Yo! Sorry for totally laggin' on updates lately. Just been busy as hell. I'll try to summarize the last week for ya'llz.
Friday, 12.19: Sensei Bonenkai
All the faculty were able to go home early today so that they can take the train to the bowling alley. I really didn't know where the place was so I asked some parkin' attendants and they gave me the wrong place. Sure, it was a bowling alley but it wasn't in business anymore. Met up with Takahashi sensei and we found our way to the boruingujo (bowling alley) and got right into the current game. Was surprised at the level of most of the teachers, espcecially Suzumura sensei. After a game and a half, I challenged Takeuchi sensei to air hockey. He was no match for me...unfortunately I broke my ring while playin'.
We then walked a half block away to the restaurant. Man, there was all kinds of food, including sukiyaki. Of course the best part of the night was that it was nomihodai (all you can drink). What was really nice about the night though was that all but 5 of the total faculty was there. In Japanese tradition, all the younger or new teachers had to make the rounds by pouring drinks for all the elder teachers. It's really interestin' to talk to the teachers that I normally don't speak to. They try really hard to converse in English but I usually just tell them that Japanese is fine.
About 2/3 thru the meal, the social director (I think he's called Kaji?) started the function off by namin' off the bowling rankings. Ito sensei ended up winnin'. Then was the gift givin' part. Everyone was able to choose a wrapped gift varyin' in size and shape. I ended up gettin' some slippers which would help a lot because my apartment is freezin'! But probably the funniest gift was what Abiru sensei (aka Abi chan) got. He got a pink, rabbit wash cloth. He then rewrapped and put it back in the pile for Sasaki sensei to pick. After speeches from kocho and kyoto sensei, our time at the restaurant was up. But Abi chan and I stayed to finish off the last 2 bottles of nihon shuu (sake). We then headed out...on the way, got a chance to talk basketball with Sasaki sensei (girl's bball coach). I think we see more on the same level now and our relationship is stronger because of that. While most of the teachers went to go sing karaoke afterwards, Takeuchi sensei and I headed over to Sala. That night it was packed!!! Tons and tons of foreigners. Even Santa Claus came. Since it was so packed, we had to share tables with these 2 girls. Takeuchi sensei was tryin' to hook me up with them. We talked for a bit but they were kinda wack. I also chatted it up with this one cat from LA for a bit. Around this time, it was gettin' a little late, so Takeuchi sensei and I bounced out to Aeon (huge new shoppin' center @ Shin Tsudanuma station) to take a look around. I saw the Sony PSX which looks pretty dope! It's a shame they rushed it out for the holidays and in the process left off hella features. Takeuchi sensei wanted to do some grocery shoppin' but he said that I could go home, so I hopped on the train and went home. Somehow ended up in Serenade and saw some of my buddies there. Had some wine with Master san and Mama and grubbed on some food. At around this time...I've been up for about 44 hours straight, so I headed home to crash on my futon.
Saturday, 12.20: Ballet Performance & Ikko Bonenkai
Had to get up pretty early to be at Futawa Kominkan (Futawa Community Center) by 0900ish to meet up with Yu to help out with his mom's ballet performance. The thing I didn't know was that the actual performance wasn't until 1630! But I got to see Yu's dad in action. Man, he is super handyman and artisan. He used to work on the stage of plays, so he knows the ins and outs of all the machinery. He made this house in one day which looked dope! Unfortunately...I didn't know at first that the house was what Yu and I were goin' to be movin' on and off the stage durin' the performance. Masumi had the easy job of cuein' the beats from the control room. After gettin' the stage set up, we had obento upstairs. The funny thing was that it was the dressin' room for all the dancers. So we to tolerate all the little topless girls walkin' around, gettin' their makeup done.
The performance consisted of 2 parts. Solo/group performances and then the Snow White and the Seven Dwarves play. After the rehearsal, the solo/group performers had their rehearsal, so that was my chance to get some much need rest. However durin' my nice little nap, I found out later that Masumi and Yu had some fun with the digital camera. They made this video of me which Masumi later edited on his PC. I was surprised to see some of these girls poppin'. I told Yu that these girls are little young to be hip hop dancin'. Tryin' to do all those sexy moves and stuff. It was kinda funny to see.
