A lot has happened in the past week. Last wednesday I went to Kichijoji with Dave because he heard good things about the place. As we were walking to the appropriate line in Shinjuku station a Japanese man comes out of nowhere and asks us where we are going, in English. We tell him and he starts walking the right way. I can't really say we followed him because we knew the way to get there. At the ticket booth he shows us the right stop, point out the fare and asks for my money. I pull out of 500 yen coin and he puts it in the machine and buys two tickets. Then he says this 220 is mine now right? At this point I immediately start talking Japanese and tell him that is hot how it works here. We knew and to get here on our own, and did not need your help. Then he says ok just 100yen. I still refused but then he asked simply for 20yen. Upon such a pitiful request I acquiesced, because he probably needed it more than I did. The weirdest part about the whole thing was his hand covered in bandaids.
After getting out of the kichijoji station we started walking down a street and the first that I noticed were the buses driving towards us. The street was barely wide enough for them to pass and there were about 5 or 6 all in a row. A bit odd, and bothersome at the same time. The first thing of significance was a bookstore that Dave spotted. It was small and intriguing so we decided to go in. Inside were many books and manga of very unusual contents. These seem to mirror part of the bizarre Japanese way of thinking that I have only been aware for too long now. He showed us a guidebook of underground culture around the world, which included a page about his store. But he suggested if we want to go the best store we must travel to Nakano, which is he more famous than his store he said. Me and Dave decided to check that out at some point.
We continued from the book store and found a custom shirt store whose slogan is: "A good many stimulating clothes exist in this store." My purchase was a green shirt with a cartoon crocodile on it. It reads, " Noisy Calmness. The crocodile walks lovely freely and easily." An outstanding example of the stupendous English of Japan, this is.
From there Dave was getting a bit hungry so upon seeing the restaurant named pancake days he decided he had to go in. Sure they had pancakes but nothing really stood out on the menu. He said you can sit and watch me eat but I'm going in anyways. So we enter, and after a closer examination of the menu I see a BLT. Keep in mind that everything here is pancakes, so thats what you got instead of bread. Not only were the pancakes perfect but what we received was not quite bacon, but delicious thick cuts of meat. This sandwich beats any BLT in existence. to top it all of was the smiley face seared into the upper pancake. Like many restaurants in Japan they serve you pathetically small water glasses. Dave is a drinker, so it was particularly insufficient for his satisfaction. I told him to express his thoughts to the cashier, who happened to be pretty cute, but he thought it was rude, so I decided to. I told her, in Japanese, "The size of this water glass is unsatisfactory." She laughed and said so its would be better if it were larger? (Followed by apology: sumimasen (obligatory, especially when you havent actually done anything wrong)). We paid and left, I would like to enjoy their pancakes again.
From there we continued walking outside and came upon inokashira koen, a very large park. I wanted to take a picture there, but alas, I forgot my tripod so in such a dark environment it was completely impossible. We spotted two people off in the distance practicing martial arts and stopped to watch. I accidentally stepped on a stick and if we were hiding in fear of our lives we would have died, because that sound was impossibly loud. They werent a very exciting event to watch so I told Dave he should attack them and then things would get interesting. Fortunately for him hes not that stupid. After a bit more of a stroll we decided to head back.
Walking between the parks edge and the road we spied two cats in the grass. We went to approach them but they would run away. We are not the type to give up so easily so we followed, as they ran through a path stomped into the ground. Out of the darkness two more cats appeared along the path and joined the fleeing procession. Eventually they led us to an opening with a pedestrian bridge. We noticed two guys with guitars sitting on it so we walked up to them. After standing there for a bit one of them said some people have stopped. I asked them to sing a song so they let loose some type of love ballad type thing. They were decently skilled and one was a pretty good singer. I told them how we never would have found them if we did not follow some stray cats. I got a flyer from them, perhaps I will go to their show.
On the way back to the station we found some odds and ends that were left out for the taking. I grabbed a suntory whiskey glass. Next we went to a used clothing and antiques store that sold their clothes for fairly absurd prices, considering they were used. Nothing much worth noting happened after this store.On Friday I went to Ikebukuro with Dave, Joe, Chris (from Florida) three American girls: Casey, Ali, and Lena, and three of Dave's Korean classmates. Our goal was nekobukuro, the top floor of a department store were you can go into a room of cats and play with them as long as you want for $6. Some didnt mind being held, but most did. At first they seemed disinterested in plays with the provided toys, but that turned out to be wrong as many of them enjoyed it. More than that the best part was watching them chase each other around the room, because as we all know thats what cats do best.
