But then, every so often, there are times when so many things aggravate me that the only thing I feel is an overwhelming desire to punch someone. Yesterday was one of those days.

It’s often said that Japan is the land of contradictions…and it’s true in a lot of ways. The most often-used example is the juxtaposition you get in places like Tokyo where you look one way and see a centuries-old temple complex, and then right behind it is a cluster of sleek skyscrapers. Mind boggling.

But contrasting architectural features are not the theme of today’s rant…no, today’s rant deals with human behavior and how much it confuses me.

Generally, in Japan, people don’t like causing trouble for co-workers, family, friends, etc. They don’t want to be seen as meiwaku, a word I can only translate at present to mean ‘a royal pain in the ass’. So at the slightest imposition they apologize profusely for causing such trouble and do everything they can to be the epitome of politeness.

Which is why it confused me so much when I first came here two years ago and discovered that the degree of politeness that is absolutely required and expected in personal situationscompletely disappears when it involves people who don’t know each other. After hearing so much about Japan’s legendary politeness, I was ready to bow repeatedly and apologize profusely to anyone I may even tap with my bag as I tried to exit a train…until I realized that I rarely, if ever, heard a word of apology from anyone. When disembarking, people get shoved this way and that way, and no one says a word. This confused me a lot at first, but I’ve gotten used to it. I think I just chalked it up to “weird train behavior” and filed it away.

But the more time I spend here, I’m starting to think that maybe it’s not “weird train behavior”…because it doesn’t just happen on trains. Even walking on sidewalks here and dealing with the human interactions that stem from that can be trying, especially when you do it day after day. The way that Japanese people move around has bugged me for months now, but my intolerance for it reached a new high yesterday when I was out for a run. But before I get into yesterday’s events, let me give a brief overview of what it means to walk on a sidewalk in Japan.

Walking on a sidewalk in Japan means a few things. It means, you are going to narrowly avoid being hit by a bicycle (from the front, side, or back)…multiple times. Even if the bicyclists see that you’re there, chances are they won’t move for you. The less lucky ones will actually be hit. Even though on many sidewalks, there are two lanes (one for bicyclists, and one for pedestrians), does anyone follow that? No. Bicyclists whizz by pedestrians in the pedestrian lane, and vice versa. Dealing with bicyclists here is another story entirely, on which I could write an entire thesis, but I digress.

Walking on a sidewalk also means that you are going to have to deal with…pedestrians. DUN DUN DUN. Not too bad, you might think, but Japanese pedestrians are unlike anything I have ever had to deal with before. My biggest complaint is that there is no general consensus as to which side of the street you should walk on. Since cars drive on the left side of the street, you would think that people would walk on the left side. Right? Wrong. They walk on the left, they walk on the right, they walk in the center. And everyone is so busy with their nose in their phones, or staring into space, that it’s not only bicyclists you have to worry about…it’s pedestrians. Before I came to Japan, if I’d ever been hit by a pedestrian, it was because the person sprinting past me was in a rush, and at least they turned around to say, “Sorry!” before dashing off again. Here? No. Pedestrians walk into you because they simply don’t care enough to pay attention to their surroundings. Case in point— the people who, while walking, stop dead in their tracks to check something on a cellphone, or look at a map, or something. No warning: they just stop. Even if there are people right behind them. BOOM…collision.

I’ve been trying to figure it out for months, and it just doesn’t make sense. How on earth, in a country where people seem to value politeness as much as the Japanese do, does something like this happen? How are people not aware of their surroundings? Do they just not care? WHY do they not care?

I was out for a run yesterday and for the first part of it, I had to focus on clenching my fists so I wouldn’t explode and bodyslam someone. It started off normally enough, with the stares I get every time I go out. Par for the course, I suppose. But as I kept going, I just kept running into the most annoying people imaginable. People that saw me coming and wouldn’t change their trajectory, forcing me to run circles around all the other pedestrians…people in groups who insist on walking 6-in-a-row instead of two rows of 3…pedestrians in the bicycle lane…couples walking in who would leave 3 feet of space between them…I thought I was going to cry of frustration by the time I reached the Imperial Palace. Thankfully, for the most part, runners are more ‘normal’ when it comes to dealing with people on sidewalks (passing each other, keeping an acceptable distance, etc.) And it brought my blood pressure down. And I was able to carry on running without incident for the rest of the evening.

Actually, there was one more thing that drove me nuts, but it happened after my run and I had calmed down enough that I didn’t totally explode. But I was walking back home along the path that goes around the Imperial Palace, and I was walking against most of the running traffic. There were a few BIG groups of people who felt it necessary to run *next to* each other so that they take up the entire sidewalk. I was already walking as close to the edge of the sidewalk as I could, but I was clipped by a runner going past me because this group of people apparently needed the ENTIRE sidewalk, and felt it was not necessary to adjust their speed so they could fall behind and give us people going the other direction a chance.

It boggles me. It truly does. I just don’t understand why they can’t be more aware of their surroundings. And I’ve seen so many people get hit by runners, or bikers, and the people who are hit just shrug it off. Do they not understand that it doesn’t HAVE to be like that? That people in other parts of the world know how to function normally when it comes to sidewalk interaction?

