Hi Everyone,
It's been two weeks since my last post. My apologies for the delay. I've been trying to settle down in Victoria. Since the university and college aren't currently looking for anyone to fill any teaching roles, I've been submitting resumes to any place that's asking for them. Hopefully, I'll be at work within the next week or two, depending on things and whatnot.
On a more positive note. . . I mentioned in my last post that I'm going to attempt something new here in Canada, the specific nature of which I never mentioned. Since I'm back, and I'm blogging, and you're reading, I may as well mention it now. I've decided to write a short story and submit it to a writing contest in January. Depending on how this story goes, I may write more-- on top of my current story, I have four other story ideas kicking around. I may end up submitting my stories for publication as well.
Also, my apologies for not updating you on Sailor Moon. I want to write a new post to tide things over until the next piece of the script, but the subject I most want to write about is one that may really spoil things later on in the story. I'll see how it goes.
I'll also try to post new pictures and videos from Japan on Facebook and YouTube. I still have videos from back in July that still need to be posted, but I haven't been able to due to the size of some of the video files invovled. Hopefully, my sister's computer will be able to handle it.
Until next time.
Showing posts with label Japan Trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan Trip. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
My Last Night in Tabata
Since tonight is my last night in Sakura House Tabata, and one of my last nights in Japan for the foreseeable future, I thought that I should write. . . something. Even though Sumidagawa Youth Hostel does have wireless internet and I could, conceivably, write my "last night in Japan" post there tomorrow night, it just wouldn't be the same. So I sit here on the bed upon which I will sleep for one last time, writing what will almost certainly be my last blog post from my first trip to Japan.
In case that last sentence has you worried, let me just say that the sadness I intermittently felt throughout the past month over leaving Japan has past. I had a great, productive day today. Most of my things are packed, my room is vacuumed, the AC filters cleaned, and hell, I even washed the floors. I thought it would be an all day job, but I managed to finish by early afternoon, so I spent the rest of the day walking; through Tabata-shinmachi, then Nishi-Nippori, then Nippori, then all the way to Ueno park, and then back again. At Nippori I ate a beef rice-bowl (one of my staple foods here in Japan, along with ramen, conbini sushi and the absolutely delicious katsu-don) and was complemented for my chopstick skills-- though the flip side of that is I didn't understand she was complimenting me until she had said it for the third or fourth time. Figures, I spend three months in Japan and the skill I most successfully develop involves food, not language.
Tomorrow I stay at the same youth hostel I did when I arrived. I'll likely spend the day in nearby Akihabara, visiting the Tokyo Anime Center (free!) and seeing if I can buy a watch with my 1000 yen AKKY coupon. Then, the next morning-- as early as possible in order to beat the crowds-- I head to Narita airport. Once there, I plan on checking in my luggage, and then visiting nearby Narita-san shrine. My flight doesn't leave until nearly 6 pm, so I should be okay for time. Then its a couple of hours of waiting to board, and then nine hours of likely very little sleep as I fly to back to Canada.
After that. . .
Well, immediately afterward, I'm heading to Victoria to see my sister's new band Pocketknife perform live. Then I'll spend the next week or so getting set up in Victoria, then going back up to PG to see family and friends, pack up more of my stuff, and move it back down. Oh, and somewhere in there I will find time to grab a fucking huge Taco Time Super Beef Burrito meal. And a steak with garlic butter penne. And Daddio's pizza. Seriously, there is so much pizza and pasta in Japan and none of it is done right!
But after that. . . ?
Well. . . school, and. . . work, and. . . tutoring, and. . . well. . . there is one thing I'm gonna try and do once I get back to Canada, something that could set me on the right path in life, or at the very least, be quite an experience. I'll let you know once I get back.
In case that last sentence has you worried, let me just say that the sadness I intermittently felt throughout the past month over leaving Japan has past. I had a great, productive day today. Most of my things are packed, my room is vacuumed, the AC filters cleaned, and hell, I even washed the floors. I thought it would be an all day job, but I managed to finish by early afternoon, so I spent the rest of the day walking; through Tabata-shinmachi, then Nishi-Nippori, then Nippori, then all the way to Ueno park, and then back again. At Nippori I ate a beef rice-bowl (one of my staple foods here in Japan, along with ramen, conbini sushi and the absolutely delicious katsu-don) and was complemented for my chopstick skills-- though the flip side of that is I didn't understand she was complimenting me until she had said it for the third or fourth time. Figures, I spend three months in Japan and the skill I most successfully develop involves food, not language.
Tomorrow I stay at the same youth hostel I did when I arrived. I'll likely spend the day in nearby Akihabara, visiting the Tokyo Anime Center (free!) and seeing if I can buy a watch with my 1000 yen AKKY coupon. Then, the next morning-- as early as possible in order to beat the crowds-- I head to Narita airport. Once there, I plan on checking in my luggage, and then visiting nearby Narita-san shrine. My flight doesn't leave until nearly 6 pm, so I should be okay for time. Then its a couple of hours of waiting to board, and then nine hours of likely very little sleep as I fly to back to Canada.
After that. . .
Well, immediately afterward, I'm heading to Victoria to see my sister's new band Pocketknife perform live. Then I'll spend the next week or so getting set up in Victoria, then going back up to PG to see family and friends, pack up more of my stuff, and move it back down. Oh, and somewhere in there I will find time to grab a fucking huge Taco Time Super Beef Burrito meal. And a steak with garlic butter penne. And Daddio's pizza. Seriously, there is so much pizza and pasta in Japan and none of it is done right!
But after that. . . ?
Well. . . school, and. . . work, and. . . tutoring, and. . . well. . . there is one thing I'm gonna try and do once I get back to Canada, something that could set me on the right path in life, or at the very least, be quite an experience. I'll let you know once I get back.
Friday, October 8, 2010
I Really Hope I'm Not Catching A Cold. . .
Well, it's just eight more days until I return to Canada! I closed my bank account with Shinsei almost a month exactly after I opened it (something I'm really glad to have gotten out of the way, seeing as how I felt awkward about having opened an account without ever using it), and I've gotten most of my final month "wish list" out of the way:
Yokohama & Yokosuka -- Check!
Kawagoe -- Check!
One Last Sailor Moon Location -- Check. . . but it kinda sucked. I may still do another, depending on whatnot.
Kamakura -- Check! Although there was so much to explore there that I couldn't really cover it in the half-day I was there.
Hakone, Mt. Fuji, & Tokyo Disney -- Decided not to go for budget reasons! (that technically counts as getting it "out of the way")
That leaves only one major item remaining on my wish list: Nikko*. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it's considered by the Japanese to be pretty much the most beautiful place on Earth (more or less), so obviously I must see it. I plan to go on Monday-- the morning trains will be busy as all fuck, but I'm counting on Nikko itself to be less crowded, as it's a weekday and all. Expect pictures-- after I get back. Currently I have a pretty huge backlog of pictures that I have yet to upload to Facebook, and I've decided not to bother with it until I get back. It's not like I won't be back in Canada for months and need to update people on my travels.
Aside from the big things, I'm also visiting various gardens, munching on rice bowls & ramen (the cheap fast food of Japan) as well as the exotic burgers of McDonald's Japan ("Salt & Lemon" Chicken Burgers, "Tamago Burgers" aka "Quarter Pounder with EGG!", and most recently the "Fondue Chicken Burger"), walking for absurd distances (yesterday I walked from my house in Tabata-shinmachi all the way to Tokyo Sky Tree, probably over ten kilometers round trip), and sitting at parks, writing bits of Sailor Moon The Movie in my notebook. And in the comfort of home (at least it will be until next Saturday :( ) I've been enjoying the benefits of the internet in unexpected ways:
Starting about a month ago, I started re-watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It really was a good show, though strangely enough, now that I'm watching it, I'm really eager to watch Babylon 5 (during it's run, I dismissed B5 as a low budget Star Trek knockoff, but now I'm willing to another try).
Speaking of SF, I've been reading some of the short stories of Robert J. Sawyer, posted online on his website. Sawyer was introduced to me by my thesis advisor, Dr. Mark Shegelski, who has written his own anthology of cool science fiction stories, Remembering the Future, which is now available on Kindle for $4.99. You can also find his blog here.
I've also been reading Sherlock Holmes stories on the project Gutenberg website. Did you know Holmes was a coke-head? Surprising, no?
On a final note. . . as much as I wanted to have the next piece of the Sailor Moon script up before I left for Canada, I'm afraid it'll have to wait. But for the one or two people still following the script, rest assured that big things are coming. Just you wait!
*There's also a minor item: Narita-san, a large Buddhist shrine just a couple of stops away from the airport. If I'm in good enough shape to haul my luggage there-- or if, more preferably, I can check my heavier bags at the airport and still travel there without any trouble-- I'd like to visit it. It'll be my one last hurrah, and I should have plenty of time since my plane doesn't leave until nearly six in the evening.
Yokohama & Yokosuka -- Check!
Kawagoe -- Check!
One Last Sailor Moon Location -- Check. . . but it kinda sucked. I may still do another, depending on whatnot.
Kamakura -- Check! Although there was so much to explore there that I couldn't really cover it in the half-day I was there.
Hakone, Mt. Fuji, & Tokyo Disney -- Decided not to go for budget reasons! (that technically counts as getting it "out of the way")
That leaves only one major item remaining on my wish list: Nikko*. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it's considered by the Japanese to be pretty much the most beautiful place on Earth (more or less), so obviously I must see it. I plan to go on Monday-- the morning trains will be busy as all fuck, but I'm counting on Nikko itself to be less crowded, as it's a weekday and all. Expect pictures-- after I get back. Currently I have a pretty huge backlog of pictures that I have yet to upload to Facebook, and I've decided not to bother with it until I get back. It's not like I won't be back in Canada for months and need to update people on my travels.
Aside from the big things, I'm also visiting various gardens, munching on rice bowls & ramen (the cheap fast food of Japan) as well as the exotic burgers of McDonald's Japan ("Salt & Lemon" Chicken Burgers, "Tamago Burgers" aka "Quarter Pounder with EGG!", and most recently the "Fondue Chicken Burger"), walking for absurd distances (yesterday I walked from my house in Tabata-shinmachi all the way to Tokyo Sky Tree, probably over ten kilometers round trip), and sitting at parks, writing bits of Sailor Moon The Movie in my notebook. And in the comfort of home (at least it will be until next Saturday :( ) I've been enjoying the benefits of the internet in unexpected ways:
Starting about a month ago, I started re-watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It really was a good show, though strangely enough, now that I'm watching it, I'm really eager to watch Babylon 5 (during it's run, I dismissed B5 as a low budget Star Trek knockoff, but now I'm willing to another try).
Speaking of SF, I've been reading some of the short stories of Robert J. Sawyer, posted online on his website. Sawyer was introduced to me by my thesis advisor, Dr. Mark Shegelski, who has written his own anthology of cool science fiction stories, Remembering the Future, which is now available on Kindle for $4.99. You can also find his blog here.
I've also been reading Sherlock Holmes stories on the project Gutenberg website. Did you know Holmes was a coke-head? Surprising, no?
On a final note. . . as much as I wanted to have the next piece of the Sailor Moon script up before I left for Canada, I'm afraid it'll have to wait. But for the one or two people still following the script, rest assured that big things are coming. Just you wait!
*There's also a minor item: Narita-san, a large Buddhist shrine just a couple of stops away from the airport. If I'm in good enough shape to haul my luggage there-- or if, more preferably, I can check my heavier bags at the airport and still travel there without any trouble-- I'd like to visit it. It'll be my one last hurrah, and I should have plenty of time since my plane doesn't leave until nearly six in the evening.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
It's a Triple Treat!
My three latest Facebook albums:
Kawagoe:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=h#!/album.php?aid=16323&id=100001431858698&ref=mf
Hama Rikyu Gardens:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=h#!/album.php?aid=16325&id=100001431858698&ref=mf
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=h#!/album.php?aid=16327&id=100001431858698&ref=mf
Kawagoe:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=h#!/album.php?aid=16323&id=100001431858698&ref=mf
Hama Rikyu Gardens:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=h#!/album.php?aid=16325&id=100001431858698&ref=mf
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=h#!/album.php?aid=16327&id=100001431858698&ref=mf
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The Imperial Palace Grounds
I've posted two new albums on Facebook featuring pictures from my visits to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. I didn't take the guided tour through the palace itself, but since it's free (I only have to book with the Imperial Household Agency) I just might do it.
