Yakata Bune

This Sunday a friend, Ayako, and I hosted a Yakata bune party. It's on my list of things to do before I leave Japan at the end of the year. So I did it! The link at the bottom of the page describes the experience much better than I could, so I'll just let you read about it there.

It was a great Sunday afternoon event. 2.5 hours of cruising around Tokyo bay in a Japanese-style boat. What better way to spend a weekend afternoon?

The boat


The karaoke audience


Tokyo Bay


Yukata wearing blogster

Foray into salsa dancing

Everyone I know is into salsa. I know the real craze has come and gone, but many around me are still riding the wave of latin mania. Jo, my roommate, is a salsa addict. Damn good, too.

I want to be good. But it seems I need time for my body to catch up with that desire.

Tonight I went to a local Salsa bar for a "free lesson" . It was about 15 minutes long and I didn't learn much that I hadn't learned already at my gym salsa class.

Armed with the essentials (count of 8, right?), I sat on a bar stool and watched as people twirled, whirled, gyrated, and perambulated around the floor. It looked like so much fun!

But no one asked me to dance.

Next time I go, I must go armed with not only a knowledge of the very basic salsa step, but also the ambition to ask at least 5 people to dance with me.

Because in Japan, as a foreign women, no one will ever approach US.

Next time- basic salsa step + 5 people.

Ella Fitzgerald's song, Imagine my Frustration, sums up my feelings!
"Imagine my frustration with no invitation to dance" ba bum, trumpet. sax, ba bum...

Meglie moo

I'm just writing this post so I can put a photo in my profile. Nothing special to report here. Except a typhoon is bearing down on us here in Tokyo.

Sado

The trip to Sado was magic. It's my third time on the island but the first in summer. Lesson number one, island weather changes FAST! On the last day this was especially evident as a storm blew in before packing up the tent. After boarding the boat and pulling away from port, torrential rain started again. Talk about lucky!

The kodo drummer continued playing in the downpour until we were out of sight. What a send off!


The whole weekend went really well. It's a long haul to the island but well worth it.


The flea market in the park. A welcome sight for tired traveling eyes.


I joined my coworker Jo and her friends for the weekend. They were a lot of fun and play hard. Although we were all the same age, I was always the first to bed. But they were an easy-going, fun group of people. Each morning we cooked up a mad brunch, lounged about at the campsite, dodged jellyfish in the water, and then headed up to the concert.
Camp


The beach



The concert, in a natural amphitheater surrounded by majestic trees is the perfect venue for world music. And we were lucky with the weather-each time we got sprinkled with a bit of rain before the storm moved on.


This year the guest artist was Carlos Nunez from the Basque country. He was a fun performer and a master on the basque pipes and flute. The final concert, where Kodo and Carlos played together was a frenzy of pipes, drums and dancing. Both sides of the venue looked like a mosh pit. And this is to a celtic-taiko blend of music.


I want to go to this festival every year! It's worth the journey.....

The 2005 Group

The Grand Sleeping Bag Misadventure

I'm packing for my trip to Sado this weekend. I'm so excited! This is my second trip to see Earth Celebration. (http://kodo.or.jp/ec/en/). The first was back in 98 when I flew in with a pack of friends from Kagoshima. Kagoshima and Sado are VERY FAR apart in terms of transportation. To give you an idea, multiple trains, planes, taxis, ferries and buses were necessary. Okay, okay, I admit that is because I was in charge of transport arrangements. Okay, okay. That is because I booked the bus and the plane on different days. Still, even if everything had gone smoothly, we would have used multiple planes, buses, and ferries. As it was, we had to take a slow train from Osaka to the port in the North of Japan. Then a ferry to the wrong side of the island. YES, that was also my mistake. Then a bus from the wrong side of the island to the right side of the island. And did I mention that I forgot the concert tickets back in Kagoshima? Moving on.....