So 1630 comes around and we start the performance. The solo performances went well, had some popular songs by artists such as Crystal Kay, Utada Hikaru and BoA and even some Enya I think. After a little intermission, Snow White was underway. Yu and I had to move the house on and off a couple of times, BUT, when it was onstage, we had to stand and hold it up the whole time. Couple that with the hot lights and it wasn't an easy job. All in all...I think the performance went really well. I even got to see Yu's mom have a little solo near the beginnin'. She played the evil witch. I must say she really impressed me with her dexterity. When the performance ended, Yu and I got stuck havin' to hold the house for the final ovation and all the pictures afterwards. We had Masumi come to hold the house for me cuz I had to head over to Ikko's Bonenkai. On my way out, Yu's dad handed me a little envelope and thanked me for helpin' out. I tried to refuse it but in Japanese tradition I respectfully bowed and said my goodbye. His facial gesture was what probably persuaded me the most though.
Made my back to the station and headed to Kita Narashino. Caught a bus to Kowagama High School and Kohiyama san picked me up. Got the restaurant and everyone was already over! I finally got to see Takahashi san after walkin' him home from Ikko that one night way back. He was one of the first peeps I met @ Ikko. He calls me aniki (older brother) which sounds so weird coming from him. Chi Mama wasted no time in puttin' on a long blonde wig. Sat down and grubbed on all the food. Everyone was constantly pourin' my drink and ordering me to catch up. It was weird to make more connections between people. I found out that Kumi san is Ken chan's wife! Man, I was surprised to find out. Another totally off the wall match. There was karaoke and even some live odori (Japanese classical dancin') from Mama and here friends. There was a lot more that happened that night but wouldn't be appropriate for some of the eyes that read my blog. At the end of the night, we all hopped on the charter bus and headed home. Kohiyama san invited me over for some tea. Got to meet his daughter who's 24 and pretty cute... Crashed there til like 0600 and then I headed home to crash.
Sunday, 12.21: Boy Scout Christmas Party & Dinner w/Mikie and Junko
Woke up from a call from Mama @ around 1100, askin' me if I was still goin' to Sakamoto's boy scout Xmas party. I almost forgot about that! I told her I would meet her there. It was @ Yakuendai Kominkan, the closest community center to me. It was my first time there, so I walked around the place and found the little gym. They have bball courts! But, they looked a little low and it's nowhere near being a half size full court. Met up with Sakamoto and he introduced me to all the leaders. Mama arrived with Kita san and we were introduced as special guests. Takahashi san even came...but he was already drunk...this bein' @ around 1400ish! @ a boy scout function!!! WTF was he thinkin'!?!?!? Anyhow...the boy scouts (whom consisted of boys and girls) did their performances (trivia, singin' and even magic show) and we played many games. During this time, Kita san kept tellin' me to take pictures of this one boy scout who was a girl that looked half Filipino. I was wondering why the heck he wants me to do that. I found out later that girl was his daughter!!! One being a game where one of the leaders would blow a whistle and dependin' on how many times she blew it, would correspond to how many times you were to turn. 1 blow = turn right, 2 blows = turn left & 3 blows = half turn. We did this for a while and then we had to close our eyes. It was funny to see where everyone was turned after a series. Some people were turned all over the place. Definitely a sight to see. Another game was one I played as a child. Where you tie a balloon to your ankle and try to pop other people's balloon. Sakamoto stopped me for a while because I had to go change into the Santa Claus outfit. I'd thought I'd never do that again but since I'm in Japan it was all good. I handed presents to all the kids while sayin' "Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!" Afterwards, I introduced myself and most of the people were shocked to know that I was a Japanese American. Since when I spoke English, I was gettin' a lot of blank looks, I resorted to Japanese which was received with many oohs and ahhs. After takin' pictures with all the kids and had to quickly change and head out to go meet up with Mikie and Junko.
Met up with Mikie and Junko @ Narashino station and then headed to our normal restaurant, Yumean. I think I've been to all of them in a 8km radius of Yakuendai. Mikie brought some stuff from Hawaii for me: Lion's coffee, macadamia nuts and some other candy. She was gonna get me some hammertite (sp?) rings but she forgot what it was called. She also showed me her certificate for finishin' the marathon there. She ran the first 30km but walked the last 12km. Junko was normal 'ol Junko. She cracks me up sometimes with what she comes up. I taught them some new words/phrases and corrected their pronunciation for words they already knew. They taught me a lot about how the Japanese celebrate New Year's which was quite interesting. I learned some new stuff I hadn't known before. we ended up chattin' for like 5 hours! Came home and
Monday, 12.22: Closin' Ceremony, Shoppin' & Nagasaki Chanpon
Today was the closin' ceremony for school. All that really happened was the students got awards and the principal gave this speech that was way too long. For lunch, all the 7th grade, male teachers went out to eat lunch together. The food at this place was pretty good. Definitely a place I'll go back to. After lunch, headed back to school to play bball. I stayed later to practice with the girls. 4 hours was a little too much on my body I think.
