In Okinawa w/ Miyavi - Exit Scene

11am

OMGOD! We got an AMAZING parting gift~!!

This morning, we all had to check out by 10am, but afterward, everyone milled about, taking group picture after group picture. We were all a little loathe to say goodbye and end our lovely vacation.

Eventually though, they called us to the buses, and we had to say goodbye to our hotel. As we were slowly pulling away from the front of the hotel, the tour lady stood at the front and told us we were all getting a little extra gift: a little hand mirror with the event written on the front. Everyone was very excited about this. As she kept talking, I noticed that the bus had turned the wrong direction, however I was distracted by the lady, who was still talking. There was a second surprise for us... Miyavi had made a personal video for us! A round of happy shrills went up, as we anticipated our private viewing.

One of the women from Miyavi's entourage took over from the tour lady and directed our attention to the TV set at the front of the bus. Clicking a button with flare, she said "Start!"

...

but nothing happened. She sort of tapped the TV, violence being the usual form of persuasion electronics respond to, and tried again. "Start!"

...

Nothing happened...

THEN SUDDENLY!!

The doors of the bus FLEW OPEN-

and MIYAVI HIMSELF walked onto our bus!!!

OMG! We all screamed!! We had been so distracted we did not even notice that the bus had stopped moving. Then suddenly he was just THERE, like the realization of a waking dream. Rosie and I were sitting in the 3rd row, so he was super close to us~! My heart swelled in my chest, sure to explode at any moment.

He didn't say anything for a moment, doubtless made quite speechless by a bus full of fans shrieking in his face, although that is probably a pretty familiar feeling for him. After a moment of letting us soak up his presence, he asked (Jap) "Did you have fun last night?" Of course we yelled out that we had! "You guys were totally fired up!" More cheering arose, quite a feat considering I think we all had our hearts in our throats. My eyes raked over him, taking in every detail, trying to memorize every second of this, our last moments together. I got the feeling he was doing the same thing, gazing at all of us, his 'family', and soaking up our presence as surely as we were soaking up his. Then he smiled and waved, exiting the bus. We all got up on our tip toes to peer over one another out the windows and watch him go. Instead of immediately leaving, he walked slowly around the bus and waved at everyone...

What can I say to express this feeling! It was SO wonderful, SO exciting-!! So, so... PERFECT an end to our trip. I think we had all been thinking it would be nice to see him one last time, off stage, just for us... and he gave us that. I was very appreciative of him for that.

Yes... thank you Miyavi.

The next couple of days, Rosie and I received another gift of sorts from Miyavi.

As soon as I arrived home from the airport, I immediately went online to the fanclub webpage to see if he had updated his blog. He had. He mentioned (in Eng.) that he had been pleasantly surprised to see us, the two foreigners, on the trip. He said he hoped we had had a good time and that we had made lots of Japanese Co-Miyavi friends.

Naturally I was over the moon to have received what amounted to a personal message on his blog. I immediately wrote back (via Comments) to assure him (in a mix of English and Japanese) that we had had a wonderful time, had met some really great people, and also to express how much I appreciated his bon voyage. I noticed that later, Rosie also posted a similar response to the same blog.

The next day, I checked his blog again and found he had updated it... with another personal message to us! He wrote that he was glad to hear we had had a good time.

Really, it was amazing to see evidence that he actually reads our comments and hell, he even wrote back! I felt like a million bucks. I floated on that cloud for days.

Really, being a foreigner in Japan has serious perks!!

CHEERS TO THE MOST AMAZING ADVENTURE YET!!

Co-Miyavi-FOR-LIFE Baer

In Okinawa w/ Miyavi - Sharks and Music

9:00 AM - Aquarium

Looks kind of like the complex in Jurassic Park, doesn't it?

The next day, both Rosie and I and most of our little group of new friends went with a large group to the Okinawa aquarium. The aquarium is apparently quite famous in Japan, and every person I spoke to before the tour expressed a desire to visit it. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get to the there by bus.

The aquarium was located in its own park, beatifully manicured, downwardly situated so that the sea just seemed to open up before you. At the bottom of this hill/park, was the aquarium, with a statue of a swimming shark propped up outside. It was HUGE! I couldn't wait to see the real thing. Once inside the complex, the view of the beach was absolutely spectacular. We took our time walking through and seeing what there was to see. However, the real draw of the aqarium was the sharks. There was little doubt of when we had arrived in the area of the central tank: every railing, staircase, and floor overflowed with people.One entire wall was taken up with the thick glass of the tank. Inside there was smaller fish, massive mantas, and a couple of the huge sharks. When they swam low enough, it was truly impressive to see how large they were in comparison to the people in front of the glass. We stood for quite a while to admire them, then went down to get a closer look.

It was pretty sad to think how small the tank was, how like a prison it must feel to them. I

suppose whales often have to endure this sort of cruelty, but it was the first time for me to see it done to a large shark. It was certainly amazing, though.

Down by the beach we watched a dolphin show. It was pretty funny, actually. They invited a family up on stage, mother, father, little daughter. As they were walking along a very narrow, slippery part of the stage raised stage, the mother slipped and fell right into the dolphin tank. It was quite scary/exciting, but then she came flying out of the water on the dolphin's nose and the joke was up; she was a trainer. I was happy to have fell for the trick. Other than that, it was kind of sad to watch. The tank was incredibly tiny. I kept thinking of how non-existent animal rights are in Japan. I know Rosie was thinking about it too, or something similar.

