Landing in Tokyo

I am sitting here next to Rusty Taylor, who has just slept through his first "freezing ass night" in Japan that wasn't in a nice warm hotel. We just returned to my neck of the woods on the overnight bus from Tokyo, and we have been lounging and eating and Rusty has been complaining about the general coldness of all things Nakatsugawa. I just know he already misses the bright blinking lights and short skirts of Tokyo. The most exciting thing we have is McDonalds, and he already went there.

Tokyo was a whirlwind tour of beer, shiny things, and riding subways. Rusty described Tokyo as "one big showcase of the things Japan makes." There you have it folks. Actually, we had quite a great time in Japan's capital. I took the train out to meet Rusty at the airport, where we spent approxmiately 45 minutes trying to outsmart his bank account at the foreign ATM. Our hostel was a good find, and it was an outpost of warmness and English speakers in a sea of coldness and Japanese speakers. It was also very cheap.

I introduced the Boy to the bright lights of Tokyo, and we had fun for several days exploring the small restaurants of Tokyo and introducing him to Japanese food. We ate at Yoshinoya for breakfast both days, and the Boy even came to tolerate miso soup, part of the traditional Japanese breakfast. He describes it as "fish brine with seaweed." That sounds like a pretty glowing endorsement to me.

We also stumbled across one of the world's great untapped cheap beer resources, in the form of the Yebisu Beer Museum at the Sapporo beer headquarters. They have a small museum, which is completely in Japanese and really just an excuse to get to the tasting room at the end, where you can purchase $2 coupons for glasses of fresh beer! Despite the museum-ish feel of the bar, you couldn't beat the price and quality.

We explored all around the city for days, browsing in the insanely massive electronics district at Akihabara and the seizure-inducing lights and noise of Shibuya, as well as visiting a whole area whose stores only stock supplies for opening restaurants. We picked up some plastic food displays for gifts back home. I introduced the Boy to Mos Burger, which didn't impress him too much, even though it's my favorite burger joint around here. I think coming from the land of burgers, his standards were too high. He learned to take his shoes off at the door of the hostel (even though when he first saw that he would have to do this, he said, ever the diplomat, "I am not taking my f-ing shoes off." I even taught him some words of Japanese for ordering in restuarants. The boy's "Arigatos" are quite good, I must say.

On our last day there, we were to take the 11:30pm bus back to Nakatsugawa, but unfortunately Tokyo is shutting down for New Years. So we quite literally ran out of things to do by about 4pm. Our only solution was to head back to the hostel, which we had already checked out of, and purchase some beers at the local 7-11 and relax at the hostel for many hours until it was time to go. We spent many happy hours conversing with the other whities before I decided it was time to head to the station, just to be early.

Of course, by this point I had consumed about 4 biggish cans of beer, and so my normally awesome organization abilities were in a somewhat compromised state. As we rode the subway, I took out the bus tickets to inspect them and show them to Rusty. This was the last time I ever saw them. We got to Shinjuku station with about 40 minutes to go, planning on grabbing some McD's before our ride. I stopped to check my things again, and everything was quite in order, except of course for there being no tickets. Concern, with remarkable haste, gave way to sheer mindless panic, and my tipsy mind started racing to horror scenarios of freezing to death on the streets of Tokyo or, worse, of having to pay money for another hotel. I couldn't believe the tickets weren't there. So, in one of the world's busiest train stations, I frantically dragged Rusty to and fro searching for the proper bus terminal so that we could explain how dumb we were to the bus people. Rusty was carrying a 50-pound bag and so was, hmmm, not so happy with me. With 2 minutes before departure, we arrived at the terminal sweating and frantic, and explained that we had lost our tickets. The attendant seemed calm and friendly, and I asked him to hold the bus for us, which he did. I thought everything was hunky-dory, he said something about a $1 fee, and I thought, "My gosh, we're saved." But then he said, "Oh yes yes, Nakatsugawa is only 9000 yen (about $80). I protested, but it didn't seem to be going anywhere. We grudgingly coughed up a lot of money, having already paid for the other tickets, and raced behind an attendant as he parted the seas of people to make way for the drunken, stupid foreigners who lost their tickets. We made it to the bus with not a moment to spare, in fact 5 minutes after it was supposed to leave. I sat on the bus metaphorically kicking myself, because if there are two things I love it's a well-executed plan and a bargain, and both had just decidedly flown out the window. My bargain bus ride had just doubled in price. Doh! I vowed to not eat Mos Burger for a month to make up the difference.

Bottom line: Mission Accomplished. We arrived in my hometown at about 4:30am. Rusty instantly observed that it looked "boring" and that it was -4 degrees celsius. Waaaa. We hiked up to my high school in the fureeeeezing cold and Rusty scraped the ice off my car with a Haagan Daz spoon that I keep on hand for these occasions, while I sat in the warm car and monitored. Eventually I gave him my frequent flier card, which worked much better.

