Technical Difficulties

My laptop is sitting cool and quiet on my windowsill, it has not been turned on for days...

because I can't turn it on! My power cord literally broke overnight, and it looks like I'll have to order a new one from America.

So until then, its back to pen and paper, and I'll post when I can.

Fashion Week at #606 Claire Fuchu

I just watched the final episode of Project Runway and I feel so inspired. I really liked Laura Bennet’s line, and a few pieces from Uli inspired me as well. Both of the women, Jeffrey and Michael had very distinct points of view. People tend to think of Jeffrey as the most innovative and in many respects he is, but every designer exhibited some innovative characteristics. The prints that Uli tends to use have an inventive spirit. I think Michael did very well infusing his fresh, urban aesthetic with the requirements of the challenges and his clothes always look cool; but the line he showed looks like merchandise that is already on the market, there is nothing inherently new.

When I first saw Laura’s line aired in the episode I thought ‘what great clothes, it’s too bad her aesthetic is for older women, I would love to wear her clothes designed for a twenty year old.’ But when I looked through the photos on Bravo’s website, I realized that she actually did design for younger people, and I think she is arguably one of the most innovative designers from the 3^rd season. I really respect that she had a theme in mind for her show. Although I would love to see her take on casual/sportswear, she does great things for dressy. Within the sphere of evening and cocktail dresses she mixed fun and classy and produced the kinds of clothes that you buy first and then find a place to wear them. While some of her pieces were very much for older women, a number of outfits were in fact, very young. As the judges mentioned, her clothes are ones that you buy and keep for life. A number of things she presented could be aged forwards or backwards with different accessories. Jewelry, bag, shoes, scarves; a number of things can transform an outfit. You can visit http://www.bravotv.com/Fashion_Forward/photos/laura/index.shtml?slideshow=pr3_laura&pic=1#picAnchor to see Laura’s show.

I loved a number of her outfits, but #9 (in the slideshow) was my absolute favorite. It is certainly a young outfit. The use of shorts for the cocktail hour is very now, and the gold cropped jacket with a gold chiffon bow and sash is beautiful. It is the classic, put-together look that Laura does so well, but in a very fresh way.

My second favorite was #3. This is a fabulous little black dress. A halter dress with an empire waist updates a classic look. The upright feathers at the empire waist are fun and flirty and the fringe at the hem adds more playfulness to the look.

#13 is a gorgeous piece that can be transitioned for many years. The black lace is timeless, but the deep-V is daring. The overall silhouette is exquisite and flattering without emphasizing one particular element so much that the piece gets stuck in a particular trend or decade. This is certainly a piece which is always beautiful, but whose age and mood can be influenced with accessories.

***
The winner of Project Runway, Jeffrey Sebelia, said in his exit interview that he would like to use his prize money to start a secondary line that would be available to a mass market. While I am generally not a fan of Jeffrey, I applaud his idea. Project Runway is great at unearthing design talent, but inspired designer clothes can be very difficult for regular people to come by. There are an incredible number of talented and inspired designers out there and I would certainly like to see more of them taking steps to mass produce, and to see more large retailers courting independent designers. Jeffrey’s idea is a good first step, and I hope more people in the industry agree and follow suit.

Nippon Karaoke

Wednesday the plan was to meet in Shinjuku and take last train to Roppongi for night of mayhem, Nova style. We (Christian Beth and I) missed that train, and stayed in Shinjuku for the night. On the search for an Ego-speaking bar we met a group of friends also deciding what to do for the evening. Surprise, surprise, we sang karaoke!

Out of 5 people about 1 1/2 of them spoke English. Thankfully, karaoke + gin tonic > language.

We tried to find songs that all of us knew, but do you really have to understand to be entertained? I think not.

In Japan they call Y.M.C.A. "Young Man"

It was also this night that I discovered the joys of the tambourine. My life might never be the same.

Dancecapades, part I

The week of Nippon Karaoke was a crazy week. The night of karaoke I discovered a song that altered the course of my life - if not forever, at least for a few days. In between karaoke sets the system was playing the Scissors Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'. I downloaded it as soon as I woke up the next day, and I was hooked. This song takes no prisoners. When it comes on dancing is not an option, it just happens. Whether I'm at home, on the train or even walking on the street the song completely takes over my body, willing my arms and hips and legs to mindlessly follow. Fast forward 3 days and I'm dancing atop a bar one Saturday in Roppongi. But first...