From there the Americans split off except for Dave and Ali. I went to eat with him and his classmates. It was a standard experience at an izakaya, as we tried to figure out what the hell to order on a menu that is so difficult to understand. We went home afterwards but I decided to go to the bar in Fuchu. There Daisuke, one of the bartenders made a comment about how much my hair has grown since I cut it. I told him it grows fast, and he said well you know what that means right? I said no, and apparently in Japan if your hair grows fast you're a pervert. (Note: this only applies to men. The reason was not disclosed but I believe its because women cannot be perverts, especially if youre Japanese, because if they all act so childish they must have very pure minds (sarcasm off)).
On Saturday I woke up and saw the amazing weather outside and decided I had to go somewhere. I called Dave but he didnt answer his phone. I chose Yanaka, because it has more temples than anywhere else in Tokyo. To be exact this one area has about 70.I get out of the train station and make my first stop out arguably the most famous temple in the area, which has the largest buddha statue. From there I walked thru the large cemetery, and as I approached the end a Japanese man asked me what I was doing. He hands me an English map of the area, and I told he I wanted to the temples. He tells me to wait and runs inside the nearby building. He comes back out with another map, and circles the most noteworthy temples. Guess what....? This service was FREE. But not everyone is honest, right?
I made my rounds to several of the temples, which was a great activity to do on my own. Eventually I got pretty hungry and went to find something to eat. At first I found a tofu store where I bought two tofu ball things that were quite tasty. But since it was just before 5pm it was difficult to find an actual restaurant. I started to get lost, with only the knowledge of how to get back to the station I came from. Yet that was far away so I was determined to find some other way of satisfying my hunger. Eventually I came upon a cafe, where I bought some pasta with a puttanesca sauce I believe. It came with a small salad, and I also ordered a kiwi drink, which consisted of a single kiwi mixed in a blender with ice and fruit syrup. This drink was 600yen.
Afterwards I started browsing the collection of art books, and eventually I noticed the gathering of several people who looked like musicians. I was tired and decided to go back, but as I stepped outside I realized there is probably a show tonight, so Id better ask just to be safe. As it turns out there was one starting around 7:30-8:00. It was 6 so I decided to wait as I wrote some sort of Japanese journal entry. Finally they started to practice, and it was wonderful. They played a type of jazz, like french gypsy cafe music I would say. It sounded similar to my parents French CDs I think.
They had an upright bass, two guitarists, a violinist, and clarinetist. One of them gets a phone call from one of the other members who said they would be late so I'll just have to perform sans practice. As it turns out this was the singer. Once the actually performance had started the cafe was packed to maximum capacity, or maybe technically beyond that. Every member of the band was a great musician, but the violinist was unbelievably amazing. This was one of the best musical acts I have probably seen in my entire life. Eventually the singer showed up with 4 other girls, two Japanese, as well as one who looked like she must be the singer's sister. The singer was the only white band member compared to the rest who were Japanese. She still spoke Japanese very well though. Three of these woman sat in the open seats in the front row which happened to be the only seats left. This bothered me because not only did they obstruct my previously perfect view, but somehow they seemed very pretentious. The fact that the Japanese girls spoke perfect English was made even worse by the fact that they mostly spoke to each other in English. I can't really say how this bothered me, but in someway it greatly did. In addition the white girl who sat in the front with them must have been at least 40, judging by her unusually wrinkled face, and she had braces. This may sound like unwarranted prejudicial ranting, but something about these three girls really put me off in a way that the two sisters did not. To top it all off, when being told something by the bartender, who I believe was not a native speaker judging by her african appearance and slight accent, this Japanese girl responded with yes, shorty followed by, "uoh, hai". This was troublesome for two reasons. For one she instinctively responded in English even though spoken to in Japanese, and second she assumed that the bartender wouldn't understand yes, even though I believe most people around the world understand this word.
Enough of the rant though, because this show was far better than any suspicious girls could taint it for me. By far the worst part of the night was when my camera batteries died 5 seconds after I started recording one of the songs. Unfortunately I did not have any spares. During the show I was contacted by my Brazilian friend Chris so I decided to meet him at the bar after the show was over. I would have stayed longer to talk to the band after the end but I wanted to meet up with my friend.As far as the singer, she was very pretty, and a good singer on top of that; however, her first song was not too good. It was painfully obvious hearing her miss the high note in the song twice in a row, only getting it right the third time around. But from the first song she seemed to get better and better. The songs were either in French or English, leading me to believe that she may have been French. I forgot the name of the first song she sang but it was by Frank Sinatra. They ended with the same song, which she sang perfectly that second time.
Afterwards I told the band in Japanese that they were amazing and the show was a lot of fun. I asked when they were performing again and they said at this same cafe. But when is it I reiterated? They said they did not know, so I will have to check back again. Then I went to talk to the singer who was across the room. I also told her she was wonderful, and she nailed that song the second time around. She told me she was nervous, which was obvious enough since she messed up the words on another song. But anyways she told me it means a lot to hear that I enjoyed the show.