We had fun altogether though. On the way back to the bus, we all stopped in the restroom to check ourselves out before heading to the live house for the concert. We took a group picture in front of the mirror:

Sometime Later - HUMAN STAGE Live House

We arrived at the live house a couple hours early. Everyone flew off the bus and immediately got in line for the goods, which were set to open up in half an hour. We occupied ourselves chatting and watching Miyavi's videos on Rosie's iPod. We asked around to see who had what number and found out, while I had #2, two of the other girls in our group plus their roommates made up #3,4,5! Amazing! Poor Rosie was much farther back in line, but it was a pretty tiny live house, so I hoped that would work in her favor. As we curled along the sidewalk to the venue doors where the goods were, we saw the sign for the concert; it was sold out! Go Miyavi!!

After gorging ourselves on goods, we headed back to the bus to drop off our stuff and take a breather. Soon enough, we headed back out again to get in line for the show. I was absolutely vibrating with nervous energy. It was somewhat disconcerting to stand in the #2 spot. We were all lined up on the sidewalk, parallel to the venue. Where I stood in front, with all the other low numbers behind me, I had to stare across the open space at the 2nd half of the line, the high numbers, that lined up directly across from us. Made me feel really guilty, like all those people not only must hate me for being in front, but for being a foreigner too. Sorry! I tried not to look at them.

Once inside the venue, I found a space on the bar to wait. The two oldest women in our fanclub tour (meaning, they could have been mothers to some of the other fans there) ended up standing next to me. Turns out they were actually from Gunma too, Maebashi, and had been excited yesterday at the dinner party when they heard I lived in Gunma. Small world!

The concert itself was pretty good, but already I can't remember what happened. It was a little less exciting than expected, however. All my previous interactions with him had left me with such high expectations, I was let down more than I otherwise would have been. It was clear that Miyavi was trying to devote his attention at this concert mostly to the local Okinawa fans, who were all in back. I could appreciate that though, and was just enjoying being up close and personal again. This being the first live in the tour, he was pretty energetic but didn't have much room to move around on the tiny stage. He played a couple new songs. My absolute favorite moment of the night was his new song "Gravity". This song was unlike anything I've ever heard him play. A very dark song, he sang at first unaccompanied by his guitar, so you were focused totally on the sound of his voice, then suddenly the guitar would just CRASH down.... it truly felt like his heart was breaking, his world was coming apart, so much pain, anger, and confusion was contained in his voice. It made my heart ache just to hear it. I was amazed that anyone could so acutely replicate those emotions... The whole time I wondered what memory he could possibly be feeding from to fule such soul wrenching vocals. I found out later that he had said what it was in the intro, but I had been unable to hear; the song was about his reaction to the news of Michael Jackson's death, a major idol and inspiration to him.

That one song is really what made the whole concert. I can't even remember the rest except for, at one point, he was in the middle of a song and suddenly just stopped playing. I thought he was going to tune his instruments or some such thing. Then he spoke in a steely no-nonsense voice, staring straight into the back of the room, and asked someone to stop taking pictures and put their camera away. From the fact that he said all of this in English, then asked "Where are you from?" (I didn't hear the answer) I gathered that the offender must have been a foreigner. Then he added that he just wanted everyone to enjoy the concert. He wasn't mean about it, but his tone made it clear that this was not something he was happy about (he has always been crystal clear on his opinion of cameras in his concerts). Having your idol give you a crushing, disappointed glare... I wondered who could be stupid enough to want to risk such a thing. Gods, I hadn't even done anything and it was hard to bear the feeling of his disappointment. Obviously whoever was the offender was not really much of a fan, or they couldn't have endured that.

After the concert was over, we all slowly filed our way out. While I was waiting for my friends, this white chick comes up and starts talking to me. It struck me that she must have been the idiot with the camera since she was the only other obvious foreigner there beside Rosie and myself. Needless to say, we didn't encourage conversation.

All and all, it was a really fun day. The saddest part was that the concert marked the end of our trip. Tomorrow we would be flying back to Tokyo. No more Miyavi. Even still riding the high from the concert, I couldn't forget that sad fact...

In Okinawa w/ Miyavi - Dinner Party

7:15am - Hotel Ahoy!

Southern Beach Hotel & Resort

We made our way to the hotel. The tour guide gave us a running description of the surrounding area, only a little of which I was able to catch. Apparently there was some bragging over Okinawa's being the first to have an A&W Restaurant... with American sizes! She challenged everyone to try root beer, which I was horrified to discover was a total unknown, even to Rosie.

At the hotel, Rosie and I were, as predicted, roomed together. The room was nice and overlooked the shipping harbor on one side of our little hotel peninsula. Still with hours to go before the night's event, we decided to go check out the beach. We fetched Uchiko from her single room and went exploring. I was a little surprised at what we found. I guess I had been expecting a long, wide, sweeping beach like those found in Florida... instead, there was a small beach created behind the cover of a rocky alcove. Still, it was very cute and would have been sufficient for a nice swim... except both the beach and the park next to it had been completely over taken by a soccer camp, and small boys covered ever inch like ants. Still, there was enough room on the sidewalk to take a stroll and admire the incredibly blue water.

