Nelson's Japanese Adventure

Recently, my good friend, Kyle, has decided to come visit me in Japan on his way back from Thailand. Only in town for a short time (April 4th through the 11th), I've tried to do my part to show him many interesting aspects of Japanese culture (for better or worse. ;) )

On his first full day in town, I was to meet Kyle and his girlfriend, Vanessa, in Asakusa at about noon outside of their hotel. Not wanting to be late, I left my apartment for Tokyo at about 9:00am since it takes an hour to get into Tokyo. I figured that would give me an hour to look around at some stores I've been wanting to check out as well as another hour to get to Asakusa and find their apartment. I've never had that hard of a time finding things in Japan and thought that the status quo would continue... Man, was I ever wrong. Long story short, I was 30 minutes late and eventually got a call from Vanessa on my cellphone asking in a very polite tone, "Um, where are you?" After taking a cab (yeah, I was that far off), I found them and we were on our way.

This being my first time playing tour guide, I really wasn't sure where to take Kyle and Vanessa as Tokyo is completely overwhelming for first time visitors. Keeping that in mind as well as the fact that both Kyle and Vanessa live in Bellingham (which is probably the most polar-opposite city to Tokyo), I decided to get them out of the there and break them in slowly. Eventually, I decided that we should go to Kawagoe, a place I've visited before with my friend Mitsuko and her family (If you don't know what I'm talking about, check my earlier entries).

After a bit of a heckit morning, we met up with Mitsuko again and were off to Kawagoe, which is about 45 minutes out of downtown Ikebukuro. I'm going to spare a lot of details here because 1) this would be a rediculously long entry and 2) I'm tired, but we did end up having a great time exploring "Little Edo." I will say that I was very impressed with both Kyle and his girlfriend who happily ate unagi. I would also like to take this time to thank Mitsuko for showing us a great day and for being so kind.

Well, I'm going to end part one of this update here and continue on tomorrow as I need to get to bed. More to come soon!

It's Been 365 Days...

Yep, you've heard it right. I've been in Japan for a full year and man, has it flown by. I hate to sound cliche, but it really does feel like I just got off the plane. In all honesty though, I guess it's because it was such a surreal experience walking into Kansai Airport after being on the place for 12 hours, sitting next to random Hawaiian people. I guess what made it even more strange was that my next task was to find a Japanese guy named Rambo (not exactly the name that pops to my head when I think of Japanese people).

With that said, I think now would be a good time to reflect upon the last 365 days. Shall we begin?

Things I know today, that I didn't know a year ago:

• Natto (fermented soy beans) = delicious
• Japanese people are like cats; they can sleep literally anywhere.
• It is not okay to wear shoes in a Japanese lockerroom.
• In Japan, you can lock your umbrella in a special umbrella locker before entering many buildings.
• Even Japanese adults like manga and playing Nintendo DS's.
• If you experience summer in Japan, it must be karma telling you that you suck at life.
  
• A lot of Japanese culture revolves around drinking (happy drinking, that is, not American depressing drinking).
  
• Kanji is actually really fun to learn (Yes, I'm cool. I already realize this.)
• Japanese cell phones are amazing.
• The media in Japan doesn't make me feel the sky is falling like the American news does.
• Japanese people like to eat... and make you eat.
  
• It is not uncommon to see young Japanese women wearing cat or panda ears on the train (I'm not sure how to explain this one).
• Harajuku is weird.
• Japan REALLY likes Barack Obama (and so do I).
  
• Monkeys in Japan are like their foreign counterparts; they are smelly and mean (one commented that my shoes looked moon-boots. I have yet to recover from that verbal quip)
• Japanese television is entertaining regardless if you understand it or not (okay, I knew this before I left the U.S.)
• And finally, no matter where you are in the world, nothing can compete with home cookin'!

Well, folks, with less than 3 months left to go, my adventure to this island across the pond is coming to an end. That said, don't worry, I will do my best to make blog updates more regularly with lots of pics and videos.

Alright, that's it for now. I hope you're all doing well.

~ Kenji

Update: Yours Randomly

I would like to thank everyone for all of the nice birthday wishes I received both yesterday and today. From what I can tell, I'm definitely older... wiser? Hmm, that seems questionable. ;)

At any rate, my birthday was pretty chill as I had to work late but I did have a good time talking to my family via webcam during the day.

Anyways, I just wanted to show you some random videos. The first one is a birthday message I received from my sister, Ali-baba, and her fiancee, J-Poo-Poo. I found it amusing. I hope you will as well. I don't care who's birthday it is next. They're getting a copy of this.



Alisa and John: Birthday Message


The next video is of a fireworks show that was visible from my apartment.



vid00007.avi


Finally, the last video is stupid Japanese television! ENJOY!