That Friday my roommates and I went to a private birthday party at the Ruby Room in Shibuya. We had a really great time hanging out and meeting new people - the place was packed with friends of friends who all spoke English. The dj was really talented, but we really just wanted to dance, and that was not the vibe of the party. I even requested the Scissor Sisters (a common theme throughout the following weeks), but the dj wasn't familiar with it. So with about an hour left until last train we skipped over to the Shibuya Gaspanic to shake our groove thangs. Almost as soon as we got into the club I requested the Scissor Sisters, at which moment the dj pointed out the ‘no requests’ sign. Even so, we had a good time dancing, and we even made it out in time for last train!

Except we got on the wrong train. We realized this when we were quite far from where we were supposed to be. I was groggy when we got on the train, and asleep when the snafu was realized, but luckily my roommates were awake and chatting with a friendly salaryman on the train. They realized what happened near this guy’s stop. We all got out together and he offered to pay for our cab home! He actually got in the car with us, which doubled his fare – and it was already ¥ 4000 to get us home! So it was kind of a crazy night, but one of the less critical misadventures to date.

Goldalization and Other Ramblings

I'm so excited, today I joined a gym!! Gold's Gym just opened up 15 mins from my apartment. I first went to join Monday morning, but apparently every 3rd Monday of the month this 23hr gym doesn't open until 5pm?!

So I went tonight. It was mostly uneventful, I had my Gaijin card (resident alien card) and my bank card so that kept any major problems from arising. I did have to provide -

my line of work - in 4 different sections
my employer's phone number
my employer's address
how many people Nova employs
Whether or not I am in debt, and if so how much (I said no debt - not in Japan)
and
I had to get a Gold's Gym credit card.

Tattoos are grounds for termination of the contract. I'm assuming it’s don't ask don't tell.

At a certain more Japanese gym (Konami Sports Club) you are not allowed to join if you have a tattoo. Although I'm assuming that is also don't ask don't tell.

Apparently only Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) have tattoos. They and a handful of daring Japanese.

Earlier when I was still riding the Sumo high I told my students stories about going to the tournament, but I mixed up the word for the highest Sumo rank - Yokozuna - with the Japanese Mafia.
- "... It was so exciting, my friends and I got to see the Grand Yakuza!!! ... Yazuka? Yokozuna?" My students were horrified.

It is also fun to tease them about Kabuki-cho, the red-light district (in Shinjuku). Kabuki-cho used to be really dangerous, but it's not so much anymore. A lot of Japanese are still afraid of it; Salarymen tell their children that it is a very dangerous place. The joke at Meidaimae (my Nova branch) is that this is what Salarymen tell their children so that they won't run into them there.

For one role-play I said to one of the students (an older woman)
- ok, imagine that you are in Kabuki-cho...
--but I never go to Kabuki-cho!
- yes, ok, I would like you to IMAGINE that you're in Kabuki-cho, we're imagining.
--what? Kabuki-cho? But I don’t go to Kabuki-Cho!

Confusion ensued. It may be worth saying that when asked about what she did the previous night this student told the class that she went drinking in Ginza (very shi-shi), passed out on last train and missed her stop. She came to class very tired.

East Asian Update

Last night I had a crazy dream! A student of mine was jack-hammering outside of my window and rumbling my room. It wasn’t until my roommate opened her door and exclaimed – “Did you feel that?!” that I woke and realized I had just experienced my first Tokyo earthquake!

It wasn’t scary at all. I partially grew up in California, so it wasn’t my first earthquake. But after being away from the West Coast for so long, it’s strangely comforting to know that the earth beneath me is moving. It’s kind of like being back. Not in California, of course, but certainly a return to something I knew in my earliest years.

In other East Asian news, there is quite a bit going on out here politically! North Korea is all over the newspapers, but first - a new Japanese Prime Minister (Abe) was recently elected. It’s a big deal because he is really conservative, but he is also hoping to improve Japanese-Chinese (Sino) (and Japanese-Korean) relations. There is a shrine in Tokyo called the Yaskuni Shrine, which among other people honors four Class A war criminals from WWII. Every previous Japanese prime minister has visited it, and that really angers South Korea and China because for those countries it is a symbol of Japan’s aggression in those areas. Abe has not yet said whether he will or will not visit the Shrine. The Japanese PM’s usually make their first overseas visit a trip to Washington, but this time it was Beijing, which was a good sign. I’ve talked to a handful of my students about it, and they say they want relations with China to improve, but they don’t want to capitulate to Chinese and Korean demands about how to view and honor their history.