Part #1:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=h#!/album.php?aid=16006&id=100001431858698
Part #2:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=h#!/album.php?aid=16007&id=100001431858698&fbid=115176925206702
Part #1:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=h#!/album.php?aid=16006&id=100001431858698
Part #2:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=h#!/album.php?aid=16007&id=100001431858698&fbid=115176925206702
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Sayonara, Nippon
Hi Everyone.
During the past few weeks I've been trying to find work in Japan, with no success. The Japanese economy has been in real trouble since the sub-prime crisis. The yen is skyrocketing, the JET program had to make massive cutbacks in enrollment (which probably played a factor in my being rejected last year), English language schools have been going bankrupt, and as I reported earlier, the Working Holiday Makers Association announced it was going to close it doors just the day before I picked up my visa from the Japanese consulate. This is not to say that I completely blame the economy. . . the truth is, I've been avoiding the fact that I was not ready to make this trip. My Japanese was not nearly as good as I thought it was, and my particular teaching experience was clearly not what the companies I applied to were looking for.
Any prospective jobs that might have been available from now on would not begin until October, and even then, the paychecks would not be given out until late October (in Japan, paychecks are given out monthly, rather than bi-weekly). As my rent was due no later than today, and my money was running out, I faced two options:
1) Continue my lease, with financial help from my family, in the hopes of maybe getting work.
2) Submit my one-month notice of vacation, use my remaining month of time to do the things I wanted to do in Japan (apart from the more unrealistic, like visiting Hokkaido, Kyoto, and Hiroshima), and come back to Canada to look for work.
A couple of days ago, I decided, with great reluctance, that would have to come home. By mid-October I will be back in Canada. From there, I will temporarily return to Prince George before moving to Victoria, where I will seek employment, hopefully at the University of Victoria, Camosun College, or as a private tutor. While there, I also plan to continue learning Japanese, most likely by auditing courses at the University, like I did at UNBC.
I was hard coming to this decision. Yesterday I revisited the Imperial Shrine grounds just outside downtown Tokyo. I came here again because I had taken some beautiful photos of the area which were unfortunately lost. Coming here again, I was filled not with the sense of adventure that I felt durig my first visit, but rather sadness. Call me a sappy sentimentalist if you want, but the truth is, after only two months of living here, I'm already sad to be leaving. This place, despite the short time, despite my inability to communicate effectively, already seemed like home to me. As late as last week, I was convinced that that's exactly what Tokyo would be, at least for the year that my visa was valid.
I want to stress that I'm not giving up on Japan; I will come here again. In the two months I have been here-- leaving aside the stress of job-hunting, not to mention the play "Imagine 9.11" which I'll talk about some other time-- I have had one of the greatest adventures of my life. I lived, however briefly, in one of the world's great metropolises. I engaged with a totally different culture-- two years ago I had not even left Canada or travelled further east than Edmonton. I witnessed Shinto festivals and massive fireworks spectacles. I climbed Mt. Fuji. I fucking met Sailor Moon. And I've only just begun.
As I said, I plan to continue learning Japanese until I achieve some level of fluency. When the time comes-- maybe a year, maybe a few years-- I will come back, perhaps with my family as a tourist, perhaps as a student, perhaps with work already arranged. But I will be back.
And as I said, I ain't leaving tomorrow, either. There's still plenty I wanna do: re-visit Mt. Fuji (I never got any pictures of the mountain from the ground, and my Mom keeps bugging me to put up some pictures with ME in them); visit Nikko; visit Yokohama and Yokosuka; go to Tokyo Disney Sea for a day (money permitting); go to a few more Sailor Moon locations; and hopefully try one more time to get a picture with Miyuu Sawai.
Stay Tuned.
During the past few weeks I've been trying to find work in Japan, with no success. The Japanese economy has been in real trouble since the sub-prime crisis. The yen is skyrocketing, the JET program had to make massive cutbacks in enrollment (which probably played a factor in my being rejected last year), English language schools have been going bankrupt, and as I reported earlier, the Working Holiday Makers Association announced it was going to close it doors just the day before I picked up my visa from the Japanese consulate. This is not to say that I completely blame the economy. . . the truth is, I've been avoiding the fact that I was not ready to make this trip. My Japanese was not nearly as good as I thought it was, and my particular teaching experience was clearly not what the companies I applied to were looking for.
Any prospective jobs that might have been available from now on would not begin until October, and even then, the paychecks would not be given out until late October (in Japan, paychecks are given out monthly, rather than bi-weekly). As my rent was due no later than today, and my money was running out, I faced two options:
1) Continue my lease, with financial help from my family, in the hopes of maybe getting work.
2) Submit my one-month notice of vacation, use my remaining month of time to do the things I wanted to do in Japan (apart from the more unrealistic, like visiting Hokkaido, Kyoto, and Hiroshima), and come back to Canada to look for work.
A couple of days ago, I decided, with great reluctance, that would have to come home. By mid-October I will be back in Canada. From there, I will temporarily return to Prince George before moving to Victoria, where I will seek employment, hopefully at the University of Victoria, Camosun College, or as a private tutor. While there, I also plan to continue learning Japanese, most likely by auditing courses at the University, like I did at UNBC.
I was hard coming to this decision. Yesterday I revisited the Imperial Shrine grounds just outside downtown Tokyo. I came here again because I had taken some beautiful photos of the area which were unfortunately lost. Coming here again, I was filled not with the sense of adventure that I felt durig my first visit, but rather sadness. Call me a sappy sentimentalist if you want, but the truth is, after only two months of living here, I'm already sad to be leaving. This place, despite the short time, despite my inability to communicate effectively, already seemed like home to me. As late as last week, I was convinced that that's exactly what Tokyo would be, at least for the year that my visa was valid.
I want to stress that I'm not giving up on Japan; I will come here again. In the two months I have been here-- leaving aside the stress of job-hunting, not to mention the play "Imagine 9.11" which I'll talk about some other time-- I have had one of the greatest adventures of my life. I lived, however briefly, in one of the world's great metropolises. I engaged with a totally different culture-- two years ago I had not even left Canada or travelled further east than Edmonton. I witnessed Shinto festivals and massive fireworks spectacles. I climbed Mt. Fuji. I fucking met Sailor Moon. And I've only just begun.
As I said, I plan to continue learning Japanese until I achieve some level of fluency. When the time comes-- maybe a year, maybe a few years-- I will come back, perhaps with my family as a tourist, perhaps as a student, perhaps with work already arranged. But I will be back.
And as I said, I ain't leaving tomorrow, either. There's still plenty I wanna do: re-visit Mt. Fuji (I never got any pictures of the mountain from the ground, and my Mom keeps bugging me to put up some pictures with ME in them); visit Nikko; visit Yokohama and Yokosuka; go to Tokyo Disney Sea for a day (money permitting); go to a few more Sailor Moon locations; and hopefully try one more time to get a picture with Miyuu Sawai.
Stay Tuned.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sailor Moon Location Tour, Parts #1-5
Seeing as I'm in Tokyo, I've been taking the time between job-hunting to visit some of the locations that were featured in, or inspired fictitious locations in, the various incarnations of Sailor Moon. The photo's I've taken of these locations have been uploaded to my Facebook as part of my new series, "Sailor Moon Location Tour".
For those who don't follow my Facebook, I've decided to link to the first five parts of the series. I'll paste the Facebook description of each album and provide the link to the album. Additionally, I'll embed videos that I recorded for part #4. Enjoy!
Sailor Moon Location Tour: Hikawa Shrine #1
Sailor Moon Location Tour Part #2: Hikawa Shrine #2-- Motoazabu
Sailor Moon Location Tour #3: Hikawa Shrine in Shirokane-Takanawa
Sailor Moon Location Tour #4 -- Hikawa Shrine Shibuya
Sailor Moon Location Tour Part #5-- Pedestrian Overpass!
For those who don't follow my Facebook, I've decided to link to the first five parts of the series. I'll paste the Facebook description of each album and provide the link to the album. Additionally, I'll embed videos that I recorded for part #4. Enjoy!
Sailor Moon Location Tour: Hikawa Shrine #1
The first part of my new series, touring the real life locations featured in Sailor Moon. For this first part, I'm showcasing Rei "Sailor Mars" Hino's home, Hikawa Shrine. Well, one of them, anyway. See, there are actually THREE Hikawa shrines in Tokyo, and all three of them were either featured in Sailor Moon or somehow influenced the design of a fictional location. The first Hikawa shrine, located in Akasaka, a few hundred meters away from Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown, was used as the model for the shrine featured in the anime.
Sailor Moon Location Tour Part #2: Hikawa Shrine #2-- Motoazabu
The second of Tokyo's three Hikawa Shrines. This one, located in Motoazabu atop the real-life Sendai Hill, is apparently the shrine upon which the Hikawa Shrine in the manga is modelled. Unfortunately, it's quite a bit less visually interesting than the one in Akasaka, which is probably why it was not used as the basis for the anime Shrine.
Sailor Moon Location Tour #3: Hikawa Shrine in Shirokane-Takanawa
The third of Tokyo's Hikawa Shrines. This was (purportedly) one of two shrines used in the filming of the Sailor Moon live action series. In addition to the shrine, there also photos of a neighboring Buddhist temple and cemetary, plus cats and bugs!
Sailor Moon Location Tour #4 -- Hikawa Shrine Shibuya
The fourth of Tokyo's three Hikawa Shrines. . . yeah, it turns out there were more Hikawa shrines than I initially thought. According to the internetz, THIS is the shrine used for the filming of PGSM. I could definitely see some resemblance when re-watching act 3 of PGSM, but the fact that the shrine was hosting its Autumn festival (I think. . .) made it a little hard to tell. The place was far more crowded than any of the other Hikawa shrines I had visited. The pathways throughout the shrine were lined with kiosks selling everything from fried chicken skewers to chocolate bananas to sex toys and posters of gravure idols. . . and yes, there WERE children present. In addition, at the main shrine a Noh play (I think. . .) was being performed, and to top it all off, a Mikoshi (portable shrine) was carried into the Shrine grounds. It was quite an event to behold, especially since I stumbled onto it completely by accident. There are videos of the event as well, which I'll put up as soon as I can.
Here's the link to Act 3 (part #1) of PGSM, if you want to compare. The shrine shows up at about 6:40.
Here's the video of the play that was performed at Hikawa Shrine in Shibuya. The videos are named "Noh Theatre", but as I said, I'm not certain whether it's Noh or Kabuki theatre. If anyone DOES know, a comment would be most appreciated.
And here's the mikoshi, on its way to Hikawa shrine.
Sailor Moon Location Tour Part #5-- Pedestrian Overpass!
A new Sailor Moon location, this time from my own home ward of Kita-ku! Today's location is a pedestrian overpass in Kita-ku's Akabane-dai neighborhood. What's so special about this overpass, you ask? Well, it is ONLY the place where Usagi and Luna first meet in PGSM. And where Usagi and Ami meet. And where Usagi and Ami first meet Rei. And so on.
Here are some videos so you can compare. The first is the PGSM location tour, filmed after completion of the series (unfortunately, the English subtitles are overlayed with Spanish subtitles). The second is the first part of Act 1 of PGSM (skip to about 4:25 for the revelvent scene. . . as well as some of the most powerful acting ever captured on film). As I said, this bridge is featured recurrently in PGSM, so you'll see it in plenty of other spots in the show as well.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
It's Only Been Two Months. .
Since the next part of my Sailor Moon Movie series is Rei-centric, I thought I'd point you to my latest Facebook album, wherein I visit one of Tokyo's three real-life Hikawa Shrines. I'll update the blog as photos come in of the other two shrines.
If I Wrote the Sailor Moon Movie #18: Things I've Noticed About Japan, and how they relate to Rei Hino.
The last piece of the Sailor Moon script, as you may remember, was very Rei-centric. It is for that reason, as well as the fact that Rei is the most "Japanese" of Sailor Moon's characters, that when I consider how my experiences in Japan so far will affect the screenplay, my thoughts most often have turned to Rei.
Racism
For instance, what of the racist, ultra-rightist ideology in which she was raised (in my story, not the original-- see here if you're new to all this and just had a "what the fuck?!" moment)? What have been my experiences with Japan's racism, if any? How do these affect my portrayal of Rei, or Usagi, or Japan in general?