Yeah. It’s been one of those weeks.

I got into an argument with myself this morning and lost (won?), forcibly dragging my butt out of bed, getting dressed, and leaving my apartment for the first time in almost 48 hours, and only the third time in 8 or so days. There was a welcome party being thrown for the new students at school, and I made a deal with myself that this year, I was going to put myself out there, be sociable, meet people…but I think today was the worst possible day for that. I found myself having to plaster an unconvincing smile on my face for the duration of the party (and I couldn’t even force myself to stay for half of it). There were just so many people…I didn’t really know what to make of it. It evokes memories of my first few months at UW and how easy I had it because I chose to take a class in August before the entire school came back in September. Luckily, we were a small class that really bonded, and a few of those people are still some of my closest friends today– more than two years later. Maybe the person I was two years ago wouldn’t have been intimidated by being in a room surrounded by strangers. I’m not even sure if ‘intimidated’ is the right word…I didn’t feel weirdly uncomfortable with the fact that I wasn’t talking to anyone/no one was talking to me, I just didn’t care. I find myself feeling very neutral these days. I’ll attribute it to the ‘one month slump’, and the start of a new phase of self-discovery. There’s still a lot of clutter in my head I’m trying to work through and until I can successfully sort out some of my stuff, I don’t feel like I have any extra effort to spare in actually caring about trivial things…like parties.

That being said, I find myself strangely excited that it’s almost October (I am so sick of eighty degree weather…I want chilly-ness, damn it!) and I’m even excited to start classes tomorrow. I’m pretty much diving right in– I have five 90-minute classes tomorrow (I’ll be begging for someone to shoot me halfway through the day) so with breaks and everything, it means I’m at school from 9 to 6. Not so pleasant. However, I’m trying to remain optimistic…in a neutral sort of way, of course.

We’ll see how long that lasts.

I’m looking forward to meeting some more people, as well…the THREE friends that I’ve made here so far are fabulous and I love them, but…there’s only three of them. I’m holding out some sort of hope that being around people and having to actually get involved with conversations and getting-to-know you activities will force me out of this shell that I seem to have gotten so comfortable in lately. (It’s cushy in here, what with all these blankets and pillows. And there’s booze.) I think that was my main problem with the welcome party…having not had any classes yet, most people had a leg up on me and were hanging out with people they’d met that day, but I just didn’t know where to start. And anyway, I find at those sort of functions you meet people that you’re likely never going to see again…especially if you’re a one-year exchange student taking intermediate/advanced level courses and they’re a freshman in the four-year degree program getting all their introductory prerequisites out of the way. I’m not sure how much time for socializing I’m going to have outside of school this semester, what with being registered for 20 semester credits and all, so it would help if my friends and I are in the same classes– I can be a good student and a good friend at the same time! Multitasking at its best.

Even if the party was kind of a bust, part of me is glad I went. I’m glad I forced myself out of the house (it will make it infinitely easier to leave tomorrow morning at the godawful hour of 7 am) and I encountered something awesome on the walk from campus to the train station as I headed home. I saw a poster on a wall out of the corner of my eye, did a double take, and realized it was promoting a concert for one of my favorite singers, Mika Nakashima. Upon reading said poster, I realized that she’s performing a concert for the students of Waseda! The excitement that gripped me was worth all the disappointment I felt the rest of the evening. Tickets go on sale next Monday at 10 am (and I conveniently have Mondays off, which means I can be there ridiculously early in the morning to secure my ticket while everyone else is in class…). Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I did some more exploring last night in search of dinner (burrito!), and walked further up the big street near my house. For some reason, I hadn’t realized just how major a street it was. You’d think I would have gotten a clue from the fact that Isetan is on it, but for some reason, it just didn’t click. I think that even if I was limited to this street, I could find anything I would ever need or want. There’s even a pachinko parlor 5 minutes away! I am DEFINITELY checking that out at some point during the next year. I am quite excited about where I live…I haven’t explored the smaller street that connects my apartment to said major street, but there are so many little bars and restaurants, I feel like I could go to a different one every night and it would still take months to make it through them all!

So this morning started out as kind of a continuation of last night’s venture…I took a left down the big street and walked until I reached the next subway station, took a right, and headed off. I stopped and grabbed a melonpan on the way (oh, melonpan…I have missed you so much. So, so much.) and carried it dutifully in its bag until I found someplace to sit an eat it. After taking a right off Big Street, I only had to walk about 3 minutes until I reached a tiny little park, which seemed kind of perfect. I took a seat and started munching on my breakfast…only to notice that there were things munching on me, as well. As much as I love this country, its bugs love me even more…and the feeling is NOT mutual. Annoyed, I finished my breakfast and had to start walking again so I could focus on something other than the itchy sensation that was coming from the fresh bites on my legs and ankles. Lovely.