6:30pm - Dinner and a Show

That night the dinner part began. Unable to wait, everyone was hovering about the entrance to the ballroom, eager to catch our first glimpse of Miyavi. While Rosie and I stood waiting, an older woman came over with her daughter, who was about 13. For some reason, I had an absolutely impossible time understanding either of them, though Rosie was able to catch more than I did. Completely oblivious to my uncomprehending stare, they did not attempt to slow or modify their speech for my benefit and I was left feeling quite stupid. I avoided them after that.

They started letting us into the dinner just as we were all biting at the bit. First they checked our name off a list, then sent us to another table, where we had to pick an assigned seat number randomly out of a blind box. Then there was another blind box filled with white envelopes containing convert tickets for the following day. I nervously picked one and went inside the ballroom to find my seat. It turned out my seat was nearest to the door, facing but farthest away from the stage where Miyavi would be. Counting the tables, I saw that instead of 40 people, there were actually 80 people on our tour! Looking at the people at my own table, I realized I had already met the girls immediately to my right and left. The one to my left was Kato, whom I had first met at Haneda Airport. We exchanged excited greetings. I turned to my right and the girl, whose name I cannot remember, gave me a little finger wave and said hello. She was an extremely odd individual. She had a slow and pouty way of speaking that made her seem both petulant and disturbed, like she might just as soon stab you in the back as give you a hug. I maintained polite conversation with her but remained wary, as one is with any unfamiliar animal.

It wasn't until this girl asked what number I had gotten that I remembered the white envelope with the concert ticket. Opening it, I nearly fell out of chair: I was #2 !!!!!!

Once everyone was settled in their seats, the doors closed, and Miyavi came out on stage from behind a partition. Everyone cheered and clapped with excitement. He looked amazing, dressed in simple black pants, black sports coat, with a black graphic tank underneath showing off the tattoos on his collar bone, as well as his Bluetooth in his ear, and graphic black trucker hat parked on his half-shaved head. From magazine photos I thought his hair was white, but it was actually bleached blond, the "samurai" ponytail that he so hated was hanging from the back of the hat, dangling with strands of black extensions. Only Miyavi can pull off wearing a trucker hat.

After basking for a moment in our adoration, he greeted us and talked for a bit about I don't know what. I occupied myself with admiring him, although, from my seat in the back, I couldn't really tell when he was looking at ME. Right before he was about to go off stage, he said something I didn't hear. Suddenly everyone in the room had turned and was looking at me. Apparently he had spoken directly to me (I found out later it was "Are you a foreigner?") and I hadn't even known. How embarrassing. He switched to English when I didn't reply (for Miyavi's English is very good), and asked "Where are you from?" When I told him 'Texas' (because everyone knows Texas, even if they don't know WHERE in the US it is), he repeated it with awe, then switched back to Japanese: "Is there another [foreigner]?" Rosie's table was right next to the stage, and she raised her hand. He repeated the question, and she replied, "Greece,: which he had a really painfully hard time pronouncing. His curiosity satisfied for the moment, he told everyone to enjoy our meal and then departed back behind the partition.

I must say... the food was actually not very good at all, ha. Composed entirely of meat and fish, with no vegetables, I felt bad for the vegetarian/vegan at our table whom could eat nothing at all. Still, when Miyavi came back on stage and asked us how the meal was, there was really only one answer possible. Joining him on stage was another staffer, who held a blind box full of our previously submitted questionnaires. One at a time Miyavi pulled out 5 or so questionnaires and answered questions from each. Although obviously unintentional, it was weird and irritating that almost every question came from only two tables. As he spoke, he looked around at everyone. Although there were 80 of us and not the promised 40, there were still few enough people that he could look at everyone individually. He noticed a girl at my table, sitting across from me, was watching the stage with a pair of binoculars. The room wasn't THAT big, so he burst out laughing, "What, you think you're at Tokyo Dome?" She blushed furiously and everyone laughed. It was pretty funny. I had been thinking something similar.

Just before Miyavi moved on to the last question, he looked at Rosie:

Miyavi: (Japanese) "Do you understand [what we are talking about]?" (English) "Do you

understand?"
Rosie: (Jap) "Yes, a little."
Miyavi: (Jap) "So you can speak in Japanese?"
Rosie: (Jap) "Yes."
Miyavi turned and looked back in my direction:
Miyavi: (Jap) "And you?"
Me: *holds up two fingers close together to indicate a small amount*
Miyavi: (Jap) "Ah, a little. Maybe someone at your table will explain for you."
To my left, Kato's hand shot in the air, eager to be acknowledged, but he only nodded.

The box with the questions disappeared and another box took its place, along with a large shopping bag. Present Time! I won’t regale you with exact details, but suffice it to say that a few very lucky people were randomly selected to receive items that had either been owned or worn by Miyavi at some point, including two crazy suits that must have been used in photo shoots, a black leather briefcase (complete with tear from where his wallet chain got caught on it), a couple cool t-shirts, and a Le Sportsac carry-on-sized bag. Once again, it was the same two tables that somehow got selected for almost every gift, including people that had had their questions answered. Supremely annoying. Even Miyavi remarked on it.

