So the Xavierite told me that they were finished publishing for the semester, but I already wrote an article, so someone has to read it. Since it contained mostly things that were going up on here anyway, here it is. Enjoy!
A friend of mine was commenting on my pictures from Japan that I had put up on Facebook. He left about 20 or so comments in one night, but this was not unusual, because he had spent some time in Japan himself, and I could tell he was excited for me, and he was happy to remember his time here. One of his many comments read: “When you come home, the sky won’t be the same color.” Although this can be taken literally, because there is a smog problem in Tokyo, I think he meant it figuratively. Things are so different here, that when you stay for so long, then go back to where ever you call home, it’s hard to forget that you are under the same big sky.
This last weekend was by far one of the best I’ve had so far since I’ve been here. The week of the April, 29th – May, 6th, is what is known as Golden Week. There are national holidays on Monday the 30th, Thursday the 3rd and Friday the 4th, they vary in purpose, from Constitution day, Childrens’ day, and nature day. What this translates to is really long weekends for yours truly. I’m sure as most of you know, the Friday before a 3 day weekend is a difficult one to sit though class for, and its even worse when you only have one class on Friday, like I do.

After class there was a meeting for my rock music club, where I found out that the band made up of the club’s sempai (seniors) was playing a show that night. The band, called ‘Student A,’ was playing at a place called Warp, and since I had not been to a show yet, I thought this would be a good opportunity to do so. After the train ride to the “live house” as they are called out here, we caught the opening bands. The one that stuck out the most was a band called ‘essential.’ They were a four piece that played a noise-funk sort of music, using some very odd sounds coaxed out of a microKorg keyboard or a guitar ran through plenty of effects pedals. The most memorable part of their set was a little funky break down in which the singer/guitar player just laughed, but not directly into the mic. After about 20 seconds of this they spontaneous burst into a noise that could only be described as total sonic annihilation.

Although they had their work cut out for them, Student A did not disappoint. They played a sort of Radiohead-ish, post alternative type of music. Their sound was heavily dynamic, always building and falling, laced with reverb, and they seemed to use some sort of sampled keyboards, but I couldn’t tell. What impressed me the most was their energy and ability to play very, very well together as one band, with a clean sound. After the show we searched for a Denny’s type restaurant, to no avail (there are Denny’s here, I haven’t been yet, but they have them) so we settled for a family type restaurant and called it a night.

The next day I had some errands to run in the day, but I had some big plans for the evening. For any of you that know me personally, you know that I’m not really one to go clubbing, but the opportunity to do so made itself available, and who can say no to that in the city with the greatest nightlife in the world? In Tokyo, all the trains stop running at around 1:00 am, about the same time the clubs start warming up and taxis aren’t cheap, so when you go to the clubs, you stay out until the next morning by default. This may be no big deal to the regulars out there, but for little ole’ me, it was a new experience. I’ll spare the details, but the night clubs here provide a great contrast to the high-strung, overly polite, somewhat uptight Japanese life I have been accustomed to. People here definitely let loose when they aren’t at work or school, and at first it is odd to picture the suit wearing salary man, drunk in a club at 4 am dancing to a reggae remix of “My Heart Will Go On.”

As we emerged from the club at around 5 a.m. we bore witness to a Shibuya sunrise, with the sun’s rays poking through the concrete pillars, neon lights and steel. People stumbled home, some to have a long day’s rest, others to put on their suits, uniforms, and guises of politeness. I looked up, and thought about what my friend said about the sky. It looked the same as it always has, but this time it was pierced endlessly with buildings cover in kanji. With the bass still blasting in my ears, my friends and I proceeded to the station and said our goodbyes. The streets were unusually empty, but after the train ride home, they filled up again, a reminder that a new day has begun, out here under my new sky.


Here are some pictures I took walking around Ikebukoro, near where I live, sorry no pictures from any of the places described above, not enough light in the room.
Pictures are here.

