Having returned from our year abroad in Japan, Mr. Potato Head and I are on the road to graduation, and hopefully back to Japan for a job in teaching English.
So this past Sunday was actually probably one of my best days in Tokyo, along with visiting the giant Buddha.
Ever since I was a child, I have loved Pokemon. I collected the cards and played the games. Even now, I still play the games and stuff. So naturally, one of the first places I wanted to go to was the Pokemon Center. Sadly, because I am like, 14 years older than the audience for Pokemon, most of the Pokemon they had were from the new generation. However, I was able to get some cute phone charms, and a picture with Pikachu!
Afterwards, we went to a really pretty park. I am not sure of the name, but it was pretty big. It had a large pond /lake, and lots of land around it. One surprising thing about Tokyo is the amount of parks and trees. It is very nice to take a break from all the busy street life and concrete and actually enjoy nature...
and feed the occasional turtle.
Soon my group is going to Nagano, which is a bit more out of the country. I am just ready to get away from my "host family" for awhile.
SO I will say this out front: The drinking age in Japan is twenty years old. Therefore, according to Japanese law, I am not doing anything illegal. This blog does not condone drinking, and therefore any actions spoken about just happen to happen. That is all.
So, I recently joined a circle/club at Waseda. It's called Niji no Kai, which is pretty much a international group which is focused on people making friends from all around the world. It's a HUGE group (according to the page, over 350 members for this year).
In case you didn't know, drinking is a BIG part of Japanese culture. Whether it is businessmen going out for drinks after work, or just hanging out, or club meetings, there is usually drinking involved during or after things. So naturally, this was the first nomikai (drinking party) of the year. A nomikai is pretty much translated as 'drink and conversation.' This nomikai was a nomihodai, which means unlimited drinks for a period of time (usually about two hours). For about 2500 yen, you get unlimited drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic. If you consider that, it is honestly a VERY good deal, even though it is STILL super expensive、IMO.
Since our group was HUGE, our pitchers just got refilled every time we finished a drink off. However, the annoying thing is that the glasses are so small. Glasses in general seem to be tiny in Japan, which is really annoying for someone who drinks 43889247882374232 glasses of water a day, or tries to, anyway.
Otherwise, nomi kai / hodais are pretty fun. Sadly, I really wasn't in the best of moods so I didn't want to socialize that much (I had spent the entire day carrying around my laundry because no one was home / had to do laundry cause my host family is ugh).
There is another nomikai at the same place this Friday. I might go, but honestly, I'd rather be like this*
If there is one thing I cannot say enough: TOKYO IS SUPER, SUPER EXPENSIVE.
How much did it cost me to do 2 loads of laundry, along with drying them for 30 minutes each?
1200 yen.. which is about 15.50$. I wish I was kidding.
So why am I paying an arm and a leg to do laundry? I'm pretty sure you figured out already:
Yupp, my host family.
They do laundry... every. single. day. Like, two loads, EVERY DAY. NO ONE NEEDS TO DO THAT MUCH LAUNDRY. Before someone says "but washing machines are smaller in Japan." NOT my families. It's actually pretty big. Whenever I try and ask to do laundry, they're all like 'ummmmm,' or pretty much saying 'No.'.. If I was at Earlham, I could give two craps less about wearing dirty clothes over again. But here, when I have no socks/underwear left, and no one lets me do laundry, I get pissy. REALLY pissy (even though I've been pissed about all this for like.. weeks now.)
I suppose if I have any "good news,"I did talk to someone yesterday about my family and how frustrated I am with them. Honestly, as much as I bitch about these people, I'd rather be miserable in this house and actually try to make it work than living in a dorm. I know if I lived in a dorm...
My Japanese will not improve. at all.
It's money I don't want to spend
I would probably lose my awesome commute
Pretty sure I'd have to pay for laundry ALL THE TIME there
Even though with this place, I'd at least have my own key. That is one of the most ANNOYING things about my family. I'm pretty sure that the family is REQUIRED to give us a key to use, and yet mine SOMETIMES let me use the kitchen key, which is another trial of fire to do.
Point is: I am getting to the point that I am sick of bitching. I am not longer afraid of being the "obnoxious American." I AM American, and I am sick of playing the passive aggressive game with my family. If they don't deal with the SIMPLE thing I want (a laundry schedule), I will not just sit there and deal with it.
In good news: First club meeting tonight for Niji no Kai, a circle I joined at Waseda. I will probably blog about it tomorrow. Hopefully it's not a total disaster.
Here's a little song I kept thinking about while doing laundry today:
I only wish I saw someone cute enough to actually feel this song.
I actually wanted to do this blog post yesterday, but because my internet sucks at my host family's house (one of the things we are fed up with), it was just a pain. So now I'm forced to do it at school. My apologies in advanced.
So honestly, I am enjoying a lot of things about Japan, such as:
Conbinis
Making friends
Classes
The walking (which is great for health)
However, there are PLENTY of things which I am just annoyed with, number one being my "host" family. Let me be clear: they are civil people. They are NOT mean, NOT hurtful, and not-outright rude or anything. I'm sure they are just a typical family. HOWEVER, I feel like I am jack shit to them.