Let's hope this trip is a bit smoother going. Maybe I really SHOULD get packing. The reason I'm writing this is because as I pack, I pulled out my sleeping bag. Which led me to this blog thought.

Last year I decided I wanted to go hiking in the Japanese Alps on a solo trip. The truth is, I didn't particularly want to go alone, but none of my friends in Tokyo are the least bit athletic. Or interested. So I decided to go it alone. I actually enjoy solo trips a lot.

This one started in typical Meghan-manner with a typhoon. Literally, the morning I left Tokyo, the typhoon blew in. But I was determined not to waste my days off. So I bused up to Hakuba and was picked up by Sakiko who owns a youth hostel there with her NZ husband. http://www.hakubabackpackers.com/englishtop.htm




I had met them a month earlier when I went to Hakuba for an adventure race. I went with my friend Isa who I always say has the heart of a lion and body of a hamster. In spite of being the slowest team in the field and not actually finishing the entire course, we won the female team event. The other female team was so slow they dropped out.



We raced in the pouring rain. In fact, the rain started when we arrived in Hakuba. It continued steadily for that day. The night before the race, the god who lives upstairs stood up and took a good long piss down on earth. Good and long. And hard. For the entire day.



By the way, I'm going again this year. http://www.evergreen-outdoors.com/english-adventure-quest.htm This time I'm have two male partners. Andrei and Andreas. If only my name were Andrea. When it was just Andrei, who is from Russia, I thought our name should be Bearing Straight. Get it? Because I'm from Alaska and we share the Bering Strait. But Andreas is Swedish or Norwegian. So we need a new name. Something to do with the Arctic Circle, I guess. Any ideas?

Sleeping bag. Yes. In preparation for this trip I wanted to pack light. So I asked Daisuke if I could borrow his divvy sack. He agreed and also recommended I take his sleeping bag. According to him, it was "much smaller and lighter." Sounds good, doesn't it? So I borrowed that, too. It was securely wrapped in a cinch stuff sack.

There I was in Hakuba, facing a typhoon. The first day I admitted defeat and hung out with Sakiko. We had a great time together. She took me to an onsen and we met some interesting people at the restaurant next door. The next day the meat of the big daddy typhoon had passed, so I was determined to go. Some of the road in were washed out, but we persevered. Some of the chairs leading into the mountains were closed due to high winds. We perservered. Was someone trying to tell me something? I found a lift to take and said goodbye to Sakiko. Would I ever see her again?

As I hiked that morning, I was accompanied by something marvelous. When I saw the double rainbow, I felt that that dude upstairs had put on his groovy sunglasses that reflected those two arcs down on me.

But in the afternoon it started raining again. Raining hard. So instead of snuggling up in my divvy sack on a patch of hard ground, I decided to sleep in one of the huts they have up there. Even though they provide bedding, I was a bit chilled. So I decided to use Daisuke's trusty sleeping bag. As I pulled it out of the stuff sack I gave a sturdy tug, expecting a long snake-like bag to come hissing out. Instead my hand jumped up like a band conductor's. And hanging there was a very small, light... down jacket. Size L.



This time I'm making sure I have my sleeping bag. But there is still ample room for error on this adventure. For one, I am traveling up alone. Meeting a coworker who i don't know well and her friends who I've never met. Sharing a tent with them. But she tells me they have coffee for the campfire. So how far wrong can things go?

Tokyo Wildlife

Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world. The population is over 12 million. Construction is rampant and concrete rivers dot the cityscape. Yet, wildlife still thrives. Certain varieties that is. For example, this guy is one of Japan's most famous stars. And he tends to hang out in Ginza.



Here is another form of wildlife. My roommate, Syd. See how they seem to be speaking to each other? Speaking lizard tongue is a little known branch of parseltongue. (Whisper... I think Syd might be a dark magician. Many parseltongues are, you know. If you don't know, read Harry Potter.)