After practice, Takahashi sensei took me shoppin' for my kotatsu blanket and mat. We went to Ito Yokado and on the way home, stopped off at this Nagasaki Chanpon restaurant in Narashino. I thought it was pretty good. Being cold and all...it really hit the spot. Had some gyoza too. Came home and set up my kotatsu.
Tuesday, 12.23: Cleanin' & Kickin' it in Matsudo
Woke up pretty early and started my year end cleanin'. Cleaned up my whole living room and had movies on in the background. Texted Ko to see if he wanted to kick it and found out that Marty texted him like 10 min after me. So we decided to meet up in Matsudo, which is convenient for Marty and Ko and I. In Matsudo, went to shoppin' for books, video games, music and dvds. Ko picked up the 12 Girl Orchestra and some books while Marty got some games and other books for omiyage since he was goin' back to Missouri on Christmas day. Ko and I also split the cost of the special edition Azumi. Came out to be like $60 but the special edition came with tons of extra stuff. Ko refuses to watch the movie because he's currently readin' the manga series. He's only on like vol.20 of like 30. Marty also picked up all kinds of little stuff @ Ito Yokado while I hit up the gacha pon machines. I saw the 4th series of the kaeru and got some pretty koo ones. I put the influenza frog on my ketai. For dinner, we headed to Doma Doma (the same place Yu's friends and I went for our bonenkai) and got tons and tons of food. Marty as usual, ordered his cheese mochi and other crazy hakujin dishes much to the dismay of Ko and I. The natto omelette wasn't that good. @ around 2200ish we called it a night and Ko and I got back on the Shin Kesei train for the long ride home. Matsudo is the last station on the Shin Kesei line and Ko's station (Shin Tsudanuma) is the 2nd to last with about 20 stops in between. On my way home, as I came up to Narita Kaido from MatsuKiyo, I heard these 2 loud voices near the crosswalk. When I looked to see who it was, I was surprised to see that it was Shacho and Sakamoto, drunk off their @$$es. Since I had my beanie on, they didn't recognize me and Shacho even yelled, "What the hell do you want!?". It wasn't until I took off my beanie that they realized who I was. Kicked it with them and helped Sakamoto escort Shacho home. What would have been only a 5 min walk, turned out to be about 35 min cuz we had to take all these little breaks for Shacho. We must've sat down to rest like 6-7 times. When we finally got back to Shacho's house, we were met by his daughter. She thanked us for bringin' him home and while Shacho ordered us to come in for some tea. While we were talkin', Shacho kept on tryin' to find a reason for us to drink more sho chu. It was funny how he took all these different angles, tryin' to convince us that it's ok to drink some more. Since arguin' with Shacho is no win situation, we ended up havin' one drink. Shacho is also funny because he always calls me "Ken" for some reason. I don't make a big deal about it cuz it's Shacho, but Sakamoto was always correctin' him to no success. Shacho also officially invited me to his house for his New Year's party...like 20 times. Came home and crashed out.
Wednesday, 12.24: Azumi & Ikspiari
Woke up kinda early for some reason. Got some more cleanin' done and watched Azumi. That movie was pretty dope. Had a pretty cool special effect that I've never seen before. The movie was a little long but was very interestin'. Had some natto and gyoza for a late lunch. Later that evenin', Takahashi sensei called me up and asked if I wanted to go to Ikspiari. I had no idea what he was talkin' about. Ikspiari is the Japan equivalent of Disney Downtown. So Takahashi sensei, his wife and youngest daughter and I headed to Tokyo Disneyland. On the way there, which was probably one of the most mind irritatin' experiences. Since Takahashi sensei drank some alcohol @ dinner, he couldn't drive there...so his wife drove. Man, don't get me wrong, I think she's a great person, but when it comes to driving...man...I can easily say, without hesitation, that I would rather be in the car with my mother drivin' then Takahashi sensei's wife. I had to give my condolonces to Takahashi sensei since he has to deal with that every single day. We finally got there, after tons and tons of traffice. Walked around, saw some hanabi and stopped off for some coffee and snacks @ Rainforest Cafe. On the way home, with Takahashi sensei @ the wheel, there was so much traffic. It took 40 min to get there, but about 2 hours to get home!!! Came home and crashed out @ around 0300ish.
