BeezBlog

On The Windswept Plain of Eburg...

2008-06-19T12:26:00-07:00

Me again. Been ages since I posted and believe it or not I fear that the old man (who keeps this site up) is preparing to disown me as his son or do something even more drastic. Like calling me names or something.

Aaaanyway...I am still in good ol Eburg. Been taking it easy for the most part, hangin with friends and working. I acquired a job at the local casino as a security guard which I kept for about 4 months. I later moved on to bartending which is something I've wanted to do for quite some time. Plans to hit up Tokyo still remain its just a question of when and how. My rough plan is to head over there for a few weeks in the Fall or Winter to see some friends and keep an eye out for potential job opportunities while I am there. Ideally I will find something agreeable as far as future work goes and move back over there with all the paperwork and arrangements taken care of beforehand. I'm more or less at the point where any job will do as long as I'm there. Don't think that I am above being a male host at a hostess bar. I hear they make good money anyway...

There and Back Again

2007-03-06T12:07:00-07:00

Its been awhile since an update and I think one is finally due. After a month stay in Tokyo I decided that there were things to be done back in the US of A, so back I am!

Currently I'm living in Ellensburg, Washington with Keith, Adam and Jessie. Plans have been made to attend CWU for Spring quarter where I will begin work on my teacher certification and quite possibly a masters in teaching English as a second language. Credits allowing I think I will make some time to take the famous CWU bowling class as well. Who wouldn't?

March 18th-25th I will be traveling to Dallas with Keith, Adam and Richard to see our World of Warcraft friends. Its strange, that we met all of the people in Dallas through a video game, had a fantastic connection and friendship with all of them, yet we had never seen any of them in real life. I was blown away when I went down there before Japan, at how friendly and honest and just like I expected them to be they were. They were like our long lost nerd-brothers and sisters or something. Can't wait to see them all again.

Taxi!

2006-11-30T09:25:00-07:00

A quick story for the masses that I found funny. I had been out with a friend of mine the other night and it was around 12 in the evening so it was time to head home. I got about haflway to my hotel via train but because it was so late no more trains were running to take me home. So, I exited the current station I was in to go find a taxi. First thing I saw was a lot of drunk businessmen, second thing was prostitutes trying to get said businessmen to have a drink with them. So I hailed a cab, deciding it was time to get out of there before I too got propositioned and hopped inside.

Now, one thing about Tokyo cab drivers is they usually are not very chatty but luckily this one was. So we chatted about Tokyo, America, English and Japanese and finally my curiosity took over so I asked him, whats the weirdest customer you have ever had. Apparently the strangest customer was a businessman who got into the cab wearing only his underwear and fancy business shoes. The cab driver then had a very difficult time figuring out where the man wanted to go but eventually figured it out and took him there. He did not say how the man paid him, I think he left that part out on purpose as he surely did not want to remember. I think I saw a tear fall down his cheek too.

The Return

2006-11-19T17:26:00-07:00

Greetings! After a long hiatus I have returned to my beloved Tokyo. Things seem pretty much where I left them. Lots of short people with black hair, schoolgirls with weird uniforms and people that overtan themselves and dye their hair grey (though I've seen less of them recently.) So far I haven't noticed any strange new styles here yet I've only been in Tokyo for two days. Met up with Asako, Etsuko and Hiroko yesterday and we went to my favorite Japanese restaurant Amataro.Amataro is whats called an izakaya which is a type of combination bar and eatery. Its difficult to describe how it would be different from any other Western restaurant where you can order food and whatever you want for a beverage...it just is. Perhaps its the fact that everything you order is to share among the rest of your group. Or maybe its the Japanese decor. Or maybe because its in Japan...who can say?

I made friends with the housecleaning lady in my hotel almost immediately. She complimented me on my Japanese and said she was very relieved that I could speak Japanese because she couldn't speak a word of English.