After all the presents were distributed to their delirious recipients, we took a brief break. I scurried over to Rosie's table to compare notes. She explained some things I had missed. Sitting so much closer to the stage, she said Miyavi had some frightening expressions! I didn't know what that meant, but it was pretty funny. Must be all that eyeliner he wears.

Moments later, Miyavi returned with a trio of staffers, setting up for a mini acoustic live. I had not expected this and was instantly elated. As he was tuning up and testing out some chords, he looked up in my direction:

Miyavi: (Jap) "Is that good?"
Me: [thinking: "Is he talking to me?"] *gives him a thumbs up*
Miyavi: [apparently unsatisfied] (Eng) "Is that good?"
Me: "Very good!"
Miyavi: (Jap) "So, are you living here?"
Me: "In Gunma!"
Miyavi: "Gunma?!"

He said it was such surprise I thought I had mispronounced it or misunderstood. The room in general seemed amused by this response, though I am not sure why even now...

Just to be sure, I decided to clarify:
Me: (Jap) "I'm an English teacher!"
Miyavi: (Jap) "An English teacher?!" He repeated among the general awe.
Miyavi: (Eng) "So, you're and English teacher, eh?" He turned to the room at large and waved

to indicate everyone sitting in the rest of the room, (Jap) "You Co-Miyavi-chan's

need to go learn English from her!"
Everyone laughed. My heart about exploded from my chest.

He strummed a few more out on his guitar, then turned to Rosie;
Miyavi: (Jap) "Why are you in Japan?"
Rosie: "Just visiting."

I couldn't hear this exchange from the back so later when she told me this is what she said, I was shocked. I couldn’t believe she would miss the chance to have a conversation with him. I asked her, "Why didn't you tell him the truth?! You came here to see HIM!" He would have loved to hear that. But, she said that he made her nervous; his un-diverted attention was too intimating. I could certainly sympathize with that. I discovered myself how intense he was up close at the concert last December.

The mini-live was really really good. I could have happily sat there for the rest of the nice and watching and listening to him play. I looove~ acoustic guitar, and he is especially good at it.

He played three songs:
1. Senior Senior Senorita
2. [New Song]
3. Ashita, Tenki Ni Naare.

After the acoustic live, there was a break followed by the "2 shot", a.k.a. a one-on-one photo shoot with The Man himself. When it was my turn to take the photo, I walked into the cubicle and he gave me the most satisfying looking of recognition, I doubt I will ever forget it. There were two things I noticed this first time standing in front of him on equal footing: he was really tall(!!) and had really straight, white teeth (not exactly standard among Japanese, I've noticed...). I was a total geek of course and told him, "You're my hero," which was super EXTRA awkward because there was no time for him to respond before we immediately took the picture. Sufficient recovered, he then turned to me and said his standard line in English, "Thank you so much. I hope you have fun tomorrow [at the live]," and shook my hand.

I bounced away laughing gleefully.
...
Okay, maybe not, but that's why I did on the inside. From the amused expression of the staffer near the exit, I think it was somewhat obvious.

In Okinawa w/ Miyavi - Meet, Greet, Walk, Eat

10:02pm - Arrival

Oh man, so much to tell!

After we got off the plane, we met everyone in the arrival lobby. I was the first one out since I didn't have any checked bags, and it was so funny; when I walked up to the staffer with the C.W.I.F. sign, she immediately said, "Upton Lindsay-san?"

Ha ha, yeah, I don't stand out at all!

After getting our badges, Rosie and I hovered together near the large fish tank dominating one side of the lobby. Everyone on the trip was wearing the same red lanyard, so it was clear who we were with, but, at first, no one was brave enough to come over and talk to us. I spent the time observing the Japanese fans. I noticed that most of the girls had already broken off into little groups. I wondered if they all knew each other already or were just fast at making friends. Everyone seemed pretty young, but at the same time, it was almost impossible for me to tell the difference between the 19 year old and the 26 year olds. I would guess that my own age of 23 was probably a good average. The styles everyone wore varied slightly, but it was safe to say that "punk" was the general theme. Some were cheap punk, cute punk, a little SexPot Revenge thrown in here and there, and even one girl with real taste, looking like she had Atelier Pier on under her buff leather jacket. Of course, there were some people in regular street clothes, like myself, but the Japanese ability to make a t-shirt look stylish meant everybody looked pretty good.

Eventually one of the girls ventured over, Polaroid camera in hand, and asked us for take a picture for a fan project. She explained that she would take our picture and we were supposed to write a note on it for Miyavi, ostensibly to give to him as a gift. Having given these instructions in hurried Japanese, clearly thinking we wouldn't understand anyway, she was really amazed when we not only understood what she had said, but were able to reply in kind. From around us, I heard a couple girls (who had been eavesdropping from a safe distance) exclaim in surprise. The foreigners could speak!

After we took our picture, we were suddenly surrounded by a little crowd of curious girls no longer worried about testing their high school English. I found several hands thrust unceremoniously toward me - sometimes without even following it up with an introduction! - like shaking our hand was enough of an experience all it's own. Clearly, they were fascinated by us. It was pretty cute and funny, and most of all made me feel much better about the upcoming days.