Thursday, 12.25: School Concert, Shoppin' & Ikko
Merry Christmas!!! My school had a joint concert @ Funabashi Bunka Hall @ 1100. They've been practicin' with Narishino Dai Ni Elementary for the past week. Luckily they performed last cuz I was runnin' a little late. Since it was a joint concert, only the 7th and 8th graders performed and you can easily tell when they played Lord of the Rings that it didn't have the ummmph it normally does. Right after the concert, saw kocho sensei (principal) who was in a hurry to get to a meeting. Went to have some coffee with Takahashi sensei and then helped the students pack the cars with all the instruments. Chatted with some of the 8th graders afterwards and some of them were complainin' that they were hungry, so I gave them the rest of my katsu sando. I escorted them back to the station and then went to do some shoppin'. Sent out some mass Merry christmas texts and called Atsuko san. Went to Uniqlo (which I like to say is the Japanese version of Old Navy) and picked up a wool coat, which was originally about $100 for about $40. I also got picked up some other stuff @ LAOX and then headed home. Ko texted me sayin' that Marty might miss his flight cuz he overslept! I can't believe that...how you gonna oversleep for your flight home on the holidays. I'd just stay up the whole night. I was able to get most of this blog done @ that time and was chattin' with Tri when I get a call from Mama tellin' me to Ikko.
Headed to Ikko and saw Kita san, Yoko chan, and Yuasa sensei with her husband and daughter. It's always a pleasure to hear Yuasa sensei sing karaoke. She sounds like a pro. Kita san and I even sang Silent Night. We also watched the video from the bonenkai while Kita san would not stop about what Chi Mama put on my head when I first arrived there. Nakamura sensei and Kobi chan came through a little bit later. Yuasa sensei introduced me to her daughter, Kiyomi, and I found out that she was a student of Kocho sensei and Honda sensei when she was in junior high school @ Narashino Dai. It was funny to hear her call Kocho sensei, Kataoka chan and Honda sensei, Honda chan. We chatted for a long time. We exchanged ketai mail addresses and after a while, realized that we were the only people left in Ikko. She's a really cool girl and were supposed to hang out sometime soon. Anyhow, helped her flag down a cab and then I headed home to get some sleep.
Friday, 12.26: Tantakatankai & Garam
Decided to rest up today in preparation for the oru suru. Met up with Yu @ Funabashi station @ around 1830 and then headed to Shibuya. Got to Shibuya station and met up with Hide. Then we met up with A-chan and headed over to Torikaku, our favorite place...well for Tantakatan. We were lucky to get a table because this was the last work night for most people. Everyone after us who didn't have a reservation, were turned away. This was A-chan's bonenkai cuz she didn't make it to the last one. She also broke up with Setochi earlier that day, @ work and by text message!!! What the hell is that 'bout? Anyhow, we didn't mess around with orderin' individual drinks, we just got the whole bottle of Tantakatan while Yu drank his oolong tea. We put a little bit (like a couple of drops) of Tantakatan in it and he quickly got buzzed. The food of course didn't disappoint. Since A-chan and I were still goin' strong...we ended up orderin' another bottle of Tantakatan. A-chan then proclaimed that this wasn't a bonenkai but a Tantakatankai!!! Give or take a few glasses that Hide had, A-chan and I pretty much killed off a bottle each! Hide had to take off a little bit early to prepare for the performance tonite while Yu and I went back with A-chan to her place to feed her dog. We then took a cab to shinjuku and headed to Garam, the same place I went last week. Got there I met up with the rest of the crew: Hanzo, Kazu, Daisuke, Daiki, Ai-chan, Ayuchi, Utako, etc... This was my first time @ a reggae performance and it was off da hook! It was crazy to see all the guys perform. They were like totally different people when they perform. Now I'm really curious to hear Yu perform. @ around 0330, I was feenin' for some ramen, so A-chan, Ayuchi and I headed out. Was surprised that it was rainin' so we quickly went into the nearest ramen shop. we ate decent ramen and some gyoza and then headed out. A-chan took a cab while Ayuchi and I took the train. We took the same line but different ways. Put the headphones on and I was out instantly. Woke up @ Nishi Funabashi and was so happy that I didn't oversleep! Transfered @ Shin Tsudanuma and around Maebara station I thought my eyes were trippin' out because....there was SNOW everywhere!!! There wasn't any snow in Tokyo so it heightened the effect. It probably snowed about and inch or so, at least! Came home around 0730 and crashed instantly.
Aite ya'llz...I'll try to post more on a regular basis.