So then I headed back to Fuchu.I talked to Chris and his friend Maru-chan, who speaks English very well but hardly makes any sense when she gets drunk. She told me about 5 times how much she respects Chris because he loves his wife. I suppose this makes sense when I remember that I'm in Japan. After all, Japanese men are supposed to not love their wife and be quite distant. In fact, the wife is only supposed to raise the kids and make dinner and clean. The husband also generally doesn't raise the kids at all, and when he does its by example, because although Japanese people generally have a communication problem, the father has an especially difficult time talking to his kids. Is it becoming a common theme among my emails that this city has major problems? I can't help it, I have a hard time lying, but I'm trying to work on that, as you'll hear more about later on.
The significant comment by Chris was when he told he has a chipped pelvis. Apparently this happened when he was really drunk one night, and woke up in the morning to discover a body full of pain all over, as well and considerable bruising. When he went downstairs he found his bike all smashed up. His best guess was that he was hit by a car. Of course he has no idea what actually happened. But onto the good news he told me we're going to have a BBQ by the river next month. I am really looking forward to that, especially as the weather seems to get nice every day.
As Chris and Maru-chan headed home, a foreigner of a large build, at least 200lbs and fairly tall came into the bar. He stopped Chris as he walked out, apparently they knew each other.Anyways I began to talk to him after he sat down near me at the bar. His name is Greg and hes originally from Calgary. He has his own business teaching (English?) and hes been here for about 15 years I think. He had a lot of great information to share with me. I'll give you one chance to guess the gist of it.
Giving up already??
Japan is full of crazily ignorant people. Note the same applies to Koreans as well, but I believe to a lesser extent. I could be wrong about this since I really only know Koreans who study Japanese and generally students of a foreign language are much more informed than their peers, thanks to the broader sense of the world.He had so many stories I dont have the time or desire to tell them all, but a few in particular stand out. One of his Korean students said the window was invented by a Korean. One Japanese student said the northern lights were discovered by a Japanese person. Another Korean responded to a question about where Koreans came from. We've always been Korean. No but you had to come from somewhere a long time ago. Oh... it was Mongolia. So you went thru China then? NO. We came from Mongolia, but we did NOT go thru China. (Note: It is completely unacceptable to think Koreans may be related to Chinese, because they're so much better than them. But too bad for Koreans Japan is actually the master race. This only makes sense because Japanese came from Korea. Does it make sense yet? If so, please send me all the answers because I'm still lost myself.)
Greg also went on a trip to Morocco, Spain with some Japanese. His Morrocan friend was their guide, and during the trip he pointed out a Jasmine plant. One Japanese girl says no thats not jasmine, jasmine is a plant in Japan. He says no, this is jasmine right here. Nope, you're wrong, I know what jasmine is. Look here, I'm Morrocan, we're in Morroco, and this is jasmine.The final story of Greg I will discuss here is perhaps the most pertinent. He has five friends married to Japanese women, and they are all very sorry about this. They all tell him do not get married to a Japanese women, because thats exactly what they want you to do. Then they have succeeded in marrying a foreigner, thus they have won the game of life. At this point sex ceases to exist, regardless of how things were before. Now sure 5 people is not a good sample as far as polling goes, but this can't be a mere coincidence.
Now I'm not saying that all international marriages to a Japanese woman are like this, nor am I saying that I wouldn't get married to a Japanese woman, or get married to one for that matter. What I will say is that I will never get married to a woman from Tokyo until someone comes along who proves me wrong that they are not all shallow ignorant slaves to society, the material world, and ignorance. Greg tells me that in Japan the people aren't stupid. They are simply educated to the perfect level. If they knew more they could be dangerous to a society that works so well (evil mocking laugh). The worst part is I'm more sure about this than every thing else I doubt about this country.One can only analyze what is presented. The only women I have met that do not fall into my stereotype are those who have traveled outside of Japan (the more the better), lesbians, or those over 30. That being said fitting these criteria does not mean that they that are intelligent, for I have met exceptions to all except for one. The one lesbian who I got to know, who was awesome as a person, but unfortunately was not very interested in men, or perhaps even me as a friend since she stopped responding to my mail quite some time ago.)
