We’ll two posts ago I told you of my worst decision in Japan thus far, my ill fated and ridiculously expensive cab ride to the Toyota Museum, this week finds my best decision to date. Although tired from the night before I decided to join my friend Ryan, his girlfriend Alaynna as well as new friends Joseph and Gwen to a monthly event of football and grilling at a park in Nagoya held by a group of foreign teachers for my sister company AEON (the adult education arm of Amity/AEON). After a JR ride to the Ozone station and a subway ride we arrived at a large park on the outskirts of Nagoya to find a large group of about 25 teachers consisting of mostly Americans, Canadians and Aussie’s and their friends, spouses, children etc. From there we spend several hours drinking some beers, grilling store bought food and then engaging in a massive 8 on 8 touch football game. I was even able to make myself valuable in the game as I drew the responsibility of blocking all 6’ 5” of my new friend Adam who played offensive line in both high school and college. You know someone is big when I can be considered smaller and quicker and I was able to hold my own in the game, even catching a few passes against competition well often 10 years my junior or more. One of the funnier parts of the game was a Japanese guy in glasses wandering sheepishly towards the field, as the game was about to get underway. As I started over to him he asked if he could join and then asked how to play. To truly appreciate the complexity of American football you really need to try and explain how to play to a Japanese guy 15 seconds prior to the first snap. I believe my instructions for defense were to knock down anything that comes your way unless you can catch it and if you can do that, go for it. The funniest part of the game occurred when this same guy actually jumped a route on a wide out and succeeded in knocking down a pass on a key 4th down. As the rest of our team began stalking over to his position for some celebrating and some high fives I could see the guy had real fear in his eyes. He did not seem real sure we were not all approaching to attack him since I do not think he was clear if what he had done was in fact good or not. Fortunately as all the guys began high fiving and slapping him on the back for his heads up defensive play a small smile crept across his face when he finally realized he had in fact “done good”. From there after darkness fell the group headed back to the subway after a stop for some “subway beers” (drinking in public in Japan is perfectly fine) before heading to the Hub in Sakae for some post football socializing. After the Hub a smaller group headed next door to Joy Joy Karaoke were we screamed our way through the cheesiest songs we could find before parting ways prior to midnight so everyone could make their trains before the midnight deadline. As I headed back to the train I walked with some new Japanese friends, Hiro, Yoshi and Mami as we were all headed back to Kasugai. Even better Yoshi decided he could not allow me to eat late night 7-11 so we walked well after midnight to a 24 hour Ramen shop where he introduced me to Tonkotsu Ramen (pork bone broth ramen) and while it is not yet ready to move cheese steak off my best foods to eat after midnight it was damn fine none the less. Honestly being here is often exhilaratingly so different from anywhere else that it can excite you like nothing else. But many times you do find yourself craving experiences more like your home, I suppose its just human nature.
After a rather uneventful week at work (we like those) I headed out Saturday to Nagoya to see three of my friends DJ at my other new hangout, Club Maverick. Before getting to the club I smartly decided to save myself the hassle of worrying about what to do after the trains stop running and stopped at Kanayama to drop off my bags and secure a capsule hotel for the night. Since this was now my second stay in a capsule hotel the process seemed to go much more smoothly than my initial visit.
I learned the following:
· Before stepping up to check-in remove your shoes, this prevents the desk clerk from running after you and admonishing you about your kutsu (shoes) in Japanese in front of giggling Japanese men in pajamas.
· The creepy guy with his hands down his pants asleep in the TV lounge is just that creepy, not dangerous.
· The smell of the common areas, which resembles that old cooler you forgot to unpack from the summer trip to Sea Isle that you then found in November, is normal (the smell is not normal just that it always smells that way).
· Lastly the red button in the capsule turns on the adult channel, not altogether a bad thing just be warned this may lead to a rather embarrassing following morning when as you go to turn your key in the desk clerk will begin trying to explain check-out is not yet complete. You may persist in arguing that you paid last night only to have said clerk begin to speak more loudly so that it is overheard by many other people waiting around the front desk. Finally when it is clear to the clerk you still do not understand he will be forced to use crude hand gestures to make you understand why you still owe 500 yen for last night’s stay. The group milling around will begin to smile and then laugh as a Japanese man uses his hands and fingers to explain to you what an “adult channel” is. Finally you will suffer the indignation of having to ride down to the ground floor with all these people as they explain to each other and any new people getting on the elevator just what this American was up to at the front desk.
Save yourself the trouble; do not touch the red button. Not that the above story happened to me actually it happen to a friend of mine.
After dropping my bags I made my way to the club meeting up with my co teacher as well as one of our Japanese teachers from school who both decided to come out for the night. The rest of the night was really fun as I spent the night talking with m new group of friends from earlier in the week and even joined them for a post club night finishing up again at karaoke. Although I must say I was never a huge fan of it in the states it is quite fun here in Japan. As I closed out the week heading back to the capsule in the wee hours of the morning I again felt euphoric that I was really starting to “get my feet under me in Japan.
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