I had absolutely no idea where I was going, nor did I care…all I knew was that it was green, and it was pretty. I was walking down a sidewalk between a wall and a decent amount of trees, and I was walking closer to the trees. I made the mistake of turning my head and looking at said trees, and bushes…only to notice a massive spider. I freaked out internally, and walked a little faster, thinking it was a one-off thing. Except…there were more of them. EVERYWHERE. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t dangling above my head or anything (I hope!!!), they were just sitting there in the webs they had woven between the trees…but there were so many of them. AND THEY WERE HUGE. I felt faint and seriously thought I was going to pass out by the time I escaped the sidewalk…I had to stop for some water to ensure that I wouldn’t keel over, and then I continued on.

I ended up in Akasaka, which is kind of like Tokyo’s CBD. Lots of office buildings and the like. I got “lost” (I use the term loosely, as I wasn’t really trying to find my way out) in a maze of back streets that were filled with bars and restaurants and such. I took a random turn and was waiting to cross the street when I saw a large torii gate across the street from me…I knew a shrine was around somewhere beyond it. Intrigued, I headed in. There was something so odd to me about seeing a torii gate in the midst of all these steel high-rise buildings. I was able to figure out the name of the shrine, Hie, by looking at a nearby map…though even after visiting, I don’t really know if there’s any special significance behind it or if it was built to commemorate something. I’m sure it was, but my kanji skills are nowhere near advanced enough to read the plaques all around the compound! Still, it was nice walking around and taking some pictures early in the morning with no one else around (except a camera crew…random). I stayed until I felt like I had seen enough, and then continued on.

While continuing to meander around Akasaka, I accidentally found the TBS Studios…TBS is the Tokyo Broadcasting System, and when I peeked around the back of the buildings, it looked like they were getting ready to film something. What? I’m not sure…but I saw lots of costumes and people who looked like they were on tech crew. It was all quite exciting.

Seeing that it was Friday, I was trying to talk myself into getting out of the house and going…well, just out, really. I had made a quick run to the store for laundry detergent and body wash (side note: my washing machine makes the scariest noises in the world, and its cycle is an hour long. I thought there was a monster living in my corner) but I wanted to do what normal people do on Friday night. After recovering from washing machine-induced trauma I had been through over the past hour, I was hanging my laundry (ha) outside my window (haha) to dry (hahaha…oh America, I miss you and your dryers) and heard taiko drums. Confused, I hurriedly finished dealing with my clothes, got dressed again (I was in the habit of putting my pjs on at 6 pm) and went outside to investigate. There’s a little fenced in park about a hundred feet from my apartment, and it was spilling over with people. There was a festival going on!

I didn’t stay too long…I stayed long enough to take some decent pictures, watch the people dance to the taiko drums, and left. I wasn’t feeling particularly social, which is kind of funny considering where I ended up.

I realized that for the first time almost all week, it was 8 o’clock, I was dressed, and I was not in my apartment…I felt like there was no better time to check out Ipanema, so I headed over. My first choice was a pina colada, but she couldn’t make them, so I opted for a mojito instead. I was kind of blown away by how fantastic it was…totally made up for the crap mojito I had with my burrito a couple nights before at the Vida Rosa. There was a woman with music stands who looked like she was setting up to perform, and another woman came and joined her. They started playing bossa nova-type music, and with the cross breeze floating through the bar and a mojito in my hand, I don’t think I could have been happier. Japanese salarymen were passing by in groups looking for a bar at which to celebrate the end of their workweek, and quite a few of them gave me curious looks. They didn’t come off as rude or perverted…just curious. I should probably mention that I have yet to see another foreigner in my neighborhood, which could be the cause of all the curiousity. I sat there and enjoyed my mojito, and when that was gone I started in on a mimosa. (Also quite delicious.)

All the songs the ladies had been performing had English lyrics, and after a few songs the guitarist said (jokingly) that she was getting self-conscious about her pronounciation, and asked if I was an English speaker. I said yes, and the man who was sitting at the table in front of me asked where from, and upon hearing that I was from Boston he began discussing Boston’s weather with me (as is usual in conversations involving the Japanese…start off talking about the weather). He realized after about a minute that I wasn’t completely useless when it came to Japanese and started talking much more rapidly about how he had done business in Texas, and there really is nothing worth seeing there, and how long ago did I come to Japan? A week? Impossible! And if I told him I had a Japanese father he would believe me straightaway because he’s a half himself, and would I like a bite of his nachos? He was very friendly and outgoing, and in between songs, the two musicians would jump into our conversations (despite the fact that there were other patrons in the bar) and then continue their performance. And that is how I came to meet Miri, Chika, and Paco. Paco was the half from Texas, Chika was the flutist, and Miri was the guitarist/vocalist.

Paco left eventually, and I considered it…but Chika came over to talk to me during their next break and we talked about everything from Kyoto (her hometown, where I’m headed tonight) to contemporary Japanese singers, to Michael Jackson, to how we go about studying foreign languages, to Hawaii…it was a really enjoyable conversation which was abruptly halted when they had to begin their next set, so I stuck around for the entirety of it so I could say goodbye to the ladies afterwards. Miri was also incredibly nice and had a stunning voice. I could listen to her sing all day if she would let me! I heard them gossiping between themselves about how cute I was (as if my ego needed to be inflated any more…really) and they perform there often, apparently, so I promised I would swing by when I get back from my three-week program in Kyoto and come hear them again.