And then North Korea set off nuclear tests. Japan is reacting really severely, and in some regards independent of the UN because Japan and North Korea have a contentious history. A few years (or months, I can’t remember which) ago North Korea recently fired missiles over Japan, as a warning. Japan has totally banned all imports, vessels, and North Korean nationals from entering the country. Some of the history between Japan and North Korea is really interesting. For example, North Korea feels that Japan still hasn’t properly atoned for it’s aggression in Korea between the two world wars. In the 70s and 80s, Japanese citizens were kidnapped in Japan and taken to North Korea. Both countries still bring up these issues.

While Japan is taking a hard line towards North Korea, China is calling for a more moderate reaction than both Japan and the U.S. China has long been a supporter of North Korea, and regularly supplies the country with food and energy. China fears that if North Korea is pushed too far it will bear the brunt of whatever happens.

So it seemed like China and Japan could make progress, but they have such divergent attitudes towards North Korea, there may be a new set of priorities.

Lights! Beer! Money! People!

I have been in Tokyo for a month. Officially. I arrived September 13th.

Today I also felt my deepest love and strongest aversion to this city.

Tokyo is exciting, fun, and interesting. But a challenge, every day.

I finally did some real shopping today; I went into Harujuku and came out a little lighter in the wallet, but a little heavier in Tokyo style. And it took a while, but I even found a store that carries shoes in my size. No joke, the highest size that most stories carry is LL, which fits about 2/3 of my foot. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cinderella was Japanese, and her two step-sisters were American.

In Tokyo there are always lights! Always people! So much wealth! And beer! After Harujuku I went to the nearby Yoyogi park, which is SO beautiful! It is right in the city, but it’s so big and quiet. Sitting there, listening to the rush of the water in the fountain behind me, and an amateur saxophonist in the near distance, I felt my first pang of love for Tokyo. Since I arrived I’ve appreciated it for what it is, what I know it to be, but it wasn’t personal. Tonight for the first time something in this vast, busy, wealthy, efficient city actually touched me.

I also realized my saturation point. A friend called – ‘hey, let’s go to Shinjuku!’ But I was in Shinjuku earlier today, and a couple of nights ago, and a few days before that. I was in Shibuya last night, and 3 nights ago, and so on. I am so Shinjuku-ed out. I’m Shibuya-ed out. With respect to lights, people, money, and beer, I’m Tokyo-ed out. It’s easy to go with the excitement, it’s easy to get carried. Being in the calm and seclusion of Yoyogi park showed me the frenzy that I was taking part in.

I still love Tokyo as much as I did in the park. It’s not a grand love, not yet. But what’s there is real. Because Tokyo is real. The sushi, crowded trains, Kanji, fashion, sumo, last train, futons, typhoons. The good, bad and everything – and this is what I wanted. To experience the city as an insider – as inside as a fresh Gaijin can be. I’m able to feel love for Tokyo because I can see its imperfections too.

Epilogue, or How the Monday Night Social Club Was Born

I missed last train last night. I met up with a couple of friends (Sean and Christian) in Shinjuku last night after working a late shift. Add the dizzying labyrinth of the Shinjuku station and it was well past 10 when we finally met up. After hanging out for a while in a little restaurant in one of Shinjuku’s back-alley mazes it was time to start thinking about last train. My roommate (Amber) actually missed it last night in Kokubunji, but was able to catch the first train at 4:30, got home by 5, and had a good bit of sleep before waking up in time for work at 1:20. That tempted me to defy the last train; plus, just as I was checking it on my cell phone, the battery died! Sean has Tuesdays off, Christian didn't have work until 5, and I didn't have work until 1:20, so we decided to make a night of it!

We walked around for a while trying to locate English friends of Sean in one of Tokyo’s most dizzying neighborhoods. The mission was to find them at a karaoke bar on the 10^th floor of a building near to the Hub, a chain of English pubs in Tokyo. After realizing that there is more than one Hub in Shinjuku, we set out to find our own karaoke bar. At 1:00 in the morning central Tokyo was still pretty vibrant, thanks in part to the karaoke agents. Every karaoke bar has a cadre of people that circulate outside and try to woo you in. The Japanese pursue other Japanese, and the Africans take care of Gajin. While looking for Sean's friends we kept running into the same African karaoke guy. He wanted us to come to his bar, but it was too expensive for us and he wouldn't make a deal. Finally, for some reason he asked Christian if he spoke French. He does not. So I said ‘vous parlez français?’ I chatted with him in French for a couple of minutes, and then he went and found a Japanese karaoke agent who cut us a really good deal. Some people in Shinjuku charged 3000 yen for an hour. Our guy let us in for 1450 yen for two hours, all-you-can-drink. The 3 of us sang karaoke for 3 hours. It was glorious!

