Today I made a trip to Kamakura, which is nicknamed "mini-Kyoto," because it has the same traditional Japanese feeling to it. It was very beautiful, not what I'm used to seeing here in the city. I got lots of great photos of the kouyou (fall leaf colors), I saw a traditional wedding (with really interesting outfits, reminded me of Queen Amidala), and I saw a daibutsu (huge Buddha statue). I used Japanese pretty much the whole day, so by the end I felt much better and more able to speak. And I think the alcohol helped, too.
Side-story: this morning, when I got to my home train station, Mitaka, one of the two trains that runs to Shinjuku was out of service and standing still. So EVERYONE got on the same train, and it was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. It was kind of similar to this video:
Yesterday, I went to a Ninja themed restaurant, which was pretty sweet. The whole staff were dressed as Ninjas, and the restaurant itself was very ninja-esque. When we got there, the lady was like “I wonder where you waiter could be…?” Then this little panel was kicked out from the wall and our ninja-waiter did this acrobatics move and jumped into the room. Then he opened the door and took us on our “ninja training” as he called it, which basically consisted of walking through a ton of dark passages. It was pretty sweet though, I definitely wasn’t expecting it. There was one point where he was like “I’m going to use my ninja powers to create a bridge!” And then a bridge came down and we could cross over into the restaurant. It really was a maze, pretty guaranteed to get lost if you went to the bathroom. It looked like a dungeon, too. The menu itself was a scroll. And these two dishes that we got had swords stuck through them, and had smoke billowing out (see photo). The best was the magician though, there are some things he did that I legit don’t understand. At one point, he made me write my name on a card, and then proceeded to do all these tricks with finding that card. At one point, referring to my friend Jackie he was like “Is that your girlfriend?” “Uhh…no…” Then he turned to her and was like “Do you believe in destiny…?” Then he made her choose cards and it was always the one with my name on it. It was a tad awkward. "You two are destined to be." The food itself was really pricey and really small. My 22 dollar meal should have been like 2 dollars, it was tiny. Like maximum 8 bites.
Other than that...today, I found out I'm staying with my host family all year. My host mom sat me down and asked me what I wanted to do, and when I said I wanted to stay she jumped and shook my hand vigorously. She is made of too much adorable. I want to take her home with me.
So I have a collection of train stories. They seem to be the best ones.
-Yesterday, someone jumped in front of my train and we subsequently stopped for 40 minutes while they cleaned up. I am SO glad I wasn't in the front of the train to witness that. God, how scarring that must be for the other people on the platform. It was funny though, at first I thought the announcer said it was because of a "Jishin" (Earthquake), but he actually said "Jinshin" (Person accident). Damn Japanese and it's words that sound exactly alike! So I went around the whole day being like "Did you guys feel the earthquake this morning?" Only to get confused looks. And then today was it pointed out to me.
-(Not exactly a train story, but a transportation story).
Remember how there’s that guy who I usually sit behind and he turns and stares at me for like 10 minutes straight? Maybe I didn't mention that. Well today I made the mistake of sitting in FRONT of him. So the whole ride, he kept whispering “Ohayoo gozaimasu” (Good Morning) right behind me. At first, I thought some crazy was just talking to himself, but eventually (and I saw this out of the corner of my eye, it was creepy as fuck) he leaned over my seat slowly and whispered in my ear “Ohayoo gozaimasu.” At that point, I wanted to be like “OK, personal bubble, it was okay when you were being creepy 5 inches away, but now you are crossing the line.” But I just pretended I didn’t notice. What’s so fascinating about us foreigners anyway?? I don't remember if I mentioned the other loon who daily commutes on the bus, who just reads from the newspaper in a constant stream of babble, and starts laughing maniacally. He must be late 20s or early 30s, but he's dressed in a little school boy uniform. I think this is probably how Japan deals with mentally retarded people. That, or send them to the Coco farm, where they will make wine and bang on gongs to scare away animals (we went there on a field trip, it was soooo lame, but worth it for all the Coco farm references that everyone makes).
-My train experience on Friday was also rather noteworthy.
I was basically the train’s bitch. People kept entering from the other side, and I just kept getting pushed up against the door more and more until I couldn’t breathe. Whenever anyone wanted more space they would just push BACK and I would feel it ALL. Ugh. I had so much pressure built behind me that when my doors finally opened at Shinjuku, I basically face planted out. I managed to maneuver myself by using my one arm that had a little 3 inch radius maneuverability to push myself back before the doors opened, and then catapulted myself out. If I hadn’t done that I most definitely would have had a complete wipe out, or maybe tripped and fell into the gap between the train and platform. I've seen it happen when the trains are really crowded.
-Also, I think it was last Thursday, someone put on the emergency breaks, so that everyone on the train just toppled on top of each other. It was already so crowded, and that did not help the situation. It was kind of funny watching all these people fall over each other though. I was lucky, I was pushed up against a wall, so I didn't go anywhere.
Thar. I hoped you enjoyed my train tales. Stay tuned!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
I can't really think of much to update. A lot has been going on, but nothing particular blog-noteworthy.
But here's a little treasure. You know those girls that I mentioned before who walk ridiculously? Well, I caught one on camera while I was walking down Kichijouji. It's not the best angle, so you can't see the ridiculousness TOO clearly, but it's good enough. Here is the video:
I felt a little creepy trailing this girl and recording her feet, so the video isn't too long.
I have a four day weekend this week, which is reaaally nice. Classes are okay, I have my first essay due next week for Classical Social Theory. The non-Japanese classes are really pretty easy, just lots of reading. But I think I'm about as exhausted as I was back at Skidmore, more due to the everyday things I have to do, like commuting, etc, so it balances out.