Japanese Word Game Show 2

My Ice Cream City Experience

It seems like I continue having to the say this, as my laziness and lack of creativity have been interrupting my blog updates, but again, I'm sorry I haven't updated recently. That being said, hopefully a spectacular blog is coming soon (fingers crossed), but most likely maybe not so much.

With that being said, here's a quick video I made in Tokyo after finding out of a place called Ice Cream City in the Sunshine 60 building. Apparently, they have many different flavored ice creams... some great, others... well, you'll see. Like eel? Like ice cream? Why not combine the two??? uh....



Eel Flavored Ice Cream

I Miss California Rolls?

Guess who's back? Back again. Kenji's back. Tell a friend...

Alright, now that I've gotten through my system, let's move on to the newest entry in my blog. Life recently has been filled with some ups and downs as of late. Teaching has been pretty good, for the most part, I've fooled the kids into believing I can understand Japanese, although there are a few who still don't hesitate to call me 'unko no sensei'.... which isn't exactly much of a compliment.

It's nice being in Atsugi, where after 4 months of being in Japan, I finally have a place to settle down and sort of call my own. Atsugi, although not the most interesting place I've ever been, it's a bit lively and even has one of those coin operated claw-machine games where you can win anything from toys to potato chips to beetles (yes, weird, I know). Actually, there's a couple of pretty big arcades near my house which I've explored out of pure boredom... As you approach your senses become pretty overwhelmed... flashing lights, loud noises, japanese dudes everywhere... It's worse than trying to eat a meal in the Rainforest Cafe (where you get a free meal on your birthday, quickly followed by a complimentary epileptic seizure).

These arcades are actually pretty amazing though... Usually about 3 or 4 levels, they house videogames, slot machines, carnival games, and of course, the ever popular claw machine game. I'm not sure why they're so big over here, but the claw machine games make a killing here! I mean, if I were smart, I should have gotten a B.A. in Claw Machine Management... alas, I am not. But any rate, at all hours of the day, I see people putting coin after coin into these stupid things just to win a bag of chips or some stupid Pikachu doll. Mind you, these aren't just young people either... I've seen 40 year old men rocking these machines... I even saw a purple haired g-ma pumping 100 yen pieces into them too! Yes, claw machines are big in Japan.

Ahhh... good stuff.

Moving on, my dad happens to be in Japan and he's actually coming to see me today, which I'm looking forward to. Thankfully, he's bringing me a few things 'from the states.' These things include the ever important 'I'm from Seattle and enjoy the outdoors' Nalgene bottle, a handy dandy Japanese for Busy People book (but apparently people who are not busy at all can use it to, hence my dad is bringing it to me), and a bicycle! Yep... a bicycle. My dad is hooking it up... He's bringing one of his bikes for me to ride (which I actually have to register at the city ward office so I don't get a ticket). Bicycles are big business here in Japan. At all times of the day, people are getting from point A to point B on their bikes... but not just any bike. Nope, in a technologically advanced country like Japan, people choose to ride in style. Let me make a semi-weird reference. Remember the Wizard of Oz? The Wicked Witch of the West before she was the witch, was that old lady on that bike and when she rode it, that really creepy music playing? Yeah, Japanese people pretty much ride those... I mean, those exact bikes. They haven't made any new bikes since about the 1940's. When I see them, I pretend that music is playing... but then I realize I'm actually singing the music out loud and everyone's staring at me and things get awkward..... um, yeah.

Well, I'm getting the internet in about a week, at which point I'll be able to make some regular updates to my blog with some new pictures and videos (with my John Madden-esque commentary). Alright, I gotta get out of here but thanks for reading.

Peace, love, and Dwight Schrute.

Kenji

Just a Short One...

Well, I made it here to Nagoya and have finished my first week of training! To say the least, it has been very intense, not just because of the crazy amount of curriculum, but also because Japanese kids are crazy, hyperactive, little people. It truly should be interesting to see how this goes....

I've met some pretty cool people here in Nagoya. Most of the people in my training group are from Canada, but there are few Aussies and even one lady from Ghana (who speaks better Japanese than I do!). The training days have been pretty long and intense, we often have to travel about for an hour to get to a school so most of the time, we don't get home till 9 or 10 at night. It's been a pretty draining experience. Only one more week to go! I've already got my ticket and housing information in Atsugi. I really am pumped to start my new life there.

At any rate, I gotta keep this short because I am in an internet cafe and gotta get out of here. I hope everyone is doing well and thanks for all of your support.

Kenji

New Blog!

I've move my blog to:

http://kenjionozawa.blogspot.com