Hon-Atsugi, Round Two

Not much of note has been happening lately, but I do have a few interesting things to talk about. One thing that stood out happened a few days ago. We were all in the living room, me on my computer because it’s the only room I get internet, when some woman came to the door. Akio-san answered it, and called down Tatsuo-san. Then they all took seats at the table, and immediately Akio-san and Tatsuo-san started arguing. I had never heard Tatsuo-san get angry before; he’s always very gentle and kind, even when Akio-san is being mean to him. I had absolutely no idea what they were arguing about. Earlier that morning, Akio-san had asked me if in America people lived with their elders. I said not really, though my uncle lives with his dad. He commented that it’s tough, though I really don’t see how it can be that tough for him. Tatsuo-san lives on the second floor and stays there for the most part, except when he comes down to eat. Sure, he’s pretty forgetful, but that comes with old age, and it’s not like it makes things all that more difficult. Akio-san just has a very short temper, so gets irritated with him pretty easily. That made me wonder if the woman who came to the door was someone from a retirement home, who might take Tatsuo-san away, which would explain why he was so angry. At one point, Akio-san yelled “SHUT UP” in English, which I took as my cue to get the hell out of there. I retreated to my room, figuring it was best not to get involved. Whatever they were arguing about, Tatsuo-san was still here the next day, so they didn’t take him to a retirement home.

A few days later, I went to Hon-Atsugi again with Nami-san, Akio-san, and Ryo. As soon as we got there Akio-san and I started drinking. I couldn’t resist Suntory’s “The Premium Malts”. Definitely my favorite Japanese beer I’ve had so far. The kids played Pokemon on their 3DS’s. We had a nice, relaxed dinner, and afterwards I joined Akio-san and Nami-san’s dad in his bachelor pad (I think I talked about it before) for some guy time. We sat around listening to old vinyls, and I loved it. I asked him if he had any Beatles, and he played me Abbey Road. It was awesome. I definitely want a room like that in my future house.

We tried to do karaoke, but it wasn’t playing any sound, so Nami-san’s dad played some guitar while I sang along, reading a paper with lyrics (in pretty funny Engrish) he had written down. What a great family Nami-san has. They’re all just so happy and carefree. No wonder Nami-san turned out to be such a good person.

Afterwards I battled all the kids in Pokemon, doing fairly well and getting pretty into it. They seemed to really like me, and apparently asked Nami-san whether I would be coming back again. That made me really happy.

The next morning, though I was slightly hungover, Akio-san and I went to the local Gold’s Gym, which Akio-san is a member of. There was a puddle of vomit near the entrance to the elevator outside, which was a nice welcome. The gym itself was really nice though, and several famous people have used it, including Arnold Schwartzenegger and Mark Wahlberg. I’d neglected to bring my wallet or my phone, since I didn’t think I’d need them, but I had to fill out a form to use the gym so I was supposed to have my residence card (ridiculous, right?) but they let me in anyway. I used the treadmill for the first time since last summer, and even though I was hungover, it was surprisingly not that bad. It certainly woke me up. I definitely need to start running again, though. I did a couple leg workouts and then we called it a day. By the time we left the gym, which was only about an hour later, the vomit had already been cleaned up. Oh Japan, you’re so nice.

After that we went to a mochi-tsuki event going on at the local park. Mochi-tsuki is the new year’s tradition of pounding mochi until it’s ready to be prepared for consumption. They had me try it since I was the only foreigner there. You take a giant mallet with two hands, raise it over your head, and bring it down on the mochi. In between swings, someone adjusts the mochi so you can pound all sides of it. I didn’t do it right, so some elderly Japanese guys explained to me how to do it the right way afterwards. Also two Japanese high school girls had apparently never seen a white person before and wanted to talk to me (though I didn’t really believe that, since we were only an hour outside Tokyo, which has a lot of white people).