Other than that things are pretty laid back at the moment. Today I'll head out to see Pee (my host sister from my first visit to Japan.) I'll hopefully acquire a cell phone in my travels as well and then its time to start hunting for a job. Not sure where to start exactly but hopefully it will come to me with diviine assistance. That or the internet.

Boring: The Revenge

2005-07-06T06:28:00-07:00

As if it wasn't clear by now, I am a big fan of bowling. Its a great way to spend time with the homies and the game itself is rather enjoyable.

Following up to my previous post, TJ, James and I made yet another trip to the Hyperlane bowling alley in Ikebukuro. This time, we decided we would write our names on the player card as incomprehensibly as possible to add a little confusion to the staff. This is what our score card read:

Riboflavin
ServiceMan
Admiral

This is what we got:

Samurai
Ninjya
Sushi

And no the way I spelled Ninja here is not a typo. Thats how the clever people of the hyperlanes bowling alley wrote it.
Employees 1, The Lads 0.

Boring!

2005-06-28T07:00:00-07:00

For the first time since I got here, I decided to go bowling with the homies. Our destination was the Ikebukuro bowling alley located near TJ's apartment. Apparently the place was 24 hours and ready and willing to accept some eager bowlers.

Now, I've been to a few Japanese bowling alleys in my time, even a few in other countries like Nicaragua and Vietnam, but this one was by far the most entertaining I have been to internationally. First off, we were required to fill out a card with our desired bowling name, real bowling name, address, phone number, sex, previous visits, mother's maiden name, the names of capitals in 28 random states and the birthday of Prime Minister Koizumi. Ok ok, just kidding, they didn't ask for Mom's maiden name. Anyway, after skipping the majority of the unimportant info our bowling card looked like this under the list of names;
Riboflavin
Admiral Kemper
Naturally, my mighty bowling name is Riboflavin and TJ's last name is Kemper, thus Admiral Kemper. We turned in our card, picked up our shoes and sat down at the computer screen on the lane and viewed our names freshly typed into the screen. They read;
Ribofrau
&
Aclinaural
In short, TJ and I laughed for a good 5 minutes at that. We decided that from now on my type of writing was too stylistic for the clerks to read and reinput properly so my job as card filler-outter was quickly revoked.
As if this wasn't good enough we were treated to the experience of how Japanese people, most likely the Men, prefer to bowl. On the screens above our heads were our running score totals, yet occasionally the screen would change based on how you threw the ball. Naturally all these changes on screen involved scantily clad women and them offering words of encouragement or congratulations. On a gutter ball, I was treated to two ladies with bright smalls and tight clothing offering their encouragement. As if this wasn't random enough, quite suddenly a Japanese fellow dressed as a Baseball umpire also showed up beside them and gave me a big thumbs up...I love Japan.

Kugayama ni Yookoso!

2005-06-05T08:28:00-07:00

This evening I was journeying out to Kichijoji to do some people studying. For anthropology, we're supposed to choose a fieldsite and observe people, customs and culture. I chose McDonald's and the seemingly different kind of culture that exists here in Jerpan in regards to the way people use fast food restaurants.

On my way to the station, I noticed here in Kugayama there seemed to be a great deal of activity on the main road that seemed out of place. There were bright pink lanterns all along the street lights with the characters for Kugayama painted on them. People were everywhere and all the local convenience shops had little stands outside selling mostly food items with the occasional trinket or piece of junk for the visitors. Basically, it was Kugayama ni Yookoso Day, translated to Welcome to Kugayama Day. Not sure why the people of Kugayama were inspired to invite people here seeing as how there isn't much goin on, but it was very interesting nonetheless. Near the main strip is a bike/walking trail that people often use, so they set it up that you enter the trail at one end, and all along the way you get to stop by little food and trinket stands. Its a comparable experience to our 4th of July on Bainbridge. It was a very cool thing to check out even though I didn't purchase anything. Wish I'd known it would have been there or I would have taken pictures.
Midterms are just starting to wind down here, so we have another pseudo lull period in studies until we hit our finals. Can't believe I only have two months left here.

