Funny Little Moments: Teacups

There are funny little things I notice in my office. I don't know that they are necessarily exclusive to Japan, but I highly doubt there are many other places where a lower peon, such as myself, is constantly having their coffee cup refilled by others.

Of course, when I say "coffee cup", I really mean "teacup"—"Alice in Wonderland" always comes to mind with those word—for green tea is truly a staple of Japanese life. The teacups were one of the first things to come to my notice. Primarily, that everyone has a "teacup personality."

I seriously doubt that when my coworkers were choosing a mug to use at work, they realized they were making a defining decision of their professional experience.

As I often used to help the tea lady gather the cups and distribute tea, I became familiar with which cup belonged to whom. After a while, the cups cease being merely and object of a certain teacher; they became a very representation of them, an avatar, if you will.

"Ah," I say, lifting the large blue Mickey Mouse and Friends mug, "Abe-sensei is here today."

Similarly, when a cup is missing from the collection pool at lunch, or conspicuously absent from a teacher's desk, I get the chance to work in a little trivial Office Conversation. "So, Sato-san is not here today, eh?"

My old Principal and Vice Principal had no decorations on their cups. Theirs were simple, delicate, maybe a little elegant, but mainly plain. Yet these men, especially the Principal, whose smile made him a favorite among the students, were very kind, jovial, generous men. It was as if, by choosing understated tea cups, they were saying, "I may be a friendly man by nature (and I'm not afraid to show it), but I am also an important and professional representative of this school (so please respect the fact that I left my Mickey Mouse cup at home)."

Honestly, it's kind of a lot to say for a little cup that is barely 3 inches tall. Wouldn't you say?

Cheers,

tea lady Baer

Accidental Acquaintances

Quite a few surprising moments lately. I was riding my bike toward my apartment and suddenly this man in his driveway steps out and says "Hello! Hello!" very insistantly, so I stopped and said hello. He tell me that he knows my neighbor, Masa, and was once a student of his at his English school. We bond in silence on this shared friendship for a moment and then he suddenly asks me, "Can I introduce my daughter to you right now?" I'm awkwardly propped up on my bike in my middle of the street, but what can I say except "sure!" He runs inside. Somehow I was expecting a young girl, maybe a future JHS student, but a much older woman comes out and I am quite surprised. She comes over and speaks to me in very good English, explaining that she just returned from Vancouver, and she wanted to improve her English in order to apply for his Master's Degree in the United States. Wouldn't I please be her friend? I respond enthusiastically and invite her over to my apartment for English conversation. We exchange information and I am once again on my way home.

Wow! What a surprise that was! You never know what will happen. I was so pleased with making a new friend, I cleaned my whole apartment, ha ha.

It has been raining quite a lot. I used to love the rain but not having a car has me beginning to hate it. Having to ride my bike to the store and to work and to ANYWHERE in the rain is like throwing a cat in the bathtub. So I was quite pleased when it it was no longer raining by the time I left work today. I went home and was going to clean my bathroom, but... I had a rather bad experience with spiders and all I wanted was to get away from my apartment, which I was really unhappy with at that moment. So I went for a walk. A long walk. I don't know how long, but I found some places I hadn't noticed before.

When I had almost reached home again, I saw an old couple with a boy and two babies, presumably their grandchildren. I smiled my hello, but to my surprise the woman called out to me. She asked if I recognized her, and after I moment, I had a vague recollection of doing so, last year during Sports Day. She was a friend of my landlord and a JHS teacher that had just retired that year, Mrs.K.

When she saw I was headed home, she called out to her husband and told him to turn around, as they had been going to opposite direction. She spoke to me for a while, or attempted to, but we didn't get far in conversation. To my great surprise, she asked me if I had plans for dinner, and when I said I did not, invited me to their house. I was shocked but very happy at the unexpected offer, and accepted as warmly as I could. I went home to clean up and quickly look up some important phrases like "Thank you for inviting me into your home" (a phrase I don't think I mastered at all) and then walked to their house from my apartment. It was literally right around the corner, 5 minutes on foot, tucked behind a wall facing the rice fields where I like to run.

The older couple I'd met lived with their daughter, her husband, and the three grandchildren that had been out walking with Mr and Mrs.K. Her daughter was making curry at the stove, with one baby on her hip, when I walked in. I sat down next to Mr.K. He also works in education, formerly a teacher, but currently in administration. Unlike his wife, he actually spoke some English, so we got a little farther in conversation. When I refused the offer of beer, he got excited about opening a bottle of wine instead. I'm only slightly more fond of wine than beer, but tried my best to imbue enthusiasm for the bottle he quickly produced. He was very proud of it, making sure that I had the opportunity to look at the label (which I examined studiously, though all I can remember is "something red from California, 2009"), before pouring too much in a glass and offering it to me.

The dinner was nice, if a little awkward due to lingual barriers. I had my iPod/translator ready at my fingertips, but it can only do so much. The entire family was very nice, very patient and forgiving of my bad Japanese. We talked about my family, their family, and the daughter's husband showed me pictures from his trip traveling abroad. For once, I welcomed the presence of children. The two twin babies were a bit pitiful, constantly crying at the slightest provocation, as well as, I suspect, being a little sick with matching colds. However, they did provide a wonderful, neutral distraction for our wandering attention. I think I might have easily have gone completely unremarked in the little world of the three children if not for the video games. When we had finished eating, the older boy invited me to play on his Nintendo Wii with him. Being as he was only about 5 years old, he wasn't daunted by my lack of language skills at all, which was a nice comfort to me! Very little conversation was required once the game was turned on other than "you can do it!" , "go, go, go!" , "oh, too bad.." , "great job!" , "champion!!" and "ah, that was fun", all of which I could handle without a problem. Once we started playing it turned into a family affair, and by the end of the night, I think everybody but Mr. and Mrs. K had had a turn playing Super Mario. I for one learned how important it is to let children win - more a matter of self-preservation than anything else.

Mr. K walked me the 15 steps home to my apartment. It was a lovely, confusing, utterly unexpected turn of events... but I was warmly pleased that I had gotten the opportunity to be a part of a regular Japanese family night... very much like any family I might know at home.

Cheers,

makin' friends Baer

I've been watering a fake plant

I have two plants in my apartment. They were both here when I got here, the only bit of personality the place had. I like having them around, little flags of life.

I've always been pretty impressed because they have lived quite well despite my inattention. Even if I forget to water them for a month, they survive. My kind of plants.

Still, their longevity was getting kind of suspicious. I finally took a good look at them. I know the little one is real, because I have pulled dead leaves off it numerous times. The other one has passed my cursory inspection several times, but yesterday, with nothing better to do, I gave it a thorough inspection.

The truth is, I honestly can't tell if this is a real plant. However, I have a sneaking suspicion I have been watering a fake plant for 8 months.

Hell, I think even my mother watered it when she was visiting (are you reading this, Mom?).

...honestly, I feel like I should keep watering it. I wouldn't want to kill it if it really isn't fake.

...

how ridiculous is that?!

What a riot.

the culprit

Cheers,

dense and confused Baer

P.S. I know I owe an entry on Okinawa. I am typing it up, so look for it soon.

P.P.S. By the way, if you want to watch the news clip from when my friends and I were on Gunma TV in January, I've uploaded the file for download online. You can find a link in my Gunma TV post.

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)