We all got on the tour bus after that. I was amused to see that we had assigned seats, but I suppose that made it easier for the tour guide to keep track of us. Of course Rosie and I were sitting together, luckily at the front of the bus. What a pleasant surprise it was to see the the tour packet left on our seats for us had been hand translated into English! It seems that the tour company had actually listened to my request (for a little linguistic assistance). More than that, after everyone had loaded onto the bus and the guide gave rapid directions in Japanese, she came over and knelt by our seats and explained in the best English she could what was going on. I appreciated it immensely. I did try and keep up with what was being said in Japanese, and Rosie was much better at understanding than I, but most of it was too fast paced and outside of my vocabulary.

(the girls, at the entrance of Kokusai Dori)

Our first stop on the tour was the main street of Naha, Kokusai Dori, International Street. I soon discovered that the only thing really international about this street was the international success of "tourist crap", which made up almost every store on the street that were not restaurants: "Come and buy this traditional Okinawan gift: a dancing toy robot cat! (Made in Taiwan)".

Yeah.

Sometimes I wonder and worry that I will one day make it to Egypt and standing right smack dab in front of the Sphynx will be a guy in a in a lean-to selling T-shirts that say "I climbed the pyramids to heaven and all I got was this stupid T-shirt."

...

Is nothing sacred anymore?

Anyway, I digress. Rosie and I attached ourselves to the group of girls that we had shaken hands with at the airport. Rosie knew at least one of them from the Japanese community site, mixi, a girl named Uchiko/Chika. She was an incredibly sweet girl, keeping pace with the two of us, making conversation, and always making sure we didn't get left behind.

After walking the length of the entire street, browsing our lunch choices, we finally decided on a cute-looking Japanese place with an appetizing (no sarcasm intended) display of wax food out front. On entering, I immediately felt as though I had fallen back a century, the entire room made of miles of dark wood typical of pre-WWII Japanese architecture (before fire bombs), complete with wooden cubbies for us to place our shoes before stepping onto the raised floor.

As an angry looking oba-chan (old lady) ushered us to a small nook toward the back, I observed an indoor window to one side, lined with old Japanese wine bottles, and covered by a curtain of dangling business cards browned with age. The small room we'd been led to was cute, small, and private, only with enough room for one table in the corner and our own long table toward the front, where we sat on floor cushions. Wether by truth or design, the entire place had a very authentic feel. This was somewhat amusingly juxtaposed by having colorful plastic menus thrust in our face.

Fortunately, choosing something to order wasn't very difficult this time. Okinawa is famous for goya, a Japanese vegetable that I love. It is long, green, spiked, and frightening, looking a bit like a poisonous cucumber. Rather suitable to its appearance, it is extremely bitter, making it (along with natto and ume-boshi) a difficult food for even some Japanese to eat. Cooked with pork and tofu, it is called goya-chanpluu, a speciality on our colorful plastic menus - and what I immediately ordered.

Another specialty of Okinawa was apparently pig. I say "pig" instead of "pork" because they don't just eat the meat, but ever part of the animal, as far as I could tell. When our food arrived, we each had our own little tray with about 5 things on it: main course, rice, soup, sweet tofu (desert), and and an indistinguishable brown curl of something in a bowl in the corner of each tray. I poked at the curl and tentatively tried a bite. It was not so tastey. I noticed that the other girls at my table gave it a look of distaste as well. I asked what it was. They said something in Japanese, and I only caught the first word. Rosie translated: "Pig ear." Eck.

After lunch we hurried back to bus after buying loads of omiyage for the office. On our way, I noticed a disturbing representation of Okinawa's speciality propped up on the sidewalk, no doubt as a tourist attraction: a decapitated pig's head on a stick. It was like a misplaced nightmare from "Lord of the Flies", a reference neither my Japanese nor Greek companions were able to appreciate. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it.

In Okinawa w/ Miyavi - Departure

7:15 am - Departure

By the time I got to my hotel last night, I was no longer nervous. Once I got away from home, it was like cutting the cord. I just had to let go.

I got up this morning at 5am and caught a free bus from my ho

tel to Haneda Airport. It wasn't strictly necessary that I leave so early. However, the warnings about arriving late, written three times in bold, red, boxed letters on my itinerary, had pretty well assured I would be up at the crack of dawn. Sure enough, I was too early to check in at 6 am, so I stood around and observed people. Not long after I arrived, I saw another girl with the same tour papers in her hand. She stood to one side of me and must have s

een the papers in my own hand, for she turned to me right as I turned to her. I think her name was Kato... we talked for a bit in Japanese and English, and it was nice. I hope everyone is so friendly.

We really liked how our plane tickets actually said "MIYAVI" on them. How kickass is that.

15 min. until the plane boards!...

9:55 am - On the Plane

So, one more hour - 45 minutes to be exact - until we land. It seems the fates were smiling on me; I am not alone. I found the one other foreigner on this tour. Rather, we found each other, each of us trying not to be obvious but noticing a fellow non-Asian hustling into line during boarding. Fumbling with our introductions, I think we both sort of sighed a little breath of relief at having more-or-less an instant companion. Her name is Rosie

and she is from Greece. Turns out she heard about this fanclub trip and decided to make a vacation of it, spending 24 days in Japan and seeing an impressive number of Miyavi's lives. I was pretty impressed. Even though I live here in Japan, I cannot imagine planning and executing such a large scale trip on my own.

I am sure it was by design that we ended up sitting next to each other on the plane. I am betting that we will be roomed together too. I am really glad there is exactly one other foreigner. As it is, we are rather a unique pair among a sea of Japanese fans. Previous experience leads me to believe this may very well prove to be a valuable advantage.