Getting slightly off topic for a moment, the first thing I can tell you is that Rei's bigoted little temper tantrum toward Usagi from the previous part of the script will likely be omitted. If my own experiences so far mean anything, it's that this sort of thing simply wouldn't happen with a character like Rei. In polite Japanese society, anger is not something that explodes under pressure (true in polite Western society as well) but neither is it something that can be forced out in a controlled but direct way, except perhaps in very specific circumstances. Rather, emotions like anger and contempt. . . leak. Like a poisonous gas. If the metaphor seems vague, trust me when I say that it becomes much more tangible when standing in front of a clerk glaring intently at the corner of her desk because she would rather look at that than you. It's for this reason, as well, that I'll likely remove the scene where Papa Hino berates Rei in public. In all other versions of Sailor Moon, Papa Hino is distant, more passively and subtly abusive. This will not only make him truer to the original (and to Japanese culture in general), but also more threatening. After all, what's scarier-- an old man screaming at a teenage girl, or an unseen man whose public face consists of tattooed thugs in suits driving BMW's.
But back to the first main point: how does racism in Japan manifest itself? Some of the most commonly discussed ways are institutional: for instance, restaurants that refuse entry to non-Japanese; restrictive immigration policy that makes naturalization nearly impossible; or, to cite my own experience, banks that refuse to give accounts to those who have not been in the country for less than six months. In these situations and others, it could be argued that there are other factors involved besides xenophobia-- the restaurants in question are very traditional, and the skills needed to attend such places without making an ass of yourself can only be acquired by being raised from childhood in Japanese culture; a country as crowded as Japan can't afford to open its doors to new citizens in the same way as a country like Canada; there could be legitimate security concerns behind the six-month rule for banks. But in addition to these institutional factors there are, of course, the ultra-rightists, who fetishize WWII and love to brag about the length of their intestines. I myself have yet to experience that side of Japanese society personally, apart from my little informal photo-op with an Uyoku Dantai group.
My own experience with racism-- or at least something likely to be racially motivated-- pretty much begins and ends with the infamous "Stare", the intent gaze that certain Japanese, of all genders and ages, give to foreigners, and which is not broken even after said foreigners clearly know they're being watched. It's happened to me so many times that it doesn't even bother me anymore, even in those cases where it's pretty blatant, such as when a Japanese woman cranked her neck back to look at me as she walked past. For this reason, I thought it would be fitting for Usagi's first encounter with Rei to involve the Stare: Usagi, running to school, stops to take a breather, while Rei, walking past, gives her the Stare. She'll likewise give the Stare to other minorities, like the Jain Indian on the bus-- it's better than that stupid "back of the bus" joke.
(As yet another aside-- I'm beginning to realize that I have a lot to get off my chest-- I've decided that the "cultural festival" from Part #4 of the script needs to go. I knew even as I wrote it that it's a contrivance, and I've only grown more uncomfortable with it. Thus, I'll have to think of a new way to get Usagi and Rei to meet.)
As a final note on this topic, I will say that I'll probably become more aware of racism as I get better at Japanese. The foreigners I've met so far have mentioned that they grew "annoyed" with some Japanese as they learned to understand more and more of the language. In a way, my ignorance may have been shielding me.
Losing Her Religion, i.e. Rei's Powers, and How These Connect with Her Beliefs
Something else I've neglected is the question of Rei's powers. Yes, the last part of the script showed that she does have psychic powers but it didn't show her dealing with the fact that she has these abilities. The main focus of Rei's introduction was that she (alone among the Senshi) had developed special powers before becoming a Senshi. These powers lead to Rei being generally feared by the community, with only Usagi willing to befriend her.
The explanation for her powers given in all Sailor Moon incarnations is that she's very deeply into the Shinto. This explanation seemed to satisfy people, and yet it always bothered me. For one, it negates her uniqueness as a reborn magical warrior by suggesting that anyone who puts in equal time and effort studying the rituals of Shinto could acquire the same powers she has. For another, it involves a pretty weird mixing of theologies, not to mention personal beliefs.
On the one hand, you have the "Sailor Moon" theology: ancient kingdoms, magic crystals, alien worlds, superpowers, reincarnation, and even a "Messiah" (their words, not mine!). This theology is, within the context of this fictional universe, very obviously "real". On the other hand, you have an animist religion exclusive to a small archipelago nation, and yet, in the context of Rei's abilities, this belief system is also clearly considered "real". Things only get more muddled in PGSM, whens it's revealed that Rei (as well as Minako) are Christians. Thus, Rei believes that the Judeo-Christian God is the Creator and Lord of the universe and Jesus Christ is the saviour of her soul, and yet she knows that she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior sworn to defend the human reincarnation of a potentially god-like figure. One could make the argument that these beliefs are compatible, but it would be a real stretch. One could also make the argument that this is a show about superpowered girls in sailor suits and I need to chill out, but I think we're WAY past that point now.
My approach to this is tentative. . . there's a lot that I still need to learn about Shinto, and its approaches to other belief systems. Also, one of the few things I do know is that Shinto has long had to accommodate Buddhism, so the questions I'm dealing with are hardly new. My idea will require some more thought, and some more research, and will definitely ruffle a few feathers. It may even seem to contradict the core idea behind Rei. (BTW, if you're only interested in the "Japan Trip" part of this, and don't care about the story, I'll highlight in bold the part of this next segment that's based on my own experiences.) All that said, for your consideration. . .
Every day after school, Rei Hino ran as fast as she could to Hikawa Shrine so she could visit her mother. Despite a congenital heart disease, Rei's mother always managed to put in some work at the shrine. After all, it was a family tradition. On one of these days, Rei happened to spot a pair of ravens sitting on the fence just outside the shrine. The strange thing was, she knew these ravens, though she didn't know how. They were named Phobos and Deimos. Running into the shrine, Rei dragged her mother out to the fence. "Mama," Rei said, gesturing to the birds, "these are my old friends, Phobos and Deimos. Phobos, Deimos, this is my. . ."
She would never finish the introduction. Rei's mother lay on the ground, stricken by a heart attack. She died a few hours later. Rei never left the hospital-- that's how she knew her father never came by to visit. Over time, her father's absence would cause her to resent him, but at the time, her strongest emotion was not anger, or grief, but guilt. At some level, Rei truly believed that she should have seen her mother's death coming. She was told that feeling was normal. . . but no-one else really understood just how deeply serious she was in this belief.
Rei could never imagine that in the following years, she would take her mother's place at the shrine. Following the death, Rei was only just barely able to even live on the same shrine grounds where her mother had died. . . and the suspicions of some of the more superstitious members of the community did little to help. But in time, the grief, as it must, subsided, and guilt was put in its proper place. With her father almost always absent for career reason and her grandfather's mind slowly deteriorating, it was clear she would have to take a more active role in maintaining her family's heritage. And besides, it was tradition.
Tradition. That was the most convenient explanation for Rei's growing devotion to the shrine. It sounded dutiful, appropriately Japanese-- her father would have approved. But in truth, the reason Rei devoted so much of her time to religious duties was because she was good at it. For all her noble qualities, there was always a bit of vanity in Rei, a part of her that needed to feel superior in some way. Her ever growing aptitude in spiritual matters-- an aptitude that seemed, well, unearthly-- certainly fulfilled this need. She absorbed herself in the rituals and duties of a miko, far more so than the typical afterschool volunteers who put in an hour or two of work a day so they could have something nice to put on their college application. No-one was surprised by this-- she was her mother's daughter. Even her father approved; having a devoted miko for a daughter was politically safe (certainly preferable to a daughter who partied every night at Roppongi) and it kept her busy.
Indeed, this period saw a brief reconciliation between father and daughter. As they continued to bond, Rei's father decided that it was time for her to learn the truth about Japan's place in the world, and the various foreign influences who sought to undermine and corrupt the nation he loved. Rei was made to understand that as a miko, she was a guardian of Japan's cultural heritage, responsible for keeping out the barbarians. There were all kinds of inconsistencies in his supposed stance against the evils of Western modernization, but being of the tender age of twelve, she was well able to ignore them, or rationalize them, as need be. Besides, her beloved mother had always seemed ill at ease with those foreigners when she was alive-- now, at last, Rei knew why.
Rei did not remain in her father's favour for long. By the time Rei entered adolescence, she had decided that she would become head priestess of her shrine, a decision she believed her father would approve of. But adolescence changes a father's view of a daughter. Rei was now becoming a woman-- a woman who needed a husband, preferably one of influence. Thus, to her shock, Rei's father enrolled her in a Catholic school, ostensibly so that she could "weigh her options". He also provided her with a proper male in her life, someone "safe"-- after all, it was not healthy for a girl of her age not to be interested in men. Hence, Mamoru, the adopted son of a woman made modestly wealthy by certain unspecified royalty payments-- one who almost seemed like a son of his own-- became her "boyfriend", with the implicit understanding that he was to later become her "husband".
Rei hated her father for this. But, just as she was her mother's daughter, so too was she her father's daughter. She had learned by now the advantages of lying and manipulation, even though she despised it. In fact, as much as she despised it, it contributed in a perverse way to her own sense of superiority. Besides, it's not like her cynical truth telling about men, friendship, and love ever brought her anything worthwhile. Within a short time, she was the "Princess" of TA Academy. Idolized by the girls, ogled by the boys, and in a relationship with a boy who, while a bit bland, at least seemed decent enough (despite her father's endorsement of him), Rei's situation was. . . livable.
But the, one day, something changed, something that shook her out of her sense of arrogant complacency. Two things, actually. The first was the disappearance of a teacher from her school. Unlike with her mother, Rei was actually able to focus her intuition and help find her, if only in a slight way. The second was her attack on a young American girl named "Usagi", who she thought was an evil entity (other than being a foreigner). Not only was she wrong, but her attack, a Shinto enchantment utilizing an Ofuda, was utterly useless; Usagi just batted the Ofuda away like the harmless piece of paper it was.
It was stange. . . seeking her teacher, Rei once again felt spiritually connected, but putting her beliefs into practice later on proved useless. What when wrong. . . for that matter, what went right? In her confusion, Rei went to Ginza one evening. There, dozens of desperate fortunetellers and palmreaders line the sidewalks, sitting at their small candle-lit fold up tables, nodding off in the late night hours, wearing humiliating signs around their necks as they wait in vain for someone to seek their help, hoping against hope to make some money off of their one dubious skill in the midst of a horrible recession. Rei sat with one of these fortunetellers, and had the very beginnings of an epiphany. . .
If I Wrote the Sailor Moon Movie #18: Things I've Noticed About Japan, and how they relate to Rei Hino.
The last piece of the Sailor Moon script, as you may remember, was very Rei-centric. It is for that reason, as well as the fact that Rei is the most "Japanese" of Sailor Moon's characters, that when I consider how my experiences in Japan so far will affect the screenplay, my thoughts most often have turned to Rei.
Racism
For instance, what of the racist, ultra-rightist ideology in which she was raised (in my story, not the original-- see here if you're new to all this and just had a "what the fuck?!" moment)? What have been my experiences with Japan's racism, if any? How do these affect my portrayal of Rei, or Usagi, or Japan in general?
Getting slightly off topic for a moment, the first thing I can tell you is that Rei's bigoted little temper tantrum toward Usagi from the previous part of the script will likely be omitted. If my own experiences so far mean anything, it's that this sort of thing simply wouldn't happen with a character like Rei. In polite Japanese society, anger is not something that explodes under pressure (true in polite Western society as well) but neither is it something that can be forced out in a controlled but direct way, except perhaps in very specific circumstances. Rather, emotions like anger and contempt. . . leak. Like a poisonous gas. If the metaphor seems vague, trust me when I say that it becomes much more tangible when standing in front of a clerk glaring intently at the corner of her desk because she would rather look at that than you. It's for this reason, as well, that I'll likely remove the scene where Papa Hino berates Rei in public. In all other versions of Sailor Moon, Papa Hino is distant, more passively and subtly abusive. This will not only make him truer to the original (and to Japanese culture in general), but also more threatening. After all, what's scarier-- an old man screaming at a teenage girl, or an unseen man whose public face consists of tattooed thugs in suits driving BMW's.
But back to the first main point: how does racism in Japan manifest itself? Some of the most commonly discussed ways are institutional: for instance, restaurants that refuse entry to non-Japanese; restrictive immigration policy that makes naturalization nearly impossible; or, to cite my own experience, banks that refuse to give accounts to those who have not been in the country for less than six months. In these situations and others, it could be argued that there are other factors involved besides xenophobia-- the restaurants in question are very traditional, and the skills needed to attend such places without making an ass of yourself can only be acquired by being raised from childhood in Japanese culture; a country as crowded as Japan can't afford to open its doors to new citizens in the same way as a country like Canada; there could be legitimate security concerns behind the six-month rule for banks. But in addition to these institutional factors there are, of course, the ultra-rightists, who fetishize WWII and love to brag about the length of their intestines. I myself have yet to experience that side of Japanese society personally, apart from my little informal photo-op with an Uyoku Dantai group.
