Again an update 3 days late, hopefully they will get better soon, although I'm defiantly not going to post one tomorrow night. Last day of the seminar. Large group dinner, then party afterwords.
Anyhow the last 3 days have been a blast. We started out going to Waseda University to look at an Urban Design Lab. We heard some presentations and then went to Simo-kitazawa. Its a cool artists place with lots of kind of cheep things. Also a really cool graphic design T-shirt store. It had an awesome shirt that I wanted to buy, but at that point I didn't have any cash. When I came back at night on Thursday I found out they didn't have the shirt in my size. It was Einstein smoking a join and saying “what about relativity” . Pretty amazing if you ask me. Lunch was also great. We had Hiroshima Oyakudonburi. Oishi desu ne.
Next we walked A LOT. It was kind of death. We saw some cool local urban nature projects. A stream that was the equivalent to a small scale chonggeychong. At the end of the stream was a playground with like 20 little Japanese kids playing and their mothers watching. They were so cute. A few of them ran up to us and then ran back. We tried talking, but they were to shy.
It was kind of like the time I scared the living daylights out of this group of Korean kids back in Seoul. I was walking, one of them tried their English thinking that I was out of ear shot, I turned around and he bolted as fast as he could in the opposite direction. His friends just stood there and looked at me sheepishly. It was so cute. Anyway so were these little Japanese kids. One of them said something about not speaking English in Japanese to his friends and then they went back to playing.
Next we met an old coworker of Jeff's Takashida-Sensei(I think). He was this cool old guy. It was really fun seeing Jeff and this guy interact. You got the feeling that these two guys were old friends from back in the day. Also I got the feeling that these guys did some big things together in terms of community organizing back when they were younger. They both sounded so wistful for the old days. Jeff is a really laid back guy, but it was really cool to see him in a group with his peers. Then we had to sit though an hour long presentation by the guy. At that point we were all really hungry from walking all day, everyone slept at one point or another. I even saw Jeff and Naomi (our co-leader) drift off for a bit.
Dinner was interesting. We had some sort of hotpot meal. Some people in the exploration seminar also started to get on my nerves as well, some people were really funny though so it kind of evens out.
The next day we went down to Yokohama. Thats about it. Down to Yokohama saw a nicely designed dock, ate in China town, grabbed some money (finally!) and went over to an old ladies shopping district. All that took until 3:00pm. Thats when the fun started. I hung out with Mathias and his Japanese friend Shigeyo for the rest of the afternoon. We went to this amazing red brick structure that had a great mall inside. I found a really nice sweatshirt to buy, and I really need one of those, but the stupid Japanese clothing industry doesn't believe in making anything larger than an American medium. I would have broken it if I put it on all the way. I'm still adjusting to going to places where you have to pay more than 20$ for a shirt. Its kind of annoying and I'm looking forward to getting back to Seattle and paying reasonable prices for clothes.
Anyhow after that we went back to Simo-kitazawa where I was reaffirmed in the theory that there are no Japanese clothes larger than a medium. We had to leave some late people behind to go to dinner with some more of Mathias' friends. I kind of felt bad, but dinner made up for it. We went to Shibuya station, and found his friends in front of Hachiko. The first two that showed up were Shiho, and Iyako. Two Japanese business women. Then Johnny a very American English teacher showed up. We went out for Shabushabu. An all you can eat hotpot type deal. It was amazing. I've never had so much meat in my life.
As a side note I've noticed that Korea and Japan you often have to cook the meat yourself once you get it. I'm sometimes sketched out by the idea. Especially with Korean BBQ, although it doesn't stop me from eating it because it delicious.
Anyway after that it was just about time for bed. I finished my book, figured out my project for today and went to sleep.
Today kicked my ass. Normally we take breaks with Jeff. I forget to take those breaks. Also it was a lot hotter than the previous few days. The humidity was gone, but I still sweated a bit. It kind of sucked. My first stop was Ueno again. I wanted to go shopping there thinking that was going to be cheep. I knew of a place to get a nice Rage Against the Machine T-shirt, only to find out that it cost 40$. Instead I got my self a nice Japanese Speedo (I needed one anyway) and called it a day.
Next stop was Akihabara again with money! I really shouldn't have brought money. I'll have to show people everything I bought there individually. Its a bit much. I got some nice pictures for my project though and really enjoyed hanging out with all the Otaku. I accidentally ran into some Henti shops. That was an interesting experience. I almost feel compelled to buy some now just to say I have it :).
Ginza was the last stop on my tour for my project. I hate Ginza, and still do. If I ever come back I'm not even going to go to the station. To upper class for me. Anyhow I managed to get my self good and lost before I found the station I was looking to photograph. Then I realized that there wasn't anything under the tracks. I walked a long way, got a feel for the merchants and booked it back to the hostel.
Tonight was taken up designing my project, and I managed to take a Japanese bath. Finally, after a week in Japan. It felt amazing. I wish I knew about the place sooner. Its in our hostel complex. Lesson learned I guess.
Some people didn't like getting naked. I figure go with the cultural norms. A lot of people have been trying to import American culture into Japan and Korea in different forms, or making judgment biased off of American sensibilities. The importing culture thing I think is just stupid. Were not here long enough to really effect any lasting change, and if its not continued then it doesn't really matter. The making judgments aspect is alright, I can see why you would, we have to judge everything some how, but unless you understand the historical reason why someone does something and can see the action through their viewpoint then even if your judging something your not going to really understand it.
Anyhow thats about it from over here. One more half day of seminar than freedom! I doubt I'll be posting much, maybe though. Heres my roughed out schedule.
Sun: Local Tokyo Sights
Mon: Nikko
Tues: Get my JR Rail and head over to the Isu Peninsula. Hike/ do the tourist thing
Weds: Climb Mt. Fuji (Weather permitting)
Thurs: Fuji-ku (a kind of amusement park), Shinkansen to Kyoto
Friday: Go River Rafting, temple seeing and meeting a friends parents to show them around. Then chill with Michael.
Sat: Nara and Osaka maybe
Sun: More temples and hang out with Michael
Mon:Kill my self and get ready for a 20 hour day at least to get home.
It really doesn't feel like I've got a lot of time left :(
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