Usually I do not like sitting in the middle seats on planes. Who does? However, for this trip, I was actually quite grateful, as it gave me the opportunity to talk to people on both sides of me. Naturally all the people on our tour were booked together in one big group, so we could be sure that the people around us were all 'family'. Keeping this in mind, I had no qualms about opening conversation with the Japanese woman on my right. Her name is Kaori and she is 31. I am sure, when she was approaching her seat and saw the two of us sitting there, her stress level ratcheted up a couple notches. At first I could tell she was really nervous about using her English, having heard Rosie and I speak to one another. I gave her credit for gathering the nerve to ask that first question. Nonetheless, when I replied in Japanese, her relief was quite palpable. I can hardly blame her. The three of us spoke for a while, fortunately staying on easy enough subjects that I could hold up my end in Japanese. I am sure glad of my time spent studying!

The Happy Trio

In Okinawa w/ Miyavi - On my way

Editor's Note (ha ha)

These entries were written in a journal at the time they occurred. Thus, instead of creating one long endless entry for 3 days, they will be separated into separate entries and reproduced here as they were in the original. Enjoy.


1:49 pm

Well, here I am, beginning my adventure to Okinawa. I'm at the train

station in Kizaki, with half my paycheck in my bag. I'm so nervous. I should have left an hour ago but... I was procrastinating. I'm so nervous! The last week I crammed in as much study as I could at school. Still, most of it was me frantically trying to learn more grammar, primarily new sentence structures... so I actually didn't get a chance for much memorization.

Lucky me, I had to go to an enkai on Wednesday night. Hashiba sensei was occupied with preparations, so she asked one of the other teachers to give me a lift. The drive over wasn't so bad. I was able to have a decent conversation with the teacher who drove me, and that was nice. However, once we got there, it was a different story. The teachers were all very involved in talking with each other, and I was hopelessly lost. In the end it was a brutal remind of how little I've learned.

I hope the people on this trip will be patient with me. Still, I've made a promise to myself: I will not let whatever happens with the other members of this tour stop me from enjoying it. I will try my best, but no matter what, I don't want this opportunity to pass me by.

Train will be here soon...

(Kizaki train station.. view from the 'To Ota' departure side)

Benkyoushite Iru!

"I Need To Study!" <-- my title

...or at least, I hope that's what my title says. I do love the irony.

A week from tomorrow, I start off on my mini vacation to Okinawa with Miyavi. A part of me is very excited for this rare chance, not only to meet Miyavi, but to visit a part of Japan I never thought I would see. Unfortunately that part of me is rapidly losing voting rights in my brain. This is of course primarily due to my fear of being totally ostracized as possibly the soul non-native speaker on the tour... Ah, Lindsay, what have you gotten yourself into?!

Fortunately, panic has a positive side effect: motivation to study! Extreme motivation, but hey, that's what it takes!

Actually, that is only part of the reason. The other part was a little more exciting.

A couple days ago I returned to the teacher's room at school, having just finished with a rather depressing class, and was feeling the worse for ware. Wanting something mindless to take my mind off things, I flicked through my iPod for an old TV show I had featuring one of my favorite artists, Gackt. It was a Japanese talk show ("HEY! HEY! HEY!"), something I had pulled off YouTube, and while it had no subtitles, I generally didn't mind because it was sort of a game-oriented episode. At that moment I was feeling particularly resigned so, planning on enjoying the funny atmosphere of the show and not much else, I popped in my headphones and clicked play.

Imagine my surprise when the host started talking, and I understood what he was saying! Then Gackt enters the set, and I could understand him too! Oh man, it was like being splashed with cold water, hearing the speak Japanese but understanding them perfectly fine!

Here I must warn you not to get too excited on my behalf, however; it was a very simple conversation and the episode itself was a scene reflecting everyday life, Gackt working at a gas station (okay, that does NOT reflect everyday life... but you get the point); it was not as though I could understand the conversations that were going on in my own office space. Point of fact, I even watched a normal episode later and found that, sure enough, I understood relatively little. Still, I watched that whole show and understood maybe.. 80% of what was being said whereas I had previously only been able to understand maybe 5%. That's pretty exciting! Particularly because it was mostly without effort of my part... just the natural result of living in Japan for 8 months; Just imagine what I could do with actual study!

And study I have. With school winding down into the last week, my classes with the 2nd and 3rd years having already come to an end, I am getting more and more free time at the office. While previously I had Colleen McCollough's version of the Iliad to keep me occupied, now I just have my textbooks. It's pretty convenient to have an office full of people for me to check my grammar on, though I have to rely on my English teachers for any direct translations. Actually, on that front, my iPod had come in extremely useful. I downloaded a new application called Kotoba!, a Japanese dictionary. I love it because not only is it really easy to use, it translates not only into English, but Russian as well. Double check the meaning in two languages! Sweet!

Today I had zero classes and spent 6 straight hours studying. Be nice if I could keep that up, at least for the next week.

Cheers,

хорошо Baer

Snow!

Just FYI,

but it's snowing!

It started snowing this morning at work, but it wasn't cold enough to stick, so wasn't too exciting. When I left work, it was still barely dust on the pavement.

