halloween is coming!!!
the hours are booked, the plans are made. halloween parties and celebrations are coming this weekend; i can barely wait! being that most of japan doesn't recognize halloween, it's great that we've found so many soirees to attend. so many, in fact, that we won't be attending a few. but we surely picked some good ones, and hopefully there'll be good details to follow . . .
a fun and interesting night indeed
recently, feeling honored, tiff, carrie, and i were invited to a wedding party of a friend of ours.
nova, which i have mentioned a few times, is a dance club we often frequent. it's only open on saturdays, so many of those nights are spent by us dancing in the small, smokey, box-like room called the dance floor. nova is only comprised of two rooms, which is connected by a narrow 12 foot long hall. in the hall is access to the bar, literally a little, square hole in the wall, off to the right side.
we found out about nova soon after we arrived in the city it seems. we have pictures of us dancing and mingling there since fall of last year. it has become a staple in our social calendars; because of this, we've gotten to know several other dancers, drinkers, talkers, music lovers, and scenesters on the hip hop front. one of those people we've gotten to know is kiichi; he's a friend of the family that owns nova, the terajimas. he was always nice from the very first ocassions we started going there. our relationship has extended to the point where we always make a point to chat with them when we go, and he'll come out to the dance floor to dance with us or bring us free drinks. whenever we go and he's there, we never end up buying our drinks because kiichi just gives them to us. sometimes he'll give us food to eat there or to take home with us. i have vague, foggy memories of carrie one night carrying around a plate of corn to everyone in the small club feeding them, including tiff and i, spoofuls of delicious corn.
so, friends we've become with kiichi. we had no idea he was married, he conveniently chose to leave that piece of information out, and then one evening, we were invited, by the terajimas, to kiichi's post-wedding party.
it was on a sunday night, at 7:00, at funaei, a bar-type restaurant. one by one, our nocturnal friends started straggling in. how bizarre to see them in light and without an alcohol-induced brain!
the party was great fun, a 2-3 hour all you can eat and drink deal. there was a gift give away from the terajimas, an extremely nice gesture, and everyone ended up getting something. we chatted with old and new friends; we were the only foreigners. we thanked the terajimas and congratulated kiichi - we didn`t get to see his wife due to her being sick!!!
after the party, we decided to continue to party (our decision making was skewed due to the excessive amounts of alcohol we had already drank) with some friends of ours, other attendees of the party
we decided upon an izakaya, same type restaurant as funaei, although we would just be drinking at this one. another friend of theirs, satoru, showed up, and we quickly figured out it was his birthday! someone asked for a cake, being the dutiful friend
carrie told him that, on your birthday, it was a tradition in the states to put the icing of your cake on your nose, so he did it. bad carrie! bad carrie!
then we helped him eat it
the birthday cake was actually a small loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with whip cream and fruit. this didn't seem odd to the boys, so i guess it's normal. it's just so funny that we don't even know what's normal and what's not. how bizarre. we thought everyone should help him finish it due to its size. everyone took a turn . . . this is tochi, a local dj in town
this is gen and toshiki, both of them are talented djs
i asked tochi to give me a funny face, which he duly complied. i was mildly surprised because often, japanese people get embarrassed easily, but he had no problem with the request. it made me happy
toshiki
we were extremely loud and rowdy in the second izakaya. the table behind us probably hated us. we had already been to one drinking party, so it really couldn't be helped. our waiter finally kicked us out an hour after they closed. oops - i used to hate when i waited tables and people stayed after closing - i had things to do!!
we promptly affirmed someone's suggestion to drink more - just what we needed - at tiffany's conveniently-located-in-town apartment. off we went to the convenience store to buy more drinks. it was raining outside, i didn't spill drops of my drink all over my shirt -
and back to tiff's -
things got a little out of hand and a little late. we were called down on three separate occasions by two different neighbors to keep it quiet - we were way too loud 
karmen's birthday
karmen is a fellow ALT. she's from slovenia, and she's enduring her second year as well. i don't see her too often; however, it was her birthday recently, which called for a party!
she wanted a dress-up, closed affair at one of our favorite bars in town, nicks. so, for a set price, we could drink and eat as much as we wanted. scurrying around and getting fancy, tiff and i made it to the party as soon as possible. carrie works at the same school as karmen, so she helped karmen organize the event and had gone early to the party to give a hand.