Back home, he was slightly less than overjoyed at the very little difference in temperature between inside and outside my house. I think he would have enjoyed a bigger spread. I fixed us up some futons with electric blankets, and after some time, we hit the sack at about 7am. Rusty was whining like a girl at the cold. I was a man about it.

This afternoon, we're off to Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture for the New Years and skiing tomorrow. We will report back after that, with Volume 2 of 'Rusty in Japan: The Legend Begins"

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Fascinating Images

This man is an aid worker who has traveled throughout Afghanistan and Iraq helping the people living there deal with the problems they face as residents of failed and developing states. He seems like a fascinating person, but he is also a gifted photographer. I was moved by a lot of these images, so if you would like a more intimate look at the people who live in these places we see on the news everyday, check out his site:

http://www.ooshan.com/index.htm

Five more days until my lil' brother comes!

The Day of Free Food

On Wednesday, I woke up late, even by my pathetic standards. I had barely enough time to pretend to look like a competent professional, much less prepare a nutritious and savory lunch. Soo I embarked on my day with no plans for lunch but starvation.

Luckily for yours truly, this was to be a day of culinary generosity unseen since my last trip to my Grandma's place.

As if she had pre-sensed my impending hunger, my surrogate step-mom in the office, Ms. Miyake, approached my desk first thing with a very decently-sized meal of home-made curry she had prepared. That would have taken care of lunch, right there. Heck, that's really nice, I thought.

Shortly afterwards I was off to one of the 3rd-year classes, to help them put together some skits in English. (They have split up the third-year classes into those who still have college entrance exams to take and those who have been accepted. The ones who are good to go can take it a little easier for the rest of the year, thus the skits.). At the end of the hour, I couldn't bear the prospect of sitting at my desk for 5 hours, so I decided to actively seek out cultural exchange. I asked them what their next class was. They said 'Cooking.' I thought: I can do that. So, much to their utter confusion, I just didn't leave, and tagged along to the home economics room with them. They seemed to like the idea that I would be spending the day with them, so I didn't feel like an intruder at all. It felt great, actually.

So the cooking room was impressive indeed. There were eight islands, each with a stove, sink, and tons of clean, shiny cooking materials. In the middle of the room were eight clusters of pretty choice-looking ingredients. The teacher graciously provided me with a sweet-looking white chef's coat and funky bandana to keep my beautiful blonde locks out of our rice. I chose a group of students to work with, and then the teacher went to work instructing us on how to make this classic Japanese dish. We made something called 'Oyakodonburi,' which is a confection of soy sauce, sugar, onions, chicken, and some green veggie sauteed together, with a beaten egg then added but only cooked about halfway. This soupy mixture is then poured over a bowl of hot rice, the heat of which finishes cooking the egg. The title means "Parent and Child," which is of course, the chicken and the egg. It was delicious, I must say. We also made a simple soup of fish stock with tofu and veggies. All in all, it was a great meal, and as I sat at the table feasting with my co-chefs, I couldn't help but marvel at my good fortune today.

After that, I headed back to the teachers' room where I was informed that the resident chefstress, the ever-cute Ms. Saito, had prepared a hot soup of sweet red beans, available for all. I headed over there and snatched up a bowl, which was exactly as it should be: hot, sweet, and satisfying.

After all that feasting, I didn't even have room for the original gift of curry, so I put it aside for another day when I was too lazy to provide food for myself. Needless to say, it was a great day, and I was very glad knowing that I had reached out. It seems that every time I reach out, I get something valuable in return. Now that I look back on four months here, I realize how much better I have gotten at just being open and friendly to total strangers, walking up to groups of students and asking if I can join their card game or asking them how their weekend was, etc. I would never do that stuff before. Heck, I had to go to an extra year of kindergarten because I would cry when my parents left me. Here, I was a little afraid that the children had sort of lost interest in me, too occupied with school and their own lives to reach out. A lot of the 3rd-year students I had made friends with when I first came here seemed uninterested or too busy to talk to me. But I have begun to see that almost everyone here wants to interact as much as I do; it just takes initiative. Since these high-schoolers are often a little shy, I consciously try to reach out to them wherever possible, and they almost always seem overjoyed to talk or to show me something. I'm always glad I did it, all it takes is the will to do so.

I hope to steal more of the childrens' food in the future in the name of intercultural exchange.

Sheer Boredom and Its Discontents

To those in the working world: Do not hate me.

