I think it is half of a duplex or something to that effect. It has stairs. BUT, it is in the middle of nowhere, so my place is better in terms of near things. Anyway, with Rachel and Leah in town, my corridor just would not have the room necessary, so off to Tiffany's. Trouble is after karaoke, there was a huge rainstorm. Getting back meant we would have to take a train, which was seven minutes walk away from my place and then a walk to hers for 10 minutes. Yeah, right. We got a taxi. I don't know if you know this, but taxis are really expensive here. It cost us 8000 円 or roughly 80 USD total to get from Hamamatsu to Kosai, where she lives. But we were warm, we were getting drier, and we were happier.

I couldn't make lunch since I had to be ready for the concert. Call time for the concert was 5 and a half hours early. I had to be there ready to go at 10:00, when the concert itself started at 3:30. Sheesh. Anyway, here they are. The gang that I am indebted to. They are from left to right, Tiffany, Chika, Harvey, Leah, Cat, and Rachel.

Can you find me in the pictures? I know it's like that old book, Where's Waldo, but really. I'm easy to spot. Look for the one person who looks totally out of place.

Rachel and Leah unfortunately had to leave right after the concert because of the train times. However, Rose, Cat, Kerry, Harvey, Chika, Tiffany, and I went to a Korean restaurant and had dinner. Good times were had by all.

Click to Close