So when it comes down to it the only women I can say I truly like here are my teachers, Tomoko-san, and certain classmates. Funny how they all seem to be related to my school, or not Japanese. Sorry in advance, but the rant doesn't stop here. In fact, it gets better. Sunday night I was invited to meet a japanese girl and 4 of her friends. Two of them got sick though so in the end it was only three girls. I was accompanied by Joe and Dave. We met them in funabashi, chiba-ken, since they do not live in Tokyo. The girl who I had met from japan-guide.com came to meet us at the train station. She was very goofy, her way of speaking English was very odd, perhaps due to the things she chose to say and how she said that. Grammatically she was usually correct, but did not speak in a very natural way.Upon arrival at the izakaya, we met her two friends, one Japanese, and one French. The French girl was a French teacher in Japan. The girl I met online, Miki, worked at an airport, at the ticket purchase/check in counter I think. The other Japanese girl, Chika, works at a dental clinic. She was also very cute. One thing on my mind was the difference in Japanese body temperature, which Greg heard from one of his students. The Japanese girls said they did not believe it was any different, but Angelique followed by saying in fact, the Japanese have longer intestines because they have eaten rice for so long..... um what?! She also said that when she first came to Japan she thought it was weird, but now she doesn't anymore. I was curious so I asked why and she said she wasnt quite sure but probably it was because she was young at the time and didn't understand a lot of things. Now that shes old (late twenties maybe) she was discovered all the hidden secrets. Actually Japan is completely normal, theres nothing wrong with it she says. This is very disturbing, because as a foreigner you're supposed to realize more and more how screwed up this place the longer you stay here. In conclusion she has become one of them. Looks like we lost another one.
But enough about Angelique, she left early on and because she is not Japanese yet seems to think like one she is not worth my time. Miki and Chika asked me the standard bullshit questions, this is a triad actually.
After getting out of the kichijoji station we started walking down a street and the first that I noticed were the buses driving towards us. The street was barely wide enough for them to pass and there were about 5 or 6 all in a row. A bit odd, and bothersome at the same time. The first thing of significance was a bookstore that Dave spotted. It was small and intriguing so we decided to go in. Inside were many books and manga of very unusual contents. These seem to mirror part of the bizarre Japanese way of thinking that I have only been aware for too long now. He showed us a guidebook of underground culture around the world, which included a page about his store. But he suggested if we want to go the best store we must travel to Nakano, which is he more famous than his store he said. Me and Dave decided to check that out at some point.
We continued from the book store and found a custom shirt store whose slogan is: "A good many stimulating clothes exist in this store." My purchase was a green shirt with a cartoon crocodile on it. It reads, " Noisy Calmness. The crocodile walks lovely freely and easily." An outstanding example of the stupendous English of Japan, this is.
From there Dave was getting a bit hungry so upon seeing the restaurant named pancake days he decided he had to go in. Sure they had pancakes but nothing really stood out on the menu. He said you can sit and watch me eat but I'm going in anyways. So we enter, and after a closer examination of the menu I see a BLT. Keep in mind that everything here is pancakes, so thats what you got instead of bread. Not only were the pancakes perfect but what we received was not quite bacon, but delicious thick cuts of meat. This sandwich beats any BLT in existence. to top it all of was the smiley face seared into the upper pancake. Like many restaurants in Japan they serve you pathetically small water glasses. Dave is a drinker, so it was particularly insufficient for his satisfaction. I told him to express his thoughts to the cashier, who happened to be pretty cute, but he thought it was rude, so I decided to. I told her, in Japanese, "The size of this water glass is unsatisfactory." She laughed and said so its would be better if it were larger? (Followed by apology: sumimasen (obligatory, especially when you havent actually done anything wrong)). We paid and left, I would like to enjoy their pancakes again.
From there we continued walking outside and came upon inokashira koen, a very large park. I wanted to take a picture there, but alas, I forgot my tripod so in such a dark environment it was completely impossible. We spotted two people off in the distance practicing martial arts and stopped to watch. I accidentally stepped on a stick and if we were hiding in fear of our lives we would have died, because that sound was impossibly loud. They werent a very exciting event to watch so I told Dave he should attack them and then things would get interesting. Fortunately for him hes not that stupid. After a bit more of a stroll we decided to head back.
Walking between the parks edge and the road we spied two cats in the grass. We went to approach them but they would run away. We are not the type to give up so easily so we followed, as they ran through a path stomped into the ground. Out of the darkness two more cats appeared along the path and joined the fleeing procession. Eventually they led us to an opening with a pedestrian bridge. We noticed two guys with guitars sitting on it so we walked up to them. After standing there for a bit one of them said some people have stopped. I asked them to sing a song so they let loose some type of love ballad type thing. They were decently skilled and one was a pretty good singer. I told them how we never would have found them if we did not follow some stray cats. I got a flyer from them, perhaps I will go to their show.
