crazy weekend

This weekend was an extremely eventful time in my life.

What better place to start than at the beginning?

Friday night I had a date with Nao. We went to Shakey's pizza and then hung out at a manga kissa. Despite the presence of a security camera, Nao was comfortable in discovering how our bodies worked, which made me happy. I think the close proximity to people made our actions more enjoyable, dare I say. The manga kissa may be the most perfect place ever, and I highly suggest you take the chance and enter it, should you ever be in Tokyo.

Saturday morning I woke up at 9 AM and went in to school for an orientation on our trip to Nikko, which was to take place Sunday to Monday. The old man who gave us a tour of Tokyo also gave us this lecture about Nikko, and, as usual, he was the coolest old man ever. Among the dozens of interesting off-topic things he told us was to never trust the Japanese, that the Japanese language is confusing and ambigious, and that Japanese people are only good at copying other countries ideas. It is extremely admirable to me how he can honestly and openly discuss his feelings about his own people like this, especially given how many elderly are sticks in the mud. He also told us of the real 'last samurai,' so to speak. The name currently escapes me, but he was the last samurai to remain loyal to the god-emperor of Japan. In 1970 he went on Japanese TV, while giving a speech to thousands of people, and declared "I still believe you are a living god!!", referring to the emperor. The thousands of people, who had previously supported this samurai's political position of abolishing the US constitution in Japan, began to laugh at him for such a statement. Shamed, he committed Seppuku live on TV to show how serious he was. His assistant went to chop off his head, but missed and hacked at his body instead. Shamed by his disgrace, the assistant himself than also committed Seppuku. A third samurai then chopped off both of their heads, all live on national television. This footage was never allowed to be shown or recorded in Japan again, but the old man teaching us that day had seen it with his own eyes.

Wow.

I told Nao about the story today and she had never even heard of it. She said most Japanese kids don't know anything about Japanese history at all, or pretty much anything that happened outside their own time on this earth, unless it's on an exam. That's kinda sad.

Saturday afternoon I went to the museum park in Ueno with Sheen Iin, my Korean friend. She wanted to see the Hokusai exhibit there, but I told her since I had already gone, I would only go if she also went to the Gundam museum, also in Ueno. In fact, Ueno has 6 or 7 Museums, a zoo and a concert hall, all in one giant park. It is an amazingly cultural place, and one of my favorite in Tokyo.

So the Gundam exhibit is being showcased at one museum between ocotber and december of this year. What would you expect to be in a Gundam exhibit in Japan?

If you answered "Gundam," you are wrong.

Rather, this exhibit was post-modern artists interpretations of the classic themes of Gundam: War, Evolution and Life. Exihibits included giant photos of skulls being looked over by hot Japanese women, a life size woman that a robot controls (opposite of a gundam), a 3d hodge podge of metal, a gundam with a giant cock made out of a man, and perhaps my favorite: a post-card entitled "future camp site", which was just a childs drawing of a naked woman from behind on her knees giving a naked man head, in the middle of hydroponic machines. It was truly one of the most interesting art exhibits I have ever seen, and both me and Iin loved it.

After that we went to the Hokusai exhibit, which was closing on Sunday, and waited in line for over an hour to get in. I felt bad because I feel asleep on a chair when we went in, and Iin had to walk around by herself. At least I was able to hold her things for her though, and I also convinced her to go back and get a book she had forgotten to buy, so I didnt feel too bad. After that we both headed home.

We had to be at school for the trip to Nikko by 8 AM. I rolled over and saw my computer said it was 7:45 AM. I was fucked. I freaked out, pulled on pants, grabbed my bag and ran out the door. The train left for Nikko at 9:10 AM, and was an hour away from school, which was itself an hour away from my dorm. I was fucked.

As I ran towards the train station, knowing that it was impossible to make it in time, I saw a taxi driving next to me, so I ran out in to the street and hopped in. The doors on taxis are controlled by the drivers console, FYI, its considered rude to try and open or close it yourself. I told him to take me to Shinjuku Gyoenmae, but that I dont have enough money and would need to stop at an ATM. Luckily, he said it was ok. I talked to Tanaka on the phone, who said my only hope was to meet them at Asakusa, where the shinkansen (bullet train) was leaving from. I quickly changed routes and the driver said I would get to Asakusa by 9 AM.

It was going to be close.

I began explaining my situation to the driver, who took a great interest in it, and began rooting for me. He said not to worry about money, we'd figure it out along the way. We got to Asakusa at 8:45 and he stopped the meter for me and said the rest was on him. The driver didn't know where the shinkansen line, called Tall Blue, was, though. He stopped at the side of the road and sprinted over to the first man he saw to ask him for directions (keep in mind the driver was in his 50s.) He sprinted back to the car and said he knew where to go and pulled through a red light and sped down the road. We tried 2 banks and neither accepted US cards, and I was almost ready to throw in the towell since it was 8:54 AM, when the driver spotted a yubinkyoku (post office.) These almost always contain international ATMs, and I saw from the road that this one did, too. Hurray!

Fuck.

It was closed and didn't open until 9 AM. The driver saw this and said he would wait the 10 or so minutes for me. At exactly 9 the automatic doors opened and I ran to the ATM, got out 150,000 yen and sprinted through traffic to the taxi. I hopped in and he took off to the station. My taxi ride came to 11,600 yen (and this was just from my dorm to Asakusa, not counting the 20+ minutes we rode around the city), and the driver said he would only take 10,000 yen from me. We pulled up the station at 9:05 and I threw him 11,000 yen and ran in where I saw Tanaka feverishly checking his watch. He gave me a ticket and we both ran on to the train literally 2 minutes before it left. I collapsed in a seat and slept to 2 hours to Nikko.

What a way to start your day, huh?

TO BE CONTINUED SATURDAY!