I uploaded a short video of them performing on to my Flickr, which I couldn’t find a way to embed here. But last night was really a lot of fun, and it was so nice to carry on a conversation with people other than receptionists at hotels and convenience store workers! Today has been relatively quiet, and I’m taking an overnight bus this evening to Kyoto for a three-week program on Buddhist Art with one of my professors from UW. We’re staying at three different monasteries in Kyoto, Nara, and Mount Koya…it’s going to be a great experience! Per our instructor’s request, I’m not bringing my laptop with me (I’m really not that brokenhearted about it) so that means there won’t be any new pictures or blog posts until I get back next month, but I’m sure once I get back I’ll go crazy uploading new stuff and have lots of stories to tell. Look forward to it!

This afternoon, I also tackled the hurdle of the post office…I am no longer afraid to buy stamps! This is a major improvement from, oh, yesterday, when I couldn’t talk myself into walking into the post office near my house. Ito-ya gave me the courage I needed to start pulling out all the stamps-and-sending-things vocabulary I learned but never needed to use and thus started to forget. And then I found a bakery quite close to my house with the most delicious croissants I’ve ever eaten. So when I got home, my feet were relieved, I had a bunch of new stationery goodies, and I had some scrumptious snacks to eat while examining said goodies. (The snacks were supposed to be saved for my bus ride to Kyoto…that failed miserably, however. Oh well.)

So now I’m in the new apartment, trying to acclimate myself to Japanese life…the biggest hurdle is definitely going to be garbage collection. My trash has to be sorted into burnable, non-burnable, resources…and some other categories, I forget which. The best part is that they’re each collected on a certain day of the week. If you happen to miss garbage collection during the allotted one hour that morning…sorry buddy, you have to hold on to your trash until next week. Sucks!

I tried my shopping expedition again today, and decided to try finding my way back to the apartment on foot without a map (one of my favorite things to do.) I started from Isetan, my favorite department store in Shinjuku, and vaguely followed the signs until I arrived back at my house! If one follows the main street which you turn off of to reach my apartment, one will reach Isetan without having to make any turns, in approximately ten to fifteen minutes. This excites me greatly, and I feel like once I get my bike, I’ll rarely need to ride the subway! Which saves me money…which makes me happy.

Contrary to what I was expecting, going through customs was an absolute breeze. I didn’t get asked a single question. Not one! I was through immigration AND customs within 3 minutes, not counting the time it took to walk from one checkpoint to the other. Easy as pie. After that it was straight to the money exchange counter to get my hot little hands on some yen. Can I mention something that made me rather irritated? I was at the airport coming back from a weekend trip 5 days before I left for Tokyo, checked the exchange rate, and was happy to see that it was at a healthy 107 yen/dollar. No problem, I thought. This is cool. Somehow, within that five day span in between trips, the Japanese economy managed to pull itself out of the recession and the exchange rate dropped to 91 yen/dollar, which is what they gave me at the airport. Really, Japan? You couldn’t wait another measly week so I could get a decent exchange rate? Thanks. Thanks a lot. That aside, I ran into a classmate from Waseda at the exchange counter…that was creepy. What are the odds? We chatted for a bit and then I ran off to get my train. I stood the whole way (75 minutes, give or take) into the city for fear that I would fall asleep, trying not to inconvenience the other train riders with my two suitcases/backpack/pillow. It was hard, but I toughed it out.

Once I arrived in Akasaka, the hotel was relatively easy to find, and the front desk staff were super nice. I was supposed to stay two nights, but just for the heck of it I asked them to make it three. I was tired…not just tired, but fully exhausted, and I didn’t want to have to deal with repacking everything and relocating sooner than I was ready to. I toughed it out for a few more hours and made it to about 11 pm before falling asleep. I awoke later with absolutely no conception of what time it was…I thought maybe I had slept an entire day, and was just brutally confused. I checked my clock: 3 am. And I thought to myself, “You have GOT to be kidding me. You’ve barely slept in the past three days. GO BACK TO BED.” So I did. But only until 6 am, and my body would have no more of this foolish thing called sleep. So, it was time to get up and about and run errands.

I spent the earlier hours of the morning researching how to get to various places…the city offices in Shibuya and Shinjuku, Sakura House’s Shinjuku office, ticket resellers, and Aji no Moto Stadium. The first stop on my list was Shinjuku. The idea was to be at Sakura House when they opened at 8:30, but the directions I had gotten from their website revolved completely around this one landmark Epson sign on the side of a building that had, in actuality, been taken down. So I circled Shinjuku Station about 3 times (no easy feat, mind you) trying to find their office with no luck. On a whim, I remembered that I was really close to a ticket reseller shop I had visited last year when hunting for Ayu tickets. Surprisingly, they were open before 9 am, and I popped in and had a look. They had tickets for that day’s a-nation concert! I was thrilled and bought the one single ticket they were selling, thankful that it would save me a trip to Harajuku and Gorakudoh (another ticket shop) later in the day. Finding the ticket was a huge accomplishment, and so early in the day! I devoted the rest of my energy to searching for Sakura House’s pesky office.