On the way back to the station we found some odds and ends that were left out for the taking. I grabbed a suntory whiskey glass. Next we went to a used clothing and antiques store that sold their clothes for fairly absurd prices, considering they were used. Nothing much worth noting happened after this store.On Friday I went to Ikebukuro with Dave, Joe, Chris (from Florida) three American girls: Casey, Ali, and Lena, and three of Dave's Korean classmates. Our goal was nekobukuro, the top floor of a department store were you can go into a room of cats and play with them as long as you want for $6. Some didnt mind being held, but most did. At first they seemed disinterested in plays with the provided toys, but that turned out to be wrong as many of them enjoyed it. More than that the best part was watching them chase each other around the room, because as we all know thats what cats do best.
From there the Americans split off except for Dave and Ali. I went to eat with him and his classmates. It was a standard experience at an izakaya, as we tried to figure out what the hell to order on a menu that is so difficult to understand. We went home afterwards but I decided to go to the bar in Fuchu. There Daisuke, one of the bartenders made a comment about how much my hair has grown since I cut it. I told him it grows fast, and he said well you know what that means right? I said no, and apparently in Japan if your hair grows fast you're a pervert. (Note: this only applies to men. The reason was not disclosed but I believe its because women cannot be perverts, especially if youre Japanese, because if they all act so childish they must have very pure minds (sarcasm off)).
On Saturday I woke up and saw the amazing weather outside and decided I had to go somewhere. I called Dave but he didnt answer his phone. I chose Yanaka, because it has more temples than anywhere else in Tokyo. To be exact this one area has about 70.I get out of the train station and make my first stop out arguably the most famous temple in the area, which has the largest buddha statue. From there I walked thru the large cemetery, and as I approached the end a Japanese man asked me what I was doing. He hands me an English map of the area, and I told he I wanted to the temples. He tells me to wait and runs inside the nearby building. He comes back out with another map, and circles the most noteworthy temples. Guess what....? This service was FREE. But not everyone is honest, right?
I made my rounds to several of the temples, which was a great activity to do on my own. Eventually I got pretty hungry and went to find something to eat. At first I found a tofu store where I bought two tofu ball things that were quite tasty. But since it was just before 5pm it was difficult to find an actual restaurant. I started to get lost, with only the knowledge of how to get back to the station I came from. Yet that was far away so I was determined to find some other way of satisfying my hunger. Eventually I came upon a cafe, where I bought some pasta with a puttanesca sauce I believe. It came with a small salad, and I also ordered a kiwi drink, which consisted of a single kiwi mixed in a blender with ice and fruit syrup. This drink was 600yen.
Afterwards I started browsing the collection of art books, and eventually I noticed the gathering of several people who looked like musicians. I was tired and decided to go back, but as I stepped outside I realized there is probably a show tonight, so Id better ask just to be safe. As it turns out there was one starting around 7:30-8:00. It was 6 so I decided to wait as I wrote some sort of Japanese journal entry. Finally they started to practice, and it was wonderful. They played a type of jazz, like french gypsy cafe music I would say. It sounded similar to my parents French CDs I think.
They had an upright bass, two guitarists, a violinist, and clarinetist. One of them gets a phone call from one of the other members who said they would be late so I'll just have to perform sans practice. As it turns out this was the singer. Once the actually performance had started the cafe was packed to maximum capacity, or maybe technically beyond that. Every member of the band was a great musician, but the violinist was unbelievably amazing. This was one of the best musical acts I have probably seen in my entire life. Eventually the singer showed up with 4 other girls, two Japanese, as well as one who looked like she must be the singer's sister. The singer was the only white band member compared to the rest who were Japanese. She still spoke Japanese very well though. Three of these woman sat in the open seats in the front row which happened to be the only seats left. This bothered me because not only did they obstruct my previously perfect view, but somehow they seemed very pretentious. The fact that the Japanese girls spoke perfect English was made even worse by the fact that they mostly spoke to each other in English. I can't really say how this bothered me, but in someway it greatly did. In addition the white girl who sat in the front with them must have been at least 40, judging by her unusually wrinkled face, and she had braces. This may sound like unwarranted prejudicial ranting, but something about these three girls really put me off in a way that the two sisters did not. To top it all off, when being told something by the bartender, who I believe was not a native speaker judging by her african appearance and slight accent, this Japanese girl responded with yes, shorty followed by, "uoh, hai". This was troublesome for two reasons. For one she instinctively responded in English even though spoken to in Japanese, and second she assumed that the bartender wouldn't understand yes, even though I believe most people around the world understand this word.