My own experience with racism-- or at least something likely to be racially motivated-- pretty much begins and ends with the infamous "Stare", the intent gaze that certain Japanese, of all genders and ages, give to foreigners, and which is not broken even after said foreigners clearly know they're being watched. It's happened to me so many times that it doesn't even bother me anymore, even in those cases where it's pretty blatant, such as when a Japanese woman cranked her neck back to look at me as she walked past. For this reason, I thought it would be fitting for Usagi's first encounter with Rei to involve the Stare: Usagi, running to school, stops to take a breather, while Rei, walking past, gives her the Stare. She'll likewise give the Stare to other minorities, like the Jain Indian on the bus-- it's better than that stupid "back of the bus" joke.
(As yet another aside-- I'm beginning to realize that I have a lot to get off my chest-- I've decided that the "cultural festival" from Part #4 of the script needs to go. I knew even as I wrote it that it's a contrivance, and I've only grown more uncomfortable with it. Thus, I'll have to think of a new way to get Usagi and Rei to meet.)
As a final note on this topic, I will say that I'll probably become more aware of racism as I get better at Japanese. The foreigners I've met so far have mentioned that they grew "annoyed" with some Japanese as they learned to understand more and more of the language. In a way, my ignorance may have been shielding me.
Losing Her Religion, i.e. Rei's Powers, and How These Connect with Her Beliefs
Something else I've neglected is the question of Rei's powers. Yes, the last part of the script showed that she does have psychic powers but it didn't show her dealing with the fact that she has these abilities. The main focus of Rei's introduction was that she (alone among the Senshi) had developed special powers before becoming a Senshi. These powers lead to Rei being generally feared by the community, with only Usagi willing to befriend her.
The explanation for her powers given in all Sailor Moon incarnations is that she's very deeply into the Shinto. This explanation seemed to satisfy people, and yet it always bothered me. For one, it negates her uniqueness as a reborn magical warrior by suggesting that anyone who puts in equal time and effort studying the rituals of Shinto could acquire the same powers she has. For another, it involves a pretty weird mixing of theologies, not to mention personal beliefs.
On the one hand, you have the "Sailor Moon" theology: ancient kingdoms, magic crystals, alien worlds, superpowers, reincarnation, and even a "Messiah" (their words, not mine!). This theology is, within the context of this fictional universe, very obviously "real". On the other hand, you have an animist religion exclusive to a small archipelago nation, and yet, in the context of Rei's abilities, this belief system is also clearly considered "real". Things only get more muddled in PGSM, whens it's revealed that Rei (as well as Minako) are Christians. Thus, Rei believes that the Judeo-Christian God is the Creator and Lord of the universe and Jesus Christ is the saviour of her soul, and yet she knows that she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior sworn to defend the human reincarnation of a potentially god-like figure. One could make the argument that these beliefs are compatible, but it would be a real stretch. One could also make the argument that this is a show about superpowered girls in sailor suits and I need to chill out, but I think we're WAY past that point now.
My approach to this is tentative. . . there's a lot that I still need to learn about Shinto, and its approaches to other belief systems. Also, one of the few things I do know is that Shinto has long had to accommodate Buddhism, so the questions I'm dealing with are hardly new. My idea will require some more thought, and some more research, and will definitely ruffle a few feathers. It may even seem to contradict the core idea behind Rei. (BTW, if you're only interested in the "Japan Trip" part of this, and don't care about the story, I'll highlight in bold the part of this next segment that's based on my own experiences.) All that said, for your consideration. . .
Every day after school, Rei Hino ran as fast as she could to Hikawa Shrine so she could visit her mother. Despite a congenital heart disease, Rei's mother always managed to put in some work at the shrine. After all, it was a family tradition. On one of these days, Rei happened to spot a pair of ravens sitting on the fence just outside the shrine. The strange thing was, she knew these ravens, though she didn't know how. They were named Phobos and Deimos. Running into the shrine, Rei dragged her mother out to the fence. "Mama," Rei said, gesturing to the birds, "these are my old friends, Phobos and Deimos. Phobos, Deimos, this is my. . ."
She would never finish the introduction. Rei's mother lay on the ground, stricken by a heart attack. She died a few hours later. Rei never left the hospital-- that's how she knew her father never came by to visit. Over time, her father's absence would cause her to resent him, but at the time, her strongest emotion was not anger, or grief, but guilt. At some level, Rei truly believed that she should have seen her mother's death coming. She was told that feeling was normal. . . but no-one else really understood just how deeply serious she was in this belief.
Rei could never imagine that in the following years, she would take her mother's place at the shrine. Following the death, Rei was only just barely able to even live on the same shrine grounds where her mother had died. . . and the suspicions of some of the more superstitious members of the community did little to help. But in time, the grief, as it must, subsided, and guilt was put in its proper place. With her father almost always absent for career reason and her grandfather's mind slowly deteriorating, it was clear she would have to take a more active role in maintaining her family's heritage. And besides, it was tradition.
Tradition. That was the most convenient explanation for Rei's growing devotion to the shrine. It sounded dutiful, appropriately Japanese-- her father would have approved. But in truth, the reason Rei devoted so much of her time to religious duties was because she was good at it. For all her noble qualities, there was always a bit of vanity in Rei, a part of her that needed to feel superior in some way. Her ever growing aptitude in spiritual matters-- an aptitude that seemed, well, unearthly-- certainly fulfilled this need. She absorbed herself in the rituals and duties of a miko, far more so than the typical afterschool volunteers who put in an hour or two of work a day so they could have something nice to put on their college application. No-one was surprised by this-- she was her mother's daughter. Even her father approved; having a devoted miko for a daughter was politically safe (certainly preferable to a daughter who partied every night at Roppongi) and it kept her busy.
Indeed, this period saw a brief reconciliation between father and daughter. As they continued to bond, Rei's father decided that it was time for her to learn the truth about Japan's place in the world, and the various foreign influences who sought to undermine and corrupt the nation he loved. Rei was made to understand that as a miko, she was a guardian of Japan's cultural heritage, responsible for keeping out the barbarians. There were all kinds of inconsistencies in his supposed stance against the evils of Western modernization, but being of the tender age of twelve, she was well able to ignore them, or rationalize them, as need be. Besides, her beloved mother had always seemed ill at ease with those foreigners when she was alive-- now, at last, Rei knew why.
Rei did not remain in her father's favour for long. By the time Rei entered adolescence, she had decided that she would become head priestess of her shrine, a decision she believed her father would approve of. But adolescence changes a father's view of a daughter. Rei was now becoming a woman-- a woman who needed a husband, preferably one of influence. Thus, to her shock, Rei's father enrolled her in a Catholic school, ostensibly so that she could "weigh her options". He also provided her with a proper male in her life, someone "safe"-- after all, it was not healthy for a girl of her age not to be interested in men. Hence, Mamoru, the adopted son of a woman made modestly wealthy by certain unspecified royalty payments-- one who almost seemed like a son of his own-- became her "boyfriend", with the implicit understanding that he was to later become her "husband".
Rei hated her father for this. But, just as she was her mother's daughter, so too was she her father's daughter. She had learned by now the advantages of lying and manipulation, even though she despised it. In fact, as much as she despised it, it contributed in a perverse way to her own sense of superiority. Besides, it's not like her cynical truth telling about men, friendship, and love ever brought her anything worthwhile. Within a short time, she was the "Princess" of TA Academy. Idolized by the girls, ogled by the boys, and in a relationship with a boy who, while a bit bland, at least seemed decent enough (despite her father's endorsement of him), Rei's situation was. . . livable.
But the, one day, something changed, something that shook her out of her sense of arrogant complacency. Two things, actually. The first was the disappearance of a teacher from her school. Unlike with her mother, Rei was actually able to focus her intuition and help find her, if only in a slight way. The second was her attack on a young American girl named "Usagi", who she thought was an evil entity (other than being a foreigner). Not only was she wrong, but her attack, a Shinto enchantment utilizing an Ofuda, was utterly useless; Usagi just batted the Ofuda away like the harmless piece of paper it was.
It was stange. . . seeking her teacher, Rei once again felt spiritually connected, but putting her beliefs into practice later on proved useless. What when wrong. . . for that matter, what went right? In her confusion, Rei went to Ginza one evening. There, dozens of desperate fortunetellers and palmreaders line the sidewalks, sitting at their small candle-lit fold up tables, nodding off in the late night hours, wearing humiliating signs around their necks as they wait in vain for someone to seek their help, hoping against hope to make some money off of their one dubious skill in the midst of a horrible recession. Rei sat with one of these fortunetellers, and had the very beginnings of an epiphany. . .
Saturday, September 4, 2010
I Have Become Even More of What I Hate
After avoiding the nasty things for over a decade, circumstances (namely the need to get a Japanese bank account) have forced me to purchase a cellular phone.
Goddamn I hate this thing. It was easy enough to purchase, thanks to a nice Norwegian fellow named Martin who was getting a prepaid phone as well. I went to the SoftBank store in Shibuya because I was told they have English language service there-- I had never subscribed for mobile service before, and I didn't want to add my confusion with a language barrier. Unfortunately, once I got to the SoftBank store, they told me I had to go to a nearby discount store called Don Quixote (written in Katakana as Don Kihoote) to get prepaid phones. This is where Martin came in, guiding me to the store and serving as an interpreter, which was nice since getting a phone at this discount store when I had come all the way to Shibuya for ENGLISH SERVICE kinda defeated the point. Anyway, after about an hour, I got my phone and came home.
Setting up the hardware was pretty easy too-- slide in a chip and then put in a battery (on a related note, it doesn't come with a charger. . . dammit). Setting up the account, however, was a pain. The automated service I had to dial was, naturally, in Japanese, so I had to fumble about on the internet for a little while until I could figure out how to switch to English. This wouldn't have been SO bad, had it not been for the fact that I also had no idea how to input numbers into the menu. I spent fifteen minutes hitting the number for each menu item and pressing the ENTER button, not knowing that I wasn't supposed to hit ENTER. I only found this out by accident.
To top it all off, since it was cheap (about 3900 Yen for the phone, plus a 3000 Yen prepaid card) the thing is ugly. Take a look:
But at least it's done. Next on my to-do list is, of course, getting a bank account. I tried getting accounts at three big "traditional" banks, Mizuho, SMBC, and MUFG, but was told at all three that I need to be in the country for at least six months before they'll give me an account. Fortunately, after a preliminary job interview at Gaba, I was told that I could get an account at Shinsei bank. They wouldn't give me any trouble over my length of stay. . . but they would need a phone number. Well, with that part out of the way, I'll hopefully have a bank account by Monday.
Goddamn I hate this thing. It was easy enough to purchase, thanks to a nice Norwegian fellow named Martin who was getting a prepaid phone as well. I went to the SoftBank store in Shibuya because I was told they have English language service there-- I had never subscribed for mobile service before, and I didn't want to add my confusion with a language barrier. Unfortunately, once I got to the SoftBank store, they told me I had to go to a nearby discount store called Don Quixote (written in Katakana as Don Kihoote) to get prepaid phones. This is where Martin came in, guiding me to the store and serving as an interpreter, which was nice since getting a phone at this discount store when I had come all the way to Shibuya for ENGLISH SERVICE kinda defeated the point. Anyway, after about an hour, I got my phone and came home.
Setting up the hardware was pretty easy too-- slide in a chip and then put in a battery (on a related note, it doesn't come with a charger. . . dammit). Setting up the account, however, was a pain. The automated service I had to dial was, naturally, in Japanese, so I had to fumble about on the internet for a little while until I could figure out how to switch to English. This wouldn't have been SO bad, had it not been for the fact that I also had no idea how to input numbers into the menu. I spent fifteen minutes hitting the number for each menu item and pressing the ENTER button, not knowing that I wasn't supposed to hit ENTER. I only found this out by accident.
To top it all off, since it was cheap (about 3900 Yen for the phone, plus a 3000 Yen prepaid card) the thing is ugly. Take a look:
But at least it's done. Next on my to-do list is, of course, getting a bank account. I tried getting accounts at three big "traditional" banks, Mizuho, SMBC, and MUFG, but was told at all three that I need to be in the country for at least six months before they'll give me an account. Fortunately, after a preliminary job interview at Gaba, I was told that I could get an account at Shinsei bank. They wouldn't give me any trouble over my length of stay. . . but they would need a phone number. Well, with that part out of the way, I'll hopefully have a bank account by Monday.