Kaz out...
Friday, 12.19: Sensei Bonenkai
All the faculty were able to go home early today so that they can take the train to the bowling alley. I really didn't know where the place was so I asked some parkin' attendants and they gave me the wrong place. Sure, it was a bowling alley but it wasn't in business anymore. Met up with Takahashi sensei and we found our way to the boruingujo (bowling alley) and got right into the current game. Was surprised at the level of most of the teachers, espcecially Suzumura sensei. After a game and a half, I challenged Takeuchi sensei to air hockey. He was no match for me...unfortunately I broke my ring while playin'.
We then walked a half block away to the restaurant. Man, there was all kinds of food, including sukiyaki. Of course the best part of the night was that it was nomihodai (all you can drink). What was really nice about the night though was that all but 5 of the total faculty was there. In Japanese tradition, all the younger or new teachers had to make the rounds by pouring drinks for all the elder teachers. It's really interestin' to talk to the teachers that I normally don't speak to. They try really hard to converse in English but I usually just tell them that Japanese is fine.
About 2/3 thru the meal, the social director (I think he's called Kaji?) started the function off by namin' off the bowling rankings. Ito sensei ended up winnin'. Then was the gift givin' part. Everyone was able to choose a wrapped gift varyin' in size and shape. I ended up gettin' some slippers which would help a lot because my apartment is freezin'! But probably the funniest gift was what Abiru sensei (aka Abi chan) got. He got a pink, rabbit wash cloth. He then rewrapped and put it back in the pile for Sasaki sensei to pick. After speeches from kocho and kyoto sensei, our time at the restaurant was up. But Abi chan and I stayed to finish off the last 2 bottles of nihon shuu (sake). We then headed out...on the way, got a chance to talk basketball with Sasaki sensei (girl's bball coach). I think we see more on the same level now and our relationship is stronger because of that. While most of the teachers went to go sing karaoke afterwards, Takeuchi sensei and I headed over to Sala. That night it was packed!!! Tons and tons of foreigners. Even Santa Claus came. Since it was so packed, we had to share tables with these 2 girls. Takeuchi sensei was tryin' to hook me up with them. We talked for a bit but they were kinda wack. I also chatted it up with this one cat from LA for a bit. Around this time, it was gettin' a little late, so Takeuchi sensei and I bounced out to Aeon (huge new shoppin' center @ Shin Tsudanuma station) to take a look around. I saw the Sony PSX which looks pretty dope! It's a shame they rushed it out for the holidays and in the process left off hella features. Takeuchi sensei wanted to do some grocery shoppin' but he said that I could go home, so I hopped on the train and went home. Somehow ended up in Serenade and saw some of my buddies there. Had some wine with Master san and Mama and grubbed on some food. At around this time...I've been up for about 44 hours straight, so I headed home to crash on my futon.
Saturday, 12.20: Ballet Performance & Ikko Bonenkai
Had to get up pretty early to be at Futawa Kominkan (Futawa Community Center) by 0900ish to meet up with Yu to help out with his mom's ballet performance. The thing I didn't know was that the actual performance wasn't until 1630! But I got to see Yu's dad in action. Man, he is super handyman and artisan. He used to work on the stage of plays, so he knows the ins and outs of all the machinery. He made this house in one day which looked dope! Unfortunately...I didn't know at first that the house was what Yu and I were goin' to be movin' on and off the stage durin' the performance. Masumi had the easy job of cuein' the beats from the control room. After gettin' the stage set up, we had obento upstairs. The funny thing was that it was the dressin' room for all the dancers. So we to tolerate all the little topless girls walkin' around, gettin' their makeup done.
The performance consisted of 2 parts. Solo/group performances and then the Snow White and the Seven Dwarves play. After the rehearsal, the solo/group performers had their rehearsal, so that was my chance to get some much need rest. However durin' my nice little nap, I found out later that Masumi and Yu had some fun with the digital camera. They made this video of me which Masumi later edited on his PC. I was surprised to see some of these girls poppin'. I told Yu that these girls are little young to be hip hop dancin'. Tryin' to do all those sexy moves and stuff. It was kinda funny to see.