The last few weeks

Sorry for the delayed post, I've been quite busy with school since classes started. So far classes seem manageable, I'm taking Japanese, Japanese Literature, Japanese History and a religion class about the spread of Christianity away from the Western world. So far all of them are pretty interesting, and the work seems bearable. I know I said I would write more about Japanese culture and people, but I am also writing for my schools paper, and the article I wrote for last week pretty much sums up my initial observations. Rather than re-type it, I'll refer you to the link. Enjoy, and as per usual some pictures can be found here.

Class

After much anticipation and deliberation, today saw my first day of class. I planned my schedule so I have most of my classes on Monday and Thursday. Japanese meets everyday in the morning, so no way around that, but on Monday I have Religion, History and English. Every few Wednesdays we have CIEE core course but that varies. With this schedule I have an easy Tuesday and Wednesday, plus my weekend starts at around 11:00am on Friday, which is nice if I want to do some traveling. The rock club I am going to join meets on Friday around lunch time, which works out nice as well, because I can go grab a bite to eat after class, and then play some rock and/or roll. Speaking of eating, the cafeteria food here isn't bad at all. They offer soba, udon, and ramen noodle dishes (google those if you are curious), Japanese style curry and rice, and a daily bowl, which is usually chicken or pork of some variety with rice and other goodies. They also offer some Western style stuff, but I haven't gotten into that much. Also, I made a new friend, this friend is the ramen noodle machine in the courtyard. It is a vending machine that dispenses cups of ramen noodles, like the ones at home, but better due to the addition of more stuff, the stuff varies by bowl...BUT there is a little hot water spout, and a little drawer with chopsticks in it, so one could have a large snack, or a quick meal for about 130 yen, nice. Just as a side note, since most of the sightseeing type stuff is done for a while, my next blogs will include more observations about Japan and the Japanese, and yes... more pictures of people.

The last trip (for a while)

Monday saw our last CIEE trip for a while. We went to Kamakura, a suburb of Tokyo that is on the ocean. The weather wasn't great, it was a bit overcast, but we still had fun. We saw the obligatory shrine and temple, and also the 2nd largest Buddha in Japan. We had lunch, then went to this island, where we could roam and explore. It was very pretty, but the weather wasn't exactly on our side. The rest of the week consisted of Sophia stuff. University clubs are very important to the Japanese, and two days of the week were reserved for club days. The various clubs would set up tables on campus, put up signs and passed out flyers, it was very crazy. If you are interested in the club, you can sign up to go to their "ohonami" which is a Japanese pic-nic type thing under the sakura. I will probably join one of the rock and roll clubs, which meet once a week or so, and the members form bands amongst themselves using club equipment, and play shows. I met some cool people and played drums in a few songs with some Japanese guys, which was very very cool. It is a cool but odd feeling to meet someone, barley communicate with them, but then play a song and have everything work out and sound good. Very surreal for sure. I'll put pictures up from the club days when I figure out an efficient way to get them off of my phone, but Kamakura pictures are here.

Many updates, now one!

In an effort to make up for my lack of updating lately, and to more closely imitate my Japanese hosts and their efficiency, I am briefly recap all of last week into one update. The front end of last week consisted of a scavenger hunt around Tokyo, with our small groups. We were assigned various oddities and staples of the city to find. About half way through the list my group kind of copped out, and went to a really pretty shrine in the park (that wasn't on the list) and hung out there for a while. We were all a bit tired, and it was a good experience so no one felt bad about it. The next two days consisted of an overnight trip to Nikko, a town in the mountains north of Tokyo. On the first day we saw obviously the mountains, and some very large shrines and temples. We stayed that night in a traditional Japanese Inn, with sliding doors, tatami mats, futons etc. There was also an onsen, a natural hot spring at the hotel that was very relaxing. The next day we went up to the top of a mountain, and saw the water falls as we walked down. These were very beautiful, and like most things I describe in this entry, the pictures can speak for themselves. The end of the week was reserved for getting the paper work for our Alien Registration Cards, and general relaxing, since the Nikko trip wiped everyone out. On the weekend we were on our own, so I went up to the electronic district, and saw the cherry blossoms (sakura) around my house. It was nice to have some time off, since come Monday we were at it again!
Pictures:
Scavenger Hunt around Tokyo
Nikko
Sakura