"It's a Quest for Fun"! Week 16 Dec 21rst-Dec 27th

My hopes of rising at 5:30AM were both ridiculous and unattainable as I slept thru the alarm but fortunately woke around 6:30AM to begin my journey to Tokyo Disneyland.  After a bus ride, JR train from Kasugai to Nagoya, Shinkansen from Nagoya to Tokyo and then a 2^nd JR train from Tokyo out to Disneyland I arrived at the park on what had turned out to be a rather gorgeous December day with the sun shining and temps in the near low 50’s.  After stowing my large bag I met up with my former training group in Tommorowland at around noon.  It was great seeing everyone again as I had said in earlier posts it was difficult leaving out little group when we all arrived in Japan.  The stressful week of training in a foreign country formed some close bonds in only a week so it was great to see everyone after Amity had scattered us to schools all over Japan once training was completed.  Right away I was the fortunate recipient of Shaan’s Fast Pass ticket for Space Mountain, as she was feeling a little ill after the previous night, so my first Disney ride in some time was probably the best, Space Mountain.  From there we were able to ride Star Tours (Star Wars themed ride) as well as take in a 3D movie called “Micro Adventures” which we came to find out was actually “Honey I Shrunk the Audience” which I had seen years ago at Epcot Center in Disney World Orlando.  From there we picked up a late straggler, Joel who had also overslept due to his late night at a friend’s birthday party and waited in line for my favorite ride, Pirates of the Caribbean.  The ride, which has been updated in all the Disney parks, has all the old characters but now includes an animatronic Geoffrey Rush reprising his Barbossa character as well as at least 3 or 4 of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow character from the popular Pirates movie series.  The new Jack Sparrow’s were actually creepy in their realism and we swore they were a real person for a second or two.  The park was gorgeously decorated for Christmas and even though it was mid December the crowds were there to prove it.  I am not sure but one of the people in our group said that entrance to the park was actually suspended later in the afternoon as the crowd reached over 500,000 for the day.  For the remainder of the day I was able to get one more ride on Space Mountain prior to closing, as well as Space Jets and Thunder Mountain Railroad with Ted and I taking advantage of the shorter lines during the Electrical Light Parade.  The only two main differences were the Japanese affinity for waiting in line and the food.  Early on all of us jumped in a relatively short 15-20 minute line assuming it was for some ride we could check off our list only to find out after waiting near 25 minutes that it was a line to gain special seating during the closing character show.  Ultimately we did not win upgraded tickets but I can’t imagine people in the States waiting this long for the hope of better seating at a Disney show.  Also on several occasions we noticed huge lines of nearly 100 people snaking around the park only to find it was people waiting in line for a particular style of popcorn.  I love popcorn as much as the next person but I can’t imagine waiting in line upwards of what seemed to be 30-40 minutes just for chocolate popcorn.  Also lines of near the same amount waited patiently to have their picture taken in front of a Buzz Lightyear plastic life size figurine.  Again the park was similar to what you might find in the States other than the food, which was quite different to say the least.  After spotting a sign for “churros” Shaun and myself hopped in the short line only to determine when ordering that these were not the more typical cinnamon churros but actually “honey-lemon” flavor.  The group who all tried it agreed with my assumption that it tasted like a old foot sprayed with Lemon Pledge.  In fact the taste was so horrific we kept taking bites of the thing just to see if it was actually as bad as we believed it to be (it was).  Also it seems interesting to me that the Japanese never submit a simpler alternative when it comes to theme park food.  After finding a pizza place in Tommorowland we came to find that the two types of pizza where either Chicken and Mushroom or Snow Crab.  It seems like just giving a “plain pizza” option makes more sense as it might be difficult to have the masses determine which they like less on a pizza, mushrooms or crab.  Either way I opted for the crab pizza and have to say it was pretty good.  All in all seeing the foods you would not find on the States just showed how good Disney is at marketing to a global audience, in Orlando its burgers and fries before a ride on a roller coaster in Japan you find omelet rice and Japanese curry.  Upon leaving the park at 10PM we headed back on the JR train and then the Tokyo subway to our capsule hotel in the suburbs that Shaan had booked us all in.  Although it was a great place for the money (about $24.00) the hotel was not near as nice at the capsule I have stayed at twice here in Nagoya in fact my bottom capsule felt like I was trying to enter a dog house as I scrambled on my hands and knees to enter.  To close out the night the entire group headed to karaoke (what else) for a few drinks before calling it a night.  I crawled on my stomach into my “room” and fell asleep quickly after the long day.