Another wildlife variant found only in Japan is the Tanuki. I found a tromp of tanukis during my stroll in Kyoto. The ways to identify a Tanuki are as follows:
1. Large belly
2. Gigantic testicles
3. Bag of money and/or jug of alcohol in hand

They're also quite wiley- known as tricksters here so you should be very cautious when approaching one of these guys.



I'm not sure if Hachiko qualifies as wildlife, since he never budges. So he isn't too wild. But he is one of the most famous denizens of Shibuya station. In fact, an exit is named after him and everyone meets at his feel. Hachiko was a very faithful pet and walked his owner to the station every day. When his owner died, Hachiko continued to visit the station every day. Even now, he faithfully waits for the owner to return.



The last variant of wildlife that I've spotted in Tokyo is at the rock n' roll bar, Bauhaus. The Japanese version of Ozzy Ozbourne, this guy is a true party animal. He's been rocking out to cover tunes for at least 20 years and doesn't show any signs of stopping. Definitely worth a visit and he doesn't bite! Jo, Syd's girlfriend and my roommate, survived to tell the tale.



That's about it for wildlife sightings. Let me know if you spot any worth mentioning here.

Taming Wild Beasties

In my walk from the house to the station I pass the same people each time. My current favorite is tiny woman with big dog (BD). Tiny woman is Asian, but I don't think she is Japanese. After passing each other for months, we have established quite a rapport. "Hello!" "Hello" Smile, smile, nod, nod. This photo was taken with my cell phone as I walked behind them.

Tiny woman is walked by BD, who is still young. YBD is a Bernese Mountain Dog. which are known to be difficult dogs to train. But Tiny One isn't daunted by that. As they move along the street, YBD stops in his tracks every 50 meters or so and refuses to move. Tiny one gives a half-hearted tug on the leash and then, with a surreptitious look to check that she is unobserved, pulls a scooby snack from her fanny pack and tosses it in front of YBD. This process is repeated as many times as it takes to finish their stroll around the block.

I wish someone would throw scooby snacks for me in the morning!

Commuting Peeve

I was going to write this posting last week, when the peeve was fresh in my mind from the commute. But then the weekend intervened and the pain of the commute became a distant memory.

The great thing about living in Tokyo is you don't need a car. I haven't driven in over a year and don't miss it AT ALL. Really, efficient public transportation is the wave of the future that the US isn't riding. On the downside, because it is public, it can get crowded with.. the public.

My commute now is 30 minutes "door to door". That's great for Tokyo. My commute is:

10-15 minutes from house to station (downhill)
8 minutes on subway
10-15 minutes from station to work (flat).

My commute when I first moved to Japan was:
5 minutes to station.
45 minues of sheer hell on a train so crowded my feet didn' touch the ground and I still stood upright
10 minutes from station to work

I wanted to kill myself and everyone around me. And I'm a pretty friendly, loving person. Moving was good!

Even so, being around a lot of people does produce some commuter rage. Safer than road rage because I'm not in control of a large vehicle that I can ram up the ass of the driver/commuter in front of me.

So.. the pet peeve of my commute is the little pitter patter of Japanese women running in their ridiculous high heels. The thing is, they can't run. I want to turn around and snarl, "Jeezus, you run like a girl." But that isn't fair because women can run. What I mean to say is, "That wobbly, foot slappin burst is unsightly and the sound is very annoying.". Because they wear these heels that don't really stay on their feet. So the sound isn't pitter patter but Slap, slap, slap, slap... all along the platform or down the escalator or whatever.

I thought this pet peeve was just me but NO! All of my friends also feel a bit irritated by the slip slap of tiny high heels.

Pet peeves......

Pitter patter, slip slap

Friends

It's a big topic. Friends are the flour in the cake of life. A flourless cake is just flat and boring. There are flourless cakes out there, but can anyone really say they're tasty? Not really, right?

