"No, no, a Japanese menu is ok."

---

Ho, shit, my arms hurt. Yesterday was the Asakasa DaiMatsuri, and I played a ton of taiko. On top of that, I carried the o-mikoshi way more than I should have. But damn, it was fun!! It pretty much followed standard procedure for a matsuri—only since this one was really special, it was even crazier. It’s estimated that 100,000 people attend this celebration every year. I met my taiko group at 8am, and was drinking by 9:30! I was amazed that after the celebration ended around 6 or so, the group decided to, you guessed it, go out drinking. All right, I realize that I’m probably putting a little too much emphasis on drinking, but it has proven to be a large factor in how much I am learning about Japan.

Experiencing Japan this week was also my friend Pieter Sibal and his college buddies up from Minneapolis. It has been an absolutely amazing week, although I’ve been running around Tokyo like a chicken with my head cut off. Between Taiko, field placement, class, homework, and the Matsuri, I didn’t get to see the guys as much as I wanted to, but still tried to just about every day. The group stayed in the Roppongi area of downtown Tokyo—actually about a ten minute walk from the shrine I work. That area of town is a little….so-so, so I tried to tell them about other cool places to hit up in Tokyo. We had an absolute blast playing pachinko in Shinjuku, wandering the grounds around my temple, and having dinner at my host family’s house. I think the dinner was probably the most interesting experience for them—or for all of us. I couldn’t believe how much food my hostmom made, as well as how much sake she heated up for us all! Hiroki and Naoya seemed to really like the guys too. They talked about video games and anime all night long, and ended up playing games for the last hour or so.

I almost forgot to mention that my Japanese professor from Puget Sound was visiting relatives in Japan, so Dane and I met up with her and another UPS student studying abroad here. We went into the Edo-Tokyo museum which was really fascinating. What was even MORE fascinating is the fact that my professor wanted to go to a Maid Café in Akihabara. I think I posted a little bit about it on a previous entry, but maid café’s are places where really cute high school girls dressed in French Maid costumes greet you with, “Welcome, Master!” and pretty much wait on you from head to foot. Not like that! Just by making really nice conversation, telling you that you’re really interesting, and pouring and stirring cream into your coffee. It was pretty fuckin hilarious. I wish I had pictures of it, but for some reason they don’t allow cameras into those places. Drag. My buddy Dane, who actually just broke his arm, got a couple of maids to sign his cast! Probably the highlight of my day.

Speaking of Akihabara, I’m going to meet Pieter and the guys in an hour for the last time in Tokyo. That place is every nerd’s fantasy. Just tons of games, arcades, and electronics. I’m sad to see the guys go, but I have to say I’m looking forward to this week. Our study abroad group is heading out to Okinawa for 4 days and 3 nights. If you click on the little map of Japan at the bottom of this page, it’ll show you where Okinawa is. It’s supposed to be one of the world’s greatest beached islands!

I’ll post tons of pictures after I get back on my photosite. I’m currently working on a huge update, but I should hopefully have that done by the end of the day today.

http://jetsetseattle.zoto.com/galleries

Take care,

alex

---

Photos

The Guys
Outside the main altar at Akasaka

Pie!!
seems pretty stoked!

Comments

[deleted_16075]

I didn't know Nate went! Now I'm not gonna have any friends at Tiesto! Damn