Just now I was sitting at my kotatsu, and I heard a thump on my balcony. Then, a second thump. Perturbed, I got up and opened the sliding glass door to see piles of snow forming on my hanging laundry, ha ha ha. Great drying technique. The thumps were from snow falling from the roof.

They must have every light on in the city because it is 11pm at night and it looks like sunset. We've got a good 5 inches so far. I hope it sticks. Maybe they will give us some time off to play in the snow tomorrow if it does. Yay~! Only the 2nd time I have seen significant amounts of snow in Ota. Still, it was more than I expected, since many people told me that it never snows here. I think they were misinformed!

I never got a chance to post it, but last time it snowed, I was so excited... I slipped my shoes on and ran to Yuki's door so we could admire the fall of the big, heavy snowflakes together. I made a miniature Rilakkuma snow bear on the railing, and we lobbed snowballs into the parking lot. Afterward, I stood, leaning against the railing, my tongue sticking out, trying to catch some for a taste, much to Yuki's amusement. It was nice.

You kind of have to use your imagination.... ha ha.

Cheers,

polar Baer

School Notes

Not really Japan related so much, but for anyone that is wondering, I had an OK birthday. Like most things, the expectation was better than the real thing and, as it turned out, the days after were better than the actual day. Everyone forgot, actually. But the next day, Akemi made me cupcakes and a cute card, and Yuki gifted me with a giant stuffed Rilakkuma, my favorite character. On Saturday, Kingsley took me out for dinner and drinks, along with giving me a killer pair of shoes. lol. So, it worked out in the end.

(Akemi and her adorable/delicious gift)

(lighting up my life with Rilakkuma love)

(Kingsley: helping me rediscover my roots a child of the 80s)

But anyway, let's get back to business! Today I want to write about the characters of my everyday life, the little observations that have been building up in the notebook in my head as I go through work everyday.

School Lunch

I'm not sure where to begin, so I will begin with where my thoughts are currently lo

cated: my stomach. I have written about school lunch before, but I think the subject deserves further discussion. In fact, Kingsley and I actually had quite a long discussion about the school lunch, over dinner. The thing that neither of us can quite fathom is how incredibly healthy Japanese people consider school lunch to be. Without a doubt I ha

ve been told at least half a dozen times how nutritious school lunch is. Nutritious. There is that word again. Should ever you find yourself in a conversation with a Japanese person in which the subject of school lunch arises and they suddenly get that vacant look in their eyes, I can tell you what word they are searching their internal Japanese-English dictionary for: nutritious. Go ahead and help them out by saying it first; they will be delighted you agree and then you may go on to forge a bond forever balanced on overcooked fish.

Nutritious. Everyday I stare down at my lunch and wonder how it qualifies. Some days are more questionable than others. Curry Day is an infamous one: curry, rice, naan, limp broccoli, and our daily dose of 3.6% fat milk. Let's see, that's fat, carbs, carbs, OH some vitamins, and more fat. Okay, how about different day? hmm... a donut,

some salad completely soaked in dressing, some chicken sitting in a pool of oil, and an oil based egg and sausage filled soup, plus more milk... so, fat and carbs, some vitamins cancelled out by fat, some protein soaked in fat, some watered down cholesterol, plus a little more fat. Well, I can say one thing for sure: I can definitely put a bit check next to the "Fats"

and "Carbs" sections of my Nutritional pyramid. No wonder the students love it.

Graduation

Well, I've had my carrot for dinner, so now I can stop thinking about food and move on to something else. There is certainly one thing that is on everyone's mind, including my own: graduation and the end of the school year. That is sort of interesting in itself, the flurry and excitement of graduation. I distinctly remember the mildly traumatizing experience of my own mother telling me at the end of JHS, "you aren't really graduating, so there is nothing to celebrate." Well, that isn't the thinking here, which is funny, since I think the percentage here of students that go to (and stay in) high school is much higher than in the US. Then again, a big graduation

celebration makes sense when here, high school is not only non-compulsory, acceptance to a good school is considered with the same consideration and importance as college.

For me, it is only important because it means that I had to say goodbye to my favorite class for the last time. It was a good goodbye though. They wrote me a very nice letter and bade me farewell with a chorus of "Bye SEXY!" Their favorite word.

For the actual ceremony, the gym was covered with plastic to protect the floor, and all the chairs were brought in from the classrooms to provide

seating for the students. The decorations around the gym were quite elaborate, nicely disguising the true nature of the room. The ceremony was predictably long and boring, particularly because I didn't understand a word. However, I did enjoy the "long walk goodbye" that came afterwards. When all the students had received their diplomas and walked out of the gym, all the parents and non-graduates went out to the athletic grounds. Everyone lined up in two parallel lines leading to the school gate. Staring at the far end of the school, carrying all their bags and items, all the graduates, along with teachers who would be retiring or transfering to another school, walked down the middle of the two lines while everyone cheered and applauded. They continued until every last student had exited the school gate for the last time. It was very dramatic, very sweet, and clearly something of a rather old tradition. I liked it immensely.

Students and Teachers

I still have the 1st and 2nd years to keep me busy though. The 1st years provide a unique challenge that has nothing to do with scholastic aptitude. and I mean, absolutely nothing. I am not sure what happens between the last year of elementary school and the first year of JHS, but based on my currents student in both grades, I can say that the older students are unanimously worse behaved. Maybe during that brief summer they all spontaneously go into puberty and their good sense seeps out through their shiny new oily skin. Disgusting, you say? Not as disgusting as their behavior.