So 1630 comes around and we start the performance. The solo performances went well, had some popular songs by artists such as Crystal Kay, Utada Hikaru and BoA and even some Enya I think. After a little intermission, Snow White was underway. Yu and I had to move the house on and off a couple of times, BUT, when it was onstage, we had to stand and hold it up the whole time. Couple that with the hot lights and it wasn't an easy job. All in all...I think the performance went really well. I even got to see Yu's mom have a little solo near the beginnin'. She played the evil witch. I must say she really impressed me with her dexterity. When the performance ended, Yu and I got stuck havin' to hold the house for the final ovation and all the pictures afterwards. We had Masumi come to hold the house for me cuz I had to head over to Ikko's Bonenkai. On my way out, Yu's dad handed me a little envelope and thanked me for helpin' out. I tried to refuse it but in Japanese tradition I respectfully bowed and said my goodbye. His facial gesture was what probably persuaded me the most though.
Made my back to the station and headed to Kita Narashino. Caught a bus to Kowagama High School and Kohiyama san picked me up. Got the restaurant and everyone was already over! I finally got to see Takahashi san after walkin' him home from Ikko that one night way back. He was one of the first peeps I met @ Ikko. He calls me aniki (older brother) which sounds so weird coming from him. Chi Mama wasted no time in puttin' on a long blonde wig. Sat down and grubbed on all the food. Everyone was constantly pourin' my drink and ordering me to catch up. It was weird to make more connections between people. I found out that Kumi san is Ken chan's wife! Man, I was surprised to find out. Another totally off the wall match. There was karaoke and even some live odori (Japanese classical dancin') from Mama and here friends. There was a lot more that happened that night but wouldn't be appropriate for some of the eyes that read my blog. At the end of the night, we all hopped on the charter bus and headed home. Kohiyama san invited me over for some tea. Got to meet his daughter who's 24 and pretty cute... Crashed there til like 0600 and then I headed home to crash.
Sunday, 12.21: Boy Scout Christmas Party & Dinner w/Mikie and Junko
Woke up from a call from Mama @ around 1100, askin' me if I was still goin' to Sakamoto's boy scout Xmas party. I almost forgot about that! I told her I would meet her there. It was @ Yakuendai Kominkan, the closest community center to me. It was my first time there, so I walked around the place and found the little gym. They have bball courts! But, they looked a little low and it's nowhere near being a half size full court. Met up with Sakamoto and he introduced me to all the leaders. Mama arrived with Kita san and we were introduced as special guests. Takahashi san even came...but he was already drunk...this bein' @ around 1400ish! @ a boy scout function!!! WTF was he thinkin'!?!?!? Anyhow...the boy scouts (whom consisted of boys and girls) did their performances (trivia, singin' and even magic show) and we played many games. During this time, Kita san kept tellin' me to take pictures of this one boy scout who was a girl that looked half Filipino. I was wondering why the heck he wants me to do that. I found out later that girl was his daughter!!! One being a game where one of the leaders would blow a whistle and dependin' on how many times she blew it, would correspond to how many times you were to turn. 1 blow = turn right, 2 blows = turn left & 3 blows = half turn. We did this for a while and then we had to close our eyes. It was funny to see where everyone was turned after a series. Some people were turned all over the place. Definitely a sight to see. Another game was one I played as a child. Where you tie a balloon to your ankle and try to pop other people's balloon. Sakamoto stopped me for a while because I had to go change into the Santa Claus outfit. I'd thought I'd never do that again but since I'm in Japan it was all good. I handed presents to all the kids while sayin' "Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!" Afterwards, I introduced myself and most of the people were shocked to know that I was a Japanese American. Since when I spoke English, I was gettin' a lot of blank looks, I resorted to Japanese which was received with many oohs and ahhs. After takin' pictures with all the kids and had to quickly change and head out to go meet up with Mikie and Junko.
Met up with Mikie and Junko @ Narashino station and then headed to our normal restaurant, Yumean. I think I've been to all of them in a 8km radius of Yakuendai. Mikie brought some stuff from Hawaii for me: Lion's coffee, macadamia nuts and some other candy. She was gonna get me some hammertite (sp?) rings but she forgot what it was called. She also showed me her certificate for finishin' the marathon there. She ran the first 30km but walked the last 12km. Junko was normal 'ol Junko. She cracks me up sometimes with what she comes up. I taught them some new words/phrases and corrected their pronunciation for words they already knew. They taught me a lot about how the Japanese celebrate New Year's which was quite interesting. I learned some new stuff I hadn't known before. we ended up chattin' for like 5 hours! Came home and
Monday, 12.22: Closin' Ceremony, Shoppin' & Nagasaki Chanpon
Today was the closin' ceremony for school. All that really happened was the students got awards and the principal gave this speech that was way too long. For lunch, all the 7th grade, male teachers went out to eat lunch together. The food at this place was pretty good. Definitely a place I'll go back to. After lunch, headed back to school to play bball. I stayed later to practice with the girls. 4 hours was a little too much on my body I think.