     For Day 2 most of the group headed back to the park to tackle the second theme park, DisneySea with myself Krysta and Garnett heading to Shibuya in Tokyo to hang out on what was a not so great cold and drizzly day unlike the previous days weather.  Tokyo is such a large and daunting city to see in a day we decided to stay put and just chill out and really we did little more than hit up the large Tower Records where I happily plunked down about 8 dollars for an English Time Magazine with Barrack Obama as it’s Man of the Year.  From there we exhibited more behavior of Americans (and Canadians) starved for a taste of home as we hit up the TGI Friday’s where we tore into a 3 for All Appetizer which should be called “Three Things You Will Never See in Japan”, mozzarella sticks, hot wings and potato skins.  I swear I had tears in my eyes when I saw real Bleu Cheese being served with the wings, amazing.  After our late lunch we checked out the famous Shibuya Crossing where I am told (need to fact check this) over 1 million people cross thru each and every day before saying goodbye and catching the Shinkansen home to Nagoya.

     Tuesday while not only being the Emperor of Japan’s birthday also happens to be my birthday I stayed close to home and enjoyed the day off before returning to work on Christmas Eve.  I know many of you have asked but the holidays passed for me with little fanfare since without the family and the friends, the plans and the parties you sort of forget its Christmas.  I did however thanks to my great family have many presents to open and did so for a while in front of my webcam on Christmas day as I checked in on the celebrations at home.  On Christmas night Sam and I took the train to Nagoya to meet up with some friends and had a few drinks at the Aussie bar, Red Rock to celebrate the holiday. 

     On Friday Ryan, Sam, Sayaka, Gwenn and I headed to the Backbeat as happily the group keeps getting larger in support of my two friends and owners, Kazuhiko and Mikka.  I was surprised and touched when around 11PM Kazuhiko started to clear the spot in front of me with the assumption that he was either preparing to close or to kick me out only to see him carrying a small cake affixed with 7 candles in celebration of my birthday.  After cutting into the cake the entire group including some of the bar regulars enjoyed the very typical and exotic delicacy of cold draft beer and birthday cake.  An interesting question has been asked of me recently as to what is the best or my favorite part of Japan thus far.  Stumped both times it was posed to me I now may have a good answer.  Perhaps all the castles, shrines and kimonos are great but what is best about being here is two new friends who speak little English consulting an English dictionary so they can properly and precisely write “Happy Birthday Brian” on a cake they made special for you.  I think that thus far has been the best part

It’s Him!  One of the nice things about being in a smaller Japanese town is the possibility of running into your students outside of school.  And from the reaction most children find it akin to running into Barney the Purple Dinosaur outside of school.  While eating at Denny’s (yes, that Denny’s) I was seated at a booth directly next to two young girls and their mother who take several classes at school.  As they watched intently as I ordered and began eating my lunch the older girl presented me with her placemat as they left in which she had drawn a likeness of me.  In it my head is grotesquely large and my face bears a resemblance to some type of half man, half ape being only know to be me by the lack of hair on my head replaced with some dots where hair would normally be.

Happy New Year You Idiot It seems that New Year’s cards are both popular to send and receive during the holiday so I was quite happy to receive one from a girl at school who I had taught in a private lesson.  As I thanked her for the kind gift I realized it was written completely in Kata Kana and therefore I was unable to read the sentiments.  Later in the day I handed it to one of the Japanese teachers and watched as she read it and then began laughing, to translate it said:

Happy New Year Brian (Boo-ryan, how they kids say my name)

Do you even understand Japanese?

Anna

Even though I do not understand Japanese I appreciate the sentiments just the same.

By the way I apologize for the very long post this week as I have gotten feedback it seems some of you would prefer I had a better editor but as happy I am that people are reading and hopefully enjoying the blog it serves me as well so I do not forget all the great, funny or embarrassing things that are happening here.

Catch up with me next week to see what the New Year has in store for me in Japan.