Monday, August 16, 2010
They say the man who never climbs Mt. Fuji is a fool. . .
My ass.
Sigh.
It's taken me a few days to put this post together, mostly because of how long and difficult it is to upload large video files to YouTube, but also partly because of how burnt out I've been. See, last Wednesday and Thursday I went on a trip to climb Mt. Fuji. This climb had been on my to-do list since about a year before I left for Japan, ever since I realized that not only could the mountain be climbed, but that there were trails and stations built all the way up to the summit for that very purpose. The climbing season lasts from July to late August-- outside this time, many facilities are closed and the climb becomes much more dangerous-- and beginning Thursday of last week was the peak of the peak season, Obon week, when all of Japan would flock to the mountain and clog up the trails for hours. If I was going to climb the mountain, I had to do it soon.
So, packing a couple of bottles of water, four bags of what I assumed would work as trail mix (peanut clumps glued together with. . . honey?), and a couple of books for when I needed a useful phrase in Japanese, and an extra change of clothes into my backpack, I donned my brand new cloth jacket, borrowed a hiking stick left over in the common area of the house, and took the train to Fuji. It was four in the afternoon when I left. I planned it so that I would climb up all night and reach the summit by dawn. Witnessing sunrise on Mt. Fuji is a long-standing tradition for climbers, and since I didn't plan on climbing the mountain a second time (the continuation of the quote in the title says that the man who climbs Fuji twice is also a fool), I decided that I would climb overnight, even though my original plan was to climb during the day. Climbing at night turned out to be a mized blessing. . . actually, more pureed than mixed, but I'll get to that later.
This was my first real trip into the Japanese countryside (Mt. Takao was still kinda in Tokyo), and the sight of lush mountains and valleys was exhilarating, despite still being mixed in with a sizable amount of urbanization. I captured what I could from the train, and have embedded it below:
I reached the town of Kawaguchiko by nightfall. From there, it was another fifty minute by bus to the Fifth Station, 2300m above sea level, and the highest one can go up Fuji by car. By nine o'clock in the evening, I was off to the top. The nighttime view from the mountain, even near the start of the climb, was beautiful. The lights from the towns that surrounded Mt. Fuji filled the lowlands like lakes and rivers, and the clouds could be clearly discerned from the lights of the stars. I hope that imagery gave you some idea of what I saw, because my camera was next to useless in the dark. I tried to take some images of the towns, but they came out so poorly that they weren't even worth uploading. This is also the reason why there are no images of the trail itself, a mixture of gently sloped switchbacking trails and barely formed stairs made of volcanic boulders, sometimes so steep that they had to be scaled on hand and foot. It was slow going, due to a combination of sleep deprivation and oxygen deprivation, both of which only got worse as I went further up. It took seven hours to reach the eighth station, 370m from the summit, and by then, I knew I wasn't going to see sunrise from the summit. So, I took a seat near the eighth station's highest point, grabbed my camera, and filmed the sunrise. What I've embedded below is basically an hour of time condensed into about twelve minutes. Unfortunately, by the time sun actually comes out, the lens is covered in tiny water droplets and the image is somewhat blurred. . . but I'll get to the water droplets soon enough. For now, the video:
So that was sunrise. From there, I made my way to the summit. However, after climbing another hundred meters or so, I turned back. You may hoave noticed the ebb and flow of clouds that blocked the sunrise. Those clouds were actually forming on the mountain itself. They came in massive gusts, and when they hit, they got me and all the other climbers just a littler bit damper than before. Added to this was the fact that temperatures near the top were near freezing, if not below freezing. So, as I neared the top, saw that the winds were getting worse, that the clouds were obscruing more and more of the surroundings, and that the trail did not seem to be coming to an end, I made the decision to turn back. What was the point of going to the top if I wasn't going to see anything once I got there?
So, I made my way down. That's when things really went to hell. The clouds that formed at the top of the mountain turned into rain as they went further down the slope. . . cold, hard rain that stung skin thanks to the ever increasing winds that came that morning. What should have been a three hour descent to more like four hours, and felt even longer than the climb up. Half way down, I was soked. I had trouble walking without my pants falling down. Yeah, my pants were falling down. Laugh it up, fuzzballs! I was miserable. The trail. . . just. . . kept. . . going. Every time I thought the trail was done, that I had reached the bottom, or the fifth station, it just. . . kept. . .
Well, eventually, I made it, soaked to the core. Everything was wet. My wallet, my passport (fortunately, most of it was protected by a passport cover, but parts of it still needed to sit out and dry) my spare clothes, and my books. One of them was soaked so badly that I'll be amazed if I can ever use it again. My bus ticket was soaked, and for a while I was worried that the driver wouldn't accept it. My money was soaked, so I couldn't use the electric ticket dispensers to buy train tickets home. My camera bag was soaked, and I was afraid of using the camera when it was that wet-- hence the lack of daylight pictures.
God. . . I can only imagine how I smelled.
It was so bad at points that I simply could not imagine getting home. But I did, with very little to show for my trip. This was supposed to have been one of the highlights of my trip to Japan, but it turned out to be a dissappointment. I want to be positive about it-- after all, some good memories came out of it too, like the countryside, the sunrise, and the night view-- but given that I'm still having trouble getting by in Japanese, and the fact that I have to start looking for a job soon despite said lack of skill in Japanese, plus a few other things that have gone wrong. . .
Meh, enough whining.
I went to a party on Sunday, hosted at the Sakura Cafe in Ikebukuro. We played a game where we fished water balloons out of a pool using hooks attached to paper. Since the paper became fragile when wet, it took a lot of careful manipulation to fish the balloons out of the pool. But, somehow, I got the most balloons out of the pool and won free drinks for my team. That's something to be happy about.
Sigh.
It's taken me a few days to put this post together, mostly because of how long and difficult it is to upload large video files to YouTube, but also partly because of how burnt out I've been. See, last Wednesday and Thursday I went on a trip to climb Mt. Fuji. This climb had been on my to-do list since about a year before I left for Japan, ever since I realized that not only could the mountain be climbed, but that there were trails and stations built all the way up to the summit for that very purpose. The climbing season lasts from July to late August-- outside this time, many facilities are closed and the climb becomes much more dangerous-- and beginning Thursday of last week was the peak of the peak season, Obon week, when all of Japan would flock to the mountain and clog up the trails for hours. If I was going to climb the mountain, I had to do it soon.
So, packing a couple of bottles of water, four bags of what I assumed would work as trail mix (peanut clumps glued together with. . . honey?), and a couple of books for when I needed a useful phrase in Japanese, and an extra change of clothes into my backpack, I donned my brand new cloth jacket, borrowed a hiking stick left over in the common area of the house, and took the train to Fuji. It was four in the afternoon when I left. I planned it so that I would climb up all night and reach the summit by dawn. Witnessing sunrise on Mt. Fuji is a long-standing tradition for climbers, and since I didn't plan on climbing the mountain a second time (the continuation of the quote in the title says that the man who climbs Fuji twice is also a fool), I decided that I would climb overnight, even though my original plan was to climb during the day. Climbing at night turned out to be a mized blessing. . . actually, more pureed than mixed, but I'll get to that later.
This was my first real trip into the Japanese countryside (Mt. Takao was still kinda in Tokyo), and the sight of lush mountains and valleys was exhilarating, despite still being mixed in with a sizable amount of urbanization. I captured what I could from the train, and have embedded it below:
I reached the town of Kawaguchiko by nightfall. From there, it was another fifty minute by bus to the Fifth Station, 2300m above sea level, and the highest one can go up Fuji by car. By nine o'clock in the evening, I was off to the top. The nighttime view from the mountain, even near the start of the climb, was beautiful. The lights from the towns that surrounded Mt. Fuji filled the lowlands like lakes and rivers, and the clouds could be clearly discerned from the lights of the stars. I hope that imagery gave you some idea of what I saw, because my camera was next to useless in the dark. I tried to take some images of the towns, but they came out so poorly that they weren't even worth uploading. This is also the reason why there are no images of the trail itself, a mixture of gently sloped switchbacking trails and barely formed stairs made of volcanic boulders, sometimes so steep that they had to be scaled on hand and foot. It was slow going, due to a combination of sleep deprivation and oxygen deprivation, both of which only got worse as I went further up. It took seven hours to reach the eighth station, 370m from the summit, and by then, I knew I wasn't going to see sunrise from the summit. So, I took a seat near the eighth station's highest point, grabbed my camera, and filmed the sunrise. What I've embedded below is basically an hour of time condensed into about twelve minutes. Unfortunately, by the time sun actually comes out, the lens is covered in tiny water droplets and the image is somewhat blurred. . . but I'll get to the water droplets soon enough. For now, the video:
So that was sunrise. From there, I made my way to the summit. However, after climbing another hundred meters or so, I turned back. You may hoave noticed the ebb and flow of clouds that blocked the sunrise. Those clouds were actually forming on the mountain itself. They came in massive gusts, and when they hit, they got me and all the other climbers just a littler bit damper than before. Added to this was the fact that temperatures near the top were near freezing, if not below freezing. So, as I neared the top, saw that the winds were getting worse, that the clouds were obscruing more and more of the surroundings, and that the trail did not seem to be coming to an end, I made the decision to turn back. What was the point of going to the top if I wasn't going to see anything once I got there?
So, I made my way down. That's when things really went to hell. The clouds that formed at the top of the mountain turned into rain as they went further down the slope. . . cold, hard rain that stung skin thanks to the ever increasing winds that came that morning. What should have been a three hour descent to more like four hours, and felt even longer than the climb up. Half way down, I was soked. I had trouble walking without my pants falling down. Yeah, my pants were falling down. Laugh it up, fuzzballs! I was miserable. The trail. . . just. . . kept. . . going. Every time I thought the trail was done, that I had reached the bottom, or the fifth station, it just. . . kept. . .
Well, eventually, I made it, soaked to the core. Everything was wet. My wallet, my passport (fortunately, most of it was protected by a passport cover, but parts of it still needed to sit out and dry) my spare clothes, and my books. One of them was soaked so badly that I'll be amazed if I can ever use it again. My bus ticket was soaked, and for a while I was worried that the driver wouldn't accept it. My money was soaked, so I couldn't use the electric ticket dispensers to buy train tickets home. My camera bag was soaked, and I was afraid of using the camera when it was that wet-- hence the lack of daylight pictures.
God. . . I can only imagine how I smelled.
It was so bad at points that I simply could not imagine getting home. But I did, with very little to show for my trip. This was supposed to have been one of the highlights of my trip to Japan, but it turned out to be a dissappointment. I want to be positive about it-- after all, some good memories came out of it too, like the countryside, the sunrise, and the night view-- but given that I'm still having trouble getting by in Japanese, and the fact that I have to start looking for a job soon despite said lack of skill in Japanese, plus a few other things that have gone wrong. . .
Meh, enough whining.
I went to a party on Sunday, hosted at the Sakura Cafe in Ikebukuro. We played a game where we fished water balloons out of a pool using hooks attached to paper. Since the paper became fragile when wet, it took a lot of careful manipulation to fish the balloons out of the pool. But, somehow, I got the most balloons out of the pool and won free drinks for my team. That's something to be happy about.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
I Have Become Everything I Hate
So I got one of those Facebooks. . . cause I heard it would be good for finding jobs. . . and stuff.
Seriously, I have no idea how any of this works. I signed up at around 7:50 PM Tokyo time, i.e. just before four in the morning Prince George time, and within minutes I got five friend requests! And I'm not even sure how many of these people I actually know!
Facebook. . . more like Assbook.
So, I guess, look me up under Jeremy Kavka.
Seriously, I have no idea how any of this works. I signed up at around 7:50 PM Tokyo time, i.e. just before four in the morning Prince George time, and within minutes I got five friend requests! And I'm not even sure how many of these people I actually know!
Facebook. . . more like Assbook.
So, I guess, look me up under Jeremy Kavka.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
The Canadian Who Went Up a Train Platform and Came Down a Mountain
So Thursday I decided I need to get out of Tokyo, or at least out of downtown Tokyo. Thanks to Google Earth, I knew that the western-most portion of Tokyo Prefecture, specifically the area near the town of Takao, rather abruptly transitioned from dense semi-urban landscape to dense, hilly jungle. Expecting to do some strolling through small town streets and, maybe, a bit of of the surrounding hills, I pakced my backpack (which contained my Japanese books, a jug of water, and my camera, which I am NEVER leaving behind again!) and took the hour and a half long ride on the Chuo Line Rapid from Shinjuku to Takao.