Enough of the rant though, because this show was far better than any suspicious girls could taint it for me. By far the worst part of the night was when my camera batteries died 5 seconds after I started recording one of the songs. Unfortunately I did not have any spares. During the show I was contacted by my Brazilian friend Chris so I decided to meet him at the bar after the show was over. I would have stayed longer to talk to the band after the end but I wanted to meet up with my friend.As far as the singer, she was very pretty, and a good singer on top of that; however, her first song was not too good. It was painfully obvious hearing her miss the high note in the song twice in a row, only getting it right the third time around. But from the first song she seemed to get better and better. The songs were either in French or English, leading me to believe that she may have been French. I forgot the name of the first song she sang but it was by Frank Sinatra. They ended with the same song, which she sang perfectly that second time.
Afterwards I told the band in Japanese that they were amazing and the show was a lot of fun. I asked when they were performing again and they said at this same cafe. But when is it I reiterated? They said they did not know, so I will have to check back again. Then I went to talk to the singer who was across the room. I also told her she was wonderful, and she nailed that song the second time around. She told me she was nervous, which was obvious enough since she messed up the words on another song. But anyways she told me it means a lot to hear that I enjoyed the show.
So then I headed back to Fuchu.I talked to Chris and his friend Maru-chan, who speaks English very well but hardly makes any sense when she gets drunk. She told me about 5 times how much she respects Chris because he loves his wife. I suppose this makes sense when I remember that I'm in Japan. After all, Japanese men are supposed to not love their wife and be quite distant. In fact, the wife is only supposed to raise the kids and make dinner and clean. The husband also generally doesn't raise the kids at all, and when he does its by example, because although Japanese people generally have a communication problem, the father has an especially difficult time talking to his kids. Is it becoming a common theme among my emails that this city has major problems? I can't help it, I have a hard time lying, but I'm trying to work on that, as you'll hear more about later on.
The significant comment by Chris was when he told he has a chipped pelvis. Apparently this happened when he was really drunk one night, and woke up in the morning to discover a body full of pain all over, as well and considerable bruising. When he went downstairs he found his bike all smashed up. His best guess was that he was hit by a car. Of course he has no idea what actually happened. But onto the good news he told me we're going to have a BBQ by the river next month. I am really looking forward to that, especially as the weather seems to get nice every day.
As Chris and Maru-chan headed home, a foreigner of a large build, at least 200lbs and fairly tall came into the bar. He stopped Chris as he walked out, apparently they knew each other.Anyways I began to talk to him after he sat down near me at the bar. His name is Greg and hes originally from Calgary. He has his own business teaching (English?) and hes been here for about 15 years I think. He had a lot of great information to share with me. I'll give you one chance to guess the gist of it.
Giving up already??
Japan is full of crazily ignorant people. Note the same applies to Koreans as well, but I believe to a lesser extent. I could be wrong about this since I really only know Koreans who study Japanese and generally students of a foreign language are much more informed than their peers, thanks to the broader sense of the world.He had so many stories I dont have the time or desire to tell them all, but a few in particular stand out. One of his Korean students said the window was invented by a Korean. One Japanese student said the northern lights were discovered by a Japanese person. Another Korean responded to a question about where Koreans came from. We've always been Korean. No but you had to come from somewhere a long time ago. Oh... it was Mongolia. So you went thru China then? NO. We came from Mongolia, but we did NOT go thru China. (Note: It is completely unacceptable to think Koreans may be related to Chinese, because they're so much better than them. But too bad for Koreans Japan is actually the master race. This only makes sense because Japanese came from Korea. Does it make sense yet? If so, please send me all the answers because I'm still lost myself.)
Greg also went on a trip to Morocco, Spain with some Japanese. His Morrocan friend was their guide, and during the trip he pointed out a Jasmine plant. One Japanese girl says no thats not jasmine, jasmine is a plant in Japan. He says no, this is jasmine right here. Nope, you're wrong, I know what jasmine is. Look here, I'm Morrocan, we're in Morroco, and this is jasmine.The final story of Greg I will discuss here is perhaps the most pertinent. He has five friends married to Japanese women, and they are all very sorry about this. They all tell him do not get married to a Japanese women, because thats exactly what they want you to do. Then they have succeeded in marrying a foreigner, thus they have won the game of life. At this point sex ceases to exist, regardless of how things were before. Now sure 5 people is not a good sample as far as polling goes, but this can't be a mere coincidence.
Now I'm not saying that all international marriages to a Japanese woman are like this, nor am I saying that I wouldn't get married to a Japanese woman, or get married to one for that matter. What I will say is that I will never get married to a woman from Tokyo until someone comes along who proves me wrong that they are not all shallow ignorant slaves to society, the material world, and ignorance. Greg tells me that in Japan the people aren't stupid. They are simply educated to the perfect level. If they knew more they could be dangerous to a society that works so well (evil mocking laugh). The worst part is I'm more sure about this than every thing else I doubt about this country.One can only analyze what is presented. The only women I have met that do not fall into my stereotype are those who have traveled outside of Japan (the more the better), lesbians, or those over 30. That being said fitting these criteria does not mean that they that are intelligent, for I have met exceptions to all except for one. The one lesbian who I got to know, who was awesome as a person, but unfortunately was not very interested in men, or perhaps even me as a friend since she stopped responding to my mail quite some time ago.)