"Hello Kewpie" Week 15 Dec 14th-Dec 20th

After shaking away some cobwebs from the previous nights festivities I arrived late at my friend Adam’s basketball game in Ozone.  Adam I may have mentioned before is a former NBA player from UC Irvine who now plays professional basketball for the Mitsubishi Dolphins based in Nagoya.  Although I arrived at the start of the 4th quarter I got to see a bit of the game as the Dolphins got a win at home.  I met up with Ryan, Alyanna and Darlene at the game and from there we headed over to the Nagoya Dome (home of the Chunichi Dragons) next door where a large Ski and Snowboard Expo was going on.  Although I am not a skier or snowboarder the rest of the group checked out the gear ahead of there Christmas break trip to Nagano.  After departing I left everyone picked up some Christmas gifts at the Dragons shop at the stadium before heading across the street to the large mall in Ozone.  The strange thing about malls here in Japan is they are almost entirely clothing and shoe stores.  This I guess is not strange since fashion is highly important for both men and woman here in Japan, the good part for me is due to the size issues I never have to concern myself with blowing 200 bucks (20,000 yen) on a fresh pair of sneakers since a 9 or a 10 is the largest you are likely to find.  The good part of the day was locating a Subway inside the mall that had previously evaded me.  As I keep saying the food here is extraordinary but sandwiches especially like those like Subway makes are quite a rare thing.  I am happy to report that they do however have Tuna on Whole Wheat which was every bit as good as you find in the States.  I happily treated myself to a 15 cm (damn the Metric System) sandwich (Just saying foot long is so much easier) before heading back to Kasugai.  Monday I traveled to Nagoya again to meet Kerin and my new co teacher, Samantha.  We had dinner at the Hub in Nagoya before heading over to an Aussie Bar called Red Rock where we met up with about 10 other friends who were there to celebrate Ryan’s birthday. The great news is Sam seems real cool and already I think we are going to get along great.  Also since Sam attended International High School in Japan she just might be able to punch up my weak Japanese.       As has become regular custom myself, Kerin, Ryan and Sam hit the Backbeat on Friday to catch up with Kazuhiko and Mikka as well as have them meet our new teacher.  Sam did herself proud with our friends, as Kazuhiko was highly impressed with Sam’s ability to put away an Ashai or two.  On Saturday after work the whole crew from work took Samantha and Kerin out for a welcome to Japan and goodbye to Japan dinner at a restaurant called Ogatshi across the street from school.  Again hanging with the fellow teachers outside of work was real fun as we talked over some excellent Japanese dishes I had yet to try that were served family style.  My two favorites were omu rice which is a spicy seasoned rice covered with cooked egg (Omelet-rice) as well as a dish in the “tastes much better than it sounds department”, Tarako Spaghetti which is a creamy pasta made with small cod roe (fish eggs).  Although the group was heading out for some karaoke action following dinner I had to call it a night since I am to board a 7am Shinkansen train to meet my friends in Tokyo Disneyland tomorrow.

My New Nickname This week at school I was finishing up for the night when I went to retrieve some items from one of the classrooms.  As I walked by a group of pre teen girls and said hello one of the bolder girls smiled at me and greeted me by saying  “Hello Kewpie” as the other girls began giggling and holding their hands up to their mouths.  As I retrieved my stuff I went by again as she again say in English “See ya Kewpie”.  When I explained this to the Japanese teachers they all thought the name was pretty hilarious as apparently Japanese kewpie dolls are bald, cherubic dolls with large eyes.  Although my friend Sayaka explained really it might be a compliment since it could mean she thinks I have pretty eyes I am not so sure.  As you can see from the photo at the top of the blog perhaps I bear a slight resemblance. 

Do You Want to Upsize Your Sandwich  Most Americans are only too familiar with the “Supersize” feature one finds at fast food establishments.  In Japan at Subway you are asked if you would like to “upsize” your sandwich for 100 yen with some cocktail shrimp.  I am not sure that will catch on in the States, “Do you want cocktail shrimp on that Cold Cut Combo”?   We will have to wait and see.

"That Chick Pulled a Gun on Me"! Week 14-Dec 7th-Dec 13th

Sunday my friend Akiko and I hung out in quiet Kasugai and hit up the coffee shop in Shimizuya (the large mega shopping/food store) for some coffee and then had lunch at a pasta restaurant called Goemon across the street.  Spaghetti Carbonara is oddly popular in Japan and Goemon so far has the best, it is sort of like Alfredo sauce pasta with ham and peas and is very good.  From there we watched a movie on cable before she had to head back to Nagoya to meet up with her study group.  I would love to tell you I was highly productive the remainder of the day but instead I took a long nap, made some dinner at home and called it a day.  I am finding it more and more difficult to get a lot done on the weekends.  It seems the grand plans of traveling all over Japan when off from work was a great plan indeed but after the long but fun and rewarding days at school I am just as happy lying down and watching a movie on cable.  This is a development I am hoping to rectify in the coming New Year, but then again it could signal that Japan is starting to feel less like an extended vacation and more like my home.