Surprisingly, I eventually found it. Upon entering the office, I was helped by a nice girl named Yukie (half Japanese, half Pakistani) who took me to see one of the apartments I was interested in. It’s in the Yotsuya area of Shinjuku, so not too terribly far from school…but far enough that I feel like I’ll be able to have a life outside of Waseda, which is what I want. I found a unit that I really liked, so we went back to the offices, took care of the paperwork, and got my key! And then Yukie was nice enough to help me figure out how to get to the stadium for the concert later in the day. I took my time going back to the hotel, and grabbed some lunch on the way. Frankly, I was astonished by everything I had accomplished in the day. And all before noon!

I went to see a-nation last year in Osaka, and frankly: getting to the concert venue was a gigantic pain in the ass. First, you had to take a train to the middle of nowhere, and then you had to get on a designated shuttle bus (that’ll be $15, please) that took you even farther into the middle of nowhere to the venue. Getting back that night was HELL. So imagine my relief when Yukie told me that Aji-no-Moto Stadium is a mere 5 minute walk from a popuar stop on the Keio Line. I could have cried from happiness. On the train I took, there were a lot of other people going to the concert, and once we got to the stop I could see that the sidewalks were mobbed with people making their way towards the stadium. It was mildly crazy once I got inside, and the line to buy concert goods was astronomically long. But I waited patiently and my patience was rewarded with a towel, a light-up fan, a bag…I should probably add at this point that I learned my lesson from last year. I came prepared with my own beverages, both a 2-liter bottle of tea and some alcohol. I love that they encourage you to bring your own beverages.

My seat was, surprisingly, not too bad. I was in the lower section of the stands in the 15th row back, directly across from the stage. There were a lot of performers I really like this year, some I hadn’t gotten the chance to see in Osaka last year, and I had a blast! Granted, it would have been more fun going with someone, but I am perfectly capable of having a good time by myself. I spent the whole concert looking forward to Ayumi Hamasaki (if you’ll recall, I saw her twice in Tokyo last year), the closing act, and she did not disappoint. I was kind of tired by the time she came on at 8 pm because the concert had been going on for nearly 6 hours by that point…but when the stadium went dark and her introduction video came up on the screen, I found myself overtaken by a burst of energy that propelled me through the rest of the show. It was a good thing that 3 people on both sides of me had left, and that I essentially had 7 seats to myself…because apparently I needed the room. I made full use of it and was jumping and bopping around like a madwoman. A small part of me felt midly bad for the people behind and in front of me (who I may or may not have hit with my towel or fan on a couple of occasions), but most of me was having too much fun to care. I never put my arms down, not once, and I only stopped jumping around during the slow songs. Even during those, I was waving my arms back and forth and singing aloud to every single song. Her performances were spot on, and hearing her perform her new summer songs was absolutely awesome. It’s a-nation tradition that she gets in a cart that drives her around the perimeter of the arena seats, so she came pretty close to where I was sitting. I went bonkers in the hope that she would see me, and soon after she passed by I thought, “…I can’t let this opportunity go to waste!” And I pulled out my camera and took a very sneaky video that you can find on my Flickr account. I’ll add a picture here that I found from one of the Japanese news sites…augh, it was amazing!

Overall, another spectacular concert, thanks to Ayu…but also thanks to Tohoshinki, BoA, GIRL NEXT DOOR, Every Little Thing, Koda Kumi, and all the other artists that came out in the sweltering heat to entertain us for six hours! I’ve made it to a-nation two years in a row now…let’s see if I can make it 3 in 2010!

We arrived in Ina (a city in the province of Nagano) just in time for lunch at a restaurant called Tomato-no-Ki. (Buffet style. My favorite.) Copious amounts of food were consumed by everyone before we got back on the bus and headed for the town hall to meet our host families. One person from each family was there as sort of a delegate, and we sat across from them at these long, banquet-style tables during the (short) welcome ceremony. Afterwards, we went home with them! My host father had been the one at the ceremony, and he took me outside where I met my host brother Youko, who drove me back to the house where I met my host mother (henceforth referred to as Okaasan, which means ‘mother’ in Japanese).