So when it comes down to it the only women I can say I truly like here are my teachers, Tomoko-san, and certain classmates. Funny how they all seem to be related to my school, or not Japanese. Sorry in advance, but the rant doesn't stop here. In fact, it gets better. Sunday night I was invited to meet a japanese girl and 4 of her friends. Two of them got sick though so in the end it was only three girls. I was accompanied by Joe and Dave. We met them in funabashi, chiba-ken, since they do not live in Tokyo. The girl who I had met from japan-guide.com came to meet us at the train station. She was very goofy, her way of speaking English was very odd, perhaps due to the things she chose to say and how she said that. Grammatically she was usually correct, but did not speak in a very natural way.Upon arrival at the izakaya, we met her two friends, one Japanese, and one French. The French girl was a French teacher in Japan. The girl I met online, Miki, worked at an airport, at the ticket purchase/check in counter I think. The other Japanese girl, Chika, works at a dental clinic. She was also very cute. One thing on my mind was the difference in Japanese body temperature, which Greg heard from one of his students. The Japanese girls said they did not believe it was any different, but Angelique followed by saying in fact, the Japanese have longer intestines because they have eaten rice for so long..... um what?! She also said that when she first came to Japan she thought it was weird, but now she doesn't anymore. I was curious so I asked why and she said she wasnt quite sure but probably it was because she was young at the time and didn't understand a lot of things. Now that shes old (late twenties maybe) she was discovered all the hidden secrets. Actually Japan is completely normal, theres nothing wrong with it she says. This is very disturbing, because as a foreigner you're supposed to realize more and more how screwed up this place the longer you stay here. In conclusion she has become one of them. Looks like we lost another one.
But enough about Angelique, she left early on and because she is not Japanese yet seems to think like one she is not worth my time. Miki and Chika asked me the standard bullshit questions, this is a triad actually.
Almost every single Japanese person has asked me when I have a conversation, but fortunately I can think of exceptions for every one. They are: What do you think of Japan? How old are you? What do you think of Japanese women? I will address all of these separately.First: What do I think of Japan? Its fun, its awesome, and its incredibly ****ed up. (in Japanese substitute hen or okashii (strange/weird, or strange/funny). The problem is when I actually answer in this way, which I always have, except from now on. Regardless of guys I will simply refer to women at this point because there are no problems with discussing such things with men. With that aside, they always want to know why its weird, because they already know its a fun place. This puts me in a tough situation, because as you already know the reasons for it being strange aren't the most appropriate things to talk about with girls I have just met. Yet if I drink it become more difficult to refrain, and I have to stop short or just make up some weak answer as to why its weird. But to some it all up: Shallow minded, perverted, oblivious, undeservedly nationalistic. But let me remind you again that I love Japan. This is an amazing country, especially when you make it outside of Tokyo. Yet this does not discount the fact that Japan still does not trust foreigners, and the thoughts and laws are unfairly biased against us whether Japan believes it or not.
Greg told me that I should purposefully make mistakes when I speak, because a Japanese once told him we dont trust foreigners who speak perfect Japanese, because they must be a spy or something?Onto question number two: How old am I? 23. Why? 20 is to young to be of any use to anyone, especially women. I am still a child after all. Forget the fact that 20 makes you a legal adult in Japan. Upon disclosing my age the nearly universal response is extreme surprise. I suppose this is for two reasons: Japanese think foreigners look older than they really are, and foreigners think Japanese look young. But moreso than that is the way I act. I think and talk older than I am, but I still have the heart of the child. Inversely, Japanese, especially women, generally act younger than they are. A big reason for this problem is society which wants Japanese women to seem like children, need I remind you that they are inferior to men? So I look older, I act older, but the age doesn't add up. This is a problem, because it is a fact that a 25 y/o in Japan who possesses less knowledge, wisdom, intelligence, maturity, skills, charm, (insert character/personality trait here) is automatically a more worthy person of your time. Never mind the fact that girls generally dont like giving out their age, rather, they like to hear how old you think they are. Yes, I have been asked this question, more times than I would like. As a result I have grown three years older since this weekend, as well as dave.To top it all off I thought I was onto something about this whole thing. I made some comment, and Miki said wakai no ni "He's so young, but..." (Implying something in opposition to what one would expect). I asked her if this was a good or bad thing and she said its not either, or maybe its both. I asked her to explain and she really couldnt. Chika helped her out by saying "soto de asobinasai!" (Go play outside!) Miki says yes, exactly! At this point I started to laugh uncontrollably. What a farce. Either she didn't understand my question, or she was even more ignorant than I thought. I have my reasons to be surprised, but I don't like to pick on one person when they all seem the same.