     Monday after running a couple of errands around town I headed into Nagoya to grab some dinner as well as check out the large Christmas display outside Nagoya station.  After some searching I found Yabaton on the 8^th floor of the Meitisu Department store that is connected to the train station.  I had heard many times about Yabaton, as it appears to be the Pat’s Steak’s of Nagoya, a local restaurant of universal acclaim.  I have spoken a couple of times of my affinity for the local specialty called Tonkatsu and apparently Yabaton is the best place to eat it.  Basically tonkatsu is a breaded and fried pork cutlet usually served with a thick barbecue like sauce on a bed of shredded cabbage.  When I entered the restaurant I sat at the counter where shockingly the chef was able to surmise I was not a local.  After talking for a few minutes he explained he had lived in the US for a while, strangely Nashville, Tennessee of all places before returning to Japan a few years back.  He also explained that Yabaton had looked at opening an outpost in New York City and that he had hoped to be one of the chefs chosen to cook there since he liked living in the US.  Unfortunately the parent company found real estate in NYC too expensive and decided against the venture.  As he assisted me in ordering the tonkatsu “seto” (set meal) he told me I had to try Yabaton and Nagoya’s specialty, namely the “aka miso” (red soybean) sauce for which they are known.  As he was quite a good chef he was correct on the miso, as it was far superior to the barbeque sauce you normally find served with the dish in other parts of Japan.  After finishing my set meal with rice, miso soup and a couple of glasses of cold green tea I thanked my friend and headed out to check out the lights.  Rest assured anyone who makes a visit to Japan could count on eating here, as it was one of the best meals I have had thus far in Japan.  After descending the escalators to the ground floor I spent about an hour checking out the grand Christmas display of lights outside of the station before heading home to Kasugai.  As I talked about before Christmas is an odd holiday here since no deeper meaning is bestowed upon the holiday but the decorations I have seen here rival everything short of Fifth Avenue in New York City for there beauty and their elaborateness.  As for work during the week my co net began preparations for her ultimate departure from Japan and the new teachers soon arrival to Kasugai. 

     Saturday I finished at work and both myself, Kerin and one of our Japanese teachers headed into Nagoya for another night of partying at Maverick in Fushimi where my friends Ryan, Tommy and Shane were heading up a 2^nd DJ card.  After having some drinks with the large group that showed for the show some of the group began catching last trains home to their particular towns while the hard-core people of the group (any idea which group I was in?) prepared for an all nighter.   Fortunately Tommy had set up an after party at a club several blocks away after Maverick shut down at 2AM where about 6 or 7 of us headed over to in the light drizzle that was beginning to fall.  For the next few hours we enjoyed some drinks and listened to the music at the club, which was small and was run by a high octane Brazilian guy that Shane knew from DJ’ng in the Nagoya.  The truly interesting part of the night was I making my entrance into the 2^nd floor smallish club and having about 100 Japanese people turn around in unison and stare at me as the place seemed to be mostly local unlike Maverick which gets a heavy group of foreigners who frequent it.  Secondly was a cute Japanese girl putting a gun to my head as I entered only to find the bar for some unknown reason hands out 38 special cap guns to all patrons for what reason I have yet to determine.  All in all having a gun pointed at me is not what usually passes for Saturday night fun but we all ended up having a good time.  I even made a Japanese friend who spoke not a word of English who hung with our group much of the night, so named by me as “okii aka” (Big Red) because of his size and his bright red hoodie.  After the club started closing down we all walked to a guy’s apartment we met at the club and hung out for about an hour until the morning trains starting running.  I am not sure what everyone else did because I passed out on the guy’s couch within minutes of arriving and slept for an hour until Ryan woke me explaining it was time to leave.  Unfortunately for us one of our friends passed out on the guy’s futon and was unable to be revived.  As we headed to the train to go back to Kasugai we laughed as we imagined scenarios our friend might find himself in passing out at a random guy’s place with no one around.  Most of them centered on a Silence of the Lambs ending where he awoke at the bottom of a hole being ordered to “place the lotion in the basket” but alas we got word the following day all was well and he was on his way home.

Another week in Japan comes to a close with some drinking (shocker!).  Catch up with me next week to see what random guy’s couch I fall asleep on next.