The same day I was reading an article on CNN about young students in New York being arrested for writing a friend's name on a public school desk, I saw a student shove one of our 90 pound female teachers across the hall; another teacher showed me a perfect imprint of the bottom of a shoe on her pants from where a student had kicked her square in the thigh. "I think maybe I should not forgive him right away," she told me; at the desk where I sit in the teacher's room, there is a growing graveyard of school supplies that have been intentionally destroyed by students; in one of my classes, there is a student who, I noticed, now brings a pillow with him to school, so he may sleep through classes in greater comfort.

I suppose it wouldn't be so remarkable except for the way in which such behavior is handled. Although I can't say the system is better, in the US such students would face detention, isolation, expulsion, or, as recently, even a pair of handcuffs. At the very least, parents would be called in and asked to take their children in hand. In Japan, I've discovered, it is the teachers that bear the full brunt. Although parents are indeed contacted about the behavior of their children, it is not taken quite the same way as it would be in the States. I asked my main English teacher about the parents of these horrible children, how they react to reports of bad behavior. "Mostly, they just blame us," she said, "Or refuse to believe it is happening at all. Teachers just don't have enough protection." No kidding.

Although it is a pretty raw deal for teachers, all around, I have to say, I think the school system in Japan is pretty impressive, student-centric. From what I can tell, the Japanese system is like one giant support system. For one thing, the student go to school almost 365 days a year, even on the weekends and during summer break, because they have clubs every day of the week. I think they spend more time with each other and their teachers than they do their own families. Actually, at the elementary school, there was this one little boy who was so doted on by the Vice Principle that, for a long time, I thought it was his own son.

The teachers do everything, everything to attend to the needs of students, even the bad ones. In addition, teachers, principles, and vice-principles are constantly being rotated from one school to the next, so no one has time to grow too bored or complacent... or arrogant about their position. Of course, it also means having to drive maybe 1 hour to work and back everyday and work long stressful hours for not exactly a king's ransom. Like I said, it's a pretty raw deal for Japanese teachers, but they remain pretty dedicated. Really, I think they are kind of like superheroes.

Everyone's Favorite ALT

After talking to my friend, I realized I should probably clarify one thing about this entry: I still love my job. There are a few things that really kind of piss me off (example: the inability of taking a sick day), but who doesn't have a few things they don't like about their job?

For one thing, the job has definitely gotten easier with time. My own understanding of the students' actual abilities (what they DO know, as opposed to what they SHOULD know) has helped me tremendously in making effective lesson plans and acting as an assistant in the classes I don't teach. I still struggle with elementary lesson plans - I find I simply can't lower my intelligence level to match theirs - but I have Akemi, my wonderful supporter, to help me out and keep me sane.

For another thing, there is simply the fact that I am not a "real" teacher. When people ask me what I do, I say "eigo no sensei" (English teacher) because it is the least complicated way to explain it, but in truth I am just an assistant: ALT- Assistant Language Teacher. So while I do have to teach classes, I don't have the hours or the responsibilities of the the "real" teachers. Of all the stuff I wrote above about the raw deal Japanese teachers get, little of it applies to me. As I have said before, my job is pretty easy.

This is not to say that I don't get frustrated just as the other teachers do. It is apparent that the vast majority of the students have no real interest in learning English. Certainly before their 3rd year (their last year, when they have to buckle down and get serious in order to pass high school entrance exams) it is very difficult to motivate students. It varies, of course, but the thing is... "group mentality" is the rule, not the exception, in Japan. This means that if there are a few students who really hate English (as there are in every class) then most of the students sitting around them will also decline in their English studies and become problem children as well. So, often enough, all the effort that we put into making fun activities for class get ruined by infectious apathy. It is disheartening, and sometimes when the ALTs in the area get together for seminars, we can't help asking each other "Why are we even here?"

Of course, there is the flip side of that as well. Lessons can be really frustrating because the students find textbook learning tedious, repetition boring, and memorization difficult; yet the minute the bell rings and class is over, even some of the worst students get excited at to chance to talk with me, the ALT. For my 1st and 2nd years (JHS), I always give time for the students to come and talk to me after class using whatever limited vocab/grammar they have. The longer I have been there, the more I have seen even the shy students coming forward to talk, because while lessons are boring, actual conversation with a foreigner is pretty exciting stuff. My teachers tell me that when I am not in class, the students often ask for me, and look forward to the next time I am in class. When I do walk into class, always I hear little excited whispers of my name ricochet around the classroom. That enthusiasm... that is why we are here. It's what makes this job worth doing.

Not to mention it's a pretty good job for stroking one's ego, ha ha. Nothing like having thirty people get excited because you just walked into the room. Even though I find it a little creepy, it's also nice to hear, I don't know how many times a day, students say "Lindsay, you're cute" "hey Lindsay, nice body", even randomly timed statements of "oh, so sexy". Then there are those moments when I can simply smile at a student who is clearly drifting off during a grammar lesson and they suddenly light up with happiness; when I leave work everyday, there is always a happy chorus of goodbyes from every student that sees me. Yeah, the perks are pretty good here.

Cheers,

ALT Baer