Their house was too beautiful for words. Their front yard was just a gigantic field with all these towering mountains in every direction. The house itself was surprisingly large and the landscaping was incredible. It felt like home before I even stepped inside. Okaasan fawned over me like I have never been fawned over before, and Youko and I got back in the car and went shopping. The timing of our weekend homestay coincided with the city’s annual summer festival the following day, and I needed a yukata (a summer kimono made out of light cotton). So Youko acted as my fashion consultant, and by that I mean when I asked him which color he liked best on me, he said, “You look good in any of the colors!” So, not really helpful, but I was glad I had him for moral support, at least. After I settled on a yellow one with a pink flower print, we headed next door to a CD/DVD store called Tsutaya and browsed around while we waited for Okaasan to meet us. She finally came and we went back to the house. Now, I was expecting to spend my weekend with these three fine people, as they were the only members of the family listed on the ‘debriefing sheet’ that each student had been given by the university. But surprise surprise…they had another son! Taikan is older than Youko by a year, but since he doesn’t live at home anymore they hadn’t mentioned anything about him on the piece of paper. What’s more, he has a girlfriend named Miyuki, who he brought with him! So ultimately it was the six of us, and I was happy as a clam. Miyuki was adorable, I couldn’t get enough of her, and while Okaasan went to pick up sushi for dinner, Taikan and Miyuki and I went to the public bathhouse across town. After the two weeks in Kamogawa, the idea of public baths didn’t scare me at all anymore. I was fearless! Who cares about being naked in front of strangers? Not me. Miyuki was amazed that I wasn’t bothered by it, and I was most definitely the only foreigner in that entire bathhouse. That prompted some stares, but I was kind of used to it by this point and just let it roll off my back.

We returned home precisely as Okaasan returned with the sushi, and the six of us sat down for dinner. After the sushi came the fruit (oh, the fresh fruit! peaches and watermelon and apples, oh my) and after the fruit came the sake. It didn’t take any of us very long to get happy, and I suspect that was due to the fact that my glass magically refilled itself. Otousan [father] constantly had the sake bottle in his hand and I felt like everytime I took a sip, he’d fill it right back up. We must have sat at the table for 2-3 hours while they asked me questions about my life back in America and they told me about themselves. At one point, there was a scratching noise at the window screen and Youko got up to see what it was….he turns back holding a bug and I FREAK OUT. This wasn’t a small bug, either. It was one of those huge-ass beetles, 2-3 inches long, with noses like upturned hooks. And he’s just standing there, letting it sit in his palm. And I’m continuing to freak out. Out of nowhere, the beetle takes off and starts flying, and I just about fainted clear off my chair..but not before destroying everyone’s eardrums with my incessant shrieking. Everyone was in hysterics, Youko caught the bug, and let it back outside. Meanwhile I berated him, calling him a bully. All in good fun, of course.

After dinner people wanted to see pictures associated with various stories I had told over dinner, so I pulled out the laptop and showed pictures of everything from family and friends to Boston, Seattle, Hawaii…picture show-and-tell went on for a good hour or so before everyone decided to call it a night. It had been a long day, after all, and we knew we’d be off to an early start the next day.

I said goodnight to everyone and went in my room, but before going to bed I called Sarah– speaking in nothing but Japanese for half a day had me mentally exhausted, and I needed to talk to someone in English!

***

We got off to quite an early start on Saturday, indeed. I woke up fairly early, but Okaasan was already awake and breakfast was ready! People started meandering in slowly and everyone ate rather quickly before getting ready to head out. Taikan, Miyuki, Youko and I piled into Taikan’s car, and Otousan got into his car, and the five of us took a good old-fashioned roadtrip…just, in separate cars. A couple hours later, we arrived at Matsumoto Castle, which was the first castle I’d seen on my whole trip. It was a gigantic wooden structure whose top half resembled Darth Vader’s helmet, which only made it seem more imposing. The surrounding gardens and moats were beautiful, and mobbed with people. I was super excited to go inside, but before you could go in you had to take off your shoes! The attendant gave you a plastic bag to put them in, but really– in what other country can you say you’ve wandered around a centuries-old castle in bare feet?

We had a lot of fun tooling around inside the castle (Taikan’s favorite activity was swinging from the rafters like a monkey) and enjoying the view. On the backside of the castle we found a gorgeous red bridge, and Otousan wanted to take advantage of it to take some group shots. Just beyond the bridge was an older lady with a bag of bread, feeding the various creatures that lived in the moat. She took about half the bag and doled it out among the four of us younger people so we could help feed them. It was the first time I’ve ever seen swans, fish, and ducks all get along and share their food. I guess in Japan, the spirit of communal harmony exists even among pond-dwellers.

I soon realized the rationale behind bringing two cars…Otousan turned around and headed back to Ina, and the four of us continued on for another hour, maybe two, before we reached our destination. It was a music/culture festival in the middle of Ueda, called Ueda Jam. Miyuki had been before, and we wandered around admiring the talent of all the artists and musicians that had shown up that day. It wasn’t really a hectic afternoon, unless you consider napping under the shade and eating shaved ice to be tiresome activities. We didn’t stay terribly long, but we stayed long enough for Miyuki to meet up with some of her hippie-friends and hear some good music. Shortly thereafter we turned around and headed back to Ina to get ready for the evening’s festivities. I don’t remember much from the ride home, because I passed out from exhaustion…I do remember that Taikan was playing a CD of Disney songs covered in a ska style (which rocked my world) and that tolls on highways in Japan are ungodly expensive.

Miyuki is good at everything. I swear to you, there is nothing this girl cannot do. I would marry her if I could. According to Okaasan, she’s a professional at tying obi, which are the thick pieces of fabric that go around the waist of a person wearing a yukata. So when the time came to get ready for the Ina Matsuri, we were lucky to have her around, considering that I had no idea what was going on, and also considering that Youko and Taikan didn’t have the slightest idea as to how to tie their own obi. When I finished dressing, more fawning commenced, and once everyone was dressed we looked like quite the group.