Then I left early with Akio-san and went to a nomikai with his old friend from work. I got sukiyaki at his suggestion, but completely failed at preparing it. (Seriously though, what kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food?) Though I was embarrassed, the food was too good to give up.

That night, I met up with Timmy and we joined my friends at this bar called “Dragon Men” in Nichome, the gay part of Tokyo. For only 1,000 yen(!!!!) we got all-you-can-drink for two hours. Why are all the gay places so much cheaper? It was so much fun, since almost everyone was there. Several people at the bar apparently asked about me, and I was persuaded to going and talking to them. I felt bad and kind of uncomfortable, since I guess I was leading them on even though I’m not gay, but it was at least a funny experience.

We all got very drunk and went to the gay club we had gone to before, Arty-Farty, which again was pretty fun. We ended early though so we could catch the last train. It was great getting drunk and partying with Timmy, since I’d never really done that before. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever seen him drunk before then.

And that’s what I’ve been up to this past week! I’ll leave you with some Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, because I just found her on Spotify (for some reason she’s listed as “Kyarypamyupamyu,” which didn’t show when I tried searching for her). I also discovered that a guy in my literature circle loves her too!

Basketball, Gay Bar, and Badminton

Last night, I went to a Niji no Kai event where we split up into teams and played several rounds of basketball. I’m terrible at basketball–I played on a team in 8th grade and got like 8 points during the whole season–but it was still fun. I managed to get one basket. And even though I ate McDonald’s almost immediately beforehand, I managed to not yak it all up. Woo I guess haha.

Then after that some of us went to a gay bar in Shinjuku. On our way, we passed by some food stands that were selling really good stuff (I guess it was some kind of festival, or matsuri), and I got some fried chicken. There’s this street in Shinjuku called Gay Street, where all the gay clubs and bars are. You can immediately tell when you’re on it–once you start seeing ads for gay porn everywhere, that’s when you know. We went to this club that had a really sketchy door in the front, and when you enter there’s a sign that says “No Dancing.” What kind of club doesn’t let you dance? I guess Japanese don’t really dance anyway, though. They were playing club music so it was kind of weird seeing people just standing in groups.

Anyway, the group I was with was John, Shiori, another Niji no Kai Japanese student named Yuito (whom I already knew), and a bunch of people I met that night. We all bought our drinks and sat down at some tables in the corner. I had come because I wanted to experience going to a gay bar, but it didn’t really feel like much of an experience. It was more just hanging out with people I knew in a bar. A little lame, but oh well. Plus we got there pretty late, so we could only stay for like half an hour before we had to leave to catch the last train. Still fun though.

Then today I played badminton with my host family and some parents of kids from Ryo’s elementary school. I didn’t do that bad, but some of the people playing were really good. I mean, the housewives were all ferocious. I was scared just watching them. Also David, the Swedish husband of Ryo’s friend’s mom, was there, so I was able to speak some English. He was really good at badminton too–apparently he played on a team in college. Lolz badminton’s not a real sport though.

After badminton I went to dinner at David and his wife’s house. Remember how I talked about that kid I’m tutoring, Riyo, and his house? How it was really fancy? Well that was nothing compared to David’s house. Like, shit. David lives in an actual house, and it’s HUGE. It’s big just in terms of houses in general, ESPECIALLY for houses in Tokyo. I mean, living in a tiny apartment in Tokyo is expensive enough, I can’t even begin to imagine how expensive David’s house is. It’s three stories, and each floor has several really big, spacious rooms. It’s bigger than my house back home.

I’ll stop gushing over how rich my host parents’ friends are now. Just played a few video games with Ryo and his friend, who’s sleeping over tonight. (And she’s a girl(!)) And I watched the final four episodes of The Legend of Korra. Ahh it was good but…I dunno. I feel like they took out a lot of the human aspects of the show, like the character development that I loved about the first season, and replaced it with a very unsubtle good vs. evil plotline. At least in the first season it was more ambiguous. Still, regardless of my problems with it it’s still an amazing show, and I can’t wait to see what the next season has in store.