My family has hosted about 9 families before me. Honestly, if you had told me that before, I would have had no clue. They make me food.
That's it.
They have done some nice things, such as they bought me house slippers. My mother also took me to the city ward office in the tsunami, which was very nice of here. However, I feel like I could just disappear tomorrow, and the only thing they would care about is if I remembered to close the curtains before it got dark.
I feel like most of my sadness / depression in Japan relates to the fact that I am not having any kind of connection to my host family. At home, I didn't do much with my family, but even small things like eating together (which I don't seem to get to do with my host family) or watching TV was nice.
Instead, I'm just in my room... all day... watching trashy reality TV from America on my laptop.. when I have wireless.
So I have no idea if my laptop hates me, or just my wireless does. I'm pretty sure it is the wireless. Otherwise, I have no idea. Then, I'm forced to watch re-runs of Secret Life via YT.
I'm honestly depressed... and the only thing that would help cure it right now is probably frozen cookie dough. But the chance of charlie seen hitting me with a solid gold tuna on a vespa is more likely to happen than me finding premade frozen cookie dough in Japan.
I would totally kill for some of this right now.
I'm hoping to go to the Pokemon Center this weekend, so I'm hoping to get some great heads of Mr. PH while there. I'm sorry my photos have been lacking lately. Hopefully things brighten up soon.
So anyway, lately I have seen more strange stuff in Japan, and Mr. Potato Head and I have done so together. First, in case you didn't know, Japan has a lot of themed restaurants. There are maid cafes, butler cafes, horror-themed restaurants, etc. Usually, these places charge just to sit down. The place we went was no exception.
The name of the themed restaurant we went to was "Alcatraz ER." It's noted for being one of the original theme restaurants in Japan. Bizarre Food's host even went there (go to about 4 minutes in). It's a mental hospital/Monster-themed restaurant.
After seeing this video before head, I got really excited. We got to Shibuya, which is where the 'Hachiko' statute is. More or less, Hachiko was a dog who would everyday, go to the station with his master, go home, and return at the time the master would get back to the station. One day, the man died at work, and never came home. Nonetheless, the dog would still everyday go and wait for his master to come home. They made a statute for the dog:
So we made our way to Alcatraz ER. The restaurant was on the second floor of a building... upon entrance, you push a button that has your blood type (Blood types are a really big thing in Japan, kind of like astrological signs). We got put in a cell room, with seats on the floor. Thankfully, we could fit everyone at one time. To get the waiters/waitresses to come (who are all dressed like doctors and nurses), you have to cling on the bars with a chain.
Now, themed-restaurants means themed food and drinks. Well, the drinks were certainly... appropriate. I suppose these will speak for themselves:
The first one was called "discharge of the brain," and featured the drink... inside of a head. It tasted kind of like grape. The second one was called "Japanese TinnTinn" or something like that. It was basically a banana yogurt drink, with a banana shaped like a penis in it.... rather gross looking. The last one... was part of a drink called "hitori asobi," which means "Fun by yourself."
Pretty sure you get it by now. You mixed the drink with the... vibrator.
The food was also themed. While we weren't actually eating things like brains, tongues, or hearts, but it's shaped like that. After that, all the lights went out... and these people in monster costumes came out. I was WANTING to be scared, so I screamed. A lot. It was actually pretty funny. However, the scariest thing about the restaurant: the price.
Most themed restaurants, as far as I know, have a sitting fee of usually 200 - 700 yen. That's right: You have to pay JUST TO SIT DOWN AT THE PLACE. As an American, that's seem crazy to me. However, you don't really tip in Japan, so it's not terrible, but still... wow.
Total cost for a discharge of the brain, a slice of pizza, some noodles and sitting /service fee:
1900 yen. That's like, 20$. Trust me: not worth it.
After that, we just hung around Shibuya. It was nothing really special, but WOW SO MANY PEOPLE!!! Seriously, you know those screen shots of people walking all in a square in Japan, with lots of bright lights? It's just like that.
However, perhaps my favorite find of the day:
Colonel Sanders statute!!!
Back in high school, I saw a video on KFC in Japan. One of the big features was that each KFC had a Sanders statute outside the front. After seeing many KFC restaurants in Japan, I hadn't seen one til now, so I had to get a picture with it!
Another strange thing I saw was when I was walking home, late at night to my house. I know people say all the time "Oh, Tokyo is super safe. No need to worry (much) about being in danger." This may be, but honestly:walking anywhere in the world, in the dark, alone, on a not-super-well-lit street is terrifying, except maybe Earlham (IMO).
I was walking and all the sudden, this girl was walking my way. She was wearing nothing but a uniform jacket, a bra and panties. No. Joke. Needless to say, I pretty much walked as fast as I could without jogging to get home.
At first, I kind of freaked. Looking back, now I'm just curious WHY the girl was like that. I'm hoping it was just a costume thing... not a like "she got mugged" thing.
My next blog is probably not going to be super happy, just BTW. I have a LOT to rant about, so just to warn y'all.