Okaasan drove us downtown to the festival, and we had a blast. I saw a few of my program-mates, but I think we got there kind of on the late side and a bunch of people had come and gone. I didn’t mind, though! The four of us were having way too much fun. We all shared some takoyaki (deep fried bits of octopus, steaming hot!) and watched the parade. When it comes to Ina’s festival, dancing is a really big deal. And they have a theme song, of sorts, which people dance to. And this song is called “Dancing on the Road.” Innocent enough. And catchy, to a certain extent. But after hearing it about 30 times in a row, I don’t think any of us felt like dancing anymore. But wait! They weren’t done! After playing it for us repeatedly through speakers, we were graced with the presence of a troupe of people with microphones to perform it for us, as sort of a grand finale thing. Oh, joy.

On our way back to the house, we ran into some of Youko’s coworkers…they all seemed very happy to meet me and said that Youko and the family had been looking forward to the homestay for a very long time. Aww! We met up with Okaasan shortly thereafter and drove back to the house, where she had more fruit waiting for us. After we couldn’t eat anymore, we went out to the road in front of the house and lit fireworks! As I said, there aren’t many other people that live around them, so it was really nice to be able to be as loud and raucous as we wanted. Saturday was a super long day…so after we finished the fireworks and got undressed, everyone headed to bed pretty early!

***

When Sunday morning rolled around, I felt myself not wanting to leave! Suprisingly, it was another early morning. After breakfast, we piled into the cars and headed to a shrine up in the mountains…I can’t remember its name for the life of me, but it was beautiful. We walked around and enjoyed the relative quiet. It was really nice just walking around, spending time with everyone (except Okaasan, who had to go to work) and taking silly pictures…well, most of them were silly, save for this one of Miyuki, my future wife. <3 . Actually, we ran into one of my classmates, Marie, while we were up there, so that was a nice surprise.

We stopped someplace for lunch and Okaasan met us there…I had omerice (egg omelet filled with rice…yep) and for dessert, everyone told me to try this amazing ice-cream type dish that was…even now, I’m at a loss for words. It was amazing. And quite possibly the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. It’s impossible to describe because it’s so different from anything I’ve ever eaten before. I gulped down my bowl, and when Okaasan didn’t finish hers, she nudged her bowl in my direction and winked at me. I love that woman. While we were eating, Youko noticed a white girl (hahaha!) in the opposite corner and asked me if it was one of my classmates…I didn’t really care if it was or not, I kind of just wanted to spend time with all of them, but as we all stood up to leave, I noticed it was Megan! That sent me into a tizzy; we were so happy to see each other even though we hadn’t been apart for even 48 hours. While chatting out in the gift shop so as not to disturb Megan’s family and their lunch, who should come along but Sarah! By complete chance, the three musketeers were reunited, and all was right with the world once more.

Then, sadly, it was time to leave. We went back to the house and I packed up all my things, but not before Youko gave me a gift from the family. I was completely taken aback with surprise, and on the front it said: “For Amanda- enjoy your Japanese life!” I will save that wrapping paper forever. The gift itself was a CD that Youko had caught me looking at when we were killing time in Tsutaya on my first night there, Namie Amuro’s BEST FICTION album. I was truly touched. On the way back to city hall for the closing ceremonies, Okaasan and I took a separate car, and we stopped by the grocery store where she works part time. She wanted me to meet her coworkers. Unfortunately, many of them were on their lunch break when we stopped by…but I was able to meet a few! We didn’t stay long, but they seemed very nice, and said that Okaasan hadn’t been able to stop talking about me. Aww. The closing ceremonies flew by, and then it was time for all of us to get back onto our buses and leave. It was all quite sad, but we parted with the promise that we would definitely stay in touch, and whenever I was back in Japan I had to promise to come visit again!

One of the things Andrew really wanted to do before leaving Japan was see a baseball game. Baseball has enjoyed wild success in Japan and your loyalties to a team determine who you hang out with to watch the games. Despite the fierce rivalries between teams, spectators at games are incredibly polite, in the true Japanese tradition.

But, more on that later. We arrived at the Tokyo Dome and meandered around trying to beat the heat and decide what to eat for lunch before the game started. We nearly made a complete circle around the Dome checking out all the restaurants, and then I saw it: California Pizza Kitchen. My heart skipped a beat and despite the line outside, I knew I wouldn’t enjoy my lunch if it came from anywhere but there. The wait was so incredibly worth it. I didn’t notice any differences between the menus used by the chain in the States and the menu at the Tokyo location, and I even started off my lunch extravaganza with some avocado club egg rolls. Pure heaven. And when the barbecue chicken pizza came out, I swear it felt like I was back at home. The food was delicious and just what I needed to get charged up for the baseball game.