it was fun to get schmancied up for an evening and dance to good songs a dj puts out all the while sipping (ok ok ok, you got me - pounding - just kidding . . . . . . kind of) all-you-can-drink libations.
carrie and russell cutting the rug
chris and alencar looking sharp
me, russell, carrie, and tiff
i thought it was cute of carrie yawning ... it was late after many hours of being schmancy. i don't think she was aware of me taking the picture
lastly, alencar and carrie
i have a picture of us teaching the older japanese teachers that attended the party the macarena dance. unfortunately it doesn't properly show what we're demonstrating; it's not a very good shot. maybe it was after much, um . . . . . . . sipping, screwdrivers, my drink of choice.
astoundingly, i didn't get any shots of the birthday girl. . . well, happy birthday karmen and here's cheers to you!
yakitori
occasionally, more recently than not, we've been patrons of yakitori restaurants. i think the reason i hadn't gone in a while was that i wasn't too fond of the first, solely yakitori restaurant i went to. tiffany and i wanted dinner one evening and decided to give yakitori a go. it'd been a while (for me, not for tiff), and we chose a different location - there's literally thousands of them in japan.
most of them serve draft beer, japanese shochu (japanese liquor), and various meats on a stick. yakitori means meat, seafood, or vegetables grilled on skewers, usually served in singles or doubles. each restaurant it seems has a mysterious, secret sauce they spray on the grilling skewers during cooking. yakitori usually has a great smokey flavor, sometimes coming sauced up. at this particular restaurant, we ordered the salted chicken yakitori. it comes sans sauce. we also asked for this smokey, chipotle-reminiscent, slightly spicy red paste. it's to die for. slathering your yakitori in this paste is all you need. being that you can order as much or as little as you want, it's relatively quick, and it's also healthy, making it a popular choice for the japanese. i'm a huge advocate of it at this point. hmmmm, what am i having for dinner . . .
draft beer, grilled prawns, aspragus wrapped in bacon, piman (peppers) and chicken = perfect. you can see the red paste peeking in on the left side
yakiniku with master!
recently on a weeknight, carrrie, tiff, and i had plans to go out to dinner with our all time favorite master, shingo. we usually call him masta (master) however. he is the owner of the best karaoke spot, in my eyes, in town. it's called PTA, and instead of the ubiquitous karaoke box, it's a small intimate bar with a small stage for belting out your favorites. i don't much like the expensive karaoke box due to the enclosed socially-strangling room you must enter to sing. it doesn't cost anything to sing at PTA, and drinks aren't pricey. many friends, new, interesting people, and regulars are always there to ensure a good time had by all. some of my best memories have been staged in PTA, starting with my first month of living in japan. so, of course being extroverted, we've made friends with the sole bartender, the owner, masta. we go to him needing advice, japanese help, and for fun conversation.
a couple of weeks ago, we met masta at arai station and then piled in his car. he took us to a yakiniku restaurant in nakago, a neighboring town. it's such a benefit to us to go to dinner with him because he's japanese and native to joetsu, therefore knowing all the best, most delicious spots in town. he was right on with his pick for the evening. this yakiniku restaurant beats out almost all, if not all, other yakiniku restarants i've ever been to, including osaka, where yakiniku in particular was recommended to us to eat. it was spectacular, and of course we got top notch service because we were with a regular, not to mention an older japanese man as well.
we wore our bibs; ok, well not through the whole meal, just for the picture. master wore his bib, however, through the duration of dinner. good thing too, he later spilled on himself! yakiniku tends to be messy. you order raw plates of meat and vegetables and then cook over a grill at your table. i love it; it's definitely one of my favorites here in japan. master and carrie
after dinner, we decided to have a beer at nest. tiff took me by surprise
after nest, we wanted to pay patronage and support to master - he wouldn't let us pay for dinner earlier, and it was expensive. besides, we needed another drink. we got to chatting with some friendly businessmen
late and not wanting to pedal furiously home, i hopped in a taxi, hoping i wouldn't be too hungover the next day. thankfully, it would be a friday
a long weekend!!