After practice, Takahashi sensei took me shoppin' for my kotatsu blanket and mat. We went to Ito Yokado and on the way home, stopped off at this Nagasaki Chanpon restaurant in Narashino. I thought it was pretty good. Being cold and all...it really hit the spot. Had some gyoza too. Came home and set up my kotatsu.
Tuesday, 12.23: Cleanin' & Kickin' it in Matsudo
Woke up pretty early and started my year end cleanin'. Cleaned up my whole living room and had movies on in the background. Texted Ko to see if he wanted to kick it and found out that Marty texted him like 10 min after me. So we decided to meet up in Matsudo, which is convenient for Marty and Ko and I. In Matsudo, went to shoppin' for books, video games, music and dvds. Ko picked up the 12 Girl Orchestra and some books while Marty got some games and other books for omiyage since he was goin' back to Missouri on Christmas day. Ko and I also split the cost of the special edition Azumi. Came out to be like $60 but the special edition came with tons of extra stuff. Ko refuses to watch the movie because he's currently readin' the manga series. He's only on like vol.20 of like 30. Marty also picked up all kinds of little stuff @ Ito Yokado while I hit up the gacha pon machines. I saw the 4th series of the kaeru and got some pretty koo ones. I put the influenza frog on my ketai. For dinner, we headed to Doma Doma (the same place Yu's friends and I went for our bonenkai) and got tons and tons of food. Marty as usual, ordered his cheese mochi and other crazy hakujin dishes much to the dismay of Ko and I. The natto omelette wasn't that good. @ around 2200ish we called it a night and Ko and I got back on the Shin Kesei train for the long ride home. Matsudo is the last station on the Shin Kesei line and Ko's station (Shin Tsudanuma) is the 2nd to last with about 20 stops in between. On my way home, as I came up to Narita Kaido from MatsuKiyo, I heard these 2 loud voices near the crosswalk. When I looked to see who it was, I was surprised to see that it was Shacho and Sakamoto, drunk off their @$$es. Since I had my beanie on, they didn't recognize me and Shacho even yelled, "What the hell do you want!?". It wasn't until I took off my beanie that they realized who I was. Kicked it with them and helped Sakamoto escort Shacho home. What would have been only a 5 min walk, turned out to be about 35 min cuz we had to take all these little breaks for Shacho. We must've sat down to rest like 6-7 times. When we finally got back to Shacho's house, we were met by his daughter. She thanked us for bringin' him home and while Shacho ordered us to come in for some tea. While we were talkin', Shacho kept on tryin' to find a reason for us to drink more sho chu. It was funny how he took all these different angles, tryin' to convince us that it's ok to drink some more. Since arguin' with Shacho is no win situation, we ended up havin' one drink. Shacho is also funny because he always calls me "Ken" for some reason. I don't make a big deal about it cuz it's Shacho, but Sakamoto was always correctin' him to no success. Shacho also officially invited me to his house for his New Year's party...like 20 times. Came home and crashed out.
Wednesday, 12.24: Azumi & Ikspiari
Woke up kinda early for some reason. Got some more cleanin' done and watched Azumi. That movie was pretty dope. Had a pretty cool special effect that I've never seen before. The movie was a little long but was very interestin'. Had some natto and gyoza for a late lunch. Later that evenin', Takahashi sensei called me up and asked if I wanted to go to Ikspiari. I had no idea what he was talkin' about. Ikspiari is the Japan equivalent of Disney Downtown. So Takahashi sensei, his wife and youngest daughter and I headed to Tokyo Disneyland. On the way there, which was probably one of the most mind irritatin' experiences. Since Takahashi sensei drank some alcohol @ dinner, he couldn't drive there...so his wife drove. Man, don't get me wrong, I think she's a great person, but when it comes to driving...man...I can easily say, without hesitation, that I would rather be in the car with my mother drivin' then Takahashi sensei's wife. I had to give my condolonces to Takahashi sensei since he has to deal with that every single day. We finally got there, after tons and tons of traffice. Walked around, saw some hanabi and stopped off for some coffee and snacks @ Rainforest Cafe. On the way home, with Takahashi sensei @ the wheel, there was so much traffic. It took 40 min to get there, but about 2 hours to get home!!! Came home and crashed out @ around 0300ish.