Stomachs full, we headed inside to find someplace to stand. (That is the problem with standing room tickets, unfortunately.) The Tokyo Giants took on the Yakult Sparrows in front of a full stadium, and since it was my first major sporting event I was kind of overwhelmed. Tokyo Dome is no Fenway, but there was still an incredible amount of people there. What struck my funny bone was the way the spectators sat according to their team loyalties. These fans were completely crazy. I’d heard about the quirks of Japanese baseball fandom, but experiencing it firsthand was something else entirely. Each team member has their own personal chant, like a theme song, and every time they step onto the field, the crowd of fans burst into song as loud as they possibly can. We stayed for about 7 innings before we couldn’t handle standing anymore. During those entire 7 innings, not once did I hear a single jeer from the crowd. As a New England sports fan, this was absolutely unfathomable to me. It did not compute. For example, when a player from the Giants made a great play, there would be thunderous cheering from the Giants fans, to be sure, but then the Sparrows fans would sit there and clap loudly and un-sarcastically. Even now, hours later, I still can’t wrap my head around all the politeness. I’m from Boston! Polite people don’t belong at sports matches!

We finished up the evening by taking the train out to Yokohama again, grabbing take-out, and sitting on a hill by the harbor while eating and listening to music from a nearby boat. The sunset was indescribably vivid and beautiful, and once the sun vanished completely we wandered over to the amusement park and went up in the Cosmo Clock. I could see all of Yokohama from our little compartment in the mammoth ferris wheel, and the amusement park below looked magical. All in all, it was the perfect ending to our day!

If you’re ever in Japan during the summer (late July through August), chances are you’ll come across at least one fireworks display. Fireworks may be the same the world over, and I’ve personally associated them with the 4th of July and New Year’s Eve, but in Japan they’re a summer staple. Different areas of the country have their regional displays on different days.

Today just so happened to be the massive show in Asakusa, which is one of the largest fireworks displays in the city. I hadn’t known about it until I got on the subway to go to Asakusa to get Andrew and realized that there were *way* too many people on that subway for something to not be happening. (When you’re surrounded by 5x the number of people you usually are and they’re all decked out in festival clothes, you know something’s up.) We eventually figured it out and decided to find some place to park ourselves so we could watch….no dice. We tried both sides of the Sumida River, but the entire section of the city was just mobbed with people. Vehicles were not allowed through, and even if the barricades hadn’t been up, they wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere. The sides of the streets were lined with food vendors and the like, selling some really yummy looking foods. (I indulged in karaage, which is basically a cross between chicken nuggets and fried chicken. Delicious.)

After sitting on a rather uncomfortable curbside for about 20 minutes or so, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we were not going to find a good place to watch these fireworks. To quench his thirst, Andrew was walking around with an open bottle of red wine (…I should probably mention at this point that public drinking laws in Japan are nonexistent). The wine was no substitute for dinner, and I really wanted a cheeseburger, so I suggested we hit up the Hard Rock Cafe.

En route to the subway to go to Roppongi where Hard Rock lives, we took a couple of less-crowded back streets. These streets were only 4-5 square blocks from the Sumida River (over which the fireworks were being set off) but the view was almost completely obstructed because of the high rise apartment buildings. We saw a family sitting outside what must have been their house with a television set up atop a table. There were three adults in swiveling office chairs and two little girls eating some food in front of the TV. Andrew and I walked by, mildly amused (bottle of wine still in hand) and right as we passed into the next block, Andrew stopped me and said that they had been waving at us to come over. I chuckled and kept walking, but then I stopped– remembering what a great conversation I had with the elementary school teachers in Chiyoda, we doubled back and went to go say hello.

The very first thing out of the man’s mouth was, “What can I get you to drink?” He threw open the cooler and pulled out two drinks, and handed one to each of us. I was a little bit flabbergasted. The conversation unfolded very much like the one with the teachers…me trying to communicate as much as I could while translating for Andrew and making sure I didn’t leave out any details. It was a little exhausting! Then the snacks came out, and more drinks were passed around, and we may as well have been sitting in their living room instead of in the middle (literally) of a street.

We actually had a decent view of the fireworks. There was only one large building in the way. What we couldn’t see on TV we watched on the news coverage, which is why they had brought the TV out. (Ingenious.) Maybe about 5-10 minutes into the show, a group of people walked by (a girl and two guys) and they were subsequently sucked into our group. Shenanigans and conversations ensued, and a good time was had by all. One of the guys from the second group and I were chatting, and when I told him I was a student at UW he freaked out, and said he had studied at Shoreline Community College for a semester (which is about 15 mins away by car.) What a small world…Fuuka and Aika were the two little girls, sisters, who were quite shy at first but gradually opened up to chat with me. Aika, the little one, was more interested in her snacks for the majority of the time we were there, but after a little while Fuuka became quite the camera magnet. They were both pretty adorable.

The show ended much too soon…but I still wanted my cheeseburger. Before going our separate ways, we snapped a couple of group photos, exchanged email addresses, and so on. When I asked the man (who had initially offered us the drinks) what his name was so I could come find him again, he said, “There’s no need for names…we were all brought together to share this beautiful evening, and we’re all friends.”

It was pretty damn cool.