After meeting up with Akiko in Sakae on Sunday night for dinner and a few drinks we returned on Monday night for what I had been waiting 4 months for, namely the opening of the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. I have to say I miss movies quite a bit here in Japan as I was someone who went at least 2-3 times a month at home. Unfortunately for me new film releases often come last to Japan so Quantum, which opened around Thanksgiving in the States, had its debut here at the end of February. After being told movies in Japan were quite different than in America I have to say I am not sure what all the talk was about as the Midland Square Cinema across from Nagoya train station was quite similar to an upscale movie theater you would find in the States, maybe a little nicer even. There were several differences.
Movies on the average are more expensive here than in the US. A ticket for a first run film will cost you 1,800 yen (very nearly 20 US dollars). Although this is more than the 11 or 12 dollars I paid in Philadelphia it is not so prohibitively expensive as to keep me from going as some do.
As with the rest of Japan the need to limit liquor and its consumption is not a practiced here so for the first time in my life I took in a film with a large draft beer in hand instead of the requisite soda. It felt really strange walking to the theater with it in hand as if I was breaking some rule that any minute I would be discovered for.
There is no need as at home to worry about people speaking on cell phones or talking loudly during the film as you would imagine. The polite nature of the society makes it highly unlikely this is a problem.
When ordering popcorn you are asked whether you want “salty” or “sweet”. Salty gets you the normal popcorn you get at home minus the butter while sweet gets you what we call caramel corn (nice!).
Lastly when the movie concludes people remain in their seats until the close of the credit roll. When leaving before it is like you are leaving before the movie is over.
My review of the film is similar to the reviews I had read from the States when it came out. While Craig is still a great Bond I thought the story was a little complicated and hard to follow and was not nearly as good a film as the previous Bond, Casino Royale. I felt really bad for Akiko since following a complicated movie in her second language I think was a little tough. Also I had to laugh when after it concluded she finally admitted this was the first James Bond movie she had ever seen. Even though she said she enjoyed it I am not so sure. Again the politeness of people makes it difficult to tell how they feel or what they really want to do. Even though she seemed really excited to go I think she was doing so just because of how excited I was to see it.
On Saturday after work I quickly had to run home, change and pick up my bags as a group of about 15 of us were off to Tokyo this weekend to go to a huge club in Tokyo called Ageha. After picking up my backpack I met the group at Nagoya station and we all boarded the Shinkansen for the 1 hour 50 minute ride to Tokyo. The longer I am here the more I feel self conscious about exhibiting what is considered common “Western” behavior. In the case of our group that usually means being too loud in places where the Japanese are quieter. Although some in our group did get “shushed” for being too loud all in all the ride was fun as we had some drinks as we sped towards Tokyo. Once arriving in Tokyo we headed to the subway and then arrived at the station were we stored our stuff and walked the 5-6 blocks from the station to the club, which sits on the water on the outskirts of Tokyo. The place was massive in size with hundreds of people waiting to get in. The only thing I can compare it to was some of the huge mega clubs I had seen in Panama City, Florida when I went on spring break back in college. Before even getting in we waited in line for nearly 30 minutes in the bitter cold (sans jackets as we did not want to be saddled with them inside). Once inside the place was packed with people in each and every of the nearly 10 massive rooms each featuring a different style of music from house to trance etc. Although I like to pretend like I am half my age by 4 AM I was feeling every bit of my 37 years as I promptly left the group found a bank of chairs and sat down for nearly a half hour nearly nodding off. Unfortunately the area was next to the pool area (which was open even in the cold) so again without my jacket and in a T-shirt I spent most of the time shivering before heading back to grab something to eat at the large food tent area outside. Once finding the group we spent a little more time walking around and taking in the music. Happily at about 5AM myself, Ryan and Alanna headed to the subway to catch the first subway into Tokyo to get some sleep at one of the many Internet Café’s to be found in a section of Tokyo known as Akihabra. After an aborted attempt at one rather shady one we settled on a slightly nicer and more expensive one were we payed our money and then headed to our “rooms”. Being just happy to be out of the cold and up now going on nearly 20 hours I grabbed a drink before falling asleep quick in my chair having completed my first night of “clubbing” in Tokyo.
New Name #1 As many of you enjoyed the first name I earned from my students I got a new one this week, during warm up of the children’s low floor classes I have large mats broken into groups likes fruits, vegtables, animals etc. We go in a circle and get the kids saying “I like peaches”, “I like alligators” and the like. One of my funnier and bolder 5 year old boys pointed to a picture of a mountain gorilla and replied at his turn “I like Brian” to the raucous laughter of the rest of the class. The name was amended to “American Gorilla” which seems to have stuck. Great!
New Name #2 My 10:00AM Saturday group is by far my rowdiest, 3 5 year old boys with boundless energy. I have learned the hard way that a Friday night out too late with too many drinks is met with harshly when these three arrive ready to go. As I sat down to begin class again an eruption of laughter when one of the crazier three jumped up and rubbed my newly shaven head and exclaimed, “Potato"!
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