But by the end of the day I had climbed a mountain-- namely, the 599 meter Mount Takao. It started innocently enough. After walking through the towns near Takao station, I came across a sign displaying a map of nearby trails. As I was hoping for a chance to actually travel into the forested hills, as opposed to merely admiring them from afar, I was thrilled. I arrogantly dismissed the peaks 599 meter height, the main trail's 3.8 kilometer length and the estimated 90 minute climbing time. After all, I'm losing weight I think, and I used to go sporadically to Tae Kwon Do so I have the nubile body of a long distance gymnast!* More seriously, I saw this a sort of dress rehearsal for my climb up Mount Fuji, which I have to get done during August while facilities are still open. So, I began the climb. I estimate that during the first kilometer, I climbed about half the mountain's height, an average grade of about 33%. Even assuming I only climbed a third of the height, that's still a 20% grade. Keep in mind that the steepest hills on, say, the Pemberton run are at about a 13% grade. And I was doing this on foot.
Given Tokyo's lovely summertime combination of heat and humidity, my clothes were drenched in sweat as a result of this climb. It was so bad that I actually went to a washroom, ran my shirt under water, rang it out and, while still damp, wore it. Three times. I figured my shirt is gonna be drenched anyway, so it may as well be drenched with water and not sweat.
I actually considered giving up, not knowing at the time just how hard this climb is really considered to be and just how much of an accomplishment it is to climb it, even if I am stopping every fifty-to-one hundred meters to take a break. But I realized that if I'm gonna make the leap in climbing Fuji, I'd better not quit on some rinky dink little mountain like this. So, after two hours of climbing (partly for breaks, partly for sightseeing) I made my way to the summit. As I neared the top, nearly every passerby greeted me. One lady even yelled out "HEROO!" while waving her hands enthusiatically. Was it because of special understanding, a bond, formed between those who climbed the mountain on foot? Was it tradition to greet everyone you meet along this particular passage? Was it because of the oft-noted politeness of the Japanese people? Am I just being melodramatic about this? Whatever the case. . . I kinda lost my train of thought, so here's some videos. If you really squint, you can see downtown Tokyo fifty kilometers distant in some of these shots.
*I case you're wondering, yes, that term is meaningless.
But by the end of the day I had climbed a mountain-- namely, the 599 meter Mount Takao. It started innocently enough. After walking through the towns near Takao station, I came across a sign displaying a map of nearby trails. As I was hoping for a chance to actually travel into the forested hills, as opposed to merely admiring them from afar, I was thrilled. I arrogantly dismissed the peaks 599 meter height, the main trail's 3.8 kilometer length and the estimated 90 minute climbing time. After all, I'm losing weight I think, and I used to go sporadically to Tae Kwon Do so I have the nubile body of a long distance gymnast!* More seriously, I saw this a sort of dress rehearsal for my climb up Mount Fuji, which I have to get done during August while facilities are still open. So, I began the climb. I estimate that during the first kilometer, I climbed about half the mountain's height, an average grade of about 33%. Even assuming I only climbed a third of the height, that's still a 20% grade. Keep in mind that the steepest hills on, say, the Pemberton run are at about a 13% grade. And I was doing this on foot.
Given Tokyo's lovely summertime combination of heat and humidity, my clothes were drenched in sweat as a result of this climb. It was so bad that I actually went to a washroom, ran my shirt under water, rang it out and, while still damp, wore it. Three times. I figured my shirt is gonna be drenched anyway, so it may as well be drenched with water and not sweat.
I actually considered giving up, not knowing at the time just how hard this climb is really considered to be and just how much of an accomplishment it is to climb it, even if I am stopping every fifty-to-one hundred meters to take a break. But I realized that if I'm gonna make the leap in climbing Fuji, I'd better not quit on some rinky dink little mountain like this. So, after two hours of climbing (partly for breaks, partly for sightseeing) I made my way to the summit. As I neared the top, nearly every passerby greeted me. One lady even yelled out "HEROO!" while waving her hands enthusiatically. Was it because of special understanding, a bond, formed between those who climbed the mountain on foot? Was it tradition to greet everyone you meet along this particular passage? Was it because of the oft-noted politeness of the Japanese people? Am I just being melodramatic about this? Whatever the case. . . I kinda lost my train of thought, so here's some videos. If you really squint, you can see downtown Tokyo fifty kilometers distant in some of these shots.
*I case you're wondering, yes, that term is meaningless.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Earthquakes? In Japan?
It's true. I've been through earthquakes since I came to Tokyo. Not major, life-threatening earthquakes, or even lesser property-damaging earthqaukes, but minor vibrations in the ground, which I tend to notice while lying in bed.
Anyway. . . Much has been happening, and many photos have been taken, but I haven't been uploading them because the process is so tedious, eg. to upload a four minute YouTube video takes about three hours. Plus, I only have so much space available on my hard drive for photos and raw & edited movies. Sure, Akihabara is only a few kilometers away, but I still have trouble going to the damn convinience store, and buying something as simple as an overpriced alarm clock in Ginza* was a Byzantine liguistic experience. I can only imagine how hard it would be to buy an external hard drive.
Nonetheless, I do have a few updates. Here are a few pictures of Tabata neighborhood, where I live.
My house, at the very end:
A typical back street:
Meiji Street, near my house:
The sidewalk near Tabata station:
Finally, the tracks, my link to the rest of Tokyo:
I've done my fair share of sightseeing in Tokyo recently, but the pictures have yet to make it to my computer. The videos below were taken during one of my most recent trips, to Meiji Shrine. It was too much of a hassile to make one large video, so I broke it up into parts. Enjoy:
Finally, if anyone still cares, I'll be putting up a new Sailor Moon post pretty soon, mostly about how my experiences in Japan so far have caused me to rethink various aspects of the script. 'Til then!
*"Overpriced in Ginza" is likely redundant.
Anyway. . . Much has been happening, and many photos have been taken, but I haven't been uploading them because the process is so tedious, eg. to upload a four minute YouTube video takes about three hours. Plus, I only have so much space available on my hard drive for photos and raw & edited movies. Sure, Akihabara is only a few kilometers away, but I still have trouble going to the damn convinience store, and buying something as simple as an overpriced alarm clock in Ginza* was a Byzantine liguistic experience. I can only imagine how hard it would be to buy an external hard drive.
Nonetheless, I do have a few updates. Here are a few pictures of Tabata neighborhood, where I live.
My house, at the very end:
A typical back street:
Meiji Street, near my house:
The sidewalk near Tabata station:
Finally, the tracks, my link to the rest of Tokyo:
I've done my fair share of sightseeing in Tokyo recently, but the pictures have yet to make it to my computer. The videos below were taken during one of my most recent trips, to Meiji Shrine. It was too much of a hassile to make one large video, so I broke it up into parts. Enjoy:
Finally, if anyone still cares, I'll be putting up a new Sailor Moon post pretty soon, mostly about how my experiences in Japan so far have caused me to rethink various aspects of the script. 'Til then!
*"Overpriced in Ginza" is likely redundant.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
I Paid 4000 Yen to go to a Women's Department Store and Watch a Play Written for Five Year Old Girls, and it Made me Feel Like a Man.
I realized for the first time today that Brother's Grimm stories may be the only stories in existence where the main character is actually a MacGuffin.
Take Snow White. What real purpose does Snow White herself serve to the story? She doesn't really develop as a character. . . hell, she barely even acts as a character. The entire plot consists of the vaiorus reactions different people have to her existence-- the Queen, the Hunter, the Prince, the Dwarves-- without the character herself having to be at all active or interesting in any way. In other words, a MacGuffin.
So what brought on this little insight?
It starts with my insecurity about my Japanese language ability. I've been getting gradually better at picking apart the various sentences I hear from the various people I have encountered in Japan, but to a still fairly large extent I've sounded and acted like the typical dumb Gaijin. My anxieties came to a head yesterday. I decided to see if I could find the location where the musical play Snow White was being performed-- why I wanted to see the play, I'll get to in a moment. I found the location easily, but upon arriving, I realized that I might have some difficulty in obtaining tickets, due to my lingual deficiencies. So, I left, despondent.
That night, I felt terrible. I worried that I might have blown my only chance to reserve tickets to this play. I beleived, at the time, that this play might be the only chance I get to see Miyuu Sawai in person. That's right, Miyuu Sawai, former live action Sailor Moon, had the lead role in a stage adaptation of Snow White, one whose run just happened to correspond with my arrival in Japan. I decided that night that I must at least try to get tickets; melodramatic as it sounds, this was about more than meeting a former pseudo-Sentai star. . . it was about self-resepct.
So I went again today, this time (mostly) prepared: I brought a hairbrush (so that I would look presentable to ticket booth lady) and my Japanese books, so I could figure out how to ask for a reservation. I travelled to the famous Mistukoshi department store in Nihonbashi, the officially protected historical site wherein the theatre was located. I cracked open my books, took down notes, considered every possibile contingency-- the tickets are sold somewhere else, the tickets are sold out for the day, the tickets are sold out period-- and, fully prepared, went to the front desk to reserve my ticket.
In all, it took about two minutes. I paid 4000 yen for a ticket that very day. I spent the next hour and a half or so bombing around the department store and buying a 500 yen prepackaged nigiri lunch. . . which, as it will turn, was not the wisest use of my time, but more on that later. At 2 o'clock, I took my seat. Between then and beginning overture, the seats swelled with three-to-five year old girls and their mothers, along with a few older girls and boys. I was the only foreigner in the whole theatre. . . though interestingly, I was not the only adult male not accompanying children. At 2:30, the show began. . .
. . . Miyuu Sawai, centre stage, dancing with two professional ballerinas. A nice touch. . .
. . . The Queen. This actress, who appears to have operatic voice training, was so deliciously over-the-top that I thought she was going to steal the show. The ballerinas are now her evil minions. . .
. . . I kid you not, the voice of the magic mirror is a dead fucking for Zordon from Power Rangers. The octave, the voice enhancement effect-- it was dead on. I half expected the mirror to order Alpha to summon five teenagers with attitude. . .
. . . Miyuu Sawai and the Prince start singing. If you don't know already, Miyuu Sawai, as her character Usagi Tsukino, released two "character singles" to help promote Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Her singing in the play was quite a notch better. . .
. . .The Queen, spurned by the prince and consumed with jealosy, casts a spell on him which causes him to act like an instructor at the William Shatner school of stage fighting. . .
. . . I haven't really mentioned Sawai's performance yet, so I may as well now. Apart from the fact that she plays the least interesting "lead" character ever written, Sawai is, well, Sawai. That is, she displays a lot of the rather irritatingly forced mannerisms (unsubtle in all the wrong ways) while at the same time offering numerous glimpses of what she's truly capable of as an actress. . .
. . . JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THE DWARVES JUST BURST THORUGH THE SIDE DOOR AND NOW THEY'RE MARCHING THROUGH THE AISLES SINGING LOUDLY!! But seriously, it's The Fucking Dwarves who steal the show. Consisting of two men and five women, they are the comedic heart and soul of this play, mugging and pratfalling flawlessly. . .
. . . And thirty minute intermission. . .
. . . It turns out this "musical" consists of one song being repeated over and over again, and it's not a catchy song. . .
. . . Turns out princess can't cook worth a shit. I actually really liked that part. Must be the anti-royalist lefty in me, though the reaction from the always kickass dwarves really sold it. . .
. . . So we're an hour and a half in and Snow White still hasn't been poisoned. . .
. . . Oh, wait, Snow white was poisoned, Prince was broken out of prison, Prince somehow found Snow White in the middle of the woods, Queen somehow found him in the middle of the woods, big fight, Queen was killed when Prince fired Hunter's bow, kiss, wake up, lovey love love, but wait, Snow White can't leave the dwarves behind but the Prince understands. . . all in about the last ten minutes of the play. . .
That's curtain. Miyuu Sawai and the Prince bow, then the Dwarves bow, then the Queen and Hunter and others all bow, and show's over.
OR IS IT?
. . . Before I go on, there's something I have to confess. You're gonna hate me for it, nearly as much as I hate myself for it.
I didn't bring my camera.
It would be one thing if I simply forgot. But no, I made a deliberate decision not to bring my camera. I wasn't even sure that I would get to see the play at all, let alone that very day. And I was certain that whenever I did get to see the play, I wouldn't be allowed to take photos, nor would there be any photography of the actors taking place. So, I decided that it wouldn't be worth the hassle to bring the camera.
