So Lost...: July 2009

Ok, so I haven't put up shit on my blog for a month. That is bad I guess. I don't even know where to start as far as what I'm experiencing here. I finished up in Tokyo after a few more days without finding any panty vending machines. I was very disappointed to say the least. I only found cigarette, beer, and simi-normal vending machines that always contained no less than 8 different kinds of green tea. On the tenth of June, Junji hooked me up with this girl named Chika while he was at work. She also went to DU and now helps her parents out with a new pachinko chain in Tokyo. Her grandfather was the pachinko king but left all of his companies to his oldest son. He just happened to be Chika's mother's father (does that make sense?). Anyway, I guess that would make her some kind of pachinko princess. Since her mom knew the business, they have started their own company. Pachinko places are normally owned by the Yak (yakuza=Japanese mafia) but Junji told me they had no association (bs). Anyway, she showed me around Yokohama, a port city now connected to Tokyo. If they didn't consider Tokyo and Yokohama separate cities, it would be the largest city in the world. Yokohama was having its 150th anniversary of the first docking of the first ship to ever dock first or something. It was rad. There were a lot of people and a giant spider machine that we didn't pay to see. The coolest part of Yokohama was its China town. So many free samples of what appeared to be food, but I'm sure was not actually. We had to pick up a duck for her mom. Chika told me I had to try it. Not bad, I think it was the best duck I've ever had, which isn't saying much because the last time I had eaten duck was in a China Star restaurant in Windsor which I'm sure didn't even have a Chinese dishwasher, unless it was made in China. That night, Junji's uncle took us out for sushi. This guy designs golf courses around the world for a living. It was the best sushi my money couldn't buy. The restaurant was in some back alley with no name on the building. Junji and his uncle both swore that it is the best sushi place in Tokyo if not in all of Japan. We got to try tuna chin (which is really rare I guess), whitebait (which was 15 tiny whole fish on one piece of sushi), and some other crazy stuff that I will never be able to afford. Junji spotted a famous Japanese singer in the bar and his uncle (who had his fair share of sake) went and thanked this guy for all of his hard work. The place wasn't full at all, it was just us, another couple, and this singer who had his own private sushi room with a back entrance. I told his uncle that this place was like a dream to me. He said that I can die happy now. I didn't agree. I got really sick the next day and didn't get out of bed until the day I left Tokyo (6 days). It was rough. I thought I was going to die. I didn't. So on the 16th I rode the bullet train (shinkansen) to Naoya. I nearly missed it though. Everything in Japan runs perfectly on time. The train showed up as the minute on the clock changed. I almost shit. It was crazy. When I got to Nagoya I couldn't find the people that were supposed to be picking me up for like 45 minutes. I drug my bags back and fourth on the platform with a sore throat the entire time. They were on a different platform. I met up with them, went to a noodle shop, and passed out.
All the teachers are really nice here. There are 8 including me. It's really a shame that the one I replaced became one of my best friends in the three weeks we got to spend together. Training went smoothly, except the fact that I was still a bit sick. There was one class that I coughed and didn't think anything of it until Jamie (they guy that was training me) looked at me with wide eyes and taped his tie. I looked down and I guess when I coughed a bit of sickness had come out of my throat and landed on my black tie. I found it funny. I don't think the students noticed though. I really like a lot of my students. There are a few that are little shits. I teach mostly 7 year olds. The youngest class I have has 5 year olds and the oldest is this university professor who is working on some kind of electro-glove to search the Internet with. Kind of like the power glove for the NES, but he wants his glove to actually serve a purpose. After my first two weeks there was a going away party for Jamie. A lot of his older students showed up and we went to an Izikaya (Japanese pub, but way more bad ass than a pub). A few of the students ended up paying for all of us. It was a good thing too because I drank $40 worth of beer. I met one of my favorite younger students fathers there. His English was not so great but we had a really sweet conversation about 80s music. He and his wife and two kids ended up taking me to Inuyama (a small town near Nagoya) the next week to see Japan's oldest castle, Mejimura park, and they fed me some of the most delicious food I've ever had. But the rest of Jamie's going away ended up lasting until 7:30 a.m. and involved some shameful non-website worthy activities. That next week was our week off (work two weeks get a week off, I like this job). Jamie and I went to a Ninja town and watched lots of movies. I was too poor to do anything else. Jamie left at the end of last week to go on a two month trip around Asia with his mother and sister, so this week was my first week of full teaching. It went really well. It included but was not limited to; teaching blackjack to 10 year olds, teaching 40 year olds how to tell and listen to dirty jokes, an entire lesson on honky-tonk bars, tickling the shit out of some kids, and a few real English lessons. I like it here

China town, Yokohama

Chika and the best rummy chocolate thing I've ever had

Chunichi Dragons v. the Orics. It didn't mean anything to me either.

This is Lloyd, he is a British teacher. The night I came to Nagoya he was out with Jamie and punched him in the eye. Jamie thinks it was just a love punch. I never want a love punch. Jamie had a black eye the rest of training.

Japan

The girls were sad that Jamie was leaving, so they put their feet on his face. That seemed to make sense at the time.

Best karaoke singer ever.

A trip to Japan isn't complete without a visit to the Gaza strip. It was much nicer than I expected.

Green Buddha in Nagoya

Japan

The craw will fuck you up.

Tiger style?

Cute ninja princess

Bog of mud that had some kind of historical value. It was in Japanese.

The helmet in this picture was actually worn in a battle to screw with the opposing side. It was bad ass.

Bad ass

This castle was right next to the ninja den. Jamie and I thought that they must have raided it every night. I found out from one of my older students that the lord moved away one year after the ninjas moved in because he couldn't protect anything he owned.

This dude got a bulls eye during the ninja throwing star Olympics.

Jamie didn't hit the target.

Despite how gay I look in this picture, I did quite well. Better than the European dude after us who had a ponytail. His stars didn't even make it to the target. It was very sad.