(Japanese karaoke is hardcore! You get your own little room with a small couch lining the wall on 3 sides of the room, and a flat panel TV on the 4^th wall. The technology of the karaoke is of course, advanced; and there was an impressive selection of very ‘now’ songs, but they were a bit lacking in some favorite American one-hit wonders.)

We left around 4:30, ambling around, considering our options and being silly in the pre-dawn streets of Tokyo. We got to the train station a little after 5, and I was hoping there might be a train at the ready. Unfortunately, at this station the earliest train on the Keio line (the line Sean and I live on) left at 6am. So Sean and I joined a handful of other Japanese sleeping in the station until the first train arrived. But before the three of us parted ways, we agreed that after such a grand escapade we should regularly tap the awesome potential of Monday night. And that is how the Monday Night Social Club was born.

Details, Pt. 2*

NOVA is the largest English school in Japan. Apparently students pay good money to go. There are huge Nova billboards and signs all over Tokyo, and I have to admit, I get warm fuzzies when I see them.

THERE exists a super-annoying phenomenon called ‘the last train’. Tokyo has incredible nightlife, but to experience it you have to
a) live nearby
b) go home around midnight
c) stay out all night until 5 or 6am
Japanese and Gagin (foreigners) alike don’t seem to be bothered by it, but it has certainly derailed my plans on more than one occasion… Ok, its 10:30, let’s go! Oh wait, it will take us 45 minutes to get there… the last train is at 11:50… poop!
- small consolation, you can check the last train from cell phones

I TEACH old people. I had a student the other day who was seriously like, 80 years old. I love them. They’re usually quick to smile, and it amazes me that they’re this old and still learning a new language!

SPEAKING of learning a new language, I was under the impression that Nova students had to know some degree of English before signing up for classes. This is not so. It’s fine, except its kind of awkward when I’m trying to teach them basic English in English and we both know that they have no idea what I’m saying.

THERE is nothing like being constantly surrounded by non-Americans (English, Japanese and Canadian alike) to really understand what it means to be American. Apparently people have the impression that we laugh a lot, and our view on customer service is pretty unique.

*Bonus points if you can tell me which song I’m referencing. Extra bonus points for artist and album, respectively.

A new friend!

I am of the opinion that it is necessary to make friends with certain people in life. your bartender. somebody at your favorite boutique. and of course, the person who makes your pastries. the latter being the most important...

in part because it is essential to have regular pastries in your life, no?

My first run-in with Japanese pastries was very sad. The bakery section of the nearby grocery store seemed so promising! Early on I bought an attractive bun, only to bite into it and discover that it was basically a glorified ham sandwich - except it didn't even have the cheese! After that I turned to Starbucks. At least there I know that a cheese danish is a cheese danish, and even though the staff probably don't know what they're saying when they shout cheese danish! we all know what I'm going to get.

Quite fortunately for me, I have found my bakery! It is conveniently located about 5 steps from my train station, on the way to my apartment. The first time I noticed it was like magic! I was coming off the train from work, already a little hungry, and right before my eyes a small, slightly wrinkled Japanese woman pulled a tray of buns out of an oven and put them in the window. My heart quickened for a few beats but then, remembering my previous pastry debacle, doubt crept into my mind. All this over a pastry, you ask? Yeah, you bet. I decided to go for it. It's not like I'm not trying something new every .001 seconds of the day, why should this milli-second be different?

The bun was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. I was hooked. That was a few days (a week?) ago. I went for the second time earlier this evening and the woman and I started chatting – as best as two people can when the only common language is food. I pointed to the bun and she told me the name. I totally didn't catch it, so I tried to indicate that I wanted her to repeat it. After pointing repeatedly and trying a few English phrases which fell on linguistically deaf ears she understood and repeated the name. I think I forgot it as soon as I started eating. But before that she pointed to me and said 'kawaii' - one of the 6 Japanese words I know! It means cute. She assumed I didn't know what it meant (I don't blame her) and pointed at me and said 'pretty'. So I smiled, bowed a few times, and said 'arigato'. For the compliment, for the food, and for what I sense will become a great friendship.