we had a 3 day weekend recently - renkyu in japanese. starting thursday, we wanted to get full advantage of our time off. so little free time it seems to be able to do things we want to do. i often wonder where the time goes, as i’m sure so many other people do as well. we started off with drinks at this bar called hag. it’s become a favorite after a slow start. not many foreigners go there, which is one of the reasons we love it. it’s tiny inside with 5 or 6 bar seats and 1 table at which you can sit. we always like to sit at the bar, where is where most people tend to sit. being that small and intimate, most customers tend to be insiders in the industry – owners and bartenders of other bars in the area and many regulars. the bar is tended by the same two men every night – the boss and the young bartender, and they work from about 8 until 6 in the morning 6 days of the week. sunday is their only day off. talk about hard workers!! and this of course isn’t abnormal – you’ll find this all the way across japan. one night, we were curious why they chose the name they did for their bar – hag. so we asked, and it turns out they had originally wanted to name their bar hug, but didn’t have one of those handy professional english speakers, ahem ahem, to check their spelling (i knew we had to be useful for something). they innocuously spelled it wrong, and ended up with a word used to describe old, decrepit, ugly, single women – hag. we had a good laugh together, and there budded a beautiful bar relationship with the young barman. the owner we’re working on. we had previously decided he was a little cold and untalkative man – not wanting to chat. we recently reversed our decision and observed he’s just shy and most likely nervous. he really tried a couple of nights ago to talk and even spit out a couple of english words. of course we were the only people in there so he had no need to get embarrased in front of his japanese friends
the next day, as early as we could drag ourselves out of bed and get our stuff together, we piled in carrie’s car and headed to niigata city, our capital city and most fun place to party in our prefecture. the trip took about 2 hours. we drove directly to an art exhibition – our main ambition for the day. we met with a friend, katsushi, outside the building and queued up together. inside was a body art exhibit. the original method was created by a german man, and we didn’t know until later that we actaully saw an imposter’s work. there were several bodies - real bodies - at which we could look eye to eye, inches away, and stare at every organ and part of their body. eyes, fingernails, internal organs, brain and scalp, and even remnants of sparse hair all were included. the artist had preserved the bodies, evidently imitating the famous german artist’s methods, making different cross sections on different bodies to show different systems. i held a brain – a real, gray, deceivingly simple looking brain. i touched a real, preserved body – his flaps of muscle, his shriveled genitals, his horribly eerie skin, and his fingernails. they had fetus’ ranging from 3 months – no face and alien-looking – to full term. I stole this pictures from tiff’s blog
we were excited
after we exited the exhibit, we headed downtown to the main shopping area, and went off to search for a friend’s exhibit we’d been invited to. my friend, russell, had let me know previously he would be having a furniture exhibit that whole next week. we found it and examined his beautiful work. all four pieces looked individualistic and like a lot of love and hard work had been put into each. after looking around and leaving, we came across the need for a decision. go home for the evening or find a party and some dancing in the city? without clothes for the night, we decided to rough it. getting ready by parking lot glow, we headed to dinner.
two hours of drinking and dinner later, we fantastically found out the party we wanted to attend was just a staircase decent below us – incredibly convenient. it turned out to be a long night – around 5? 6? we headed home, carrie heroically driving once again. i was passed out, completely horizontal in the back, for the first half. tiff fell asleep, head back, in the front for the last half. i have no idea how carrie managed going from wild night party to driving into the sunrise, speeding home. unflattering at best and funny, here’s a shot of us when we finally arrived home the next morning – we were still pretty drunk i believe – tiff and i were (carrie didn't drink because she was driving)
then saturday night, there were 2 dance parties. the requirement for the first dance party at nest, our favorite internet café by day and one of our favorite dance spots by night, was to wear a ‘one piece’ – their words for dress. i would say about half of the attendees dressed up – dancing at nest first, we walked to nova, our favorite dance club stand-by in joetsu. the only thing bad about nova is they’re only open once a week on saturdays. this is an ok idea i think because it tends to draw many people out on the same night. if they were open all the time, the small amount of dancers would be dispersed on different evenings, making nova not very busy
i don’t why she was squatting behind the stool
this girl crept up behind me, wanting to be part of the action
lubu lubu osaka
the worst has happened. i knew it would. i fell in love . . . . . . . with osaka. it. was. so. much. fun. the weekend snuck up behind me, and before i knew it, it was thursday. i had to hurry to pack after work to catch the train to toyama, a neighboring prefecture, the pick up location for our overnight bus.