Germany Will Be Mine!

2005-06-02T06:55:00-07:00

So I was riding the train today, reading a book on the making of the latest Star Wars when the train stopped at one of the stations along its route. I paused for a moment of quiet thought as hordes of black haired Japanese people passed me when I happened to look up at an advertisement for the upcoming World Cup. The advertisement was in Japanese (obviously) and seemed to be a photograph of the advertised magazine's current cover.

The funny thing, is that on said cover of the magazine, was a very blown up photograph of Japan's current Soccer coach. A Brazillian man whose name I don't recall is pictured on the front looking intense and focused as if to suggest the World Cup game was tomorrow and he was ready for it. Heres the best part: directly above said Coache's head, in English are the words, "Germany Will Be Mine!"
I'll let all of this advertisement's deep meanings sink in for a few moments.
On a related subject, Bananas in this country need to be sold less yellow and more green because they go bad in two days and despite my love for Bananas, I just can't eat that many that fast. I'm sorry.

The Combini

2005-05-22T06:37:00-07:00

Lets talk about Combini. Put simply, Combini are short for Convenience Stores, and they are an essential ingredient to the Japanese economy, way of life and overall social stability.

Combini serve incredible purposes. Mostly they supply you with all manner of foods, but they are good for other things as well. Making copies, renting movies, reading porn that is in plain sight and reach of 5 year olds, but most of important of all, you can pay your bills. Thats right, at the convenience store, you can take your monthly gas, electric and water bill and pay it right there and then. You get a stamp and a receipt and you're off on your way to doing whatever it is you feel is important at that time juncture. Its incredibly convenient and time saving, not to mention you don't need to spend money on stamps or envelopes. Now if only dealing with school administration was so simple...

Of Turtles, Sea Captains and Those Who Do Battle

2005-04-30T19:19:00-07:00

So its been a long time since my last post. My apologies. School has started again and its gogogo time, at least in regards to studying. Managed to snag a friend's apartment that they were moving out of so I've got a perfect place that is close to school and I've been hitting the books with wreckless abandon. But that isn't what I'm hear to talk about today.

First, I thought I would share some experiences I've had in Japan since I got back, more specifically, strange experiences that I'm not sure I would see in the USA, but then again, who knows. The first happened a few weeks ago. I was leaving my apartment to go to school on a bright sunny day, when I noticed one of my neighbors was outside near his doorway, viciously scrubbing away at something. I wasn't entirely sure what it was and for some reason curiosity got the better of me so I stopped to look. To my amazement, he was sitting on his haunches, scrubbing a turtle. Yes, a turtle. A live one. Now the question is, is the turtle a pet, or perhaps dinner?
The next odd thing happened last night. I visited an Izakaya (Japanese style bar/eatery) with Asako and Etsuko to get some tasty grubbins after the night's dancing. The place we picked had a slightly seafood oriented theme and I noticed the restaurant's mascot seemed to be a very hairy Japanese guy in a sailor suit, which I thought was funny. So we ordered, ate our food and drank our drinks when suddenly, said captain appeared in the flesh, and right next to our table. He had a ridiculous grin on his face and asked us how we were doing and gave his thanks for coming to his restaurant. He then said, (in english) "Where you are come from? Oh America? Great, its great place. Please have good time tonight, you are with two beautiful girl, have good time." And he walked off. I wish I had my camera.
The other story is less exciting but somewhat funny. On my 2nd day in my apartment I was walking home when I heard what sounded like people engaged in battle. More specifically it sounded more like people screaming with rage and murdering eachother. I looked all around me to find out where the noise was coming from and quickly realized what it was. Put simply, I am located right next to a huge highschool, and in the afternoon, the Kendo Club (Japanese Sword Fighting) meets to practice, train and beat the crap out of eachother. OnceI realized what it was I thought it was quite funny.
Today's Song: Shining Over You - Hyde

2004-11-09T09:30:00-07:00