By the end of the play, this seemed like it had been a wise decision. The curtain down, the lights came on, and everybody filed out the door. But, as the audience made their way down the main hall, we were stopped by one of the theatre employees.
"Oh no," I thought. "You're not. . . Don't tell me. . . No, no, you short bald Japanese man, don't do this to me! Don't--"
And then it happened. Miyuu Sawai, the prince, and five of the seven dwarves all filed out of the same exit the audience had taken and lined up against the wall to pose for photos. Children lined up all the way back into the fucking theatre, waiting for their chance to pose with the characters of the play, while I stood just across from them, not ten feet away from the live action Sailor Moon herself.
Fuck me.
I seriously debated whether or not to stay. The line up, mostly kids and moms with a few scattered teenage girls and adult men, was pretty damn long. Plus, I was not, shall we say, exactly the target demographic of this enterprise. Eventually, sheer economic considerations won out-- I paid 4000 yen for this, I may as well get the whole experience, camera or not.
Thus, when the last of this kids passed through, I walked up to the first dwarf. She stood up (they had all been kneeling down for the kids up till this point) took my hand, and said "Arigato Gozaimasu". . . followed by "Ooki!", i.e. "Big!" I replied with my own "Arigato Gozaimasu", nodded at the mention of my size, and moved on to the next dwarf, who smiled, took my hand, thanked me, and also remarked at my size. This pattern was repeated as I made my way through the dwarves, with one of the actresses having the courtesy to break the monotony by saying "thank you very much" in English. . . followed by another remark at my size. Then came the prince. He stood up, shook my hand, thanked me in a very deep voice and then, despite being probably a good six feet tall himself, also said "ooki!" Honestly, I can't really sure whether they were shocked at how tall I was or, given the notorious ambiguity of the Japanese language, they were very politely asking what the hell someone of my age was doing at a play like this.
Up until this point I had been avoiding eye contact with Miyuu Sawai, so as not to weird her out. In retrospect, this may have actually been a mistake, given how our meeting went. After the dwarves, and the prince, finally, I came to Miyuu Sawai. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of me-- being incredibly vain, I like to imagine that she was pleasantly surprised at the sight of a gaijin fan, especially one possessing the novelty of hugeness. She took my hand, like all the others, and thanked me for coming, and I thanked her in return. I made no mention whatsoever of Sailor Moon, thinking that it might be inappropriate for this particular venue. This is about Snow White damn it, not a role Miyuu Sawai stopped playing back in 2005. Again, in retrospect this might have been a mistake. In trying to play it as cool as I could, I worry that I may have given the impression that I had no clue who Miyuu Sawai was. To her, I was probably just some Gaijin out for a really childish day of entertainment, who had no idea at all with whom he was shaking hands.
So, after a few simple words, I parted hands with Miyuu Sawai and made my way into the crowd that awaited their chance to take yet more photos of the cast. I stood just outside the crowd, taking one last look. As the crowd broke into one last burst of applause, Miyuu Sawai caught one last glimpse of me and waved. If you've ever seen me give my dorky wave. . . well, that's the wave I gave her back, out of pure instinct. The actors retreated back into the theatre, and the crowd dispersed. I walked off, with a mixture of satisfaction, a strange lack of excitement, and extreme regret at not having brought my camera. A regret which would later be joined by a further regret at not saying, "hey, I really like you in Sailor Moon."
But, there are always second chances. It turns out that the same theatre company behind this production of "Snow White" is at work producing another play, called "Imagine 9/11". . . I could not think of more diametrically opposite subject matter. And indeed, Miyuu Sawai is slated to star in this new play. Whether or not I get the chance to meet Sawai again, I am interested in seeing this play. But I will bring the damn camera this time.
Take Snow White. What real purpose does Snow White herself serve to the story? She doesn't really develop as a character. . . hell, she barely even acts as a character. The entire plot consists of the vaiorus reactions different people have to her existence-- the Queen, the Hunter, the Prince, the Dwarves-- without the character herself having to be at all active or interesting in any way. In other words, a MacGuffin.
So what brought on this little insight?
It starts with my insecurity about my Japanese language ability. I've been getting gradually better at picking apart the various sentences I hear from the various people I have encountered in Japan, but to a still fairly large extent I've sounded and acted like the typical dumb Gaijin. My anxieties came to a head yesterday. I decided to see if I could find the location where the musical play Snow White was being performed-- why I wanted to see the play, I'll get to in a moment. I found the location easily, but upon arriving, I realized that I might have some difficulty in obtaining tickets, due to my lingual deficiencies. So, I left, despondent.
That night, I felt terrible. I worried that I might have blown my only chance to reserve tickets to this play. I beleived, at the time, that this play might be the only chance I get to see Miyuu Sawai in person. That's right, Miyuu Sawai, former live action Sailor Moon, had the lead role in a stage adaptation of Snow White, one whose run just happened to correspond with my arrival in Japan. I decided that night that I must at least try to get tickets; melodramatic as it sounds, this was about more than meeting a former pseudo-Sentai star. . . it was about self-resepct.
So I went again today, this time (mostly) prepared: I brought a hairbrush (so that I would look presentable to ticket booth lady) and my Japanese books, so I could figure out how to ask for a reservation. I travelled to the famous Mistukoshi department store in Nihonbashi, the officially protected historical site wherein the theatre was located. I cracked open my books, took down notes, considered every possibile contingency-- the tickets are sold somewhere else, the tickets are sold out for the day, the tickets are sold out period-- and, fully prepared, went to the front desk to reserve my ticket.
In all, it took about two minutes. I paid 4000 yen for a ticket that very day. I spent the next hour and a half or so bombing around the department store and buying a 500 yen prepackaged nigiri lunch. . . which, as it will turn, was not the wisest use of my time, but more on that later. At 2 o'clock, I took my seat. Between then and beginning overture, the seats swelled with three-to-five year old girls and their mothers, along with a few older girls and boys. I was the only foreigner in the whole theatre. . . though interestingly, I was not the only adult male not accompanying children. At 2:30, the show began. . .
. . . Miyuu Sawai, centre stage, dancing with two professional ballerinas. A nice touch. . .
. . . The Queen. This actress, who appears to have operatic voice training, was so deliciously over-the-top that I thought she was going to steal the show. The ballerinas are now her evil minions. . .
. . . I kid you not, the voice of the magic mirror is a dead fucking for Zordon from Power Rangers. The octave, the voice enhancement effect-- it was dead on. I half expected the mirror to order Alpha to summon five teenagers with attitude. . .
. . . Miyuu Sawai and the Prince start singing. If you don't know already, Miyuu Sawai, as her character Usagi Tsukino, released two "character singles" to help promote Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Her singing in the play was quite a notch better. . .
. . .The Queen, spurned by the prince and consumed with jealosy, casts a spell on him which causes him to act like an instructor at the William Shatner school of stage fighting. . .
. . . I haven't really mentioned Sawai's performance yet, so I may as well now. Apart from the fact that she plays the least interesting "lead" character ever written, Sawai is, well, Sawai. That is, she displays a lot of the rather irritatingly forced mannerisms (unsubtle in all the wrong ways) while at the same time offering numerous glimpses of what she's truly capable of as an actress. . .
. . . JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THE DWARVES JUST BURST THORUGH THE SIDE DOOR AND NOW THEY'RE MARCHING THROUGH THE AISLES SINGING LOUDLY!! But seriously, it's The Fucking Dwarves who steal the show. Consisting of two men and five women, they are the comedic heart and soul of this play, mugging and pratfalling flawlessly. . .
. . . And thirty minute intermission. . .
. . . It turns out this "musical" consists of one song being repeated over and over again, and it's not a catchy song. . .
. . . Turns out princess can't cook worth a shit. I actually really liked that part. Must be the anti-royalist lefty in me, though the reaction from the always kickass dwarves really sold it. . .
. . . So we're an hour and a half in and Snow White still hasn't been poisoned. . .
. . . Oh, wait, Snow white was poisoned, Prince was broken out of prison, Prince somehow found Snow White in the middle of the woods, Queen somehow found him in the middle of the woods, big fight, Queen was killed when Prince fired Hunter's bow, kiss, wake up, lovey love love, but wait, Snow White can't leave the dwarves behind but the Prince understands. . . all in about the last ten minutes of the play. . .
That's curtain. Miyuu Sawai and the Prince bow, then the Dwarves bow, then the Queen and Hunter and others all bow, and show's over.
OR IS IT?
. . . Before I go on, there's something I have to confess. You're gonna hate me for it, nearly as much as I hate myself for it.
I didn't bring my camera.
It would be one thing if I simply forgot. But no, I made a deliberate decision not to bring my camera. I wasn't even sure that I would get to see the play at all, let alone that very day. And I was certain that whenever I did get to see the play, I wouldn't be allowed to take photos, nor would there be any photography of the actors taking place. So, I decided that it wouldn't be worth the hassle to bring the camera.
By the end of the play, this seemed like it had been a wise decision. The curtain down, the lights came on, and everybody filed out the door. But, as the audience made their way down the main hall, we were stopped by one of the theatre employees.
"Oh no," I thought. "You're not. . . Don't tell me. . . No, no, you short bald Japanese man, don't do this to me! Don't--"
And then it happened. Miyuu Sawai, the prince, and five of the seven dwarves all filed out of the same exit the audience had taken and lined up against the wall to pose for photos. Children lined up all the way back into the fucking theatre, waiting for their chance to pose with the characters of the play, while I stood just across from them, not ten feet away from the live action Sailor Moon herself.
Fuck me.
I seriously debated whether or not to stay. The line up, mostly kids and moms with a few scattered teenage girls and adult men, was pretty damn long. Plus, I was not, shall we say, exactly the target demographic of this enterprise. Eventually, sheer economic considerations won out-- I paid 4000 yen for this, I may as well get the whole experience, camera or not.
Thus, when the last of this kids passed through, I walked up to the first dwarf. She stood up (they had all been kneeling down for the kids up till this point) took my hand, and said "Arigato Gozaimasu". . . followed by "Ooki!", i.e. "Big!" I replied with my own "Arigato Gozaimasu", nodded at the mention of my size, and moved on to the next dwarf, who smiled, took my hand, thanked me, and also remarked at my size. This pattern was repeated as I made my way through the dwarves, with one of the actresses having the courtesy to break the monotony by saying "thank you very much" in English. . . followed by another remark at my size. Then came the prince. He stood up, shook my hand, thanked me in a very deep voice and then, despite being probably a good six feet tall himself, also said "ooki!" Honestly, I can't really sure whether they were shocked at how tall I was or, given the notorious ambiguity of the Japanese language, they were very politely asking what the hell someone of my age was doing at a play like this.
Up until this point I had been avoiding eye contact with Miyuu Sawai, so as not to weird her out. In retrospect, this may have actually been a mistake, given how our meeting went. After the dwarves, and the prince, finally, I came to Miyuu Sawai. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of me-- being incredibly vain, I like to imagine that she was pleasantly surprised at the sight of a gaijin fan, especially one possessing the novelty of hugeness. She took my hand, like all the others, and thanked me for coming, and I thanked her in return. I made no mention whatsoever of Sailor Moon, thinking that it might be inappropriate for this particular venue. This is about Snow White damn it, not a role Miyuu Sawai stopped playing back in 2005. Again, in retrospect this might have been a mistake. In trying to play it as cool as I could, I worry that I may have given the impression that I had no clue who Miyuu Sawai was. To her, I was probably just some Gaijin out for a really childish day of entertainment, who had no idea at all with whom he was shaking hands.
So, after a few simple words, I parted hands with Miyuu Sawai and made my way into the crowd that awaited their chance to take yet more photos of the cast. I stood just outside the crowd, taking one last look. As the crowd broke into one last burst of applause, Miyuu Sawai caught one last glimpse of me and waved. If you've ever seen me give my dorky wave. . . well, that's the wave I gave her back, out of pure instinct. The actors retreated back into the theatre, and the crowd dispersed. I walked off, with a mixture of satisfaction, a strange lack of excitement, and extreme regret at not having brought my camera. A regret which would later be joined by a further regret at not saying, "hey, I really like you in Sailor Moon."
But, there are always second chances. It turns out that the same theatre company behind this production of "Snow White" is at work producing another play, called "Imagine 9/11". . . I could not think of more diametrically opposite subject matter. And indeed, Miyuu Sawai is slated to star in this new play. Whether or not I get the chance to meet Sawai again, I am interested in seeing this play. But I will bring the damn camera this time.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
I'm still uploading stuff from when I was staying at the hostel. . .