osaka is incredibly user friendly. looking back, the city just seemed magical. perhaps it was because i was with my best gals, tiff and carrie. perhaps it was because it seemed like we had so much time when we set off into the city friday morning after arriving at 6:30. perhaps because we had two days off from work – friday the 7th and monday the 10th , a national holiday. perhaps it was because it was my birthday trip. but undisputedly, it was. magical that is. the city itself is beautiful; while tokyo seems unattractive in comparison. now, reflecting on tokyo, i think it’s because that in tokyo, everyone is rushing rushing rushing in all directions to get somewhere – work, bars, home, appointments, shops, drug dens, i haven’t any idea. tokyo seems uptight and more closed off. the architecture seems univiting. i do have a place in my heart for tokyo of course, having been there to play on numerous occasions, i relatively know where things are and how to get to the party. it’s fun; it’s crazy – don’t get me wrong.
but osaka, man, osaka. that’s where it’s at. it’s the luxury of having a big city – i say luxury because, for me, i can’t imagine my life down the road without me imagining me living in a big – so it’s the luxury of having a big city with the ease, the comfortableness, and the slow-going life. of course this is generalizing – there did exist rushed, fast-paced, rude denizens.
still working out my thoughts and feelings about the trip and the city itself, i guess the conclusion i’ve come to as yet is this: i love japan, and that inclination is as strong as ever. i have completely fallen in love with the people, the landscapes, the customs, and the country. but while i still love japan, my roots twist back to america and western culture. the things we westerners do that make the japanese shocked are still within me – the volume of our voices and exclamations, our extroverted and exorbitant movements, our unabashed freedom and selfishness for our own lives. osaka is still japan, and while it’s still japanese in every essence, i bet it’s as western as you're going to get here. i’ve been internally contemplating the reconciliation of my two lives. my western, home-life, and my life in japan. i hadn’t figured it out. but oh my, osaka is cutting it close. almost too close for comfort. it’s hard for me to be here in back-country joetsu, knowing that extravagant city, where my dual citizenship will seemingly play out, is a few short hours away.
the city itself seems wider and more modern than other places i’ve visited in japan. there’s ease and accessibility everywhere. the city is actually pretty – the design and buildings are beautiful. it just seems like a vacation city – the dazzle, the night after night of packed venues for events, the outdoor dining. it all just seems so romantic. sometimes i get frustrated because japanese people sometime seem so withdrawn, stiff, nervous, and hard to get to know. but in osaka, they’re wide open – day and night – they were talkative, interested, and easy-going.
since we arrived at 6:30, we decided to load up on caffeine in order to keep our weary eyes open until later that afternoon when we could check in our hotel and nap before the evenings activites. afterwards, we headed downtown to shinsaibashi where all the rocker people and shops were
we roamed the city stopping for pictures and cool clothes seen in window fronts. well, the buildings aren't too pretty here, but others were fantastic
one of many - let me stress many - love hotels, undoubtedly filled most nights of the week
this is one of the hundreds of restaurants. take note of the rib roast
we hit the area of downtown of hostess bar upon hostess bar - for men
and women. this is more rare, although you'll find a surprising amount in the bigger cities. you pick the man you want to hang out with and talk to for your expensive short time together. we thought about doing it just for kicks and ended up not having time to fufill our curiosity. they'd be so nervous, those boys wouldn't know what to do with us . . .