What it comes down to is she could not even explain why it was such a big deal that I was 20.Question number 3: What do I think of Japanese women? This one is my favorite, especially because it seems like women actually ask me more. As of this weekend I decided the appropriate response is: Why? Do you want to have sex with me? Otherwise why else do they give a damn? If I say anything besides this I find myself in a worse situation, because the only honest response I have is they are beautiful. I mean sure its ok when guys ask me, especially because many of them prefer foreign women.But lets see what happens when I turn the tables. I ask Chika what she thinks of Japan, and she said she likes it. Why? Because its easy to live here. Why? Its fun, and the rice is good. Dont you like to eat rice? (Mental jaw drop. To really do so would have been rude). Why do they have to keep reinforcing my stereotype? I have never been so prejudiced against a group of people in my entire life, but it does them too much credit to assume they exist otherwise. The way I think now, I get to die of a heart attack when I meet this women who will turn my thoughts upside down. (I find it important to add that the girl Aki who I lost against in bowling defied every complaint I have here, but she is so busy it is actually upsetting).
This concludes the section of the three stooges.Onto Monday. No school because of graduation ceremony. Went to Nakano with Dave, Joe, and Javie. Go to said bookstore. Sure enough its bizarre in a way they can only be experienced. The Nakano broadway center is awesome. Tons of various clothing, toy stores, book stores, music stores. All in all a great area. Later I meet my classmate who lives in Nakano. Javier goes home because hes not feeling well. My friend came with her housemate, and we decide what to do next. I suggest karaoke, Joe doesnt want to go so he goes off on his own. I hope he found an arcade, because he loves those. But upon getting to the karaoke place, my classmate, Choron, tells me her friend doesnt actually want to go, so lets just go to a coffee shop. I had no objections, so we did. I order m-size blood orange juice, which was fantastic. The glass was actually fairly large for japanese m, so I told the cashier, and afters a moments pause simply said hai with a smile on her face. This amused me. Me and Dave had a good conversation with these two Korean girls, although the one I just made hard spoke in Japanese, even though she could. Instead she only spoke to her friend who would often translate. I learned several Korean words which sound almost exactly the same as Japanese since they are based on Kanji. But onto the important stuff.
Choron asked Dave if a tomato was a fruit or vegetable, because I've had this conversation with her before, and every Korean in my class thinks its a vegetable because thats what they learned in school. Dave says its a fruit, for the same scientific reason as me. It has seeds. Just like cucumbers, squash, and chili peppers. She could still hardly believe this, since they taught her otherwise, a question even came up on a test once, yet her only reason for it being a fruit is thats what they told her. I have scientific reasoning on my side. I told her you cant just accept something as it is because someone tells you, especially without a reason. I'm not sure if she still believes its a vegetable or not, but she is closer to accepting the truth now it seems. Before this next conversation occurred, Dave went home.
But more absurd than this, was the confirmation of fan death. Choron believes it possible to die if you go to sleep in a room with a fan running if you shut all the doors and windows. Her reasoning is based on hypothermia, but not every could die like this. It depends on your physical condition. So she is not completely wrong, because the only people who have died by fans, actually died because of existing conditions, or alcohol poisoning. But the Korean media perpetuates the myth. I told her only people in South Korea believe in this. So she said its a lie then? Lets just say you probably can't die like that. 9pm rolls around and she says they're going to home now. Choron almost falls down the stairs. We have a nice laugh over this, and she points me towards the train station. Its all too easy. I start walking away and within 15 seconds this Japanese guy runs up to me, starts speaking in Japanese and confirms that I speak Japanese, right?He was listening to our conversation and was impressed by my Japanese ability. He wanted to speak to me more, but I told he I was hungry so lets go to a restaurant. I'm tired now so I'm going to cut this short. But the point here is the bill was 2300 yen, but he said I only have to pay 1000. I told him about the triad of bullshit questions, and he seemed to completely understand my point. Better than that was he didnt ask me any of them, and I asked him what do you think if Japan. He says what do you mean? That question is too vague. Exactly! I exclaim. Thats why its so annoying how often I get asked. We exchange emails, we spoke English, we spoke Japanese. Awesome. I hope you enjoyed. This has been one of the most significant weekends so far. It also marks a major turning point in me. I am now 23. Japan is nothing but amazing.
I can't wait to see my family when you all arrive this week.