Yours truly has been in the midst of a major 4-alarm boredom binge for the last two weeks. Jealous? Well, don't be, because I am BORED! The kiddies had their hardcore midterm exams last week, and so for the week before that, many of my classes were miraculously transformed into extra grammar sessions (for which my games of Jeopardy, picture games, and myself were apparently unnecessary). During testing week there were no classes for anyone, and this week, I have no classes as well for I don't know why. That there is a lot of free time on one's hands. And I have an internet connection...Blast!

If only I were a lazier man (and I am lazy, but not lazy enough) I could truly relish the opportunity to get paid thousands to give myself a first-rate Wikiducation. People spend dozens on books purchased from guys with dollar signs in their top hats just to get to where I am today, but alas, I must have shown some initiative at some point, and so I'm feeling a bit of remorse at being such a well-paid lump. Wouldn't you?

For the first week of nothing, I was ambitious and diligently made daily schedules for myself of tasks that needed accomplishing. But, it's very difficult when you look at the open calendar ahead of you and the urgency just drains right out of your tasks. However, I did put in 3 days of legitimately productive Japanese language study time, finished Book 1 of my JET Program Japanese language course, and even had several grammar-related conversations with other teachers (now if that's not a sign someone's a nerd, I just don't know what is!). I figure it's an unspoken component of my job description that I should try to learn the native tongue, so I don't even have the guilty feelings I get when I read movie reviews.

After that 3-day wonderblast of achievement, my output took a slight downturn towards the Facebook, email, and Wikipedia realms, sadly. But you can attain a great deal of knowledge for free, I've noticed. And the best part is that Wikipedia doesn't discriminate between the highest of high brow and the lowest of low brow. It's entirely possible that an entry for Lindsay Lohan could be much longer and far more lovingly detailed than the entire entry on Mongolia, for example. This is knowledge by the people, for the people, from...a lot of uncited sources. Still, it's wonderfully egalitarian, if prone to ridiculousness.

This week my boredom hit an all-time low and so I resorted to making home-made egg nog for the other teachers to sample. I think we've all been there, the "You're so bored at work that you make egg nog for your co-workers" stage We all go through it at least one time in our life. I'm happy to say the homemade Nog got reviews of "Oishii" ("delicious") all around. I withheld the booze, on account of all those pesky high schoolers around. On a side note, do you know how to make egg nog? It's remarkably simple: just add 6 eggs to 1 quart of nog and you're done. Soooo easy. The hard part is finding the perfect nog, of course.

Do not pity my sloth. I am preparing for my triumphant return to teaching next week by planning a Christmas spectacular the likes of which this country has never seen. Well, actually they do Christmas pretty durned big here, but I will try to infuse the rampant commercialism with just a small injection of soul and tradition. I wanna do something nice for the kids to show them a little bit about what Christmas means to me; of course it's not all pure spending and commercialization, after all. There is still something wonderful about it that I think can be shared.

So that's the news from Nakatsugawa, where all the men are beautiful, the women are strong, and all the children have cute lunchboxes.

Dear readers, I am in the midst of making a larger post about our recent trip to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I guarantee it will knock at least both of your socks off. I also just added some new shots to my photo website, so they are available for perusal at your leisure. I charge 300 yen for each photo viewing now, but email me and I may be able to accept airmailed cookies or beer. I still have to get the final word from my business manager, Andy Taylor of Atlanta, Georgia.

-The Shogun

I will leave you with a beautiful photo of cultural togetherness. I only look about 4 stories taller than Hong. This is why I crack my head on even the doorways in my own house:

At long last.

UCLA has beaten USC 13-9 in football. After all these years of following and covering UCLA sports, I can't tell you how satisfying it is to see the pendulum swing in our direction for once. For years, UCLA's fine sports have dominated USC's, but we never get any credit because of one thing: football. Now, we have bragging rights for a year. Man it feels good.

I give a lot of credit to those guys; that couldn't have been easy; the Trojan football teams and fans alike are relentless and intimidating, but somehow they kept their heads in the game and did what they had to do. My gosh, well done!

007: A Spy Pilgrimage, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Take the Train

As you've no doubt noticed, there is a new James Bond in town, and like me, he's blond! So I felt an instant affinity for the guy. Now, I'm by no means the world's biggest Bond-phile, but I enjoy 007 movies when they're good, which is often, and even when they're bad, which is also often, they're so absurdly stupid that they're good. So I knew I had to check out where they were taking the franchise. I thought Daniel Craig looked kind of cool, and after reading some reviews I was excited to see a leaner, tougher, more bad-ass sort of Bond. I really liked Pierce Brosnan, but I was getting a bit bored of his Bond: too polite; not enough action.