after we snuck into the hotel separately (we only paid for 2 people - the cost for 3 people was extravagant, and besides, we don't mind cramping up together in a tiny room), we got dolled up and hit the city in dire need of food
we decided after scoping out some restaurants we wanted yakiniku. yakiniku is fabulous!!! i was never a big beef eater, nor meat eater for that matter, before coming to japan. but that's all changed. yakiniku makes my mouth water just thinking about it. we try to get out to eat it about once a month. it's where you grill your own meat at the table. of course, it doesn't exactly hit the spot without a bowl of rice and draft beers. we do it up! you can choose between various cuts and meats - pork and beef usually. tongue, stomach, roast, ribs, and other scary sounding parts are offered. we like to order the garlic sauce drenched beef that's frequently offered. cooking it on the fire the shortest time possible, we grab with our chopsticks dripping, mouth-burning morsels off the grill for the perfect bite of rice and meat. assorted vegetables are also a staple on the menu, and a must for us. ahhh, just typing this out . . . this restaurant was decent, but we'd had much better
we hit up a dance club that night - it was great fun. many times we'll enter a club that's more a playground for boys and girls to mingle than for brushing up on dance moves. however this club, in particular, was not. the dancers were there to do just that - dance. the dancing was stopped twice for short performances by groups of dancers. they're always fascinating for me because i love to dance myself - so i spend this time critiquing and gathering tips. most of the groups encompass either breakdancing - which is endless entertainment - or background dancing type stints. on our way stumbling home, we found this foursome sitting on a stoop outside a convenience store, drinking zimas. my mind is fuzzy as to why i decided this group in particular needed a photograph, but alas, here we are
the next day, after sleeping in and eating subway - hey, i'll take any sub sandwich i can get my hands on - we decided to hit up a
and yes, you guessed it. a little nervous, we walked inside to the smells of body odor and cigarette smoke. one customer was getting work done hidden behind a curtain, while a goth girl and other girl waited. belly flopping, we made an appointment for an hour and a half later. don't be mistaken - that's leftover ink, not leftover grub from the last night's dancing
and us three, you can't see mine too well. of course we asked the proper questions about sanitation and safety - were they honest? let's hope so! just kidding, i saw them prepare my setup fresh from a new, sealed pack. the pain wasn't as horrible as i remember. we had decided beforehand carrie would go first, it being her first tatoo. she vocalized needs for us to hold her hand all the while shouting out moral support. i volunteered second to get the butterflies out faster. but, when we showed up for our tatoos - we soon found out there were 3 tables and 3 tatoo artists. together we went
this is my artist. he was friendly and a little shy. as you can see under my arms, i was sweaty nervous
that night, after hurriedly prepping, we hung out with our boy friends we met this year at fuji rock festival at naeba ski resort. this is a picture we took of them at the festival - i stole this from tiffany - thanks tiff! uma, nori, and nobu
we went to eat at an izakaya - a bar type restaurant offering small dishes for sharing. uma, nobu, nori
so cute, little nori!
the group after dinner
we gave uma some extra love to send him on home. briefly before, over dinner, uma informed us that he was getting married to a girl he'd known for an extremely short time. she's pregnant. ugh!!!! we didn't convey that particular sentiment of course, and simply wished him luck. precious, precious uma
after recouping throughout the next day, we headed out for the evening
in search of the mexican restaurant we'd seen before, we discovered an outdoor bar; it was beach reminiscent. at this point, i was sad because i knew we'd be straggling to the train station after checkout the next morning to head home. but, i was oh so happy due to the fact that in just about 6 short hours, it would be my 25th birthday
and mexican we did eat; jeez, i felt like i was going to burst. we started with mouth-burning, fried, cream cheese jalapeno poppers. one for each of us, eaten with homemade, chunky red salsa. my favorite. we also devoured 3 pitchers of margeritas and plate upon plate of sloppy, cheesy, saucy mexican food. i had a burrito and enchilada combination - the beef kind. it was to die for - i can't really compare it to anything because it's been months since i been able to taste proper mexican
we donned the hats that adorned the walls for decoration in honor of my birthday. one would shoot, while the other kept a lookout for our waiter coming up the stairs. we didn't ask for permission - they tricked me into thinking he was coming. i look like a frightened child caught with her hand in the cookie jar
we dolled up for another night of dancing. wading through the district of bars, clubs, and youth, we happened upon this pimp ride. we were admiring, halfway joking, when the owner, a young hot japanese boy walked up. of course, we asked to get inside for a picture. he was incredibly friendly - and did i mention hot?
later, at the club. they played great, booty-shaking, birthday songs for me to work off that night's meal - it was a blast
being my birthday, that night ended very, very late. literally throwing everything in my bag the next morning, extremely groggy, we headed to our departure at osaka station. needless to say, i slept as best i could on the bumpy, uncomfortable ride home. we ended up going out for ramen that night, the japanese hungover food, and beers for dinner to commemorate the trip and my birthday one last time.
romantic enough for me. magical enough for me. enough for me to have fallen in love . . . .