Sensoji Shrine, a famous Buddhist shrine and market in Asakusa:
The Edo-Tokyo Museum:
Tokyo Tower-- why go up to the observation deck of the Metropolitan Government Building for free when you can get the same view for1200 800 yen? Actually, there are two levels to Tokyo Tower, but to access the second level, you have to pay about 1200 yen:
The Edo-Tokyo Museum:
Tokyo Tower-- why go up to the observation deck of the Metropolitan Government Building for free when you can get the same view for
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Another Milestone Met. . .
Today, I saw my first black van. In fact, I saw a whole mini-convoy of Uyoku Dantai propoganda wagons circling the National Diet building. Uyoku Dantai is the term used for Japanese ultra right-wing groups, of which there are estimated to be about 100,000. Many of these groups are believed to be fronts for the Yakuza. I've known about these groups for years, and today, I finally saw one of them in action:
Somehow, that terrible song they were playing reminds me of this:
Somehow, that terrible song they were playing reminds me of this:
Saturday, July 17, 2010
I'm Home! (So to speak. . .)
Yesterday, I moved into my new place. It's a guest house, owned by the Sakura House company, located in Tabata neighborhood. Showers, bathrooms, kitchen, and living room are all shared, but I get my own air conditioned bedroom where I can keep all my stuff. Take a look:
As I imagined it would be, it was absolutely horrendous to move my stuff from Asakusabashi to Tabata, esspecially since I had to go to Shinjuku in between in order to sign the lease agreement.
The day started on a weird note. The night before I left, a rather strange man who (I think) could only speak very little Japanese checked in to the hostel. This man decided, on his own, that he and I were friends, and proceeded to pester me all the next morning, from looking over my shoulder to see what I'm doing on my laptop to following me on his bicycle all the way to the damn subway station! At one point, I actually tried to lose him by going into a store (he followed me, of course) and then darting out when he wasn't looking and running into a back alley. He found me, of course, and for the next ten or so minutes he followed me until I reached my station. I was really getting worried that he would try to ride my train, but fortunately he just said goodbye and continued on his way. I'm sure he thought he was trying to be friendly. . . but there was something very strange about him, like he was constanly drunk. I don't know whether he has a mental illness or whether he really was just drunk, but I was glad to be rid of him.
Getting to Shinjuku was alright. . . getting from Shinjuku to Tabata was hell. The station I went to was clearly not designed for people with heavy bags-- or at least, not the part of the station I found myself in. I had to haul my bags down sets of stairs, and then UP sets of stairs, about three separate times. Then, when I finally DID make it to the line I was to take to Tabata, I found that the only escalator I could find took me up to a train that was headed in the complete opposite direction of where I needed to go. By that point, I decided I would take the train anyway-- it was on a loop, so it would take me to Tabata, just in a longer amount of time. I arrived, haulded my stuff though a few blocks to tight streets, and, well, here I am.
Anyway, I've been cooped up here long enough. I need to get out, get something to eat, and see the sights. I have a whole bunch of video of Tokyo Tower and a huge shrine in Asakusa. . . come to think of it, there's a whole bunch of video that I've already uploaded, but haven't put on the blog yet. I'll get right on that!
My trip to Shinjuku (an earlier trip, not the one I took on my way to the guest house):
A trip to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building:
As I imagined it would be, it was absolutely horrendous to move my stuff from Asakusabashi to Tabata, esspecially since I had to go to Shinjuku in between in order to sign the lease agreement.
The day started on a weird note. The night before I left, a rather strange man who (I think) could only speak very little Japanese checked in to the hostel. This man decided, on his own, that he and I were friends, and proceeded to pester me all the next morning, from looking over my shoulder to see what I'm doing on my laptop to following me on his bicycle all the way to the damn subway station! At one point, I actually tried to lose him by going into a store (he followed me, of course) and then darting out when he wasn't looking and running into a back alley. He found me, of course, and for the next ten or so minutes he followed me until I reached my station. I was really getting worried that he would try to ride my train, but fortunately he just said goodbye and continued on his way. I'm sure he thought he was trying to be friendly. . . but there was something very strange about him, like he was constanly drunk. I don't know whether he has a mental illness or whether he really was just drunk, but I was glad to be rid of him.
Getting to Shinjuku was alright. . . getting from Shinjuku to Tabata was hell. The station I went to was clearly not designed for people with heavy bags-- or at least, not the part of the station I found myself in. I had to haul my bags down sets of stairs, and then UP sets of stairs, about three separate times. Then, when I finally DID make it to the line I was to take to Tabata, I found that the only escalator I could find took me up to a train that was headed in the complete opposite direction of where I needed to go. By that point, I decided I would take the train anyway-- it was on a loop, so it would take me to Tabata, just in a longer amount of time. I arrived, haulded my stuff though a few blocks to tight streets, and, well, here I am.
Anyway, I've been cooped up here long enough. I need to get out, get something to eat, and see the sights. I have a whole bunch of video of Tokyo Tower and a huge shrine in Asakusa. . . come to think of it, there's a whole bunch of video that I've already uploaded, but haven't put on the blog yet. I'll get right on that!
My trip to Shinjuku (an earlier trip, not the one I took on my way to the guest house):
A trip to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building:
Monday, July 12, 2010
So Yesterday, I saw Tokyo Sky Tree, Learned About Tokyo's Tragic Past, and Made Jet Lag my Bitch. . . Plus, my first ever emoticon!
Hi everyone,
I've now finished my second full day in Tokyo. Unfortunately, I only remembered to bring my camera with me for the first day. . . :(
Fortunately, I didn't really do anything interesting on the second day. Really, the most important thing I did today was to get some food; on my first full day here, I actually forgot to eat. Okay, not really. . . I grabbed a plate of microwave spaghetti and meatsauce from Seven-Eleven, and for what it was, it was pretty damn tasty. But still, most of my sustanance came in the form of strange, undoubtably unhealthy drinks available at vending machines placed on every third block or so. There were green teas, tea colas, Welche's grape juice, coconut colas (I think), orange juice/tea mixes. . . AND THIS!
A 500 ml can of Coke! And you what's really sick? When I went to the Seven-Eleven, I saw 500ml cans of Coke being sold with a "bonus" 125ml, like 500ml cans are somehow insufficient!
Kiss those dreams of me losing weight goodbye!
Anyway, the other good news is that I saw plenty of interesting things on that first day, some of which I'll share with you today. I say "some of which" because, frankly, there are so many pictures that I can't hope to upload all of them to the blog. So instead, I'm gonna try uploading everything to an online photo album, so I can clear off my hard drive without losing anything.
The day's events can be grouped into various highlights. Highlight #1: Tokyo Sky Tree.
Tokyo Sky Tree
I walked out of the hostel not really knwoing what to expect. I went down the road, made a right turn, and headed to the Sumidagawa river. That's when I saw it:
The Tokyo Sky Tree. When it's completed in 2011, it will be the tallest man made structure outside the Middle East, at a height of ~630m. I saw it, briefly, on the train ride into Tokyo, but I had no idea I would be THIS close to it when I arrived. Once I saw it, I knew that one way or another, I would get to it and see it up close. And that's exactly what I did:
It was a gruesome walk of ~3km through some of the muggiest weather I've ever encountered-- imagine summertime Denver with about 700% humidity-- but I made it.
Yokoamicho Park
On the way to Tokyo Sky Tree, I happened to pass by Yokoamicho Park, essentially a very beautiful monument to Tokyo's misery. In addition to a garden, there were monuments and buildings dedicated to both the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1925 and the Tokyo fire bombings of WWII. At the centre of it all was a massive shrine:
There was also a monument dedicated to "children sufferers":
Sadly, the monument dedicated to the victims of the fire bombings was kind of disaster itself:
A much more effective memorial to the fire bombings lay jusy fifty feet away: actual items molten down by the fires:
Here's a video I put together:
Yokoami-cho Garden
After making my way to Tokyo Sky Tree, I started to walk back toward the hostel. Unfortunately, I passed the street that I was supposed to take back to get to Asakusabashi, and after a series of misadventures that took me to an eight story tall shopping mall, I eventually made my way to the so-called "Old Yokoami-cho Garden", not far from the Yokoamicho garden I visited earlier that day. No videos here, just pictures:
Next time: Shinjuku!
I've now finished my second full day in Tokyo. Unfortunately, I only remembered to bring my camera with me for the first day. . . :(
Fortunately, I didn't really do anything interesting on the second day. Really, the most important thing I did today was to get some food; on my first full day here, I actually forgot to eat. Okay, not really. . . I grabbed a plate of microwave spaghetti and meatsauce from Seven-Eleven, and for what it was, it was pretty damn tasty. But still, most of my sustanance came in the form of strange, undoubtably unhealthy drinks available at vending machines placed on every third block or so. There were green teas, tea colas, Welche's grape juice, coconut colas (I think), orange juice/tea mixes. . . AND THIS!
A 500 ml can of Coke! And you what's really sick? When I went to the Seven-Eleven, I saw 500ml cans of Coke being sold with a "bonus" 125ml, like 500ml cans are somehow insufficient!
Kiss those dreams of me losing weight goodbye!
Anyway, the other good news is that I saw plenty of interesting things on that first day, some of which I'll share with you today. I say "some of which" because, frankly, there are so many pictures that I can't hope to upload all of them to the blog. So instead, I'm gonna try uploading everything to an online photo album, so I can clear off my hard drive without losing anything.
The day's events can be grouped into various highlights. Highlight #1: Tokyo Sky Tree.
Tokyo Sky Tree
I walked out of the hostel not really knwoing what to expect. I went down the road, made a right turn, and headed to the Sumidagawa river. That's when I saw it:
The Tokyo Sky Tree. When it's completed in 2011, it will be the tallest man made structure outside the Middle East, at a height of ~630m. I saw it, briefly, on the train ride into Tokyo, but I had no idea I would be THIS close to it when I arrived. Once I saw it, I knew that one way or another, I would get to it and see it up close. And that's exactly what I did:
It was a gruesome walk of ~3km through some of the muggiest weather I've ever encountered-- imagine summertime Denver with about 700% humidity-- but I made it.
Yokoamicho Park
On the way to Tokyo Sky Tree, I happened to pass by Yokoamicho Park, essentially a very beautiful monument to Tokyo's misery. In addition to a garden, there were monuments and buildings dedicated to both the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1925 and the Tokyo fire bombings of WWII. At the centre of it all was a massive shrine:
There was also a monument dedicated to "children sufferers":
Sadly, the monument dedicated to the victims of the fire bombings was kind of disaster itself:
A much more effective memorial to the fire bombings lay jusy fifty feet away: actual items molten down by the fires:
Here's a video I put together:
Yokoami-cho Garden
After making my way to Tokyo Sky Tree, I started to walk back toward the hostel. Unfortunately, I passed the street that I was supposed to take back to get to Asakusabashi, and after a series of misadventures that took me to an eight story tall shopping mall, I eventually made my way to the so-called "Old Yokoami-cho Garden", not far from the Yokoamicho garden I visited earlier that day. No videos here, just pictures:
Next time: Shinjuku!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
I'm Here!
Hi everyone!
It's now 7:30 AM Tokyo time, July 11. . . I wonder if that's what it will say on the "date published"? After all, when I logged in today, all the instructions were suddenly in Japanese, and. . .
Well, anyway. I'm safe and sound at Sumidagawa Youth Hostel in Tokyo. Japan so far has proven to be full of surprises, both good and bad. I'll post up some pictures and video later, but for now I just wanted everyone to know that I'm okay.
Oh, and jet lag? Pssh!
It's now 7:30 AM Tokyo time, July 11. . . I wonder if that's what it will say on the "date published"? After all, when I logged in today, all the instructions were suddenly in Japanese, and. . .
Well, anyway. I'm safe and sound at Sumidagawa Youth Hostel in Tokyo. Japan so far has proven to be full of surprises, both good and bad. I'll post up some pictures and video later, but for now I just wanted everyone to know that I'm okay.
Oh, and jet lag? Pssh!
Friday, July 9, 2010
I'm Off!
By this time tomorrow, I'll be in Tokyo!
In fact, because of the drastic time change, I probably won't get any sleep between now and this time tomorrow.
And I'll probsbly be lost.
Stay tuned!
And if you STILL haven't read the latest part of Sailor Moon, click here.
In fact, because of the drastic time change, I probably won't get any sleep between now and this time tomorrow.
And I'll probsbly be lost.
Stay tuned!
And if you STILL haven't read the latest part of Sailor Moon, click here.
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