I've been thinking about my friends a lot recently because there has been an exodus of them from Tokyo. At the same time, I connected with friends from my past in my recent trip to Europe. And the reason I'm writing this blog is because of another friend from my past, Amy. So when I get sad that so many good friends have left Tokyo I try to remind myself that 1. I'll see them again and 2. change means new opportunity. I think there is a Japanese saying to the effect, Every door closing means another one somewhere else is opening up. Which kind of sums up my nomadic lifestyle. I have met so many amazing people in my travels. Great! So many of those amazing people live far away from me. Not so great. But in our "global" world I've had the chance to keep in touch with them.

So below are some pictures of friends, past and present.

Some of my girl friends in Tokyo. We're in an Izakaya before hitting Smashed Hits.


Is there ANYTHING better at 4 a.m. than a doner? Juhi, force feeding my roommate Jo, doesn't seem to think so.


Here is a classic blend of old and new friends. Erik came to visit me in Tokyo and he blended in well with my friends here. The bond was firmly established over a loud and raucous rendition of MOONDANCE.



Banzai Mamas reunite in Italy. We met in Kagoshima back in 1995. Now Tammy is in NJ, Jenny in Australia, and I'm in Tokyo. So what makes more sense than to gather in Italy??! Well, that's where Tammy chose to get married and it was one of the loveliest weddings I've ever attended. And it was great to have the Bonzai Mamas back together, even if just for a few days.



Now, the friends here featured are all A-list. A-list? Yes. While everyone rates their friends to some extent (although many won't admit to it) I have a clearly demarcated ranking of friends. A-C. And these are spring cleaned annually. I don't rank below C because who wants a friend who is below average or failing? People who maintain D-level and lower friendships are masochists, in my book.

Friend ranking sounds harsh, but you know you do it too. Don't you? And A list friends are not necessarily those you see most often. I have many A list friends that I never hear from but are still very dear to me. And when (and if) I do see them, things are just like we were never apart. A-list friends are not necessarily those you have a lot in common with. Some A-list friends are ranked due to loyalty, sheer length of acquaintance, or just mutual appreciation of very different qualities.

Just writing this makes me want to contact all my A-list friends. Maybe I'll send them this link so they can know how much I miss them...

Some like it hot

But do they like it Humid?
I don't. Look what happens to me in the hot and humid Tokyo summer. 36 celsius, 110% humidity.
Slight exaggeration possibly but not far from the truth. Below are my parallel lists of Tokyo summer good and bad points. If the bad points outweigh the good I want to remind you that summer is the LEAST pleasant season here.

Good
Cold beer!
Firework festivals
Never needing sweaters or jackets, even at night
wearing skirts and summer dresses
hand fans (not sure if this qualifies because on the negative side is the fact that they aren't that effective... but they look cool)

Bad
too humid
getting sweaty walking to the station from the house and from the station to work.
The days aren't much longer than in the winter. Bummer.
Cockroaches! I've found 3 in my room so far.

That's summer in a nutshell. Oh! Just remembered that things (people, trash, streets) are stinkier in the summer.

Birdman goes down in flames

Birdman. He would be my nemesis if we were equals. But we're not. Comparable to the rivalry between Middlebury and Amherst college. One-sided. He's my coworker. I work and he exists in the same space near me. But yesterday I got to tell him what a shit worker he is. He deserved it. He really did. To summarize: I assigned 3 writing tasks to him while I was away on vacation. We confirmed what I wanted in person, in a meeting, and I sent an e-mail to confirm. When I returned from my trip I check his work and see he only wrote 1 of the tasks assigned to him. Instead of the other two he decided to write something completely different. Something that someone else wrote. I confront him, ask him icilly but politely why he chose to take an independent attitude to work. And he merely replied, deadpan, "I guess I just didn't check the e-mail." Sigh.

But I was able to tell him how embarassingly terrible he is. He agreed. I felt good about it and now whenever I see him I feel a little smile inside. Sometimes it bursts out, too.

I'm not a bitch. Burn, birdman, burn.