Tip-toe ... through the garden....

There seems to be a plethora of festivals here in Japan. This so far has been a very good thing. I've enjoyed it greatly. The latest in this ongoing slew of festivals is the food festival! That's right... food! No need to sugar-coat it with reasons of being thankful, or celebrating independence, or any of that muck here. No no, indeed just celebrate the food directly, because Japan knows what it's all about.

Making the way to the city with a pack of waiguoren (Yee Sin, Xintian, Gui, Austin, Jenny, and Sexy) we found ourselves surrounded by a plethora of food, as well as performances. I quickly made my way to the Korean booth and found some kimchi that was vegetarian, as well as Korean style pancakes I could have. Delicious! Nutrious! Not to mention accompanied by the sound of traditional taiko drums.

The food festival had booths from all over, including exotic locations like Japan, India, Japan, Baskin Robins, Japan, and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

After we discovered there is only so much we can eat before risking explosion, we decided to wander up into Hiroshima Castle, which is where the festival was being held. It made things convenient. The castle was great, but I admit I was mostly paying attention to a story at the time. I love stories, and since it was a new one I hadn't heard before, I was paying more attention to it. I'll need to go back to the castle museum at some point and give it a proper walk through.

Hiroshima also happens to contain amazing gardens to meander through. I highly recommend them, and if you're a student the admission is free. I also highly recommend being a student.

In the gardens I was a bit freaked out by the proliferation of large flying insects that would dart in and out of the path we were walking in. They were everywhere. For insects they were pretty large, almost the size of my thumb. It took me a while to realize there were very small for birds. I tried my best to take a picture with the following result. It's the little thing hiding out in the middle of the picture there.

Who'd have guessed.

~Jeff

Moshpits, Japanese Style

So one of the music circles I'm interested in joining is called LMC .... I don't actually know what it means, but it was explained to me as being somewhere between rock and folk music. I was invited to go to one of their shows, and decided it would be worth a visit. Far too long since I had been to a concert.

I show up a bit late (delayed by delicious curry) and step into the back door of a small yet packed venue located on the university campus. The music wasn't so much a cross between folk and rock, as it was one of those sort of offbeat and quirky styling we in America love to refer to as Alternative. Unfortunately I had missed the first few bands, which included the band of a new acquaintance of the prior week, but fortunately there were still more to come.

As the evening went on, I noticed two very distinct things. Though it was bands performing from college circles, they are actually extremely talented. Enough so I would have gladly paid to get into a concert by any one of them. One of the groups will be producing a CD as of next month apparently.

The second thing I noticed was the 'mosh-pits'. For the uninitiated, here are some guidelines for mosh-pit protocol. Now the previous links are more or less what I am used to in mosh-pits. Despite warnings of serious injury, in all my mosh-pit experiences in America I have never received so much as a bruise (ok maybe a bruise). In any case, the music started to get pretty hardcore and I saw some people start to push each other. "Ah ha!" thought my brain "Mosh-pit time!" But then something happened I have never seen before, at the critical moment instead of jumping into each other and a open area forming to let people shove each other around it, the 'moshers' looked at each other, looked around to see who was going to be doing it, moved carefully to the front of the crowd, linked arms like a line of can-can dancers, and began to bounce up and down.

I was astounded. Don't people in Japan want to beat each other up? Where's the fun in this? Don't get me wrong, I know everybody has their cultural differences, and I'm not trying to be critical. It just took me a bit by surprise is all. The music had definitely reached crescendo, and on the last number the group dedicated a screamer, who was previously a back-up guitarist. He set down his guitar, and yelled for the duration of the song. Everybody got into it enough that he began jumping out of his clothes on stage. Perhaps jumping isn't the right word .... tearing might be better. He would yell and scream with all his might, tearing his shirt off, and eventually hopping out of his pants so he was running around the stage in his underwear, then bumping into the people who were jumping in unison at the front of the crowd.

Through all of this, the feeling was sort of a controlled mayhem. Suuuure, people were jumping around... but they had there arms around each other so as not to fall down or bump into others! Occasionally they did crash into people not in the group, and would then turn and bow, make apologies, then arms would go over shoulders again and the jumping would continue. I think henceforth I shall refer to this phenomena as 'micro-moshing'. In truth, I enjoyed the concert, and it was a lot of fun, unfortunately now though I just feel the urge to bump into people.

Maybe one of these days!

~Jeff

Ah ha!

So having procured my own Internet access in my own residence, I am not free to continue chronicling the events happening during this particular period of my life. Here we go.
As for the events of previous month, they apparently are doomed to be lost forever. That or you can just ask me about them. Whichever works really.

The semester here I found is something very difficult to judge. After long stretches of time taking 15-16 credits, working part time, and being active in club activities at UNR, trying to maintain a similar level of busy seems to be quite a trick indeed. Currently I am taking 8 classes, which equate to 16 credits ... something.... approximately. Maybe?? I was never quite clear on how they worked when going back to Nevada, but for something that seems like it should be an adequate level of work actually has left me feeling like I'm just being lazy all the time.

Luckily there are a plethora of people here who are both amazing and wonderful. It's always been something that I've really appreciated when I go to different places, that no matter where you go ... you can always find some people who just make everything around them better.

Another thing that I began to appreciate as I settled in was music. I grew up with music, was always surrounded by it wherever I went, and got some wonderful opportunities to make it myself on more than one occasion. Feeling this lacking, I decided to get a bass guitar. I was also very kindly invited to join a band, and have been able to actually produce sounds that might be referred to as 'songs'. Also tonight, I was told by my tutor Akimasa (A very rad individual who is sadly not pictured above) that he has some connections in the orchestra circle he used to play in, and would ask about if I could borrow a french horn and play there as well. You never know where you'll find opportunity, so enjoy everything.

My favorite holiday is also quickly approaching, which leads me to the question "What to be for Halloween?" I don't have much time considering the first costume party for Halloween is going to be on Friday at a local English cafe. Resources are scarce, the time is drawing nigh, but I shall over come I think. If nothing else I could always go as an Exchange Student...

Until next time,
波音流