Thursday, 12.25: School Concert, Shoppin' & Ikko
Merry Christmas!!! My school had a joint concert @ Funabashi Bunka Hall @ 1100. They've been practicin' with Narishino Dai Ni Elementary for the past week. Luckily they performed last cuz I was runnin' a little late. Since it was a joint concert, only the 7th and 8th graders performed and you can easily tell when they played Lord of the Rings that it didn't have the ummmph it normally does. Right after the concert, saw kocho sensei (principal) who was in a hurry to get to a meeting. Went to have some coffee with Takahashi sensei and then helped the students pack the cars with all the instruments. Chatted with some of the 8th graders afterwards and some of them were complainin' that they were hungry, so I gave them the rest of my katsu sando. I escorted them back to the station and then went to do some shoppin'. Sent out some mass Merry christmas texts and called Atsuko san. Went to Uniqlo (which I like to say is the Japanese version of Old Navy) and picked up a wool coat, which was originally about $100 for about $40. I also got picked up some other stuff @ LAOX and then headed home. Ko texted me sayin' that Marty might miss his flight cuz he overslept! I can't believe that...how you gonna oversleep for your flight home on the holidays. I'd just stay up the whole night. I was able to get most of this blog done @ that time and was chattin' with Tri when I get a call from Mama tellin' me to Ikko.
Headed to Ikko and saw Kita san, Yoko chan, and Yuasa sensei with her husband and daughter. It's always a pleasure to hear Yuasa sensei sing karaoke. She sounds like a pro. Kita san and I even sang Silent Night. We also watched the video from the bonenkai while Kita san would not stop about what Chi Mama put on my head when I first arrived there. Nakamura sensei and Kobi chan came through a little bit later. Yuasa sensei introduced me to her daughter, Kiyomi, and I found out that she was a student of Kocho sensei and Honda sensei when she was in junior high school @ Narashino Dai. It was funny to hear her call Kocho sensei, Kataoka chan and Honda sensei, Honda chan. We chatted for a long time. We exchanged ketai mail addresses and after a while, realized that we were the only people left in Ikko. She's a really cool girl and were supposed to hang out sometime soon. Anyhow, helped her flag down a cab and then I headed home to get some sleep.
Friday, 12.26: Tantakatankai & Garam
Decided to rest up today in preparation for the oru suru. Met up with Yu @ Funabashi station @ around 1830 and then headed to Shibuya. Got to Shibuya station and met up with Hide. Then we met up with A-chan and headed over to Torikaku, our favorite place...well for Tantakatan. We were lucky to get a table because this was the last work night for most people. Everyone after us who didn't have a reservation, were turned away. This was A-chan's bonenkai cuz she didn't make it to the last one. She also broke up with Setochi earlier that day, @ work and by text message!!! What the hell is that 'bout? Anyhow, we didn't mess around with orderin' individual drinks, we just got the whole bottle of Tantakatan while Yu drank his oolong tea. We put a little bit (like a couple of drops) of Tantakatan in it and he quickly got buzzed. The food of course didn't disappoint. Since A-chan and I were still goin' strong...we ended up orderin' another bottle of Tantakatan. A-chan then proclaimed that this wasn't a bonenkai but a Tantakatankai!!! Give or take a few glasses that Hide had, A-chan and I pretty much killed off a bottle each! Hide had to take off a little bit early to prepare for the performance tonite while Yu and I went back with A-chan to her place to feed her dog. We then took a cab to shinjuku and headed to Garam, the same place I went last week. Got there I met up with the rest of the crew: Hanzo, Kazu, Daisuke, Daiki, Ai-chan, Ayuchi, Utako, etc... This was my first time @ a reggae performance and it was off da hook! It was crazy to see all the guys perform. They were like totally different people when they perform. Now I'm really curious to hear Yu perform. @ around 0330, I was feenin' for some ramen, so A-chan, Ayuchi and I headed out. Was surprised that it was rainin' so we quickly went into the nearest ramen shop. we ate decent ramen and some gyoza and then headed out. A-chan took a cab while Ayuchi and I took the train. We took the same line but different ways. Put the headphones on and I was out instantly. Woke up @ Nishi Funabashi and was so happy that I didn't oversleep! Transfered @ Shin Tsudanuma and around Maebara station I thought my eyes were trippin' out because....there was SNOW everywhere!!! There wasn't any snow in Tokyo so it heightened the effect. It probably snowed about and inch or so, at least! Came home around 0730 and crashed instantly.
Aite ya'llz...I'll try to post more on a regular basis.
Kaz out...
This entry was posted by kaz, on
土曜日, 12月 27, 2003.
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