Movies in Japan are a bit more of an affair than they are back home. They have gigantic theaters just like us, it's just that they're more concentrated. My town has plenty of rice fields, but sadly, it was short of multiplexes. So for this Bond-viewing, it was off to the big city for me. I had already driven to Hong's place in Gifu to pick up some tires from a friend, so I figured since I had my car here, I might as well drive into Nagoya. After spending about an hour and a half on the Japanese-version of Google maps, I concluded that there it was a virtual certainty that I would get lost driving. Nagoya is one of the biggest cities in Japan, and there were expressways criss-crossing each other and heading every which way in ways that made my head spin. It was a recipe for disaster. Sadly, I canned my driving plan.

So, I was in for a LOT of public transportation. I was in a kind of pissed off mood from an hour and a half of fruitless cartography (as well as my movie partner cancelling out due to hangover-related problems), and as I rushed out the door and nearly missed the 2:00 train I silently cursed all the Japanese at the train station for being so damn timely. Why am I always the only one running?

So, two train rides later, I was in Nagoya Station. There goes 7 bucks. From here, I still had to catch a subway to the exact opposite side of the city. There goes 3 more bucks. Apparently, this damn Bond movie is only playing in one theater in Nagoya, which the website described as "off the beaten path." Yeah, it was. When I arrived at the station, I realized I was darn far out of wherever I started. It was quiet and pretty ugly-looking, and cold. The movie started at 3:50, and by this point it was about 3:20. Figured I could make it. Maybe walk, but which way? Damn. Better take a bus. After climbing onto no less than 7 buses over the span of an hour, I finally found one that was going my way. There goes another 4 bucks. At about 4:40 I arrived at a giganto-normous mall way off in suburbia and poked around for a frustrated while looking for the movie theater. I was starving. Finally, I found the dang theater and paid my $18 (a steal!) for my Bond ticket. The funny thing about theaters in Japan is that there is assigned seating, so you point to a seat you want on a diagram and then you are supposed to sit in that seat. I rushed to the food court and gulped down the nastiest soup available for $3.80, as well as some discounted fried chicken bits for a buck. Mmmm.

I ran back up to the theater, purchashed a beer (yep, in the theater: This is a major innovation!) and sat back to soak in the action. I made a half-hearted effort to find my appointed seat in the dark, but then realized I didn't like where it was and gallantly flaunted the rules, sitting in a much choicer seat near the front. Luckily, there seemed to be no repurcussions. The movie itself was okay. It certainly addressed my issue of too much talk and not enough action. This was supposed to be Bond at the beginning of it all, and Craig played him as a man of few words, little personality, and lots of dead bodies. It was violent, man! I was a little embarassed for my country's movie industry sitting there in the theater, but then again, he IS British. So, who to blame for this wanton violence? Even the opening credits were kind of disgusting. I think the pendulum may have swung too far from the charming, martini-ordering Bond to the ruthless killer Bond. I was a little put-off. During the lonnnnnng poker game I wandered back into the lobby for tiny beer #2 (there goes another $4.50) which helped me to reasonably enjoy the movie. All in all, it was okay, but honestly I don't know what to think about this Daniel Craig character. I suspect that he's playing Bond really ruthless and personality-less now so that we can see the Bond-ness starting to develop, but I dunno. See it for yourselves. Personally, I think Clive Owen would have made a far better Bond. He's got the same bad-ass edge, but he's got so much more personality. Looking at this guy was like watching a Roman statue speaking one-liners. Maybe in the next movie he'll turn up the personality a notch or two or ten. Hopefully. I say bring Sean Connery back. He's better than all these guys.

After my movie experience, I did feel a little bit like a secret agent in an exotic country, though. I walked around like James Bond for a while, feeling quite covert. Although I don't blend in as well as I imagine, I think. I've only been to Nagoya once, and so before I headed back I walked the area around Nagoya Station. It was beautiful; they had the trees lit up with brilliant blue lights and were showing a slideshow of various sites in England on the building. I guess England = Christmas around here. It was cheesy, but still beautiful, actually. Walking across the street, I saw a strange sight indeed. It was super-windy, like really really windy, and I saw some people in the crosswalk all sort of falling over holding one guy. I thought one person was blown over and they were trying to hold him up. But actually they were trying to restrain him. I realized it when he threw a hard punch at the guy being restrained right in front of him. It had a lot of force to it. I'm guessing the whole lot of them were drunk, which would explain the synchronized stumbling. It was kind of a shocker to see a fight; you don't see that kind of stuff very much around here.

I finished my one-man date with some delicious donuts from Mister Donut and a tasty espresso in a coffee shop and enjoyed the urban experience for a little while longer. Afterwards I headed back to the train station for the ride back to Gifu. Not a bad day, all in all. Total cost for the Bond movie: $14 in trains, $6 in subways, $8 in buses, $18 in ticket price, and $9 in beer. $55. Yowza! I'm still trying to decide if it was worth it. Mayyyyybe.

I will leave you with this truly awesome poster on the train. I miss everyone; hope you're doing well!